Of Gears and Humanity

| 13.2

[DAMIEN]

Who could have known to break the awkward tension in the air, all you needed was a lake? Or a mission involving a lake? Or water—and not water used by animals to handle their business.

Regardless of how I'd sliced it, Elena let go of Carmine's reins and hurried over towards the water just yards in front of us. Keeping her horse at my side, I followed after her. She was panting with excitement, hands on her hips, when we reached her.

I folded one leg over the other as I slid my hand down my chest, wiping some of the ointment away. "So this is where you'll find that rock?" I asked.

Elena nodded. A single curl fell loose from her bun. "It is," she said.

I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth. Looking at the lake, it looked simple enough. The edge of its water didn't reach our feet; a simple ledge kept us just slightly above it. But that didn't stop me from looking below and into it. Without shadows, the water was clear. And on the river's floor, I was able to see stones. So many stones.

"You know," I crossed my arms as Carmine walked closer towards Elena, bumping her shoulder with his head, "Theo said this stone is hard to find." When Elena glanced at me, I shrugged. "At least, he said if someone wasn't of royal blood, they'd have a problem doing this."

"Did he?" she giggled. "It isn't hard at all, really. I always thought the stories they tell of this trip were a bit exaggerated."

As Carmine moved away from her and over towards the trees bordering the lake, I watched him for a second before looking back at Elena. I drummed my fingers over my arm. "Exaggerated?" I furrowed my brow. "How so?"

"Well, it's simple." She knelt down towards the floor's edge and dipped her hand along the side. Her fingertips pressed into the top of the water, breaking the gentle stream. "Finding the stones isn't the hard part. Sure, it's a specific type we're seeking, but the floor is littered with them."

She wasn't wrong about that. As I got closer to the lake, I saw them. Hundreds of them.

"Why it seems that we are the only ones who are able to find the stone is simple." She looked up at me as I blinked. She smiled. "The royal family are the only people allowed at his lake."

As Elena stood, pulling off her shoes, I thought about what she said. If royals were the only ones allowed to seek out the stone, then how would one know others couldn't do it? "That doesn't seem fair." I pulled at my ear, thinking about it still. "If no one else has tried, then what makes all of you so special?"

Immediately, I thought I'd said so much.

I didn't know anything about this royal family. I hadn't even known they existed until I reached the wall and saw her. If the books Arvon gave me when I was a kid explained it, I probably thought it was just a story; I thought everything was a story. That is, until I got my hands on the book written by a human, describing a war so different from what the Attributions told.

With my mind settled on that, I reminded myself that the book had me intrigued for years. And now was probably my only chance to learn the truth of those words, and not the lies I'd been fed since I was a boy.

"We're not special." Without looking back at me, Elena pressed one of her feet into the water. She took it back out in a second. "Sure, the people in town believe we're magical entities with abilities greater than theirs, but that isn't the case."

"Then..." I sucked in a slow breath. "Why feed the stories?"

"Because it gives the people hope." She looked back at me, her brown eyes taking in all of the sun's light. "My bloodline was tasked with caring for the people of Homestead, and while we're not special in the slightest, we make sure to treat our people as if they were. They need our guidance and love, and the Lorian empire takes great care of them. Without them, there's be no us. And without us—"