Author's Note: Last of my Mana Trio. I might write an actual chapter story on them sometime, but for now I'm working on Obsession's Other Brother for that. When I finish that...who knows?
Nobody sees you when you're young.
They see your experience before they see your face. Our cores communicate before our mouths do. It is the Jumi way.
It's like music; each Jumi has a different instrument...
I am an out of tune mandolin. She told me that one day.
"Oh, it's you...I could tell by the dissonance..." her dark eyes inspected me
"Hello, Lady Blackpearl" I tried to sound so brave sometimes...
"I have important matters to attend to...carry on" and she was gone
I never thought of her as a woman, just a figure, a pillar in a crumbling city. I wanted to be that, anything to prove my worth.
I failed once, and Lady Blackpearl only looked at me to pull daggers from her eyes.
"El...azul...?" she whispers to me, the dulcet tones of a pan flute. How could I forget her?
"Pearl...are you alright?" does my voice betray me in my selfishness?
She's been drifting off more frequently. I don't sleep at night for fear she will be gone in the morning.
I couldn't live to see her gone.
"Please..." her voice fades into my mind again, stay here...stay in my thoughts, stay in my eyes...
Her face puzzles me. So...human...so new. She doesn't understand the Jumi way...and I'm not ready to show her.
"don't..." she talks more now, I guiltily hoard these moments to myself.
I used to think she was a child, something so innocent could not be old. The fighter, he told me she was more ancient than the artifacts he collects. Something as old as the dawn of life.
"...leave me," she's nearly to tears...don't cry Pearl...don't cry. Don't age from this moment...stay as you are...
"Never," I try to keep my tone gentle, but my possessive streak twists my notes...why am I so out of tune?
The Jumi do not love, not as the humans do. We have no parents, no family, no lovers.
Only Knights and Guardians.
Smile for me, Pearl, so I know you are here...I cannot fathom the depths of your mind...smile for me...
"I..." she pulls at me with her eyes, her voice covering my ears...
I only have one Guardian...
She's standing close to me, her arms around my neck...
Her name is Pearl.
Hope this isn't too sappy...Elazul is hard to write. I can only understand a bit of his mind. Hope this is a satisfactory end to my trio...thank you for the reviews on the other two. :)