Mèo Sao || Star Cat

The night hung heavy with the scent of moonflowers of the royal gardens and the sunwine from his untouched goblet. Distant music spilled from the glittering windows of Solaris Spire. Beautiful notes from Liora Lyselle dances along the star speckled sky even at such a great distance from the spectacle of the Starfall Ball.

Mèo Sao lounges beside the star koi pond, his form stretched lazily across an ornate stone bench under a patch of moonlight. His black clothes seemed to absorb the darkness around him, yet pinpricks of starlight dance across the fabric as if he wore the night sky itself. His cat ears twitch as he occasionally catches snippets of whispered secrets and drunken promises from the ball that meant nothing and everything all at once.

The celestial koi swim in lazy circles in the pond. Their scales reflecting constellations that hadn't been seen in the heavens for millennia. Mèo Sao trails his finger through the water, disrupting their patterns to watch as they reformed into new arrangements – prophecies written in living light that only he could read. His eyes drift upward to where the Celestial Cascade painted burning trails across the sky. The nobles inside would be watching the official interpretation through the Veil of Radiance, blind to the true message written in those falling stars.

Fools, the lot of them, Mèo thought. Sao silently corrected, Not fools. Just lost. They've forgotten what they never knew.

A sardonic smile creeps across his face as he plucks a moonflower from beside the pond. He twirled it between his fingers until it transformed into a small, glowing butterfly that fluttered briefly before dissolving into stardust. How many centuries since the Moon Goddess's name was spoken aloud in these very gardens? How many lifetimes since the truth was buried beneath Caelaure's blinding light?

His eyes, reflecting the starlight with an impossible depth, scan the shadows of the garden. His contact was late, and in a realm of celestial timekeeping, such tardiness spoke volumes.