A flash of silver in the darkness.
Immediately and without a single wasted motion, Lu'ma set down her tray and rushed towards the sound.
As she ran, she removed her shoes and tied the straps to her belt. Once, Her Radiance had taught her how to move silently through the crystal with magic at her heels. She’d used the knowledge to escape notice many times, avoiding unnecessary conflict with the more vicious of Companions who enjoyed disciplining other Attendants for the sake of entertainment.
Lu’ma rounded a corner and saw Her Radiance.
Barefoot.
Large silver eyes open and unseeing.
Her lips moving in a silent chant.
Some of it was the Litany of Silence. Other parts…
Safe to report: Her Radiance still walks at night. Unchanged.
Not safe to report: The Sokâr speaks in strange tongues. Not the language of the Polis. Something else. Foreign. This remains unchanged.
Her Radiance walked like a puppet with broken strings.Stumbling. Halting. Looping around then circling back.Lu’ma slowed her pace. If she approached too quickly, she might snap her out of her trance.
Her Radiance will fall, and This Nameless will need to carry her.
Observation: Distance is too great to Her Radiance's chambers. Cannot return to the Resh'Agar's wing without clearance.
Approach slowly.
Do not startle.
Do not frighten Her Radiance.
Sometimes she screamed, too, if awakened too suddenly. Other times, magic jumped from her fingers and created something out of nothing. No conduit. No sigil. No rune.
Another secret.
Another thing the Solutus would have honored their chosen of the Choir for uncovering.
But Lu’ma would never reveal it.
Not even if they threatened to cut off her fingers.
When Her Radiance rounded another corner, Lu’ma followed.
Up ahead loomed the Vesper Stair, the steep crystalline staircase that led both downwards to the Axis Hall and upwards to the Vesper Seat. Her Radiance hovered on the edge of it, poised as though unsure.
From the right, a silk-clad figure emerged from the shadows. Midnight black hair, voluminous and oiled. Eyes green like venom. Painted lips twisted in a sneer of disgust.
Zeera, the Chosen Companion.The one who despised Her Radiance the most.She walked up behind the Sokâr and reached out, shoving her.Hard.
Without a single sound, Her Radiance tipped forward and fell.
Down the stairs.
Down into the darkness.
One crack.
Then another.
