Chapter 37
Moonstone

"Ah, that's..." King Edmund seemed slightly afraid of the opal.
"That's what?" Varian and Cassandra asked both at the same time.
"The moonstone." Hector muttered quietly, almost surprised to see it again.
"The what?" Varian and Cassandra asked again, at the same time, eyes squinting in-sync too.

"Well, the moonstone was something that belonged to this kingdom, and formed the place with its' moon powers, which causes black rocks to appear out of the ground, occasionally with a blue glow." King Edmund explained.

"Yes. And one day, Edmund tried to grab it and it ended up destroying a lot of the castle, and hurting and even killing some of the people here." Adira added on to it.

"Our liege was one of them that got hurt, we actually thought he was to die as he was the one that grabbed it, but barely, he survived... His arm is paralyzed from it." Hector said.

"The power dispersed when it happened, causing it to look grey, and it seemed to only react to black rocks, the Dark Kingdom's grounds, or strong amounts of anger." Adira noted.

"That... makes sense..." Cassandra thought back on when she summoned those black rocks.

Clementine laughed, "Can you believe it? That idiot girl abandoned her friend... Shame on her."
Suddenly, Clementine felt a punch to the face and fell, passed out.

Cassandra glared, "I didn't abandon my friend, I'll tell you that much." She growled, then looked at Andrew and Varian at the front of the airship; there he was!

She grabbed her dagger and ran to Andrew, but Andrew quickly noticed and put Varian infront of him as a shield, making Cassandra stop. "Knew you were going to try and interfere, luckily I have a shield." Andrew clicked his tongue. Cassandra looked at Varian sadly.

Andrew knocked the dagger out of Cassandra's hand and then pushed her back.

"I advise you back down." Andrew raised a brow.
Varian squirmed, "Let go of me!" Varian whined.

"Be quiet!" Andrew kicked Varian's shin. "Ow!" Varian winced and glared at him.

Cassandra couldn't help but feel anger rise within her... She dug around in her bag to try and find another weapon, and something in her bag was glowing a bright blue, she didn't realize it at the time though. Cassandra pulled out what she thought was a weapon and it ended up being the opal, she was about to throw it until she realized it was reacting to her somehow.

Suddenly, black rocks emerged from the ground below, making people scream at the sight of them. Black rocks raised into the airship, stabbing through the wooden-floors, startling Andrew.

"You were angry at Andrew, Cassie... It all makes sense." He whispered to her. "Yeah." She crossed her arms. "I can't believe you found it." King Edmund looked at it, but didn't dare touch it. "But do keep it, in-case you need it. It's no longer dangerous to touch, it's who touches it and uses it that is dangerous, not the moonstone itself." He made sure to say.

"Thank you, your majesty." Cassandra nodded and grabbed it, putting it back in her bag.

Cassandra and Varian were on the balcony, looking at the moon, which was extremely bright here compared to other places they had went. "I can't believe it." Varian said softly. "What? Your dad and your mom?" Cassandra asked. "No, well... That too, but no..." Varian shook his head.

"This feeling." Varian said.
Cassandra looked at him quietly and nodded, trying to figure out what he meant.

"I can't explain it... It's just a feeling." Varian looked at her. "Like, I'm not sure if it's happiness, or fear, sadness... I don't know, I really don't." Varian looked down. Cassandra nodded, "I get that."

She looked at the moon. "It's a feeling that's good, but it's also mysterious and obscure, and it doesn't like to come out the house." Cassandra laughed a bit. "Yeah. Sort of." Varian awkwardly smiled with a tiny laugh... They stayed quiet for a while, the both of them, watching the moon.

Varian slowly leaned his head on Cassandra's shoulder.
"I'm glad you're around. You're... a really good friend, just so you know." He said.

"Thanks, kid. So are you." Cassandra gently ruffled his hair.

That night, instead of sleeping a full 8 hours (and so he only got about 6 hours of sleep), he read Ulla's almanac, it talked about all the alchemy she did and how to make some of it, it talked about how lovely and sweet her baby boy (Varian) was, and how much she loved Quirin (by writing love poems about her and him)... His mother was so interesting.

There was one question Varian had though...
Where did that stress-streak come from?

Ulla was orange-haired and Quirin was black-haired.

There was no sign of blue, teal or even grey.

Varian shrugged and continued reading.
Banana and Ruddiger were already asleep, beside Varian.

And Cassandra had went to bed early.

One entry in the almanac interested him, it was about him. So he read it, of course...

"Entry #44,

I hope that Varian, my sweet little boy, grows up to be strong and healthy. I imagine he will be like Quirin, but slightly like me. Perhaps he will be an alchemist? Curiosity is getting the better of me when I think about this. I can't wait to see him grow. Though his small, tiny hands wrapping around my fingers are very adorable, he needs to. Unfortunately. (Just joking! Ha ha!)

I'm going to give him a bunch of my alchemy equipment when he's older and see if he's interested, and if he's not, eh, oh well, a lady can dream, ha ha.

He will forever be my sweet baby boy.
Even when's he an adult.

Because that's what parents do.
Refuse to see that their babies are growing up! Sniffle!

Ulla"

Varian sadly smiled at the entry, he wished he had gotten to spend more time with her.
But maybe, at least... He'd be able to free his dad and spend time with him...

...That's when Varian dozed off and fell asleep for the night.