LJI Week 9: Glass Cliff
Mala brought the skimmer in low over her claim marker, heading East and a bit North into the rising sun. The early light made it more difficult to survey the damage done by the storm, but she knew time was short. If her marker had been sufficiently damaged or removed someone could have taken over her site. She had been in luck on that point; the storm had come in from over the peak and been weakened enough to leave her mark clearly painted on the stone below. She feared that might be all the luck she got.
She slowed the skimmers advance, barely able to recognize the terrain she passed over. Several overhangs and cliff faces had fractured and tumbled loose, rearranging the angles of the rock and completely destroyed areas she thought used to be her navigation landmarks. After a few likely turns that felt the right distance away, Mala dropped the skimmer down into a tight crevasse that looked familiar and touched down with a jolt on the rough debris at the bottom. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself and prepare for the worst, grabbed her cutter from the bracket next to the hatch, and slapped the button to pop the door open.
At first look, Mala was unsure this was the right site. The carefully cut and disguised steps she had carved to get her deeper down the ravine were nowhere to be found. Instead it looked as if the top of the overhang had buried it all, then the flood from the rainfall had washed it all down and smoothed away everything. It took some time for her to pick out careful step after step down deeper, but before long she saw the end of the crossing fault line she had been excavating from and knew she was in the right place, but it was all wrong. A whole slice of the cliff face almost ten feet thick had broken free and tumbled forward against the side she had been cutting from, burying it. The dark shadows this deep in made it hard to see as she climbed up into the newly-bared ravine and felt along the enormous wedge for any sign of crystal. Nothing. She felt her legs go weak, and she slumped again the stone with her head against her arms, her face hidden in the crook of her elbow as she numbly wondered what to do next.
Mala stayed that way long enough she felt the warmth of the sun on her hair as it moved high enough in the sky to cast its rays thru a gap in the peaks above, down into this crack in the earth. She felt it before she heard, carried thru the stone she rested against, a vibration that made the hairs on her arms stand up and her death quicken in excitement. As she turned around to face the cliff face behind her the sun moved onto it, and from behind the dust and dirt that had settled over it sparkled the jagged facets of a freshly exhumed vein of white crystal directly before her. Another ten feet above it was a wide swath of deep blue, a second vein she had never even known was buried so close to where she previously cut from what must have been an extension of the white crystal below it.
Her eyes filled with tears as she gazed up into the blue, the color of Malek's eyes and his favorite crystal to harvest. She didn't know what to think, knowing that the storm that took him away from her would have brought out such a perfect treasure that he would never get to see. The heat of the sun warming the veins agitated them just enough that they hummed at their natural frequency, the blues deeper and warm with the whites a higher ringing tone, a perfect harmonic in tune with the blues. Mala could feel her brother like he was standing beside her, hear the quiet amused chuckle he would have given at how fortune played with them like that. Then she felt as much as she heard him in her mind as he sang the note they'd both instinctively know matched the blue crystal before them. Before she knew what she was doing, she sang the note for him, strong and clear and warm.
A chorus of a million faceted voices rose up in response, the enclosed space reverberating as the entire length of crystal tuned to her note amplified and echoed it back at her. The white vein below it picked up the harmonic and layered perfectly on top of the song of the blue, so pure and beautiful it would have taken Mala's breath away had she dared to stop singing to them, if her soul could ever let her sin like that and end something this glorious. She sang and gazed upon the sparkling singing wall for so long her throat was sore and aching as she finally lowered her voice. The red hue to the shadows she stood in made her realize most of the day had passed her by, and soon it'd be dark once more.
She made a toneless sound of disgust at herself as she wiped away the tears and moved to action. It had been a long, long time since she last fell into the trap of a crystal trance. It was a rookie mistake, and almost five generations of relatives had come and gone since she could have last claimed that title. Mala felt the universe owed her a bit of indulgence, but her training pushed her to get to work. She tuned her cutter and triggered it on, singing the higher note she needed to correctly cut into the white. The sun slipped off the blue crystal above her and it faded into silence just as she pressed the cutter into the white, the whole face crying out in discordant agony and betrayal as she dove into the heart of it. Quick, straight, long cuts as it screamed at her, one after another until with a final stroke the faceted gem she had pictured in her mind slipped free from the vein. As the cutter came free and she released the trigger, the gem sang with her for a moment more, once again clear and pure and on note. A Major, exactly what she needed for an order she knew the Guild wanted to fill. It was almost completely dark, so she would have to cut the rest of the octave on the following day, but the comforting weight and song of this first stone made her feel like she might be alright.
She slowed the skimmers advance, barely able to recognize the terrain she passed over. Several overhangs and cliff faces had fractured and tumbled loose, rearranging the angles of the rock and completely destroyed areas she thought used to be her navigation landmarks. After a few likely turns that felt the right distance away, Mala dropped the skimmer down into a tight crevasse that looked familiar and touched down with a jolt on the rough debris at the bottom. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself and prepare for the worst, grabbed her cutter from the bracket next to the hatch, and slapped the button to pop the door open.
At first look, Mala was unsure this was the right site. The carefully cut and disguised steps she had carved to get her deeper down the ravine were nowhere to be found. Instead it looked as if the top of the overhang had buried it all, then the flood from the rainfall had washed it all down and smoothed away everything. It took some time for her to pick out careful step after step down deeper, but before long she saw the end of the crossing fault line she had been excavating from and knew she was in the right place, but it was all wrong. A whole slice of the cliff face almost ten feet thick had broken free and tumbled forward against the side she had been cutting from, burying it. The dark shadows this deep in made it hard to see as she climbed up into the newly-bared ravine and felt along the enormous wedge for any sign of crystal. Nothing. She felt her legs go weak, and she slumped again the stone with her head against her arms, her face hidden in the crook of her elbow as she numbly wondered what to do next.
Mala stayed that way long enough she felt the warmth of the sun on her hair as it moved high enough in the sky to cast its rays thru a gap in the peaks above, down into this crack in the earth. She felt it before she heard, carried thru the stone she rested against, a vibration that made the hairs on her arms stand up and her death quicken in excitement. As she turned around to face the cliff face behind her the sun moved onto it, and from behind the dust and dirt that had settled over it sparkled the jagged facets of a freshly exhumed vein of white crystal directly before her. Another ten feet above it was a wide swath of deep blue, a second vein she had never even known was buried so close to where she previously cut from what must have been an extension of the white crystal below it.
Her eyes filled with tears as she gazed up into the blue, the color of Malek's eyes and his favorite crystal to harvest. She didn't know what to think, knowing that the storm that took him away from her would have brought out such a perfect treasure that he would never get to see. The heat of the sun warming the veins agitated them just enough that they hummed at their natural frequency, the blues deeper and warm with the whites a higher ringing tone, a perfect harmonic in tune with the blues. Mala could feel her brother like he was standing beside her, hear the quiet amused chuckle he would have given at how fortune played with them like that. Then she felt as much as she heard him in her mind as he sang the note they'd both instinctively know matched the blue crystal before them. Before she knew what she was doing, she sang the note for him, strong and clear and warm.
A chorus of a million faceted voices rose up in response, the enclosed space reverberating as the entire length of crystal tuned to her note amplified and echoed it back at her. The white vein below it picked up the harmonic and layered perfectly on top of the song of the blue, so pure and beautiful it would have taken Mala's breath away had she dared to stop singing to them, if her soul could ever let her sin like that and end something this glorious. She sang and gazed upon the sparkling singing wall for so long her throat was sore and aching as she finally lowered her voice. The red hue to the shadows she stood in made her realize most of the day had passed her by, and soon it'd be dark once more.
She made a toneless sound of disgust at herself as she wiped away the tears and moved to action. It had been a long, long time since she last fell into the trap of a crystal trance. It was a rookie mistake, and almost five generations of relatives had come and gone since she could have last claimed that title. Mala felt the universe owed her a bit of indulgence, but her training pushed her to get to work. She tuned her cutter and triggered it on, singing the higher note she needed to correctly cut into the white. The sun slipped off the blue crystal above her and it faded into silence just as she pressed the cutter into the white, the whole face crying out in discordant agony and betrayal as she dove into the heart of it. Quick, straight, long cuts as it screamed at her, one after another until with a final stroke the faceted gem she had pictured in her mind slipped free from the vein. As the cutter came free and she released the trigger, the gem sang with her for a moment more, once again clear and pure and on note. A Major, exactly what she needed for an order she knew the Guild wanted to fill. It was almost completely dark, so she would have to cut the rest of the octave on the following day, but the comforting weight and song of this first stone made her feel like she might be alright.