Disclaimer: The usual. Don't own anything you recognize.

OF YOU

By Etcetera Kit

Sacrifice

I just sacrificed an entire afternoon to help Sky. I'm not sure why he thinks I'll be so much help on his quest—he would have been better off dragging Bridge on this trip. Just because I room with Syd does not mean we've exchanged best friend necklaces and decided that we'll be best friends forever. Most of the time, we just put up with each other. We're not bad roommates. I guess we're the kind of roommates that can coexist without too many problems—once we drew an invisible line down the center of the room.

The mall is crowded on Saturday afternoon. I would not have braved the mall at the time of the week—ever. But it seemed to mean so much to Sky that I couldn't tell him I had planned on sitting around my room and listening to music all afternoon. I just agreed to give him a second opinion, but he had to make the actual selection. He had cheered up after that and, so far, had been in a decent mood.

He's studying a showcase in the jewelry store. I casually glance into a nearby case, taking in the necklaces. The stuff in this store is pricey. I don't know how Sky can afford any of it on an SPD salary unless he sells his soul to the jeweler (which would be a problem since he's already given his soul to Syd.) It kind of makes me wish that someone would buy me a really expensive necklace from a place like this. My fingers go to my neck, twirling the gold of my 'Z' necklace. It's the nicest thing I own and even it looks like it's been through the mill.

Sky looks up and I know he probably wants a second opinion. I tear my gaze away from the glittering, madly costly things and wander over to him. A frown graces his face. Not that a frown is unusual on him, but this one is not irritated or upset, just puzzled and deliberating. The showcase has the same type of ring—white gold—with different stones in the setting. It seems to me that he could practically custom order whatever he wanted here. However, I don't need to be told which of the rings he has his eye on.

All four of the choices are gorgeous and I know that Syd would love all of them.

Three of them have a colored stone with diamonds—a ruby, a sapphire and some kind of pink stone that I can't identify. The fourth has no diamonds, but the pink stones and a stone that is a lighter blue, not as dark as the sapphires. I don't know how he's going to pick, because there's no way I could choose between those.

"I'm thinking one of those four," he says softly.

I don't need to be told that—but its part of the way that Sky operates. He states what he means so that there can be no mistakes. His choices also speak volumes of his attachment to SPD, all the colors were either his or Syd's ranger colors.

"I definitely like the white gold," I reply.

He nods, considering that. "I was leaning more towards the rubies."

I shake my head slowly. Sky gives me his full attention. That is always a little unnerving because his stare makes me feel like I've done something wrong, although, right now, all I'm doing is helping him pick out a ring.

"Why?" he prompts.

"It's not the color you've had the longest. Syd fell for you when you were still blue." I shrug. "I'd go with either the sapphires or the one with the pink and blue things."

"Rubellite tourmaline and paraiba tourmaline?" he offers.

"That's the same kind of stone?"

"Different colors."

"Oh." I glance back at the rings. "Go with the tourmaline. Yeah, it's not a diamond or something fancier, but she'll get the significance. Besides, with both the colors, it's like tying you two together or… something," I finish lamely.

He nods thoughtfully and a hovering salesman, probably sensing a decision, hurries over and taking down details like ring size. Sky deals with the salesman and pays for the ring in cash from a billfold in his pocket. I try not to gape. Either he's been saving that for a long time or he knows someone that's loaded that isn't Syd. Sky catches the expression on my face and grins.

"I've been saving for over a year," he says in a confiding tone.

The salesman wraps up the ring, probably profusely grateful that he had a customer come in here and spend wads of cash. My gaze goes back to the necklace case that I was gazing at before helping Sky make a final decision. One necklace has a green gem with some yellow stones surrounding it.

"Citrine and green tourmaline," Sky says and I jump.

"How do you know all this?" I ask.

"I had to do some research before doing this," he replies, waving a hand vaguely around the jewelry store.

"That makes sense."

We leave the store and make our way out of the mall. I know that he saw the color scheme of what I was looking at. I'm happy for him and Syd and even happier that he wants to take the next step in their relationship, but I can't help but think of that knowing expression on his face while I looked at necklaces I'm never going to have. I wonder what he thinks he's going to do about it.

Perhaps this afternoon was worth the sacrifice.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: If you didn't figure it out in the first paragraph, this was from Z's POV. The little notes over at Ars Amatoria talk extensively about experimenting with POV -- and with having another character observe. That seemed appropriate for this. I also wanted to do something a little different with 'sacrifice.' (And I was having trouble going a traditional route with it!) So here 'tis. With that said, I'm working on a longer, more involved piece, but I can't give a time frame yet. This semester is shaping up to be nuts... but if I managed to finish Kings and Vagabonds between last spring's insanity and my summer job, not to mention the beginning of last semester, I know it can be done. Cheers!