[Em]

My Spirit chirped and purred in the arms of my friend. All was at peace.

That was until a firm hand percussed my shoulder. "Didn't forget about me, did you?"

My eyes snapped open, my arms spread apart, and my torso pivoted leftward. I grasped for my heart with each limb at the sight of the man before me. "ANSEL!!" I would have leapt into a hug had my hands not refused to budge. "Ansel, I-"

He pressed a finger to my lips to quieten me. "Nope. I told you I'd heal, and I did. I said you're a good friend to me, and you are. Selene?"

"Yes?" the serene Selene asked.

"Thank you. For everything."

Another chirp. "Of course!" Heavens, I missed hearing those.

Grace nodded. "Now that you've had your moment, I've given Patrick the Grimoire. I need you two to deliver it back to Ser Lienne. I agreed to help Ansel with a personal project. It shouldn't take more than an hour or so."

Selene's voice cut the air before Patrick's or mine could leave our lungs. "I'm going with them." She parted her embrace and levelled her gaze upon Grace. "I am Em's friend, and much has happened to them, and you have reservations about that grimoire."

The Student Of Water did not move.

Ansel cleared his throat. "When Selene puts her heart into something, that's it. I personally vouch for her and swear on my dignity that she will do nothing to harm Em over there."

"Or Patrick," said the motionless Grace Gardner.

"Can't promise that-"

"I can." Selene nods. "Patrick's Soul is brighter now, more focused. I don't imagine he will do anything that would rouse me to act."

Book in hand, Patrick chortled. "You're trusting all of a sudden."

"Why wouldn't I be? I know the state of your Soul." Heavens and Havens does this girl's innocence chill your bones.

Grace finally started to act like something other than an immobilised marionette. "Before I go with Ansel. Selene?"

The girl I so admired leaned her head aside. "Yes?"

"Please watch over my friend. You know which. The other can take care of himself."

Selene strode to Grace, veiled in Shroud, and held her hands out, palms down. 

Grace held her palms up underneath Selene's, and the two Auras reverberated against each other. 

"Know me," said Selene, "Know me, and know that nought shall thy friend under mine aegis harm!"

Their Magicks brightened and spiralled betwixt the closed eyes of the two women. I stood, entranced by its beauty. I thought to use Æthervision but felt it better to give them privacy. This had to be some form of religious calling, and I dared not interrupt.

The Æther dimmed; the women placed their hands to their sides, and Grace spoke next. "You are brave. Go with them. Ansel?"

Ansel nodded and marched along the Outer Walls, with Grace following beside.

Without a word, the three of us entered the campus, course set for the Administration building. After passing the East Inner Gate, we meandered North toward a nondescript-seeming cobblestone shack with a scratched-up wooden front door.

Selene flourished toward the building. "It never ceases to dazzle me how the plainest building in this entire campus turns out to be the most vital."

"I rather appreciate it as well."

The three of us spun to face Ser Lienne with a grin on her face.

"You got the Grimoire. I knew you had it in you."

Patrick advanced one step toward Lienne and held out the accursed book. "You sure? It seems the Demon just sort of left it."

"That means it got pressured enough to forget about it." Lienne accepted the Grimoire into her dark hands. "Which means you won. Demons cannot be slain, only forced to exhaust the Æther gifted to them by the tribute they were Called with. And a Demon ballsy enough to possess one of my books would not have been scarce-fed."

A scowl radiated from Selene's position. "You sent. First Years. After. A Demon."

Ser Lienne's grin waxed. "And look at them now. Far stronger than they once were. Speaking of."

[Patrick]

Ser Lienne approached Emmy, holding the book we lucked upon out toward him. "I see you worked out how we exist in this world."

I blinked. Was this some secret between Em and Lienne?

"However, I will not acknowledge you until you can stand firm. If you wish to call yourself Wifman, you will earn it through Strength of Character. You have Power and are fast unearthing your Talent. This tome shall help you with Knowledge, and I'm already beyond where it'll help me, so I gift it to you, one tran- ahem, one transcaster to another."

Transcaster? What was I hearing, let alone seeing? Was Ser Lienne giving Em her Grimoire outright?!

And why did Em's apparent girlfriend look pissed? "What were you about to call my friend?" she asked the moment Ser Lienne's book nestled in Emmett's hands.

Ser Lienne flashed a toothy grin. "A word of power."

"One of debasement, you mean."

"I mean exactly what I said, Miss Doyle. If Emmett wishes to walk among us women, he will show proof of our strength, and I think learning that word, approaching me, calling me such to my face, and standing firm before the aftermath would make an adequate demonstration." Ser Lienne about-faced and marched away, leaving behind her Grimoire. Well, Emmy's now, I guess. "Feel free to come visit me during my office hours!"

A few moments after Lienne left earshot, Selene took the book from Emmett's hands. "You. Me. Alone. Now."

Em nodded and followed her westward, away from the Administrative building. Then it hit me. Trans...casting? As in trans-gendered? Then-

I looked toward Emmett. If he transcast, that meant his Magick worked like a woman's, meaning-

He didn't absorb the Demon's Lightning. He just took the hit directly.

I staggered my way over to the Inner Wall of the campus before my knees gave out and my skin dripped in a cold sweat. He shouldn't be alive. How is he alive? What grave sin have I committed?

You never quite comprehend how insane someone is until you watch them flip the middle finger to Magick Itself and live.

[Em]

Selene sat atop her knees in an empty clearing in the West Outer Ring, motioning for me to sit before her, so I did.

I tried to emulate her for about ten seconds before my legs began aching. It was a quick transition to a cross-legged position after that.

"What happened to you?"

I blinked. "I fought a Dem-"

Selene levelled a piercing gaze. "After the Demon, Em, because I know for blasted fact the Demon didn't make you run Lightning through yourself!"

I ran Lightning through myself? When? Against whom? I looked down and into my memories. I had sustained a Lightning Strike from Vane-something-or-other. But that would be her Lightning, not mine. So when did I strike myself? 

Think, Em. After the Demon, there was- I woke up in a room- no. That didn't make sense- Lightning. Lightning came at me from a different direction... "I- I was ambushed?" Was I? Was I imagining things?

"Em, you're stronger than-" Selene extended her Shroud to envelop mine.

We sat in silence for a good several minutes, Selene's eyes contemplatively closed. Beauty radiated off her skin like the wind carrying her warmth. To look away was blatantly impossible as if my own Magick fixed the position of my throat. I saw blues, azures and ceruleans of tranquillity, but I also saw a sickly green poking out of a few hiding places. The colour was scathing to behold, and I knew I would lose myself in a rage if I were to behold it fully.

Even worse, Selene would likely never speak to me again, and I was sick and tired of losing friends through no fault of my own.

I felt a gentle undercurrent flowing through my Spirit and focused upon it, watching her move and dart about. What was she looking at? I wondered. I spent some time watching the ebbs of our Magicks within each other's.

Then her eyes awoke. "...I'm not letting you touch this book."

I blinked. "Yeah, Grace said the same thing, something about negative emotions and suicide-"

"Your Soul is only intact because that Demon stitched you back together after that dysphoria stint." Demons can do that? Moreover, For What Reason? She was trying to kill us! "What punishment was wrought upon me? I get close to a girl, and all this happens."

I shook my head. "Do you know who attacked me? If anyone? Am I deluded?"

She looked down. "You're not deluded. I know who, and we're not safe to talk about it here."

Meaning they belonged to the campus and were either Faculty or a high-level Student.

Selene rose. "Come with me."

I rose to meet her.

"We're going to leave the campus to speak of this."

I nodded.

[????]

Something was brewing in the undercurrents.

We had built a hut out of logs transmuted from decayed earth to hide within, but the feeling in the house was certainly not warm. I supposed I shouldn't expect much, seeing as we were Emissaries sent into the heart of the enemy front.

I was seated in a corner, Winds gathered around me with a tinge of Light. Miss Anneford, our new recruit and apparent Transmuter, was guarding the perimeter so I could freely reconnoitre with fully-Aspected Wind Magick, something still new to me.

I linked my Mind to my Vessel as usual but with Augmentation and Aspection added in. The Æther pulled sharply through me, placing a heavy heat upon the interior of my body. But the results were worth it.

My Mind's Eye filled with the image of a lightly wooded clearing well to the west of the SS. Three men and one woman were involved in a formal duel with seconds. Of course, it was the Air Magus fighting the Earth Magus, though the Air Magus did hold quite an advantage, with the Earth Magus frantically ducking and weaving through the barrage of bursts and blades.

"Don't think you can wait me out, Bauer!" The Air Magus dipped down for a sweeping leg kick. "I have far more stamina!"

The Earth Magus, Bauer apparently, stamped his feet into the dirt and pulled Æther to his lower legs, Attuning it to block off the gust his opponent kicked up. Unlike the Air Magus, he replied not with speech but by sending the Æther into the earth.

The ground quaked, but the Air Magus leapt into the sky, directing two curved blasts from his arms and a blade from his leg at Bauer.

The Earth Magus threw his legs out front, dropping into a slide to avoid the pincer. Afterwards, however, the sharp, clear scythe would reverse and approach from behind with a pull of the Air Magus's arm and hand.

"Anything?" Barbara called, breaking my concentration.

I looked toward the dark-skinned woman in an even darker robe. The white trim on our robes only served to further the contrast. "There's a duel between students well beyond the west gate. One of them is named Bauer or something, and you broke my concentration so no luck on the second."

A probe slipped into my Mind for a brief moment before exiting. "Focus your gaze on the East Outer Gate," the arrogant newbie commanded. "That Water Magus is the dangerous one, and even more than that, she holds the kinds of friends who would upheave the World itself for her sake. The moment you see anything resembling a squad deployment, notify me."

Grumbling, I breathed in and refocused my efforts. Between Barbara, Sylvia, and whoever else, this was bound to be trouble.

[Patrick]

I knew Grace was only seconding and not an actual party to a duel, but I would have expected her back by now, and a small part of me grew concerned.

I shook my head and kicked off the wall of a gift shop I'd been leaning against. I'd seen them go left out of the East Outer Gate, so I was going to do the same and see if I could get some answer.

I had just stepped on the road when Emmett and Selene nearly ran into me. We three jumped back to give ourselves space, but my focus was gone already. "What the- are you two alright?!"

Selene nodded. "I'm taking Em outside to talk about something private."

"Grace and Ansel aren't back yet, and they should be."

Emmy tilted his head. "Weren't they running some sort of errand-"

Selene put a finger to his lips. "You were so lost in my embrace but you needed it above anything else. No, Grace is Ansel's second for a duel."

Emmett's eyes widened; Ætheric wind blasted in all directions. "You have got-"

"Ansu's doing what now?" A deep-tan woman stepped into our view. She sported brown hair, combed straight, though some curls started their return. She bore a shirt exposing her lower torso and a slender pair of pants. Her boots were onyx and reflected the sun brightly. "Mind repeating what you just said?"

I threw a glance her way. "And who are you supposed to be?"

Selene's eyes widened. "Patrick, she's a-"

The woman threw her hair in the wind. "Call me Layla. I'm Ansel's sister and something of a guardian."

"... a graduate student." Selene was visibly shaking at this point. "Sixth year."

The next voice was Emmett's and carried a rather uncharacteristic edge. "Guardian?" He stepped onto the road and faced her directly. "So you intend to control what he does, to keep him under your thumb?"

Was he fucking serious?! Was this guy really about to challenge a woman five years his senior?!

"Look, we must have gotten off on the wrong foot, but I'm looking out for him, and I will keep him safe!"

"By which you mean suppress and oppress, right?!" Emmy shouted. The ground shook.

Selene opened her mouth to scream but was just a centimetre too slow.

"I know what it's like to live under the chains of a so-called Guardian, and I WILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN TO MY FRIEND!!"

The air warped. My vision blurred. Pressure crashed upon me from all vectors. I fell to my hands and knees. What in the Heavens and Havens is this?!

Selene wasn't doing much better. Her knees warbled, and it seemed all she could do to envelop herself in her Aura. "Em, sh-she'll end you... please..."

Layla dug her left foot back and held her arms up in a crossblock. Was it affecting her?! Her Aura swelled around her, tinging with Darkness before covering the three of us, Negating whatever Mind Magick Emmy was in the middle of accidentally casting.

Selene immediately leapt in front of Em to block Layla's line of sight. "Don't touch her! We're sorry!"

The graduate student shook her head with a soft smile. "I would sooner die than hurt someone trying to protect my family, even if she thinks I'm a threat."

Why are they both calling him a girl?! I won't forgive them! 

Tears ran down Emmett's face. "I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"

Layla's face beamed a proud grin. "So you're the Em I heard so much about! I'm so honoured that I get to meet you! My brother is always talking about you like you're the brightest star in the sky! And no, I'm not like that bitch you grew up under. Girl, I'm gonna show you what family's about."

I had enough. "You stop calling Emmett a girl-"

"She's trans." both actual women said in unison.

Layla followed up. "When a woman's conviction becomes threatened, her Soul barks, crashing into the source of the threat. Sadly, this was Em's first time, and she didn't even know this was a thing, which was why it affected the two of you as well. Which, fuck." She stepped back. "Em, you could have knocked me unconscious if you knew how to concentrate all that. Where did-"

Selene pulled Emmett into an embrace. "Can you please not ask her questions?! In point of fact, she almost died yesterday and needs love and care more than anything, so no, I'm sorry, but I'm not letting her join your search for Ansel and Grace!"

I snapped a glare toward Selene. "My gir- my friend and your friend are in danger, and you won't let him-"

"Her." Layla's voice cut through mine. "And Selene has a point. I talked to Freya not too long aaand shite."

"Lord Adams?" asked Selene.

"Lord Adams."

Selene hung her lead low. "Right. I suppose we are to embark, the four of us, for Grace and Ansel to search. Em, I'm sorry we outed you to Patrick, but if we didn't quell your Soulshout, we'd have many more problems to face."

Em nodded. "I-I understand. Thank you, both of you."

Selene turned to face me. "Emily-"

Em cleared his- her- their? throat. "Emmalynn. Only you get to Emily me."

Selene's cheeks reddened. "Aww! Anyway, Emmalynn is just as much a woman as Layla or myself, and I will make your life a living hell if you torment her over this. Do we have an understanding?"

I gulped, forcing my head into a ragged nod.

Layla patted our two male shoulders. "Good. Let's move out before Lady Stahl locks the place down."

The four of us nodded, sprinting out of the campus like we were some impromptu Expedition Squad.

[Barbara]

It was mortally troublesome to remain in the presence of Sylvia Lavender, who filled Celeste's Mistress' lungs with water, and even more challenging to not leak any killing intent through. And the way she was preening with her sleek black hair like she owned the place...

"Still can't believe that waddling titsucker is supposed to be our new Chairman." She shook her head. "Tim, you got anything yet?"

Timothy Kell, with much less kempt hair, held his middle finger out to the offending noisemaker. "Let me focus, Sylvia."

Sylvia shrugged and turned her eyes to me. "Alright, new bitch. Any chances that chosen prick's going to come out of hiding?"

Don't call my friend that. "Near certain."

"Good." She strutted dangerously to me and whispered in my ear. "I don't want to answer to some crybaby I watched shite his pants five years ago. You hear me?"

I neither moved nor answered her.

"Plus, I know what you did in Lovebite."

When I first joined the Emissaries, I made it a point to always keep my Shroud ready within my bloodstream. It was a trick I'd learned during a personal odyssey south of the Sollunian border from a womanly elder who practised a far more esoteric form of Magick, and it proved invaluable for cases such as this when I needed to still my physiological responses to avoid being outed. "Whatever do you mean?" I asked as subtle Magicks wove within me. 

"You sabotaged Scion Jules' operation and let that Gardner twat escape," Sylvia whispered. "So I'm going to offer you a little deal. You kill Emmett and swear on your Magick that you will do so, or I will reveal your treachery. I'm sure you know what happens next for any of your oh-so-precious family when that happens."

The difference between being a heartless Emissary of Total Salvation and merely pretending to be one is that you're vulnerable to this sort of extortion when you're pretending. 

I had no idea how she did it, but Sylvia managed to checkmate me. Either I killed Em, whom I had grown fond of during my short stay in Charade Gin, or everyone I cared about lost their lives. They were already heartbroken enough when they undoubtedly heard of my joining these monsters, but they deserved to live.

Logically, the sound choice was to swallow my guilt and kill the boy- Saving Grace, let it never be said that you aren't Celeste's sister.

I fidgeted around for a few more moments as if squirming in dread to satisfy Sylvia's sadism.

"I need your answer, little bitch," she whispered, "Are you going to kill Emmett or not?"

I took a few slow breaths before whispering in her ear. "I swear, on my Magick, that I will kill that man." I felt my conviction race through me, empowering my Magick, and that was all I needed to know that my plan was certain to succeed.

LunaSoltaer

I was having some trouble writing the duel between Ansel and Samael, and I had an idea in mind, so I asked around whether to write it in Grace's or Ansel's perspective. I got a decent response saying Grace, but I got another response suggesting to use third person omniscient. I couldn't use that advice as-is because Solstice is a first-person affair, but that didn't mean I couldn't have an observer present! Plus it sets up for another scene I've been meaning to write for a while now. Though... I'm probably going to have to plan out my next few chapters, and clean up old ones! People are reading 2021 Luna chapters and I'm nervous.

I'm going to do a double book recommendation, laergely because the first recommendation is from a far more recognised author than I, so I don't think this will get much noticed. Anyway, the first book is Lunar Marked by FlitterPuff. It's a trans exploration story with magic, political intrigue, adventure, and a few interesting perspectives. This book definitely challenged me as a reader and a transgirl, but I do not regret reading it at all. In fact, this book gave me the confidence to write some of the more recent dark parts in Solstice, and I give some credit to this book for inspiring me to make Vanessa and not Generic Demon Enemy The Thirteenth. Just... don't go into this book with a faint heart.

Speaking of books not meant for faint hearts, If you like sarcasm, wit, and trickery, I've been reading this book called Charisma, written by TheMonotonePuppet. I'm... okay, there are some awfully gruesome scenes in that book, and it explores well what happens when everything goes to shite and sanity flies out the window. But the MC charges through their troubles with an unwavering (false) confidence, and a lot of Fake It Till You Make It. I, um, might have drawn some inspiration from this when tackling some of the more absurd parts of my own life.

And to all those who gave feedback, guidance, advice, etc, I thank you with all my heart. It warms me so.

And for everyone in general: Thank you for reading Solstice.