Ruki’s discovery

The first snowflakes had fallen weeks ago, and by now the entire ground was covered in a pure white layer, but this did not stop Ruki from visiting her tree. The glow of prana she had created weeks ago had all but disappeared, leaving only the barren branches in its place. She could resummon it in an instant, she was sure, but her mother would hear nothing of it. She said it was dangerous. They did not know what effect this all had… using eastern powers in ZoroAster, making prana flow here…

But even apart from all this, Ruki loved her circle. Just the memory of how beautiful it had been that night was enough to comfort her and to make her feel calm. And she needed some rest; she had been training so much lately, and her mother and grandmother had kind of hinted that they would like her to learn more about the country and its history as well. Ruki was eager to learn all of that, but maybe it would be a bit much. She was already so tired.

As she heard hoofsteps in the snow behind her, Ruki wondered if she should hide; she did not particularly feel like talking to anyone right now. A bit of quiet was all she wanted. Yet when she saw her aunt Hikary, she decided against it. Her teacher she may be, but Hikary would never force her to study more when she was tired, saying it would not be proper studying anyway.

“Hey there, Hikary.” She greeted her aunt. “How was your trip?”
 Hikary had returned the night before from a trip to Ivy’s castle, but Ruki had not spoken to her yet.
“Oh, just fine. The weather has been stable, so that helped a lot.” Hikary answered.
“Ah, that is good to hear. How were Ivy and Fleur?”
 “Oh, very well. Ivy really seems to be able to manage things over there, which is a great help to Regina.”

“Are you enjoying a break here?” Hikary asked.
“Yes, sort of. I don’t really have anything to do… and I love how peaceful it is here.” Ruki confessed.
 “So you told me. Just remember to not make it all glow again… Who knows what the side effects might be.” Hikary told her. “I know. I won’t, I promise.” Ruki smiled. How often had she been told that already now?

“Well, I guess I best be on my way again. I was just going out for a bit of fresh air- I’ve been talking with my mother all day ever since I arrived.” Hikary said.
“More talks now?” Ruki asked, wondering what on earth they kept talking about all the time.
“No, we’re done. I am actually on my way to inspect the stones.” Hikary answered.

“Inspect them? Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing is wrong. I just inspect them once every few days to make sure all is all right. Do you maybe want to come along?” Hikary asked.
“Yea… sure, why not.” Ruki agreed, realizing she had been out here in the cold long enough. Strangely, she had never seen the three stones they had collected so far. Hikary had kept the stone they took from Shanjahen hidden, and she had never been invited to the room they were stored in; nor had she been interested in seeing them.

She followed Hikary inside the castle. They turned left to the hallway where her grandmother’s study also was. She didn’t come there often; there was nothing to do for her there anyway. It reminded her that she still had not decided whether she wanted to become princess of this country, and thus heir after her mother, or not. It was her birthright after all; by all means she was a princess. But because of everything that had happened, Regina had offered her the choice to become an official princess, or not. The choice was up to her; even if she decided she did not want this she would still be allowed to live here with her family.

Ruki found she had a hard time deciding. She was slowly falling in love with this country, and the sweet and friendly ponies living here, and she admired the way her grandmother ruled. But there was still so very little she knew, and to decide that she one day would follow in her grandmother’s hoofsteps while she did not know the first thing about it seemed nothing but selfish to her. Her grandmother had given her plenty of time to decide though; she could take all the time she needed.

“We’re here.” Hikary announced and they stopped in front of a rather insignificant wooden door. Hikary took out a set of keys out of her bag and opened the door.
“Why don’t you use powers to lock the doors? Wouldn’t that be safer?” Ruki asked, remembering one of her lessons where she had been taught to create a lock on something that would only open to mind powers.

“We were thinking about it.” Hikary admitted.
“But?”
“Well… it’s a bit too troublesome. You see, in the old castle in the Old Friendship Lands, apparently there were locks of power. But back then, things were so different… all the princesses were well educated in the use of their powers and even the last born daughter would be able to unlock doors.

But now… Ivy and Fleur can’t do that. Ivy got her powers sealed and none of us know enough to teach Fleur, and all the books and other materials are gone. If we would use those kinds of locks now… we would exclude too many members of our family. Maybe in the future it will be an option again, but for now… no.” Hikary explained while she pulled the door open.

Behind the door lay a staircase that would lead them downstairs into the basement of the castle. Ruki was surprised to see the stairs; she knew there was a basement, she had seen the servants go there a few times, but she did not know there was a separate door here too. Hikary must have guessed her thoughts as she said “This is a separate basement. It’s not connected to the other one. No one comes here but me.”

They descended the stairs slowly, as there was no light to guide their path. At the end of the stairs they stopped, and Ruki heard Hikary open yet another door. A faint glow greeted them once the door was open. This was no ordinary light, however; this was the light of the three stones currently stored in the little room.

There were five cradles in the room shaped like mint green flowers. In the centre of three of them, the most right, most left and centre ones, lay a perfectly shining stone. The other two were empty. The stone to Ruki’s right had a copper color and shone least bright of all; Only when Ruki came really close could she see a faint light coming from out of the stone itself. It was a very mysterious stone; it was almost as if there was a white mist inside it which glowed copper due to the color of the stone. It was see-through like a gem or a jewel, not like a stone.

She walked to the second stone which was located in the middle of the cradles, and she recognized it immediately as the stone they had taken from Shanjahen. It shone brightly, but that was mainly due to it’s bright orange color. It was a brilliant stone; see-through like the copper stone and of the same size, but what was inside seemed different, as if a large concentrated fire was burning brightly deep within.

The last stone was different from the other two. While it was the same size and also see through, it shone in a light blue color that seemed to move like a ripple on the waters’ surface after a dewdrop had fallen in. The stone was blue and seemed to be filled with water.
“They’re gorgeous, aunt Hikary.” Ruki admitted. “They’re all so unique and yet you can tell they’re also similar.”

Ruki looked at one of the empty cradles, thinking of the holy stone back at Batafurai, the beautiful stone she had admired every day of her childhood. One day it would sit here, while her beautiful home would crumble and the prana would spread, flowing away from the island leaving her butterfly friends to die. She shuddered. She didn’t want to think of that horrible event just yet.

Looking at the stones again, Ruki realized these three stones were needed to save their world. All because of something the copper stone had once told Hikary… yet now all three were completely silent.
“Hikary, can they really talk?” Ruki asked, blinking at the water stone in front of her. Magical though it may be… she’d never ever seen a stone talk.

“Yes. Well… they speak inside your mind, not out loud. It’s very hard to explain, and I only experienced it once before as well. I’m not even sure it was the stone… maybe it was someone using the stone to communicate. I have no clue how it works. I tried to examine the stones using my own magic, and even Regina and Taira have tried. But they don’t respond to anything. They’re silent… as if they don’t want to speak to us now. Or maybe they can’t anymore. I don’t know.”

“So we need to find only one more stone?” Ruki asked.
“Yes. We found four… we need five. But we have no clue where it is. Maybe it is in some other part of the west… but I don’t know where to search. I spend time in the library in ZoroAster, but I found no clue on any stone whatsoever. So I don’t think it is there… but we already searched all over the east too. Two in the east and two in the west…”

Hikary sighed as she continued to dust off the copper stone. “Where did you find the copper stone and the water stone?” Ruki asked.
“The copper stone was actually found by an aunt of me… Regina’s sister Damina. She got it from a friend… I don’t know where it came from before that. It probably switched owners many times before it found its way to Damina.

The water stone lay at the spring of the river Fiume. The clear river Fiume…”
“I remember that. It’s the pure river, right? Where the water is always clear and pure no matter what?” Ruki asked, remembering that she heard about it during her first visit to the east.
“Yes. Only once we removed the stone… it became a normal river. That was rather shocking. We almost died because the flow of the water became so strong.”

“So this stone had been keeping the river pure all those years?” Ruki asked, unable to believe that such a small stone had such tremendous powers.
“That is what I believe, yes.” Hikary admitted.
“That’s amazing.” Ruki whispered, suddenly able to imagine why these small stones might be able to save the world from eternal darkness.

As Ruki pondered over this, Hikary continued to clean the stones. She polished each one carefully and thoroughly until they shone as bright as possible. Ruki doubted that was needed, but somehow Hikary appeared to find it extremely important, so Ruki decided not to mention it. After about twenty minutes, Hikary was done.

“Shall we go again?” She proposed as she put all the items she had used back in her bag.
“Yes, of course. Thank you for bringing me here; these stones are truly amazing. I really hope we find the fifth one soon.” Ruki said as she waited for Hikary to find her keys.
“They are amazing; I wonder what their role will be in the ritual.” Hikary agreed.

Hikary found her keys and Ruki took a few steps towards the door. As she put one hoof on the stairs, however, Ruki froze. A faint feeling that was not completely unfamiliar took hold of her, but she could not directly place it.
“What’s wrong Ruki?” Hikary asked when she noticed Ruki had stopped walking.
“Wait. Wait just a moment.” Ruki whispered, annoyed at the distraction.

This feeling… this pull… she had felt it before, though it had been slightly different back then, and much stronger. She was afraid of it; the last time she had felt it she had almost fallen to her death. But it was unmistakable; this feeling that pulled on her very soul. She turned and walked back to the stones once again.

“Which one of you does this?” She asked out loud.
It was silent first, but then the three voices invaded her head. “Remember the call, Ruki, True Heir… only you can find our sister.”
Their sister… only now she realized what the pull had been. It had been a cry… a cry for help, a cry to be found for if she remained lost forever the world was surely doomed.

“Aunt Hikary…” Ruki whispered when she was sure she was in control of her voice again.
“What is it Ruki? Did they talk to you?” Hikary asked, guessing what had just happened.
“They did.” Ruki confirmed.
“And? What did they say?” Ruki stared blankly at her aunt.
“I know, aunt Hikary… I know where the last stone is.” She whispered.
“Where?” Hikary gasped.
“In the deep centre of the world… the fifth stone lies at the bottom of the breach.”