The mission was simple: locate the nest Harpy and Wyvern were supposed to have been at and set up DragonFae's scale for scrying.

Together they headed to outer Kaladrel, Cryo by air, Banshee by rooftop and Golem by ground. Though Cryo out-flew her as always, Banshee was just grateful for the chance to run. The rooftops in Kaladrel were different from those in Cevinari and Sylrael, providing a fresh change to the whole thing. It helped keep her thoughts where they should have been: in the present with her team.

On the outskirts of outer Kaladrel, Banshee stopped on one of the higher buildings to take in the view.

She'd never been to the southern districts much as either of her identities. Banshee's territory was on the opposite side of the city, and Olivia hadn't had the money or the reason to go. Unlike Cevinari, where wealth was spread thinner the further from the centre you went, Kaladrel's districts were the opposite, and it was entirely due to the waterfront location they offered.

In the darkness, the great southern lake seemed to stretch on forever, its choppy surface an imperfect mirror of the night sky above it. The waters closest to the shores were lit by city lights instead of the stars creating a strange gradient from sand to shallow water to the dark depths beyond.

Perhaps even stranger was that the buildings in outer Kaladrel were consistently higher than those in its central districts. What Banshee could only assume were high end resorts covered the land a hundred metres from the shore, each claiming their own section of shore. The designs of the buildings themselves were far more modern than anything she'd ever seen in Cevinari or Sylrael. Clustered together, they stuck out like a Manifested on golden starstone, but they seemed to do so with an air of defiance, like they knew they were different and were completely proud of the fact.

She was still gazing at them, taking in the various details when Cryo landed beside her.

"Different, isn't it?" said Cryo.

"Just a bit," said Banshee, trying to listen for the sound of the water lapping against the shore. "Have you ever been here before?"

"A few times," said Cryo. "Outer and Inner Kaladrel is a far cry from the districts we're used to. Did you know one of the resort owners once tried to file a lawsuit against the Luminaries for damage to their property during a Manifested fight?"

Banshee raised an eyebrow. "Starstone heals with the auroras, though. And why is it the Luminary's fault and not the Manifested's?"

"I believe the Manifested was one of the owner's best customers," said Cryo. "He was unsatisfied with his usual room being taken before the Other took him. The resort owner tried to make a case that they'd lost business while the building was damaged. The case was dismissed, of course. The precedent for holding Luminaries responsible for temporary property damage would have made our lives infinitely harder."

"Mmhmm," said Banshee, only half paying attention.

Cryo fell silent.

The sound of Golem's approach reached Banshee's pointed ears almost a minute before she saw him. Lacking agility or flight, Golem transformed the stones that made up the lower half of his body into a giant wheel that he could propel forward with a decent speed, but it was loud, like thunder through the starstone. The ground rumbled beneath him as he passed, and there was a good reason why Golem's thunder was feared by the Manifested.

"Let's go," said Banshee, and jumped off the roof.

She landed at street level some hundred or so metres before Golem reached her, well aware of the people who'd left their homes to investigate the noise. Normally, she might have waved, even introduced herself to a few of them--as a Lumi, of course--but tonight, she didn't feel worthy of that. She couldn't look them in the eyes and pretend they believed in her when she no longer knew if she was capable herself anymore.

"I apologise for keeping you waiting," said Golem. "Cryo, did you scout the area?"

"I did," said Cryo. "There were several individuals around the target area, though without a closer inspection I was unable to discern their intentions. I have, however, noted their clothing and believe I would be able to identify them if they approach."

"Did they notice you?"

"I can't answer that with confidence."

Golem nodded. "That's fine. Fae, could you--" He cut himself off and huffed in a sound more like a tornado of sand and stone than a breath. He reassembled his lower half back into its regular torso and legs and stood straighter. "Right, I forgot. You may have to forgive this new grandpa's whims if I call for her. It's strange being out without her, and with her scale and magic still masking both your auras, I keep thinking she's next to me."

"It's understandable, Golem," said Cryo.

"Thank you," said Golem.

He paused as if to draw breath to speak again, but his hesitation lasted just a fraction of a second too long.

Banshee's instincts flared.

"Keep looking at me," said Golem. His obsidian gaze flicked to Cryo. "Grey shirt, dark pants, sunglasses on top of head?"

"And red hair," said Cryo, his eyes never once flinching from Golem's face as Banshee itched to look behind her.

"I think he just noticed that I noticed him," said Golem. "He's standing across the street behind you, pretending to be interested in his Liaiser." Golem swore under his breath, a curse that Banshee didn't recognise. "He's about to try and slip away. Banshee, can you follow him?"

Banshee raised an eyebrow, wondering why he even had to ask. "Do the auroras come out every night?"

"Without being seen?" said Golem.

Banshee pulled her annoyance in check. "Yes, Golem. I can."

He looked at her for a long moment before nodding. "Good. In a moment, I'm going to give the order to go. We'll all go the direction behind me, then you circle back. Follow him. Avoid being seen. Cryo will stay in the air, so once you're sure you know where he went, come back and we'll go together. I assume you have a way to communicate if one of you is in trouble?"

"We do," said Cryo as Banshee scanned the buildings around her, trying to plan her route.

"Far more organised than most Luminary pairs of your experience," muttered Golem. "He's walking away. Fae's magic is going berserk, but I can't feel any Serpent aura. At best, he's a scout." Golem pointed behind him, and then in a voice slightly louder than the one before, spoke. "Their last coordinates were over in that district, so we'll start our search there. Let's move."

On cue, Cryo took off in a blast of icy wind.

Banshee was about to follow when Golem looked at her.

"And Banshee?"

"Yes, Golem?" she said, eager to be going.

"Remember. Balance."

That irked her. He trusted Cryo and not her? "Yes, grandpa."

Golem waved a hand after Cryo, and with that, she was off.

Banshee shifted to shadow and scaled the wall of a five floor building in seconds. She kept straight for two more buildings until she was sure it'd appear that she'd followed Cryo, still soaring overhead. When she reached the edge of the next building's roof, she grabbed the corner of the rooftop with one hand and swung herself onto the wall underneath.

She stayed close in the shadow of the overhanging roof as she moved sideways along the wall, well aware of every second that passed, letting her target get a little further away. She forced herself to take a breath, to focus, and... she couldn't.

Her thoughts kept going back to what Golem had said, almost like a warning. Balance? What was that supposed to mean? Why did he even have to ask if she, Skypillar's Shadow, could follow someone without being seen? Why--

Banshee blew a piece of hair off her visor and swung herself from one building to the next. Maybe Golem had lost faith in her abilities too. Cryo hadn't failed, she had. She pulled herself up on the rooftops and used the shadows to circle back around to the last place Golem had seen the person she was supposed to be following.

She was just going to have to prove tonight that she was good enough.

Though the buildings looked different from the rooftops, it didn't take Banshee long to orient herself in the new environment. She stayed low as she peered over the edges of the rooftops, looking for her target. Though the streetlights ensured the area was well lit, she felt relatively confident. Even if someone did decide to glance up her way, against the night sky with her shadow shift, she'd be nearly invisible.

Her target wasn't on the street Golem had first seen him on. Mild worry began to settle in her chest as she realised he wasn't on the second one either. Had she missed him? Had he already gone inside one of the buildings? She doubled back, checking over each and every person, looking for a sign of red hair and sunglasses among those on the streets below. Blue hair. Brown hair. Blonde. More brown, some amber, bleached and black and purple.

No red.

Banshee cursed the Other and was about to check another street when she noticed one of the lone figures, Liaiser in hand, glance up and check behind him--and above.

She pulled back from the edge as his gaze passed over her, just far enough back so she minimised her own exposure but could still watch him. His scan was methodical and conducted with the slowness of someone who didn't want to look suspect, but now her attention was on him, she knew this was her target. His hoodie was grey, his pants were dark, and there were a pair of folded sunglasses now hanging off the front of his hoodie.

The jerk had pulled the hood of his jumper up over his hair.

That detail would have been nice to know, thought Banshee. She held her body still as her target finished his search and continued on. There's a big difference between a hoodie and a shirt, Cryo and Golem.

Banshee followed her target along the rooftops, only moving when she needed to not lose sight of him. He still glanced up and looked around every so often, and the last thing she needed was a random glimpse of her hair as she moved.

Half a street later, her target turned a corner onto a far more populated street, forcing her to stick a little closer if she didn't want to lose him. Kaladrel's nightlife was apparently far more populated than Cevinari's was. A decent crowd of people still milled about, and among them, her target dropped his hoodie to reveal the startling red hair underneath to blend in perfectly.

In Cevinari, red hair might have been a dead giveaway. In Kaladrel, Banshee counted more people with unnatural hair colours. She stuck to him like glue from above with silent footsteps along the rooftops, and a few streets later, her target walked up to the front entrance of some fancy looking building and went straight in.

Banshee leapt to the other side of the street to get a better look at it.

The flashing [SKYPILLAR'S PEAK RESORT ~ EXPERIENCE HEAVEN!] sign was the first thing to draw her attention. A carpet was laid out over the starstone, leading up to the doorman who stood stalwart out the front of the doorway, which didn't actually have a door. Instead, strips of dark, silky material hung down from the entryway, reminding her of the curtains that covered the apex chambers of the Skyshrines around the city. Privacy without constriction.

Banshee clucked her tongue. The building itself was huge. From what she could tell, it made up an entire city block by itself, connected to other, smaller buildings with corridors that bridged over the streets below. Even if she were to go back to Cryo and Golem now, she'd have no idea where her target went--and that'd been what Golem said, wasn't it? When she was sure she knew where he went, she reported back.

Banshee leapt onto the front wall of the resort, just above the sign and right beside the window. She couldn't get through the door without being seen, but an open window? Easy.

After a quick peek inside, she pulled her body through, ending in an elegant roll out across the thick carpets that covered the floor. The room she found herself in was some kind of super-spacious lounge, divided up by archways with more of the dark, silky fabric instead of doors, though it was slightly more transparent than that at the front entrance. Inside each one, plush, cushioned daybeds were scattered around, each one accompanied by a bell and a stand.

Banshee moved forward carefully, listening for the sounds of activity. There were no deep shadows for her to hide in here, not with how well lit the lounge was. As one hand lifted the silky fabric aside, she heard the sound of giggles and instantly froze. A few people had claimed a deep purple daybed off to her left, but curled up around a book and whispering to each other, pointing at its pages, they didn't seem to notice her.

Regardless, Banshee wasn't about to hang around. She ghosted forward until she came to a twined gold railing, edged by two columns of beautifully engraved starstone. On both sides, elegant spiral staircases provided access to the lounge from the floor below which looked like... a dining hall? It reminded her of her parent's restaurant floor with its tables and chairs, but unlike her parent's restaurant, there was a giant wall of food sitting on the tables that ran straight down the centre. Fresh, too, if the steam rising off the various soups and other hot items were anything to go by.

She was marvelling at the sheer amount of it when a flash of red appeared--her target.

His hoodie was still down, the sunglasses still folded, but there was no more feigned interest in his Liaiser as he shoved his hands in his pockets and strode through the resort's dining hall. Banshee crouched and watched him through the railings. He continued straight and turned into the kitchen doors.

There didn't seem to be anyone else around, and not wanting to lose him, Banshee jumped over the railing.

She landed straight in front of a group of people.

Crap.

The last thing she needed was a crowd causing a commotion and drawing her target's attention. Banshee held up a finger to her lips, hoping it'd be enough to keep them quiet. She didn't expect it to work, but by some miracle, it did. The group glanced at her, a few of them offering her a smile, before they went back into whatever conversation they'd been having before with nothing more than a second glance.

It left Banshee more than a little bewildered. Maybe those that lived in Kaladrel weren't as overwhelmed by the sight of a Lumi as those in Cevinari were. It was an entirely new experience to her but she was grateful for it, even if there was some other emotion underneath it that refused to let their reactions feel like a good thing.

Banshee shook it off and darted towards the kitchen door her target had gone through.

She took a breath, told herself to hope that the chefs were as underwhelmed by her presence as the previous group had been, and pushed open the door.

The kitchen was completely empty.

Banshee's frown grew with each silent step across the tiled kitchen floor. Unless the resort had another kitchen this grand, there was no way this one should have been empty--not when the soups outside were still steaming and the fruit so freshly chopped that they hadn't yet started to brown.

She dropped her shadow shift and waved a hand over the stoves as she passed.

They were cold.

There was no signs the kitchen had been used at all. No used utensils, no dishwashers running, no chopping boards or scraps left on the immaculate benches. Even the cleanest, most efficient kitchens shouldn't have been able to move this fast.

With only two doors to choose from, one leading off into another room and one into what she suspected was a cool room, Banshee walked towards the first, now comfortably back in her shadow shift. Every instinct she had screamed at her that something was wrong. Her fingers were on the door handle when she heard something bang on the other side of the cool room door.

With one hand wrapped around Grief's hilt, Banshee stalked towards the cool room. She placed her ear against it, wondering if perhaps the chefs had been locked inside--nothing. No voices, no movement, no breathing, but she'd heard something.

She pushed the door open.

Inside, there was nothing but empty, white shelves. There was nothing on the ground that could have made the noise that she'd heard, and she had heard something. Taking her hand off Grief's hilt, she searched the walls and floor for a crack that might indicate a secret door and found nothing. She was starting to think she'd wasted her time when she looked up and noticed the small loop of sturdy metal in the ceiling.

Banshee had to jump to reach it, but when her finger looped through the metal, a small, straight crack in the starstone appeared. She dropped her shadow shift, and with the extra weight, the trap door hidden in the ceiling came down easily.

As the ladder staircase extended down gently and touched the floor in front of her, Banshee stared up into the dark passageway it led to.

It was narrow enough that even her shoulders wouldn't be far from the walls if she climbed. For Cryo and Golem, it'd be near impossible to fit through without damaging parts of their transformations, and who knew what waited at the top? It was dark enough that unless you had a Liaiser for light or, say, the ability to see in the darkest shadows, you wouldn't see the danger until it ended you.

Banshee lifted a hand, curling her fingers on one of the ladder's rungs.

Golem and Cryo would be waiting for her to report back so they could move in as a team, but what if she just handled it by herself now? She doubted they'd be able to get through this passage. Even if she went back for them, she'd likely go up by herself while they waited at the bottom, which wouldn't make much of a difference if trouble found her at the top. If it was more than she could handle, she always had the option of running. No human could match her speed, and her tattoo wasn't cold, so there were no Manifested around.

Yes, she decided with a long breath. She could do this.

Banshee climbed the ladder.

*+*+*+*  

A/N - Oboy. 

Super intrigued to see what you guys think about this chapter~ wonders if anyone will figure it out