Ascent

Operation Luna, 45-46.

To rescue Valeria, the Matucheks and their friends must ascend the sacred mountain. As they set off, dark, scudding clouds cover the sky and:

"What light seeped through was turning an eerie brass-yellow. Wind whistled and boomed. It thrust around us, stronger, louder, colder every minute." (p. 409)

From many other Andersonian narratives, we recognize menacing wind and Pathetic Fallacy. However, in this kind of fiction, weather might be more directly linked to events:

"'...it looks as though we'll have trouble along the way. Did the demons brew this weather? Or is it an accident? Or a test, a part of our sacrifice? I don't know.'" (p. 407)

Demonic trouble and divine test might be opposite sides of a single coin? Or an accident would be the activity of my friend, Andrea's, preferred deity, Fortuna.

Ginny's brother mentioned a public figure earlier in the novel and that figure plays an unexpected role at this later stage. Anyone or anything mentioned earlier might turn out to be important later. Eventually, we might learn to anticipate better.