Blessing Moon

Eleven: Thalla-Noir

"Illuminare-Trabem bless you all," she shouted her greeting over the unforgiving gales.

"Beannas," the crowd answered in solemn synchronisation.

"Here we are gathered at Na Dèan Oblivi, a dark place named as such to ensure we never forget those that were lost to the darkness," Lorren recited the words that were written by the Draoicis-Lus members who lived through the Noir Era, and indeed had known those who were torn apart. "They were tricked to step into oblivion only to find themselves inside a cage."

"They deserved more, what a tragedy," the crowd all chanted the traditional response.

"They all deserve to be remembered. Their names were..." Lorren drew out a scroll from out of her black cloak, unravelled it and began to read out all the names of those who were taken by the dark power a century ago.

Beanni always found this part long and boring, she never saw the use of hearing a bunch of names of people she will never know. She rolled her eyes and began to fidget where she stood, but a sharp nudge in her left side made her flinch.

Sorry, she mouthed, she stopped herself from fidgeting and straightened up.

"Hey..." an unexpected whisper hissed into her ear making it twitch uncomfortably. "Bay, it's me!"

Beanni turned her head and saw Prince Oslac standing beside her, his friendly face peeking out from under a black hood. He brought a finger to his lips as Beanni opened her mouth to speak. He then grabbed her wrist and motioned to her to follow him.

"I can't," she breathed, fighting against an excited smile.

"It'll be fine," he reassured her in the same hushed way.

She then surrendered with a shrug and followed him under the cover of her black cloak, using the black clad crowd to sneak off without being detected. They followed the cliffside until they found a crevice that they could hide behind.

"I can't believe this!" Beanni gasped, not daring to speak above a whisper. "What are you doing here?"

"Well this was my last resort to catch you! Seeing as you refused to meet me when we arranged to. What happened?"

Guilt stung Beanni's abdomen and caused an involuntary croak to escape her throat.

"I got you in trouble, didn't I? I'm sorry, Bay."

"No, you didn't," Beanni leapt into her explanation. "It wasn't your fault, it was mine. I got home late and made Dad worry. He thought Biabs...erm the Biabus-Lus got to me. He then made me promise to always walk home with Dillan after school, no exceptions."

"Oh, that's such a relief," Oslac sighed.

"A relief?" Beanni repeated the Prince's unique choice of word.

"Yes! I was worried that you had changed your mind!"

"Oh no! Not at all. I've been beside myself every day. I didn't know how I could reach you. I wanted to work something out with you. To find a solution. But it all seemed so hopeless!"

"Wow, you give up easily don't you?" Oslac teased.

"I..." Beanni began her response, but lost steam. She knew deep down that he was right.

"Don't worry about it, Bay, I understand. But here, take this." Prince Oslac handed her a small fragment of reflective glass. "It's a piece of my communication mirror. I broke it off so we can have a way to speak without you getting into trouble."

"You have a communication mirror? Only adults have those."

"I'm the Prince remember..."

"Oh... of course..." Beanni's cheeks flushed with embarrassment, then a sudden thought came to her. "You broke it? What would the King say?"