Finding the Jewel

  Chloe wandered uncertainly into the bustling med station which reminded her a little of an ER back home. There was a central nurses’ station with a circular, rounded counter and patient rooms radiating out like spokes on a wheel all around it.

  “Excuse me,” she said to the nice looking Earth girl who was sitting at the station doing some kind of work on an electronic chart. “But can you tell me where Tark the Beast Kindred is?”

  “Oh, the one they brought in yesterday for blood loss?” The girl looked up. “You must be his mate, right?”

  “Um…something like that,” Chloe muttered. She cleared her throat. “I came in with him, anyway. Can you tell me where he is?”

  “Oh, I’m afraid he’s gone already,” the girl said.

  “What?” Chloe was aghast. “Where did he go?”

  “I’m afraid I don’t know.” The girl shook her head. “He left just now—not five minutes ago. I think Doctor Sylvan wanted him to stay for one final check-up but since he healed up so beautifully and was so determined to go we really couldn’t hold him.”

  “But…but…” Chloe shook her head, unable to understand what was going on.

  “Hey, what’s happening? Why aren’t you talking to your man?” Kat and Olivia came up behind her.

  “Because…” Chloe turned to them, fighting back tears. “He…he’s gone. He left and I’ll probably never see him again.”

  “Now, don’t say that, hon!” Kat exclaimed. “If he just left, he can’t get far.”

  “He certainly can’t.” Olivia was frowning. “He was literally right here just five minutes ago. Tell you what,” she told Chloe. “I’ll Bespeak my hubby Baird and make sure he doesn’t leave the ship. He’s in charge of the Fleet so nobody goes in and out without his say-so.”

  “What good will it do to trap him here?” Chloe could feel the tears running down her face. “If he doesn’t want to see me, you might as well let him go!”

  “Now, hon…” Kat began but just then she got a strange, listening look on her face, as though she was talking to someone far away. After a moment she nodded and looked at Chloe again. “Listen, I just got a call from the Communications center. I’m friends with one of the girls down there and she Bespoke me on the Think-me. It seems you’ve got a call, Chloe.”

  “Oh?” Liv frowned. “Is it her family again?”

  “No.” Kat shook her head. “It’s weird but…my friend says it’s some guy with blue skin and orange eyes. Do you know anybody like that, Chloe?”

  “Blue skin and orange eyes?” Chloe frowned. “As a matter of fact…I do,” she said. “The Monks at the Resort of Resonant Oneness, where Tark took me to look for the jewel that would cure him, match that description.”

  “What—all of them?” Kat asked, sounding skeptical.

  “Well, yes.” Chloe nodded. “Because they’re all clones. But I don’t know why one of them would be calling me. Or how they even know Tark and I are here!”

  “Maybe whoever it is can shed some light on the problem between you and your man,” Olivia suggested.

  “She’s right.” Kat nodded eagerly. “Come on, Chloe—Liv will ask Baird to be certain Tark doesn’t leave so you have time to find out what’s going on.”

  “Well…all right.” Chloe shrugged listlessly. Now that Tark didn’t want her anymore, nothing really seemed to matter. But she was willing to take the call to oblige her new friends.

  “Come on,” Kat said. “Back to the Viewing Room!”

  * * * * *

  “Warrior, why do you seek guidance?” The tall priestess with green streaks in her hair and green-within-green eyes glided towards Tark, her feet whisper-silent on the green and purple grass that carpeted the Sacred Grove.

  He had come here straight from the med center, hoping for some kind of absolution, but now Tark found he had no words to say.

  “I n-nuh-nuh…” He shook his head and tried again. “I n-n-n—” This time the words wouldn’t come out at all—it was as though he was completely blocked. He gave up and shook his head in frustration.

  “Come.” The priestess beckoned to him. “I will See Into you, Warrior. Then perhaps I can cure your ills.”

  Though he hated to endure this yet again, Tark realized there was no other way. He nodded and followed her deeper into the Grove until they came to a little clearing among the trees where a marble bench stood.

  “Here.” The priestess nodded at the bench. “You may sit. It will be easier for me to reach you.”

  Tark sat obediently and lifted his face to her as she positioned herself before him.

  “Now then…” The priestess placed cool fingertips on his temples and closed her eyes. “Let us begin.”

  * * * * *

  “My child, I am glad to see you are well.” The head Monk, Aaroni nodded gravely at Chloe as she stood, once again, before the viewscreen.

  “Thank you,” she said hesitantly. “But, well…how did you know I was here?”

  “I asked the resonite for your location,” the monk said. “And it brought me the echo of your whereabouts. I called to be certain of your safety. I cannot say how sorry I am that ex-monk Zaroni sent you into danger. I assure you, he has been and continues to be severely punished.”

  “Good,” Chloe said shortly. She knew it might be rather unforgiving of her, but she couldn’t think of the heartless way the junior monk had sold her to Globber without a shiver. The rotten little clone deserved what he got in her opinion.

  “And how is Tark?” Aaroni asked. “He was most upset when he went after you. I expected him to return with you through the Dimensional Shift. I was concerned when he did not.”

  Chloe felt like someone had stabbed her in the heart at the mention of the man she loved…who apparently no longer loved her. But she lifted her chin and answered bravely.

  “We couldn’t come back that way because Tark lost the jewel you gave him fighting Globber.”

  “Globber?” Aaroni frowned.

  “The Slimerian that little jerk Zaroni sold me to,” Chloe explained. “So we took the Slimerian ship instead and went to the Kindred Mother Ship.”

  “Ah, I see.” Aaroni nodded. “Yes, I was most impressed when he used the crystal—or as you call it ‘the jewel’—to come after you instead of using it to heal himself.”

  “What?” Chloe felt sick. “What did you say? You mean you gave him a choice? That jewel really would have healed him?” She’d had her doubts as to the efficacy of the large, diamond-looking jewel they had found in their sex cubby. But Tark had seemed so certain it was the thing he was seeking, she hadn’t wanted to say anything. After all could any jewel—no matter how mystical—actually cure stuttering?

  But Monk Aaroni was nodding gravely.

  “Oh yes, my dear. The Rainbow Resonite Crystal has healing power as well as the ability to transport someone through dimensions. The crystal Tark had taken—which I ultimately gifted to him—had only enough power to either find you or heal him of his halting speech. I told him as much and he used it to find you without hesitation.”

  “Maybe that’s why he’s upset with me and won’t see me,” Chloe whispered, half to herself. “Maybe he’s mad because he gave up his one chance to be healed in order to rescue me and he thinks it’s all my fault.”

  “I beg your pardon, my child, but that was not my impression at all,” Monk Aaroni said. “To the contrary, when I looked into his mind, I saw that he had great shame and self-loathing over what had happened between the two of you during my Advanced Oneness class. He thought you hated him because of it…and yet he still chose to come after you over healing himself.” He shook his head. “Truly a remarkable example of self-sacrifice.”

  “But what happened between us during the class wasn’t really Tark’s fault!” Chloe exclaimed. “It was that stupid gella mattress you had us on. It sort of…forced us together!”

  The monk’s ancient face grew stern.

  “Yes, Tark said as much also. But I reminded him that
the two of you really had no business taking the advanced class in the first place, since you were not really together as a couple. Also, you should not have tampered with the Rainbow Crystal in the first place. It was this that caused your gella to become so aggressive that it forced you together.”

  “Um…okay.” Chloe cut her eyes to the right and saw that Kat and Olivia were listening with great interest. She hadn’t exactly told them all the dirty details of what had happened between herself and the big Kindred at the Resort of Resonant Oneness—it was too freaking embarrassing. But after this conversation with Monk Aaroni, it looked like the cat was out of the bag.

  “Now that I know the two of you are well, I must go,” the monk said, and his image began to fade.

  “Wait!” Chloe exclaimed. “Wait, please—just a minute.”

  “Yes?” Aaroni came back into focus, frowning.

  “I just want to know—can you give Tark another one of those crystals to cure his stutter?” Chloe asked. “I mean, I know we shouldn’t have been there under false pretenses but it’s just that his stutter is so bad. It’s affected his whole life—he and his father hate each other because of it! And he just—”

  But Aaroni was already shaking his head.

  “I am sorry, my child,” he said gravely. “But even if I wished to bestow another crystal upon you, it would do no good. The power of the resonite can be used only once by any living being except a Chundra such as myself. Why do you think I had to clone myself in order to keep the resort running? I am the last of my people and no one else can work with the resonite more than once.”

  “Oh.” Chloe nodded, crestfallen. “Oh, I see. Thank you anyway.”

  Aaroni gave a melancholy sigh. “In another generation the resort will be no more. For I am too old to clone myself again and I think we both saw what comes of making clones of clones.”

  “What does happen?” Kat whispered to Chloe, apparently unable to help her curiosity.

  “They turn evil,” Chloe murmured. “Like peeping tom, sell you to a slimy alien evil.”

  “Ugh.” Liv frowned. “Sounds bad.”

  “It is,” Chloe assured her. She spoke to Monk Aaroni again. “Thank you anyway for calling to make sure I was all right. You’ve certainly, uh, shed some light on our relationship.”

  “I am glad to hear it.” The monk nodded gravely. “For though I know the two of you did not arrive at the Resort of Resonant Oneness as a true couple, I do believe you have the potential to become one. If you love Tark as he loves you—which is to say, to distraction—you should do very well indeed together.”

  “Thank you,” Chloe said again, her heart thumping with hope. Could it be that Tark really did care for her? That he loved her as Aaroni claimed?

  “Farewell.” The old monk faded away entirely this time, leaving the viewscreen blank and dark.

  “Whew,” Kat remarked. “I’ve seen some strange looking aliens but that guy was pretty high on the weird-o-meter.”

  “He seemed to genuinely care about Chloe and Tark though,” Liv pointed out. She looked at Chloe. “Not to pry hon, but what exactly did happen between the two of you during that, uh, ‘Oneness class’? It sounds like that could be the root of your problems.”

  “Oh, uh…” Chloe glanced around the viewing room, which had various support staff and Kindred warriors wandering around in the periphery. “Can we go someplace private to discuss it?” she asked.

  “Sure.” Kat smiled. “We’re not that far from the guest suites, I think. Let’s go back to your place and you can tell us all about it.” She grinned. “I’d say you could come back to my place or Liv’s but we both have kids running around and I have a feeling this is going to be an adults only conversation.”

  “You got that right,” Chloe said. She could feel her cheeks getting hot just thinking about it. “Okay, come on—let’s go.”

  Chapter Twenty-four

  “I see, Warrior, that you have been laboring under a misapprehension,” the priestess said, releasing him at last.

  “Wh-what d-do y-yuh-you mean?” Tark finally got out. “I h-hurt her.”

  “Oh, I do not mean you are mistaken when you think you have caused hurt and dismay to the female you love during your sexual encounter.” The priestess frowned sternly. “In that you are correct—it would behoove you to fall at her feet before her and ask forgiveness. I think, if she is truly as I see her in your mind, that she will grant it to you. But that is not the misapprehension that I speak of.”

  Tark remained silent and simply looked at her, waiting for her to explain. There was almost no use in speaking considering how much worse his stutter had grown.

  “You have misinterpreted the prophecy given to you by my Sister Priestess,” she said, frowning. “Listen—here it is as I heard it in your mind…

  “Through a door between worlds

  A jewel will be found

  Both high overhead

  And close to the ground

  The jewel will unlock

  The knot of your voice

  But it must come unasked

  Unbidden, by choice

  Seek for it high

  And seek for it low

  And treat it with care

  Stroke it gently and slow

  When you have found

  The jewel that you seek

  Then you will be cured

  Of a future that’s bleak.”

  Tark scowled and nodded. So? That was indeed the prophecy, but what was her point?

  “Listen to the first stanza—it speaks of the jewel being high overhead and close to the ground,” the priestess said patiently. “You went looking in the Commercians’ station—high overhead—over the Earth, anyway. And what did you find there that is precious and close to the ground?”

  Tark frowned. An idea was beginning to form in his head but he couldn’t believe it was right.

  “And the second stanza says that this ‘jewel’ must come with you unasked and by choice,” the priestess continued. “I do not know how you thought an inanimate gemstone could choose to come with you.”

  Tark shook his head. That verse had bothered him—how could a jewel with no voice or sentience of its own be willing to come with him? But he had been so certain of what he was looking for that he had pushed his doubt to the back of his mind.

  “The third stanza adjures you to treat the ‘jewel’ with care and stroke it slowly. Think, warrior—why would you need to be tender and gentle with a mere gemstone?” The priestess looked impatient, like a clever teacher waiting for the right answer from a particularly slow student.

  Suddenly, it all clicked into place for Tark.

  “Ch-Chloe!” he exclaimed. “Sh-shu-she’s the j-j-jewel!”

  “Exactly!” the priestess exclaimed! “Finally you see.”

  Tark couldn’t believe it had taken him so long to understand. The prophecy made a lot more sense when he thought of it that way.

  “High overhead and close to the ground”—he had found Chloe high in the Commercians’ station but she was close to the ground herself—short, in other words. And she had come with him unasked and unbidden—he hadn’t taken her with him until she had begged him to. And as for stroking her slowly and gently…

  Well there I really fucked it up, Tark thought grimly. But maybe the priestess was right—maybe Chloe would be willing to forgive him. And as for curing his stutter, well—the prophesy had never said anything about it being an immediate cure. In fact, it didn’t actually say he would be cured of his stutter at all.

  It says “cured of a future that’s bleak” Tark thought. And he could imagine no future bleaker than one spent forever alone, without Chloe.

  As for his difficulties speaking, Chloe was a speech therapist. She had already taught him a few coping techniques and he knew that his stutter was somehow better when he was around her.

  It would be a long, slow process taking therapy sessions with her, he thought. And maybe that’s all she’d be willing to d
o for now. I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t want any other kind of a relationship with me. But maybe if I ask her forgiveness and beg her to give me some sessions, she’ll come to see me as someone she might want as a mate in time.

  “I see by your expression that you have finally fully comprehended the prophecy which was laid upon you,” the priestess said. “I adjure you to give thanks to the Goddess and leave the Sacred Grove now. Go and find your female and beg her forgiveness. Only then can the Goddess make both of you truly whole.”

  “I th-th-thank y-you,” Tark said, bowing his head in prayer. And I thank you, Goddess, for making your truth known to me. Please let Chloe forgive me and give me another chance—if not to be her mate just yet, then at least to be her student so that we can spend time together and I can prove myself to her.

  He received no audible answer but he felt a swell of peace fill him and he knew he had come to the right conclusion and had made the right decision. Now if only he could convince Chloe to forgive him…

  * * * * *

  “Now that’s a sexy little number.” Kat whistled approvingly as Chloe looked at herself in the 3-D viewscreen. “That ought to bring him running.”

  Chloe watched as the short, flirty skirt twirled, almost rising high enough to show the sexy, barely-there black-lace panties below it. She had on a sheer pink top that went well with her hair and a matching black lace bra—the kind that was meant to be seen through a shirt—or so Kat claimed. It was a demi cup which pushed her full breasts up rather than covering them and put her pink nipples on display, pressing against the thin, silky material of the sheer blouse.

  It made Chloe feel a strange mixture of embarrassed and sexy to see herself dressed like this—kind of how she had felt while wearing the resonite robe-dress.

  “I don’t know,” she said uncertainly. “What if the monk was all wrong? What if Tark really is upset that he lost his one chance to cure his stutter by using the crystal on finding me instead?”