Story Title: Luminescence
Author: Amedia
Rating: G
Characters/Ship: Cain and Glitch
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Imagiquest Entertainment. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Summary: Glitch finds things.
Warnings: None.
Word Count: 873
Author's Note: Response to the picture depicted below from the Fall Picture Prompt 02 on
tm_challenge.
Thanks are due to my Eastern Media Con roommate Dorothy, who allowed me to bounce ideas off her with remarkable patience and encouragement.
"You'll never guess what I found!"
Cain looked up from his inventory of the armory at Finaqua. Glitch had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, looking happy and excited. "What?" Cain asked patiently. Glitch made this statement about four or five times a day, ever since the Queen had set him to exploring the grounds. Presumably to keep him out from underfoot, Cain supposed.
Glitch beamed and held out a small basket. "Mushrooms!" he announced proudly. "I found them in one of the artificial caves."
"Mushrooms," Cain repeated without enthusiasm, glancing at the samples of fungus loosely piled in the basket.
Unexpectedly, Glitch reached out and snapped off the light. The windowless room went instantly pitch black. "Hey!" protested Cain. Then he noticed a distinct glow floating in midair. As his eyes adjusted, he realized that the glow was coming from the mushrooms.
"They're bioluminescent," said Glitch. "Which is odd. Some mushrooms do glow in the dark, but this species usually doesn't. It could be a rare mutation."
"No kidding," said Cain. "Are they poisonous?"
"Yes, actually," said Glitch. "No good to eat."
Cain stared at them thoughtfully, trying to think of a use for these odd objects. "They don't seem to light anything other than themselves," he said at last. They cast a pretty golden glimmer that barely made Glitch's hands and face visible.
"Not everything has to be useful, Cain," said Glitch, a trace of irritation in his voice. "They're curious. And nice to look at. They don't have to be anything else."
"No wonder you like them," said Cain. "They're a kindred spirit." The moment he had said the words he regretted them. Glitch's face, already eerie in the luminescence, fell immediately, the interest and excitement draining away. He lowered his hands as if he were about to drop the basket.
Cain reached out quickly and took hold of the basket, his hand partly overlapping Glitch's cold fingers. "I'm sorry, Glitch," he said. "You're not useless. I just don't understand. You're so intelligent, there's so much you could be doing to help rebuild the kingdom. Instead you're just ... wandering around. Looking at things."
"The Queen asked me to do this," Glitch said. "I'm not sure I understand it either." His voice was dull, without animation. Even the mushrooms seemed to be glowing more faintly and with a grayish cast. Maybe they didn't glow very long after being picked.
There was a long silence, and Cain wondered how long they would stand in the dark staring at each other. Perhaps until he found an answer to the question they both shared. Why would the Queen expend one of her most valuable human resources on what seemed a pointless series of tasks?
Cain flashed suddenly on an image of Glitch, holding a withered apple. It had been a key to one of DG's most important memories. Glitch, wandering off to examine with childlike delight the sign advertising Airofday's oracular services, which had turned out to be another vital link in the chain that led them to their goal. Glitch, ignoring the broken window and the hole in the ice of the lake, wandering around the grounds of the Northern Palace until he saved a man he shouldn't even have found.
"Glitch," he said slowly. "You have a rare gift. A knack. You find things that matter. I don't know how you do it. I don't think you know, either. But you do it, and no one else can." He nodded toward the mushrooms. "They might be valuable. They might not. But they caught your eye, and that's good enough for me."
Glitch's face was beaming visibly in the golden luminescence. Cain realized with a start that the mushrooms seemed to have revived. "Thank you," Glitch said seriously. "There aren't a lot of people who--" he trailed off, looking somber. The light dimmed again, though not as much as before.
Cain cast about for a question to ask, something to distract Glitch from the distressing train of thought. "Where did you say you found them?"
"Some artificial caves near the eastern boundary of the grounds," Glitch said. "Clearly man-made."
"Why would anyone build artificial caves?" Cain mused. He turned the idea over in his mind. "Are you sure it wasn't an abandoned mine?"
"I considered that," Glitch answered, "but Finaqua isn't supposed to have any valuable mineral resources …" Was it Cain's imagination, or was the luminescence stronger again as Glitch, absorbed in thought, forgot his momentary gloom?
"Maybe it's something so valuable it was hushed up," said Cain. "Glitch, what would make mushrooms glow more or less according to the nearest person's mood?"
"Magic," said Glitch immediately. He looked down at the basket, at the glow that was growing perceptibly as the realization broke upon him. "Large deposits of moritanium might do it." A huge grin came across his face. "Cain! This is big news! We need to go tell the Queen!"
"You tell her, sweetheart," said Cain, smiling. "You've earned it."
"I couldn't have done it without you," Glitch said, tugging at Cain's sleeve. "C'mon. Let's go tell her together."
Cain gave in gracefully. Turning the light back on, he carefully relocked the weapons lockers. "You win," he said. "Let's go!"