C248: Dawn of the Falcon’s InvitationAt night, the entire Duke’s castle blazed like a second skyline above Angora City, its towers and battlements lit in a dazzling display of magical illumination that made the horizon look like it had been painted by some overenthusiastic artist with a love for grand gestures, and although the citizens below treated the spectacle as a rare, wondrous event, the Lytaians among them saw it as nothing more than the usual extravagant display of wealth that the powerful always insisted on calling “culture.”The drawbridge stayed lowered for the entire evening, inviting guests to roll in with gold-trimmed carriages and majestic horses that clattered and snorted with the kind of proud impatience that only the extremely rich can afford, and every arrival triggered a ripple of astonished whispers among the curious crowds gathered along the castle walls, because even in a city built on money, prestige, and illusion, a spectacle still feels