Wings of Starlight

Clarion spends the rest of the week waiting to sneak away to meet with Milori again, since curing the Nightmare victims has not progressed, and she’s increasingly convinced that the warm seasons can’t solve the crisis alone. Finally, with no way to sneak past Artemis, she chooses honesty. On her balcony, Clarion explains to Artemis that she wants to meet with Milori to solve the problem. Artemis reluctantly agrees to cover for her.

Clarion meets Milori on the bridge at sunset. The Warden confirms that the Nightmares struck Winter. Clarion tells him about Elvina’s plans to destroy the bridges and how her magic affected the Nightmare. Milori proposes a plan: A book stored in the Hall of Winter might hold the key to defeating the Nightmares, but only governing-talent magic can unlock it. To access it, Clarion must find a way to safely enter Winter herself. Clarion agrees, and Milori says he’ll wait for her at the border every night. When she leaves, Clarion decides to ask Petra for help to cross into Winter.

The next morning, Clarion tells Artemis that she’s going to ask Petra to invent something to allow her to cross into the Winter Woods. Though Artemis doesn’t entirely believe that Clarion knows what she’s doing, the guard agrees to support her and accompany her to Tinker’s Nook. At Petra’s cottage, Clarion convinces Petra to help her make a coat to keep her warm and insulate her wings from the cold of Winter.

That evening, Clarion visits the border again to see Milori and tell him that she found a way to cross, and he updates her on what’s happening in Winter. As they talk, Clarion opens up about her worries over her upcoming coronation. Milori tells her he took on his role of Warden without a predecessor to guide him, relying only on notes. Clarion probes him further on his role, questioning if he, too, is a governing-talent. When he says he wasn’t born of a star, as she was, she’s disappointed since she hoped she wasn’t the only one. When she repeats Elvina’s belief that queens must be cold and distant, Milori gently pushes back against it, saying that nothing’s wrong with wanting things to be different. Clarion realizes that he’s just as lonely as her, and they’re beginning to connect in a way that scares her.

Artemis gives Clarion a note from Petra saying that the coat is completed. When Clarion asks Artemis how she got the note, the guard makes the excuse that she was doing Nightmare sweeps in the area, but Clarion suspects she was trying to get close to Petra.

Before retrieving the coat, Clarion meets with Iris, the Minister of Spring. On the way, she finds a path of destruction and decay throughout the Spring Valley, originating from the Winter border. She’s disturbed that Elvina didn’t tell her about it. The damage marred some of the coronation preparations, including a dewdrop mosaic of Clarion herself. Iris is cheerful and eager to show off the fairies’ efforts, and she compares Clarion to a bulb flower, dormant but destined to bloom.

Later, Clarion and Artemis visit Petra’s workshop, where she unveils the winter coat, which is oversized and golden. Petra also gives her mittens, boots, and handcrafted snowshoes. However, she refuses to let Clarion tell her about her mission, insisting on keeping herself emotionally removed for her peace of mind. Clarion leaves with her supplies and the knowledge that the moment she has waited for has finally arrived.

Equipped with Petra’s coat, Clarion meets Milori at the edge of Spring just before sunset. He offers her his hand when she hesitates to cross, giving her the strength to step into Winter. She’s captivated by Winter’s beauty and by how Milori watches her.

He leads her on foot through the woods and up a mountain. At the summit, Clarion sees the entire Winter Woods: forests, rivers, and buildings sculpted from ice. Milori points out the Hall of Winter. When Clarion notes that it’s a long way to walk, Milori responds that they’ll sled down. They race down the mountain and crash-land at the bottom. Clarion bursts out laughing, and Milori says she seems different, even happier, in Winter.

On the way to the Hall of Winter, Clarion confesses that she always felt drawn to the Winter Woods. Milori teases her about it, and she banters back. They prepare to enter the Hall, and Milori warns her that the Keeper who guards it is eccentric. As the massive ice doors swing open and they step inside the library, a growl echoes through the chamber, and claws scrape on the ice.

Clarion panics, fearing that a Nightmare is coming, but instead meets Fenris, the massive wolf who is a companion to the Keeper of Fairy Knowledge. The Keeper follows close behind, and Milori introduces Clarion to him as the Queen-in-training of Pixie Hollow. The Keeper, thrilled that they might finally be able to unlock the tome, leads Clarion to it. Though Clarion is unsure of her ability to activate the book’s magic, the Keeper encourages her. When Clarion touches it, its runes flare to life and translate the lost language the book was written in to one they can read.

The book describes how dreams once traveled across the skies and were gathered by dream-talent fairies who spun them into protective threads for the young Pixie Dust Tree. Nightmares, remnants of dark dreams, wreaked havoc until they were imprisoned beneath a frozen lake in Winter, guarded by the Lord of Winter, Milori’s predecessor. The dream-talents eventually vanished and, with them, the means to maintain the magical barrier that kept the Nightmares sealed away. The news devastates Clarion and Milori, but the Keeper hypothesizes that the power of dream-talent magic may live on in Clarion as a star-born queen. However, she confesses that she can’t control her magic, and her brief success at the Autumn Forest was a fluke.

Milori and Fenris escort Clarion, who’s getting colder, back to the Spring border. On the bridge, Milori tells her he thinks she was made for this task and that she inspires hope, something he hasn’t felt in a long time. Clarion, also hopeful now, says she wants him to take her to the prison where the Nightmares are kept the next day to test the Keeper’s theory.

Clarion visits the healing-talents’ clinic in Summer’s Feverfew Fields to see Rowan and the other comatose fairies. When she touches Rowan’s magic, she feels the lingering fear and shadow wrapped around his mind, further validating the Keeper’s theory that she may possess dream-talent magic. Elvina arrives and questions her about why she’s there, and Clarion says she came to visit the victims of the Nightmare. Elvina insists that Clarion focus on her coronation.

That evening, Clarion returns to the Winter Woods, where Milori awaits her with Noctua, a snowy owl they ride to the Nightmares’ prison. At the frozen lake, Clarion sees the deteriorated dream-magic barrier beneath the ice. She summons her magic and attempts to weave her star-born power into it. For a moment, she succeeds. Light flares across the lake, and the Nightmares recoil. However, her efforts are interrupted when one of the Nightmares breaches the barrier. It takes the form of a many-eyed raven before it attacks. Clarion is injured before Noctua intervenes. The Nightmare eventually flees from the owl’s attacks, but Clarion is hurt and shaken. Milori blames himself, but Clarion replies that she’s the one who chose to take the risk. After repairing the broken ice, Milori takes her back on Noctua to see a healer.

Clarion and Milori arrive at the Winter healing-talents’ clinic, which is hidden beneath a sprawling holly bush. Yarrow, one of the healers, meets them and tends to Clarion’s injuries. As she’s stitched up and receives healing tea, Clarion quietly observes Milori moving through the ward, helping his people even when he can’t heal them.

After the clinic visit, they fly back to the border. When Clarion admits that she doesn’t know how long it’ll take to repair the slashes in her coat, Milori says he’ll wait for her. Clarion offers to visit him at the bridge before then, nominally to strategize—but really just to see him again.

The next morning, Clarion returns to Petra, feeling guilty that the coat was damaged and dreading again asking her friend to support her dangerous plans. Petra is hurt, not only because of the torn coat but because she feels worried for Clarion’s safety. Clarion tells her about her alliance with Milori, and Petra resents being caught between Clarion’s secret mission and Elvina’s expectations. Clarion insists that she must help the winter fairies and fight the Nightmares, despite the danger. Ultimately, Petra agrees to repair the coat, offering her support in the only way she can.