The 12th Day of Resplendent Wood, 602 in the Year of Our Empress.

There were nights in the Imperial City where the weather was nice, the harvest so plentiful, and prosperity so abundant that even the lowest street-rat could take the night off. Elated Fury hadn't been a street-rat in...well, it was longer than any mortal lifetime. But he was proud that his other responsibilities kept him close to the streets, helping him to remember what it was like, where he came from. Tonight, the lunar eclipse left the city far darker than usual and it seemed everyone had settled into slumber. Right now, a peaceful silence descended that only came once in a lifetime.

Tonight was a night off.

He'd kicked the shit out of two star-witches and came out on top. A hot bath, a new set of clothes and Elated Fury felt in top form once again. He heard cooing in his arms and grinned down at Keen Tide, his youngest daughter. The little girl was a year old now, quite a handful but a welcome one. A few hundred years ago, a night like this would have been spent whoring it away. He wasn't that man anymore, though. If he wanted a screw, he could get one morning, noon and night. He'd be damned if he was going to ruin a perfect evening over something that trivial.

Elated Fury had his life. He had his daughter. And the Scripture of Crimson Silver, of course.

"The Imperial City has a different feel to it," Elated Fury said, enjoying the feeling of the night air. The Scripture of Crimson Silver stopped staring at the empty night sky and looked at him. The black silks and veils she wore masked her expression but he'd learned to read her every mood an age ago. She was annoyed at being interrupted. That was the Scripture for you. "When it's not struggling to thrive," he added, clarifying. "The First-Age buildings are surprisingly nice to look at when you don't have to keep your eyes on the streets. Look, Scarlet."

On a cloudless night like this, the city glowed slightly despite the lack of moonlight. It looked magical. Naturally, it was. But that wasn't the point. Elated Fury bit on the stem of his pipe, puffed contentedly at the poppies merrily smoldering in the bowl, and jiggled his giggling daughter. That was the point. Keen Tide wasn't even a year old and Elated Fury knew he wouldn't get a chance to spend much time with her. Life had long ago passed that kind of freedom by. It made him grateful for the moment.

"I would rather look at the moon." The Scripture of Crimson Silver turned her head back and resumed watching where Luna should be in the sky.

"She's not up there right now. What's She to you, anyway?" Elated Fury asked. "You're not a Lunar. Are you looking for inspiration?"

"I do not watch for Luna because I need to. I watch for Her because She needs me to."

That was too enigmatic to be worth pursuing. When the Scripture started talking like that, it was time to tell the conversation to fuck off.

"You are unsettled," the Scripture said at last, ending the long silence that had grown between them. "You find yourself short on work. You have accomplished all you wanted and still you live. You wonder what to do next. You are a king with a secure throne, Elated Fury. But you would have an empire."

"Would I?" He scratched his chin absently, thinking it over. "I don't think so. There's a bit more growth I'd like to do, mostly in geography, but I don't want to deal in slaves, wetwork or black magic and those are the only niches left that we don't have a hand in."

"Perhaps it is something else then." She brushed at a small lock of hair on his daughter's head.

"You tell me, Scarlet." He puffed on his pipe.

"You are sensitive to criticism, but selectively. Your disposition with your lieutenants and sons is as serene as ever but there is tension between us. Your reactions with me are different." The Scripture might have been talking about the latest book she'd read, for all the emotional inflection in her voice.

"Fuck, speak Low Realm," Elated Fury said, shaking his head.

"You understand me. I think you know why." The Scripture of Crimson Silver turned her head again and the veils stirred in a light evening breeze. "Its heart is in my refusal to give you a child."

"Luna fuck me, do we have to bring that up again?" Elated Fury's exasperation was not remotely feigned. "I'm over it. I let it drop."

"This is not working."

Elated Fury took the pipe from his mouth and slowly looked at his lover. For nearly three centuries, they'd kept each other's company. He did not ask when she left about her business and she did not press him on his people, his activities or his past times. Always they'd shared an uncanny intimacy and honesty. The Scripture of Crimson Silver was not like any woman he'd ever known. What woman would cradle and care for his children sired on others? None of his lovers had ever shown her constancy, her even if sharp temperament, nor her tolerance for the man he was. The Scripture asked for nothing but his love and attention when she wanted it.

But it wasn't working. He couldn't give her want she wanted. And she couldn't give him what he wanted. Maybe the Scripture was more like other women than he thought.

Elated Fury took a deep breath. "What are you saying, Scarlet?"

"Each of us carry a pain we bring upon ourselves," she said. The Scripture scooted up to his side and slipped her silk-clad arm around his waist. "What we believe in defines us in ways this existence can scarcely define. You are a rare man, Elated Fury. You have shaped your beliefs as much as they have shaped you...and what you set out to do, you do. Yet you do not succumb to temptation, to the easy path, to the way of weakness."

"Temptation and I are plenty acquainted," the Lunar said.

"You have done something no one has in a thousand years, Elated Fury. Because of your heart, you have shaped yourself. Look and see." The Scripture of Crimson Silver held up her hand and the air rippled about it, a sudden silver gleam stirring the air like water until it turned reflective. She showed him his face and his Caste Mark shone with a coolly serene light, the silver half-crescent that only came a few days a month.

Elated Fury blinked in sudden understanding. He looked up into the sky...and no, Luna's face still hid from the world. Calibration had nights like this and his Caste Mark had always shown that lack. Not tonight. Fuck, tomorrow night was a full moon. His Caste Mark was wrong, entirely wrong for this time of month eclipse or not.

"What the fuck is going on?" he asked.

"You are a Half Moon Lunar," the Scripture said. "And it seems your Caste has settled. Your future is now set before you. As mine is for me."

"You're leaving," Elated Fury said, turning away from the sky and looking at the Scripture, searching out her eyes through her many veils. "Don't go."

"I must." She did not smile or sigh but only gave him the same expression she always wore. That was the Scripture. Either she looked serene or annoyed. Elated Fury always held out the hope that someday he'd see something else. It hadn't occurred to him until now that he might not get that chance. "You will hurt me if I stay or you will hurt yourself. I cannot tolerate this. My love." She caressed his face and suddenly she smiled. Elated Fury's breath left him at the sight of such glory. Her lips when they touched his face burned into his flesh, etching an indelible pattern upon his soul. "One day, there will be a woman for you. You two are meant for each other, my love. And you will find happiness with her."

"Will I?" Elated Fury stared at her and, to his surprise, she looked away first.

"I don't know. You are not the person you were before. Perhaps you will not be again. Would you love me if you did not love her?" The specific question surprised the Lunar as much as the fact that she'd actually asked him something did. In his entire life, he'd heard her ask a question all of five times. Including this one. So Elated Fury gave it thought, as much as he could given he didn't understand who this woman would be or anything else about the situation.

"I've loved you 300 years, Scarlet. I don't see that ever changing."

"Nor will I ever cease loving you all the days of your life, man that I love. Nor will the day you die see an end to that love. Always it will endure, just as I do." The Scripture smiled fondly at his daughter, Keen Tide, and caressed the child's cheek. Then she touched his face and said, "Goodbye."

And she was gone, vanishing as she could whenever moonlight touched her. Elated Fury touched his lit Caste Mark ruefully, recognizing it had given her the chance to disappear. He looked out over the dark night in the Imperial City. His fingers strayed to the place on his cheek where her lips had touched him. The heat of her kiss still burned and he rubbed it, tears suddenly stinging his eyes. She'd left...and she would not be coming back.

Elated Fury sighed deeply and hugged his daughter tightly, hoping for her sake that future would treat her more kindly in love than it had him. He bowed his head, taking comfort in the warm child in his arms. The Lunar didn't notice when the Goddess Luna stepped down from the sky, the Scripture of Crimson Silver at Her side, nor did he notice their touch when they placed a hand on his shoulders.

But the ache in his heart eased. And when he looked back at the nighttime sky, Elated Fury's wolf-gold eyes gleamed beneath the Mark of a Half-Moon.