While King Scipio instructed everyone to remain calm, Flenn Illymium rushed Hyperia to the pulley car to whisk her to the top of Oran tower. As the highest-ranking Illymium in all of Ardelym, she alone would hear the message from their god. The great father, Illym, hadn't shown his presence in over a Zar since he uttered the prophecy predicting the great Davadas rule.

Because Lady Hyperia was feeling faint from all the excitement, her handmaiden Moranna accompanied her in the pulley car.

Tylla and Starlex poked their heads out from the marble colonnade where they had taken cover during the explosion.

"I need to get to Carmelle," Tylla said, breaking away. Starlex watched her niece dash across the great hall, pushing people out of the way to reach her lover.

Starlex felt that familiar tug of loneliness as she watched the young women embrace and run off together, hand in hand, in search of a private place to seek refuge and console one another.

Scipio instructed his servants to usher the people from the banquet hall, the sky still aglow in the comet's fiery wake, to the inner chambers where they would find shelter and comfort away from Illym's wrath.

As Nazeers, Wols, Skaards, and members of the court filed through the arched doorway behind Scipio and his attendants, Starlex remained. While frantic servants milled about her, she stared at the ceiling dome. Within the oculus, the shower of sparks faded against a black velvet sky, replaced by the distant twinkling constellations she knew by heart. In the midst of the ensuing uproar, she found herself drawn to the Heavens and away from the vagaries of man.

"In my land, the sky turns green sometimes." A deep, oddly accented voice broke her reverie. "Swirls of light extend across the Heavens for nights on end."

When she turned, she found herself gazing at the Skaard warrior she had observed through her spyglass. His eyes were slanted skyward while one of his large hands traced a surprisingly delicate pattern in the air.

"It is Illym telling us not to give up, to fight for our lands and our families," he said, shifting his gaze from the oculus to land softly on her face. "I am Bonn Skaard," he said with a slight, awkward bow.

Starlex's violet eyes blinked rapidly at the man who stood before her. He was two heads taller than she and had a worn red cape draped over his massive shoulders. His hair, much longer than the typical Oran man, grazed his massive shoulders in golden waves. The wound on his arm had been freshly dressed. His ice-blue eyes sparkled with intelligence, along with something Starlex couldn't name; she could only feel it on the surface of her skin, a tingle she compared to the feeling of fear.

"I am Starlex Illymium," she said. Her chin made a dainty nod.

His head cocked questioningly. "An Illymium?"

Starlex mustered a shallow store of pride and replied with the dignity she didn't feel, "I am sister to the queen."

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"Ah, a princess then." His mouth formed a wide smile, showing a row of straight white teeth.

She shifted nervously. "If you like."

A crooked smile formed between Bonn's thick beard and mustache. "Starlex Illymium." He said her name slowly as if savoring a sip of fine wine. "You don't look like you belong here in court."

Her defenses rising she crossed her arms. "Oh? And where do you suppose I belong?"

His gaze swept back to the sky. "Up there among the stars."

She was unsure how to respond, struck by her customary paralyzing shyness. She opened her mouth, hoping something intelligent-sounding would come out when another Skaard man approached. He wore the same short leather britches and ragged fur capelet as the other Skaards, but his rangy glide with long swinging arms and sleek black hair set him apart. After darting a quick and cautious nod at Starlex, the man said something to Bonn in the old Skaard tongue that she didn't understand. Bonn's eyes froze with concern for a moment then softened on Starlex.

"Will you excuse me, princess?"

The other Skaard clamped his mouth shut to suppress a chuckle at Bonn Skaard's courtly manners.

"Of course." Starlex bobbed a shallow curtsy, and the men turned to join a cadre of Skaard warriors shifting anxiously beneath the arched doorway.

Starlex heard a low whistle behind her and turned to see Rigel watching the Skaard warriors walk away.

"The tall blond one is handsome," he said, scrunching his face as he approached her, "but I'm not that into muscles. The slim one has potential though."

She was about to plant an elbow in her cousin's ribs when Jabe, worry etched on his young face, jogged toward them.

"Heavens! There you are," Rigel said with a sigh of relief. He gazed around the rotunda to make sure the coast was clear before pulling his lover into a tight embrace.

"I was in the courtyard with those blasted Nazeers," Jabe said with panting breaths. "And you're right. They do smell."

"But those are your people, Jabe," Rigel said, winking at Starlex.

"Not if I can help it. I can't wait until they leave."

"Tell you what," Rigel said with a glint in his eye. "While everyone else is running around like frightened fools, let's you and I sneak off to the solarium. We'll drink wine and do some stargazing. Or at least, we can gaze at each other."

Jabe's eyes brightened. "Heavens, yes!"

Rigel turned to Starlex and said, "You can come, too."

"Yes," Jabe added reluctantly.

Starlex smiled at their polite offer. "Thanks, but I think I will go for a ride tonight." She wondered, vainly, if she might again run into the tall Skaard with the eyes like ice but quickly brushed away the thought. She hoped Rigel, always so perceptive about her emotional states, would not detect the blush on her cheeks in the dim torchlight. But he was too focused on Jabe to notice.

"Suit yourself," Rigel said, planting a kiss on her cheek.

She watched the young lovers run off to their private conference.

With one last gaze at the sky, now cleared of any sign of Illym and winking with the usual constellations of stars, Starlex left the great hall. She passed through the colonnade where frightened servants scurried about on frantic errands. The palace held a palpable tension that she longed to escape. When she reached her room, she quickly changed from her light gown into a dark lavender shift with a split skirt for riding, adding a cape of black worsted with the Illymium star embroidered on the back in silver threads.

She took the back stairs out of the palace, nodding to the guards as she left, crossed the moon-dusted garden, and jogged quickly to the stables where Sola, her prized white mare, waited in her stall. In some ways, Sola was her best friend: a faithful companion who asked nothing of her. This night, more than any night she had witnessed, she needed to star-bathe, to watch the dance of light in the sky, to feel the energy of the two moons, and to calm her worry about Illym's prophecy. Secretly, she hoped there would be something meaningful in it for her.

"Perhaps that Bonn Skaard is right," she thought, lifting the high-canteled saddle from its post and centering it on Sola’s back. "Maybe I don't belong in this world, but among the stars."