Chapter 16

A Chapter by Rose of Gondor

My jaw fairly dropped, my mouth hanging open.

Oh my gods. He was the “Gray Lady”? I thought it was supposed to be a lady! The old man grinned. “You have a good head on your shoulders, young lady. You may call me Mr. Guan. Now, what can I do for you?”

“The pearl is in danger, sir,” she said, “And that is why we are here. We have come to warn you of this matter. A lord with an army is coming toward here. They will try to take it. You must take the pearl someplace safe.”

“The pearl is not to be moved, for it is sacred. To move it would be to uproot the foundations of the earth. I cannot take it anywhere.”

“Then you must protect it! Call up Guardians! Tell them of this danger!”

“Ah, but there are Guardians left in the world"and they’ve all got their own pearls to protect.”

“Well then, you must take us to it! We will protect it, if no one else will!”

Mr. Guan smiled. “Ah. Yes. The secret of the pearl. I can only help you along part of the way, for the goddess of air gives all their own, separate challenges. I will not be able to help you when the time comes. You must find your path yourself.”

Wen-Ling looked irritated. “Will you show us the way, sir?”

“Of course, of course. Come this way.”

He beckoned towards us and turned, walking towards the mine entrance.

“I am afraid this is where I must say farewell,” Shoji said to us, “I am worried for Aiko"the soldiers are probably gone now, and I’d like to search for her. Besides, I want to check if she’d just gotten lost and had found her way back to my house.”

Before I even realize it, my eyes were brimming with tears. Suddenly, it was almost just the three of us again"Wen-Ling, Chrysanthemum and I, excepting Kyo, of course, but then it practically feels like he’d been with us since the beginning. I also realized something"it was always the adults, always Wen-Ling and Aiko that helped us from completely giving up. They were always there with their sunshine and sometimes (only sometimes), their wacky sense of humor. I’ll miss them both terribly, especially at this horrible, uncertain time. I wondered if Chrysanthemum was thinking the same thing.

Then, as if reading my mind, Shoji bent down. “You’ve all grown up. You don’t need me anymore. You can brave this on your own. So, do me a favor, take care of my nephew. Take care of Wen-Ling. Be brave. Right now, my sister needs my help.”

I swallowed my tears, swallowed my fear. I had to be brave. I had to e brave for my own sake"no, for everyone’s sake. I need to be brave. And so I nodded firmly, planting both my feet steadily on the ground, and at that moment, I was ready.

He patted my shoulder. “That’s the spirit!”

“Look, if you find Ma,” Kyo said, “Please, take care of her, and tell her I’m alright.”

“Of course, Kyo. Of course.”

And then he turned and, waving, left.

“Well? Are we going to do this or not?” Mr. Guan walked into the mine.

I turned, throwing Chrysanthemum a nervous glance, following behind. I hope this is going to turn out well.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“Step carefully now,” Our guide said, holding a lamp up high above our heads, “The diamonds are sharp!”

“In the land of crystal stars!” Chrysanthemum whispered excitedly, “That must mean the diamonds!” I agreed with her silently.

The cave was magnificent, the diamonds glittering in their hidden spots, sparkling and shimmering like stars. It was quite a sight, something I would probably never forget. It was dark despite the light Mr. Guan was holding up, but I guess it had something to do with how far we were falling behind.

He seemed to be quite nimble, despite his old age, and we were getting left behind in the dark because he was walking way too fast.

“See that boulder right over there? Step over it quite gently. We don’t want anyone to trip, especially not now.” Oh, goodness. Of course we don’t see the boulder. We couldn’t see anything back here. It was almost completely dark, and we had to scramble to get any light at all.

Kyo didn’t say a word to any of us since he told Shoji to take care of Aiko if he finds her. Chrysanthemum thinks that he’s really worried about his mother, but just too stubborn to admit it to any of us. Besides, he wanted to believe that nothing happened. I worried for my mother too. I worried about how she would’ve reacted further to my story, worried about what Papa might do to her after he found out she was the one who helped me escape.

Of course, I voiced none of my fears to my friends, just like Kyo voiced none of his. We have too much to worry about right now, and really, this wasn’t the time for being afraid. We had to be strong now, that much I know. We have to do this. If we fail…well, something really, really, really bad will happen to our world. I don’t know exactly what, but I can tell that it will be really, really, really bad.

Drowning in my thoughts, I found out that we were falling behind. The light had almost completely left us now, and I couldn’t see anything. I fumbled around, trying to find the wall, but ended up falling flat on my face instead. I felt dumb in the dark, petrified, especially in this cave, with the diamonds glittering like a thousand stars, or a thousand eyes, watching us. It sent a cold chill up my spine, and I shivered unknowingly.

Wen-Ling helped me up.

“You okay?” she asked cautiously, “Anything wrong?”

“No, I’m fine. Mr. Guan’s going too fast though.”

“Hey, Mr. Guan? Mr. Guan! You’re walking too fast!” Chrysanthemum called, protesting as I tripped over her feet. It was really hard to see, and so I muttered a silent apology to her.

“You have to keep up!” came the distant call. Ugh! How infuriating is that?

And so we climbed on, and all the while I kept on glancing back. I thought I saw a faint hint of red against the darkness once, but I couldn’t be sure. Could it be Aiko? I didn’t know. What if it was someone else? A spy from my father? But I pushed the thought away, hoping it was really only my imagination, and I thought no more of it. I would later find out that this was a huge mistake.

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