"Are you ready for this?" Toby confirmed with me, Raven and the other Alphas standing at my side. We had purposefully changed forms for this performance, and I grinned at my little brother's confident demeanor, such a far cry from a few days ago. He nodded, along with the others. With the full might of my new powers, I was able to permanently open their ears to the human language, and the humans' in turn to Ventis.

"Let's do this," I said with a smile, looking back to the crowd of Ventils backstage, eagerly anticipating what was to come. Toby's favor had been received with much enthusiasm from the other tribes, once he had explained the need for it. Sharing in a song of acknowledgment of the losses and new lives that were to be gained through this victory appealed to all, including the Sisters, who wholeheartedly agreed to lead the charge.

The Arcadians had gathered in the center of town for it this time (apparently that was where it had been traditionally hosted before), once again a sea of heads of varying colors and textures waiting for the performance. Except this time, I was not an outsider looking in. I was one with them; a fellow, family. Part of the pack. It felt good to have one again.

A hush fell over the crowd as the lights onstage darkened, and we all shifted into positions. We waited, taking a collective breath before the Sisters sent the signal to begin.

"There's a calm surrender...to the rush of day," Scales started, his voice a low timbre that sounded like a snake's belly slithering through dry grass. His skin and hair began to glow a golden brass color, spotlighting him on the stage. "When the heat of the rolling wave can't be turned away~"

"An enchanted moment," Cephas took over, beginning to walk forward as Scales moved to meet him. "And it sees me through..."
"And it's enough for this restless warrior, just to be with you~"

"And can you feel the love tonight?" They sang in perfect unison, the Alphas joining in in a newly shifted masculine form and adding to the eerily identical voice they shared between the three of them. "It is where we are~"
"Where we are..." the background began to sing, glowing and pulsating softly in time to the melody.

"It's enough...for this wide eyed wanderer..." I crooned softly, "That we got this far...oh~"
"Ooh~" Insanity echoed, unnatural vocal chords perfectly nailing whistle-high notes, rising above the chorus behind us.
"Ooh..."
"Oh, oh~"

"There's a time for everyone," Ela picked up the second verse, the Ventils singing behind her growing in complexity. her strong and sturdy notes unyielding like a mighty oak. "If they only learned~"
"If they only learned..."
"That the twisting kaleidoscope, moves us all in turn~"
"In...turn..."

"There's a rhyme and reason," Zephyr joined in, voice humming and buzzy. "To the wild outdoors..."
"To the wild outdoors—"
"When the heart of this star crossed voyager beats in time with yours~" Aquarius came in, voice clear and sweet as a mountain stream, before harmonizing with the rest of her sisters.
"Oh, oh, o-o-oh!"

"And CAN you feel the love tonight?" I belted out, voice rising above the rest and guiding them to where I needed their voices to be, body lighting up in a supernova of magical light. "Tonight~" My brother and the rest of the solos joined in, shifting to support me and link hands or touch shoulders, beginning to glow in their respective colors. "It is where we are~"
"Oh woah, oh oh~"

"It's enough..." I kept going, shifting to move to the edge of the stage, offering a hand to Krel, standing in the crowd and watching with awe. "To make kings and vagabonds..." He grasped my hand tightly and gasped as his body felt the flow of magic, grinning as the other humans began to copy our movements and hang on to each other, connected in a web of limbs.

"Believe the very BEST!!!" I finished, our packs—both human and Ventil—finally connected together. I began to vocalize, never taking my eyes off of Krel, and he joined in. The humans and Ventils alike were singing in perfect harmony, voices overlapping and mixing and yet never feeling clustered or impractical. The magic swelled with the music, glowing brighter and warmer, washing over everyone in the crowd and causing their skin and hair to grow unnaturally bright. Krel grinned at me, meeting me at each note as the humans joined in the song.

"CAN you feel—"
"You feel...the love tonight?"
"—the love tonight?"
"Tonight~"

I smiled as I sang, love overwhelming and pouring out of every bit of my essence, in a constant feedback loop between Krel and myself. "It is where we are, oh~"
"Oh~"

"It's enough..."  I smiled, looking around to see everyone else, singing for their loves, to their loves, the ones they had lost and the ones they had gained. I could see the Sisters, their mates, the Alphas of their clans and their mates, the humans and their husbands and wives, their friends, their children on both sides, each singing for each other. "For this wide eyed wanderer, that we got this far, ah~~~"

"CAAAAAANNN~!!!"
"You feel, the love—"
"Can you feel the love tonight?"
"Tonight..."
"It is where we are..."
"—where we are!"
"Woa-oah!!!"
"Oooh, woah..."

"It's enough..." I grinned, watching them each sing a personal song to each other. "To make kings and vagabonds, believe the very BEST~~~!!!"

I drew closer, the song turning much softer and sweeter, the words the same between people and yet so intimate and unique to each one. "Can you feel...the love tonight?"
"Tonight~"

I saw people holding each other, Ventils cuddling and preening, and friends linking hands and arms around shoulders as they continued. "The peace the evening brings?"
"Mmm..."
"The world for once...in per-fect harmony..." I smiled, pressing my forehead to Krel's, our heart and core beating and pulsating in perfect sync. "With all...its...liv—ing...things..."

**********

"That was klebtastic," Krel sighed, stretching his arms high above his head from his place on the tree branch. I smiled at him, leaning in closer to his sun-warmed body as an arm landed around my shoulders. I had reverted my body to my original form used in Arcadia Oaks; Eclipse was part of me now, yes, but I had no need for gigantic horns every waking moment.

We were perched in the Kissing Tree yet again, only this time the sun was dipping below the horizon line and setting the sky on fire, glinting off buildings of Arcadia Oaks before they lit up like stars against the midnight sky. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" I asked quietly after we had been sitting in silence for some time. "Of course," he responded, and I could feel his eyes on me. I flushed happily.

"I think I finally realize what my mom said about listening to trees."
"Oh really? Trees can talk?"
"Silence. Anyways, she told me when I was a kid that you needed to listen to the trees because they told stories about our world, and if I did I would prosper in the Forest of Life."
"Ah....what's the Forest of Life?"

"Where we go when we die. Our magic returns to Eclipse and our bodies are given back to nature in the form of a seed to grow again. It's the closest thing to the afterlife we have."
"Oh."
"Oh," I agreed.

"The thing is, I think it was a metaphor," I said, gazing off into the distance. "The trees are those who have come before us. Parents, Elders, the Sisters, Eclipse...they tell stories. Listening and taking the advice of others is important. It can make your life flourish."
"Well, I can't say Eclipse didn't make anything interesting, so I guess your mama had some sort of point."

I laughed loudly at that, Krel joining in soon after. "Ah, what does my mother know?" I grinned. "She's not my family." I nudged his shoulder pointedly and he nudged me back. And I guess if I have to give her some credit, Eclipse did help by spiting me into going to investigate humans, I thought to myself.

But that was unimportant. What was important was here, now, with Krel and the family I had built in Arcadia. I heard Krel swallow from beside me, and before I could ask about it he said, "I think you still owe me a kiss from the first time we were here." I laughed as his face turned red, scooting closer.

"The last time I gave you one you almost fell out of the tree," I teased, and he scowled playfully. "Then I need to prove that I can properly be kissed in the Kissing Tree," he replied, voice completely deadpan serious but his mouth twitching into a silly smile. "And besides, it resets every time. You owe me a kiss." I laughed harder, and he dropped the act. "You don't have to if you don't want to—" he started, before I cut him off.

He nearly fell out of the tree again. I almost couldn't stop him I was laughing so hard. But that was okay. We had time to get better at it.