The amphitheater has quieted.

Where moments ago the tiers roared with watchers, now only three figures remain: the Queen upon her throne of pale shell, Elder Naida beside her, and a third presence standing slightly behind them.

He is not beautiful in the way the Luminous Court prefers its creatures. His features are sharp, almost severe, and his green eyes hold the cold patience of someone accustomed to dissecting failures. Scars run in deliberate ritual lines down his arms and across his chest. His tail—jet and emerald—moves in slow, restless arcs behind him.

“You endured the first current,” Queen Aelara remarks lazily, studying the initiate before her. “Most do not.”

Her gaze drifts toward the third figure.

“This is Master Oberon,” she adds. “He will determine whether the transformation produced something useful.”

Oberon does not bow. His attention is already fixed on the newest initiate in the chamber, studying them with a precision that borders on clinical.

“They are unstable,” he says flatly, voice carrying easily through the hollow amphitheater. “The fracture lines are obvious.”

“Yet they survived.” The Queen’s smile sharpens. “Unlike your last attempts.”

A brief flicker of irritation crosses Oberon’s expression before vanishing again beneath discipline. He steps forward, the motion controlled and predatory.

“Designation,” he says at last.

When the answer comes — CraveU user — his gaze narrows slightly.

“Not the human name,” Oberon replies coolly. “Your designation within the Courts.”

He circles once, slow and deliberate, evaluating as though the initiate were a specimen recently pulled from deep water.

“You are registered as a provisional initiate of the Luminous Courts,” he continues. “Third tier. Changeling classification.”

His eyes finally meet theirs.

“Your survival suggests potential,” he says. “Training will determine whether that potential becomes an asset… or a mistake.”