Not bothering to hide his excitement, Kelt Haldor set the small box on his workbench, directly under the laboratory’s skyglass. The entire room seemed to anxiously hold its breath as his elderly fingers struggled with the hook that held the polished juniper-wood box closed. Finally working the latch free, Kelt slowly lifted the lid. In an instant, the room seemed to explode with color as light reflected off hundreds of colorful gems within the box, turning the walls into a tapestry of shimmering greens, blues and reds. The silence and wonder of the moment was broken by the old man’s hearty laugh.
Two teenage boys peered over Kelt’s shoulders, hoping to catch a glimpse of the contents of the package. The shorter boy looked back and forth between the box and the man, a look of confusion in his eyes. “This is it?”
When the old man didn’t respond, he prodded further. “It looks just like every other shipment we get. You’ve had us riding down to the Keep every day for the last month, insisting that we collect it as soon as it showed up, and it’s just another box of gems? I don’t get it, Jay. What gives?”
Kelt sighed as the elation of the moment dissipated, carefully setting the few gems he had picked up back into the box and closing its lid. Closing his eyes, he lifted his hands to rub his temples, as if to massage away a headache that had just started to form. Slowly, he turned to face the two boys.
“Filip, I will never understand why you insist on calling me by a moniker that has no relation in any way to my name. A modicum of respect would be nice for once.”
Filip grunted as the taller boy elbowed him for upsetting the elderly man. But despite the old man’s rebuke and exaggerated display of annoyance, Kelt’s wrinkled cheeks dimpled ever so slightly as he was unable to completely hide his good mood. In truth, Kelt was never truly bothered by Filip’s lack of manners, and even found it secretly endearing that the boy felt comfortable enough with him to speak in such an informal tone.
“And in response to your question,” Kelt continued, his eyes sliding back towards the box on the table, “this is no ordinary shipment of jewels. These come from the finest gemcutters in the Third Land, and I wanted to make sure that I received them as soon as they arrived in town. You never can be too careful with items as valuable as this particular batch of gems.”
The boys looked at each other, and then back at the box, not sure whether they would get further explanation. Seeing their uncertainty, Kelt sighed, and then turned the exchange into a lecture. Addressing the taller boy, he asked, “Dakk, when was the last time we received a shipment from the Third Land?”
“If I recall correctly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a shipment from anywhere but the Second and Fourth Lands, sir.”
“That is because you haven’t. The last shipment that I received from the Third Land was nearly five cycles back. Long before you boys arrived. And what would make a package of gems from the Third Land so special, Filip?”
“Is it because of their gem cutters? I believe you once said the Miltas cutters in the Third Land are known to make the most precise cuts of any gem cutters in the world. They also have an entire university dedicated to geology and the largest repository of gem-related information in the world.”
“Very good!” Kelt seemed genuinely pleased, and Filip smiled at the praise, taking the opportunity to give Dakk a retaliatory elbow. The taller boy just rolled his eyes, letting Kelt continue his lecture.
“As Filip pointed out, and as you both should remember from our discussions from earlier last cycle, neither of the Second nor the Fourth Lands have gem cutters that can rival those of the Third Land.” Taking the box in his hands, he carefully opened the lid to allow the boys to peer at the gems within before continuing, “Based on past experiences I’ve had with Miltas gems, each facet and angle of these stones is cut with nearly perfect precision, each angle aligned so as to take maximum advantage of each gem’s specific refractivity. In fact…”
Kelt trailed off, a smile spreading across his face as he looked down again at the box and contemplated what it represented. He had resisted mentioning anything to the boys about his plans for these jewels, and he still wasn’t sure if they were ready for the next lesson he hoped to give them.
Not that they couldn’t learn what he needed to teach them. No, these boys had absorbed everything he had ever taught them like a dry sponge. Rather, Kelt wasn’t sure if they were ready to confront the dangers that would surely arise once they gained access to the knowledge he had carried alone for so long.