Day 105

[from The Ember Stone]

After dropping off the loaves of bread at the bakery, and collecting the payment, Jacob headed over to the jewellers' store to get the strange stone's value assessed. The old man running the store, upon seeing the stone on his counter, was immediately intrigued.

"What a curious stone," he said, peering intently at it through a magnifying eyepiece. "It almost looks like a miniature version of the Ember Stone… though of course, such a thing would be impossible..."

"What's an Ember Stone?" asked Jacob, intrigued.

"The Ember Stone is one of four powerful crystalline artefacts, each of which controls one of the four elements," explained the old man. "There is the Gust Stone, which controls wind; the Aqua Stone, which controls water; the Earth Stone, which controls the earth; and the Ember Stone, which controls fire. If you possess one of those stones, you will gain control over its element, and legend has it that if you can obtain all four, you will become invincible."

"I see," said Jacob. "So, if it looks like the Ember Stone, that must mean it's worth a lot, right?"

The old man thought for a moment, closely examining the stone, then shook his head. "I don't know," he said. "I've never seen anything like this stone before, which means I don’t know how to guess what it might be worth. It might be an exceptionally rare find, or it might just be a worthless piece of glass. I'm sorry, but I'd like to do some more research before deciding whether it's worth buying this from you."

Jacob was disappointed, but he understood the old man's position. If he bought it for a large sum of money, then found it was worthless, he would feel cheated. If he bought it for a pittance, and then found it was exceptionally valuable, he would feel as though he had cheated Jacob. This was the safest move for both parties. "Okay," he said, nodding. "I understand."

"Good," said the old man. "I'll do some research on what this stone might be, so come back in perhaps a week or two and I should be able to put a proper value on it then. Alright?"

"Yeah, that's fine with me," said Jacob.

"One more thing, though," said the old man, as he handed Jacob the stone back. "You say the stone appeared to fall out of the sky?"

"That's what it seemed like," said Jacob, his fingers closing once more around the warm crystal. "I can't really explain it, but… it just seemed to suddenly land nearby, out of nowhere."

 "I see," said the old man. "Well, if that will be all, I guess I'll be seeing you around. Goodbye for now, Jacob."

"Goodbye," said Jacob, waving briefly before pocketing the stone and heading back out onto the high street. While he was still a little disappointed not to have gotten anything for the stone, he hadn't really lost anything, and he still had the stone itself… whatever it was. He started to make his way back up the dirt track towards his farm home, still none the wiser as to the stone's true worth.