Grandma's Attic

Chapter Twenty-Seven

He ought to be dust – a mega-million nano-sized sapphires scattered across the streets of Cambridge. But Thredwyl was not. He was whole, and apparently still wearing that frilly pink dress. Apparently, for he couldn't see, being in a very dark place. But he could hear, and what he heard he could swear was falling water.

On the off-chance he said, "Let there be light." And there was.

Gruff's Cavern? By the cringe, but it couldn't be. Yet he'd recognise that cascade anywhere.

He pulled himself up to a sit. That wasn't easy, he hurt, a nasty sting across his face, his chest, his arm. He frowned. Odd, that sting followed the line of his barely visible fracture, sustained when he fell from the Giant's Knee, the line that had marred and made him imperfect. His fingers tentatively felt along it. His frown deepened.

By Grandma's Grimy Knickers, the scar was gone.

"Hey," said a voice from out of the shadows. "Look who's here." His cousin Chrean emerged into the swollen orb of Thredwyl's light. "You took your time. And what are you wearing? Did Grandma Nari clothe you in that?" Chrean laughed.

Thredwyl stood. Caught in such a blithering state, he'd just have to bluster this out. "Call in the cousins – I'll be back in a click, I've just got to change."

"Hold, hold, hold," Chrean said and stood directly in Thredwyl's path. "Not so fast. The dare? The challenge? Something to do with Grandma Nari's Mothers Manual? You said you'd go to her attic and pocket her Manual. And where is this Manual? Oh, Thredwyl, don't tell me, in these last days of your freedom you failed in a dare. So that's why you took so long – so we'd have no time to arrange your date with an obliging Nixie." It wasn't said in accusatory tone. More...mocking.

Thredwyl sucked on his lips. "I...I..."

"Aye?" his cousin Chrean lifted a questioning brow.

"Look...look, just call the cousins together," Thredwyl spoke rapidly and with authority, inspiration ripping through him. "For I have such a story to tell you." With a dodge around his cousin, he pelted along the twisting passages to his personal cubby.

How many days left before he must abandon his juvenile ways and take his place as an adult Kupie, a Rock? And then...

Marriage. To a female Kupie, the essential duty of every male, said to prevent the unruly gatherings of female Kupies for fear they might cause a devastating avalanche. And it would have to be one of the pure Stones, for Thredwyl was of the Sapphire clan.

"I don't suppose a Ruby Kupie would mind too much if I still went exploring. Or must I give that up?" Nix, despite all his troubles in the Great Grandma's Attic, Thredwyl hadn't yet had enough of adventuring.

The development of his innate magic. To the benefit of all Kupie-kind.

Thredwyl knew what that must be. His light. "Think of it, all these dark passages and chambers lit with glowing orbs." Aye, but for which he'd need a female Kupie who's innate magic focused on the transformation of rock – into transparent crystal, perhaps?

And lastly, the ability to display his knowledge of Grandma-the-Creator's acts of creation.

He laughed at that, tugged at the full-skirted blue coat he'd donned, straightened his neckcloth and cuffs, and headed back down those same dark passages to confront his cousins.

He found more than his cousins gathered there, more even than his own clan. The cavern fair heaved with immature Kupies. The cheers they let loose when he entered the cavern soon changed to boos. And from out of their midst, they pushed towards him a Nixie.

For the briefest moment Thredwyl believed his eyes. But his cousin's laughter gave the deceit away. "Pah, that's no Nixie, that's Yaren my brother all magicked-up."

"But you did fail," Chrean said, moving closer to Thredwyl. "Where's this Mother's Manual you promised to bring? Tucked in your pocket, is it?"

"Hardly," Thredwyl said. "It was too chuffing huge even to hold."

"Aye, aye," the laughter began.

"But it was. Listen. I'll tell you the story. It's truth, I did go to Grandma's attic." And he related his adventures from the time he decided to apply to Grandma Eanch instead of his own Grandma Nari, to the time he found himself back in this cavern.

He noticed many a mouth hung open, and many a wide eye shone. He rubbed his hands, a return of his cheeky grin as a new idea came to him.

"But what about our uprising?" his cousin Chrean said. "Those staid old Rocks aren't our true form."

"Are they not? Yet they are as Grandma created us. Listen," he said. "You speak of a revolution. But what's a revolution if not a turning all the way round, to start at the beginning again? See, nothing changes." At least he thought that's what Daisy's Pops had meant though he'd have liked to have seen more evidence of this. Even so, he said, "I've seen the imbalances resulting from that." Seen on Daisy's magic box, but again, he wished he'd seen more. "We Three Tribes have balance, and freedom, as we each go about our own way. Just as Grandma intended."

His audience was quiet, clearly digesting and considering that.

Thredwyl considered too. He considered perhaps he could be a jawman and use his tales to hold his audience spell bound, and not have to marry a female Ruby after all? What better reason to go exploring.

And wasn't that what Grandma intended for him?

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, please consider pressing that sweet little star.

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