Haley Thistle
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Nadione the Gemling: Part One (rough draft)
🕑 Added 2023-03-22 20:00:01 +0000 UTCFrom our position I can see the caravan filing away from the mine. The box we’re after is in the very middle. The iron chamber is so heavy it requires special wheels to hold it and only oxen are able to pull it.
“This Gemling has quite a few guards,” my companion Arcus murmured.
I lowered my spyglass. “Not really. Just seems that way. They are crowding around the box pretty heavily. That’s new.” The trail around the box seems long, but only because they’re carrying some mining cars with them. What fascinates me is the way the Gemling box is crowded around, like they’re more interested in keeping the thing in than any outside force.
Arcus caught the way my tail was twitching and smirked. “Excited?”
“A little.” I knelt down on our ledge, eyes focused upon that box, curious as to why the guards were acting so strangely. Our employer paid heavily for these Gemlings, the better quality of gems they produced, the more money we made.
“Should be a good haul, don’t you think?” Arcus wasn’t seeing the big picture, just his version of the future where a slew of beautiful men would throw themselves at his feet.
“Not sure,” I muttered. “But it’s getting dark, they’ll have to rest soon.”
Arcus folded his arms against his chest. “Better be a good one. Last one didn’t have the clarity the Baron likes.”
I glanced at Arcus, wondering how he hadn’t put it together. The last few Gemlings hadn’t paid as well as that used to. Very few we have gotten for the Baron have been to his standards, and they’ve been going down hill for a while. Perhaps, and maybe I am overthinking things, the longer a Gemling is kept in their box, the weaker their gems are.
“C’mon, let's catch back up.” Arcus slapped my back, turning my attention back to our horses. We rode off, heading towards the usual campsite of the mining trail.
Sure enough, the Gemling’s caravan stopped there before dark. The guards and workers set up a fire, cooking their food and gathering in a group. The iron box was locked, and the gemling inside was probably fast asleep.
Some of our group had set themselves up long before, pretending to be miners heading towards the mine. They had already lured in the caravan to their side, providing them laced wine which would be our biggest ally in getting the iron box.
“Looks like they’re pretty loose,” Arcus said as we made our way through the shadows. He ducked himself down, eyeing the bonfire and the men around it.
“Stop thinking with your dick.” I took the ring of skeleton keys from around my belt. “I need the head on your shoulders, not the one in your pants.”
He scoffed. “Alright, alright. A fellow can window shop, can’t he?” He slipped around to the front of the iron box where the oxen were tied up. He began releasing them as I studied the lock chaining the wheels. Inside I heard a faint sound, but I knew it was there. Was the Gemling asleep? Surely it was. The more I looked at the lock to decide which skeleton key I could use, the more I heard sounds from within.
“What are you doing?” Arcus hissed. “I’ve got the oxen hooked back up. Get a move on, Bram!”
“Hush,” I snapped back. “I’m getting there.”
Arcus stuck his tongue out then took the seat at the front of the box. I selected my key, pushing it into the lock and freed the wheels. I took the chain, coiling it around my arm as I went to join Arcus.
“Get us out of here.”
Arcus tugged the reins, and as soon as the iron box began to move, there was shouting behind us. We ignored it, the rest of the group would take care of that which the wine didn’t. We drove off into the night, heading towards the hideout where the rest of the crew was waiting.
“What do you think it’ll be this time?” Arcus asked.
“Hard to say.” I leaned back in my seat. “I’m not raising my hopes much.”
Arcus scoffed. “We’ve got a diamond shitting creature in a box and you’re not raising your hopes? I’ll never understand you, Bram.”
“They don’t shit-” I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “I’m gonna rest my eyes for a while, Arcus. You can manage to get to the hideout right?”
“You’re testy.”
I opened my eyes to glare at him. “What was that?”
Arcus faced forward. “Nothing, darling, nothing.”
I slouched back, closing my eyes but not really sleeping. My mind was still plagued by how they had this iron box locked up and guarded. Most of the ones we had come across weren’t so under thumb. Not only that, the last few had been duller than the last, but the Baron said he could shine them up. Still, from his demeanor I could tell he was not pleased.
We reached the hideout late in the evening and I had almost fallen asleep for real. I yawned and stretched as they loaded the iron box into the shed, watching as the doors closed.
“Aren’t you going to open it?” Arcus asked.
“Maybe later. It’ll sit for now,” I said. “I need something to eat before I try and deal with the Gemling.”
We went inside and ate while the others dealt with the oxen. I helped myself to coffee and ater taking off my coat, I spotted some dry scales on my arm. “Looks like I’ll need to shed soon.” I flaked off one of the scales and held it up to Arcus. “I’ll be a whole new Bram.”
Arcus grimaced and pulled away from my offering of a scale. “It’s so weird when you shed. I find your damn scales every for days. It’s liek finding toenails everywhere.”
I smirked, laughing at his insinuation. “My scales were worth something once, long ago.”
“Yeah, back when your family was more dragon than man. Now you’re just so lizard who stand son his hind legs.” Arcus scoffed at me.
I stole the meat from his plate and shoved it into my mouth. “Say that again and you won’t enjoy the bathhouse next time you visit.”
Arus pouted. “Was just a joke.”
I grinned at him and rose from the table. “I’m going to check on the Gemling. Make sure no one comes into the shed.” I went to a cabinet in the kitchen, taking out a wooden box.
“You got it.” Arcus went and poured himself more coffee as I left.
The shed was quiet, and the iron box was creaking as it settled into the ground. I took out my skeleton keys again, trying the lock on the door with a few before it cracked open. I set it aside, then opened the door up a crack.
“I’m not here to harm you,” I said to the Gemling inside. “I’m bringing you some food, I thought you might be hungry.”
“Who are you?” A small voice inside called out.
“My name is Bram.”
There was a moment of silence, a clinking of the stone inside the iron box. “Where am I? What happened to the guards?”
“They’re not here. I’m going to open the door now,” I told them. I managed to swing open the heavy cast iron door and light shone into the box. My stomach dropped as I saw the light reflected off the gemstone coating on the inside. It was all opal, shining between blue and green with small flecks of purple. The Gemling was huddled inside, smashed into the corner with their fingers covering the top of their head.
Opal, and not a brilliant opal at that. The Baron wouldn’t be pleased. I opened up the wooden box, showing it towards the Gemling. “Are you hungry? You can help yourself.”
The Gemling didn’t move. They appeared rather small and frail in shape. Their body was completely white, with patches of pale pink near the bottom of their limbs. Long white hair cascaded down their thin frame. Chunks of opal jutted from laces on their body, along their knuckles, elbows, and from the top of their head.
“I’ll set it here.” I placed the box down on the floor of their box. “You have no reason to worry. No one here is going to harm you. You’re a valuable asset to us.”
The Gemling uncovered their head, slowly turning towards me. Their eyes were near black, surrounded by polished beads of opal. “How so?”
“We’re going to sell you to a collector,” I replied.
The Gemling glanced down towards the box, their eyes widening with what was inside. They slowly began to reach out, and I saw they had a feminine form.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Nadione,” she said. She stretched out her arm, plucking out a piece of metal from inside. She hurriedly put it into her mouth and began chewing. She took out another piece before she had even swallowed and ate it as well.
“Eat all you want, we have more inside.”
Nadione looked up at me with those black eyes. Like most Gemling, she appeared both human and elemental at once. Her kind was a forced hybrid, an attempt to profit from her elemental heritage, but in a way to control them. Nadione however, appeared a little too human. Most Gemlings’ eyes were like gemstones, but Nadione’s appeared more human.
Nadoine’s chest was covered in opals, encrusted I should say. They formed around her breast and ribs like armor. I had not seen that before.
I gave Nadione a smile. “I promise, we have a nice supply of metal inside if you’re hungry. We’ll keep you well cared for until the Baron arrives to appraise you.”
She chewed slowly on the large bite in her mouth. She recoiled her hand, pulling her fingers into her palm in a weird almost magically slow way.
I looked around the iron box, layered in a thick opal coating that was meant to mimic her natural environment. It wasn’t bright or brilliant, even as the light hit it directly there was a dullness to the stones. One that I knew the Baron wouldn’t like. He had lots of opals anyways, I doubt he would want one more.
“Does he have mines?” Nadione asked.
I shook my head. “Not like the ones you are used to anyways. But like I said, he’s more of a collector than a miner.”
Nadione finished off the last of the metals in the box and she slowly made her way towards me. Her long hair fell into her face and she angrily swatted it away. Stepping down from inside, her feet touched the dirt and she made a sour expression. She didn’t not stand as tall as the other Gemlings I had come across. Most were quite tall in stature, and the females bared more heft than Nadione did. Was she younger than the rest? More new? The Baron would know at first glance, I was still learning. But I knew Nadione would not catch his fancy.
I offered her my hand. “Right this way, my lady. I’ll take you to the kitchen to feed you some more.”
Nadione looked at my hand with a dull expression. She just nodded and I led the way into the kitchen. Arcus was still there and his eyes widened as Nadione stepped into the room.
“Not another opal!” He snapped.
Nadione glared at his direction, but stepped back towards the door as if to run to the safety of her box.
“Don’t say that while she is in the room,” I snapped at him. I fetched another meal box from the cabinet.
Arcus whined as he came into the room. He touched Nadione’s hair which she tensed and recoiled violently from. “She’s not even one of the good opals either! We’re sunk! We’re not gonna make any money from her.”
I frowned at him. “She’s right there and can here you.” I held out the box. Nadione saw it in my hand and quickly hopped towards me. “As if you would fetch a pretty penny?” I scoffed at Arcus. Nadione was already plucking metal chips from inside like candy, happily munching away at them.
“She’s tiny,” Arcus said this with more in awe than disappointment.
I leaned down to Nadione to whisper. “He’s heard that a few times himself.”
She stared blankly at me, but I did see a hint of a smile on her pretty lips. She shoved more of her food into her mouth. I enjoyed the way it sounded as she ate the metal. I never understood how gemling teeth worked, but their chewing sounded like boots on gravel.
“The Baron isn’t going to pay much for her,” Arcus sniffed. He walked up to us and Nadione grabbed the box from my hands and ducked behind me. “If at all. What did the inside of the iron box look like?” He asked.
“A bit dull,” I murmured.
Arcus whined, leaning back and dropping his shoulders. “Why have the last few sucked?” He flopped over into a seat and leaned against the table. “Are all the good ones under lock and key now?”
So he had noticed. “I’m going to take care of her. I’ll get her cleaned and polished for when the Baron arrives. Same for the box. I’m sure that’s all it needs too.”
“Jewelers,” Arcus scoffed at me. “Sometimes a rock is just a rock.”
I turned to face Nadione, pushing her towards the table so she would sit down. “How would you like that? There’s a mineral spring near here. You can wash up, relax a while, then I can give you a nice polishing.”
She eyed me, frowning at me while her cheeks were full. “A mineral spring?”
“It’s warm too, it comes right out of the mountain.” I pointed back towards the windows. “Dormant volcano I should say.”
Her eyes followed my finger then she looked away. “You’re not playing a trick on me, are you?”
I just laughed. “Why would I play a trick? Aren’t you used to being pampered like that? Gemlings require polishes in order to use their powers best. Right?”
Nadione looked back down into the box. She picked around, sifting what remained inside. She placed a few scraps on her tongue then gazed out the window. “Am I to use my powers?”
“Not for us. But, wouldn’t you like to look your best? Wouldn’t it feel better?” I gave her another smile and as I did a scale from my cheek flaked off and fell onto the table.
Nadione pushed the dropped scale with her finger then glanced back up at me.
“Way to make an impression on her,” Arcus chuckled.
I gave him the finger and returned my attention to Nadione. “Shedding,” I laughed, putting my hand to my cheek. “You know how it is.”
She sighed and slowly raised herself from the table. “Take me to the mineral springs if it is so important to you.”
I offered her my hand again, but she refused it, standing and walking behind me and I lead her from the hideout through the craggy path to the spring. When we reach the spring, which is a few pools and a tiny waterfall coming down from between the rocks, I notice a look in her eyes.As she sinks into the water, she stares down through the foggy liquid, her eyes focusing on something below.
“Take your time.” I said as I sat down. “Refresh yourself as much as needed. I know how those mines can be.”
She cut her dark eyes to me. “Do you?” She snipped.
Her tone and sharp look gave me pause. I know a few of the Gemlings had deep seated feelings towards the mines in one way or another. I just couldn’t pinpoint Nadione’s. “As a matter of fact, I do. My father was a miner.”
Nadione’s gaze softened but she didn’t respond. She looked back into the water and rose her knees up to her chest.
I sighed and leaned back against the rocks. “My mother was a jeweler. They were an odd match to be sure, even if their fields overlapped to a degree. But I learned everything I know from them.”
“Then you know what I am,” Nadione muttered in such a quiet tone I almost didn’t hear her over the water.
“A gemling?” I asked.
“Worthless,” she retorted. “I doubt your Baron would look twice at me. So whatever money you’re hoping to get, you won’t be able to wring it from me.”
I was quiet for a moment, thinking over everything I had already gone through in my head. “Then tell me something I don’t know, Nadione, why were you under such heavy guard if you’re worthless.”
Nadione’s hair floated on the surface of the water, and she kept shoving it away as if she couldn’t stand to look at it. “I’m a problem.”
I slipped down from the rocks and approached her pool, which she ducked under until only her eyes were showing.
Kneeling down before her, I gave her a soft smile. “As someone who literally causes problems for a living, I would like to hear about this, Nadione.”
She looked away from me, swimming over to the edge of the pool farthest from me. There she sat, only her eyes visible.
I just smiled and returned to my rock to sit. This would be the routine for the next few days while we waited on the Baron to arrive. As always, it was my jb to take care of the Gemling. This meant feeding her, polishing her, doing whatever was needed to make her look her best for the Baron’s appraisal.
I was working on her one afternoon, I was using felt to buff some of the stones on her body. I had my kit out, which included wax, sandpaper, files, scissors, and various other tools I had been handed down from my mother. I turned away for one second to fetch some water and when I came back, Nadione had taken the sheers and was chopping viciously at her hair.
I clicked my tongue as I approached, listening to the snickering of the scissors as they snipped, snipped, snipped her hair into chunks.
“You could have asked,” I told her.
Nadione sat there amongst the remnants of her long hair, looking at the scissors in her hand. I took them from her then gently brushed away the scarps from her back and shoulders.
“These scissors aren’t good for cutting hair.” I took the scissors from her palm. Her hair had made knicks and chips in the blade. It was thin and light, but the strands were also extremely tough, like spun crystal. “Goodness, I’ll have to buy a new pair,” I chuckled.
Nadione glared off into the distance.
I looked around at the mess on the floor. Gemling hair took ages to grow, she would probably have short hair the rest of her life. But maybe that was her point. “Are you happy with your haircut?”
“Maybe,” she replied curtly.
I sighed and placed my tools back into the kit. “Arcus can fix your hair. But for now, can I trust you alone long enough so I can fetch a broom?”
Nadione twisted her head back to look up at me. “I did what I wanted.”
I smiled at her then set down a feeding box onto the table. She grabbed at it greedily, opening it up to the scarp and minerals inside. She was always so hungry, it caused some worry in me.
Nadione’s hair was fixed, sheared short to where it was like a fluff ball on top of her head. It suited her small stature nicely, and I’ll admit, it gave her a sort of regal appearance.
“What will you do with me when the Baron doesn’t want me?” Nadione asked one day as we walked towards the mineral springs.
“You seem certain he’s not going to take you,” I said.
“He won’t.” Nadione was talking to me more and more each day. “So I want to be prepared for what is going to become of me when you can’t make money off me.”
I hummed under my breath. It hadn’t happened before, but we had discussed at some point, should the Baron not make a purchase, we could always ransom the gemling back. But considering a few factors I gleaned, I’m not sure we’d make much money doing that.
“There’s a few things that could happen. Though I’m not sure what we would do. Depends on how much of a problem you were to your previous owner.”
Nadione pushed me against the rock wall of the path and held me there despite her small size. Not that I was going to fight her or anything.
Her eyes were wide and endless. Inside them I could not see much, just my own reflection and the rocks behind me held a certain glow. “You would just give me back?” She hissed.
I shook my head and raised up my hand. “No, no, no. Not just give. We have to make some money back.”
Nadione’s eyes widened, her whole body tensed. There was a light behind her black eyes and it gave me a sudden pause. I took a step back and the rock wall was close to my shoulders.
“You would be better off hacking me up into parts and selling what I am made of!” She shoved me again, removing her hands then just standing there.
I rubbed my palm to my back where the rock had jabbed me. “Considering you’re malnourished, I wouldn’t offer to ransom you back anyways.”
She glared at me, crossing her arms against her chest.
I stepped away from the wall, rubbing my shoulders where it still stung. I watched Nadione, evading my gaze, turning herself away. She didn’t want to be looked at, she didn’t want to be perceived at all. That’s how she had always been.
“A lot of Gemlings are. I’ve seen maybe a handful treated well by the owners. Most Gemlings rely on miners for the brunt of their meals.” I stepped towards her, offering my hand again. “That’s what my dad used to tell me anyways.”
Nadione looked at my hand and then turned herself away again. “The miners were kind. They were hard workers. I would sooner work with them than ever go back to bleeding the mine dry for people who would never understand-” her voice cut off.
I smiled, I finally got something out of her. I could understand her though, and that was what I had wanted all this time. “So that’s why you’re a problem. You stole from the rich to give to the poor. I like that.” I smiled and Nadione returned it tentatively.
“The miners deserved it more.” She then clutched at her chest, over the armor on her chest. “We would trade.”
“So you would get better food?”
Nadione let out a tired, weary sigh and nodded her head. She tilted her head up, looking at the dormant volcano standing over us. I followed her gaze, wondering what she must be thinking. Volcanoes were home to her kind, her ancestors really. I’m sure it called to her like all the others.
“How many other Gemlings have you stolen?” She asked in a small, quiet voice.
I counted in my head, thinking back on those that had been sold to the Baron. “Quite a few. We’ve been working for the Baron a while now.”
“And why work for him? If your father was a miner, and your mother a jeweler, why are you working for him?”
I sighed heavily. “Because they’re gone.”
Nadione’s sharp eyes softened.
I shrugged. “Both of them died when I was young. A dust from the mine-” I stopped a second, still a bit callous at the memory. “A dust front he mine made a lot of people in the village sick. Arcus and I grew up together, and we both decided to join when we had nothing else.”
“I’m sorry.” She continued walking, taking the lead up to the mineral spring.
“You didn’t cause the dust, did you?” I followed up close behind her. “Besides, I’m sure you know a thing or two about it.”
Nadione turned back and looked at me confused.
I smiled at her, although I’m sure it turned out sadder than I intended. “Losing your family.”
She clenched her jaw and then stepped down into the water.
“Most Gemlings don’t get a chance for family. I know.” I sighed and sat down in my usual place. “Interbreeding became illegal. But people kept doing it regardless. Greed makes people do cruel things.”
Nadione ducked her head underwater and she didn’t rise up again for a long time. It was fine, the quiet was nice even if the tears were welling up.
She raised from the water as I was wiping my eyes. “Bram?”
I sniffled and sat up. “Yes, Nadione?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You’ve been kind to me, but so have many others in the past.” Her eyes darted down to the ground. “I shouldn’t have pushed you.”
I smiled. “There’s no need to apologize. After all, I’m basically your kidnapper.”
She shook her head and dunked back under water.
Comments
Chelsea Norris
And THE ARMOR. the Literal Body Armor that Nadione had built and made just for her own body. That says so much. Those are her battle scars and wounds that she wears to protect her physical form. That says so much. And the point that it's not just her torso, it's on her face and how when she's curled up on herself and practically making an armored amidillo or hedgehog or something. Just *chef's kiss* magnifico.
Chelsea Norris
By far, my favorite commission yet. The sweet sadness. The hints of pain and loss and suffering in the past leading to weariness and skittish Ness in the present. The angst is what makes the soft tenderness that much more compelling. That much sweeter. And for Nadione to learn that Bram for once DOESN'T have alterior motives, when that's all she's ever dealt with with others. You captured that so wonderfully and elegantly.
