DISCLAIMER: I don't own any CCS characters, they belong to CLAMP or (very unfortunately) Nelvana, so don't sue me.




How to be a good host, a new holiday made



Inanna was lounging on a pile of silk coushins, listening to her advisors. The room was like a garden, there were no walls, so a soft, continual breeze swept through the room. Her dark hair was piled on top of her head and a thin gold band circled her head. She had light colored skin and brown hair. Her freckles made her look half her age. She wore a flowing peach colored dress that went to her knees and ended right before her elbows. Her robes were bordered in gold and a bejewled colar decorated her neck. On a silver chain around her neck was a small medalion with a flower carved onto the front. When she saw her brother enter, she held her hand up, silencing the woman who was talking. "Where have you been all day Roald?" She demanded. Her voice was soft, and purposely so; who ever was listening would have to lean in to hear the words she crooned.

Roald could tell his sister was about to launch into a long diatribe in her velvety voice, but cut her off with an impatient tut. "Inanna. Tiriki-"
She sat up. "Say that again."

"I didn't say very much yet, sister. I was going to tell you that the Child of Light is coming. The one from the prophesies called Tiriki," he said irritatedly.

Inanna's back became ramrod straight. She stood up and stretched her legs. She smiled. "We'll need to prepare a feast then. And a little ceremoney to welcome her, now won't we?"

Roald sighed. His sister was in her element; social events like the ones that would be coming up were her forte. "Yes. Something diplomatic like that would be in order."

She sat down again and crossed her legs. "Surely though, Tiriki is not her real name. Tiriki just means Child of Light," she said lazily.

"We aren't given her real name, but he prophesies make it seem like she'll respond to Tiriki."

Inanna snapped her fingers twice and two scribes stepped forth from the shadows. "I need you to make a to-do list." She waited patiently as the scribes made ready to write. Even though only one was doing the writing, two were needed to prepare quickly. One of them clipped the stylus and made ink the other rubbed a tablet of wood smooth. Once the writer was situated comfortably, Inanna began. "Arrangements for a banquet. Thirty ducks, roasted. Fish, bass I think, would be nice. vegetables, we must have vegetables. Have them make a salad. Enough for a banquet mind you. A fruit soup with almond jelly for desert. Anything else the cooks wish to arrange is up to them. They aren't to make any of this until I give them the go ahead though. This is just a warning. I trust them. Then I want the tailor to stand at the ready to make clothes for the visitor and any companions she may have with her. That's a must. I don't think they'll have clothes suited to our climate. I want preparations to be made for a journey. I want scouts on the roads watching for any sign of visitors. As soon as it is reported they are here, I want court to be moved outside, so preparations for holding court outside. I think that's it." She paused, thinking, as the writer furiously wrote to catch up. The sound of the reed stylus scraping the wood was almost soothingly rythmic. When he was finished, the scribe waited patiently, his pen poised for writing.

"Do you know when they're coming Roald?" She turned to her brother and asked.

Roald shook his head. "Well, then," Inanna mused. "I guess we'll just have to frusterate everyone by saying that the time is unknown for now, but they need to be prepared for immediate action. Do you have that?" she asked the scribe who was once again scribbling away.

He handed the block of wood to the queen when she was done. She held her hand over it and a thin layer of the wood peeled off, forming a piece of paper. She pressed her thumb to the paper and her customary signature appeared in a sparkling white. Handing the announcement to another servant, she ordered him to notify the people refered to in her message about the upcoming events. The boy nodded and scrambled away.

As the boy retreated, Inanna slapped her thigh. "Shoot. I forgot about music. Oh well, that can be made up for later"

Inanna sat back smiling smugly at the way she handled the near crisis. She was grateful that the Child of Light was coming; carrying the key around was such a nuisance. Come to think of it, when she had first come into posession of it, a strange lizard-man came. She was used to recieving visitors from other plantes, but this one was strange because he offered an alliance,to fight against the Child who would come for the keys. She rejected the offer. He had a bubble of dark matter that was always with him, and Inanna had taken it as a sign of what would engulf her people if she had agreed to his proposal.

A dull thud accompanied with a small tremor shook the earth. The same servant who moments before had scampered away with Inanna's notice, scrambled back to bring news. He stooped over to catch his breath, swallowed, and announced, "I think your visitors are here your majesty..."

Roald watched as the smile vanshed from his sister's face. He suspected that she wasn't quite expecting the Child of Light to make such an entrance. Inanna got up and started walking, following the servant. Much to her annoyance, no one in her court followed her except for Roald, "Well? What are you waiting for? Come along," she sniffed.

The four humans and four guardians stood at the entrance to the ship. As the door opened, they felt a blast of heat penatrate the cool of the ship. "Whoa, this is a lot hotter than it ever got in Hong Kong or Japan," Syaoran declared, tugging at the collar of his shirt.

The intense heat was suffocating. Rika was the first to step out of the ship into the whithering warmth with Nakuru in tow. Suppi, already languishing in the heat, was sprawled out on top of Rika's head.

The amazing scenery though, made them forget about the heat temporarily. They had landed in the most exotic of places. There were trailing vines all along the walls. The leaves were all shades of green, from a jazzy yellow-green to a soft, mellow blue-green. The shapes and sizes of the leaves were fascinating as well: large, small, pointy, smooth. The vein patterns were different than the ones on earth from square ones to round ones. The flowers were gargantuan and blooming from all different places. One particularly colorful one was sprouting from the tip of a leaf. Another was big enough to fit a whole person inside.

The animals were fantastic as well. There was a bird, or an insect, they couldn't tell which, but it was buzzing around some of the flowers. Its stripped and feathered back was a contrast to its spotted beak. The insect/bird discovered the strangers and flew closer to investigate. Unfortunately for it, it chose to investigat the already suffering Suppi.

Suppi lazily opened an eye to find the source of the buzzing he was hearing. He found himself face to face, eye to eye rather, with a bizzare, bespeckled, bestriped cross between a bird and bug. He jumped up and yelled, diving into Ruby Moon's arms (for the first and last time). The thing, however, seemed to be taken with Suppi and flew around Ruby Moon until Suppi emerged and once again found himself eye to eye with an animal that he never wanted to even see or imagine in the first place!

Lucky for him, it was at that moment Inanna and her court arrived. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw where they had landed, or rather, what they had landed on (they had completely demolished one of her nicer looking fountains). Her eyes then scanned over the group of people before her. A brown haired woman, a red haired woman, one with green eyes, and man with honey eyes and another with silver hair (her eyes were reluctant to leave his face) and another wth dark hair There was a flying yellow animal and a kihana bird was looking at something the red haired woman was holding.

Inanna walked up to the red haired woman and shooed the kihana bird away. A blue-black animal popped out. "I never want to see that thing again. EVER," he gasped.

Inanna's attention zeroed in on poor Suppi. "I wasn't aware that Earth had flying cats," she commented.

"Well...errm.." Nakuru started, "He isn't exactally an animal-"

"Oh! Is he some sort of mechanical toy then?" She grabbed Suppi by the tail and shook him up and down, wiggled his arms and legs, and in general, squeezed him to death.

"Did someone say it was 'Pick-on-Spinel-Sun-Day' behind my back?" he managed to grunt out.

"No," Nakuru's eyes twinkled. "But now that you mention it-" She was cut off again by Inanna. During Suppi's little sentence, Roald had come up to her and pointed out Tiriki. Inanna looked at her.

"Tiriki and friends," she said tentatively.

At the mentionof the name Tiriki, a great change came over Rika. Once again, an air of greatness settled around Rika. She was unaware of the change except that all of a sudded, she knew what to do, what to say, how to act, et cetera. She knew it all. "Rika Sasaki if my name. Call me Rika." Rika went on to introduce her friends.

"Welcome to Ishtar," Inanna said, extending her arms. "Allow me to provide you with rooms and clothes," she paused, eyeing their current attire. "I think you might find our clothes to be much more comfortable. And you will stay for a few days, won't you?" she added earnestly while leading them through the corridors of the palace.