Light of the Heart
Chapter 1: Restless
It was a cool night, and the stars shone and twinkled merrily in the moonless sky. The breeze weaved its way through the tree branches, bringing with it the smell of distant places. Tawni sat as still as she could, listening to the sound of the crickets chirping to the night air. Just above her, a little bird worked busily on its nest under the eave. Tawni loved to come out here at night, when the world surrendered itself to quiet. And what better place to enjoy it then on the roof? So, each night, as her parents slept, Tawni crept out her bedroom window onto the gently sloping shingles to enjoy the night. It was her thinking time, her time away from the real world, where the night air seemed to clarify and piece together her thoughts for her. Tonight she sat there in the dark and just let her thoughts take her where they would.
'Wouldn't it be nice...' she thought to herself, 'to live in the times of the knights of old? The adventures, chivalry, dragons and deeds, it must have been so exciting! To have an adventure like that would be the best thing that could ever happen to me. It'll never happen though. I have to wake up and face reality. I'm not a child anymore, although I wish I was.' Tawni sighed, the sound of which threaded its way through the night air, only to reach the ears of Tawni's chestnut mare, Aurora. The horse was watching Tawni from her paddock, as though listening to her thoughts. Then, as if shaking herself from a dream, Aurora flicked the flies off her coat and went back to her dinner of hay.
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Tawni crawled back into her room through her window, and began to get ready for bed. 'First day at my new school tomorrow,' she thought to herself as she ran the brush through her short, red hair, 'Oh Yay. I bet all the girls here are either nut cases or total ditzes. Who said I wanted to move here anyway? If Dad hadn't been transferred, I'd be at home now, in my room, and I would see my friends tomorrow, at my school. At least they have good TV shows here!' Tawni sighed again, and got into bed.
'Maybe it won't be that bad.'
'Yeah, right.'
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Crossroads High School was your typical high school full of yelling, laughing kids and teachers. Tawni hated it. Her fears about her classmates were confirmed when Miss Haruna introduced her to Serena. She had never met a ditzier, clutzier girl in her entire life. From there, Serena introduced her to Molly, Melvin, and Ami. Out of the four, Ami had to be the most normal.
'I can deal with Ami,' thought Tawni on her way home from school, 'Molly's nice, but Melvin's a total nerd, and Serena, well, we won't even go there.' Tawni sighed. She missed her friends from home. Suddenly, a voice broke into Tawni's thoughts. It was Serena, running down the sidewalk toward her. As Tawni watched, Serena tripped over a bump in the sidewalk and fell flat on her face. 'Oh great,' thought Tawni, 'It's el ditso again. I had better wait for her.' Serena had by now gotten up and was pelting up the sidewalk again. She stopped just short of Tawni, and grinned, breathing heavily.
"Hi! I thought that you might want to come and meet some friends of mine, but when I looked for you after school, you had already left! So I decided to try and catch up with you!" Tawni stared at Serena.
'She may be ditsy, but she does mean well. Might as well go with her,' thought Tawni.
"Do you want to come?" asked Serena, still out of breath.
"Yeah, I'd like that," said Tawni.
"Great!" said Serena, and started off down a side street. "But we better hurry, cuz I'm already late. NotthatI'mnotalwayslatemindyoubutI..." Tawni just grinned and followed the retreating voice.
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"What do you think guys?" asked Rei, looking around at the faces of the other scouts. The meeting with Tawni had gone pretty well, and all the girls liked her.
"I don't know," said Lita, "I mean, is she really a Sailor Scout?" she asked Luna.
"She sure is, and a powerful one at that," answered Luna, "She has her own guardian, but for some reason, Aurora hasn't seen fit to awaken her yet."
"Aurora?" Serena asked.
"Her guardian," said Luna. "I'll have to pay a visit and see why Tawni hasn't been given her powers."
"But can she help?" asked Serena, "You haven't mentioned her before. Where is she from?"
"She comes from the planet Andromeda, which was destroyed by Queen Beryl shortly before the attack on the Moon Kingdom," said Artemis, "She came to help us as quickly as she could, but was too late. We were already finished. She could be a great asset to us against Pupurum if she is awakened."
Ami nodded. "According to my calculations, with her added power, we may actually have a chance where there was none before."
"Well," interrupted Mina, "all I know is that I'm hungry again. Lita, is there anymore of that delicious cheesecake? Cuz if not, I'm for some ice cream." The other girls agreed, and set off for the ice cream parlor.
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