Legend of the Jumi Part I, Chapter 5
Sapphire
By The Mana Priestess
The Jumi’s “coming of age” is a certain number of years that equal to that of an 18-years old for humans. Due to their restrictive, conservative society, a man of age or older being involved with a girl not yet of age is considered a crime, unless a special permission for an early marriage/guardianship is obtained.
.
One quiet, blue afternoon towards the end of October, some time before Elazul’s friendship with Amber had been broken, he was walking in the mazelike palace gardens commonly known as the Labyrinth. He was off-duty at the time, and sought a little peace and quiet; and pausing by a stone wall covered with climbing roses (now a bare, thorny network of intertwining branches) he seated himself on a narrow marble bench just beneath it. His mood was meandering at best, somewhat like the twisting, rambling path of the bare garden he had been traversing, and he was thinking of nothing in particular.
It therefore took him several minutes to notice that he was not alone in that part of the labyrinth. He gradually became aware of the presence of another figure, that he spotted out of the corner of his eye. The figure, that Elazul recognized to be female, was leaning against a wall whose workings were entirely obscured by trailing ivy. The figure was small and slight, and Elazul could tell that it was a young girl by her clothes.
Elazul was not particularly acquainted with any young Jumi girls except Emeralda, and he was aware that there was something slightly improper about the situation in which a young man and a schoolgirl not yet of age were thrown together in a solitary place. He deliberated for a moment between the sense that he ought to leave and the wish to know why she was alone in that part of the palace; but presently he rose to his feet and decided on the former choice.
Until that point the girl seemed to be staring vaguely into the garden without paying much attention to anything in particular, and Elazul could barely glimpse her face beyond the dark hair that waved around it; but his movement seemed to suddenly make her aware that she as not alone. She swerved her head in his direction, and upon seeing Elazul she turned fully towards him with a quick motion. Elazul found himself looking at a slender girl with the most incredible eyes that he had ever seen, and he couldn’t help staring at her for a moment.
He could immediately see that she was not, as he had previously thought, younger than Emeralda. Rather, he found himself facing a delicate-looking young woman of very small stature. Her schoolgirl uniform indicated that she was not, however, yet of age; they consisted of a long-sleeved blue shirt and a billowing skirt of dark cobalt silk cut just above her knees. Long, thick hair framed her white countenance and fell down her back in rippling waves. Her oval little face was dominated by great eyes with a slightly exotic slant to them, whose beautiful, intense, and very pure blue color was somewhat darker than Elazul’s own. Their aspect was distant and abstract, and somewhat dreamy, and she stared at Elazul for a few moments without saying anything.
The girl’s modest shirt closed up to her neck, and Elazul could not see her core; but from the present makeup of her colors he could guess her to be the Jumi of Sapphire.
After a moment of hesitation Elazul decided that conversation was inevitable. The girl’s eyes were fixed on him uncertainly; she seemed a little apprehensive, and Elazul immediately guessed that her lonely venture into the garden had not been sanctioned by her elders.
“Did I startle you?” he asked her. “I’m sorry.”
But she only lowered her eyes and fixed them on the fresh, rain-drenched grass at her feet without making a response. Elazul did not think that this beginning particularly encouraging, but he continued to speak.
“I did not mean to encroach on your privacy. I was seeking a little solitude, myself.”
She replied now, with a very soft, low voice. “It’s— it’s all right. I didn’t mind it.”
Elazul deliberated over taking the course of action any adult would; to ask her whether she meant to join anyone nearby soon, whether a guardian or a schoolmate. But he did not feel a particular wish to appear in the light of a disciplinarian, a position for which he had little taste; and on the other hand, he was thoroughly aware that tarrying around this girl would open him to suspicions if anyone found out about it. He now noticed that there was an expression of lingering melancholy in her countenance, and it struck him that she didn’t seem like a particularly happy person; uneasily, he became instinctively aware of a premonition that too much inquiry will lead to some kind of an undesired involvement in a situation that he might not be able to handle, and it made him apprehensive. He therefore opted for the easy way out.
“I must go now,” he said, turning and speaking over his shoulder. “Perhaps you should do the same soon.”
And upon that parting remark he continued in the opposite direction of the complicated paths of the labyrinth. His wary curiousity about the girl soon subsided before other, more pressing concerns, and as he did not meet her again, he soon forgot her completely.
But the effects of “The Amber affair” turned out to have results more far-reaching than either Alex or Elazul had anticipated; and although Elazul felt at least one sharp repercussion of his conversation with Alex on that night, regarding the state of his own irresolute feelings, the extended results of it became apparent only little by little.
.
A gentle evening nearing the middle of November, a little over a week since the friendship between Elazul and Amber had been broken, found Diana and Rubens engaged in a private conversation in Diana’s favorite room in the palace, the morning-room. The room was furnished with the rare and most expensive items in the palace, and decorated tastefully in colors of snow, crimson and dim gold. Diana wore her official white gown, with the ceremonial golden cloth of office with its saffron patterns tied around her waist and flowing down to her feet; and her colors merged well with her surroundings.
Rubens was sitting on the white sofa at her side, leaning comfortably against the red pillows. He was holding a glass of yellow champagne, that he was shaking idly with his hand in gentle, circular motions, barely tasting a sip of the liquid as he listened to Diana recount the events of the day. They have been conversing for almost an hour now, since sunset, and Diana had paused for a moment after she finished her recital. She was gazing at her hands, folded neatly in her lap, and suddenly she said,
“Rubens, I wanted to meet you here because I wished to discuss a very specific matter with you.”
Rubens watched her with some attention, and the aimless movement of his hand slowed. “Is it something important?”
A slight frown marred Diana’s brow, but then she said lucidly enough: “Yes and no, I suppose. It concerns the Lapis Lazuli.”
“Hmm,” was Rubens’ noncommittal answer. “The Lapis Lazuli again.”
“Again is true,” answered Diana. “And again, Rubens, is also too much.”
“And what happened now to merit this severe indictment?” questioned Rubens. He was mildly surprised at Diana’s tone, but did not feel particularly worried. Elazul had been the talk of the court for months now, and the gossip was getting old to Rubens’ taste. He never liked court gossip, and he supposed (and, for the sake of Elazul, also hoped) that eventually the frivolous attention that the Lapis Lazuli knight received would pass in favor of fresher material. He did wonder, however, what happened to merit Diana’s particular attention.
Diana fixed her eyes on the antique lamp, that diffused a soft golden glow, and when she spoke again her tone was circumspect. “As you know, Amber has determined, against my warning, to involve him in an affair.”
Rubens has heard a snatch of this information before, and it did not particularly please him; for, though he liked Amber, he thought that it would be unfortunate that Elazul would become the focus of a woman like her. But, as he heard nothing more of it, he had supposed it came to naught and soon forgot about it. “From this I infer that she actually succeeded, Diana?” he asked cautiously.
“I have warned her against it, but she ignored me,” answered Diana, her fingers tapping on her knee now in a rhythmical manner that Rubens recognized to signal disapproval. “I had not supposed, however, that she will have much success, because of his well-known infatuation with Black Pearl. But a few days ago she recounted what happened to me, and it seemed that she almost managed to draw him into something, and it was foiled only through interference.”
“Interference?” Rubens repeated, an eyebrow rising in inquiry.
“I will tell you about that later,” answered Diana. “What displeases me, Rubens, is the fact that he almost capitulated to Amber’s advances.”
“And why is that worrisome to you?” asked Rubens. He was somewhat curious as to why Elazul’s affairs would absorb Diana so much, and waited for her explanation.
A cool, mirthless smile curved Diana’s mouth, and she leant back against the ornamented cushions. “Think about it. That young man has successfully resisted being assigned with a guardian for many years now— I suspect, Rubens, that this indicated a kind of a stubborn refusal to relinquish his freedom to the city’s concerns; and somehow we relaxed the rules for him simply because of his skills as a knight. In my opinion, this had been a mistake, for he never learned to maintain any sort of responsibility towards society. I am simply concerned that, now that he became involved with the highest levels of Jumi society, in which he had not been previously involved, he will end up embroiling himself in some kind of an indiscretion, an impropriety.”
Rubens could now perceive that she was in earnest about this matter. He leant forward and settled the glass in his hand on the table, focusing his attention on Diana. He had been acquainted with her for many years now, and knew that for her any disruption to the social structure, any apprehension of a scandal, was one of the gravest condemnations she could bestow; and he felt uneasy for Elazul when she spoke this way. He therefore thought it expedient to object on his behalf. “Surely you don’t think— a girl not yet of age? It isn’t like Elazul.”
“I don’t know what to think,” answered Diana, “but I have a premonition that nothing good will result if we don’t provide a reign over his actions soon. I previously regarded this matter with some leniency, for I confess that I was glad that he seemed to finally settle down and participate in the affairs of the city; but I had thought that the situation with Black Pearl might cause him to mature a little. Now I see that he is far from being settled in his habits, and I have decided that he requires an anchor to steady him down a little.”
Rubens now caught the drift of her words. “I see. You mean to coerce him into acquiring a guardian. He will resist it, Diana; I rather suspect that he will simply leave the city again.”
Diana uncrossed her arm and shifted in her seat, her fingers pressing against her lips in thought. “He will not, not this time,” she replied. “When he left fifteen years ago he had no parents, no siblings, no ties to hold him to this city. But the situation has changed.”
“You mean Black Pearl,” supplied Rubens.
“Yes, and no.” Diana was frowning now. “Black Pearl is one aspect of it; but I think that it would be correct to also include Florina and Alex into the calculation.” She glanced at Rubens. “It was Alex who foiled Amber’s attempt to seduce Elazul.”
Rubens was slightly surprised, but he wasn’t quite sure what this might portend, so he said nothing, and Diana continued:
“Elazul’s friendship with Alex is yet another matter to which I have given some thought. I must confess that I don’t like what I have heard about it at all. There is something about this Alex that seems to me unorthodox to an extreme, and from what I understand he possesses some kind of a curious influence over Elazul. I would call their friendship odd in the least. It seems like it has undergone several ruptures, which always involved Alex upsetting Elazul in some way; yet, despite it, Elazul always seems to gravitate back towards him.”
Rubens now straightened a little, his gaze shooting towards Diana. “Surely you don’t think— an aberration of some sort—“
Diana’s lips pursed. “I should hope so, for this city does not tolerate these aberrations. But,” she added, with a lightness that Rubens immediately recognized to be false, “it can’t be, of course, because of Black Pearl and Florina. Even so, I still don’t like it. It’s as if a strong bond of mutual empathy formed between them that Elazul refuses to relinquish despite the trouble it brings him. All this simply shows me that he tends to fixate on people he cares about, and this kind of a possessive streak can be extremely troublesome if it’s not properly channeled. And the fact that it’s unfortunately directed towards this—“ she spoke the name with distaste— “this Alex at the moment makes it worse than otherwise.”
Rubens privately reflected that for some reason Diana seemed to consider this aspect the worst one of Elazul’s situation; but he didn’t inquire why it should be so, supposing instead that Diana was worried that one non-conformist mind endorsing another will only lead to trouble.
“What we need to do, as you guessed,” Diana continued, her tone now decisive, “is to get Elazul to agree to be paired with a guardian. A new relationship will endow him with responsibility, and will serve to divert his mind from his other connections.”
“Wait, Diana,” Rubens said, raising his hand. “What about Black Pearl? What would she think of it?”
“Black Pearl always considers the good of our society before her personal concerns,” answered Diana with her clear, precise voice. “If she comes back and still wishes to have him for a lover— which, at this point, I am beginning to doubt— she could easily do so with proper discretion. If she finds she cannot, I promise you that she won’t waste a thought on it. I have never seen her setting her personal matters before the good of the city, nor get emotionally involved with anyone strongly enough to do so. I sometimes even doubt whether any of her previous connections ever included an actual emotional attachment.”
Rubens was silent. He knew that Diana, with her habitual efficiency, had mulled the solution to this situation over in her mind prior to this conversation; and he waited for her to produce her conclusion. Diana now spoke briskly. “Because of the Lapis Lazuli’s character, we must proceed about it with some caution, and this is why I shall need you to give it some personal attention. The guardian will need to be a young girl—just come of age, or a little after it, preferably attractive in appearance, and who have not had a relationship yet. I have already took the measure of this young man; he is one of those idealistic types that pursue their notion of a pure sort of love.”
“An old-fashioned type?” asked Rubens with a slight smile.
Diana shrugged. “I suppose you can call him a prig,” she answered, unconsciously echoing the hated Alex’s observation. “Like his type, he wants a girl that he believes to be solely in his possession, so to speak.”
“Yet this,” said Rubens dryly, “doesn’t seem to me to quite fit his falling in love with Black Pearl.”
“Then it’s an infatuation,” Diana answered abruptly. “Why else would he be tempted by Amber? Besides, Black Pearl is a special case; I am speaking of ordinary women.”
“And you truly believe that the simple fact of the knight-guardian bonding will serve to divert his mind from Black Pearl?”
“If we plan it carefully, perhaps,” answered Diana. “We shall tell him to accompany her on a trip to the outside world. By the time they return, they will have been together long enough to hopefully form some emotional attachment. Remember; we need to find an ordinary enough girl for him, that will still possess some special attraction; and it will be best if she’s the gentle type that needs his protection, for his nature is to be protective towards people weaker than himself, and it will appeal to his compassionate side.” Coolly, she added, “One to ten I can guarantee to you that the girl will fall in love with him; and once she bonds with him emotionally, he will feel that to pursue another woman at her expense will be a betrayal.”
“I cannot add anything,” murmured Rubens. “It seems that you have thought this through, Diana.”
“Precisely,” she answered. “I would be sorry to lose Elazul’s valuable services to this city. If he wishes for a relationship upon which to vent his emotions, we might as well channel him in a socially acceptable direction; otherwise, I’m afraid that I will not be able to tolerate his presence in this society.”
Rubens’ smile was wry, and a little melancholy. “You sometimes frighten me, Diana, the way you treat peoples’ emotions like so much pieces of chattel, to be examined and fitted neatly into their own proper little squares in the chessboard of society.”
An amused light now entered Diana’s eyes, and the coldly rational expression in them vanished. “Am I too calculating, my dear? It’s unfortunately necessary to keep our social structure firmly intact. Improperly vented emotions, diverging beliefs will only serve to destroy it.” She examined Rubens’ countenance, and could see that he was tapping his lip with one finger in a thoughtful fashion. “What is it?” she asked, smiling now.
“I believe—“ Rubens said slowly, “that I know of the perfect match for your case, Diana.”
.
It was a fine afternoon in the middle of November, a few days after the conversation between Diana and Rubens. The sky glinted with a fresh, icy azure, and the pale sunlight illuminated the gardens surrounding the royal Jumi palace. Knights and ladies sauntered the beautiful green grounds in a leisurely fashion, conversing among themselves about the latest news; and young women and girls of the privileged Jumi nobility who finished their study hours in the royal academy strolled the paths together, giggling and gossiping among themselves.
Three of these young women were presently sitting on the edge of a marble fountain, near a path that cut between neatly-pruned rose trees. Two of them were sisters, members of a fairly prominent family in the Jumi hierarchy, for their father was the brother of the previous Clarius.
The eldest was a Jumi of amethyst, a fine-looking young woman somewhat younger than Elazul, with eyes of the cool violet color that characterized her core. Her smooth hair, parted across her brow and tied up with an ivory comb decorated with tiny lavender jewels, was a rich purple hue. She was decked in a white gown laced with mauve ribbons, whose elegant cut accentuated her slender figure. Her manner and bearing exuded a cold composure magnified by her sense of the elevated stature she enjoyed in the Jumi society.
Her younger sister was a Jumi of aquamarine, a very pretty girl a little older than Emeralda, with large azure eyes and long, bright hair. Unlike her sister, whose graceful gown manifested her coming-of-age status, she was decked in a schoolgirl’s uniform, which consisted of a woolen sweater of a muted cerulean hue and a short green skirt. She had a very different character than her elder sister, for she appeared flighty and giddy and somewhat empty-headed.
The third girl was their cousin, a silent young woman dressed in blue, somewhat younger than Amethyst. She barely uttered a word to intrude into the stream of constant, inconsequential talk carried on by the two sisters.
“Ami,” the aquamarine Jumi said, interrupting her eldest sister suddenly as the amethyst Jumi was speaking of some matters pertaining to the academy, that she privately considered exceedingly dull. “There’s some people coming our way.”
Amethyst paused and shielded her eyes against the bright winter sun. “You’re right, Marina,” she answered. “And— oh goodness, no! I do believe that it’s that awful brat, Emeralda.”
“I hope that she didn’t come this way to discuss her studies with me,” said the aquamarine Jumi rather fretfully. “It’s tiresome, how she goes on and on about it.”
“I agree with you on this point at least,” said her sister with distaste. “I could never stand that odious child. She always had this insufferable air of know-it-all about her, even though she was the youngest of our class. But who’s that boy at her side?”
“Her prospective knight, maybe,” Marina guessed with a titter.
“He’s so thin and pale,” Amethyst remarked with a disapproving tightening of her mouth; but her sister suddenly exclaimed, “Hey— I think that’s Snow! You know, Ami, the Cursed Jumi. I didn’t know that he went out on these cold days.”
“That makes things twice as bad,” said her sister, her lip curling. “I never liked him either. They’re a fitting pair, all right; one is equally as detestable as the other.”
“I don’t know,” said Marina, staring at Snow with her bright eyes wide open. “He improved.“
Amethyst bestowed a disparaging look on her sister at this remark, which produced a giggle on Marina’s part; and in the distance, Emeralda paused when she perceived the three Jumi girls.
“Darn,” she said.
Snow paused on cue. “What is it?” he asked.
“It’s Sapphire, but she’s with her horrendous cousins,” answered Emeralda. “I want to speak to Sapphire, but I can’t stand either of them, Amethyst especially.”
Snow never hesitated in situations such as these; he always did what he found most convenient. “Let’s just go, then,” he told her briskly.
“Wait, no,” Emeralda said, arresting his movement by placing her fingers on his arm. “Sapphire’s so nice, and I want you to meet her.”
“I already met her,” answered Snow curtly. “She was in some party or other, I don’t remember which. I don’t think I even heard her voice.”
“Sapphire’s very shy,” Emeralda told him. “She doesn’t speak much. She’s the daughter of the former Clarius, you know. When her mother died her mother’s brother took her in and adopted her. I pity her, since she had to grow with those abhorrent cousins of hers. She might even become the next Clarius, because she has the power of healing tears.”
Snow, however, took very little interest in these matters, and, disinclined to meet the other two girls, he urged Emeralda to leave; but his attempt was foiled by a voice at their back: “Hello, Emeralda.”
Emeralda immediately recognized the voice and turned around to face the speaker. “Elazul!” she exclaimed. “And— how are you, Sir?” She inclined her head towards Rubens with deference.
“Sir,” said Snow, flushing and turning to do the same. “I didn’t notice that you were coming this way.”
Elazul regarded Snow and Emeralda’s alteration of manner before the high councilor with some amusement, and Rubens came forward and shook his nephew’s hand. “How are you, Snow? Elazul and myself came this way for a purpose. Emeralda, I understand that you are acquainted with those young ladies?” He indicated the three young women by the marble fountain.
“Yes, Sir, I am,” answered Emeralda, a little surprised.
“Good, then,” said Rubens, smiling at the young girl. “I would like to introduce Elazul to Sapphire, as I have been telling him of her prospective position.”
The arrival of the two men meanwhile caused a small commotion by the fountain. Amethyst straightened at once, keeping her figure poised, her eyes fixed on them. “Goodness, it’s the Lapis Lazuli,” she said tersely. “How do I look, Marina?”
“As usual,” answered Marina indifferently. “You won’t be able to get him to notice you, you know. Everybody knows about HIM.” She uttered another of her small titters, and her sister glanced at her derisively, but ignored this provocation.
Elazul, approaching the young women, politely came forward and made an inquiry. He recognized Sapphire at once as the girl he met in the labyrinth some weeks ago. If she recalled him, she made no sign of it, but kept her head low and answered his remarks with monosyllables.
During the polite introduction that ensued, Amethyst (without much success, and with the occasional interruption of maliciously insinuative comments on the part of Marina) was attempting to draw Elazul’s attention from Sapphire to herself. Snow, for his part, was standing behind Emeralda and trying his best to appear polite in front of Rubens, but displaying such a clear apathy towards the two sisters that it was lucky that Amethyst was too preoccupied to mind it, and Marina was too busy at gleefully observing her sister’s failure at forcing Elazul’s attentions to care about Snow’s behavior.
Rubens’ point having been made, he invited Sapphire to visit the palace with Elazul and himself, to which she assented politely enough, though without a display of any particular eagerness. Emeralda then took an advantage of a brief pause in the conversation and came forward and, through a brief exchange with Sapphire, succeeded to arrange Snow, Sapphire and herself into a group. Then, inviting Elazul to join their walk towards the palace library, she contrived matters to her satisfaction. “Snow and myself shall be escorting Elazul and Sapphire, Sir,” she announced to Rubens. “Don’t worry about them.”
This wasn’t exactly Rubens’ original intent, but he was amused when he discerned that he wasn’t the only member in this ill-assorted gathering with a definite plan. He therefore gave his consent to Emeralda’s statement, and, knowing himself to be more urgently required elsewhere, took his leave. Emeralda then made a polite, concise departure of Amethyst and Marina and led her charges away, leaving neither sister with the impression that their dislike of her had been unjustified.
.
From the various hints dropped to him by the high councilor, Elazul understood that Rubens meant for him to get more particularly acquainted with Sapphire. He was not certain why it should be so, but his current self-absorbed state of mind included a general apathy towards everything and everyone in the city, and he did not bother to probe too deeply into it, thinking that it might have something to do with his friendship with the current Clarius and her knight. Since he entered the royal guard he had been introduced to many members of the Jumi nobility, and Rubens always gave him careful and specific instructions if any of them happened to hold a position that merited special respect. He therefore thought that the specific introduction to Sapphire had to do with the duties owed to her importance and possible prospective position.
Emeralda kept up a steady conversation as they walked towards the palace, but the chief speakers were Elazul and herself. Snow, who disguised his shyness of Sapphire under a slightly moody expression, kept near Emeralda’s elbow and as far as possible from Sapphire; and Sapphire, keeping at the other end of the row, walked at Elazul’s side silently. Emeralda, however, was determined to draw her out, for she wished Snow and Sapphire to become friends; and she quickly contrived to push Elazul to the end of the row and manage an arrangement that consisted of Snow and Sapphire walking on either side of her. She then begun by telling Sapphire about Snow’s rune reading, and this immediately produced a more animated discussion. Snow, beguiled into forfeiting his moodiness at this subject, became more volatile; and Sapphire listened to the conversation carried between Emeralda and Snow with the first appearance of interest that Elazul had seen on her. Elazul, excluded from the conversation as it involved a subject which he did not pretend to understand or take an interest in, found Emeralda’s tactics too amusing to resent it; and was sufficiently diverted by an observance of how the very different personalities of these three young people interacted.
He observed Sapphire in particular, recalling her behavior in the labyrinth, and, now that he knew about her prospective position, feeling his curiousity about her re-awaken. Emeralda was well-known to him, and Snow, secretly resentful at having to share the company of the two girls with an older man whose appearance was so much superior to his own, did his best to pretend that Elazul wasn’t a part of the company— something that Elazul noticed to a certain extent but did not care sufficiently about to mind. He therefore watched Sapphire with some attention, particularly drawn to her beautiful eyes; Sapphire herself was not beautiful, for there was something too wan and even sickly-looking about her white face, but her paleness merely enhanced their beauty.
As the conversation continued, Sapphire gradually became more open. Her manner was not animated, but she begun to interject quiet comments into the discussion, that both Emeralda and Snow seemed to like, and served to increase Snow’s ease of manner around her. By the time they were walking inside the palace Emeralda, observing that her efforts had produced a success, had a contented air.
Elazul discerned that they had reached Snow and Emeralda’s favorite hangout, the library, and he paused, reluctant to enter. “I shall leave you three together,” he told her.
Sapphire now glanced at him, seeming to notice that he was still at their side for the first time; but she remained silent. Emeralda, however, became aware that her successful venture had neglected Elazul, and she rejected this suggestion.
“You shouldn’t go, Elazul,” she told him. “They are having a garden party within an hour or two, and you can stay with us until it begins.”
“Unfortunately, being closed up in the library for two hours listening to matters I don’t pretend to understand is not my idea of a good time, Emeralda,” replied Elazul dryly.
But Emeralda would not have this. “You certainly should stay,” she said with an air of command. “For Snow and Sapphire have not yet heard of the recounting of your travels, and I know that they would like to hear about them. Sapphire especially.”
Elazul was slightly surprised at this, and he glanced at Sapphire. She lowered her eyes, fixing them on the floor, but said softly, “If— if you don’t mind, Knight of Lapis Lazuli— I would.”
“Call me Elazul,” Elazul told her.
She raised her head, seeming slightly disconcerted at this injunction. A wry smile bent his mouth. “Not ‘Lapis Lazuli’, Sapphire. My name is Elazul.”
She made no reply, but seemed embarrassed by this instruction. Emeralda tugged at her arm. “Don’t pay attention to him,” she said severely. “He’s very nice, even if he doesn’t always act that way.”
“The same could be said about you, Emeralda,” Elazul replied evenly.
He did, however, agree to come with them, and, settling himself into a chair, embarked on a brief narration of his travels with the help of Emeralda’s instructive questions and comments. Snow was interested at first, but he was not particularly pleased at this appearance of comradeship between Emeralda and Elazul, that excluded himself; and eventually, with quietly-uttered comments addressed at Emeralda, he managed to draw her attention away from Elazul’s account and embark upon a different subject. Elazul was left with only Sapphire as his audience. She had been sitting with a lowered head for the first ten minutes; but, her attentions slowly engrossed, she begun to glance up more, and even intervened with a shyly-uttered question after the first half-hour. At the conclusion of an hour she was his sole listener, asking an occasional question, but for the great part simply attending.
After a while Elazul suddenly paused. “I am grateful for your attention,” he said with a half-smile. “For you can see that these two—“ he indicated Emeralda and Snow— “are too engrossed in their own affairs to keep up even a polite appearance of interest.”
Sapphire glanced towards Snow and Emeralda, who were bending together over some slender volume that Snow produced from somewhere; but her eyes returning to Elazul she said, with a slight hesitation but with perfectly clarity, “You should not think that. I was very interested in what you told us.”
“I am glad of it, then,” answered Elazul. He secretly thought that her serene manner and honest way she had of expressing herself were very engaging; and begun to feel more interested in her, and to wonder why she seemed so unhappy.
She did not immediately reply to his remark, but fixed her eyes on the floor. Then she said, very quietly, “You— you traveled a lot. It must have been— so wonderful.”
“Well—“ Elazul leant back in the chair, with a speculative expression. “In one way, yes, it was an important experience. In another, not always. The Jumi-hunters make traveling extremely difficult and very dangerous for Jumi.”
“But you had— you had freedom,” Sapphire replied, with a peculiar emphasis on the word in her shy little voice. “And you saw so much.”
He was beginning to understand the drift of her conversation. “True. I suppose that I did get to experience more than most Jumi in that respect. But the city is safe, Sapphire; and this is important too.” He glanced at her, observing her downturned face; and keeping his manner casual he said, “I understand that your mother was the Clarius, Sapphire.”
She made a slight nod with her head.
“Did you ever meet Florina, our Clarius?” he asked her.
“Yes— a few times,” she replied softly. “She seemed like a person that— I would wish to know better.”
Elazul leant forward in the chair, placing his hands on his knees, and giving her a direct look. “You should have said so, then. I am a friend of Florina’s. A meeting with her could be easily arranged.”
Sapphire said nothing. Slightly puzzled, wondering about this strangely lonely girl, he prompted her: “Well?”
But Sapphire suddenly shook her head. “I— I don’t know,” she answered almost voicelessly. “I— don’t know if—“
Elazul’s brows drew together at this reaction. “What? Why is that?”
She suddenly raised her eyes towards him, their look oddly tragic. “I am sorry I asked. I can’t— my mother, she—“
Suddenly Elazul understood. “Your mother,” he said, looking down. “Of course, she died of...” He felt suddenly angry, thinking, here is another victim of this policy of ours, and glanced at her. It struck him that her expression was strangely distressed, and the look in her eyes was blank, and a little lost; and trying to divert her mind from this subject, that he was sorry for bringing up, he said steadily, “Florina will be glad to meet you, Sapphire. I think that you will like each other.”
But Sapphire made no reply to this remark; and though Elazul met her several times in the next two weeks as she occasionally accompanied Emeralda and Snow, she never mentioned the subject of meeting Florina, and he did not prompt her again.
.
“Have you heard the latest news, Florina?” Alex said one day in late November. “Listen well, for once again it’s about Elazul.”
Alex had come to visit Florina, who was translating runes in her bedroom. The open window brought in a refreshing breeze and the sky glimpsed through it were a chaste blue; the desk by the window was cluttered with various scrolls and ink-pots, and Florina was inscribing runic characters carefully onto a fresh scroll, providing explanations and remarks with her small, neat hand on the margins of the paper. “I hope it’s good news, my dear,” she said without glancing up from her work.
Alex was leaning against the wall flanking the window with his arms folded, staring at the opposite wall in an abstracted fashion. At Florina’s response he glanced at her. “That depends who you ask,” he answered. “Diana, you see, had finally decided to reign Elazul in.”
Florina glanced up at Alex at this remark, an eyebrow raised in inquiry. “Reign Elazul in?” she echoed.
“Yes.” Alex’s voice was dry. “Madam has justly decided that the Lapis Lazuli is too restless and needs a socially sanctioned mate of his own.”
Florina maintained her gaze on Alex. She noticed that he did not seem to be in a good mood, and his strangely changeable eyes were dark. “Go on,” she said slowly.
“The target’s name is Sapphire,” Alex continued briskly. “I have seen this girl, and I must hand it to Diana; she’s a shrewd one. She has apparently thought this matter carefully through.” A sardonic smile twisted his mouth. “It’s a good strategy, planned to perfection. Point one: the temptation of fame. This girl is apparently almost of age, and they plan to make her the next Clarius; her position will bestow great honor on anyone who has been her knight. Point two: a socially appropriate companion. This girl is obviously a completely and utterly harmless person. She is pretty enough, but not offensively pretty. She is almost of age, and inexperienced. I have to say that Diana picked up on THAT point with remarkable astuteness. Point three: the appropriate character. There is something heart-wrenching about this girl; she is clearly a lonely orphan, and not a happy one, either. And the heart that Diana means her to wrench is Elazul’s. There is something so touching about the susceptible, disconsolate, innocent waif!”
Throughout this lengthy analysis speech, Florina was gazing down, and her expression was thoughtful; she did not notice for a moment that Alex had paused and was watching her expectantly. “Well?” he asked. “I can tell that you are thinking about something.”
“Yes,” Florina replied quietly. “I am thinking about Sapphire. It’s just that—“
“Go on,” Alex said abruptly, his curiousity awakened.
“Sapphire,” said Florina, her thin hands smoothing the scroll before her absently, “is, Alex, the daughter of the former Clarius. Her father died when she was an infant. I understand that she was a reserved, shy child, very much attached to her mother; and as she watched her mother decline throughout her childhood, she developed a severe anxiety about losing her. When the moment finally came and the Clarius’s core broke, Sapphire, ten years old at the time, was present. Due to this event Sapphire lost her voice and wouldn’t speak for a whole year.”
Alex seemed to consider this. “No wonder she seems to be in a state of perpetual melancholy,” he remarked.
“She’s a good girl,” said Florina quietly. “I would like to see her happy. To use her this way for the sake of Elazul’s services seems to me shameful. But perhaps it won’t succeed; Elazul so loathes to be coerced into doing anything.”
“Perhaps,” Alex answered. “But don’t underestimate Diana. Please recall that two obstacles remain, but I have no doubt that she has considered them. One is Elazul’s notorious unwillingness to take on a guardian. The introduction, as you see, was therefore made carefully, to ensure that he sees and gets to know Sapphire before he is informed of her destined role. I can guess that a strategically-placed coercion of some sort just might work to complete that gentle push at convincing him to acquire a guardian. The other obstacle is Elazul’s equally notorious infatuation with Black Pearl. But I can tell that Diana has got a report of the Amber story, which does not surprise me in the least, for it must has come from Amber herself. Diana reasons that if Amber would do for Elazul to appease his frustrated yearning for Black Pearl, then this girl might do just as well. After all, nobody speaks about love in these matters, right? And, since Black Pearl is also notoriously indifferent towards Elazul, Diana hopes that he will eventually let go of his infatuation, and that she has found the socially correct object towards which he will divert his attentions. Bravo, Diana! You are a thoroughly canny little bitch. And damn to your meddling.”
“I happen to know of a worse meddler than Diana,” Florina remarked to no one in particular.
The moody look in Alex’s eyes turned dangerous. “Florina,” he said warningly.
Florina ignored him. “And I also know of a much worse choice of pairing for Elazul than my poor Sapphire.”
“Florina,” Alex said passionately, “You are a low, wretched, vile BETRAYER.”
“Yes, my dear,” answered Florina serenely. “I love you too.”
Alex uttered a short, mirthless laugh. He stared out the window at the cool blue skies. “And yet, I still wonder,” he remarked in an absent tone.
Florina glanced at him. “What is it?”
“I met Elazul a little over a year ago,” Alex said slowly. “He was walking around the city at night, like a restlessly caged creature seeking an escape; and indeed, he did decide to escape that very spring, and I came with him. I even think that he did not wish to return, but he did return in the end. Had he not met Black Pearl he would have been gone again quite quickly.”
Florina glanced at him. “Perhaps, perhaps not,” she commented.
Alex paused, regarding her with a raised eyebrow. “What?”
But Florina shook her head with a faint smile and remained enigmatically silent. Alex, choosing to ignore her, continued: “Had it not been for Black Pearl, he might have left again. But his so-called elevation to the royal guard has given him a renewed distaste for life in this city. I simply wonder what he would do if he found out about Diana’s latest scheme.”
Florina said nothing, and a caustic smile curled Alex’s lips as he said quietly: “I suppose, then, that it’s a time for decision again. It’s Black Pearl or freedom this time, Elazul.”
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Comment: This was godawful LONG, and not very good… the addition of the new Jumi is killing me, but I hope that it will enrich the story. (Amethyst and Aquamarine were necessarily created to set up Sapphire’s situation. Yeah, I know I am overdoing my quota of purely original characters, but as none of them will be important, I hope nobody minds.) I know that the story seems to get caught up with Elazul and his situation in the city at this point, but after the next chapter it will continue with the general plot, so worry not.
Sapphire is a Jumi that appears indirectly in Legend of Mana’s section “Drowned Dreams”; as you can tell, she will appear later in this story as well. At first I was unsure how to integrate her into the story and thought of making a separate short story about her, but in the end I found a way.
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