Author's Note: If you're reading these at the time of posting as they come out, two chapters this month only (January), because I always meant to release the last one and this one together. January is just such a great time to start publishing the first chapter of a new volume/book! Happy reading, and if you are reading, please let me know in a review!
BOOK THREE: THE WATER SAPPHIRE
The companions sat around the rectangular wooden table in the dining room of the manse they had been given to lodge in on the topmost level of Shun-Pei.
Ryn regarded them one by one, such as they were having been accumulated thus far on this ridiculous doomed quest to find twelve magical mythical jewels before the most powerful man in the world did.
To his left sat Princess Nuthea, the golden-haired Lightning Crystal-bearer, back straight and hands clasped together on the table, proud and regal in a full-length purple dress. Ryn supposed he was her right-hand man.
To Nuthea's left sat the ponytailed skypirate Captain Sagar in his brown leather coat, one arm resting on table. He was frowning at Nuthea with his eye that wasn't hidden by a patch, his mouth a tight line. Normally he would have been smiling roguishly or lazing back in his chair. But no longer. The skypirate had lost someone in their most recent encounter with the Empire—a Farrian woman whom he had fought in the tournament and with whom he had become romantically involved—and he was no longer on this quest just for 'gold, gemstones and beautiful women'. Now it had become personal for him, too.
Next to Sagar sat Elrann, the short, purple-haired, easy-going engineer, in her blue work overalls. Elrann lazed back with a carefree air, her fingers interlocked behind her head, reclining with her legs crossed under the table. Ryn was glad that at least one of them could approach this conversation in a relaxed manner at least, though he wondered if it was just an act. Or maybe she really just wasn't as invested in this as the rest of them were. Truth be told, sometimes Ryn wondered why the engineer had stuck around with them at all. She must just really need the work, or appreciate the company, or have nowhere else better to go, Ryn supposed.
Next along from Elrann was Riss, the green-haired summoner-girl, sitting on her hands. Her eyes, as brilliant green as her bob of hair, stared at nothing. Ryn wasn't even sure how old she was. Twelve, maybe? She, like Elrann before her, had fallen in with them by chance, escaping from an egomaniac acting troupe leader who had exploited her abilities and forced her to work for him. As a child, she didn't have much choice about whether or not to stick with the group—where else could she go? But she seemed to want to stick around, too. Though the girl's looks could be deceptive. Despite her diminutive size and almost constant appearance of being in abject terror, she was capable of astounding feats, like summoning that massive shadow thing, whatever it had been, to fight the Imperials in the battle at Tenkachi. Ryn had long ago made a mental note to keep an eye on her.
Along from Riss at one head of the table sat Cid, the grey-haired healer, stroking his beard, pondering the question that had just been asked of the group. He and Nuthea topped and tailed the table like the two opposite ends of a compass needle. It was the pair of them who usually steered the decisions about where the group went next. But where Nuthea often displayed a simple, single-minded conviction about what their next plan of action should be, Cid was more measured and careful, and spoke as if he knew more than he was letting on. Did he know more than he let on? If so, then what did he know? Many times Cid had spoken of a previous adventuring party with whom he had tried to track down the Primeval Jewels once before in his youth, and he had also spoken of things that they had discovered, or theorised, which had greatly helped the companions on their journey so far, such as the principles of elemental weakness and resistance. But what had happened to that original adventuring party? What else had they found out? Cid was a riddle.
Around the corner of the table from Cid at the end of the side that Ryn was on sat a man with dark skin and deep blue hair clad in a black cloak, for once with the hood down: Quel, another relative newcomer. The bard sat stiff and straight and was drumming his fingers impatiently on the tabletop in a manner that seemed out of character for what Ryn knew of him so far—he normally came across as very gentle and patient, when he wasn't blasting Imperials with jets of water or spears of ice using his elemental projection, anyway… His reason for being here was clear enough: He wanted someone with an airship to take him back to his homeland of Umbar as quickly as possible, and Ryn and his friends could potentially provide him with one. He was worried that the Empire had somehow stolen his people's Jewel, the Water Sapphire, from there, and he wanted to go there check that everything was alright. He had said as much, but was currently struggling to convince the rest of the group that this should be their first priority.
Next along from Quel sat Huld, the monk, head and shoulders taller than the rest of them and basically taking up two spaces at the table despite having managed to squeeze onto just one of the wooden chairs. The newest permanent member of the traveling party (insofar as any of them were permanent members, Ryn supposed), Huld wore his green robes—the signature vestments of the fighting monks of Farr—proudly, and looked at the other group members with a serene, cheerful expression. He had decided to join the group after he had beaten Ryn in the final of the Tenkachi tournament to win the Earth Emerald. Ryn was still smarting from that, both literally and figuratively. But Huld had then realised that he wanted to take the Emerald away from Farr to protect it, and to help the companions in their Quest to find all the Jewels before the Empire did, having now witnessed the destruction they could cause firsthand. All the better.
That just left Vish, the Shadowfinger assassin clad from head to toe all in black, except for where his eyes and the top of his nose peeked out above his face scarf, sitting next to Ryn on his right, still as a corpse and yet dangerously alive. With each passing day Ryn only felt better about his spur-of-the-moment decision, all those months ago, to spare the Shadowfinger's life after Vish had nearly hunted them all down, instead of killing him as Sagar had wanted him to do. Time and again the Shadowfinger had proved his loyalty to them by fighting on their side against the Empire, his former masters, not least of all in the battle most recently when he had jumped onto an Imperial airship and fought viciously, according to Quel's and Huld's reports, against another general he had once known. Of course, Ryn was pretty sure that the main reason that Vish fought for them now was because Cid supplied him with his beloved poppy seed on a more regular basis than the Empire had, but Ryn had hopes that, deep down, Vish wanted to come off the poppy seed and that, perhaps even deeper down, he wanted to fight for the party's cause for its own sake.
Such were his companions as Ryn now found them, all these months after his hometown had been destroyed and he had been abducted from it. Mother. Father. Hometown. Find the Jewels. Save the world. Stay with Nuthea. He had been able to survey them all one by one in the long, thoughtful silence that had fallen after Nuthea had posed the question that was currently before them:
Where to next?
"I've made my views on this clear," said Quel, breaking the silence at last in his singsong, lightly accented voice. "You should fly to Umbar immediately to see what happened to the Water Sapphire—if it is not still there. This is urgent. If you do not do this then I will find another airship that will take me there or as near as I can get to there as soon as possible, and you will lose my expertise in Jewel Lore."
"Yes," said Nuthea gently but firmly, "thank you, Troubadour Quel." Why did she insist on always referring to people by their titles? Except for Ryn… "We see your argument. However, if the Empire have obtained the Water Sapphire"—at these words Quel flinched, as though struck—"then it does not make sense to go there, because the Sapphire will not be there any more to be found. We may be better off pursuing it elsewhere, or cutting our losses and heading after another Jewel entirely."
"Maybe so," said Quel quietly, visibly exerting self-control, "but even if the Sapphire is not there, by going to Umbar you can learn more about how the Empire have obtained it, where they might have taken it and what they might be planning next. The Chieftain of my tribe is a wise man. He will have the best information about how the Empire took the Jewel from him and the best counsel about what to do next. You should fly to Umbar."
"Alright," said Nuthea, not in agreement but as a way of signalling that she was changing the course of the conversation, "let's review what we know at this stage, shall we? There are twelve Jewels, according to the lore, and the Emperor of Morekemia is seeking them—and we must find them before he does. Three are already in our possession: The Lightning Crystal"—she clasped it where it hung above her chest—"the Fire Ruby"—she nodded at Ryn—"and the Earth Emerald"—she nodded at Huld. "We also have a small fragment of the Wind Shell"—she nodded at Sagar—"but not the whole thing." She looked down the table at Cid. "Grandfather, please remind us: What other Jewels do we know the whereabouts of?"
Cid let out a sigh. Ryn wasn't sure whether this was from being called upon to contribute or from the fact that they didn't know very much about any of the other Jewels. "Well, as I've told you, there is the Life Chrysolite, which I have touched, and returned to its hiding place. But I would prefer to keep the location of that a secret until we decided to go and get it—which maybe should be last. I am sure you understand the precaution. If its location got out and the Empire got hold of it and the healing magic it bestows it would put them at a great advantage, and put the world in even more serious danger than it is in already.
"Then, young man Sagar's father, Captain Vigaro, presumably still has the rest of the Wind Shell, which we will need to find if we are to gather all of the Jewels together.
"And now that we have found the Earth Emerald, beyond those two I do not know of the specific whereabouts of any other Jewels."
"Don't forget the Spirit Carnelian," squeaked Riss, coming alive for a moment. She never spoke up in group conversations—until now. She looked surprised to have drawn everyone's attention, and her eyes flitted between them all nervously, but then she spoke on: "You know where that is. Zigfrid Alantherousson, leader of the Manyiro acting troupe, has it."
"That's true, young lady Riss," said Cid, "but unfortunately we don't know where he is any more, do we?"
Riss's expression hardened. "He will have run away from Farr when the Morekemians attacked. But he should not be difficult to find. He advertises his plays and performances wherever he goes. It should be easy to work out where he is. I think you should go after the Spirit Carnelian next." Her contribution completed, Riss withdrew back into vacant silence.
"That makes three other Jewels that we have some leads regarding, then," said Nuthea, "in addition to the Water Sapphire, for which we don't really know where it is at all." A muscle in Quel's cheek twitched. "And beyond the Jewels that we have discussed, that also leaves the Shadow Onyx, the Light Diamond, the Moon Pearl and the Void Jewel, none of which we know the location of."
"Hey," piped up Elrann, "don't forget that the whole reason I invited music-man along with us is because he sang a song in the tavern where pirate-man and I met him about all the Jewels! He clearly knows stuff about where the rest of them are."
Ryn followed Nuthea's gaze to look at Quel. "Do you know where any of the other Jewels are, Troubadour Quel?" she asked him.
The bard licked his upper lip, which was dark with stubble, and made a faint, musical humming sound. "I do," he said slowly. "But I've told you: I am not willing to disclose the locations of any more Jewels until we have flown to Umbar and consulted with the Chief of my people."
"Damnit, I'm fed up of this poodoo!" snapped Sagar, and banged his fist on the table, making Ryn start. There we go, he thought. The only reason there had been such a long silence earlier was because Sagar hadn't launched in with his opinion straight away as usual. "I don't want to go to Umbar, and it's my bloody airship! I want to go wherever will enable us to hit the Empire the hardest! In fact, I want to go and track down my father and get the rest of the Wind Shell off him—there's some things I need to talk to him about!"
"There's no need to shout, Sagar," Ryn said, seeing Riss's eyes had gone even wider than usual and Quel had begun to scowl.
Sagar pointed a finger at him. "Shut up, pup! You stay out of this! It's my ship and I'll decide where it flies!"
Ryn's hackles rose, but he let them fall again. Other times he might have argued back with Sagar, but the guy had been through a lot lately.
"Actually," said Elrann, quirking her mouth slightly, "I'd like to go find the Wind Shell as well."
Huh?
"You would?" said Nuthea.
"Er…yeah. it sounds like a cool Jewel. I think we should go for that one too."
Why was she backing up Sagar? What had happened when she and Sagar had gone on that date to the pub last week? Ryn had thought it hadn't been successful, from a romantic point of view.
"Well," said Nuthea, "I am the leader of this group and I don't want to go for the Wind Shell first."
Now Ryn's hackles really rose. "Hey," he said before Sagar could, "who made you the leader?"
"Not now, Ryn," Nuthea said to him out of the corner of her mouth. "Look, we can both be the leader, okay?"
"Neither of you are the kufeing leader!" said Sagar, "and it's my gods-be-damned airship!"
"I thought Pops was the leader?" said Elrann.
"No fear!" said Cid.
"I was under the impression that Master Cid was the leader as well," said Huld, "what with him being the oldest and most respected among you."
"Thanks," said Cid.
"Look," said Nuthea, cutting through the chatter by using her 'Queen' voice, "if I'm not the leader (which really I am), I'm at least the 'organiser' of this questing party of companions. And may I remind you, Captain Sagar, that I am also the one who is paying you for your services in allowing us to use your airship. And I think that we should go after whichever Jewel we know most about that is most in danger of next being captured by the Empire."
"Now hold on princess-girl," said Elrann, "or Queen-woman, or whatever y'are these days, ya may be the Matriarch Monarch of Magnolia, or whatever, but ya ain't the boss of this group! Last I checked, this group wasn't a monarchy, or even a tyranny, but a democracy, like they have in Imfis." More like an anarchy, thought Ryn, recalling a word from some reading he had done in his school days. "We should all get a vote on which Jewel we go after next," finished Elrann.
Much as it pained Ryn to see Nuthea challenged so openly by someone other than him, he did think that Elrann had a point. That was how they'd always made important decisions so far. If they hadn't voted on something, it had probably been because they hadn't had time or because they'd just all agreed on doing it.
Nuthea took a deep breath, displaying great forbearance, then let it out slowly. "Alright," she said, "let us put it to the vote, then." Even if she agreed, she sounded like a schoolmistress making a concession to a group of naughty children. "But we must all respect the result of the vote. Agreed?"
"Agreed," almost everyone said. Sagar mumbled something inaudible. Riss didn't answer.
"So:" said Nuthea, "Which Jewel would everyone like to go after next?"
"Wind Shell," said Sagar immediately.
"Seconded," said Elrann.
"How about you, Summoner Riss?" said Nuthea, turning to the next person in the seating order.
Riss jolted, brought back from whatever daydream she had been exploring in her head. "Me? Oh. Um. Well, like I said, I would like to get back the Spirit Carnelian as soon as possible. But I suppose that can wait a little, as it doesn't seem like the Empire know about it at the moment… So in that case…I'll go with whatever Mr Ryn thinks."
Ryn cocked his head, surprised and a little embarrassed at the vote of confidence. But, he realised, he had been the one to rescue the girl from her captor, after all. It appeared that he had earned her respect.
"Grandfather?" Nuthea said to Cid, moving clockwise.
Cid coughed into his hand. "Ah. I'm sure my opinion on where we go next doesn't really matter. I'd rather not be consulted, really. I'll go along with whatever the rest of you young ones decide."
"No way," said Sagar irritably. "You don't get off that easily. Come on old timer; you're the one who's supposed to have all this experience of looking for the Jewels before. If you're so wise and know so much, you had better damn well give your opinion on where we go next."
"I agree," said Ryn. Why was Cid so cautious of influencing the group?
Cid fidgeted in his chair, avoiding eye contact with anyone. "Ah, er, well, if you insist, and I must cast a vote for a particular course of action then, er, well…" He looked at Nuthea. "…I would have to recommend that we first go to Umbar and find out what happened to the Water Sapphire."
"Thank you," said Quel, vindicated.
"But why, Grandfather?" said Nuthea, sounding almost betrayed.
"Ah. Not, er, because I think that we will necessarily find the Water Sapphire there, but rather because once we have been there then Young Man Quelliam here will tell us what he has discovered about the rest of the Jewels. I am eager to hear what lore he has gathered in his travels around Mid, but we cannot force him to tell us, so for the meantime our hands are tied and we must acquiesce to his request."
"You know," said Sagar, pushing his chair back from the table and getting to his feet, "we could just beat the information out of him, if he won't volunteer it himself. We don't have to be acquiestin' to any requestin'…"
Quel stayed right where he was and didn't change his serious expression, but his eyes flashed bright blue for an instant.
"Sit down, Sagar," said Ryn, his own irritation burning behind his eyes. Sagar stared swords at him.
"Yes, do sit down," added Nuthea, "or I won't pay you for your latest term of service and we can part ways and find another airship captain."
"Rrrrrrr," Sagar growled deeply, and made a big show out of sitting down again. "Fine. But I'm only backing down because she said she wouldn't pay me."
"You know that violence is not our way," said Nuthea. "It is not the Way of the One."
"It is not the Way of the One," agreed Cid.
Ryn thought that was pretty rich coming from a woman who had destroyed an entire Imperial fleet, ships and soldiers alike, with the help of a lightning storm, and when Sagar didn't even pretend to be a Oneist, but at this moment in time he decided it was best to keep his mouth shut.
"But troubadour Quel," said Nuthea, "is there really no way that you would consider telling us what you know of the other Jewels before we make our decision? If we are to fly to Umbar it will take us at least [two days] to get there, which is valuable time."
"I am afraid I will not be dissuaded in this matter," said Quel. "It is of the utmost importance to me that I return to my people as soon as possible to find out what happened to the Tear of Ammil." Ryn guessed that was his special name for the Water Sapphire. "While it is also true that I would like to remain with the…" Quel's eyes ran round the table for a moment. "…eight of you, seeing as you have some of the other Jewels and are seeking to gather the rest of them, finding out what has happened in my homeland is even more important to me, so I must prioritise that. Even at the expense of traveling with this group, if necessary."
"As you wish," said Nuthea, clearly disappointed but retaining formality nonetheless. "That is two votes for the Wind Shell, two for heading to Umbar, and one extra for whatever Ryn decides." She moved her attention one person along again. "Brother Huld, how do you vote?"
The massive monk shrugged his shoulders, which gave the effect of two mountains moving. "I am fortunate in that I have already retrieved and won the Jewel of my people, the Earth Stone of Eto. My foremost interest is in protecting this. I do not really mind where we go next."
"Alright then—" said Nuthea, beginning to move on.
"But," interrupted Huld, "seeing as you want everybody to vote, and seeing as I think it is a good thing that everybody votes, the one thing that I would say is that I think that to go to Umbar first would be foolish." He turned to Quel where he sat next to him, like a cliff-face rotating. "We know that the Empire likely already have the Water Sapphire, so going there will only slow us down. And if you will not set aside your personal whims for the good of the group, and the good of our respective peoples, and even for the good of the world, then I do not see why the rest of us should indulge them as well."
Wow, thought Ryn, I didn't know Hld had it in him. I guess he must just really hate water, or something. Maybe even more than me.
Quel made no reply. He didn't even look at Huld.
The monk turned back to Nuthea. "So the one thing I would vote is that we do not go to Umbar first. We should pursue whichever Jewel we know the most about, not the least."
"Alright…" said Nuthea, more slowly this time. "Then that makes two for the Wind Shell, and your negative vote cancels out Quel's, Huld, so one for Umbar. What do you think, Shadowfinger Vish?"
"I don't care," said Vish instantly. "Just get on with it and make a decision. This conversation is taking forever. When can I have some more poppy seed?"
"Remember," said Cid, "you are meant to be coming off the poppy seed."
"Yes, fine, whatever," said Vish, "echoing a favourite word of Sagar's. "But you said I could have some more as long as I 'space out the hits'. All I care about is the p…is coming off the poppy seed. I don't care about where we go next."
Hey, thought Ryn, he actually agreed with Cid that he should come off the poppy seed, for once. Maybe he's making progress? Maybe Ryn was kidding himself.
"And how about you, Ryn?" said Nuthea.
Ryn drew a blank. He had been listening so intently to everyone else's votes that he hadn't actually bothered to work out what he thought himself yet.
"Um… Er…" he said eloquently. "I'll go last. What do you vote, Nuthea?"
Nuthea's crystal-flecked eyes glittered slightly as they widened. "Me? Oh, well…" Her eyes flicked to Cid, and then back to Ryn again. "I actually think that we should go after the Life Chrysolite first."
Quiet exclamations of puzzlement from the group, including Cid.
"Why that one?" asked Ryn. Nobody else had voted for it yet.
"Well, think about it," said Nuthea, getting ready to teach them all something. "The Life Chrysolite is incredibly powerful. It contains some of the very light of Life, which bestows Life magic on anyone who touches it—healing abilities. Without those abilities I would not be here today, since Grandfather used them to heal me when…" She hesitated. "When Shadowfinger Vish poisoned me with Ajanga."
The incongruousness of that made Ryn frown. He had never really reflected on just how straightforwardly Nuthea had welcomed Vish into the traveling party after he had tried to kill her. Maybe she really was as 'forgiving' as she claimed. "And you wouldn't be alive either, Ryn," Nuthea went on, "if Grandfather hadn't healed you with life magic when you were stabbed through the chest by that Morekemian soldier."
"Yeah," said Elrann, "so what's your point, princess-girl? We have a healer. Good for us. We don't need the Life Chrysolite."
"My point," said Nuthea, fluttering her eyelids and nobly overlooking Elrann's rudenesss, "is that while, as Grandfather says, we want to protect the Life Chrysolite from falling into the Empire's hands, I believe that rather than allowing it to remain in its secret location, the best way to do that is to go and get it ourselves, first. The Empire have already shown that they are capable of finding out the locations of the Jewels by means that we may not be aware of, such as in the case of the Water Sapphire, so I think it is too risky to leave the Life Chrysolite in particular unguarded, if one of us knows where it is. We do not want the Empire to gain the ability to heal their own."
Ryn looked down the table. Cid's face, normally relaxed and care-free, was grim as death. This was so out of the ordinary it unnerved Ryn a little bit.
"I see your case, Granddaughter," said Cid. "But you can rest assured that the Empire will not know where the Life Chrysolite is hidden. I put it in its hiding place myself, and as far as I know I am the only one who knows of its location." His face brightened, returning to its customary cheerful expression. "Unless, of course, young man Quel here has somehow found it out and it is one of the Jewels that he is going to tell us about when the time comes." His face went grim again. "In any case, I am afraid I am not willing to divulge the location of the Chrysolite yet. In my judgment it is safest if I do not do so."
Uncomfortable silence. Ryn looked between Cid and Nuthea. The latter was frowning, whether from confusion or resentment Ryn did not know. A rare disagreement between the two fellow Oneists. Maybe Nuthea just wanted to go for this Jewel because she didn't like that her 'Granfather' was keeping something from her.
Nuthea turned to Ryn. "Well, there we have it. Two for the Wind Shell, one extra for whatever Ryn thinks, one for the Water Sapphire, and one for the Life Chrysolite. How do you vote, Ryn?"
Ryn thought carefully. With the additional vote from Riss for whatever he chose, he could elevate any of the already backed options to first place. Or he could choose a new option entirely, but then that would only make a tie with Sagar and Elrann, and there would have to be further voting, and further arguing, which he didn't want. So really, it was a choice between wind, water, and life. What a choice.
Sagar and Elrann had a pretty flimsy case for going after the Wind Shell. For Sagar it seemed to be more about tracking down his father, and he had no idea why Elrann wanted to go after it too. He kind of wanted to go with them that just to find out what was motivating her. But that wasn't a good enough reason, and in any case they already had a fragment of the Wind Shell. So really it was between water and life.
Part of him wanted to go for Nuthea's option simply because it was Nuthea's, and he wanted to keep her happy and stay in her good books. But that wasn't a good enough reason, either. Was it? If he was only on this quest to have something worthwhile to do with his life to help him forget about his destroyed hometown and that all his family and friends were dead, and as an excuse to stay around Nuthea, did it matter what he chose to do? Yes. He was here for even more than that. He was here to try to save the world for its own sake, as well. To take revenge on the Emperor and stop what had happened to him happening to anyone else, as far as he cou.d So shouldn't he be trying to make choices that would actually help to save the world? And, as far as he could see, Nuthea's choice was a strange one, especially given that Cid had already found the Life Chrysolite once, and there seemed to be something else informing it that Ryn couldn't quite work out.
On the other hand, Ryn trusted Cid that if he said the Empire didn't know where the Chrysolite was, then they didn't, and he also trusted the old man's judgment. Cid hadn't ever given him any reason not to. He had always been a helpful guide so far. So, given that Cid wanted to go for the Water Sapphire, and given that Ryn really wanted to know what other Jewels Quel knew about, he reasoned that—
"Ryn!" Nuthea's voice yanked him out of his thoughts. He had been completely lost in them. "What do you choose?"
"The Water Sapphire," said Ryn. "Umbar."
Nuthea closed her eyes in concession. "Then that is where we shall go. For better or worse."
"Kufeing democracy!" Sagar swore, standing up from the table again and blustering off. "I'll get the ship ready. We leave at first light tomorrow."
And that was that.