Then she began to spin. Not Earth, nor Water, nor Air, nor Fire. Not Spirit either.

She spun Azrahn—pure, unfettered, powerful Azrahn—woven in an intricate pattern of Light and Dark. A weave of Making and Unmaking, of Destruction and Healing.

A weave of magic and creation.

As the magic gathered and swirled around her hands, she cried, “I am Lissallukai, Light of the Gods, against whom no Darkness shall endure. I am Fellana, bringer of life, motherkin of all feyreisen. I am Reikaia, the tairen whose death gave another soul life. I am Ellysetta-Azreisa, Tairen Soul of the Fey, and I sing the Song of the living and the dead. I sing the Song of Souls.”

Ellysetta’s eyes flew open, blazing with the intensity of her magic. In her hands, the three crystals—stones that no other power but tairen fire could destroy—dissolved, then re-formed as a single solid jewel, a shining cabochon of deep ruby Tairen’s Eye filled with starry white drops that looked like clusters of Amarynth blossoms.

Light gathered in the heart of the crystal, not some dim glow, but a dazzling radiance. Within moments, the crystal blazed like the sun, sending beacons of light radiating outward in all directions.

The song of Ellysetta’s soul grew louder, insistent, almost frantic. She could feel the wind on her face, brisk and icy as if she were soaring through the high reaches of the sky. Urgency and longing drew her tight, setting her muscles trembling with anticipation.

Sybharukai settled a radiant eye upon her. «And now, Ellysetta-Azreisa, will you let your tairen at last find her wings?»

“Aiyah,” Ellysetta agreed. Her fingers closed around the newly forged Soul Quest crystal. She brought it tight against her chest, holding it to her as if she could embrace Lissallukai and Fellana and the infant tairen whose soul had been stolen and tied to hers. “Aiyah,” she said again. Her chin lifted, and she held Sybharukai’s whirling gaze. “Help me set her free. Show me how to let her fly.”

«Rainier-Eras,» Sybharukai commanded, «join us to sing your mate through her First Change.»

A rush of magic washed over Ellysetta as Rain’s body took its other form. Her heart pounded like a bass drum against her chest as the black tairen completed the circle of great cats ringed around her. The tairen sat back on their haunches, and with a great rustle, their wings spread wide, blocking out all sight of the world. Even the kitlings joined their elders, stretching their much smaller wings as far as they would go.

A low, rumbling purr began. Softly at first, then growing louder as the first, clear, crystalline notes of the song pealed in Ellysetta’s mind.

It wove around her in intricate plaits, the notes shimmering red, blue, white, green, lavender, and black. Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Spirit, and Azrahn, that much-maligned magic so essential to them all. Azrahn, the soul magic, the Shadow and the Light, the Maker and the Unmaker. The song showed her the pattern and urged her to embrace the magic of the Change.

The notes saturated her senses, wrapping her tight in glorious flows, invading her flesh and setting her body aflame. Pleasure so intense it could scarce be borne flooded her body and unmade her. She flung her head back and cried out, a cry of joy and surprise that deepened to a sound no mankind, human or Fey, called their own.

With a roar, Ellysetta found her tairen form.

Fur sprouted where flesh had been. Her limbs grew long, and her fingers curved into lethal claws. Fangs lengthened in her mouth. Wings unfurled, their undersides shining gold in the fading light of day.

Ellysetta took an experimental step in her new, unfamiliar body. She felt the earth beneath the pads of her feet, claws sinking into dirt and rock. And then, because she could, she rose on her hind legs and breathed fire into the sky, laughing at the hot rush and searing taste of it.

«Shei’tani.»

Her great head swung round to meet her mate’s glowing pupilless tairen gaze. She saw herself in his mind, sleek and powerful, with fur the color of cinnamon and flames, eyes whirling with bright rainbowed radiance of Tairen’s Eye crystal that was even now calming to vivid, crystalline green. Ellysetta breathed deep, marveling at the acuteness of her senses. Scent, taste, sight, sound: All were clearer now, sharper, and visible radiant flows of magic overlay everything, giving the world a constant, shifting glow.

Tairen song—her song—hummed through her veins, resonating in every cell. Not separate songs as once they had been, but one song: the bright, fierce blaze of tairen forever and inextricably tied with the deep, cool well of feminine Fey power. And through the wholeness of her song, tied in bonds that would last all eternity, every part of Ellysetta’s soul was joined with the majesty, the honor, the fierce strength and the limitless, everlasting love of Rainier-Eras, Tairen Soul, King of the Fey.

«Will you dance the skies with me, beloved?» he asked.

«Yes! Yes! Let us fly!» her tairen half cried with sudden eagerness.

Rain poured images into her mind, directing her new tairen body in the age-old intricacies of tairen flight. She gave herself over to him without reservation, and her body processed and followed his instructions without conscious thought.

She crouched, great muscles bunching in her hind legs, magic gathering, then sprang. Her wings shot out, fully extended, and Air swept up to fill them, snapping the membranes taut. She pumped her wings, gaining loft and speed, propelling her tairen body higher and faster until the air grew brisk and cold, and the ground raced far, far beneath her.

«Rain!»

«I am here, beloved.»