Amethyst

Chapter 2: Ignorance of The Impending

  All that glitters is always gems.

Goddess provides, as we all do our final moment. 

With Diamond-steel in sandstone rends, we find:

Endowment, with gifts each passing year.

Bestowment, what and meets and reaches potential.

Component? Needing Jade? Or Malachite? Gypsum, we mine it all here.

Condolence. A diamond for your fears?.

Atonement. Only renegades need atonement.

 My voice and thoughts joined the massive sing-along, with the unified song of all the others that reached my South Western section, within the Mines of Medura. Together, the cavern walls sung out as they always had, its lovely daily gravelly song, as over a thousand diamond-steel tools reverberated like heartbeats to the singing within the sandstone mine. It was one of those windy days; the trader tunnels had opened in the South trading section, the breeze that began whistling through the caverns silenced the song of miners and etchers alike.  

   The palms of my hands pulsing against my chisel. Despite the surface sand that sometimes blew in with the southern wind-tunnels, with the heat today's labor had worked up, what slight breeze reached me at this far in I was glad for. As for my dirty blonde hair pulled back, the breeze cooled the sweat building into beads at the nape of my neck. Of course, it seldom reached my hands as I worked. Already, the new layers of callouses on my fingers and palms felt clear; they would be visible as a show of my own labor, in my sections, as did my layers upon layers, of ten thousand tool-marks. These callouses were the marks of a hard worker, and the tool marks showed dedication and devotion to the family work and legacy. If I were lucky, after my merging and return from my Passage for turning 16 - that might make me one of the best suitors for promotion in the whole of the Southern tunnels. 

   Working on chiseling the intricate spiraling details into the limestone wall helped keep my mind off my impending merging on Thursday when I come of age. From a young age, they had realized that I was creative with designs and good with a chisel. It had also been an excellent way of earning a little extra now and then. Sure my father, Alex, had a job and now one of the better ones. Though in our culture, you are hyperaware that your parents and family will not be around forever. Everyone worked and generally enjoyed their work in the Opal City, but there were health issues as one grew older from lack of sunlight. Others… like gout that wore my father's hands - that is genetic. Luckily my hands had shown no sign of any such condition as of yet.  

  Working away on autopilot, I began permitting some lighter thoughts about what was impending.

  Following my coming of age is the first ceremony: What an honor it was to be merged with one's birthstone. For a moment, I thought about how I felt about forever having amethyst, specifically the amethyst I was named for, embedded into my skin in one of our traditional designs. The designs were magnificent, but it had never been clear how the Old Sages understood how they know what the Earth Goddess wanted upon our skins, which patterns to use and how the gems would need to be refined. How was it possible that not only would they know these things, but that we are all supposed to receive a vision of the work before it is done.

  I would behave to peruse my Passage and hope that I survive the surface world for long enough to return home at the three months mark. By tradition, no one is allowed to return before then. There are no rules we have to follow when we leave. There is nothing. Those who begin are reminded to believe in our goddess and believe in our ways, and we will return home safely.

  In Medura, schooling was as and when it was essential for Merdurian's. Learning the basics, reciting from a stone or sometimes metal tablet, and carve and compose onto a tablet. We were taught how to quarry. We were to know of the Three Goddesses of Earth, Sky, and Water – though no Medurian worshiped the Sky or Water Goddess at all. In school, we had also learned of the 11 other cities and the creatures in our land.

   Although there was a library section in the Opal City held in the City' North-East, close to the Schooling section. Due to this, people had come to regard it as the education section. The same way as the South was the trade section. All areas of the City could be used if anyone ever sought any type of knowledge or wanted to buy or trade. Though, come to think of it. The education section of the City had always had some of the slightest footfall. The paths were nowhere near as tattered, and they were never as busy as those within the other sections.

  My hands worked on autopilot as my reflections unfolded. Within what seemed like minutes, my section of carving was done. Placing my tools down, ran my fingers through my hair. Rogue strands clutched onto some perspiration on my forehead and temples. Short tresses removed from my face, I could scrutinize my work of art far more clearly. Though my hair wasn't as long as some others, it could still get in the way. Even still, my work was brilliant as usual.

  After pushing to my feet and stretching my legs, I began putting away my diamond-tipped carving tools. They had been a gift from my father after being approved as a creative carver for the Southern and Western sections. As a gift, they had served me very well, etching into the limestone with precision.

  Heading to the nearest Overseer's office to confirm the artwork and final approval and my earned pay, I spotted Turq & Malachite. "Hey, guys." Waving to catch their attention worked. They stopped when they heard me. It was at Turq meeting my eyes with his deep green set that my heart fluttered in my chest. Everything about his was perfect, except his hands which by a trader were soft for a Medurian's. That was okay. I worked hard enough to have more than enough callouses for both of us.

   Turq rushed over, "Ame!" Hugging me and lifting me off my feet briefly in a twirl before setting me back down. He planted a small kiss on my lips, followed by a lingering kiss on my forehead.

  "Ugh!" Malachite's face contorted in feigned disgust. "Go get a section." Malachite was a friend a little younger than Turq. Come to think of it, he was closer to age with me – then I realized his own Merging and Passage would begin some weeks after mine. Malachite helped Turq out in his own part of the trade section from time to time. Mal's eyes were the color of toasted topaz, and they darted from me to Turq, where they lingered. "Actually, Turquoise… we have a fair bit of work to do back at the trade section, and as you told me before, we need to get going. You can always see your girlfriend later." The heat rising in my cheeks as Malachite returned his gaze to me, I simply hoped the embarrassment was not so visible on my face, in the lights of the glow stone torches.

  Turq turned his head in the direction of his brother about to protest without really looking at him. When I cut in, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, "It's okay, really. I'm heading to collect my pay for my day's work." Motioning towards the tools belt wrapped around my waistline.

  "But-" as Turq turned in an attempt to entirely protest, Malachite wrapped his arm around the mid of Turq's back and began pulling him away more forcibly. It was clear that he was saying something to Turq, but it was impossible to tell what from their distance, now.

  It wasn't too long after that I turned up to the Overseer's office, adjacent to the opening to the Northern residential quarters' gardens. It was Overseer Rose's office. Her assistant, known as Luz, was androgynous and proudly so, they immediately recognized me with a warm smile; over time, Luz had gotten to know me from all of the commissioned work I had been doing from their office. They smiled politely and nodded their head for me to go through to Rose's office and swiftly returned to their paperwork.

  "Ame! Darling!" She spoke with a distinctive drawl. Something she claimed to have picked up during her own Passage. Apparently, it had taken her two to three years to come back and by choice of roaming the earth longer and seeing more. Something I couldn't fully understand, why someone would want to be away from the cities as long as she had. "How is my favorite young etcher doing?" She had the same pale, almost translucent all Medurian's had and that same upwards tilt in her bright amber eyes that we all had. It was her hair that was different, a gorgeous long mane of deep ruby red. I had asked her before, and she simply explained that her father and his brothers moved from the Ruby City (The 8th City) to the Opal City (the 6th City), where he met her mother Mal, and the rest was history. Though she had said, not all in the Ruby City had crimson hair, it had definitely been considered a factory of beauty there. 

  There were times I was in awe of how comfortable she was with her femininity. This had been something I brought up in passing; her response had always been the same as about her accent. During Passage, her time outside had solidified any doubts or notions she had on who she indeed was.

  "It's been a nice day of just chiseling away. It helps calm my nerves just now; If there are any more sections unworked or needing to be reworked, you know I'll happily take up my tools," My voice chimed. I honestly did enjoy my work. It paid, and it usually worked to help focus my mind on anything other. 

  Rose poured two glasses of some citrus-infused water from the platter on the table behind her stone-carved desk. "Tell me, Ame." She mused as she shared out the liquid, not looking at me directly, there looked to be a furrow between her brows for a brief moment, but it could have been tiredness playing tricks on me. "Are you doing anything nice for your father before your Passage?" Putting the jug down and handing me a glass, her hazel eyes burned with a grave stare, "Because if not, then you certainly need to consider it."