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.
Calcite: Amber? Am, where are you?
Amber: Out back!
Calcite: Hey, so, the others are going to the club tonight. You wanna come?
Amber: Club? Bad music, bad dancing, worse food? Nooooo thank you.
Amber: Besides, this project’s like…a week behind and it’s due tomorrow, so.
Calcite: So all work and no play makes a very boring Crystal.
Amber: Ha ha.
Calcite: Seriously, though. What happened to taking breaks?
Amber: I take breaks! I go to the gym every couple of days.
Calcite: You have a fitness class every couple of days. Not a break.
Amber: Close enough!
Calcite: Am, come on.
Amber: Oh, you come on. Besides, isn’t Nova going? You don’t want your third wheel of a twin around for that.
Calcite: Don’t you start.
Calcite: Come on! It’ll be fun….
Amber: I’m having plenty of fun here, bro. I promise.
Calcite: …really? You’re sure?
Amber: I’m sure. And it’s not like I can’t go later if I change my mind, right?
Calcite: Oh, sure. They’re open till sunrise.
Amber: Then yeah, I’m sure. I’ve gotta finish this thing, then it’ll be late, and we have class in the morning…
Calcite: Okay, okay, I get the point. No club for Amber.
Amber: No club for Amber. You have fun on your date.
Calcite: It’s not a–ugh, never mind.
Amber: *chuckle*
Nova: Hey, stranger. Come here often?
Calcite: Nah, but I know a guide who really recommends it.
Nova: Oh? Do I know this handsome rogue?
Calcite: I dunno…look in the mirror recently?
Nova: *laugh* Cal!
Nova: That was terrible!
Calcite: Honest, though.
Nova: Rogue? Nah. Handsome I’ll give you, but rogue?
Calcite: Rogueishly good looking, for sure.
Nova: Oh, Watcher. *laugh* You’re going to give me an ego.
Calcite: You’ve earned it.
Calcite: So, this might be random, but how about you and me get outta here?
Nova: Oh?
Calcite: I hear there’s nice views out by the river.
Nova: Oh, there are. Especially with such a nice young man for company.
Calcite: Nice young–oh, now who’s giving who an ego?
Nova: You’ve earned it.
Nova: Should we leave your cousins alone back there, though?
Calcite: They’ll be fine. Maré’s used to keeping them alive.
Calcite: We could go back, if you want…
Nova: Nah. River sounds great.
Nova: …this might be a strange question, Calcite, but…have you considered what you’re going to do after graduation?
Calcite: Join a musical recording company and be a composer. Why? You haven’t?
Nova: Not at all. I like music, that’s why I went for that program, but….I’m not sure what to do with my life after.
Nova: Mom and Dad both wanted me to go into science or the Diplomatic Corps, but.
Calcite: It didn’t call?
Nova: Not like music has, but…where do you even take that kind of degree?
Calcite: Well, I do have an in with the recording company my Gram and Moms were hired by…if you wanted, you could come with me. They do remote, too, if you wanted to go somewhere besides the Springs.
Nova: You’d do that? Give up your in for your college roommate?
Calcite: For my college roommate who’s also my friend, and a pretty good composer in his own right.
Calcite: So. Do you wanna?
Nova: ….yeah. I do.
Nova: Tell me about the Springs?
Calcite: W-well, it’s desert and it’s pretty bland, but…it’s nice. Quiet, really. Not much ever happens out there, so you get to live whatever life you want, just one day at a time.
Nova: Sounds…peaceful.
Calcite: It is. Wasn’t Kahje?
Nova: Nah. I mean, there were quiet spots, and you’d get used to the constant storms, but the Diplomatic Corps work out of the city center so there’s always people going back and forth, the fate of the galaxy in their hands…that kinda thing. It wears on you after a while.
Calcite: Oof, I bet.
Nova: So I wouldn’t mind some actual quiet, you know?
Calcite: Even if it’s hot enough to broil a bird in the sun?
Nova: *laugh* Even if it’s hot enough to boil alive.
Calcite: You should come visit sometime. We’d be happy to have you.
Nova: …yeah. After school ends, I will.
Calcite: Great. Oh–shoot, school! We have class in the morning we should get back to the dorm!
Nova: Hey, um–before we go back, real quick–
Calcite: Yeah?
Nova: So, remember how I said I was a dinner before touching kinda guy?
Calcite: …yeah?
Nova: Does that go both ways? Are you…
Calcite: Well, I do like to get to know someone before there’s anything like that, but…we’ve been rooming together for a while, so…
Nova: So stop me if you don’t like this but I–
Calcite: Mmph!
Nova: Calcite? Tell me I didn’t just blow up a good friendship I know you said I was your type but–
Calcite: Haha, are you kidding? I wanted to take you to dinner first, but that was totally my style!
Nova: Oh good. *laugh* That’s a relief.
Calcite: You wanna get something to eat or…
Nova: We do have food here, you know.
Calcite: Yeah…we do.
Calcite: What do you say we take this inside?
Nova: I can think of a…very serviceable bunk.
The next morning…
Amber: ugh…come on, you’ve studied this a hundred times!
Amber: And is also marked by…
Calcite: Amber?
Calcite: Am?
Amber: There it is! The Golden Era was marked by an era of prosperity among the Omiscan people that was never repeated in all recorded history…but what took them down?
Amber: Think…think, this’ll be on the tests…
Calcite: Amber? Hey–
Calcite: Maxis to Amber!
Amber: Gah–Cal, you scared me!
Calcite: I called you a few times–lost in history again?
Amber: You could…you could say that, yeah. What’s up?
Calcite: Nothing, I just…nothing. What’s eating you?
Amber: Ugh, it’s…it’s stupid. I’ve got a test on the Golden Era this week but I keep forgetting what I studied and losing my place and…
Calcite: And you can’t think straight. Okay, we can fix that.
Amber: I can’t have you reading me flashcards in class, Cal.
Calcite: No, but your notes are all here. Aaaannd I seem to remember you telling me about moving making thinking easier?
Amber: Well, yeah, but–
Calcite: You already know all of this. You just need your brain to get it together, right? So, it’s time to move.
Amber: Let me get this straight–you and Nova did the do?
Calcite: Yes–gah–yes we did!
Amber: ha! My baby brother ain’t such a baby anymore!
Calcite: I’m only five minutes younger than you!
Amber: Still my baby brother!
Amber: So is this gonna make things awkward between you? Since you’re…still roommates?
Calcite: Nope! Just a bunch more kissing than before, that’s all. He’s…pretty good at that.
Amber: No details, thank you!
Amber: The less I know about your love life, the better.
Calcite: You asked first!
Amber: And I am regretting it now.
Amber: But–seriously, Cal–you two okay? I don’t have to break his nose or anything?
Calcite: NO! Watcher, Amber, no. No, he and I are–we’re okay. Better than okay, really. No punching.
Amber: Aw…okay, fine. No punching.
Amber: but I reserve the right to knee him in the groin if he hurts you!
Calcite: How about you focus on you first, huh?!
Amber: Me? I’m fine!
Calcite: Which is why you’re missing handholds. What’s the–oof–what’s the matter?
Amber: Nothing!
Calcite: Am.
Amber: …Ugh, I hate it when you do that.
Amber: Honestly, I just…I still feel like I’m wasting so much time!
Calcite: We graduate in a year! How is an accelerated course a waste of time?
Amber: It’s not! It just feels it.
Amber: Like–this is all time that I could be in Selva, but instead I’m stuck here listening to a bunch of old farts drone on about what they think about what the Golden Era actually meant!
Calcite: And that’s bugging you.
Amber: They just keep talking!
Amber: It’s such a waste of time…
Calcite: But you need the degree to get on an expedition.
Amber: Or I wouldn’t be here.
Amber: I don’t–oof. I don’t know, Call. I’ll get over myself, I guess. Don’t worry about me.
Calcite: You’re my sister, I’m always going to worry about you.
Amber: Yeah, well, maybe save some of that worry for yourself! Have you always been this bad at climbing?
Calcite: Hey! We can’t all be born mountain goats!
Amber: It’s not rocket science, Cal.
Calcite: Probably be easier if it was!
That evening…
Nova: So when did you know you wanted to go into music?
Calcite: Ah, geez…I was like, 10 or so? My Mama taught me how to play and that was that.
Calcite: It’s been a calling ever since.
Nova: So, no second guesses about where you were going, no worries it was the wrong choice?
Calcite: Not with that, no. Just…other things.
Nova: Other things?
Calcite: Yeah, like…heh, I’m really no better than Amber. I got so focused on my work that I didn’t even look for a boyfriend or partner in high school. I went stag to prom and I…well, I guess I wonder if I missed out on something.
Nova: As someone who took a boyfriend to prom? No, you did not miss a thing.
Nova: Besides, if you had taken a boyfriend to prom, we wouldn’t be here, would we?
Calcite: *laugh* Fair point! I like us being here.
Nova: Heh. Me too.
Calcite: And I’d like us to go further.
Nova: Further? Like…
Calcite: Like, past college. Past Wineburg.
Nova: Like…past boyfriends?
Calcite: Yeah. I know there’s this whole thing about…college partners staying in college, but I like you, Nova. I don’t want this to end here.
Nova: I’ve always been a long-haul kinda guy myself. I’m down for keeping things going if you are.
Calcite: Oh, good! I got a little worried for a second there.
Nova: Just for a second? I’m slipping!
*both laugh*
After dinner…
Calcite: Oh, hey, real quick before we go back–
Calcite: Yeah–ah! Cal!
And, perhaps, most frighteningly…a change that none could have seen coming.
A change of fate, one that would determine the course of things for generations to come.
Graduation day
Saffron: Congrats, baby. You did it!
Amber: Thanks, Ma.
Luna: See? Told you you could do it!
Horizon: Oh, baby! We’re so proud of you!
Luna: It wasn’t nearly as hard as you thought it’d be, was it?
Lacus: No, no, it was really that hard.
Maré: But we got him through it. Somehow.
Skye: We did say to look after your brother, so…
Palus: So, we did.
-
Calcite: I am so glad to be done with this. No more essays!
Amber: You two didn’t miss anything by not going to uni, let me tell you.
Moonstone: You two are coming back with us today, right?
Calcite: Yep! We’re all packed and everything–oh, but first? There’s someone I want you to meet. Mama, this is Nova. He’s my boyfriend.
Nova: It’s nice to meet you, Miss Crystal. Cal’s told me a lot about you.
Moonstone: Oh? Good things, I hope.
Calcite: Mama!
Nova: Only good things, I promise.
Moonstone: *laugh* Well, it’s nice to meet you too, Nova. Will you be on the train to the Springs?
Nova: Ah–no, to Brittle Bay. There’s not much time to talk…
Moonstone: It’s enough for now.
That evening…
Nova: …so…this is it, huh?
Calcite: What do you mean?
Nova: I mean…the Springs, and the Bay…they’re pretty far from each other. Long distance isn’t easy, Cal.
Calcite: No, but I’m no quitter. Are you?
Nova: No! I just–*sigh* Look, I don’t want you waiting around for me, okay? If…if there’s someone else, then…
Calcite: There isn’t anyone else. Maybe there will be, but not now. Nova, I told you I wanted to take us past college. I meant that. Did you?
Nova: …I do.
Calcite: Then what’s there to worry about? We have phones, and vidchats–and most places are only a train ride away!
Nova: I just…I guess I’m just worried. I don’t want to make you feel trapped or anything…
Calcite: You don’t. I promise, you don’t.
Nova: Well, good. Because I…can I be honest?
Calcite: Of course! Always.
Nova: I really, really like you, Cal. Like–maybe it’s too soon, but I honestly…I honestly think it’s love.
Calcite: Nova…
Nova: And I…I don’t want to lose that, but I want you to be happy. Long distance is hard. If you find someone else, just…just tell me and I’lll….
Calcite: You won’t have to do anything. I’m not going to find anyone else.
Nova: I’m not saying you’ll cheat or anything like that! I’m just saying–
Calcite: No, you’re not getting it. I’m not going to find anyone else.
Calcite: I don’t want to find someone else.
Nova: Even if it’d be easier if you did?
Calcite: Heh, since when have I ever done easy?
Calcite: Besides, I love you, too.
Nova: …oh. Oh, that’s…
Calcite: *chuckle* You were worried, weren’t you?
Nova: A little.
Calcite: Well don’t be. I’m not going anywhere.
Nova: Technically you’re going to the Springs…
Calcite: Hey you know what I mean!
Calcite: We are still okay. I’ll call you every day, and text, and–
Nova: Come here.
Calcite: We’re gonna be fine.
Nova: We’re gonna be more than fine. Call me when you get there?
Calcite: I will. You too, okay?
Nova: I will. And…let me know when I can come visit?
Calcite: You better believe it. You come visit and I’ll show you around town. See the sights, make yourself at home.
Nova: *chuckle* Careful…do that and I might not want to leave.
Calcite: Who said that wasn’t the idea?
Nova: I’m glad…
*train horn blares*
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