School the next day was interesting, to say the least.

Thanks to Ericka, Olivia was now sure that pretty much anyone and everyone in Cevinari's inner district knew what'd happened at the gathering last night. She was just hoping that by some miracle, her parents were still to find out. Considering she was yet to receive a message about it on her Liaiser, Olivia was working off the assumption that they didn't know.

Yet.

Dreading the conversation she'd find at home this afternoon, she turned her thoughts to tomorrow afternoon when Banshee and Cryo were supposed to meet and track down Centaur and Hydra's civilian selves.

She'd memorised their districts--central Cevinari and inner Sylrael--and burned their faces into her mind in the few minutes after Cryo had run off, just in case she happened to pass them on the street as Olivia. Unlikely, but who knew? This was Banshee and Cryo's first official mission as Luminaries, and she'd be damned if she wasn't going to do everything she could to make sure they succeeded.

Olivia survived the lunch break and walked back into class, glad she didn't need Ariel to steer her around the various obstacles between the door and her seat. Last night, they'd managed to fix the frame of Olivia's glasses so they stayed on her face and held the one good lens so instead of being completely blind, she was only half blind.

Even so, they kept slipping, and as Olivia sat down a little too fast, she had to push them back on her face.

"Kinda funny," said Ericka, her cheek smushed into the palm of her hand, elbow resting on the desk. "I mean, it's not, because you can't see, but the one lens thing looks pretty great."

Olivia narrowed her eyes at Ericka. "Thanks, Rikky. I feel loved."

Ericka just grinned. "Probably early punishment by Skypillar for wandering around in the Starlight Hall without permission."

"I wouldn't have been in there in the first place if Jason hadn't run into me," muttered Olivia. She glanced at Thomas, who was watching her like he thought she was about to catch fire at any moment. "You seem to be right, by the way. Jason does indeed seem to be a little bit of a jerk."

"I'd rather not have been proven right," said Thomas, working his jaw. "Do you have any idea how long it'll be until your glasses are repaired?"

Olivia shrugged. That was a sore point. "I don't know. With my new medication, my parents are on a really tight budget at the moment. I don't think it'll squeeze a new pair of glasses in."

"Weeeell," said Ericka, giving everyone a conspiratorial look. "What if you were to go in that rollerblading comp I told you about last week? Entries are still open, and you're pretty good. Cash prizes. It might be enough to replace your glasses."

"No way," said Thomas. "Liv can't go in that, not with her seizures. If she exerts herself too much--"

"'She' is right here," said Olivia flatly. Thomas gave her a sheepish grin, and Olivia just sighed. "He has a point though. Mum and dad might actually chain me to my room if I went in the rollerblade comp right after being assigned with temple work for six weeks."

"Oh, right," said Ericka, putting her chin on the desk. "I forgot about that. You wouldn't be able to go to the comp anyway, you'll be at the temple with Frostboy."

"Frostboy?" asked Thomas.

"Jason," said Olivia. "Keep up, Frostboy two."

Thomas frowned. "Why am I Frostboy two? Shouldn't I be number one?"

Ericka gave Thomas a once-over and looked back to Olivia who in unison then said, "Nah."

"Both of you are so eloquent with your words," said Ariel with a quiet laugh. "It never ceases to astound me."

"Don't even need Skypillar's blessing!" said Ericka, sitting upright once more. "Why would we when we're already this great?" She leaned on Olivia's shoulder, pointing a finger. "I mean c'mon, this one already thinks she's a High Speaker, wandering around inside the Hall."

By some miracle, the lesson began a few seconds after Ericka ended her sentence with a smirk, much to the horror of Ariel and Thomas, sparing Olivia from yet another 'I-can't-believe-you-did-that' lecture.

Olivia narrowed her eyes into her bag and spent the rest of the class daydreaming about what she was going to say to her Ascended when they had two seconds alone and outside of earshot.

A few hours later, class came to a finish and Olivia was way past ready to leave. Her bag was in her hand and she was halfway to the door when Ericka called out after her.

"Geez, someone's excited to get out," said Ericka. "You hate us that much?"

"I can't hate my fellow wordsmith," said Olivia, turning back with a wink. Damn it all, she was usually more careful than this. "I just wanna get on with the day, I guess. Lots of energy, things to do!"

"You?" said Ericka with a snort. "Like what!"

"Um," said Olivia. "Well I was going to go to see how much my glasses would cost, maybe look around a few places for other options, I don't know. It's a pretty vague game plan."

"You aren't coming with us to swim in the canals?" asked Ariel. "We spoke about this last night, remember?"

Ericka chimed in. "We were talking about giving our new swimsuits a try!"

Wanting to get away sooner rather than after she'd been dragged to the canals for a suitable length of time, Olivia pulled out the oldest excuse in the book. "I could if you really want but I don't really do a whole lot of swimming. I don't really feel like sitting by the edge watching you guys at the moment."

Ariel bit her lip, but Ericka wasn't deterred, her lips forming an o shape as her eyes darted around the room like she was checking for overprotective parents.

"Weeeeelll," said Ericka. "I mean, you could always participate in the swimming, not like your parents would know unless someone told them and I really can't see that coming up in conversation, can you?"

"Rikky--" began Ariel.

"It's okay, guys, really," said Olivia. "I don't want you guys not to enjoy yourselves because you're worried about watching me. I'll come with you another time, just not now. Hope you have fun though!"

Ericka mushed her lips together. "Kay, Liv. Seeya."

Olivia was almost home free when Thomas was suddenly at her side, that same prepared-for-imminent-Olivia-disaster look still on his face. "Shall I accompany you? I don't have anywhere I need to be this afternoon and I don't particularly feel like swimming."

"Nope, I'm all good," said Olivia with a smile. "Was just going to wander around the streets for a bit, use the quiet time to think things through before I go home."

"How are you going to tell your parents?"

Olivia blew a piece of hair off her face as she stopped by a wall and turned to face him. "That's what I was going to figure out now."

"Need help with ideas?" asked Thomas. "I'm usually fairly good at defusing situations, I can come over with you if you want?"

"I think it's going to have to be a discussion between just my parents and me," said Olivia, kicking at the ground with her rollerblade. "I mean, I've got to tell them. Kinda hard to explain why I'm out every single day for six weeks if I don't, but they're going to be so mad."

"I'm sure they'll understand," said Thomas. "I know they aren't super keen on the temple, but--"

"That's putting it lightly," Olivia muttered. "They hate the temple. I heard them one night when they thought I was asleep or something." She'd just come back from being Banshee, and at the sound of their raised voices in the kitchen, she'd assumed the worst: that they'd found her missing. She'd crept down the stairs just out of sight to hear them. Words she'd never forget. Words she'd never repeat to anyone. She took a deep breath to steady herself, staying the tears that wanted to come and instead scrunching up her nose in Thomas's direction. "Point is, they're going to kill me. Even they know how off-limits the Starlight Hall is. Listening to you and Ariel today was probably good practice for tonight."

Thomas winced. "Erm, sorry about that, by the way. It's just--"

Olivia cut him off with a finger pointed at his face. "I swear to the stars that if you start that again I'm going to lecture you for the next six weeks about proper rollerblade positioning while you skate."

Thomas looked down at his feet. "What? My positioning is fine!"

"Pfft," said Olivia. "Not even close to fine, Frostboy two. All it's gonna take is one slight incline and you're a gonner." She saw her chance to make a break for it. "Anyway, I'm off. Have fun at the canals with Ariel and Rikky! Seeeeeya!"

She took off before he had a chance to answer.

*+*+*+*

Jason felt Banshee transform when he was halfway home from school, right before the echo of her double tap raced across his chest.

He lifted his hand that was free of Taylor's and tapped his own concealed tattoo once.

Taylor lifted her head to him and gave him a dazzling smile. "Today was rather enjoyable, wasn't it?"

It'd been anything but. With only a week or two until the festival, Jason had spent most of it with various individuals looking to win his favour for a spot in his mother's festival performance group. "It was indeed."

Lucian nudged Jason in the shoulder with his fist, hard enough to push Jason off balance and into Taylor, who steadied him with her other hand across his bicep.

"Did you enjoy that too, Jason?" said Lucian with a quiet smirk.

Jason narrowed his eyes at Lucian. "I think you very well know the answer to that."

Lucian's smirk broke into the remnants of a smile. "Indeed I do."

Taylor passed the next few minutes with smalltalk Jason didn't care enough to pay attention to. By the time they reached the street that split to both his house and the temple, his brain felt numb.

When Jason rubbed his head, Lucian caught the gesture.

"You aren't looking well, Jason," said Lucian with just the right amount of concern. "Perhaps you should skip the temple for today?"

Taylor brushed her fingers against Jason's forehead. "Another headache?"

"Perhaps," said Jason, taking the excuse. "Some quiet time may see it gone before it begins. I might take Lucian's suggestion for now."

"Good," said Lucian. "I wouldn't want to have to carry you home like last time now, would I?"

Jason narrowed his eyes. Lucian was never going to let him forget that one. Banshee had been tapping her tattoo like crazy and Jason, desperate to get away, had faked a headache. Aurelia hadn't believed him of course, but it'd been Lucian that had come to his rescue, slinging one of Jason's arms around his shoulders and carrying him off like some wounded soldier from the stories.

"Would you like us to escort you home?" asked Taylor. "If it's like last time, I wouldn't want you to become incapacitated before you're safe."

"I'll be fine," said Jason, stepping out of her reach. Much more of this and he wasn't going to be faking the headache. "It's only the beginning."

"You heard him," said Lucian. "Let's go. The Speakers won't be happy if we're missing. Say bye, Jason!"

Taylor put a hand on Jason's shoulder as she leaned up to place a gentle kiss on his cheek. "I'll see you later, Jason. Skypillar bless you!"

"And you," said Jason.

His head was buzzing by the time he reached the front door of his house and unclipped the rollerblades from his boots.

It was the usual, weird kind of silence inside, like the noise from the outside world was muffled. Jason went to place his blades beside the door in their usual spot before deciding against it. If he was transforming, the blades needed to be missing. He'd made the mistake of leaving them behind once before. Explaining that had been a chore, especially with Regan around.

Only diverting his route to pick up an apple from the kitchen, Jason headed straight up to his bedroom.

On the stairs between the first and second floors, Sae poked his head out of Jason's bag. "We gonna transform yet or what?"

"Not yet."

"I am perfectly okay with this decision. I'm gonna nap some more."

Jason poked Sae's head back under the flap. "And you need to hide. Someone might be home."

He made it to the fourth floor without catching a breath of the maid or his brother, which was a relief. Regan usually took a while to get home after school, which was pretty much the only good thing about him.

With the way today had been going, it really shouldn't have surprised Jason that when he was just about to open his bedroom door, the only other door on the level swung open and his brother emerged.

"Thought I heard someone," said Regan. "Who were you talking to? Yourself again?"

Jason's mouth set in a thin line. "No one that concerns you."

"Uh huh, sure," said Regan, flicking a piece of hair back into its usual perfect mess. "Why are you home? Aren't you supposed to be at the temple with your girlfriend and mother dearest?"

"I wasn't aware that my temple duties were any of your business," said Jason. "I'll be there later today."

Regan closed his door and pushed past Jason, nearly knocking his bag off his shoulder. "If you say so. I just wouldn't let father catch you at the greenhouse again when you should have been elsewhere, if you catch my meaning."

"Are you expecting me to be surprised that it was you who told him?" said Jason, stepping into his room. "Maybe I should tell them about the girls you've brought home so far."

Regan, already partway down the stairs, came back a few just to lean on the railing with that smug smile on his face. "Oh, father knows. It's never anyone that mother hasn't already approved, don't you worry."

Jason stepped inside his room and closed the door behind him, the sound of Regan's arrogant laugh following him inside.

Just like everything else, he ignored it. He dropped his bag on the floor and walked to the only thing in his room that had a little dust on it, the shelf. No one but him touched his violin, and that included the maid cleaning anywhere near its case.

Jason flicked the case open. He picked up the headset that always sat beside his case and touched the side of it to the pale yellow starstone of his violin. With the two attuned, the headset went on and a heartbeat later, the violin under his chin with the bow resting across its strings.

In the middle of his room still facing the wall, Jason closed his eyes and played.

He let the music flow from the place of colour and light within, the place where words didn't exist, only this melody that found freedom when he played. Though it came in many variations, it was always the same melody. It didn't have a name. He'd never been brave enough to give it one. It wasn't like the scripted, structured pieces that his mother had him practice and perform over and over again. This melody was ever changing, always shifting, unable to be pinned by any name he'd ever thought of.

Little by little, his muscles relaxed and the melody changed, softer, more gentle. It grew quieter, satisfied to return to its prison of silence yet again as Jason brought the bow across the strings in the final note before the interlude. In his mind, the song was never really over. He could have played it until he dropped dead of exhaustion, but there were places where it breathed, where it rested, and he was content to allow it to do so until next time.

Jason lifted the bow from the strings and opened his eyes to find Sae sitting on top of his case.

"Why'd you attune it?" said Sae, sounding a little annoyed. "It's not fair to keep it all to yourself. Some of us like listening to you play."

"Because I wasn't playing for you," said Jason, placing his violin back inside its nest of soft material.

He offered his hand to Sae. The Ascended jumped on his fingers and after transferring Sae to his shoulder, Jason clicked his case shut. Feeling like he could breathe for the first time that day, Jason grabbed his apple, leaned back on the bed and took a bite. Sae fluttered to his usual spot on Jason's arm and settled down, tucking his head under a wing.

Jason scratched Sae's neck feathers--ice crystals?--with a finger. "Fair warning, we're transforming after I've finished eating this. Banshee's probably wondering where we are."

Sae lifted his head out from under a wing and narrowed his eye. "Eat it slowly. I'm napping."

"Want some?" said Jason with a grin.

If ice birds could look indignant, Sae was pulling it off magnificently. "Even if Ascended needed your mortal food, I'd still refuse it just to make sure it existed a little bit longer. That's how much I love you and sleep combined."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Are the other Luminaries fortunate enough to have an Ascended like you?"

"Nope," said Sae, the word muffled as he snuggled his beak back into his wing. "Just you. You're welcome."

Jason didn't stay on the bed long. Instead he multitasked, going around his room with his usual routine. He put his blades in his bag. He crinkled the sheets on his bed and rearranged the pillows. He set the bookmark on his bedside fifty or so pages forward after skimming them to remind himself which part it was.

Finally, he walked to the small, amber flower in its pot on his windowsill, moving it into the afternoon sunlight. He was hoping to get seeds from it for the greenhouse, but it'd been struggling. Away from the florist's usual potting mix, it seemed to be doing better. The flower was from one of the higher, colder places in the forest, usually found growing amongst rock. The nutrient-rich soil they'd tried to put it in had been smothering it.

With all of that done, he stood up, scanning the room, ensuring he'd touched everything enough to confirm his presence here.

"What about the water bottle?" said Sae.

Jason grabbed it and downed a couple of mouthfuls. "Good catch. Think we're good?"

"Well, I mean, you could always go back and grab another apple--"

"We've already kept Banshee waiting long enough," said Jason.

"Trying to appease her too now, eh?" said Sae. "Not like she knows who you are. You can insult her all you want and you only have to put up with her when a Manifested rocks up, You're only Cryo to her. Doesn't matter what Cryo does, right? Even High Speaker mother dearest can't tell off a Luminary."

"I'd rather not lose the one friend that Cryo has," said Jason. He threw both arms behind him, hands flexed and fingers spread. "Stop stalling, Sae. Ascend, frost of Skypillar!"

Sae squawked and flew off Jason's shoulder, but there was nothing he could do. The Ascended poofed into a cloud of snow that was quickly picked up by the swirling air. It froze itself around his body into taloned greaves and bracers up to the elbow of sharp, thick ice. Softer flakes wove together into leggings and the sleeveless tunic with its coat tails before sweeping up over his neck. It rushed through his hair, turning the black strands a pure white and tracing streaks of frost over his skin.

Before it faded, he took hold of the remaining snow, pulling it from the dying breeze and freezing most of it into eighteen individual shards of ice--nine for each wing, one on each side secured to his arms--before releasing it and letting the last of it form the thin, frosty membrane between the shards. The alteration to his transformation was something he'd learned after becoming frustrated that he couldn't unfreeze his arms from the wing membrane without it collapsing on him. This way, the ice shards gave it structure, holding it together even when his arms weren't attached.

Sae called it an abomination. He was also jealous that he couldn't do the same thing.

Cryo checked over his room one last time before heading to his window, arms still frozen to his wings. After a quick glance outside, he opened the window that was almost as tall as he was and stepped through onto the roof of the floor below, mindful of his wings. The frame usually wasn't enough to damage them and he could refreeze them to fix it, but it would be an unnecessary drain of Sae's power.

The rooftop here was flat, a private space existing between his room and the neighbouring building. His mother had promised him a balcony at some point, but that'd been nearly three years ago at this point. He wasn't exactly supposed to use the window as a door and the space had been forgotten about, which suited Cryo perfectly.

He stretched his wings out, his fingertips reaching for the sky for a single, long moment that he shared with no one but himself before he brought them down in one, powerful stroke that shot his body into the sky.

*+*+*+*  

A/N - Throw it a vote/comment if you're enjoying it so far ^_^

Art by @46Kibahime ~ Sae & Viri