The Answer

One of the elders pointed a trembling hand. Someone had placed the crystal in a woven cage in the corner; it still gleamed.

“The thing is evil and will not be destroyed. Touching it will only taint you more,” the elder said.

Dakshana closed her eyes and remembered the swift lines on the crystal, how they twisted and turned and lived, and she remembered the pulse of a heartbeat against hers when she wore the crystal around her neck. The crystal was the answer.

“It’s not tainted,” she said. “What’s tainted is your selfishness and ignorance. Let me have it.”