Sentence The Sixhundredandeightyfifth

After spending some time in perpendering on the situation, Tavish had reached a decision and gathered the others together; he told them about the rent in his cloak, about the Moth-Hole that turned into a Worm-Hole and about the steampunk string-telephone and the suggestion that they use it, tied together for safety, as a guide to get back to Melrose; then he spoke quietly with Sister Evadne Eglantyne and told her what he knew of her sister: "could I reach her?" was the only question; "we have no idea, Sister Evadne; once a person enters the passage through the Cosmos, they become miscible – mixed or dissolved into it, and hopefully, coming out in one piece at the other end – but you might easily land up somewhere else in the Past or Future and with no means of ever escaping – but now that we know where and when Griselda is, there is a hope – okay, a slim hope – that we may be able to contact her, that's what everyone is holding on to, and my friends working on," she paused for a heartbeat, "and if I don't come with you?" but he shook his head: "then you would be alone here, with no chance of coming later to join us, or of being with Griselda," and she smiled wanly, "so there is really no option, is there?" and Tavish clasped her shoulders, gently, for he did not want to alarm her: "look, my advice is 'no' it isn't safe here, there are still friends and allies of MacFarlane and they will already know about you having been in the company of this motley crew, now I'm not given to orogeny, making mountains out of molehills, the difficulties we face are real enough and big enough without having to inflate them, so go with the others and you will still have hopes of making reaching Griselda, and being reunited with her; I don't make promises I can't keep, but I feel responsible for what Griselda did, so I won't rest until everything that can be done has been done and with luck . . . . ." and she said: "or perhaps with Faith and Prayer? let me go now and pray for guidance," and in his

heart he knew that her decision had been made and she would go with the rest; for himself, there was still a job to do and he would do it tonight!