Jason managed to find a place to dim despite the thoughts still reeling through his head.
"You okay?" asked Sae.
"Starsong amulets," said Jason, glancing around to make sure no one could see them. He rifled through Cryo's offering pouch, searching for a particular request. "When you touch them, how likely is it that the vision will come to pass?"
"That would be the certain future, had Starsong not given you the task to save Ella," said Sae. "But the events that led up to it have already been changed. The only reason Starsong could show you that at all is because it will no longer come to pass exactly in that way."
"When you say exactly in that way, do you mean it's still possible but say, I could be on the left instead of the right, or that a situation close to the one I viewed is now impossible?"
"No idea," said Sae with a shrug. "Starsong's unpredictable like that. Hard to read her a lot of the time. Guesswork and all. But I wouldn't bother trying to plan your way out of this one. Just don't fail. Fixed."
"Helpful," muttered Jason, tucking the Ascended away out of sight as he heard footsteps. He took a breath and collected himself, ensuring nothing of how he felt was showing on the surface. He tucked Cryo's pouch away, keeping only the single request in his pants pocket. "I'll ask you more later, Sae."
Jason made his way down the corridor, maintaining a stride that told anyone who might've looked at him that he had somewhere to be five minutes ago. It did its job, and as he passed people, they exchanged no more than a nod. Mentally, he took note of them, just in case he needed an eyewitness as to his location, should his mother or anyone else inquire.
It didn't last. The sixth or seventh person he came across caught his eye and approached him, one sleeved arm pointing back towards the room designated for performance practice.
"Jason Frostsong?" they said. "High Shadowspeaker Aurelia is requesting your presence immediately in the Sylrael auditorium hall."
"Thank you," said Jason. "I will make my way there now."
They inclined their head. "Skypillar be with you."
Jason echoed the blessing and continued on. He'd expected as much. He could make up excuses as to where he'd been during the offerings--he'd given himself his own alibi as Cryo more than once--but after was always a little harder when the elder Luminaries requested meetings. Still, he'd worked out a system, even if it wasn't as fun as his alter-ego directly telling the High Speaker that he'd made use of Jason's time. Hopefully Olivia's presence wouldn't require him to rework it--he'd done that far too many times already.
He turned his thoughts to Banshee and Ella as he strode down the corridor, occasionally nodding to a person or confirming that yes, he was indeed heading to the Sylrael auditorium for the High Shadowspeaker.
To save Ella, they'd have to find her. Banshee had the right idea that Ella would go after Andrew, but using him directly as bait seemed far too risky. She was also right that they'd have to move Andrew and anyone close to him onto golden starstone until Ella had been dealt with. Manifested, especially the stronger, more wily ones, tended to possess a scary logic. If they couldn't have the thing they wanted--they'd hurt everyone else until they had it.
He'd have to think it over and come up with something, but while he was pretending to be under orders from Cryo, he could probably set Andrew's temporary move to the temple into motion. Ella would likely strike after tonight, which put the ex-Centaur in a lot more danger than Cryo or Jason cared to deal with.
Jason reached the auditorium still playing around with ideas, letting them slowly link together in his head as he tossed them around and elaborated on Banshee's rapid-fire thoughts.
The auditorium was mostly empty with the exception of a group in the corner and his mother, standing on the raised platform on one of the edges, speaking with Taylor. Taylor had one elbow cupped with her hand as her other's curled fingers rested under her chin, the very image of delicate, while his mother stood straight-backed, her narrow eyes strangely soft as they gazed at Taylor, listening to whatever she was saying.
Jason steeled himself and approached.
"High Shadowspeaker Aurelia," he said, drawing their attention. "Taylor Flamespeaker. I hope Skypillar's blessings have found you on the day of the second moon's rise."
"Jason!" said Taylor, coming up to meet him. She took his hand, turning and walking alongside him as he marched into the hardened gaze of the High Shadowspeaker. "I've been searching for you. I couldn't find you after the offerings."
"I apologise," said Jason, retrieving the request from his pocket as evidence. "I was asked by Cryophoenix to help set up a meeting place so he may fulfill a request. He has also asked that we make room for Andrew Swiftguide and any he cares for upon temple grounds. They believe that the new Manifested once known as Ella Spiritcaller may pose a threat to their safety."
"This we can do," said the High Shadowspeaker. "Taylor, would you find the High Frostspeaker and see that it is done?"
Taylor's eyes flicked from Jason. "Of course, High Shadowspeaker."
"Thank you."
Taylor gave Jason's hand one last squeeze before she released it and floated off across the ground in her elegant way, leaving Jason entirely alone with his mother.
"Jason." Her voice was low enough that the others in the room wouldn't hear it, but he knew the tone. "When I give you a duty I expect you to fulfill it, not make me look like an idiot in front of the other Speakers when they ask me where my son and the girl he's supposed to be guiding is. Do you understand this?"
"I do," said Jason, wondering if this was going to be a repeat of this morning's lecture. "I have been making every effort to ensure that I meet your standards. This morning's arrival time was--"
"I'm not talking about this morning," said Aurelia. "I went through that with you already. I'm talking about why no one seems to have seen Olivia at the offerings, despite my explicit request that she attend. It was your duty to ensure this was the case, and you failed."
Jason blinked, wondering if he'd heard it right. "Olivia was at the offerings. I--"
"Oh, really?" said Aurelia. "Perhaps if you'd been doing your Other-cursed duty instead of attempting to gather favour with Cryo, you'd have noticed that she didn't show up!"
Jason's mouth snapped shut.
Olivia had gone to the bathroom. She'd said that she'd known where it was--starlight, the whole reason he'd been stuck with her was because she'd been caught in there--and she'd agreed to meet him there. He'd told her to find Ariel, so why hadn't anyone seen her? He hadn't looked himself. He hadn't felt the need to.
He'd just... trusted her to be there.
"Nothing to say?" said Aurelia. "I have a few others searching for her right now. I suppose we'll see if they're more capable than you are of keeping track of a teenage girl, won't we?"
"I apologise," was all Jason could say. "It was my duty and I was negligent. I will search for her now and make amends."
"Amends?" said Aurelia like he'd just offered to buy Skypillar for a loaf of bread. "This was already your second chance. I was lenient this morning, given the circumstances, but on the same day you've let me down again. Shall I remind you of the consequences if I decide you've failed?"
Jason clenched his teeth. "You really don't have to--"
"Your own temple work assignment, under a competent, personal guide," said Aurelia. "Only now, I'm thinking it'd be closer to a year, if not two, of strict temple life, just to make sure the message got through. You'd catch up on your free learning after you've rid yourself of this rebellious streak. You've been such a problem in recent months, Jason. Constantly with that passive-aggressive attitude, like you've decided the world isn't good enough for you. Always thinking that you know best, and..."
He tuned out from the lecture he'd heard a million times. Ungrateful. Selfish. Arrogant. His mother had never threatened him with this though--not seriously, anyway--but it terrified him to think that she might go through with it. His own personal guide meant choosing between Jason and Cryo. There was no way he'd be able to slip away to transform with a personal guide, which would mean either giving up his Ascended, or leaving this sad excuse for a family.
The second option didn't sound so bad, but he knew it wouldn't be the escape he wanted it to be. People would question him. His mother would make any semblance of a life he scraped together an utter nightmare, purely because he'd have tainted the image she'd worked so hard to create over the years.
As far as anyone else was concerned, they were a perfect family. Only Lucian had an idea into the hell that was their household, and Jason had sworn him to silence.
"--Perhaps I was too soft on you," Aurelia was saying. "You were always so well behaved until your named Ascended decided to pop up. It's like you took that as a sign that you were independent and intelligent enough to make your own decisions. First with the greenhouse and the flowers, now this. Perhaps it was irresponsible of me to place someone under your guidance, believing you might be capable, when--" Her Liaiser buzzed from a pocket hidden inside her Speaker's robes, which she pulled out, swiped across the screen, and smiled. "Ah. Luckily for you, it seems that your brother is far more capable."
"Regan?" asked Jason, confused.
Aurelia scowled at him. "Yes. Regan. Do you have another brother?" She replaced her Liaiser. "He's found Olivia, and it appears that she didn't attend the offerings at all."
"I--"
"I don't want to hear it," said Aurelia. "You are dismissed. I expect to see you at the ceremony tonight. I'll ensure Olivia is there since you're clearly incapable, but consider yourself on your last warning."
Jason kept his head bowed as she walked away, his eyes and lips pressed tight as his arm shook at his side.
There had to be a reason. Perhaps she'd got lost again. Or she'd been there, just in a different place. If he looked hard enough, he was sure that someone would have seen her. She wasn't that big, she was easy to miss. Perhaps she'd had a seizure alone in the bathroom, or--
Jason's Liaiser buzzed.
He pulled it from his pocket and swiped across the screen where Regan's name appeared.
[Found your super sweet and innocent girl wandering the Cevinari section of the outer halls, Jase,] it read. [Seems she got, uh, 'lost'. Funny that, isn't it? I just happened to get 'lost' too, super sad that I didn't make it to offerings either. We just happened to run into each other!]
Jason just stared at his Liaiser, not wanting to believe what he knew Regan to be saying.
His Liaiser buzzed again.
[Oh and uh, I've been having an interesting conversation with her for a while now. How did you find the storm this morning, bro? Should have told me. Next time I'll find you a dress to hide under. Hahahahaha]
Jason shoved his Liaiser back into his pocket and headed for a back room, stopping only to pick up his violin case.
He was an idiot.
An absolute, starlight dimmed idiot.
A few similarities to one of his only friends and he'd instantly let down his guard. He'd forgotten the lessons that everyone else had taught him. He'd let her slip right through and get to him and he'd wanted to believe it so badly that he'd even tried to make excuses for her in the only place he was supposed to be safe--his own head. But he'd been wrong. So very, very wrong.
Olivia was absolutely nothing like Banshee.
*+*+*+*
Not wanting to be caught inside the unfamiliar layout of the temple, it took Olivia a little while to find a hidden alcove with more than one entrance to dim in, just in case anyone had seen Banshee come this way and decided to follow.
Olivia pressed her back to the wall and slid down its length, holding her arms to try and stop them from shaking.
She'd been dead.
It'd been so cold. So long. Time hadn't existed inside that nothingness. It was everywhere. Just sitting there, like stagnant water all around her. An eternity had passed through her soul in those seconds or minutes that'd trapped her there, bound by a vision she couldn't fight her way out of.
Suddenly revulsed, Olivia reached for the Starsong amulet around her neck and placed it on the ground beside her.
She buried her head inside her hands, drawing her knees close to her chest.
"Olivia?" came Viri's soft voice from somewhere in front of her.
Olivia couldn't bear to pull her hands away from her face. "What?"
"It was just a vision, Olivia," said Viri. "It wasn't real."
"Did you see it too?" asked Olivia. "Because it felt real. It was real. I--I don't know how to explain it Viri. It's like it's still touching me. Just sitting there, waiting." She sucked in a shaken breath, the heels of her hands sliding up to her forehead and digging in. "I wasn't all that concerned about the Shimmer wound. It didn't really hit me what it'd mean if it was serious. I... I just sorta thought I was invincible, y'no? Banshee, a Luminary, the Shadow of Skypillar. Agile and fast with perfect vision and absolutely no chance of seizures, but... but it didn't matter in that vision. I wasn't Olivia or Banshee anymore. I was dead."
Saying it out loud made it sink in somehow, past the hysteria and whatever it was that was freaking her out.
She, as Banshee or Olivia, could die.
"Did you expect to live forever?" asked Viri, almost curious. "You know that every human dies eventually. Why did it matter that you saw it in a vision?"
"I guess it just doesn't hit you until it's shoved in your face," murmured Olivia, pulling her hands away from her face to rest on her knees. Viri sat in the shadow created between Olivia's legs and chest, her large, violet eyes blinking up at her bonded. Olivia scratched her Ascended on the head and found a nervous laugh in her throat. "Well, we can say that it's properly sunk in now."
Viri tilted her head. "Just like that?"
"Just like that," said Olivia. "Do Ascended not die or something?"
"I don't know," said Viri. "We were made for a purpose. When that purpose is achieved, we might fade back into whatever we were beforehand. I don't remember what that was, though."
"I see," said Olivia. "Well, hopefully you won't be doing any fading until after we've saved Ella, because I'm definitely going to need you to help me carry Cryo through this one."
"I'm with you, Olivia," said Viri, zipping up to place her hands on the tip of Olivia's nose. "I like you. You could do it."
Olivia raised an eyebrow at the odd statement. "I like you too, Viri. Now," she said, taking a deep breath and lifting her gaze to the courtyard around her. "We should probably be getting back to that performance thingy. I'd rather it if I didn't get Jason in trouble twice in the same day."
Viri returned to the shadows of the bag as Olivia stood up, picking up her Starsong amulet and replacing it around her neck after a moment's hesitation. She'd seen failure's result, and she would not failure. The amulet had shaken her, but it'd taught her in exchange. She had faced the nothingness, and she'd emerged into the sunrise.
She could do this.
...assuming that Jason didn't kill her for being late yet again, she added after glancing at the colours of sunset creeping into the sky.
With her skirt damp from the ground and clinging to her butt in the most annoying way, Olivia headed back towards the performance hall, keeping her eyes peeled for Jason, Ariel or anyone else she knew.
Well, she found someone she knew.
The problem was that it was Regan.
There was something about the way he walked that just pissed her off. The first time he'd come to her house for the forms, it hadn't clicked as to who he was, but knowing now didn't really help. She still wanted to punch him in the face, but she figured that might have been a bad idea, especially considering the lectures Ericka had given her in the past on what she liked to dub 'THE' temple family. The High Shadowspeaker, the Governor, Jason, and, of course, Regan. In Ericka's books, they were royalty, and from the pieces she'd seen of them so far, Olivia was starting to think that her friend might be right.
And so, Olivia sucked it up and put on a smile as Regan's cocky-ass face stood in front of her and did the smirky-smiley thing, all the while thanking the stars above that Aurelia had stuck her with Jason instead.
"Olivia," said Regan. "May I ask where you've been? The High Shadowspeaker has been looking for you. She wished to know what you thought of the offerings."
"Oh, they were fine," said Olivia. "Very eye opening. I learned a lot. Didn't expect to see all the Lumi's in one spot in my lifetime. Weird hey? So I--"
"I was curious," said Regan. "What did you think of the High Speaker's answers regarding the duty of the Luminaries?"
Olivia blinked. The... what now?
"Pretty good," said Olivia, wondering if she could just get away with vague answers. "Was pretty much what I expected out of a topic like that. A new perspective on it from what I usually have though."
Regan's amused gaze pinned her down. "Interesting, interesting. As your first offering experience, I presume Jason walked you through it sufficiently? Perhaps brought you to a High Speaker so you may receive a blessing?"
Uh oh.
"Nawh," said Olivia. "I mean Jason explained stuff fine, but I didn't want the blessing or anything. I was happy to just sit there and observe and listen and stuff."
"He didn't mention the blessing is optional, but considered by most to be compulsory?"
"He said something about that," said Olivia. "Maybe I just missed the hint. Next time I guess?"
Regan sighed, in a frustratingly sympathetic manner that really didn't help her urge to hit him.
"Olivia," he said. "There is no blessing. There never has been. There wasn't a discussion on anything remotely related to the duty of a Luminary either. If you'd have attended with Jason or anyone else, you'd have known this. Did you attend the offerings or not?"
"Um," said Olivia, wracking her brain for some kind of excuse. "Well, no."
"May I ask why?"
"I um, have my reasons," said Olivia. "Anyway, I have to be getting back to the performance hall, I really don't want to--"
"Performance practice is over for the day," said Regan, stepping closer to Olivia to make room as a Speaker passed, only after, he didn't step back again. "It's a morning session every few days as I'm sure Jason will eventually get around to explaining. You'll be doing other things inbetween days. Would you like me to explain anything to you now?"
He was so close that Olivia could basically feel the heat coming off him. She placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back, but he caught her wrist. It left her on edge and staring at him, still with that amused, annoying smirk on his face.
Olivia shook him off. "We were a little pressed for time this morning, but I'm sure he'll explain everything later. He had other concerns due to my own idiocy of getting caught in the storm."
"Ah, yes," said Regan. "He mentioned that when I ran into him in the corridor this morning. I think he was out fetching you clothes or something. They look nice on you, by the way. At least he got that right. Anyway, I wouldn't get too comfortable with Jason. He puts on a nice front, but one step wrong and he turns into a nightmare. The High Shadowspeaker told him to play nice with you since she didn't want to go through the trouble of finding you another guide, but it won't be long before his patience snaps with you too. Just a warning, yea?"
"Thanks for your concern," said Olivia, reaching for her Liaiser inside her bag. She didn't trust Regan's word for one second.
There was a missed call and a few messages from Ariel. Swallowing her curse, Olivia swiped on Ariel's name and pressed the call button, holding it to her ear.
Ariel's voice answered on the other end. "Liv? Where are you?"
"Uhhh, good question," said Olivia, reluctantly glancing at Regan. "Where are we?"
"Cevinari south-western corridor on the first floor," said Regan, a little louder than he'd been before.
Olivia looked away. "In the Cevina--"
"Was that Regan?" asked Ariel. "Liv, what are you doing with Regan? Why weren't you at offerings? Did you have a seizure somewhere and black out?"
"No, I didn't have a seizure," muttered Olivia, wrapping her spare arm around her waist. "I'll tell you what happened later. Do we have more performance stuff or what are we supposed to be doing now?"
"No more performance practice today," said Ariel. "Head towards the performance hall, I'll meet you on the way there. We'll go grab some food before the ceremony tonight. You have some explaining to do. I'll see you soon."
"Uh, actually, could you stay on the phone?" asked Olivia. "I just wanna make sure I don't miss you on the way there or anything."
"Sure, Liv. No problem."
Olivia closed her eyes, thanking the stars the Ariel was smart enough to put the pieces together and started walking.
When Regan followed her, she turned to him. "I'll be fine now, thanks, Regan."
He didn't look up from his own Liaiser where he looked to be messaging someone. "Would you mind if I tagged along? I'm heading over that way too. May aswell make sure you find Ariel all right, hey?"
It wasn't exactly a question. She was almost tempted to say that yes, she would mind, just to make the entire walk there exceptionally awkward, but figured it only would have amused Regan more.
"No problem," said Olivia.
"I'll message Jason for you," said Regan. "Let him know you've been found and that you'll be attending the ceremony tonight--you will be, won't you?"
"It's compulsory, isn't it?"
"The High Shadowspeaker would be quite displeased if you were to miss it, yes," said Regan. "Though, if you're looking to ditch Jason..."
Olivia didn't even want to entertain the idea of being stuck with Regan for six weeks. "Wouldn't want to let him down. I'll
"Heh, funny you should say that," said Regan, smirking into his Liaiser. He replaced it in his pocket and inclined his head to a group as they drew close. "Speakers, may Skypillar's blessing be upon you."
"And you, Regan Spiritseer," they echoed.
Regan stepped in front of Olivia so that she was forced to stop. If he grabbed her again, she was going to--
"As much as I've enjoyed your company, Olivia, I've been given a task to complete before the ceremony," he said, once more a little louder than before. He looked as if he was about to place a hand on her shoulder when he reconsidered and gave her a small bow instead. "I'll see you at the ceremony tonight, Olivia. Farewell, and uh... good luck with Jason."
And like that, he was gone, leaving Olivia with a bad taste in her mouth as she continued on to find Ariel.
*+*+*+*
A/N - And with that, all the fluff just flies out the window.
Gonna be honest, next chapter pretty much killed me to write. Prepare your butts.
(and pls throw a vote or a comment for the extra long chapter? ^_^)
Picture of Regan by @46Kibahime ~ IT'S SO DAMNED PERFECT. Also the commentary is A+ XD