Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon, however I do own this story so HANDS
OFF!!!! (Ah, who am I kidding? No one wants to steal this piece of sh......
ahem, anyway...)
Chapter Three – First impressions
By now, the sun had truly begun to set in the sky. Serenity slowed her horse to a slow trot and surveyed her surroundings. Approaching her was a small, inviting clearing lighted by a burst of sunshine. Serenity dismounted and led her horse into the clearing. Tying Pearl up to the nearest tree, she investigated the perimetre of the clearing. Sure enough, as she suspected, tiny toadstools pocked out from under the autumn leaves at periodic intervals. Serenity clapped her hands with glee.
"What luck! I've stumbled upon a Realm of the Faerie. I shall sleep here tonight and set out tomorrow morning."
With that, she untied Pearl, took off her saddle and led her into the middle of the clearing. Too weary to do much else, they both lay down and slept, Serenity's head resting on Pearl's stomach.
With his horse getting slower and slower, Endymion knew that he needed to find a safe camping area soon and build a fire. Fast approaching, from what he could see, was a small clearing that would serve his purpose well. He made a beeline for it. However when he finally reached the clearing, his eyes were drawn to an enticing sight which wreaked havoc on his male senses.
There in the middle of the clearing lay what appeared to be a goddess of some sort, sleeping on the ground, he head resting on a white mare. She was dressed in a long flowing dress that was as delicate as a butterfly's gossamer wings and the colour of pure snow. Her long hair, which flowed around her, was also white and glittered silver in the light of the setting sun. She had a pleasing oval face with a small, but cute nose and rosy lips.
He dismounted from his horse and reverently stepped into the circle. Not once taking his eyes off her mayhap she disappear, he tied his horse up. Her lips were what drew him to her. Like a compulsion or a desperate need, Endymion almost stumbled over to where she lay and knelt down. Just as he was about to find out what it was like to kiss a goddess, the horse underneath her woke up.
Serenity felt Pearl shift under her and woke up. Next thing she knew, a pair of dark blue eyes assaulted her view. Registering the position of this mysterious stranger, leaning over her, Serenity did the only thing she could think of. She screamed.
"OH SELENE! PROTECT ME! WHO IN HADES ARE YOU!!! PERVERT!!! SOMEONE HELP ME!!! PERVERT PERVERT PERVERT!!!!"
Endymion felt like his ears were about to explode. Goddess indeed! This woman was closer kin to a banshee. When she woke up, he was just thinking how bright her blue eyes were when she started yelling for all she was worth. Although she was speaking ... well ... screaming another language, he caught one word. Hentai.
What does hentai mean? Nothing good I imagine.
Nevertheless, he decided to back up. An angry female was an unpredictable female. Sure enough, she reached over to her equipment beside her, which Endymion had not spotted before, and withdrew a strange looking sword. She then pointed the weapon and said something else he did not understand.
"I have no idea who you are," yelled Serenity, "And frankly, I do not care. I know what you were about to do and you will pay dearly for it. Stand and fight!"
Endymion did the first thing he could think of when faced with a challenge from a female. He laughed. Imagine the insolence! A crowned prince battle with some untrained girl, and he could now see that she was, indeed, just a girl.
Serenity was considerably startled and confused. Was it not custom to draw swords when faced with a challenge? What a strange man! Are all Earthians (his armor bespoke his nationality) this odd? Then to her great indignation, he turned and began to walk away. Serenity's eyes narrowed in fury. How dare he scorn her! She ran up to him and raised her weapon to his throat. A wary look entered his eyes and he slowly took a step back.
She still wanted to fight? Well that was fine with him. If she wanted a fight, he would give it to her, whether she wishes for it in the end or no.
I am going to have to teach this daft girl a lesson. I hope she knows how to use that thing. Probably stole it from her father I wager.
She attacked. Endymion met her at each parry, however, he quickly discovered that not only could she use her sword, but she was good at it. She was fast and agile, even in a dress, and the speed of her swings were hard even for him to follow. If he wanted to keep his head, for once he needed complete concentration. He took a wide swing at her feet but she jumped and aimed a swing at his ribs. He dodged her attack and retaliated.
Darn! This man will be difficult to vanquish! And one swing of that Earthian katana will have my head separated clean off my neck.
She ducked yet another swing to the head and surveyed the situation. Serenity knew she had met her ideal opponent in this man. It is true she moved faster and her katana techniques were superior to his, but he had a lot more strength than her, not to mention height and a sort of battle- hardened look to him. Every time she blocked one of his attacks, she felt like her arm would fall off from the sheer force of it.
If I want to beat this man, I will have to disarm him.
After blocking another one of his attacks, she kicked him in the vulnerable part of his stomach, winding him, then grabbed his sword. Unfortunately he still had a tight hold on it. Endymion quickly recovered and pointed his sword at her neck, the same time that she pointed her katana at his. Both, panting, glared at each other realising their situation.
"Listen, this is a rather useless endeavor." reasoned Endymion. "On the count of three, lower your sword. One ... two ... three ..." Both lowered their weapons.
Serenity, while recovering from her exertion, took a proper look at her opponent. Judging by his armor and the way he stood proudly, she could tell he was an Earthian noble and knight. Not to mention that he spoke common speak, the language of Earth and the universal language of Titan.
"You are an Earthian Knight are you not?" Serenity asked coldly in perfect common speak. As a Lunarian noble, she was required to learn the common language.
Endymion was surprised the girl could speak his language and replied, "Yes, I am."
Serenity stared at him for a while longer, now painfully aware that opponent was actually quite handsome. She blushed but it went unnoticed.
"Listen, I do not care to know you and frankly, you should feel lucky that I did not kill you ..." Endymion scoffed but she ignored it. "You sir, are no knight! A knight would never even think what you were about to do. So if you do not want me to liberate your 'vital parts', I suggest you leave now." Endymion was deeply insulted.
She thinks that I was going to ...
"Dear heart, you have me all wrong. I would NEVER force an unwilling woman!" He said it with such conviction that Serenity, for a moment, was uncertain of her accusation.
"If that is the truth, then what were you doing?"
"Surely it is not a crime to gaze upon thy beauteous face. All I wished to know was that you were indeed a goddess." Women always loved to be told they are goddesses. Endymion had won many a heart and gained many an advantage with this ploy.
Serenity blushed crimson and frowned. Was he daft in the head? Nobody except maybe her father had ever thought that she was 'beauteous'. Most of the time in her homeland she acted more like a man than a woman so most people treated her thus .... with the exception of Diamond maybe ....
"Do you .... mock me sir?"
"Dear heart, I would never mock thee. Anger contorts thy pretty face." In truth he actually quite enjoyed her anger. Serenity's embarrassment turned to rage.
"You ARE mocking me! I will not stand to be insulted. Leave this place now!"
"Tsk tsk! Manners my dear." Serenity raised her katana to his throat.
"How is this for manners? I found this place first and I demand that you leave."
"Now now!" Endymion backed away a little. "Did not the person who ever taught you to use that thing ever teach you that violence is the last resort in a conflict, not the first? Besides, it is now quite dark and it would be near impossible for me to find another clearing by nightfall."
"Does it look like I care?"
"How about this." Endymion reasoned. "First of all, you lower the sword or whatever it is that you are holding."
"No."
"Well, alright. How about I take one end of the clearing and you take the other. We will both be far away from each other. And if I should ever, for any reason, go over to your side of the clearing, you will hear the rustling of the leaves on the ground. Will that satisfy you, sweet angel?"
Serenity slowly lowered her katana but continued to glare fire at the man.
"Fine."
She stalked over to her horse, which was currently grazing on a patch of grass, and led her over to the far side of the clearing, taking her equipment with her. Endymion did likewise but at the other end of the clearing. As soon as Serenity had finished, she walked over to Endymion with an evil glint in her eyes. In a flash, she plucked several hairs from his head.
"Ow! Why did you do that!"
"This ..." she replied holding up the strands, "... is my collateral. If you feel that you need to relieve your sticky fingers and make off with my possessions, I will use this hair to hunt you down with a tracking spell and finish what I started today. Am I understood?" Endymion grinned.
"Hey! Do any hocus pocus spell on me you like! Curse me O mighty sorceress. Spell indeed! Next thing you will be telling me you believe in faeries." Serenity threw her hands up.
"Do you live under a rock? Great Selene! I knew Earthians were close minded but I had no idea it was this bad! I can tell you have never been out of your province." Serenity shook her head and smirked. "I can see the Moirai will have some amusement with you." She turned to leave.
"Oh, by and by, this clearing is within a Realm of the Faerie. Don't anger or insult them. Not only do they not like to be insulted, but they do not act kindly towards arrogant men."
The last thing Serenity heard as she left the clearing was the sound of the Earthian's laughter. She smiled satisfyingly for she knew she would have the last laugh.
Half an hour later, Serenity returned to the clearing, now clothed in her usual wardrobe of a loose, white tunic, long black riding breeches and soft leather boots. The sight that met her had her rolling on the ground with laughter. There was the Earthian sitting in the middle of the clearing with leaves all over him and a bunch of angry faeries swarming around his head.
"Ha ha ha ... you insulted them did you not? ... ha ha ha .... did I not tell you they did not like that? ... ha ha ha ... what are you to do now Sir Non- believer?" Endymion rolled his eyes, acutely aware of his shriveling dignity and aggravated that his pride was being compromised in front of this woman.
"They will bite me if I move and I really need to scratch my nose." It was the only reply he offered.
The man looked so pitiful and ridiculous, Serenity had to help. She walked over to her provisions and removed a lump of sugar, used to reward Pearl. The horse looked up eagerly when she produced the small cube of sugar.
"No Pearl, this is not for you." Serenity said in Lunarian. "It is for the nasty man over there with the scary faeries buzzing around his head."
She then strolled over to where Endymion sat and produced the sugar. The Faeries (there were five of them) instantly swarmed from the man to Serenity's outstretched hand. She watched them eat the sugar with awed curiosity while Endymion dusted himself off. It was one thing to read about faeries in books and here tales about them from other people, completely another thing to have them eating out of your hand. Each faerie was roughly the size of her small finger, with glittering clear wings and a bright glow about them which made them look like small floating yellow, green and pink lights. Serenity smiled.
"They really are quite cute are they not?"
"Cute my eye! They're about as cute as ... "
"I would not finish that sentence if I were you Sir Knight." She warned.
Grumbling, Endymion went over to the fire that he had started and sat down. The faeries had now finished the lump of sugar and with a bright flash, they flew off into the forest. Serenity looked down at her hand to find that they had left her a small pile of glittering dust. Finding an old unused money pouch, she placed the dust inside then deposited the pouch into her magic supplies box. No doubt it would come in handy soon. Faerie powder had powerful healing properties.
"What are you wearing?"
Serenity looked over to where the Earthian was sitting, near his campfire. "What ever do you mean?"
Endymion smirked privately. "It is not everyday that I see a female dressed as a man."
Serenity held up the bag she was carrying to her chest defensively. "I shall dress as I wish. Not that you need to know, but I have been dressing this way since I was ten." She cocked her head to the side, frowned, and surveyed her uninvited guest. "For someone who just found out that magical creatures are real, you are taking this rather well."
Endymion looked up from cooking his supper and frowned. "Do you mean to tell me there is more of those things?"
Serenity smiled. "More than you could ever imagine. In fact, most of the fairytales you have read as a child was probably based on a true story. I am rather surprised, Sir Knight, that you do not know this. I understand that Earth holds no attraction to any kinds of mythical creature but I thought that knights had to be prepared for every conceivable situation. Surely you must know about all this?" No reply. Serenity shook her head. "I am afraid that if you want to survive in this world, you are going to need someone who knows what they are doing."
"Oh and I suppose you know all about survival little girl?" Endymion combated defensively. He was NOT going to let this simpleton girl imply that he was ignorant. "I see that you have not build a fire or gathered any food. What happens when your food runs out and you are cold and alone? The wild does not treat kindly those who do not know how to survive in it."
Serenity glowed red with indignation. "You ungrateful baka! I save you from those faeries and this is how you repay me? I try to warn you about what you are up against in this world and you verbally attack me. I will not stand ...." Serenity stopped abruptly as a smile graced her lips. "I know what it is all about. You are afraid of me."
Endymion looked offended. "I am not afraid of a little girl like you."
"No but you see, you are." Serenity replied. "You are scared of me because I am not like the women you know. I imagine most women you know would swoon at your feet by one simple glance. However, I am immune to your flimsical words and flattering charms and this baffles you. Not only that, but I match you fairly in battle and save you from a group of angry faeries, which I warned you not to anger. You do not like getting saved by a woman do you? If I were a man there would be no problem would there? So in a vain attempt to save your pride, you call me a 'little girl' to try and demean me. Well, it will not work. I know all about men like you. Proud, vain, cruel, womanizing and always thinking with their groins and not their heads. Many men before you have tried to demean my abilities and many more will try long after you have left my company. Why should you be an exception?"
Both travelers glared at each other for a moment, Endymion with anger, Serenity with collected coolness. She turned to leave.
"Do not presume to think you are perfect."
Serenity turned around and replied, "I never declared that I was. But I, at least, know when to ask for help and say thank you when I receive it." She went over to her side of the clearing, produced a blanket from her pack and lay down to sleep.
Endymion bitterly ate his dinner then crawled into his one-man tent that he had constructed earlier. Deep down, he knew she was, in part, right, but he was not going to admit it.
"Mark my words. Before we part I will have her 'swooning at my feet' like the woman she is. Why should she be an exception to any other woman I have met?"
Author's Notes:
Realm of the Faerie: Uh, I made it up. I am not sure as to whether my account is correct or not but by gum, it is true in this story. Basically, a Realm of the Faerie (yes, Faerie, not fairy.) is a circular area, which could be the size of a field or a foot-span, protected by the mythical and highly powerful Faeries. Any non-magical and benevolent creature can enter the ring and be protected from most dangerous and mythical creatures, though there are a few exceptions.
Hades: (Greek mythology) Brother to Zeus, king of the gods, and King of the underworld. The Realm of Hades, full of riches and mysteries, it was surrounded by the terrible river Styx, over which no living man or woman could cross without the god's consent. Even the dead had to pay the ferryman, Charon, a coin in order to pass over the river and into the realm of the dead.
Banshee: Wailing female spirit (of Irish and Scottish folk tradition) warning of death in a house.
Hentai: It's a Japanese word, and roughly means pervert or freak.
Katana: A Japanese long sword.
The Moirai: (Greek mythology) The three goddesses of Fate. In myth, the Moirai were the daughters of the Mother Night, conceived without a father. Clotho was the spinner, Lachesis the measurer, and Atropos, whose name means 'she who cannot be avoided', the cutter. The three Fates wove the thread of human life in the secret darkness of their cave, and their work cannot be undone by any god. Once the destiny of an individual was woven, it was final and could not be altered.
Baka: Another Japanese word, it means stupid or idiot.
Chapter Three – First impressions
By now, the sun had truly begun to set in the sky. Serenity slowed her horse to a slow trot and surveyed her surroundings. Approaching her was a small, inviting clearing lighted by a burst of sunshine. Serenity dismounted and led her horse into the clearing. Tying Pearl up to the nearest tree, she investigated the perimetre of the clearing. Sure enough, as she suspected, tiny toadstools pocked out from under the autumn leaves at periodic intervals. Serenity clapped her hands with glee.
"What luck! I've stumbled upon a Realm of the Faerie. I shall sleep here tonight and set out tomorrow morning."
With that, she untied Pearl, took off her saddle and led her into the middle of the clearing. Too weary to do much else, they both lay down and slept, Serenity's head resting on Pearl's stomach.
With his horse getting slower and slower, Endymion knew that he needed to find a safe camping area soon and build a fire. Fast approaching, from what he could see, was a small clearing that would serve his purpose well. He made a beeline for it. However when he finally reached the clearing, his eyes were drawn to an enticing sight which wreaked havoc on his male senses.
There in the middle of the clearing lay what appeared to be a goddess of some sort, sleeping on the ground, he head resting on a white mare. She was dressed in a long flowing dress that was as delicate as a butterfly's gossamer wings and the colour of pure snow. Her long hair, which flowed around her, was also white and glittered silver in the light of the setting sun. She had a pleasing oval face with a small, but cute nose and rosy lips.
He dismounted from his horse and reverently stepped into the circle. Not once taking his eyes off her mayhap she disappear, he tied his horse up. Her lips were what drew him to her. Like a compulsion or a desperate need, Endymion almost stumbled over to where she lay and knelt down. Just as he was about to find out what it was like to kiss a goddess, the horse underneath her woke up.
Serenity felt Pearl shift under her and woke up. Next thing she knew, a pair of dark blue eyes assaulted her view. Registering the position of this mysterious stranger, leaning over her, Serenity did the only thing she could think of. She screamed.
"OH SELENE! PROTECT ME! WHO IN HADES ARE YOU!!! PERVERT!!! SOMEONE HELP ME!!! PERVERT PERVERT PERVERT!!!!"
Endymion felt like his ears were about to explode. Goddess indeed! This woman was closer kin to a banshee. When she woke up, he was just thinking how bright her blue eyes were when she started yelling for all she was worth. Although she was speaking ... well ... screaming another language, he caught one word. Hentai.
What does hentai mean? Nothing good I imagine.
Nevertheless, he decided to back up. An angry female was an unpredictable female. Sure enough, she reached over to her equipment beside her, which Endymion had not spotted before, and withdrew a strange looking sword. She then pointed the weapon and said something else he did not understand.
"I have no idea who you are," yelled Serenity, "And frankly, I do not care. I know what you were about to do and you will pay dearly for it. Stand and fight!"
Endymion did the first thing he could think of when faced with a challenge from a female. He laughed. Imagine the insolence! A crowned prince battle with some untrained girl, and he could now see that she was, indeed, just a girl.
Serenity was considerably startled and confused. Was it not custom to draw swords when faced with a challenge? What a strange man! Are all Earthians (his armor bespoke his nationality) this odd? Then to her great indignation, he turned and began to walk away. Serenity's eyes narrowed in fury. How dare he scorn her! She ran up to him and raised her weapon to his throat. A wary look entered his eyes and he slowly took a step back.
She still wanted to fight? Well that was fine with him. If she wanted a fight, he would give it to her, whether she wishes for it in the end or no.
I am going to have to teach this daft girl a lesson. I hope she knows how to use that thing. Probably stole it from her father I wager.
She attacked. Endymion met her at each parry, however, he quickly discovered that not only could she use her sword, but she was good at it. She was fast and agile, even in a dress, and the speed of her swings were hard even for him to follow. If he wanted to keep his head, for once he needed complete concentration. He took a wide swing at her feet but she jumped and aimed a swing at his ribs. He dodged her attack and retaliated.
Darn! This man will be difficult to vanquish! And one swing of that Earthian katana will have my head separated clean off my neck.
She ducked yet another swing to the head and surveyed the situation. Serenity knew she had met her ideal opponent in this man. It is true she moved faster and her katana techniques were superior to his, but he had a lot more strength than her, not to mention height and a sort of battle- hardened look to him. Every time she blocked one of his attacks, she felt like her arm would fall off from the sheer force of it.
If I want to beat this man, I will have to disarm him.
After blocking another one of his attacks, she kicked him in the vulnerable part of his stomach, winding him, then grabbed his sword. Unfortunately he still had a tight hold on it. Endymion quickly recovered and pointed his sword at her neck, the same time that she pointed her katana at his. Both, panting, glared at each other realising their situation.
"Listen, this is a rather useless endeavor." reasoned Endymion. "On the count of three, lower your sword. One ... two ... three ..." Both lowered their weapons.
Serenity, while recovering from her exertion, took a proper look at her opponent. Judging by his armor and the way he stood proudly, she could tell he was an Earthian noble and knight. Not to mention that he spoke common speak, the language of Earth and the universal language of Titan.
"You are an Earthian Knight are you not?" Serenity asked coldly in perfect common speak. As a Lunarian noble, she was required to learn the common language.
Endymion was surprised the girl could speak his language and replied, "Yes, I am."
Serenity stared at him for a while longer, now painfully aware that opponent was actually quite handsome. She blushed but it went unnoticed.
"Listen, I do not care to know you and frankly, you should feel lucky that I did not kill you ..." Endymion scoffed but she ignored it. "You sir, are no knight! A knight would never even think what you were about to do. So if you do not want me to liberate your 'vital parts', I suggest you leave now." Endymion was deeply insulted.
She thinks that I was going to ...
"Dear heart, you have me all wrong. I would NEVER force an unwilling woman!" He said it with such conviction that Serenity, for a moment, was uncertain of her accusation.
"If that is the truth, then what were you doing?"
"Surely it is not a crime to gaze upon thy beauteous face. All I wished to know was that you were indeed a goddess." Women always loved to be told they are goddesses. Endymion had won many a heart and gained many an advantage with this ploy.
Serenity blushed crimson and frowned. Was he daft in the head? Nobody except maybe her father had ever thought that she was 'beauteous'. Most of the time in her homeland she acted more like a man than a woman so most people treated her thus .... with the exception of Diamond maybe ....
"Do you .... mock me sir?"
"Dear heart, I would never mock thee. Anger contorts thy pretty face." In truth he actually quite enjoyed her anger. Serenity's embarrassment turned to rage.
"You ARE mocking me! I will not stand to be insulted. Leave this place now!"
"Tsk tsk! Manners my dear." Serenity raised her katana to his throat.
"How is this for manners? I found this place first and I demand that you leave."
"Now now!" Endymion backed away a little. "Did not the person who ever taught you to use that thing ever teach you that violence is the last resort in a conflict, not the first? Besides, it is now quite dark and it would be near impossible for me to find another clearing by nightfall."
"Does it look like I care?"
"How about this." Endymion reasoned. "First of all, you lower the sword or whatever it is that you are holding."
"No."
"Well, alright. How about I take one end of the clearing and you take the other. We will both be far away from each other. And if I should ever, for any reason, go over to your side of the clearing, you will hear the rustling of the leaves on the ground. Will that satisfy you, sweet angel?"
Serenity slowly lowered her katana but continued to glare fire at the man.
"Fine."
She stalked over to her horse, which was currently grazing on a patch of grass, and led her over to the far side of the clearing, taking her equipment with her. Endymion did likewise but at the other end of the clearing. As soon as Serenity had finished, she walked over to Endymion with an evil glint in her eyes. In a flash, she plucked several hairs from his head.
"Ow! Why did you do that!"
"This ..." she replied holding up the strands, "... is my collateral. If you feel that you need to relieve your sticky fingers and make off with my possessions, I will use this hair to hunt you down with a tracking spell and finish what I started today. Am I understood?" Endymion grinned.
"Hey! Do any hocus pocus spell on me you like! Curse me O mighty sorceress. Spell indeed! Next thing you will be telling me you believe in faeries." Serenity threw her hands up.
"Do you live under a rock? Great Selene! I knew Earthians were close minded but I had no idea it was this bad! I can tell you have never been out of your province." Serenity shook her head and smirked. "I can see the Moirai will have some amusement with you." She turned to leave.
"Oh, by and by, this clearing is within a Realm of the Faerie. Don't anger or insult them. Not only do they not like to be insulted, but they do not act kindly towards arrogant men."
The last thing Serenity heard as she left the clearing was the sound of the Earthian's laughter. She smiled satisfyingly for she knew she would have the last laugh.
Half an hour later, Serenity returned to the clearing, now clothed in her usual wardrobe of a loose, white tunic, long black riding breeches and soft leather boots. The sight that met her had her rolling on the ground with laughter. There was the Earthian sitting in the middle of the clearing with leaves all over him and a bunch of angry faeries swarming around his head.
"Ha ha ha ... you insulted them did you not? ... ha ha ha .... did I not tell you they did not like that? ... ha ha ha ... what are you to do now Sir Non- believer?" Endymion rolled his eyes, acutely aware of his shriveling dignity and aggravated that his pride was being compromised in front of this woman.
"They will bite me if I move and I really need to scratch my nose." It was the only reply he offered.
The man looked so pitiful and ridiculous, Serenity had to help. She walked over to her provisions and removed a lump of sugar, used to reward Pearl. The horse looked up eagerly when she produced the small cube of sugar.
"No Pearl, this is not for you." Serenity said in Lunarian. "It is for the nasty man over there with the scary faeries buzzing around his head."
She then strolled over to where Endymion sat and produced the sugar. The Faeries (there were five of them) instantly swarmed from the man to Serenity's outstretched hand. She watched them eat the sugar with awed curiosity while Endymion dusted himself off. It was one thing to read about faeries in books and here tales about them from other people, completely another thing to have them eating out of your hand. Each faerie was roughly the size of her small finger, with glittering clear wings and a bright glow about them which made them look like small floating yellow, green and pink lights. Serenity smiled.
"They really are quite cute are they not?"
"Cute my eye! They're about as cute as ... "
"I would not finish that sentence if I were you Sir Knight." She warned.
Grumbling, Endymion went over to the fire that he had started and sat down. The faeries had now finished the lump of sugar and with a bright flash, they flew off into the forest. Serenity looked down at her hand to find that they had left her a small pile of glittering dust. Finding an old unused money pouch, she placed the dust inside then deposited the pouch into her magic supplies box. No doubt it would come in handy soon. Faerie powder had powerful healing properties.
"What are you wearing?"
Serenity looked over to where the Earthian was sitting, near his campfire. "What ever do you mean?"
Endymion smirked privately. "It is not everyday that I see a female dressed as a man."
Serenity held up the bag she was carrying to her chest defensively. "I shall dress as I wish. Not that you need to know, but I have been dressing this way since I was ten." She cocked her head to the side, frowned, and surveyed her uninvited guest. "For someone who just found out that magical creatures are real, you are taking this rather well."
Endymion looked up from cooking his supper and frowned. "Do you mean to tell me there is more of those things?"
Serenity smiled. "More than you could ever imagine. In fact, most of the fairytales you have read as a child was probably based on a true story. I am rather surprised, Sir Knight, that you do not know this. I understand that Earth holds no attraction to any kinds of mythical creature but I thought that knights had to be prepared for every conceivable situation. Surely you must know about all this?" No reply. Serenity shook her head. "I am afraid that if you want to survive in this world, you are going to need someone who knows what they are doing."
"Oh and I suppose you know all about survival little girl?" Endymion combated defensively. He was NOT going to let this simpleton girl imply that he was ignorant. "I see that you have not build a fire or gathered any food. What happens when your food runs out and you are cold and alone? The wild does not treat kindly those who do not know how to survive in it."
Serenity glowed red with indignation. "You ungrateful baka! I save you from those faeries and this is how you repay me? I try to warn you about what you are up against in this world and you verbally attack me. I will not stand ...." Serenity stopped abruptly as a smile graced her lips. "I know what it is all about. You are afraid of me."
Endymion looked offended. "I am not afraid of a little girl like you."
"No but you see, you are." Serenity replied. "You are scared of me because I am not like the women you know. I imagine most women you know would swoon at your feet by one simple glance. However, I am immune to your flimsical words and flattering charms and this baffles you. Not only that, but I match you fairly in battle and save you from a group of angry faeries, which I warned you not to anger. You do not like getting saved by a woman do you? If I were a man there would be no problem would there? So in a vain attempt to save your pride, you call me a 'little girl' to try and demean me. Well, it will not work. I know all about men like you. Proud, vain, cruel, womanizing and always thinking with their groins and not their heads. Many men before you have tried to demean my abilities and many more will try long after you have left my company. Why should you be an exception?"
Both travelers glared at each other for a moment, Endymion with anger, Serenity with collected coolness. She turned to leave.
"Do not presume to think you are perfect."
Serenity turned around and replied, "I never declared that I was. But I, at least, know when to ask for help and say thank you when I receive it." She went over to her side of the clearing, produced a blanket from her pack and lay down to sleep.
Endymion bitterly ate his dinner then crawled into his one-man tent that he had constructed earlier. Deep down, he knew she was, in part, right, but he was not going to admit it.
"Mark my words. Before we part I will have her 'swooning at my feet' like the woman she is. Why should she be an exception to any other woman I have met?"
Author's Notes:
Realm of the Faerie: Uh, I made it up. I am not sure as to whether my account is correct or not but by gum, it is true in this story. Basically, a Realm of the Faerie (yes, Faerie, not fairy.) is a circular area, which could be the size of a field or a foot-span, protected by the mythical and highly powerful Faeries. Any non-magical and benevolent creature can enter the ring and be protected from most dangerous and mythical creatures, though there are a few exceptions.
Hades: (Greek mythology) Brother to Zeus, king of the gods, and King of the underworld. The Realm of Hades, full of riches and mysteries, it was surrounded by the terrible river Styx, over which no living man or woman could cross without the god's consent. Even the dead had to pay the ferryman, Charon, a coin in order to pass over the river and into the realm of the dead.
Banshee: Wailing female spirit (of Irish and Scottish folk tradition) warning of death in a house.
Hentai: It's a Japanese word, and roughly means pervert or freak.
Katana: A Japanese long sword.
The Moirai: (Greek mythology) The three goddesses of Fate. In myth, the Moirai were the daughters of the Mother Night, conceived without a father. Clotho was the spinner, Lachesis the measurer, and Atropos, whose name means 'she who cannot be avoided', the cutter. The three Fates wove the thread of human life in the secret darkness of their cave, and their work cannot be undone by any god. Once the destiny of an individual was woven, it was final and could not be altered.
Baka: Another Japanese word, it means stupid or idiot.