Treasure for All

7. Locations

The rest of the crew met up later that afternoon and headed back to the ship. Hongjoong didn't hesitate to call a meeting in the boardroom after Jongho was given cold, raw meat for his eye. He wasn't angry at the youngest crewmember, but he was disappointed that he used his hands against another civilian. However, Jongho had a good reason to fight.

"No woman should be treated like that," he had stated. "Especially not any of my sisters. He deserved to have his face smashed."

The captain didn't scold him. Jongho was an adult, and Hongjoong wasn't his mother; but he did punish him by not allowing him to join them in their next exploration of a city. He was put on ship watch.

Now in the boardroom, Hongjoong unrolled the first scroll on his desk and Celestia stood next to him with a notepad, ready to decipher any riddles there might be. She blew some of he dust away, causing Yunho to sneeze.

"Bless you," Phoebe said.

The scroll was well aged with time and about the size of standard printing paper when rolled out. The string tied to it was deteriorating, the paper was brittle, and the writing was faded but still readable. It didn't seem to be more that at least three hundred years old.

Celestia took her magnifying glass and began to read:

"-In a place where the water never ceases

-Where the mountains of the snow barely touch the sky and the air never warms

-The mausoleum of a great and forgotten queen, her husband's love is legendary

-Men fought to death, Christians died for peace, and animals were mocked

-An emperor rests here, lost and nearly forgotten. His greatest achievement occurred after death

-Playwrights, warriors, women, and poets walked the streets all for the same purpose. The great Athena stood watch

-The Huns passed it despite all that was done to keep them out, before the great Yuan. She was the pinnacle of protection.

-Stones of blue and grey, death and magic all as one. A great clock, an altar perhaps? Only those of a time before Congregation know.

My time is coming to an end. I have seen the world for all of its glory and wonders, but in my findings, I'm leaving a treasure. This treasure filled with precious stones, gold, and silver will belong to those with the kindest hearts and the bravest souls. For those individuals, I ask that you use it for not only your own good, but for the good of their fellow man. The diamond I had carried is the key to unlocking its capsule, but I have divided it into eight pieces and hidden them in various places around the world.

A warning to those whom take this journey: others will be after this treasure but for more selfish reasons. This journey is not for the faint of heart. You will be tested, but remember to trust in each other and your instincts. Remember one thing as you go along: gold and precious stones won't be the only treasures you find.

-F.W."

"You'd think it'd be a little more dark and mysterious," Dinah joked, "but it's kind of just in your face already."

"Well, let's try to figure out the clues," Celestia replied. She read the bullet points on the scrolls about two more times before writing on her note pad. Phoebe had her laptop with her and began typing away at something.

"I can tell you now that number seven is The Great Wall of China," the archaeologist continued. "And clue number two is the Rockies in Colorado."

"Good start," Hongjoong nodded.

"Number six is Acropolis in Greece," Grace-Anne spoke up. "The name 'Athena' gave it away."

"Number eight sounds like Stonehenge," San chimed in.

"Correct," his wife nodded. "And numbers one, three, four, and five are Niagara Falls, Taj Mahal, the Coliseum, and the Great Pyramid of Giza."

The rest of the crew looked at her in astonishment.

"How?" was all Dinah could manage to get out.

"I read a lot of history books growing up," Celestia smiled.

"Well, I just looked up where three pieces of the diamond were discovered," Phoebe set her laptop on the desk and turned it towards everyone else, "The two sitting in the Smithsonian were discovered at Stonehenge and in China, and the missing one was found in Greece."

"Well, that saves us three extra trips," Hongjoong said. "So we'll be heading to Egypt, Colorado, India, Italy, and New York."

"I thought Niagara Falls was in the Venezuela," Mingi spoke up. "That waterfall we saw a few months ago."

"That was Angel Falls," the captain replied.

"Oh."

"Where do we start, captain?" Seonghwa asked.

Hongjoong pulled out one of his maps and pinned it to the corkboard behind him. With a red marker, he began circling the general locations of each famous sight.

"I'll map everything out tonight," he promised, "and our journey will start the day after tomorrow since I'm keeping my promise of having our one day vacation."

"Do Mingi and I need to set a course and navigations?" San asked.

"Later. For now, meeting adjourned."           

...

Dishes.

It was a chore everyone hated to do, but it needed to be done. Yunho and Grace-Anne both liked having clean spaces to cook in. They took turns doing the dishes each night, and it just happened to be Grace-Anne's turn after dinner. She had the radio on to help the time go by and make cleaning seem not as boring.  Grace-Anne hated dish duty growing up, but she didn't mind it as it became more routine since joining The HALA's crew.

Her hand became to cramp up. Setting the sponge down, she massaged and stretched her palm and fingers. She glanced over at the remained unclean dishes. Only two left.

Good, she thought.

A pair of hands sat on her waist and soft, plush lips began trailing kisses from her cheek down her neck and onto her shoulder.

"Miss me that bad, Seonghwa?" Grace-Anne laughed at her fiancé's sudden affections.

He rested his chin on the crook of her neck and whined, "I'm lonely."

She turned her head and kissed just above his eyebrow. "I'm almost done, babe."

Seonghwa kept his embrace on her as she finished cleaning and drying the last two plates. After setting them on the drying rack, she dried off her hands with a towel and turned to face her fiancé. Throwing her arms around his neck, her lips met his. His arms wrapped around her more tightly in a loving embrace. The kiss deepened, Seonghwa refusing to let her go anytime soon. She enjoyed moments like this. When it was just the two of them, every problem in the world just seemed to melt away into oblivion. No tears, no storms, just happiness.

An exasperated sigh sounded from behind them. The couple broke the kiss to see who interrupted their moment of bliss only to find Yunho dressed in his pajamas with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Can I please come into the kitchen to get a snack without seeing you two sucking each other's faces off?" he asked as he picked up an apple.