From the balcony of a tall tower, King Gilbert looked out over the Unseelie Court's capital city of Tivalon and the night sky above it all.
Yuvalon had no sun, moon or stars like the human realm did. Their sky was illuminated with streaks of colours in all shades of the rainbows, swirling and mixing in the air high above them. The colours would brighten during the day, then turn dark at nighttime as it had done now. Using his chances wisely to explore the human realm as a younger fae, Gilbert found that the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis in the polar regions were the closest thing humans had to the fae's colourful sky.
But that would all change soon enough. Once the ritual was complete, the two skies would merge once again, as they originally had been millenia ago. The humans would get to see the dancing colours in the sky, alongside their sun and moon and stars. Meanwhile, the fae would no longer be burned by the sunlight or moonlight. It really was the best for everyone.
Particularly for the fae. When it came to travelling in the human realm, there were other ways in which they would also no longer be restrained.
Gilbert turned away from the balcony and entered the parlour once again, shutting the doors behind him. Two well-trusted Unseelie fae were circling a large wooden table, where the surface had been turned into a large haze of magic, swirling in streaks of purple and crimson red. Their intention this evening was to measure the positions of the planets, confirm the exact date for the alignment, and determine what items they need to collect in preparation.
As the two fae muttered spells to modify the magic, Gilbert watched the magic swirling on the surface. These plans had not originally been his, it was a project passed onto him by his father. Twenty years ago now, the Seelie Court found the original ritual's documents in their vaults, and informed the Unseelie Court of the discovery out of mere courtesy before properly archiving them. His father arranged for some cunning Unseelie fae to break into the Seelie archives and steal the documents, which had since been in the attentive and discreet care of the Unseelie King.
A flash of crimson red lit up the table as Yao muttered another incantation. He came from a family with powerful soothsaying magic, which had loyally served the Unseelie Royal Family for generations. It was his soothsaying, upon the death of Gilbert's father, that foresaw how recreating the ritual would be the defining act of Gilbert's reign as Unseelie King.
A swoosh of purple magic took over the table next, conjured by Lukas's muttering to the other side. Out of all the magic-endowed fae serving the Unseelie Court, the blond was by far the strongest and most proficient, and had also been a childhood friend to Gilbert and his brother while his father served in the Court for his time.
The magic suddenly shifted to show a vision, which turned out to be the positions of the sun, the moon, the planets and the asteroids around their own multi-domained Earth.
"The outer planets are already mostly in position in their correct signs," Yao described, "Pluto and Uranus are about to turn retrograde, they will move back to the correct degrees. Jupiter just entered Sagittarius, and only has a couple more degrees to move."
"The inner planets are all a sign behind where they need to be," Lukas interpreted, "But that difference will be made up quickly. Mars and Mercury just turned direct again, while Venus won't have to turn retrograde until some time after we complete the ritual."
"And the other celestial bodies are getting close?" Gilbert inquired.
"Juno is passing through Aries, and Ceres through Leo," Yao reported, "Just like the closer planets, they will move to Taurus and Virgo respectively in time."
"We just had the full moon in Capricorn last week," Lukas detailed, "It will return to Cancer in 10 days time. Then we just need the Sun in Leo, which will hit the correct degree on the 24th."
"So that's the date then?" Gilbert concluded, "Everything is fully measured, and will hit the correct degree of each sign on the 24th?"
"That is right," Yao verified, "We have only 11 days now to gather the materials needed, and to recover the trinkets from the human realm."
"We can see what they are now, right?" Gilbert recalled, "Now that the full moon has clearly passed, and we're within 12 days?"
"Yes, it is time," Lukas confirmed.
Lukas and Yao both touched the magic at the same time and conjured a joint spell that swirled the vision once again in swirls of red and purple. After a few moments, the haze cleared again to show four distinct objects, which would represent the four elements of nature in the ritual.
A seashell, a ribbon tied in a bow, a compass and a pair of rings.
"We have the items," Gilbert identified, "Can you see the details for what exactly they are, and how we need to find them?"
"Yes, I see it all," Yao specified, "The first one we will acquire is the seashell, which represents water. It will be ivory with purple etchings, and it will contain the voice of a mermaid."
"The voice of a mermaid?" Lukas assessed, "That is very hard to come by, a siren's voice is a rare magical commodity."
"We will need Antonio to collect it for us," Gilbert brainstormed, "No doubt he'll make us pay a few pearls for it too. We'll need Francis to help us contact Antonio from the shores of the Eldarin. You just spoke to him the other day, right?"
"He was headed north two days ago," Lukas identified, "He wanted to check on her one last time before preparing the ritual, and was considering the idea of bringing her along for the journey. He should reach the tower in the morning."
"He'll need to travel south again after that," Gilbert planned out, "Will there be enough time?"
"Yes, we will be fine on time," Yao certified, "The fates are saying we can collect the other three items very quickly after the shell."
"Then we have that part accounted for," Gilbert conspired, "I'll summon Mikkel to pass along the message for Francis to return to the Eldarin as quickly as possible. In the meantime, we can collect the other materials required for the ritual."