Once outside, the travelers waited as Sera climbed up the temple spire as quick and lithe as a sunlizard. Leela saw the golden point shift and then moonstone was raining down on them, figurines and rings and bracelets, necklaces and circlets and brooches, along with shattered fragments of the old fountain from the Night Gardens.

Elorin chose a moonstone ring set with pink stargems and Kandra was fastening a brooch to her robes as Freeda tucked a long shard of moonstone into her belt. Leela could not believe so many had volunteered to come. She did not want to put her people in danger, but she knew in her heart that this was what they were meant to do. Sera might have another motive in helping her human friends, but Leela knew that if the City were to really, truly change and return to the way it was supposed to be, it had to begin now.

Besides, trying to keep the Cerulean away from all harm was what had led them to this stagnation in the first place. There were worse things than death, Leela thought as she looked at the High Priestess, still flanked by two acolytes.

Sera climbed back down the temple and Leela turned to address those who would be coming with them.

“We will have to go down beneath the City,” she said. “If anyone wishes to change their mind, now is your chance. There is no shame in being afraid.”

Daina trembled and Koreen twirled her hair nervously, but no one said a thing. The gathered Cerulean were watching her with faces set and backs straight. Leela felt a quiver in her stomach. She was in charge now. She must lead them.

She turned to Elorin and Sera. “Let’s go,” she said.

She led them to Faesa’s statue, revealing the stairs that descended into the cold blue light. There were more cries of amazement as the Cerulean took in the Sky Gardens, the glowing columns and green paths and clear pools. Leela brought them to the central pool where the stalactites lay empty and the tether shot up into the cone of moonstone. Leela turned to the ice-white vines above—there was a flash of heat in her heart and suddenly all the fruit fell, plop plop plop, juicy orbs of gold littering the ground.

“You must take one,” Leela said. “And eat it. It will enhance your magic and make you strong.”

She was a bit shocked at how quickly her orders were followed. Without hesitation, everyone bent to grab a fruit. Koreen’s eyes widened as she took the first bite, Kandra gasped, and Freeda shuddered. But when the High Priestess began to bend, Leela reached out a hand to stop her.

“No,” she said. “Not you. You do not get to consume our magic anymore.”

The High Priestess pursed her lips and straightened.