(urth) Laundress and Star (AEG spoilers)

[Dave Tallman]

In Chapter 3, Dr. Chase takes Cassie to a mountain which he says is 
alive and that its wife is a "laundress." This is likely to be Maple 
Mountain in Ontario, Canada. According to Wikipedia 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_Mountain), "Long before 
recreationists, bureaucrats and business interests were turned on by the 
mountain, the Temagami First Nation 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temagami_First_Nation> reined over it. 
They called the mountain /Chee-bay-jing/, meaning "the place where the 
spirits go". It was a sacred site, the most powerful in their realm."

The "laundress" reference may not be a Native American legend, however. 
I found a reference to a "Washer at the Ford," a form of banshee in 
Celtic legend. If a soldier saw an old woman washing bloody garments in 
the river, this predicted his death in battle. This legend is also 
connected to Modron, Morrigan, and Morgan le Fey. Cassie's middle name 
is Fiona, which is derived from a Gaelic word meaning white, or fair. 
Bill Reis' son Rian is also a Gaelic name meaning "little king." Cassie 
says she will be going out with a banshee (p. 64). She fills the theater 
with "wailing ghosts" (p. 53) in warning about a dangerous honeymoon in 
the play. This predicts the disaster of her romance with Bill Reis -- 
Cassie is like a banshee, and like Cassandra in predicting evil which is 
not believed (p. 64).

Speaking of names, her first is actually Cassiopeia, the queen in Greek 
legend who boasted of her beauty and offended a sea god, so that her 
daughter Andromeda was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to the sea 
monster Cefus. (Cassiopeia and Andromeda are also constellations, 
related to "stars.") Perseus saved Andromeda, and married her. Perseus 
was the son of Danae by Zeus, who seduced her in the form of a shower of 
gold. Simonedes of Ceos (source of the "evil guest" quote) wrote a poem 
about Danea and Perseus being cast into the sea.

Her character in "Dating the Volcano God" is named Mariah Brownlea. In 
the context of a musical, Mariah recalls "They Call the Wind Mariah" 
from "Paint Your Wagon." Wind connects to her stormy fate. Brownlea 
suggests a "brown lea," a grassy green field (like the green goddess) 
that has become withered and brown.

Her lipstick is "ultra natural ash rose" (p. 30). "Ash Rose" is a song 
by Helen Trevillion, who writes Celtic music. It contains the line "Rose 
to ash and ash to dust," another foreshadowing of the loss of Cassie's 
beauty.

One quibble -- Cassie's address is 181 East Arbor Boulevard, apartment 
301 (per the assassin, p. 249 -- and Cassie agrees that this is 
correct). Why is the mirror-image apartment of her neighbors numbered 3B 
(p. 52)? Shouldn't her apartment be 3A?