Have a cute 2D Olivia <3 (all hail @46Kibahime ~) More art inc next chapters. Also a crappy map at the end of the chapter. Yay maps! 

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The rest of school passed by like it usually did, boring Olivia into oblivion.

It wasn't that it was hard or that she didn't get it. Most of the stuff just didn't feel challenging. It didn't feel like this would ever help her make an impact. They'd spent the last few months skimming the top layers of various subjects, supposedly to give them an idea of which ones they might find interesting when they started free learning. Olivia just hoped that when they finally got into it, free learning wouldn't just be more of the same.

Freedom from the classroom couldn't come fast enough.

Just before they were finally released from the afternoon session, Olivia realised she had a problem--she hadn't recharged Viri after last night's little excursion. She hadn't used her scream, which was something. She'd still be able to transform. It just wouldn't hold for long. As Viri had explained more than once, transforming Olivia into Banshee took almost as much of her energy as it did to use her ultimate. Olivia had just assumed that the auroras would recharge Viri like they did every night, completely forgetting that the auroras had long since come and gone by the time the Manifested appeared last night.

Starlight save her, she was a moron.

Her brain was working overtime trying to come up with an excuse as they grabbed their bags and left the classroom to the sound of Ericka's excited babble.

"You two are going to get those sponsorships--trust me," she was saying. "Me and Liv are going to talk you up so much that the High Speakers themselves will be coming over to see what's going on! Isn't that right, Liv?"

Olivia licked her lips, feeling a little like a Manifested caught in a scream--that was to say, stunned. "Um, yep, that's right!"

Ericka narrowed her eyes. "You are still coming, aren't you? You're not going to cave into your parents again?" She leaned forward. "You totally are, aren't you? Liv, they shouldn't--"

"No, no," said Olivia, holding up her hands. "I have every intention of coming, trust me. I just remember that I was supposed to do something after school first, that's all. I've just got to get that done before I go."

"What thing is that, exactly?" demanded Ericka.

"Rikky," said Ariel, placing a hand on Ericka's shoulder and pulling her back. "Relax. If Liv says she has something to do first, that's fine. She isn't obligated to come, you know."

Ericka folded her arms. "She already misses out on everything just because they don't like the temple. Pancakes or not, overprotective doesn't even begin to cover it."

Thomas glanced at Olivia. "Did you want me to walk with you? I don't mind if I'm late."

"You should get to the gathering as soon as you can," said Olivia. "I'll be fine. I'm not going to fall into a canal and drown the first time you take your eyes off me."

Thomas gave her a small smile. "I know. Sorry, Liv."

Olivia shrugged it off, turning around to leave. "Anyway, I'll see you guys there, promise!" Then, back over her shoulder, she pointed at Ericka. "If you don't see me tonight, you can yell at me about it tomorrow!"

"And you'll make me pancakes!" called Ericka.

"And I'll make you pancakes!" agreed Olivia, giving them a final wave before taking off.

She went a few blocks before she stopped, pulling at the rollerblade on one boot like she was trying to make sure it was attached. She stayed like that for thirty or so seconds, watching the crowd, ensuring no one had taken a particular notice of her before she slipped into the alley beside her and hid amongst the shadows.

Olivia opened her bag, and Viri's shape appeared.

"I totally forgot to recharge you last night, didn't I?" said Olivia.

"Yup."

Olivia suppressed a sigh. "Why didn't you tell me that this morning?"

"Um, I was distracted with the singing. It was so pretty."

"Guess we're both easily distracted," said Olivia. "Should be okay though. We'll recharge now. Shall we?"

"Let's go!"

"Ascend, shadow of Skypillar!"

The shadows swirled, her bag and skates dissolving to smoke as the transformation took hold. As comfortable as she felt in her usual clothes, this transformation fit her like a second skin. It covered up her own shortcomings and made her strong. Capable.

She loved it.

Banshee gave Grief and Joy their customary twirl before sheathing them. Shifting to shadow, she scaled the building next to her with ease and was on the rooftops a second or so later. The intricate designs in the starstone walls made great handholds when you could support your entire weight on a single fingertip.

She headed towards the skyshrine that sat on the crossroads of Sylrael and Cevinari's central and inner districts, figuring it was the closest non-temple ground skyshrine. She guessed that she had about ten minutes before Viri ran out of energy and dimmed, and Banshee knew from several races with Cryo that she could make it across a district in three.

Banshee took off.

She was shadow and smoke as she leapt from one rooftop to the next, barely touching their smooth starstone surfaces with her boot before she'd pushed off in a perfectly calculated leap to the next. The air couldn't drag her, couldn't slow her down, and it definitely couldn't wipe the grin off her face.

Somewhere amongst it all, she felt two solid vibrations in the centre of her tattoo--Cryo asking from wherever he was if she wanted him to transform. Banshee tapped her own tattoo three times in response, letting him know that she was just recharging.

Their system wasn't perfect, but it worked. It was one of Cryo's ideas, back in their first few months of being Luminaries. If he spoke like he was seventy now, back then, he'd been more like three hundred, but she'd worn him down. Cryo's precious formal speak just wasn't designed for dealing with Banshees that insisted on communicating through various bird calls and bad puns.

She found herself wondering if Cryo ever let himself enjoy the perks that being a Luminary had to offer.

One and a half minutes later, Banshee's run came to an end. Leaping off a roof, she landed on the thick edges of the ramp leading up to the skyshrine's base from which the rest of the tall, narrow pillar of starstone rose nearly eight floors into the sky. The Speakers attending to the shrine noticed her. One moved to approach, but Banshee, not particularly inclined to spend her time on semantics, simply touched two fingers to her forehead in acknowledgement before scaling the side of the skyshrine.

She reached the apex chamber quickly, pulling herself up and over the edge with ease and after slipping past the dark, silken curtains that hung from the edges, Banshee knelt before the hexagonal indent that lay in the centre of the floor.

"Shadow of Skypillar, return."

Banshee's visor and amber-white lengths of hair returned to the shadows for Olivia's glasses and auburn mess of a ponytail. Back in the outfit she'd put on this morning, she was more than a little out of place at the apex of a skyshrine.

Olivia bent down, scooping up the small bundle of rags curled up in her shadow.

"Ready for a recharge, Viri?" she asked.

Olivia held Viri out over the indent, already flooding with auroralight at the Ascended's proximity. It moved like water as Viri slipped into its embrace and when she was completely covered, the top layer crystallised. It created a weirdly warped impression of Viri, catching glimpses of her violet eyes and ethereal limbs and refracting them back through a thousand facets of the starstone cocoon.

"Take your time," said Olivia, moving to sit by the edge. "We're not in a rush today."

And so as Viri recharged, Olivia spent the time looking out over the city, humming to herself.

She could see everything from up here. The six districts, sloping away like even the building height was paying homage to Skypillar's form. The temple grounds and the Core chamber itself, the golden starstone gleaming in the afternoon light. The bright blue strips of the canals that separated it all, fed from the waterfalls of the Celestial's eye.

And behind it all, Skypillar. The eternal, unmoving mountain that far outsized anything else within sight. The guardian that protected this city of stars from the Other.

Olivia's gaze lingered on the place where Skypillar's peak vanished into cloud. The High Speakers said that Skypillar held the heavens up, that it was the one thing stopping the Other from crashing the stars into the ground below and plunging the world back into the darkness it had known before. There were many theories about why Skypillar had taken such a burden upon itself, but Olivia's favourite was about Starsong.

Her parents had given her a stern talking to the day she'd come home, starry eyed about the tale of Skypillar and Starsong. It said that once, they had been a single being, their love for eachother so pure. The Other had seen this love and become jealous, splitting them apart. Starsong had been injured, and to protect her, Skypillar placed her among the heavens where the Other could not reach her. In a jealous rage, the Other had threatened to bring down the heavens, and would have succeeded had Skypillar not caught them. As far as the legends went, Skypillar was still holding up the heavens to this day, and the Other still trying to destroy Skypillar's heart.

And speaking of her parents... Olivia pulled her Liaiser out of her bag, sending them a message that said she'd be staying at Ariel's house tonight with Ericka, going over some sponsorship opportunities. It wasn't a lie--they would be, if only because Ariel's house was the closest to the temple after the gathering was done.

"I hope they get their sponsorships tonight," said Olivia, leaning back, fingers locked behind her head. "It'd be nice if at least two of us had our lives somewhat worked out."

Viri's voice drifted through the air, sounding like she was underwater. "And what about you?"

Olivia sat up, scooting over to sit beside Viri's cocoon. "What do you mean, what about me? I'm a Luminary. That's all I ever want to be. Banshee can do far more good than Olivia ever could. I'll live off temple offerings, forage in the forests for food if I have to." Olivia's gaze settled on the auroralight twisting around inside the indent. It was different to the ribbons of light that spun their way through the skies each night. She knew their song. She sang it to herself every night. "Whatever it takes, I plan to be the best damned Luminary this city has ever seen."

Almost absentmindedly, Olivia let a few notes slip past her lips, trying to match the writhing light inside Viri's cocoon but she couldn't get it right. She tried a few more melodies, variations of the aurorasong she'd figured out over the years, but none of them seemed to fit. "Why are they so different?"

Viri caught on. "What you call auroralight isn't the same as what gets trapped in the skyshrines."

"How is it not the same?" asked Olivia, gesturing at the cocoon. "It's the auroralight that gets trapped inside the skyshrines, isn't it?"

"Only part of it," said Viri after a moment of careful consideration. "It's... sort of like if you were to put your leg inside a room, but keep the rest of you out. It's still you inside that room, but it's not the whole you. It's not even the most important part."

"And I don't suppose you can explain that any further?" asked Olivia hopefully, watching as the cocoon returned to its water-like state and Viri slipped through its surface.

Viri just sat on her shoulder and gave her a guilty look. "I'm sorry, Olivia. The rules won't let me."

It was always those damned rules. Olivia pursed her lips. "It's okay, Viri. Not your fault." She glanced at the sun. "I say we give it twenty minutes or so, then we make our way to the gathering. Sound good?"

"Sounds good!"

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Rule two of a secret identity: always reappear in the same section of the same district that you'd transformed in whenever possible. Fabricating a story about where you'd been within a single district was easy enough, but people seemed to pay an annoying amount of attention to details, like which bridges they'd seen you cross in the last few hours.

Cough, Ericka.

It was because of that that, some fifty minutes later with some rather angry looking storm clouds overhead, Olivia finally made it all the way across central Cevinari and into to the temple grounds. Even so, Olivia slowed as she crossed the bridge, watching the ground roll by beneath her blades as the rose-tinted starstone gave way to gold.

A small smile crept its way onto her lips. She loved the stories about the golden starstone, but she loved the way it danced with the cloud-muted sunlight more, like they were singing some silent song in spite of the storm threatening to separate them.

At the base of the Cevrael skyshrine, the gathering was already well underway. Hundreds of people crowded the base, and there were probably a few hundred more inside. Unlike most skyshrines which were more like thin pillars, the seven on temple grounds were named and stood more like towers. They were thicker and actually had rooms and a central stairwell, all the way up to the top of the apex chamber--which was the main reason that Olivia avoided them whenever she could.

Olivia came to a complete halt and pulled out her Liaiser.

She sent a message to Ericka. [Where are you?]

The reply came quickly. [Thomas says we're on the second floor.]

And so up Olivia went, managing to find herself a drink along the way. She thanked the person, took a sip and headed up the stairs, scanning the crowd for Ericka when someone ran into her.

Olivia's drink went everywhere. Her shirt, her skirt, her glasses--nothing was spared from the liquid. She stood there for a long moment, vaguely aware of the hands on her wrist and waist that were the only reason she was still upright at all.

"My deepest apologies," said the guy who'd run into her. "I didn't see you. Are you all right?"

"Little stunned, but I'm good," said Olivia, wiping off her glasses with what she hoped was a dry corner of her shirt. "Probably my own fault, I wasn't looking."

"Please," he said, holding out a hand for her glasses. "I'll take you to clean up, I'm sure that--"

"I'm really okay," said Olivia. She put her glasses on, getting her first glimpse of the guy. Black hair, the oddly coloured eyes--one green, the other a dark, dark grey--and her stomach dropped. "Oh, starlight. You're--oh damn, what's your name. Jake? Jay--no, Jason! You're Jason!"

Jason blinked, something like confusion flitting across his face before he got it under control. "Yes, I am indeed Jason. May I take you to a place where you can clean up, or--"

"Seriously, I'm fine," said Olivia, well aware of the remains of her drink still dripping out of her fringe. At this point, she just wanted to be out of the stares everyone was giving them. She pushed a piece of fringe aside, her fingers lingering by the side of her head. "Don't you worry about me. You go back to doing your temple stuff. I'll just go to the bathroom. Bye, sorry!"

Olivia turned to leave, put her foot in a puddle, and slipped.

She pitched forward. Her fingers swiped down the side of her head. Her arms went out to catch herself, but for the second time in as many minutes, Jason saved her from a spectacular faceplant.

"Careful," he said.

"Sorry," said Olivia, once again half blind as she righted herself. "I--"

She moved her foot and under her boot, she felt something crunch.

Olivia closed her eyes, drawing in a long breath through her nose. "Please tell me that wasn't my glasses."

She could hear the disdain in Jason's voice. "It was. Come with me."

Cheeks burning with shame, Olivia started to mutter that she didn't need his help, but with most of the room now a blur, she didn't really have a choice. With his hands on her arm, he guided her through the crowd and presumably to what sounded and smelled like a well kept private bathroom.

"I'll have a new set of clothes sent," said Jason, sitting her down. "And as for your glasses--"

"Just--don't worry about the clothes or the glasses," said Olivia stiffly. She stuck a hand in her bag, fishing around for her Liaiser. "I'd appreciate it if you could message someone for me, but that's it. Really."

Jason placed something on the table--presumably the remains of her glasses--and took her Liaiser. "Who am I messaging?"

"Ericka. Just tell her where I am. Please."

A few moments later, he handed back the Liaiser. "Done. Is there anything else you require?"

Starlight dim, Olivia hated that... dismissive, resigned tone to his voice. He was the one that'd run into her. It wasn't like she wanted him trying to take care of her. Glasses or not, she was damned well--

Olivia cooled herself. "Nope. I'm good. Thank you for your help. Enjoy your gathering. Bye."

She heard Jason stand to leave. With her eyes on the rather blurry floor, she thought he might have hesitated, but his balanced footsteps left the room a few seconds after, leaving her alone.

Olivia covered her face with her hands. She wasn't going to cry, damn it all. She took a deep breath. She was not going to cry.

A few minutes later, Ericka's voice found her. "Liv! Oh, Skypillar, what happened to you?"

"Jason ran into me. Spilt my drink all over me, then I managed to slip over and step on my glasses. The only way it could have been worse is if I'd had a seizure right there in the middle of the floor." Olivia made a squeaking noise with her lips as the sound of running water came from a sink somewhere. "Please just help me so I can crawl into a hole and die. I really don't want to relive it."

"Jason?" said Thomas's voice, and Olivia had to resist the urge to groan. He was the last person she wanted seeing her like this. "As in Jason Frostsong, the kid of the Governor and the High Speaker?"

"What did I say about not wanting to relive it?"

"I know," said Thomas. "But seriously. Of all the people you could have run into, it was him. I heard he's kind of a jerk. Do I need to go and have words to him? Was he not watching where he was--"

"Thomas, shut up," said Ericka. She gave Olivia a damp cloth, who wiped over her face with it before starting on the wet patches of her clothes, for all the good it did. "Your glasses aren't as bad as they could have been. The frame's snapped here, but only one of the lenses is damaged. Looks like you only stepped on one side."

"Yay," said Olivia. "Now I'll sort of be able to see the hole as I crawl into it to die."

"Oh, stop acting like the heavens are crashing down on us," said Ericka. "Thomas, see if you can fix the frame. We'll get you cleaned up and then we'll go straight back out and hunt down Ariel. Last I saw of her, she was off trying to talk to Lucian."

As Ericka ran off with that thread of conversation topic, Olivia felt her tattoo go warm. Sure enough, not long after that, she felt two taps through her tattoo.

She tapped back once, masking the movement under the guise of moving the cloth.

Cryo replied to that with another two taps, somehow managing to make them more insistent than the previous ones.

Olivia got the message. Meeting was starting. Transform and get your butt over here now. How she was supposed to get out of this situation was another matter entirely.

"I think I've fixed it... sort of?" said Thomas. "Wait--nope. The arm fell off again. Maybe if I just--"

Olivia held out her hand. "It's fine, don't worry. I can wear them as long as one arm is still attached to the frame. There's no glass that's going to poke my eye out, right?"

"I popped the damaged lens out, so--"

"Then that's fine," said Olivia. Thomas placed the glasses in her hand, already unfolded and oriented the right way. She told herself he was just trying to help and put them on. They didn't sit quite right, but at least one of her eyeballs was useful again. "Thanks, Rikky, Thomas. Um, if you don't mind, I might just finish cleaning myself up alone. I'll come find you later."

"You sure, Liv?" asked Ericka. "I don't mind staying."

"Perfectly sure," said Olivia, giving her a smile.

"Kay," said Ericka, heading for the door. "Just message me if you need me. We'll be around."

Thomas, on the other hand, remained standing there. "I really don't like the idea of leaving you by yourself. Are you--"

Ericka turned around and yanked him by the arm. "I just asked her that, she said yes, she's a big girl and can look after herself. Let's go, mister."

And with one, final, dejected look, Thomas disappeared after Ericka.

Olivia gave it a moment before heading out a side door and into the halls that led away from the Cevrael shrine. Yet again, the double tap vibrated across her tattoo, and Olivia responded by tapping her own about five million times in rapid succession--just to make sure Cryo had the message.

With that, she stalked off, looking for a place to transform in peace.

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A/N - Lemme know what you think so far? ^_^