"The Discovery"

Original Version, date unknown

Chapter One: The Discovery

Maria’s P.O.V.
It was another one of those days.

I went downstairs to get breakfast. Honey buns and tea again. I ate my breakfast, then turned the sign on my door to “open”.

I glanced at the clock. Only 5:50. I still have 50 minutes before Marisolia comes.

I picked up the necklace that I was working on. It was Gold/Sapphire. I started shaping the blue gem into a square. “I just need to attach the gem to the metal part, and then I’m done!” I thought.

Just then: ding! My bell rung. I checked the clock. 6:00. I went to the door.

“Hi!”

“Hi!”

“Guess what? There’s a mission-meeting going on! The troll cave!”

“Cool! Are you going?”

“Yes! Do you want to go?”

“Sure!”

Rewrite 9/4/14

Chapter One

The bright morning light streaming in through my windows woke me up as it always did, pressing against my tightly shut eyes. I rolled over, debating for a moment whether I should let myself sleep a few minutes longer, but decided against it.
With a groan I sat up, brushing my long brown hair out of my face and behind my shoulder. I stretched my thin wings as I stood up, making sure they hadn’t been bent while I was sleeping.
The smooth stone floor under my feet was cool, and urged me to hurry as I walked over to the chest containing my clothes. I changed from my sleep breeches to a pair made of a thicker material, remembering to pick my wand up from where it lay beside my bed and slip it in the side pocket on the right leg. I pulled on my usual blue tunic over my undershirt, making sure to carefully slip my translucent blue wings though the slits on the back. Finally, I slipped on my soft leather boots, pulled my hair back into a thick knot at the base of my neck, and stepped out into my workshop.
I walked to my familiar wooden workbench, smoothed by the wear of time, and picked up a pile of logs to start the furnace with. I could hear the street outside coming to life, with the other craftsworkers starting their chores and the merchants opening up their stores. Amidst the everyday chatter of people greeting each other on the streets, I could also hear children laughing and playing, and the hard steps of a horse walking down the cobbled road.
I set the logs down in the back of the furnace on top of yesterday’s glowing embers, the familiar smoky scent filling my nose. I added some sticks to help the logs catch fire, blowing on the glowing coals.
Turning away from the large stone furnace, I walked back into my bedroom, making sure to shut the wooden door behind myself. I kneeled down next to the chest in the corner of my room, pulling out a chain that was hanging around my neck. I took the necklace off, using the key dangling from the chain to unlock the chest, and pulled out two objects from inside the wooden chest. On the floor next to me, I set a large blue gem and a lump of pure gold, then closed the chest and locked it. I re-clasped the necklace around my neck and tucked it under my shirt, then stood up and headed back out into my workshop, taking the two precious bits of material in my hands.
The smaller branches had caught fire, and it was quickly spreading onto the larger logs. I nodded to myself, taking my leather apron from its hook, and put it on, slipping the materials in my hands into its pockets. I checked the fire once again, giving it a few pumps of air with the bellows, then slipped my thick gloves on. Finally, I walked to the double doors, folding them open it to show that I was open for business.
As I walked back to my workbench, I heard a laugh from the doorway behind me and a faint scent of honey drifted into the room.
“Marina! You didn’t even notice me!” a voice giggled.
I turned around, grinning at the slim figure hovering next to me. In the air, she was about my height, but as she landed, I was reminded of just how tall I was. Though we were the same age, her head barely came up to my chin. My extra height came from the water sprite blood in me - I was just over half faerie.
“Up and about early again, Marisolia?” I said teasingly, taking the gemstone from my pocket and lifting the sander from its hook on the wall above me.
“You know I always visit you in the mornings,” she said with a small laugh, swishing her light golden hair off one shoulder. “Good thing too, otherwise you’d starve.”
She set a plate on the worktable that had a gooey-looking honey roll on it, fresh out of the oven. I sighed, though I set down my wand and tool.
“You don’t have to feed me. I won’t starve, I promise,” I protested.
“Not on purpose, but you’d just get so carried away with your work you’d forget until when you were about to fall asleep! I have no idea how you can love messing around with stones and metal so much.”
I tore off a bit of the roll and put it in my mouth, enjoying the sugary sweetness of it. Shrugging, I looked over at her. “It’s what I like to do,” I said. “It’s what I was born to do.”
This was true - smithing was what I was meant to do. The talent for it ran in my veins and affected my magic, just as beauty and light were what influenced Marisolia.
“I know I’ve asked before, but are you sure it’s safe for you to be running around in the town every morning? I mean, you are the crown princess.”
Her smile briefly turned into a pout. “Look, Marina, it’s perfectly fine. Mother and Father know and they don’t care, as long as I’m careful, and plus, you’d never get out of your house if I didn’t come see you every day. Ooh, like today -” a grin spread across her face “- I found out that there’s going to be a scouting party sent to the Grondor Caves in a few days, and they’re looking for volunteers because, you know, most of the army is away and what’s left can’t leave the castle.” She grinned as my mouth dropped open in surprise.
“Grondor Caves?” I repeated. “The Grondor Caves?”
“Home of the sparkliest gems in the known world,” she replied.
“It’s not the ‘sparkliness’ I care about, Mari,” I said impatiently. “Grondor Caves are the only place to get diamonds in decent-sized quantities. And I’ll remind you that I just yesterday received an order from the castle for a wand handle made up almost entirely of small diamonds.” I gave her a knowing look, and she laughed.
“You know I love diamonds,” she replied, unabashed. “Anyway, are you going to volunteer or not?”
I grinned. “You know me,” I said, picking up the sander and hanging it back on the wall. “Of course I’m going.”
“Good, because I already told Trevan that we’ll both be going to the meeting,” Marisolia replied.
“Wait - both? You’re going too?” I asked, surprised. She raised an eyebrow.
“What, you think I’ll be fine with staying home while my best friend goes off on a mission outside the kingdom? I think not.”
“But - it’s…it’s... outside the kingdom,” I finished lamely.
“That’s the whole point,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Adventure. Heroics. Excitement.”
“It’s just a scouting mission,” I pointed out flatly. She sighed. “You’re hopeless, Marine. It’s to scout for signs of troll activity. We’ve already mapped all of the caves twice.”
My brow furrowed. “Trolls? But they stay to the far east, in the mountains. They never come anywhere near us.”
“Well, some gemstone merchant came back last week with tales of giant footprints leading in and out of the caverns,” she said, a gleam in her eyes. “And a couple cave-ins happened while he was near there. What else could it be?”
I shrugged. “I guess trolls do fit the description,” I said.
She nodded, a grin spread across her face. “Well come on then! The meeting’s going to start any minute now!” she said, fluttering up in the air a bit and tugging on my arm.
“It’s starting now?” I gasped. “But, Marisolia -”
“Come on! You look fine!” she said as I instinctively raised a hand to smooth my hair.
“Just one second,” I said, interrupting her. “I need to put this away.” I picked up the sapphire, waving around it a bit before I strode over to my bedroom. I quickly replaced the gold and sapphire in the chest, making sure that it was locked after I was done, and walked back out.
Marisolia was waiting impatiently for me in the workroom, flying in circles and zig-zags. She looked over at me as I came out.
“Your apron and gloves!” she called, landing on the ground and hopping from one foot to the other.
“Oh, right. Almost forgot about those,” I said, peeling my gloves off and dropping them on my worktable. I untied my apron and hung it back on its hook, pausing to check my reflection in the polished plate of silver on the wall.
“You look fine! Let’s go let’s go let’s go!” she sang, fluttering over to me and grabbing my arm. I sighed at her hyper anticipation, following her out into the street.

---

This was the beginning of a story that Author Blue wrote early in the timeline of Naiko, featuring Marisolia Kabarya and Maria Kanino. Author Blue then came back several years later in 2014 and rewrote the short passage to bring new life to the story and show off clearly improved writing skills.