darkness.

The seal of the jar broke easily, and the stopper lifted out without trouble. The inside of the pot was shrouded in darkness so Elizabeth set the stopper aside and turned it towards the light of the doorway. As she moved it, she could feel something shift along with the motion. Now exposed to direct light she could see... a rock? A jewel? Lady Hawthorne reached into the pot and drew forth a single small item.

"What is it?" Muhammad asked, transfixed on the pot's treasures.

"I'm... not sure", Elizabeth turned the thing over in her hand. It looked a bit like a mushroom. It was three to four centimeters wide, and its cap was three to four centimeters tall. The stem of the mushroom was a little over a centimeter wide and flared sharply out to a wide base like the ground the mushroom was sitting on.

"A ruby perhaps?"

"No, I've seen some rubies in London and they are clearer - glittery", Elizabeth put the jar down and held the mushroom in the light for others to look at.

Only now that it was in the light you could tell it was really a dark, dark red. In the shadows it was nearly black. The mushroom was a little translucent, with whirls of shadow in it. "Perhaps unprocessed?" Muhammad seemed hopeful.

"Maybe? It seems like glass or some sort of volcanic rock... But the Egyptians didn't make glass did they?" Winston asked peering at the thing through the light.

Moe wandered back to the little room, "No they did, it was primitive though. I doubt they could have made something so... eh, what's the word... uniform?" Sure enough the mushroom did seem to be well crafted. Besides the smokey whirls, there were no obvious imperfections - smooth symmetry across its entire surface.