But for all their powers, for the endless space and multiple dimensions they could call their home; for their infinitely long lives, one of the spirits was sad. The Lapidary was deeply in love with the Animator and yet, she had never told her or shown her because she was afraid."

"Afraid of what?" demanded Citrine.

"Well, afraid that the Animator wouldn't return her feelings.

You see, the Animator was as beautiful as she was humble, as humble as she was kind, and as kind as she was generous. Her amazing ability had not made her arrogant, and the Lapidary was charmed by her personality and her looks.

It went on like that for a long time: every day the Lapidary would wait for a sign, any sign that the Animator felt the same way, and every day she would be disappointed: the Animator would only ever treat her with the same warm, friendly manner that she always did, and so the Lapidary never knew if there was any deeper feeling behind it."

"This is a sad story, I don't like." Citrine interrupted again.

"Hush, you. She's barely even started yet." Rose said assertively.

She was already intrigued, and if Citrine was going to keep making Turquoise pause then the story was going to be a lot less enjoyable.

"Rose is quite right, Citrine. If you don't stop interrupting, then I'm afraid I'll have to stop; if that happens your friends definitely won't thank you."

Rhodochrosite frowned and Rose folded her arms. The pink Gems warned her without speaking.

"Nonono! I'm sorry. I'll be quiet!" said Citrine, rolling her lips inward. "Tell the story, pleeease!" she grinned, showing Turquoise all her teeth with a ridiculous grin. Their mentor shook her head in amusement and continued.

"Where was I… ah yes.

So the Lapidary was upset, and one night she perched on one of ledges of her palace and cried. She dreamed about all the things they could be together, but she was just too shy to make those things happen."

Politely, Rose put up her hand.

"Yes, Rose?" Turquoise acknowledged.

"What's dreaming?"

"Oooooooh! I know, I know! Can I tell her? Let me tell her!"

"Okay then, Citrine." Turquoise said, a little concerned that the energetic yellow Gem would start making mischief if kept quiet for too long.

"YES! A dream is… pictures, no… it's things that are happening to you, well, sometimes it's to you, but not how you normally look… Dreams are when you're doing advanced relaxation, and your mind makes things up that you can see, and sometimes it makes sense, but sometimes it doesn't and then you can see things that you know exist, but you've never seen them. Sometimes..." Citrine finished with a satisfied smile. She thought her explanation had been quite successful.

Rose looked confused, so Turquoise stepped in to clarify.

"Citrine is right, but her explanation might have been a bit hard to follow. I told you about future vision: dreams are like visions of the future, but you only see them during advanced relaxation, and what you see is very unlikely to happen — that's if what you see is even possible. Your mind creates them randomly: the only thing that is always constant in dreams is the fact that you're having them. Does that help?"

"Yes, thank you." Rose and Rhodochrosite said at the same time.

Dreams sounded very interesting; maybe next time Turquoise did some advanced relaxation she would join her…

"Okay.

Time and gravity didn't affect the spirits like it affects us, and as the Lapidary's tears left her eyes, she could see them float and dance around each other, catching the moonlight as they moved in it. They shone and twinkled, reflecting what was around them in the most wonderful way. She found it comforting.

The sight enchanted her; just like the Animator had enchanted her.

And that's when she had an idea.

She would give the Animator a gift: something totally original, made with love and care, something plain made into something amazing! At the same time she would be fearless, and tell her favourite spirit how she felt. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she smiled for the first time in a long time.

So she sat down, crossed her legs, closed her eyes and looked all around the universe. She looked far and wide, high and low; from the centres of huge clouds where stars formed, to the places where everything is… opposite. She gazed throughout the universe for a thousand years—"

"A THOUSAND YEARS!? " screeched Citrine. "Tha—"

On seeing the angry glares of Rose and Rhodochrosite, Citrine put a hand over her mouth and made not even the slightest noise.

Turquoise went on.

"She gazed throughout the universe for a thousand years, until finally she found the perfect location. When she opened her eyes she was on a planet, the planet that she had chosen to create her finest work.

The world pleased her even more when she stood on its surface and saw it with her own eyes: during the day the skies were the clearest, most vivid blue, and at night its three moons would come out to play — glowing as they reflected the light of their nearest star. In the night sky she could see the rest of the galaxy as a shimmering cloud, and she knew that she'd picked a world as delightful as the person that had inspired her to go there.

It was time for her to get to work.

The Lapidary had a great number of tools, and to begin her project she took the largest of these — her great conical drill — and started to tunnel her way through the rock.

As she burrowed through the world, she noticed stones of many different kinds embedded in the surrounding rock; when she touched them, she got a unique feeling from each of them: each had its own character, and unable to decide which the Animator would like best, she took them all.

There was the ruby: powerful and full of energy, it inspired her to get things done. There was the sapphire: to touch it made her feel calm, and she found that she could think much more clearly. The emerald made her feel lucky: like she could get through any problem; and reminded her of how much she loved her friends, the other spirits. A brush with malachite made her jump: she found its effects on her positive and negative feelings strange, and she felt protected somehow; it made her think of Alteration, and how she was always changing.

The opal and the quartzes, the amethyst and the agates, the celestine and the other beryls; she took them all and beamed with happiness — just from imagining how the Animator would react to them (whichever she decided to give her).

After a long time, the Lapidary decided that it was time to take the stones back to her palace for cutting and polishing. She would bring out their hidden charm and make them perfect. But she had been on the planet for a long time, and though she loved her palace she hadn't been there for many years. She had grown very fond of the planet, and of the noisy, yet simple existence she had there.

And so, the Lapidary made that world her home world. From then on wherever she went, no matter how long she stayed there, there would always be one place she favoured above the rest.

She sat down at her special table, summoned the rest of her special tools, and set to work on the stones she had so carefully collected. Every single stone was cleaned and polished, she cut them in all shapes and styles, and gave some of them facets: every face exactly where it needed to be to sparkle as much as possible. Others she left smooth: their natural beauty was easily visible at their surface, so didn't need much extra to be done to them.

For months she worked hard on the stones until there was only one type left, the diamonds. She had chosen to perfect them last because they were the hardest, and because she could see what they would become when she was finished. She thought that they would be the ones that the Animator would like the best.

All her effort and all her skill went into the restyling of the diamonds: everything she had learned from working with the other stones, she now put into practice. It took her ages, but eventually she was finished. The many hundreds of wondrous stones were kept safe by crystal clear bubbles that she sealed them in - they were too precious just to be left lying around, and she had used them to decorate her space before she was ready to show the Animator.

And now she was ready to show the Animator… well, she thought she was… but no, she changed her mind.

The diamonds were exactly as she'd hoped they'd be: they sparkled like they should, they had the perfect cut that she'd come up with for them, there were even three different colours that the Animator could choose if she wanted to. But none of that was enough for the Lapidary. Something was missing…

As she turned the brilliant rock, the white diamond, around in her hand she was reminded of the stars and how they twinkled.

"Aha!" she said. "I will go and see Illumination! She'll surely be able to help me."

So she put on her dark goggles, took the white diamond and grabbed the light prism that Illumination had given her. She rubbed it and in a bright flash of white, she was gone.

She reappeared in Illumination's personal realm, glad to have remembered her goggles because it was bright! Bright like staring into Homeworld's star on the hottest day you can imagine. She didn't have to wait around for long, because soon enough Illumination's dark shape appeared to greet her.

"Lapidary!" she screamed excitedly, "it has been such a long time, where have you been?"

"I have been in the physical universe, on a planet I found. I've been working on something." The Lapidary said, showing her the diamond.

"Wow, it's very pretty, is it for me?"

"No, it's for the Animator." she said with a blush.

"Ooooooh, that's sweet of you. What's the occasion?"

So the Lapidary explained everything to her, and told her that she didn't know what to do to make a better present. Illumination smiled and hugged her, saying:

"Don't worry my friend, the Animator will love it as it is, but I will give you something that might help you make it even better."

Illumination handed her a small, shiny, black cylinder, with a small hole in the top edge.

"When you pour from the top, light itself will flow out. It's special, just for you: it is pure light, but it can be cast into shapes!"

"That's amazing! Thank you!" said the Lapidary. Her mind was already coming up with ways to use it.

"I wish you lots of luck with the Animator!" said Illumination, hugging the Lapidary one last time before she went home.

When she was back, she looked at her diamonds, the rest of the stones and at the container illumination had given her; another idea came to her, and she set about making moulds of all different shapes, for all different purposes. Once they were finished, she put her goggles back on and poured from the container into a test mould. The light was as bright as she'd expected, but it flowed like water and chilled the space around it.

Quickly the light hardened, losing its glow and appearing as a shiny, silvery metal. She picked out the ring she had made and slipped it on her finger; as moved her hand around to admire it, it glowed in time with her movements. The more she shook it, the more it seemed to glow.

She laughed when she saw it happening and jumped up to start using the other moulds. She filled them all with the strange light, and when they were finished she took her tools and bent them into complicated, elegant shapes. When each piece was complete she took the stone that was meant for it and set it carefully within.

What remained at the end was jewellery, the fanciest jewellery that you could ever lay eyes on. Every piece was hand crafted with as much love as the Lapidary had promised, and had the same magical shining that her ring did. Looking at her work, she was pleased.

Until she realised how different each piece was…

There was so much of it, she had no clue which one she wanted to give the Animator anymore: it was hard enough to pick which stone she wanted to give her, but the different ways each stone would now be worn made choosing impossible. After some thinking, it was clear that she'd need some more help…

She placed her hand on the pedestal that Alteration had given her, and instantly the world shifted around her, morphing into the strange, amorphous realm of sort-of-things that Alteration lived in.

She waited…

"Hello... Alteration?" she called when nobody came to meet her.

A ripple appeared in the middle of a circular pool in front of her and slowly, what she thought was water — but was too gloopy and too blue — began to collect together at the edge, overflowing it and moving towards her.

The not-water slid close to the Lapidary and began to raise itself up, taking the form of a person on the top half, and keeping a long, winding shape on the bottom half, like the tail of a giant crystal lizard. A face appeared on the person shaped part, and then Alteration spoke:

"Hehehehehehehe! I was hoping you'd come to see me next! Illumination tried to keep it quiet, but I got it out of her; I know all about your gift for the Animator. I think it's the cutest! Thing! Ever!"

The Lapidary blushed again.

"Awwww, you two are perfect for each other. I can see you being very happy together." she said, turning into a huge blue eye with wings. "Listen," she said, "I was thinking about it before you came: you should give her something that changes! Why give her one thing when you could give her everything?"

"That's what I came to see you about." the Lapidary said, showing her a ring with the white diamond set into it.

Alteration turned into white version of Illumination and took the ring, marvelling at how it shined, and at the beauty of the stone. Handing it back, she smiled at the Lapidary and gently took her hand in hers.

Alteration's hand glowed a golden yellow colour, which then crossed over into the Lapidary's hand and collected in her finger.

"There! Now you have some of my power! Now all you have to do is touch your finger to the stone and my power will flow out of you, into it. Then you think about how want the gift to look, and it will be so." Alteration said proudly.

"Thank you so much, the Animator is going to be thrilled when I give it to her!" said the Lapidary.

Then Alteration sent her on her way so that she could put the new magic into her jewellery.

It worked even better than the Lapidary could've hoped for: as soon as she touched one of the stones some of Alteration's shapeshifting magic would enter that stone, and the bracelet, ring, necklace… whatever she had made for it would shine with pure white light, and change into any shape she wished it to.

As pleased as she was with the magical objects, she still didn't know which stone the Animator would like best. Each one had its own properties, and to give her just or two meant that she would miss out on the others.

Alteration's words came back to her 'Why give her one thing when you could give her everything?' It was a good question: the Animator truly deserved something nice, and all the work that the Lapidary had done on the stones had been for her anyway. It felt 'right' to give her all the stones, but she still wanted them all to be part of the same piece: giving one object felt more special than many hundreds.

But how was she going to put them all together?

She thought.

And thought.

And thought.

And thought…

"How unfair of me," she suddenly cried, "I have seen Illumination and Alteration, how could I forget Amalgamation? She'll know how to do it!"

At once she ran to find the pieces of her magic puzzle; Amalgamation said that she should join them up if she ever needed to see her. The Lapidary needed to see her now, so she fit them together: the striped and the pale pink ones, the sparkly yellow one, and the one that looked like the blue-green of the ocean. She twisted and turned them, moved them this way and that, she looked at each piece carefully and eventually remembered how each part worked with every one of the others.

The puzzle jumped from her hand and floated in midair; with a bang, a huge gate exploded out of it. Before she could touch the gate, Amalgamation — all of her many selves in one body — opened the giant door and stepped into the Lapidary's workshop.

"Greetings, Lapidary." said Amalgamation in her deep, echoey voices. "We are most pleased to see you, and happy to hear about your wooing of the Animator. You are a fine spirit, as is she: I know that your combination will be even more lovely than the two of you are."

"Th —thank you." said the Lapidary with the biggest smile, blushing again because now all the others knew her secret (except the Animator herself, she hoped).

"You opened my gate for a reason, and now I offer my magic to help you in any way I can." said Amalgamation, ready to do what her friend needed her to do.

The Lapidary explained the situation to her: about the stones, and how they had their own nature, about the strange, solid light, and about the shape changing power now hidden in each one of the special rocks. When she finished Amalgamation said:

"All that you have made is excellent; the Animator is lucky to have captured your feelings. What I shall give is the gift of possibility, please, bring me three of your creations."

And so the Lapidary presented to her the white, the blue and the yellow diamond rings she had made.

"Behold." said Amalgamation.

She closed her hand around the three objects, and a light began to shine from her fist. When she opened it and the glowing stopped, the Lapidary could see a single ring. It had the features of the three that came before it, but was also different, its own new object. However, the first thing she had noticed was the diamonds themselves: no longer white, blue and yellow, all three had the same shade of pale green. When she touched them she got the same feeling from all three them, and again, it was both similar yet different to the feelings she got from the original three.

"This will make everything truly perfect! I can't thank you enough!" said the Lapidary, hugging her friend.

"There's no need to thank me, I do it out of love for the two of you."

Then, Amalgamation stretched out her hand and brought every stone in every piece of jewellery towards herself. She collected it all together in one large, dazzlingly bright shape, and when she was finished with her magic she separated them and put them gently on the Lapidary's table. It was like nothing had happened.

"It is done. There are a great number of combinations, infinitely more than the stones that make them possible. I'm sure the Animator will never tire of your present. Until next time, my friend."

Amalgamation bowed and drifted back through the gate, which disappeared. The Lapidary was left alone with her magical jewellery once again.

She couldn't wait to try out what Amalgamation had done! She sat at her table and combined her favourite pieces: one and one, two and one, three and three, five and seven. The way a stone would change colour and property by joining with another totally mystified her; she spent days and days going through as many different mixtures as she could, and she still didn't see them all.

Finally she was satisfied; it was time to give the Animator her gift. She took all the stones and set them all in a large pyramid, studded with the multi-coloured stones. She had combined so many of the precious rocks that they couldn't appear as just one or two colours; every stone on the magical shape shone with all the colours of the rainbow. It was so beautiful that the Lapidary had to wipe a tear from her eye.