Page 44 of Favored By the Stars

I saw the Diadem whole, resting upon the brow of a being neither fully of the sun nor moon courts. I saw it used to heal rifts between worlds, to banish darkness, to unite what had been sundered. And I saw it deliberately broken, its power scattered to prevent it from falling into corrupted hands.

"It was never meant to be separate pieces," I murmured, understanding dawning. "Just as I was never meant to be divided between sun and moon."

The hammer beside the anvil rose of its own accord, hovering before me. I grasped it, feeling its perfect balance in my hand. It was neither heavy nor light, it simply was.

With newfound clarity, and an instinct I'd never possessed until that moment, I began the work of reforging the Diadem.

Each strike of the hammer sent ripples of magic through the forge. The fragments jumped and shifted under my blows, sometimes seeming to resist, other times almost melting together of their own accord. Sweat beaded on my brow as I worked, the dual flames casting my figure in eerie fluctuating colors of shadow across the ethereal workshop.

"The Diadem remembers its true form," I whispered to myself. "It wants to be whole again."

As I worked, memories continued to flow from the metal into my mind, not just the Diadem's past, but glimpses of those who had worn it before. I saw faces similar to mine, marked by both courts, carrying the burden of balance through ages of strife and reconciliation.

With each strike, the fragments grew more pliant, more eager to rejoin. The final blow rang out with a note so pure it brought tears to my eyes. The pieces flowed together like quicksilver, reshaping themselves into a circlet of breathtaking beauty, a crescent moon intertwined with rays of sunlight, neither overpowering the other.

The Diadem hovered before me, complete once more, radiating power that called to the magic in my blood. As I reached for it, the world shifted again, and I stood on what appeared to be a precipice between day and night. To my left stretched an endless twilight, to my right an eternal dawn.

"The last part," Van's voice echoed around me. "Choose your path."

I looked down at the Diadem in my hands, then back at the diverging landscapes. The choice seemed obvious, too obvious.

"No," I said firmly. "This isn't about choosing between sun and moon anymore. That's the old way of thinking."

I stepped backward, away from both paths, and felt solid ground form beneath my feet where there had been none before. A third way, invisible until I refused the false dichotomy. It all echoed what I had been through in Moonweaver's Grove. It was a false choice, not if I really wanted to choose the best path forward.

"I choose both," I declared. "I choose balance."

The Diadem in my hands flared with brilliant light, and I lifted it to my brow. The moment it touched my skin, the conflicting magics within me aligned with such sudden clarity that I gasped. For the first time since my Mark had appeared, I felt truly whole.

The world spun back into focus. I found myself standing knee deep in the shimmering lake, the Crescent Diadem now physically manifest in my hands. Its weight felt familiar, as if I'd held it a thousand times before.

I took a deep, shuddering breath and staggered a step forward. It felt like I'd been holding my breath, my lungs burning with the new intake of air.

"Senara!" Thorn waded toward me, concern etched across his features. "Are you alright? You were standing there frozen for minutes."

I blinked hard, trying to reconcile the space I'd just been with the lake I stood in now. "I'm fine. Better than fine, actually."

The Diadem caught the light, its metals shifting between silver and gold depending on how I turned it. The craftsmanship was exquisite, delicate crescents intertwined with sunburst patterns, forming a circlet that seemed to breathe with its own life.

"You did it," Van whispered, his eyes wide with wonder. "The Eclipsed Crown... I never thought I'd see it restored."

Wyn approached cautiously. "Is it... safe to touch?"

"It's safe," I assured her, though I couldn't explain how I knew. The knowledge simply existed in me now, as if it had always been there, waiting to be remembered rather than learned. Anyone could touch it, but only I could access its power, or another like me, an Eclipse Child.

I handed her the circlet, watching as she grasped it, her inky fingers dark against the metal. She frowned. "Isn't it supposed to be magical? Powerful? I sense nothing."

"Because it's already tied to Senara," Van shared.

With trembling fingers, I raised the Diadem to my head. The moment it settled upon my brow, warmth spread through me. My Mark responded, illuminating with a steady glow that was neither the harsh brilliance of sunlight nor the cool radiance of moonbeams, but something new altogether.

"How do you feel?" Thorn asked, his voice low.

"Complete," I answered honestly. The warring magics within me had found harmony, neither dominating nor submitting, but coexisting in perfect balance. "For the first time, I feel like myself, whoever that is."

Van circled me, studying the Diadem with scholarly interest. "The legends say the Eclipsed Crown grants its wearer clarity of purpose and protection against corruption. It was created in an age when the courts were one, before the great schism."

"It feels..." I searched for the right words. "It feels like it's always been a part of me, just waiting to be found again."

---