A man, or a man’s blurry hologram. Not a real man’s body. He looked lean, as Lukai could say based on this poor-quality version. His long black hair was tied in a ponytail.

  His face was a mixture of mature masculinity and boyish features, which was very eye-catching.

  Not the type of person that Lukai would respect based on looks—too beautiful for a man.

  “Wow,” they all heard Si as he couldn’t hold back his comment. “Now I get why you were never impressed.”

  When Si said it, everyone looked at him, including this hologram.

  “… By my looks?” Si added, smiling.

  Everybody looked at him again, in silence, and then the hologram smiled and spoke.

  “O, Luna, he is something,” his voice distorted, with a strange accent detectable.

  Luna also smiled. She looked back at the hologram, avoided looking at Si, and then directed her words to Lukai.

  “I appreciate you saying it. We have known each other long; you didn’t hide things from me, as I did hide from you. I appreciate it,” she said and stopped. She again looked at the hologram and waved her hand.

  “My name is Taj; welcome, Lukai, and welcome, Si.” This hologram said and made a gesture with his hands.

  This one Lukai recognized. It was the Sect’s greeting gesture.

  It was old.

  “… It is always better to clear things up front, or, in our case, at last,” Luna continued. She took a breath. “Yes, my mother was Mona; she was Shadow. My father was Nikola; he was Crystaler. I am dual; two energies are in my body, Clar or not. I have bits of artificial energy in me, and it causes problems; it collides with my Ability. I am not Shadow, and we are incompatible, you Silly. I am still alive thanks to Taj and some old knowledge he shared with my father. I do not use my energies; I have them blocked most of the time. I also hide my energies; it is an old skill. And Taj, you both need to know, he has been with me all my life. I will die protecting him. What else…?” Luna stopped for a moment.

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  “Right,” she pointed at Lukai. “Yes. We had a relationship. It was before the alliance idea. I was not aware there was even an option; I was so insignificant, I never thought I could be chosen. And then, the alliance. We agreed—I mean, I and Taj, we discussed it back then, and we saw two options. One, that if you, Silly, I didn’t know you then, but if two years ago Shadows Young Master met with me, with Taj we planned to admit I was Clar. We wanted to come back to Shadows. But you didn’t. It was postponed year after year. With Taj we accepted it—it was some kind of protection for me as a dual, useful for some time. This year we decided not to accept it anymore. What else…?” Luna stopped and exchanged looks with this hologram.

  Lukai also noticed that what she said made Si look pitiful. When to think about it from this perspective, he lost quite a good opportunity. He hadn’t known, though.

  “Right. You,” Luna said, pointing at Si. “I met you. Silly, I didn’t figure out that Useless Young Master was the Lord’s son—the son. Despite that, though, it complicated itself more.”

  She stopped and took a breath.

  No one wanted to disturb her speech; they were silent.

  “I like you, Silly. I still have these feelings. I am honest. But I think you have to break it off. I am dual. We are incompatible. We could play this game and postpone it for years, but it is not honest and not good for you. That’s all.”

  Luna fell silent.

  The hologram nodded again.

  Lukai was curious about what Si could do. When Si spoke, he was serious.

  “So, I do not agree with the last part. I do not need children. No one will discover you are dual when you are with me. I have energy in an amount that you can stop hiding. Taj will be safe. My parents, I will inform them, and they will accept my wish. I see it like this.”

  It was visible that what Si had said surprised, very positively surprised Luna.

  The hologram was the first to comment.

  “O, Luna, your Silly is not silly.”

  That made her snort.

  The hologram continued. “Good, we will think about it. Now, you wanted to talk about those who created the energy forms. Do you also think those are released energies? I assume the Gates net is here an important factor, and that the forms could be either blown up or absorbed—do you as well?”

  Lukai was seriously taken aback. He also noticed that Si almost fell from his chair.