“I’m Jewel Tear on Stone,” the female finally introduced herself.
“Oh.” Olivia felt bad. She should have guessed. The Wyverns didn’t protect normal elves, just the domana-caste, and there were only a handful of those in Pittsburgh. Just days ago, the female’s household had been butchered by oni and she’d been kidnapped. Yes, Jewel Tear would consider protecting her people important. Olivia might have misunderstood the entire conversation. The straight As of her home school language classes really hadn’t prepared her for nuances of actual conversations.
“I’m Olive Branch over Stone.” Olivia gave her elf name and put out her hand for handshake.
Jewel Tear eyed her hand with suspicion. “Humans keep doing that around me. What does it mean?”
“It is a gesture of friendship and trust.” Olivia held her hand steady, waiting, even though she was fairly sure that Jewel Tear wasn’t going to shake her hand.
“Oh. We do not do that. Our hands are our weapons. We do not entrust them with those we do not love.”
Forest Moss would often take her hands in his and entwine their fingers. Olivia hadn’t realized what an act of faith it was for him. It made her feel oddly giddy. She dropped her hand into her lap, embarrassed by the rush of emotions.
Jewel Tear didn’t seem to notice. “You should know that two of the incoming Stone Clan domana are Harbingers. They earned their reputation during the Rebellion. They are powerful and dangerous enemies.”
“They are Stone Clan?” Olivia was missing something in the translation.
“Sunder is an old, old elf born at the dawn of the Rebellion. To hir, the Clan War was a short and messy affair, insignificant to the thousands of years that shi fought. If shi thinks that you are dangerous to our people in any way, shi will kill you despite your being Stone Clan.”
Olivia had learned the gender neutral pronouns in high school but hadn’t realized she’d ever use them. “I see.”
Jewel Tear lowered her voice. “Darkness is the one you should fear. His great joy in life had been his niece, Blossom Spring from Stone. His beloved younger sister died giving birth to her and he raised Blossom Spring as his daughter. Blossom Spring had been with Forest Moss when he was captured by the oni. He escaped. She did not.”
“She was killed?” Olivia hoped that Forest Moss didn’t abandon the female.
“Her First, Granite, drowned her in a chamberpot.”
Olivia stared in horror at Jewel Tear. “Why would he do that?”
Jewel Tear leaned in to whisper. “She’d been raped by the oni. They had made her pregnant.”
Olivia reeled at the implications. Did this mean that the Wyverns would have killed Olivia if Forest Moss had slept with her while she wasn’t pregnant? And what did this mean for Jewel Tear, who been kidnapped by the oni? “Why?”
“Granite needed to kill her unborn oni bastard to protect the Spell Stones.”
Those things again. “What are those? The Spell Stones?”
“They are our greatest strength but also our greatest weakness. Granite could not allow the oni to gain access to them.”
“But what are they?”
“It’s how the domana cast their clan’s esva. Forest Moss will teach you. Until you can protect yourself, you should keep your distance from Darkness. So, where are we going?” Jewel Tear asked.
Olivia didn’t know the words for what she planned for the day. Since Jewel Tear’s presence meant Olivia once again had a Wyvern guard, she couldn’t visit the OB/GYN as planned. Nor did Olivia know if she could trust this female. She learned the hard way that a few minutes of kindness often meant nothing. It would be a mistake to assume that Jewel Tear saw them as “friends” or even “allies.”
Luckily, while the conversation had been short, the bus had gone straight downtown without stops. Olivia wasn’t sure if this was because there hadn’t been anyone waiting on the corners as the driver approached or if he’d had flipped the sign to “out of service” in order to expedite getting the Wyverns off his bus. Either way, they were nearing the first stop on Sixth Avenue. She reached up and hit the “request stop” button.
“We’re going here.”
Mellon Bank’s sole building sat in the heart of downtown. It was an old building from the nineteen hundreds with marble floors, tall columns and three-story-high coffered ceilings. Olivia attempted to stand in line, but once again the line evaporated because of the presence of the Wyverns. Gritting her teeth, she stepped up to the suddenly not busy teller’s window.
“I need to exchange this for American dollars.” She pushed the gold ingot across the counter.
Apparently this was not a common request. The teller needed to get his supervisor who was an older woman. She in turn fetched another woman, older still.
“Miss…?” The manager paused for Olivia to fill in the missing name.
In for a penny, in for a pound. “Stone.”
“Stone?” the manager echoed with confusion.
“S. T. O. N. E.” Olivia spelled it slowly.
The manger’s gaze flicked to the collection of elves waiting behind Olivia and then down at the long oval gold ingot on the counter between them. So far, none of the bank employees had even touched it. It sat gleaming on the polished granite like some dangerous trap.
“I’m going to have to see some ID,” the manager stated.
Olivia pointed to the dau mark on her forehead. “I’m Forest Moss on Stone’s domi, Olive Branch above Stone.”
The manager glanced again to the Wyverns. Olivia could almost see the gears grinding through the logic in the manager’s head. The bank most likely only dealt with the elves’ gold-based standard at a computerized report level. They probably didn’t have any way to verify the gold content of the bullion. Elves didn’t lie. The Wyverns were the most morally straitlaced of the elves—as well as the most dangerous. The Wyverns wouldn’t allow Olivia to lie and might be offended if the bank suggested that she wasn’t trustworthy. The enclaves all used American currency as agreed upon by the UN treaty. If the bank refused to accept the ingot, they could jeopardize the entire economy of the city.
If Olivia weren’t so dependent on the outcome, she would feel sorry for the manager.
“You wish to exchange this one gold bullion for American currency?” The manager verified her risk level.
“Yes, this one.” Olivia didn’t mention the others, which would obliviously rattle the manager’s cage.
The manager took a deep breath and asked calmly, “And how do you want that?”
“Tens and twenties please.”
Jewel Tear had been silent until they left the polished marble of Mellon Bank behind. “Can we talk now?”
She had planned to go to a doctor’s office next and get her first real prenatal exam, but she didn’t want to go with a horde of elves in tow.
Shopping was nearly as vital and this way she wouldn’t have to worry about how she was going to carry everything back home.
“We can talk as we walk.” Olivia led the way down the block to Kaufmann’s.
Odd how one afternoon would suddenly endear the place to her. This was where she’d met Forest Moss. He had not been at his best, but perhaps it was better that way. Her husband Troy had been careful only to show his better side until after the wedding.
Olivia had arrived in Pittsburgh with just the clothes on her back. She had pieced together the barest of necessities by shopping the secondhand store in the South Side. Cheap dishes. Battered pots. Summer dresses. Threadbare sheets, blankets and towels. She needed to quickly replace all that she lost when her house collapsed, and more. Native Pittsburghers would be stocking up on food. It was the scientists and college students and EIA employees on temporary assignment that would need more. Sooner or later, they would realize that they were on Elfhome to stay and would need coats, boots, hats, and blankets to make it through winter.