“Open your damned eyes and tell us what you see. You’ll never see a thing that way!” scoffed the elf. “You need to gaze into the orb if you are going to scry. Or have you been lying to us and you really can’t use it?”
Her eyes slowly opened.
“Don’t let him upset you, Persimmon,” mumbled Stone. “It’s not worth it. Take your time. You can scry, can’t you?” he asked the latter part softly, sounding as if he had doubt.
Her eyes slowly lowered to the cold gazing orb in her hand. It didn’t surprise her to see nothing but a dark surface. She couldn’t even see those confusing colorful swirls like she’d seen before. Nay, she had no power to scry and no right to pretend that she did.
As much as she wanted to look into the orb and tell her father that he needed to return the gemstones to Stone or something bad would happen, she couldn’t do it. Her sense of being a moral person outweighed any feelings of acceptance she could possibly get from Elric. Stone was right. She shouldn’t let his Elric’s ill feelings for her upset her, even if she didn’t know from where they came.
Her eyes slowly lifted to see her father’s disapproving glare. Medea walked up behind her and stretched her neck to look into the crystal, seeming ever so hopeful to learn how to scry from Persimmon. The rest of them waited with curiosity and anticipation on their brows.
“Persimmon?” came Stone’s deep voice. “Say something, please, sweetheart. Can you scry to help us or not?”
It was no use. The crystal was still dark and her mind was closed off completely. She couldn’t even get a vision in her thoughts. She quickly returned the orb to her pouch and pulled closed the ties.
“I’m sorry,” she said, hearing the quaver of her own voice. “I am sorry, but I’m not able to help any of you. And the last thing I wanted was to disappoint you.” She took off at a run for the castle, not waiting to hear her father’s comments, and not wanting to look at any of her new friends since she had failed to help them when they’d really needed her. They were all counting on her, and sadly, she had let them down.
“Persimmon, get back here,” ground out her father.
“Sister, wait. What’s wrong?” called out Lira.
Persimmon felt strong emotions bubbling up inside her. Struggling to hold back her tears, she needed to get away from everyone and just wanted to hide. She ran over the cobbled stones of the courtyard. Since she didn’t want to be trapped inside the keep, so she looked for perhaps a garden instead to hide in. Hopefully there she would find solace and not have to face the others after the horrible episode that just transpired.
Not finding a garden of any kind, she ran toward what she first thought was a small pond. She stopped suddenly, almost losing her balance when she realized it wasn’t a pond at all, but instead a huge hole in the ground. It was a pit of some sort that looked to her to be an enormous oubliette.
“Oh!” Her arms swam through the air as she struggled to keep her balance and not fall into it.
“Careful, Persimmon.” Medea appeared in front of her, having used her power to transport to get there in the blink of an eye. She reached out and steadied Persimmon to keep her from falling into the pit.
“What is that?” she asked, pointing to the hole.
“It is a pit that was used to catch a dragon,” Medea said without blinking an eye.
“A dragon?” That alarmed her. She quickly scanned the sky.
“The dragon is not here now, don’t worry. It was from my homeland.”
“So, you’re not originally from Mura either?” Persimmon reached up and wiped away a tear from her cheek.
“Nay, I’m not. But that’s not important. The only thing that matters is why aren’t you able to scry?”
Her heart jumped. “What do you mean?” Persimmon sniffled and wiped away another stray tear. “Why would you say that?”
“Admit it. You want us all to believe you can see the future in the orb but you can’t, can you?”
“How did you know?” It was almost a relief that Medea knew her secret. It made Persimmon not feel so alone anymore.
“I am not the only one who’s been suspicious. You keep ignoring my request to watch you scry and for you to teach me to do it. And you also ran away when we all needed your help just now, and didn’t answer your father’s question.”
“Oh, Medea, you are right. I sadly don’t have the ability to see the future like my mother did. I don’t know why, but I just cannot do it. I am a failure. I am powerless, and I hate it.”
“You are not a failure and far from powerless. You still have the ability to move things with your mind. We’ve already seen that.”
“I do, but that’s not enough. Now everyone will think I am a liar and a fraud. They will all hate me, just like my father does.”
Medea rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, but getting Elric’s approval should not be a worry of yours at all. And don’t think that everyone will hate you, because they won’t. Especially not him.”
“Who?” Persimmon turned to find Stone running after her.
“I will leave you two to talk.”
“Nay, please stay with me, Medea.” Right now, Persimmon didn’t want to be alone with Stone.
“You need to tell him the truth, even if you don’t reveal your lack of scrying to the others.” Medea was gone in a flash, leaving Persimmon to face Stone on her own.
“Persimmon,” called out Stone, running up to her. “What’s wrong?” He stopped suddenly when he saw the big hole in the ground. “Don’t stand so close to the edge of the oubliette. You might fall in.” He put his arm around her waist and escorted her away from the pit. “What has you so upset? Was it something you saw in the gazing orb? Or was it your father?”
She paused for a moment before answering. Medea’s words rang in her ears and she knew the girl was right. She had to let Stone know the truth. “Nay. I saw nothing in the orb. Nothing at all. That is what upset me.” She took another deep breath and slowly released it, waiting for his response.
“Well, try it again. I’m sure it’ll work now,” he urged her. “It has to work. We need that information. Please, don’t abandon all of us in our time of great need. The kingdom of Taelgonoth is counting on me to bring back the jewels and catch the thieves. I am in a foreign land and everything seems to be working against me. I can’t complete my mission unless you help me, Persimmon.”
It was going to be even harder now to tell him the entire truth. The rejection she was sure to endure when everyone discovered she couldn’t scry to help them was going to be overwhelming. Persimmon had been through a lot lately and wasn’t sure she could handle this. Oh, she longed for her mother right now. Her mother was the only one who could help her find comfort and tell her what to do. Even if she grew up without her mother for the most part, the times they did visit, her mother was always able to calm her down and even give her good advice on occasion.
“Take out the orb, Persimmon. Please, try again. Do it for me.” Stone held on to her arm, looking into her eyes, believing in her even though he shouldn’t. Then, he quickly kissed her on the lips, sending a surge of energy bolting through her. It was a good feeling, but at the same time only made things worse. He cared for her. Stone was a good and kind man. He didn’t deserve someone like her.
She fumbled for the orb, doing as he asked, but her hands shook so hard that the gazing sphere slipped through her fingers. It hit the cobblestones at her feet. Instead of shattering, it began to roll.
“I’ll get it,” offered Stone, but she shook her head.
