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There was still enough summer in the air to make dinner by the reservoir a pleasant night out rather than a chilly ordeal. So the late-birthday of a family dinner for the twins was, at the very least, as comfortable as it was delicious. Luke and Jason were a little off and awkward most of the night, like each was either avoiding or holding back words, but their mom took it as a blessed break from their surliness since the move. She spent most of the dinner focusing on catching up with her sibling and doting over the boys' cousin, Lena.

The phrase, Oh, I wish one of them could have been a cute girl like you, was taken out tonight, much as it was taken out over the past fourteen years. Jason was used to it and no longer even rolled his eyes when he heard his mother sighing over his cousin. Sometimes he wished he had a cute little sister, too.

After the dessert had come out, the adults were settled in with coffee and taking only small, slow bites. Clearly they were going to chat for the next hour or so. The reservoir was a good choice, because it offered the kids a place to run around while their parents decided to be boring at one another.

"We'll be back in a few minutes, Lena." Jason explained, pulling Luke off for a quick chat. "Don't go too far or too close to the water, though, okay?" He could, all too easily, imagine her accidentally walking off the end of a dock in broad daylight, let alone in the dark of night.

The restaurant had put in time to make sure this area was beautiful at night, with lanterns that danced near the water with even the slightest breeze, the sound of windchimes accompanying them. Near the water, one of the lights bobbed a little more gracefully than the rest, just slightly out of time. And then it bobbed higher...and closer to the girl.

Slender tendrils drifted down from its form. There was a translucent laciness to it, lovely and strange. It drifted close enough to make it clear that it was not a lantern, not at all, and then drifted back again. Further and a little further still, the windchimes still sounding their teasing little song.

The last thing that Luke wanted to do was go and chat alone with his brother…this whole dinner was just turning out to be another dismal reminder that they…really weren’t wanted. Or, at least that was how it had arranged itself in his mind, and he was sulking. Badly.

Looking at his brother, he sighed and followed after him, though took a moment to glance back at Lena, wanting to offer a smile, in the place of Jason’s admonition…but. He paused, his eyes locking onto to the strange glowing figure that his cousin seemed to be following, and for a moment, a tendril of fear made him shiver and without really thinking, he reached out and grabbed hold of Jason’s arm. “Yo. That’s…that’s not normal.”

They hadn’t yet…or. He hadn’t, Jason might have but he hadn’t run into any of the monsters that plagued the night…not the people version, he had run into one of those, and that was going to stay a secret between himself and nobody for right now but.

“Why’s she going towards the water? I think…this might be one of…like. Bad?”

It was awkward. He wanted to convey that he was worried…but then again…he had told Jason he wasn’t going to become Lisse again and…

What the Hell was he supposed to say?

The jellyfish floated closer, and Lena kept staring at it, like she was hypnotized.

If this was magic? It probably wasn't. The small practical part of Lena's brain knew that, but it wasn't going to stop her from pretending, from holding onto that hope that this was something special for the few minutes while that lasted.

If this was magic, and the jellyfish was coming near her, reaching out its ribbons of tentacles, then that must mean she was something special, too. Maybe, she let herself think, she was a chosen one, set apart from the masses and able to see special, beautiful things that nobody else could.

If that was what this was, she was hardly going to deny it.

She took another step forwards towards it, only for her foot to hit something hard. She glanced down, squinting against the shadows. A spoon? It must have gotten knocked off of one of the restaurant's balconies or something.

Perfect! Chosen ones were helpful. They returned lost trinkets. It could be one of her quests.

Without looking away from the jellyfish for too long, she reached down and picked up the spoon.

That was when something really unexpected happened.

Seeing Lena pick up something off the ground and change was, well it looked like his worries as Halle had just doubled, now hadn't they? Watching Lisse run close, Halle instead picked up a sizable rock off the ground and threw it, hard at the jellyfish thing that had begun to spin, to wind up as the girl's attention was elsewhere. It's gentle light turning to a bright, aggressive red that deepened at the rock hit it.

See, Mechelen? It was an absolutely valid tactic.

The long tendrils shot out at both Lisse and the newly awakened page, whip-like and capable of leaving a stinging irritation where they made contact.

“Yes, we are absolutely here to save you, Lena…” Lisse huffed and reached out, wincing as the tentacles wrapped around his arm. They stung…so these monsters had like, real life animal abilities? That was…kind of absolutely rude of them. “Jason told you to stay away from the water and now look what’s happened! This is some kind of a monster and…”

Thankfully his brother had good aim with a rock, and Lisse thought that he might be able to do the same, scooping down and picking up a rock of his own, lobbing it at the creature.

He was closer so…his chances of hitting harder were better…and the fact that he hit it at all made him feel…

Well? Rather proud of himself.

He had skills, Jason. He had skills all on his own.

Oh. That was weird. When they said her name, and Jason's name, it was like the faces of the princes blurred for a second, not literally, but her brain did a record scratch, and then one of them clearly turned into Jason. The other one still looked strange, but there was only one real explanation for who it could be.

They were still prince-knight-bards, but they were prince-knight-bards who were also her cousins.

She didn't know why they were still so obsessed about her staying away from the water. It wasn't like the Jellyfish of Stinging Terror had needed water to breathe or anything.

It was so much to try to think about that all she could do was blink, and numbly hold her arm out to Jason so he could look at the red mark.

But then, there was something easier to think about. There was another awful jellyfish, swooping up behind the boys.

"Oh," she breathed, and then tugged her hand away so that she could pick up a rock like they had. "It's my turn to save you!"

She let if fly. She had mixed feelings on trying to destroy something magical, but she couldn't let it hurt them!

Turning around to see the second monster dissipate into particles of nothing, Halle let out a relieved sigh before scanning the area for more. And then, took a moment to close his eyes and focus, trying to catch anymore feelings of wrongness in the area. He'd have to keep that in mind in the future, next time they had the advantage of numbers, to make sure they used those numbers, not just to fight, but to fully assess the situation.

No more surprises from behind.

Lena getting into a fight right off reminded him of Mechelen's story, and he was feeling a bit behind these girl's who underwent trial by fire right away. He needed to start following that Pendour's advice, start following auras and get more actual experience fighting things. Training was good, but experience was also way too important to be avoiding until he was "ready".

"Thanks Lena...or uh, actually you have another name like this. There's a voice in your head that will tell it to you. But it's better to use those names when we're like this. There's a whole, big, dangerous," his eyes slid grimly to Lisse, "...situation that goes along with the magic and costumes."

There wasn't anyone else around and they were no longer in line of sight of the restaurant, so he powered back down, Jason once more. "When I'm like that, call me Halle. And he's Lisse."

“We’re Pages…which…are like…Baby Knights from how I understand it. We’re all of the same…uh. Person? Lysithea. I’m Lisse Page of Lysithea which…is kind of silly now that I say it out loud but, whatever. Um, yeah! We’ll help each other out and figure things out together…we’re magical? You should…we can go to space!”

He hesitated. “Thank of you...of Lena, and then you’ll go back to who you are and we can go somewhere a bit more private and talk about everything if you want?” He demonstrated after a moment, letting plain old Luke stand where Lisse had stood. “See? Think of yourself and you’ll become yourself…and when you want to be Almere again, just think of you as Almere…it’s pretty easy, I think. We can go to space...I know I said it already but…that’s my favorite part of all of this, I think.”

Grinning broadly, he looked only at his cousin and…well.

Not at Jason. Because clearly he wasn’t giving up being Lisse…and he wasn’t going to join the track or wrestling team or…any team for that matter.