Cryo was about to tap his tattoo for what might have been the eighth or ninth time when he heard the doors to the Starlight Hall swing open.

He turned to see Banshee stalking towards him, with one, straight finger pointed directly at him.

"I swear to the stars themselves that if you touch that tattoo again I am going to floor you!"

Cryo suppressed his amusement at her murderous expression. "Greetings, Banshee. I see that you finally decided to--"

"Oh shut it, featherbrain." Banshee's shadow reappeared beside her as she jabbed him in the shoulder, purposefully missing the tattoo. "You knew I was transformed and you still kept damn well tapping it! What is your problem?"

Cryo's smirk escaped his control, spreading across his mouth. "Well, after you tapped it sixteen times in rapid succession, I had to pay you back, didn't I?"

Her crimson eyes flashed under her visor. "Oh, I'd kick your ass right here and now if we didn't--"

"What's this I'm hearing about tapping tattoos?" said DragonFae from where she stood the base of the Starlight Hall's spiral stairwell with Golem.

Banshee narrowed her eyes at Cryo, sending him a silent message before she walked past him and walked towards the stairwell. Cryo managed to wipe the smirk off his face as he followed her, but it was a challenge.

"Fae," said Golem. "You have two statements, one involving ass kicking, and that isn't the one that you pick?"

"We do know the result of the ass kicking though," said DragonFae. The violet light from her orbs glimmered off the walls, bouncing it around in curious directions. "I'm curious about this tattoo tapping too."

Banshee folded her arms. "Cryo came up with the idea of a system to communicate when we're transforming, or need the other one to transform," she muttered. "One tap means no. Two taps means yes. Three taps means we're recharging. He's been double tapping his starlight dimmed tattoo for the last ten minutes."

"How long did it take you to work that out?" asked Golem, sounding genuinely curious.

Cryo met the expectant gazes of his elders. "I believe it was after the third time we cleansed a Manifested. The bells rang five times before I felt Banshee transform. If I'd have known that she wished to do so, I could have been there significantly earlier than I was. I thought it necessary to have a way for us to communicate."

"First the alteration to your wings, now a code," said DragonFae. "I'm impressed, Cryo."

He inclined his head. "I can't take all the credit. My original code was far more complicated. Banshee was the one to simplify it down and add a few other useful directives to it during a fight, such as looking a certain direction."

DragonFae's gaze slid to Banshee with a smile. "I'm impressed with you both." Her gaze slid to Golem's, about as smug as Cryo ever saw her. "And you said it was a bad idea to let them find their own way."

Golem shrugged. "Took us a lot longer to figure something like that out. Can you blame me for wanting to protect the kids?"

"Let us find our own way?" asked Banshee.

"It is customary to leave a new Luminary pair more or less to their own devices for their first year," said DragonFae. "Your Ascended give you the basics of it, but aside from that, we let you figure it out. It gives you a chance to add your own flair to it. To evolve and adapt, like you did with the code."

"Makes sure things don't get stiff," said Golem. The layer of hardened mud that'd formed on his cheeks cracked as he grinned at Banshee, jerking his head towards Cryo. "Can you imagine if we'd been telling him how to do it from day one? There's no way he would have ever tried altering his transformation. There's a reason Lumi's aren't immortal, and it's because every so often, you need fresh blood in the mix. Can't move the mountain, but you can break off a piece and make a new one, even if it's not as impressive."

"Regardless," said DragonFae. "This custom is part of the reason we have called you for this meeting today. Come, let us take this conversation to a higher level."

Cryo shared a glance with Banshee, whose annoyances seemed to have melted under her curiosity. She shrugged, and together, they followed the other two Luminaries up the stairwell to the third floor--which meant this conversation was going to be interesting. The Starlight Hall was off limits to all but Luminaries and their High Speakers, but the third floor was the lowest that not even a High Speaker could access unless given explicit permission.

They settled in the common room, Golem and Cryo in the lounge chairs, DragonFae standing at the centre with her slender hands together in front of her, and Banshee draping herself over the back of the couch, planting her chin in her upturned hands.

Cryo resisted the urge to shake his head.

"I don't suppose this conversation is going to cover some of the things my Ascended keeps saying she can't tell me because of rules?" asked Banshee hopefully.

"Unlikely," said Golem. "Ascended deal with Skypillar's rules. We're just cutting the customary year of leaving you to your own devices short by seven or so weeks in the hopes that you'll still be with us afterwards. DragonFae?"

A chill swept through Cryo, and it had nothing to do with the ice surrounding him. Beside him, Banshee stood up, her hands gripping the back of the couch she'd been laying over. Neither of them asked the obvious question, waiting for DragonFae to speak.

"What I am about to share, you do not speak of to anyone except those in this room," said DragonFae. "As I am sure you've noticed, the six weeks before the festival, the time of the two moons, is always the time of greatest change among Luminaries. In the eight years since Golem and myself were chosen, seven pairs of Luminaries have gone dark." Her voice was quiet, almost reverent. "What the public does not know is that, with the exception of one pair, it was not their choice to do so. The six new Luminary pairs that followed after Golem and myself were hunted down by the Serpent."

Cryo had to know. "When you say hunted, what is it you mean?"

DragonFae grimaced. "I mean that the Serpent targeted them for the express purpose of eliminating them as Luminaries and in three cases, they sustained injuries that their Ascended could not save them from."

Banshee frowned. "Why wait until the second moon appears?" she asked. "Wouldn't it be easier to take us out straight away instead of giving us a year to figure it out? Have you been keeping the Serpent away from us or something?"

"No," said DragonFae. "Even together, Harpy and Wyvern are barely a match for the Serpent. We cannot protect you physically from it--we have tried with the previous Luminary pairs that the Serpent hunted. The Serpent is only ever active the six weeks before the festival. A week and a half from now, the second moon will rise, the Serpent will appear, and it will likely begin its hunt."

Banshee shifted on the couch back behind Cryo, her shoulder brushing against one of the ice crystals of his wings. "How do we fight it? Does it have any weaknesses?"

"Fight it?" said DragonFae. "Has there been any indication that we plan on you fighting it in this conversation so far?"

Banshee looked from DragonFae to Golem. "You can't expect us to just sit out. We're Lumi's just as much as--"

"We can," said DragonFae. "For the safety of both yourself and Cryo, we would request that unless absolutely necessary, you refrain from transforming as much as possible when the time of the two moons begins. You will still be required to attend offerings, however. The Serpent is significantly weaker on temple grounds, so you should be safe while here, and the Serpent will not be able to locate you while you are not transformed.."

That hadn't been anything close to what Cryo had expected from this meeting, but he had enough practice to keep that fact hidden. Banshee's disbelief, however, was written into every part of her body, from the slight part of her lips right down to the hand, frozen mid-air as she spoke.

"You... you can't be serious," said Banshee, slamming her hand down on the back of the lounge. "Powerful or not, it's a Manifested, isn't it? It has a fragment. Between the six of us, we trap it, and we cleanse it, just like we would with any other Manifested!"

"The Serpent is not a Manifested," said DragonFae patiently. "Last year, we trapped the Serpent, succeeding at the cost of Centaur and Hydra going dark--the Luminary pair that yourself and Cryo replaced. The Serpent did not possess a fragment, and you can be sure that we checked every inch of it. We spent so long searching it that it was able to break free of the combined restraint of Wyvern's paralytic poison and my own bindings and escaped. Our best theory is that the Serpent is actually a Luminary created by the Other's power."

"Is it even possible for the Other to create a Luminary?" asked Cryo as Banshee's mouth opened again. She glared at him, which he replied to with a look he often gave her while they were dealing with Speakers. Banshee huffed and waved a hand at him to continue, which he did. "I've never heard of such a thing, and I'm fairly familiar with the Speakings, both the old and the new."

"We can't be certain either way," said DragonFae. "As I said, it's a theory. It would better explain the Serpent's ability to create Manifested."

"Create Manifested?" said Cryo. He'd thought he was better versed in Luminary lore than to have details like this surprising him, but there wasn't a whole lot on the Serpent. "Is that why there seem to be significantly more Manifested in the weeks before the festival?"

DragonFae gave him an approving smile. "Precisely. From now until the festival, not all of the Manifested you cleanse will have fragments that you can save. The Manifested that the Other creates through the Serpent have corrupted fragments. Do not keep them, whatever you do. Crush them immediately. Your Ascended cannot return them to the Core."

"Not that it'll matter if we aren't allowed to fight them anyway," muttered Banshee with her chin back in her hands.

"Have we ever made an attempt to study these corrupted fragments?" asked Cryo.

Surprisingly, it was Golem who replied to that one. He turned, placing a solid hand on Cryo's shoulder and ensuring their gazes were locked before he spoke.

"Promise me," said Golem in a voice so low that Cryo almost couldn't understand it. "Promise me that you will never try to keep a corrupted fragment longer than you absolutely need to. There are things in this world that even we Luminaries are not supposed to stare at for too long, and fragments so completely corrupted by the Other are one of them."

"Aren't all fragments?" asked Cryo.

Golem just shook his head, retrieving his hand back to his own space. "No, son. The Manifested you have dealt with until this point, consider their fragments briefly touched by the Other. A corrupted fragment is one that has been consumed and claimed in its entirety. There is nothing left of what it once was. Destroying it is the only kind option that remains."

Cryo wanted to push the subject, but he held the questions on his tongue. He had his previous engagement to get back to soon, and Golem's tone unnerved him somewhat. The edge to it explained something about his experience that the written words never could have.

"Yes, Golem." Cryo swore he could hear Banshee rolling her eyes and chose to ignore it. "Is there a reason we don't attempt to trap the Serpent again? If you succeeded last year with minimal information, surely we could do so again this year?"

"We did consider it," said DragonFae. "Ultimately, Harpy and Wyvern decided that it would be our priority to ensure that you and Banshee make it into your second year. It is the main reason why we are discussing this at all, but with such a gap growing between our pairs, they feared we did not have much of a choice. We need a strong third pair. Too many have been lost in recent years to the Serpent. Though we may attempt to capture the Serpent again in the future, it will be when we have a better idea of what it is and when you are both more experienced."

"And is that why Harpy and Wyvern are absent?" asked Cryo. "They are conducting research related to the Serpent? I noticed they haven't been sighted in the last week."

DragonFae hesitated. "They are... something of that sort, I suppose. They will not be available until the second moon rises."

Banshee pushed off the lounge, approaching the place where DragonFae stood. "Serpent or not, Cryo and I are still Luminaries. Isn't there anything we can do to help, even if it's only in the time remaining before the second moon rises?"

DragonFae moved to the edge of the room, where she collected a tablet that was more or less a Liaiser with a larger screen and lit it with a touch. Intrigued, Cryo stood, finding the faces of a boy and a girl that looked about his age on the screen, maybe a few years older. The boy had blonde hair and bright, green eyes that matched the deepest greens of the forest around Skypillar's base, while the girl's dark hair was in pigtails that fell over her shoulders and a quietly fierce expression.

"I thought you would say as much, so I prepared this," said DragonFae, passing the tablet to Banshee. Cryo found himself glancing at his partner, the sudden spark in her eyes as they flicked over the details. "In the last few weeks, these two have gone missing. Though I doubt it is related to the Serpent, I would like to be sure of their safety. Before the second moon rises, I need you and Cryo to track them both down. All the information we have on them will be on that tablet. Do not lose it. I expect one of you to dim it with your transformation."

Cryo couldn't figure it out. "Who are they?"

"They were Centaur and Hydra," said DragonFae, her orbs of violet flickering around her as the slightest frown found its way onto her expression. "As I said, they went dark during our attempt to cleanse the Serpent last year. We were with them when they did and became aware of their civilian identities. What concerns me is that the Serpent may be as well. Capturing them may provide it with crucial information. If you believe there to be any threat to them when you find them, bring them to temple grounds."

Banshee's fingers gripped the tablet, and Cryo knew then that he wasn't going to be the one to dim with the tablet. "We'll find them, Fae. You can count on us."

"Good," said DragonFae with a smile that creased the corners of her eyes. "I believe that is all the information we needed to divulge tonight. Leave a message with the High Speaker the Starlight Hall if you need to get in touch with either myself or Golem. We will be checking in daily at least, especially once the second moon rises."

With their goodbyes to DragonFae and Golem said, Cryo headed back down the ramp to ground level with Banshee close behind. At the bottom, she stopped him with a touch on his shoulder and faced the tablet's screen at him, still gripping its edges with both hands.

"This is like, our first real Lumi thing, Cryo," she said, more than a little excited. "We've got about a week and a half until the second moon. Plenty of time to find them both, right? What days are you free?"

After working out their schedules and deciding on two days with one backup just in case things went wrong, Banshee nodded. "Any more than that, I think people might start getting suspicious as to where I'm going, but we'll see. How Fae and Golem are going to get away with transforming daily for six weeks I'll never know."

"The temple offers a pilgrimage of sorts while the second moon hangs above us," said Cryo without thinking. Banshee raised an eyebrow. "My mother does it, and she's been trying to get me to participate. It's supposed to be a spiritual period that doesn't actually have any requirements or obligations. My bet is that DragonFae and Golem take part in that and slip out whenever they need to."

"Is there anything you don't know about the temple?" asked Banshee. "Quick, what colour are the undergarments of the High Speakers?"

"Grey, if you must know," said Cryo with a smirk.

Banshee's expression was priceless. "I'm... I'm not even going to ask how you know that one."

"I wouldn't tell you anyway," said Cryo, mainly because the reason was that he'd done the laundry for one of them a few times. "On a slightly more serious note--"

"And here I thought you were always on a serious note."

"--I feel that we should add another command to our tattoo tapping code," said Cryo, undeterred. "For when it's urgent that the other one transform immediately, and to save me the bruise on my chest if you decide to tap it sixteen times in a row again."

Banshee eyed him. "I wouldn't have if you'd stopped the first few times. I got the message, y'no." She huffed. "I propose five taps."

"Accepted," said Cryo. "Will I be leaving the tablet with you?"

She grinned at him. "You can fight me for it if you want it."

"I thought as much," said Cryo. He turned, heading for the northern edge of the Starlight Hall. The auroras hadn't started yet, so maybe he wouldn't be late after all. "In that case, I will say my farewell until next we transform."

Surprisingly, Banshee ran after him. "Can you go the other way? That way's closer to where I need to be."

"You get the tablet, I get the direction," said Cryo. Usually he was fairly flexible on the direction thing considering it was easier for him to get around, but not right now. He was already going to be lectured, and he'd like to minimise the subjects where possible. He inclined his head towards his partner. "Farewell, Banshee."

Banshee just shook her head, but there was a smile on the edge of her lips. "Seeya, Cryo."

Cryo flared his wings and, arms frozen to the crystals, took off across the ground. He was ice and wind as he swept through the open doors and shot up into the sky, high enough to ensure that anyone below would lose sight of him before dropping back down to the building adjacent to the Cevrael shrine and slipping through a window.

And so, in a silent corridor where he'd have plenty of potential excuses as to his whereabouts, Jason Frostsong picked up the pace and headed back to the gathering where he hoped to Skypillar's peak that his mother was yet to notice his absence.

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