Stars Of Memory

Chapter 30

She lightly touches the first crystal, a silver one, with her fingers and it flares up brightly with light.

She turns to the two on the balcony. "What does that mean?"

They don't respond, but her mother motions for her to continue down the row of crystals. Jīvitaya sighs but complies, touching the next crystal, a soft gold one. It doesn't light up, but the next one, a dark blue one, does. It flares up, but its light is much weaker than the light of the first one. The next one to light up is a soft blue one, flaring up brighter than the dark blue but not quite as bright as the silver. The one beside it is a beautiful emerald green, and it flares up almost as bright as the silver. The rest of the crystals don't light up except for a fiery red crystal which emits a weak light. Something is different with the last of the crystals in the line, a clear one. When she touches it, its light eclipses all of the others, even the silver one, and then it fades away.

She descends the steps and waits for her mother and the man to join her. But surprisingly, the man instead goes to a workbench hidden in the shadows at the bottom of the platform. Jīvitaya tries to peer around him to see what he is doing, but he waves her off and her mother pulls her away.

"What's he doing?"

"Shush."

Jīvitaya groans. "Why? I want to know!"

Her mother sighs. "Can you let him finish first? Then I'll explain what he doesn't."

"Fine."

A few moments later, the man finishes with the workbench and turns around, holding something in his hands. Jīvitaya tries to peer closer at it, but he hands it to her before she can. She looks down at it, to see that it is a pendant. It is shaped out of crystals into a spiral, with a clear one at the center and a red one at the outermost edge. With a start, she realizes that the crystals are arranged the same way they lit up on the platform, with the brightest in the center and the weakest on the edge. She frowns at it slightly, still confused.

"What is it?"

The old man responds. "It is a representation of your powers."

Then he turns away, and Jīvitaya is left even more confused, as she now has even more questions than before with practically no answers. Her mother pulls her out of the room and then lets go, still walking down the corridor. Jīvitaya follows numbly, slipping the pendant into her pocket, as her mother leads her out of the palace and back to the woods. She finds a clearing and sits down, and Jīvitaya moves to sit across from her.

"Will you please tell me what happened now?"

Her mother sighs but smiles slightly. "We just tested you for your powers."

Jīvitaya groans. "That didn't help at all, mom."

She abruptly stops speaking, but the word has already exited her mouth. She stares down at the ground, embarrassed. She feels a hand tilt her chin up until she is staring into her mother's silver eyes, which are slightly watery at the moment.

"Please don't feel embarrassed about calling me that. I want you to call me mom. If you aren't ready now, then you aren't ready. But I hope that you will be ready someday."

Jīvitaya nods and picks at the grass with her fingers. "Will you please, please actually explain what is going on? I'm not used to the way life goes here. I don't understand."

Her mother nods and starts speaking. "I'll start with who the man was. He is our apothecary, healer, and the Correllia, or crystal caretaker. He is the only one who can control and shape the crystals. Without him, we can't find out our powers as easily, we would just discover them as they appear."

Jīvitaya snorts softly, but her mother doesn't notice and continues. "What the crystals show for you is that you are very strong in air, almost as strong in nature. The nature bit isn't a surprise. You are medium strength in spirit, like me, you are almost medium strength in water, and you are weak in fire. Then there is the clear crystal . . ."

Jīvitaya notices that her mother stopped speaking, seemingly confused. "What about the clear crystal? What does it represent?"

Her mother frowns. "We don't actually know. That crystal has never been known to light up before, so we don't know what power it represents."

Jīvitaya frowns. "Does that mean I have to figure it out on my own?"

Her mother nods. "I'm afraid so." She stands up and extends an arm to Jīvitaya. "Are you ready to head back? We can start teaching you how to use some of your powers."

Jīvitaya shakes her head. "Can I stay out here for a while longer?"

Her mother nods. "Of course you can stay out here. You really like the forest, don't you?"

Jīvitaya grins. "I always have."

Her mother smiles and pats her on the arm before stepping to the tree line and exiting the forest, turning back to call over her shoulder. "Try to be back before dark?"

Jīvitaya nods. "Of course."

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We are halfway done now! 120 google docs pages in. What do you think the mystery power is?

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.