The news about John Lafferty had left the goose felling quite despondent, an emotional state which, the Oracle informed Robert, the goose was familiar with. People had let him down countless times in the past, people that chose short-sighted self interest over the much larger goals of general betterment for which the goose advocated. It wasn't people's inability to avoid temptation that upset the goose, it was their inability to appreciate the scale of what they were being asked to be a part of. The goose wouldn't say as much to Robert, but before it had chosen him it had given serious thought to choosing John Lafferty as the custodian of the blue egg. Had it done so the decision would have been a huge mistake, given John's susceptibility to temptation. The goose knew from experience that it couldn't afford to make such mistakes, and the fact that it almost had was contributing greatly to its despondency.

"That's not all that I came to tell you," the oracle continued, "there is a situation developing that may require the wolf's presence."

"Where?" The goose asked.

"Ukraine, I've received reports that the snake, the rat and the crow have been spending a lot of time there."

"What kind of situation is this going to be? Violence? A natural disaster? Or a manufactured disaster?"

"Most likely violence, given the current climate over there."

"How much violence? Are we talking all out war?"

"Could end up that way, depending on what happens with this referendum."

"Why are these other animals trying to orchestrate a war?" Robert asked.

"To help Jim Balmer; national security issues, like a huge war in Europe, tend to benefit republicans."

"Are you serious?! These things would start a war that could kill thousands just to win an election?!"

"They've done worse," the goose said.

The seriousness of what they were dealing with settled on the room and there was silence among them. The two humans in the room, Robert and Jessie, were trying hard and failing to comprehend the scale of events taking place and the forces behind them.

"We need the owl, we need to find the owl soon," the oracle said.

"What's the owl?" Jessie asked.

"The owl is the guardian of knowledge," the goose answered, "there is a war of misinformation going on and we need the guardian of knowledge to help us fight that war."

"Where can we find it?" Robert asked.

"We have no idea," answered the goose, "nobody's seen the owl since the library of Alexandria was burned to ground, it was there and after seeing that it fled and hasn't been seen since."

"How is the owl going to help? You can't disinfect people's minds just by telling the truth," Jessie said.

"As the guardian of knowledge the owl possesses information that can't be obtained through conventional means of investigation," the oracle said, "that information could prove very powerful if revealed at the right moment."

"You mean like what Solomon does," Jessie said.

"King Solomon?" Robert asked.

"No, the blogger, he goes by the handle Solomon, he's always leaking embarrassing stuff about powerful people on his website, he's the one who blew the whistle on those fake bank charges at Wells Fargo and the chemicals that are used in fracking."

"Sounds promising, now we just have to figure out how to find him," the goose said.

"Don't you have a connection with all of these animals that we can use to find them?" Jessie asked the goose.

"That would make things far too easy, it's called a pilgrimage for a reason," the goose responded.

"For now I think we should focus on the raven and what its overall objectives are with it taking an interest in both US and Ukrainian politics," the Oracle suggested.

"The Ukrainian angle probably has more to do with Russia than Ukraine," Robert offered.

"He's right," the goose agreed, "we should ascertain if there are any links between the raven and the Dzuba government in Russia."

"I'll find out what I can," the oracle said, "in the meantime you do what you can to track down the owl, and you," she said, addressing the goose, "stay away from John Lafferty."