Author's Note: Well, the votes are in and Mercury wins! But I must make a
draw with you. This chapter will be a two in one. This chapter will have
both Mercury and a part of the Moon predicament making it doubly long! Kewl
ne? The only reason I got this done is because today was a snow day. ^_^
Gods of Silver
Chapter 4
The White Moon Kingdom was a stunning place; its soil was a glowing white and silver that only grew plants native to the Moon and its silvery-blue oceans were filled with a wide assortment of white, silver, and gold fish (well as wide an assortment you can have with only those three colors). The Moon's people reflected it beauty, all were light in complexion, hair, and eye. The other planets called the citizens of the Moon 'Moonshiners' because they glowed like the Moon whenever they stepped on another planet. As the capital of the Silver Alliance, the Moon was always a hub of political and social activity.
Today, there was to be a garden ceremony and a party at the Royal Palace, celebrating King Zeus' visit to the Moon. Everyone was looking forward to the activities. Everyone, that is, except for the Crown-Princess Serenity.
"Must I go to the garden ceremony, Luna? All they're doing in unveiling the first blooms of the season. All I get to do is stand there and look like a china doll!" Serenity complained and fell back on her big bouncy bed.
Princess Serenity looked like your average Lunarian, her hair was long, silver and, for once, down from the customary buns of Lunarian female royalty so it drug across the ground when she stood. Her eyes were cerulean blue and stood out sharply from her pale skin and hair. The princess' gown for the day was sleeveless and had empire waist, it was made of blue velvet with intricate pearl embroidery on the bodice. On her feet were matching slippers.
Luna stood by the window basking in the light of the sun, like a cat, listening to her friend and princess complain about not being able to do something for her kingdom other that looking pretty. This was old bag to Luna, Serenity hated many of the formal ceremonies of the Lunarian court and let her friends and guards know about it. Luna scowled at the thought of the four guards of Serenity, they weren't allowed in the princess' chambers so they didn't have to listen to this.
"You still have to go, no matter how long you complain about it," Luna pointed out.
Serenity scowled up at the canopy but sat up to scowl at her friend and mentor. There had to be something more important for the Crown Princess of the Silver Alliance to do than 'oh and ah' over a bunch of blossoms. Luna was right though, it was pointless to complain or argue about it, she was going to the ceremony whether she liked it or not.
"Fine. Will you help me with my hair, please? If I'm going out into the gardens I'll have to put it up so dirt doesn't get in it," Serenity sighed in defeat and moved to her dresser so that Luna could out her hair up in it's regular style.
Luna began the tiring process of putting up Serenity's hair. First you had to brush it until there wasn't a snarl or knot in sight. Then you had to separate it in two, a feat in itself, and then you had to wind the one section around and around until it was a perfect sphere. The process took forever but usually passed quickly with chatter and laughing but today the princess was silent and pouting.
"Oh, stop it," Luna commanded as she began to put pins in the second bun, "You get to see Prince Actaeon today."
Serenity stiffened, "I get to see Actaeon every day, he's one of my guards, remember?"
"Of course! Maybe that's why everyone with eyes has noticed you two blushing and brushing up against each other whenever you think no one is looking," Luna said knowingly and smiled.
"Actaeon doesn't blush," Serenity blushed, "And I have no idea what you are talking about."
"I'm not blind, Serenity. I am your best friend, talk to me!" Luna demanded and jabbed a hairpin in a little too hard.
"Ouch! Fine! I like Actaeon but-" another jab "Ouch! He likes me too but-" jab "Will you stop that!? Fine, Actaeon and I are in love but you know how the court is! If they knew our reputations would be ruined or we'd be forced to marry! Neither of us are ready for marriage and Selene forbid Actaeon's reputation take a beating."
The confession continued to pour out of Serenity while Luna put the finishing touched on her hair. It was good to see her friend had love in her life, Serenity could be much too pessimistic when she was feeling down and love seemed to be doing her well. Soon the hair was done and they were ready to go.
Serenity and Luna exited the princess' chamber to find Serenity's three royal guards already there. Serenity's guards were three younger princes of other planets. They were sent to be Serenity's bodyguards after a fanatic kidnapped her and asked for a ransom. The royal provost finally got her back but the fanatic was killed right in front of Serenity. The first order when she was returned was to get her a set of personal guards. Serenity's private orders to these guards were to train her in weapons, so far her favorite had been the sword and staff.
The first of her guard was Prince Actaeon of Mars, a serious one with dark brown hair and blue-purple eyes, he was known for running away numerous times as a child to join the army. Fortunately, he was always found and reported then taken back to King Ares kicking and screaming.
The second was the tall and quiet Prince Aeolus of Uranus with reddish- brown hair and dark green eyes. Aeolus had one bang that always covered one of his eyes and when not pretending to be Serenity's shadow could usually be found in the music room with his flute.
The last of Serenity's guard was the happy go lucky prince of Pluto. Adonis had long light brown hair that was always in a braid and light violet eyes. People said that he was a female version of Queen Persephone, who shared her son's looks and trickster sense of humor.
"Are you ready, my Lady?" Actaeon asked and offered his arm, which Serenity took.
"Of course, Prince Actaeon, why else would I be here?" Serenity replied and they set off toward the gardens.
Behind the couple Adonis, Aeolus, and Luna traded knowing glances and followed after them. If the two kept up like this they would be forced to marry.
At the garden ceremony Serenity and Actaeon continued to stand next to each other and let their hands touch periodically. It was discreet and hardly noticeable but a gossiping courtier noticed it and began spreading rumors as soon as she drew her next breath. By the time the ceremony was done the rumor had reached Queen Serenity herself.
Later that evening Serenity and her guards were summoned to the Queen's chambers to speak privately. Serenity and Actaeon were completely in the dark about why they had been called but Aeolus and Adonis had a sneaking suspicion to what it was about.
When the four entered Queen Serenity's sitting and office she was sitting behind a desk with a stack of parchment next to her. The queen glanced up at them, set her fancy quill (she preferred them to pens when signing bills) down and pushed what she was working on away. Queen Serenity looked as perfect and graceful as ever even in the simple unadorned lavender gown, with small glasses resting on her nose, and hair tied up into a massive bun.
"I have known for some time now that you, Serenity, and you, Actaeon, have had affections for each other. I allowed it to continue because you were both happy and I saw no harm in it. I thought that one day I could even present you as Queen and Consort but I have now heard a rumor about your relationship," the Queen paused for a moment, "And that is why I have decided that this cannot go on any longer. I will not have my daughter's reputation ruined by the court. Serenity, your guards have been reassigned to your brother, Apollo, on Sol."
The room erupted into chaos as four people tried to argue with the queen about her decision. Adonis and Aeolus wanted to know why they had to go when they hadn't done anything while Serenity and Actaeon tried to convince the queen that they would be discreet from now on. The queen let them argue for a few moments and then rose a hand to silence them.
"My mind is made up. Boys, you will be taking the noon transport to Sol. You, Serenity, are on the market for some new guards," Queen Serenity ended the discussion and returned to her work but no one moved to go. "I'm done speaking on this matter. Leave."
* * *
"Your Highness, you've been working since early this morning and now its close to midnight! Go eat and rest, I will take it from here," Gerald Smignouson, an elderly scientist, ordered her.
Princess Amira of Mercury blinked in confusion and looked up at the clock. It couldn't be midnight yet, she'd only been working for a short time. She had only begun to study this new bacterium and was just now making any sort of headway in her research. Amira looked down at her notes and was surprised to find that she had used up two and a half notebooks. She opened them and was surprised to find every line and margin filled with her own neat cursive. She must have completely zoned out during her research.
"I'm sorry, Gerald, none of my notes are organized yet. And I can't stop now, the bacteria will die in another six hours!" Amira exclaimed.
"Your Highness.Amira, your notes are always organized, your mind is so analytical that you can't help it. Now go rest before you fall asleep in my lab," Gerald ordered and scooped up Amira's notes.
Amira sighed and wiped her weary eyes, she felt exhausted and dirty. Not to mention ravenous. Amira waved sleepily to Gerald and stumbled her way out of the laboratory into the halls of Mercury's royal palace. She began to weave her way through the blue and white corridors of the palace to her room. On her way she asked a passing maid to have dinner delivered to her room, since she had missed it hours ago.
When she finally got to her rooms she practically dived into a hot bath and proceeded to soak until she pruned. After that she snuggled into her favorite men's pajamas and blue bunny slippers. In her sitting rooms was some steaming hot soup and tea with a few sandwiches, in Amira's opinion the perfect food. You could eat a sandwich and read a book at the same time.
As Amira ate, she reflected on the day. When she realized the day had been pretty uneventful she went back to yesterday, which to Amira had been a proverbial hell. She'd had to spend the day with her ladies-in-waiting, a flighty bunch of women that wasted their intellect on finding the best ways to attract men and doing nothing but embroidery.
Usually, these women were content to do these things without her but yesterday they had decided that Amira was doing too much heavy thinking. Or at least that's what they told her but really they had been bored and decided that a day of veiled mockery of their princess would fill the time nicely. So Amira had spent the day listening to them chatter on about all the men they were leading on and being asked constantly why she didn't have a suitor or two, or maybe three even?
By the end of the day Amira had wanted to scream or do something nasty to one of them, maybe trip one? But cooler heads had prevailed and her ladies- in-waiting had gone unharmed. Amira was content with the knowledge that it would be a couple months before they got bored enough to bring her along again.
When she finished her meal Amira went off to bed. She crawled under the covers and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to catch her. Then she realized she was tired. Amira sighed and sat up to find a book. She had a stack of them resting beside her bed for these sorts of things. She picked up an ancient duty volume and began to read, turning the brittle pages very carefully.
It was a history on the early planets of their solar system, before there was a Silver Alliance. It talked about how each planet's royal family had a child that had the power to control the planet's element. Amira was confused about this because none of the planets had an element. They were known for something, like Mercury was known for its technology and the immense desserts that covered the land and Jupiter had its trees that produce lightning and it's strong warriors.
Amira continued to read about the controlling of elements and was surprised to find that these Senshi, as they were called, were used in the early years of the Silver Millenium to protect the Moon Princess. The Senshi were usually the oldest children of the royal family and the heirs to the throne. Unlike the magic that the mages of this time used the Senshi had spells to control the elements, in some cases they hadn't even had to say anything!
Amira read long into the night, slowly becoming convinced that these Senshi really had once existed and that they could still be used today. She would have to show her family this in the morning, her mother, Queen Athena, was one of the Four Generals of the Silver Millenium and could be very interested in the possibilities the Senshi could create. Eventually, Amira fell asleep with the book resting on her chest, completely exhausted from the day.
- - - - - - - - - Thanks for the reviews everyone! Please keep telling me what you think. REVIEW! Pretty please?
Gods of Silver
Chapter 4
The White Moon Kingdom was a stunning place; its soil was a glowing white and silver that only grew plants native to the Moon and its silvery-blue oceans were filled with a wide assortment of white, silver, and gold fish (well as wide an assortment you can have with only those three colors). The Moon's people reflected it beauty, all were light in complexion, hair, and eye. The other planets called the citizens of the Moon 'Moonshiners' because they glowed like the Moon whenever they stepped on another planet. As the capital of the Silver Alliance, the Moon was always a hub of political and social activity.
Today, there was to be a garden ceremony and a party at the Royal Palace, celebrating King Zeus' visit to the Moon. Everyone was looking forward to the activities. Everyone, that is, except for the Crown-Princess Serenity.
"Must I go to the garden ceremony, Luna? All they're doing in unveiling the first blooms of the season. All I get to do is stand there and look like a china doll!" Serenity complained and fell back on her big bouncy bed.
Princess Serenity looked like your average Lunarian, her hair was long, silver and, for once, down from the customary buns of Lunarian female royalty so it drug across the ground when she stood. Her eyes were cerulean blue and stood out sharply from her pale skin and hair. The princess' gown for the day was sleeveless and had empire waist, it was made of blue velvet with intricate pearl embroidery on the bodice. On her feet were matching slippers.
Luna stood by the window basking in the light of the sun, like a cat, listening to her friend and princess complain about not being able to do something for her kingdom other that looking pretty. This was old bag to Luna, Serenity hated many of the formal ceremonies of the Lunarian court and let her friends and guards know about it. Luna scowled at the thought of the four guards of Serenity, they weren't allowed in the princess' chambers so they didn't have to listen to this.
"You still have to go, no matter how long you complain about it," Luna pointed out.
Serenity scowled up at the canopy but sat up to scowl at her friend and mentor. There had to be something more important for the Crown Princess of the Silver Alliance to do than 'oh and ah' over a bunch of blossoms. Luna was right though, it was pointless to complain or argue about it, she was going to the ceremony whether she liked it or not.
"Fine. Will you help me with my hair, please? If I'm going out into the gardens I'll have to put it up so dirt doesn't get in it," Serenity sighed in defeat and moved to her dresser so that Luna could out her hair up in it's regular style.
Luna began the tiring process of putting up Serenity's hair. First you had to brush it until there wasn't a snarl or knot in sight. Then you had to separate it in two, a feat in itself, and then you had to wind the one section around and around until it was a perfect sphere. The process took forever but usually passed quickly with chatter and laughing but today the princess was silent and pouting.
"Oh, stop it," Luna commanded as she began to put pins in the second bun, "You get to see Prince Actaeon today."
Serenity stiffened, "I get to see Actaeon every day, he's one of my guards, remember?"
"Of course! Maybe that's why everyone with eyes has noticed you two blushing and brushing up against each other whenever you think no one is looking," Luna said knowingly and smiled.
"Actaeon doesn't blush," Serenity blushed, "And I have no idea what you are talking about."
"I'm not blind, Serenity. I am your best friend, talk to me!" Luna demanded and jabbed a hairpin in a little too hard.
"Ouch! Fine! I like Actaeon but-" another jab "Ouch! He likes me too but-" jab "Will you stop that!? Fine, Actaeon and I are in love but you know how the court is! If they knew our reputations would be ruined or we'd be forced to marry! Neither of us are ready for marriage and Selene forbid Actaeon's reputation take a beating."
The confession continued to pour out of Serenity while Luna put the finishing touched on her hair. It was good to see her friend had love in her life, Serenity could be much too pessimistic when she was feeling down and love seemed to be doing her well. Soon the hair was done and they were ready to go.
Serenity and Luna exited the princess' chamber to find Serenity's three royal guards already there. Serenity's guards were three younger princes of other planets. They were sent to be Serenity's bodyguards after a fanatic kidnapped her and asked for a ransom. The royal provost finally got her back but the fanatic was killed right in front of Serenity. The first order when she was returned was to get her a set of personal guards. Serenity's private orders to these guards were to train her in weapons, so far her favorite had been the sword and staff.
The first of her guard was Prince Actaeon of Mars, a serious one with dark brown hair and blue-purple eyes, he was known for running away numerous times as a child to join the army. Fortunately, he was always found and reported then taken back to King Ares kicking and screaming.
The second was the tall and quiet Prince Aeolus of Uranus with reddish- brown hair and dark green eyes. Aeolus had one bang that always covered one of his eyes and when not pretending to be Serenity's shadow could usually be found in the music room with his flute.
The last of Serenity's guard was the happy go lucky prince of Pluto. Adonis had long light brown hair that was always in a braid and light violet eyes. People said that he was a female version of Queen Persephone, who shared her son's looks and trickster sense of humor.
"Are you ready, my Lady?" Actaeon asked and offered his arm, which Serenity took.
"Of course, Prince Actaeon, why else would I be here?" Serenity replied and they set off toward the gardens.
Behind the couple Adonis, Aeolus, and Luna traded knowing glances and followed after them. If the two kept up like this they would be forced to marry.
At the garden ceremony Serenity and Actaeon continued to stand next to each other and let their hands touch periodically. It was discreet and hardly noticeable but a gossiping courtier noticed it and began spreading rumors as soon as she drew her next breath. By the time the ceremony was done the rumor had reached Queen Serenity herself.
Later that evening Serenity and her guards were summoned to the Queen's chambers to speak privately. Serenity and Actaeon were completely in the dark about why they had been called but Aeolus and Adonis had a sneaking suspicion to what it was about.
When the four entered Queen Serenity's sitting and office she was sitting behind a desk with a stack of parchment next to her. The queen glanced up at them, set her fancy quill (she preferred them to pens when signing bills) down and pushed what she was working on away. Queen Serenity looked as perfect and graceful as ever even in the simple unadorned lavender gown, with small glasses resting on her nose, and hair tied up into a massive bun.
"I have known for some time now that you, Serenity, and you, Actaeon, have had affections for each other. I allowed it to continue because you were both happy and I saw no harm in it. I thought that one day I could even present you as Queen and Consort but I have now heard a rumor about your relationship," the Queen paused for a moment, "And that is why I have decided that this cannot go on any longer. I will not have my daughter's reputation ruined by the court. Serenity, your guards have been reassigned to your brother, Apollo, on Sol."
The room erupted into chaos as four people tried to argue with the queen about her decision. Adonis and Aeolus wanted to know why they had to go when they hadn't done anything while Serenity and Actaeon tried to convince the queen that they would be discreet from now on. The queen let them argue for a few moments and then rose a hand to silence them.
"My mind is made up. Boys, you will be taking the noon transport to Sol. You, Serenity, are on the market for some new guards," Queen Serenity ended the discussion and returned to her work but no one moved to go. "I'm done speaking on this matter. Leave."
* * *
"Your Highness, you've been working since early this morning and now its close to midnight! Go eat and rest, I will take it from here," Gerald Smignouson, an elderly scientist, ordered her.
Princess Amira of Mercury blinked in confusion and looked up at the clock. It couldn't be midnight yet, she'd only been working for a short time. She had only begun to study this new bacterium and was just now making any sort of headway in her research. Amira looked down at her notes and was surprised to find that she had used up two and a half notebooks. She opened them and was surprised to find every line and margin filled with her own neat cursive. She must have completely zoned out during her research.
"I'm sorry, Gerald, none of my notes are organized yet. And I can't stop now, the bacteria will die in another six hours!" Amira exclaimed.
"Your Highness.Amira, your notes are always organized, your mind is so analytical that you can't help it. Now go rest before you fall asleep in my lab," Gerald ordered and scooped up Amira's notes.
Amira sighed and wiped her weary eyes, she felt exhausted and dirty. Not to mention ravenous. Amira waved sleepily to Gerald and stumbled her way out of the laboratory into the halls of Mercury's royal palace. She began to weave her way through the blue and white corridors of the palace to her room. On her way she asked a passing maid to have dinner delivered to her room, since she had missed it hours ago.
When she finally got to her rooms she practically dived into a hot bath and proceeded to soak until she pruned. After that she snuggled into her favorite men's pajamas and blue bunny slippers. In her sitting rooms was some steaming hot soup and tea with a few sandwiches, in Amira's opinion the perfect food. You could eat a sandwich and read a book at the same time.
As Amira ate, she reflected on the day. When she realized the day had been pretty uneventful she went back to yesterday, which to Amira had been a proverbial hell. She'd had to spend the day with her ladies-in-waiting, a flighty bunch of women that wasted their intellect on finding the best ways to attract men and doing nothing but embroidery.
Usually, these women were content to do these things without her but yesterday they had decided that Amira was doing too much heavy thinking. Or at least that's what they told her but really they had been bored and decided that a day of veiled mockery of their princess would fill the time nicely. So Amira had spent the day listening to them chatter on about all the men they were leading on and being asked constantly why she didn't have a suitor or two, or maybe three even?
By the end of the day Amira had wanted to scream or do something nasty to one of them, maybe trip one? But cooler heads had prevailed and her ladies- in-waiting had gone unharmed. Amira was content with the knowledge that it would be a couple months before they got bored enough to bring her along again.
When she finished her meal Amira went off to bed. She crawled under the covers and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to catch her. Then she realized she was tired. Amira sighed and sat up to find a book. She had a stack of them resting beside her bed for these sorts of things. She picked up an ancient duty volume and began to read, turning the brittle pages very carefully.
It was a history on the early planets of their solar system, before there was a Silver Alliance. It talked about how each planet's royal family had a child that had the power to control the planet's element. Amira was confused about this because none of the planets had an element. They were known for something, like Mercury was known for its technology and the immense desserts that covered the land and Jupiter had its trees that produce lightning and it's strong warriors.
Amira continued to read about the controlling of elements and was surprised to find that these Senshi, as they were called, were used in the early years of the Silver Millenium to protect the Moon Princess. The Senshi were usually the oldest children of the royal family and the heirs to the throne. Unlike the magic that the mages of this time used the Senshi had spells to control the elements, in some cases they hadn't even had to say anything!
Amira read long into the night, slowly becoming convinced that these Senshi really had once existed and that they could still be used today. She would have to show her family this in the morning, her mother, Queen Athena, was one of the Four Generals of the Silver Millenium and could be very interested in the possibilities the Senshi could create. Eventually, Amira fell asleep with the book resting on her chest, completely exhausted from the day.
- - - - - - - - - Thanks for the reviews everyone! Please keep telling me what you think. REVIEW! Pretty please?
