A Vow of Serenity
Amber Penglass
Chapter Ten
Thanks To:
Daisy31, Mouse32, Jaz7, allyanna, Fire Dolphin, Taylor9.0, astro, Silenced Doves, Seren Lunar Echo, Serene Amethyst, Paige Halliwell, Faraday, SilentStar-009, UnknownBeauty, love it, AngelGrl185, zilla girl, Moonlightshadows, cute kitten, Carby6, Sapphire Midnight, Anna Chan, Rosaleena,Stef, LibitinaDe Averna, Jing2, Knight Kitten, Silver-Selene, Elizabeth22, Spirit-hime, dezzi, DoomReeper, StarStruckLoser, tearsofthefallen, SJ, Sumire-kun, Terri.
Adyen (Thanks for letting me know about the double paragraphs!)
Nimbirosa (Oh, goodness, moving? I've moved a lot, you have my heartfelt good lucks all around. Hope you like the new place!)
MintChocolate5 (Yes, the meeting of Senshi and Generals will be quite interesting, I promise...mwahaha...)
Istar (I know I already replied to you in an e-mail, m'darling beta, but I thought I'd go ahead and give you a shout out anyways. You know I file and save all your critique for reference for when I go to turn this into a novel? Yes, yes I do.)
Vampire-Haruka (Yes, all the Senshi will be making an appearance eventually.)
AirDreanna (First off, yes, this story will eventually be made originally and published. Second, you're right that Gaea would be more suited to Endymion...I think I had a reason for assigning her to Makoto, but now I can't remember... -sigh- I hate it when I do that...)
Chibi J (You voiced several excellent points in your review, and although I'd love to write a gazillion page reply, I'll just address the point you made about Endymion assigning his mages to the memory mystery; I believe I said 'all available' mages, meaning any that weren't being used for the war effort. All mages have different talents in different areas, and mages who specialize in memory or mind healing wouldn't nessecarily be all that usefull on the battlefield, now would they? But it's a good point, and one I will have to clarify in the rewrite. So thanks for pointing it out!)
TenshiSailor (Good point with the incest. But no, that's not the case; Endymion is simply Gaea's chosen, not her descendant. Even if he were, he and Serenity would be so far down the line of descendants that incest really wouldn't be an issue. I mean, regardless of if you believe in evolution or divine creation (as I do), we all came from the same two peopleor same batch of monkeys, so we're all related anyways when you think about it...Just really, really, really distantly.)
Counterfeit Lord (Do you have a girlfriend? Are you married? Can I marry you? You totally made my day with that review, and it was, as I recall, a rather icky day for personal reasons and you just cheered me right up. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for tha glorious review. I'm sorry to see you don't have any writings posted; someone with such a good grasp of what it means to be a writer -enjoying it, letting it follow, etc- I have no doubt would be a credible writer themselves. So again, I thank you, and did I mention I live in Vegas? Lovely little wedding chapel ten minutes away...)
SlrMagica (Good Lord, I'm DYING to find out where you saw me referenced! Aria's Ink, you say? I checked out that site -which is positively lovely- and I found nothing! tears I'd like to thank whoever credited me, if you still know. Aside from that, thanks for the lovely comment!)
Diana Joy (Yes, I ended up agreeing with you and a few others who mentioned that the ending of chapter nine seemed rushed. If you go back and look, you'll see I altered it. As for Serenity being stalker-ish, well...it's my opinion that the manga portrays her that way anyways, since it's fate and all.)
Midnight Nemesis (Oh, you'll see it completed one day...on a Barnes & Noble's bookshelf, at that...)
Shinigami (Makoto joins the guard in this chapter, actually. As for the others, you'll just have to wait and see like everyone else. .)
Eme ('Fraid you'll have to wait a bit longer for some ass-kicking lightning Jupiter action, sorries.)
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:
Everyone who read chapter nine less than three days after it was posted, please return to chapter nine and note that at the end, Minako no longer actually confronts Serenity, she stops short. If you're not sure which version you read, please go back and refresh yourself, otherwise this will seem slightly confusing. My deepest apologies for breaking continium, but based on the advice of friends and betas and my own nit picky inner muse, I decided to re do Serenity and Minako's meeting, which warranted the editing of chapter nine. Thank you, and enjoy.
-Amber
This is where the last chapter ended;
…So, when the Princess Serenity turned on her heel, purposefully, Minako gambled the lives of her friends, her King, and the victory of her adopted Kingdom when she dropped all her disguises, stepped out into plain view and asked the question that would determine how the rest of both her life and the life of Princess Serenity went.
Minako opened her mouth to ask that question-
"Commander!" A young, male voice called out, urgently. A youth, no more than fifteen –another who had lied about his age to join the military, no doubt- came skidding into view at the end of the wide 'alley' between Serenity's cabin and the ones next to hers. "Comma- Oh, good, WarMage, sir!"
Minako receded into the shadows, cursing swiftly to herself. Then, just as swiftly, she realized that she had probably been saved. What would the supposedly dead princess have done? Welcomed her with open arms, trusted her on sight? No. Warmage 'Nathai' had to be a decently cautious individual, to have survived so long. Minako knew this. So, back to plan A it was… It was a better one, one that would arrange things so that Rei would be present to vouch for her when she at last revealed that the Elysians knew of Princess Serenity's secret.
Silently thanking whatever deity had sent the youth when they had, Minako backed away into the shadows, watching as the young officer babbled off about something relatively important to the exiled princess in disguise…
Under any other circumstance, Serenity would have found Cadet Melvi's enthusiasm amusing, even contagious. The news he bore, though, thoroughly eradicated any amusement she might have derived from his glowing-from-being-so-near-the-most-famous-WarMage-ness.
A scouting party had gone missing nearly four days ago. Leading it had been the blonde youth that had assisted Serenity in that battle when first arriving at Fort Prism seemingly so long ago, whose name she had finally learned was –or had been- Aiden Roshan. Suspicion, naturally, ran rampant in Serenity's mind. Guilt, too…she somehow doubted the Elysians would be as heartless to her men as the Namorisians would have been to Elysians, but she nevertheless felt responsible for not following up on her knowledge that 'Aiden' was a spy. She had assumed Aiden's only goal would be herself or Rei. She'd been arrogant, and it had cost her five good men.
There had been no sign of them. Serenity wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not… No sign meant no bodies, but it also meant they had no idea about the safety of their Fort. Those men had left before most of the new defenses had at last been finalized within the last few days, but still… As a precaution, Serenity had completely re-arranged the sentry/scout routes and routines, and posted extra watches, and flung up a few extra movement-triggered wards. It was all she could do.
But that had been then. This was now, and Cadet Melvi was rambling off that shortly after she'd left with the letter from the capitol, Commander Benhail had been called away to meet a second messenger, this one being one of their own scouts. Makoto 'Benhail' had sent for Serenity right away.
Serenity entered the large tent a ways away that would now serve as 'Coniah Benhail's office. Inside, the stench of sickness assaulted Serenity's nostrils. No longer a delicate, sheltered princess, she nevertheless found herself whipping up a stench-filtering cloud beneath her nose. Her eyes brightened, though, when she spied the man leaning heavily into the chair he sat in; he was one of the missing scouting party!
Then she registered the man's battered, beaten, thoroughly ill form. Ami was there, the light blue glow of her healing power already flowing from her hands into his. With 'his' arms crossed, Makoto stood to the side, frowning severely.
"What's happened?" Serenity asked. She took note for the first time in a while, perhaps in spite of her newly revealed-to-Rei-secret, of just how masculine her disguised voice sounded…it threw her off, and she suppressed a wince.
"WarMage…" the man wheezed. Serenity unconsciously laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Hush, soldier," she told him comfortingly. "Rest a moment." She turned to Makoto. "What do you know?"
"Lieutenant Fiore just stumbled into camp a few minutes ago," Makoto told her, her own voice deceptively deeper. "I was already here, in my 'office,' so I sent for you and Kenn. So far, poor guy's been too dead on his feet to say a word."
"Spy," came the croak just as Makoto finished speaking. Both Commanders looked to the man, who managed a shaky breath and a thankful nod to Ami. "Sirs, there's a spy in your midst. I don't know if she's returned or not, but she will."
Instantly, Ami, Makoto and Serenity exchanged tense glances. What was this man talking about? Was he talking about them? The man's next words cleared their fears, but launched a new one.
"That new blonde boy, Roshan, sirs. Turned into a girl right in front of us, he did, when we was ambushed by some filthy Elysians." He spat on the floor, then instantly looked sheepish. "Beggin' your pardon, sirs… They kept us locked up, they did. I managed to escape, though…don't know what'll happen to the others…" He turned glum.
"Did they beat you? Not feed you? Ridicule you?" Serenity found herself asking, half challenging, half wanting to confirm her own suspicions about how Elysians treated their prisoners… To her triumph, the man hesitated, then admitted, "No, sir."
"As for Roshan, we were already aware of his…spyness," Serenity searched for the proper word, and settled on a semi-invented one.
"Twas a she, sire. Like I said, changed right in front of us…"
"Really." Makoto's voice was impassive. She and Serenity exchanged glances again, while Ami's eyes, fixated on her task of bandaging one of the man's feet, glimmered a bit. All wondered what this could mean…
"I assumed 'she' was after myself or the Elysian princess," Serenity told the man with a hint of a mournful sigh. "That was my mistake. I'm sorry you had to pay for it…" she resisted the urge to bite her lip. She sure had been making a lot of mistakes, lately…
"Nothing more to be done now," Makoto observed. "Healer Kenn, please get this man to the infirmary bungalow. Get some food in him."
"Of course, sir," Ami kept a respectful tone in her voice, but was unable to suppress the hint of an amused twitch out of the movement of her lips. Pretending obedient subservience to a good friend was too odd a sensation to resist all humor. The moment the blue-haired healer moved to help the man to his feet, however, the enthusiastic Cadet Melvi made another appearance, bursting in, pausing long enough for a brief salute to the two present Commanders, then began spouting off…
"Slow down!" Makoto groused. Instantly, Melvi halted his blurtings, took a deep breath, then repeated himself in an intelligible fashion.
"Sirs, another of the missing scouting party just showed up. They're escorting him in now, they sent me ahead. He wants to talk to the Commander right away, sirs, and is in sore need of a healer, but since Healer Kenn was already here…"
They were saved from further ramblings, even if they were tolerably slower, by a trio of men entering the office tent, which suddenly felt much, much smaller than Serenity had thought previously. Between two of the men -sentries- was the roughened, shivering, bloody Aiden Roshan.
Fiore and Minako-disguised-as-Roshan spotted each other at the same time. Together, they exclaimed, "Elysian!" and "Oh, shit." respectively. Fiore, despite his weakened state, leaped for the Elysian, his obvious intent to tackle and strangle halted by Ami, who grabbed him by the half-finished bandaging around his torso and hauled him back, half tossing andhalf shoving him back into his chair and sitting on him to keep him there.
"Control yourself, Lieutenant!" Makoto snapped, and while Fiore glared and glowered at 'Roshan,' he obeyed, wincing as Ami shifted while getting off him once she was convinced he would listen to Makoto.
When the Commanders didn't rebuke the accusation, the sentries on either side of 'Roshan' tightened their hold on the man that, momentarily ago, they'd been holding onto to support, not to restrain. Serenity approached the spy, meeting his gaze. Well, this was certainly unexpected... Very unexpected, and Serenity has having a hard time reigning in her surprise and her sudden lack of knowledge of how to deal with this mess that had just been dropped into her lap. She hadn't forgotten how he'd helped her the day of the attack, defending her while –as she had been- avoiding actually killing anyone…
"What's your name?" She asked. "Your real name? Are you truly under a glamour, truly a woman, as the good Lieutenant claims?"
'Roshan's' lips pressed into a firm, almost pouty straight line. "Requesting privacy before I answer that, sir."
Behind Serenity, Makoto snorted. "'Sir?' We're not your superiors, spy. Don't bother with titles." 'Roshan's' gaze flitted from Serenity to Makoto, registering the new face.
"All right," 'he' said. "But I still want to talk to the WarMage alone, to explain a few things first."
"More like to murder him, y'mean!" Fiore growled.
"Enough, Lieutenant!" Makoto barked. "Healer Kenn, please escort him out of here."
Ami wanted to stay, that much was obvious. It was just as obvious that they'd have more luck getting the Elysian to talk with fewer ears. Serenity was considering dismissing everyone- she was pretty sure she could handle one injured spy. She was, after all, the WarMage…
But then she frowned, spying something she hadn't seen before. A well-hidden, absolutely brilliant-once-spotted swell of power within the turncoat before her. It was small and condensed, but all the more powerful for it… 'Roshan' was trying to hide that 'he' was very, very magically inclined.
"Leave," Serenity commanded suddenly, directing the words to the two sentries. They tensed, hesitated, then at last left 'Roshan' to stand on 'his' own, and moved to stand outside the tent. Serenity wove a simple sound-blocking spell, making a mental note to install a permanent one later on, then planted her hands on her hips as she examined the dilemma before her.
"Whatever you have to say, it can be said in front of my Commander," Serenity told the blonde. 'Roshan' hesitated.
"I would like to have Princess Rei present." Roshan said after a moment of heavy silence She added, "There are things you need to know, WarMage, that she can verify."
Serenity and Makoto exchanged calculating glances. It would be a good way, if nothing else, for Serenity to offer…what? A peace offering to Rei, perhaps? One of trust? She nodded, then, and Makoto left. 'Roshan' and Serenity stood, sizing each other up. Serenity took the opportunity to discreetly delve deeper into her 'subordinate,' examining that well of power that was oddly familiar.
Minako, in turn, took a moment to scrutinize the woman-glamoured-as-a-man before her. A princess disguised as a soldier, a sorceress hiding as a WarMage, a young woman wrapped in the duties of a far older adult… Respect began to solidify within the exiled royal. She was distracted from this odd feeling, though –Minako rarely trusted- by a new sensation.
'Rei!' her heart and mind together exclaimed. Coming closer; she'd recognize that low, simmering heat of an aura anywhere. She turned to face the entrance to the tent at the same moment the Priestess-Princess Rei of Elysian was ushered in ahead of Commander Benhail.
Rei, in a simple but well mended set of prisoner's pants and shirt, came up short when she took in the sight of a battered, bloodied, obviously still very cold blonde man that stood only a scant inch or two shorter than her. The face was foreign to her, utterly and completely.
But…
That stance…
That grin, so bright and open…
And those eyes, that suddenly flickered from a man's plain brown to a woman's brilliant, lash-fringed blue…
And that particular shade of blonde, shimmering like frosted gold even beneath the grime and the melting snow…
Rei hadn't gotten to be High Priestess of the Flame for nothing- fire had a way of revealing truth, of searing away lies. And just so, that same quality of truth-revealing granted itself to Rei at the precise moment she needed it.
"Mi…" she choked, an odd occurrence for her. For once, she didn't care. She swallowed, tried again, taking a step away from Makoto and towards the strange 'man.' "Minako?"
A minut shake of her head, and Rei halted her sudden advance towards the girl, an accusingly confused look on her face. Then, shaking herself free of her shock, as much as she could, she understood. She looked sharply to Serenity and commanded, "Put up a silencing shield."
Eyelids lowered into a flat-expression of a glower, Serenity grumbled, "What do you take me for? There's always a shield on my offices." She crossed the proverbial fingers behind her back, not wanting the critical woman to know that she'd only just moments ago reinforced a temporary one...
"Just making sure," the blonde spy chirped, then with a flamboyancy that once and for all told Rei who the newcomer was, the blonde dispelled an impressively complex glamouring spell that even Makoto whistled at, softly, as layer after layer dissipated into a swirling vortex of golden glitter. When the last layer peeled away from her skin, the only three things left of the dead-on-his-feet soldier Roshan was the hair color, the eyes, and the battered Namorisian uniform.
"Minako!" Rei breathed, striding forward and in one big swoop gathering the shorter woman into her arms and holding her tight, cursing softly under her breath the whole while. "Damn blonde idiot," she hissed, still holding Minako. "Should have known you'd be stupid enough to try something like this…damn, damn, damn idiot…"
"Missed you too, highness," Minako grinned, returning the embrace.
"Ahem," Makoto cleared her throat, a rare attempt at tact on her part. Minako and Rei pulled apart, exchanging a smile that brought a twist of guilt to Serenity's heart- she'd never seen Rei smile like that, and she knew that it was, in part, her fault. She flushed with the shame of knowing she'd inadvertently caused one of her friends pain- or at least a lack of joy, and gazed at the dirty ground for a long moment before another of Makoto's 'ahems' brought them all back to the matters at hand.
"All right, guess that means you get out of the firing squad," Serenity declared sagely, crossing her arms and lifting her nose. Rei sent her a withering glare while Minako, picking up on the teasing laying beneath Serenity's tones, stifled a laugh. It was the last laugh, however, as following that statement Serenity dropped her pretensious air and posture and instead said, "But seriously, now that we know you mean no harm, whoever you are…why are you here? If you were here to rescue Rei, you could have infiltrated my cabin, taken her, run…"
"The answer should be obvious, highness," Minako turned from her previous position of facing Rei, and now turned to fully face Serenity, if nothing else than to take in the flawless expression of sheer, undulated shock that poured over the WarMage's features. Behind her, Makoto tensed, a hand going to the bronze-hilted dagger at her side. Unexpectedly, Rei's hand snapped out and clenched over Makoto's. Violet eyes clashed with green for a moment, and for that moment Serenity was distracted from the odd sensation –and shock- of someone using her title as she and Minako both stared at the two taller women.
The tension could have been cut with the sharpest blade in the world, and even then only very slowly. Then, with the slightness of grass growing, Makoto moved her hand off her dagger hilt.
"You've found loyal friends, highness," Minako observed, half to herself as she and Makoto exchanged a terse stare. "At least I have part of an answer to one question…"
"What question might that be?" Makoto growled.
Even though it had been the brunette that had asked, Minako flashed a grin to Serenity instead when she answered, "The question of how a princess born and raised to luxury managed to not only survive, but thrive in the harsh world of the Namorisian military. The answer, at least in part, is good and loyal friends. Highness."
"All right, enough with the princess stuff!" Serenity snarled, not without a hint of a panicked pout behind her tones. She clenched her fists at her sides, hunching her shoulders as if it would help disguise some bit of herself that had given her away…
"This will all go a lot quicker and easier if you stop denying it," Minako replied tersely.
"Perhaps you should explain how you know Casamir's true identity," Rei interceded smoothly, with all the grace of the princess-priestess she was. Minako's nostalgic grin was fleeting as she glanced at Rei and nodded, then looked back to Serenity at the same time the mage summoned a pair of fold-out seats from across the room. The back-less seats unfolded themselves, and she and Makoto sat on them while Rei and Minako took seats on the other two folding chairs leaning against the pole behind them. It was growing dark in the tent, and the single oil lamp swinging above them flickered in a particularly eerie manner when Minako at last spoke.
"Your Mage Trials were sabotaged, were they not?"
Serenity stiffened. No one, not ever, was to know anything about her Trials…it was taboo… But what use was it denying it? If nothing else, she trusted Rei, and she couldn't ignore the nagging sensation in her gut that said even without Rei, she would have eventually come to trust this 'Minako' character…this character who'd had plenty of opportunities to kill her, to steal Rei from beneath their noses, and yet hadn't…why? Serenity knew the answer. Minako had a higher agenda, and not necessarily a bad one, if Serenity's instinct about her was right. And Serenity had yet to be wrong about someone…at least, not to that degree. She hoped.
"Yes," she replied after a moment, still an indignant growl in her voice, as if she were a child who's hide-and-seek hiding place had been found out far too quickly for her liking. "Someone, I still don't know who, tried to destroy my will by tormenting me with illusions…illusions of people I'd cared about. Including…" she licked her lips, a flush spreading across her feminine-even-under-the-glamour-cheeks. "Including…"
"Including King Endymion," Minako finished for her.
Together, Rei and Makoto raised eyebrows of interest and surprise, respectively. Serenity's flush deepened, though she had no earthly idea why it was there in the first place.
"You've never met my brother," Rei said darkly. "And you'd only just met me."
"I know," Serenity grumbled. "I don't much understand it myself, but…but when I…" she raised a hand, placing it over her heart, her gaze suddenly turning inward. She felt a soft glow begin to gather there, inside her. She closed her eyes, envisioning the moment she'd laid eyes on the furious Elysian king, and felt a shiver run through her, a shiver that flowed through the second memory of when he'd appeared to her in her Trial…
"I can't explain it," the white haired princess declared, her hand moving away from her heart and her eyes snapping open. "I think I felt like I knew him, somehow, maybe guilt over the trouble I've caused him and his people… Or maybe just pity," she added dryly, "for having Beryl after him…"
Minako beamed at her, even as Rei and Makoto snickered.
"He felt it, in any case," Minako continued, clasping her hands behind her in a decidedly feminine way, degrading any suspicion anyone present might have had that it was the woman that was the illusion, and that 'Aiden Roshan' might have been using this as a last minute ploy to save his life. "He felt that something…sinister was using his image. I managed to find a way for him and I both to ride the currents of the Fourth Dimension to arrive to the place in the plane that Trials take place. King Endymion asserted control over his own image and…well, you remember the rest."
"Yeah…" Serenity murmured, pondering to herself. Her gaze fell to the floor as she visibly muddled over this new information, then abruptly her eyes snapped back up to stare accusingly at Minako. "Hey, but that means you've known that I was alive for months! How come you never did anything til now?"
"That's…" Minako hesitated, glancing off to the side and pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. She looked to Rei, as if asking, silently, for permission… Permission for what, even Rei wasn't sure. But she nodded anyways. Any hurt and distrust that had been dealt earlier that afternoon had faded with the shock, and whatever else she and Serenity needed to deal with, the bottom line was that Rei still trusted Serenity.
"That's something even we're not sure about. Somehow, Endymion and I both forgot the…specifics of the incident right after it happened." Minako crossed her legs, looking uncomfortable. Serenity would have been, too, if she'd found out her memories had been fiddled with.
"All right," Makoto said slowly, with a deadly sort of casualness in her voice. "Assuming you're to be believed, that explains why you hadn't moved on your knowledge of Princess Serenity's living state and location til now, but then how did you remember who and where she was?"
"Right now I'm chalking it up to divine interference and timing," Minako answered sheepishly, admitting she wasn't entirely sure how things had happened. "All we knew was that the 'boy' in the sabotaged Trial was the one holding Rei, and we also figured out that 'he' was actually a 'she.' To get more information, my King transferred a memory of seeing Serenity to the mind of our royal portraitor. He recognized her immediately…turns out he already had a portrait of the legendarily elusive Princess Serenity already. As soon as my King saw it, he remembered. And as soon as I was told that the woman-disguised-as-a-man was her, I remembered. It was an…interesting experience, believe me. Not like the memory had been erased and restored, but more like…more like we'd never bothered to remember til now. Like a misplaced book, or something…"
Makoto and Serenity's gaze met. Silently, Serenity asked, Do you believe her? Just as silently, Makoto seemed to reply, Surprisingly, yes.
"All right, then what?" Serenity leaned forward, like a little girl listening to her favorite story as she planted her elbows on her knees and rested her chin in her hands. Except, of course, for the steely glint to the way she fixed her gaze on Minako. That had nothing childish about it.
"I was already in place to infiltrate this camp," Minako told her. "Whoever had been attacking Fort Prism for the last few weeks had been doing so without authorization. We'd been operating on the assumption that Rei was being held hostage, still. Under that situation, its protocol to consider the fact that Rei could have been…disposed of."
Serenity bristled, but Minako plunged on. "When the scouting party I was put in charge of was ambushed I…" she flushed, here, clearly embarrassed. "I lost it. I announced who I was, demanded to see the idiot who'd been attacking without clearance… Then, well, I found out about you, and came back."
"You're leaving something out," Makoto growled.
"Of course she is," Rei snapped. "You moved to hold a dagger to her throat, and you were joking about a firing squad." She glared at Makoto and Serenity in turn.
"Key word there being 'joke!'" Serenity retorted hotly.
"Sure, silvertop," Rei snorted. Serenity blinked, surprised at the sudden use of the raven haired woman's old nickname for her. She shook it off, consciously, but was unable to completely dispel the desperately sweet warmth that gathered in her chest. Minako saw it, though- or rather, sensed it, sensed the sudden hope and happiness radiating from Serenity like a brilliant golden beacon… She let herself bask in it for a moment. Surrounded by soldiers and hardened men for the majority of her assignment, it was pleasant to feel such rawly pure emotions…
It was that, more than anything else, that at last convinced her to go ahead and dare to ask questions of her own.
"So, Princess Serenity…care to explain what you're doing hiding out in the military, why you befriended rather than enslave my King's sister, and why you avoid at nearly all costs killing Elysians whenever this camp was attacked?"
There was tact in Minako's tactlessness, Rei admitted to herself even as she buried her face in her hands and suppressed a groan at her friend's blunt words.
Serenity stared at her fellow blonde –even if she wasn't blonde anymore- for a long, hard moment. When she spoke, it was with the voice of a woman. Somehow, speaking with her glamour-voice would, she thought, cheapen what she had to say. All along, she'd been telling Rei that if her vows were to be met they needed to work together, Namorisian and Elysian, side by side, one goal, together… Now was her chance to further draw the Elysian people into her hopes and plans for peace.
There would be no going back.
If she opened her mouth and once and for all confirmed who and what she was, that was it. The Elysians would know that the Princess Serenity of Namoris was alive. It would get back to her father, eventually.
She would be a traitor.
But to who?
A traitor to her father, to Beryl, to the Namorisian way.
…No, a traitor to the House of Solarian way. Not the Namorisian way. Not the people's way… She wouldn't be betraying true Namoris, the heart that was every man, every woman, every child… In the end, she would be saving them, saving them from the blackness that had been swallowing their kingdom since its creation
She looked at Minako, and as she did so she let her glamour fall away. Suddenly the sleek silver-white ponytail was softer, longer, the lashes framing crystalline blue eyes soft and full, the gentle pink mouth perfectly situated between a button nose and a delicately stubborn chin. The uniform hung loose around her petite frame, only hinting at the soft curves beneath the rough fabric.
"I am Princess Serenity," She confirmed, once and for all, for better or for worse.
No going back.
"And I am not hiding, not anymore. At first, yes…yes, I was hiding, I admit it." She looked to Rei, then to Makoto, then back to Minako, meeting their gazes with every ounce of royalty her small body possessed, and doing it effortlessly. "Then I saw something. A new recruit, a soldier. On my first day of my own recruitment… He was barely more than a boy. A boy who probably wouldn't see his next birthday, or the next Mid-Winter Festival, or kiss his first sweetheart. Why? Because of my father's greed and my sister's lust. Because I had sat back for most of my life and been content to hide while they ruined lives, countless lives. Because that lack of action had let them use my faked death as an excuse to start a pointless, needless war. I vowed, right then and there, that I would stop this war that I caused, no matter the cost. No matter…" She trailed off, her small, slender hands gripping the fabric of her grey pants til her knuckles turned white, her elbows trembling slightly. But she wasn't done.
"That wasn't the only vow I made. I vowed to end the war, but I also vowed to never again be blindly obedient, like I was to the man who called himself my father. I vowed I'd never run from a fight, not when my friends were on the line, that I'd never hide." Here, she locked glossy gazes with Makoto, and the green eyed Amazon knew she was thinking of Naru, and she swallowed harshly with the memory of her old, sweet redheaded friend. Serenity looked back to Minako, and continued, "Not only did I vow to end the war, but I vowed –to the Goddess herself, I vowed!- to restore peace to my kingdom. Last, I vowed to reclaim the throne that is mine by divine and lawful decree."
"The most powerful heir becomes Crown Heir," Rei murmured, reciting Namorisian law. "That's right…the day of the royal procession of Beryl's crowning, you put out a fire with a single thought, a fire your sister had barely made a dent against… You are Heir by law."
Minako had hardly heard. She'd kept her gaze on Serenity the whole while, using all her senses –physical and otherworldly- to monitor the young woman's responses to her own words. Minako hadn't seen such sincerity, such determination, and such overwhelming love for the people she claimed to be trying to serve in a long time… Minako made a decision, then. She leaned forward in her seat beside Rei, locking gazes with the white haired princess across from her.
"At the same time I found out about you, while at the camp of that idiot, I got word from the capitol that your people are planning one final, inconceivably huge assault." She met Serenity's gaze head on with an intensity that Rei, behind her, realized to herself that she hadn't seen in a long, long time from the usually chipper blonde. "I need to know if you know; is this true?"
Serenity returned the intense gaze and nodded, once. "Yes, it's true. Beryl will be leading it. I can only assume she has an ace up her sleeve, to get father to let her assume such an awesome role…She's aggressive, and good with a sword, but she's no general. She must have some hidden power, some hidden weapon…"
"Whatever it is, it must be what our mages have been sensing," Minako murmured to herself, thinking of the dark uneasiness Nephlite had reported. She stood up, looking down at Serenity. "Well, here's my ace. What you've been doing here is great and all, but I'm prepared an authorized to offer you sanctuary in Elysian."
Rei and Makoto had their ways of showing surprise; Rei with a startled, small gasp, and Makoto with the sudden withdrawal of her dagger and rising to her feet.
"You're crazy!" Makoto cried. "Crazy if you think we'll just waltz into your trap…!" She trailed off when she discovered that Serenity didn't look at all suspicious, or affronted, and that Rei was looking at the pair of shorter women with something akin to surprised approval.
"Sanctuary?" Serenity echoed. She stood. "Is that all? Didn't you hear me tell you all about my vows? I can't abandon them. If by sanctuary you mean 'protective custody' then thanks, but no thanks. I need to stay here, where I can help…" She halted her tirade when she saw Minako's amused gaze. "What?" she groused, suddenly feeling self conscious and blushing slightly over her mini-rant.
"You wouldn't be locked away and unused, if that's what you think. You're a WarMage, Serenity, as well as a Princess. You have intimate knowledge of how the higher rings of authority work, military as well as political."
"I was never much part of politics," Serenity grumbled.
"You've still got more of a feel for the inner details of the Namorisian political climate than any of us," Rei pointed out. Makoto glared at her, a glare that Rei effortlessly ignored.
"And you know how Beryl thinks, better than any of us. And if she's the one leading this huge attack-to-be…" She let it go at that when Serenity at last sighed and sat back down, burying her face in her hands. There was silence for a moment, as Serenity tried to process all that had been handed to her.
She wanted to whine that she didn't want to deal with all this, run away, grab some pasties from her secret stash, curl up in bed and go to sleep for a long, long time…
Instead, she raised her eyes to Minako and with a steely tone that was an eerie imitation of some of her sister's coldest, most definite tones she said, "Tell me what you had in mind for getting us out of Namoris and what would happen once we succeeded."
Stinging beads of sweat and lancing rays of light both poured out from brows and a golden crystal, respectively. Gasping breaths occasionally made their way out from between stubbornly pursed lips. Wrinkles of tension formed at the corner of those tightly shut eyes, and a pair of broad shoulders began to shake with fatigue.
Lazy…he'd been lazy…and now his whole kingdom might pay… Twelve years, he'd been in full control –not just 'family influence'- of the Golden Crystal, and twelve years he'd let his pride keep him away from the sacred chamber he now knelt in, forcing the stubborn bit of mineral to acknowledge him.
The moment he let up, he felt the second presence in the immense chamber that was lit only by the glowing two-dimensional golden diamond hovering between his hands. He let the radiant miniature sun fade down to a dim glow, gasping and sweating. Heavy, booted footfalls came up behind him, and another knee joined his on the black marble floor.
"You need to rest, majesty," a whisky-rough voice murmured beside him. Endymion sighed, pushed himself to his feet despite his exhaustion.
"No, I need to build my stamina with this thing…no telling when I'll get a chance to rest when the final battle is upon is," the king replied, closing his eyes and again preparing to draw his shreds of control into him…
Nephlite stopped him, laying a hand on his liege lord's shoulder.
"Endymion," Nephlite said, iron in his voice. "You need to stop. If nothing else, because you need to hear what I have to say." He tried to keep his tone neutral, honest, he had…but he didn't quite succeed… Endymion paused, opening his eyes and looking to Nephlite while the Golden Crystal faded, suddenly lacking its master's full attention.
"What have you found about Rei? Minako?" Endymion guessed correctly as to the nature of whatever it was Nephlite had come to talk to him about. Nephlite sighed, and cocked his head towards the door. Endymion set the Golden Crystal back upon the black marble pedestal that held it, where it hovered gently and glowed even more so. He lead the way out of the chamber as was proper, turning to face his General only when the two of them left the deserted wing of the palace reserved for that single sacred room and instead entered Endymion's personal study.
"What news?" Endymion demanded, going to a shelf held between two dark bookcases, avoiding looking at his reflection in the ornate golden mirror having above that shelf, the shelf that he now relieved of its burden of a bottle of alcoholic nature and two hand-carved crystal shot glasses.
"Agent Aino contacted us this morning, with news on both Rei and…" He hesitated, taking the glass Endymion offered him and holding it steady while the king filled both his own and his General's with the amber liquid from the decanter.
"And what?" He urged.
"That girl, the one whose supposed to be Princess Serenity. I'm just not sure what to call her…"
"Call her by her title," Endymion said simply, as if it were obvious, and drained his glass. Nephlite snorted and followed suit.
"All right. Apparently, Princess Serenity is asking for asylum in Elysian."
Endymion gave a very rare sign that he'd been caught off-guard- his pouring-hand jerked, splashing strong-smelling brand onto his sleeve. He frowned at the stain absently, before dismissing it and properly pouring himself and Nephlite another shot.
"Well, that was unexpected," Endymion admitted. He bottomed-up the glass, then tossed it back towards the shelf. At the last moment he controlled its flight, setting it down gently in its place. Not amused, Nephlite drowned his second shot.
"Rei is vouching for her, apparently," Nephlite told his king. Endymion raised an eyebrow at his subordinate, who shrugged, rolling the sparkling shot glass between his big hands. "Minako passed on all the proper passwords and such to prove the message had come from her. She didn't have long to talk, which was why we didn't call you to talk to her yourself. She only had long enough to say that Princess Serenity wants to leave Namoris and come to our side. Both figuratively and literally, it seemed. They've scheduled a second communications, though, soon. Apparently the Namorisian princess didn't think it safe to send out a second so suspiciously scrambled transmission any sooner."
"She is a WarMage," Endymion conceded. "They keep track of one another. Other WarMages in the area might have figured out who the message went to, but as long as it was in Minako's signature, and not Princess Serenity's, there are things they can do to cover their tracks. But another one from her, and they'll start wondering why Serenity, supposedly so powerful a Mage, isn't sensing or is allowing someone in her camp to send messages into enemy territory."
"Precisely. Which is why Serenity will be conducting the next transmission, according to Agent Aino," Nephlite told the king, relishing the look of surprise on the face of the normally very well composed monarch.
"When, did you say?"
"Three days, majesty."
"Set up the communications globe in my chambers, the one Minako is attuned to." Endymion said suddenly, with the air of a decision come to swiftly, but not lightly. "When that transmission comes in, I want to be the first to talk to our fugitive Princess."
"I'll get on it right away," Nephlite bowed a bit, right hand crossing his chest to lightly place his fist over his heart. Endymion gave his Third-In-Command General an amused grin- the proud warrior hardly ever showed such blatant subjugation to anyone, even his own king. Nephlite turned, and left, leaving Endymion to wonder if he should go over the newest battle reports, take that audience his Social Keeper had been nagging to accept from that…whatshername heiress from up north, or…
Crystal it was.
Endymion returned to the sacred chamber, took the Golden Crystal again into his grasp, and once more set to melding the stubborn glob of magic to his every whim.
On the third day of agonizing waiting, of wondering if the Princess would be smart enough to let him see his sister as a motion of good will or not, Endymion found himself more irritable than anyone remembered him being since the whole war had started, approaching seven months previous.
All during those few days, the King of Elysian found himself obsessing over the Princess of Namoris. He had the old portrait done by that Michiru Kaiou –whom had yet to be located- framed and moved to his room, and he found himself lazily gazing at it as often as he studiously scrutinized it. She had to be notably intelligent –or insurmountably lucky- to have hidden so well and thoroughly, and out in the open, under her father's nose, he thought. That she was a gifted mage was evident- no one less would have been able to hide such blatant feminism for so long among so many men.
It had also occurred to him that she was charismatic, that she may have help, that she already had those loyal to a theoretical Queen Serenity of Namoris…
Endymion had a very good idea what the 'dead' royal would want in return for aiding him defeating her kingdom; her throne. He personally had no qualms about putting who was –in all legality, actually- the rightful ruler, and also someone who would be inclined to get along with his own domain beneath the heavy crown Namoris. If she could keep it…that was another story, and one that wasn't his problem.
When the morning of the third day arrived, Endymion denied cursory summons and reminders of breakfast, warchamber meetings, new news from the warfront, all in favor of sitting in his locked-up-tight room and staring at the large communications globe that sat on a desk that had been moved into his chambers for the sole purpose of holding that globe. Eventually, when morning became afternoon, he forced himself out of his chambers in favor of the sacred chamber and several hours of wrestling with the Golden Crystal that had become complacent and stubborn in the absence of any use for twelve years.
When exhaustion was on the brink of claiming him, Endymion stopped. He replaced the Crystal, and left the sacred hall, dragging himself down to the kitchens on his own, as he'd missed breakfast, lunch, and dinner alike. Bowing cooks and blushing scullery maids scrambled to prepare something suitable on the brief notice they got. Endymion downed the quail egg soup in a still steaming bread bowl and a goblet of fine wine without any comment to the simplicity of the fare. It was a nice change, in an odd way he reflected to himself when he thanked the staff and retreated once again to the royal wing of the palace and into his private suite, bypassing his official office, his personal office, his sitting room, his library, and his bedroom for the solace of his bathing chambers. Hot and cold water, controlled and identified by colored blown glass handles, poured equally into a mammoth-sized porcelain in-ground bath. Scented soaps and oils soothed his tired muscles and sweaty flesh, sweeping away the grime that had gathered in his shorter-than-was-fashionable ebony mane.
He let himself soak for a long while, granting himself a rare moment of peace, shoving thoughts of the Crystal's lack of compliance, the war, his desperate wait to get his sister back, the troubling, conflicting emotions regarding the Namorisian Princess…
Endymion closes his eyes while leaning back in the deep tub, his arms draped out on either side of the floor around him. Suds clung to his earlobes and shoulders, a finely chiseled chest rising and falling in and out of the water with each heavy breath that entered and escaped him with every thought of that frustrating girl- no, woman.
Try as he might, he couldn't quite banish the sight of her during the Trials that he had invaded to reassert control over his own image…ever since he'd fully remembered it, the fuzz and blur superimposed over the memory gone, he had gone over every word, every expression, every movement that had come from her. The fear, the hurt that had been wrapped around her. Then, with his nudging, that flame of determination, of…of…
Damn it all, he couldn't quite name it. Couldn't quite put his agile finger on what it was exactly that drew him back to that memory every moment of the past two weeks. He dunked his hands in the water, bringing a splash of warmth to splatter across his face and chest. He rubbed his brow with his wet hands, sighing deeply between his fingers.
What did he know about her, really? Other than her father had used her as an excuse to start a war? She was beautiful, young…those physical things were obvious from her portrait, which wasn't all that old, and his own memory of her… Small, now that he thought about it, no more than five feet… Tiny, indeed. His lips quirked at the thought of such a slight person holding so much power in outcome of this war, then he dismissed the amusement for later.
She was an apt mage, probably with more to learn, more power to gather yet under her control. She had loyal friends, most likely, to have stayed hidden but active for so long. She had Rei's friendship- or trust, at least, if Minako was to be believed, and that was worth far more to Endymion than most suspected.
Right around the time the king began to contemplate emerging from his watery retreat, a suspicious tug began to gnaw at his belly, one with a definite direction to it's pulling- his private office. Instantly thinking of the communications globe, Endymion leaped from the tub, managing to avoid slipping when thoroughly wet feet met slippery tiles as he snatched a sinfully soft indigo blue towel from the ebony stand by the arched, curtained entryway to the bathing chamber. Walking swiftly out of the bathing chamber, past the steam room, around the huge ring of a sink and a partitioned off massage table while tying the towel around his wet waist, Endymion barreled through his bed chamber and into his private office, flinging small balls of light from his fingertips to illuminate a few crystal globes hanging from the ceiling. But the one globe that caught his eye was much larger than the glowing ones above him, though it too had begun to glow gently, pulsing slowly with a vibrant pink light.
Taking a deep breath and wondering if he should take the time to dress, he dismissed the option in favor of snatching a royal blue satin robe from a nearby peg- wherever his contactor was, they didn't have much time, he assumed, since this message was being done under the utmost secrecy on her end.
Endymion pulled up a heavy mahogany chair and sat while he flicked his hand at the globe, activating his end of the link. The globe filled with a swirl of silver smoke for a moment, then, finally…
"Rei!" Endymion leaned forward so far that his face nearly touched that of the globe's. His hands came to rest on either side of where Rei's face would be, were she really there…
"Endymion," Rei sighed, smiling with a weary sort of relief. "How are you doing, brother?"
"Better now than in a while, Rei," the king said honestly, the exhaustion in his voice mirroring that what was on her face. But he was smiling. Oh, he was smiling! He noticed the scenery behind his sister in law; trees, snow, more trees and snow… His sister was heavily bundled, and it was as dark behind them as it was outside his own window. He did, despite the darkness though, spot Minako Aino, agent extraordinaire, similarly bundled behind and to the left or Rei. "Minako, good to see you," he nodded to the blonde, who inclined her head politely, but Endymion's gaze had already reverted to Rei. "And you? How has prisoner hood suited you?"
"It's suited me splendidly," the princess by marriage retorted dryly, the sarcastic drawl of her voice a soothing balm to her brother's ears. Endymion smiled wryly as she continued, "It was rough at first. Respect for women…it's quite non-existent here, and a woman enemy…? I owe much to the one you know as Princess Serenity, brother. She kept me captive, yes, but it was pretense only while we tried to find a way to collaborate our knowledge and influence to end the war sooner. And she never mistreated me, Endymion. She's become…she's become a good friend. And she's not the only one- she has friends here, brother, good and loyal ones who have become my friends as well. Whatever deal you and the princess make, brother dear, must include their guaranteed safety and well being."
Once, he'd hated that steely tone of hers, the tone that defied the authority of every king ever to sit on a throne, and proudly so. Now, he smiled to hear it, leaning back in his chair as he kept one hand planted on his right arm rest, the other elbow planted on the second arm rest, his chin resting amid agile fingers of that second hand, his smile peeking between those fingers.
"You know I can't officially promise that til they've taken truth tests, Rei, but…but I trust you, so yes, I promise their safety if they come to Elysian and help us defeat Namoris."
Rei seemed to relax a bit, then, and that more than anything convinced Endymion he'd done the right thing. Any malicious, lingering dread that his sister was being forced into saying the things she was vanished. If she had been, the relief would not have been so evident.
"In that case, Endymion, may I present to you the ostracized and true Queen of Namoris, Princess Serenity the III."
She wore no cloak, no blanket, sat on no quilt and had no hood or jacket. That was the first thing Endymion noticed about the absolutely tiny white-haired woman who the globe's viewing array swiveled to focus upon. She sat as serenely as her name would imply, her legs folded to the side of her and her hands folded in her lap, her unbound hair falling in gentle waves nearly to her waist, half of the silken mass pulled forward over one shoulder and looking like the remnants of a snowdrift that might have fallen on her. Her cerulean gaze was as intense as he remembered from the Trials, but lacking the silver gleam he'd seen. Her skin was pale enough to make it difficult, in places, to differentiate her from the snow she sat upon. Only the simple grey uniform, bearing the silver and black emblem of a Namorisian WarMage on her left breast gave away what she was when in disguise. Everything else about her was pure Serenity.
"Highness," Endymion sat up a bit straighter without really meaning to. Control, he reminded himself. He had to remain the one in control…and to do that, a flair of casualness on his part was required…
No. No it wasn't. Not with her.
"My thanks for agreeing to my and my allies' plea for sanctuary," the white-haired princess said, the words sounding rehearsed as she bowed a bit from the waist, even sitting down. The movement seemed awkward and a little clumsy, as if it were alien to her small form. Endymion found himself smiling a bit, and trying to hide it. "Let me start by acknowledging what a risk we are both taking- you, trusting the daughter of the enemy, and me, trusting the enemy. Let me also say that you are my enemy in paper only. I have long regarded you as an honest and good ruler, an opinion that grew stronger when I met Rei." The lack of a salutation was not lost on Endymion as he continued to listen, finding himself captivated by the way the royal sprite was so desperately trying to shove herself into a majestically royal role that, truth be told, she didn't need to try so hard to obtain… But he found it working in her favor, proving to him her sincerity. He wondered if she knew that her failure at being flawlessly matriarchal had actually worked in her favor…
"I would like to tell my side of things, sire, starting from the start of this war. What is for me the real start." She clenched her hands in her lap just a bit tighter, and her gaze intensified, just a bit… Endymion found his breath catching in his throat mid-swallow as he nodded, and Princess Serenity proceeded to tell him of her role in the House of Solarian since she was a child, of her father's insistence that black colored magic was the only true magic, and her seclusion leading her to have no knowledge of the lack of truth in this statement, that colored magic existed everywhere.
Just not silver magic.
"You saw part of my Mage Trial, King Endymion. You know it was no normal trial, that it was tampered with." She swallowed, visibly, but continued. "But whatever dark force tried to use your face to torment me wasn't the only one who invaded my Trial. The Goddess Selene appeared to me, and gave me this." She pulled from beneath her uniform top a golden locket. The lack of superior clarity of the communications globe didn't allow him to see details, but the magical nature of that same communications globe did convey the wave of power emanating from the little bauble. Anyone who had ever visited a true temple of Selene would recognize that power, even in this, a far more potent form. There was no denying that it had indeed been touched and blessed by Selene.
"She gave me this, and explained to me why my power and my power alone in the land is silver." Serenity seemed to prepare herself, as if she were about to divulge something she hadn't allowed even herself to really look at. The tension across the miles between them thickened, leaving Endymion to wonder what in the world she was about to tell him…
"Somehow, my father managed, for reasons unknown, to force himself upon a descendant of the demi-goddess Selenity, daughter of Selene." Serenity said, her voice softer and yet stronger than she'd used before. Endymion blinked, not noticing the shocked looks upon the faces of Rei and Minako, as well.
The Princess Serenity was claiming descendancy from the Goddess Selene?
He wasn't sure what was more insane- the claim, or the fact that he was willing to believe her. Willing, but not fully accepting…yet…
Diplomatically he nodded, urging her to continue.
Serenity, as if taking that as some sort of acceptance of her words, relaxed slightly, a smile tugging at the corners of her wide mouth. He found himself wondering what a full smile would look like on that mouth.
With her next breath, Serenity explained with growing animation of the events on her side of the war leading her to each of her self-made vows. She told him of her trials, of the path she'd carved for herself in hiding, of discovering that Selene had been, in part, helping to shield her. She confessed she suspected it was the goddess whom had tampered with Endymion and Minako's memories. It made sense, he supposed, assuming everything else she'd said was true. Like a storyteller caught up in her own world of fantasy, Serenity took him through her tale and her adventures to get to where she was.
She spoke of Rei with words and tones genuine and blatantly loving. For all she was a soldier, a WarMage, and a betrayed Queen-in-right, she wore her heart on her sleeve.
"I find myself inclined to believe you, your highness," Endymion said when the tale had wound down. "If nothing else, for the faith my Rei and my best agent seem to place in you. While I still hold reservations, and many, I believe you have my cursory trust, Namorisian. For now. Don't abuse it."
Serenity inclined her head a bit, a broad grin on her face. Endymion got his wish; he got to see a full smile on those pink lips, and it surprised him how it made him want to give a returning smile. He suppressed it, but he would have to examine the odd nigglings that had arisen in the pit of his belly at the sight of her smile later…
"In that case, sire, we have a plan to get us, as well as a forth and fifth member of this party, both of whom wereunable to attend in order to cover us, out of Elysian," Minako Aino spoke now, and Endymion gave her his full attention- full, that is, save for the slight sliver of his mind that refused to leave off dwelling on the Namorisian Princess, sitting silently to the left of Minako. His lips quirked when she became blatantly fidgety, and Rei put out a hand to the girl's thigh to still her.
"I vouch for them both, brother. One is Serenity's commander, someon I trust, and the other is the head healer who cared for me when I was initially mistreated, before I came under Serenity's...protection." Endymion nodded to his sister, acknowledging her faith in the two who were as of yet strangers to him.
"We would need help, sire," Minako continued. "The Third Squad of Morpheus's teams, they're the best at extraction. Word would be sent to Camp Indognus to prepare for a staged attack. I'm sure you've heard all about Camp Indognus."
"Indeed I have," Endymion replied, definitely amused now when Minako had mentioned the camp that had 'captured' her and that she and Kunzite had been briefly reunited at. Minako's lips also quirked, but she remained professional as she continued.
"When they and the Third Squad were in place and given the signal, Serenity would appear to fight, as would I…" She went on, detailing how the carefully planned out attack would go to minimize casualties and burn strategic buildings and capture, not kill, as many as possible. Now and again Serenity volunteered tactical information that only the Commander that she was would be able to give up. Eager to prove how she could help, Endymion supposed.
"Then when all was done, we'd meet up with the Third Squad and escape under disguise as a refugee entertainer troupe into Elysian," Minako finished.
"Sounds good…" Endymion nodded. It was a sound plan. There were places where things could go wrong, of course, but every plan had those places. The mark of a good tactician and strategist is to keep them to a minimum. "All right," he send then, with the tone of finality. "I shall call a Council. Can you return to this spot in three hours hence?"
Rei and Minako both looked to Serenity, who pursed her lips and looked quite seriously for a moment inward, almost as if she were conversing with someone…
"Yes, sire, we can," she said decisively.
"Let's arrange a second meeting time, just in case," Rei suggested. Serenity glowered at her.
"We can make it in three hours." Serenity said firmly. Rei looked at her, her gaze just as stern.
"Just to be on the safe side, Serenity."
Something, Endymion didn't know what, but something Rei said in that single sentence shocked Serenity into a nod of compliance, her bright blue eyes going wide. Rei looked back to Endymion, smiling a rare smile of blatant affection.
"It's good to have seen you again, Endy," she told him. Endymion smiled at his sister.
"You too, Rei. I'll see you again soon. With luck, you'll be home within the week."
"That sounds wonderful," the priestess breathed. Still sharing a smile with his sister, Endymion reached out to terminate the connection. Just before he did, he broke his gaze with Rei and locked eyes with Serenity and gave one, brief, hard nod that she returned, her eyes reflecting his determination and adding her own to it.
Then he cut the connection, and called an emergency War Council.
To Be Continued…
Geh, you guys know the drill…sorry for long update wait…embarrassment and apologies all around, hand in hand with my excuse of starting college in July, and only now getting a break…
And see! Endy and Sere met face to face...ok, so there was a viewing globe and a few hundred miles between them, but it counts! Or so I try to tell myself... I did actually intend for them to meet in the physical, but the plot wouldn't cooperate. Sorry! Next time, I promise- knock on wood, gah!Until next time... Same Amber channel, same Amber time! ...Name that reference and get a big cookie...
-Amber Penglass