The small cavern was lit by a singular blue crystal. The cave wasn't particularly large so the gem, maybe the size of a child's fist, was more than sufficient, its glow growing then dimming in a steady beat. However, its beat steadily started to pick up pace until it was glowing a solid blue, and the far wall of the cave shuddered, cracked, and finally formed a small hole. A yellow light shone through, scanning over the cave before disappearing, and a few more cracks split the wall before it finally fell revealing a small, somewhat hunched figure. They wore a heavy looking mix between a helmet and gas-mask, a yellow crystal set in a cage on the front of the mask providing light, and the figure looked around before it moved up to the blue crystal and swung a heavy pick into the stone beside it. It only took a few swings to free the crystal and it was quickly placed in a dirty cloth bag before the figure turned around, heading for the entrance before pausing, turning to look back at the wall it got the blue crystal from.
After a moment they returned to the wall and swung more and more into it, eventually coming away with a baseball sized piece of yellow crystal that was hidden deeper in. Running their thumb over it caused it to glow with a sickly light, and the thumb pulled away with a string of yellow slime. With a quiet hum they stowed it away as well and hobbled out of the cave and into a wide area, men and women of all ages digging into the stony cave walls as they were or moving to deposit their found loads of blue crystals into minecarts. Some wore similar masks but others simply had to make do with cloths around their faces, none stopping in their work to even glance as the hobbling figure's own blue crystals were deposited and they began stalking off along the minecart rails, ending up in a massive cavern. Chunks of crystals embedded in the walls or along tall poles kept the cavern from plunging into darkness, revealing even more tunnels and tracks that spiraled out into the walls or led up to one long building made of sheet metal, and the masked figure scanned the area before spotting his target.
An area had been set aside for several wooden tables and crates, manned by men and women who looked much healthier than the miners and a few who were even armed. Miners were lined up in front of the tables, dropping off rough gemstones or bright crystals, and those who had their bounty accepted looked like they gained ten years back on their lives before heading to a table with a rotund man behind it. The masked figure got in line for one of the tables and when their turn came they deposited the yellow crystal from earlier onto the table, along with a few small red gems and one large pink one. When their load was counted up they were given a large iron coin, and they clutched it in their pocket as they moved to line up before the fat man.
When they finally were before the man he smiled wide, "Ah, Hazard! My favorite little roach. Let me guess-" The masked figure wordlessly passed over the coin, and the fat man chuckled as he set a few coins down, two silver dreks and a copper coin "Hazard" didn't recognize but quickly scooped into their pockets, and the fat man leaned forward on the table. "You know, I could put a couple more dreks in your pocket if you-"
"No." Hazard said plainly, knowing that anything the man wanted would be either vile or more effort to acquire than it was worth.
"Someday Hazard, someday." The man waved Hazard off and the small miner found their way through one of the tunnels, reaching the "residential" area and the scrap metal shack they called home. Past the curtain door old Jeddard was in the main room, scrabbling against the stone floor with his long white beard dragging along the ground. The two long white spikes of hair that trailed up to either side of the man's otherwise bald head whipped as Jeddard looked at Hazard and smiled.
"Ah, lad! Come, come!" Hazard stepped closer to see concentric circles scratched into the ground, "I've been thinking about those "atom" things you mentioned, and I had an idea! If we harmonize crystals using the correct focii and tools, we may be able to combine crystals as you suggested into more powerful forms!"
"That's great Jeddard." Hazard's voice was muffled through his mask and as the old man continued on about theorems Hazard moved to a dirt-filled pot, one of the few pieces of furniture in the room and shoved the coins right into the dirt. Smoothing the dirt inside so the coinage was hidden Hazard moved past Jeddard, careful not to step on any of his diagrams on the way out of the hovel. Down the tunnels he returned, getting back to work on his mining. As always, the usual scrabbers came to beg and Hazard gave a few of them some of the smaller crystals he found, knowing they had actual injuries that stopped them from working. The rest, however, were told to pound sand. His work finally ended with a loud whistle echoing out through the cavern, and after trading in his crystals once more he was back at "home" watching Jeddard make his diagrams.
As the minutes dragged on a creeping feeling found its way into Hazard but passed when someone came into the home, sighing heavily and practically tossing off their heavy mask into the corner, revealing a female face and straight black hair, "I swear I'm going to just dig my way out of here one day."
"So you say." Hazard snorted, and he realized he may have messed up when the girl glared at him with bright purple eyes and grabbed his mask, ripping it off his head to reveal a similar appearance, albeit with bright blue eyes and clearly much younger.
"Well it's true! How many more years are we going to be stuck down here before we can save up to leave?"
"One month, three weeks, and two days at Hazard's current pace. With contributions by you of course, Ro." The girl gave Jeddard a flat look before sighing, rubbing her face as Hazard reached out to pat her arm.
"Soon."
"I know, I know, it's just... ugh." Ro huffed, crossing her arms. "Bal is on his usual stick again."
"What was it this time? Tried to offer you some rations he swiped?"
"Worse: he told me about his plan to take up the Toad's position and told me about how he could "protect" me." Hazard blinked at that, remembering the fat man from earlier.
"Wait, so he thought the way to get you to like him was by saying he wanted to be like someone everyone hates?" Ro shook her head.
"I got all the protection I need." She patted a pocket sewn on her rough-cloth pants and Hazard shook his own head, seeing the outline of her shiv.
"He's going to go crazy when we leave."
"Eh, let 'im go crazy. We'll be long gone on an Aotian beach, watching the sun set." Hazard smiled and snorted, shaking his head again. Realistically he knew they'd never reach Aoti'i, but they'd be out of the mines, that's all that mattered. They spent another short while speaking before it was back to work, long hours of toil leading up to a dinner of, to no one's shock, gruel with dried-out vegetables tossed in. A rare treat was added in though: actually fresh bread. When dinner was over they returned to their ramshackle hut, Jeddard already asleep in a corner as the two young folk curled up in their own corner, artificial night coming over the mine as the crystal lights were covered.
Normally sleep would find them quickly but Hazard felt fingers pressing over his shoulder, tracing them before Ro sighed. "...You awake?"
"...yes."
"...you really think we'll get out of here?" Hazard to think on the question for a moment.
"Yeah. I do." Hazard turned in to Ro, resting his head on her shoulder. She let out another long sigh before her arms wrapped around him in turn. "You're just worried because you're staying up too late."
"Yeah, yeah." Ro grumbled, pulling him closer. "...we'll get out of here, we'll make a little house in Aoti'i, never have to worry about food or money or having to share a bathroom with a dozen other people at once, and-"
Hazard smiled slightly as Ro started to ramble about all the things they'd have when they were gone from the mines, as close to a lullaby as one could get in the dank work camp outside the clang of tools, drifting off to sleep...
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His eyes opened once more to a bright blue sky, not marred by any cloud. He was laying back against the lip of a wide but shallow crater, drifting slightly in the tides of the sea before he sat up, looking around behind to see a white-sand beach. A home was standing on the sands, red brick and surrounded by a metal gate before he blinked, and the home was replaced by the rounded, natural sandstone homes of Aoti'i. Ro was there in a sundress, Jeddard in a rocking chair, both beckoning him forward and he smiled as he stood. When he took a step towards them however there was a great clanging, and he stared at his foot in confusion as he took another step with another clang sounding out-
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Hazard took a deep breath in, groaning quietly as he heard the morning alarms blare. It had to be early, normally he got much farther in his dreams before the morning call. He sat up, pulling away from a just-waking Ro as he stumbled for his mask, grumbling as his legs pulsed with dull pain. He waited for Ro to join him and they moved to the main hall where... oh wow, seemed like every overseer and guard was out in force today. When the hall was packed with miners practically shoulder to shoulder overseers with clipboards did a headcount, and Hazard immediately knew something was going down. The overseers barely noted it if a miner died, so why were they being suddenly taking stock?
Scanning the are he saw the Toad, sweating up a storm at the head of the hall. This wasn't just sweat from the heat of the forges or having to walk around, this... he was afraid of something. Hazard looked up to Ro and was partway to opening his mouth when the Toad's voice started to boom over the hall.
"All women head down to Spring A! All men head down to Spring B!"
The pair managed to look at one another before the guards began forcibly separating everyone, guiding them down hall after hall until they reached the springs. The men were lined up along either wall of the sloped room, forced to stand in the streams caused by the water crystals embedded in the walls and strip down. The guards placed more water crystals into their spears and clubs before aiming at the miners and hosing them down. Normally, this would be considered better than the "showers" most took by using buckets to scoop up spring water, but the water blasted at them was ice cold. Still, Hazard frantically rubbed at his body to both warm himself and scrub as much of the accumulated dirt off as he could. Their clothes were given the same rough treatment, and when they were dressed again the guards swapped crystals to blast them with hot air.
Confusion abounded, but Hazard felt he was the only one who really felt fear in this situation. There were only a handful of reasons the miners would need to look clean: an inspection was coming up and they needed to check if anyone had a contagious illness... or they were being bought out. It was incredibly rare but it did happen that mines that had a high rate of casualties could "buy" miners from other locations, or worse: a noble would need them for some shady reason. When the guards forced them all back to the main hall Hazard immediately began hobbling about to try and find Ro, doing his shuffling "sprint" through the crowd while his head swiveled on the lookout for her. Whether fortunate or not, he found her when the guards started to split the crowd down two lines; one for the adults and older people, the other for the younglings.
It was pure luck he ended up next to Ro, looking as water-logged as he was. She seemed shocked when he grabbed her hand, whispering to him, "Okay, you are never touchy-feely. What's going on?"
"It's an inspection... there's only two reasons for that: someone's got the plague, or we're being sold." Immediately her hold on his hand got tight as a vice. Ten minutes felt like ten hours before figures in dark metal armor stomped into the hall, much different from the robes and simple breastplates most inspectors had. Even from afar he could feel and see the purple filigree on their armor, no doubt crystal-laced, a sign they were above the average guard... wait. Hazard looked about and noticed how silent it was. There would always be people whispering or conniving with one another in moments like these regardless of the inspection, but it was a terrified silence.
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Did the others know what sort noble had come? Had... Had there been an outbreak of some sort and they were here to purge them if they were infected? Was-
Hazard stopped himself, taking a deep breath to stop his oncoming panic. All he focused on was watching the new armored figures as as a tall figure strode into the hall. Their hair was a shocking white and stuck up in a gravity defying heart shape, a tiny body at their side. The Toad, normally bombastic overseer of the mine, was hunched over and wringing his hands like a cartoon character as he approached the tall one, words lost on Hazard due to distance but the tall figure held up a hand. They said something and the Toad began leading them down the line of adults, Hazard following their walk with his eyes until they reached the end, spoke, and then began moving down the line of youths. He quickly sussed out a pattern in that the older teens were passed over but those on the shorter or younger side were spoken to, then moved on from.
Two more puzzle pieces were added as the tall and short duo came closer and more details revealed: the tall figure was definitely a noblewoman, face nothing but sharp angles and the ornate robe she wore was decorated in countless small crystals laced between silver chain. He'd seen the dark purple gems in her outfit before, incredibly rarely and only in small grains, but the black crystals dotted between them were entirely new and given how rare the purple ones were he didn't doubt the black ones cost a small fortune. What really stuck out though was the shorter figure: it was a young girl, near Hazard's age, dressed in a less ornate robe. She was carrying a stuffed pink rabbit, which was already odd, but it was that fact she was nearly a carbon copy for him and Ro that was truly throwing him off. The jet-black hair, the blood-red eyes, hell even as emaciated he and Ro were, he could tell their faces were practically copy and pasted on one another. He'd been staring long enough that he hadn't realized the two were looking back at him until they were standing right in front of him.
Hazard gazed up at the older woman, a single thin brow on her face raising up over purple eyes. There was a tense silence between the four before Hazard waved. "Hello. I... presume I am supposed to bow, but my legs do not allow it."
The movement of her eyes to his awkwardly shaped legs was obvious, and she sniffed dismissively. Still, she spoke up, voice hoarse but still powerful. "What is your name?"
"Hazard." The thin brow went up again, and he explained. "My parents died when I was younger and didn't name me, so the overseer went with what felt appropriate. I always seemed to get into trouble while mining when I was younger, so they joked about me being a "Hazard to our health.""
The older woman made a noise, looking to Ro, "And you?"
"...Roanna." Ro squeezed his hand tighter, trying to keep her back as straight as she could as she looked up to the woman. "I'm his sister."
"What happened to your parents?"
"Dead." Hazard felt an odd satisfaction at the awkward silence over his blunt response, "Mining accident."
"...What happened to your legs?" The voice that spoke up was so quiet that they almost missed it, but the three turned their heads to look at the small girl at the elderly woman's side, Hazard first to respond as the girl started to shrink back behind her elder.
"A different mining accident." The girl nodded as Hazard tapped his legs, and he tried to come up with a question in turn before he spotted their rabbit. "What's their name?"
The girl said nothing for a moment before taking a hesitant step out from behind the curtain of black robes, holding up the rabbit, "Dame Prim-Hop of the Skylands."
"Well, a pleasure to meet you both." He tried to put as much of a friendly tone into his voice as he could, and it clearly worked as the girl's eyes literally sparkled and she began to dump all the lore of the Dame unto Hazard. He nodded and agreed when appropriate, asking the occasional question of the Dame's life. When they were done there was silence, and Hazard looked to see Ro and the woman both looking stunned. The woman more so, eyebrows as high in surprise as they'd go, head tilted back as if she was blown away. Catching Hazard's eyes she quickly schooled her face and looked back to the Toad.
"This one."
"Yes, yes, of course Your Ladyship, an excellent choice, I-" The overseer kept spouting off platitudes until the woman's words finally processed in Hazard's head.
"M... Ma'am? Are you taking us out of the mine?"
"You shall henceforth be a servant of the royal family." Hazard's eyes lit up and for the first time in a long while, he felt something like hope... but he knew just how dangerous hope could be. He swallowed down the emotion and spoke up.
"Does that include Ro, and Old Jeddard?"
"No." The woman said bluntly. "You are the only one I am purchasing."
"Then I have to respectfully decline." Hazard was quick to argue but there was a pregnant pause, a dead silence where not even the air seemed to dare move as all but the woman stared at him with shock and fear... and then it felt like the world came crashing down onto him. It was a physical weight that nearly slammed into his body, seeping straight to his bones and forcing his legs to flare in pain, nearly buckling. He could see the purple gems on the woman's robes flaring faintly with light, and a second later the black gems seemed to bubble and suddenly that weight felt like it was piercing into his very soul. He couldn't stop himself from falling to his hands and knees, scared for a moment he'd crack straight through.
"You would defy the High Queen of the Skylands?"
Hazard tried to respond but what came out was only a pathetic squeak. He couldn't even raise his head to look at her, whole body straining just to not collapse flat against the ground. His vision started to shake... and then the immense weight was gone. Hazard took deep breaths, flinching when something settled on his head. Hesitantly he raised his head and saw pink, and it was strange enough it cut through whatever fear he was feeling. Pulling his head back he saw the plush Dame Prim-Hop resting a "hand" on his head, and further up he could see the young girl peeking from between the toy's ears. The High Queen (the impact of her title was only now just sinking in) looked at the two bitterly, but her gems were no longer flaring with power.
"...This... "Old Goddard," who is he?"
Hazard swallowed at the queen's question, "Jeddard is... h-he's a crystalsmith. He said he used to, to be head of the Jeveraux Academy."
"Find him." The queen didn't even look back at the Toad who quickly barked commands to find Old Jeddard to the guards. This left the group in an awkward silence, Hazard just about managing to stand up on his feet by the time Jeddard was dragged up to the four of them by the arms, though he was still all smiles as he waved.
"Hello!" He yelped as he was tossed forward, falling to the ground. The queen raised a brow as Jeddard picked himself up, dusting his clothes off.
"Who... are you?" She was squinting at Jeddard now as he bowed.
"I'm Giraurd Jeveraux, of course! Though, everyone calls me Old Jeddard, on account of me bein' old."
"Do not lie to me old man. You were the Headmaster of the Jeveraux Academy?"
"Of course! Who do you think Jeveraux's Faceted Interlacing theorem is named after? If I hadn't spent those years with the finesmiths of Bosconau learning to engrave down to the tiniest detail, I would've never been able to do it. Of course, I'm still guffed they didn't credit me for using copper wire to form internal gem lattices-"
"Enough." The High Queen cut Jeddard off, and after a moment's deliberation she looked to the Toad. "We'll take the three of them. Prep them."
She didn't even wait and began walking off, the young girl clinging to her side and looking back as Jeddard, Ro, and Hazard were led off by the mine's guards. They didn't have much to pack, just spare, slightly cleaner clothes and the dirty coins they had hidden away for so long, marched out by the guards towards the exit to the mine. The air was still heavy but it became cleaner and cleaner as they marched up the winding, angled path, past carts of dross being hauled out as the other miners looked on in confusion. With a final turn they came to the last tunnel, light beaming down onto them and blinding the trio who were far more used to the dark but still they pushed on and out into a while other world.
Hazard blinked away the spots in his eyes to reveal an only partially familiar plateau with carts of dross being emptied over the sheer edge. What Hazard expected were carriages, but what he got were... boats? Hazard had to blink the sunspots away a bit more to confirm but yes, there was a series of black-painted boats hovering over the edge of the plateau, more of the dark-armored guards standing at the ramps leading up to them. Even from here he could feel the thrum of crystals, likely what kept them afloat, more intricate details revealed as he got closer: the color of the boats was not paint but seemed to be the natural stain of the wood, interlaced with a deep black metal that seemed to be purple in the right light. When he was at the ramp, he could just make out vents lining the bottom that seemed to push out energy, but sadly that was the last he saw before being all but shoved into the purple-clothed seating area of the ship.
Roanna followed suit, the High Queen and the youngling at her hip joining a second later and sitting on one of the benches. Without much else to do Hazard sat on the opposite bench... and practically melted into the soft purple velvet. This was quite literally the most comfortable thing he'd felt in this life. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Ro trying to remain upright and tense, but even she couldn't help relaxing back into the seat. His head rolled and he saw out the window as the armored guards of the noble among them shuffled back onto the other boats, and with a pulse of energy they began drifting away from the plateau. As they rose higher and higher into the air and the cart tracks and people shrunk in his view, the realization hit him harder than the High Queen did before.
They were leaving.
It was a breathy mix of a cough and a laugh that left Hazard, and he started to blink faster as his eyes grew wet. He didn't cry, at least he was fighting not to, but that was all the more difficult a battle when he felt Ro's hand on his shoulder.
"Haz? Haz, are you okay?"
"...We're leaving." He didn't give a damn how embarrassing it was to squeak out the words, they were out. They were finally out. There was a moment of silence before Ro pulled him in for a hug, her head resting above his and starting to tremble. His vision already was subpar but everything became murkier as the tears finally flowed free.
And that was how he fell asleep.
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"...Grandmother?" Vitala glanced over to her granddaughter as she spoke up, Dallia staring at the two urchins on the opposite bench who had cried themselves to sleep, "How come they seemed so sad?"
"Those are tears of joy, little storm." She smiled, even if it didn't reach her eyes. "They're so happy to leave and be your friend."
Her granddaughter said nothing and Vitala turned her attention back to the porthole, watching the lands flow like the ocean below them. At the very least, those two urchins had better be happy to serve the royal family. Trying to find a friend for her granddaughter that wasn't some sycophant's whelp trying to weasel their way into the royal family was hard enough, but trying to find people her own age? Near impossible. She had only bothered to come out to this backwater little shithole because she was desperate enough to see if any prisoners had a child to exchange for time off their sentence. Then she found Roanna and... Hazard. She'd have to change his name at some point, lest the Rings find another reason to aggravate her.
At the very least, they appeared to come from good stock; the hair and skin were Gailian, she could feel a strong Resonance from both, the boy more so. Perhaps their parents were Lower Ring nobles, angered the wrong enemy? With any luck, they know their etiquette. Without any luck... they'll be taught soon enough. Vitala began plotting all they would need in her head over the next few hours until the sun set and they finally arrived at... who cared. It was one no-name sky island among hundreds, all that mattered was that it had an inn for them to rest at.
Vitala's power flickered and Dallia looked up at her as the two children stirred, Vitala taking Dallia's hand and leading her out the carriage as they docked, turning to one of the High Guard who had moved to flank the landing ramp, "Wake the other two, guide them to their rooms and have them fed."
The guard saluted and Vitala continued on towards the inn. It was an easy thing to acquire a room for herself and Dallia, letting the High Guards decide among themselves who would remain at the ships and who would get rooms. Their accommodations were hardly fitting of a royal but one more day of travel and they'd be back to the castle, so she and Dallia settled into their beds for the night. Unfortunately, as Vitala was feeling that sweet tug into the darkness of sleep, the word "steak" suddenly came to her ear. Her eyes shot open and she was ready to blast away an intruder as she sat up to find nothing... but the empty room. Hearing muffled speech she turned and realized it was conversation filtering through the thin wooden wall.
Who would have the gall to- Vitala paused, and she realized it was likely the urchins were placed next to their room. They were the only ones not dressed in armor, after all, the innkeep probably assumed they were close servants. Didn't make it less annoying. Vitala was about to raise her voice and demand silence when Dallia's tiny voice cut through the darkness.
"Have you never had steak?"
Vitala watched as Dallia somehow managed to have a muffled conversation through the wall, and Vitala pursed her lips before laying down again. It was... a bitter pill to swallow but this was the most she had seen her granddaughter speak to someone who wasn't her. How many years since the loss has it been that she gave anything but one word answers? She knew it would be good for Dallia to be with them, but there was a seed of fear that she was getting too attached too quickly. She would have to make sure her granddaughter didn't fall into the trap of being too trusting.
The warning of too much trust was engraved deeply on her, after all.
Vitala's fingers brushed against the gems of her robe, she herself slowly drifting off to sleep, hoping she did not make a horrible mistake...