The sky was an endless expanse of blue, matched only by the flawless ocean that lay beneath it like a great azure jewel. The water glided about in its eternal cycle of ebb and flow, a tireless dance that affected everything from the smallest organism, to the S. S. Invincible itself. Fargo's ship was the largest ship in all of the inner sea, but even it would kowtow to the ocean, and the fate that was known only to it. That in mind, the behemoth of a ship was off the coat of the newly restored Marbule; on such a lazy day the crew was in the hold at the Grand Slam, leaving the deck of the ship silent but for the rustle of the sails in the breeze, the creak of the mast, and the unmistakable tinkling of a certain girl's silver bells.

From her perch on the rail of the ship, Harle watched her beloved's boat as it knifed through the waves on its way to Sky Dragon Isle. As the ship moved on she could still make out Serge's form at the prow, the fur of his borrowed face bristling against the salty spray. To his right sat Steena, whose platinum hair danced in the wind as she stood there, conversing with the man Harle loved. She wondered if, should she remain human long enough, she might develop so magnificent a feminine figure. Perhaps then she might have a chance, to steal Serge away from her nemesis, Kidd.

Kidd; even the blonde wench's name was enough to enrage her, invoking images of her smiling face as she walked at Serge's left. From the beginning she had wanted him, but the mangy thief had always been enough to deter him. After Lynx had stolen his face, she had though that Serge might have come to love the coy little harlequin as she did him, but his eyes were always forward, always fixed on the prize. His devotion was amazing; it was the one thing she could hate, and still love about him.

Even now, he sought the white relic, attained only by felling the sky dragon. With it he would regain his lost face, the dog would return, and her venue would forever be closed. How ironic, that even she would be a slave to time and fate. Normally, she could hide her misery behind the thick grease paint, but the horrific sadness refused to be contained, and had festered into a boundless rage.

"Mangez la merde, monsieur Hero!" Cursing angrily, the painted girl kicked off the railing and stormed off, managing only a few feet before smashing into someone. She rebounded with such force that she reeled backwards, crashing ungracefully to the deck. Leaping angrily to her feet she scanned for the unfortunate who dared to impede her passage, prepared to unleash every element in her arsenal in a glorious firestorm of pent-up rage, but as her eyes settled on him she forced herself to bear restraint; partly because obliterating Glenn, regardless of how good it might feel, would serve no purpose but to further ostracize her from Serge, and partly because the young knight was so lost in his own depression he was most likely unaware that he had even encountered her.

Glenn stared out across the waves, eyes fixed on some point in the west that he could not see, but knew was there. Dimly, he heard the mercurial tinkling of bells, and when he looked up he found Harle balancing precariously on the railing before him, a look of almost feline curiosity in her cherubic face. "Glenn, mon chere ami, what troubles you?" She performed a cartwheel, which landed her in a sitting position on the rail, her feet dangling over the ocean.

"Oh, Harle, I didn't realize you were even up here." The young dragoon smiled sadly.

"Oui, je sais, I know." She smiled coyly, kicking her feet as if she were a child who could not quite reach the floor from her chosen seat. "I assumed as much when you nearly trampled moi when you came on deck."

Although she had meant it as a joke, Glenn blushed in crestfallen shame. "I apologize for being so careless, I meant no harm." He bowed his head in defeat, "I seem to be unable to be much more than a fool of late."

The harlequin silently kicked herself. "Ne vous inequietez pas! Don't worry Glenn, I wasn't watching where I was going, it is entirely moi fault." She smiled warmly, but Glenn did not lift his lowered gaze. Pursing her lips in determined annoyance she quickly phased out and back into existence, causing Glenn to jump when he suddenly found his face nearly buried in the satiny folds of the harlequinn's lap. "Please, chevalier de monsieur, it is unkind to make a lady wait. Pas goudronneux."

Glenn's face was morose and cold, but as she fixed him with her mercurial gaze, the iron-like façade began to crumble. "When Dario died ... it was horrible. Losing my brother, the only family I had, was worse than any injury I have ever, or could ever, sustain on the battlefield. I wasn't the only one who took it hard, Karsh completely closed off, alienating everyone close to him, even Riddel. Swordsmen from as far out as Guardia and Porre made pilgrimages to his grave, General Viper declared it a national day of mourning, the demi-humans even sent out an emissary to place flowers on his grave."

"Oui, oui," Harle nodded as the flood of caged emotions began to trickle forth, "Veuillez continuer. Please go on."

"The hardest hit had to be Riddel," Glenn leaned his back against the railing. "She could talk of nothing but she and Dario's approaching wedding, and losing her fiancée nearly destroyed her. I'm not sure why Viper ordered me to be her guardian, but for a time I could have kissed his feet in thanks."

"Oui, je vois," Harle nodded, "I don't think anyone had realized your chantise, your infatuation with her."

"That's part of the problem," Glenn sighed in frustration. A tremor of strength rippled through his arm, and the railing creaked menacingly as he tightened his grip. "At first, I wasn't aware of any feelings either. She and Dario have, HAD, been an item since we were children. It was an honor to be able to help the woman who would have been my sister, but for fate's ill fortune."

"Je me demande," Harle steeped her fingers, examining Glenn over them, "What changed?"

"She did." Glenn once more found the distant point on the horizon to stare vacantly at, "She became, needy, after a few weeks. I was moved out of the soldier's barracks and into her private apartment, where I took up residence on her sofa. She would giggle when I bowed to her, or when I would do my daily regiment, and always say 'You reminded me of Dario just now'." The knight sighed deeply, "She even kissed me one night."

"Mon dieu," Harle scooted conspiratorially close to the knight, "What led up to zat?"

"The night Serge and Kidd slipped into Viper Manor, after the stand off, Riddel was hysterical. Viper gave her a sedative, and I was instructed to take her to bed. I had no sooner returned to my sofa and closed my eyes, when I was scared half out of my wits by her blood-curdling screams." He sighed quietly, almost as if he were crying on the inside; although he was smiling, Harle knew that mirth was the last thing he was feeling at that moment.

"When I burst in, sword drawn, she was flailing about, having a nightmare. She was rocking the bed so hard that the frame was slamming against the wall, threatening to splinter. I grabbed her shoulders to shake her awake, and she flew into my arms like a wailing babe." He laughed bitterly, "'Please, don't go!' she said, 'Stay with me' she said, 'Don't ever leave me alone again!' She implored me, and then she kissed me, on the mouth, long and hard."

Harle perched on the railing's edge, "Mon dieu, what did you do?"

"What could I do?" Glenn returned his gaze to the sea, "I stayed with her until she fell asleep, and then I slipped out. I went to the marketplace in Termina and spent the night walking around, the last three hours racing through my mind. My entire life, Riddel had never been anything but Dario's peripheral; but in that moment, I realized how much more she was, and for the first time I really listened to my heart. I hadn't been her personal guard all that time because I felt obligated to a dead man's memory, but to be near the girl that I . . . that I loved."

Glenn fell silent, and for a long time the two of them stared out at the sea in companionable silence. As Harle looked back at Glenn, she watched a metamorphosis pass through him; his icy face flooded with a mixture of wonder and hopelessness, enough so that it made her heart skip a beat. The sadness, and the wonderment, he felt was a painful combination she knew all too well. "Je ne comprends pas," she almost whispered to him, "Why did you not go to her?"

"She was my brother's fiancée, and he was everything to her." He sighed in defeat, "Her anguish was raw, and I would have been a bastard to belittle her pain with my selfish desires."

Harle snorted in disdain, "Zat is ridiculemon."

The sour scowl on her face sent a spike of anger through him. "Whatever," he turned away from her, "I don't even know why I told you any of this, I don't think you're even capable of understanding what it's like to love someone other than yourself."

Harle grabbed him by the arm and spun him around, slapping him across the face with one silken gloved hand. "How dare you presume something so ludicrous! You t'ink zat I walk around 'ere everyday, tolerating all of your insipid bickering, because I like you all so very, very much? You're absolutely right, Glenn, and I follow your little fraterneté around for ze sheer joy of having my non-existent feelings for your dauntless leader thrust aside in pursuit of zat yellow-haired pirate bitch!" She threw her hands in the air, pacing around as she ranted. "Je l'ai eu jusqu'à ici avec les hommes! Vous tout caracolez autour, lissant et posant comme des paons, regardant fixement en bas de vos nez des femmes comme si il étaient nous qui priait pour l'attention!" She approached Glenn, jabbing him in the chest, "Qu'est-il au sujet jeunes des hommes beaux et couvants qui les incite à penser qu'ils sont la seule personne dans le monde qui pourrait savoir comme ce qu'il doit être jeté par l'objet de leur affection? Queest-ce qu'est arrivé aux hommes dans les contes de fées, que l'attaque surprise dedans sur la demoiselle dans la détresse quand elle a besoin d'elle et l'amortissent se rongeant avec un baiser? Je suppose qu'il me rendrait bien plus pathétique si je vou-" Glenn grabbed Harle and pulled her close, kissing her hard on the mouth. His eyes were closed, but her eyes were wide open in shock. They held the kiss for several seconds before he finally released her, letting her step back. The stunned harlequin absently brought one hand to her mouth, gently touching her lips where he had smeared her black lipstick. ". . . zat. Why . . . why did you do zat?"

Glenn shook his head, his cheeks pale with shock. "I don't know what came over me. I was just standing there, listening to you talk, and then I was kissing . . . you . . ." He licked his lips, blushing. "Harle, I'm so sorry, I-" She leapt into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist as she cupped his face in both hands, kissing him with unbridled passion. He wrapped his arms around her, trapping her against his chest as the intoxicating sensation consumed them both, and with a loud 'thud' they both collapsed to the deck of the ship, refusing to break the kiss. The satiny fabric of her dancer's outfit put up little resistance as he tore it from her small frame, and with the aid of the wicked claws she borrowed from her draconic true form, the young knight's leather armor put up equally little resistance as she shredded it. In moments they were equally disrobed, entangled in the frenetic need for companionship that had initially made them feel completely alone, but now led them to find the end to that loneliness in each other.

Hours later, they lay spent in each others arms, staring up at the sky as it began its change into fire-burnished hues of gold and blue, signaling the transition of day into night. Neither spoke, listening to the quiet hush of the waves as they slapped against the side of the boat, and the soft thrum of their hearts beating in syncopation. She looked up at him from the protected crook of his arm, seeing streaks of her white grease paint on his face and chest, as well as drying rivulets of their combined perspiration streaking his flesh. "Eet is a shame zat zis cannot last forever."

"Can't it?" He raised his head and looked down at her, his gray eyes searching the ruby depths of her own. "What happened between us was . . . amazing. I've spent all my life standing up for what I believed in, regardless of how it sat with me. But for the first time in my life, I found something so perfect that I don't know how it couldn't be right. Does that make sense?"

"Oui mi amor, it makes perfect sense." She rolled so that she was lying on his chest, staring into his eyes. "In zis moment togezer, I 'ave found somezing so pure, my heart iz no longer empty. What we 'ad togezer was perfect. I wish eet could ever end." Off in the distance, the echo of a dragon's dying roar, and as it reached the ship tears began to run down her cheeks. She buried her face in his chest, and wept. Glenn wrapped her up in his arms, trying his best to comfort her as she wailed in his arms, beating his chest with one hand. "Why is it, everything that brings me happiness must be taken away? Est-ce que je ne mérite pas d'être heureux pour même une minute? Pourquoi I, le dragon du destin, doit-il être un slave à ce qui est censé être un domestique à moi? Il n'est pas juste, it's just not fair!" She quickly climbed off of Glenn, hugging herself in an attempt to preserve some modesty, "Forgive me, I have to go."

"What? Wait!" As Harle turned to leave, Glenn jumped to his feet, grabbing her wrist. "I don't understand, did I do something wrong?"

"Oui, you did." Harle did not turn around, "You introduced me to a life that I never even knew existed, you showed me what it is like to be the sole focus of a lover's unwavering eye. I found out what it would be like to live a life motivated by my own needs and desires."

"Why is that a bad thing?" Glenn forced her to turn and face him, "You are entitled to happiness, we both are. I could give you that; I want to give you that."

"Oui, and there is nothing I want more." She rose up on her tip toes and put her arms around his neck as she kissed him. They lingered there for a long time, hanging on the gentle touch of their lips, until finally, reluctantly, Harle pulled away. "But it is not to be. I'm sorry Glenn,but we are all slaves to Fate." Harle leapt backwards onto the rail, smiling sadly at her newfound love, "Bon oui, mi amor." She blew him a kiss, and flipped backward, fading from view.

Glenn stood alone on the deck of the Invincible, staring at the space where Harle had vanished only minutes before. Her words rang in his mind, 'we are all slaves to fate'. The knight tightened his fist and turned his face to the moons, "I swear, on my soul, I will be a slave to fate's cruel design no longer. And so long as there is breath in my body, I will fight Fate's design, until all of us are free to live as we choose." Gathering up the swords and other parts of his ruined armor that he cared about, Glenn returned to his quarters below deck, stopping for the second to retrieve the silver bells that had adorned Harle's outfit. The small silver orbs tinkled in his palm, and as much as her loss pained him, her love gave him hope.