Skyglass

The  nok, nok, nok of Grandmother's pestle guided her back from a purple sunset where flat-snouted seals served cayenne cacao out of golden snail shells. Turtle yawned and stretched her toes, lingering in nested warmth. Then she remembered. The star!

Turtle bounded from the scratchy rush mat shoved catty corner for a better view of the window. She had gone to bed dressed for her morning's pursuit.

Outside, Grandmother kept her usual cookyard perch at a driftwood table culled from the sea by Great-Great Grandfather. A mountain of bubbled flatbread absorbed tallgrass savor in the braided basket at her elbow. The product of her ritual sunrise pounding and kneading and fire stoking. Now, she wrestled with a stubborn jeweled husk, stripping back thick folds from tender, ambrosial curves.

"Good morning, Lila'tova," Grandmother flashed her russet teeth. Corra root dye marked womanly beauty in her youthful years. Now, it marked faded elder ways.

"Good morning, Ani," Turtle grinned and snatched a tart yellow slice from the greedy clutches of the mirrorwood paring knife. Grandmother tutted her tongue, but the scallops at the corners of her eyes absolved the theft.

"Where is my little Turtle off to this morning?" she croaked, knife resuming its rhythmic strokes.

"I saw a star fall," Turtle's excitement simmered to the brim.

"Oh?" Grandmother smiled. "Change is on the wind then."

"I'm going to look for skyglass."

Grandmother set down her knife and wiped her hands on her apron. "Maybe I'll come with you, Lila'tova."

Turtle's grin overflowed into a dust-kicking dance. Grandmother arranged her morning's labors for hungry mouths to find, then she fetched an empty basket in which to collect their treasures.

They set out along the humming shoals where the tide washed in opaline shell fragments and blankets of bulbous seaweed. Turtle plunged her hand into the warm, clear water, scooping up a fistful of gritty sand that spilled away to leave a sapphire nugget in her palm. Glittering flecks caught the light, a galaxy frozen beneath its surface.

"That's a big one!" Grandmother crowed. "With a little polishing, it will make a perfect necklace bead."

Turtle laid her prize among the celestial lumps in the basket. Another sparkle caught her eye from the shallows. She fixed her sights on the sunken glimmer, fearing to lose it in the silted swirl of her wading feet.

The sandbar sucked at the heavy gem, reluctant to surrender its starborn bounty. Turtle came out the victor. Unlike the other rudimentary fragments, this jet black geode appeared perfectly round. Surface smooth as its name. Turtle stroked her fingers over the glossy skyglass, and the sparkling motes trapped within trembled. Whispers spilled from its shadowed contours. Secrets of the cosmos roiled and hissed, growing louder. Insistent. A message? A warning.

The bursting slap of water broke her trance. Grandmother had dropped the basket. Turtle followed her captive gaze to the horizon. Translucent crimson wings flared wide at the seam of the sky. Two. Four. Six. A whole flock!

Grandmother stood a rooted acacia, watching the sweeping formation crest the waves. She blinked, then seized Turtle by the hand. Grip clawed and crushing.

"Come inside, Lila'tova. Quick. We must tell the others."