THE HONOUR GUARD - Part 2 - Getting to Know You..
A St Seiya fanfic by Icon Based on St Seiya by Masami Kuruada.
Completely unauthorised. No permission has been given, no offence has been intended.
The dinner had been an uncomfortable experience for the new Honour Guard, to say the very least. It's hard to sit down and eat in a room where, only hours previously, you've been fighting for your life. The body-outline the police had left on the carpet hadn't helped. Being a Saint of Athena meant that there would very likely be dead bodies in your future, but dispassionate reminders didn't help.
There had also been the matter of the emergency services to deal with. The police were very much aware of the various goings on of the Glaude Foundation and it's more... flamboyant representatives. June had discovered that there was even a police radio code for such events, categorised rather innocently as "Exceptional Ability Incidents".
As owner of one of the most powerful business empires in the world (and as de facto leader of an independent city state similar to the Vatican) Saori had extraordinary political influence, and she used it without embarrassment or hesitation.
A short phone call to a contact in the Government had resulted in only the most perfunctory of investigations being carried out, then a discrete withdrawal by the authorities. They took Luis with them to be charged, pending extradition proceedings to Sanctuary being requested. This was something most governments were only too happy to accede to as the complications of imprisoning a supernaturally powered Saint were too numerous to even think about.
In this case, no members of the general public had been injured, video footage from the suites security cameras confirmed that Arion had killed in self-defence and had also tried to save his attacker. Property damage would be repaired at the Glaude's Foundations expense, and so it was best to treat the matter as quietly as possible.
June had to admit it made life easier, though it bothered her at an ethical level. Still, it was Saori's decision, not hers.
However, by the time it had all been sorted out, it was too late to have much of a meeting and Saori had rescheduled for the following day. When Tatsumi had gone to great pains to point out to them that Saori had broken arrangements with several extremely important people to see them again, Saori had forcefully reminded him that these were extremely important people in her opinion, and he had practically fallen over himself to apologise to her. June found it very easy to believe the horror stories that Shun had told her about this man, and had to restrain an almost overwhelming urge to break his jaw on general principle. If Saori kept him around he must have some redeeming feature... though whatever it might be, he hid it very well.
With that Saori and her entourage had left them to their meal.
The other problem was caused by the complications arising from mixed-sex meals. These were rare events amongst Saint's for the very good reason that a screen had to be erected between the male and female Saints so that the females could take their masks off to eat. The theoretical alternative was that the female Saints would either have to get married to their dinner companions, or kill them. Neither of which, June had pointed out, would do much for the atmosphere. Even that small attempt at levity had fallen rather flat.
They solved the problem by having Arion and Daichi eat in the kitchen (Arion muttering something about having to make household repairs too), June and Rana in the main room. They left the connecting door to the dining area open so they could still talk. It was not an ideal situation, but was quick to arrange, and satisfied the niceties.
Rana ate nothing, saying that she was fasting. June knew there was another reason, but this was not the time to take that topic further.
- - - -
Apart from during the battle itself, Daichi had spent most of the evening lost in his own thoughts. Returning, as usual, to the happier times of his life, then THAT day, and finally to the meeting he'd had with the Professor that morning.
To Daichi's knowledge, the Professor hadn't so much as smiled since the day of Sho's accident. He wasn't really surprised as that, since neither had he.
"Daichi, we have another problem, Ushio took off by himself and we lost his signal three days ago. Either he's deliberately blocked us out, or his Cloth has been damaged. Either way..."
"Normally I'd send you out to look for him immediately, but Miss Kido from the Foundation has been in touch. She wants you to report to the Foundations Tokyo Office for a special mission, starting tonight. She wouldn't say what it was, but says that it takes precedence over all other matters."
Daichi had merely nodded, he felt no particular loyalty towards Saori Kido at that moment, but he had sworn a vow, and that would never be broken, it would dishonour them all, especially the Professor and Sho. Besides, Ushio was a loner who had disappeared before. Never completely comfortable around other people, he took every opportunity to spend days underwater. It was worrying that his signal had been offline for so long, but it wasn't unheard of.
"I don't know how long Miss Kido will need you for, but she seemed to think it could be for a while, and will involve travel abroad. We're overhauling your Cloth now and preparing the portable carrier unit for long term use."
Daichi nodded, clearly thinking about other things. The Professor sighed. "Look Daichi, if you don't want to go through with this, then I'll make apologies to Miss Kido, she'll understand."
"No, she wouldn't ask for me if it wasn't important. All the real Saints must be busy or something." "Daichi, you and the others are real Saints, whether you believe that or not right now." On his way out of the meeting, one of the computer programmers stopped him in the corridor. He knew her but couldn't remember her name. She was one of the computer programming prodigies who had played a key role in the design of several vital control systems in the Steel Cloths. He knew Sho had been friendly with her too. Though normally shy, and self-conscious about her pronounced harelip, she stopped Daichi before he could leave.
"This is what I think you've been wanting". She pressed a small device into his hand. He looked at it, it was about the size of a credit card but had a row of short wires running along one side. He recognised it's design immediately; he had several of his own, programmable memory cartridges with a neural interface that augmented his systems for specific purposes. He'd never seen one quite like this before though, there were additions to the circuitry that were definitely non-standard.
"I've been working on this since... since it happened. The Professor doesn't know, I know he wouldn't approve of it, but I want to see justice done too. You said you wanted to make Sisyphus suffer in ways he'd never dreamed of. Well use this and I promise you he will!" Her calm tone was chilling. "Why would you do this?", was all Daichi could think to ask.
She looked him straight in the eyes, and he noticed for the first time they were a very pretty hazel colour, unusual for a Japanese. "Because it was my voice that Sho asked to listen to... in his head."
With that she'd vanished as quickly as she'd appeared. Daichi had seen tears appearing in her eyes and thought to go after her, but decided to leave her her dignity. There'd be time to examine the cartridge later, so he stowed it safely in his belt and went on.
And so he had set out to meet his fellow members of the Honour Guard...
And now a few hours later here he was, in the aftermath of an attempt on all their lives by two Saints working for an unknown enemy.
He looked around at Arion, and wondered what he was thinking. As for himself, he was feeling lonely again and missed having someone to talk to. Maybe he should take Saori's advice and talk to Arion, or June (Rana he discounted as being too stand-offish). He didn't know either of them really, but Saori's recommendation was, perhaps, enough. He looked again at Arion's expression, and knew there would be a better time than this to talk, and that he did not have a monopoly on troubled thoughts. - - - - Long into the night, Saori Kido sat in her private business room in the Kido mansion. Finally, she sat in front of a large computer, waiting for a signal to be acknowledged. With a beeping sound the face of the new Keeper of the Athenaeum appeared on the screen.
Since the "unfortunate" fate of the previous holder of the post, Saori Kido hadn't reappointed the position of Kyoko, feeling it would be a while until anyone, herself included, felt comfortable with that particular title. It would also let her assert her own authority more.
She had been determined to make a clean sweep of the Sanctuary staff who might have been traitorously loyal to Saga. As it turned out, Saga had significantly reduced the number of high-ranking staff members so as to reduce the possibility of being found out in his machinations. He had actually appointed his toadying servant Gigars into several key positions simultaneously. The Gold Saints who had not actually been loyal to Saga had barely noticed such political comings and goings, intent as always on their own tasks.
Saori had been keen that as many as possible of the old positions be reinstated. She had been pleased to find that, in keeping with the role of Athena as goddess of wisdom as well as war, there was a second position equal in responsibility to the Kyoko; the Keeper of the Athenaeum. A combination administrator, archivist and librarian, technically the Keeper outranked the Kyoko in all but matters concerning security and theology, though there was usually a harmonious working relationship established, or in Gigars case, complete subordination to Saga.
Contained in vast and seemingly endless chambers carved within the Mountains of Sanctuary itself, the Athenaeum was considered to be the foremost repository of written knowledge on the face of the Earth. It had a legendary reputation amongst scholars and was spoken of with the same reverential tones as the Library of Alexandria, and had the distinct advantage of being intact.
Even the Vatican Library didn't come close to the Athenaeum. Only the whispered-of Bibliotheca Occulta of the Illuminati and the Library of Dreams might possibly match it. However, as only a handful knew where the Bibliotheca was hidden from one year to the next, and there was no real proof that the Library of Dreams even existed, comparisons were hard to make.
The Athenaeum's halls contained works of scholarly research from representatives of the arts and scientists of every era, as well as works of fiction from the most noted writers in history. Original works by Homer, Pythagorus (All first hand dictations) and Socrates were but the minutest fraction of its contents. For centuries, it had been considered one of the highest honours for a writer or scholar to have a work requested by the Keeper of the Athenaeum. Other historical works were forever being sought out by agents of Sanctuary.
Notable works included a paper on anatomy by Leonardo Da Vinci, Paracelsus' alchemical notebook, two new sonnets by Shakespeare (With impeccable providence), a paper on tactics by Napoleon, a particularly obscene (and hysterically funny) short story ascribed to Sun T'zu, the annotated oral tradition of two now-extinct Native American tribes (How they had been obtained was unclear, but their legitimacy was unimpeachable), the first draft of "Huckleberry Finn" (Including the original, far more controversial, ending), Freud's doctoral treatise and an unpublished Sherlock Holmes story (Though Conan Doyle had made it clear that he did not wish to be remembered merely for Holmes, the Keeper at the time knew what would intrigue the future most, and eventually the author had acquiesced, on condition that one of his papers on spiritualism be included too).
Saori had taken the unprecedented step of publicly advertising for the position of Keeper, determined to break the cycle of nepotism and xenophobia that had been rife throughout the history of the Saints of Athena. Adverts had been placed in national newspapers across the globe. There had been over six and a half thousand applicants, from every major place of learning on the planet, and numerous private concerns. Eminent historians, writers and scholars of every persuasion had sought the post.
Her eventual appointment had shocked the academic world, and if she were being honest, herself too. Rather than one of the famous scholars, she had appointed a young man of seventeen with impressive academic qualifications, but little in the way of practical experience. She wasn't even sure why she'd picked him, but a voice had whispered "Yes, this one." in the back of her mind as soon as she had picked up his letter of recommendation, and she was learning to listen to that voice very closely.
The young man in question had been a prodigy, earning a double degree in Languages at the age of eleven, and a PhD less than a year after that. He had a gift for languages that went beyond talent and seemed to border on the supernatural. He already read and spoke twelve tongues fluently (including Ancient Greek, Latin, Middle English and Mandarin) and was able to get by in a further nine, so far. He also had an eidetic memory and a positive gift for computers, which she had felt were long overdue for an introduction into Sanctuary. Too much knowledge could be lost due to as simple a thing as a fire, as Alexandria had proved.
There had been much sniping from the academic world (and the popular tabloids) about her choice of yet another young man to add to her personal staff, but she ignored such comments and appointed him anyway.
Joseph had brown eyes, sandy brown hair, and was cheerfully average in all respects other than languages. Whilst not exactly unfit, he wouldn't have lasted three seconds against even the most junior of the Trainee Saints in Sanctuary. He was also the only person in all of the Sanctuary to need glasses, but he was extraordinarily good at his work and that was what counted.
Joseph's first move had been a political masterstroke that spoke well for the future, requesting the help of the rejected candidates to volunteer to aid him in reducing the chaos that the Athenaeum had been left in. The only condition he had insisted on was that any scholarly papers resulting from the work be co-credited to the Athenaeum and it's staff. This, in one move, showed up those who had sought the post for purely personal advancement, and encouraged those who had actually been inspired by love of knowledge.
His enthusiasm and skill in translating old materials had quieted many of the more vocal objectors in short order, and his open admission of areas where he needed assistance helped even more, as had the occasional times he had been forced to impose his authority. There was something rather bizarre about seeing fifty-year old academics getting into a fist fight over a scrap of parchment, but it had happened more than once.
His public estimation went up enormously with the opening of Sanctuary's first web-site, giving free access to otherwise lost texts that were now available to all those who cared to read them.
After four months and countless man hours, the Archives were open again, and writers from all over the world had been approached. Now new and unique works by Eco, Pratchett, Greer, Asimov, Hawking, Barnes, Amis and Angelou (to name but a few) graced its shelves. Some had refused, calling it élitist, but those with an eye towards history had joined in willingly.
The only thing Joseph had balked at were the embarrassingly elaborate robes that the post usually required (especially the ornate owl-shaped coronet, which he wasn't even sure he could lift, never mind wear). He had been thankful when Saori had compromised that the robes could be reserved for formal ceremonies. He returned the gesture by wearing the traditional Grecian-style tunics favoured by most of the residents of Sanctuary.
Saori did insist on a gold circlet as a token indication of rank. This was also part of the Keepers traditional regalia, though the gemstone normally set in it's brow had last been seen in Gigars eye-socket. Even if they could track him down, no one was certain how the stone could be removed anyway, so the subject was dropped and the circlet left open at the brow.
He sat in what was formally his office, a large room whose only natural light came from a small window high in the wall, which stretched through about 10 feet of solid mountain-side before it actually hit daylight.
From what she could see, his office was still crammed with books, but the huge and ancient desk had been removed to the far wall, and several smaller, more modern desks and computer workstations had been installed.
From his Office the Keeper could locate almost any information in the Athenaeum as well as access the Glaude Foundation's information resources. The sophisticated communications system was one which Joseph had helped design.
"Konichiwa Athena-sama". His Japanese accent was flawless.
"Good evening Joseph", Saori replied in rather more halting English, but making the gesture of returning the compliment. She bowed her head to the screen.
He blushed. "I do wish you wouldn't do that, Miss Kido, it doesn't seem right somehow."
Saori fixed him with a slightly stern look; "The Goddess of Wisdom always acknowledges the Keeper of the Athenaeum. Knowledge is the keystone of Wisdom."
"I've been meaning to ask, Miss Kido. Do you bow to the Kyoko, when you have one?"
"Certainly not! The Kyoko is my Lord Spiritual and is automatically subordinate to his goddess. The Keeper is my Lord Temporal and is generally a lot smarter than I am. Besides, it's a tradition that the incarnation of Athena acknowledge the Keeper, and I don't argue with tradition."
"Says the goddess who appointed her elite personal bodyguard from the lowest rank of her Saints." He realised he had spoken aloud and bit his lower lip, wondering if he had gone too far.
Saori smiled, that was just the kind of thinking she wanted more of in the Sanctuary. People who might think differently from herself, but wouldn't be afraid to say it to her face, and give her their honest opinions (Seiya notwithstanding of course, he spoke his mind about EVERYTHING, even when asked not to). "I didn't say I couldn't be a nonconformist when the need arose, Joseph. Anyway, thank you for waiting for my call, I know it's late."
"Never a problem Miss Kido. I assume this is.. concerning that matter we discussed when we last saw each other."
"Yes, it is. The plan is going ahead is scheduled, though our meeting proper has been delayed until tomorrow. Expect initial contact from them within the next 24 hours, probably afternoon your time." "I'll be waiting, I can't wait to see if this works."
"It has in the past, it will again now. Have faith Joseph."
"Could I work for a goddess if I didn't, Miss Kido?"
Saori smiled briefly and broke the connection.
- - - - -
The following morning, June automatically rose before dawn, a habit carried over from her days of training. She was far from being a morning person by nature, but Saints didn't really get that much chance to be picky about such things. Generally speaking though, Athena help anyone who crossed her in her first hour after rising.
She'd stayed up later than the others too. She'd been concerned about Daichi enough to sneak out to call the Kido mansion. Shun had given her the number a while ago, though she'd never had cause to use it before. Tatsumi had answered, and it had taken her over five minutes to argue him into fetching Saori for her, despite how often she stressed the importance.
Saori had, after apologising for Tatsumi's behaviour, explained the sad fate of the Air Steel Saint, which explained Daichi's mood. Even after she slipped back in to the penthouse, trying to think of ways to help had kept her up for a while longer, but nothing obvious had sprung to mind.
Since the Saints had more or less the free run of the building, including it's staff facilities, she went down to the gymnasium, hoping she'd have some time to herself. She suspected it wouldn't be long before the others joined her. If there was one thing she was sure of about being a Saint, they all required plenty of exercise.
When she walked in she saw that she was the first person there. Rather than move straight into the usual kata and callisthenics, she decided to test her concealment abilities again. The incident with Rana had annoyed her more than she was prepared to admit. If she could hide in plain sight from the others as they came in, she'd be more confident in her skills.
She sniffed at a rosin dish built into one of the walls, even through her mask her nose wrinkled at the smell but it would do. She took two handfuls and scattered one high into the air. The second she took with her as she scaled one of the many sets of wall bars and settled herself in place, before sprinkling herself with more of the powder. It was enough to make her almost choke, and it might be enough to mask her smell enough to fool even Rana. She controlled her breathing until her chest hardly moved, no sound would give her away.
About three minutes later, the doors swung open and Rana walked in. As well as her mask, she was wearing training gear much like June's own, a dark singlet and leggings, with flat hide boots and leather arm straps. She paused on the threshold, her head craning around as if trying to find anything out of place but, seemingly satisfied, moved in.
Silently, June watched the tall girl pace around the gym, her outstretched hand running along the wall, footsteps clicking. When she got back to her original position she moved into the precise centre of the room and dropped into a smooth and flowing series of exercises. There was no cosmo here, just graceful movement and control. Rana stretched and arched, bent and moved. It was almost a dance, but not quite, her muscles indicated a great deal of power behind her movements, as graceful as ballet, but as potentially deadly as any form of combat imaginable.
To hell with stealth, time to get proof positive about a theory, June leapt from her vantage point towards Rana.
Before she could even land, Rana had turned in mid exercise, and launched herself into the air. She grabbed June's ankle in passing and made a twisting motion. June found herself flying in a completely different direction than intended, and only just managed to spin round to catch one of the wall bars. She dropped to the floor, to find Rana facing her, left arm in a defensive posture, right arm poised cobra-like, ready to attack.
"Rana! It's me, June."
"I know. So?"
"You didn't need to attack me."
"No? I met you for the first time yesterday, after you tried to hide yourself away to spy on us. You didn't move to attack either of the Serpens Saints when we were attacked. Then you sneak out for twenty minutes last night.. oh yes, I heard you. Today I come in here, the air is thick with rosin dust that wouldn't be in the air if the place were empty, and the next moment you dive to attack me. What grounds do I have to trust you? I've already risked my life for Athena, what have you risked?"
"I've proved myself to Athena more than you know, I don't need to prove anything to anyone other than myself."
"Well, that's hardly a conducive attitude to teamwork is it? Keeping secrets"
June felt her fists clenching again anger building up inside her, the worst part of the feeling was knowing that was Rana was right. The Eridanus Saints' actions so far had been exemplary, alert for danger, defeating a foe of Athena, taking nothing for granted. June on the other hand, had come across like a sulky child in a fit of pique.
However, there was one matter that June decided needed to be discussed then and there. Since conversational gambits seem to be wasted on Rana, she decided on the direct approach.
"You are definitely not one to talk on that score Rana. When were you planning on telling us that you're blind?"
If June was expected a more vehement response she was disappointed. Rana's head twisted quizzically, then she shrugged and replied simply. "So, you worked it out did you?"
"That's just the sort of attitude that's going to cause problems. We're part of a team Rana, that implies some degree of trust, and that means you being able to tell us something as major as that." "It's not major to me. And we've already discussed the matter of trust."
The dark-masked girl was silent for moment and then almost as if she couldn't help herself, asked "I am curious though, how you worked it out so quickly. Most people take far longer, if they realise it at all."
"There were a few things. Little things. The way you move for one, your movements are very tight, very controlled. Your arms are always in close against your body when you walk, but your fingers are always splayed slightly, as if ready to feel something. "
"Then there's the fact that your slippers made a clicking noise when you walked, and you avoided walking on carpets when you could. You even moved your fight with Serpens Caput so you were both on the hardwood floor. I'm guessing you use studs on your soles instead of a cane."
"I have a cane too, but I find the shoes more convenient."
"Then there's the kitchen last night, you were moving around in there, but there were no lights on, like it didn't make a difference to you. Arion had to replace a bulb."
"I wondered if anyone would notice that, I found the switch in the kitchen, but I didn't know the bulb was broken until Arion mentioned it later. Observation and deduction? The Chamaeleonis Saint watches almost as much as she hides."
"Actually I'm impressed, to be able to function as well as you do implies you focus a lot more on your other senses. You're hearing must be much better than most."
"A common misconception, a blind person's other senses are no more sensitive than anyone else's. We just use them better, pay more attention to them. Most Saints already do the same, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to you."
"I haven't had much experience around blind people, so I don't know what the procedure is." Though Rana's voice was calm, her body language was tense. "There is no procedure. I'm not a 'blind person', I'm a person. I just happen to be blind too. I've been able to function quite well for the last seventeen years, and I don't need your pity now."
June snorted slightly, "Oh please, I wasn't planning on pitying you. I've seen you fight, I'll save the pity for whoever you're up against."
She saw Rana's shoulders relax ever so slightly at that and was grateful.
"Did you know Shiryu the Bronze Dragon Saint was blind for a time? He had to blind himself to defeat the Perseus Saint. His eyes regenerated during the Battle for Sanctuary when he fought the Gold Cancer Saint."
"I'm glad for him, I've heard he is a magnificent warrior. However that would not work in my case. If you are so interested in my blindness.. see..." Rana reached up and carefully took off her mask.
What June saw underneath caused her to gasp audibly... it was...
"I have a Gold Saint to thank for my condition, and I intend to, someday soon."
Still staring in horror, June fumbled for words but couldn't think of anything appropriate. She felt she had to say something..
"Kia ora all!" Arion strode in wearing swimming trunks and an appallingly cheerful grin. A towel was hanging around his neck.
"Oh sacred Athena! He's a morning person, I'm going to have to kill him." muttered June, a little too quickly and a little too loudly. She had rarely been so grateful for an interruption.
Though she wouldn't have sworn it under oath, June thought she might have seen the trace of a smile touching the edge of Rana's mouth before her mask was slipped back on. Rana had had her back to the door when Arion had come in, so her secret was intact.
Arion was oblivious, "Has anyone noticed if there's a pool round here?"
Rana pointed towards a door on her left. "It's through there."
"Yeah, and it smells salinated, not chlorinated! Saori certainly seems to have thought of everything." He set off towards the door, still smiling.
June called after him "Don't get too used with the creature comforts, I'm guessing we leave this afternoon for wherever Saori sends us."
"All the more reason to enjoy it while I can. Anyway, she may send us somewhere with a shoreline." June turned away and shook her head. No-one should be that happy or positive first thing in the morning. She found that Rana had walked away and was going through her exercises again. Shrugging, June decided to do the same.
- - - - -
When the speedometer had read 75 miles an hour for twenty minutes, Daichi stepped off the faintly smoking treadmill. It was not a standard model, and Daichi had a feeling it had been welded together from tank parts, but it had withstood the gruelling speed he could generate for longer than he had thought likely.
On the other side of the gymnasium Arion and June were sparring and Rana was meditating. For June and Arion it was more of a test of each other reaction time than anything else; one would attack, the other would avoid or block. They weren't wearing their Cloth's or using cosmo, just speed and agility. Neither left the two metre wide chalk ring they had agreed upon. The first one to move outside the ring would lose.
Rana had walked in on their exercise session from the pool and without a word had assumed the lotus position. Somehow, the sunlight streaming in through the high window seemed to miss her entirely, she sat in a pool of shadow. Small tendrils of darkness seemed to crawl across her body, though they were hard to catch sight of.
Almost idly, Daichi put on his helmet and once the optical contacts had been made watched his new team-mates closely. He didn't bother with the rest of his Cloth, but the helmet better augmented his vision.
Rana's appearance still seemed odd. The darkness seemed to extend beyond the visible spectrum, he got fuzzy images in infra red and beyond the ultra violet. Something to examine later. He turned his attention to the other pair. It seemed that June was better at dodging Arion's blows, but he was better at blocking hers. This meant that he was at a disadvantage as she was scoring strikes, he didn't give much ground though. Daichi noticed no clumsiness on Arion's part this time. His movements were confident though he had little of the intense energy of some martial artists.
June spoke, breaking the silence, "So tell me Arion, I noticed when you were fighting Serpens that you didn't use a kia."
"A what?"
"You know, a kia, a battle cry."
"Oh, a battle cry, no I didn't use one. I don't have one. Besides, "kia" has another meaning where I'm from."
"A Saint who doesn't have named attack? I don't think I've ever come across that. No 'Dolphin Crash', no 'Rolling Fin', not even a 'Bottlenose Strike'?"
"Well, for starters I'd use better English if I did have one. My Sensei taught me it was more important to take your enemy down than impress him with your skills, and announcing what moves you were going to attack them with seemed silly. He said if I felt the need to shout, to just yell."
"Well MY master said that if you earn a reputation worth fearing then new opponents could be frightened at the thought of facing your ultimate attack."
"Hmmmm, there is that argument I supposes. Anyway I did most of my training underwater. Have you ever tried to shout anything underwater? It'd be a waste of air when all anyone could make out is 'Burble burble glub'."
Daichi smiled slightly at the mental image. He felt he should add something to the conversation. "Why did you train underwater?"
"My Sensei said it would build up more strength, moving through water requires a lot more strength and stamina than moving through air."
"So where did you train?"
"New Zealand, North Island, a fishing village near Napier, not very big, not very exciting, but a good place to grow up, if you like fishing."
"Do you still have a family?"
"Sure, my parents, my older brother and sister, and the twins are younger than me. Why wouldn't I have family? I even lived with them when I was training."
"You really haven't met many other Saints have you? We're not usually big on that whole 'family' thing..." Daichi looked away hurriedly. June saw the motion and could have bitten her tongue at such a thoughtless comment.
"..but when we do, we really value it." It wasn't exactly a smooth line but it was the best she could do at short notice. She saw Arion frown slightly at her, and she indicated Daichi with her head, giving an almost imperceptible shake.
Arion responded by nodding a little and launching a particularly hard blow to June's upper arm. She caught his fist, dropped on her back, stuck her foot into the pit of his stomach and flipped him outside the ring. She knew there was no way she should have been able to make that move if Arion had resisted, but hoped Daichi had been too distracted to notice.
Arion walked towards Daichi, "Want to have a shot. Give me a chance to even the odds."
"Okay, but only so you can be beaten twice in a row."
Leaving them to it, June walked over too where Rana was seated. "May I join you?"
"You are free to do as you wish."
"Well, that's better than an assault I suppose. Do you meditate often?"
"It's not simply meditating, it's refining control of my cosmo."
"I was wanting to ask, I've never come across a cosmo anything like yours before, nor even heard of one. How can cosmo cancel out cosmo like that? They are both the same sort of energy aren't they?" "Ice is simply frozen water is it not?"
"Yes"
"And ice can dam water can't it? When I use my Phaetons Bane attack, I'm releasing a very delicate cosmo energy matrix, capable of cancelling out a wide range of other energies if properly focused. If I were to lose control over that matrix then it would consume me as well as my opponent." "Well, don't let me interrupt you further."
"In combat I have to deal with many more distractions. However, I would prefer for some silence." June kept quiet and centred herself.
On the other side of the gym Arion and Daichi circled each other, sizing each other up, in every sense of the word.
"So what exactly IS a Steel Saint, anyway?"
"We're an experiment that Saori's grandfather had. He wanted a new type of Saint for the new Cycle of Athena. We don't have cosmo the way you old Saints so."
"Less of the old if you don't mind!" There was no rancour in his voice.
"Whatever. We're the Glaude Foundations first attempts at the next generation of warrior. We don't have cosmo, we have technology and implants. We're their first guinea pigs."
"You don't look like a guinea pig to me. With that helmet on, you look more like.. I don't know, a fox?"
There was a note of pride in Daichi's voice as he replied, a note that made Arion sure he was heading the conversation in the right direction, "I'm the Steel Land Saint, Mister Kido insisted they pattern the Steel Cloths after the constellations too. Mine is based on Vulpecula, the Fox."
"Did you know there's a Bronze Vulpecula Cloth too?"
"Well, I knew there had to be one, and the odds were that it'd be Bronze, but there aren't any pictures of it that Mr Kido or the Glaude Foundation could find, so they had to sort of make up the design as they went along. They said that Mu the Cloth Smith would have designs for it somewhere, but no one was sure where he was back then."
"And the other two? You said there were three."
"Sho is.. was the Sky Saint. His Cloth's based on Toucana. He's my real brother."
"Older or younger"
"He's two years older than me, but he treated me okay."
"You sound very proud of him."
Daichi looked puzzled "Of course I am, aren't you proud of your brothers and sisters?" The idea that anyone wouldn't be seemed alien to him.
"Sure, but we don't say it too often. We fight, we argue... we argue a LOT, then we fight some more. We're very close, we have to be to spend so much time arguing."
"I usually went along with Sho, he knew what had to be done. He was the leader of the Steel Saints, until..." his voice trailed off again.
Arion had started to make some educated guesses about the situation. A serious case of hero worship from a little brother, and an older brother who'd had some sort of serious accident, possibly an accident Daichi was blaming himself in some way for. That last part was a feeling that Arion could relate to after the night before.
He continued gently; "You want to talk about it?"
"No, not yet, but thanks, maybe another time." Arion nodded solemnly and let the matter drop, but was inwardly pleased that he'd managed to get even that minor commitment.
"The third is Ushio, we're not actually related, but we're nearly brothers I suppose. He's the Sea Saint, he's based on Dorado."
"Dorado? Umm... the Goldfish? What does he do, swim round a bowl all day?"
"I said that to him once, he sulked for over half an hour. That may not sound like much but he was doing it at the bottom of the training tank, which I thought sort of proved my point more than his."
"Half an hour! That's a lot better than I've ever done. How did you get him out?"
"Sho threw some fish food flakes into the tank, then he kept tapping at the glass and making fish faces like a tourist in an aquarium. Ushio couldn't stay angry through that." Daichi grinned at the memory,
"When Ushio did come out, Sho gave him a long talk about acting his age, then he gave me an even longer lecture about how the Dorado constellation is a swordfish and made me promise not to make fun of Ushio again unless I wanted to wake up one night to find myself getting mysteriously soaked by a water cannon."
"And did it work?"
"You said you had brothers, what do you think?"
"Ten minutes later, back to normal?", the blond Saint hazarded, Daichi nodded.
Arion continued "Thought as much. A swordfish? Did you know that 'dorado' can be another word for dolphin too?"
"Really? I don't think you'd have much in common with Ushio, he's the quiet type, doesn't really get on with a lot of people." Almost unconsciously, both found their eyes turning to look at Rana. They both caught each other's eye and grinned sheepishly.
"Hey, I'm Arion, I get along with everyone."
"Uh-huh", Daichi's tone sounded less than convinced. "Unless it's someone you're fighting?"
"Well, that sort of goes without saying. I try not to make the first move though."
"Why? I know the Andromeda Saint never attacks first either, because he hates fighting. Is it the same with you."
"Nothing so noble I'm afraid, it weakens an opponent when they make the first move. It gives away a lot about their personality. Of course, the flipside of that is that you're more likely to get knocked out in the first round, but I can usually manage to overcome that."
Without warning, Arion launched into an attack. A flurry of kicks and punches that turned him into a blur of movement.
"Oh, and I lie if I feel the need to..."
Whatever Arion planned on saying next was lost. Almost effortlessly Daichi blocked or dodged each strike, Arion's speed increased but with little effect. Though she'd decided not to interfere, June found herself watching, fascinated by Daichi's performance.
Then Daichi started to add in attacks of his own, all the while deflecting Arion's blows. Eventually, a swift series of movements ended with Daichi's fist stopping less than a millimetre from Arion's startled face. Arion ran his finger through his hair and whistled, genuinely surprised, "Okay you little Steel Squirt, how in the name of Athena did you manage that? You said you didn't have cosmo? That means you couldn't have Seventh Sense, and we've never even fought before. How could you manage that well against me?" "Oh, I've got something better than Seventh Sense."
"What?"
"That's a 'Steel Squirt' secret", Daichi definitely sounded smug about something, in the manner only someone with an older sibling can.
"Come on, out with it."
"Action replay!"
"What?"
"I may not have Seventh Sense, but I have action replay and digital tracking.
"Which means?"
"Which means that I saw you fight last night, as well as your sparring this morning, and I record every move I see. My computer analysed your combat style and highlighted your weaknesses for me."
"For instance, I now know that when you use your left arm in a downward swinging block, you leave your right arm just too low to block a variety of upwardly vectored attacks. It means I know you twist yourself round to the right, and raise your left elbow, just before striking with your right fist."
Daichi tapped his helmet and his eyes "My on-board computer processes all visual data I see, and adds a sense of absolute positioning in everything I see, and they never forget anything. Put it all together and I see the world in a different way to most people. It's kind of hard to explain to someone who doesn't have the ability."
"Now that's something I'll bet not many Saints get to hear said to them. Impressive though".
"Sure. So, anyway, I've told you a bit about me, it's your turn to tell me about you I think."
"Oh, that's a story for another day. So, I think you've proved you can move as fast as I can face to face. " "Hah! Wait till you see me run!"
"And wait till you see me swim. Want to try a little biathlon? I think we've got time before the meeting."
"You're on!"
June watched the pair of them leave to return to the pool and smiled.
"It won't last you know." June practically jumped, Rana had hardly seemed to be breathing.
"What?"
"The Steel Saint being happy."
"That's a singularly cynical opinion. Why not?"
"Daichi has deep rooted problems, even you must be able to hear it in his voice, the sort of problems that won't go away with a bit of camaraderie and male bonding. And as for Arion.. there's something about him that's just not. 'right' but I can't work out what it is yet."
"Well, frankly, if he can get a smile out of Daichi right now, I'm prepared to put up with just about anything short of loyalty to Saga. Any communication now will be a foundation to deal with the problems further down the line."
"When you're up against the forces we are likely to encounter, 'down the line' might never come. Is it worth the risks? Your choice. Your consequences."
"We're a team now Rana, our choices, our consequences. If you had a problem with the way Arion and I handled Daichi it was up to you to say or do something about it at the time. You can't pass judgement if you took no part when you had the chance."
"Very well, next time I shall not be so reticent. You may not like the results though"
"We'll try it and see what happens", June wanted to grit her teeth, her moment of shared understanding with Rana seemed to have been forgotten, by Rana at any rate, "by the way, might I ask when you are going to inform them of your little secret."
"In my own time. In that case it is definitely my choice."
"Very well, but don't leave it too long. Finding out that a team-mate has been keeping secrets is bad for everyone. If the situation arises where I feel I have to tell them for some reason, I will, whether you like it or not."
"I understand, but would ask you to bear in mind that that rule works both ways, if you have secrets then you have to be prepared to tell them to us. Are you ready to be that open Chamaeleonis Saint?" June had nothing to say to that.
- - - - -
They gathered that afternoon, with Saori Kido once again.
"I'm sending you to Canada first. I want you to locate Geki's master, Anateus the Silver Bear Saint. Saga had a fondness for twisting the minds of those who didn't agree with him totally and, from what I can gather, Anateus has a reputation for independent thinking."
"Saori means he argues with people a lot" Geki rumbled. June almost started, the Bronze Bear Saint was not what you might call talkative and for him to proffer a comment was a new experience for her. Saori smiled in acknowledgement, "Well, that's another way of looking at it. For this assignment I would appreciate it if you would take a couple of the other Bronze Saints with you. I have a feeling that at least one of them will be joining you on your team. You should definitely take Geki, it's his Master you will be meeting and he knows him best, Ichi and..." she paused for a moment "Jabu.. " The purple clad Saint immediately stood taller and prouder "..because if you didn't take him, he'd come along anyway." Jabu visibly deflated.
"I'm sending them because you may be going up against a Silver Saint, and I want you to have some extra forces to call on if need be. So many of the Silver Saints served Saga that I can't be sure of any of the others. Ophiuchus Shaina, Cassiopeia Narcissus and Aquila Marin are loyal of course, and I'd ask them to join you, but they're all needed elsewhere at present, and Silver Saints tend not to work together well. Bear in mind, I know from experience that a Bronze Saint can defeat a Silver Saint, even if they try and convince you otherwise."
"I'm keeping Ban and Nachi here as bodyguards until Seiya and the others are fully recovered. So if you three would go and get ready..."
When the other three Saints had left Saori addressed the remaining Honour Guard as a whole. "I want you to keep an eye on the three of them, the composition of your team is a choice for all of you to agree on. They're a bit rough around the edges in some cases, but they all have potential. Before you decide which of them to take on, consider their overall usefulness to the team, not just their personality."
"You will be operating on the fringes of my authority, so for the sake of security it's better if you don't contact me, nor any of the other publicly known Saints directly. Your contact will be Joseph, the Keeper of the Athenaeum, whom I trust as absolutely as I trust you. I know you can look after yourselves for the most part, but if you need guidance, he'll be the one to contact. He can always contact me if he feels he can't advise you adequately."
She nodded to June, who took this as her cue to take out a small object from within her clothing. I was a fragment of mirror, set on top of a hexagonal quartz prism.
"This is a fragment of the Mirror of Cassiopeia, given to June by Narcissus the Cassiopeia Saint herself. It has been crafted by her Cosmo to be in perfect resonance with only one other crystal in the world. It's twin is in the Keepers Vault in the Sanctuary. What is spoken into one, is heard by the other. Let me demonstrate..."
Saori leaned over and spoke into the crystal. It might have looked foolish if she weren't so serious about it.
"Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3. Can you hear me Joseph"
No one was particularly surprised (Which probably said something for their life experiences) when a voice emanated through the crystal, as clearly as if the speaker were standing next to them.
"Yes Miss Kido, this is really strange, but I can hear you as clear as crystal. No pun intended."
"Thank you Joseph, we can hear you too. Stand by..." Saori turned back to the Saints. "Unlike a radio signal, the crystal's signal can't be traced or blocked by ordinary means, nor does it need satellites to communicate round the world, so it's as close to completely secure as can be arranged. Please be careful, it is irreplaceable."
"Use this to check in with Joseph as and when you need to. He'll always have the crystal near him and he has the authority to call on any of my resources."
"Well, I shouldn't keep you longer. Your flight leaves tonight. I don't know when I will see you again, but always know that a part of me is with each of you, as it is with all my Saints. "
"I also want you to know that I trust each of you completely. Each of you in your own way had proven worthy of the tasks ahead of you, and I know that you will bring honour to the Saints of Athena."
"I know you are risking your lives on my say-so and I cannot properly express my gratitude. I look forward to seeing you all again."
With that she turned to move away, and all four Saints dropped to their knees in respect. She curtsied deeply to them, then turned and was gone. June might have seen tears in her eyes as she left, but it was hard to tell.
Left alone, the four Saints looked at each other. They were now going to have to trust each other completely each and every day. There was a heavy silence.
"Well," said Arion casually. "What are we all waiting for? There's adventure to be had, honour to be won, and we're just the Saint's to find both!"
End of "Getting to Know You..." - Honour Guard 3 Coming Soon... The Honour Guard are barely starting their first mission when trouble breaks out. Is the Anateus Silver Saint trustworthy, and will the Shadow Saints let the Honour Guard live long enough to find out? And more on the mysterious force behind the Shadow Saints.
A St Seiya fanfic by Icon Based on St Seiya by Masami Kuruada.
Completely unauthorised. No permission has been given, no offence has been intended.
The dinner had been an uncomfortable experience for the new Honour Guard, to say the very least. It's hard to sit down and eat in a room where, only hours previously, you've been fighting for your life. The body-outline the police had left on the carpet hadn't helped. Being a Saint of Athena meant that there would very likely be dead bodies in your future, but dispassionate reminders didn't help.
There had also been the matter of the emergency services to deal with. The police were very much aware of the various goings on of the Glaude Foundation and it's more... flamboyant representatives. June had discovered that there was even a police radio code for such events, categorised rather innocently as "Exceptional Ability Incidents".
As owner of one of the most powerful business empires in the world (and as de facto leader of an independent city state similar to the Vatican) Saori had extraordinary political influence, and she used it without embarrassment or hesitation.
A short phone call to a contact in the Government had resulted in only the most perfunctory of investigations being carried out, then a discrete withdrawal by the authorities. They took Luis with them to be charged, pending extradition proceedings to Sanctuary being requested. This was something most governments were only too happy to accede to as the complications of imprisoning a supernaturally powered Saint were too numerous to even think about.
In this case, no members of the general public had been injured, video footage from the suites security cameras confirmed that Arion had killed in self-defence and had also tried to save his attacker. Property damage would be repaired at the Glaude's Foundations expense, and so it was best to treat the matter as quietly as possible.
June had to admit it made life easier, though it bothered her at an ethical level. Still, it was Saori's decision, not hers.
However, by the time it had all been sorted out, it was too late to have much of a meeting and Saori had rescheduled for the following day. When Tatsumi had gone to great pains to point out to them that Saori had broken arrangements with several extremely important people to see them again, Saori had forcefully reminded him that these were extremely important people in her opinion, and he had practically fallen over himself to apologise to her. June found it very easy to believe the horror stories that Shun had told her about this man, and had to restrain an almost overwhelming urge to break his jaw on general principle. If Saori kept him around he must have some redeeming feature... though whatever it might be, he hid it very well.
With that Saori and her entourage had left them to their meal.
The other problem was caused by the complications arising from mixed-sex meals. These were rare events amongst Saint's for the very good reason that a screen had to be erected between the male and female Saints so that the females could take their masks off to eat. The theoretical alternative was that the female Saints would either have to get married to their dinner companions, or kill them. Neither of which, June had pointed out, would do much for the atmosphere. Even that small attempt at levity had fallen rather flat.
They solved the problem by having Arion and Daichi eat in the kitchen (Arion muttering something about having to make household repairs too), June and Rana in the main room. They left the connecting door to the dining area open so they could still talk. It was not an ideal situation, but was quick to arrange, and satisfied the niceties.
Rana ate nothing, saying that she was fasting. June knew there was another reason, but this was not the time to take that topic further.
- - - -
Apart from during the battle itself, Daichi had spent most of the evening lost in his own thoughts. Returning, as usual, to the happier times of his life, then THAT day, and finally to the meeting he'd had with the Professor that morning.
To Daichi's knowledge, the Professor hadn't so much as smiled since the day of Sho's accident. He wasn't really surprised as that, since neither had he.
"Daichi, we have another problem, Ushio took off by himself and we lost his signal three days ago. Either he's deliberately blocked us out, or his Cloth has been damaged. Either way..."
"Normally I'd send you out to look for him immediately, but Miss Kido from the Foundation has been in touch. She wants you to report to the Foundations Tokyo Office for a special mission, starting tonight. She wouldn't say what it was, but says that it takes precedence over all other matters."
Daichi had merely nodded, he felt no particular loyalty towards Saori Kido at that moment, but he had sworn a vow, and that would never be broken, it would dishonour them all, especially the Professor and Sho. Besides, Ushio was a loner who had disappeared before. Never completely comfortable around other people, he took every opportunity to spend days underwater. It was worrying that his signal had been offline for so long, but it wasn't unheard of.
"I don't know how long Miss Kido will need you for, but she seemed to think it could be for a while, and will involve travel abroad. We're overhauling your Cloth now and preparing the portable carrier unit for long term use."
Daichi nodded, clearly thinking about other things. The Professor sighed. "Look Daichi, if you don't want to go through with this, then I'll make apologies to Miss Kido, she'll understand."
"No, she wouldn't ask for me if it wasn't important. All the real Saints must be busy or something." "Daichi, you and the others are real Saints, whether you believe that or not right now." On his way out of the meeting, one of the computer programmers stopped him in the corridor. He knew her but couldn't remember her name. She was one of the computer programming prodigies who had played a key role in the design of several vital control systems in the Steel Cloths. He knew Sho had been friendly with her too. Though normally shy, and self-conscious about her pronounced harelip, she stopped Daichi before he could leave.
"This is what I think you've been wanting". She pressed a small device into his hand. He looked at it, it was about the size of a credit card but had a row of short wires running along one side. He recognised it's design immediately; he had several of his own, programmable memory cartridges with a neural interface that augmented his systems for specific purposes. He'd never seen one quite like this before though, there were additions to the circuitry that were definitely non-standard.
"I've been working on this since... since it happened. The Professor doesn't know, I know he wouldn't approve of it, but I want to see justice done too. You said you wanted to make Sisyphus suffer in ways he'd never dreamed of. Well use this and I promise you he will!" Her calm tone was chilling. "Why would you do this?", was all Daichi could think to ask.
She looked him straight in the eyes, and he noticed for the first time they were a very pretty hazel colour, unusual for a Japanese. "Because it was my voice that Sho asked to listen to... in his head."
With that she'd vanished as quickly as she'd appeared. Daichi had seen tears appearing in her eyes and thought to go after her, but decided to leave her her dignity. There'd be time to examine the cartridge later, so he stowed it safely in his belt and went on.
And so he had set out to meet his fellow members of the Honour Guard...
And now a few hours later here he was, in the aftermath of an attempt on all their lives by two Saints working for an unknown enemy.
He looked around at Arion, and wondered what he was thinking. As for himself, he was feeling lonely again and missed having someone to talk to. Maybe he should take Saori's advice and talk to Arion, or June (Rana he discounted as being too stand-offish). He didn't know either of them really, but Saori's recommendation was, perhaps, enough. He looked again at Arion's expression, and knew there would be a better time than this to talk, and that he did not have a monopoly on troubled thoughts. - - - - Long into the night, Saori Kido sat in her private business room in the Kido mansion. Finally, she sat in front of a large computer, waiting for a signal to be acknowledged. With a beeping sound the face of the new Keeper of the Athenaeum appeared on the screen.
Since the "unfortunate" fate of the previous holder of the post, Saori Kido hadn't reappointed the position of Kyoko, feeling it would be a while until anyone, herself included, felt comfortable with that particular title. It would also let her assert her own authority more.
She had been determined to make a clean sweep of the Sanctuary staff who might have been traitorously loyal to Saga. As it turned out, Saga had significantly reduced the number of high-ranking staff members so as to reduce the possibility of being found out in his machinations. He had actually appointed his toadying servant Gigars into several key positions simultaneously. The Gold Saints who had not actually been loyal to Saga had barely noticed such political comings and goings, intent as always on their own tasks.
Saori had been keen that as many as possible of the old positions be reinstated. She had been pleased to find that, in keeping with the role of Athena as goddess of wisdom as well as war, there was a second position equal in responsibility to the Kyoko; the Keeper of the Athenaeum. A combination administrator, archivist and librarian, technically the Keeper outranked the Kyoko in all but matters concerning security and theology, though there was usually a harmonious working relationship established, or in Gigars case, complete subordination to Saga.
Contained in vast and seemingly endless chambers carved within the Mountains of Sanctuary itself, the Athenaeum was considered to be the foremost repository of written knowledge on the face of the Earth. It had a legendary reputation amongst scholars and was spoken of with the same reverential tones as the Library of Alexandria, and had the distinct advantage of being intact.
Even the Vatican Library didn't come close to the Athenaeum. Only the whispered-of Bibliotheca Occulta of the Illuminati and the Library of Dreams might possibly match it. However, as only a handful knew where the Bibliotheca was hidden from one year to the next, and there was no real proof that the Library of Dreams even existed, comparisons were hard to make.
The Athenaeum's halls contained works of scholarly research from representatives of the arts and scientists of every era, as well as works of fiction from the most noted writers in history. Original works by Homer, Pythagorus (All first hand dictations) and Socrates were but the minutest fraction of its contents. For centuries, it had been considered one of the highest honours for a writer or scholar to have a work requested by the Keeper of the Athenaeum. Other historical works were forever being sought out by agents of Sanctuary.
Notable works included a paper on anatomy by Leonardo Da Vinci, Paracelsus' alchemical notebook, two new sonnets by Shakespeare (With impeccable providence), a paper on tactics by Napoleon, a particularly obscene (and hysterically funny) short story ascribed to Sun T'zu, the annotated oral tradition of two now-extinct Native American tribes (How they had been obtained was unclear, but their legitimacy was unimpeachable), the first draft of "Huckleberry Finn" (Including the original, far more controversial, ending), Freud's doctoral treatise and an unpublished Sherlock Holmes story (Though Conan Doyle had made it clear that he did not wish to be remembered merely for Holmes, the Keeper at the time knew what would intrigue the future most, and eventually the author had acquiesced, on condition that one of his papers on spiritualism be included too).
Saori had taken the unprecedented step of publicly advertising for the position of Keeper, determined to break the cycle of nepotism and xenophobia that had been rife throughout the history of the Saints of Athena. Adverts had been placed in national newspapers across the globe. There had been over six and a half thousand applicants, from every major place of learning on the planet, and numerous private concerns. Eminent historians, writers and scholars of every persuasion had sought the post.
Her eventual appointment had shocked the academic world, and if she were being honest, herself too. Rather than one of the famous scholars, she had appointed a young man of seventeen with impressive academic qualifications, but little in the way of practical experience. She wasn't even sure why she'd picked him, but a voice had whispered "Yes, this one." in the back of her mind as soon as she had picked up his letter of recommendation, and she was learning to listen to that voice very closely.
The young man in question had been a prodigy, earning a double degree in Languages at the age of eleven, and a PhD less than a year after that. He had a gift for languages that went beyond talent and seemed to border on the supernatural. He already read and spoke twelve tongues fluently (including Ancient Greek, Latin, Middle English and Mandarin) and was able to get by in a further nine, so far. He also had an eidetic memory and a positive gift for computers, which she had felt were long overdue for an introduction into Sanctuary. Too much knowledge could be lost due to as simple a thing as a fire, as Alexandria had proved.
There had been much sniping from the academic world (and the popular tabloids) about her choice of yet another young man to add to her personal staff, but she ignored such comments and appointed him anyway.
Joseph had brown eyes, sandy brown hair, and was cheerfully average in all respects other than languages. Whilst not exactly unfit, he wouldn't have lasted three seconds against even the most junior of the Trainee Saints in Sanctuary. He was also the only person in all of the Sanctuary to need glasses, but he was extraordinarily good at his work and that was what counted.
Joseph's first move had been a political masterstroke that spoke well for the future, requesting the help of the rejected candidates to volunteer to aid him in reducing the chaos that the Athenaeum had been left in. The only condition he had insisted on was that any scholarly papers resulting from the work be co-credited to the Athenaeum and it's staff. This, in one move, showed up those who had sought the post for purely personal advancement, and encouraged those who had actually been inspired by love of knowledge.
His enthusiasm and skill in translating old materials had quieted many of the more vocal objectors in short order, and his open admission of areas where he needed assistance helped even more, as had the occasional times he had been forced to impose his authority. There was something rather bizarre about seeing fifty-year old academics getting into a fist fight over a scrap of parchment, but it had happened more than once.
His public estimation went up enormously with the opening of Sanctuary's first web-site, giving free access to otherwise lost texts that were now available to all those who cared to read them.
After four months and countless man hours, the Archives were open again, and writers from all over the world had been approached. Now new and unique works by Eco, Pratchett, Greer, Asimov, Hawking, Barnes, Amis and Angelou (to name but a few) graced its shelves. Some had refused, calling it élitist, but those with an eye towards history had joined in willingly.
The only thing Joseph had balked at were the embarrassingly elaborate robes that the post usually required (especially the ornate owl-shaped coronet, which he wasn't even sure he could lift, never mind wear). He had been thankful when Saori had compromised that the robes could be reserved for formal ceremonies. He returned the gesture by wearing the traditional Grecian-style tunics favoured by most of the residents of Sanctuary.
Saori did insist on a gold circlet as a token indication of rank. This was also part of the Keepers traditional regalia, though the gemstone normally set in it's brow had last been seen in Gigars eye-socket. Even if they could track him down, no one was certain how the stone could be removed anyway, so the subject was dropped and the circlet left open at the brow.
He sat in what was formally his office, a large room whose only natural light came from a small window high in the wall, which stretched through about 10 feet of solid mountain-side before it actually hit daylight.
From what she could see, his office was still crammed with books, but the huge and ancient desk had been removed to the far wall, and several smaller, more modern desks and computer workstations had been installed.
From his Office the Keeper could locate almost any information in the Athenaeum as well as access the Glaude Foundation's information resources. The sophisticated communications system was one which Joseph had helped design.
"Konichiwa Athena-sama". His Japanese accent was flawless.
"Good evening Joseph", Saori replied in rather more halting English, but making the gesture of returning the compliment. She bowed her head to the screen.
He blushed. "I do wish you wouldn't do that, Miss Kido, it doesn't seem right somehow."
Saori fixed him with a slightly stern look; "The Goddess of Wisdom always acknowledges the Keeper of the Athenaeum. Knowledge is the keystone of Wisdom."
"I've been meaning to ask, Miss Kido. Do you bow to the Kyoko, when you have one?"
"Certainly not! The Kyoko is my Lord Spiritual and is automatically subordinate to his goddess. The Keeper is my Lord Temporal and is generally a lot smarter than I am. Besides, it's a tradition that the incarnation of Athena acknowledge the Keeper, and I don't argue with tradition."
"Says the goddess who appointed her elite personal bodyguard from the lowest rank of her Saints." He realised he had spoken aloud and bit his lower lip, wondering if he had gone too far.
Saori smiled, that was just the kind of thinking she wanted more of in the Sanctuary. People who might think differently from herself, but wouldn't be afraid to say it to her face, and give her their honest opinions (Seiya notwithstanding of course, he spoke his mind about EVERYTHING, even when asked not to). "I didn't say I couldn't be a nonconformist when the need arose, Joseph. Anyway, thank you for waiting for my call, I know it's late."
"Never a problem Miss Kido. I assume this is.. concerning that matter we discussed when we last saw each other."
"Yes, it is. The plan is going ahead is scheduled, though our meeting proper has been delayed until tomorrow. Expect initial contact from them within the next 24 hours, probably afternoon your time." "I'll be waiting, I can't wait to see if this works."
"It has in the past, it will again now. Have faith Joseph."
"Could I work for a goddess if I didn't, Miss Kido?"
Saori smiled briefly and broke the connection.
- - - - -
The following morning, June automatically rose before dawn, a habit carried over from her days of training. She was far from being a morning person by nature, but Saints didn't really get that much chance to be picky about such things. Generally speaking though, Athena help anyone who crossed her in her first hour after rising.
She'd stayed up later than the others too. She'd been concerned about Daichi enough to sneak out to call the Kido mansion. Shun had given her the number a while ago, though she'd never had cause to use it before. Tatsumi had answered, and it had taken her over five minutes to argue him into fetching Saori for her, despite how often she stressed the importance.
Saori had, after apologising for Tatsumi's behaviour, explained the sad fate of the Air Steel Saint, which explained Daichi's mood. Even after she slipped back in to the penthouse, trying to think of ways to help had kept her up for a while longer, but nothing obvious had sprung to mind.
Since the Saints had more or less the free run of the building, including it's staff facilities, she went down to the gymnasium, hoping she'd have some time to herself. She suspected it wouldn't be long before the others joined her. If there was one thing she was sure of about being a Saint, they all required plenty of exercise.
When she walked in she saw that she was the first person there. Rather than move straight into the usual kata and callisthenics, she decided to test her concealment abilities again. The incident with Rana had annoyed her more than she was prepared to admit. If she could hide in plain sight from the others as they came in, she'd be more confident in her skills.
She sniffed at a rosin dish built into one of the walls, even through her mask her nose wrinkled at the smell but it would do. She took two handfuls and scattered one high into the air. The second she took with her as she scaled one of the many sets of wall bars and settled herself in place, before sprinkling herself with more of the powder. It was enough to make her almost choke, and it might be enough to mask her smell enough to fool even Rana. She controlled her breathing until her chest hardly moved, no sound would give her away.
About three minutes later, the doors swung open and Rana walked in. As well as her mask, she was wearing training gear much like June's own, a dark singlet and leggings, with flat hide boots and leather arm straps. She paused on the threshold, her head craning around as if trying to find anything out of place but, seemingly satisfied, moved in.
Silently, June watched the tall girl pace around the gym, her outstretched hand running along the wall, footsteps clicking. When she got back to her original position she moved into the precise centre of the room and dropped into a smooth and flowing series of exercises. There was no cosmo here, just graceful movement and control. Rana stretched and arched, bent and moved. It was almost a dance, but not quite, her muscles indicated a great deal of power behind her movements, as graceful as ballet, but as potentially deadly as any form of combat imaginable.
To hell with stealth, time to get proof positive about a theory, June leapt from her vantage point towards Rana.
Before she could even land, Rana had turned in mid exercise, and launched herself into the air. She grabbed June's ankle in passing and made a twisting motion. June found herself flying in a completely different direction than intended, and only just managed to spin round to catch one of the wall bars. She dropped to the floor, to find Rana facing her, left arm in a defensive posture, right arm poised cobra-like, ready to attack.
"Rana! It's me, June."
"I know. So?"
"You didn't need to attack me."
"No? I met you for the first time yesterday, after you tried to hide yourself away to spy on us. You didn't move to attack either of the Serpens Saints when we were attacked. Then you sneak out for twenty minutes last night.. oh yes, I heard you. Today I come in here, the air is thick with rosin dust that wouldn't be in the air if the place were empty, and the next moment you dive to attack me. What grounds do I have to trust you? I've already risked my life for Athena, what have you risked?"
"I've proved myself to Athena more than you know, I don't need to prove anything to anyone other than myself."
"Well, that's hardly a conducive attitude to teamwork is it? Keeping secrets"
June felt her fists clenching again anger building up inside her, the worst part of the feeling was knowing that was Rana was right. The Eridanus Saints' actions so far had been exemplary, alert for danger, defeating a foe of Athena, taking nothing for granted. June on the other hand, had come across like a sulky child in a fit of pique.
However, there was one matter that June decided needed to be discussed then and there. Since conversational gambits seem to be wasted on Rana, she decided on the direct approach.
"You are definitely not one to talk on that score Rana. When were you planning on telling us that you're blind?"
If June was expected a more vehement response she was disappointed. Rana's head twisted quizzically, then she shrugged and replied simply. "So, you worked it out did you?"
"That's just the sort of attitude that's going to cause problems. We're part of a team Rana, that implies some degree of trust, and that means you being able to tell us something as major as that." "It's not major to me. And we've already discussed the matter of trust."
The dark-masked girl was silent for moment and then almost as if she couldn't help herself, asked "I am curious though, how you worked it out so quickly. Most people take far longer, if they realise it at all."
"There were a few things. Little things. The way you move for one, your movements are very tight, very controlled. Your arms are always in close against your body when you walk, but your fingers are always splayed slightly, as if ready to feel something. "
"Then there's the fact that your slippers made a clicking noise when you walked, and you avoided walking on carpets when you could. You even moved your fight with Serpens Caput so you were both on the hardwood floor. I'm guessing you use studs on your soles instead of a cane."
"I have a cane too, but I find the shoes more convenient."
"Then there's the kitchen last night, you were moving around in there, but there were no lights on, like it didn't make a difference to you. Arion had to replace a bulb."
"I wondered if anyone would notice that, I found the switch in the kitchen, but I didn't know the bulb was broken until Arion mentioned it later. Observation and deduction? The Chamaeleonis Saint watches almost as much as she hides."
"Actually I'm impressed, to be able to function as well as you do implies you focus a lot more on your other senses. You're hearing must be much better than most."
"A common misconception, a blind person's other senses are no more sensitive than anyone else's. We just use them better, pay more attention to them. Most Saints already do the same, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to you."
"I haven't had much experience around blind people, so I don't know what the procedure is." Though Rana's voice was calm, her body language was tense. "There is no procedure. I'm not a 'blind person', I'm a person. I just happen to be blind too. I've been able to function quite well for the last seventeen years, and I don't need your pity now."
June snorted slightly, "Oh please, I wasn't planning on pitying you. I've seen you fight, I'll save the pity for whoever you're up against."
She saw Rana's shoulders relax ever so slightly at that and was grateful.
"Did you know Shiryu the Bronze Dragon Saint was blind for a time? He had to blind himself to defeat the Perseus Saint. His eyes regenerated during the Battle for Sanctuary when he fought the Gold Cancer Saint."
"I'm glad for him, I've heard he is a magnificent warrior. However that would not work in my case. If you are so interested in my blindness.. see..." Rana reached up and carefully took off her mask.
What June saw underneath caused her to gasp audibly... it was...
"I have a Gold Saint to thank for my condition, and I intend to, someday soon."
Still staring in horror, June fumbled for words but couldn't think of anything appropriate. She felt she had to say something..
"Kia ora all!" Arion strode in wearing swimming trunks and an appallingly cheerful grin. A towel was hanging around his neck.
"Oh sacred Athena! He's a morning person, I'm going to have to kill him." muttered June, a little too quickly and a little too loudly. She had rarely been so grateful for an interruption.
Though she wouldn't have sworn it under oath, June thought she might have seen the trace of a smile touching the edge of Rana's mouth before her mask was slipped back on. Rana had had her back to the door when Arion had come in, so her secret was intact.
Arion was oblivious, "Has anyone noticed if there's a pool round here?"
Rana pointed towards a door on her left. "It's through there."
"Yeah, and it smells salinated, not chlorinated! Saori certainly seems to have thought of everything." He set off towards the door, still smiling.
June called after him "Don't get too used with the creature comforts, I'm guessing we leave this afternoon for wherever Saori sends us."
"All the more reason to enjoy it while I can. Anyway, she may send us somewhere with a shoreline." June turned away and shook her head. No-one should be that happy or positive first thing in the morning. She found that Rana had walked away and was going through her exercises again. Shrugging, June decided to do the same.
- - - - -
When the speedometer had read 75 miles an hour for twenty minutes, Daichi stepped off the faintly smoking treadmill. It was not a standard model, and Daichi had a feeling it had been welded together from tank parts, but it had withstood the gruelling speed he could generate for longer than he had thought likely.
On the other side of the gymnasium Arion and June were sparring and Rana was meditating. For June and Arion it was more of a test of each other reaction time than anything else; one would attack, the other would avoid or block. They weren't wearing their Cloth's or using cosmo, just speed and agility. Neither left the two metre wide chalk ring they had agreed upon. The first one to move outside the ring would lose.
Rana had walked in on their exercise session from the pool and without a word had assumed the lotus position. Somehow, the sunlight streaming in through the high window seemed to miss her entirely, she sat in a pool of shadow. Small tendrils of darkness seemed to crawl across her body, though they were hard to catch sight of.
Almost idly, Daichi put on his helmet and once the optical contacts had been made watched his new team-mates closely. He didn't bother with the rest of his Cloth, but the helmet better augmented his vision.
Rana's appearance still seemed odd. The darkness seemed to extend beyond the visible spectrum, he got fuzzy images in infra red and beyond the ultra violet. Something to examine later. He turned his attention to the other pair. It seemed that June was better at dodging Arion's blows, but he was better at blocking hers. This meant that he was at a disadvantage as she was scoring strikes, he didn't give much ground though. Daichi noticed no clumsiness on Arion's part this time. His movements were confident though he had little of the intense energy of some martial artists.
June spoke, breaking the silence, "So tell me Arion, I noticed when you were fighting Serpens that you didn't use a kia."
"A what?"
"You know, a kia, a battle cry."
"Oh, a battle cry, no I didn't use one. I don't have one. Besides, "kia" has another meaning where I'm from."
"A Saint who doesn't have named attack? I don't think I've ever come across that. No 'Dolphin Crash', no 'Rolling Fin', not even a 'Bottlenose Strike'?"
"Well, for starters I'd use better English if I did have one. My Sensei taught me it was more important to take your enemy down than impress him with your skills, and announcing what moves you were going to attack them with seemed silly. He said if I felt the need to shout, to just yell."
"Well MY master said that if you earn a reputation worth fearing then new opponents could be frightened at the thought of facing your ultimate attack."
"Hmmmm, there is that argument I supposes. Anyway I did most of my training underwater. Have you ever tried to shout anything underwater? It'd be a waste of air when all anyone could make out is 'Burble burble glub'."
Daichi smiled slightly at the mental image. He felt he should add something to the conversation. "Why did you train underwater?"
"My Sensei said it would build up more strength, moving through water requires a lot more strength and stamina than moving through air."
"So where did you train?"
"New Zealand, North Island, a fishing village near Napier, not very big, not very exciting, but a good place to grow up, if you like fishing."
"Do you still have a family?"
"Sure, my parents, my older brother and sister, and the twins are younger than me. Why wouldn't I have family? I even lived with them when I was training."
"You really haven't met many other Saints have you? We're not usually big on that whole 'family' thing..." Daichi looked away hurriedly. June saw the motion and could have bitten her tongue at such a thoughtless comment.
"..but when we do, we really value it." It wasn't exactly a smooth line but it was the best she could do at short notice. She saw Arion frown slightly at her, and she indicated Daichi with her head, giving an almost imperceptible shake.
Arion responded by nodding a little and launching a particularly hard blow to June's upper arm. She caught his fist, dropped on her back, stuck her foot into the pit of his stomach and flipped him outside the ring. She knew there was no way she should have been able to make that move if Arion had resisted, but hoped Daichi had been too distracted to notice.
Arion walked towards Daichi, "Want to have a shot. Give me a chance to even the odds."
"Okay, but only so you can be beaten twice in a row."
Leaving them to it, June walked over too where Rana was seated. "May I join you?"
"You are free to do as you wish."
"Well, that's better than an assault I suppose. Do you meditate often?"
"It's not simply meditating, it's refining control of my cosmo."
"I was wanting to ask, I've never come across a cosmo anything like yours before, nor even heard of one. How can cosmo cancel out cosmo like that? They are both the same sort of energy aren't they?" "Ice is simply frozen water is it not?"
"Yes"
"And ice can dam water can't it? When I use my Phaetons Bane attack, I'm releasing a very delicate cosmo energy matrix, capable of cancelling out a wide range of other energies if properly focused. If I were to lose control over that matrix then it would consume me as well as my opponent." "Well, don't let me interrupt you further."
"In combat I have to deal with many more distractions. However, I would prefer for some silence." June kept quiet and centred herself.
On the other side of the gym Arion and Daichi circled each other, sizing each other up, in every sense of the word.
"So what exactly IS a Steel Saint, anyway?"
"We're an experiment that Saori's grandfather had. He wanted a new type of Saint for the new Cycle of Athena. We don't have cosmo the way you old Saints so."
"Less of the old if you don't mind!" There was no rancour in his voice.
"Whatever. We're the Glaude Foundations first attempts at the next generation of warrior. We don't have cosmo, we have technology and implants. We're their first guinea pigs."
"You don't look like a guinea pig to me. With that helmet on, you look more like.. I don't know, a fox?"
There was a note of pride in Daichi's voice as he replied, a note that made Arion sure he was heading the conversation in the right direction, "I'm the Steel Land Saint, Mister Kido insisted they pattern the Steel Cloths after the constellations too. Mine is based on Vulpecula, the Fox."
"Did you know there's a Bronze Vulpecula Cloth too?"
"Well, I knew there had to be one, and the odds were that it'd be Bronze, but there aren't any pictures of it that Mr Kido or the Glaude Foundation could find, so they had to sort of make up the design as they went along. They said that Mu the Cloth Smith would have designs for it somewhere, but no one was sure where he was back then."
"And the other two? You said there were three."
"Sho is.. was the Sky Saint. His Cloth's based on Toucana. He's my real brother."
"Older or younger"
"He's two years older than me, but he treated me okay."
"You sound very proud of him."
Daichi looked puzzled "Of course I am, aren't you proud of your brothers and sisters?" The idea that anyone wouldn't be seemed alien to him.
"Sure, but we don't say it too often. We fight, we argue... we argue a LOT, then we fight some more. We're very close, we have to be to spend so much time arguing."
"I usually went along with Sho, he knew what had to be done. He was the leader of the Steel Saints, until..." his voice trailed off again.
Arion had started to make some educated guesses about the situation. A serious case of hero worship from a little brother, and an older brother who'd had some sort of serious accident, possibly an accident Daichi was blaming himself in some way for. That last part was a feeling that Arion could relate to after the night before.
He continued gently; "You want to talk about it?"
"No, not yet, but thanks, maybe another time." Arion nodded solemnly and let the matter drop, but was inwardly pleased that he'd managed to get even that minor commitment.
"The third is Ushio, we're not actually related, but we're nearly brothers I suppose. He's the Sea Saint, he's based on Dorado."
"Dorado? Umm... the Goldfish? What does he do, swim round a bowl all day?"
"I said that to him once, he sulked for over half an hour. That may not sound like much but he was doing it at the bottom of the training tank, which I thought sort of proved my point more than his."
"Half an hour! That's a lot better than I've ever done. How did you get him out?"
"Sho threw some fish food flakes into the tank, then he kept tapping at the glass and making fish faces like a tourist in an aquarium. Ushio couldn't stay angry through that." Daichi grinned at the memory,
"When Ushio did come out, Sho gave him a long talk about acting his age, then he gave me an even longer lecture about how the Dorado constellation is a swordfish and made me promise not to make fun of Ushio again unless I wanted to wake up one night to find myself getting mysteriously soaked by a water cannon."
"And did it work?"
"You said you had brothers, what do you think?"
"Ten minutes later, back to normal?", the blond Saint hazarded, Daichi nodded.
Arion continued "Thought as much. A swordfish? Did you know that 'dorado' can be another word for dolphin too?"
"Really? I don't think you'd have much in common with Ushio, he's the quiet type, doesn't really get on with a lot of people." Almost unconsciously, both found their eyes turning to look at Rana. They both caught each other's eye and grinned sheepishly.
"Hey, I'm Arion, I get along with everyone."
"Uh-huh", Daichi's tone sounded less than convinced. "Unless it's someone you're fighting?"
"Well, that sort of goes without saying. I try not to make the first move though."
"Why? I know the Andromeda Saint never attacks first either, because he hates fighting. Is it the same with you."
"Nothing so noble I'm afraid, it weakens an opponent when they make the first move. It gives away a lot about their personality. Of course, the flipside of that is that you're more likely to get knocked out in the first round, but I can usually manage to overcome that."
Without warning, Arion launched into an attack. A flurry of kicks and punches that turned him into a blur of movement.
"Oh, and I lie if I feel the need to..."
Whatever Arion planned on saying next was lost. Almost effortlessly Daichi blocked or dodged each strike, Arion's speed increased but with little effect. Though she'd decided not to interfere, June found herself watching, fascinated by Daichi's performance.
Then Daichi started to add in attacks of his own, all the while deflecting Arion's blows. Eventually, a swift series of movements ended with Daichi's fist stopping less than a millimetre from Arion's startled face. Arion ran his finger through his hair and whistled, genuinely surprised, "Okay you little Steel Squirt, how in the name of Athena did you manage that? You said you didn't have cosmo? That means you couldn't have Seventh Sense, and we've never even fought before. How could you manage that well against me?" "Oh, I've got something better than Seventh Sense."
"What?"
"That's a 'Steel Squirt' secret", Daichi definitely sounded smug about something, in the manner only someone with an older sibling can.
"Come on, out with it."
"Action replay!"
"What?"
"I may not have Seventh Sense, but I have action replay and digital tracking.
"Which means?"
"Which means that I saw you fight last night, as well as your sparring this morning, and I record every move I see. My computer analysed your combat style and highlighted your weaknesses for me."
"For instance, I now know that when you use your left arm in a downward swinging block, you leave your right arm just too low to block a variety of upwardly vectored attacks. It means I know you twist yourself round to the right, and raise your left elbow, just before striking with your right fist."
Daichi tapped his helmet and his eyes "My on-board computer processes all visual data I see, and adds a sense of absolute positioning in everything I see, and they never forget anything. Put it all together and I see the world in a different way to most people. It's kind of hard to explain to someone who doesn't have the ability."
"Now that's something I'll bet not many Saints get to hear said to them. Impressive though".
"Sure. So, anyway, I've told you a bit about me, it's your turn to tell me about you I think."
"Oh, that's a story for another day. So, I think you've proved you can move as fast as I can face to face. " "Hah! Wait till you see me run!"
"And wait till you see me swim. Want to try a little biathlon? I think we've got time before the meeting."
"You're on!"
June watched the pair of them leave to return to the pool and smiled.
"It won't last you know." June practically jumped, Rana had hardly seemed to be breathing.
"What?"
"The Steel Saint being happy."
"That's a singularly cynical opinion. Why not?"
"Daichi has deep rooted problems, even you must be able to hear it in his voice, the sort of problems that won't go away with a bit of camaraderie and male bonding. And as for Arion.. there's something about him that's just not. 'right' but I can't work out what it is yet."
"Well, frankly, if he can get a smile out of Daichi right now, I'm prepared to put up with just about anything short of loyalty to Saga. Any communication now will be a foundation to deal with the problems further down the line."
"When you're up against the forces we are likely to encounter, 'down the line' might never come. Is it worth the risks? Your choice. Your consequences."
"We're a team now Rana, our choices, our consequences. If you had a problem with the way Arion and I handled Daichi it was up to you to say or do something about it at the time. You can't pass judgement if you took no part when you had the chance."
"Very well, next time I shall not be so reticent. You may not like the results though"
"We'll try it and see what happens", June wanted to grit her teeth, her moment of shared understanding with Rana seemed to have been forgotten, by Rana at any rate, "by the way, might I ask when you are going to inform them of your little secret."
"In my own time. In that case it is definitely my choice."
"Very well, but don't leave it too long. Finding out that a team-mate has been keeping secrets is bad for everyone. If the situation arises where I feel I have to tell them for some reason, I will, whether you like it or not."
"I understand, but would ask you to bear in mind that that rule works both ways, if you have secrets then you have to be prepared to tell them to us. Are you ready to be that open Chamaeleonis Saint?" June had nothing to say to that.
- - - - -
They gathered that afternoon, with Saori Kido once again.
"I'm sending you to Canada first. I want you to locate Geki's master, Anateus the Silver Bear Saint. Saga had a fondness for twisting the minds of those who didn't agree with him totally and, from what I can gather, Anateus has a reputation for independent thinking."
"Saori means he argues with people a lot" Geki rumbled. June almost started, the Bronze Bear Saint was not what you might call talkative and for him to proffer a comment was a new experience for her. Saori smiled in acknowledgement, "Well, that's another way of looking at it. For this assignment I would appreciate it if you would take a couple of the other Bronze Saints with you. I have a feeling that at least one of them will be joining you on your team. You should definitely take Geki, it's his Master you will be meeting and he knows him best, Ichi and..." she paused for a moment "Jabu.. " The purple clad Saint immediately stood taller and prouder "..because if you didn't take him, he'd come along anyway." Jabu visibly deflated.
"I'm sending them because you may be going up against a Silver Saint, and I want you to have some extra forces to call on if need be. So many of the Silver Saints served Saga that I can't be sure of any of the others. Ophiuchus Shaina, Cassiopeia Narcissus and Aquila Marin are loyal of course, and I'd ask them to join you, but they're all needed elsewhere at present, and Silver Saints tend not to work together well. Bear in mind, I know from experience that a Bronze Saint can defeat a Silver Saint, even if they try and convince you otherwise."
"I'm keeping Ban and Nachi here as bodyguards until Seiya and the others are fully recovered. So if you three would go and get ready..."
When the other three Saints had left Saori addressed the remaining Honour Guard as a whole. "I want you to keep an eye on the three of them, the composition of your team is a choice for all of you to agree on. They're a bit rough around the edges in some cases, but they all have potential. Before you decide which of them to take on, consider their overall usefulness to the team, not just their personality."
"You will be operating on the fringes of my authority, so for the sake of security it's better if you don't contact me, nor any of the other publicly known Saints directly. Your contact will be Joseph, the Keeper of the Athenaeum, whom I trust as absolutely as I trust you. I know you can look after yourselves for the most part, but if you need guidance, he'll be the one to contact. He can always contact me if he feels he can't advise you adequately."
She nodded to June, who took this as her cue to take out a small object from within her clothing. I was a fragment of mirror, set on top of a hexagonal quartz prism.
"This is a fragment of the Mirror of Cassiopeia, given to June by Narcissus the Cassiopeia Saint herself. It has been crafted by her Cosmo to be in perfect resonance with only one other crystal in the world. It's twin is in the Keepers Vault in the Sanctuary. What is spoken into one, is heard by the other. Let me demonstrate..."
Saori leaned over and spoke into the crystal. It might have looked foolish if she weren't so serious about it.
"Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3. Can you hear me Joseph"
No one was particularly surprised (Which probably said something for their life experiences) when a voice emanated through the crystal, as clearly as if the speaker were standing next to them.
"Yes Miss Kido, this is really strange, but I can hear you as clear as crystal. No pun intended."
"Thank you Joseph, we can hear you too. Stand by..." Saori turned back to the Saints. "Unlike a radio signal, the crystal's signal can't be traced or blocked by ordinary means, nor does it need satellites to communicate round the world, so it's as close to completely secure as can be arranged. Please be careful, it is irreplaceable."
"Use this to check in with Joseph as and when you need to. He'll always have the crystal near him and he has the authority to call on any of my resources."
"Well, I shouldn't keep you longer. Your flight leaves tonight. I don't know when I will see you again, but always know that a part of me is with each of you, as it is with all my Saints. "
"I also want you to know that I trust each of you completely. Each of you in your own way had proven worthy of the tasks ahead of you, and I know that you will bring honour to the Saints of Athena."
"I know you are risking your lives on my say-so and I cannot properly express my gratitude. I look forward to seeing you all again."
With that she turned to move away, and all four Saints dropped to their knees in respect. She curtsied deeply to them, then turned and was gone. June might have seen tears in her eyes as she left, but it was hard to tell.
Left alone, the four Saints looked at each other. They were now going to have to trust each other completely each and every day. There was a heavy silence.
"Well," said Arion casually. "What are we all waiting for? There's adventure to be had, honour to be won, and we're just the Saint's to find both!"
End of "Getting to Know You..." - Honour Guard 3 Coming Soon... The Honour Guard are barely starting their first mission when trouble breaks out. Is the Anateus Silver Saint trustworthy, and will the Shadow Saints let the Honour Guard live long enough to find out? And more on the mysterious force behind the Shadow Saints.