An Amazon Princess, chapter 9
After talking with a friend (Chibi Tenshi), I've decided to add a
section to this chapter, possibly future ones as well, explaining the
ElfQuest references. I normally don't like to add side notes, but as so
few of the people reading this story know much about ElfQuest, I decided
I could bend my rules.
MUST READ if you don't know ElfQuest (warning, includes major spoilers):
1) The High Ones were the first elves. They were originally a space
faring race that came to our planet thousands of years ago. Due to an
accident, they were stranded here.
2) The elves split off into groups not long after landing. Timmian, one
of the high ones shape shifted into a wolf, had a cub with another wolf,
and her cub was the first chief of the Wolfriders tribe. Vol, a son of
the high ones took a group of other pure blooded elves and moved away to
try and prevent the way of their parents from vanishing and became
magic-using Gliders (one of whom was Winnowill). There are also the Go
Backs, mostly magicless elves that live and hunt in the far north, and
the Sun Folk, peaceful dark skinned elves that live in an oasis in the
desert. Rayak is one of their number, though occurrences in his life has
made him the opposite of his village folk.
3) The Palace is the goal for much of the ElfQuest series. It was the
spaceship that brought the High Ones to this planet, and is the
gathering place for elfin souls when they die. Kind of like a holy grail
for elves, but more so.
4) The magic-using gliders shaped much of the mountain they lived in for
millennia. It is saturated with magic, magic that is related to the
palace.
I will add more notes at the end. Some of them, I suggest even ElfQuest
fans read. That's it for now! On with Amazon Princess!!
Shampoo closed her eyes, allowing herself a few moments to think as the
others spoke too quickly for her to easily understand.
~Flashback~
"Usagi!!"
"I know, alright! I'm just going to try again," the blond said, the
semitars in her hand spinning back into position as she prepared to go
through the steps yet again.
"If you ever expect to win in the competition, you are going to have to
practice more. At this rate, you won't win even if you practice until
you are as old as great-grandmother."
"You have that much faith in me?" she asked sarcastically, sighing.
"Less," the Amazon native replied, laughing. "You won't win even if you
do practice that long."
~End Flashback~
"If there was any doubt you had before, soul brother, I trust it is
gone." Winnowill turned her gaze away from the suspended stone egg, a
cold smile across her lips.
"A miracle, if there is such a thing, that our elf blood still runs
through her veins strongly enough to have any affect." Rayak crossed his
arms loosely over his chest, gazing at the mirror that allowed them to
watch the humans. "But now that she has freed herself as well as your
son, I suggest you hurry to finish whatever you have planned. High Ones
know I have no idea what it is anymore."
"Calm yourself Rayak. Soon the palace will no longer be in the hands of
a half breed ever again." Her eyes returned once more to Egg, watching
silently as the events were slowly added to the stone, becoming yet
another layer like a clam adds to a pearl.
Two-Edge followed the two humans through the tunnels, his eyes locked on
the blond female. He knew she had been the one to bully Door unto
releasing them. (1) At first, she seemed like only a normal human, but
he sensed something else now that he looked more carefully.
"Where does this lead?" Two-Edge was asked by the woman as they walked
through the main passageway. She had turned her head to look at him, and
for only a moment, the troll-elf (2) saw a High One, one of the first of
his mother's kind. He blinked and the image was gone, replaced with the
human girl in her pajamas.
"There is a branch up here that will take us to your friends. If we kept
straight, we would walk right into mother's hands."
"Let's find my friends first," she said softly as she turned back. It
was then she noticed the absence of their companion. "Hey! Where did
Ryoga go?!"
"There he is." Two-Edge pointed over his shoulder, deep, growling
laughter overcoming him. "He must have the worst sense of direction in
the world."
"Ryoga!" Usagi's voice made the poor lost boy turn from where he had
reached a dead-end in a small side passage. He peeked around the corner,
worry quickly overcome by joy as he saw her walking over. "Where were
you going?" she asked, frowning.
"Oh!" Ryoga thought quickly, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse
for getting lost. "I was looking for a bathroom!" he answered, smiling
until he realized what his lips had released. A deep blush covered his
face as the troll-elf began laughing all over again.
"Do you guys hear that?" Jupiter turned to face the passage opening
nervously, the rumbling sound echoing eerily off the stone walls.
"The smug-sounding I'm-going-to-eat-you type monster sound?" Venus
nervously asked.
"Yah."
"Oh no! It's just in your imagination," the love senshi nervously joked.
"Sound like laugh," Shampoo said softly. "Someone laugh. That all."
"Are you sure?"
"No."
"Great," Venus mumbled.
"The low level frequency here contains several similarities to the
ginzuishou, almost as if they were related," Mercury said, ignorant to
her friends' worry, her voice low with amazement.
"What does that mean?" Mars asked, looking over Mercury's shoulder at
the small computer. The numbers and graphs made little sense to her
though, as she waited for an answer.
"I'm afraid I am unsure. The possibilities I can imagine make little
sense and are very unlikely."
"Such as?"
"If I could discover traces of the magic in this mountain being
relatively new, it could be reasoned that Winnowill and Rayak somehow
came into possession of a piece of the palace or ginzuishou. Though even
then, everything does not add up. Unless I'm missing a crucial piece of
information, it seems very likely that Winnowill's magic is the same
kind as Sailor Moon's.
"You are not mistaken, Sailor Mercury." The icy voice drew the attention
of the small group to the dark lord. He stood beside Winnowill, her hand
resting on his arm. "Your princess is in fact our kin."
In a long abandoned room in the moon palace, two gigantic crystal
scrolls began to spin, telling the tale of the first moon queen.
Several years had passed already on their new home. Timmian had been
gone for quite some time, leaving her son, Timmorn Yellow-Eyes to be
their chief. His wolf blood kept them all alive during the harsh
winters, and though she was grateful, Sefra was not happy.
"Sefra! Come howl with us!" The tall white-haired elf looked at the
young Vol, his eyes bright with life. Quickly grabbing his elder's hand,
he began pulling her towards the holt.
********************
"Look at the sky, Stardust. That is where we are from." Sefra's eyes
lifted from the young baby in her arms to the stars that used to be her
home. The white-haired baby giggled in delight, reaching for the small
dots of light so far above. "Someday our descendents will finally regain
the palace, and will once again fly among the stars."
"Sefra! They're leaving now!" a voice called from the ground below.
Willowgreen seemed tiny from the nest in the top of the tree that held
the mother and son close to the sky.
"Already?! It's not even been an eight of days since they announced
their plans!"
"They think sooner is better then later. The white-cold is coming soon
besides. Hurry up!"
Sefra secured the tiny baby on a device on her back and quickly climbed
down from the treetop, hurrying so as not to miss Vol and the others in
his group leave the holt for what turned out to be forever.
********************
"I'm sorry mother, but I can't leave Khyra and the cub, and she doesn't
want to leave the holt." Stardust looked down at the ground between them
sadly. "I know it's pointless to try and talk you out of it. Sun knows
I've tried to." The young man smiled weakly, tears glistening like the
stars he and his mother loved so much as they fell down his cheeks.
"I will have to come back from time to time then, if possible. I don't
want to miss out my grandchild's life completely." Sefra smiled and
kissed her son's wet cheek, brushing his long silver hair back. (3)
********************
No humans were anywhere near the palace, and it surprised Sefra how
easily she reached it. It had taken several years of wandering, true,
but the palace finally stretched tall into the blue sky above her.
As she approached the glistening doors, it seemed to come to life again.
Moss that had grown on its slick surfaces did nothing to diminish the
beauty, but seemed to enhance it with growing, green life. The souls of
those that died so long ago wrapped around her like a blanket, welcoming
her back home.
"Now lets see if we can get this thing going!" she exclaimed, feeling
the spirit of Kalil, the motion of the palace, laugh warmly.
********************
Sefra felt the palace settle into place once again as she fell exhausted
to the floor. It had taken several months of practice, as well as the
guidance of Kalil and others, to get any reaction, and she knew she
would never be able to guide the palace through the stars, even if she
were to spend the rest of her immortal life practicing.
Finally regaining the energy to stand and walk, she decided she needed
to find food before she settled down for a long rest. She walked through
the crystal halls of the palace towards the doors to the outside, but
did not expect what she saw when she opened them.
********************
The tiny baby girl lay in Sefra's arms, giggling as her father made
funny faces that even caused the elfin woman to laugh. Little Serenity
had the white hair and elfin eyes of her mother, but her ears were like
her father's people, round like a human's.
Prince Eien had seen the appearance of the palace on the moon's surface
three years ago, and after being assured she wasn't there to strike an
attack on Venus's ally, Earth, they got along quite well. He even helped
her discover why and how she appeared on the moon so suddenly.
Even Eien and Sefra were unsure how exactly how they ended the war
between the worlds and became the rulers of a peaceful solar system,
though the new queen suspected it had something to do with the magic of
the palace.
********************
The young princess Serenity's eyes furrowed in concentration as she
tried her best to use the magic around her. Sefra watched as her
daughter balled her fists up in frustration. The tasks that came
naturally to any elf evaded the princess like a frightened rabbit,
likely because of her mixed blood. And it would only be worse for her
descendents.
Sefra told her daughter to run along and play with her friends, and the
princess happily obliged. Once she was gone, laughing and running
through the crystal halls, Sefra turned towards the Scroll Room.
Giant crystal scrolls stood silently in the room, waiting for someone to
bring them to life. It was not to see the future or past the scrolls
offered that Sefra entered the room, but for the power of the room, more
concentrated then anywhere else. Silently she prayed to the spirits of
the dead, to the few who had come since her arrival on the moon, and the
many from years previous. Some way for her daughter and her descendents
to use the power of the palace to keep the peace the solar system now
experienced. The kingdom she had so grown to love.
The spirits swam through the air around her, giving her their love and
support. Even Haken's spirit, fiery and wild, gave its strength to her
as she focused the power of the palace. (4) The scrolls began to spin
slightly. The image of a crystal formed between them as the spirit
energy was turned away from the slender queen and onto the increasingly
real crystal image.
The palace walls lost some of their gentle glow, the voices of the
spirits quieted, but that did not matter. The small crystal made up for
any other loss. The power and love that radiated from it outshone any
fading walls or quieting voices.
"Thank you," Sefra softly told those around her.
"If she is related to you, why attack her?" Mercury's soft voice asked
of the two elfin beings. Rayak looked at Winnowill, gesturing for her to
answer.
~Explain it, will you? You're the one with all the wonderful plans.~
~Why I think I will, Rayak. Why don't you go hunt for our long lost
cousin during the meantime,~ she sarcastically replied, removing her
hand from his arm.
ENDING NOTES.
1- Usagi pulled the same trick Strongbow did against female Door back
when Lord Vol was still alive (I think that was in Siege at Blue
Mountain).
2- For non-Questers, the High Ones brought along two other species of
animal from their home world as pets. The preservers (fairy-like
creatures) and diggers (which evolved into the trolls). And as you can
probably guess, Two-Edge is the result of Winnowill and a troll.
3- I would have avoided Stardust's existence at all, to make it easier
for Sefra to leave the holt, but its believed she is Skywise's ancestor.
I could never null out Skywise!
4- Haken, the passion of the palace, tried to regain the palace after
the High Ones were driven away by the humans. He felt the others were
weak when they gave up so easily. It is believed, if he lived after
attacked by Timmian's wolf form, that he is somehow related to Rayak and
Winnowill.
That's it for now!
~Jade Nova
moon_archer82@lunap.com
After talking with a friend (Chibi Tenshi), I've decided to add a
section to this chapter, possibly future ones as well, explaining the
ElfQuest references. I normally don't like to add side notes, but as so
few of the people reading this story know much about ElfQuest, I decided
I could bend my rules.
MUST READ if you don't know ElfQuest (warning, includes major spoilers):
1) The High Ones were the first elves. They were originally a space
faring race that came to our planet thousands of years ago. Due to an
accident, they were stranded here.
2) The elves split off into groups not long after landing. Timmian, one
of the high ones shape shifted into a wolf, had a cub with another wolf,
and her cub was the first chief of the Wolfriders tribe. Vol, a son of
the high ones took a group of other pure blooded elves and moved away to
try and prevent the way of their parents from vanishing and became
magic-using Gliders (one of whom was Winnowill). There are also the Go
Backs, mostly magicless elves that live and hunt in the far north, and
the Sun Folk, peaceful dark skinned elves that live in an oasis in the
desert. Rayak is one of their number, though occurrences in his life has
made him the opposite of his village folk.
3) The Palace is the goal for much of the ElfQuest series. It was the
spaceship that brought the High Ones to this planet, and is the
gathering place for elfin souls when they die. Kind of like a holy grail
for elves, but more so.
4) The magic-using gliders shaped much of the mountain they lived in for
millennia. It is saturated with magic, magic that is related to the
palace.
I will add more notes at the end. Some of them, I suggest even ElfQuest
fans read. That's it for now! On with Amazon Princess!!
Shampoo closed her eyes, allowing herself a few moments to think as the
others spoke too quickly for her to easily understand.
~Flashback~
"Usagi!!"
"I know, alright! I'm just going to try again," the blond said, the
semitars in her hand spinning back into position as she prepared to go
through the steps yet again.
"If you ever expect to win in the competition, you are going to have to
practice more. At this rate, you won't win even if you practice until
you are as old as great-grandmother."
"You have that much faith in me?" she asked sarcastically, sighing.
"Less," the Amazon native replied, laughing. "You won't win even if you
do practice that long."
~End Flashback~
"If there was any doubt you had before, soul brother, I trust it is
gone." Winnowill turned her gaze away from the suspended stone egg, a
cold smile across her lips.
"A miracle, if there is such a thing, that our elf blood still runs
through her veins strongly enough to have any affect." Rayak crossed his
arms loosely over his chest, gazing at the mirror that allowed them to
watch the humans. "But now that she has freed herself as well as your
son, I suggest you hurry to finish whatever you have planned. High Ones
know I have no idea what it is anymore."
"Calm yourself Rayak. Soon the palace will no longer be in the hands of
a half breed ever again." Her eyes returned once more to Egg, watching
silently as the events were slowly added to the stone, becoming yet
another layer like a clam adds to a pearl.
Two-Edge followed the two humans through the tunnels, his eyes locked on
the blond female. He knew she had been the one to bully Door unto
releasing them. (1) At first, she seemed like only a normal human, but
he sensed something else now that he looked more carefully.
"Where does this lead?" Two-Edge was asked by the woman as they walked
through the main passageway. She had turned her head to look at him, and
for only a moment, the troll-elf (2) saw a High One, one of the first of
his mother's kind. He blinked and the image was gone, replaced with the
human girl in her pajamas.
"There is a branch up here that will take us to your friends. If we kept
straight, we would walk right into mother's hands."
"Let's find my friends first," she said softly as she turned back. It
was then she noticed the absence of their companion. "Hey! Where did
Ryoga go?!"
"There he is." Two-Edge pointed over his shoulder, deep, growling
laughter overcoming him. "He must have the worst sense of direction in
the world."
"Ryoga!" Usagi's voice made the poor lost boy turn from where he had
reached a dead-end in a small side passage. He peeked around the corner,
worry quickly overcome by joy as he saw her walking over. "Where were
you going?" she asked, frowning.
"Oh!" Ryoga thought quickly, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse
for getting lost. "I was looking for a bathroom!" he answered, smiling
until he realized what his lips had released. A deep blush covered his
face as the troll-elf began laughing all over again.
"Do you guys hear that?" Jupiter turned to face the passage opening
nervously, the rumbling sound echoing eerily off the stone walls.
"The smug-sounding I'm-going-to-eat-you type monster sound?" Venus
nervously asked.
"Yah."
"Oh no! It's just in your imagination," the love senshi nervously joked.
"Sound like laugh," Shampoo said softly. "Someone laugh. That all."
"Are you sure?"
"No."
"Great," Venus mumbled.
"The low level frequency here contains several similarities to the
ginzuishou, almost as if they were related," Mercury said, ignorant to
her friends' worry, her voice low with amazement.
"What does that mean?" Mars asked, looking over Mercury's shoulder at
the small computer. The numbers and graphs made little sense to her
though, as she waited for an answer.
"I'm afraid I am unsure. The possibilities I can imagine make little
sense and are very unlikely."
"Such as?"
"If I could discover traces of the magic in this mountain being
relatively new, it could be reasoned that Winnowill and Rayak somehow
came into possession of a piece of the palace or ginzuishou. Though even
then, everything does not add up. Unless I'm missing a crucial piece of
information, it seems very likely that Winnowill's magic is the same
kind as Sailor Moon's.
"You are not mistaken, Sailor Mercury." The icy voice drew the attention
of the small group to the dark lord. He stood beside Winnowill, her hand
resting on his arm. "Your princess is in fact our kin."
In a long abandoned room in the moon palace, two gigantic crystal
scrolls began to spin, telling the tale of the first moon queen.
Several years had passed already on their new home. Timmian had been
gone for quite some time, leaving her son, Timmorn Yellow-Eyes to be
their chief. His wolf blood kept them all alive during the harsh
winters, and though she was grateful, Sefra was not happy.
"Sefra! Come howl with us!" The tall white-haired elf looked at the
young Vol, his eyes bright with life. Quickly grabbing his elder's hand,
he began pulling her towards the holt.
********************
"Look at the sky, Stardust. That is where we are from." Sefra's eyes
lifted from the young baby in her arms to the stars that used to be her
home. The white-haired baby giggled in delight, reaching for the small
dots of light so far above. "Someday our descendents will finally regain
the palace, and will once again fly among the stars."
"Sefra! They're leaving now!" a voice called from the ground below.
Willowgreen seemed tiny from the nest in the top of the tree that held
the mother and son close to the sky.
"Already?! It's not even been an eight of days since they announced
their plans!"
"They think sooner is better then later. The white-cold is coming soon
besides. Hurry up!"
Sefra secured the tiny baby on a device on her back and quickly climbed
down from the treetop, hurrying so as not to miss Vol and the others in
his group leave the holt for what turned out to be forever.
********************
"I'm sorry mother, but I can't leave Khyra and the cub, and she doesn't
want to leave the holt." Stardust looked down at the ground between them
sadly. "I know it's pointless to try and talk you out of it. Sun knows
I've tried to." The young man smiled weakly, tears glistening like the
stars he and his mother loved so much as they fell down his cheeks.
"I will have to come back from time to time then, if possible. I don't
want to miss out my grandchild's life completely." Sefra smiled and
kissed her son's wet cheek, brushing his long silver hair back. (3)
********************
No humans were anywhere near the palace, and it surprised Sefra how
easily she reached it. It had taken several years of wandering, true,
but the palace finally stretched tall into the blue sky above her.
As she approached the glistening doors, it seemed to come to life again.
Moss that had grown on its slick surfaces did nothing to diminish the
beauty, but seemed to enhance it with growing, green life. The souls of
those that died so long ago wrapped around her like a blanket, welcoming
her back home.
"Now lets see if we can get this thing going!" she exclaimed, feeling
the spirit of Kalil, the motion of the palace, laugh warmly.
********************
Sefra felt the palace settle into place once again as she fell exhausted
to the floor. It had taken several months of practice, as well as the
guidance of Kalil and others, to get any reaction, and she knew she
would never be able to guide the palace through the stars, even if she
were to spend the rest of her immortal life practicing.
Finally regaining the energy to stand and walk, she decided she needed
to find food before she settled down for a long rest. She walked through
the crystal halls of the palace towards the doors to the outside, but
did not expect what she saw when she opened them.
********************
The tiny baby girl lay in Sefra's arms, giggling as her father made
funny faces that even caused the elfin woman to laugh. Little Serenity
had the white hair and elfin eyes of her mother, but her ears were like
her father's people, round like a human's.
Prince Eien had seen the appearance of the palace on the moon's surface
three years ago, and after being assured she wasn't there to strike an
attack on Venus's ally, Earth, they got along quite well. He even helped
her discover why and how she appeared on the moon so suddenly.
Even Eien and Sefra were unsure how exactly how they ended the war
between the worlds and became the rulers of a peaceful solar system,
though the new queen suspected it had something to do with the magic of
the palace.
********************
The young princess Serenity's eyes furrowed in concentration as she
tried her best to use the magic around her. Sefra watched as her
daughter balled her fists up in frustration. The tasks that came
naturally to any elf evaded the princess like a frightened rabbit,
likely because of her mixed blood. And it would only be worse for her
descendents.
Sefra told her daughter to run along and play with her friends, and the
princess happily obliged. Once she was gone, laughing and running
through the crystal halls, Sefra turned towards the Scroll Room.
Giant crystal scrolls stood silently in the room, waiting for someone to
bring them to life. It was not to see the future or past the scrolls
offered that Sefra entered the room, but for the power of the room, more
concentrated then anywhere else. Silently she prayed to the spirits of
the dead, to the few who had come since her arrival on the moon, and the
many from years previous. Some way for her daughter and her descendents
to use the power of the palace to keep the peace the solar system now
experienced. The kingdom she had so grown to love.
The spirits swam through the air around her, giving her their love and
support. Even Haken's spirit, fiery and wild, gave its strength to her
as she focused the power of the palace. (4) The scrolls began to spin
slightly. The image of a crystal formed between them as the spirit
energy was turned away from the slender queen and onto the increasingly
real crystal image.
The palace walls lost some of their gentle glow, the voices of the
spirits quieted, but that did not matter. The small crystal made up for
any other loss. The power and love that radiated from it outshone any
fading walls or quieting voices.
"Thank you," Sefra softly told those around her.
"If she is related to you, why attack her?" Mercury's soft voice asked
of the two elfin beings. Rayak looked at Winnowill, gesturing for her to
answer.
~Explain it, will you? You're the one with all the wonderful plans.~
~Why I think I will, Rayak. Why don't you go hunt for our long lost
cousin during the meantime,~ she sarcastically replied, removing her
hand from his arm.
ENDING NOTES.
1- Usagi pulled the same trick Strongbow did against female Door back
when Lord Vol was still alive (I think that was in Siege at Blue
Mountain).
2- For non-Questers, the High Ones brought along two other species of
animal from their home world as pets. The preservers (fairy-like
creatures) and diggers (which evolved into the trolls). And as you can
probably guess, Two-Edge is the result of Winnowill and a troll.
3- I would have avoided Stardust's existence at all, to make it easier
for Sefra to leave the holt, but its believed she is Skywise's ancestor.
I could never null out Skywise!
4- Haken, the passion of the palace, tried to regain the palace after
the High Ones were driven away by the humans. He felt the others were
weak when they gave up so easily. It is believed, if he lived after
attacked by Timmian's wolf form, that he is somehow related to Rayak and
Winnowill.
That's it for now!
~Jade Nova
moon_archer82@lunap.com