The Lilac Princess
Part 7
The Burden of Protecting Peace...
By Lady Dante
Two shadows made their way through the house, darting behind
furniture and in doorways as they went. They covered each other, keeping tight
formation until they reached their destination: the Peacecraft kitchen. They
crept in, carefully making their way to their target. The intruders were
disappointed to find that the object had been moved and was just out of their
reach. They improvised a plan and proceeded to execute it.
"Whoa! Be careful!" whispered the one crouched on the floor. He
was answered with a slight grunt as his partner struggled to lift the object
from its hiding place. She finally managed to get a hold of it and stepped off
of her compatriot's back. Her companion stood and helped his partner carry the
container to the table. They carefully removed the lid.
"Miss Noin," whispered the leader of the operation, "this
is chocolate cake." Noin eyed the object suspiciously. It looked like mud to
her, but Zechs said it tasted good, even better than apples. She watched as the
boy took a fistful of the stuff and shoved it in his mouth. "Eatf! Iff goodf,"
said Zechs around a mouthful. Noin looked from her friend to the cake. She took
a handful of the brown stuff and shoved it in her mouth. Her tongue immediately
started tingling with the delicious taste of chocolate. This stuff was far and
away the best food she'd had here.
Their midnight snack was cut short by a flashlight beam pointed in
their faces.
"It's all right, guys. No intruders, just some mice lookin' for
food." Captain Damon sent the other guards back to their posts and approached
his new prisoners. He knew he should give them a lecture, but it was difficult
to be stern with those two chocolate covered faces.
"You two shouldn't be up at this hour. And you really
shouldn't be eating cake."
"Miss Noin's never had chocolate...at least, not that she can
remember...so what kind of host would I be not to give her some cake?"
"You have a valid point, Your Highness, but it's hard to take you
seriously when you have cake smeared all over your face." Damon turned on the
light and guided the children to the sink. He cleaned them up as best he could,
short of spraying them off with the garden hose.
"Umm...Captain Damon?"
"Yes, Your Highness?"
"Do we have to tell Mama about this?"
"No, WE don't, but I expect YOU to tell her
tomorrow."
"Yeah, all right," grumbled the prince.
Damon put the children back to bed and paused a moment to watch
them pretending to sleep. The cake looked to be half eaten. They were going to
be bouncing off the walls when that sugar kicked in. The Captain of the
Imperial Guards of Cinq quietly closed the door and ran for his life.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next morning, Damon Pallidino walked into the Peacecraft
kitchen to find Prince Milliardo and his new playmate eating a hearty breakfast
of waffles, sausage and syrup. Lots of syrup. Damon stood in the doorway
observing the youngsters, especially the girl, Lucretzia. The Captain currently
had half of his Imperial Guards checking with relief agencies for reports of lost
children and recent battles in the area. It had been two days and so far, the
effort to find out what happened to the kid's family had been useless. Damon
called in every favor owed him and still no leads. None. He had a bad feeling
about that. The whole thing sounded like a cover-up.
The previous morning, while Milli was on the vidphone with the
king, Mrs. Katrina had filled the Captain in on Lucretzia's nightmare. Damon
spent the next half hour discussing the unnerving situation with King Stefan.
Both men came to the same conclusion. Until they knew who the child was and
where she came from, it was better for her to leave. It wasn't an easy decision
to make for either man. The King was already aware of his son's attachment to
the child and had no desire to turn away anyone in need, but circumstances made
it necessary. The political climate grew more unstable every day. Veiled
threats against Cinq had already been made by the Alliance and the threats were
becoming bolder, more overt. As paranoid as it seemed, even a 5-year-old child
had to be considered a potential threat. The Alliance was not above using
civilians, even children, to get what they wanted. The mysterious circumstances
surrounding Lucretzia's appearance in Cinq did nothing to ease Damon's fears.
Damon looked at the report in his hand. No incidents involving
civilians in the past 22 days. Right. Damon hadn't really expected a straight
answer from official Alliance sources, but it irked him anyway. Incidents. The
Alliance's favorite euphemism for 'massacre.' Damon understood that all too
well. He had been involved in more than his share of 'incidents.' As a kid, he
had lost his own family in such a way. Caught in the crossfire between Alliance
troops and rebels, he had been one of only a handful of survivors. The boy was
left to fend for himself for several months before being sent to an orphanage
in New York. It wasn't a bad place. He had plenty to eat and a safe place to
sleep, but Damon always felt alone. The people who ran the orphanage were kind,
but there were over 300 children of various ages and only a few adults.
One-on-one attention was rare.
So, when he was 15, he ran away to join the military. He quickly
discovered that he was a born soldier, an efficient fighter with a gift for
battle strategy. Over the next 6 years, the young man rose steadily through the
ranks, earning more commendations with every campaign. With every new battle,
Damon felt himself slip further into a dark pit from which he could not escape,
watching his soul wither. Then he met Stefan and Katrina Peacecraft.
On the eve of the couple's wedding 9 years ago, Damon became aware
of a plot to assassinate King Stefan and his fiancé, thereby ending all
possibility for pacifist ideals to become reality. He had stumbled upon the
information by accident and was horrified to learn that a fellow officer, a
friend, was the mastermind. Damon was surprised to find that he couldn't stand
by and let that happen. He was a soldier, bloodshed was his life's work, but
Damon just couldn't let the hope for peace die with an assassin's bullet.
The instant Damon Pallidino stepped in front of the bullet meant
for Mrs. Katrina he was labeled a traitor by the Alliance. King Stefan,
realizing this, made arrangements for the young man to be cared for at the
Peacecraft estate and granted him asylum. Back then, the Alliance didn't dare
stand up to Stefan Peacecraft. They had yet to consolidate their power or
conquer enough territory to stand against the most beloved monarch in the
world. Now, though, the organization was truly the most powerful force on
Earth. King Stefan was the only real obstacle to total domination, but support
for his ideals had eroded steadily over the years. At this point, Cinq didn't
even have the political weight to offer sanctuary to a small child.
During Damon's long recovery at the Peacecraft estate, Stefan and
Katrina visited the young officer almost daily. Over the next few months he
grew to respect these kind people. They took him in and treated him like a
friend, a son even. He and Stefan talked for hours, debating the merits of
total pacifism or playing chess. When Damon was strong enough, the couple
included him in their private wedding ceremony. When he was completely well,
the king asked him to join the Imperial Guards. Damon had saved Stefan and
Katrina because he knew their importance to the world. He stayed because he
loved them. They were his family now.
Damon had struggled for 9 years with the burden of guarding a
pacifist family. As their guard, his first priority was to protect them, but
how does one do that unarmed? To raise a weapon against an enemy would
insult every principle King Stefan held dear. However, Damon hadn't been raised
a pacifist. Sometimes, he believed, fighting was necessary. But he had sworn to
uphold the ideals of Cinq and King Stefan. That meant finding another way. Like
being a human shield. He would die for them. If events continued on their
present course, that would most likely happen.
Damon rubbed the back of his head and let out a slow breath. The
girl couldn't stay, that much was clear. Anyway you looked at it, she was a
security risk. She wasn't aware of that, of course. To her, it would simply
seem that they didn't want her, or that Damon was just mean. There was no way
to explain it to her or Milliardo, but it had to be done. At least he didn't
have to convince Queen Katrina. King Stefan was doing that over the vidphone.
Trying anyway.
Lucretzia looked up from her breakfast and noticed Damon standing
in the doorway. The little girl looked him straight in the eye and closed her
eyes in an exaggerated blink. When he didn't respond, she blinked again,
opening her eyes wider before she shut them in a tight squint. It took Damon a
second to realize that she was trying to wink at him. He grinned and gave the
little girl a wink. Lucretzia smiled happily and continued her breakfast.
This wasn't going to be easy.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It was decided, primarily by Katrina, that Lucretzia would stay
for a week while all leads as to her identity were exhausted. If nothing turned
up within that time, arrangements would be made for her to go to the orphanage.
Damon and Stefan both protested, reasoning that the longer the girl stayed the
greater the potential threat. Not to mention the fact that it would be much
more difficult for Katrina and Milli to give her up. Katrina insisted, however,
and both men knew when NOT to argue with the queen. They all agreed not to tell
the children for the moment. In the meantime, Katrina talked to the sisters at
the orphanage and made preliminary preparations for the child should it become
necessary to send her away.
At least they would be able to attend school together.
Traditionally, Cinq royal children attended the local school rather than being
privately tutored. Milli had been reluctant to start school, he was much
further along than children his own age and was afraid no one would like him.
At first he tried to talk his mother into letting him continue his studies at
home, but the idea that he would attend classes with Lucretzia changed his
mind.
It was certainly clear that the little girl was every bit as
bright as Milliardo. School would begin soon and Katrina arranged for Lucretzia
to be tested at the same time as the prince. Both scored at genius level and it
was decided that they should enter school at second grade rather than
kindergarten. Their upcoming enrollment gave the youngsters a new topic of conversation.
They planned out what they would do everyday and discussed what new things they
might learn. Katrina was pleased to see that the two were so excited about
attending school.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Milli spent the first two days of Miss Noin's visit giving his
friend a tour of the estate, especially all of his favorite hiding places. Due
to rain, the first day was spent mainly in the tower, reading comic books and
playing pretend. The girl had been dressed in some of Milliardo's old clothes,
which please him immensely. They pretended that she was a princess disguised as
a boy to hide from an evil witch.
The second day was spent roaming the gardens, playing near the
duck pond and wandering in the maze, all under the watchful eyes of the
Iggies. By the morning of the third
day, to the utter astonishment of the grownups, Miss Noin was speaking enough
English to communicate without an interpreter. This didn't surprise either
child, especially Milli who seemed to think all fairies learned new languages
in two days. It seemed perfectly logical to him and he couldn't understand why
everyone else was so worried by that. Milli decided it was because grownups
just didn't get magic.
Noin went barefoot for the first few days, mostly because Milli's
shoes were too loose and chaffed her injured feet, but the young prince saw
this as further proof that he had indeed found a fairy. They didn't need shoes
because fairies can fly. But there was one thing that still bothered him...
"How come you don't have wings, Miss Noin?" asked Milli one
morning as they dressed. "I thought all fairies had wings. Are they invisible?
Or do they only come out of your back when you need to fly?"
"Milliardo, Lucretzia, come to me a moment," Katrina interrupted.
The children obeyed, taking seats on either side of the queen. Katrina placed
an arm around each before continuing.
"Milli, you know that Lucretzia is not really a fairy."
The prince struggled with that for a bit before reluctantly
responding, "Yes ma'am, I guess so."
"And her name is 'Lucretzia' not 'Noin,' yes?" The queen paused as
the boy nodded. "So I think you should start referring to her by her proper
name, agreed dearest?"
"All right, Mama." The boy was very disappointed and his tone was
dangerously close to a whine.
"And Lucretzia," she continued turning to the little girl, "I
understand why you thought Milli's name was 'Zechs,' but his real name is
Milliardo," Lucretzia nodded solemnly. "I know that is a difficult name, so you
can call him 'Milli' as I do. All right, cara?"
"But I like it when she calls me that. It sounds like a magic
name." Katrina gave him a hug.
"Yes it does, but the two of you need to get used to using your
proper names. I know it is fun to pretend, dearest, but when you go to school
you will have to save your stories for breaks. All right? During class, you are
Milli and you," she said, turning to the little girl, "are Lucretzia." The
children nodded in agreement and Katrina gave them each a kiss before leaving
to see Princess Relena. Milli waited for his mother to leave before turning to
Lucretzia and saying, "Well, I know I've gotta call you Lucretzia in front of
everybody else, but I still like Noin and Zechs...HEY! I know! We can call each
other that when it's just you and me. Like secret code names or something! That
would be cool!"
"Yeah! I like that...and nobody else could call us that!"
"Yeah!" The children giggled over their new secret. "This is gonna
be fun!"
The co-conspirators enjoyed their little secret over the next few
days, nudging each other and giggling every time a grownup used their real
names. Katrina allowed Lucretzia to accompany Milli during his daily routine of
lessons and official duties. The prince's "official duties" usually consisted
of being trotted out to the formal parlor every so often to greet some foreign
dignitary who mistakenly believed that condescension was the best way to win a
child's approval. Lucretzia was allowed to stay at the door with Ingrid and
watch her friend as he suffered through the babble of adults. She was glad she
didn't have to do that, Milli looked like his head hurt.
Lessons, though, were much more fun. Milli's favorite was fencing
and he helped Pagan teach Lucretzia the basics. She learned quickly and even
Pagan was impressed by her progress. "Well, Your Highness," he commented, "I
believe, in time, Miss Lucretzia will be a perfect sparring partner for you."
The young prince smiled proudly. "Yeah, me too." The lesson was longer than
usual and ended with a practice duel between Milli and Lucretzia. The more
experienced prince won, of course, but the young girl performed admirably
considering she had never fenced before.
After lessons, Milli and Lucretzia ran upstairs to find Queen
Katrina.
"Maa-maaa?"
"Whaa-aat?"
Milli stood outside the door of Relena's nursery and asked, "Is
Rena's cold gone yet?"
"Come in and find out."
Milliardo opened the door and slipped inside. "Meweeeee!" squealed
Princess Relena as she raced towards her brother. Milli braced himself just in
time before the child slammed into him a top speed.
"Guess you feel better now, huh Rena?" laughed Milliardo as he
petted his baby sister.
Rena giggled and nodded her head as she gave her big brother a
squeeze. "Sto-ey!" She demanded before adding, "peeze." She was talking around
a very large pacifier clenched in her newly emerged teeth.
"Story, huh? Well I don't know...what'll you gimme for a story?"
Relena wrinkled her brow and looked to the side as she considered
a suitable trade. Her eyebrows shot up and she looked at the pacifier in her
mouth, her eyes crossing as she did so. Yes. A good story deserved proper
payment. She plucked her pacifier out of her mouth with a pop and offered it up
with a smile. "Binkie!" she exclaimed triumphantly.
"O.K.," giggled Milli, "go pick a book." Relena ran to the
bookshelf and pulled out an oversized volume, almost as big as she was, and
dragged it to her adored brother. Lucretzia, who was waiting in the doorway,
watched the entire scene with curiosity. Zechs—-no, Mili's—sister was
very small indeed. Her wispy hair was the same light color as Mrs. Katrina's
and they had the same eyes. When the baby laughed, Milli smiled. Lucretzia
wondered if the boy she left behind would smile at her laugh if he was here.
She wasn't little like Rena, though. Maybe that made it different.
"Come on Miss N...Lucretzia," said Milli, waving his friend
inside. "This is Relena." He put his hand on the baby's golden head, tilting
her face up to look at the older girl. "Rena, this is Lucretzia. She's nice."
He said the name carefully and slowly but it was still quite a mouthful for an
18-month-old. Rena smiled up at the older girl and grabbed Lucretzia's fingers
in her chubby fist. "Ooie" was as close as she could get. Milli laughed. "I
think she meant Luie...I like that. It's easier than Lucretzia. Can we call you
that?" he asked. 'Luie' grinned down at the little creature in front of her and
nodded. "Yes, I don't mind."
"Is that all right, Mama? I mean, it'll be like when you call me
'Milli' won't it?"
"I think that will be fine," she smiled, "Luie and Milli,
will you watch Relena for a moment? I need to speak to Captain Damon." The
children eagerly agreed.
The three youngsters piled up in a large overstuffed chair by the
window, Rena settled comfortably between the older children. As Milli flipped
through pages of fairy tales in search of the 'Queen of Lilacs' story, Rena and
Luie looked each other over. Lucretzia noted that the toddler was dressed in a
particularly frilly frock and head to toe in pink. Baby Rena, for her part,
eyed the older girl with rapt fascination. Reaching up, she patted Lucretzia's
long dark braid and said, "peety."
Milli, still hunched over the book, translated. "She means 'pretty.'"
Luie smiled. She lightly patted the baby's soft hair and said,
"Pretty."
"Here it is!" exclaimed Milli and he proceeded to read the story
of the Lilac Queen to the girls. They occupied themselves like that for quite
some time before Rena fell asleep. The two older children, not wanting to wake
the baby, continued quietly, making up their own stories. They eventually
talked each other to sleep.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Katrina Peacecraft walked into Damon Pallidino's office with some
trepidation. She knew why he had requested an audience and, quite frankly, the
queen did not want to hear it. Every reason Damon and Stefan had given for
sending the girl away was valid and reasonable. Katrina didn't feel like being
reasonable, not when there was a child's life at stake.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but we can't take chances," Damon said
as the queen entered.
Katrina offered him a wry smile, "Am I that obvious?"
"When it comes to helping kids, yeah, ya are." Damon pulled up a
chair for Mrs. Katrina and continued, "If things settle down or we find out
something, maybe she can come back."
"Except that it is unlikely that things will settle down and if
you have not found something about Luie's family by now, you probably will not
find anything."
Damon was about to respond to that but stopped. He frowned and
asked, "Luie?"
Katrina smiled sadly. "Relena couldn't quite say 'Lucretzia' and
Milli liked it so..."
"So now she's 'Luie.' That's cute." Damon chuckled and rubbed the
back of his head as he sat down.
"She is just a little girl, Damon, and she is still so
traumatized..."
"Yes, ma'am."
"She will not understand and neither will Milliardo."
"I know, ma'am."
"She is only now beginning to feel safe...it is simply not fair."
"Who the heck ever told you life's fair?"
"No one. I just keep expecting it."
"Well, you should stop doing that." He smiled gently and collected
the reports he had been reviewing. The young man stood and walked to the wall
behind his desk. He pulled back the ornate tapestry hanging there and pushed
part of the wainscoting. A panel opened up revealing a small filing cabinet
just inside a hidden passageway.
"You know, Damon, they have these machines now that I have heard
are rather useful at organizing information...I think they call them
'computers'..."
"Which can be hacked. I prefer an old fashioned hidey-place.
Besides, I gotta have a place to keep my brandy safe from all you aristocrats."
He closed the panel and replaced the tapestry.
"Has anyone ever told you that you are a very paranoid man?"
"That's why you pay me the big bucks, Your Highness."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Upstairs in the nursery, Milli and Luie were awakened by Ingrid as
she moved Relena to her crib.
"Why don't you two go lie down in your room and finish your nap."
"We're too old for naps," yawned Milli, "and we wanna play some
more, right Luie?"
"Right," yawned Lucretzia.
Ingrid raised her eyebrow at Luie's new nickname. "Well I suppose
you've slept long enough. Run along, but try to stay out of trouble."
"Of course!" Milli said as they dashed out of the room. Ingrid
rolled her eyes.
The children roamed the mansion for awhile, trying to come up with
a good game to play. As they explored aimlessly, they wandered into an area of
the building usually declared off limits. This was where the secret passages
started. Milliardo told Lucretzia about the tunnels through the walls built by
the first King Milliardo hundreds of years ago. They discussed the possibility
of exploring the passages.
"We could get in trouble..." began Milli.
"Only if we get caught..." finished Luie.
"Right. So we just gotta make sure we don't get caught."
"Yeah," The little girl thought a moment, "but you know we always
get caught..."
"Yeah, but it's taking them longer to catch us."
"Yeah."
"Right. Let's go Noin!"
"Right Zechs!"
They made their way to the far entrance, the first one Milli had
discovered. When he pulled back the curtain, his heart sank. A lock. Not a key
lock, he could pick those pretty easy, it was an electronic lock. It was
also far out of his reach.
"Great. Now what?"
"Let me see it."
"It's electronic. I can take apart a regular lock, but electronic
ones take time to figure out."
"Let me see it," insisted Noin. Milli crouched on all fours and let
Noin stand on his back. He heard her open the key pad and start fiddling with
it.
"If that's got an alarm, we're gonna get caught real quick..."
"Done!" Noin hopped down and looked at her shocked friend.
"How'd you do that?"
Noin shrugged. "I dunno. I just did. Sometimes stuff pops into my
head."
"Cool. Let's go." Milli, always a gentleman, held the panel open
for the little girl and they proceeded to explore the passage. It was darker
than they thought it would be and Milli stopped to fish for the penlight Damon
gave him, spilling the contents of his pocket in the process. He finally found
the tiny flashlight and they continued their journey. After a few minutes, Noin
noticed a small line of light in one corner of the passage. As they approached,
they heard voices. They tiptoed to the door and listened.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Perhaps she could stay another week. After all, you have only had
a few days to investigate..."
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but that won't make a difference. This isn't
just about not knowing how she got here, you know that. There's just too many
strange things happening with her..."
"She's not a threat, Damon..."
"Not intentionally, Your Highness." He sighed and tried again,
"Think about it ma'am. She learned to speak our language in two days...two...and
she speaks it better than me. And then there's that tag she was wearing. That's
no bracelet and you know it...and there's Dr. Livian's report..."
Katrina looked up, alarmed. "What about his report? He told me
that she was in excellent health."
Damon grimaced. He hadn't meant to bring up the medical report,
but it was too late now, "She's o.k., Mrs. Katrina, it's just..." he scrambled
to think of something to tell her, "it's just those puncture wounds you
noticed...like needle marks..." Damon stood and strode across the room in
frustration. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, but Lucretzia has to leave. You have
your own children to think about...," Damon stopped abruptly and his head
whirling around to look at the wall behind his desk.
"Did you hear that?"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"...Lucretzia has to leave..."
The two children froze. Noin grabbed Zechs' hand and squeezed it.
They were going to make her go away. She would be alone again. Terror stricken,
she looked over at Zechs. The boy's face was like the stone people in the
garden, hard and cold. He looked up at Noin slowly, peeking out from beneath
his long bangs. Maybe he wanted her to leave now, too, especially after what
the captain said...
"Come on Noin." Zechs gripped Noin's hand and they darted down the
passage. In the rush to get away, he dropped his penlight. They ran further
down, past Captain Damon's filing cabinet and hid around the corner. Zechs
pressed his ear to the wall, trying to determine if anyone was coming after
them. He heard muffled voices and the sound of the panel opening.
"Oh, no...it's Milli's penlight, he must've..." The sound of the
panel banging shut cut off the rest of Captain Damon's statement. Zechs heard footsteps
and more voices—probably Damon sending the Iggie's around to the other entrance
catch them. After a few minutes, the office grew quiet. Zechs led Noin back to
the panel leading to the captain's office and cautiously pushed it open. The
children crept inside, carefully checking for the grownups. When they were sure
the coast was clear, they ran to the window and climbed out.
There was a small balcony outside Captain Damon's window with a
narrow set of steps leading down to the East Garden. The children paused on the
last step to check for the enemy. No one was on this side of the estate yet.
"We need to hide until I can figure out what to do." Zechs
muttered, mostly to himself.
"What about there," Noin suggested meekly, pointing to the hedge
maze. She was fighting back tears and shaking. Zechs thought a moment and
decided that was a good place. If anyone thought to look there, they could move
to a different corner of the maze and keep hidden. The pair looked around once
more before making a break for it, running to the hedge as fast as their little
legs could carry them and dashed inside. The youngsters kept running through
the maze until Zechs found a corner deep within the labyrinth and they sat
down.
"I don't want to go away. I want to stay with you, Zechs." Noin
pulled her knees up under her chin and wrapped her little arms around herself.
She didn't want to be alone again, like before. She tried not to cry, but felt
tears begin to stream down her face.
"Me too." Zechs sat next to his friend, trying to offer her some
comfort. He was close to tears himself. "We'll just hide until we think of
something. Right?" The little girl nodded. Zechs scooted next to Noin and put
his arm around her shoulders. "You scared?"
"Yeah...I don't wanna go back to where I was. It was a bad place."
She started sobbing quietly.
"Don't worry. I'll figure out something. You won't have to go to a
bad place. I promise."
The heartbroken children sat there huddled together in the maze
for a very long time, trying to come up with a plan, some way to convince the
grownups that Noin should stay. Nothing they came up with seemed likely to
work. Not with adults anyway. Big people didn't understand important stuff like
magic and fairies. The children realized there was no way to make this stop.
They both let their tears fall once more and cried themselves to sleep.
+++++++++++++++ end part 8 +++++++++++++++++++++
Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. It's great to
know you're hanging in there! Thanks to everyone who e-mailed with comments,
suggestions and corrections, especially the help with the Italian and German
phrases (thanks to Chloe and Kiyoshi, respectively). I really appreciate it!
Thanks for taking the time to do that.
Send me an e-mail if you have other comments or criticism (the
constructive kind...don't just tell me it sucks, tell me how to fix it). I
really need feedback to see that I'm making sense with this thing...and I like
e-mail.
The Evil Chibi says: "You're Welcome!" She wants to say more, but
I won't let her on the computer.
HA! MADE YOU SAY 'ZOINKS'!! Seriously, thank you for putting
"Zoinks" at the end of your reviews. You guys are really good sports! That was
my very childish way of conducting a survey to see how many people actually
read through the disclaimer. Evidently, most of you do!
Disclaimer: I decided to take Chibi Epyon's advice and refer you
to a previous chapter. Try Chapter 4, I think that one was my best. If I think
of something clever, I'll write a new one.
