Chapter 16 #2
Tala’s serene features faltered before she said, “That’s my cue. Arche, please see Aela back to her quarters when she’s finished. Don’t mind the Lion either—Tarek’s orders. Tabitha, as always, thank you for the tea and your hospitality.”
Tabitha, unfazed and not offering an apology for referring to a shortcoming of their Prime Apparent, simply took Tala’s hands between hers, giving them a gentle squeeze. Tala and Tabitha rose from their chairs and spoke in hushed tones as Tabitha escorted the Adjacent out of her shop.
“The gnarled root. She’s getting too old for this,” Arche mumbled.
Perhaps the Taureons weren’t as aligned with their Prime Apparent as he believed them to be. The thought made Aela hide a smile behind her cup as she savored her tea. Before Aela set her teacup on the low table, Tabitha was weaving her way back through the display cases.
“Right then. The Adjacent said you are to be outfitted. So tell me, lina, what can I get you?”
Aela glanced between Arche and Tabitha. “I’m not sure you’ll have what I’d like, but I’ll start with quartz—rose, smoky, and clear—celestite, hematite…
” Aela rambled off what she considered her essentials.
Arche openly gawked at her, and Tabitha didn’t mask her wide smile at the hefty sum Aela accrued.
When she finished, Tabitha cackled, which startled Arche into spilling tea on his black uniform.
Cursing, he dabbed at his sodden pants with a scarf Aela pulled from behind her chair.
“I’m making him pay for that too,” Tabitha chimed from over her shoulder as she busied herself among the crystal displays while muttering something about priceless fabrics.
Unable to contain her curiosity, Aela took her tea with her and hovered behind the shopkeeper to watch as Tabitha expertly plucked stone after stone from the selection.
“I’ll have to see about some of the others you asked for,” Tabitha said. “If not, I’m sure Arche can acquire what you need.” A strange look passed between Tabitha and Arche, who had come to stand on the other side of shopkeeper.
Aela furrowed her groomed eyebrows. “If it will set you back, I can scale down.”
“It’s not that,” Arche interrupted. “The crone is forgetful in her old age, is all.” Aela and Tabitha hissed an admonishment at him in unison, which dispelled the offense and caused both females to roll their eyes at each other, silently communicating: males.
“Sorry about the scarf,” Aela muttered into the growing silence.
“Agh,” Tabitha waved away Aela’s apology. “He is right, though. I forget myself. Fate has been fickle of late,” she said with a hint of bite to it. “Celestite is an odd request, though, is it not, Arche? Not a crystal often wielded by earthen elementals.”
Fates.
Not wanting to rush to her own defense, Aela trailed her hands over the crystal display in front of her. “It is fairly uncommon. I happened upon a small portion of it and grew oddly attached. Perhaps another gem keeper in the city might—”
“—I am the best in the city, lina.”
Aela narrowed her eyes. She knew she wasn’t supposed to be anyone important, but between calling her a youngling, speaking over her, and threads of conversation she didn’t know about, it all steadily stoked her temper.
“If I don’t have it, no one does.”
“Well, should I come back to collect everything, or are you able to send it up to the palace?”
A smirk danced on Tabitha’s face. “Oh, we’ll get it nice and packaged for you. Isn’t that right, Arche? Help an old crone, would you?” Aela began to turn away and exit the shop when Tabitha’s next words halted her steps.
“You can’t expect to leave yet without attuning, can you?”
“Of course not,” Aela recovered quickly, turning back. Sweat beaded on the nape of her neck.
Tabitha gestured to the imbuing counter in the back of her shop, met her behind the display case, and motioned for Aela to stand in front of her. “Where are you from exactly?” Tabitha asked.
Aela’s eyes swept the length of the female she could see behind the counter before darting her gaze back to Arche, who remained at one of the crystal displays, doing a poor job of pretending he wasn’t eavesdropping.
“Not from here,” she dragged her eyes back to Tabitha, “but neither are you.”
“Oh, I like you!” Tabitha laughed.
“Just… for the love of the Gods, Tabitha, please get on with it,” Arche groaned as he came to Aela’s side.
“You’re in a mood today,” Tabitha noted.
“You could say that,” Arche grumbled under his breath before he took Aela’s tea from her hands and drained the rest.
“I think you need something stronger,” Aela said with a frown.
Arche only nodded as he set down the empty cup. “I’ll be waiting outside.”
Once Arche was gone, Tabitha reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a shard of selenite.
“If you won’t tell me where you’re from or why you don’t already have an attuned selenite shard, at least tell me how much you know about the attuning process so I know where to begin.”
“I have selenite that Tarek gave me,” Aela said and retrieved the rectangular crystal from a side pocket of her flowing sea-foam dress trimmed with delicate golden appliqué.
“I’m well acquainted with the properties of crystals,” she continued with a small amount of satisfaction as the topic of intense study came up. “Though, I will admit, most of what I’m familiar with is not so… refined.”
“Ah, yes, that. It’s a good thing Arche stepped out, otherwise he’d have an apoplexy for me telling you.” Tabitha’s tone shifted into one of concern. She lifted Aela’s selenite shard from the glass counter and held it aloft.
“You’ve already seen how Tarek likes things done a certain way,” Tabitha took a deep breath.
“Our Prime Apparent is a collector, you see. He’s so afraid of losing what power he clawed from the remains of the post-war realm that he’ll do anything to keep it.
Even if the cost is diluting his own constellation’s power and turning us into his own source. ”
Tabitha snapped Aela’s selenite shard in half.
“Now we’re dependent on these imitations.
” Tabitha’s eyes glistened. “I believe Tarek started out the right way, only wanting to protect his House, ensure our survival… but with each crystal deposit we tracked down from fallen Houses, the more desperate he became. He is obsessed to the point of madness. He tasked those of his Line who are particularly gifted with replicating materials to duplicate our crystal stores.”
Tabitha set the broken selenite between them.
Aela lightly traced her finger on the crystal shard.
Whole, it was about the length of her middle finger and milky white with a slight pearlescent sheen that caught the light of the room.
It was soft to the touch where a fingernail scratch could mar the surface.
“These are all copies? And with each duplication they—”
“—grow less potent,” Tabitha finished.
Regardless of all the unknown history between them, a shared experience of being trapped, used, and manipulated filled the space where words could not.
Tabitha swallowed and broke Aela’s gaze, staring firmly at the crystal bands around her own wrists. “Who are you, Aela?”
Aela shook her head. Tabitha’s words were an icy wave, sobering her mind. “I’m no one.” Gathering her broken selenite, she made to leave. “I’m sorry to have bothered you.”
“Fate sent you to help us.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“But you must,” Tabitha beseeched. “Surely you must have seen by now.”
Aela hesitated. At her continued silence, Tabitha dipped her chin in acquiescence. “At least let’s get your selenite properly attuned.”
The shopkeeper discarded the broken selenite Tarek had given her and pulled an unrefined shard from within the display case. Motioning for Aela to extend her hands out in front of her with her palms facing upward, Tabitha placed the gleaming selenite across her palms.
“Focus your intention on the stone, invite it in. Welcome the connection.”
Aela closed her eyes, rejecting her uncertainty.
Her shoulders melted away from her ears as she focused on the cool feel of the selenite on her upturned palms. She narrowed her mind on the properties of the crystal, seeking the energy within the stone.
It warmed. When she blinked and transferred the stone to one hand, she sensed a subtle connection to it, firing off a mental message to Zosma.
Your friend seems to know more than she should. What did you tell her?
“He likely altered your previous selenite to control who you could contact. This is completely yours,” Tabitha said.
“Thank you.” Aela hadn’t considered that. Not that she had tried sending messages to anyone; she just let them come to her. She wasn’t trying to build ties here and didn’t want to put down roots. She didn’t belong. But it seemed Fate had other plans.