Legend

Luna Aiana’s Pearls came from the mussels that live on the bed of her lake. Deep inside each, beneath the gleaming layers, lies a grain of sand – the one that once caused pain. Luna set five such pearls into a silver rosette, with a single drop hanging below.

On the night of the full moon two women came to the lake. They had been friends since childhood, until one word, thrown in anger, kept them apart for years. They stood on the shore, one on either side of Luna, and would not look at each other.

“It’s too late,” said the elder. “This wound won’t heal.”

Luna took the hand of one, then the other, brought them together and slipped the brooch between them.

“Hold it together.”

The drop swayed with every breath they took. In a low voice Luna told them how a mussel wraps the painful grain, layer upon layer, for years on end. The women listened without letting go.

“A pearl doesn’t remove the grain,” she said at last. “It grows around it, until the pain begins to shine.”

After that night, Luna placed the Pearls into the joined hands of those who had let a word come between their hearts.