“Hey, it’s better than Arcine eggs that you happen to be using again as well,” said Darium in his defense.
“I still wonder whose ring this was.” Rhys picked it up to inspect it.
“Let me see that.” Elric snatched it away from Rhys before he could stop him. “Ah ha! I thought it looked familiar.”
“What are you saying?” asked Darium. “Don’t start telling us again that I stole that from a dead person, because I didn’t.”
“See this design on the ring?” Elric held it up for the others to see. Persimmon was lost in her thought and paid little attention to the conversation.
“Aye. So what?” asked Zann.
“Now look at that necklace around Persimmon’s neck.”
Persimmon heard her name and her head snapped up. Her hand went to her necklace and her fingers caressed it. “What are you saying about my necklace?”
“It’s the same,” said Rhys, peering across the table.
“That proves it. The ring is mine.” Elric was at it again, claiming everything as his own.
“Now wait a minute,” griped Darium. “You say that about everything.”
Fang whimpered from beneath the table.
“It does look like the same design,” said Zann. “Persimmon, where did you get that necklace?”
“It was my mother’s,” she explained. “The nuns brought me her things after she died. I liked it, so I wore it. I also thought it would help me to keep close to my mother.”
“I gave Luna that necklace at the same time I gave her this ring when I asked her to marry me,” explained Elric.
“What?” Persimmon was shocked to hear this. “But you and Mother never married.”
“Nay,” said the elf. “She told me she wouldn’t marry me because although she loved me, she’d seen in her gazing ball that she was going to die young. She said I should go marry someone else so I wouldn’t end up being a widower.”
“Mother told you that she loved you?” This surprised Persimmon.
“Yes. And that she would die young, which she kind of did. I guess those gazing balls really don’t lie after all,” said Elric.
“And you told her that you loved her but she still wouldn’t marry you?” continued Persimmon, starting to put things together.
“I could see she was visibly upset. “That is the night I found out she had her lover there.”
“King Helix Kapion,” mumbled Persimmon.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“What happened?” asked Lira.
“That thief stole my gemstones as well as the ring that night, and disappeared through a portal. I told Luna what happened but she didn’t believe me. She called me a liar and said I was jealous and that she never wanted to see me again.”
“Oh, no, I am so sorry,” said Persimmon.
“So Rancor must have stolen and ring and dropped it coming through the portal,” said Darium. “That’s why Murk found it and brought it to me.”
“After that, things became bad between me and Luna. Even after you were born, I didn’t see you a lot because I honestly wasn’t sure you were my child and the last thing I wanted to do was to visit the daughter of that greedy king thief.”
“Fine, it’s yours. Take the ring,” said Darium with a wave of his hand.
Elric looked over at Persimmon for a moment before taking the ring and shoving into his pouch.
“I didn’t know you and Mother loved each other. That makes things different,” said Persimmon.
“Why?” asked the elf.
“Because, if I am your child then I was conceived out of love, not greed, deceit or hate.”
“Like if you were sired by King Kapion,” said Zann with a nod.
“Husband, don’t say such things,” gasped Lira.
“It’s all right.” Persimmon’s hand covered the bag holding her gazing orb. “He’s right. I wish now that I had told Stone I loved him before he stepped through the portal.”
“I heard him tell you that he loved you,” said Lira.
“Yes.” Persimmon smiled and rubbed her fingers over the bag. “Even if I never see him again, I will always love him.”
Right after she professed her love for Stone aloud while rubbing the gazing orb, she felt heat under her fingers and a slight vibration coming from the bag. “Something is happening.” Quickly, she scooped the gazing orb out of the bag and held it up with two hands in front of her.
“Persimmon? What is it?” asked Lira.
