Chapter #25An Iron Moon Rising by: imaj   Rosalie shifts slightly in her seat, leaning forward. There is a brief and faint smile. “What do you mean?”
The assassin raises her head and looks Rosalie in the eye. “I’m… I thought I was here to kill her.” She turns to look at you. “Siobhan Connor.” There is another long pause. “I was hired to do it. All the information they gave me, everything they told me… They said she’d killed the girl’s parents.”
The girl? Does she mean Bea? You open your mouth to speak but a look from Rosalie silences you. “Are you blaming someone else,” she asks, the smile vanishing from her face.
The assassin tilts her head to one side. “My clients? No, I always carry out checks myself…” She tails off as Rosalie leans forward again. “Siobhan Connor’s background was perfect. All the paperwork was there.” It should be, you think to yourself. You asked Rick to set up your identity properly after Peter Churchman died, when it was clear that you were going to be Siobhan Connor for a long time. “Up till nine years ago, before that no one remembers her. I mean, there are records, but no one remembers her. It’s like she just popped into existence in time to adopt Imogen and Beatrice Churchman. So I took the job.”
“It was Fane that hired you wasn’t it,” interrupts Hal. He shrugs of the effects of Frank’s prodigies and jumps to his feet. “Tell us.”
“Hal,” says Rosalie. Her voice is soft but there is not mistaking the tone of her voice. “You will be quiet or you will remove yourself.” Hal stops in his tracks, his mouth gaping open like a fish. He sits back down. Rosalie turns to face the assassin again. “So you took the job,” she prompts.
“I made a mistake,” replies the assassin, a tear forming in one eye.
“In taking the job,” asks Rosalie.
The assassin shakes her head. “No… Yes… but I think I made a mistake long before that as well.”
Rosalie smiles faintly again. “Tell me about it.”
You slip away as the assassin starts unburdening her life story to Rosalie. She seems repentant, and that should count in her favour when it comes to passing through the portal. In truth you know little about what lies beyond there, only what Kali told you a long time ago. With a sigh, you push the thoughts of the trial – and the punishment that awaits the assassin – from your mind. It has little to do with you and you excuse yourself.
The living room is empty when you reach it. You settle onto the couch, folding your legs up beneath you and switching on the television with the remote. After a few minutes of random surfing, you settle on a local news program. You aren’t really interested in it, you just need something to take your mind off things.
“For what it’s worth,” says Hal, appearing in the doorway. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realise she was a potential Stellae.” You ignore him and turn the volume on the television up a couple of notches. “I said, I’m sorry,” repeats Hal, raising his voice a little.
He isn’t going to go away is he? You turn off the television and stand up, drawing yourself to your full height. “You didn’t realise she was a potential Stellae,” you echo. Hal shakes his head. “That’s your problem Hal: You don’t realise, you don’t think. You just pile in and damn the consequences.”
“Well, you and Joe were able to handle her,” protests Hal blithely.
You look around the room. Joe and Rosalie have cleaned it up since the fight, but it’s still a bit of a mess. A reminder of just how close the fight was. “What if we hadn’t Hal,” you reply, your cheeks flushing with anger. “She knew about my cloak, and she was clever enough to try and work around it. She could have killed me.”
“But you can’t die can you,” says Hal querulously. “Frank told me about when you got shot. You could just switch to another face.”
“Oh great,” you snarl back. “Because being responsible for the death of one of Bea’s parents wasn’t enough for you?”
“What did you say,” Hal shouts back.
You jump to your feet and jab a finger in Hal’s direction. “You got Pete Churchman killed by using him as an unwitting dupe: You had me swap his memory stick for one of your little spy devices. Fane caught and killed him. You made Bea an orphan.”
Hal just stands there, is mouth gaping open as if he has been struck.
“Because you don’t think Hal,” you continue, unburdening yourself. “You just careen around flinging crap about randomly and see where it sticks. Well here’s something for you Hal: People get hurt. You hurt Bea before, you hurt Bea today. If you ever do anything that puts Bea or anyone else I care about in danger I will fucking end you Hal. Do you understand that?”
He works his jaw a few times, marshalling his thoughts to respond. He opens to say something back to you, but he never gets the chance.
“Quiet,” says a very soft voice. “Both of you.” You turn round to see Rosalie. Your rage drains out from you instantly, because Rosalie looks like you have never seen her before – angry. “I can not have the only two Stellae active in Europe at each other’s throats.”
“Well tell her to bloody well stop shouting at me,” says Hal.
Rosalie simply stares at him for a full five seconds. Hal wilts under the pressure and mumbles an apology. “Siobhan is right Hal,” she continues. “Sometimes you aren’t as cautious as you should be.” The colour drains from Hal’s face and you grin smugly at him. “But Siobhan, Hal can’t help the way he is sometimes. He’s a Catilindrian and that’s the way they operate. It would be a lot easier for him to work with you if you communicated more with the rest of us sometimes.”
Now it’s your turn to gape. “I see…” is all you manage to say.
“Hal, if you could give us a few minutes,” says Rosalie, smiling sweetly at the English Stellae. “Girl talk.”
Hal nods weakly. Before you can react, Rosalie as grabbed you by the shoulders and is dragging you from the room. She pulls you down the hall and into Charles’ old study, where she sits you down in one of the chairs. She pulls another chair over until she is sitting right in front of you.
“Are you ok,” she asks. “This isn’t like you. You practically threatened to kill Hal.”
You were pretty sure you actually did threaten to kill Hal. You take a deep breath. “I won’t let Bea get hurt again.”
“I’m worried about you Siobhan,” says Rosalie. “Maybe you should speak to Frank?”
“I’m sure I’ll get a chance to after the funeral.”
“I mean speak to him,” says Rosalie. You shudder a little. Like all Lurgae, Frank is something of a confessor for the other Stellae. At least Rosalie is giving you the relatively easy option. “Or you could speak to Ed.” Now that’s the hard option – Father Ed is, well, strict would be putting it mildly.
“Can you set it up for me,” you say, forcing a smile.
“Of course," smiles Rosalie.
There is an awkward moment of silence before you speak again. “What happened? At the trial? She went through the portal, didn’t she?”
Rosalie smiles knowingly. “No.”
“No,” you parrot, startled.
“No,” says Rosalie. “Because sometimes the best punishment is to be forgiven and given a second chance. We should know that better than anybody, shouldn’t we Will?”
"I guess it will be interesting to see what she makes of it," you reply weakly.
*****
Frank comes to see you a week later, once you are back in London with Bea. It is well past midnight when he arrives, and you open the heavy door to the Churchman house clad in a nightie and dressing gown. You weren't in bed though, just working late on another Libra related project.
"Do you know what time it is," you ask, betraying more than a little irritation.
"Shortly after my flight arrived," he answers gruffly. "Can I come in," he asks, already pushing inside the house. It's then that you notice that he has brought some company. "You remember Minnie Fierro, don't you?"
You look at the woman Frank has brought with him. She struggles to look you in the eye. Her pale white blonde hair isn't obvious at first, not in the glow of the streetlamps, but as she steps inside the doorway you instantly recognise her.
"You," you growl unhappily.
"Me," admits Minnie. You never heard her name until now, but you recognise the woman who tried to kill you in Olympia. Why is she here? Why has Frank brought her?
You turn to your colleague and stare at him. "Rosalie's idea," explains Frank in a way that conveys that he doesn't quite agree with it. "Minnie decided she wants to join the Stellae."
You frown. "And?"
"Rosalie want her to train with a Malacandra and a Sulva," explains Frank.
It takes several seconds for his meaning to sink in "Us," you reply in surprise.
Frank nods in response.
Will's adventures continue in "Fall" 
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