Chapter 7: To Seek Without Purpose

First Millennia of Queen Selene Serenity I's Reign 2479

Ionian Plain, Saturn

Jade's House

It was early morning and the light pitch of the sun was just beginning to ebb away the flow of dark amethyst which had surrounded the eaves of the cottage only moments before. The sun's rays peaked stealthily through the window of the loft Michiru and Finduilas both shared. An absent beam of orange radiance splashed across the pale cream of the Neptunian's sleeping face, dancing the ballet of soon and hopeful wakefulness.

Two cerulean eyes cracked open then shut themselves off from the light and retreated for the safe haven of darkness. It was too bright and too early! Michiru brought the violet cloth of one sleeve up to rub the sleep from her eyes. She groaned accordingly, rolled over and opened her eyes. Finduilas laid not a hair's breath beside her, wide awake and smiling across at her.

"What?" Michiru asked eyeing her curiously.

Finduilas' grin widened. "You get to leave today. You must be so excited!! I wish I could travel like you, see the world as you do." She drawled enthusiastically, but then a slightly more deflated expression filtered through her tone, "Papa never takes us on any of his travels. When he goes away we often don't even know where he goes. He doesn't tell us, only Mama."

Michiru felt a pang of guilt just then and she winced outwardly, not trying to keep the emotion from reaching her face.

Finduilas smiled once more, "It is not your fault, Michiru. Papa, he has a mind of his own."

Michiru's expression sobered and she nodded solemnly. She new better than to think that, but still guilt rode on her shoulders for taking Jade priority away from his family. They deserved more than he gave them and he did not realize that he neglected them, which was the worst part. He needed to, would have to someday realize it.

Michiru smiled indulgently. "In my experience, the world is not all that great of a place, all and all. It is simply vast and frightening."

Finduilas rolled her eyes. "Certainly, but underneath all of that, there has to be something else to it. Something profound and worth meaning which interests us. Something which drives us."

Michiru shrugged her shoulders. "If you say so."

"I do not just say so, I know so." Finduilas nodded her head confidently.

Michiru sighed resignedly and focused on the white sheets covering the straw mattress they slept on. "This will be the third time I have been asked to leave a party of people I care for."

Finduilas shook her head. "Yes, but this time it is different. This time you will come back. When it is all over you will return to this house, to us."

Michiru swallowed and remembered the last time she had attempted to harness the great power within her. It had been a hard day of physical training and Jade had pushed her farther than ever he had before. He had cornered her in the glade they often trained in and had forced her into close combat. At first, she had done well, blocking every blow he issued and even landing a daring punch to the center of his chest; but everything had gone down hill from that point forward.

His attacks increased so much in speed that she could no longer follow them, making blocking them impossible. As she was pushed back, each painful hit after the other, something inside her had begun to break.

A response to the need to protect herself which she, under normal circumstances could not fulfill, grew unbidden within her, but she still had control of it and thus would not venture to use it. It was not until Jade struck out at her and landed a mighty punch to her ribcage that her control fell through. Michiru could remember it, the sheer feeling of it, as the blue fire had blazed within her. She had stood up, a natural instinct which she had not known was her own possessing her, and as Jade charged toward her she raised one of her arms and out from her palm came a jet of energy which knocked the surprised Plutonian prince back into the trees beyond them.

Fear had suddenly ran rampant through her. What had she done? Had she gone too far? Had she hurt him? She had raced over towards him. Jade sat up from amongst the broken brush and branches, eyes wide and breathing labored. He had rested there, regarding her with those large awed eyes. Finally, gathering his wits about them again, he had said: "That was…unexpected. I think you are ready for your elemental training. We must begin at once."

Since then, Jade had slackened up on the physical training and had wore her down to basic strength building exercises and weapons practice. During the moments when they were not training, he spoke avidly about her elemental training and how strong she really was and also how she could not know of her true potential because she was not ready yet to know. It scared her. The fervor with which her expected so much of her, more than she thought she was capable of giving. Why? Why did he count upon her so much? When it all came down to it what could she really do?

"Michiru?" Finduilas asked quietly, drawing her out of her own world of thought. "It will be alright. You will succeed in this. I believe you can do it, that you will do it."

Michiru still felt unsure, but she masked the expression with a confident smile. "Thank you. I will not disappoint all of you, I promise."

They had dressed and descended down the ladder not long after that. Already at this early morning hour, the cottage was alive with activity. Grimhild had awoken long before the sun and was laboring over a pot on the fire. Even Jade, whom his wife had to practically beat out of bed every morning, was partially awake, sitting at the table and reading a letter which had been brought by messenger to him. Michiru studied the unrolled sheet of parchment carefully.

Broken upon both its northern and southern borders were the remnants of a waxen seal. Though cut in half and crumbling, the interior of the burgundy glob of wax shown with a globe perched atop half of a scepter which continued into oblivion where the reader had ripped it open. It was a Plutonian seal.

Michiru longed to ask what the letter was about. Was it from Setsuna? Was everything alright? Did one of them get hurt? Was Haruka alright? So many questions leapt up into her throat to be answered, but not one passed her lips.

"Papa?" Finduilas spoke up sheepishly.

Jade did not hear her. A stern look was upon his face, a result of the letter's contents, Michiru suspected.

"Jade, look sharp! Your daughter is talking to you." Grimhild shrieked in her husband's direction without taking her attention away from the boiling pot.

Jade's eyes rolled over the parchment edge and focused on the two girls standing next to the loft ladder. For a minute, his features retained the uncompromising form of before, but then they softened and his lips parted into a hopelessly youthful smile.

"Good morning!" Jade greeted sitting up and pulling his booted feet off from the table top where he had been resting then, much to his wife's chagrin. "How are you girls at this fine morning hour?"

Michiru's eyebrows came together in a vexed expression. She leaned over to Finduilas so she could whisper into her ear.

"How can he be so cheerful?" Michiru asked.

Finduilas shrugged. "It must be from lack of sleep."

"Well, aren't you going to greet me?" Jade asked as he leaned forward and laid the letter face down on the table beside him.

Finduilas smiled and raced up to him as he caught her in his arms and lifted her up onto his lap.

"Finduilas, my angel!"

"Papa?"

"Yes, Finduilas?"

"What was that you were reading?"

"A letter from Pluto, dearest, but there's nothing to worry about; I promise you."

He bent forward and kissed his daughter's cheek as she smiled, but Michiru's heart was not put at ease by the sight. Would Setsuna have sent word only to tell of Haruka's strength in their training? No, it would take too long for a message to get through. This letter had to have been sent by currier weeks ago, but then what would it contain? Michiru's brow furrowed as she tried to come up with possible explanations as to why a letter would have had to be sent. Why go to the trouble? Her musings were cut short by her name being called.

"Michiru?" Grimhild called and it was then that the Neptunian princess became aware of the whole family's eyes upon her. "Are you alright, child? You looked troubled, what's gotten into you, girl?"

Michiru shook her head quickly, not meeting the older woman's eyes, "Nothing."

"Well, I am glad to hear it, because today is too big a day for you to be sullen." Jade spoke up with an enthused expression.

Michiru swallowed and put forward an unconvincing nervous smile. Finduilas smiled in turn both at her father's boyish antics and at Michiru's uncharacteristic sheepishness at the prospect of leave taking. She straightened in her father's embrace and looked Michiru straight in the eye.

"You'll be fine." Finduilas spouted waving her fist enthusiastically in the air, her words impassioned to drive the point home. "You're going to leave here and you're going to come back a full fledged adult senshi. Do you hear me? You are going to come back a accomplished soldier who bring about an end to the darkness and we are all going to be proud of you when you do!"

Both Michiru and Finduilas' parents were set aback by the girl's eagerness.

"Finduilas." Grimhild chastised, but it was a hollow admonishment.

The floor creaked behind them and Michiru turned as Elboron brushed aside the blanket separating the boys' bed from the dining room and let it fall swaying behind him. He was only dressed up to his waist, holding his long sleeved over tunic and the collar of a brown velvet brigandine in his hands as he walked, exposing the sleek muscles of his athletic torso. Michiru turned away from him almost immediately, a fresh sheen of pink springing to life in her cheeks before she could hide it.

"Elboron you are never to enter the kitchen half dressed again is that understood?" Grimhild's eyes narrowed at her eldest son.

"Yes, Michiru could have fainted." Finduilas as both her mother and best friend's eyes glared daggers at her, but did not pay either of them any heed.

"Your timing is oddly precise this morning, Elboron." Jade commented as he set the letter on the table and let his daughter down off of his lap, ignoring the comment along with Michiru's face as it grew redder. "Are you ready for the journey, son?"

"Yes, father." The boy replied pulling the tunic and brigandine over his head quickly. As he looked up from straightening the sleeves of his navy tunic beneath those of the brigandine, his eyes caught those of Michiru and he smiled as she turned away from him, blushing again. "What say you, Michiru, are you equally ready as well?"

Michiru swallowed, "As ready as I ever shall be."

"That is good to hear, Michiru." Jade returned trying to catch his son's eyes as he stood up. "Shall we."

Elboron and Jade left the house, going to pack up the cart as Grimhild fed the children a quick breakfast. Michiru was handed a bowl of steaming porridge topped with cinnamon and brown sugar to pass along to Finduilas beside her and then one of her own and a spoon to eat it with. The Neptunian princess found out rather quickly that the butterflies swarming around in her belly muted the whimpering cries of her quickly growing appetite substantially. Finduilas noticed this right away and the moment her mother's back was turned towards them, she nudged her friend in the ribs.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself and second guessing your abilities." She whispered sternly before shoving a spoonful of hot porridge in to her mouth, instantly regretting it as the hot gooey substance burned on the way down. "You'll be fine. Relax a little."

Suddenly, Michiru felt the weight of someone's hands land on her shoulders as Elboron leaned over her and laid a quick familial kiss on her cheek, causing her to blush embarrassedly.

"Be at ease, Princess." He said through a smirk at the sedate reaction his unexpected actions had caused in her. "My father wouldn't make the journey if he didn't think you would be able to master your elemental training accordingly."

"Elboron!" both Finduilas and Grimhild admonished together and for the first time, Michiru noticed a resemblance between mother and daughter which was normally absent from an ordinary day.

"What?"

Jade came into the house, shutting the door loosely behind him before he moved over toward his wife by the fire where his nose hungrily took in the scent of the fresh porridge simmering in the boiling pot hanging above the flames. He licked his lips boyishly and picked the wooden spoon off of the mantle to take a taste of the lovely dish, but his wife snatched it from his grasp, her arms crossed against her chest, tapping one foot on the floor of the cabin disapprovingly.

"What, no porridge for a starving man?" Jade asked dejectedly.

"No." Grimhild replaced the spoon on the mantle and retrieved a small parcel beside it, first wrapped in a few layers of cheese cloth and then safely anchored in a leather pouch with some small wooden eating utensils strapped to the back. When she handed it to her husband, the exterior was still slightly warm in his hands. "This is yours." When Jade looked back up at her with one eyebrow cocked in question, she went on to explain with a shy smile reminiscent of the quiet girl she had once been, "It is all of the ingredients for a Pilaf for lunch."

Then Grimhild walked over to a counter top where she had covered a loaf of fresh bread in a shroud of cloth and also grabbed a tied goatskin filled to the brim inside with mulsum, an ancient mixture of wine and honey which Jade favored over anything else. She crossed over to her astonished husband and offered them to him.

"These too?" Jade looked surprised. His wife had not prepared a meal for him like this upon the day of his leaving since they were first married. This was the warm young woman he had fallen in love with instead of the brash wife whom he adored. He smiled and impulsively leaned forward and kissed her affectionately and pulled back still smiling. "Thank you, my dear."

Michiru's eyes widened at the sight. She had never seen the two show affection to one another, though she knew she should not be surprised that such things happened in his house, they had four children after all, but it still seemed odd to her in a way. Finduilas nudged her again, smiling broadly this time and Michiru blushed ashamedly for staring.

"You've never seen them kiss before?" Finduilas asked at a whisper, not entirely surprised.

"No."

"That does not shock me at all." Finduilas said. "They very seldom give any inclination of warmth towards one another except in these rare moments. It's just how they conduct themselves. Lucky for you that you were able to witness it before you go or you might have never seen them do anything like this in your stay with us and really," here Finduilas paused and raised her eyebrows in a very comic gesture towards Michiru, "that would have been a unforgivable shame."

Michiru had to laugh at this and she and Finduilas both broke into uncontrollable fits of the giggles.

"Shh!" Elboron whispered towards them and even as they quieted, they smiled conspiratorially.

"Ohh, shhh on you, Elboron!" Finduilas hissed back just as quietly.

"Children, children, please!" Jade turned back to them, his arms full of the packages he had been handed while Grimhild, her normal self again, returned her attention to the pot over the fire. "No more bickering. Hurry, and eat your breakfast."

The porridge in the wooden bowl gained the children's undivided attention, the punishment of being pushed around by a disrespectful spoon on the brooding Neptunian's part. Michiru had been hungry upon waking, almost famished, but the renewed nerves took that from her as they kindled butterflies alive in the pit of her stomach. Jade noticed her hesitance when he came back from tucking the parcels of food from his wife into the cart and placed his heavy hand on her nimble shoulder and nodded his understanding as some small consolation.

"Eboron." Jade called as seriously as he was able. "Michiru, come it's time."

Michiru nodded, took a deep breath, and stood.

They saw upon coming through the door that the cart was tightly packed with supplies with Jade's great steed, Amulius harnessed in anticipation of the journey to its front. Elboron stepped up into the cart first, settling himself comfortably on the bench and taking the reins. Jade lifted Michiru by her waist to sit in the back atop their packed belongings comfortably. She sat back, flittering nerves rising from her stomach into her chest and fluttering there aimlessly like a fly struggling to free itself from the murderous netting of a spider's web. Then Jade hefted himself up onto the bench next to his son and took the reins heartily when Elboron offered them to him.

Michiru's eyes widened as Amulius' great hooves pawed at the dirt below restlessly. This was for real. It wasn't just some dream she had been dreading would come over her again. It was really happening. For the first time since her arrival at Jade's house she was leaving again and the loss of the familiar, feeble sense security she had come to rely upon frightened her. But Jade believed in her and most importantly of all, Finduilas, her constant friend and almost sister since she had come to Saturn believed in her ability to do this. And who was a better judge than someone who knew her as well as anyone ever could?

Jade turned to his family one last time and looked to his wife. "Grimhild, you will watch after the children."

It wasn't a question and the stubborn woman who was his life partner would not answer it as such, she knew him better. "What do you take me for husband? Just bring our son, the cart and the horse back in one piece and no trouble will come to you."

Jade smirked and nodded. He then turned his attention to the road before him and without looking back, snapped the reins over Amulius' haunches, causing the horse to start forward at a steady gait. Michiru startled and had to reach out for the railing on one side of the cart to keep herself from vaulting over the edge. The sudden jolt had sent her half over the barrier and she was half leaning out of the cart, staring unseeingly at the galloping dirt road below.

As she came to realize what had happened and also where she was, Michiru pushed herself up on the arms which had caught her enough to see the cabin along with the fleeting figures of her former family fading in the distance as they journeyed on. Michiru was hesitant to admit it to herself, even in the confines of he own mind, the very real fact that she was scared more than she could ever remember being in the whole of her young life.

Worse, she was terrified.

When the last trace of familiarity fell from view and she had nothing else left to cling to, only then, did Michiru push herself fully back into the cart and relinquish herself to the unknown possibilities and inevitabilities the road had to offer her.

--

City of Lionath, Pluto

They had found the courtyard without much hindrance and Asclepiodotus, true to his word, had left her to her own devices so that she could wander freely throughout the area until she saw fit. According to what Asclepiodotus had told her, this was the first of the inner most courtyards and, in accordance with being the oldest, it was also the most extravagant of them all. She had seen the courtyard or at least an aerial view of it from the king's balcony, but it seemed even more magnificent being able to experience its ancient beauty first hand. It was a huge expanse of landscaped space open liberally to the abandon of the sky above. The trees were closer here, offering shade from the growing overbearing heat of the sun.

Lingeringly, Haruka moved at a leisurely pace into the welcoming shade. The fragrant scent of the blooming flowers mixed perfectly with the fresh smell of nature in spring and brought her senses out from the depths they had been brooding in for the last few hours. Taking a deep breath, she felt the whole of her body release the weight of everything she had been dragging behind her since the night before: the guilt at not being able to protect Setsuna, the destitute hopelessness of being alone in a strange city, taking refuge with strangers whom she had no prior acquaintance with or obligation to, or of the unraveling revelation of looking the carnage of death in the face for the first time. All of it ran from her shoulders and the tight coil of rope binding her soul in her chest eased a bit. It was a revitalizing experience. She felt practically human again.

Without hesitation, Haruka then moved out of the shade and back out into the morning sunlight to continue her exploration of this exotic new place she now found herself in.

The great rectangular pool was larger in person, spanning almost the whole length of the open square. The ground was paved with flagstones, most white, some maroon, others gold. The scent of the different flowers flooded the surrounding air with a type of natural sweetness reminiscent of the varying and far off fields of wildflowers which flanked the Castle Athena. It was as though there was the breath of angels or some unidentified divine creature alive around her whom she could not see.

Haruka bent and picked up a small stone near her feet, then without a word, she recoiled back and skipped the round stone over the surface of the aquamarine waters of the pool. It bounced defiantly two, no three times, before sinking beneath the ripples in definite obscurity. Absently, she reached up and touched the pendant chained around her neck. Michiru had given it to her a year ago and still she had never taken it off. It was a part of her or had become so much a part of her over the last few months that she was loathe to ever separate it from her. Stashing it back below her shirt collar, even without the thought in her head, Haruka knew that if ever she tried to remove the pendant and its chain from her neck it would hurt more than hacking off one of her limbs.

The Uranian's attention was stirred momentarily as a gust of beckoned stream water came bursting out from one of the many qanats irrigating the various flowers and plants of the garden and evened out to its previous steady flow without further interruption. A slight breeze swayed the multicolored blooms around her and even encouraged the branches of some of the sheltering trees to tenuously join in the game. Quite comfortable with the tangible surroundings now, she resumed her exploratory trek around the courtyard.

It was then that Haruka realized in her wanderings, that her view of the courtyard from the balcony had been very limited.

The courtyard expanded beyond the limits of the inner wall. Where the tan stones were blanketed in blossoming vinery, there was an archway almost completely shielded from the world. Haruka had first noticed it when a gardener, who had been tending to one of the few orange trees in the vicinity, had approached the wall, swept the vines aside and passed into the oblivion beyond. The Uranian child had blinked unbelievingly. Had she witnessed what she thought she had just witnessed? Did that man just walk through a solid stone wall? With her curiosity again getting the better of her, she stepped forward cautiously and followed the trek of the fruit tender. Hesitantly, but with the courage she would later come to be praised for, Haruka reached out and pulled back the gangly partition. On the other side it was as though a whole new world had suddenly been given birth to and emerged fully formed out of nothing.

The arch in the wall led out onto a peristyle, a columned terrace which looked out over a small expanse of green land barred in by dark, moss covered stones. Its walls were high and the sun was loath to cross the path of such a height. This had to be an entrance yard, an open colonnade where the servants and workers could roam generously from place to place without trouble. Still, with its fresh rainy smell and natural greenery, it was like a woodland glade which had taken refuge in the palace of all places and had been allowed to grow in peace. This also had to be the innermost yard as most colonnades and the grounds they overlooked tended to led directly to the villa or the ancestral dwelling of the family.

In exploring this place, Haruka understood what Setsuna had meant when she had told her that this was one of the most guarded places in all of Pluto. The group of Vandals who had attacked last night had only breeched the castle's outer ring while the palace and the family who lived deep within this well protected maze had been left untouched and safeguarded from the conflict. This yard was like a limbo between the previous and the next court, a place of essence and not complete dislike where a weary soul could find he or herself dreadfully lost with no way out.

Resolutely, Haruka decided to discontinue that line of thought. She stepped forward and descended the small four step gap between the porch floor and the dew laden grass below. There were several buildings jetting out opposite the walls in the length of the place. They were cast out of oak covered in a terracotta type clay and covered with half oval clay shingles overlapped together so that when the hard rains came, the water would drain naturally from the roof without incident.

Out of one came again the solemn gardener. Haruka backtracked silently to lie in the path of a pillar's shadow so as not to be seen. The man took the large wicker basket of discarded weeds and dead leaves and dumped it into a large troth, then he made a few clicking noises with his tongue and to Haruka's surprise, two donkeys came out of the side alcove which she had not been able to see from the peristyle. Why keep livestock within the inner compound? It would make more sense to keep them in the castle stables, wouldn't it?

The man walked up and fondly brushed the dust from the neck of one of the grazing animals before he turned away from them and started back towards the arch he had entered from. Haruka moved closer to the pillar, leaving no possibility in her wake that the man would be able to see her. She heard the wood of his sandals scrape the stone steps as he walked back up and the sweep of vines as he reentered the courtyard. Taking a deep breath, Haruka backed away from the pillar and stepped closer to observe the two browsing donkeys.

The one nearest her perked up his ears as she came closer, but took little interest in her, seeing as how she was smaller than he and appeared to pose not threat to him. Still, Haruka wisely kept her distance. The first's coat was of a coarse almost black with a line of auburn running down the length of his back and crossing at the shoulders. She also noticed that clipped onto one of his large ears was a distinguishable ring of gold. These were merchant's donkeys.

Very suddenly, a sound came from within one of the buildings and fearing discovery, Haruka began running towards the arch in the other wall, opposite from the one she had entered.

Out of limbo she emerged into paradise. Another large courtyard half the size of the first, but no less impressive than its predecessor. It was divided into four basic corners, being separated somewhat from one another by walkways of leveled stones which all met at a great fountain in the center. Haruka squinted, the sun seemed extremely bright here out in the open. Geometric shapes and features only exaggerated the golden glow and focused it inward towards the entering guest, but the garden was not without relief from the heat.

Against the opposite wall there were planted cypress trees which offered shade from the offending sun. At the center of all of this was a great round pavilion. Its columns were lined with green vines that flowed from top to bottom sprouting blossoms of deep red, yellow, and white. Haruka continued forward with caution. This was a private garden of some merit, no doubt. She looked around gauging the wide array of plant life. A pair of colorful birds chirped and cooed in one of the tall cypress. This was a peaceful place and though Haruka had the inkling that she was lost…again, she was not sure she cared this time.

Contentedly, she walked up the stairs to the gazebo pavilion. It was white, all of glistening ivory stone. She circled the area unhurriedly, enjoying the surroundings and the new cornucopia of smells there. The red blossoms on the vines had perhaps the sweetest aromas and the most alluring of all of those present. Reverently, she reached out and caressed a velvet blossom, quietly astonished when a stray scarlet petal fell onto her palm on its own accord.

"They are so delicate." Ancalime commented softly as she began climbing the few short steps to the pavilion, appearing out of almost no where. "It is a miracle that they could bear to survive here, in this ever changing place where nothing is ever certain or written in stone."

Haruka turned around and her mind went blank. How had she found her? The flaxen hair was a darker shade, she had washed it and put it up into plaits that framed her face angelically. Her gown was of brilliant red linen which seemed to flow with her as she walked. She stopped gracefully before Haruka and stood even with her, patiently awaiting an answer. Haruka could think of nothing appropriate to say, but then again her strength had never been with words nor with social tact for that matter.

"All of the wounded have been tended to?" Haruka said the first thing that came into mind, mentally cursing herself as soon as the words had left her mouth. That must have sounded horribly blunt and rude. Had Haruka been Ancalime in that moment, she would have slapped herself.

Ancalime only smiled kindly showing no sign that she felt offense at the brash words or uneven approach. "Yes, as far as I can determine anyway. The horribly injured are in surgery still. I tended most to those in recovery this morning. It appears many of the nobles are going to make it, but many of the stewards and soldiers who were ambushed at the entrance are in a bad way. I do not know how much can be done…all our doctors can do is try."

Haruka nodded solemnly. It had seemed that this place was a healthy retreat from the present horrors of their world, but it was not enough. It would never be enough.

On impulse, Haruka stepped forward and reached out to grasp one of Ancalime's hands. "And how are you faring in the middle of all of this?"

"I am fine." She put forth with a confident smile.

Haruka's golden eyebrows shifted and her teal eyes narrowed, recognizing the falseness in all of it. "You lie."

Ancalime sighed as her smile fell completely to form a tired frown. It was true, she was not alright. The sun bathed her in light from behind as Ancalime turned her face away from Haruka's concerned gaze. It had been too much. All of the dead, their cold and blank faces staring up into her own and dying screaming in agony when the herbs did not work or mumbling and flailing incoherently when they did. It had been too much.

"Ancalime." Haruka reached up and turned the other's face so that their eyes met one another. "What happened?"

Ancalime swallowed and for a moment Haruka was sure that the fear in her eyes at the memories had overtaken her and that she would not talk about it, but the subtle courage in Haruka's eyes steadied her, willed her to speak. That simple courage was her inspiration, her rock in this dismal storm, and Ancalime would never tire of it.

"I saw…dreadful things." She admitted shakily and Haruka reached out to grasp her waist because she appeared as though she was about to topple over. The fabric there was so soft and like the body beneath it, Haruka was loath to believe that it was made of this world. "Blood everywhere. Grown men screaming as we helped to pin their struggling limbs down so the surgeon could better examine their wounds. There were tourniquets to be set, injuries to be cleaned and dressed. I leaned over one man this morning who had taken fever from his wounds in the night and tended to his fever while he mumbled on in delirium. He talked of his wife and his children then he began weeping as he realized that he was in pain and that he would probably never see them again. He cried for almost an hour until he died."

Ancalime paused and swallowed to replenish some moisture back in her suddenly dry throat and mouth.

"I tended to another whose foot had been sliced off. He was convinced that he could not live his life out as a cripple and told me that he wanted to die. He asked me to help him end his life and when I did nothing to help him he shouted to the doctors to kill him. I was told to leave him alone as were most of the doctors and nurses at least until the pain medicine began to work, but it did not. He shouted and cried and then he wept and sobbed for a means to an end. When I left this morning I could still hear him…screaming, crying for a way out."

Ancalime stopped and shuddered at the all too vivid memories. Haruka wanted to reassure her, but words were never good with her. The most efficient gauge of her feelings was almost always expressed through her actions. With the hand that had been on Ancalime's waist, Haruka reached up and caressed her cheek gently pulling the Plutonian princess out of her troubled thoughts and back into the world at hand.

"Great expectations are often asked of those so young as us, but I suspect that too much has been asked of you." Haruka spoke softly letting the understanding in her eyes say more than she ever could out loud. "You should get some rest, allow the tide to ebb away for now."

Ancalime shuddered again and looked away. "Would you, Haruka? Could you stumble away from all the cares and curses of this world only take leave to breath again? Fires in the countryside still burn, from the Vandals fledgling flight. They knew we did not have enough soldiers here to send out after them so they set fire to the farms and villages in their way as they fled."

Haruka turned away from her companion, taking solemn note of the white and red blossoms as their colors mixed as they were brought together by the breeze. "Despicable. Those heathens will pay for this."

Ancalime looked back at her. "Will you make them repent, Haruka? Will you make them renounce all that they have done wielding as your weapons vengeance and ruthlessness? Shall you repay them as they have paid you? No, you do not have the power, nor is it up to you to go after them."

Haruka spun around back towards her. "I am one of the Queen's chosen few! What am I to do? Sit here and watch as still more die?"

"What more can you do?" Ancalime challenged calmly. " I only speak the truth, Haruka, do not punish me for it. I know how it pains you to see people suffer or to even hear of their sufferings. You are a kindhearted person, Haruka, your strength lies therein that great heart of yours; but it is not ready. Lord Asclepiodotus told me that you have only just begun your training on Pluto and that it will not be completed for many more long years to come. One day you will be one of this universe's great guardians, but right now you are unprepared. It is natural to feel this way, I beg of you, Haruka, live and let live."

Haruka turned back to the dappled marble pillar and the delicate blossoms at her side, their fragile petals being weaned from the safety of the vines as they intertwined before being blown wearily away. "It is not fair."

"What is not?" Ancalime asked.

Haruka swallowed her own hurt feelings and pride in an effort to keep her voice as even as it had been. "That I cannot help."

Ancalime sighed knowingly. "Really, Haruka, you could not have changed anything had you gotten involved anyway. It would not have mattered either way. Just thank the gods that you survived."

"Thank the gods for cursing me, that's a laugh." Haruka scoffed bitterly.

"No." Ancalime reached out gently and turned Haruka's face so they were staring eye to eye. "For saving you. I have been praying silently to them all day and even in the months and years to come I will continue to thank them in my prayers for bringing you back to me."

Haruka did not know what to say to her. It had been such a stressful night and eventful morning that there was almost no more energy left in her. The ever present trappings of guilt and the twang of grief rang in her ears, the dismal melody weighing her down so that everything seemed to drain from her all at once. Where was her rock which helped her hold steady in the storm? Where was her siren to protect her from the gale?

"Hauruka." Ancalime soothed sincerely, a pleading look to her crystalline eyes. "Nations and governments are petty human attempts to control what they cannot, land and countries are dirt and water, money is metal, power is something we create ourselves, what could possibly be valuable outside of our own lives? All of those things are a part of life, made to supplement life, but they are not life, Haruka. They can be taken away and given without necessarily putting one's own existence at stake, but life itself, is the only item of real value here." Here she paused and reached one hand up to stroke Haruka's cheek gently and brought the other up to rest on Haruka's shoulder just above her heart. "Please, cherish the life I love. It is the only precious treasure worth anything in this world and I would hate to regret not living it to its full potential. Last days where regrets are all you have because you have figured out that you have missed so many opportunities are nothing to want or expect. Regrets are the shadows of life which echo everything we do and stalk our forms over time. We can do nothing, but shield against them. Do not allow them to rule you, Haruka. Do not give in so easily. You have much to live for, much to accomplish, much to be happy for."

Haruka closed her eyes willing the tears not to come. The curtains of despair were closing in on the stage around her and she was drowning, she was the hopeless little performer who could not pull her hands free of the knot in time, could not escape the water tank, the walls of cold and terrifying liquid suffocating her as the light waned and her lungs burned. Deep inside she screamed against the encroaching shadows, against the agonizing ache crushing her chest and the tortured heart fighting to beat beneath. Where was her savior, the stagehand with the ax to break the glass confines and set her free? Where was the light? Why was it leaving her? She felt the walls of her chest as they began to ache no back in reality, though she could not nearly tell the difference. It was just as miserable in both places.

Haruka felt as her shoulders began to shake and her throat tightened and her hands began to shake. Her body convulsed in anguish, though even now, she was trying desperately to hold back the onslaught, the rebuild the crumbling walls she had built around her heart to protect it this past year. But each stone faltered, each one cracked when stacked upon one another and the mortar was nothing more than mud which oozed as if from some puss filled wound and refused to dry. She screwed her eyes shut as hot tears rolled down her cheeks. It was hot out in the yard and the sun made a heroic effort to reach out to her with its warmth, but try as it might, none of its heat penetrated to her core as it shifted as shattered.

Ancalime reached out to her, brushed the wetness from her cheeks and tried to calm her. "Shhhhh, Haruka, it is alright. I am here."

Nothing was alright! What of Setsuna? Lying barely breathing and broken in a bed in a chamber somewhere high above them. Had she not taught and raised Haruka over the last year? Had she not taken her into her home with hardly any qualms? And last night had she not risked her life to save the child she had not bore, but raised just the same? Haruka shuddered as the dam broke and everything brimmed to overflow. Where was the fine gratitude, where was her sword in all of this? She should have done more, though it would have been unlikely that she would have survived it all, but better her than Setsuna who had suffered so much during her lifetime. She had been by Benay the Stablemaster of Setsuna's youth. Quite often after riding practice while he was tending to the horses, Benay would tell her stories of Setsuna as a girl and of the tragic happenings of her later life. Haruka had never told Setsuna about those stories, about what she had been told and she did not intend too. What good would it do? None, it would probably cause more harm than good in fact.

Setsuna did not deserve it, but did she? Haruka swallowed hard and sniffled. She was young. If she were to die now, she would never know what she was truly capable of or what kind of life she could have lived. Death was not a fair thing for either one of them, though one day it was bound to claim them both. Promised to immortality or no, Haruka would not suffer herself to live these moments over and over again for all eternity. She would die first. Though she honestly did not believe that to be the eventual case.

Haruka leaned forward as Ancalime enveloped her contentedly in her arms into a comfortable hug. Though the two did not know it yet, the bulk of their future relationship would be built upon the foundations of moments such as this. Moments of sorrow, understanding, and consoling. A pattern of being dashed upon the rocks and rescued again with the eventual advance and retreat of the waves. Ancalime was the rush of the waves and the safety they offered her. She was the cove and she clung to her as though she may be ripped away at any second's interval. She wanted this, needed this stability, this rock to hang on to when the world and everything else around her threatened to fall down in upon her head.

Haruka sniffled and pulled back to look at Ancalime. "Thank you for being here for me."

"It's alright." Ancalime soothed. "It gets very lonely here. It is not often that I see many children my age. I have enjoyed the company."

Haruka felt a streak of indignant pride rising in her chest. "I cannot say that I have not also enjoyed the company. Being that most of my training thus far has confined me to the safety of Athena Castle, I have not met many friends my age, save for one."

"Was she special to you?" Ancalime asked, treading the uneven ground carefully before she decided to take any more steps on the subject.

Haruka swallowed and looked at her. "How did you know my friend was a girl?"

Ancalime shrugged her shoulders. "A mere guess. Girls seem to take better to keeping other girls as friends, that is all. So, was she special to you?"

Haruka focused her attention away from her on a corner of the roof of the latter awning as it was enveloped and embellished in the sun's golden light. "She still is and always will be."

"Shall you ever see her again?" Ancalime asked reaching out and catching a falling scarlet petal in her palm before the breeze could snatch it up. Gently, she massaged the velveteen leaf between her fingers.

"I do not know." Haruka wondered openly. She reached out one hand to steady herself against a pillar. "I have no way of knowing what my future holds for sure, but I find myself praying every night that we meet again someday, in someway."

Ancalime held her hand out straight as if imparting a sugar cube to a worthy steed and allowed the petal to be swept away, a captive to the will of the unpredictable wind. "I believe you will see her again."

Haruka chuckled. "You have not even met her. You know nothing about her, how can you presume to know such a thing?"

Ancalime narrowed her eyes sternly, but thought better of it and only smiled, crossing her arms across her bodice. "You say I know nothing of her, but already I know one solid fact. She is held in high enough esteem by you to be called friend and that is enough evidence for me."

Ancalime held her hands before her, the stature of a dignified woman captive to the confines of young age. "Haruka of Estoduin, would you care to be my guest of honor at a private dinner tonight?"

Haruka did not much feel like residing in the continual company of people for the night, but she could not refuse this girl and anyway, it was impolite to refuse a request to appear as a another's quest, especially since she was in her debt for leading her out of oblivion when she was lost. And now still she was at a loss she could not explain and this girl, this angel whom had saved her before continued to leave her solace; continued to vie for her continual salvation.

Haruka cleared her throat and bowed slightly, "It would be my pleasure, Lady Ancalime of Lionath and I would be honored to attend as your guest for the evening."

To Haruka's surprise, Ancalime reached out and grasped Haruka's hand firmly in her own, giving it a reassuring squeeze along with a genuinely happy smile. "Thank you. You do not know how much it means to me."

"Of course," Haruka swallowed. It was not common for a Lady of equal standing to bow to another, it was not even proper, but for some reason; Haruka did not mind. She took a deep breath and let it put her muscles and senses at ease. "I look forward to the evening then."

"I'll send someone for you when the time comes."

"I'll be waiting."

Ancalime's smile matched Haruka's in every respect. Then she walked off, pausing every few steps to look back at Haruka, grinning hopelessly until she finally disappeared through the opening in the side wall behind a wall of vines. Haruka sighed as she contemplated the choice she had just made. The sun overhead was a beautiful proclamation of the late morning's splendor against the contrast of the clouds blocking the atmosphere. She wasn't alone anymore. As she stood in the Gazebo, letting the ever faithful wind brush her sandy locks back away from her face and into the open air, she could finally succumb to inner peace.

Haruka felt the burden of the world ease off from her shoulders, if only for a second. The tightness in her chest subsided and for a moment she closed her eyes and allowed herself to forget all that had happened to her in the last twenty four hours: forgot the bloodshed from the previous night, neglected the fear and the regret which had trapped her spirit in unbreakable confines for the last few hours and let the walls she had placed around her heart drop. All she did was feel, as the wind soothed her bruised skin and put at ease her weary soul. The last thought washed over her as sure as the firm pressure of the breeze against her body: she wasn't alone in the world anymore. Another person shared her pain, her contempt for this violent history human beings were intent on living and reliving over and over again without fail.

Ancalime was her rock, her support in the constant storm which seemed to nip at her heels with no regard as to her wish for a peaceful life. Haruka knew her place in life now and she would not miss the chance to go on living. Teal eyes darted back to where Ancalime had stood only seconds before and one hand reached up to her collar to where the silver necklace with the aquamarine stone was hiding. A slight frown overtook her features as she rubbed the blue stone with her thumb, but then the shadow lifted and the notion of hope again came back to her. There was no reason she could not have two friends, leastways one who would be her rock in the storm to come.

As the rays of the sun created gold illusions against the alabaster pillars, the full body of the sun peeking regally over the height of the wall to flood the gazebo with light, filtered down to warm her face Haruka found herself thinking just how small limbo was and how beautiful the heavens must be.

Another chance, Haruka thought, until the night.


Author's Note: This was originally a part of a much larger chapter addition, but since it would take a long time to finish and an even uglier span of time to post, I decided it far to break it off as its own separate entity from what will become chapter eight. It's relatively short and does not show much of the training of either child, but I beg of you all please be patient, the dawn is coming. Read and tell me what you thought of it!! Thank you and Enjoy!!