Hey, sorry you guys. It seems like life doesn´t want me to update regularly. First my monitor dies, then theres Christmas, my birthday, I get sick, exams...
I don´t know when I´ll upload the next chapter, probably in 3-4 weeks, when I´m done with this semester, but then I´ll also post a one-shot side story.
Thaks to my betas and everybody who revied or simply read the story!
Chapter 10: Of travelling and philosophical questions
Makoto was bored again and, on top of that, uncomfortable. Sadly, teasing her wife and having a tickle-war were currently no options. They had been on the flight to Venus for the last few hours and still weren't even half way there. As one would expect, Ami was reading a book sitting right next to Makoto. The Queens of Mercury and Jupiter were talking about something or other a few rows in front of them. From what Makoto gathered it was about politics, so nothing interesting. She wouldn´t mind talking to some of her older sisters, but sadly Kanna was with them, so that wasn´t an option either and helping her birthmother entertaining those of her younger siblings who came along was entirely out of question. Luckily her father had stayed behind on Jupiter with the really young ones. He hated space-travel and Makoto wholeheartedly understood why. As large and well equipped as the royal space craft might be, it somehow still managed to be uncomfortable. It just wasn´t normal for Jovians to sit around and do nothing for hours on end and it seemed to bother Makoto even more this time than usual.
"Ami?" No answer.
"Ames?" the Jovian tried again.
"Hm?"Ami finally replied without looking up.
"I´m bored."
"Then read a book." Yes, the standard solution any Mercurian would suggest, no matter what.
"Umph, I´m not in the mood to read!"
"But I am," Ami deadpanned, turning the page and effectively ending the discussion.
Makoto huffed. This was another thing that bothered her to no end- her relationship to her wife. True it had improved a lot since they first met,- no surprise there, as it could hardly have gotten any worse- but she still couldn´t figure out where exactly they stood. They didn´t hate, or, in Ami´s case, fear each other anymore, which was good. So they were not "enemies", strictly speaking.
But Makoto still had issues with this entire "arranged marriage" concept, which was bad. On top of that she could hardly ever even guess what was on Ami´s mind. Of course spending her time with someone who always said what was on their mind all the time would be even worse, but still... they were not "friends". Friends trusted each other and shared secrets, and usually didn´t have sex.
Well, the sex-part would make us "lovers", right? But lovers are, by definition, "in love", which we are´t, right? Makoto pondered.
Well, I did say, I loved her when we slept with each other for the first time, but that was a heat of the moment thing. I just said it, so she would cum. I didn´t really mean it, and anyway, she didn´t say it back, so it doesn´t count!
So, because you didn´t really mean it, that doesn´t bother you? A mocking voice asked in the back of her head.
NO, it doesn´t, the louder part of her mind yelled back.
Not even a little? Not even the fact she hasn´t said it or even hinted at it ever? The tiny voice persisted.
No, not even a little! I am not in love with her and she isn´t in love with me, and I don´t want her to be!
Are you sure?
Yes, now shut up, you´re driving me crazy! Makoto yelled back, internally.
Oh, am I? Are you sure you aren´t crazy already? Shouting at yourself really shows your mental health... The voice was by now outright laughing at her.
I am not shouting at myself! I don´t know who you are, but you are not me! If you were me, you would know I don´t love Ami! Makoto reasoned.
Hmmm,the voice mused, I think I´ll have to give you this much. I am not you. Not yet anyway.
Huh, what do you mean by that? Who are you? Makoto was confused. She thought she was simply internally debating about her relationship with Ami. Now she was hearing a voice in her head, which might or might not be her own. The voice was right. She definitely was crazy already.
Hehehe, sorry, but I can´t tell you who I am. Or better, who you will be. You have to figure that one out on your own. And you will, when the time is right. It´s not much longer now. You should let your mind wander more often, I enjoyed or little chat. During her last little speech the voice had been growing fainter and fainter. Oh, one last thing, you do love her, and I bet, she loves you, too!
"Makoto?"
Wait,she yelled. She still had questions, dammit!
"Makoto, wake up!" Ami´s voice. "Come on, sleepy-head, we´re nearly there."
The last thing Makoto saw before opening her eyes was a faint green shimmer, but that was probably her imagination.
"Huh?"
"Good morning" Ami greeted her cheerfully. "Are you alright?" she asked, when the Jovian simply blinked at her repeatedly.
"Oh, yes, just some weird dream," Makoto told her, when she finally found her voice again. Better, if I don´t tell her about this. No need to make her think I´m crazy...
"Aha. Well, we´re here!" The bluenette was obviously excited, to finally get off the spacecraft, and Makoto had to agree. She quickly looked out of the window, which was entirely filled with her first view of the planet Venus. It was beautiful. Having a view from several kilometres above, the planet shimmered in soft pinks and oranges, so different from Jupiters strong green. Makoto would be damned to ever openly admit it, but secretly pink was one of her favourite colours. Well, maybe she would tell Ami at some point in the future, but she´d first have to make the bluenette swear never to tell anyone else.
"Attention, please. We are about to enter the Venusian atmosphere. Please return to your seats and remain there until after touch-down."
The announcement had little to no effect since everybody was already in their seats. One would have to be really blind not to realise they were nearing their destination.
Flying on Venus was a lot easier then on Jupiter. It was less likely to be hit by a stray lightning bolt in one of the storms. As it was, it didn´t take long before the spaceship was securely on the ground at the royal spaceport of Venus, right next to its castle and the passengers took some time to make sure they were at least somewhat presentable after their long flight.
It annoyed Makoto to no end. First they were forced to sit still in their good clothes for hours and hours and now everybody -namely the Queens and Kanna and her 'gang'- was making a fuss about said clothes being creased. Makoto huffed. She herself was wearing leather as she always did, but it was tanned a lot more nicely and her shirt had the symbol of Jupiter embroidered on its back. Ami wore one of the dresses she had preferred when she first came to Jupiter, which in hindsight were a lot more practical than the Jovian had thought. The fabric did not crumble or wrinkle for some reason, so it looked just like it had when they had entered the spaceship.
After Kanna deemed her dress- yes, dress. Who had ever heard of a Jovian wearing a dress?-to be presentable they finally left the confining vehicle and were promptly hit by a wall of hot air.
"Umph, how can anyone live in this heat?" Makoto asked no-one in particular, but Queen Mercury answered anyway.
"Because the temperatures here are not half as high during the day as on Mercury the people here simply stay in their houses during the hottest hours of the day and rest. Most 'work' is done during the night." Makoto thought there had been a weird undertone to the word "work", but right now she really didn´t care fore anything other than getting into the shade.
Luckily, right at that moment a man with the venusian royal insignia on his bright orange uniform stepped in front of the group and kneeled before the two Queens.
"Queen Jupiter, Queen Mercury, my lady sends her regards and welcomes you to Venus. If you would kindly follow me, she will greet you inside the castle."
Before Queen Jupiter could tell the servant to cut the formalities and get the hell going- she didn't like the heat any more than her daughter-,the Mercurian quickly cut in: "Please lead the way and thank your Queen for the kind greeting." True the Queen of ice didn´t like Venusians too much, but she would only ever say so behind closed doors and never show it- having the advantage of being unaffected by heat working in her favour on that.
The man lowered his head a little more before he got up and quickly strode towards the palace.
There really were no words to describe the venusian royal residence. It was as beautiful, elegant and fairy-tale-like as the jovian one was simplistic. It was a 5 storey high oval main building with several lean towers, decorated with flags and wimples, made of light pink coloured stones. The front gate, windowsills and roofs looked as if they were made of pure gold, just like many of the houses in the city surrounding the palace, if Makoto wasn´t mistaken. She couldn´t begin to imagine how rich the Venusians had to be to afford this, but right now she really didn´t care much either.
They had been walking through the oppressing heat for at least five minutes and Makoto was starting to wonder when they would finally make it to the palace, she could only be described as 'well done', because they were only about half way there. Of course the spaceport was 'right next' to the palace, but only in so far as there were no other buildings between the two structures. Which monarch would want to have spaceships starting and landing on their lawn all day long?
Suddenly the Jovian Princess felt a small hand take hold of her own and an alleviating coolness spreading through her body. She quickly turned her head and saw Ami looking at her and smiling gently. That moment Makoto was very, very glad to be married to the small Mercurian. Her siblings, Kanna, her parents, all of them would have to suffer the incredible heat for the next few minutes, but not her. She would make sure to thank her wife properly later, but for now she just smiled back and resumed marveling at her surroundings.
A minute later it became obvious that Kanna hadn´t only noticed her relieve, but also didn´t like it one bit. She had caught up to them on the pretense of talking to their sister who was walking right in front of Makoto and Ami, deliberately brushing her fingers along Makoto´s hand in passing. At the contact the younger one yelped loudly, because she had been sapped rather painfully.
Queen Jupiter spun around instantly, looking at Makoto with a worried expression on her face.
"Ah, sorry I startled you. It was nothing," the Princess was quick to reassure her mother. She forced herself to lower her smarting hand back to her side, keeping a firm grip on Ami, who was looking at her questioningly, too, to suppress any other signs of pain.
After a moment the Queen nodded her head, accepting her words, but still shot a glare of warning towards Kanna, before turning back around and continuing the way to the palace.
Makoto was relieved. She didn´t want to aggravate Kanna anymore, if she could help it. When everybody else resumed walking, too, she noticed her mother falling in step right next to her (the Queens still leading the way). The woman didn´t say anything, just gave her shoulder a little squeeze and smiled gently at her, a sad expression in her eyes.
When they finally reached the palaces´ entrance hall, Makoto nearly had to pick her jaw off the floor, while everybody else was simply enjoying the more bearable temperatures, although some were more obvious about it than others.
They were at the bottom of a gigantic staircase in a room that was several times larger than her entire house. The walls, made of the same pink stone- maybe limestone?- while the exterior were decorated with tapestries carrying the insignia of all members of the silver millennium around the room, with the venusian one in every second place.
After a minute Makoto saw both Queens visibly tensing for a moment, as Queen Venus and her children appeared at the top of the stairs. She was a beautiful woman, probably the most beautiful one Makoto had ever seen in her life. This beauty astonished her every time she saw the Venusian monarch at such gatherings. She had long blonde hair and and large baby blue eyes; both traits she had obviously passed on to two of her daughters and one of her sons. All in all she had to agree with Ami. Each of the Venusian royals was gorgeous, but it was near impossible to tell which was the most beautiful.
The Queen gave them a moment to fully take in her appearance, before she cast a lovely smile at them. Taking it as a sign to proceed with formalities, the monarchs of Mercury and Jupiter dropped their gazes and lowered their heads. All of Makoto´s siblings quickly dropped to one knee as was custom on Venus. She would have done the same had it not been for a sudden squeeze from the hand she was still holding. Following her wife´s lead she lowered her eyes as well and gave a soft bow. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her mother doing the same. Of course,she remembered now. Ami had already awakened and was therefore officially heir to the throne of Mercury. Thus, neither of them had to kneel before anyone, not even in front of Queen Serenity. That would take some getting used to, but it would have been worse had she been from any other planet. No one kneeled on Jupiter, it was just too messy.
A moment later everyone straightened up again and Makoto noticed that the venusian Princes and Princesses had been only bowing as well, since they were the hosts.
"Greetings Mercury, Jupiter," Queen Venus nodded towards both of them, "it´s so nice to see you again. I am sorry you arrived at such an unpleasant time of day. You must be tired from your long journey. Your rooms have been prepared for you. My daughters and sons will show you there."
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