It is known

The winds were calm, despite the turmoil Jester felt raging inside her. She pulled her hood back with trembling fingers, taking deep and measured breaths. Behind her, the dark cave she had now claimed as her home, beckoned for her return to its safe inner walls.

The sky lightened in small increments, but it felt like time was racing faster than normal. This experiment could cost her everything, but Jester knew she had to do it. There were too many questions, too many doubts in her mind.

“Just because it is known, does not mean it is true,” she repeated the woman’s words over and over, a mantra to give her courage. The Hyur was beautiful, intelligent, and kind. She had shown Jessie wondrous tools for mining, beyond anything her tribe had ever seen.

After allowing the Hyur into her cave, Jester stared in disbelief as the tall woman excavated a passage that would have taken the Kagon weeks to accomplish. The goggles she wore, dark rose-colored lenses to protect the eyes, the pale woman had given to Jester as payment. A gift of thanks. One that she now wore proudly, in preparation for what was to come. That woman certainly wasn’t evil, and she lived in the sun!

Despite knowing this, Jester was terrified. If she was wrong, and the woman tricked her, she would feel Azim's wrath. The oppressive sun had broken the line of the horizon and spilled its blinding light onto the sands in a sudden flood of brilliance. Jessie shrank back into to the protective shade of the rock.

She could still pull her hood up and go back into the sheltered safety of her home..

No. No! She was going to do this! Jester tore off her gloves, dropping them at her feet. With a trembling she could not suppress, she closed her eyes and thrust her hand out.

…

…

Nothing.

She felt nothing but a soothing warmth on her fingertips. She opened her eyes slowly, cautiously inspecting the hand now lit by daylight for the first time. She stared as she moved her fingers, almost admiring how the light shone on her pale blue skin. Feeling bold, she eased herself out until she stood in the sun fully.

She felt no different. But everything was.