Shards

When an earth elemental animates a collection of precious gems or other crystals, it forms a shard. Similar in appearance to glacials, shards glitter and shimmer, refracting light through their form to cast rainbows on the walls of their subterranean homes. They often produce a distinctive musical ring as they move, their individual crystals resonating as they brush up against one another. Dwarves covet shards, looking to extract their precious gems for themselves. But the sharp, multifaceted crystals make for menacing weapons when a shard becomes threatened, and their innate ability to meld into cave walls makes them difficult to track and predict, so caution is required when hunting one. An ideal catch subdues the elemental without damaging it, so the crystals can be separated without shattering. Since it is unclear if elementals such as these can feel pain, some argue this practice is cruel, being tantamount to dismembering someone while they are alive and awake.