When Robert had seen Jim Balmer on stage in Erie, Pennsylvania he'd thought that he was looking at the next president of the United States. After attending Tom Groff's rally in Buffalo, New York he wasn't so sure anymore. Robert and the goose arrived at the rally after Tom had begun his speech and immediately upon entering the crowd they could feel the hope and enthusiasm that was coursing through the crowd that was being generated by Tom Groff, who was up on stage giving his speech with his shirt sleeves rolled up and his collar open.

"...a politics that unites us through common cause rather than a politics that seeks power through division. Jim Balmer's message to the American people is that if you are not a, Evangelical Christian, you are the problem, it's because you didn't go to church enough and pray hard enough that the cattle feed that we produced in this country killed livestock all over the world. Can we just think about for a second, can we just think about the fact that the nominee of a major political party is out there saying that if we just go to church more and pray more the problems in our agriculture industry and the problems that they've produced in our economy are all going to magically just disappear? I shouldn't have to point out how absurd this is and yet here I am having to point out how absurd it is that Republican primary voters have chosen this man to be their candidate. Now, like Jim Balmer I am also a man of faith, but that doesn't mean that I am oblivious to the need for us to have real solutions to issues that are affecting Americans all across the country in very real, very serious ways. Like Jim Balmer I am also a politician but that doesn't mean that I am prepared to prey on people's anxieties by telling them that the problems that we are facing can be easily solved if we just go to church more..."

Just then Tom noticed Robert standing in the back of the crowd with the goose perched on his head and instantly recognized that that was no ordinary goose, and that the time had come for him to play his part in the pilgrimage. Tom wrapped up his speech and returned to his campaign bus where he waited for the crowd to disperse so that speak privately with the goose.

"Are you sure he's going to want to talk to us?" Robert asked the goose as the rest of the crowd was leaving the park where the rally had taken place.

"He saw us, my guess is he's waiting for all of these people to leave before he invites us onto his bus to have a chat."

Robert and the goose continued waiting in the park and sure enough, after about twenty minutes, one of Tom Groff's aides walked over to them and told them that Senator Groff would like to speak with them. The young woman escorted them to Tom's bus and showed them inside before leaving and closing the doors. Tom was alone in the bus and had been waiting nervously for his chance to meet the goose.

"Is this THE goose?" He asked Robert.

"You have a keen eye, senator," the goose responded.

"When the church posted on their website months ago that a new pilgrimage was upon us I knew that this election would play an important role in it, that's why I got into the race."

"You were right about that, and now that you've won the nomination there are some things that you need to know."

The goose explained everything to Tom about the guardians that they had awakened, the team that the raven had assembled, what the raven's plans were and how they planned on putting a stop to them. The big surprise to Tom was hearing about John Lafferty falling under the spell of the raven. Were he not hearing it from the goose itself he never would have believed that it was possible given John's devotion to the goose.

"Unfortunately John's devotion to me was outweighed by his desire to discover the grand truth. The raven saw this weakness in him and used it to seduce him."

"Is there actually such a thing as the grand truth?" Tom asked.

"Yes, but it's been decided that humans aren't fit to learn it, at least not yet."

"Do I need to do anything else besides win the election?"

"Right now that needs to be your only concern, focus on the convention and the debates and on having a strong closing message, oh, and, I'm sorry to tell you this, but we're going to need to take that with us," the goose said, referring to the dove that was standing on the counter next to Tom.

"That's a guardian?" Robert asked.

"The dove is the guardian of peace, and it's the final component that we are missing."

"If you take the dove away it's going to affect my campaigning and put the election in jeopardy."

"We only need it for a couple of days, once we've hatched the egg, which will probably be tomorrow, the dove will return to you."

"Is it going to be the same?"

"It'll be able to talk."

Robert and the goose left with the dove without Tom getting to ask the goose any of the questions that he was desperate to know the answers to. Having spent years learning through the Church of the Golden Goose about all of the magnificent things that the goose had done all throughout history Tom was too overwhelmed by the goose's presence to ask it the questions that he had always imagined himself asking it if given the opportunity.

Neither Robert nor the goose spoke for the entire duration of the drive home to Queens; the sense of finality that both of them were feeling was occupying their minds completely. When they returned home the dove was greeted and welcomed by the other guardians and by Anne and Jessie. Robert slipped quietly upstairs to his room, feeling uncharacteristically solemn. Anne noticed the mood that he was in and followed him upstairs to his room, where he collapsed face first onto the bed.

"There are two things about you that I've always known: one is that you hate change, and the other is that you hate responsibility, so which one is responsible for you being down like this?"

"Both, I suppose," Robert turned over and said.

"So you're worried that you and the goose might end failing, and you've come to enjoy living with the goose and all of the others and you don't want to go back to living alone."

"There's also Jessie to think about, what's going to happen to her?"

"There's no reason why she couldn't stay, and if you'd like, I could stay as well," Anne sat on the bed next to Robert and said.

"What are you saying?" Robert asked.

Anne was about to lean in to kiss Robert when the goose appeared in the doorway with urgent news.

"Robert, we're hatching the egg tonight."

"Tonight?!" Robert shot up and asked.

"I just spoke with the oracle, she said there's no time left, we have to do it now."

"Okay, we'll go after midnight, so there's little chance of people seeing the egg hatch."

After driving all day Robert had wanted to go straight to sleep, but with the hatching of the egg now imminent he was too restless to sleep. He got up from the bed, went downstairs and made some coffee and sat with the goose to talk about what came next. The goose was, as always, withholding, telling Robert that he only need concern himself with hatching the egg. The goose then walked away from the table, claiming that it needed to use the toilet. The goose was feeling the same restlessness that Robert was feeling, the main cause of its restlessness being its worry that no matter what hatched from the egg it wouldn't be strong enough to defeat the Behemoth. After the goose left, Anne thought about sitting with Robert to continue where they'd left off in the bedroom but decided against it. There was too much tension in the house for them to have a serious talk about getting back together, right now Robert needed only time and space to get his thoughts together.