He was truly ancient. Not the antiquity of mere centuries enjoyed by his modern minions, but the antiquity of millennia. True, he had worn a human form when he was known as Vlad the Impaler, but he was no longer a mere human. He had transcended death, and in the centuries since he took on this immortal form, his mental faculties had grown, and he had acquired access to memories of his earlier existences, memories of arcane lore that humans would grovel at his feet to acquire. And grovel they did. To his great and lasting pleasure. His semblance of a face took on the semblance of a self-satisfied smile.

After the excitement of being on Silbury Hill when a new crop circle formed in the field between there and Avebury Circle, the watchers had gathered at the Green Man pub to celebrate and discuss the meaning of this latest revelation. Freddy asked Cern and Dema if they knew what happened to Lucky, since they had been the last to leave the Hill where he and his crew had recorded the event. They said he must have gone back to the Ministry to process his recordings. They did not speak of the additional data they and the Green Man had given him to process.

Dema and Cern knew that the Green Man had created the circle. They knew he was an old spirit, normally bodiless, but able to manifest himself physically as the normal appearing Mr. Green who frequented the pub by temporarily accreting mass from his surroundings. None of the locals, including Freddy, seemed to have made that connection. But there was at least one person present who was acutely aware that there had been a spiritual element at work. That one was Edith Moore, the medium who had forecast the coming of the circle. She represented the spiritualist side of the crop circle movement, the Wicca connection.

Dema wanted to know more about this connection, to find out how well their understanding matched her own, so she was sitting at a table with Edith. Edith did not drink beer, which was a relief to Dema because she usually preferred not to indulge as well, so they were alone at their table. Dema had asked Edith how the Wicca viewed the circles. Edith said, "Symbols we see in crop circles are often ancient symbols of mysticism and magic. Here, let me show you some examples." She reached into her rather large handbag and pulled out a sheaf of photos and drawings. "I brought these to show Freddy. He might want to include some of them in his new book." Edith began comparing crop circle photos with various examples of arcane symbols, including among them ancient petroglyphs and Hindu mandalas.

Cern noticed what they were doing and joined them. Thumbing through Edith's examples, he pointed out several that looked like hieroglyphs and said, "Dema, these are like some of the symbols we saw on the cauldron."

"You're right. And they remind me of something else as well." She looked in her own handbag and brought out the embroidered cloth Sedna had given her. She unfolded it carefully and showed it to Edith.

Edith gasped. After a moment she said, "I recognize the angled triple spiral, and the hidden pentagram formation of course, but some of the other symbols...I haven't seen them before, but I sense they are ancient. Where did you get this?"

"It's a family heirloom."

"You are a Wiccan?"

"I think of myself more as a shaman."

Edith returned the embroidery to Dema, handling it very gingerly, clearly in awe. "I must introduce you to our Eldest. You must show this to her. She is far more conversant with these matters than I."

"Okay..." Then, "Cern's something of a shaman too. Can he come?"

"Of course."

After some further conversation Edith excused herself and made a phone call. Plans were made and a date was set for the following Tuesday. It was agreed that Edith would take them to the meeting place, the location of which she said she must not mention openly.