A meeting was quickly called in Castle Dayspring. Cumulus sent messenger falcons to all the gods around, including Urainia and Noctave. Urainia read it aloud.

"Noctave, the goddess of the moon, has seen a vision that says the return of Umbrum will be on the next eclipse, this coming winter. If you are able to come to Illuminana this evening, please do so. We must formulate a plan to deal with this threat."

Urainia was not fond of Cumulus, but she decided to show up anyway. She's the only one who really knew Umbrum. Noctave was worried about being so firmly in the spotlight, too.

"What if I say something wrong, and they think I'm just crazy? Or what if they accuse you of plotting something with him? You know that's totally what they're thinking."

Urainia rolled up the parchment and put it in her dress pocket. "I know you're worried, but the gods like you. You're friends with Dia! I'm the one that should be worried, not you. Cumulus never liked me for associating myself with Umbrum."

Urainia never wore a veil in private, but always covered her face in public. The other gods always commented on it, especially Iris.

"Why do you even wear that these days? I thought you said it was a sign of married women in Noctaria."

Urainia sighed. "It is. Me and Umbrum never officially divorced. I thought you knew that already, Iris."

Iris glared at Urainia and walked away. Noctave was surprised to see someone she always thought was calm and mature insult her mother like that.

The great hall of the castle was painted in blues and gold, showing scenes from Illuminana's history and the glorious day time sky. There wasn't enough chairs for all the gods, so many of them sat on pillows.

Cumulus spoke first, being the king of Illuminana. "We all have heard the news of Noctave's vision, though there are many conflicting accounts. Thankfully, she has come to tell us exactly what she saw."

Noctave reluctantly stepped next to Cumulus, and saw all the gods staring at her. She felt nervous, but she knew she had to explain what she saw calmly.

"My vision was brief, but very scary. At least to me. I saw an eclipse, a solar eclipse, and a bunch of crows and ravens showed up and scratched my with their talons. I'm not entirely sure what it means, though I think it's likely it's saying something about Umbrum."

She answered some of the god's concerns, like "Are you sure that's all you saw?", most of which could be answered with a simple "No,".

The gods discussed amongst themselves what they would do in the event that Umbrum would return. They didn't have anything good to say about Umbrum, calling him a monster, a scourge, a plague.

Many of the gods has never met Umbrum, yet spoke about him as if they knew if personally.

Urainia began to feel furious. If anyone in that room knew Umbrum, it was her. She knew there was more to him than his bad attitude and questionable actions.

Urainia performed a flashy light spell to get everyone's attention. It worked fantastically.

She addressed the entire room.

"I know all of you fear Umbrum, but your fears are baseless for the most part. I will debunk these myths you so deeply believe:

First, Umbrum was a loving husband, and he never laid a hand on me all the years we were together.

Second, Umbrum isn't the most powerful and evil god in existence. Light weakened him, and, again, he never laid a hand on me. Was he arrogant? Yes. Was he cranky? Almost all the time. Was he evil? No, not at all.

Thirdly, he is the father of Noctave."

Noctave froze. No, Urainia didn't. Urainia didn't just tell everyone her secret.

"...Mom? What did you do?"

"I've told them all the truth." Noctave saw that the gods looking at her differently, even Dia. "Did you have to? Did you really have to tell everybody the secret?"

"What good did keeping the secret serve, Noctave?"

"What good?! What good is sharing the secret with everybody?!" They argued more, and the gods watched.

Dia left, not being able to take the hostile turn. She needed to step away for a moment and get some air.

Tenerbrisi, the replacement god of darkness, noticed something.                                                        Both Umbrum and Noctave have teal eyes. No other god has them, yet nobody had brought it up. He shared this revelation with Philliana, goddess of love and the oceans. Philiana passed it on, and Noctave felt trapped. She left, and met Dia hanging on the balcony.

Dia and Noctave hugged each other, and they talked about what they'd do next.

"Would you happen to know where the Abyss is?"

Noctave shook her head. "No, but I'm sure that with my mother's library, I'll find out. I haven't seen him since I was 3, though."

Dia put her hand on Noctave's shoulder. "You'll figure it out. I believe in you."

"Thanks, Dia."

Dia asked Cumulus if Noctave could stay over.

"Maybe if she redoes the ritual in a different environment, there'll be more satisfying results."

Urainia interrupted it, saying "No, I don't think that's a good idea. I fear you don't respect my daughter as well, knowing who her father is. You and Umbrum never liked each other."

"I like Noctave well enough, but I guess you can assume and exclude me from things if I do it to you."

Urainia and Noctave left with the wolf carriage. Urainia began to have suspicions that Dia and Noctave are far more than friends.