A/N: Dermag is an OC created by my longtime friend Kooshmeister, who had the initial core idea for this story and will be fully credited in future chapters (when doing so won't involve spoilers!). He's used here with permission :)

Chapter 4

A warm spell had come to the Bah-Lem Valley. As night fell, the heat of the day still hung steamy in the air, and the Castle's residents were glad of whatever magic it was that kept its crystalline walls pleasantly cool.

With the last of the suns gone down, the Castle emitted its own soft white glow. Most of the flowers that filled the Crystal Chamber had closed, but those that bloomed by night were now opening in their turn. In the light of the First Sister, a swarm of firebugs floated their way down through the open ceiling hatches, and bobbed around the heads of Teba and the two Podlings with her.

The one beside her, whose name was Dermag, barely took notice. {"She hasn't moved since last night. How long is she going to stay like this?"}

The 'she' in question was Aughra. The ancient sage sat cross-legged before the floating Crystal, her hands folded in a pose of meditation. Her primary remaining eye was closed, but the third, strange one in the middle of her forehead glowed a faint yellow, like a dying ember. Only that, and the rise and fall of breath, gave sign that she was still alive.

It had been like this for many days now, ever since Teba had first alerted her. For hours upon hours, she would send her consciousness to a place the Podlings could not follow, seeking the source of the voice coming through the Crystal. The first few times, she had awakened crabby and frustrated, but more lately she seemed to be making progress, if the lack of grumbling was anything to go by.

As the Podlings watched, the firebugs landed to rest on her hair and horns. Their lights began to pulse in time with her breathing.

And, deep within the Crystal, the mote of golden light shone again, and the voice rang out. High and deep by turns, warbling then reverberating, rising and falling and rising again…

Aughra's eye snapped open, and the song ended.

"So it's you." She sounded impressed. "That explains a lot. Always did wonder where you ended up. And you still managed it! Well, good for you. Not sure how much good it'll do you now, but good for you."

Teba and her companions exchanged glances, trying to decide which of them would address her. In the end, Dermag was the one who asked, {"You were able to reach whatever's been singing?"}

"Not what." Aughra's gaze was still on the Crystal. "Who. I didn't think I'd ever hear from him again. But then, he never did know when to give up. Should've guessed he'd find some way to make himself heard, even now."

But before she could tell the three Podlings more, a fourth one came running into the Crystal Chamber. "Ama Aughra, Ama Aughra…!"

He tripped on a thick vine, and went tumbling across the floor. Only a quick move from Aughra's walking stick stopped him at the edge of the net of roots that had grown over the fiery shaft.

"Slow down! What's got you in such a hurry? Can't be enough for you to risk a fall like that one."

Panting (and with a fearful glance at the barely-covered shaft), the Podling hopped to his feet. "Ama Aughra, Gelfling return! They in village! They … not alone…"

"Well why didn't you say so!" Aughra hauled herself up with a grunt. Finally taking notice of the firebugs perched all over her, she waved them away, not unkindly. "Shoo! All of you shoo. Go bother the flowers."

Down in the village, Jen and Kira had found themselves and their two traveling companions quickly surrounded by delighted Podlings welcoming them back.

Leading the welcoming party was Kira's beloved fizzgig. The fur around his face had gone gray in the past seven trine, he'd lost a few of his impressive teeth, and his rolling was slower than it had been, but he barked as loudly as ever as he came to greet his mistress.

"I missed you too, Fizzgig," Kira laughed as she scooped him into her arms. It took her a moment to figure out how to hold him while leaving room for her pregnant belly, which made the fuzzy creature take notice of it. His yellow eyes widened, and he began sniffing her furiously.

Roor Lenev, who had never seen a fizzgig before, pointed a wary claw at the toothy little beast. {"She … in danger?"}

Hup chuckled. {"No, but anyone who tries to harm her will be! It's been a long time since I saw a fizzgig, and that looks like a good, loyal one."}

{"He is."} Jen approached, and held out a hand for Fizzgig to sniff. He'd warmed up to the male Gelfling since their first meeting, but his bond with Kira would always be stronger, and he quickly turned his attention back to her. {"He used to come with us on our journeys, before he grew old."}

It had been a hard decision for them, when they realized they couldn't bring Fizzgig on their adventures anymore. As loyal and brave as he was, the long days of walking and sleeping rough were growing too hard on his paws and joints. After they'd returned from their last journey with him too stiff and exhausted even to roll, they'd agreed he deserved to spend his remaining trine in a soft bed by a warm hearth. If that meant he had to spend part of those trine without Kira by his side … well, she'd take comfort knowing he was safe and cared for.

Ydra wasn't far behind him. The old Podling woman greeted her adoptive daughter with a delighted embrace, and exclaimed in surprise and joy when she saw her now-visible pregnancy. {"Kira, this is wonderful. Congratulations! I know how much you always wanted a family of your own."}

Kira had been beaming ear to ear as they hugged, but at those words, her smile faded. {"...Ydra, meet our new friends. This is Hup, and Lenev of the Gruenaks."}

Hup gave a charming grin as he bowed. {"Lady Ydra. Glad to make your acquaintance again."}

Ydra gaped for a moment, then laughed. {"Why, Sir Hup! I never dreamed I'd see you again."}

Jen glanced between them. {"You … know each other?"}

{"That we did."} Ydra gave the other Podling a friendly clap on the shoulder. {"You don't forget the only Podling paladin in history. He used to come to our village, calling up support for the resistance."}

{"And you always gave what you could."} Hup turned to Kira. {"Your mother and her clan were great allies to the Gelfling."}

Kira, remembering how Ydra had always warned her away from the Gelfling ruins near their village and had been reluctant to talk about the war at all, was stunned. She'd known her mother must have some good memories of Gelfling for her to adopt one, but she'd never imagined Ydra was part of the resistance.

Why did you never tell me? she found herself wondering.

The gathered Podlings peppered them with questions for a bit longer, before a gruff female voice carried through them. "Out of my way, out of my way! I get to talk to them now!"

"Aughra!" Jen greeted her warmly, and she returned a smile.

"Good to see you back safely, Jen. And Kira! My, you certainly are returning with more Gelfling," she teased, with a nod at Kira's belly.

When her gaze turned on Lenev, she gasped. "And a Gruenak! Thought all of you were dead! Well," she chuckled, "if I was wrong about Gelfling, why not Gruenaks too? Glad to see Thra can still sometimes surprise even Aughra!"

Lenev, who had been looking helplessly at Hup for how she should react to this strange horned crone talking loudly at her, settled for copying his earlier example and bowing.

Last of all, Aughra turned to Hup. "And you, last soldier of the resistance that was. This is indeed a day for the past coming back."

The old Podling gave her a small, playful salute with his spoon-arm.

{"We have to celebrate!"} Ydra declared. Grabbing Kira and Jen's hands, she pulled them towards the heart of the village, leaving the others little choice but to follow. For all she was smaller than the Gelfling, the Podling woman could be almost as much a force of nature as Aughra when she wanted to.

{"It'll be all right,"} Hup reassured the still-wary Lenev. {"Come on. You haven't had real fun until you've been to a Podling party!"}

It would be difficult to travel the space-time path between Crystals without the energy from a Conjunction on at least one end.

Difficult, but not impossible. Even an immortal race could not always afford to wait the centuries it would otherwise take to travel between solar systems, and in the many Ages the urSkeks had been a spacefaring people, they had found ways of bending the known rules of the universe to make their explorations easier.

It was just a matter of planning.

"I still say we should wait," ZokZah addressed the others as they gathered in their shared residence. "The solstice of the Primary Sun is a day of great reverence. There'll be too many pilgrims around the Crystal."

"And we can use that to our advantage," UngIm insisted. "The rest of us will enter in the crowd with the other visitors. We'll draw less attention among so many. While the guards are distracted in prayer, you two," he turned to ShodYod and EktUtt, "will make the preparations. Once that's done, we only have to be in place when the moment comes."

ShodYod's corona turned dim and hazy with self-doubt. "I wish we had TekTih with us. I've made the best calculations I can, but he could've done better."

"If we had TekTih and the others, we wouldn't be doing any of this in the first place," EktUtt quipped. "Have some confidence in yourself. You're an excellent arithmetician, and I'm an excellent designer. It will work!"

ZokZah's gray corona made it clear he still wasn't convinced. "I'll do what I can to keep the other ritualists occupied, and join you when the time is right. But if that fails…"

UngIm turned his piercing white eyes on the Ritualist. "Yes, then we seven will go without you. But you must not let it come to that! We made the last journey as eight, and we will be stronger if we do so again! Do not fail us!"

The volume in his own voice startled him. And he saw by the wary rippling of coronas that it had startled the others too.

"... I understand that, Physician. But all the same…"

UngIm realized now what was really troubling the other urSkek. Abashed, he dimmed his corona and lowered his voice. "ZokZah … I apologize. You are a valued part of this mission, but I do not mean to force you into it." He turned to the others. "Or any of you. I appreciate that you still look to me as our leader, but I am not an emperor, and you are not my subjects. If any of you wish to turn away now, you are free to do so, with no ill will from me."

A long moment of silence passed between the eight. They all remembered another time, over two thousand trine ago, when SoSu had said very similar words the night before they set out to enact his mysterious new design on the Crystal.

None of them had questioned it then, as shameful as it was to remember looking back. They had all been too swayed by the then-Councillor, with his charisma, his enchanting voice, and the dreams of being special he had awakened in each of them. When his disciples had listened to SoSu, they had believed he really could change their world for the better ... and that personal glory would be theirs for helping him.

And it had all ended in disaster.

Caught, branded as heretics, banished to a primitive world on the far side of the galaxy. A thousand trine spent cut off from the warmth and light of their people. And then, watching as their own dark urges broke free and wrought another thousand trine of death and ruin on the innocent, while what they had believed were their better selves did nothing to stop them.

Now they were planning to go back to that world, with a mad and half-formed plan to contact the dead, and no guarantee it would succeed.

SilSol was the first to speak. "...I confess, I do have reservations. But I cannot see any other way. Whatever is devouring the other worlds will reach us soon, and if we do not find a way to stop it, it will go after Thra too." He bowed his head, avoiding the others' eyes. "We owe it to them to try."

"He's right," AyukAmaj spoke up. "The Council's let this … stellar gluttony run unchecked for too long. If we can't undo the damage it's already done, we should at least find a way to stop the Devouring before it consumes anyone else."

Until now, none of them had put a name to whatever was erasing Crystal-bearing worlds, but the Culinarian's choice seemed fitting enough. In each of their minds, it now took on an identity: the Devouring.

UngIm stretched one long, slender arm out to the others. In his hand, he conjured a piece of his own aura, the ball of light pulsing in matching color and time with his corona. "Then, are we in this together?"

SilSol reached out his own hand, and the light doubled in size as their auras joined. "We are."

"We are." ShodYod added his aura to theirs.

One by one - AyukAmaj, NaNol, EktUtt, and OkAc - they each joined their auras in agreement. UrSkeks used their telekinetic gifts so much, it was rare for one of them to ever touch another's corporeal form, and the sensation as their hands brushed now was strange.

Strange, but comforting and welcome.

"Well?" UngIm finally addressed the Ritualist. "What do you say?"

ZokZah hesitated one last time … and then joined his aura too, shining and warm.

"We are."

It was a tricky process for a pilgrim to gain access to the Crystal, especially on such a holy day as the Primary Solstice. Thousands of urSkeks would have loved the chance, but they could never all fit on the crystalline hill by the sea. And, as SoSu had proven, even fewer could be trusted.

Fortunately, ZokZah knew exactly what to say to win his friends a place among the visitors.

"Most gracious and exalted Councillor," he intoned, as he dimmed his corona in submission before SharSet. "I come before you on behalf of my fellow once-Fallen. Like myself, they strive every day for the good of all our kind, and to erase the darkness within them. I believe a pilgrimage on the approaching solstice would help bring their spirits peace. Please, let them show their repentance. Let them ask the Crystal itself for forgiveness."

SharSet's face remained impassive, but the flickering of her corona told him she was considering it.

"Yes…" The senior Councillor steepled her hands. "That would be appropriate."

She looked out from the balcony where they now stood, in the western Tower of Administration. When she spoke again, it was in the cool, slightly haughty tone of someone who was paying a sincere compliment, but did not want the receiver to forget their place. "I always did appreciate the insight you brought to your devotions, ZokZah. If you had not been swayed by … heresy," she emphasized the word carefully, "I like to think we might have brought you into the Council one day."

Heresy…

ZokZah struggled to keep his corona steady and prevent it from betraying his thoughts. He succeeded, thanks to many centuries of practice, but inside, in the private core of his mind where not even the most powerful Inquisitors could reach, he remembered the sound of an iron nail piercing bone, and the smell of blood.

"You flatter me to say so, Councillor. It would have been an honor, to be sure, but I'm afraid my place will always be in overseeing the orisons and spiritual wellbeing of our people. After all, if our spirits are not in balance, nothing else can be."

"Well said indeed. Very well," SharSet said at last, "your comrades may attend the ceremony. I'll inform the other Councillors of my decision."

The procession up to the Crystal wound a long and spiraling path. Up the smooth slopes of the hill overlooking the sea, through towering columns and arches of lesser crystal and stone, and finally to the flat, glass-smooth crown of the hill, where the living heart of their world hung suspended by its own gravity above a dais of smaller crystals, glowing white in the late afternoon light of the suns.

UngIm and his six comrades did their best to pass unnoticed among the dozens of other pilgrims. So far, they seemed to be succeeding; after all, this procession had occurred without incident for thousands of trine, and those present now had no reason to expect today would be any different.

Even so, a pair of guards watched each visitor as they passed through the final Arch of the Narthex.

"Remember," SilSol kept this voice to a faint murmur in the minds of the others, "we are here as penitents. Keep yourselves as humble as possible. If they question us, let me do the talking."

OkAc rolled his eyes - a habit that still lingered from the centuries he had spent in two flesh and blood forms, and one that was wasted now thanks to their blank whiteness. "You don't need to remind us. I've consulted the records, I know how…"

The Chronicler trailed off as he saw what was happening.

A few places ahead of them in line, a pilgrim was wearing a synthsilk ribbon tied in a bow around a branch of their thalli. It was a bright blue and yellow, like light rippling on water, rather than the red and violet EktUtt had crafted seven trine ago, but the pattern on the fabric was unmistakably the same.

OkAc whisper-hissed at the Designer, "More of your work?"

"No." EktUtt, the others saw, was just as surprised as they were. "I remember every bit of material I've ever crafted, and that isn't one of them." His corona brightened. "But it does look nice."

"The guards don't seem to think so," UngIm remarked. They watched as the beribboned pilgrim was stopped at the Arch of the Narthex. The guards led him aside, exchanging words the seven could not hear, but could guess well enough. With a corona so dim it was nearly invisible, the pilgrim surrendered their ribbon.

"I don't understand," OkAc whispered again. "You only wore that thing for one day."

EktUtt and AyukAmaj exchanged a glance, and the Designer admitted, "Well … not exactly. It seemed like we weren't being watched so closely this past trine, so I've put new ones on a few more times when I was out in the city." Apparently feeling the others were judging him, he added, "What of it? I'm only trying to bring more beauty to our world!"

If that truly was his intention, UngIm thought, it seemed he was succeeding. When the Physician looked at the procession behind them, he could see a few others wearing ribbons in different colors.

What was more, they were adding their own individual touches to it. Some wore their ribbons floating in long streamers, while others wrapped them high and tight around a thallus. One, UngIm was impressed to see, had even tied a silver flower into the ribbon.

Whether or not he had meant to, the Designer had started something.

… Well, they would deal with whatever consequences might come from that later.

The incident with the pilgrim seemed to have worked to the seven's advantage, at least, for the guards only gave them a cursory look-over before allowing them through the Arch of the Narthex. If they noticed that ShodYod and EktUtt's white robes hung a little heavier and glittered a little more brightly than the others', they gave no sign of it.

Once they were past the Narthex, the seven joined the vast crowd of pilgrims thronging the open hilltop around the Crystal. Near the dais, they could see ZokZah gathered with the other ritualists in formation. UngIm flared his corona, signaling their presence - on the next note of prayer, ZokZah turned his own corona a deeper gold in response.

All is well. The plan can proceed.

As the Primary Sun inched closer to the horizon, ShodYod and EktUtt quietly (the latter making great effort to be so) drifted to the far edge of the crowd, following the sinking sun. There, two vast crystalline columns, etched with the symbols and star-writing of the ancient urSkek language, framed the place where the sun would align at the last moment of daylight.

The Arithmetician and Designer each slipped behind a column. They raised their hands in matching formation, coronas muted in concentration…

Twin clouds of fine crystalline powder floated up from the material of their robes. The clouds joined, swirling as the two urSkeks controlled them, condensing the particles into a new form the way a new planet might take shape from the dust of space.

While they worked, the others kept watch among the other pilgrims. None gave any sign of having seen what they were up to, and UngIm was not entirely surprised.

The Primary Solstice was a day when urSkeks paid homage to tradition, but it was also something more. Here, in the presence of the holy Crystal, even when surrounded by others, they could each be alone inside their own minds. When they approached the Crystal, they could speak to it from their own hearts, without disapproval from the Council or the Enforcers. There was no judgment here, no fear that your secret prayers and wishes might go against the will of the collective.

When it was only you and the Crystal, you could be your true self.

And even now, with their mission weighing on the eight's minds, it was a powerful thing to feel.

We have to succeed, UngIm thought, as the light shone warm upon him and he felt a wave of love and reverence. We already did so much harm to one Crystal. We can't let any more be lost.

At last, the gathered pilgrims parted in long-practiced formation, leaving an open path between the Crystal and the setting Primary Sun. The Ritualists took up their own positions, with ZokZah forming the point of their triangle closest to the sun.

The Ritualists intoned as one, their strong voices carrying over the crowd. "Now, as the Greater Light begins to depart, let us join our song as one. Let us sing in memory of the Light that is lost, and in honor of the Light that is to come. Let us remember-"

"It's you who should remember."

UngIm froze as the voice cut through the invocation.

The voice he knew all too well.

The crowd parted with dimmed coronas as KalPol moved through them like a cresting wave. With him came SharSet, and flanking them … UngIm's heart dropped as he recognized FerLhar and MbasMbet, the joint commanders of the Enforcers.

A squad of subordinate Enforcers followed them.

"Councillor KalPol!" ZokZah raised his voice in disapproval. "This is against all decorum-"

"You will be silent when a Councillor speaks, Ritualist." SharSet's tone was icy, and there was no missing that she had used his title, not his name. She turned to her younger companion. "It seems your suspicions were right. They are not so repentant as they would have us believe."

A mortal curse UngIm had learned many centuries ago came back to him now: oh shit.

KalPol approached him, still flanked by the Enforcer Commanders. "Indeed, esteemed Senior Councillor. These eight are as much a danger to our society as ever. They present a face of compliance, but their hearts hold dark secrets."

"We have no secrets!" This time, UngIm didn't bother trying to hide his anger. If he was going to be accused here in public, where the Councillors no doubt hoped to make an example of him, then by the Crystal he was going to defend himself and his friends. "Ever since our return, we have sought nothing but good for all urSkeks!"

KalPol's corona glowed as gray as a smoking fire - not only was he disagreeing, he was smug about it. "You say that now, but your actions tell otherwise."

He beckoned to MbasMbet, and from her robes, she produced a handful of ribbons.

EktUtt and ShodYod had discreetly emerged from behind the columns as soon as they heard KalPol's arrival. At the sight of the ribbons, the Designer's corona lit up in guilty surprise, and the Councillor turned his piercing stare on him.

"You would interrupt the Solstice ceremony over a few scraps of cloth?" UngIm growled.

"These," KalPol struck out with a swipe of telekinetic energy, casting the ribbons out of MbasMbet's hand, "are but a symbol of what you Fallen are doing. You are doing just what you did before: spreading disharmony. Spreading corruption. For Ages beyond counting, urSkeks have kept ourselves and our ways in perfect balance, and now you would upset that balance!"

A soft mmmmm rose beside UngIm. "If it can be upset so easily by a few bits of ribbon," SilSol spoke up, "perhaps the balance is not as perfect as Councillor KalPol believed."

It was clear from the brief flicker of shadow in his corona that KalPol hadn't been expecting the Cantor to challenge him. He hesitated, but only for a moment, and the realization that he had done so in front of over a hundred watching pilgrims made him even angrier.

"You still dare to question the will of all our kind..."

"Only the will of the Council," SilSol countered smoothly. "Particularly the will of Councillor KalPol. That and the will of all urSkeks may perhaps be different things."

KalPol hesitated again, and UngIm understood what was happening. SilSol was turning the power of his voice - that versatile, mesmerizing, nigh-supernatural voice that could move mountains as easily as it could turn lies into truth - on not just KalPol and his cronies, but all those in the crowd watching.

And it was working.

Murmurs of disapproval rippled through the pilgrims, and they were not all directed at the eight. Coronas dimmed and flared by turns, in a panoply of confused colors.

SharSet, seeing the reaction of the crowd, dimmed her corona for an instant in something close to fear. But she had not become the most senior of the Council for nothing, and she asserted control again with a flash of her corona as bright as a solar flare.

"ENOUGH!" The crowd fell silent, and she glared at UngIm. "When your Ritualist asked me to let you attend the ceremony, I did not want to believe you might have an ulterior motive. I wanted to believe you were repentant, and had achieved unity with our kind again. I truly did want that."

"You have abused the Council's good will for the last time," KalPol went on, drawing even closer. "We know what your Arithmetician has been doing."

ShodYod froze, but before he could say anything, SilSol spoke again. "And what, exactly, is that? Councillor KalPol brings many accusations, but I have not heard him say anything clear. Could it be he has nothing clear to say?"

Beside him, UngIm risked a glance past KalPol, to the two columns where EktUtt and ShodYod stood. In the space between them, he could see the horizon, perfectly split between sea and sky. As the Primary Sun slowly began to touch the edge of the water, the image curved…

Yes! They did it!

The specially crafted crystalline focusing disk, delicate but powerful, and nigh-invisible from this angle, was in place.

This can still work, UngIm thought. Keep him talking, SilSol. Just a few more minutes, that's all we need…

With his back to the setting sun, KalPol rounded on the Cantor. "Your Arithmetician looks for problems where there are none. He stares at faraway stars when his time would be put to better use here on our own world. We ended our interstellar exploration nearly an Age ago, precisely because there was no longer anything of use for us to learn! We are an ageless culture, with all the wisdom of the galaxy preserved in our records. Whatever might still lie undiscovered now would only bring chaos."

"And yet," SilSol's voice grew cold, "you believe there still is something to be discovered."

His words were baited, and KalPol, full of righteous anger and eager to be listened to, took the bait.

"Nothing of value! Your Arithmetician would have you believe in some phantom Star-Shadow -"

"The Devouring."

KalPol paused. "What?"

"We call it the Devouring. Not the Star-Shadow. That is your name for it."

The Councillor gaped, realizing what he had said. And, UngIm saw, SharSet also froze in realization.

"You do know about it!" The tips of the Physician's teeth showed in his anger. "You know our world is in danger! And you have done nothing! "

"Do not presume that which you know nothing about!" SharSet's attention was half on him, half on the crowd. "Have faith in your Council. If you had but approached us, we could have reassured you. We have had a plan in place for an Age -"

"Then why have you kept it secret?" The others were surprised, and impressed, to hear ShodYod show enough courage to challenge the urSkek leader. "I asked while I was conducting my studies. No one knew of the thing I was seeking, or any plan to guard against it."

"Some matters can only be handled by the Council," KalPol declared imperiously. "That is why we have a Council. We make the hardest decisions, for all of you, because we are the only ones who can. " He turned to the Enforcers. "Enough of this. Take them to the holding chambers."

The sun dipped below the horizon…

The focusing crystal lit up, and a beam of green-gold light shot across the still-empty stretch of ground. It struck the Crystal at an upward angle, and by the way the pure white light brightened, the eight knew ShodYod's calculations and EktUtt's designs had worked.

Before the stunned Enforcers could seize them, the eight shed their corporeal forms and leapt into the beam, one by one. They would only have a moment before the Primary Sun set completely and its borrowed power was cut off, but a moment would be all they needed.

UngIm stayed until last. "If you won't act to save our world," he growled coldly at the two Councillors, "then we will."

And with that, he joined his brothers on the path of light between Crystals. They moved through the triangular space between spaces, the time between time, journeying the impossibly vast span between worlds in the blink of an eye.

Journeying back to Thra.

To Be Continued...