Welcome to Gaia! ::

AWWW! Isn't it cute? A little plushi of Fiona that was made for her! Fiona -loves- this plushi and spends a lot of time useing it for her sneack tackle attacks....sometimes I worry about that girl...

A portrait of Fiona! Isn't it just the most darling thing you've ever seen!? This really brings out her cute innocent side doesn't it? Heh...but beware what lurks beneath that innocent and nieave expression!

Name: Lord Changeling (LC)
Relationship: Guardian (Father)
Species: Changeling
His View: Opal is a adoreable and beautiful stone!
Her View: LC is overly attentive and very eager to please me. I like him.

Blip on Lord Changeling: LC is the Lord of a small piece of land. He is the shop owner of Castaway Dreams as well and works hard to find the homeless Dreams people to look after them. LC is also a college student who love the theater. As a Changeling, LC has the ability to shift his form to take on the aspects and minor abilities of a handful of creatures. He is of the Fey race but a orphan/outcast. LC has minor mystical abilities, his spell casting is pretty much limited to cantrips, and he lacks the strength to be a good fighter. Overly bookish, shy, and meek, LC tries to put on a strong front, but is easily cowed by more powerful people. LC's love interst (Protector) is Within.

Name: Triodanis Perfoliata (Danis)
Relationship: Sibling (Ward of LC)
Species: Nymphlora
His View: Fiona is a child, and should be treated with patcience, but she has way too much energy.
Her View: He's weird and has no face, but he knows a lot about being pretty.

Blip on Danis: Danis is one of four Nymphlora that live in LC's garden. Quiet and rather vain, he spends a lot of time sunning himself by the fish pond and brushing his hair. Of all the Nymphlora, he alone was the one LC 'trusted' to ask to teach Fiona about plants and gardens since she seems interested in them. Though he answers Fiona's questions and is slowly imparting his knowledge of plants to her, he also spends half his time chatting about beauty tips, how to care for ones skin, hair, and nails with Fiona...which seems to have put him on good terms with Fiona in a way.

Name: Lapiz
Relationship: Sibling (Ward of LC)
Species: Dragolin
His View: Fiona is very pretty and should be hidden away
Her View: He's a freak and keeps trying to carry me into his dark hole!!!!

Blip on Lapiz: Fiona has only had one encounter with Lapiz and wants to keep it that way. On a chance meeting in the garden, Lapiz chatted with Fiona for a few moments. After learning she had been 'born' from a opal, the small cat sized dragon snapped her up in hismouth..and carried her off to his lair. Deposting her on a pile of 'found' semi prescious items from around the keep, he tried to calm Fiona's crying by nuzzleing her. It wasn't until Eclipse showed up and scolded the small dragon for scaring the young girl that he allowed Eclipse to take Fiona from his hoard. Not that Eclipse needed his permission of course...

Name: Eclipse
Relationship: Sibling (Ward of LC)
Species: Dark Tomyu
His View: Fiona is a young child full of promise and hope.
Her View: He's my brother and loves me as much as father...and he needs me.

Blip on Eclipse: Eclipse is a Dark Tomyu, and as such he is viewed with suspicion by everyone in LC's household. The only people willing to give Eclipse any shred of trust is LC and Fiona. Even before Fiona was 'born' Eclipse showed some interest in the reliquent. Learning what the final catalyst was for LC, he has stepped in as a major influence in Fiona's life. Teacher of most acedemic studies and weapons, he watchs over Fiona like a hawk. There is hardly a hour in a day that passes that he is not lurking around her. LC seems to almost encourage this relationship and has appointed Eclipse as Fiona's main mentor. There are many in LC's household that do not approve of the Dark Tomyu's association with the impressionable Fiona. His past history is something that keeps being brought up as proof that the Dark Tomyu is most likely only up to no good or will lead Fiona astray. Any misbehaviours on her part tend to be blamed solely on him.Eclipse, on a whole, avoids the rest of the household and holds to a cold indifference concerning anyone from LC's or Withins house.

Preservation and Handling of Opals

Opal is a hydrated silica (SiO2.nH2O) with a water content within the mineral structure. Precious Opal contains 6% - 10% water and consists of small silica spheres arranged in an orderly three dimensional structure. It is created by percolating water in or near sedimentary volcanic ash that dissolves silica of shells, bones and woods, “fossilizing” them into opal. Opal is not a particularly hard stone so care must be taken to preserve the natural beauty of this gem

Opal is a "living" stone, which means it must be protected from heat and detergents that "dry" the gem. Opals develop crazing if they are allowed to dry out. Heat treatment is catastrophic!! In addition to cracking, loss of water causes loss of iridescence.

Care must be taken when polishing and setting opals. Despite their hardness, they are prone to crazing and cracking, and loss of water content causes a noticeable loss of iridescence. To prevent this, opals are normally stored in moist cotton wool or cloth until it is time to work with them. Sometimes, an opal that has lost its opalescence may be "rejuvenated" by rehydrating the stone with water or special oils, but this may only temporarily improve the stone's appearance.

Historical Cultures Views of the Opal

Throughout history, opal has been regarded as a stone of good fortune. In ancient times, precious opal was included among the noble gems; it was believed that the gem possessed magical properties.

The Romans established opal as a precious gemstone, obtaining their supplies from traders in the Middle East. They believed the opal was a combination of the beauty of all precious stones. They ranked opal second only to emeralds, and carried opal as a good luck charm or talisman because it was believed that like the rainbow, opal brought its owner good fortune. In the days when Rome spread her legions across Europe and Africa, a Roman Senator by the name of Nonius opted for exile rather than sell his valuable opal to Marc Antony who wanted to give it to his famous lover Cleopatra.

Eastern peoples also dealt very heavily in this precious stone, which was believed to bring luck and to enhance psychic abilities.

Centuries later, Shakespeare referred to opal as "a miracle" and the "Queen of Gems". Elizabethans prized opal as highly as the diamond for its brilliant colors and flashes of fire. Indeed, opal was a lucky stone.

Mystical Attributes and Knowledge

A gem of psychic awareness - and of the moon and water - opal can increase everything we feel as well as helping the assimilation of emotion.

It is like a full moon that draws hidden emotions to the surface, causing great discomfort, and then flings it back in our face (think of the word "lunatic" derived from the French lune, meaning "moon").

Opals were believed to help women giving birth to let go and relax.

In the Middle Ages blonde maidens valued opal necklaces, as they believed they helped their hair keep its colour.

Opals help the body assimilate proteins.

Some stories suggest that the opal is an unlucky stone. This belief originated in the 19th century in a story by Sir Walter Scott. This is usually because it breaks easily and needs to be kept separate from the rest of your jewellery.

Because it is a water stone, the opal likes being bathed in cold water.

Opals vary in colour from translucent cream to fiery black and blue. They usually reflect rainbow colours and were sometimes used to aid prophecy and divination.

Opal's Bad Reputation

During the late 18th and 19th centuries opal fell out of favor, as it was associated with pestilence, famine and the fall of monarchies.

During the decimation of Europe by the Black Death, it was rumored that an opal worn by a patient was aflame with color right up to the point of death, and then lost its brilliance after the wearer died. The superstitious thought the opal had some bearing on the victim's destiny. However, it did not occur to them that the changes in the appearance of the opal was due to the drastic rise and fall of the patient's temperature during their fever and subsequent death.

In a tale of ill luck related to a monarchy, it is told that in the 19th century, King Alfonso XII of Spain had received an opal ring from a vengeful Contesse he had previously courted. The King presented the ring to his wife, who had greatly admired it, and shortly thereafter she died mysteriously. A succession of wearers in the royal family followed the Queen's untimely end. Finally, the King then placed the opal ring on his own finger and in a little time his life also ended. However, it must be pointed out that during this time cholera was raging throughout Spain-over 100,000 people died of it and it attacked all classes. The reputation of the opal as a charm against cholera must have been known to the King, who used a talisman that acted fatally instead of beneficially.

Scientific Opal Facts

Most opal is more than 60 million years old and generally dates back to the Cretaceous period when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

It is found near the earth's surface in areas where ancient geothermal hot springs once flowed. The minerals bubbled up from beneath the surface of the earth and slowly, over the centuries, lined the walls of cracks, vents and underground cavities in the bedrock. Most opal is found where geothermal hot springs dried up during seasonal periods of rainfall and extended dry periods

The most striking quality of opal is its ability to refract and reflect specific wavelengths of light. In fact, the term "opalescence" was coined to describe this phenomenon. The size and spacing of the amorphous spheres of silica within the stone refracts specific wavelengths of light; each sphere refracting a single, pure spectral color much like the individual microscopic droplets of water in a rainbow. The interplay of these pure wavelengths of light gives opal its unique visual appeal, and makes it one of the most sought-after gemstones in the world.