Beanni made sure to wait till her family were asleep before she tried to connect with Oz. She sat cross-legged on her made bed, in silence, listening for any sound of movement outside her bedroom. Once she was sure that the house was completely still, she fished out the fragment of reflective glass that the prince gave her on Thalla Noir.

She looked at it in her hand and cocked an eyebrow as she flipped it over, then over again. She had never used a communication mirror before. She mentally kicked herself for not asking Oslac how to activate its magic. With a deep sigh, she flung it onto her duvet.

"You idiot, Beanni!" she hissed at herself, "How can you still not know how this stupid thing works!" She huffed and irritably scratched at an non-existent itch on her face.

"Bay..." she heard a subtle whisper. It was so quiet she wasn't sure whether she actually heard it or if it was just a voice in her head. "Bay?"

She sat up and looked at the overturned fragment of glass.

"Hey Bay! Are you there?"

The voice made her jump and she took up the glass into her hand. As soon as it was lifted from the duvet, a dim glow threw shadows across her subtly lit room. She turned the glass around and there, plain as day, was Prince Oslac's relieved smile.

"There you are! Why hadn't you called me? I've been waiting for days!" he queried.

"I tried every night since Thalla Noir, I swear, but I couldn't work out how to use this."

"What? Really?" Oslac said, struggling back a giggle.

"I just couldn't work it out," Beanni repeated, her cheeks flushed as embarrassment began to crawl upon her face. She then shook her head and continued defending herself, rushing her words. "And it's not like I could go and ask Dad - then he would find out!"

"But it's so easy!" Oslac teased.

"Alright! Then tell me how to do it then!" Beanni's voice raised in pitch, making Oslac giggle more.

"Fine, fine, calm down, you may wake your family," Oslac said in a hushed tone and with a cheeky smirk. "All you do is grow your light orb in your left palm, hold the mirror in your right and say my name."

"Okay, thanks," Beanni whispered her sheepish response, then a thought came to her mind. "But what if you are not near your communication mirror? If I did work that out, I could've tried to call you when you weren't there!"

"Well I was waiting around for your call every night! I would've definitely been there."

"But how was I supposed to know that? You have to admit Oz, you did not organise this well."

"Alright!" Oslac let out a long mock sigh. "You're right, can we talk about something else now?"

"Yes," Beanni said with a smile and a sudden change in demeanour. "What do you want to talk about? Fancy telling me more about ancient Natanstrelle? Or about life at Astrid Palace? Or... I don't know... Anything!"

"Of course, we'll get to all of that!" Prince Oslac said with a grin that reflected Beanni's excitement. "But first, we must figure out a way for us to get together in person. We don't want to rely on the mirror too much."

"We don't?"

"Exactly!" Prince Oslac purposefully ignored the inflection, treating his friend's question as a statement. "Could your brothers cover for you?"

"Aeron-Lius definitely won't," Beanni muttered under her breath, then added in a much brighter tone, "But Dillan might, Dillan's great, he's always got my back!"

"Great!" Oslac beamed.

"Yes! What we could do is meet after History School like we first planned but have Dillan come too! That way we could convince Dad that History School was running on a bit longer or something."

"Good plan. But would your father call the Academy? He could catch you in a lie."

"Oh, erm... Well I'm sure he won't as long as both Dillan and I come home at the same time." Beanni reassured her friend with a shrug, then added as another thought came to her. "Anyway, if we make sure we get home before it gets dark we'll probably make it back before he does."

"Oh! Alright then! Well it seems like we have a plan!" Oslac declared with a confident nod.

"All I need to do is talk to Dillan," Beanni said brightly.

"Yes, get your brother on board as soon as you can."

Beanni nodded her head, but then jumped at the sound of her door handle turning.

"I've got to go!" she whispered and rushed to slide the mirror under her pillow.

"Dillan? What are you..."

Beanni's words were cut short as she saw Aeron-Lius standing in her room, a dangerous look piercing from his amber eyes; they were almost identical to his younger brother's, but lacked the warmth that harboured in Dillan's soft gaze.

"You are dead!" he spat in disgust.

"W-what are you doing in here?" Beanni stammered, trying her hardest to stop herself from glancing at her pillow. "Get out!"

"I heard you talking to yourself..." Aeron-Lius sneered, with a look of contempt in his eyes.

"So what? You have no right to barge in here, especially when I'm trying to sleep! Get out or I'll get Dad! "

"You'll get my Dad will you?" Aeron-Lius scoffed. "You sicken me! First you intrude onto my family, breaking my mother's heart, and now you are taking my trade rights from me."

"What are you talking about? How did I intrude anywhere? I'm your sister."

"You are no sister of mine! You Biab Troll!"

"What did you call me?" Outrage coursed through Beanni's veins causing her to leap off her bed to face her brother, who didn't even flinch - he just stood there looking down at the young angry teen with mocking eyes.

"You don't even know. " He laughed a humourless laugh. "You are clueless! You have always been so stupid!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You are no Draoicis-Lus, never have been, you have no right to experience Thoir Simul!" Aeron-Lius said through gritted teeth.

"You're still on that?" Beanni rolled her eyes impatiently. "Dad invited me, just get over it already! You'll get your turn soon enough!"

"But you shouldn't even get to go! It is a task only for Draoicis-Lus!"

"I am Draoicis-Lus!"

"No you're not, Dad has lied to you all your life! He has lied to all of us!" Aeron-Lius growled.

"You're not making any sense. Just get out, Aeron!"

"Not until I tell you the truth."

"And why should I trust you?"

Aeron-Lius ignored her question and carried on with his mission to tell her his Dad's hidden secrets. "Dad found you abandoned in Night Forest, with this!" He held out his hand, holding a golden chain that he fished out of his pocket. A round pendant swung back and forth from his loose grip. "Go on take it, it's yours!" He then shoved the necklace into Beanni's hand.

"What is this?"

"A necklace Dad hid from mum, from me and Dillan too. He has no idea that I have found it and that I know exactly what it is. "

"What makes you think it has anything to do with me?" Beanni asked, whilst trying to give it back.

"If it belonged to the family why would Dad keep it hidden?" Aeron-Lius spoke whilst refusing to take it. "I remember the day he brought you home! How it upset my mother." His words struck Beanni in the heart like an arrow. "Go on, look at it!"

Beanni gave in and took the pendant from him, and studied it. There was indeed an engraving on it, and seeing it took her breath away. She followed the three attached loops and the line surrounding them in a perfect, neat circle. The engraved image was the Biabus-Lus family symbol.

"See? You don't belong with us, with Draoicis-Lus. You are one of them. A blue-eyed Biab!"

Aeron-Lius, pleased with the damage he had caused, left the room, leaving behind a distraught young teen who now had so many questions, questions with answers that would tear her world apart.

Beanni had no hope in sleeping that night.

The night of Thoir Simul had finally arrived. The excited look in her father's eyes made Beanni's heart skip, she was not going to let Aeron Lius' discovery discourage her that day - for her father's sake if not for her own. Lorrus Draoicis-Lus was the only father she had ever known, and nothing would change that - especially a random trinket that she had no memory of!

Beanni grabbed her dark blue cloak and draped it around her shoulders, mirroring her father who did the exact same thing. She was then handed two large glass jars that hung gracefully from a rope that was expertly tied around their open, transparent necks.

"That's it, two for you and two for me, tie them onto your leather sash," Lorrus said with a wide smile on his mahogany lips.

"We'll fill all of these?" Beanni pondered, staring at the large jars with wide eyes.

"It's always better to be over-prepared. Pack for abundance, for you never know how lucky you'll be."

Beanni finished tying her jars onto the sash that was strapped diagonally across her chest. The jars hung securely at her side safely under her cloak, then smiled up at her father's proud face.

"Come on Beanni, my girl, we better go before the stars disappear!" Lorrus said through a chuckle and led his daughter out of the house.

They walked in peaceful silence, despite the chaos that whirled in Beanni's mind. Her thoughts fought against each other, swinging back and forth like a pendulum. On one side she was excited to finally see the infamous beauty of extracting pollen from Strelle fo Bhlàth, on the other was the ugliness of what her brother told her the night before and what it could possibly mean. She tried her hardest to banish all negative thoughts to the back of her mind, so to not ruin the magical night she was about to experience with her father. She let out a deep sigh and focused on each step she took on the road towards Night Forest.

As soon as they reached the undergrowth of the magical forest, a warmth filled Beanni's chest.

"You feel that, my girl?" her father asked gently through a serene sigh. "Gealach Trabem knows we're here and is permitting us to gather what we need," Lorrus explained, as he led his daughter further between the trees.

"Gealach Trabem knows? How?"

"Through the power of violet light, Beanni."

"What? The magic that the royals wield?"

"Indeed. That power comes from Gealach Trabem," Lorrus said with a smile. "Fascinating isn't it?"

With a wide grin, Beanni nodded her head.

"Oh, Bay, we are going to have so much fun tonight, just you wait!" Lorrus declared, then grabbed his daughter's hand and took her straight to the clearing that harboured the most Strelle fo Bhlàth flowers. There were thousands of the violet, star-shaped blooms standing proudly for yards. The pollen they held twinkled like countless stars, they perfectly mirrored the night sky that looked down upon them, between the trees that surrounded the area.

Carefully, Lorrus guided Beanni to the centre of the flower bed, and once they were in place, Beanni took in the enchanting beauty and let the light magic completely calm her.

"Take one of your jars and hold it in your hands, like this," Lorrus instructed her and held out one of his own jars in front of his chest. Beanni did as she was told, without saying a word.

Lorrus nodded his head, then looked up to the starry, night sky. He called out into the darkness, his baritone voice echoing melodically in the stillness, "Sinus seo thoir simul!"

Beanni only had time to blink her eyes once before the shining pollen from all the flowers smiling up at them leapt into the air. The millions of grains moved together gracefully forming curtains of pure light. It reminded Beanni of white silk sheets dancing in the wind on a washing line.

The pollen flew up and up into the night sky, as if it was going to touch the stars. It then spun around in circles above the treetops and fell like waters of a waterfall straight into the two jars that Beanni and her father held in their outstretched hands.

"Wow!" Beanni uttered as she stared at her now full, glowing jar.

"I know! Now put on the lid," Lorrus instructed, whilst tightening a metal lid onto his own full jar.

Without missing a beat, Beanni reached for a lid inside a pocket of her cloak and twisted it onto her jar.

"Great work, Bay!" Lorrus said and gave his daughter a proud wink. He then bent down to her ear and whispered. "Ready to do it all again?"

Beanni didn't need to say anything, her beaming smile was a clear enough response. With another chuckle, Lorrus hung his now full jar back onto his leather sash and got Beanni to follow suit.

"Come on then." He held out his hand and Beanni squeezed her fingers around it in unwavering excitement.

"Let's go!" she squeaked, and followed him out of the clearing to the next area of the forest. She was able to ignore all the worries that were weighing her down moments ago. However, she couldn't help but be aware of a dark presence at the back of her mind.