Chapter Text
“I’m sure you already know,” said Barbata. “But the Admirabilis eat the dust. In order to fully restore the bodies of the lost gems, we would need to kill all of the Admirabilis.”
Phosphophyllite tilted their head, not entirely sure they understood.
“Ah,” continued Barbata. “But your kind is not familiar with the concept of death. It would be to cause them to cease existing. Forever. You see, the Admirabilis on the moon have evolved to be dependent on their shells. They cannot live without them.”
Phosphophyllite had vague memories of a creature from the sea, with whom only they’d been able to speak, telling them about something called ‘death’ once. Fragments of their voice echoed within their mind.
Going away to a far place...
Never finding them again…
“I’ll… need some time to think about it.” said Phosphophyllite, cautiously.
“I understand,” said Barbata. “Please let me know what you decide.”
Later that day, Phosphophyllite would make a visit to the Admirabilis of the moon. They revered them as a god there, for reasons they themselves only vaguely understood. They’d lost so many pieces of their body over the centuries, their memories of the past were but a blur of things that might have been.
They recalled saving the creature from the sea, reuniting them with a lost loved one… perhaps the very creatures they’d saved had been Admirabilis themselves, and their story had somehow reached the moon?
“If I asked for your shells…” began Phosphophyllite, slowly, as a swarm of Admirabilis gathered around them, listening to their every word with awe. “...would you give them to me?”
A young Admirabilis broke off from the crowd, and approached Phos. They looked on with a mix of shock and terror as the child began to lift its own shell off of its body, clearly in pain.
They quickly hugged the young one, pressing its shell back down and patting it gently. They stepped back and made a funny pose in an attempt to defuse the situation, and hastily retracted their earlier statement.
“I was just kiddy-widding!” they exclaimed. “Nobody needs to give me their shells today, okay? So don’t even try!”
---
“Ah, Phos, you’re back,” said Barbata. “Have you come to a decision yet on what to do about the Admirabilis?”
“Yes,” said Phosphophyllite. “I can’t bring myself to kill them.”
“That’s a shame, then,” said Barbata. “It looks like we’ll have to canc--”
“Wait,” interjected Phos. “I do have another idea, though. Animals die naturally over time, right? Why don’t we just… wait it out?”
“The Admirabilis would continue to reproduce, and their offspring would in turn consume the moon dust,” explained Barbata. “There’s no way of dancing around this problem.”
“But what if we found them another source of nutrients?” Phos pleaded desperately. “We could quarantine all of the currently-living Admirabilis and give them a new source of food, and leave the rest of the dust untouched. Then we just wait for them to die off naturally.”
“It would be a lot of extra work to go to for something we could get done much quicker by just killing them now,” sighed Barbata. “But if that’s what you truly want… I believe it can be done. I would have to clear it with the Prince f--”
“Great!” exclaimed Phosphophyllite. “That’s great. Thank you, Barbata. I’m happy we could come to a decision we both agree on, and keep the gem restoration project moving forward.”
“Er, yeah, of course…” said Barbata. “I’ll… get right on it, then.”
---
“Guys, can you believe it?!” shouted Phos, as they burst into the common room of the gems who had come to the moon. “The gems who were taken are going to be restored after all!”
“Um, yea, wasn’t that already the plan?” asked Cairngorm. “And do you have to be so loud?”
“Well, yes and no,” said Phos. “But that doesn’t matter now, cause I’ve solved the problem. We just have to wait a while for the Admirabilis to die off naturally, then all the dust they’ve eaten can be harvested from their shells and used to complete the restoration--”
“Wait wait wait,” said Alexandrite. “The Admirabilis have been eating the moon dust?”
“I mean, yeah, they eat minerals,” said Phos, deflating.
“That’s messed up.” said Benitoite. “The Lunarians have been using them to dispose of us?”
“Sort of? Not really? I think it was just an accident.” said Phos. “The point is, the problem is solved and we’re going to restore the gems, it’s just going to take a bit longer than anticipated. We have to quarantine the Admirabilis and find them a new source of food first.”
“That’s great news, Phos.” said Padparadscha, clapping them on the shoulder. “I’m glad you managed to solve such a complicated issue. I mean, I don’t really have all the pieces here, but it sure sounds like it was complicated. They must’ve really been placing a lot of responsibility on you alone.”
“Yes, that’s exactly the case…” sighed Phos. “And they’re still not happy with my decision, but if it’s for the good of the gems, they’ll do it. I’m their savior, after all.”
---
“So, yeah, that’s the situation,” explained Barbata, to the Prince of the Moon. “Phosphophyllite is not comfortable with killing the Admirabilis right now, but they’ve devised a plan to wait it out and let the Admirabilis die of natural causes. We’ll restore the gems as asked, but it’ll take a fair bit longer.”
“Is that so?” asked Prince Aechmea. “I find it to be quite an inefficient idea.”
“That’s what I said, too.” said Barbata. “But they were very insistent upon it.”
“I see,” said Aechmea. “Well, it’s not the outcome I desired, but I’ll admit, this outcome is not unpreferable. The Lunarians have waited long enough for Adamant to pray, what is another century or two?”
“Well, strictly speaking, it’s another century or two that we aren’t passing on,” said Barbata.
“Semantics,” replied the Prince. “Regardless, I motion to approve the decision Phosphophyllite has made, inefficient though it may be. If it will appease the conscience of our savior, so be it.”
“Right,” sighed Barbata. “So be it, then.”