I'm so bad about updating in decent amounts of time. Sorry. I always have
a whole story planed out in my head, but I can never get it written down.
Not to mention, I have NO free time at all. They only reason you're
getting this chapter this soon is because I have two three-day weekends in
a row, so I actually have time for myself. During the week, I have soccer
after school Monday through Friday, and Saturday mornings, symphony
practice on Monday, cello lessons on Wednesday, other soccer practice on
Thursday, violin lessons on Saturday and soccer games at random times on
weekends. I spend all my free time trying to figure out my Pre-calculus
homework. So...yeah, I don't have any time to write.
Anyway, thanks to the five or so of you who reviewed. I really appreciated your comments, and I hope you'll keep making them. ^_^ I also hope a few more of you will actually bother to review, since this story is probably a lot better than most of my other stuff. Alrighty, on with the story!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The queen's receiving room had the same silver marble motif as the rest of the castle. The walls were decorated with arched alcoves containing beautiful statues of the royal family and some of the higher- ranking court officials. The throne, too, was a silvery white marble, elegantly decorated and carved to perfection down to the last detail. The queen was not fond of this throne, as it was cold and hard as marble tends to be, but it had been a wedding gift from her mother, so she didn't complain. It also did well in impressing foreign dignitaries, though the queen had to admit silently that it was a bit pompous to flaunt wealth in such a worthless manner. Still, in seeing the look of awe on the Saiya-jin king's face, she couldn't help but feel proud of her small kingdom's many accomplishments.
The Saiya-jin king was much younger than she'd previously thought. Though, there had been talk about the young Saiya-jin who'd come to power, expanding the huge system he'd inherited at an alarming rate. His military genius was renowned throughout the Universe, and many smaller systems feared his wrath. The queen had expected him to be around thirty, young but experienced. The man in front of her couldn't have been more than twenty years old. She found it disturbing that a man of only twenty had the physical and mental capabilities to take over as many planets as this man had. While some would have been impressed with his power, especially at that day in age, she found it disgusting.
However, this new proposition of his did seem to be intriguing. She found it odd that the ruler of a race of barbaric warriors would come to her in search of a peaceful agreement about the positioning of soldiers within her system. Of course, if she had been in his shoes, she would have simply offered to speak to the rebels, to try to understand their position and to try to come up with some sort of peaceful conclusion. He just wanted to go destroy a few thousand people without even trying to see why they were upset. Perhaps it really was the king's fault and the people were rebelling because of his mistakes. How would he look if he attacked his own subjects for trying to fix a mistake he had made? This young king still had much to learn, and she feared that only more turmoil was to come from this huge system with such a young leader.
Still, she feared for his subjects, knowing that hard times awaited them in the near future. She decided that she would do her best to teach this youngster that force was not always the best option. Slowly she stood, silently cursing her body for its weakness in old age.
"Walk with me," she said, stepping down from the dais.
The Saiya-jin king was by her side immediately, taking her arm in his to support her. She silently admitted to herself that, for a supposed barbarian, he certainly had good manners. She accepted his help without protest and walked with him out of the throne room.
"My family has ruled this system for three generations now. When my grandfather came into somewhat meager power, he did so by winning over the love of his people. Previously, the economy was in shambles, and dark forces covered many of our planets and moons. He gathered a small army, untrained farmers and shopkeepers, and stood up to the darkness. They were outnumbered and outclassed, but still they fought, fearful of the impending oppression and slavery that no doubt awaited them. My grandfather was killed, right before the end, in front of his wife and child. His wife shed only seven tears for the loss of her love, and then a miracle happened. A divine magic force that we still are unable to explain turned her tears to crystal, infused with enough magical energy to not only destroy the darkness plaguing our system, but to grant the woman one wish. With that wish, she brought her husband back to life, but at a cost. The amount of energy needed to wield the crystal drained her of her life energy, and she perished along with the darkness, leaving her husband and child behind."
It was a legend passed down through the generations since then, and she had given her daughter the story as well, in hopes of spreading the wisdom that went along with the story. The Saiya-jin king didn't seem to be much impressed with her story, but she hoped that eventually he would come around and realize his foolishness.
"If you'll excuse me, Your Majesty, I don't understand why you tell me this," he said. "I would simply like to know if you would be willing to allow me to station soldiers in your system until I can quell this rebellion."
The queen chuckled at him, and did not respond right away. Instead, she led the way to a large window connected to a balcony, tugging gently at his arm and insisting that he follow her. He concealed an annoyed growl, growing impatient with her obviously intentional disregard of his question. He stood back a ways behind her as she proceeded to the edge of the balcony, gazing down at the garden below.
"It's very lovely this time of year. Come over here and see," she said, turning to him and waving him over.
"Your Majesty, if you'll only give your consent, I will leave you be and never bother you again. I grow impatient..."
She put a hand over his mouth and led him by the arm over to the edge of the balcony. He resisted the urge to bite her hand. Reluctantly, he looked over the edge down into the gardens. She removed her hand, convinced that he would be moved enough not to protest, and indeed, she was right in doing so.
He couldn't put a name to any of the flowers, even if he'd wanted to. He could tell that there were a million different shades of a million different colors, and that each was of an exotic quality that would never be found on his home planet. He could also tell that all the beauty of the flowers paled in comparison with the girl seated in the garden, tenderly brushing her fingers against a white blossom and smiling.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that this girl was the princess, so great was her resemblance to the queen, but it was also strange to note the air of innocence around her. The queen, beautiful and regal as she was, was weathered, war-torn, tired and old, while the girl, young and energetic, still possessed an air of ignorance to the ways of the universe and seemed not to completely comprehend the effect she had on people.
"You say nothing, Majesty. Can it be that a mere garden has stopped your rampage for order in your system? If so, the universe should be converted into one large garden, as the calming effects are so obvious. Imagine, war prevented by a mere rose."
The queen chuckled. He cursed her silently, sure that she knew full well of the girl's presence and was only trying to find a weakness in him. He resolved not to give in to her cruel taunting. Instead, he turned to her, holding back a glare.
"She is your daughter," he said. It was more a question than a statement, but it got the point across well enough. "She's very beautiful."
"So it is Usagi that catches your eye, not the garden. A shame, really. I'm afraid we can't reproduce enough of her to give to all the leaders in space that they might lose interest in their petty wars," she said, sighing. "But then, she would be unhappy at that job, though not altogether unwilling to do her duties as a princess. She has seen more than anyone should see, let alone a girl of her age, and yet she still presses to know more of everything. She would die before letting anything happen to this system, and she has hardly bloomed into womanhood."
"Then she will be a strong leader," he said, trying to appear gruff and uninterested. Of course, because the queen was so much older than he was, she saw right past his façade and laughed at him.
"You love her already, do you? But no, I don't suppose your race puts so much into love, do you? You simply eat, fight and make babies?"
"You should not assume so much," the king growled, glaring at the queen, anger flashing clearly in his dark eyes. "We may not spend so much time coddling each other, but we are faithful and protective of our families. You would do well not to forget that."
* * *
She knew quite well that her mother was on the balcony above, watching her. She also knew that their guest, the Saiya-jin king was with her, looking down into the garden. She could not hear their conversation, but she assumed that it had something to do with her, as they both looked at her on more than one occasion. It seemed that they were in the midst of a disagreement, and she had no doubt that her mother would win.
Her mother had a way of winning arguments without arguing, no matter how hard the opposing party pushed. She was of such a commanding manner, and knew how to say the most with the fewest words that few could find fault with most of her reasoning and theories. The few who did, namely the royal house of Mercury, rarely bothered to disagree with her anyway, as they shared many of the same beliefs. She could only assume that it was frustrating to the Saiya-jin king to speak with her mother under these circumstances.
Still, she felt little pity for the king. She had spent a great deal of her time in recent months studying the history and politics of the Saiya- jin system, and many of the war stories disturbed her greatly. She found it horrid that someone would kill as many millions of people as he did for the simple reason of expanding an already ridiculously immense system. The only credit that she could give him was that most of his subjects lived pleasant, if not lavish, lifestyles, and that the king allowed certain amounts of self-rule to many parts of his system where loyalty had been assured.
The only reason he allowed anyone in his kingdom any amount of self- rule was that it was extraordinarily difficult to govern such a vast amount of space. Because of this, a certain selected few from the populations of various star systems were chosen to manage the affairs of a handful of planets, while reporting back to the king at various points through the course of the year. At random times, the king would visit and inspect the planets, to make sure that his officials weren't lying to him and that things were running smoothly.
This system of government allowed the peoples of each planet continue with their own customs and traditions. Each official collected taxes from the people and worked with various members of the population, usually chosen by the people, to set rules, as well as punishments for those who broke the rules. The king reviewed the list, made a few adjustments in places, and then generally left the people alone, trusting his officials to alert him of any major problems.
While the princess found this aspect of their government rather interesting, she still had a problem with the fact that he king gained all of these planets by forcefully taking them over. True, there were some systems who gave in to his power without a fight, and it was those planets who were more likely to receive self-rule, but there were also many planets that fought hard and died valiantly for freedom they would probably never enjoy again.
As the princess sat thinking of everything she'd learned of the Saiya- jin system over the past few months, she made a promise to herself to make an attempt at changing the king's viewpoint. She knew that she would probably have little influence, as she herself held little power at the palace and was not very imposing either physically or mentally, but she was determined to do everything in her power.
She placed the rose back down on the bench and stood up. She had yet to meet this foreign dignitary, and if she were going to sway any of his opinions, it might help her to learn something of his personality beforehand. She cast a quick glance up at the balcony, where her mother and the king still stood, arguing, before she gathered her skirts and made her way down the winding garden paths, heading toward the door into the palace.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
So...what'd you think? Personally, I think Queen Serenity is starting to act like Miss Havisham from Dickens' "Great Expectations." I don't know if I like it or if it's just funny. I'd like your input. ^_^
Oh, yeah, sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Like I mentioned above, I have too much of a life and it takes up a lot of time. Not to mention my muse was on hiatus.
Reviews make my muse happy, and when my muse is happy, I write more. ^_^
Anyway, thanks to the five or so of you who reviewed. I really appreciated your comments, and I hope you'll keep making them. ^_^ I also hope a few more of you will actually bother to review, since this story is probably a lot better than most of my other stuff. Alrighty, on with the story!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The queen's receiving room had the same silver marble motif as the rest of the castle. The walls were decorated with arched alcoves containing beautiful statues of the royal family and some of the higher- ranking court officials. The throne, too, was a silvery white marble, elegantly decorated and carved to perfection down to the last detail. The queen was not fond of this throne, as it was cold and hard as marble tends to be, but it had been a wedding gift from her mother, so she didn't complain. It also did well in impressing foreign dignitaries, though the queen had to admit silently that it was a bit pompous to flaunt wealth in such a worthless manner. Still, in seeing the look of awe on the Saiya-jin king's face, she couldn't help but feel proud of her small kingdom's many accomplishments.
The Saiya-jin king was much younger than she'd previously thought. Though, there had been talk about the young Saiya-jin who'd come to power, expanding the huge system he'd inherited at an alarming rate. His military genius was renowned throughout the Universe, and many smaller systems feared his wrath. The queen had expected him to be around thirty, young but experienced. The man in front of her couldn't have been more than twenty years old. She found it disturbing that a man of only twenty had the physical and mental capabilities to take over as many planets as this man had. While some would have been impressed with his power, especially at that day in age, she found it disgusting.
However, this new proposition of his did seem to be intriguing. She found it odd that the ruler of a race of barbaric warriors would come to her in search of a peaceful agreement about the positioning of soldiers within her system. Of course, if she had been in his shoes, she would have simply offered to speak to the rebels, to try to understand their position and to try to come up with some sort of peaceful conclusion. He just wanted to go destroy a few thousand people without even trying to see why they were upset. Perhaps it really was the king's fault and the people were rebelling because of his mistakes. How would he look if he attacked his own subjects for trying to fix a mistake he had made? This young king still had much to learn, and she feared that only more turmoil was to come from this huge system with such a young leader.
Still, she feared for his subjects, knowing that hard times awaited them in the near future. She decided that she would do her best to teach this youngster that force was not always the best option. Slowly she stood, silently cursing her body for its weakness in old age.
"Walk with me," she said, stepping down from the dais.
The Saiya-jin king was by her side immediately, taking her arm in his to support her. She silently admitted to herself that, for a supposed barbarian, he certainly had good manners. She accepted his help without protest and walked with him out of the throne room.
"My family has ruled this system for three generations now. When my grandfather came into somewhat meager power, he did so by winning over the love of his people. Previously, the economy was in shambles, and dark forces covered many of our planets and moons. He gathered a small army, untrained farmers and shopkeepers, and stood up to the darkness. They were outnumbered and outclassed, but still they fought, fearful of the impending oppression and slavery that no doubt awaited them. My grandfather was killed, right before the end, in front of his wife and child. His wife shed only seven tears for the loss of her love, and then a miracle happened. A divine magic force that we still are unable to explain turned her tears to crystal, infused with enough magical energy to not only destroy the darkness plaguing our system, but to grant the woman one wish. With that wish, she brought her husband back to life, but at a cost. The amount of energy needed to wield the crystal drained her of her life energy, and she perished along with the darkness, leaving her husband and child behind."
It was a legend passed down through the generations since then, and she had given her daughter the story as well, in hopes of spreading the wisdom that went along with the story. The Saiya-jin king didn't seem to be much impressed with her story, but she hoped that eventually he would come around and realize his foolishness.
"If you'll excuse me, Your Majesty, I don't understand why you tell me this," he said. "I would simply like to know if you would be willing to allow me to station soldiers in your system until I can quell this rebellion."
The queen chuckled at him, and did not respond right away. Instead, she led the way to a large window connected to a balcony, tugging gently at his arm and insisting that he follow her. He concealed an annoyed growl, growing impatient with her obviously intentional disregard of his question. He stood back a ways behind her as she proceeded to the edge of the balcony, gazing down at the garden below.
"It's very lovely this time of year. Come over here and see," she said, turning to him and waving him over.
"Your Majesty, if you'll only give your consent, I will leave you be and never bother you again. I grow impatient..."
She put a hand over his mouth and led him by the arm over to the edge of the balcony. He resisted the urge to bite her hand. Reluctantly, he looked over the edge down into the gardens. She removed her hand, convinced that he would be moved enough not to protest, and indeed, she was right in doing so.
He couldn't put a name to any of the flowers, even if he'd wanted to. He could tell that there were a million different shades of a million different colors, and that each was of an exotic quality that would never be found on his home planet. He could also tell that all the beauty of the flowers paled in comparison with the girl seated in the garden, tenderly brushing her fingers against a white blossom and smiling.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that this girl was the princess, so great was her resemblance to the queen, but it was also strange to note the air of innocence around her. The queen, beautiful and regal as she was, was weathered, war-torn, tired and old, while the girl, young and energetic, still possessed an air of ignorance to the ways of the universe and seemed not to completely comprehend the effect she had on people.
"You say nothing, Majesty. Can it be that a mere garden has stopped your rampage for order in your system? If so, the universe should be converted into one large garden, as the calming effects are so obvious. Imagine, war prevented by a mere rose."
The queen chuckled. He cursed her silently, sure that she knew full well of the girl's presence and was only trying to find a weakness in him. He resolved not to give in to her cruel taunting. Instead, he turned to her, holding back a glare.
"She is your daughter," he said. It was more a question than a statement, but it got the point across well enough. "She's very beautiful."
"So it is Usagi that catches your eye, not the garden. A shame, really. I'm afraid we can't reproduce enough of her to give to all the leaders in space that they might lose interest in their petty wars," she said, sighing. "But then, she would be unhappy at that job, though not altogether unwilling to do her duties as a princess. She has seen more than anyone should see, let alone a girl of her age, and yet she still presses to know more of everything. She would die before letting anything happen to this system, and she has hardly bloomed into womanhood."
"Then she will be a strong leader," he said, trying to appear gruff and uninterested. Of course, because the queen was so much older than he was, she saw right past his façade and laughed at him.
"You love her already, do you? But no, I don't suppose your race puts so much into love, do you? You simply eat, fight and make babies?"
"You should not assume so much," the king growled, glaring at the queen, anger flashing clearly in his dark eyes. "We may not spend so much time coddling each other, but we are faithful and protective of our families. You would do well not to forget that."
* * *
She knew quite well that her mother was on the balcony above, watching her. She also knew that their guest, the Saiya-jin king was with her, looking down into the garden. She could not hear their conversation, but she assumed that it had something to do with her, as they both looked at her on more than one occasion. It seemed that they were in the midst of a disagreement, and she had no doubt that her mother would win.
Her mother had a way of winning arguments without arguing, no matter how hard the opposing party pushed. She was of such a commanding manner, and knew how to say the most with the fewest words that few could find fault with most of her reasoning and theories. The few who did, namely the royal house of Mercury, rarely bothered to disagree with her anyway, as they shared many of the same beliefs. She could only assume that it was frustrating to the Saiya-jin king to speak with her mother under these circumstances.
Still, she felt little pity for the king. She had spent a great deal of her time in recent months studying the history and politics of the Saiya- jin system, and many of the war stories disturbed her greatly. She found it horrid that someone would kill as many millions of people as he did for the simple reason of expanding an already ridiculously immense system. The only credit that she could give him was that most of his subjects lived pleasant, if not lavish, lifestyles, and that the king allowed certain amounts of self-rule to many parts of his system where loyalty had been assured.
The only reason he allowed anyone in his kingdom any amount of self- rule was that it was extraordinarily difficult to govern such a vast amount of space. Because of this, a certain selected few from the populations of various star systems were chosen to manage the affairs of a handful of planets, while reporting back to the king at various points through the course of the year. At random times, the king would visit and inspect the planets, to make sure that his officials weren't lying to him and that things were running smoothly.
This system of government allowed the peoples of each planet continue with their own customs and traditions. Each official collected taxes from the people and worked with various members of the population, usually chosen by the people, to set rules, as well as punishments for those who broke the rules. The king reviewed the list, made a few adjustments in places, and then generally left the people alone, trusting his officials to alert him of any major problems.
While the princess found this aspect of their government rather interesting, she still had a problem with the fact that he king gained all of these planets by forcefully taking them over. True, there were some systems who gave in to his power without a fight, and it was those planets who were more likely to receive self-rule, but there were also many planets that fought hard and died valiantly for freedom they would probably never enjoy again.
As the princess sat thinking of everything she'd learned of the Saiya- jin system over the past few months, she made a promise to herself to make an attempt at changing the king's viewpoint. She knew that she would probably have little influence, as she herself held little power at the palace and was not very imposing either physically or mentally, but she was determined to do everything in her power.
She placed the rose back down on the bench and stood up. She had yet to meet this foreign dignitary, and if she were going to sway any of his opinions, it might help her to learn something of his personality beforehand. She cast a quick glance up at the balcony, where her mother and the king still stood, arguing, before she gathered her skirts and made her way down the winding garden paths, heading toward the door into the palace.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
So...what'd you think? Personally, I think Queen Serenity is starting to act like Miss Havisham from Dickens' "Great Expectations." I don't know if I like it or if it's just funny. I'd like your input. ^_^
Oh, yeah, sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Like I mentioned above, I have too much of a life and it takes up a lot of time. Not to mention my muse was on hiatus.
Reviews make my muse happy, and when my muse is happy, I write more. ^_^