Blue Green Gem

"Nix feels very cold, even if he has a blanket. He needs heat-source. That’s why he had that necklace and earrings with blue-green gems. Those were not only jewelries, those were heat-sources, kept him warm during cold weather. You lost your communication crystal yesterday and suspected him to be a thief. He told that he didn’t take it but you didn’t believe him. You and mom punished him, commanded him to take off those necklace and earrings. He did so. Then you scratched his neck and earlobes with a knife, now he can’t wear those until those wounds are healed. It is winter here, he will not survive without those ... " Rhee stopped without completing her last sentence. She turned her face away, so that Yan couldn’t see deep sadness in her eyes.

Yan was taken aback! He did not know that! Are these necklaces and earrings with blue-green gems, heat sources? And the heat was required for his survival! And Rhee, Ark, Rad, Mont, Veen --- all have their own necklaces and earrings with similar blue-green gemstones. Are they also depend on those for their lives?

They all came from another planetary system. Here on Earth, which is an important member of United Stellar Organization, there are several training centers of USO. Rhenu, their mother, came with her children to take special training. Many others also came from their planetary system. Some of them are of ethnicity N and some of them are of B. The irony is that the people of N and B are traditional enemies. Here in training facilities, those people work together professionally and do very well. But outside work, in private times, still there are hostilities present between them. Things are getting better though, tragic incidents are decreasing.

Yan belongs to Earth. He is human. Now a days humans are called people of ethnicity H. Yan is working at the training center for several years. Rhenu came here with all her children. She joined the group which was under Yan’s supervision.

Then, slowly, surely, a good relationship grew between Yan and Rhenu. After she completed her training, Rhenu joined the center as an instructor. Later she married Yan. Yan also adopted all her children as his own.

Yan recalled the chain of events happened the day before. It was almost evening then, he couldn't find his communication device, his red crystal. He needed that to connect to the database. He searched in all possible places, but without any positive result. So he had to use Rhenu’s red crystal to connect to database and temporarily continued his work. But some important sets of information was in that lost crystal.

All of a sudden without any real reason, Rhenu suspected that Nix stole that red crystal. Fiery anger made her terrible. Nix was studying in his room, she stormed in there, then grabbed him by the hair and dragged him out. She brought him to Yan.

Nix turned pale with fear, his voice trembled when he asked, "What have I done?"

Rhenu yelled at him," Have you stolen your father's red crystal?"

Nix looked up, his eyes was full of surprise. He said, "Stole dad’s red crystal? Me? I never even saw that. "

Rhenu slammed him fiercely and said, "Where have you hidden it? Get it out soon. Otherwise you’ll be punished so heavily that you’ll never forget."

That slap was hard, Nix almost fell to the ground, but Rhenu held his hand tightly. Then she punished him more severely with a cane. Nix accepted all those blows without any protest. All he said was, “I didn’t steal, believe me.” But Rhenu didn’t listen.

After the punishment Rhenu ordered Nix to remove his earrings and necklace. Nix looked up, his eyes were full of shock. The color of his face turned ash as he removed his earrings and necklace and gave those to Rhenu. But he didn’t say anything, he looked very tired and heartbroken.

Then Rhenu asked Yan to scratch Nix’s neck and earlobes with a knife. Nix stood still in complete silence while accepting that new punishment. He did not even look up.

Yan didn't know then, that the N people cannot cry, cannot shed tears. They do not have tear glands. When in severe pain, they only moan and groan without tears. Later he came to know that, Rhee told him.

After punishment, Nix looked up to meet Yan’s eyes. Yan never saw so much pain in anyone’s eyes before. Nix whispered, "I haven't taken your red crystal. Will you search it again please?"

Rhenu yelled and stopped him, said "Aren’t you ashamed a bit? Still are you defending yourself? You will not get anything to eat tonight."

Nix sighed and covered his wounded neck with his hand. The scars were slowly being filled with blood. His palm became blood-stained.

Then he went down to his room and lied down and curled up on his bed. It was a simple bed on the floor, covered with a thin blanket.

Yan recalled everything. Yes, he found his lost red crystal after a few hours. It was on his desk, behind a stack of papers.

He ran to inform Rhenu. His voice was trembling when he said, “Rhenu, I have found my red crystal. Nix was innocent, he didn’t take that. Oh, we punished him so severely for no reason. What shall we do now?”

Rhenu looked up, whispered, “Where have you found it? ”

“On my table. It was hidden behind a stack of papers. ”

Rhenu got up and said, “Let’s go to Nix.”

Then, he and Rhenu together went to Nix to apologize.

Nix was lying down in his bed, moaning in pain. When Yan went near, Nix stopped and got up with effort. Yan apologized to him. Then he applied ointments to the wounds.

Rhenu went near him and apologized. She brought food for him. But Nix couldn’t eat. He joined his palms and asked to spare him, “Forgive me, I can’t eat tonight. I am exhausted, can’t eat. Please, forgive me. I’ll eat tomorrow.”

He again lied on his bed, curled up and went to sleep.