Chapter 18: The Gemstone Isle

The longest voyage the heroes had ever taken was the one to the Lapin homeland of the Gemstone Isle. What made this trip easier than the last was the fact they had two ships to keep Maelynn, Mari and their respective parties separate. They only spoke when they felt it was absolutely necessary to. Roselyynn and Thunder typically stayed with Mari, while Penelope stayed with Maelynn. Penelope said it was to "make sure they had enough heroes on both sides to protect the ships".

Roselyynn knew that it was likely Penelope was lying about that. Penelope was fairly distant and detached from Mari and the village despite her return. It was likely better this way to keep an eye on both ships without much conflict.

Maelynn was trying her best to see if they had any more information on the Gemstone Isle or the Lapin culture. There had to be something on the ship somewhere, or so she hoped. If there was nothing, perhaps the Creator knew something. She had to at least know something about one of the group of beings she had created.

Penelope was the easiest access to communicating with the Creator. Usually, if she spoke, the Creator responded. Plus, she was fortunate enough to have her on the ship to directly ask her questions.

Penelope had been additionally trying to help Maelynn with her research and see if the Creator could see any further. Unfortunately, it seemed that the Goddess couldn't. Something was restricting her sight from seeing in the direct future. This left Penelope and Maelynn on their own.

They had asked White Blaze if she knew anything. The Gato had some folklore and history, but not a lot of it. There were a few things that she had recalled from memory that she could bring up, even though it was spoken word.

1), the Lapin had reclused themselves from the rest of the races far back when their civilizations were close together according to folklore. It related to a conflict over who would become in charge and who was the fittest of the Creator's creations. The Raposa won, pushing back the other races. The Lapin detested this and deciding to not put up with the other groups for any longer, they isolated themselves to their own inventions.

2), the Lapin let few onto their isle. White Blaze hadn't felt the need to go to the Gemstone Isle or any of its smaller surrounding islands since becoming the chief, but previous records stated that it was really difficult for the Gato to step foot onto the island. It had related to the conflict and the fact the Lapin felt that they were "above" interacting with such a "primitive" race like the Gato. The Lapin were mentioned to be quite snobbish in folklore, and it seemed to be true according to history.

3), the Lapin really, reaaaaaalllly didn't like the Raposa. Getting onto the isle was hard enough already, but if you were a Raposa, you weren't stepping onto the isle. That bothered Maelynn a lot when White Blaze brought that up.

So, if the Lapin didn't like anyone in general, and were sure as hell NOT going to let them on the isle (seeing as their group was mostly Raposa), how were they supposed to investigate it? It wasn't like the limited information was going to be easy, and even though Wilfre could disguise himself, he couldn't mass disguise the group. The Lapin would be able to see through the deception easily if folklore was something to be considered.

As they drew ever closer to the isle, trying to figure out what they were supposed to do was driving Maelynn crazy. Nobody could soothe her concerns of how to handle the situation—not including Mari and the others on Turtlerock who would probably make Maelynn's anxiety worse.

They had to figure something out soon.

XxXxX

Penelope had seen the Gemstone Isle in the distance. The Cavalier Soleil and Turtlerock were close to it—and they would make it onshore by the next morning. She didn't know how they were supposed to handle the situation, though she was having issues sleeping in the night as they drew ever closer to the shore. The rabbit tried to sleep, only to open her eyes and stare blankly at the ceiling.

She heard the Creator's voice in her head. "Are you doing alright, Penelope? You seem troubled by something. Do you need to talk about it?" The Creator calmly asked the heroine. Penelope kept looking up at the ceiling and tried to organize her thoughts before answering.

"I don't know. I wonder what the Gemstone Isle will be like, recalling what Jewel said about it. Do you think the people are imprisoned and practically under military control by order of the King? I highly doubt that's the situation, but at the same time…" Penelope stopped herself, rethinking what she had just said. "No…that wouldn't make as much sense. Something feels off about this whole situation."

"For the Gemstone Isle?"

"Yes. It was mainly with Jewel's situation and what she was saying about the King. If what she said was true, it may be likely that he's the main threat on the island in some way… but when I think of it in that way, something still feels off."

"Perhaps it relates to the magic of the Gemstone Isle?"

"No, it has less to do with magic auras and more with intentions. I can't exactly word my feelings and thoughts now, but I think we'll need to see the isle in order to figure out what's wrong." Penelope explained, waving her paws in the air. "Something just feels wrong with what I understand. Like some vital information is being hidden. I don't know how we'll get passage onto the isle, but we really need to know what is really happening with the Lapin as we've been guided to this point."

Penelope felt herself finally getting tired. Without much else to say, she dozed off and rolled over on her side. The Creator didn't communicate with the hero in her sleep, though she did try to look and see if she could find anything else in the future.

XxXxX

The Cavalier Soleil, Turtlerock, and the Whiteclaw's ship came up to the dock area of the Gemstone Isle. There were two guards with tall rabbit ears, and they appeared to be in protective robes and were armed with swords and shields. Everyone was out on the decks of the ships (Turtlerock didn't necessarily have a deck, but the passengers were visible on the wooden sides), gazing down at the docks.

The guards were in a defensive position. "Halt! Who are you and why are you at our isle?" One of them asked sternly.

Maelynn tried to be the diplomat in this situation. "I am Maelynn from the Renard Village, along with my traveling companions from the Raposa Village and the Whiteclaw Clan. The Creator guided us to this place in one of her visions, and we need passage through."

The guards didn't move, keeping their defensive positions. "It has been a long-standing rule to not let outsiders onto the isle. The Council nor His Majesty would permit it." The same guard spoke in response.

"Could we please speak to the Council or the King then?"

"We cannot just interrupt the Council or His Majesty in their matters over something like this, and we have no intention of breaking tradition."

Maelynn sighed. She had no idea how she was supposed to negotiate with them. Penelope decided to take the reins and climbed up on the railing to make herself visible. Roselyynn and Thunder had also made themselves more visible on Turtlerock. "I understand that you don't wish to break tradition, but is there anything we can do to earn passage on the isle? It's important that we are allowed on." Penelope spoke calmly, acting as diplomatically as she could.

The Lapin guards did something unexpected. When they saw the three Creation Heroes, the guards proceeded to bow in their presence. "We didn't expect to see the avatars of the Goddess present with you. They don't fit into a specific category, I think." The first guard said. They looked to the other one, appearing rather confused. "…Do you think it would be fine to permit the Creation Heroes entry onto the island?"

"We'd be disrespecting our Creator to not allow them onto the island. She directly made them by Her hand. They're the protectors of our world." The second guard, who had been rather quiet through this whole conversation.

Maelynn raised a brow and looked to the guards. "So, the Book Holders aren't allowed on the island? Only the Creation Heroes?"

"Only the Creation Heroes." Reaffirmed the two guards.

Maelynn, nor any of the Raposa on the ships knew how to really feel about the situation with the Creation Heroes just being allowed on the island. The Whiteclaw Gato had expected a reception like this and acted rather cool and stoic in their response. Mari and Jowee appeared to be rather offended that they were denied passage.

Especially Mari. Her arms tightly clutched the Book of Life. "Why aren't the Book Holders and their companions allowed on the isle? Why just the Creation Heroes?" She questioned, furrowing her brow.

The guards were getting mildly annoyed by the Q&A session. Especially as they had just answered the question asked previously. The second guard was the one who had answered it this time. "Though you may have the holy texts of the Creator, having books are different from the Creation Heroes. The Creation Heroes are holy beings that don't fall into a category that the Raposa or the Gato do. It won't be breaking rules or tradition if we allow them on the isle."

Mari was about to object again, only for Thunder to stop her. It took Roselyynn and Penelope off guard when he spoke, mainly as Thunder wasn't the type to explicitly object the Raposa—especially not Mari. "It's fine, Mari. We can go on the isle and figure out what's going on. With Penelope, Roselyynn and me working together, there's nothing we can't solve."

Roselyynn would've brought up that Penelope wasn't the most trustworthy to her at the moment, as the first hero was hiding things from them, but now really wasn't the time.

From there, Penelope, Roselyynn and Thunder got off the ships (with Penelope getting off the Cavalier Soleil and Roselyynn and Thunder getting of a Turtlerock respectively) and onto the dock. The guards who were positioned closer to the entrance of the Kingdom escorted them in.

Though things seemed normal so far, Penelope couldn't help but still sense something off.

There was still something wrong behind the scenes that they hadn't had the opportunity to see yet.