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Chapter Text

“Fascinating…. I never would have imagined anyone using the curse like this! Much less aim it at rewriting the Ley Lines.”

Though far more reserved than the Lector who had spoken, Lumine privately agreed. It was an act of defiance that even the Order had to acknowledge despite their own endeavors.

“A pity we cannot speak with him like this,” another Lector - more taciturn than the first - would murmur. “Still, he would be a suitable conduit for us to enter the Night-”

“No.”

All eyes turned towards her as that one word silenced all ongoing conversation. Lumine ignored them; her gaze remained fixed on the figure seated on the throne. The man once known as the Sentinel Knight.

“With all due respect, Princess, but isn’t this why we are here?” the second Lector spoke up again. “To find the Lord of the Night and wrest what we need from her to resurrect the homeland?”

“It is… but I don’t intend to put our plan at risk by using Thrain to reach her.”

She also refused to disrespect his sacrifice that way. Though Thrain - the Captain - would have objected to many of the Abyss Order’s actions. He was still one of her subjects as Khaenri’ah’s princess. She would honor him by leaving his body in repose on that throne.

And she would find another way to get to her destination.

~o~O~o~

As she stepped out, the first thing that she saw was the obsidian totem in front of her.

Unlike many of the totems strewn throughout the rest of Natlan, this one stood inert. She sensed no force stirring in response to her arrival.

Perhaps the Wayob couldn’t manifest here due to them still lacking in strength. Perhaps it was due to the Night Kingdom being ruined for so long here under Abyssal influence. Whatever the reasons, this totem - secluded in the ruins on a once forgotten island - would be a suitable entrance for her.

“Is everyone in position?” Lumine asked with a glance over her shoulder at the Iniquitous Baptist leading her entourage.

“All is prepared, Your Highness. We await only your command.”

As he spoke, the Baptist - Haden - gestured with one hand at their surroundings. The Black Serpent Knights complied with his silent command and spread out to take defensive positions.

“Good… As soon as I have entered the Night Kingdom, begin your attacks,” Lumine instructed. “No one must interfere.”

This was their greatest undertaking after the Loom of Fate, and their boldest. Their goal here hinged on her success in what she was about to do. She could not - would not - fail.

Haden nodded in acknowledgement of her words. Then, as she turned back towards the totem and raised her hand towards it, she heard him speak up. “What about your brother? Are you certain you wish to leave him be?”

Lumine paused at the man’s question, and her eyes narrowed in thought as she considered it.

She was aware that Aether was in Natlan, and she knew he had friends among the tribes. He would get involved as soon as they were attacked. It certainly would be in the Order’s favor to try to take him off the board.

But….

"You must get along with each other, the two of you.”

“.... Yes,” she answered at length while her eyes remained fixed on the totem. “If he’s spotted at any of the settlements, though, keep him distracted along with the Natlanese.”

She had no intention of looking for a fight with her brother, but she wouldn’t let him interfere either if he happened to be nearby during the attacks. Fortunately, Lumine’s answer seemed to satisfy Haden, as he had fallen silent behind her. All the while, the Knights remained vigilant at their posts in the chamber.

With nothing else to say, the former princess of Khaenri’ah brought up her hand once more to the totem. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she drew upon the Abyssal energy within her, shaping it for the purpose of opening a path into the Night Kingdom.

She did not have to wait long. Lumine soon saw the totem begin glowing with wisps of midnight blue light, which slowly grew in intensity while lightening until they were almost white.

Then, her vision was suddenly bathed in that same light.

~o~O~o~

From the narrow rocky passages like the one she had first appeared at to the canyon-like obsidian landscape she now trekked through, everything was bathed in an ambient half-light. A faint mist hung in the air, limiting what one could see at a distance. Above, the sky was a blank expanse, though glowing fissures cut across it here and there like eldritch wounds. Along with the oozing tumorous growths she occasionally passed, these fissures comprised what remained of the Abyss’ touch.

It was almost like the Chasm.

Lumine found the comparison rather apt; desolation was left wherever the divine and the Abyss clashed. This realm - created and presided over by an angel - was no exception after centuries of conflict. And yet…

The Night Kingdom was healing. Though her immediate surroundings were among the most heavily corroded areas, she could feel the realm’s energies gradually mending them. It may take time, and there would still be some scars lingering, but it would recover alongside the nation it was tied to.

All because an Archon and her people worked together….

A human who ascended to her divine throne. A leader who guided her nation through a war that had nearly been their doom.

A true savior….

Lumine quashed that thought as quickly as it appeared. She had a task to accomplish. There was no room for her to feel any resentment. There wasn’t even any cause for it. The Pyro Archon had not single handedly saved her nation after all. She had not done it alone.

What does that say about you, though?

Again, she tried to force her attention back to the task at hand. Yet it didn’t take long for her thoughts - her conscience - to return with a vengeance.

After you found Aether, you could have rushed back. He could have followed right behind you, but you chose to run instead.

And what did that get her?

A god confronting them just before they could depart, ready to judge them - her - for the same folly that had condemned an entire people.

Her brother frantically calling out as she was taken, separated from him for centuries.

Khaenri’ah crumbling in flames during the Cataclysm. All the while, she fell to her knees in despair.

Guilt pressed down on her once more, and Lumine had to stop to regain her bearings as it threatened to suffocate her under its weight.

You chose your brother over your people. You left them to be slaughtered and cursed despite living among them for so long.

Lumine’s breath came in fits and gasps as she continued to work through her panic attack. Her vision blurred at the edges as her surroundings faded to black.

You were the one the people placed their hopes on… the one who would protect them when their doom came….

The girl who had come to her with the key. The one who told her about Aether. Would she have kept silent knowing the choice she made in response? She could imagine her great despair at her abandonment.

You were their princess… their Savior. You abandoned them….

Lumine closed her eyes and clenched her hands as Abyssal energy rippled around her, reacting to her emotions as it threatened to boil over.

That’s why I’m doing this.

She thought to herself, all the while taking a deep breath. She could feel her power intensify as she focused on reining it in.

That’s why I’m here… I am not standing by while the kingdom I once called home gets stripped of all it has left. Including its future.

Their future.

Eventually, the former princess let out a long sigh while her aura dissipated. Her power settled back within her as a cold and dark sea kept calm by her will.

The faint chime she heard then prompted her to open her eyes. Her gaze soon fell on the familiar figure of a Seelie hovering a few feet in front of her.

~o~O~o~

She could still feel traces of the Abyss in the place she found herself in.

The Seelie had guided her deeper into the Night Kingdom, and she now stood atop a raised platform that had been left scarred by a past battle. Perhaps the final battle in Natlan’s centuries long war.

Lumine could also sense the one she had sought most clearly here.

Clearly, she had her attention for some time now. In addition to her guide, more Seelie had appeared along the way, hovering close as they escorted her throughout the remainder of her journey. Now, they hovered around her, waiting for something to happen.

She slowly swept her gaze over the platform, seeking hints that the Lord of the Night would reveal herself. However, she only felt the sense that an expectant gaze was upon her.

Not something. Someone.

At that realization, Lumine took a deep breath and mentally braced herself for whatever would come next. She then stared ahead as she made her declaration loudly and firmly.

“Yohualtecuhtin, I have come to bargain.”

A howling wind suddenly blew over the platform, assailing her while leaving the gathered Seelie to fly unimpeded. Yet Lumine stood her ground as the Lord of the Night appeared before her next, manifesting from ribbons of silver-white light.

She resembled those few great spirits she had seen roaming deep in Natlan’s wilds. Instead of a given tribe’s colors, though, her body was ash white in hue. Her head, crowned with a crest resembling a four pointed star, was humanoid in shape, but her face was a blank mask. Behind her hovered a sigil that resembled Natlan’s national emblem, and it shone with power as a ring of searing radiance.

“You have called, and I answered,” the Lord of the Night intoned. Her silver wings were fully unfurled at her sides as her words were spoken in caution. “Explain yourself, Princess of Khaenri’ah.”

Lumine narrowed her gaze at the manifested angel. Her fingers twitched as she refrained from summoning her sword.

“I did not come here for a fight.” Instead of her sword, she took out a different item that better reflected her intentions. She then held it out for the angel to see, revealing a five-petaled flower.

The same kind as the ones she wore on her hair.

Chapter Text

Lumine had no doubt that the Lord of the Night would cast her out at the slightest hint of deception. So she laid bare the full details of her goal, and how she intended to accomplish it.

All the while, the Lord of the Night hovered at the edge of the platform. Her gaze was fixed upon her as she listened and considered the bargain. The slow flapping of her wings was the only sound she made all the while.

“So, you seek to revive a lost nation by recreating its ley lines,” the angel dipped her head in thought while her power danced over her as trails of smoke.

“Yes.”

“And this ‘Loom of Fate’... It will allow you to accomplish this.”

“It will,” Lumine nodded. They had tested it enough times to be certain.

The Lord of the Night was silent for a moment. However, a susurrus of voices filled the air as shades faded into view nearby. They whispered to each other, and Lumine could pick up snippets of their words.

“Is it really possible? Can the homeland be revived?”

“Lies… They are lies. Our kingdom is gone…”

“What if it’s true, though?”

A brief glimpse towards them revealed their identity as she recognized the armor and uniforms of the Black Serpents.

They were Khaenri’ahn souls. Brought into the Night Kingdom by the Captain’s sacrifice, they too had escaped their cursed fate. Now, it appeared that they had been called by Yohualtehcutin to witness this exchange.

“She cannot be trusted. She abandoned us.”

“Banish her! Send her away!”

“No! Kill her! Kill her, now!”

“But she was our Princess… our Savior…”

“Yet where was she when we needed her?”

She clenched her hands into fists as she heard the voices. Many were suspicious. Some were outright hostile as they called for her death. Yet even as she heard the voices of the Abyss stirring again at their accusations, she knew their reactions were justified.

“Enough.”

One soul spoke up over the others, silencing them with one word. And as the voices in her head quieted afterwards, Lumine let out a faint sigh as she kept her attention on the Lord of the Night.

A faint rumble was heard from the angel before she spoke once more.

“You have my permission to use the Loom within my realm,” she intoned. “But I cannot offer more than this, Princess.”

Lumine inhaled sharply from both the god’s use of her old title and her allowing her plan to proceed. Her gaze narrowed afterwards, though, at the latter half of her reply. “May I ask why?”

“I believe you already know the answer.”

“Indulge my curiosity then, Lord of the Night,” she crossed her arms as she stared back.

“While you may weave Khaenri’ah’s ley lines anew, they must still be anchored to this world in order to truly revive the kingdom,” the angel explained. “And you cannot simply impose them over existing ley lines… including those of Natlan. Not without consequences.”

Those words lined up with her past observations. Still, Lumine couldn’t stop herself from scowling.

“Even then, the mere attempt in doing so draw the attention of higher powers,“ Yohualtecuhtin’s warning was made amidst renewed murmurs from the gathered souls.

The Heavenly Principles, or at least one of their shades. Lumine had already considered the possibility of the Loom attracting their notice. Ronova had been involved with Natlan before, and even manifested recently. However, she couldn’t ignore the others.

“Then you are right. I am aware of this… However, we have prepared for any kind of interference,” she assured the angel. “As for finding a suitable location for the new ley lines, we can handle that ourselves.”

She already had a select few from her inner circle handling that search. Some had even ventured out to the Dark Sea. Lumine hoped that they would have a few options before long.

“In that case, there is the matter of what you need to weave the ley lines.” Yohualtecuhtin pointed out next.

“Is that why you brought them here?” Lumine gestured to the gathered Khaenri’ahns as she finally acknowledged their presence. “I may have come to you for permission, but I did not come unprepared.”

“You did not… but your success with the Loom depends on the memories you are weaving with it. Those of your subjects who still follow you are little more than shadows of who they were. Would they really suffice for the land you wish to revive?”

Lumine could hear the voices crawling back to the surface as her fingers twitched, as she resisted the urge to summon her sword. The angel had only stated another fact.

Still, a part of her felt anger at this apparent presumption.

“Even if they’re not, you can’t just offer up their memories,” came the sharp retort. “That is not your choice to make.”

Silence was all she received from Yohualtecuhtin. An unvoiced agreement to that sentiment. And yet…

It also made clear who had to make the choice.

Lumine’s eyes narrowed briefly at the angel before she slowly turned to face the Khaenr’ahn souls gathered before. All the while, her mind was whirling with her thoughts as they came to dwell on her solution to the lack of memories.

~o~O~o~

As the Herald she instructed disappeared through the portal he had conjured, Lumine gazed from her vantage point atop one of the mountains that comprised the Deshret Desert’s western border. Their next destination rose from the other side of the shallow sea that served as the primary route between it and Sumeru. A land that had emerged triumphant from its war against the Abyss.

A land that they would soon go to war with.

With what they sought in Natlan, it was inevitable. Between the Order’s ley line research and the information supplied by a certain lowly clerk, she was presented with a possibility that she could not ignore. Yet it was also one they may need to fight for. That the fight would be against the nation of war and its Archon only made it more challenging.

Lumine’s gaze remained fixed on the distant land as she heard another portal open and sensed the emergence of another of her subordinates.

“Haden,” she addressed the new arrival by name. “Any word on Dainsleif?”

“I’m afraid not, Your Highness,” the Baptist’s tone was contrite as he replied. “He continues to elude us… and most of the forces sent to track him have been wiped out.”

He’s still causing trouble despite our last confrontation, the golden-haired princess mused as she slowly turned away from her view of Natlan. Perhaps I should have done more that day.

She could have wounded Dain badly enough that he would have needed more time to heal. However, her former companion had not been the only one who had hesitated.

“At least, they will keep him busy…” Lumine murmured as her gaze fell on the former knight. “It’s only a matter of time before he discovers our next move. I would prefer to keep him in the dark long enough to have the plan underway.”

“As do I… though I still have my doubts on this, Princess.” Haden kept his gaze low as he spoke those words. “Perhaps we may not need him if the reports from our spies are correct.”

“Even if they are, the Twilight Sword remains our best source for the memories we need,” Lumine leveled a hard look at her subordinate. “The losses we take trying to attain them will ensure that we revive the kingdom as it once was.”

There were others Lumine could have sought out. In the end, though, she could only count on Dain to give what they wanted. He at least was someone whose movements she could predict. The five hundred years since their parting had not changed that.

The cost of manipulating him, though…

As she mused deeply on their undertaking, Lumine stepped into the portal with Haden hovering after her. The Sumeran mountaintop she’d been on quickly vanished behind her in a sea of stars.

The order’s losses would be heavy, but she had already written them off as a necessary price. Between the Natlanese and Dain, though, she had to keep them from being too high, lest they be left too weak for whatever followed.

It would be worth it, though, she thought to herself as they went deeper into the passage. All of it will be worth it.

~o~O~o~

As she faced the spirits, Lumine wondered if trying to convince them would be worth it.

They had been knights of Khaenri’ah in life. Many had their faces exposed, revealing the wariness and disdain they had for her. Others were fully armored, but the former princess could see those same feelings reflected in the tension in their bodies. None spoke a word as she slowly approached them.

Behind her, the Lord of the Night hovered surrounded by her Seelie sisters. She too was quiet; what was about to happen was something she could not intervene in.

For a moment, Lumine swept her gaze over the gathering. There was the hostility she expected, but it seemed there were more knights who looked inclined to hear her out than she first thought. Some were even hopeful, and they looked upon her as their long awaited savior.

How could they believe in her that way even beyond the kingdom’s fall? Beyond their own deaths?

She pushed those questions aside for now as she took a deep breath to center herself.

“Soldiers of Khaenri’ah, you know why you were summoned here,” she addressed the souls, sounding every bit the princess she had been long ago.

“We do…. Your Highness,” one knight bitterly acknowledged. Her hand rested on the sword sheathed to her side as she gave Lumine a hard look. “However, we do not know if we should stand with you.”

“You say that you can bring the homeland back with your plan,” said another. “Is this really true?”

“It is,” Lumine would hold out the Inteyvat once more as she answered. “In order to achieve this, though, we need all the memories of Khaenri’ah that we can gather.”

“Including ours?” a knight at the back of the group murmured softly, prompting a nod in confirmation.

“Only if given freely. This is not a choice to be made lightly. As spirits housed within these ley lines, you can choose to remain here under the protection of the Lord of the Night…”

The angel in question remained silent behind her.

“... Or you can choose to be part of a new beginning for our people.”

More whispers were heard from the souls as they pondered the choice they were presented. An opportunity to resurrect their long lost kingdom centuries after its destruction. Yet that meant relinquishing the afterlife that had been fought for them.

Lumine saw that not all of the souls would accept it. One quietly turned his back on her, fading out of sight as he walked away. Another scoffed and glared.

“You’ll have nothing of me, traitor,” he spat out as he turned away. “

More would follow that refusal. One by one, and then in small groups. Many turned away without a word. Others, however…

“We are no longer your people, Princess. Leave.”

“Khaenri’ah is gone… and not even you can bring it back.”

“You didn’t save us before. I won’t believe that you will now.”

“You abandoned us first.”

They spoke as harshly as the voices did. And this time, Lumine made no rebuttal as they chose to walk away. She could only stand stoically while her guilt grew at yet another reminder of her abandonment.

You weren’t expecting anyone to accept anyway.

That’s why you decided to lure Dain.

You knew he was the only other source you could count on.

Whether it was the voices or simply her own thoughts, it was true. She did not have high hopes that any of the souls within the Night Kingdom would accept the offer. Not when it was their failed Savior giving it.

And yet, the platform was not completely emptied. As one more soul turned to leave, her gaze would linger on the meager few that had not moved at all.

The one leading them appeared to be an elderly knight at least in his mid fifties. His armor looked dented and rusted, and his graying hair reached down to his shoulders. He looked to be deep in thought as his eyes were fixed upon her.

“Can you really do it?” he asked, a hint of hope creeping through his wary tone. “Can you really bring back Khaenri’ah?”

Lumine nodded affirmatively, and she held her gaze on the knight as she saw his eyes narrow further.

“But not right away.”

“.... No.”

She could feel the other souls’ expectant gazes on her as they waited for her explanation .

“You heard my exchange with the Lord of the Night. Even if Khaenri’ah is woven anew, it will still need a place where it can take root,” Lumine paused briefly to consider her next words. “It might take time for me to find one. If you offer yourselves to this, I can’t tell you how long you will have to wait.”

She didn’t know how they would perceive it. Maybe it would be like a half-remembered dream, similar to those she had in her hibernation chamber. Or maybe it would pass in an eyeblink from their perspective. Either way, she would only know for sure if New Khaenri’ah was made a reality.

When it was made a reality.

The knight and the other souls stood silently as they continued considering Lumine’s offer. Her earlier words. They could refuse her like their comrades had. They could stay in the afterlife that had been won for them by the Captain.

Or…

The old knight sighed wistfully as he stared off to the side. “By the time we fled the kingdom, I had already lost my family… my wife… my children… They were my whole world.”

There was something familiar about the man’s voice, but Lumine couldn’t tell why right away as she listened to him.

“I thought I had made peace with it. That I would never see them again even in death… But if I could have at least the chance to see them again… that will be enough.”

As the old knight slowly lifted a hand towards the Inteyvat in her palm, Lumine’s eyes widened as she realized who he was. Yet she couldn’t say a word as she saw his body glow a little brighter.

“Let my memories help restore Khaenri’ah then… and with it, the dream that may yet come.”

With that declaration, the light around the knight’s body intensified, and it then poured into the flower as countless threads of light. He himself became more transparent, eventually fading away with a smile.

She looked down then at the Inteyvat, and saw how its blue and white petals now glowed from the memories it carried. That same glow would brighten further as more threads of light flowed into it.

The former princess glanced up at the rest of the knights as they drew closer. They offered no words of their own, but they looked just as determined as their old comrade to offer up all they were for their lost homeland.

One by one, they reached out for the flower. Each consigned their memories to it, and vanished afterwards like the embers of a dying flame. Some smiled like the old knight. Others regarded her expectantly until the end; a silent demand for her to keep her word.

Lumine’s vision had begun to blur by the time the last soul imparted her memories. Yet she refused to shed any tears as she held the Inteyvat close.

“They have made their choice…” she heard the Lord of the Night remark, and she turned her gaze towards the angel to acknowledge her presence once more.

“They have…”

Her fingers curled tighter around the flower as she took a deep breath and steeled herself for what was next.

“Now, we begin.”

Chapter Text

The space once occupied by the entity dubbed Gosoythoth was now lit by the blue-and-white light of memories.

Manifesting as motes and threads of light, they streaked past her, swirled around one another to form brighter and thicker strands, and then converged at a single point.

At the very heart of this shone the Inteyvat, the national flower of Khaenri’ah. It hung high in the air like a guiding star in a dark night.

Lumine stood at the edge of the platform as she carried out her task. Her hands were raised in front of her as she focused on weaving together the memories to fill out the realm being reborn.

It’s not enough, though…

Even with the souls’ contribution, the ley lines were still incomplete. Still a faint and warped echo of Khaenri’ah in its prime.

With how fragmented all these other memories are… We still need more. We still need Dain…

Yet every memory counted. Whether it was from a member of the Order or one of the souls, it was a building block to recreating the homeland. And if Dain somehow discovered their trap…

No. He won’t. We’ve taken every possible precaution. Everyone who is aware of the full plan knows what to do…

Lumine narrowed her eyes slightly as she continued to focus on guiding the weaving. This was her part to play. She had to leave the rest of the plan to her subjects.

Yet she found herself thinking of what she beheld during her brief communion with Haden to get his report.

~o~O~o~

As expected, Natlan’s tribes were fierce in their response.

From the mines of the Nanatzcayan to the cliffside territory of the Tlalocan, humans and saurians had rallied to drive off their attacks. And in contrast to the dark tide of the true Abyss, the Order’s forces were gradually pushed back by their efforts.

Unsurprisingly, it was at the Masters of the Night Wind - where they had been the most relentless with their attacks - that Aether showed up.

Through the memories of the Herald leading their forces, Lumine witnessed how her brother fought alongside the Natlanese. Brandishing the golden blade he’d acquired in Fontaine, he harnessed his recently acquired power over Pyro alongside the other elements he had gathered in his journey.

If she were to focus on it, she could make out the faint outline of his original sword as he channeled his power in an elemental infusion.

Aside from him, two others had stood out among the combatants. There was one of the nation’s six heroes: Iansan. A woman whose child-sized physique belied the thunderous strength she showed as she bashed aside rifthounds with her punches and kicks.

The other was the great shaman known as Citlali. Her power was clearly not exaggerated as anyone who tried to come at her was stopped cold by it.

She was hardly threatened by the Herald when he finally joined the fighting, flanked by several Black Serpent Knights. If anything…

“You must be the boss here,” the shaman muttered with an annoyed grunt as elemental energy flared from her body. “Time to show you what happens when you mess with the Masters of the Night Wind.”

And she did exactly that.

The battle that followed had been one-sided with the Order at a disadvantage. Even with members of Khaenri’ah’s former royal guard at his side, it had not taken long for the Herald to be brought low. And the last thing Lumine saw through the Herald’s memories was Citlali’s freezing winds encasing him in ice.

Had the order not been given for a tactical retreat not long after, their defeat might have been more severe.

~o~O~o~

It was shamans like Citlali that had prompted the Order to focus the bulk of their attack on her tribe. To distract them from any disturbances in the Night Kingdom that they might pick up. Yet it seemed that distraction wasn’t as necessary as they first thought.

“You appear to be making good progress with your work.”

Yohuatltecuhtin remarked as she hovered close by. Lumine glanced at the angel’s direction to find her appraising the ley lines being woven. She knew she was doing more than that, though. It was the angel’s intervention that kept the Loom’s influence on the Night Kingdom muted.

“And your ability to weave memories is… impressive.”

“I’ve learned a few things during my journey across Teyvat,” the former princess explained as she focused once more on her weaving. As she did, her thoughts drifted to her time among the Aranara. The insights she gained from observing their powers and their use of memories to fuel them.

In a way, weaving the ley lines isn’t too different from channeling Ararakalari with a Kusava…

Not for the first time, Lumine wondered what they would think of her now. After hundreds of years since their parting, would they have still seen her as Nara Varuna? Would they have recognized her as their friend?

She quickly quelled that thought before it could linger too long.

They wouldn’t… It’s been too long. Too much has happened… Too much would have been forgotten…

Too much had changed.

She hadn’t embraced the Abyss then. She hadn’t assumed her mantle as the Order’s leader during those days. If the Aranara beheld her now, they would only see a vessel of the power that had birthed the memory of death. Just as any other creation of the Seven would see her as a being of the Abyss first and foremost.

And yet…

“You could have refused,” she murmured to the Lord Night. “Given who I am and what I wield, you had a good reason to… much less appear before me.”

“Yes.”

“Why, then?” Lumine glanced at her again as she asked.

She had crossed paths with some of the other remaining angels. A few of them had even met their end at her hands. As envoys of the Heavenly Principles, it had been their duty to oppose her. Not a single one had given a thought to having any dealings with her.

This envoy had.

Yohuatltecuhtin did not respond, though; she lapsed back into silence as she continued to observe the weaving.

~o~O~o~

It was sometime later, when Lumine had made more progress with the ley lines, that she spoke again.

"”With all your heart, soul, and might, you shall love all the beings of this earth,” Yohuatltecuhtin intoned. "You shall love as morning dew longs for the dawn, as seeds long for the tradewinds.”"

“The oath you swore to your creator,” Lumine declared.

“An oath I have not strayed from, even now. And I will continue to uphold it for as long as this world exists.”

“Even if one of the people you are helping is a sinner in the eyes of the heavens?” Lumine challenged with a hard glare. “Even if she isn’t from this world?”

The Lord of the Night slowly looked down at her then with a slight cant of her head. “Even then… But the last is no longer entirely true of you, Princess. Otherwise, you would not be here.”

Lumine narrowed her gaze at the angel’s words, but she made no comment on them. Instead, she would speak of the ‘help’ she had been given so far. “You do realize that they will not look kindly on you should they learn of this.”

“I do… which is why you did not ask for more beyond what you’ve been given.”

“This space you offered? Or do you also count the Khaenri’ahn souls you summoned?”

“As you said, the choice to offer their memories was not mine to make…” the Lord of the Night was silent for another moment as she appraised the former princess. “If the Heavenly Principles and the Shades discover our exchange, I will simply claim that you forced me into it.”

That would not be too far from the truth, Lumine mused. She had been prepared to force her into a bargain if she did not agree. Now, though, she nodded silently in acknowledgement of the angel’s stance before refocusing on her efforts.

She had a safe space to begin Khaenri’ah’s rebirth and the means to make it happen. There was nothing else she wanted to know…

~o~O~o~

… Until there was.

From where she still hovered at her side, Lumine heard Yohuatltecuhtin let out a deep hum. This prompted her to glance away from her work again to find the angel focused on something only she saw.

“Is there a problem?” she asked warily as her gaze narrowed. The faintest whispers of the Abyss crept into her ears as she instinctively reached for the Abyss’ power.

“No,” the Lord of the Night was quick to assure her before going silent for a few seconds. “At least, I do not believe it is a problem… However…”

She glanced down at the former princess as she continued to explain. Her next words would bring a cause for alarm.

“It seems the weaving has had an unexpected effect...”

She lies. The angel is trying to trick you.

The Lord of the Night is like the rest of her kin. You must act. Now.

Kill her. NOW.

Lumine inhaled sharply as she forced down the voices in her head, focused on thinking logically to avoid being pulled by her emotions. She could not afford to slip at such a crucial stage.

“What kind of effect?” she said her next question with all the calm she could muster.

“Hm… It might be best if you were to see it.”

The Lord of the Night spread her wings as she made this declaration, and Lumine went rigid when she felt something brushing against her thoughts. The angel was reaching out to her. The mental equivalent of her extending a hand for a handshake.

It was enough to nearly break her composure as the voices suddenly shouted in protest at the perceived intrusion. Yet the former princess pushed them back with a wince as she recognized what she felt as an invitation from the angel. She had given her no reason to see her as an enemy so far… If she wanted to show her something, it must be important.

So, she opened her mind and let the Lord of the Night in.