Chapter Three
From Warrior-Woman to Princess
The following day in the Moon Kingdom…
Rula snickered as she stepped off the side of the ship. As she dropped to the ground and landed on all fours like a tiger the ramp of the ship was lowered to the ground.
As Serenity and her escort group descended to the ground the Lunarian glanced over her shoulder to see if Rula was following them. When she looked ahead and saw the huntress already outside the ship her eyes widened in surprise. "Rula! You...how?!" she exclaimed in disbelief.
Rula laughed wickedly and folded her arms across her chest. "You didn't really expect ME to wait did you? I took the window. Way quicker than waiting for those mechanisms to get into gear...the only thing you should depend on is your own initiative!"
Serenity sighed resignedly and said no more - she realised that she would have to iron out a few wrinkles here…
Rula glanced around the Moon Kingdom with deep despondency. What a boring place! The girl thought. Not a wild beast in sight!
"How do you like it?" Serenity asked interestedly.
"Mmm...doesn't look THAT great to me!" Rula remarked.
"Oh no?" Serenity could not help but laugh. "And why do you say that?"
"You really wanna know?" Rula asked cautiously.
"Oh yes! I'm very interested."
Rula decided to just let it go...
"Well we're here now." Serenity continued. "Shall we go inside?"
Rula gave a discontented grunt but decided to go along with it.
For now…
"Captain would you please fetch something for her to wear until we're inside?" Serenity asked Blackabar.
"Immediately your majesty!"
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Rula demanded as the captain walked back to the ship.
Serenity eyed the huntress's scanty attire and chose her words carefully. "Nothing at all...it's simply that..." she floundered as she found herself at quite a loss for what to say which was unusual. Really this had not been one of the kind of situations she had been told how to handle while being groomed to become queen…
After a while Rula worked it out all on her own. "Ohhhh I get it!" she said nodding her head with a knowing look on her face. "I understand! You don't want anyone to see my..."
"Yes, thank you." Serenity hastily interrupted her. "I'm grateful for your understanding Rula."
"Your Majesty." Blackabar said as he returned from the ship carrying a long dark hooded-cloak that he handed to Rula. With a grunt the girl slid into it and wrapped the material around her so that all of her body below her neckline temporarily disappeared from sight. As far as she was concerned these people were all making a stupid fuss over nothing…
"Oh and one more thing." Serenity began suddenly. "I want you to give your spear to Captain Blackabar."
Rula stared at the Queen of the Moon as if she had just asked her to cut out her own heart and toss it to the captain. "WHAT?!!" she exclaimed. "Why?!!"
"You don't need it any more. Do not worry for it shall be kept safe." Serenity's eyes were stern and her tone brooked no nonsense as she gazed at the stubbornly defiant girl – her face made it crystal clear that she would not be backing down on this matter.
After thinking about disobeying Rula groaned and removed the spear and the leather carrier from her back.
"Good." Serenity smiled as Rula mournfully gave it to Blackbar. "Now let's continue on our way – we have much to do today Rula."
Rula hesitated and looked over at Queen Serenity apprehensively. "I don't have to stay here if I don't want to. I can leave whenever I want you know." She remarked wanting it to be established before things got too far.
Serenity smiled reassuringly at her. "Shall we go inside?" she suggested mildly. "We can talk more about it later."
Rula sighed as she wondered just what she had gotten herself into…
As they walked through the doorway however Serenity glanced at her guest and was surprised by the saucy grin that had formed on her face. "What is it?" she asked, smiling in puzzlement.
Caught grinning, Rula coughed and shook her head. "Ohhh…NOTHING." She replied, avoiding Serenity's gaze just in case she started snickering.
As the Queen gazed ahead again in bewilderment Rula glanced at her and then over to Captain Blackabar and the grin crossed her face again – 'At ONCE your Majesty! Woo!! I think I'm in LOVE…' she mimicked silently as she remembered how eagerly the Captain of the Guard had jumped to the Queen's word.
~*~*~
Katarina toyed with the hem of her delicate green gown as she waited for Queen Serenity. An hour ago Serenity had called her lady in waiting to her and had instructed her to go and wait for her in the dressing room saying that she had a guest for her to attend to. Her mistress had said nothing about who this guest was and so Katarina had spent the past hour wondering over the strange mystery.
Idly she tucked a lock of her strawberry red hair behind her ear - the lady in waiting to Queen Serenity was eighteen years old and had eyes that were so green that they rivalled those of a cat in their deepness. Katarina had been taken into Serenity's service at a young age and as well as serving her majesty it was also her duty to prepare the women of the court for events.
The handle of the door turned and Katarina rose to her feet as Queen Serenity entered the dressing room.
"Good morning Katarina." Serenity greeted her with a smile.
"Your majesty." Katarina replied curtsying to her mistress - then she noticed the girl who stood at Serenity's side.
Katarina wrinkled her brow curiously as she looked her up and down. The girl was not too tall and yet definitely not short and she wore her hair - which seemed to be thickly coated in several different colours of dye - in long dreadlocks and her whole body below her neck was enshrouded in a dark cloak that reached down to her feet.
The girl had eyes that were of the deepest brown and sparkled with a fire that Katarina was sure she had seen somewhere before. Katarina's curiosity was aroused by this girl and already she was determined to find out everything about her, who she was and where she had come from before the day was out.
Queen Serenity had noticed that Katarina was gazing at the girl and spoke to her. "This is Katarina, my handmaiden." she introduced her. "She'll be fitting you with your dress. I hope that the two of you will get along. Katarina I trust that you will look after our guest?"
Katarina beamed widely and curtsied again. "Of course your majesty. It would be a great honour for me." she replied loudly - she noticed that her mistress had not introduced the girl to her and her curiosity deepened.
A smile spread across Serenity's face. "Thank you." she turned back to the girl. "I'll come back for you soon. Is that alright?"
Rula nodded but she said nothing. Serenity noticed that there was a strange set look on the huntress's face and that she would not meet her eyes and concern crossed her own face. Perhaps all this was a little too much too soon...
"Are you alright? Is anything the matter?" she asked.
Rula answered her using her voice for the first time since she'd entered the dressing room. "Yeah…I'm okay." she replied speaking in a forced normal voice.
All the while the huntress was thinking about all of this uneasily. She had been uneasy ever since Serenity had first mentioned it. A...dress? she thought bleakly.
Serenity was not convinced but she knew that Rula wouldn't thank her for pressing her to tell her what was troubling her.
The Queen decided just to give Rula her space. "Then I will see you later today." she said in the end. "Goodbye for the present dear."
Rula gave her a nod and with that Queen Serenity turned and left the dressing room closing the door behind her. The huntress didn't show it but for a brief moment she felt a stab of panic – Serenity's presence had had a calming effect on her in the bizarre and unfamiliar world of the Palace and now that she had gone Rula felt suddenly lost and confused.
Katarina turned to smile warmly at Rula who looked at the handmaiden warily. "Well now that we're alone lets get to know one another!" Katarina enthused.
"Uh-huh?" Rula muttered warily. "Must we?"
The huntress didn't feel keen to do this at all...
Katarina was determined to make friends with her however. "But might I not know your name? After all here I am to serve you and yet I do not even know who you are." she asked sweetly.
Rula gave her a long and hard look. "Serenity told me not to reveal my name to anyone." she said quietly.
"Oh come on! I wont tell anyone else!" Katarina pressed her.
"I'd just rather not okay?" Rula retorted not trusting the handmaiden an inch.
Katarina's eyes narrowed a little but she hid her offense. "Alright fine. Let's get started." Katarine turned to a cupboard which she opened and began to rummage around inside ordering as she did so, "Strip."
Rula looked at her in sheer disbelief. "Huh?!!" she gasped - she had always believed that nothing could shock her but that belief had just died an ugly and ignoble death.
Katarina looked at her over her shoulder and felt a feeling of satisfaction as she saw the girls stunned face. "Take your clothes off." she elaborated with a bright cheerfulness. "I need to see what I'm working with."
Coolly Rula removed her cloak. As it drifted to the floor Katarina eyed Rula's scanty attire with considerable surprise and once more wondered just what kind of guest she was. But she made no comment as Rula undid the strips at the back of her top and then took it off and then slipped out of her skirt and dropped both garments to the floor before finishing by kicking off her leather boots.
Reaching down she untied the pair of knives that she always kept strapped to her thighs. "Here…hold these for me will'ya?" she grunted as she packed the two blades together and casually handed them to Katarina.
Katarina's eyes almost fell out of her head as she stood and stared down at the pair of gleaming blades that she had just been given. "Ohhh…certainly!" she stammered and slid the knives through a seam in her gown as if they were a pair of momentarily unneeded knitting needles as her mind raced. Katarina studied the naked girl standing in the middle of the room. "You're really lucky! Most girls your age are quite flat breasted." she complimented her as she gathered up the skirt, top and boots.
"Yeah I'm soooo thankful to be so blessed." Rula retorted coolly.
Katarina giggled and ran her free hand through her mane of strawberry hair. "You're a very strange girl my lady." She commented as she looked interestedly at Rula. "You aren't bit like any of the other girls who I have met in my life."
Rula gave the handmaiden a keen look. "Well they were Venusians." She retorted.
Katarina gave a startled blink and then stared at Rula in shock. The handmaiden was shocked that this girl who had never met her before seemed to know which planet she had been born on. "But how could you guess which planet I used to live on?" she exclaimed. "I left Venus when I was very young and was raised here in the Moon Kingdom!"
Rula looked her directly in the eye – all the years of her life which she had spent travelling from place to place had given her an almost natural ability to tell where various people had originally come from but she didn't have to tell this girl that. "I know about stuff." was her short but cryptic reply.
Katarina still eyed her a little unnerved but then she grinned. "You know such a lot!" she gushed warmly. "I know that you must be very clever…"
"Don't call me that." Rula said unexpectedly as if as an afterthought.
"Clever?" Katarina asked feeling puzzled by her words.
"No…a lady." Rula elaborated simply. "That isn't what I am at all."
"Then what are you?" Katarina asked feeling more and more bewilderment.
The other girl looked directly into her eyes and her own were clear now as she fixed the handmaiden with her gaze. "I'm a woman…there's a world of difference."
Katarina spent a while gazing at her as she thought about what she had said – as far as the handmaiden could see there was not any great difference between ladies and women for she had always thought that they were two words meaning precisely the same thing.
"What strange things you say." Katarina remarked. "I was right – you certainly are unusual! Tell me…where did you come from to get here?"
Rula shifted her eyes slightly as she thought up her reply. "From where I started out." she replied.
"Well how old are you?" Katarina persisted.
"Old enough to know how it feels to be sure that the ground's beneath my feet and the air's blowing in my face." Rula said thoroughly enjoying herself as she frustrated the handmaiden's curiosity.
Katarina sighed loudly and shrugged her shoulders. "Oh alright! Please yourself…silly thing. Be mysterious if you want to. It doesn't matter to me!"
An anxious look suddenly appeared in Rula's eyes as she looked down at her clothes that Katarina held in her arms. "Hey…what are you gonna do with those?" she exclaimed.
Katarina was startled by the worried girls expression, not understanding what had made her so anxious. "Oh…it IS alright for me to throw these old things out isn't it?" she inquired and nodded disdainfully down at the bundle of clothes in her arms. "After all you won't need them anymore so…"
"NO!" Rula cried in dismay and grabbed Katarina's wrist as if to restrain her. "Don't do that!"
Katarina was taken by surprise by the upset look on the other girls face. "But why do you want to keep them?" she wondered aloud. "After all you won't need to wear them ever again!"
"You don't know that!" Rula snapped as she felt her anger rising. "Anyway I want to keep them because they're MY clothes! I've had them for a long time!"
"You mean that they have sentimental value to you?" Katarina asked knowingly. "Very well. I shall put them in here for safe keeping."
Rula breathed a sigh of relief as the handmaiden turned and stashed the clothes away in the wardrobe behind her. As she turned around and inspected Rula again Katarina's eyes fell upon the bracelet around the other girls ankle and they lit up in delight.
"Now THAT'S pretty!" she exclaimed as she stooped to inspect the silver band at closer quarters. "Where did you get that bracelet?"
Rula noticed that along with the appreciation in the other girl's eyes there was also just the faintest hint of envy and instinctively she slid her foot behind the other one. "It was given to me." She replied guardedly in a way that made it crystal clear that it was all that she was going to say about it.
Katarina rose to her full height again and as she returned to eye-level she noted that she was at least five inches taller than the other girl. The handmaiden felt quite pleased by this. "Oh yes?" she giggled and then gave Rula a knowing, girlish wink. "And who was that?"
Rula just smiled in a sarcastic 'Wouldn't you like to know?' way and said nothing at all.
"But won't you take it off?" Katarina insisted. "I promise that you can trust me to look after your bracelet for you."
"I NEVER take it off." Rula snapped. "It's important to me."
Katarina pursed her lips as she once more felt annoyed by this girl's stubborn refusal to be friends with her. The handmaiden was baffled by her…what was the matter with her? Was this girl so wild that she did not know how to behave properly? Hadn't she ever learnt her manners?
Trying to think of something to say to keep their conversation going Katarina remembered her compliment to Rula's figure and with a snigger she leant closer to Rula conspiratorially. "Mind you, you didn't hear this from me but Queen Serenity's daughter the Moon Princess if QUITE flat breasted!"
As she retrieved a tape measure from the cupboard and approached Rula again the huntress gave her a grim look. The huntress didn't even know Queen Serenity's daughter but her nature hated this spiteful teasing.
"What's wrong?" Katarina asked surprised by the look on Rula's face.
Rula's lip curled. Katarina didn't even realise she'd made a nasty comment. "Is that the way to talk about your mistress' daughter?" she asked coldly.
Katarina stared at Rula as if she had slapped her face. "I...that is I was only..." she stammered.
"If you can't say anything good about the Moon princess then don't say anything at all!" Rula snapped. "I doubt that Queen Serenity would like to hear about you making spiteful comments about her daughter, do you?"
katarina's eyes widened and filled with panic. "Oh please don't tell her!" she wailed falling to her knees much to Rula's amazement. "Please! I was only joking!"
"Well do you think that the Moon Princess would have laughed?" Rula snapped scornfully.
"I promise I wont do it again! Please! I promise!"
The terror and distress in Katarina's face touched Rula and her face relaxed. "Alright alright!" she said her voice gentler than usual. "Just don't let it happened again ya hear?"
A tide of relief washed over Katarina like a rush of cool water. "Oh thank you! You have my gratitude!" she gushed rising to her feet again.
"Oh forget about it!" Rula snapped. "Just keep quiet from now on."
Katarina nodded humbly still weak with relief. The handmaiden wound the tape measure around Rula's chest and began to take her measurements. After Rula had grown tired of standing completely still Katarina unwound the tape and put it away. Then she undid the ties of Rula's dreadlocks brushing her hair out of the locks so that it unravelled to her waist.
"Oh my! Your hair is as long as Princess Venus'!" Katarina remarked and then a look of enlightenment appeared in the handmaiden's eyes. "I have the perfect gown for you!" she exclaimed clapping her hands together in excitement as she turned back towards the cupboard, opened it and reached inside... "Here – put this on first my lady."
Rula stared blankly at the garment that the beaming Katarina held out for her – whatever it was it was so bizarre that the huntress completely forgot to reprimand the handmaiden for the 'lady' thing. The garment draped over Katarina's arms was not unlike the suit of chain-mail that she had been given to wear by the leader of a group of Charonian soldiers who she and her men had encountered and saved from death at the blades of a marauding band of Palazean pillagers during the terrible war that had ended a couple of months ago.
Rula remembered that chain-mail vest fondly – she'd given it back to the woman in charge of the lost band after she and the Raiders had escorted them near the outer moon and safety at the end of the war because like she'd said to her, "I'm a warrior…not a soldier!"
However THIS garment was lacy and did not reach down to her waist or up to her neckline. It just…ended halfway between down and up. "What…?" Rula exclaimed as she wondered if it was supposed to protect her from any assassination attempts though it just didn't seem thick or solid enough to stop a knife…but what other purpose could this garment possibly have?
"Just slip into it." Katarina insisted as she pressed the garment into Rula's hands and walked around her. "I'll help you."
Rula grunted and opened the garment wide as the handmaiden stepped behind her – as she wrapped it around her midsection Katarina brushed her unravelled hair aside with her hand. "This is a corset." The strawberry-haired girl explained as she took hold of a couple of lacy ties that had hung down Rula's back. "I'll lace you up…"
Still looks like defective body-armour to me girl... thought the huntress with a smirk. "So what's it supposed to…" she began and then what happened next cut her voice off and she grimaced wildly.
Humming Katarina had pulled the laces back and without warning the limpness of the corset vanished – instantly the garment straightened up and seemed to shrink around Rula's midsection and chest. As her eyes bugged out at the unexpected shock she felt as if her backbone and ribs were being rearranged into a new and perfectly straight order…
"ACK!!"
Katarina mercifully stopped as she inspected the huntress, a constructive frown now on her face as she thought. "This will not do at all." She stated bluntly as she began to loosen the ties of the corset again much to the relief of the huntress who immediately began to rub circulation back into her abdomen. "I hope that this does not offend you but you ARE very dirty Miss." Her eyes brightened for the second time in moments and again she clapped her hands together. "I know!" she exclaimed, grabbing Rula's wrist without warning…
~*~*~
Meanwhile…
"Your Majesty!"
Queen Serenity smiled as she and Xizor both stopped just outside her personal balcony. "At ease." She sighed as she completed the almost ritualistic proceeding. "Well - as you can see I am home. Did anything interesting happen while I was away for over twenty-four hours?"
Now she asked the question with amusement but to her surprise the pair of Guards who had she had met both exchanged worried looks – apparently there WAS something that they needed to tell her, only they weren't sure on how to broach the subject.
"Well the thing IS your Majesty…"
"It's like THIS…"
Serenity raised a hand for silence. "Why not go one at a time?" she suggested mildly. "It might be a little easier that way."
"Oh good idea your Majesty, I'll go first…"
"You see the problem is that…"
"Oh very well then…" the Queen sighed in resignation. "…make it a chorus."
"It's about the report from the scouting-vessel you decided to send out yesterday your Majesty." The Guard on the right finally managed to get out.
Serenity widened her eyes a touch – now that WAS a topic that interested her. "Oh how wonderful!" she exclaimed as she clapped her hands together and gazed expectantly at the man. "And…?"
"Well…that's just the problem your Majesty."
"It never CAME."
Serenity gave a blink of surprise. "Excuse me?" she asked blankly. "Are you saying that there was no word AT ALL from the Scouts?"
"None at all we fear – all that we know for certain is that for some reason they strayed drastically off-course and that they were last estimated to have entered the uncharted territory that lies beyond the edge of our current map of the Inner Galaxy."
"And they…just disappeared?" Serenity repeated, her voice now softer than before as a strange expression crossed her face. "Without a trace? They could not have simply strayed out of contact-range?"
Or could it be…?
No – impossible.
And yet…
"Our astrologers have been attempting to locate the vessel since yesterday your Majesty." The Guard on the left concluded, his comrade exhausted from having been the one to answer all of her Majesty's questions regarding the two lost Scouts.
Serenity nodded her head slightly, the vague expression seemingly fixed to her face – a cold dread had stolen over her and she could not quite seem to shake it off by reminding herself that the likelihood of it's source being worth troubling herself about being practically nothing. "Yes…well we will give them a little more time to show themselves before we take any further actions." She declared – and with that she walked through the doorway and onto her balcony, bidding the two Guards a good day as she went.
Xizor joined her Majesty, finding her standing at the very edge of the balcony as she gazed up at the sky – the ambassador waited patiently for his Queen to address him, having noticed that she had made no elaboration on what their 'further action' might be if the Scouts did not return. Curiosity and dread were mingling in his stomach when she finally broke out of her reverie to speak.
"Do you remember how I told you of the strange problem encountered by many ships coming to our Inner Galaxy from the Outer Galaxy?" Serenity asked softly, not turning her gaze in his direction as she looked at the sky apparently still deeply troubled.
Xizor nodded his head – a few days ago his Queen had told him about various rumours that had been spread by visitors from the planets of the Outer Galaxy, talk of strange malfunctions in the visiting ships that were seemingly caused by a mysterious kind of systematic interference. As the Queen of the Moon Serenity had requested that the rulers of their neighbouring planets would leave the problem to her and they had graciously accepted her offer…
"Your Majesty…" Xizor murmured – he knew by now that the fact that Serenity had not turned to look at him was a sure sign of trouble since she was deeply immersed in worry about what she had just been told.
The ambassador had a feeling that he was about to hear something on the matter of the 'further action'…
"It could always be nothing you know…and by the stars I hope and pray that the suspicion that has arisen in my heart is wrong." Serenity continued, her eyes distant – from the sound of her soft voice it seemed to Xizor that she had gone to a place far, far away – it was as though she was remembering or IMAGINING something, something terrible. "Xizor – I know that it is very sudden but I wish for you to begin preparations to journey to the planet Earth and invite Emperor Mu to visit me."
Xizor gasped as if he'd been walking along a wide and open road and suddenly plunged into a pool of icy water. "OH…" he stammered. "Would you say that it is really errr NECESSARY for me to go THERE and see HIM? Y-your Majesty?"
Queen Serenity finally turned around and the depth of the seriousness in her eyes left not room for doubt. "I believe that these incidents are the work of the presence that exists in the only territory in our galaxy that is still uncharted by civilized people Xizor." She answered quietly. "The Dark Kingdom."
Xizor all but collapsed. "O-OH." He squeaked as the many numerous rumours and legends that he had heard about that nightmarish region of horror and darkness come forth in his mind's-eye, born from the one source that may just have been a more potent experience than the reality of that place and it's evil ruler – imagination. "…I SEE."
"As I say – it may not be so." Serenity said, her voice low as she felt a wrenching guilt at having maybe sent the two men who had been under her command to a terrible fate. "And I am no more overjoyed at the prospect of allowing the Emperor of Earth to come here than you are Xizor." It took all of her dignity and restraint not to say the word 'tyrant' just as practically everybody else in the galaxy did whenever they spoke of the man who presently ruled her neighbouring planet. "But if what I fear is reality then I am certain that we will soon need to prepare to defend our Galaxy – from Queen Beryl."
As he shivered, a common reaction to hearing the name of the dreaded Queen of Darkness, Xizor tried to comfort himself by reminding himself that what he had heard about her were simply rumours – just as the existence of Mistress Rula, the Wild Princess.
And that WAS true… the Lunarian Ambassador realised with a shiver as he wondered who frightened him more – Beryl, ruler of the Dark Kingdom or Mu, tyrant of Earth.
~*~*~
Captain Blackabar was strolling down the corridor, his hands in his pockets when he looked around and realised just where he WAS – there was very little for him to do since his men, many of whom were much younger and more energetic, were covering the guard duty on the palace grounds, the palace itself, the streets of the city and the countryside and what with the prospect of another day of routine lazily stretching out before him he'd been wandering aimlessly these last few hours since his arrival home.
Now that he paid attention to his surroundings he realised where he WAS – the servant quarters. Being in this part of the palace brought back to him once more the memories of his humble upbringing, only THIS time the Captain stopped walking as he reminisced. Now how had he ended up HERE? His mind must have wandered just as far as himself as he'd taken his stroll…
As he looked around Blackabar was surprised to realise that he was actually feeling tired – that was alright in itself but being honest with himself he had to admit that he had not actually DONE very much during the last few days. After all yesterday it had been RULA who had taken on the terrifying monsters and saved the life of her Majesty – in short the huntress had done HIS job FOR him while he himself had been all but useless to help in the struggle.
The Captain of the Moon Kingdom Guard suddenly felt haggard and old as he realised just how many years he had been here doing what he did and this brought him to wonder about just how much longer he had left to do it. Maybe he WAS getting past it…he certainly wasn't getting any younger, he knew THAT much for sure.
"S-stay back! I swear, you bring that anywhere near me and I'll…"
Captain Blackabar snapped out of his depressing thoughts as he heard a screeching yowl that set all of his teeth on edge – it had come from behind the door that he had come to a stop outside as his brooding had set in.
Somebody in trouble…?
However just as the Captain was pulling his sword from its sheath, ready to lay his life down for the sake of the innocent he heard another voice – one that he recognized.
"Oh don't be so silly! Hold still, I'm just going to…"
As Blackabar recognized the voice of Katarina he froze – a moment later there was the scratchy sound of a brush being energetically applied followed by a yelp of anguish, courtesy of the FIRST voice which he now recognized as being that of Rula, and THEN the sound of somebody being thrown across the room.
As he gawped the Captain saw a torrent of water seeping out from beneath the door – he noticed that it ran with the colours of the rainbow due, he realised, to the fact that it had been used to clean Rula's hair.
Try as they might afterwards the servants were unable to clean the carpet which ultimately needed to be replaced…
"Oh…MY." Katarina's voice stammered dazedly from within the bath-chamber.
"I TOLD you that I didn't need on-hand assistance to take a bath…" lectured Rula's voice – there was a wet 'flop' as she evidently flipped her wet hair from out of her face so that it slapped her shoulders.
Blackabar gulped silently as he let go of the hilt of his sword and hastened on his way – but though his face burned red he was smiling fondly.
Katarina – now SHE was another story.
A few hours later...
"Rula should have been prepared by now." Queen Serenity declared turning away from the magnificent view of her kingdom. "Xizor would you please go and bring her to me?"
Serenity was sitting at her balcony with Xizor when she spoke. "Certainly your majesty." Xizor rose to his feet and turned to leave the balcony.
However as the ambassador of the Moon Kingdom took a single step towards the doorway leading back into the palace a voice came floating through it and reached their ears. "This is the way…aren't you happy now that you're all squeaky clean?"
There was a pause and then a low voice muttered "Dressed like this…what are you, nuts?!!"
"Come along now my Lady."
"Hey what did I tell you about that?"
The ambassador froze in his tracks with a foot held as if frozen in mid-air as Katarina who had been the one talking arrived through the doorway with someone at her side.
Serenity looked to her side to glimpse Xizor's face and saw that it had suddenly become struck with astonished disbelief and that his mouth was wide open. Wondering what had shocked him Serenity followed his gaze to see what he was staring at. Katarina had walked onto the balcony leading someone out with her and Serenity craned her neck to see who could possibly have shocked him so much and as she saw who now stood behind her the Queen of the Moon Kingdom became quite entranced by what she saw.
Beside Katarina there stood a vision.
The handmaiden had led Rula out onto the balcony...or was it Rula?
It was hard to tell for sure for there had had been a transformation. The dirty huntress was gone...Rula's body had been completely washed and her face and skin were clean of dirt.
Katarina had washed the blood from Rula's hair and shampooed and brushed it. Rula's waist-length tresses were a light purple which seemed to shimmer. She was now clad in a dark blue evening gown made from silk which was slit up the side of her right leg, creamy white shoulder length gloves and elegant white shoes with high heels that increased her height by a few inches.
The gown was revealing of her figure and that was why Katarina had selected it for the huntress since it made clear her natural curviness. The handmaiden had been anxious to atone for earlier and please Rula and so she had done her best with her.
Rula had her hands clasped over her stomach and she looked quite shy which was a first.
I feel like a fairy…
Serenity could hardly believe that she was looking at the former leader of the Star Raiders. Although she was obviously unused to such finery Rula now looked more the Princess that Serenity knew her to be.
Serenity realised that the air had become completely still as they all stood there in silence waiting for each other to speak. "Oh you look lovely!" Serenity exclaimed as she rose to her feet brushing aside Xizor's attempt to assist her.
"Thanks Kat." Rula said absent-mindedly to Katarina and the strawberry-haired girl gave her a look of surprise – nobody had ever called her 'Kat' before and it sounded strange coming from this girl…
The Queen glanced over at Katarina and gave her a very meaningful look. Understanding her mistress's desire the handmaiden nodded briefly and after one last lingering look at the strangest girl she had ever met she turned and quietly left the balcony. Don't worry Katarina. Serenity thought, smiling knowingly. You will see her again soon enough…
"Un-be-lie-vable!!" Xizor breathed staring at Rula in rapt fascination.
Rula smiled and for once it looked a genuine smile instead of a smirk. "Gee thanks Xizor!" she replied.
"Ah! Ah!" Xizor gasped realising his slip. "...I…ah! I meant...that is to say I meant to say..."
"What you meant to say was exactly what you have said! She knows what you meant Xizor." Serenity assured him with a smile.
"Ugh!" Rula grimaced as she tugged at the hem of the dress. "I can't stand this gown! So tight…and I can hardly walk without coming so close to ending up with a mouthful of floor!"
"Oh nonsense!" Serenity made a dismissive gesture in the air and smiled. "You'll grow used to it."
"If you say so Queen Serenity." Rula muttered with a sniff.
"Oh I do!" Serenity laughed pleasantly. "Well now...everything seems to be very much taken care of now. You are ready to enter my court but for one more thing…
"Mmm, well let's see…" Rula drawled sarcastically as she raised her fingers to tick things off one by one. "I've had a pedicure – no more poisoned-fingernail tricks for ME in a hurry – played dress-up with Kat – this corset is KILLING me by the way…what else is LEFT your Majesty?"
"Your name." Serenity replied simply.
"My name?" Rula echoed.
"Yes."
"What's wrong with it?" Rula demanded hotly.
"Oh nothing at all but you really ought to have one which reflects your status." Queen Serenity thought about it for a while and then it came to her. "I have decided." she declared. "You are as of now Princess Universe!"
Rula raised her eyebrow. "Princess Universe?" she echoed with an odd look on her face – what would her comrades say if they'd heard that?
"Is that alright as far as you are concerned?"
There was a silence as Rula thought about it - so now on top of everything else she was going to be given a different name…? She'd grown quite used to 'Rula', Steel-Eye had given her that name and...
Then she gave a long sigh. "Okay your majesty. Princess Universe it is then." she relented.
Queen Serenity nodded satisfied. "Then all is ready! Come, it is time for me to introduce you to the other Princesses of my Court and for you to join them." she declared. "I shall arrange for an assembly of the court this evening."
And as Rula sighed and went along with it she became Princess Universe under the stars of the Moon Kingdom.
Only while I'm here… she reminded herself comfortingly. …which won't be for very long.
~*~*~
That evening…
Princess Universe shuddered as she stood her hands clasped tight to her chest. She was standing in the corridor just outside the Throne Room where Queen Serenity had told her to wait for her.
Universe breathed in and out heavily. The time had come and this was her big hour...
The day that symbolised the beginning of her new life here in the Moon Kingdom. Her life had gone through so many major changes in such a short time. It had been a short time ago that she had been Rula the leader of the group of Space Warriors the Star Raiders. Wandering the universe with her group of fighters she had spent barely a day in which she had not fought for her life and dyed her hair in the blood of her defeated enemies.
Her life had seemed complete and she had thought that this was the way it would always be for her...but that had been before the arrival of Queen Serenity.
Now here she was in the Royal Palace of the Moon Kingdom groomed and clothed in an elegant ballgown. No longer was she Rula the fighter but Princess Universe who was only a few moments away from taking her place as one of the Princesses of Queen Serenity's Royal Court.
Universe would never have admitted it but she felt deeply nervous at the prospect. She was never going to fit in here, she told herself. She was bound to make some kind of mistake and look like a fool in front of all the men and women of the Court.
She could hardly believe herself. Here she was, a master huntress who was fully trained in the art of fighting completely fearless in the face of danger and the possessor of outstanding power, shivering at the thought of walking into the Throne Room beneath all those eyes...
Universe took a long gulp of air and told herself to stay cool. For the rest of that day Katarina had been helping her practice walking in the gown and acting and moving gracefully…well apart from the hours that they'd stopped for dinner and supper which she had to admit had left her feeling full and satisfied. No chance of tripping over the skirt of her gown…wasn't there?
She kept thinking about her spear. Poor little spear…all alone in the dark storage room. Don't cry my little spear, she sighed inwardly.
Just as Universe was wondering what would happen if she kicked in the stained glass window vaulted through the empty pane and climbed out scaling the Palace walls triumphantly the great double doors that led into the throne room opened slowly.
A thin crack of light spilled into the dim corridor as Universe looked up blinking furiously in the adjusted light.
Queen Serenity smiled as she looked at Universe once again marvelling at the fierce huntress's miraculous transformation into the fresh ravishing Princess who now stood before her. "It's time." Serenity told her kindly. "Are you ready?"
Universe gave an uncomfortable shuffle. "Ummm, actually I was kind of having second thoughts about the whole thing." she muttered.
"Universe, please trust me." Serenity began gently as she sensed that the new Princess was feeling worried about her performance in the Throne Room. "I know that it's hard for you to do this so soon but believe me it will work out for you. Now come. We cannot keep them waiting now can we?"
Universe swallowed. "Erm couldn't I just kind of hang loose back here for a while?" she asked half-heartedly.
Serenity just gave her a gentle smile and shook her head reprovingly. Reaching out she offered Universe her gentle hand - with a resigned sigh the girl accepted it and Serenity led her towards the throne room…
From Warrior-Woman to Princess
The following day in the Moon Kingdom…
Rula snickered as she stepped off the side of the ship. As she dropped to the ground and landed on all fours like a tiger the ramp of the ship was lowered to the ground.
As Serenity and her escort group descended to the ground the Lunarian glanced over her shoulder to see if Rula was following them. When she looked ahead and saw the huntress already outside the ship her eyes widened in surprise. "Rula! You...how?!" she exclaimed in disbelief.
Rula laughed wickedly and folded her arms across her chest. "You didn't really expect ME to wait did you? I took the window. Way quicker than waiting for those mechanisms to get into gear...the only thing you should depend on is your own initiative!"
Serenity sighed resignedly and said no more - she realised that she would have to iron out a few wrinkles here…
Rula glanced around the Moon Kingdom with deep despondency. What a boring place! The girl thought. Not a wild beast in sight!
"How do you like it?" Serenity asked interestedly.
"Mmm...doesn't look THAT great to me!" Rula remarked.
"Oh no?" Serenity could not help but laugh. "And why do you say that?"
"You really wanna know?" Rula asked cautiously.
"Oh yes! I'm very interested."
Rula decided to just let it go...
"Well we're here now." Serenity continued. "Shall we go inside?"
Rula gave a discontented grunt but decided to go along with it.
For now…
"Captain would you please fetch something for her to wear until we're inside?" Serenity asked Blackabar.
"Immediately your majesty!"
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Rula demanded as the captain walked back to the ship.
Serenity eyed the huntress's scanty attire and chose her words carefully. "Nothing at all...it's simply that..." she floundered as she found herself at quite a loss for what to say which was unusual. Really this had not been one of the kind of situations she had been told how to handle while being groomed to become queen…
After a while Rula worked it out all on her own. "Ohhhh I get it!" she said nodding her head with a knowing look on her face. "I understand! You don't want anyone to see my..."
"Yes, thank you." Serenity hastily interrupted her. "I'm grateful for your understanding Rula."
"Your Majesty." Blackabar said as he returned from the ship carrying a long dark hooded-cloak that he handed to Rula. With a grunt the girl slid into it and wrapped the material around her so that all of her body below her neckline temporarily disappeared from sight. As far as she was concerned these people were all making a stupid fuss over nothing…
"Oh and one more thing." Serenity began suddenly. "I want you to give your spear to Captain Blackabar."
Rula stared at the Queen of the Moon as if she had just asked her to cut out her own heart and toss it to the captain. "WHAT?!!" she exclaimed. "Why?!!"
"You don't need it any more. Do not worry for it shall be kept safe." Serenity's eyes were stern and her tone brooked no nonsense as she gazed at the stubbornly defiant girl – her face made it crystal clear that she would not be backing down on this matter.
After thinking about disobeying Rula groaned and removed the spear and the leather carrier from her back.
"Good." Serenity smiled as Rula mournfully gave it to Blackbar. "Now let's continue on our way – we have much to do today Rula."
Rula hesitated and looked over at Queen Serenity apprehensively. "I don't have to stay here if I don't want to. I can leave whenever I want you know." She remarked wanting it to be established before things got too far.
Serenity smiled reassuringly at her. "Shall we go inside?" she suggested mildly. "We can talk more about it later."
Rula sighed as she wondered just what she had gotten herself into…
As they walked through the doorway however Serenity glanced at her guest and was surprised by the saucy grin that had formed on her face. "What is it?" she asked, smiling in puzzlement.
Caught grinning, Rula coughed and shook her head. "Ohhh…NOTHING." She replied, avoiding Serenity's gaze just in case she started snickering.
As the Queen gazed ahead again in bewilderment Rula glanced at her and then over to Captain Blackabar and the grin crossed her face again – 'At ONCE your Majesty! Woo!! I think I'm in LOVE…' she mimicked silently as she remembered how eagerly the Captain of the Guard had jumped to the Queen's word.
~*~*~
Katarina toyed with the hem of her delicate green gown as she waited for Queen Serenity. An hour ago Serenity had called her lady in waiting to her and had instructed her to go and wait for her in the dressing room saying that she had a guest for her to attend to. Her mistress had said nothing about who this guest was and so Katarina had spent the past hour wondering over the strange mystery.
Idly she tucked a lock of her strawberry red hair behind her ear - the lady in waiting to Queen Serenity was eighteen years old and had eyes that were so green that they rivalled those of a cat in their deepness. Katarina had been taken into Serenity's service at a young age and as well as serving her majesty it was also her duty to prepare the women of the court for events.
The handle of the door turned and Katarina rose to her feet as Queen Serenity entered the dressing room.
"Good morning Katarina." Serenity greeted her with a smile.
"Your majesty." Katarina replied curtsying to her mistress - then she noticed the girl who stood at Serenity's side.
Katarina wrinkled her brow curiously as she looked her up and down. The girl was not too tall and yet definitely not short and she wore her hair - which seemed to be thickly coated in several different colours of dye - in long dreadlocks and her whole body below her neck was enshrouded in a dark cloak that reached down to her feet.
The girl had eyes that were of the deepest brown and sparkled with a fire that Katarina was sure she had seen somewhere before. Katarina's curiosity was aroused by this girl and already she was determined to find out everything about her, who she was and where she had come from before the day was out.
Queen Serenity had noticed that Katarina was gazing at the girl and spoke to her. "This is Katarina, my handmaiden." she introduced her. "She'll be fitting you with your dress. I hope that the two of you will get along. Katarina I trust that you will look after our guest?"
Katarina beamed widely and curtsied again. "Of course your majesty. It would be a great honour for me." she replied loudly - she noticed that her mistress had not introduced the girl to her and her curiosity deepened.
A smile spread across Serenity's face. "Thank you." she turned back to the girl. "I'll come back for you soon. Is that alright?"
Rula nodded but she said nothing. Serenity noticed that there was a strange set look on the huntress's face and that she would not meet her eyes and concern crossed her own face. Perhaps all this was a little too much too soon...
"Are you alright? Is anything the matter?" she asked.
Rula answered her using her voice for the first time since she'd entered the dressing room. "Yeah…I'm okay." she replied speaking in a forced normal voice.
All the while the huntress was thinking about all of this uneasily. She had been uneasy ever since Serenity had first mentioned it. A...dress? she thought bleakly.
Serenity was not convinced but she knew that Rula wouldn't thank her for pressing her to tell her what was troubling her.
The Queen decided just to give Rula her space. "Then I will see you later today." she said in the end. "Goodbye for the present dear."
Rula gave her a nod and with that Queen Serenity turned and left the dressing room closing the door behind her. The huntress didn't show it but for a brief moment she felt a stab of panic – Serenity's presence had had a calming effect on her in the bizarre and unfamiliar world of the Palace and now that she had gone Rula felt suddenly lost and confused.
Katarina turned to smile warmly at Rula who looked at the handmaiden warily. "Well now that we're alone lets get to know one another!" Katarina enthused.
"Uh-huh?" Rula muttered warily. "Must we?"
The huntress didn't feel keen to do this at all...
Katarina was determined to make friends with her however. "But might I not know your name? After all here I am to serve you and yet I do not even know who you are." she asked sweetly.
Rula gave her a long and hard look. "Serenity told me not to reveal my name to anyone." she said quietly.
"Oh come on! I wont tell anyone else!" Katarina pressed her.
"I'd just rather not okay?" Rula retorted not trusting the handmaiden an inch.
Katarina's eyes narrowed a little but she hid her offense. "Alright fine. Let's get started." Katarine turned to a cupboard which she opened and began to rummage around inside ordering as she did so, "Strip."
Rula looked at her in sheer disbelief. "Huh?!!" she gasped - she had always believed that nothing could shock her but that belief had just died an ugly and ignoble death.
Katarina looked at her over her shoulder and felt a feeling of satisfaction as she saw the girls stunned face. "Take your clothes off." she elaborated with a bright cheerfulness. "I need to see what I'm working with."
Coolly Rula removed her cloak. As it drifted to the floor Katarina eyed Rula's scanty attire with considerable surprise and once more wondered just what kind of guest she was. But she made no comment as Rula undid the strips at the back of her top and then took it off and then slipped out of her skirt and dropped both garments to the floor before finishing by kicking off her leather boots.
Reaching down she untied the pair of knives that she always kept strapped to her thighs. "Here…hold these for me will'ya?" she grunted as she packed the two blades together and casually handed them to Katarina.
Katarina's eyes almost fell out of her head as she stood and stared down at the pair of gleaming blades that she had just been given. "Ohhh…certainly!" she stammered and slid the knives through a seam in her gown as if they were a pair of momentarily unneeded knitting needles as her mind raced. Katarina studied the naked girl standing in the middle of the room. "You're really lucky! Most girls your age are quite flat breasted." she complimented her as she gathered up the skirt, top and boots.
"Yeah I'm soooo thankful to be so blessed." Rula retorted coolly.
Katarina giggled and ran her free hand through her mane of strawberry hair. "You're a very strange girl my lady." She commented as she looked interestedly at Rula. "You aren't bit like any of the other girls who I have met in my life."
Rula gave the handmaiden a keen look. "Well they were Venusians." She retorted.
Katarina gave a startled blink and then stared at Rula in shock. The handmaiden was shocked that this girl who had never met her before seemed to know which planet she had been born on. "But how could you guess which planet I used to live on?" she exclaimed. "I left Venus when I was very young and was raised here in the Moon Kingdom!"
Rula looked her directly in the eye – all the years of her life which she had spent travelling from place to place had given her an almost natural ability to tell where various people had originally come from but she didn't have to tell this girl that. "I know about stuff." was her short but cryptic reply.
Katarina still eyed her a little unnerved but then she grinned. "You know such a lot!" she gushed warmly. "I know that you must be very clever…"
"Don't call me that." Rula said unexpectedly as if as an afterthought.
"Clever?" Katarina asked feeling puzzled by her words.
"No…a lady." Rula elaborated simply. "That isn't what I am at all."
"Then what are you?" Katarina asked feeling more and more bewilderment.
The other girl looked directly into her eyes and her own were clear now as she fixed the handmaiden with her gaze. "I'm a woman…there's a world of difference."
Katarina spent a while gazing at her as she thought about what she had said – as far as the handmaiden could see there was not any great difference between ladies and women for she had always thought that they were two words meaning precisely the same thing.
"What strange things you say." Katarina remarked. "I was right – you certainly are unusual! Tell me…where did you come from to get here?"
Rula shifted her eyes slightly as she thought up her reply. "From where I started out." she replied.
"Well how old are you?" Katarina persisted.
"Old enough to know how it feels to be sure that the ground's beneath my feet and the air's blowing in my face." Rula said thoroughly enjoying herself as she frustrated the handmaiden's curiosity.
Katarina sighed loudly and shrugged her shoulders. "Oh alright! Please yourself…silly thing. Be mysterious if you want to. It doesn't matter to me!"
An anxious look suddenly appeared in Rula's eyes as she looked down at her clothes that Katarina held in her arms. "Hey…what are you gonna do with those?" she exclaimed.
Katarina was startled by the worried girls expression, not understanding what had made her so anxious. "Oh…it IS alright for me to throw these old things out isn't it?" she inquired and nodded disdainfully down at the bundle of clothes in her arms. "After all you won't need them anymore so…"
"NO!" Rula cried in dismay and grabbed Katarina's wrist as if to restrain her. "Don't do that!"
Katarina was taken by surprise by the upset look on the other girls face. "But why do you want to keep them?" she wondered aloud. "After all you won't need to wear them ever again!"
"You don't know that!" Rula snapped as she felt her anger rising. "Anyway I want to keep them because they're MY clothes! I've had them for a long time!"
"You mean that they have sentimental value to you?" Katarina asked knowingly. "Very well. I shall put them in here for safe keeping."
Rula breathed a sigh of relief as the handmaiden turned and stashed the clothes away in the wardrobe behind her. As she turned around and inspected Rula again Katarina's eyes fell upon the bracelet around the other girls ankle and they lit up in delight.
"Now THAT'S pretty!" she exclaimed as she stooped to inspect the silver band at closer quarters. "Where did you get that bracelet?"
Rula noticed that along with the appreciation in the other girl's eyes there was also just the faintest hint of envy and instinctively she slid her foot behind the other one. "It was given to me." She replied guardedly in a way that made it crystal clear that it was all that she was going to say about it.
Katarina rose to her full height again and as she returned to eye-level she noted that she was at least five inches taller than the other girl. The handmaiden felt quite pleased by this. "Oh yes?" she giggled and then gave Rula a knowing, girlish wink. "And who was that?"
Rula just smiled in a sarcastic 'Wouldn't you like to know?' way and said nothing at all.
"But won't you take it off?" Katarina insisted. "I promise that you can trust me to look after your bracelet for you."
"I NEVER take it off." Rula snapped. "It's important to me."
Katarina pursed her lips as she once more felt annoyed by this girl's stubborn refusal to be friends with her. The handmaiden was baffled by her…what was the matter with her? Was this girl so wild that she did not know how to behave properly? Hadn't she ever learnt her manners?
Trying to think of something to say to keep their conversation going Katarina remembered her compliment to Rula's figure and with a snigger she leant closer to Rula conspiratorially. "Mind you, you didn't hear this from me but Queen Serenity's daughter the Moon Princess if QUITE flat breasted!"
As she retrieved a tape measure from the cupboard and approached Rula again the huntress gave her a grim look. The huntress didn't even know Queen Serenity's daughter but her nature hated this spiteful teasing.
"What's wrong?" Katarina asked surprised by the look on Rula's face.
Rula's lip curled. Katarina didn't even realise she'd made a nasty comment. "Is that the way to talk about your mistress' daughter?" she asked coldly.
Katarina stared at Rula as if she had slapped her face. "I...that is I was only..." she stammered.
"If you can't say anything good about the Moon princess then don't say anything at all!" Rula snapped. "I doubt that Queen Serenity would like to hear about you making spiteful comments about her daughter, do you?"
katarina's eyes widened and filled with panic. "Oh please don't tell her!" she wailed falling to her knees much to Rula's amazement. "Please! I was only joking!"
"Well do you think that the Moon Princess would have laughed?" Rula snapped scornfully.
"I promise I wont do it again! Please! I promise!"
The terror and distress in Katarina's face touched Rula and her face relaxed. "Alright alright!" she said her voice gentler than usual. "Just don't let it happened again ya hear?"
A tide of relief washed over Katarina like a rush of cool water. "Oh thank you! You have my gratitude!" she gushed rising to her feet again.
"Oh forget about it!" Rula snapped. "Just keep quiet from now on."
Katarina nodded humbly still weak with relief. The handmaiden wound the tape measure around Rula's chest and began to take her measurements. After Rula had grown tired of standing completely still Katarina unwound the tape and put it away. Then she undid the ties of Rula's dreadlocks brushing her hair out of the locks so that it unravelled to her waist.
"Oh my! Your hair is as long as Princess Venus'!" Katarina remarked and then a look of enlightenment appeared in the handmaiden's eyes. "I have the perfect gown for you!" she exclaimed clapping her hands together in excitement as she turned back towards the cupboard, opened it and reached inside... "Here – put this on first my lady."
Rula stared blankly at the garment that the beaming Katarina held out for her – whatever it was it was so bizarre that the huntress completely forgot to reprimand the handmaiden for the 'lady' thing. The garment draped over Katarina's arms was not unlike the suit of chain-mail that she had been given to wear by the leader of a group of Charonian soldiers who she and her men had encountered and saved from death at the blades of a marauding band of Palazean pillagers during the terrible war that had ended a couple of months ago.
Rula remembered that chain-mail vest fondly – she'd given it back to the woman in charge of the lost band after she and the Raiders had escorted them near the outer moon and safety at the end of the war because like she'd said to her, "I'm a warrior…not a soldier!"
However THIS garment was lacy and did not reach down to her waist or up to her neckline. It just…ended halfway between down and up. "What…?" Rula exclaimed as she wondered if it was supposed to protect her from any assassination attempts though it just didn't seem thick or solid enough to stop a knife…but what other purpose could this garment possibly have?
"Just slip into it." Katarina insisted as she pressed the garment into Rula's hands and walked around her. "I'll help you."
Rula grunted and opened the garment wide as the handmaiden stepped behind her – as she wrapped it around her midsection Katarina brushed her unravelled hair aside with her hand. "This is a corset." The strawberry-haired girl explained as she took hold of a couple of lacy ties that had hung down Rula's back. "I'll lace you up…"
Still looks like defective body-armour to me girl... thought the huntress with a smirk. "So what's it supposed to…" she began and then what happened next cut her voice off and she grimaced wildly.
Humming Katarina had pulled the laces back and without warning the limpness of the corset vanished – instantly the garment straightened up and seemed to shrink around Rula's midsection and chest. As her eyes bugged out at the unexpected shock she felt as if her backbone and ribs were being rearranged into a new and perfectly straight order…
"ACK!!"
Katarina mercifully stopped as she inspected the huntress, a constructive frown now on her face as she thought. "This will not do at all." She stated bluntly as she began to loosen the ties of the corset again much to the relief of the huntress who immediately began to rub circulation back into her abdomen. "I hope that this does not offend you but you ARE very dirty Miss." Her eyes brightened for the second time in moments and again she clapped her hands together. "I know!" she exclaimed, grabbing Rula's wrist without warning…
~*~*~
Meanwhile…
"Your Majesty!"
Queen Serenity smiled as she and Xizor both stopped just outside her personal balcony. "At ease." She sighed as she completed the almost ritualistic proceeding. "Well - as you can see I am home. Did anything interesting happen while I was away for over twenty-four hours?"
Now she asked the question with amusement but to her surprise the pair of Guards who had she had met both exchanged worried looks – apparently there WAS something that they needed to tell her, only they weren't sure on how to broach the subject.
"Well the thing IS your Majesty…"
"It's like THIS…"
Serenity raised a hand for silence. "Why not go one at a time?" she suggested mildly. "It might be a little easier that way."
"Oh good idea your Majesty, I'll go first…"
"You see the problem is that…"
"Oh very well then…" the Queen sighed in resignation. "…make it a chorus."
"It's about the report from the scouting-vessel you decided to send out yesterday your Majesty." The Guard on the right finally managed to get out.
Serenity widened her eyes a touch – now that WAS a topic that interested her. "Oh how wonderful!" she exclaimed as she clapped her hands together and gazed expectantly at the man. "And…?"
"Well…that's just the problem your Majesty."
"It never CAME."
Serenity gave a blink of surprise. "Excuse me?" she asked blankly. "Are you saying that there was no word AT ALL from the Scouts?"
"None at all we fear – all that we know for certain is that for some reason they strayed drastically off-course and that they were last estimated to have entered the uncharted territory that lies beyond the edge of our current map of the Inner Galaxy."
"And they…just disappeared?" Serenity repeated, her voice now softer than before as a strange expression crossed her face. "Without a trace? They could not have simply strayed out of contact-range?"
Or could it be…?
No – impossible.
And yet…
"Our astrologers have been attempting to locate the vessel since yesterday your Majesty." The Guard on the left concluded, his comrade exhausted from having been the one to answer all of her Majesty's questions regarding the two lost Scouts.
Serenity nodded her head slightly, the vague expression seemingly fixed to her face – a cold dread had stolen over her and she could not quite seem to shake it off by reminding herself that the likelihood of it's source being worth troubling herself about being practically nothing. "Yes…well we will give them a little more time to show themselves before we take any further actions." She declared – and with that she walked through the doorway and onto her balcony, bidding the two Guards a good day as she went.
Xizor joined her Majesty, finding her standing at the very edge of the balcony as she gazed up at the sky – the ambassador waited patiently for his Queen to address him, having noticed that she had made no elaboration on what their 'further action' might be if the Scouts did not return. Curiosity and dread were mingling in his stomach when she finally broke out of her reverie to speak.
"Do you remember how I told you of the strange problem encountered by many ships coming to our Inner Galaxy from the Outer Galaxy?" Serenity asked softly, not turning her gaze in his direction as she looked at the sky apparently still deeply troubled.
Xizor nodded his head – a few days ago his Queen had told him about various rumours that had been spread by visitors from the planets of the Outer Galaxy, talk of strange malfunctions in the visiting ships that were seemingly caused by a mysterious kind of systematic interference. As the Queen of the Moon Serenity had requested that the rulers of their neighbouring planets would leave the problem to her and they had graciously accepted her offer…
"Your Majesty…" Xizor murmured – he knew by now that the fact that Serenity had not turned to look at him was a sure sign of trouble since she was deeply immersed in worry about what she had just been told.
The ambassador had a feeling that he was about to hear something on the matter of the 'further action'…
"It could always be nothing you know…and by the stars I hope and pray that the suspicion that has arisen in my heart is wrong." Serenity continued, her eyes distant – from the sound of her soft voice it seemed to Xizor that she had gone to a place far, far away – it was as though she was remembering or IMAGINING something, something terrible. "Xizor – I know that it is very sudden but I wish for you to begin preparations to journey to the planet Earth and invite Emperor Mu to visit me."
Xizor gasped as if he'd been walking along a wide and open road and suddenly plunged into a pool of icy water. "OH…" he stammered. "Would you say that it is really errr NECESSARY for me to go THERE and see HIM? Y-your Majesty?"
Queen Serenity finally turned around and the depth of the seriousness in her eyes left not room for doubt. "I believe that these incidents are the work of the presence that exists in the only territory in our galaxy that is still uncharted by civilized people Xizor." She answered quietly. "The Dark Kingdom."
Xizor all but collapsed. "O-OH." He squeaked as the many numerous rumours and legends that he had heard about that nightmarish region of horror and darkness come forth in his mind's-eye, born from the one source that may just have been a more potent experience than the reality of that place and it's evil ruler – imagination. "…I SEE."
"As I say – it may not be so." Serenity said, her voice low as she felt a wrenching guilt at having maybe sent the two men who had been under her command to a terrible fate. "And I am no more overjoyed at the prospect of allowing the Emperor of Earth to come here than you are Xizor." It took all of her dignity and restraint not to say the word 'tyrant' just as practically everybody else in the galaxy did whenever they spoke of the man who presently ruled her neighbouring planet. "But if what I fear is reality then I am certain that we will soon need to prepare to defend our Galaxy – from Queen Beryl."
As he shivered, a common reaction to hearing the name of the dreaded Queen of Darkness, Xizor tried to comfort himself by reminding himself that what he had heard about her were simply rumours – just as the existence of Mistress Rula, the Wild Princess.
And that WAS true… the Lunarian Ambassador realised with a shiver as he wondered who frightened him more – Beryl, ruler of the Dark Kingdom or Mu, tyrant of Earth.
~*~*~
Captain Blackabar was strolling down the corridor, his hands in his pockets when he looked around and realised just where he WAS – there was very little for him to do since his men, many of whom were much younger and more energetic, were covering the guard duty on the palace grounds, the palace itself, the streets of the city and the countryside and what with the prospect of another day of routine lazily stretching out before him he'd been wandering aimlessly these last few hours since his arrival home.
Now that he paid attention to his surroundings he realised where he WAS – the servant quarters. Being in this part of the palace brought back to him once more the memories of his humble upbringing, only THIS time the Captain stopped walking as he reminisced. Now how had he ended up HERE? His mind must have wandered just as far as himself as he'd taken his stroll…
As he looked around Blackabar was surprised to realise that he was actually feeling tired – that was alright in itself but being honest with himself he had to admit that he had not actually DONE very much during the last few days. After all yesterday it had been RULA who had taken on the terrifying monsters and saved the life of her Majesty – in short the huntress had done HIS job FOR him while he himself had been all but useless to help in the struggle.
The Captain of the Moon Kingdom Guard suddenly felt haggard and old as he realised just how many years he had been here doing what he did and this brought him to wonder about just how much longer he had left to do it. Maybe he WAS getting past it…he certainly wasn't getting any younger, he knew THAT much for sure.
"S-stay back! I swear, you bring that anywhere near me and I'll…"
Captain Blackabar snapped out of his depressing thoughts as he heard a screeching yowl that set all of his teeth on edge – it had come from behind the door that he had come to a stop outside as his brooding had set in.
Somebody in trouble…?
However just as the Captain was pulling his sword from its sheath, ready to lay his life down for the sake of the innocent he heard another voice – one that he recognized.
"Oh don't be so silly! Hold still, I'm just going to…"
As Blackabar recognized the voice of Katarina he froze – a moment later there was the scratchy sound of a brush being energetically applied followed by a yelp of anguish, courtesy of the FIRST voice which he now recognized as being that of Rula, and THEN the sound of somebody being thrown across the room.
As he gawped the Captain saw a torrent of water seeping out from beneath the door – he noticed that it ran with the colours of the rainbow due, he realised, to the fact that it had been used to clean Rula's hair.
Try as they might afterwards the servants were unable to clean the carpet which ultimately needed to be replaced…
"Oh…MY." Katarina's voice stammered dazedly from within the bath-chamber.
"I TOLD you that I didn't need on-hand assistance to take a bath…" lectured Rula's voice – there was a wet 'flop' as she evidently flipped her wet hair from out of her face so that it slapped her shoulders.
Blackabar gulped silently as he let go of the hilt of his sword and hastened on his way – but though his face burned red he was smiling fondly.
Katarina – now SHE was another story.
A few hours later...
"Rula should have been prepared by now." Queen Serenity declared turning away from the magnificent view of her kingdom. "Xizor would you please go and bring her to me?"
Serenity was sitting at her balcony with Xizor when she spoke. "Certainly your majesty." Xizor rose to his feet and turned to leave the balcony.
However as the ambassador of the Moon Kingdom took a single step towards the doorway leading back into the palace a voice came floating through it and reached their ears. "This is the way…aren't you happy now that you're all squeaky clean?"
There was a pause and then a low voice muttered "Dressed like this…what are you, nuts?!!"
"Come along now my Lady."
"Hey what did I tell you about that?"
The ambassador froze in his tracks with a foot held as if frozen in mid-air as Katarina who had been the one talking arrived through the doorway with someone at her side.
Serenity looked to her side to glimpse Xizor's face and saw that it had suddenly become struck with astonished disbelief and that his mouth was wide open. Wondering what had shocked him Serenity followed his gaze to see what he was staring at. Katarina had walked onto the balcony leading someone out with her and Serenity craned her neck to see who could possibly have shocked him so much and as she saw who now stood behind her the Queen of the Moon Kingdom became quite entranced by what she saw.
Beside Katarina there stood a vision.
The handmaiden had led Rula out onto the balcony...or was it Rula?
It was hard to tell for sure for there had had been a transformation. The dirty huntress was gone...Rula's body had been completely washed and her face and skin were clean of dirt.
Katarina had washed the blood from Rula's hair and shampooed and brushed it. Rula's waist-length tresses were a light purple which seemed to shimmer. She was now clad in a dark blue evening gown made from silk which was slit up the side of her right leg, creamy white shoulder length gloves and elegant white shoes with high heels that increased her height by a few inches.
The gown was revealing of her figure and that was why Katarina had selected it for the huntress since it made clear her natural curviness. The handmaiden had been anxious to atone for earlier and please Rula and so she had done her best with her.
Rula had her hands clasped over her stomach and she looked quite shy which was a first.
I feel like a fairy…
Serenity could hardly believe that she was looking at the former leader of the Star Raiders. Although she was obviously unused to such finery Rula now looked more the Princess that Serenity knew her to be.
Serenity realised that the air had become completely still as they all stood there in silence waiting for each other to speak. "Oh you look lovely!" Serenity exclaimed as she rose to her feet brushing aside Xizor's attempt to assist her.
"Thanks Kat." Rula said absent-mindedly to Katarina and the strawberry-haired girl gave her a look of surprise – nobody had ever called her 'Kat' before and it sounded strange coming from this girl…
The Queen glanced over at Katarina and gave her a very meaningful look. Understanding her mistress's desire the handmaiden nodded briefly and after one last lingering look at the strangest girl she had ever met she turned and quietly left the balcony. Don't worry Katarina. Serenity thought, smiling knowingly. You will see her again soon enough…
"Un-be-lie-vable!!" Xizor breathed staring at Rula in rapt fascination.
Rula smiled and for once it looked a genuine smile instead of a smirk. "Gee thanks Xizor!" she replied.
"Ah! Ah!" Xizor gasped realising his slip. "...I…ah! I meant...that is to say I meant to say..."
"What you meant to say was exactly what you have said! She knows what you meant Xizor." Serenity assured him with a smile.
"Ugh!" Rula grimaced as she tugged at the hem of the dress. "I can't stand this gown! So tight…and I can hardly walk without coming so close to ending up with a mouthful of floor!"
"Oh nonsense!" Serenity made a dismissive gesture in the air and smiled. "You'll grow used to it."
"If you say so Queen Serenity." Rula muttered with a sniff.
"Oh I do!" Serenity laughed pleasantly. "Well now...everything seems to be very much taken care of now. You are ready to enter my court but for one more thing…
"Mmm, well let's see…" Rula drawled sarcastically as she raised her fingers to tick things off one by one. "I've had a pedicure – no more poisoned-fingernail tricks for ME in a hurry – played dress-up with Kat – this corset is KILLING me by the way…what else is LEFT your Majesty?"
"Your name." Serenity replied simply.
"My name?" Rula echoed.
"Yes."
"What's wrong with it?" Rula demanded hotly.
"Oh nothing at all but you really ought to have one which reflects your status." Queen Serenity thought about it for a while and then it came to her. "I have decided." she declared. "You are as of now Princess Universe!"
Rula raised her eyebrow. "Princess Universe?" she echoed with an odd look on her face – what would her comrades say if they'd heard that?
"Is that alright as far as you are concerned?"
There was a silence as Rula thought about it - so now on top of everything else she was going to be given a different name…? She'd grown quite used to 'Rula', Steel-Eye had given her that name and...
Then she gave a long sigh. "Okay your majesty. Princess Universe it is then." she relented.
Queen Serenity nodded satisfied. "Then all is ready! Come, it is time for me to introduce you to the other Princesses of my Court and for you to join them." she declared. "I shall arrange for an assembly of the court this evening."
And as Rula sighed and went along with it she became Princess Universe under the stars of the Moon Kingdom.
Only while I'm here… she reminded herself comfortingly. …which won't be for very long.
~*~*~
That evening…
Princess Universe shuddered as she stood her hands clasped tight to her chest. She was standing in the corridor just outside the Throne Room where Queen Serenity had told her to wait for her.
Universe breathed in and out heavily. The time had come and this was her big hour...
The day that symbolised the beginning of her new life here in the Moon Kingdom. Her life had gone through so many major changes in such a short time. It had been a short time ago that she had been Rula the leader of the group of Space Warriors the Star Raiders. Wandering the universe with her group of fighters she had spent barely a day in which she had not fought for her life and dyed her hair in the blood of her defeated enemies.
Her life had seemed complete and she had thought that this was the way it would always be for her...but that had been before the arrival of Queen Serenity.
Now here she was in the Royal Palace of the Moon Kingdom groomed and clothed in an elegant ballgown. No longer was she Rula the fighter but Princess Universe who was only a few moments away from taking her place as one of the Princesses of Queen Serenity's Royal Court.
Universe would never have admitted it but she felt deeply nervous at the prospect. She was never going to fit in here, she told herself. She was bound to make some kind of mistake and look like a fool in front of all the men and women of the Court.
She could hardly believe herself. Here she was, a master huntress who was fully trained in the art of fighting completely fearless in the face of danger and the possessor of outstanding power, shivering at the thought of walking into the Throne Room beneath all those eyes...
Universe took a long gulp of air and told herself to stay cool. For the rest of that day Katarina had been helping her practice walking in the gown and acting and moving gracefully…well apart from the hours that they'd stopped for dinner and supper which she had to admit had left her feeling full and satisfied. No chance of tripping over the skirt of her gown…wasn't there?
She kept thinking about her spear. Poor little spear…all alone in the dark storage room. Don't cry my little spear, she sighed inwardly.
Just as Universe was wondering what would happen if she kicked in the stained glass window vaulted through the empty pane and climbed out scaling the Palace walls triumphantly the great double doors that led into the throne room opened slowly.
A thin crack of light spilled into the dim corridor as Universe looked up blinking furiously in the adjusted light.
Queen Serenity smiled as she looked at Universe once again marvelling at the fierce huntress's miraculous transformation into the fresh ravishing Princess who now stood before her. "It's time." Serenity told her kindly. "Are you ready?"
Universe gave an uncomfortable shuffle. "Ummm, actually I was kind of having second thoughts about the whole thing." she muttered.
"Universe, please trust me." Serenity began gently as she sensed that the new Princess was feeling worried about her performance in the Throne Room. "I know that it's hard for you to do this so soon but believe me it will work out for you. Now come. We cannot keep them waiting now can we?"
Universe swallowed. "Erm couldn't I just kind of hang loose back here for a while?" she asked half-heartedly.
Serenity just gave her a gentle smile and shook her head reprovingly. Reaching out she offered Universe her gentle hand - with a resigned sigh the girl accepted it and Serenity led her towards the throne room…