It was a heady time, an opportunity not often presented. Green leaves sped past as Siranush bobbed and weaved between the trees, rushing towards the thinning, giddy with excitement. There! Bursting through the underbrush, sunlight streamed through an opening in the canopy to highlight the mushroom circle Siranush's people had held sacred since creation. The small sprite squinted as she gazed up into the sky, shielding her green eyes with one rich brown hand as she judged the time until the eclipse began.

There was enough time. Siranush took out a tiny fleck of charcoal and drew magical signs on the caps of the mushroom circle before drawing a different set of markings on her feet, hands and forehead. As the twin tempter moons, Bai Mudan & Pai Mu-tan, slowly crept in front of the sun the magical marking began to glow.

This was it! Closing her eyes, Siranush calmed her breathing and turned her thoughts inward. Her mana was strong, over flowing from her passage into adulthood just weeks earlier, and she had carefully hoarded her mana in anticipation of this event. Few sprite queens ever witnessed the 2,000 year alignment of the Tempters, and none that Siranush knew of had ever been able to use her entire supply of mana to complete the ceremony.

The thinning wavered, warped, twisted in a way the sprite princess... no queen! She was an adult now, she had to remind herself that she was a queen and could form her own hive. It twisted in a way the Siranush could feel deeply attached to her qi. Opening her eyes, she stepped through the thinning and into the mushroom circle. Her stomach lurched, and she feared she was going to throw up for an instant. Nearly as quickly as it came though, the impression left and Siranush was forced to confront the new world around her...