The Pearldiver of Neorah

Ula-Ronat: a Nation of balmy islands marked mostly for a laid-back approach to life. The buildings are made to resemble shells or other natural features and the Crystal is kept in a building that resembles nothing so much as a giant oyster shell, such as produce pearls.

Neorah: a small island far removed from many of the goings-on of the different Nations. Not the sort of place where one would expect to find anyone of great importance. It is inhabited mostly by those who are seeking to escape the world or who make their way through the creation of various ornaments.

Sunlight fell gently on the blue-green waters surrounding Neorah. Far from the tradepaths and very rarely visited by the powerful in the world of Artegal, the island was relatively peaceful and hardly noticed at all except for the quality of her pearls and the matchless beauty of her shells.

Deep in the water, a maiden swam down to the oysterbeds. Long black hair filled the water around her like a halo and her deep violet-purple eyes looked ahead towards her goal. As she reached the oysters she held a brown-skinned hand out over the stubborn sea-creatures and a tendril of delicate magic wove its way from her palm, pushing the water forward to ease open the shells so that she could extract the precious pearl that was, after all, only an irritant to the oyster without damage to the creature.

Once her pouch had the treasure she sought, then she sent another gentle wave of magic-directed water to the oysters, as a form of thanks even though the creatures had no thoughts to speak of, and then kicked her way towards the surface and the bright sunlight there.

She surfaced with a gasp, her brown face raised towards the sky and the birds flying overhead, as she took her first breath of actual air in what had to be close to a quarter of an hour. It always took her a moment to adjust whenever she sealed off the gills behind her ears and became an air-breather again. She leaned back in the water for a moment, glorying in the feeling of the smooth sea against her skin, before pushing her hair back behind her long, delicately pointed ears and began to swim towards the boat she had left waiting for her when she had gone diving for pearls.

Pearls weren't the only treasures in her little pouch, though. She had also picked up bits of stone and small shells. There were even a few wave-polished globes of crystal in her collection. When she returned to her home she planned to carefully drill holes through them and see what she could make of them then.

She was utterly unaware of the events occurring elsewhere which would have such an effect on her and the path she would follow.

Laying on the beach, Crucent smiled to herself as she saw her friend surface in the water. She sat up and shouted to Leia "About time you came up, now get back to shore so you can show me your treasures. Besides, I'm getting bored."

Leia laughed as she heard Crucent's voice from the shoreline. "Why don't you join me?" she called back with another laugh in her voice. The strangeling woman, neither truly an Elf nor any other race of Artegal, had rapidly become Leia's best friend on the island after her sudden arrival from a place she called Vana'diel, wherever that was.

Well, best friend other than Aquaelie, but Leia didn't tell many people about Aquaelie. Maybe she'd tell Crucent about the shapeshifter later, but she didn't know how to even approach such a conversation.

"C'mon, Cru! I know you can swim!" Though they both would readily admit that Leia took to the water more easily than even some full-blood Merrow and she was only half sea-born. Her father was an elf, and she resembled him more than she did her mother.

"But but but... I'm trying to get a tan here" Still grinning, Crucent got up and waded out into the shallows. "But I guess I look fabulous enough for now so.."
Diving gently in, she delighted in the feeling of warm waters against her skin. It had been too long since she had come to the beach, as it reminded her of her homeworld, Vana'Diel.

This place would always take her mind back to when she and her best friend would go to a shoreline much like this island, where they would kill mobs for hours on end under the hot sun before they'd relax and go for a swim to clean themselves off then just lie basking in the sun, having fun.

Shaking her head, she tried to get rid of those thoughts, and a few swift strokes later, she gasped for air next to Leias boat.

"Crucent, fabulous Elvaan, ready to report for duty, maam"
she said as she had caught her breath again, smiling at her friend.

Leia laughed at her friend's comment about getting a "tan". Unless she decided to ask the aid of one of the island's Shapers the pale skinned woman would never be as dark as many of the islanders were.

Though from some of the looks she'd been getting that was a mark in her favor, really.

Leia wasn't quite certain if she ever took any of them up on the silent offers, but she hadn't figured out how to ask, or even if she should.

She grinned as the Elvaan woman reached the coracle. "Come on, I want to show you something." She dove back into the water and kicked her way over to an outcropping of rock.

Intrigued and taking a deep breath, Crucent immidiately followed. The crystalclear water hardly stopping her long, slender body from keeping up easily with Leia.

As the pair swam further down, past schools of glittering coral fish that seemed to have a giant coherent mind as they tried to escape the two females in case they were predators, Crucent saw that they were making their way to a shipwreck. And judging by the amount of seacreatures living on the hull, it must have been down there a long time.

Leia grinned to herself, the gills behind her ears opening to filter what she needed from the water around her. She knew, though, that Crucent didn't have the gills, so she needed to be certain that her friend wasn't below the surface for too long.

She directed the two of them deep into the belly of the ship to where the chests were and tapped the lid of one of them, signaling to Crucent that this was what she was here to show her.

Then she carefully eased the lid of one of the chests open to show the glitter within.

They'd have to carry the chests up to a cavern that she knew of, but they had found themselves a treasure trove.

Swimming after Leia, Crucent followed her into the hull itself, and barely able to prevent herself from gasping in delight at the chests, her eyes went wide when Leia opened one of them.

It was filled to the brim with gems, gold necklaces and rings, precious jewels and a whole lot more!

Just as she was about to grin widely though, her ears started thumping and she signalled that she had to get back up to the surface as she really needed some fresh air, and soon.

Leia nodded at Cru and let the lid fall shut. They could get the chests up to her hidden cavern later. They had all the time in the world, as she figured, to get their treasure to the cavern and explore the items to their hearts content.

She kicked her way up to the surface and couldn't contain the grin of delight as their heads broke into open air.

"See what I mean, Cru?" she asked. "Is that not worth the swim?"

Sometimes, finding something was more fun with someone else to enjoy the finding as well. And she loved finding stuff with her friend.

Panting for air, Crucent grinned and nodded.
"yeah, that is definately worth a swim. But it's bit far down for me, unless you know someone who can magic me some way of breathing underwater, without gills."

She had no objections with her friend having gills, but the thought of gills suddenly sprouting behind her own ears, made her shudder. She just could not even imagine it happening to her.

" so, how do we go about getting it up?"

Leia grinned at her friend. "I'm not sure. I know that I'm not strong enough to lift those boxes myself, but I know a cavern where we can store everything." She grinned wider. "Didn't they look pretty?" She chuckled low, ducking her head closer to that of her friend. "I've never been able to work with gold to make stuff. But oh some of those chains looked sooo pretty."

She considered how best to help her friend with the breathing issue and was briefly overwhelmed by a sense of dizziness.

A treasure you have found. Wealth and power lies within your hand. Your will to impose on others.

She frowned at the voice within her mind, uncertain of where it came from.

Why . . . why would I want to do that? She thought back at the phantasmal voice. What fun is there in a treasure I cannot share? Why . . . why would I even want to . . . She shook her head slightly. My life is my own to live. I'm not going to tell anyone else how to live theirs. I like the pretties because they're pretty and because I can use them to make more things like them. What do I care for power?

The phantasmal voice merely chuckled softly. A good answer this is. Ofttimes those most deserving are those who desire least. Yours to enjoy this treasure is, and to share with friends most loyal. Then the strange presence was gone.

She shook her head to clear it and looked over at Crucent. "I have got to get my ears looked at or something. Anyway, let's see about getting you something to help you help me, okay?"

She scooped through the air with a tendril of magic and spun it around Crucent's head, creating a whirling bubble of air around her. She then grinned and indicated the water with her chin. "So, you wanna help me get our treasure into a place where we can play to our heart's content?"

Delighted at her air-bubble, she grinned and nodded.

"I guess this is better than drowning, even if i *do* feel like a moron"

Diving back in, she was absolutely amazed at how the air-bubble din't hinder her movements in the water at all. Turning, and playing and somersaulting around the corals she couldn't help but giggle at how easy everything was all of a sudden.

"This is incredible, you are a clever one indeed. The only thing I don't like is that it makes me sound as I have a bucket over my head, and it makes my voice sound funny."

Grinning to herself with pleasure she swam through a school of the shimmering fish that was swooping around the pair of them.

"Well, im good to go get that treasure if you are"

Leia giggled slightly at her friend's antics. It was part of what made them such good friends, the ability to be silly at a moment's notice. Though it was very strange for others to see them laughing at some private joke because she was rarely so animated with anyone else.

And when she was it sometimes wasn't a good thing.

She nodded at Crucent's assesment that she was ready for the transfer and kicked away from the coracle, after making sure that she had her little pouch tied securely to her waist. She still wanted to show off the pearls and little stones she'd found once they had the bigger stuff in her cavern.

They swam back down to the wreck and Leia looked at what they had to transport, wondering about the best way to get it to her cavern. Some of the boxes had broken open and there were loose coins on the deteriorating floor of the ship.

The best bet might be to move the intact chests first, and then scoop up the rest with a bubble of water. She reached for one of them and nodded to Crucent.

Understanding what Leia wanted her to do, she swam over to the other side of the chest and grabbed a hold of it. As expected it was heavy, but after a few strong kicks with her legs, they were exiting the hull with it.

Once they had the chest clear of the hull Leia directed the two of them through the sea-side entrance to her cavern. There was an entrance through the island itself, but it was one that only Leia knew and she didn't know of any islanders who would go snooping about her private cavern anyway.

Especially after Aquaelie had frightened that one bully into turning almost as pale as Crucent.

Getting the chest out of the water and onto the stone floor of the cave, though, took some maneuvering. Eventually Leia used a bubble of water below the chest that she used to levitate it out of the water and then eased it down onto the stone.

Once the chest was settled, Leia looked at Crucent. "You wanna go through this one, or get the rest of them first?"

Treading water, Crucent grinned.
"do you even have to ask me that? of course I wanna go through this one
as soon as possible, who knows what it contains? the excitement is killing me."

Getting up of the water, she went to the chest and pulled it further in onto the ground so it didn't suddenly slip and go back in the water again.

Leia stopped herself from bursting out in loud laughter by the narrowest of margins. She only did so because she knew that the sound would reverberate off the walls and she didn't want someone interrupting them just as things were getting to the good part.

She pulled herself out of the water with a nod and walked over to work at the clasp on the chest to see if she could get it open. Much to her surprise it didn't fall open immediately.

"Cru, this one's still completely sealed. Like sealed-sealed. Whatever's inside . . . they were trying to protect it against the water even during transport."

Once she was able to figure out the releases for the clasps, though, she was able to open up the box and reveal what was inside, and it turned out to be piles of strangely decorated fabric.

Leia's eyes grew round as she lifted one up to reveal a robe of a cut and design that she'd seen, but not on any islander of Neorah. "Cru, these are Eremaki kimonos. I've never seen any that looked like this before, though."

The one she held was a blue-green silk and there were designs of many-petaled flowers falling through the fabric to gather at the hems.

As she watched her friend open the chest, Crucent was so eager to see the contents she barely managed to contain herself. This certainly wasn't like any treasure chests back in Vana'Diel so she was very intrigued as to what the contents were.
Gasping a little when the lock opened, she saw fabrics, more beautiful then anything she'd ever seen before.

"holy wow Leia, these are exquisite..."

Carefully taking out another one of these... what did Leia call them, kimonos.. Crucent was amazed at the quality of the fabrics, it was light as a feather, and so soft to the touch it almost felt like air.

"I've never seen anything like this before, the weaving of this fabric is beyond belief. It's so beautiful, whoever made this, was a true artist... and you can bet your staff it was made for someone very high up indeed."

Leia nodded at Crucent's appraisal of the quality of the robes. These were most definitely not the clothing of a peasant, or even of a simple islander from Neorah . . .

But oh she was glad that she'd found them.

"I've never been to Eremaki myself. We had an old man stay on the island for a while who had lived there. He was kind to us little ones, but I knew that he was already tired. He was going to go back to his home before he died, but a sudden late storm caught us all unawares. He . . . he was taken by the sea trying to save one of my neighbors."

She sighed and shook herself loose from the memories and carefully set the fabrics back in the box so that the seawater wouldn't damage the delicate silk. "Come on, let's get the next box and see what it holds. We have a whole wreck to empty." Her smile was softer than before, but still genuine. She wanted to see all the jewels and golden treasures that they had found.

Nodding, Crucent dived into the water, still amused by how utterly incredible her air-bubble was. grinning to herself, she said
"you know? I'm pretty sure the kimono you held up would suit you magnificently. You might as well have them all, cause they really aren't my style."

Swimming back to the wreck and into the hull, she found the room with the chests again, and just grabbed the handle of the nearest one.

"Damn, this thing is much heavier then the first one!"

Grunting she tried to lift just her side with no luck.

Leia nodded. "I tell you what, someday I'm going to Eremaki and so help me I'm going to get you to wear one, even if only on a bet. Okay?"

Then she dove in after her friend and they returned to the wreck.

The second chest was definitely much heavier than the first one had been, and Leia had to use another bubble of water to lift it up enough so that they could move it.

When they got it up to the cavern and were able to get it settled on the rock, its creaked with the weight inside. Leia grinned and looked at Crucent. "Well, I opened the last one. You get to open this one. Come on, let's see what's inside this treasure chest."

Sitting down in front of the chest, Crucent grinned at Leia, and grabbed a handy rock to bash the badly rusted lock off with. After a few well-aimed hits, the lock shattered and fell off, allowing her to open the lid.
Gasping in shock she pushed it completely back, and just stared in disbelief at the contents.
Unable to make another sound, she turned to Leia and just pointed to the chest.

"eeeeeh... I've never.... it just... wow..."

The silliest grin plastered itself across Leia's face as she looked at the pile of gems and jewels and gold pieces and gold chains and silver pieces and silver chains and assorted other metals shone from the inside of the waterlogged box.

"Wow is right, Cru!" She chuckled. "So many pretties!"

She reached her hand in and pulled out a particularly brilliant gemstone as large as the palm of her hand and the same emerald green as the sea. "Beautiful," she murmured, looking at her reflection fractured through the facets on the stone. She picked up a woven gold chain and threaded it through the pendant loop at the top of the gem and then set the necklace around Crucent's neck, closing the clasp before her friend was even aware of what she was doing.

"There you go, that one fits you perfectly!"

Giggling, Crucent said
"Nice choise. I think this would suit you perfectly"

She took out a very thin silverchain that had a powder-blue sparkling teardrop-shaped jewel attatched to it with what looked like vines wrapping smoothly around the bottom of the gem and hung it around Leias neck.

Nodding in approval at how the colors of the chain and the jewel complimented her friends dark skin, Crucent closed the lid.

"Now lets get this puppy back to the cave."

Leia giggled and nodded and they returned to the rather fun task of getting boxes and crates moved from the wreck up to her cavern. They had to work one at a time, but with ample breaks for looking through the pretties and giggling over the treasures.

Finally they had the last of the whole boxes pulled up to the cavern and had started on bringing up the broken ones and some of the loose treasures scattered about the broken ship.

Leia found, in one corner, a box that held a series of weapons, but they weren't ones that she knew very well, and she knew that Eremaki weapons could be . . . odd at times, so she set it aside in one corner of the cave.

Going through all these boxes was going to take days, but oh the fun they'd have looking at all the things.