Excerpt:

[Note: Most names are placeholders.]

Something gleamed in the firelight. Azure stooped over and picked it up. It was a blue gemstone, with no setting, clear as water. A sapphire? It was almost as big as her thumb nail, bigger than any sapphires she had ever seen in Master’s house. Surely it couldn’t be a real sapphire! It looked flawless. Azure sat looking at it for several minutes, turning it in her hand, watching the facets glint in the light, staring into its deapths.
“What did you find?” Azure jumped. She turned around to see that Felissa was walking up behind her, and relaxed.
“Oh, I, uh, found this...” Azure held the stone up for Felissa to see.
Felissa leaned over to look. She gasped. For a moment, Azure thought she saw fear in Felissa’s face, but it was gone in a moment. Felissa held out her hand to indicate that she wjould like a closer look. Azure handed the stone to her.
“How beautiful,” Felissa murmered.
“Do you think it’s real?”
“It looks real. See how it catches the light? See how sharp the edges of the facets are?”
Azure leaned close to look.
“We’d have to take it to a jewler or a magic user to tell for sure, of course,” Fleissa finshed.
“So...does it belong to us, then? I mean, a gem like that, the owner’s probably looking for it... but then we did find it...”
“It’s yours,” said Felissa, handing the stone back to Azure and smiling, though perhaps uneasily. “You found it, it was in a bandit’s camp, so it’s yours. Just... don’t tell my father. He gets kind of greedy about these things.”
Azure nodded and put the stone into her pocket. Was it really hers? She had never owned anything of her own before. To own something so beautiful, so extravagant, was an amazing thing. She wondered how much it was worth. Perhaps—did she dare to think it?—perhaps it would be enough to buy her freedom, and maybe even get started in life...
The old man reappeared at the edge of the firelight.
“It’s been a long night,” he said. “I suggest you two get some sleep.”
Sleep sounded good to Azure. She and Hope each found comfortable-looking patches of grass. Azure was sound asleep in moments, dreaming of freedom.

***