“I read the document that I received via signal, but I want to see what you have here now.” King Proxem Vario’s sheathed blades swung lightly on each hip as he approached.

With blades, as trained by your own masters. It was just the two of them, facing each other over this decision. Historically, any other rule had been built or bent for such rare occasions as these.

The possibility of hope brushed Soleil’s otherwise neutral face, and she dropped the scroll a little further on its ribbon as he approached. She unshouldered Dusk-Arrow and let it rest at an angle to one side, tip to floor. The King Proxem stepped within the Princess Ascendant’s guard. She let the scroll drop to rest in her father’s outstretched palm.

Grant Vario took the scroll back a few paces with him. He undid the ribbon and pen, found the top of the text, and let the rest of the scroll fall gently open. It just barely brushed the floor. He felt the edges of the good vellum as he inched it up, reading. The collated sections glowed with fresh ink. Soleil felt the heft of the hollowed greatsword in her fastened grip. She gave the moment the time it needed.

“This is well crafted,” said the King Proxem. He hefted the pen and looked eye-to-eye with his daughter. “It’s very good.” He made sure the pen worked, then set it to the patch of rag in the signing frame and laid down his florid signature, the one for historical documents. King Proxem Grant Vario curlicued the final flourish, closed the pen, and softly laid the scroll down on the floor. Eyes on Soleil, he placed his hands on his weapons, breathing deeply. Soleil drew up and tightened her stance.

The rhythm kept on running, through rises and falls in the group sound. Their projected vibration carried all the qualities that everyone brought to the aureny, woven into the intentions that accessed their greater outer dimensions.

numinous // soulful // magical // harmonic
// transformational // melodic // resonant

In this moment, there was culmination, danger, and deep memory – so much had come together and evolved in this blink within one lifetime.

expansive // moving // persuasive // growth
// direct // steadfast // intuitive

It all fed the process of the aureny, one that would reverberate for some time, echoing through the gemstone caverns.

gnosis // cogitation // foresight // understanding
// comprehension // opening // insightful // clarity

The stones of legend that they placed around the singing core glowed luminous, reflecting in the finest tempered adornments sparkling in the tufted fur atop their iron hides.

collectivism // linking // interconnection // caring
// peacemaking

heartfelt // muscle // embracing // reach
// warming

The dawn of the morrow began to shine through the beam crystals, telling them the breakfast flowers would be opening in the feasting gardens. Some Aureny would leave to nourish themselves, while others maintained the vibration.

galvanizing // courageous // piercing // driven
// forthright // motivation // correct // righteousness
// ambition // justice // convincing // solidarity

The endurance of this aureny was extremely athletic, even or especially as distributed throughout a fluctuating network.

thundering // great // heritage // mojo

hopeful // comforting // meditative // beseeching
// reconcile // consolation // remembrance

A recognizable satisfaction of completeness was growing, even through the unabated urgency in their drive.

fortitude // insistence // sureness // incisive
// resilience // endurance // forebearance // persistence

The crescendo of the movement was in a way familiar, though saturated in newness of the kind they had dearly sought.

confidence // ideation // pride // identifying
// expression

enlivening // wellspring // gracious // elevating

They would continue until the time had come, and they would know when it was time.

The King Proxem assessed his adult daughter, his challenger. Her jumpsuit armoring was of exotic make, without adornment, effect, or decoration. It was complex, and lightweight-plus. The Princess Ascendant’s lips were an unusual deep space black, maybe signifying something. A change in her, certainly. The sword. The scroll. Black hair braided, and rolled into the high-necked collar of a half-deployed hood. Here in this room, not long ago to him, she’d worn a family colors ballgown.

Some part of him must have thought he might just talk her home, but that likelihood was not prevalent. He couldn’t exactly feel his position, so he pivoted to the situation. She looked supported, and strong. He flexed his experienced hands at his sides, also noting the pen in the scroll. He felt physically comfortable in usual light official suiting, wearing just the emblem of the Old Armor that had been reworked into a sparse chain harness. At his sides were the knife and the short sword he knew well.

Moonshadow descended over the grand checkered tile balcony outside the reception hall, where long ago now Princess Soleil had fallen into a deep dream coma. The scene flickered in her memory beneath her as though she had been there in the darkness above. Now the sky was just lightening in the early morning, tinting some dragon’s breath clouds. The window-paned doors were wide open; the layered curtains were unlaced, billowing slightly through the doorway.

Dusk-Arrow had the shape of a greatsword and the balance of a 1-1/2 hander, and swinging it felt like a sword aflame. She connected her body to it in this briefly disappearing second with an elliptical hand-switching whirl overhead, opening the space in her skeleton for peaceful breaths floating within her carven frame. “Go hide when I walk in, okay,” said Soleil to her mount. “Don’t come unless I call.” Moonshadow quietly brought her to her destination landing.

From the compartment just barely big enough in Moonshadow’s column, she carried out a heavy, tightly rolled, deckled rag vellum scroll passionately pressed immediately upon request by the printer who dared. There was a red ribbon to tie around it, and a fine pen clipped in. She took this in one hand, and slung the sword over her shoulder as she took her next steps alone. In just that moment, the sky had progressed to a beautiful, brilliant dawn.