Chapter Fourteen

“Garnet, what is it? Why the urgency?” Diamond preceded her sisters as they entered the Gem Hall.

Garnet, who’d been pacing by the Great Gem, turned so sharply her hair flared out around her. Her eyes sparkled as she struggled to suppress a wide grin. Repeatedly clasping and unclasping her hands, she waited until her sisters were gathered close. “I believe I have found him. Our young lord Avlar.”

A collective gasp escaped her sisters. They stared at one another before releasing a torrent of questions.

“How?” said Beryl, her eyes stretched wide.

“When?” Sapphire grasped Garnet’s arm.

“Did you make yourself known to him?” said Emerald.

“Where is he?” said Diamond.

“Sisters, sisters,” said Peridot. “So many questions, but Garnet can only answer one at a time.” Despite her sage words, she bounced lightly on her toes, obviously bursting to ask questions herself.

Apologising, they stood around her, waiting for her to speak.

Breathing deeply, she composed herself. “As you know, I have been watching over young Arthur. Today was the first time I communicated with him.”

Unsurprised, they nodded.

“He was receptive?” asked Emerald.

“He believes me to be his guardian.”

Emerald smiled. “Not so far from the truth.”

She had to swallow against the sudden lump in her throat.

“I was about to leave as a young man was approaching Arthur. I assumed I was still sensing Ruby’s essence before I realised it felt different. It has to be that young man. He was the only one there apart from Arthur.”

Silence followed her words.

“Then, it must be him,” said Sapphire softly. “It has to be.”

“Finally, we know he is safe,” said Diamond, and her sisters nodded, mirroring her relief.

“Fate is indeed strange,” said Topaz. “Though he was concealed, still he somehow found his way to where he was meant to be.”

“I will try to fathom as much as I can about him without resorting to magic,” said Garnet. “From what I saw, he and Arthur appear to be close. I believe they are training together.”

“Sisters, to have him close to Arthur is most fortuitous,” said Beryl, lightly clapping her hands. “We will be able to watch over him without alerting Marlis’ suspicions.”

“She believes Arthur to be Avlar,” said Sapphire. “If she senses us near him, it will merely confirm what she believes she already knows.”

“I am sure she will have to be physically close to him to sense it,” said Garnet. “I have seen Avlar before, always at a distance. If I did sense anything, I would have assumed it was Arthur.”

“Ah, Ruby,” said Peridot softly, her eyes closed. “Still, you protect him.”

Garnet’s breath caught in her throat, but she smiled as pride for her sister swelled her heart.

Her hand on Garnet’s shoulder, Diamond said, “What is he called, do you know?”

“Ronal.”

His name floated among them as each gem elf said it softly, as if tasting something new.

“Does it have meaning, I wonder?” said Emerald. “Is it as strong as ‘Avlar’?” His original name meant ‘elf army’.

Diamond sighed. “Maybe one day we will know. For now, by keeping watch over Av-Ronal, we will know when Marlis attempts anything against him.”

“I still struggle with the knowledge that she succeeded in fathoming the forbidden way,” said Peridot, hugging herself.

“She only did so because she had help.” Topaz turned to the Great Gem, her gaze turned upward.

“Poor Girasol.” Sapphire followed her sister’s gaze to the girasol crystal. “Will she ever find peace?” The essence in the crystal still churned.

“I never once thought that those who do not hear the Gem’s call would envy those of us who do.” With a sigh, Emerald moved to sit on the low wall encircling the Gem.

“But to allow that envy to lead you down unspeakable paths, to take life.” Squeezing her eyes shut, Peridot shook her head.

Walking up behind her, Beryl placed her hands on her gem sister’s shoulders. “I think it is a good thing that we do not understand such actions.”

“Yes,” said Sapphire. “But Marlis has allied herself to dark powers in the mortal realm. Did the dark that is already in her somehow connect to a similar power over there?”

“We still have not discovered how she managed to find a way to the mortal realm.” Topaz fiddled with the gem stud in her ear.

“It is obvious Girasol must have told her how,” said Diamond. “Yet without a gem or crystal, it cannot be done.”

The long silence that followed was broken by Garnet. “To use gems and crystals is our way, the way of the Gem, but that does not mean it is the only way.”

They turned to her, askance.

“Marlis’ way is the forbidden way. Who knows what that requires to open a path to the mortal realm?”

No one said anything as they shuddered and rubbed their arms.