gemora | a short story

IN WHICH A BATTLE BECOMES A STATEMENT

"BUT, MOTHER!" QUARTZ's voice rang through the empty stone corridors.

"No. Absolutely not."

"But I'll win! I promise you, I swear on the Heart of Gemora!"

Her mother looked appalled. "Don't go there, young lady. You have no idea what that rank means. Your stupid little friend can die. This rank isn't given to a weakling Gemorian like you."

Quartz, hurt, turned away. Elizabeth stared at Quartz's mother, intensely. She was going to say whatever it took to get her friend in there. But just as she was about to speak up, Amethyst appeared, running down the corridor.

"Mother."

"Amethyst." Her look was one of disgust.

"Let Quartz in. She's been a fighter since birth!"

"No."

Amethyst looked like he'd had enough. "Is it that you're... afraid? Afraid you'll have me left and the better child gone?"

His mother smirked. "No."

Elizabeth stifled a laugh at the amount of 'no's' she'd just said. "Well, why, then?"

Amethyst turned to Elizabeth. "Yeah. Why?" He stared straight into his mother's eyes. "She deserves to be in the Battle more than Kyanite does." This earned a huff from Quartz. He muttered a 'sorry'.

Quartz smiled. "Mom, I can do this."

Their mother glared at her children. "If you die, child, I won't have a word to say."

Quartz was hurt. "Mother, if I die, I'll be glad to never hear your words."

And with that, she walked towards the Battle, shoving her armor on.

"THE CONTESTANT HAS changed!" Kyanite, on the side, was hugging Quartz for dear life, telling her to be careful. "Instead of Miss Kyanite, Quartz will be fighting against Ametrine! But! She had chosen to give her role to Kyanite if she wins."

"Let the Battle commence!" The referee yelled.

Quartz glanced at Ametrine.

Ametrine looked fierce, completely engrossed in the crowds' cheers and encouragements. "Finish her!" One shouted, followed by a number of screams in agreement.

"Who put her up to this?" Ametrine's voice rose. "If it was any one of you, I'll..."

Elizabeth stared at Quartz, hoping she'd make something up. But what surprised her was that she turned to Elizabeth. "She did."

Ametrine smiled, a smile that frightened both Elizabeth and Quartz, and said, "Well. I should hope you've brushed up on your skills in battle, because..." She cracked her knuckles as if to show her strength. "You might not need to remember them."

Elizabeth, to the side, felt like her entire body was going to dissolve. She couldn't watch. She looked to Kyanite for help, but she just stood there, looking as frail as a mouse in front of a pair of cats.

Quartz and Ametrine were already in a seemingly complex friendship, based on what Elizabeth had seen at the Art Museum.

Elizabeth began to watch, and was immediately surprised at how fast Quartz was. She may not have been equipped properly, but her moves in their own were helping her fight. The crowd was watching as intensely as Elizabeth was, observing every movement. Then Quartz talked, softly, to Ametrine.

And the entire crowd watched in confusion as Ametrine smiled at her. "Listen!"

From the side of the Grand stadium, Quartz's mother looked shocked. "What if... we don't kill for a title?" Quartz suggested, moving her hands in expression as she talked. The crowd jeered with a sudden anger, and only a few agreed. Quartz looked to Kyanite, then to Elizabeth, and finally to her opponent, Ametrine. "Quartzia, what on Earth are you doing?" It was her mother, annoyed as usual, but with a bit of disappointment flashing by on times. "Honestly, what is this circus?"

Quartz frowned. "Mother. I'm doing this for a reason. I don't want to kill someone else."

Her mother looked mortified. "This is the Grand Battle! She can die!"

Quartz huffed, yelling, "No, this isn't right!"

"Then I'll kill her myself!"

The crowd stopped. "I, I mean... Quartzia, this isn't how I raised you. If you have this opportunity, why waste it?" The crowd began to disagree slightly with Quartz's mother. Unpleasant and unhappy yells came from the seats.

"I'm not wasting it."

"I'm just... being a weakling." The crowd suddenly found this encouraging. They cheered.

They all chanted. "Let her live! Let her live! Let her live!" Ametrine grinned at her inferior friend. "If this is how you want it, my lady," She curtsied to Kyanite, looking to Quartz. "Then it shall be." Kyanite took a breath.

And she spoke.

"QUARTZ, I BELIEVE you're well fit for this."

It was the day of coronation, and Kyanite stood with her friend in front of a dazzling diamond shard covered mirror. It had a long crack down the side, but it changed nothing about the way Quartz looked. She felt particularly royal today, and this wasn't like her. She felt over the scratchy fabric on the dress Elizabeth had made, seeing as it was the only Gemorian fabric that wasn't gem-wax. "Am I? All I did was save a life, right?" Kyanite smiled, attaching the last pin in Quartz's platinum hair. "No, you did much more. You gave an opportunity to all the inferiors in Gemora."

Quartz grinned a goofy grin. "Thank you, Kyanite."

Kyanite grinned, too. "And I sure hope for your sake Elizabeth hasn't vanished." She curtsied. "My lady." Quartz laughed, throwing her head back. "Let's go."

And with that, she threw open the big, heavy doors on the right, walking elegantly down the aisle.

Elizabeth grinned, on her side with the Heart in hand. It was a heart-shaped morganite, glistening in the light. Kyanite, right behind the two, smiled. She had known there would be something like this. And so she waited, grinning. She was proud of Quartz.

The people of Gemora all stood in acknowledgement of Quartz's entrance, and clapped simultaneously. Quartz smiled from ear to ear, though she was completely and utterly nervous. Kyanite, Amethyst, Elizabeth, her mother- they were all here. She hadn't ever expected something as big as this. Her dress felt scratchy, her hair was pulled tightly, so tight it hurt, but she enjoyed it. All of it, especially how proud everyone seemed. And that wasn't that often.

"And so I bestow this Heart, the Grand possession of Gemora, to Miss Quartzia Gemora, who has, yesterday, made a statement at the Grand Battle. She will be the first inferior to own this, and, as she has decreed, will not be the last." The smoky-skinned pastor-like man finished, feeling over Quartz's knuckles. The crowd cheered.

"As well as this beautiful ceremony, we shall also being sending our farewells to a certain non-Gemorian." The pastor said, feeling over Elizabeth's knuckles. "So, I ask you, in the name of our new Grandeur," He looked to Quartz. "Please cross your fingers over your hearts and say the Farewell."

The people began to do what they'd been told, and then pushed those crossed fingers towards Elizabeth.

As she felt their powerful Farewell, the world seemed to turn around in a circle, like when she spun around as a child. She saw her newly-made friends, and waved when they did. And then the entire world went black.

Elizabeth fell onto a garden chair, presumably the one she had in her garden. She could quite clearly hear the noises of Essop's pet bird, Ginny. She could hear her father's laughter. And she was very glad to be home. She opened the back door of her house, the one that led to the garden she was currently in, and ran through. Her father and brothers turned to her. "Did you climb over the wall again, Bettie?" Emmanuel grinned. Elizabeth shushed him, grinning too. "No. And that was a secret, Em." She ruffled his hair. "So, where have you been, Bettie?"

"Yeah, what did you do?"

She turned to Essop, who had abandoned his sit-in. "Tell us!"

She grinned. "I went on an adventure."

"What kind?" She was flooded with questions.

And she looked to the side. She pulled out the gem shard, and smiled. "The best kind."