Previously on Saga of the Jewels… The life of seventeen-year-old RYN, bookish son of a wealthy landowner, changes forever when his hometown is destroyed by the EMPIRE and everyone he has ever known is killed. He discovers that the Empire are seeking TWELVE PRIMEVAL JEWELS which grant the power to manipulate different elements, and that his father had been hiding the FIRE RUBY. Ryn sets out to take revenge on the Imperial General who killed his family and retrieve the Fire Ruby, and along the way meets NUTHEA the lightning-slinging princess, SAGAR the swaggering skypirate, ELRANN the tomboy engineer, CID the wizened old healer, and VISH the poppy-seed-addicted bounty hunter. Together the adventurers decide to find all of the Jewels in order to stop the EMPEROR from finding them first and taking over the world. They have thus far succeeded in retrieving the Fire Ruby, borne by Ryn, and the Lightning Crystal, borne by Nuthea. They have now come to the land of FARR where they intend to compete in a hand-to-hand fighting tournament in order to attempt to win its grand prize, the EARTH EMERALD… EPISODE THIRTY: BLOCKED Seven days till the tournament. The haggard Farrian official shut the stone doors of the Governor’s audience chamber behind him, the last to exit, and they slammed with finality. “Well then,” he said, the resentment detectable in his voice, “I suppose you had better come with me.” “Where is this ‘manse’ we’re staying in?” Ryn asked for the group, beating Nuthea to it. “It’s on this top level of the city,” said the official as he began to lead them across the stone floors. “For some reason he’s letting you stay in our finest guest accommodation, normally reserved for diplomats and dignitaries. I can’t think why.” He eyed Vish, barely keeping a sneer from his face. “He must want to keep a close eye on you.” Out of the building, into the brisk, crisp mountain air, along the way a bit, and the official led them to another of the miniature mountains-upon-the-mountain that were all over Shun Pei--another one of the spines of this gigantic conical porcupine, as Nuthea had come to think of it. Inside the earthen structure the walls and floor were made of polished grey stone. A circular atrium had several doors leading off it, with golden knockers each carved into the face of a monkey. At the centre of the atrium was a small fountain made of white stone which pumped water up by some hidden mechanism and sprayed it out in a glittering circle. Now this was more like it. This was more what Nuthea was used to. The Captain’s chamber on Wanderlust was tolerable, but not really up to standards. And, by the end, the Earth Temple had grown quite unbearable. This was much more to Nuthea’s tastes. “They are single rooms,” said the official, begrudgingly, “so you may each have your own. I am sure you are more than capable of deciding who will sleep where.” He pointed to a stone staircase at one end of the atrium. “There are a few more rooms on the upper floor. I suggest the young ladies sleep up there.” He pointed to the central door that led off from the atrium, the only one without a golden monkey-face knocker. “The dining area is through there. Servants will bring food there at sunrise, noon, and sundown. Each of your rooms locks from the inside, and the keys are in the rooms already. You should have everything you need. Oh, I nearly forgot...” He reached inside the folds of his blue robes and brought out a collection of small white papers, counted off six of them, then handed them to Nuthea. “What are these?” she asked, looking down at the square scraps of parchment covered in an inked script of strange symbols that she could not read. The Farrians had a very odd form of writing. “Your visitors’ papers,” said the official. “One for each of you. If you show these at the gates between any of the levels of the city, they will let you through, so you can pass between them as you wish. You are free to explore the city at your leisure and come and go as you please. Now you should have everything you need. The Governor’s tournament will be held in seven days’ time, next firstday, at Tenkachi, a town not far from Shun Pei. I will visit you again on seventhday to give you the details. If you need anything or have any problems, I can be found at the entry gate to this uppermost level. Enjoy your time in Shun Pei.” With that, he left, seemingly keen to get away from them as quickly as possible. “Well this is pretty sweet,” said Elrann when he had gone, looking around at the fountain, the floor, the golden door-knockers. “Much nicer digs than the last time I was in Shun Pei, anyway…” “Did you hear that?” said Ryn. “They have servants who are going to provide meals for us! No more hard tack and salted beef! We won’t even have to use Nuthea’s coin to buy food anymore!” “Well,” said Nuthea, “unless we want to explore the city and eat at inns for some of our meals to experience some of the local cuisine.” She didn’t see what the fuss was about. This was all perfectly normal. Although she supposed it wasn’t for Ryn and the others, and she was glad he was happy about it. I haven’t seen him this happy in...ever? “It’s not bad, it’s not bad,” acquiesced Sagar. “I mean, I’ve stayed in nicer places. But this will do.” “I suggest,” said Nuthea, “that we all take some time to settle into our rooms, and meet up again in the dining area at noon for our luncheon. Elrann and I will take two of the rooms on the upper floor, as the minister suggested. It is only proper that we have our own floor.” Sagar frowned, and looked as if he was about to do that growling thing he did and then open his mouth to protest, but Nuthea zapped him with a meaningful glare and managed to head it off. The skycaptain kept his mouth shut, and only a very faint growl came from it. Boys. He needs to learn to control himself. “Great,” said Ryn by contrast, “see you all at noon. Which room do you want, Cid?” “I’ll take this one,” said Cid, pointing to the nearest door. Nuthea and Elrann left them to it and went upstairs, each choosing one of the rooms on the upper floor. Nuthea shut the door to her room behind her and let out a long sigh. It had been a long time, travelling on that airship, all cooped up with everyone else, and then navigating that Farrian shrine and fighting to try and get hold of the Earth Emerald. Her companions were growing to become her closest friends–how couldn’t they, after all they had been through together?—but she still needed a break from them from time to time. Although, the only problem with taking a break from them was that it allowed her grief for her mother rose to the top of her mind. She felt the pang of it again now, a big gaping ache in her stomach, her chest, her heart. It was always with her; she was only distracted from it a little when she was with her companions and focusing on their quest. But she couldn’t spend all her time with them, and this was when she felt it most keenly. This must be how Ryn felt all the time, too. And he hadn’t just lost his mother, he had also lost his father, his friends, everyone he had ever known who had been part of his hometown of Cleasor. And it had all been her fault… No; I can’t go down that line of thinking again. I’ve dealt with that with the One. And then, on top of all of that, there was this problem that she had become…blocked. She held out her two pale hands in front of her, palms up, and willed for some lightning to appear. A jolt, a fizz, a spark, anything. Nothing happened. “Bolt,” she tried whispering under her breath. Nothing happened. At most, her arms ached a little. What was going on? It couldn’t just be that she was out of mana, because she felt physically fine. Tired and grieving, to be sure, but she had slept on the airship all the way back from the Farrian jungle and she had still been eating, so her mana levels should be fine. No, this was a deeper problem. She should at least be able to produce something in terms of lightning. But she hadn’t been able to for weeks now. She had thought that combat would sort things out, but it hadn’t. She had tried so hard to produce lightning to persuade the Farrian official to let them onto this level of the city, to attack the earthen golem guardians, to try to open the door on the second floor of the Temple, but she just hadn’t been able to, on any of those occasions. What was going on? She looked around her room, which she had not even bothered to do yet, so preoccupied had she been with her problems. Simple, yet comfortable. A mat on the floor which she presumed was where she would sleep. A wardrobe for her clothes. She would need to get one of the boys to bring over some of those from the ship. A mirror. A small desk and chair. She sat down on the chair, to think. How am I going to get myself...unblocked? She held out her hands on the desk in front of her. Her white, delicate, dainty hands. The hands of royalty. What was wrong with them? Why were they not producing what she wanted them to? The gift had always come so easily, so naturally to her, what with her having been touched with the Lightning Crystal at birth, but now the magic just wasn’t flowing anymore. Who could she turn to for help for this? Then the answer came to her, so obvious she wondered why she hadn’t thought of it before. Grandfather. She stood up from the desk and went downstairs, finding the room that Cid had chosen earlier, and used the golden door-knocker. “Come!” came the eccentric yet friendly deep voice from within. “Hello, Granddaughter,” said Cid when she entered. She didn’t preface her visit with any niceties. She was too distressed. “Grandfather, I have a problem,” she said as she walked in. “There’s something I need to tell you.” “You have become bloc
