"An entire drove of hares!"she said to them. "And, of course, I finally learned he difference between a rabbit and a hare, and even a bit of history I wasn't aware of."she admitted.
She was a little embarrassed that Kunzite would know about Aphrodite, Selene, the hare and the rabbit. And here she who thought she knew just about every myth and story about Aphrodite. Almost as if she knew Aphrodite herself. Now what would Aphrodite say if she didn't know exactly why she was being given a hare.
"But he caught one for me himself!"she said, proudly. "Without using a trap, even! And from what I saw, they are anything but easy to catch."
She laughed.
"It was the most amusing thing I've seen!"
"It is part of the ideals of courtly love!"
"Hares? An ideal of courtly love?"
Minako clapped her hands.
"Oh, but of course an ideal of courtly love!"she exclaimed. "Hares are presented as a gift of love! Tsk, tsk, tsk. How amusing! How ironic! We, having lived our entire lives in the Court of Love, and we know so little of this particular thing. I felt pretty embarrassed. But Kunzite has given me my very own drove of hares! And the first thing I shall do with the very hare he gave me will be a delicious hasenpfeffer."
Among her retinue that she had brought with her from Venus, were of course, her cooks, and the next day, they had prepared the hasenpfeffer.
"The exact same one you caught for me."she told Kunzite, as they were served. "I was showing my ladies the drove you gave me. I told them what you said about rabbits and hares. I still haven't gotten over that you knew that and I didn't. Where could you have found it?"
"In the library at Magellan, of course. And the Moon Palace. It's amazing what you can find in books if you look."
"Are you insinuating that I'm not educated enough for a lady of my status?"
"No. I just don't think it's a very well known fact. Catching it alive is the most pleasing way to Aphrodite. I ceased to hunt hares, even if you never noticed. Hares are associated with their fertility, libido, spring, love."
Minako looked impressed.
"If it hadn't been that you knew that part about it and told me, I would have thought you gave me the hare because you thought I needed to eat it so I could remain beautiful for nine days! And keep eating it every nine days. Or you starting to think I was barren."
Kunzite raised his eyebrows.
"You don't need help from the hare or anything else for that matter, to remain beautiful."he told her. "There's no woman in the entire galaxy who could ever be more beautiful than you. None ever existed, nor would it be possible for such a one to exist."
"You know, I've knighted so many, and yet I've never really met a real knight. I mean a real knight."said Minako. "Except for you, of course."
"I've seen you knight many, including myself. And I feel it is the highest honor to have become knighted and accepted into the Order of Aphrodite. Between you and me, I consider it even higher than the Order of Selene, but don't tell anyone I said that."he said.
"Of course, but what I mean, is a real knight, one who knows chivalry, things like that. That aspect of courtly love."
"And what would you define as a knight?"Kunzite was amused.
"Well, those Princess Serenity used to talk about. We went to Mars to see a tournament once. You know on Mars they are very fond of sports, especially archery. It was an archery tournament. And you know, knights who do tournaments, that sort of thing."
"I didn't know you even knew of such a thing on Venus."
Of course he did. He knew just what she meant. That was yet another surprise he had planned.
