Page 90 of The Last Remaining Light

— Unsealed observatory evaluation

Beneath the crystalline dome of the eastern demonstration hall, Elowynn stood before a suspended lattice of raw astrylite shards. A dozen of the most prestigious scholars in the Spire observed her from the surrounding terraces.

“You look murderous,” Lora whispered from the lower gallery.

Elowynn didn't look away from the lattice, her focus steady. “I am contemplating peace.”

“You are contemplating throwing a crystal at Master Vaelor,” Lora mused with a grin.

“Peacefully,” Elowynn said with emphasis, her eyes sliding to pin Lora with a look of fond annoyance.

Alyra had been watching their entire exchange and lifted a hand to cover her amused smile. She wore an elegant ivory robe that contrasted beautifully against her deep, chocolate-brown skin, lending her the effortless poise of someone born to command a room. Her silver eyes gleamed in the lantern light, sharp and knowing as ever.

Across the large chamber, Master Vaelor stood among several Conclave scholars with his hands folded within the sleeves of his gold-threaded robes. His expression remained unreadable, though Elowynn had learned to recognize distaste in the angle of his chin.

He disliked demonstrations of power. More accurately, he disliked demonstrations of power he couldn't control. That greatly amused Elowynn, though she would never admit such.

The astrylite lattice hung within a circular resonance frame in the center of the chamber. Fourteen raw crystals, each the length of Elowynn’s palm, rotated slowly around a central shard of opaque, white astrylite. The exercise required manipulating resonance through all fourteen outer crystals without touching the frame, destabilizing the center, or allowing harmonic feedback to fracture the alignment.

Most scholars relied upon focusing rods to accomplish this, but Elowynn had never needed one.

She lifted one hand, and that was the moment the entire chamber’s atmosphere shifted. A low harmonic vibration passed through the demonstration hall, subtle enough that the observers leaned forward before realizing they had heard it.

The astrylite was answering her.

Blue-white resonance threaded outward from the central shard in thin luminous strands, each one curling through the air toward the surrounding crystals. Elowynn was in her element. Her breathing remained steady as her hands moved with practiced precision, every motion measured and deliberate.

Beneath her feet, Elowynn felt the aethercurrents deep below the Spire stir in answer to her call. There were no words, no thoughts carried within the resonance—only an overwhelming sense of order, of countless unseen currents moving together in perfect accord.

And something else. Recognition.

The currents answered her as they always did now, with a familiarity she had never been able to explain. It was as though they knew her.

Her eyes brightened with silver light and luminous veins traced a soft glow beneath her skin, signaling the beginning of her channeling. The crystals accelerated in their orbit before suddenly separating.

A murmur rippled through the gallery.

The fourteen shards unfolded from their circular formation into a suspended spiral that climbed gracefully through the air like a constellation being drawn by invisible hands. One by one, they shifted into place, each crystal settling with perfect precision as resonance pulsed beneath their surfaces in a steady, harmonious rhythm.

Elowynn turned her wrist, the spiral flattening into a star. Another breath, another movement of her hand, and the star broke apart into three interlocking rings.

Her fingers curled inward, and the rings contracted around the central shard without touching it. The white astrylite brightened until the entire chamber filled with silvery light.

One of the Collegium engineers swore under his breath while a Conclave scholar whispered a prayer.

“That should not be possible,” she heard a voice mutter from somewhere in the crowd.

Her face and body alight with the resonance she manipulated, her eyes aglow with the power. Then, with a slow exhale, she lowered her hand. The lattice glided back into its original shape with every shard returning perfectly to its former position.

There was no fracture, no feedback, no instability.

For several heartbeats, no one spoke or did anything. They were all gaping at what she had just done at only twenty-five turnings and without a focus rod.

Elowynn looked out across the symposium hall. As the applause began, nearly half the room rose to its feet, their expressions alight with admiration. The rest remained seated, watching her in uneasy silence.

Even several members of the governing council along the back wall regarded her with a disquieting mixture of awe and concern.

Elowynn inclined her head with practiced grace, signaling the demonstration's end. Her hands remained clasped before her, concealing the faint tremor in her fingers. Manipulating the resonance so completely had demanded more of her than she intended anyone to see.