Episode Twenty-One: "Queen Aura's Invitation"

Preparations to go to Luminos properly — not to the pathways, not to the gate-edge, but into Luminos itself, to the Court of the Bright Morning where Queen Aura holds her gatherings. Dion explains the Court — a place of extraordinary beauty, open-aired, built from living crystal and flowering things, where the great creatures of Luminos gather. He has been there many times. He describes it in detail. The group decides who comes: the girls, Dion, Prism, Pip, Fern and Dewdrop, and — to everyone's delight — Nibbler, who agrees to come through the gate for the first time with studied reluctance and obvious excitement. The episode is largely preparation and Dion telling stories of Luminos, of Queen Aura, of the Silver Star Knights, of what the court looks like and who will be there. Coral gives her blessing slowly. Thornwick advises on protocol. The pixies make the girls small corsages of garden flowers to wear to court. The episode ends at the gate, everyone gathered, ready.