I didn't return to Geo for weeks. I didn't see the point. I doubted Elazul and Pearl would have stayed there, and they weren't around Domina either. Perhaps they'd found a good place to hide. I hoped so. However, the whole ordeal was always on my mind. I must resolve this, I thought to myself, or I'll go completely bonkers!
I began to attend the St. Mana Church every week in Domina. I didn't listen to the preacher--sure, everyone knows that the Mana Goddess exists, but the way Reverend Nouvelle preaches about faith and how you need nothing else really gets on my nerves... my survival's in my sword, thanks. At any rate, though, the environment was peaceful, and I always prayed to the Goddess that my friends were all right. As I left there one sunny day, I saw a familiar figure pacing the road...why, it was none other than Inspector Boyd. I walked up and said hello.
He looked up, and nodded, acknowledging me. "That couple," he mused, "Elazul and Pearl... I haven't seen them since--I wonder if..."
I felt my stomach knot up tightly. "No, that can't be," I said, hardly believing my words.
"Yes, yes," the mouse-man said, emptying his pipe dangerously near to my shoe. "you're right. That's right! I have a favor to ask you."
"Hm?" I asked. "What's that?"
"I need you to go to Geo, and look for an abandoned building there."
"An abandoned building?" I asked. "Geo?"
"Nowadays, Geo is known as a big college town," Boyd said, misinterpreting my question, "but not too long ago, there was a shop that used to sell Jumi cores, a truly despicable business. Of course, now it is deserted, but I want you to find it."
"Sure!" I said, knowing exactly the building.
"Right!" Boyd said. "Let's go!"
When we arrived in Geo, Boyd took me straight to the place I suspected. "Here!" he said, beckoning to the jewelry shop. "This is the place! Mr. Nunuzac used to come her looking for Jumi cores. How disgraceful!" I felt another twang in my stomach. That horrible teacher.
Inspector Boyd walked up to the entrance and tried to go in, but he couldn't enter. "The door is rusted solid!" he declared. "Can you open it for me?"
I peeked at the door. "It's open," I told him. "What are you saying?" when I saw his look, I resigned. "Okay, I can open it."
"That's the spirit!!" he told me. "Come on, just give it a try!"
I stepped up to the entrance and stuck my hand in. Hmm... this was no door, it was a barrier! I balled my hand into a fist and punched it. I felt the magic shatter without much trouble.
"Wh-whoa!" the mouse-man stuttered. "It's open! All right, time to investigate!"
I stepped inside, and never noticed that he couldn't get in behind me. I looked around, though, and found nothing. As I was about to leave, someone else came through the door. Our heads knocked together.
"Aaa!" screamed a familiar voice. "Leora!"
I looked up. "Pearl!"
"It's been so long!" she said. Elazul walked in behind her.
"I'm glad you're okay," I told the couple. "What happened?"
"A lot," Elazul said. "We've been doing some investigating. This place looks abandoned to others..."
"And nobody knows who Alex is!" Pearl cried, frustrated. "Nobody!"
"I know," I murmured, and she smiled at me.
"It's like time is warped," Elazul mused.
"Something's strange," agreed Pearl. "I feel it in my core."
"Let's check it out," suggested Elazul. The three of us split up, searching the shop. I'd already done this once, and wasn't sure I'd find anything, but it was worth the try.
"Are you coming too?" Pearl asked, happy. "Thank you!"
Elazul nodded. "Thanks, Leora, for helping us out."
After a bit of searching, I was about ready to give up again. Then...
i Somebody!/i
The voice was Florina's! I finally traced the source to a large wooden trunk up against one wall.
"I sense a powerful sparkle!" declared Elazul.
"It feels so familiar," Pearl said, "but where is it coming from?"
I opened the chest, and found that I had been correct. The three of us were warped into Florina's room. We all approached her box.
"My core..." Pearl said, suddenly falling to the floor.
"Pearl, what is it?" Elazul asked, urgently.
Florina opened up her box. "Don't try to lessen my pain, Pearl!" she said severely.
"Are... are you the Clarius?" asked Elazul. "The pillar of life that supports us all..?"
Florina's core shimmered. "Yes, I am Florina, Clarius of the Jumi..."
"Florina..." Pearl murmured.
"Pearl, let me be!" Florina ordered. I couldn't tell what Pearl was doing, but some of the instructions Blackpearl had given her seemed to be taking effect, even if Pearl didn't mean to follow them. "I don't want a part of your core... turn off that white heart of yours." Florina began to concentrate.
"What! What are you doing to Pearl?!" cried Elazul.
"I'm going to return her to her original form. There is something I want to ask her," explained Florina. "Don't worry; I can't hurt her. I can only give, only heal."
Elazul looked very reluctant. I studied his face.
He really loves her, I realized to myself.
"Black core shining within..." chanted Florina, "return to thy true form!"
Pearl disappeared, leaving Lady Blackpearl in her place.
"What of the Mana Sword, the key to opening the Mana Stone?" inquired Florina. "Is that what you gave Elazul?"
Blackpearl held out her hand; Elazul's sword disappeared from his belt and reappeared in Blackpearl's hand. "Unfortunately, this is from an ancient tribe of nomads. They are a race that can see the past. They gilled with sword with the past." She handed it back to Elazul, who put it away.
"There is something I must ask you," Florina said. "Blackpearl..."
"I want to ask you something, too," Elazul said.
"Stop," Blackpearl told him harshly. "You are in the presence of a guardian."
"Say it, Elazul," Florina told him. "Perhaps I have the same question..."
I watched Elazul, his face determined. "I always wondered..." he said. "When I found you in the desert, you were Blackpearl with a black core. Then, as I held you in my arms, you acquired a white core. Whether in Leires or Mekiv, your form changes between black and white. If you are Blackpearl, then how was Pearl born? Who iare/i you?" Elazul relaxed.
"Blackpearl," Florina commanded. "Answer."
"I..." Blackpearl began.
"Tell me," Florina said. "I am ready."
Blackpearl's core gave a glint of black light. "All right."

i Alexandra had asked me to meet her out in the desert. I didn't know exactly what she wanted; only that it involved why she had taken Florina away from the Bejeweled City.
"You came...Pearl," she said to me when I arrived.
"What do you think you are doing?" I demanded of her. "Taking Florina away?"
"I wish to save her!" Alex told me. "If the war drags on, many Jumi will be hurt. The compassionate Florina will cut away some of her life and shed tears."
I was annoyed that Alexandra couldn't see the truth. Only one could cry, that's how it had been for some time. The Clarius had no choice. "It is the duty of the guardians who sit on the throne of the Clarius to support the race with their own lives," I explained to her. "After continuing the duty for a hundred years, the guardian is released and a new Clarius is chosen. Until then, she must persevere."
"Florina is going to die," was the soft reply.
"No," I contradicted.
"She has changed since you joined the struggle," Alexandra told me. "You will not find the Mana Stone in time! It is too late..."
"Even so," I persisted, admittedly a bit embarrassed at her bringing up the Mana Stone, "Florina should be returned to the city. The suffering of others must not be ignored! She... Florina wishes it."
Alex defiantly shook her head. "No. Florina's wishes matter not." What was this woman thinking? "She is about to enter eternal slumber."
I gasped. "What did you do?"
"I trapped her inside Pandora's box," Alex explained.
"Trapped her..?" I asked, feeling a bit weak. We needed Florina to keep the race alive!
The woman before me smiled. "There was no other way..." her eyes sparkled, and her core faded from green to purple; the odd quirk of being a Jumi of Alexandrite.
"I see," I said to her, tartly. "Let's ask Diana to revoke the position of Clarius from Florina."
"And make a new guardian into the Clarius," Alexandra concluded. "Will you tear off even more life?"
"That is how we must live," I stated. "But I'll do my best with Florina. So please... take her back to the others. She is the symbol of the Jumi. She is the embodiment of hope. I will return tomorrow." I turned around, to leave.
"Will you turn your back, Blackpearl?" she persisted. "Why do you help a race which can only live at the expense of others?"
"I cannot betray my comrades," I replied.
"You just don't get it, do you," Alexandra sneered, her voice growing nasty, "you stone puppet?"
"Puppet?" I asked her, confused.
"You always amazed me," Alex said. "You, who live for thousands of years. I heard from Florina that your core is black, and gives off no light, a shell for your own self. The knight of the Clarius, Blackpearl, is just a stone puppet."
"I am not a stone puppet," I told her calmly.
"You're a puppet with no sparkle!," the woman went on relentlessly, "Not just you, but all Jumi who've lost their sparkle, we're all puppets! We have lost the ability to cry and care for others. We are the ones who should die, not Florina!"
"Alex..." I began.
"As one who protects such foolish Jumi," she spat, "I cannot let you live! Die!"
With that, she threw a blade at my chest. My core was undamaged, but the pain was ample. I fell to the ground. "Alex..!" I murmured. "You must not hurt a comrade..." and with those words, I blacked out.
I finally came to, spitting out sand, with, at the time, no memory of the events that had just taken place... or anything. I felt somebody pulling me up off the ground.
"You are a Jumi, are you not!?" he said to me. "Pull yourself together?"
I didn't know what to do. "Where am I..?" I asked. "What's a Jumi..? Who are you..?" I paused, climbing to my feet. Even my core was now unfamiliar... it had become a snowy, pearly white. "I don't remember..." I murmured. "Who am I?"
The man helping me paused. "You are Pearl," he told me. "Don't worry. I am a knight and I will protect you..."/i

I blinked out of my stupor as Blackpearl finished her story.
"Pearl was born from your damaged core," Florina concluded, her own core sparkling. "Damaged, you decided to shoulder my pain as Pearl."
Blackpearl said nothing.
"I have decided," continued Florina. "Please, Blackpearl, stop Alexandra, the one who betrayed the race."
"Not stop her, Florina," Blackpearl said. "Defeat her. She is now our enemy."
"You musn't," Florina said, looking worried. "You musn't hurt anyone. I...will heal her troubled heart, so please..."
"No," Blackpearl said, shaking her head.
"Blackpearl, please," Florina begged. "You were my knight..!" Blackpearl did nothing, so Florina sighed and turned to Elazul. "I have something to ask of you, too, Elazul." He looked up at her, expectantly. "No matter what happens, you must not interfere."
"What are you saying?" Elazul retorted, angrily. "I am a knight!"
"The Jumi will surely die out if Blackpearl loses this battle," Florina told him crisply. I watched both of them, tense and silent as usual. "But you don't think by the old rules," Florina lectured. "You have never killed. You have another purpose..."
"Don't tell me what to do!" Elazul said, stung. "I am Pearl's knight! I will protect both Pearl and Blackpearl!"
"It's time," Florina said, closing the discussion. "Here, take this." Considering the arguments that had just gone on, Florina handed the ancient Jumi staff to none other than me. I clutched it in my hands. "Alex is calling," she said, lying down. "We'll all die..." she then murmured to herself. "Everyone...stop..."
As Florina disappeared, she left me one last message. Leora, take care of Elazul.
"What is it with everyone?" Elazul complained, bitterly. "Underestimate me, will you? Pearl is my guardian!"
"A new age..." Blackpearl said. "A new beginning... you have a future," she told Elazul.
"Blackpearl..." he murmured.
"I leave it all to you. Everything that is mine and Pearl's." With that, the dark Jumi knight knelt to the floor and turned back into the gentle girl with the white core. "Ugh..." Pearl said.
"Are you all right, Pearl?" asked Elazul.
"I just remembered, Elazul," Pearl said, looking as though she wanted to cry. "You gave me my name. I was searching for one for so long..."
Elazul said nothing. For that matter, neither did I. The way they were looking at each other... I admit that I was hoping one of them would confess some affection to the other, but they backed off.
"Don't worry," Pearl said. "Blackpearl and I are one and the same. You are my knight."
"I'll protect you, and Blackpearl!" Elazul told her.
"Thanks," Pearl said. Their cores chimed in unison.
"Pearl," Elazul said. "I don't want you to go."
"I can fight," Pearl replied. "Blackpearl's powers will be needed, too."
"Let's go to Florina together," Elazul suggested.
"No, not by ourselves," Pearl said. "I sense too much danger."
"I won't let you go, even if I have to shut you in Pandora's box," Elazul said, running his fingers over the wooden box. "But that's just the way I feel, I guess." He turned to me. "Leora, could you decide for us? You were always nearby. We can trust you... take one of us to the place the staff shows."
"How can I choose?" I murmured. "I can take one of you and leave the other in danger... and I can't protect both of you from the jewel hunter..."
"Either way," Elazul promised, "I won't hate you."
Which was more dangerous? What would happen to the one who came with me, and the one who stayed behind?
Finally, I made my decision.
"Pearl," I said. "You're such a dear friend to me, and, though you've lost your powers to cry, a wonderful guardian. I was even knighted... that guardian is gone, but I feel the same desire to protect you..." I paused, looking at their faces. Neither of them looked angry, or grateful either. "That's why," I concluded, "I'm taking Elazul with me." I shut my eyes. "I don't know what to do! Be strong, Pearl, all right? We will meet again."
Pearl smiled softly. "Take care, you two," she said. "I'll be waiting."
"Let's go," Elazul said to me, "to the place the staff shows."