Tempest Bound: Read the last chapter for an updated chapter 11 and details about future updates and the like. Thank you!

The Goddess Crystal

Chapter 12: Dressed in White

The day before my wedding—doesn't that sound weird?—Leith pays me a visit. Again. This must be the hundredth time in the past few days. I already know what he wants to talk about from the dull amber his Goddess Gem burns, highlighted with glints of yellow—not gold. Yellow.

I've been researching (and asking Skye) about what the colors represent. Gold, like Skye said, is pride. Orange is anger. Pink is love. Red is both lust and infatuation. Yellow, determination. Clear, concentration and tranquility. But I haven't found out what black means, which annoys me like crazy, since Leith's Gem often is pulsating and bleeding the color.

"Jillian, will you please just tell me what you know about the Goddess Crystal?" Leith says, leaning close. I scooch away and ignore the purple his Gem turns. Confusion.

Honestly, I should be the one who's confused. He refuses to call me Jill, and continuously calls me by my full name. Which reminds me of when he was younger, when he wouldn't stop calling me 'lady'.

"What's wrong, Jillian?" The Gem turns green. Why is he jealous? "Have you been talking to that Thief? You're only hurting yourself, you know."

I roll my eyes and focus on his blistering red gaze. "As if. He hasn't done anything to hurt me, since you punched him in the face."

Leith shrugs. "It was necessary at the time."

"To hit him when he couldn't hit you back?"

Another shrug. "He made me angry."

I sigh as his Gem returns to yellow. "Whatever. What was it that you wanted to talk to me about again?"

Slumping in his seat, I realize how different he is to Skye. While Skye is (usually) polite, Leith is often blunt and sometimes even rude. Even their colorings are different: Skye has pale colors while Leith has dark and piercing ones.

"The Goddess Crystal."

I nod. "Right. Why are you so interested in that thing? It's just a fairytale." But that's what I thought about the Goddess, and where did that put me? Come to think of it, she hasn't spoken to me ever since I left the base.

"Jillian, it's nothing to concern yourself about." Leith smiles and his Gem burns gold, turning his white shirt a dark brass color. "You wouldn't understand."

I sit up straighter and narrow my eyes. "Are you implying that I'm stupid?"

Leith's eyes widen slightly, "No, no not at all, Jillian. It's just—"

"Then why do you want to know about the Goddess Crystal?" I snap, glaring daggers at him. "I'm not an idiot, Leith."

Leith tests a smile but it melts under my glare. "Jillian, please—"

"Please, what?" I get up from the bench we are sitting on, in the Gardens. "To hell with this. I'm leaving."

Leith catches my hand and makes me sit back down again. "I'll tell you, Jillian. Just don't be angry with me, okay?"

I sigh angrily and look away. "Whatever."

He comes and kneels in front of me, smiling hopefully. "Please?"

Leith shining gaze reminds me of his youth. I sigh in defeat. "Fine. Why do you want to know?"

"I want to find it."

That catches me off guard. "Huh?"

He smiles like a young child. "I want to find it."

"Why? What are you going to do with it?" But then he looks sad, so I don't push.

"What can you tell me about the Goddess Crystal?"

I shake my head slowly. Should I tell him about the Goddess? Those poems? The jewellery he saw me wear for the Goddess Festival? A sentence I remember distantly from a book jumps to mind. "''Tis something found deep in an ancient mine, a precious piece of folklore and legend.'"

A strange looks comes across Leith's face. "Huh?"

"A line from a book I read. I don't remember what happened to it, though."

The Gem flickers to a bright turquoise. Happiness? "Thank you, Jillian!" He gets up and kisses me on the forehead quickly before heading inside, throwing an excited excuse over his shoulder.

Sitting there, I realize something.

As he went inside, Leith's Goddess Gem turned black.

That night, a young girl, maybe only thirteen, comes to my door, bruised and frightened half to death.

"What happened?" I ask, taking her hand and leading her into the room. "What's your name, honey?"

She swallows and hides her face. "Nothing's wrong, ma'am. Mr. Stone wanted me to tell you to come to your fitting, is all."

"My fitting? For what?" A sudden angry thought hits me. "Wait, Mr. Stone? Did Leith do this to you? That—"

She shakes her violently. "No, ma'am. He didn't do anything to me. I was like this when he called me in. It's for your dress, ma'am, for tomorrow."

"Dress?"

She smiles a tiny, aching smile. "Your wedding dress, ma'am."

I sigh. What's with all these formalities? "Please, just call me Jill. And tell Leith that I'll go right now."

The girl nods, a quick jerking motion that makes her wince. "Okay, ma'am." I flinch at the word 'ma'am'. "Is there anything else I can do?"

I laugh drily, and the girl looks up at me, surprised. "Besides getting some rest and those injuries checked out? Are you crazy?"

Her eyes flicker to the door. "But my pa—" She stops mid-sentence, mouth opening and closing. "I mean, are you sure, ma'am? There's no one else I speak to for you?"

I stop in the middle of shaking my head as I remember something. I still haven't told Skye that I'm getting married tomorrow. The girl notices.

"Ma'am?"

"Well, there is just—no, never mind. I shouldn't be asking this of you." I shake my head quickly. "Forget I said anything."

"Please, ma'am, is you need me to tell someone something, tell me. I'll deliver the message as quickly as possible."

"That's not it," I say. "You're hurt. It's okay. I'll find someone else to tell him for me. Now—" I stand up, helping her to her feet. "—I have to go. Get some rest as soon as possible, okay?"

She nods. "Okay, ma'am."

As she's heading out the door, I call out, "Tell that dad of yours he's a jerk, okay?"

All I hear is a scared little, "Yes, ma'am," as she leaves.

By the time I find the right room, the person inside of it has grown restless and, well, annoyed. A plump lady in her late thirties shoos me in and chastises me as she helps into the white fabric dress.

I feel terribly guilty for liking it.

It doesn't look like a wedding dress: it's white, yes, but that's as far as the similarities go. It stops at the knee, all lace and sheer fabric. The top half is strapless and unadorned.

Half-way through a very painful fitting (who knew a corset could be tightened so much?), there's a knock on the door. My stomach leaps to my throat, thinking it might be Leith. But it's not. It's a little boy, maybe six or seven years old.

"Is Miss Jill there?" he asks, peering in with wide blue eyes. "Sissy sent me to see what she wanted to say to someone."

The seamstress tsks but lets me off the step to go talk to him. I wince as the corset digs into my side as I walk barefoot across the gray floor.

"Yes, that's me. Is your sister the girl Leith sent me?"

The boy nods, blond curls bouncing. "Yes, Miss. Sissy was afraid your message might be important. Is it?"

He's adorable. "Yes, it is." I spare a glance over my shoulder at the seamstress, before leaning close, painfully sharp metal-or-whatever-it-is digging into my sides. "Do you know the Thief?"

Another bouncing nod. "Yes, Miss." He smiles proudly at me. "I even know where he's living right now!"

I smile. "Good. Can you tell him I'm getting married tomorrow?"

"Sure! I'm not even scared, either!"

I grin at his childish enthusiasm. "Good. Thank you."

As I'm walking back to the seamstress, sure the little boy has left, I feel a tug on my skirt. When I turn around, it's him.

"By the way, Miss?"

I feel a smile quirk my lip up. "Yeah?"

He smiles broadly at me. "You look pretty in that dress."

A child's simple, innocent words just made my day. "Thank you."

With a quick grin, he leaves to seal my fate.

Tempest Bound: Here's chapter 12, guys! Next is the wedding. :O Anyways, check out me and Harvest Dragon's Pokemon fic I'm co-writing with her, Purity. The link to our joint account will be on my profile.

I'm already working on the next chapter of TGC, so don't worry! Hope you liked and sorry for the wait!