Umbrum was pleased to find Eventide castle just the way he left, dark and moody. Well, almost. In his absence, Urainia put in a couple hundred candelabras in all throughout the castle during his absence. Yes, Urainia can't see in the dark, but Umbrum didn't like to have lots of light in his house. So whenever he walked through the halls, he snuffed out the candle's flames, which annoyed Urainia, who'd have to relight the candles again.

After an argument, Urainia and Umbrum decided to keep to separate areas of the castle, as not to annoy the other with the lighting, or lack thereof.

Umbrum had no use for Urainia's servants, blocking off his end of Eventide with a great, thorny wall of darkness, later replaced with a proper door. It being summer, there was no reason to him to step outside, into the sunlight, unless he absolutely needed too.

Speaking of the sunlight, he knew of Dia and Noctave's relationship. He wondered how long it would last, seeing as Noctave always preferred humans over gods.

Why would she prefer humans to Gods? She's very active with her followers, seeing how she's spent all day at their temples. But the power imbalance is very great - though a human can't hold a grudge forever, since they're mortal. 

He sighed. There were bigger things to focus on.

He ordered his shadow soldiers to guard the borders of Noctaria. If a God or Goddess came near, he wanted to know immediately.

He was interrupted by a prayer sheet that was sent to him. This is standard practice in this world. You write something to a certain god or goddess and they get it almost immediately. Usually you send one during a service, but anytime is OK. Just don't expect a speedy reply.

This prayer sheet read as thus:

Hey Umbrum,

Since you're outta the Abyss, can I make my skeleton army now? Any land I conquer is yours

From Maria, a loyal follower

His rage was immeasurable. He had to calm down with for a while first. He took a drink of some wine and used his punching bag.

In scratchy ink, his response read as thus:

Maria

I know you are one of the most loyal and fanatic followers of mine, so I'm only going to say this once.

NO.

Talk to me again once you have respect for the dead.

He made his signature on the paper and sent it on its way. Now, back to business-

Another prayer sheet arrived. From Maria.

Respect for the dead? How is creating a skeleton army to conquer the world not respecting the dead?...

Umbrum tore up the paper and told his favorite raven, Kondrik, to go to Maria and peck out her eyes. Harsh, but a fitting punishment.

Noctave returned after dark. 

She apologized to Urainia. "I came as soon as I could, my followers love me too much too let me leave." 

Urainia smiled at her. "That's great, Noctave! Did you already have dinner?" "Enough for the rest of the week, along with some offerings!" She made baskets of delicious food appear.

Urainia was glad, but unsure what to do with all the food. She gave it all to the cooks, hoping they'd find use for it.

While Urainia was away, Umbrum approached Noctave. She flinched, clearly not comfortable with his presence. "Did you get any wine?"

Noctave adjusted her harness and shook her head. "I'm not really big into wine, but I got some mead-"

 "Almost as good!" 

Noctave didn't continue the conversation.

The next day, Umbrum looked out the window and saw Noctave working in her garden. He didn't like sunlight, but bonding with his daughter was too important to him. He teleported to the shade of a nearby weeping willow.

"Hey Noctave! Do you need help with your garden?"

 Noctave was in the middle of planting some thyme. "No, I'm good." 

"You don't have anything for me to kill? Any weeds, and pests?" 

Noctave thought about it. It was clear that he wanted to bond with her, but she mostly had everything under control. Well, he could prevent more animals coming in. 

"Are you able to only cause misery to certain animals? Because I need animals to help me out, pollinating and stuff." 

"Of course, I just need to know what animals you need to keep out." 

Noctave counted them out on her fingers. "Snails, deer, bunnies, small fairy dragons. You know, those sort of animals." 

Umbrum nodded.

Umbrum put his staff on the ground and it emanated a dark energy that would last over the course of a week.

The garden became a dangerous hot spot of misery over the week. 

Noctave saw that the snails sat in the middle of the garden, yet didn't move to eat anything. Out of kindness, she always moved them away from the garden to slip away to happier places.

 Then the rabbits came and lie down in the garden, barely moving. Noctave moved them out.

It was repeated with deer, faery dragons, and many other animals. 

Was this the best decision? But it did help her out. She couldn't bare to refuse Umbrum's help, so she let the circle of misery exist.

Dia arrived to Noctaria on her golden chariot, but was stopped by Umbrum's shadow guards sitting on a cloud in front of her. 

Surprised, she told them "I thought your kind couldn't handle sunlight!" 

Both of them laughed at her. "You're wrong, what a surprise! Now, state your business." 

Both of the shadow soldiers stared directly at her, their blue and green eyes seemed to hold malicious intent if she slipped up. 

"I came to see my friend, Noctave." 

"You mean your girlfriend, right?"

It was if she was knocked off her feet. 

"How...how do you know?" 

"Noxis told Umbrum, and Umbrum told us." 

Dia felt concerned and fearful. "Well...can I see her?"

 "You'll have to wait while we tell Umbrum of your presence." 

Skypainter snorted, not waiting to have to wait long. "Easy girl, it'll be fine."

Noctave was flying nearby, and was able to convince the shadow guards to let Dia in. They flew side by side.

"Thanks for helping me get in, Noctave. Why is there more security around Noctaria all of a sudden?" 

"Umbrum didn't want just any god coming into Noctaria without him noticing or doing something about it." 

"I see. Does your father give out free passes into Noctaria?" 

Noctave chuckled. "You can ask him yourself if you're brave enough to." 

Dia was not brave enough to. 

So she changed the topic to their gardens. 

Dia was mildly horrified that there was a circle of misery in Noctave's garden, but said nothing out of politeness.

"That reminds me of something, Dia. You likely know that the moon will be full next week from the medallion on my hat." Dia nodded. 

Noctave continued. "Rather than just gaining a massive amount of power, I also will gain a different personality." 

Dia blinked. "You'll remember me, right?" "Of course, I don't lose memories, though I will be a very different person." 

Dia felt great amounts of dread. "Will this very different person be friendly?" 

"Yes! It's the Flower Moon, so she will be a bit obsessed with plant life and nature, but she's very sweet. She may also look a great bit different from me, but I guess it's still me?" 

Dia went silent, which greatly concerned Noctave. 

"You aren't going to break up with me over this, will you?" 

Dia felt a bit flustered, shaking her head. "I won't, don't worry, but I guess I am...well, worried." 

Noctave winked at Dia. "Don't be, it'll only happen once every month!"

It was meant as a joke, but it didn't ease Dia's nerves.