Gabriel didn't know what to say. He was in shock. Stella seemed to be just as shocked as he.

"I don't understand." Stella stammered.

Gabriel didn't respond. He looked down at his finger, again. He used his thumb to play with the hardened tear. It certainly looked like a diamond. He was sure it was. He flicked it off his finger and into his hand. He looked back at Stella.

"This explains why you were hidden the way you were." Gabriel showed Stella her diamond tear.

She looked at it then up to Gabriel. "I don't understand. It's my tear." Stella shook her head.

"Rumors went around about a special being that came to this earth. She would shed diamonds, change form and have the magic to kill all living creatures. Humans included. There were hunting parties that went out. None came back with solid evidence of your existence."

Stella looked down. She turned and sat back down by the fire. "The fish is ready. Sit down and eat with me." She didn't look at Gabriel. She became reserved.

Gabriel stared at Stella. He slowly made his way next to her and sat down, not taking his eyes off her.

Stella took the fish from the fire and set them down on a couple of planks of broken wood. She handed one to Gabriel. He took it from her, cautiously.

"It's okay. Eat." She urged.

Gabriel set the plank down and continued to stare at her. "I think it's best that we don't say anything." Gabriel suggested. "Not even to the Rén de xìn."

Stella looked at him curiously. "Why keep it from them? I thought you trusted them."

"I do. But if they find out who you are, they will study you and write about you. It won't take long for outsiders to learn of your existence and come for you."

Stella didn't respond. She did agree with Gabriel. But she felt suspicious of him still. She encouraged herself to try harder to trust him. He knew as much as she did about her. They will have to discover more together.

"Are you alright with that?" Gabriel asked.

Stella took a piece of fish and bit into it. She nodded. "Yes. But not because you asked. Because I don't know what I am or what I'm capable of. And I would feel safer from myself if I can learn at my pace."

Gabriel leaned back and nodded. "Yeah. That'll work. Okay." He turned to his fish. It appeared cooked. It smelled amazing. He ripped a piece off and ate it.

They sat quietly as they ate. Stella kept her thoughts silent. She wasn't sure what to say or how to feel. Gabriel had a hundred questions go through his mind and few answers. Not answers. They were understandings. The barrier, the hidden tunnel, the supposed dream.

Stella interrupted his thoughts. "What makes you magic?"

"I'm not."

"You're not who I was sent to find, then."

"No. The Gabriel you were looking for is my father."

"Where is he?"

"He went on a hunt. He was due back the day before you came."

"Then he's gone back to the earth." Stella sunk in her seat.

"No." Gabriel got up and walked to his bag. "This talisman, I have, tells me how he's doing. Whenever he's injured, it glows purple. If he's healthy, it's yellow. If he dies, it will turn red." Gabriel came back to the fire and sat down. He showed Stella the talisman.

It was shaped like a tear drop with a vial of the same shape inside. Delicate carvings along the silver frame were symbols. A yellow fluid rolled around inside the vial.

"What's in it?"

"The essence of my bloodline." Gabriel answered.

Stella took the talisman from him to look closer.

Gabriel went back to eating.

"Your father is healthy." She stated.

"Mm-hm." Gabriel nodded, still eating. "He has one as well. It lets him know about me. There's also a tracking spell on it so that we can find each other if we ever need to."

"What was he hunting?"

"Deer. Something must've come up. He's usually back when he says. Why were you sent to him?"

"My people, they trusted him. He came once before, a week after my transference. He was much younger then. Younger than you."

Gabriel chuckled. "Yeah, he would've been. He's sixty-one now. Old enough for grandchildren."

"Are there?"

"He must've been a teenager when he came. Do you remember what he did?"

Stella didn't bother to repeat her question. She assumed he had a reason not to answer. "He spoke to me. But I do not know what he said. I was too young. I remember he held me. I was told, as I grew, that if anything happened I was to find him. He would protect me. But I found you instead."

Gabriel thought for a moment. He could've been insulted by what she said but thought different. "I'll do what I can to help you. But, we would have to find my father at some point. He'd know more about you."

"Aren't you angry?" Stella asked abruptly. She looked at Gabriel.

"Why?"

"He didn't tell you anything about what he was doing. About me. About my tribe. Nothing."

"In our line of work we learn there are some things we talk about and some we keep secret. For the safety of people we tend to keep quiet. He had his reasons not to tell me. Angry? No. Concerned? Yes. He should've readied me for you." Gabriel looked ahead. He thought more about Stella's question. But it brought up more questions that only his father could answer. He shook it out of his head and went back to eating.

"How old are you?" Stella asked.

"Thirty-eight."

"You look MUCH older than that. I thought you were fifty." Stella sounded innocent.

"I'm going to try my best to find a compliment in that." Gabriel muttered. He hid a smirk from her. "So, was that you last night? The butterflies?"

"No. I, really, did just go to the bathroom."

Gabriel stopped eating. He's come across werewolves, werecats, werebirds, among other creatures of the sort. He's never come across a werebutterfly. What would they even call that? 'Werebutterfly' sounded too much of an oxymoron. The other creatures don't turn to liquid, either. You can hear their bones snap and crack as they shift into their other forms. Their skin rips away and falls to the ground as it's replaced with a fur. This one melted into a liquid before changing form. It had to have been Stella. She cries diamonds.

"When we're done, I'll help you look for the scriptures." Stella promised.

"What was it last night? And can you shapeshift?" Gabriel asked.

"It could've been a dream. I don't believe I can. I don't recall transferring to another being."

Gabriel had a hard time to believe it was a dream. He had to make another plan. He would first find what information he could here. Go to his training camp with the Rén de xìn. Then look for his father. And if he comes across him in his travels, great. Makes it easier.

Once they finished eating, Stella had found some leaves and twine. She took each of the leftover fish and wrapped them in the leaves and tied them closed. She helped herself and placed them into Gabriel's back pack.

"Why don't you carry weapons?" She asked curiously.

"I have weapons in there. Just not what you'd expect. That's all I need for right now." Gabriel explained. He sounded distracted. Given what he just discovered, he was. He was looking at the diamond again.

"Why didn't you pack any food?"

"I usually catch what I eat."

"Without weapons?"

"How'd you catch those fish with a torn piece of net?"

"I told you. I pr......"

"Prayed to the river. Yeah." Gabriel interrupted. "I make my traps. I carry what I need." Gabriel was still thinking about the diamond tear. He didn't want to tell the Rén de xìn about it. He didn't want to tell anyone. He didn't know what to do with it.

"Yes. You are aggressive. Had you tried just asking for what you need?"

Gabriel clenched the tear in his fist and looked at Stella.

"I can teach you." Stella offered carefully.

Gabriel wasn't paying much attention to her. He was concerned for her.

"Gabriel?" Stella called. She frowned.

Gabriel was still trying to sort his thoughts. What being was she? Where did she come from? We're the Native's right about her coming here by accident? We're they planning on sending her back? What kind of magic did she possess? Is she as threatening as people were claiming? And what, the hell, was he going to do with that diamond tear??

Gabriel felt one thing on his arm, he yanked his arm back and turned to punch. He blinked a few times and seen Stella in front of him. Her expression showed she was frightened and confused.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"No. I am." Gabriel muttered. "I need to stop thinking and start looking."

"Well, my people did say that if a human were to stay within this barrier for too long, they begin to change."

"'Human'?" Gabriel gaped at Stella. "You're implying that the Native tribe wasn't human! What were they?"

"They were Native."

"But not human?"

Stella remained quiet.

"What do you know?"

"Nothing for certain. I know that I wasn't allowed to travel with any of my tribe. I was to remain here. The first time I left the barrier was when I found you."

"Right. Maybe you should stop talking for a while. The more you speak the more questions you raise." Gabriel turned and started toward the piles of rubble. "Now come and help look for whatever it is were looking for." He demanded, bitterly.

Stella sighed. She knew he was right. She knew to speak but didn't know to have answers. She did seem to cause more and more questions about all this. She followed Gabriel.

"Right there." Stella pointed.

Gabriel followed her finger to a small pile of broken and burnt furniture. He went over and started to move them to the side.

"Under there should be hidden room. That's where you'll find the scriptures." Stella stood by. She didn't bother trying to help Gabriel.

"Why couldn't you tell me this earlier?"

"We had to eat and you needed something to do." Stella said matter-of-factly.

Gabriel snorted. He continued to move the rubble. When he finished clearing the area, he straightened himself. He frowned hard at, what should have been, a door.

"What is wrong?" Stella asked.

"There's nothing. It's just the ground." Gabriel answered.

Stella walked over to him and looked down. She smiled. "It's here." She crouched down and ran her hand along the dirt and burnt grass. She dug her hands into the ground and pulled.

Gabriel stepped back. He watched Stella pull out a, rather, large opening. Planks of wood made a door, a thick layer of dirt sat on top. Had to have been four inches of dirt. Gabriel didn't understand how it stayed on the door without falling off, but it did. Gabriel lunged forward and helped Stella open it the rest of the way.

"There are lanterns down there." Stella said. She sat at the edge of the opening and dangled her legs in.

Gabriel didn't say anything. He dug in his pocket and pulled out a pack of matches.

"You didn't use those last night." Stella commented.

"I didn't need to. Are you getting in?"

Stella looked into the dark hole and jumped down. Gabriel followed.

"Here is a lantern." Stella said. She gave him an older lantern. It was rectangular, had metal framework and had glass windows. There was a candle inside. Gabriel took it and turned into the light to find the lantern door. He opened it, lit a match and lit the wick of the candle. He closed the door and handed it back to Stella. Stella offered him another lantern with the door already opened. Gabriel lit the candle just before the match ran out. He dropped the match and closed the door of the lantern.

Stella took her lantern and turned around. Gabriel stepped beside her and lifted his lantern forward. There were handmade woven baskets about three feet tall with fifteen to twenty rolls of paper sitting inside them. Gabriel counted eighteen baskets filled with scriptures. Beyond the baskets he seen wooden frames against the dirt walls, shelves were attached to them. There were more baskets. They were smaller and had lids. They sat on the shelves.

The room smelled of dirt. Musty and dusty. It was cold.

"I had only seen a few of these. I did not know there were this many." Stella said in amazement.

"Well let's start looking. We'll take these above ground to save the candles." Gabriel suggested.

Stella nodded. She put her lantern down and grabbed a basket. She brought it to the opening and plopped it back on the ground. Gabriel helped her out of the hole and handed her the basket of scriptures.

Stella took the basket and brought it a few feet behind her. She put it down on the ground and went back to the hole. Gabriel had another basket in the air, waiting.

They continued to move the baskets until there were no more with scriptures. All that was left were the baskets with lids. Gabriel had lost count after fifty. He took his lantern over to a shelf and took the lid off one basket. His jaw dropped. He stuck his finger inside the basket and moved it around. Diamonds. Gabriel looked at all the baskets on the shelves. He stuck the lid backbone the basket he held and grabbed another basket. Diamonds. He put that basket back and grabbed another. Diamonds. All these baskets were filled with Stella's tears. She said she was a baby when they found her. They kept every tear she cried. He slowly put the basket back on the shelf. She was right. They were hiding more than just her. How did she not know they were keeping her tears? And we're they keeping them to keep her hidden? If Gabriel were to take a single tear and sell it, he would make a few hundred dollars. The tears were different sizes. Ranging from .25 carats to 1.5 carats. They must've grabbed a few tears while they were still wet to have them that big. These people were really trying to protect Stella. At least that's what Gabriel hoped. He hadn't worked with any Native tribes before. He'd come across one or two Natives, but not tribes.

"Gabriel? Are you alright?" Stella called from the opening.

Gabriel's head darted toward the hole. "Yeah." He called back. He pushed the basket farther back on the shelf and wondered if he should tell Stella about her tears. He walked to the opening, blew out the lanterns and climbed out.

Stella was sitting on her heels, waiting for him. "We can take them into the shelter and look at them there." She suggested.

Gabriel frowned. "It doesn't make a difference if we look at them there or here, does it?" He asked.

Stella shrugged and walked over to the baskets. She sat down on the ground beside them. She ran her hand along the weaves. "I remember helping to make some of these." She reminisced. "We would use the resin from cottonwood buds to make them waterproof. The fishers would take baskets to the river and put the fish in these baskets. We made rope from some of the plants around her, and make straps to carry the baskets on our backs." Stella smiled peacefully. "I hadn't known there was this many scriptures. I hope we find what we need."

"Why don't you pray about it and see what happens?" Gabriel said sarcastically. He sat down across from Stella and reached for a roll of paper.

"Good idea!" Stella said. Swatted at Gabriel's hand to keep him from touching the scrolls.

Gabriel frowned at her. "Serious?"

"Hush..." She looked up into the sky and took a deep breath. She looked at Gabriel and smiled. She put her head down.

"Really?" Gabriel asked.

"O Chíchelh Síyam, plíst the sq'eptset. Éy kw'ómkw'em cha teli s'olh sqwalewel, xwelám kw'e ít tótí:lt teló wáyel. Éy kw'es hákw'elestset te s'í:wes te síyólexwalh. Ch'íthómetset lám kw'e mékw stám. Éy kw'es ste'ás. Mekw' tel sq'ewó."

Gabriel tried to be respectful. He didn't understand why she was praying. "Is that it?" He asked.

Stella shook her head. "I just asked to bless our meet. Hush now." She kept her head low. She began to ask, in her thoughts, to help them find what they were looking for. She had asked for strength to keep going with her self-discovery and asked to help Gabriel with his, as well.

Gabriel waited quietly. He watched Stella as she took this seriously. He understood that people have their religions, but he's never, specifically, been apart of something like this.

A slight breeze had picked up. Gabriel turned to face it. It was cooling and refreshing. He took a deep breath of the breeze and closed his eyes. He felt comforted. He didn't know he needed to be. He opened his eyes and seen a small leaf bobbing in the wind in front of his face. It danced around his head, Gabriel stared at it. It continued to Bob up and down as it weaved in and out of the rolls of paper. Gabriel became curious. The leaf had danced around the rolls on the right and made its way around to the left.

Stella lifter her head and watched Gabriel.

Gabriel didn't take his eyes off the small leaf. When it reached the basket on the far left, it disappeared inside the basket. A stronger gust of wind came and pushed into the baskets. They wobbled, but never fell. The basket the leaf had dropped in had fallen into its side. Gabriel blinked.

Stella smiled. She was still watching Gabriel. "That's where we will find what we are looking for."

"Why? The wind blew it over." Gabriel argued.

"It's behind other baskets. The creator picked the basket we need to look in."

Gabriel stared at the fallen basket. He didn't like having to admit that it was strange that that was the only basket knocked over. "I thought you said you don't know your magic."

"I don't. But it doesn't mean you can't ask the creator for a bit of help. If you know what to look for, your answers come in many forms. And you, Gabriel, knew what to look for."

Stella stood up and went over to the fallen basket. She pulled out one of the rolls of paper and sat down.

Gabriel didn't want to move. He continued to frown.

"Come on, Gabriel. Come look at this with me. See for yourself." Stella waved her arm to gesture for Gabriel to sit next to her.

Gabriel tilted his head left and right, deciding whether he should go look. He shrugged and and moved.

"Look at this!" Stella exclaimed. "This is when I was still a child."

Gabriel looked at it. There were pictures drawn and words he can't read. Must've been in their language.

"This doesn't make sense." Stella shook her head. "They never said anything about this!! This is NOT what they told me!!" She became upset.

Gabriel put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure it can't be that bad. What is it?"

Stella looked at him. "This says my mother had given birth to me." She looked back at the scroll. "This calls your father.......Mine."

Gabriel stared at Stella with wide eyes. His mouth slipped open.

"They told me I came through a tree. They told me that your father was a guardian. He helped my people protect me and our tribe. Why would this say he's my father??"

Gabriel didn't say anything. He fell back into his rear and stared at Stella. He shook his head. His father never said a thing about him having a sibling. And how could this strange being be his sister?