“Come back soon,” Fortuné called as Jo followed Jay outside.

“Dinner on the house the next time you visit,” Glorifhun added.

“Really?” said Jay, turning back. “That’s fantastic - as long as I’m not on a table on the rooftop.”

“You might be onto something there,” Glorifhun chuckled. “Rooftop Garden Evening Courses.”

“Thank you both,” said Jo, turning Jay back round to the doorway, “and we’ll stay longer next time.”

“I was leaving, you know,” Jay said as they descended the steps.

“Not if you two start bouncing ideas off each other,” said Jo, adjusting his coat. “Half-past midnight, and more Marzenvios than I can remember the last time.”

“Three,” said Jay, joining Jo on the pavement. “The fourth and fifth were drank by yourself after the Midnight Sorbet.”

Jo closed his eyes. It had almost been a dream — the sorbet, that is. Midnight indigo with dashes of ruby cranberries. So sparkling it ran, jumped and danced across the tongue. Or it had to begin with; as he still couldn’t remember the point when his half his tongue had gone numb from the pink grapefruit in cups for doses of medicine…

“Thought that you two were planning to make a night of it,” Suzé said from a lamppost to Jo’s right.

“Not with a crack of dawn appointment,” said Jay, flicking back his headscarf tails. “An appointment moved by a person not far from here, who will not be in till noon at the earliest.”

“Oh, I’d forgotten about that. Still, it should keep you both in a more attentive state. Montarion said that he had to fill in the last time.”

“Montarion?” Jay coughed as Jo turned from looking down the other length of the street. “It was he who organised - the gathering. Felt guilty that I - we - couldn’t put three sentences together; cancelled two appointments and, I can’t remember the third.”

“I’m not even going to ask what happened,” Suzé hummed. “You both could have called it quits due to obligations.”

“Don’t worry, Mont didn’t fly solo,” said Jo. “I was with him for Mr Finchaberry and put a few sentences together.” Even if his shades had been on the entire time. Like the street lamps and lights from the nearby windows that seemed to be coming through a gentle veil. Whilst on the road and pavements, there was not a person in sound or sight, save…

“Will they keep a seat for you in the gallery, Suzé?” Io asked as she came back from the middle of the road.

“Beatrisa decided to book the whole balcony,” Suzé replied. “We could all be on sun-loungers with parasols and there would still be room.”

“So it’s a question of how much you will have missed,” said Io, glancing up at the sharp sky.

“I’ve seen the prologue before, so even a snail carriage should get me there before it gets - what in Mayeshetor-”

Jo blinked at Suzé’s uttering one of his surprise phrases. Then joined her and Jay in staring down the street. Although staring along the street then up into the sky might have been better. A bird was gliding down the grand avenue from the Clock Pinnacle; clothed from beak to sparkling streamer tails in either rippling metal or mirror-sheened crystal. Only this bird had to be near the size of a one-person transporter at the least; growing larger with every moment that it swept down the street.

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“Kialendar, Maz,” Suzé gasped, “She’s-she’s-”

“Grown?” said Io as the bird fanned not only its shimmering wings but a triple tail whilst it landed in the middle of the street. “Well, it has been a while, Suzé-Ether. Tesia must have not long hatched when you last saw her.”

“But they didn’t get, that big, did they?” Suzé continued, stepping back to try and take in the crouching avian; that could easily reach the altitude of one of the lampposts if stood upright. And still dimming the lamp lights with her own lunar glow.

“Few of the winged folk come close, even to the smallest,” said Io as the bird brought its head down to rest beside her hand. A head with an eagle-like beak that could have brought down a set of trees with a single bite. “And the Storm Eyries were said to be - exceptional.”

“I remember the brood,” said Suzé, as Jo tried not to stare at the eyes that may as well have been pools of the night sky; complete with miniature stars. “Last of Overtesia’s Twilight. Yet surely a new dawn stands before me.”

“We’d like to think so, wouldn’t we Tesia,” said Io, stroking the bird’s forehead.

“It’s- it’s not real,” Jay began. “I’m seeing things.”

“I wish,” Jo whispered. “She’s - stroking it.”

“But they’re supposed to be extinct.”

“Extinct? I didn’t know that birds like - this - existed in the first - place…”

“Very much alive and well, Sonnet,” Io continued as the bird looked at a quaking Jay. “I’m surprised that you have never come across Tesia’s House, Song. Suzé-Ether said that you have an eye and memory for avians.”

“I didn’t get as far as the family Tesia belongs to,” said Jo, trying not to catch the majestic bird’s gaze. He had heard of Rocs. Eagles that brought down ostriches (might have been the same species. Or the phoenix that didn’t burn up on a pyre; but could generate its own firestorm and had something to do with rubies. But never this.

“There’s some light reading for you,” said Io continued. “The Overtesian Bird. Although you may want to miss out the genealogies,” she added, somersaulting onto Tesia’s rainbow-sheened shoulders. “One article was trying to put them together with kestrels.”

“What?” Jo and Suzé both gasped.

“You’re gonna fly on tha-” Jay began, then put a hand to his mouth as Tesia turned her midnight gaze upon him.

“How do you think I got here,” said Io. “It’s a good way to travel. Speaking of which, Tesia hasn’t been to Brantismet for a while. We can loop that way if you would like a lift, Suzé-Ether.”

“Really?” Suzé said, glancing at Tesia. “Why thank you.”

“The least we can do for putting up with this pair,” Io chuckled as Suzé clambered up behind her. “Goodness knows how you do it,” she added, as Jo stopped glaring to stare at the rainbows passing along Tesia’s feathers. “Bonuses will be recommended. Plus, a catch-up’s overdue, don’t you think? I’d love to hear your take on Montarion receiving an offer from Tialat.”

“What!” Jay coughed.

“Tialat!?” Jo almost choked.

“Why that-” Suzé growled, then was lost in the flash that saw Tesia become a fix-winged comet that shot into the night sky; curve-turned in the evening air like a swift; then blazed away with the velocity of a shooting star; leaving a trail of dancing snow crystals.

“What in - Merrinorton - just happened,” said Jo as lights shifted; backgrounds unblurred; people appeared on the pavements and carriages returned to the road.

“Ti-a-lat?” said Jay, looking away from the comet trial; placing his hands on either side of his head, then running back to the stairs. “I need six Magenta-Saffrons!”