The War Must Go On ~ Book 1: Gemaris Island

Chapter 10: The Gem Shop

Book 1: Gemaris Island

Chapter 10: The Gem Shop

It still wasn't that dark. Amien and Ora had some time before the theater performance at the Opera House, and they still hadn't arrived there yet. Mainly because something caught Ora's eye and made her scurry off the path, causing Amien to chase after her.

"Ora. What now?" he asked, panting as he stopped beside her.

"Well, just look, Amien. It's right in front of you!" Ora threw her hand out to point at the small, cozy building in front of her.

Amien hadn't seen it from the street. It was way off the path, covered mostly by the purple and green trees drooping onto the building's reddish-brown rooftop. Amien noticed on top of the roof sat a giant blue diamond-shaped gem that failed to sparkle in the sunlight since it was shaded by leafy branches.

Above the door to the shop read a sign of silver gold letters: THE GEM SHOP.

"How did you see this from the street?" Amien asked in disbelief, turning around and seeing how far away they were from the path. He couldn't even see the stone path anymore. It was obscured by seafoam green bushes with tiny pearl white flowers.

"I don't know! I just love gems so much, I guess!" Ora exclaimed, bursting into the small building.

Amien shook his head and stepped into the sparkling shop. There were gems everywhere. On the walls, on every shelf of course, and even stuck in the ground. They were walking on gems of all different shapes, colors and textures. Actually, a lot of them were opaque stones with either a smooth or rough texture. All the colors hurt Amien's eyes, but Ora was looking closely at every single gem there was to look at.

"Ora," he said in a low voice, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "I don't mean to pull you away from this...house of rainbow rocks, but we need to get going. We should at least be looking for, you know. The person who can actually help us with...our..."

"Our theater story," Ora said to him, holding up a finger. "Yes Amien. But it can wait. We have time until the theater performance tonight."

"Right. I'm saying we should use that time to find..."

Amien stopped himself as he pointed something out to Ora in a red velvet box. It was a clear, colorless diamond.

"Her," he said, smiling at Ora.

"Right. I know," she replied, looking away. "I just really like gems. And stones. They're so pretty!"

"I think that's the point of them," Amien mentioned, arching one of his eyebrows. He wasn't frustrated, however. "I think the diamond is my favorite gem."

"Really? Why?" Ora asked.

"Because at first glance, it appears boring and empty, void of all color and character," Amien said in a quiet voice.

Suddenly, he moved all around the gem, peering at it from different angles.

"Aha!" he exclaimed, suddenly grabbing Ora's shoulders and pulling her beside him.

There was a window on the far wall behind the diamond. The little light that was left outside hit the gem perfectly, allowing it to light up with a hundred sparkles of different colors.

"But when you approach it from a different perspective," Amien continued, grinning, "it has an ocean of hidden colors to show."

Ora gasped, smiling as she examined the web of colors within the triangular diamond, resting in its open box. Suddenly, her smile grew wider as she turned to Amien and said one word: