Finding Fire

Only Old Joe was near, curled up in his sleeping bag and smelling like southern comfort. The empty bottle lay beside him. Meri tucked an extra blanket around him to stave off the cavern's chill, and went to find her own little space. Settling atop her sleeping bag, she pulled the ancient wooden box from her satchel to inspect it -- a strange thing with letters in a language she didn't know. It glowed redly from inside, and as she ran slender fingers along the edges, she searched for some kind of opening. No visible line hinted at a lid or even a hinge, but the thing had to open somehow.

The red glow pulsed, and a shiver ran down her spine. She had to know what was in there! Had she stopped for a moment to consider, she might have realized her wild curiosity was unnatural even for her. Where was Old Joe's sledgehammer? Just as she was about to go look for it, her thumbs slid over the right spots and part of the box lifted. Inside, nestled in a soft red cushion, a brilliant red gem on a ring burned with brilliant light. Her eyes widened at its beauty. She'd never seen anything like it before, and even the lovely antique silver setting pale in comparison to the jewel itself. Because it was beautiful, and for some other reason she couldn't quite identify, she slipped it onto the forefinger of her right hand. The square gem looked huge on her delicate finger, but to her surprise, it fit there and felt almost natural. She lifted her hand and gazed into the fiery glow.

The light pulsed again, and she blinked when she thought she saw -- oh no -- was that a flaw in the depths of such a perfect gem? Almost with a tender gesture, she rubbed the finger of her other hand across the surface. Why think about a flaw when this light was still unexplained? She shook her head, trying to clear it, then the hair at the nape of her neck stood and she went very still, for she knew she was no longer alone. The fiery light within the ring faded, and she knew with that same sense -- the sense which told her when spirits were near, or when a certain street should be avoided -- that someone now stood behind her, watching. She rose and turned, sliding her hands into her pockets. No one needed to see this ring until she knew what it was.

The fellow who stood there frowning at her had the brightest aura she had ever seen, and there was no mistaking the same fiery glow which had pulsed at her from the ring. Her gaze went straight to his eyes -- a green like molten magic. After years among jaded Court elders, Meri had the presence of mind not to gape, but her eyebrows lifted and she was, for the moment, without words.

He said something in a language she didn’t understand. Even so, the gesture he made seemed dismissive to her, and she narrowed her eyes. “Tell me who you are,” she said in English, folding her arms. Maybe he could understand that, and if not, she had a few other languages to try.