Twins Amber and Calcite couldn't be any less alike. Where Cal is happy to stay at home with his piano and guitar, Amber has a desperate need to see unknown places and explore the wilds. Chasing a childhood dream into the jungle of Selvadorada, Amber finds a dream cut short...and Cal finds himself living for two lives, instead of just one.
Selvadoradan Museum of Archaeology
Dove: …in Omiscan lore, the bunny was seen as the eyes of the Watcher, who they call “la Miradora”. It was said that if you saw a bunny, you were blessed with luck.
Corona: So is that where rabbits feet came from?
Dove: Most likely. Now who can tell me what the four eras of Omiscan history were translated as?
*chatter from kids*
Amber: This is so boring…
Dove: Everyone remember to keep your hands to yourselves and–where’s Amber?
Calcite: Uh…
Corona: Don’t look at me.
Maré: I…think I saw her going downstars?
Amber: Where’s all the fun stuff supposed to be?
Prof. Ciruela: That depends on what you consider to be fun.
Amber: Gah!
Prof. Ciruela: Oh–I’m sorry, mija, I didn’t mean to startle you.
Amber: You didn’t! …Are you the professor?
Prof. Ciruela: I am. And judging by that uniform, you’re one of the children I’m supposed to be lecturing today. Where is your class?
Amber: Uh…upstairs? I wanted to explore…
Prof. Ciruela: You wanted to find some fun, hm? *chuckle* Here. Come with me for a moment.
Prof. Ciruela: See, to most people this is just a plate, yes? A golden plate, but a plate all the same.
Amber: Yeah?
Prof. Ciruela: It is also a calendar, used by the Omiscan people to chart the lunar cycles of the year, and of Sixam’s orbit. It took us quite some time to discover that, however. We had to look quite closely to find it, as we do with all the pieces we find.
Amber: ….So there’s something hidden in every piece?
Prof. Ciruela: Yes. To the Omiscans it was quite obvious, of course, but to us learning from their history…well. This sculpture, for instance. Was it a carving of a deity, or perhaps an omen to ward off tomb robbers? We have yet to discover what it meant to them and so we continue to search for the truth. That is sort of a game, is it not?
Amber: It is! Like…like I Spy, kind of.
Prof. Ciruela: Exactly like I Spy, only we search for history and not hidden objects. Does that make it more fun to you now, mija?
Amber: A little. Uh…Professor? What does mija mean?
Prof. Ciruela: It is short for mi hija, or “my daughter”. I have a girl about your age, and she’ll be joining the Academy soon. I hope you might help her find her way around?
Amber: Oh…sure. What’s her name?
Prof. Ciruela: Canela. Here–let me show you something else.
Amber: …what is that?
Prof. Ciruela: We aren’t entirely sure. It is a totem carved in the image of the llama, a sacred animal to the Omiscan people, but we don’t know if it was simply tribute or had another meaning to them as well.
Prof. Ciruela: So little of their culture survived the centuries, and the greatest archaeological minds have puzzled over this for decades. We may never know what it truly meant.
Amber: That’s it? You’re just going to give up?
Amber: I bet I could solve it…
Prof. Ciruela: Oh? And how do you intend to do that? By running off on your teachers?
Amber: Uh…no?
Prof. Ciruela: *chuckle* Well, maybe you will have a hand in solving this puzzle, so long as you listen to your teachers.
Amber: What does that have to do with anything?
Prof. Ciruela: History teaches us things about our future as well. So long as we learn to listen.
Amber: And if I listen to the boring teachers I’ll hear the good stuff too. Okay, fiiiiiiine.
Prof. Ciruela *chuckle* Alright then. We’d best get you back to your class before your teacher gets too worried. –ah, what is your name, mija?
Amber: Huh? Oh! Amber. Amber Crystal.
Prof. Well then, Amber. Come on.
Prof. Ciruela: Old statues have centuries to wait. Schoolteachers on schedules don’t.
Amber: Yeah, yeah, I’m coming. …I’ll be back.
Dove: Alright. Alright, she wasn’t upstairs. Leaving the grounds wouldn’t get her far…where is that girl?
Lacus: Could we just leave her here?
Calcite: Lac, shut up. That’s my twin you’re talking about.
Calcite: Besides, she’s just fine. See?
Maré: Amber! Where’d you go?
Amber: Uh….
Prof. Ciruela: Miss Dove! I’m sorry–this one getting lost was entirely my fault. I happened to run into her and needed a bit of a hand, so she offered, and…well, here we are.
Dove: I see. Amber, are you alright?
Amber: Yep! Totally fine.
Dove: Alright then. No harm done, I suppose. Class, this is professor Ciruela Azucar. He’s the head of the museum and has graciously agreed to teach today’s history class.
Class: Thank you, Professor!
Prof. Ciruela: Ah, no need to thank me! I enjoy teaching the next generation of students.
Prof. Ciruela: There’s still quite a lot of jungle to get through, but new discoveries are being made every day. Who knows? Maybe someday some of you will go and make some for yourself.
Amber: That’s the plan…that’s definitely the plan.
Amber: Hey, Cal? Thanks for covering for me back there. You could have told Miss Dove I’d left but you didn’t.
Calcite: I knew you wouldn’t go far. Have fun?
Amber: Kinda. I know what I’m gonna do now, though.
Calcite: What do you mean? We’ve got homework tonight.
Amber: Well yeah, but after. I’m going to go to Selvadorada and find all kinds of stuff in the jungle.
Calcite: Pfft, Am! That’s like–thousands of miles away!
Calcite: Mama would never let you go.
Amber: Not now, dummy! When I get older, I’m going to Selvadorada.
Calcite: Uh huh, sure you are. We’re home!
Saffron: Hey, honey bun! How was school today? Did you have fun at the museum?
Calcite: It was kinda boring. Amber had fun, though.
Saffron: Did you? That’s great, sweetie.
Amber: Uh-huh. …Ma? How much does a ticket to Selvadorada cost?
Saffron: To Selva? Wh–what brought that on?
Calcite: Amber wants to go to Selva!
Saffron: Oof. That’s a little far for a vacation, guys…
Amber: No, I mean, when I get older. To work. As an archaeologist.
Saffron: As an archaeologist? Well, the university or digs will cover the cost then. On your own…plane tickets cost a couple thousand. Boats are cheaper but take a lot longer.
Amber: You’ve been there?!
Saffron: Once, a very long time ago.
Amber: Tell us about it! You wanna hear about it too, right Cal?
Calcite: …right.
Calcite: What was it like? And why did you go there?
Saffron: I left home when I was young and looking for something–the point is I’ve been just about everywhere, including Selva. And it’s very hot there, especially in the summer.
Amber: It’s hot here!
Saffron: Oh, honey bee, the heat in Selva is so much worse. You can cut it with a knife.
Saffron: And no amount of ice cream would ever keep you cool.
Calcite: But was it green? Or was Alam not there then…
Saffron: Oh, no, Alam’s been there for hundreds of years. I stayed a few nights there; it’s nice enough, but way too humid for me.
Amber: Humid, hot…hm. Light clothes, for sure.
Saffron: Light clothes and bug spray. The mosquitoes down there can get to be the size of your head! To say nothing of the…*shudder* Spiders.
Amber/Calcite: Ugh! Spiders!!
Amber: But other than the bugs it’s cool?
Saffron: Definitely. The views are great, and oh–the sunsets. There’s nothing like a Selvadoradan sunset.
Amber: Then I’m gonna see that, too!
Saffron: I’m sure you will. And what about you, Cal? Do you want to go?
Calcite: Nah. I’m good here.
Saffron: Really? There’s a whole big world out there. You really want to stay in this little corner of it?
Calcite: Yep.
Amber: Don’t worry, Ma. I’ll see enough of the world for both of us!
Saffron: *laugh* It doesn’t work like that, honey bee, but I’m sure you will. So long as you–
Amber: Do all my homework and listen to the teachers and get good grades. I know, Ma, I know.
Saffron: Oh-ho? And what brought this studying urge on, hm?
Amber: Well the universities send people down, right? You have to have good grades to get into one, so I need good grades!
Saffron: Well–that’s true, yeah, but you don’t have to start so young!
Calcite: Don’t try to talk her out of it, Ma. Amber’s sure.
Amber: Yep!
Saffron: Watcher, you two. *laugh* Alright then. I guess we know what placement you’ll be aiming for already!
Calcite: Oh yeah we do.
Amber: Hey! Professor Ciruela said it was a good thing! So did Miss Dove!
Saffron: Just don’t lose sight of everything else on your way there, baby. Okay?
Amber: Huh? What does that mean?
Saffron: It means that you have a goal, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll shut everything else out to reach it. Don’t make the same mistakes I did; remember you’ve got people in your life who love you, okay?
Amber: Ma…I’m not going for at least ten years. I’ll be old by then!
Saffron: Oh, eighteen is old? Well then what am I? I’m a lot older than eighteen!
Amber: That’s easy! You’re ancient.
Calcite: *laughter*
Saffron: Oh, that’s it. Just for that you can do all the dishes, Amber.
Moonstone: Selvadorada. Of all places…couldn’t she want to go somewhere closer to home?
Saffron: No chance of that. She’s my girl as much as she’s yours.
Moonstone: That’s what scares me.
Saffron: Babe?
Moonstone: You….you lost sight of what was around you. What if she does, too?
Saffron: The difference is I was too hurt to see what was around me. Amber’s not like that. She knows she has a home here.
Moonstone: And she always will. But what if she…she gets so focused on her end goal that nothing else matters. If something happens because of that, if we don’t stop her…
Saffron: Babe, I hate to break it to you, but we could never stop her. We can help her, sure, but she’s got to make her own calls about her life. Trying to control her would only backfire.
Moonstone: I don’t want to control her, I just want her to be safe.
Saffron: Babe…Moony, there’s a huge difference between safe and stifled.
Moonstone: I know that! I just. …*sigh* I’m just worried.
Moonstone: If she goes too far, there won’t be anyone to help her.
Saffron: So we raise her to handle herself. .Be a fierce independent woman.
Moonstone: Even those need help sometimes, Saf.
Saffron: Yeah, but….what’s the other option? Keep her here? Crush her dreams?
Moonstone: Hope she grows out of it?
Saffron: Fat chance of that. Okay, listen. We take it one day at a time.
Saffron: One step at a time One breath at a time. Isn’t that what your Gramma used to say?
Moonstone: You remember that?
Saffron: It helped me a lot, back then.
Saffron: We can’t stop Amber anymore than you all could have stopped me. But we can be there to help and support her. Isn’t that worth more than force?
Moonstone: *sigh* It is. I just…I have a bad feeling. Something…I don’t know how to say it, Saf, but something about this bothers me.
Saffron: We’d be bad moms if we didn’t worry about our kid going a few thousand miles away!
Moonstone: …yeah, I guess. *sigh* Okay. One step at a time.
Saffron: One step at a time.
Saffron: Besides, she’s got at least fourteen yars before she’s going anywhere further than university! We’ve got time.
Moonstone: …I hope so.
Calcite: Ya know, one of these days you’re gonna fall off the edge.
Amber: No I’m not.
Calcite: Uh-huh. Sure you’re not.
Amber: I’m sitting down.
Calcite: Suuuuure. …So, what’s bugging you?
Amber: ….
Calcite: Come on, sis. I can’t sleep, you’re up here, something’s bugging you.
Amber: …Fourteen years.
Calcite: Huh?
Amber: We finish school at eighteen. Gram said university’s easy another four years. That’s fourteen years until I can go to Selva.
Calcite: That’s a long time.
Amber: Ugh, it’s forever! I don’t know if I can wait that long!
Calcite: It’s not like you can go now!
Amber: No, but–ugh! Why do you have to make sense?!
Calcite: One of us has to.
Calcite: Why do you wanna go so bad anyway? What’s Selva got that we don’t?
Amber: Adventure! It’s always the same thing here but out there things’ll be different and I wanna do different things!
Calcite: You’re bored?
Amber: Ugh! …yes.
Calcite: You know there’s other stuff you can do here, right? You don’t have to go–that far away!
Amber: It’s always the same stuff, Cal. Always. This place never changes. I have to go.
Calcite: …why?
Calcite: I don’t get it. Why is being bored such a bad thing?
Amber: Because it sucks?
Calcite: Homework sucks. Brain freeze sucks. Giving Ori a flea bath sucks. Being bored’s not that bad!
Amber: You…you don’t get it. You’re not like me, Cal. Being bored…it makes me jumpy, and mad, and my head hurt. I can’t think and I can’t do anything!
Calcite: I thought that was what the punching bag was for?
Amber: It helps but it’s not enough!
Calcite: Oh. Um…did you tell Ma? Or Mama?
Amber: *sigh* No….Mama’s been really tired lately. I don’t wanna make her worry.
Calcite: She’s Mama, Am. I think she’d wanna know.
Amber: …I’ll tell her if it doesn’t go away soon. But I’m still going to Selva, and you can’t stop me!
Calcite: Wh–I don’t wanna stop you! I just wanna know why ! It’s a jungle in the middle of nowhere, Am. Is that really a good idea?
Amber: I dunno. But I’m still going. You could come with me?
Calcite: And deal with bugs big as my head? Nuh-uh! I’m good here, thanks.
Amber: I don’t know how…it’s so quiet here…
Calcite: Quiet’s not bad if you can stand it, sis.
Amber: …yeah. If you can stand it. *sigh*
That weekend…
*splash!*
Amber: Pfft! Ugh, I got it in my mouth again…
Maré: *laugh* I told you not to cannonball!
Canela: It is a hot spring! It can’t taste any better than the river.
Amber: I dunno about that, but it sure tastes pretty bad!
Corona: You swam in the rivers back in Selva?
Canela: Oh yes, the rivers and the ocean too. Nothing this warm, though!
Amber: Really? I thought Selva was really hot all the time! Wouldn’t the rivers be hot, too?
Canela: Oh, no. The river flows too fast to get hot. Ponds are very hot, though.
Palus: No thanks!
Amber: But it is really hot down there, right?
Canela: Definitely! But it’s…well, the weather said it was the same here as there, but it feels cooler here somehow…
Palus: That’s the humidity.
Lacus: That’s you bein’ a show off, smartypants.
Maré: And you being a jerk, Lacus. I’m telling Mom.
Lacus: Wha–hey!
Amber: So the humidity really is that bad…
Canela: You get used to it, though. I honestly kind of miss it.
Amber: huh…
Palus: uh-oh…
Palus: Watch out, Canela. That’s Amber’s thinking face.
Calcite: Palus…
Canela: oh? What are you thinking?
Amber: I’m thinking I wanna show you something. You guys coming?
Corona: If it’s where I’m thinking, you bet. We’ll get to dry off on the way.
Maré: Last one there’s a rotten egg!
Calcite: Hey! Wait up!
Amber: Come on, come on!
Canela: Where are we going?
Amber: You’ll see! It’s really neat!
Amber: Right up…there!
Maré: It’s no Omiscan Temple or whatever, but it’s kinda our little secret.
Calcite: Amber and me found it a couple years back. It’s an old empty mineshaft.
Canela: Oh! We don’t have many mines in Selva…there’s an old diamond mine in the hills outside of Rio, but it’s been closed for a long time.
Calcite: So’s this one, but I guess they never closed it up.
Amber: It’s got all these neat crystals inside, and a pool, and it’s like, twenty degrees cooler inside.
Amber: It does get really dark, though.
Corona: And the sun’s going down, and we don’t have flashlights. Am, I’m not sure we should go inside now…
Canela: Another time, maybe?
Palus: What, are you scared of the dark, Cor?
Corona: No! But Mom’ll get worried and if they can’t find us they’ll get really worried and…
Canela: I don’t want to worry my father. He already was upset about my flying out without my Abuela…
Amber: Oh, that’s okay. It’s not like it’s going anywhere! We can come back with flashlights and stuff some other day. Make it into a clubhouse or something!
Canela: But don’t you have to be part of a club to be in a clubhouse?
Palus: You’re with us. That makes you part of the club.
Canela: …oh…thank you, everyone.
Firefly: Disease, war, famine…any number of things, my darling. It’s happened to many cultures over the years, and may someday happen to ours as well.
Amber: …what, so in a thousand years people might look at Maxis like we look at Omisca?
Firefly: Someday, perhaps.
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