The fall sunshine cascaded off the sea of high, gold wheat rippling in the breeze. Parwana turned her head, curling her lips into a shy smile, batting her eyelashes at the boy lying next to her. Sa’al was a year older, a big difference at twelve, and her parents would certainly have disapproved. The two were watching white cumulus clouds drift across the Siremirian plains. It was Parwana’s idea. With the harvest coming, I won’t get many more chances.

  Friends as far back as she could remember, Sa’al had recently given her the impression he was interested in more. Nothing inappropriate, of course, but the signs were there, saving his afternoon teacake for her, or offering to carry her family’s water bucket from the well. Cute, but nothing more than the bottom rung of a very tall ladder, easily stepped over. His affections did have their uses, however.

  Now that she had turned twelve, she was expected to join the adults of the tribe in harvesting the wheat. It was customary, a tradition. The community bundled their wheat and drove it to market in Irdri every fall. The proceeds were bartered for livestock and root vegetables that would sustain the village through the winter. As long as her portion was cut and bundled, that was all that mattered. I will not be working in the fields.

  She lightly dragged her fingertips along his arm, giggling at his last remark, without even having registered what he said. It doesn’t matter. By the end of the day, he will be volunteering to harvest my share of the crop. Something in the sky caught his attention, and with an exclamation, he pointed his finger skyward before she turned to look. A fireball, flashing traces of reds and purples, its flickering tail visible even in the daylight, raced across the horizon. A trail of smoke tracked its movement. They both sat up, watching it speed westward. Sky rocks were rare. The elders considered them omens.

  “It’s headed for the Glimmerstones,” she observed.

  “Look! A piece broke off!” Sa’al pointed again as a smaller smoke trail abandoned the main body, arcing toward the ground nearby.

  Both teenagers rose to their feet, tracking the object’s descent.

  He turned, crouching to look her in the eyes, hands firmly on her shoulders. “We have to retrieve it if we can, for the village.”

  She nodded, and the two took off through the high wheat grass in the direction of the falling stone. Almost a foot taller, Sa’al quickly outpaced her. Unwilling to be bested, Parwana dug deep, lengthening her stride to stay in his wake, unbothered by the light sting of golden husked ears of grain slapping against her bare shoulders. The smoke trail was already beginning to dissipate, and with it, any hope they had of finding the interstellar prize. Her breathing deepened as she matched his pace, racing across the golden plain. The odor of rotten eggs mixed with a metallic tinge of iron began to overshadow the rich, comforting scent of ripe grain as they drew closer.

  Sa’al stopped abruptly. Parwana had to throw her weight backward, jolting to a halt on his left, and there it was. Hissing and spitting, the stone had buried itself in the soft soil, igniting the surrounding dried grasses. Immediately recognizing the danger, Sa’al moved quickly to begin clearing the tinder-dry wheat stalks around its location to contain the spread.

  Looking up, she watched intently as the streaking tail of the meteorite’s main body hurtled toward the mountains.

  “Parwana, help me!” he shouted at her. “We have to stop the fire from spreading or the whole crop will burn!”

  His tone jolted her back into the moment. Sa’al moved counterclockwise around the smoldering impact zone, pulling handfuls of stalks, tossing them to the side, flattening others backward as he stomped repeatedly on meagre flames struggling to life among the dry husks. She mimicked his actions clockwise, pausing occasionally to track the main meteorite’s overhead progress. Before they got halfway around, she saw a sparkling flash against one of the distant peaks before a muted thud pulsed across the plains.

  Even Sa’al’s attention was diverted by the sound of the impact.

  He turned to her. “Did you see it land?”

  Something made her hesitate as she met his gaze, finally shaking her head. “No,” she lied, “I only heard it.” Looking back toward the village’s collection of thatched roofs, there was no sign of movement. Curious, no one else seems to have noticed.

  The pair returned to the task at hand, stomping, pulling, and flattening a ring of containment around the stone’s resting place. As they worked, the hiss fell to a whisper and went silent. Out of breath, Sa’al flopped to the ground, hugging his knees, gasping to catch his breath. She tentatively stepped to the impact point, peering at the scorched ground.

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  “Can you grab it with magic?” he asked.

  Although still very young, the elders were enthusiastic about her arcane potential. She had already learned a couple of cantrips. Stepping to his side, she spoke a few words, and a spectral hand appeared. “I think so.”

  Floating down towards the wet loam, the translucent fingers delicately plucked the stone from the earth before presenting a wad of dirty black, foul-smelling conglomerate on an open palm in front of them.

  “A bit underwhelming,” she said flatly.

  “Maybe clean it up in the irrigation ditch?” He nodded off to the right.

  With the mage hand floating in front of her, Parwana pushed twenty feet through the grass to the shallow, muddy channel that split the field. The hand closed around the stone before submerging itself into the water, splashing back and forth. Another glance towards the settlement reaffirmed that no one else in the village seemed to be aware of their discovery.

  A warm tingling thrill resonated deep in her gut when the mage hand presented the dripping stone a second time. Its irregular shape glistened shiny and black, polished smooth by the heat of the atmospheric entry. Are those crystals? She extended her index finger, tentatively checking the stone’s temperature. Warm, but not hot. Plucking it from the arcane sparkling palm, Parwana held it up to the light. Three yellow crystals winked in response, refracting the sunshine. Gorgeous.

  “Well?” his disembodied voice called from her left, muffled by the whispering wheat.

  She turned her head back toward Sa’al’s location, lips pursed in thought. She made up her mind. Tossing her head, she flicked her dark curls over her shoulder before crouching down beside the irrigation channel. Fishing around on the bottom, her hand closed on a similarly sized stone, shaking it clean in the shallow water. Close enough. I’m sure no one will be able to tell the difference.

  “Still pretty unremarkable, but see for yourself,” she shouted back, dropping the unremarkable ditch stone back into the palm of her spectral hand before slipping the meteorite into the pocket of her tunic and pushing back through the grass towards her friend.

  “It does look pretty plain,” Sa’al agreed, extending his fingers toward the stone.

  “Don’t touch it! It’s still hot!” she cautioned, realizing immediately that the temperature of the impostor would instantly betray her deception.

  He pulled back his hand, choosing instead to give it a close visual inspection.

  “What if we kept it ourselves, instead of turning it over to the elders?” she lobbied. “After all, we found it, and I don’t think anyone else saw it land.”

  His head snapped up, eyes wide in disbelief. “Are you crazy? Do you know how much this means to the tribe?” He began to circle the spectral hand, gazing intently at their prize. “It’s a blessing to have a space rock grace our land. Some say it’s a gift from the gods themselves, and displaying it over our fields will bring prosperity for generations.” He turned back to her, his eyes dancing with excitement. “When word gets out, it will even bring higher prices for our grain at market. Other villages will want to plant our seeds in hopes of piggybacking their good fortune onto ours.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” she conceded, though not yet relenting. “But we could still keep the real stone, give them a different one, and say it was the space rock. The village would still benefit.”

  He shook his head emphatically. “No, it doesn’t work like that! The gods didn’t give it to us; they gave it to the land.” He spread his arms wide, turning slowly in place. “Through the prosperity of these fields, we all benefit. To swap it out would be unbelievably selfish and an insult to the gods. They might even choose to punish us for such a betrayal.”

  She barely restrained an epic eye roll at his simplistic yet accurate articulation of their people’s religious beliefs. He pointed his finger at her chest.

  “Plus, we’ll receive a hero’s welcome just for retrieving it. I’ll bet on a large celebration tonight after we bring it home.”

  There was clearly no convincing him. She nodded in acquiescence, already mentally changing tracks. “About that, why don’t we say you found it on your own? We’ll pretend I wasn’t even here. Then you’ll be the uncontested golden boy for years.”

  He gave her a puzzled look. “Why would you do that for me? You deserve as much of the credit as I do.”

  Parwana shyly dipped her chin, presenting her best flirtatious smile. “Because you’re my friend, Sa’al, and you deserve the attention.” She deliberately let her hand fall on his bicep. “It would also save me from having to explain to my parents what I was doing alone with you out in the wheat field.” He considered this silently before she continued. “Maybe you could do something for me in return?”

  “Like what?” he asked cautiously.

  She shrugged, her voice tentative. “Like my harvest duties this fall?” she raised her eyebrows as her lips twisted into an uncertain grimace.

  “Are you kidding? I’d do extra harvest duties for the next three falls for that kind of favor!”

  Parwana giggled, knowing she had him. Slapping his arm again playfully, she feigned surprise. “Really? Three harvests? Thank you, Sa’al – you’re such a good friend!”

  “It’s me who should be thanking you, Parwana!” He leaned in for a hug, barely able to contain his excitement. She let the hug linger longer than necessary before pushing him out to arm’s length.

  “I think it should be cool enough to hold now.” She reached out, gingerly touching the stone’s surface before picking it up. Taking his hand in hers, she pressed it into his palm, her eyes fixed on his.

  “Go now! Tell the elders what you found, be the herald of a new generation of prosperity for our village. I’ll see you at the feast they will undoubtedly throw tonight, in your honor.”

  With a nod, Sa’al accepted the stone and took off towards the settlement while Parwana, a wry smile on her lips, receded into the high wheat. Idly tracing her finger over the smooth edges of the meteorite in her pocket, she quietly angled her way back to the family cottage, very satisfied with her afternoon’s accomplishments.

  The Glimmerstone Enigma and The Siremirian Conundrum?

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