The Clearest Diamond

In the duke's office, the miners from the diamond mines tremble as Duke Stoneborne observes the little girl wrapped in a flimsy cloth.

"Let me guess," the duke finally says after assessing the situation. "You were mining away at a wall for diamonds when it crumbled down, revealing this child who I assume was fast asleep. Yes?"

Surprised at the duke's accuracy, the miners frantically nod their heads.

"Your Grace, we don't know where this child is from or how she got into the mine in the first place," one of the miners explains. "We brought her here in order to get your opinion since this is a development in your mines."

"Leave her here," the duke immediately answers without an ounce of hesitation. "I will take care of the child. If that is all that you wanted to report, then you are dismissed. Have a good afternoon, gentlemen."

Unsure of how to react to the duke's out of character answer, the miners obey their employer's orders and leave the estate as they had nothing else to report on. After the miners leave, Ruby appears in the doorway.

"Father, are you thinking that this child is also a jeweled child like me?" Ruby asks as she approaches the duke.

As the duke is about to answer, the child takes notice of Ruby and hurries over to her side, clutching onto Ruby's dress.

"Big… sister…" the child whispers to herself as she closes the distance between her and Ruby.

The duke looks at Ruby and the child. From Ruby's question, he understands that Ruby is on the same page as him, so he doesn't push her away from the conversation. "Ruby, this child will be named Diamond. You will be her older sister, so you must help the maids take care of her. As you can assume, I am taking this child in on the thought that she is a jeweled child such as yourself. It's not every day that a child is found behind a wall of jewels, so this is the safest assumption."

"Will she also be introduced to the king at the same time as me?"

"Of course. There is no reason why I should delay having her recorded as my daughter." Getting a bit uncomfortable with how close Ruby and the child have been standing next to him, the duke lightly pushes them in order to create some distance. "Ruby, appearance wise, you are the older one, so you must look after your younger sibling. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Father, I understand. I will take care of Diamond along with her maids."

Moving her pale blue hair out of her face, the small child tugs on Ruby's dress. "Me… hungry… me… eat…"

"It appears that Diamond is hungry, Father," Ruby comments despite the duke already hearing the child's request.

"Raynold!" Duke Stoneborne calls without looking away from the children.

"You called for me, Your Grace," Raynold announces after rushing to the office.

Pointing at Ruby and Diamond, the duke responds, "Have the chefs prepare lunch early. The kids are hungry. Also have the head maid arrange for the tailor and Doctor Pledais to come by the estate tomorrow to have my second daughter fitted for new clothes."

"Right away, Your- …second daughter?" Raynold glances over at Ruby confused on why the duke said second daughter when he notices a slightly smaller child hiding behind Ruby. Understanding the situation, Raynold warmly smiles at the child, giving her a small wave. "I will relay your message to the chef and head maid immediately, Your Grace."

"Also, I think it is time to get Ruby a personal guard along with Diamond," the duke adds before Raynold disappears through the doorway. "These girls are precious and need to have someone to protect them at all times."

Since Raynold was not with the duke and Ruby earlier this morning, he doesn't quite understand the duke's reasoning. Nonetheless, he knows that the duke wouldn't go to such measures unless it was highly necessary.

"I will inform the knights while Miss Ruby and Miss Diamond are eating lunch. Will a tournament suffice in order to find the strongest knight to protect the girls?"

"Do whatever it is you need to do in order to find suitable guards for my daughters. However, they must have the ability to keep highly confidential information a secret. There are things about these girls that must never leave the confines on this estate unless ordered to do so."

Raynold takes heed to the duke's requirement, now getting a small understanding of the situation. "As you wish, Your Grace." Raynold holds his hand out for Ruby to grab onto. "Miss Ruby, can you bring Miss Diamond with us to the dining room? We are going to have an early lunch."

Ruby looks down at the little girl behind her. She seems a bit timid unlike Ruby's nonchalant attitude when she first arrived. "Diamond, let's go. We are going to eat. You're hungry, right?"

The disheveled child doesn't understand what Ruby is saying as she hasn't heard enough in order to figure out what words mean. However, she can tell that Ruby is trying to help her like how the miners were, so she grabs onto Ruby's hand and follows behind her and Raynold.

As Raynold leads the girls to the dining room, whispers can be heard throughout the hall as the maids and other workers catch sight of Diamond. Not liking the constant staring, Diamond grips onto Ruby's hand tighter, hiding her face under her messy hair.

"Woah! It's the child of water!" Rouge shouts as he flies into the house from the garden.

Frightened by the sudden loudness, Diamond clings herself to Ruby, making herself appear smaller by squatting behind Ruby.

"What's wrong, Diamond?" Ruby asks as she stops to tend to her new sister.

Diamond points at Rouge and mumbles, "Loud… scary… surprise…"

"Rouge, Diamond says that you're being too loud and that you scared her," Ruby relays, hugging her sister since this is what she has seen other people do when someone is sad or scared.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rouge apologizes while quieting his voice. "I forgot that the children of water lean more towards the reserved side unlike the children of fire. But it's so cool to see two jeweled children together. It's been thousands of years since the jeweled children fell into their deep sleep."

Rouge flies over to Diamond and waves at her. "I'm sorry if I startled you, child of water. My name is Rouge, a fire fairy. Ruby is my master since she has given me my physical form and is the child of fire. I hope you can find your fairy soon as well."

"My… fairy…?"

"Miss Ruby, Miss Diamond, is there a problem?" Raynold asks after noticing that the girls aren't behind him.

"Diamond was startled because Rouge was being loud," Ruby explains as she and Diamond stand up. "We are okay now." Ruby takes hold of Diamond's hand and imitates a smile to her. "We have to go now or else the food will get cold. Father says that food doesn't taste good when it is cold, so we shouldn't waste time."

"Father?"

"The tall man that was in the office is our father now because he will take care of us," Ruby reminds. "We aren't alone anymore."

-'Aren't alone anymore'? What does Miss Ruby mean by that?- Raynold ponders to himself.

As the trio continue their walk to the dining room, Ruby interrupts the silence. "Raynold, what do you mean by holding a tournament to find Diamond and me a guard?"

"Ah! What I will do is have the knights fight against each other one by one, and the winners will proceed to the next round until there are only two knights left. One knight will be your guard while the other knight will be Miss Diamond's guard."

"What does a guard have to do?" Ruby continues to pry.

Raynold looks up at the ceiling for a moment to gather his thoughts. "A guard will be at your side from sunrise to sunset. Wherever you go, the guard will follow. No questions asked. However, since you and Miss Diamond are a special case, your guards will also do their best to show you what is right and what is wrong. You can trust in them because they are knights of Duke Stoneborne, so there isn't anything that you need to worry about."

Diamond, Ruby, and Raynold arrive at the dining room soon after Raynold's explanation. Holding the door open, Raynold ushers the girls in, and the girls take their seats at the table. Diamond takes the seat next to Ruby and quietly sits, unsure of what to do.

"I'll have the chefs prepare something light while you wait," Raynold says before heading over to the kitchen.

"Ruby," Diamond whispers, tugging on Ruby's sleeve.

Ruby glances down at the child. "What's wrong, Diamond?"

"Forest… fairy… where…?"

Taking Diamond's hand into hers, Ruby answers, "The forest fairy is dead."