Sea Dweller (Birthstone Series) (13 page)

Chapter 10

Aluce stood and walked a few
short steps to her trunk. As she opened it and reached inside, light poured
from the interior. Before I could ask her about it, she’d already shut the lid.
This time, when she sat down, she held a luminous blue stone.

“The first person to discover
a living gem was an aimless wanderer named Tougen,” she said. “And his stone
looked much like this one.”

Aluce ran her finger along
the surface of the rock, following one of the hundreds of white, glowing lines
extending from its center. “Miranasch, or ‘the mainland’ as Vairdans call it,
is unique in that the entire land is living. There’s power in the earth, and
sometimes it manifests itself in odd ways.” She waited for a moment, her eyes
looking past us, as if remembering something. “One of those manifestations was
in the stones.” She tapped the rock lightly.

I leaned in closer to get a
better look.

“Its heart is in the center,”
Aluce said, holding it out for me to see. “The gem’s power comes from there and
releases it through its veins.”

“Is this a Sea Gem too?” I
touched the stone tentatively but felt nothing unusual.

“This is a Wisdom Gem.” Aluce
let me take it from her hands and sat back while Sai and I examined its glossy
indigo surface.

“There are twenty different
types of living stones discovered so far in Miranasch. It’s generally believed
there are no more to be found. The last stone found was discovered not long
before Aylen’s birth.”

“But why is this is a Wisdom
Gem? Who decides what it does?” Sai asked before I could.

“Now, that’s a good
question,” Aluce said. She leaned forward, her eyes glittering. “Living stones
are attracted to human intelligence and touch. Like regular jewels, the earth
produced them, but they were undiscovered for years in the untouched corners of
Miranasch.” Aluce reached toward me and plucked the rock from my hands,
cradling it in her own once again. “Long ago, Tougen found himself lost, deep
within a range of uncharted mountains. One night, he saw a glowing crack in a
cave wall. Using his tools, he opened the crack wider and discovered a blue
jewel. Once he touched it, the jewel bonded to his intelligence and blood. It
then sensed Tougen’s greatest desire which at the time was for wisdom. From
then on, the stone he’d found and all others of its type had the power to offer
wisdom to Tougen and his future posterity.”

  “Wait,” I said, shaking my
head. “Only his descendants would be able to make use of the stone?”

“Of that particular kind of
stone, yes.” Aluce nodded. “Which made it very important to keep your bloodline
going if you became a successful stone discoverer.”

“You said there are twenty
kinds of stones.” Sai furrowed his brow in thought. “Did the stone discoverers
find the others?”

“Sometimes. Many people made
a career out of searching. They spent a lifetime trying to find living stones
but because they were rare and so difficult to find, few ever succeeded.
However, there were a couple cases where stones were discovered by accident,
which made for more unusual abilities the stones could provide.”

“Like what?” I asked,
fascinated.

Aluce waved her hand
dismissively. “Oh, the Heat Gem for example. Someone must have been very cold
when they found it if their greatest desire was for warmth.” She smiled. “But
that’s not really relevant. The important thing is to understand how these
stones changed Miranasch.”

“For the better, I would
think,” I blurted.

“You think so?” Aluce’s
eyebrows lifted. “Nothing comes without a price. When the discovery of the
Wisdom Gem got around, people scrambled to search for their own stones so they
could name its power. The few who did find stones built their lives around them
even though it was usually in dangerous, remote locations where they could be
mined. Populations grew as people tried to marry into stone bloodlines.”

“So the Vairdan legends
aren’t far off,” Sai pointed out.

“They have some truth to
them.” Aluce hesitated as the words left her mouth. “But there’s more to it
than what Vairdans believe. Over time, there were people born with multiple
stone bloodlines, even though most tribes stayed fairly exclusive. When someone
of multiple bloodlines connected to every type of gem in their lineage, there
were often unexpected consequences.”

“What kinds of consequences?”
I asked.

“You have to remember, these
stones have a life of their own. They’re intelligent. When you connect to one
type of gem, it’s almost as though you are giving that part of yourself over to
it. Part of your blood separates, reserving itself for the stone.”

Aluce swallowed and avoided
looking at me for a moment. When she met my eyes, it was with a detached smile.
“For those that can’t handle it, their minds don’t work quite right. When this
was discovered, tribes learned to keep their bloodlines clean and unmixed for
the most part. For a time, those with multiple bloodlines were sought out by
extremist rebels and put to death but this became less common after tribes
stayed mostly isolated.”

“Sounds like a great place.”
Sai shuddered.

“It did have its problems,”
Aluce said. “There were always groups who wanted to join the tribes into one
kingdom but others were against it, knowing the danger that would come by
combining bloodlines. Sometimes there was fighting and even war between clans.”

“What about the Wisdom Gem?”
I asked, pointing to the rock on Aluce’s lap. “What happened to that tribe?”

“They remained the most
coveted bloodline. But, as people became greedier, they forgot the good it
could produce and it was used for selfish purposes. The wisdom heirs eventually
withdrew from society.”

“They just went away? How
does that help anyone?”

Aluce sighed. “They created a
new city where they privately lived, mined, and guarded their stones. They used
them to keep watch on the rest of the world and they had a greater
understanding of where they were needed. The Wisdom Tribe was the first to
learn of a threat to the land that would destroy everything. They were also the
only people who knew how to defeat it.”

She stopped speaking and
turned to me, her lips locked in a tight smile.

“So?” Sai said. “Go on.”

“No.” She rolled the rock in
her hands. “I think that’s enough for now.”

“But why did my parents
leave?” I asked. “You haven’t told me everything.”

Aluce cocked her head at me,
as though sizing me up. “That can wait for another time. Aren’t you interested
in your Sea Gem bloodline?”

I considered her for a
moment. “Alright, so I’m part of that bloodline. Does Sai have any bloodlines?”

Sai, who had been strangely
quiet, perked up at this.

“As a Vairdan, he would be
from the Sea Gem bloodline as well, possibly in a more direct way than you.”

“But that’s all we have,
right?” Sai asked, eyeing Aluce. “People didn’t want to mix bloodlines so we’re
only of Sea Gem descent?”

Aluce didn’t respond at first
and Sai’s eyes narrowed. Aluce turned to me. “Aylen, you may have a few more
bloodlines than Sai.”

My skin prickled. “How could
I? I thought that sort of thing was avoided in Miranasch.”

“It’s not very common.” She
cleared her throat, a nervous, uneasy sound.

I looked at Sai but his eyes
didn’t stray from Aluce.

“You’re not going to tell us
anything more, are you?” he asked, his voice cold.

“Not today.” She stood,
cradling the Wisdom Gem in her hands. “But not because I don’t want to.
Instead, I want you to find out some things on your own.” After picking her way
through the little room, she knelt by her trunk. “I have something that may
soften the blow a bit.” We watched in silence as she once more, unclasped the
lid and lifted it. Placing the Wisdom Gem back inside, she reached down and
emerged with something new.

“This is for you, Sai. Take
it and enjoy what you were born to experience.” She held out an object wrapped
in crackly green paper. Sai reached for it gingerly.

“Is this a—”

“Open it,” Aluce said,
cutting him off. “But be careful when you touch it. The wrapping is made from
dried sea grass. Sea dwellers often wrap stones in it to protect them from
direct touch.”

Sai unwrapped the outer layer
and the rest of the paper fell open, revealing a glistening, pearly pink stone.
A white heart beat inside its center. The stone rose in the air and hovered
several inches above the remnants of the sea grass in Sai’s palm.

“It’s mine?” he asked.

“Aylen has one. If you both
have one too, there are a lot of things you could do together. It’s who you
are, Sai. Your bloodline.”

“Touch it!” I finally said,
leaning forward to examine it closer.

“What happens if I do?”

“It connects itself to you.
Only you.” Aluce nodded encouragingly. “Go ahead.”

Sai reached forward with his
free hand and closed his fingers around the pulsating gem. His eyes grew wide
as the initial flow of power coursed through his body. As it faded to the
gentle warmth I knew was weaving through his veins and trickling into his
blood, his expression grew softer. He closed his eyes and smiled.

“Just how you described it,
Aylen.” Sai released his grip on the gem and this time it settled on his palm,
having connected with him. He stared at it in awe.

“How did you get this, Aluce?
Have you kept it all these years, unused?” I asked.

“I’m not a sea dweller so I
can’t use it. However, I know many sea dwellers not far from here who are
willing to provide me with gems when I ask for them.”

“Why would you want them if
you can’t use them?” Sai asked her. He peeled his eyes from his new treasure to
look at her, a hint of suspicion clouding his features. Aluce took her time
answering.

“I knew Aylen’s parents. I
knew of Aylen. I, along with many others from Miranasch, always felt she had a
right to know about her homeland. I believed it a shame to deny her the chance
to use her heritage to its highest potential.”

I knew she was being evasive,
purposely answering our questions more vaguely with each passing moment. I
pressed her for more information anyway. “Did you put my gem on the beach the
night of the festival?”

“I was there, but someone
else placed the gem where they thought you would find it.”

I stared at her, the fine
hair on my arms rising. “Have you been following me?”

“Often I’ve been in the same
place as you without you realizing it.”

She laughed at our
expressions. “Don’t look so alarmed. I’ve never wanted to be noticed so I’ve
developed ways of fitting in with the natives. The sooner they know I’ve come
from the mainland, the sooner I’m an outsider. Isn’t that right, Sai?”

Sai’s shrugged dismissively
and looked back toward his stone. “So, I can keep this?”

“Of course. But you should
know. . .”

“I knew there was a catch.”
Sai said.

“I wish to remain unknown on
this island, for personal reasons as well as for matters of safety. Aylen, your
parents would be furious if they knew you had a Sea Gem and they learned it
came from me. They’d be furious to know I was here, if they don’t already.”

“Why?” I picked up some of
the sea grass that had fallen to the floor in crinkled shreds and began to
finger it distractedly.

“You know they want your
knowledge of your homeland limited. Already, I’ve told you more than they would
have in a lifetime. If you want to keep the Sea Gem and if you wish to continue
learning more about where you came from, you would be wise to conceal your stone
and knowledge from them.”

“I wasn’t planning on telling
them about the stone, anyway. They’d just take it away.”

“In Miranasch, you’d be
considered an adult, ready to make your own decisions. There are many people
there who feel you have the right to know where you come from and they hope
that someday, you can make it back to them.”

My eyes flew to Aluce’s face.
There was so much she wasn’t telling me but before I could voice my concerns,
Sai chortled loudly.

“I think I could become the
new island chief with one of these,” he said, floating the gem from one hand to
the other, trying to keep it hovering between palms before it had a chance to
settle on his skin. “But, since I don’t want to be chief. I’ll keep it quiet.”

Aluce seemed pleased with
this. “Good! It’s settled. You can both explore underwater to your heart’s
content. You’ll be just like the sea dwellers.”

My ears perked at this. “What
is a real sea dweller, exactly?”

“Ah, good. I thought you’d
never ask.” Aluce went back to her trunk and began to sort through it again.
“There’s a city of them not far from here. Of course Vairdans wouldn’t know of
it because they can’t swim that distance and their boats would only be
redirected if they got that far. Sea dwellers are excellent at keeping themselves
hidden. However, they welcome anyone that has obvious ties to their bloodline
if they come in sea dweller form.” Aluce moved a few more items around in the
trunk before pulling up another green roll of sea grass. “Aha!”