After debating Junseo's request with Scout Jia, Knight-Master Lei allowed an excursion to the Go family's country estates. They were all keyed up with Junseo nearly vibrating with nerves as the whole enterprise rested on his crystal sensitivities and kite building experience. At least in the countryside he did not need to worry about the Rainbow-maker asking awkward questions. Scout Jia thought the whole trip a bit of a lark until he saw his partner reviewing the detailed report on the distances tested and suggestions for design modifications.

Song-hee and Junseo had serious questions about the harmonic imbalances they tracked near, and above, the palace walls. Rainbow-maker Mein proved less help than they had hoped. He kept repeating, "Nothing proven, nor could it be shared beyond our palace circle."

It took a great deal of persistence for Junseo to coax a short list of stones still effective close to the walls and those which were completely silenced by the dissonance. He put together that information with what they had already discovered walking around with crystal powered blooms and stalled out the flyers. He drew a circle of major attributes and known harmonics for common stones but it needed too many corrections so he started fresh. After his third attempt he decided to stop wasting paper and drew circles in the dust. When Chenhui and Hae-sung saw what he was trying to do they volunteered to color some rocks to move to different spots on the wheel. Jin watched the lines getting rubbed out so dug out a large archery target they could pin string onto. Song-hee double checked the placements and made suggestions for different zone alignments. When Junseo finally took a step back, he couldn't help feeling the overall pattern looked familiar.

"Are you certain the boy has never been in the Crystal Pavilion?" Rainbow-maker Mein hissed when he took in the finished product.

"He was not yet sixteen when he arrived," Knight-Master Lei scratched his chin.

As he overheard this exchange, Junseo rocked backward on his heels, then hid in behind San Jin and Song-hee. He understood the significance of the spiral arrangement they had just worked out. More importantly, he knew there was a missing piece in the pattern. He could see his mentors beckoning so took a deep breath before reciting the reasoning for the placements.

"Song-hee and I have been talking about overcoming the dissonance fields. The color spectrum can be expressed in frequencies we can play like a chord. Our idea was to link up a tonic and subdominant together and maybe add a minor."

"It's how we can send and call the flyers to our tuned stones, right?" Chenhui asked quietly.

"Yes, that is the general idea. This is just a way to boost through the barrier. Or at least that's what we hope." Junseo turned to Song-hee who nodded solemnly. The Rainbow-maker's dark look stopped Junseo in his tracks. He turned to Knight-Master Lei who signaled for him to continue.

"I'm not sure this lay-out is completely correct," Junseo picked up a couple of stones and moved them to make a wider space in the middle. "If you follow the sequences along the spectrum it seems like there is an anchor stone missing. It should rest somewhere between the blues and the blacks but it would need to have as wide a range as a clear quartz to fit the pattern. I don't know of a stone like that but maybe even if this wheel isn't quiet right, we can still get enough harmonics sorted for our purposes."

"Oh, you are correct. More than that. You have worked out a large part of a final mastery test for the stone guilds. Few pass, because of the missing dark star. The only known example in the south was in the Moon Temple's Crystal Pavilion in Ilidan but it was destroyed in an earthquake."

Junseo looked away, trying to fight back the tears memories of that day prompted. Song-hee came to his rescue with a quick-witted question, "You said the only known example in the south. Does that mean there are others, say in the north, or overseas?"

"There are at least three set in what the northern-court call their crown jewels. Two for the Prince, one for the Princess. Legends says only true heirs can activate the stones but such a display has not been seen in living memory." The Rainbow-maker's pronouncement hung in the air like an accusation.

The tone puzzled Junseo so he had to ask, "Was there an area of dissonance left after the Crystal Pavilion fell?"

"That is definitely outside the scope of your training. I know our contract has strong confidentiality clauses but we are straying into state secrets. The trouble you could be in with the guilds is bad enough. Don't borrow more." The Rainbow-maker wrapped his robes tightly and minced around the display the boys had set up.

Knight-Master Lei gave a curt nod. "Right, we don't need to delve into the theoretical so much as the practical. What were you trying to do with all of this?" He waved his hand at the group.

Song-hee and Chenhui quickly pulled out the miniature flyers they had been testing.

"Outside the dissonance zones we can get these little beauties to go any direction, faster with the winds obviously, but they can tack and hover if needs be." Song-hee backed up a few steps and started the demonstration. The other boys edged back into a circle and started a bewildering series of passes. Junseo sent his flyer straight up and concentrated hard enough to started sweating. Soon his flyer stalled and shuddered. San Jin stepped in beside Junseo to help guide it back down safely.

"That's further than you got it last week," he said.

"Yes, the V-shape helped but even with switching out the stones we don't quite have it yet." Junseo couldn't help sounding frustrated.

"But you send a crystal powered object through a known barrier." Knight-Master Lei reminded the boys.

"If true, that is far more important than getting your toy to go they way you wanted." Rainbow-maker Mein took a closer look at the device.

Song-hee turned away, muttering, "Like we would work this hard just for toys." Hae-sung put his hand on his friend's shoulder and shook his head.

San Jin quietly studied his own flyer. "The V-shape worked better than parallel and that was far better than a straight line up. So, how can we get more resonance without adding weight?"

"Very good question," Knight-Master Lei smiled and looked around at the group.

"If it is like a musical instrument," Chenhui started.

"What would make more of a chamber or amplify the vibrations?" San Jin scratched his head.

"Maybe a bit of a curve? Adjusted for different tones, of course." Song-hee said and looked over to where their team's leader was staring into space. After a tense couple of minutes Junseo broke into a smile.

"Ok. I think we can run another test after dinner. Only we probably need to pull some more wire. Or maybe just recycle all of these?"

"Keep one of this design for comparison," Knight-Master Lei reminded them before accompanying their guest to the palace gates. "I have them all registered with the guild so just let them run with their ideas as much as possible. I didn't think we would run up against craft secrets," Knight-Master Lei said.

"Keep it under wraps in your group. I'm just surprised how fast they worked it out. It usually takes years of exposure to different stones to be able to read the secondary resonances. I have to warn you it makes it all the more likely Junseo could have the makings of a stone master. Does he still train at the temple?"

"Not lately, but the invitation has been renewed."

"They are bound to be watching and testing so try not to leave him on his own with them." Rainbow-maker Mein cautioned.

"You are right. The Temple Master can be surprisingly ruthless." Knight-Master Lei admitted before taking his leave.