Chapter Two ~ Of Secrets and Riddles

The Temple of Spring - as it seemed to Naiya every time she came - was almost completely deserted, and as quiet as one would find the forest in the coldest of winters. Yet it was not lifeless, for Spring was the season of birth and renewal, and therefore it would seem absurd if the House of its Goddess should smell of Death's silence.

Naiya smiled secretly as she walked through the great stone entrance into the Temple, taking care to stay right behind her parents while she busied herself by looking at the intricate carvings on the walls. She had taken the trouble to appease Lord and Lady Hu by following them to the Temple, so she decided that she might as well make the best out of the situation. Naiya herself was not much of a religious person, but her parents were loyal devotees of the Temple of Spring who paid homage to the Spring Goddess every Wednesday.

Just as they were passing by the west wing of the main hall, Naiya stopped, and headed towards the spring located nearby. It was built against the wall, where water trickled down into a semi-circular pool. The blue-haired girl leaned over the low wall surrounding the water, and peered into the water, trying to judge the depth of the spring.

There was something unusual about that spring, and Naiya believed that her intuition could not be wrong. She reached out for the surface of the water, and allowed its iciness creep up her outstretched hand. The coldness of the water seemed to slowly freeze her heart, but Naiya smiled calmly at this, knowing that no worries could penetrate a solid and frozen soul.

Naiya didn't linger long at the spring, and hurried back to her parents the moment she noticed they were drifting too far away from her. Lord and Lady Hu did not realize that their daughter had wandered off temporarily, but Syuei the servant girl did, being just beside her young mistress when Naiya crept off towards the spring. Naiya put a finger to her lips, and Syuei, being able to understand the signal, nodded silently as her mistress lead her towards the same spring she had left earlier.

"Keep guard for me…" Naiya whispered to Syuei, looking around once more to make sure there was no one else nearby. Her parents had disappeared into the neighbouring hall, and there was nobody left in the hall in which the two girls were in.

"Yes… I'll tell you if anyone comes." Syuei answered as she helped her young mistress over the low stone wall. The order came as nothing unusual to Syuei, who had received numerous similar orders on previous occasions.

Naiya smiled gratefully at Syuei and slipped into the pool, as quiet as ice would touch the surface of water. The water swirled around her, melting her silk garments before replacing them in a suit of white and blue that clung to her svelte body. A glowing symbol appeared on her forehead, shining blue at first, and it remained that way for several seconds until the light slowly dimmed away.

She was no longer Naiya. She was now Mercury, the Senshi of Ice.      

-----

The place was foreign to her.

She did not know of a land so lonely, charred black with heaps of twisted metal and shattered glass. The earth smelled putrid of Death, soaked in the blood of those who lay lifeless before her. The silence that hung in the air was eerie and hardly shaken by the occasional breeze that swept mournfully across the barren grounds.

Where was she? She glanced about nervously as she wrapped her arms around her trembling body. This was not her home, or the home she had expected to return to. Her eyes began to well up with tears; she did not like this fearful place, and all she wanted to do was to go back to where she truly belonged.

She made her way slowly through all the debris, desperately hoping that she was only having a nightmare. A quick flash of light caught her eye, and she soon found that it had come from a mirror, lying in shards just in front of her feet. It reflected her image; a young girl of fourteen, with peach-coloured hair tied up in two plaits and teary blue eyes. She held out a hand, wanting to pick up a piece of glass, but quickly drew back when she felt a stinging pain in her finger.

"Don't touch anything…" There was a hint of urgency in the voice that hissed at her, and when she twirled around, she found herself face to face with a tall hooded stranger. She saw that it was a woman, from the cold blue eyes under the hood. The female suddenly grabbed hold of her bleeding hand, causing her to let out a cry of surprise.

"Hurry… You must go now, before she finds you."

-----

"So… You say you saw a lady in white, riding on a horse towards the Donoma Woods?"

"Yes, Your Highness…" The old guard answered, bowing as much as his ageing back would allow him. He had his head lowered, but he kept the throne within his sight, together the person sitting upon it. It seemed absurd, he thought, that he should bow before this child. She was merely a girl, and one only fifteen. What did she possibly know about ruling a whole empire, or what it meant to be Queen?  

"She seemed to be moving weightlessly, wasn't she? …In a glowing orb of light?" Phoenix continued, her golden eyes apathetically scanning the shabbily-dressed man in front of her.  

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"And what makes you so sure you haven't seen a ghost?"

The old man stumbled when he heard this. He lifted his face - now drained of colour - and looked at Phoenix with his mouth agape. He was speechless, and even more dumbfounded when he noticed the wry smile playing on the child's face. Then, as he returned his head to its bowed position, the elderly guard quickly realised something he wished he had acknowledged earlier.

Phoenix was indeed just a child. But she was still Queen, and one not meant to be belittled.

"Ah… You may have seen a ghost, Guard Edgar, but you have been kind and thoughtful enough to report it to the Queen…" Phoenix finally broke the silence, not wanting to prolong the unnecessary delay. Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, so much that Edgar was beginning to shift uncomfortably in his spot. 

Xia Yan had been beside her mistress all this while; listening quietly to the news the guard brought, and what Phoenix had to say in response. She heard the snigger when the old man almost toppled over, and saw the widening smile when the guard Edgar failed to give a satisfactory answer. Xia Yan sensed that her mistress was being rather sadistic today, judging from the way she was questioning the poor man.

"But we all do make mistakes, don't we, Guard Edgar? For example, you said you saw this - ghost - last evening. It's nearly noon now. You are a bit late - slow, I'll say - when it comes to reporting. The Kingdom doesn't need such incompetence, don't you think so?" Phoenix cooed, and eyed the guard with mock sympathy. Edgar flinched at this, much to the child's amusement.

"However…" Phoenix paused deliberately, intending to alarm him even more. "I think I do have a solution to your problem. A way to allow you to prove your worth… But listen carefully - I am only saying this once: There is a hawk that flies in the Present, but it can see not only the obvious of this Time - its eyes reach even the glory of the Past and the unknown Future. Bring me such a bird, and I may consider forgiving you."

The guard's face brightened, but only for a short while. He blanched again when Phoenix reached the end of her words. When he finally found his tongue, he bowed low, croaked an inaudible apology, and thanked the Queen for being merciful. He was only too grateful when Phoenix dismissed him, and when she did, he scampered out of the hall as fast as his legs could carry him.

"I don't remember sending a lion after him…" Phoenix sniggered when Edgar had gone out of sight.

Xia Yan heard this, but chose not to answer immediately. Instead, she gazed at the golden-eyed girl, almost as if she wished to know what exactly her mistress was thinking about. And Phoenix, noticing Xia Yan's curiosity, turned to her companion, the expression on her face now less harsh.   

"You are becoming more inquisitive lately, aren't you, dear?" Phoenix sighed, a ghost of a smile appearing on her lips. "You wish to ask me whether I think he was making up the story, true?"

The one in grey nodded silently.

"Your vision yesterday wasn't a fraud, and you know that well. It wasn't a ghost he saw, and I doubt not his story, only his loyalty to his queen." 

-----

You must go now, before she finds you…

Neona opened her eyes, and found herself staring confusedly at the ceiling above. Go? But why… and where? She looked around for a clue, and when she eventually realised where she was, she groaned, and buried her face in her hands.

It was only a dream, and she had been in her room all the while.

Neona pushed the covers off her body, and slowly clambered out of her bed. Noon, she mumbled upon drawing the curtains open. How long had she been asleep? Neona tried to retrace her memories, allowing her mind to wander off to the previous day's events. She could only recall fuzzy bits and pieces of sights and sounds, but she was certain that they were not merely figments of her imaginations. Yes, Ara and Gale - they were real, weren't they?

What about the dream - the one she just had?

Her mind was now more alert when she came to think of the nightmare. She was quite sure it was only a dream, but it was strangely vivid; so much so that Neona began to find it disturbing. It almost seemed that it wasn't a dream after all, but a forgotten memory…

"…I don't know, Axel… I mean…"

Neona pulled herself back to reality at the sound of the voice. She recognized that voice. It was Anshar's, but tainted with worry - just like the way he sounded the night before. Curious, Neona headed for the stairs leading to the hall, and quietly sat crouched at the very end of the corridor. Sure enough, she spotted Anshar at a table below, and Axel sitting in front of him.

"I'm worried for her, Axel. I lost her mother once, I cannot possibly let the same thing happen again…" her uncle sounded very much frustrated, and the younger man opposite him seemed genuinely concerned about this. "The Moon last night… I saw it. Its reflection was red. Blood red."

"The colour of danger?" Axel said in response. Neona started to find the conversation puzzling; she couldn't comprehend why Anshar was speaking of a red moon, and most importantly, why he was referring to her late mother as if she was only Neona's mother, and not both Neona's and Axel's.

"I'm not sure whether it means Neona is the one in danger, or Selenity herself…"

"But I thought you said that Neona's mother died a long time ago…?" Axel looked at the older man questioningly. Anshar paused momentarily, and ran a hand nervously through his hair.

"Seventeen years ago, yes. But after yesterday's happening, I can't help feeling that she's still… alive…"

Neona let out a startled cry upon hearing Anshar's confession. Her hands were trembling as they covered her mouth, and her brain raced to piece together the bits of information she had heard. If what he'd said was true, then it meant that she was neither his real niece, nor Axel's real sister. And her mother - she was actually alive?

"Neona?" Anshar grew pale the moment he caught the girl eavesdropping their conversation. He forced a smile, desperately hoping that she hadn't actually heard anything she wasn't meant to hear.

But she had, and unfortunately, far from calm after learning the truth. Neona threw him a bitter glance, before running back to her room, and slamming the door behind her. Anshar turned to Axel, looking very lost and shattered. The young man sighed, and got up from his seat, appearing impressively calm in the situation.

"I… I'll go and see if she's alright." 

-----

The bottom of the pool was farther than she had expected.

Naiya was not at all disturbed by this, and continued propelling herself through the water. She moved so effortlessly it almost seemed that she was part of the substance itself. She did not stop until she finally reached the bottom, and when she did, she pulled herself nearer to the stone wall, and began examining the surface.

There was nothing unusual at first, and Naiya could only see carving after carving. But as she moved towards the center of the wall, she discovered that that particular part of the bottom sloped downwards, and ended in a hollow in the wall. Being quick to act, Naiya swam into that concave, and found what she had expected to find:

A secret door.

It was not carved out of stone like the rest of the wall, but was instead, made of metal. The door was rusted in several parts, and from this, Naiya deduced that it had been underwater for quite some time - but not very long. She could not find a lock of any kind on the door, so there had to be a knob or a disc nearby - something which she could use to open the entrance.

However, Naiya did not linger to look for a way to open the door. She sensed a foreign movement in the water, and it meant that her time was up. She left the hole, and started swimming back up. As she approached the top, she saw Syuei peering down into the pool, her face looking worryingly anxious.

When Naiya eventually broke through the surface of the water - no longer Mercury, but herself once again - she learned why Syuei looked so nervous. The servant girl was there to pull her up when she reached the top, and whisper into her ear that Lord and Lady Hu had noticed her disappearance. Sure enough, she caught sight of her parents from over Syuei's shoulder, and they were already heading their way.

"Quick! Pretend that I've fallen into the spring…" she hissed urgently at Syuei, who immediately understood, and began shouting as if her mistress had really accidentally fallen into the pool.  

Naiya did her part by pretending to cough and splutter horribly - very much an exaggeration, but nevertheless good enough to convince her parents that she had truly leaned too far over the barrier and consequently toppled into the water. Lady Hu was extremely displeased to hear this, and blamed Syuei for not looking after Naiya properly.

"Such nonsense you get yourself into!" Lord Hu muttered angrily while Naiya whispered an apology and her gratitude to Syuei behind his back. The day's trip was ruined - Lord Hu had no other choice but to cancel the rest of their plans at the Temple, and head home. 

-----

Tempest watched silently from the shadows as the Hu Family left the spring for the Temple's main entrance, her silver eyes gleaming in the dark. She could not understand how the Hu's daughter could find the door at the bottom of the spring, or how she had managed to slip past her guard in the first place.

Then she must know…

There was a secret behind that door hidden in the spring, and if the girl should come in search of it again, she'd be ready for her.