All standard disclaimers that I've already used so far with any of the various stories that I now
have on fanfiction.net will apply. For your information, all of the characters that you may not actually
recognize well enough in this story are original characters of mine, unless otherwise stated, in fact. So
please don't steal my original characters from this story or any others, for that matter.
Now without any further ado, let's get on with the next chapter of this story of mine here, if
that's all right with you here, readers. Please do read, review, and enjoy, if at all possible, quite
naturally enough, readers!
First Kisses?
A The Chrysanthemum Chronicles Series Story
Inside Darien's Chambers In The Imperial Palace
Kyoto, Japan, Earth
November 23, 986
Meanwhile, while Sylvia was telling her siblings to go to her bathroom until she said otherwise,
Darien was currently reading a scroll in his chambers, as he sat in a chair near his bed. It was now about
9:30 in the morning local time, as he was doing so. One of his windows was open a little bit to take in a
rare cool breeze heading into the area from the southeast. It was currently about sixty or so degrees
Fahrenheit in the Kyoto area. And this breeze was about four or so degrees cooler, but not more than eight
degrees cooler, in any case. He had the aforementioned window open, so that if the breeze came as he
hoped it would, he could eventually feel it in his chambers. Supposing, of course, that he was still in them
when that breeze came toward them.
As soon as it reached the middle of the hour, though, a sudden gust of wind sent something through
that open window. That something was a canister sent from Serenity to him. As soon as he saw it enter
his chambers, he then set aside his scroll, and closed the window for at least a little while. That done, he
then hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the outside of his chamber door, so that while he was attending to
that canister from Queen Serenity, nobody would needlessly bother him.
That done, he then came back into his chambers and bolted them shut rather securely, of course.
He wasted no unnecessary time opening her canister to him, and seeing what was in it. In it was a short
message on a scroll, as well as a rose from one of the eight gardens on the grounds of the Crystal Palace
in Moon City, back on the Moon, if nothing else as well. After he read her rather short message to him,
he then did exactly what she told him to do in his chambers before he told his parents and two siblings, if
it was at all possible, exactly where he was going for at least a little while. He did so without any hesitation
from him at all to do so. Even though, of course, he didn't yet know entirely why she told him to do the
things that she wanted him to do before he left his chambers again. That was, obviously, only true if he'd
ever know entirely why she'd told him to do all those things before he left his chambers again.
After he did all the things that she wanted him to do before he left his chambers again, he soon left
his chambers again. And he did that just so that he could tell his parents and siblings whatever she'd told
him to tell them, of course. He wasted no unnecessary time at all in getting to his parents' chambers. After
which he knocked on their door at least four times rather quickly. Empress Elaine let him in just about a
minute or so later.
As soon as he was then escorted to his parents' bedroom where his father Emperor Peter was
spending some time in conversation with his siblings, Darien then had his mother sit down next to his father
and his siblings on his parents' bed. He then briefly explained his current situation to them, and didn't take
many questions from them about it. He did this in no more than ten to fifteen minutes, before his mother
said, "If you must go to the Moon again, so be it, Darien. But I still wish that you'd stay on Earth more
often. It seems like you're hardly ever here in the Kyoto area any more."
"I suppose you're right, as usual, Mother. But apparently, I'm needed on the Moon again, for some
reason not even I can fully understand, at least at the current time. I got the feeling that Queen Serenity left
a lot of things out in her latest message to me, Mother. And if that's the case, I do have to go back to the
Moon to find out what she left out."
"And go be with Serena again, and her crowd?" asked his younger sister Caroline, who'd turn
eighteen in about three months, give or take a few days either way.
"No, Caroline, I don't think that'll even be possible for at least a while, if at all, while I'm still on the
Moon during this current trip of mine to it."
"Why not?"
"They're apparently visiting other friends of theirs elsewhere on the Moon. Who they are, if indeed
they are, I don't know yet."
Jacob, who was his 22-year-old younger brother, then said, "So you don't expect to see them at
all while you're on it."
"It's possible, of course, Jacob, but I doubt that'll actually be the case. For I don't think that they
can stay forever with those friends of theirs from elsewhere on the Moon. They're likely going to have to
return, if at all possible, to Moon City before too much longer. I suspect by Christmas, at the very latest,
they'll all want to be in Moon City again, for all the obvious reasons. Especially Serena, for she normally
prefers to be in the Moon City area of the Moon whenever possible."
Emperor Peter asked his older son, "Darien, is there anything else you need from us?"
"I've got everything I need, I believe, at the current time, before I go to the Moon, except for
someone to accompany me to the KAS. I'd like Jacob to go with me there, if that's all right with you, Dad.
I don't want to leave my horse at the KAS for too long. So someone needs to go with me there. I'll be
riding one, and my companion the other. When I get to the spaceport, he'll need to bring my horse back
here in the required manner, of course. As soon as I get off, and take all my things off, my horse, he'll need
to bring my horse back here as quickly as he can, just as soon as I tell him to do that."
"All right. Jacob, you're going with Darien to the spaceport. You do whatever he tells you to do,
no matter what it is. No debate. As soon as he tells you to return here, you do so immediately. I want
you back here before noon. For I don't want you to be caught in a sudden thunderstorm. From the looks
of the clouds to the west, we might have one within the next few hours. It'll probably take you at least
twenty minutes to get to the spaceport, and at least another fifteen to twenty to get back here."
"Understood, Dad." Jacob would've preferred, though, to be able to stay back at the Imperial
Palace. For he often loved to goof off whenever he possibly could do so. But even he knew that there was
no sense in possibly getting caught in a sudden thunderstorm, if he could possibly avoid it. So he'd said
what he just had to his father.
A few minutes more, at most, of conversation between everyone in the room, and then Darien and
Jacob left their parents' chambers again, of course. They both hurried as quickly as they could to the
nearest stables on the grounds of Kyoto's Imperial Palace. And they then saddled up and loaded up their
horses as quickly as they could do so safely enough. They wasted no unnecessary time in doing so. For
they were both now on a very tight schedule, as mentioned earlier by Darien when he'd told his parents and
his siblings of Queen Serenity's latest message to him.
They arrived at the spaceport with at least a few minutes to spare. And they soon found Skyhorse
there with Rebecca, Martha, and Ulysses, as Queen Serenity had earlier said they probably would be, if
Skyhorse had decided to bring them along with her when she returned to the Moon. Darien soon
dismounted from his horse, and unloaded his things from his horse and his brother's horse, setting those
things on the ground near where Skyhorse had been waiting with her siblings for him to arrive at that
spaceport. As soon as he did so well enough to suit him, and had said his farewells to his brother, for the
obvious reasons, of course, he then said, "Jacob, return immediately to the Imperial Palace, as required by
me and Emperor Peter. No debate, or when I get back, I'll have to inform our parents that you did so the
first chance that I get to do so. And you know what that'll undoubtedly bring you, Jacob. So do as you've
been told."
"Understood." Then Jacob wheeled his horse, and set off again as quickly and as safely as he could
for the Imperial Palace, waving goodbye to his older brother as he did so. Of course, he wished that
Darien had also introduced him to Skyhorse, Rebecca, Martha, and Ulysses. But Darien hadn't, which
made him at least a little upset, for the obvious reasons.
After Jacob was finally all the way out of Darien's sight, Darien then said, "It's nice to see you again,
Skyhorse. I suppose these youngsters are Sylvia's siblings."
"Correct, Prince Darien. I take it that you also received at least one canister from Queen
Serenity?" She then introduced Darien and her siblings to each other as quickly and as briefly as she could.
"Yes. And she told me that I needed to be here by 10:30 am local time. So here I am, Skyhorse.
It's too bad Sylvia couldn't be here, evidently. Where is she?" asked Darien, after the necessary
introductions between her siblings and himself had been done sufficiently well by Skyhorse, of course.
However, from at least one previous personal experience of his, that related at least partly both to him and
to Sylvia, back on the Moon, he already knew that Skyhorse was also Sylvia Wakefield, and vice versa.
He didn't let her siblings actually know that very fact though, for all the obvious reasons, of course.
"She went off on one of her usual journeys elsewhere in Israel, some time ago, of course, Darien.
As I believe I've already told you she often has a habit of doing."
"But of course, Skyhorse. Sylvia wouldn't really be Sylvia if she didn't, would she?"
"Nope. I suppose not, Darien." Then Skyhorse let Darien lead them to a little restaurant elsewhere
on the grounds of the KAS, where all of them could get a little bit to eat, if they wanted to, before Rolando
was due to show up at the KAS sometime later.
While they were doing so, they spent at least a little bit of time getting to know each other a little
bit, if they'd not already done so at least one time before. Mainly, Darien got at least a bit acquainted with
Becca, Martha, and Uly, and they did the same thing with him.
They did this until Skyhorse's locket suddenly beeped a few times about a second between beeps,
and about five or six beeps in total. Those beeps told Skyhorse that Rolando and his things were now in
transit to the KAS. So she then said, just as soon as she heard the beeps stop coming from her locket,
"Darien, I believe that Rolando's now inbound. He'll be here within five minutes or so, if I'm not mistaken.
Please pay the check, and then be where you earlier met up with all four of us shortly thereafter, when you
came to the spaceport then with your brother Jacob. And please don't waste any time in paying the check,
and getting there. Because as you know, we're all on a very tight schedule now, of course."
So as Skyhorse gathered up her siblings, Darien paid the required check, of course. Skyhorse
hustled all three of her siblings out of that restaurant as quickly as she could, and she brought them all to
the necessary place before Rolando would appear somewhere close enough to them. Darien wasn't too
far behind her and her siblings, of course. He only stayed in the restaurant long enough to pay the check
and gather up what was left of their food and drink. He returned to the same location where he'd met up
earlier with Skyhorse and her three siblings only about a minute or two before Rolando appeared on the
grounds of the KAS. Until Rolando did actually show up there, though, he and his fellow companions
waited patiently for Rolando to appear near them there, of course.
Rolando appeared within five to ten feet of them at about 12:25 pm local time, as Queen Serenity
thought that he might do within two hours or so after Darien got there to meet them as well. Rolando
appeared with all his things that he'd be bringing to the Moon when he showed up there. All his things were
either on his back, in a sack on his waist, or in a scabbard hanging from his waist as well. Even the shield
that he'd gotten sometime earlier from Queen Serenity and Prince Daniel, in fact, before he'd left the Moon
for the first time ever in his life, if he'd not leave it only once in his own life.
Several minutes later, then, Skyhorse said the necessary phrase, and all six of them soon were on
their way to the Moon, as planned. Some time after they'd left Terra behind again in the required manner,
they all then materialized safely enough in the Crystal Chalice Garden on the grounds of the Crystal Palace
in Moon City, on the Moon. As promised, Queen Serenity and Prince Daniel were already there waiting
for them to show up there when they did so.
I really do hope that you all have enjoyed the first two stories in this particular story series, and the
first eleven chapters of this third story, if you've actually gotten this far. And that you'll all continue to read
its related story series, of course, once I put even more of it up here. The other chapters of this third story
in the series will be up shortly, if at all possible, readers, for your information. I really don't know yet just
how long it'll still take me to get each story in this series up fully here. But it might take a while for each
story in this series, just the same, readers. Until later, then, this is "The Universal Storyteller" signing off
here. Happy reading, and God bless, and all that, of course, readers! Over and out!
have on fanfiction.net will apply. For your information, all of the characters that you may not actually
recognize well enough in this story are original characters of mine, unless otherwise stated, in fact. So
please don't steal my original characters from this story or any others, for that matter.
Now without any further ado, let's get on with the next chapter of this story of mine here, if
that's all right with you here, readers. Please do read, review, and enjoy, if at all possible, quite
naturally enough, readers!
First Kisses?
A The Chrysanthemum Chronicles Series Story
Inside Darien's Chambers In The Imperial Palace
Kyoto, Japan, Earth
November 23, 986
Meanwhile, while Sylvia was telling her siblings to go to her bathroom until she said otherwise,
Darien was currently reading a scroll in his chambers, as he sat in a chair near his bed. It was now about
9:30 in the morning local time, as he was doing so. One of his windows was open a little bit to take in a
rare cool breeze heading into the area from the southeast. It was currently about sixty or so degrees
Fahrenheit in the Kyoto area. And this breeze was about four or so degrees cooler, but not more than eight
degrees cooler, in any case. He had the aforementioned window open, so that if the breeze came as he
hoped it would, he could eventually feel it in his chambers. Supposing, of course, that he was still in them
when that breeze came toward them.
As soon as it reached the middle of the hour, though, a sudden gust of wind sent something through
that open window. That something was a canister sent from Serenity to him. As soon as he saw it enter
his chambers, he then set aside his scroll, and closed the window for at least a little while. That done, he
then hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the outside of his chamber door, so that while he was attending to
that canister from Queen Serenity, nobody would needlessly bother him.
That done, he then came back into his chambers and bolted them shut rather securely, of course.
He wasted no unnecessary time opening her canister to him, and seeing what was in it. In it was a short
message on a scroll, as well as a rose from one of the eight gardens on the grounds of the Crystal Palace
in Moon City, back on the Moon, if nothing else as well. After he read her rather short message to him,
he then did exactly what she told him to do in his chambers before he told his parents and two siblings, if
it was at all possible, exactly where he was going for at least a little while. He did so without any hesitation
from him at all to do so. Even though, of course, he didn't yet know entirely why she told him to do the
things that she wanted him to do before he left his chambers again. That was, obviously, only true if he'd
ever know entirely why she'd told him to do all those things before he left his chambers again.
After he did all the things that she wanted him to do before he left his chambers again, he soon left
his chambers again. And he did that just so that he could tell his parents and siblings whatever she'd told
him to tell them, of course. He wasted no unnecessary time at all in getting to his parents' chambers. After
which he knocked on their door at least four times rather quickly. Empress Elaine let him in just about a
minute or so later.
As soon as he was then escorted to his parents' bedroom where his father Emperor Peter was
spending some time in conversation with his siblings, Darien then had his mother sit down next to his father
and his siblings on his parents' bed. He then briefly explained his current situation to them, and didn't take
many questions from them about it. He did this in no more than ten to fifteen minutes, before his mother
said, "If you must go to the Moon again, so be it, Darien. But I still wish that you'd stay on Earth more
often. It seems like you're hardly ever here in the Kyoto area any more."
"I suppose you're right, as usual, Mother. But apparently, I'm needed on the Moon again, for some
reason not even I can fully understand, at least at the current time. I got the feeling that Queen Serenity left
a lot of things out in her latest message to me, Mother. And if that's the case, I do have to go back to the
Moon to find out what she left out."
"And go be with Serena again, and her crowd?" asked his younger sister Caroline, who'd turn
eighteen in about three months, give or take a few days either way.
"No, Caroline, I don't think that'll even be possible for at least a while, if at all, while I'm still on the
Moon during this current trip of mine to it."
"Why not?"
"They're apparently visiting other friends of theirs elsewhere on the Moon. Who they are, if indeed
they are, I don't know yet."
Jacob, who was his 22-year-old younger brother, then said, "So you don't expect to see them at
all while you're on it."
"It's possible, of course, Jacob, but I doubt that'll actually be the case. For I don't think that they
can stay forever with those friends of theirs from elsewhere on the Moon. They're likely going to have to
return, if at all possible, to Moon City before too much longer. I suspect by Christmas, at the very latest,
they'll all want to be in Moon City again, for all the obvious reasons. Especially Serena, for she normally
prefers to be in the Moon City area of the Moon whenever possible."
Emperor Peter asked his older son, "Darien, is there anything else you need from us?"
"I've got everything I need, I believe, at the current time, before I go to the Moon, except for
someone to accompany me to the KAS. I'd like Jacob to go with me there, if that's all right with you, Dad.
I don't want to leave my horse at the KAS for too long. So someone needs to go with me there. I'll be
riding one, and my companion the other. When I get to the spaceport, he'll need to bring my horse back
here in the required manner, of course. As soon as I get off, and take all my things off, my horse, he'll need
to bring my horse back here as quickly as he can, just as soon as I tell him to do that."
"All right. Jacob, you're going with Darien to the spaceport. You do whatever he tells you to do,
no matter what it is. No debate. As soon as he tells you to return here, you do so immediately. I want
you back here before noon. For I don't want you to be caught in a sudden thunderstorm. From the looks
of the clouds to the west, we might have one within the next few hours. It'll probably take you at least
twenty minutes to get to the spaceport, and at least another fifteen to twenty to get back here."
"Understood, Dad." Jacob would've preferred, though, to be able to stay back at the Imperial
Palace. For he often loved to goof off whenever he possibly could do so. But even he knew that there was
no sense in possibly getting caught in a sudden thunderstorm, if he could possibly avoid it. So he'd said
what he just had to his father.
A few minutes more, at most, of conversation between everyone in the room, and then Darien and
Jacob left their parents' chambers again, of course. They both hurried as quickly as they could to the
nearest stables on the grounds of Kyoto's Imperial Palace. And they then saddled up and loaded up their
horses as quickly as they could do so safely enough. They wasted no unnecessary time in doing so. For
they were both now on a very tight schedule, as mentioned earlier by Darien when he'd told his parents and
his siblings of Queen Serenity's latest message to him.
They arrived at the spaceport with at least a few minutes to spare. And they soon found Skyhorse
there with Rebecca, Martha, and Ulysses, as Queen Serenity had earlier said they probably would be, if
Skyhorse had decided to bring them along with her when she returned to the Moon. Darien soon
dismounted from his horse, and unloaded his things from his horse and his brother's horse, setting those
things on the ground near where Skyhorse had been waiting with her siblings for him to arrive at that
spaceport. As soon as he did so well enough to suit him, and had said his farewells to his brother, for the
obvious reasons, of course, he then said, "Jacob, return immediately to the Imperial Palace, as required by
me and Emperor Peter. No debate, or when I get back, I'll have to inform our parents that you did so the
first chance that I get to do so. And you know what that'll undoubtedly bring you, Jacob. So do as you've
been told."
"Understood." Then Jacob wheeled his horse, and set off again as quickly and as safely as he could
for the Imperial Palace, waving goodbye to his older brother as he did so. Of course, he wished that
Darien had also introduced him to Skyhorse, Rebecca, Martha, and Ulysses. But Darien hadn't, which
made him at least a little upset, for the obvious reasons.
After Jacob was finally all the way out of Darien's sight, Darien then said, "It's nice to see you again,
Skyhorse. I suppose these youngsters are Sylvia's siblings."
"Correct, Prince Darien. I take it that you also received at least one canister from Queen
Serenity?" She then introduced Darien and her siblings to each other as quickly and as briefly as she could.
"Yes. And she told me that I needed to be here by 10:30 am local time. So here I am, Skyhorse.
It's too bad Sylvia couldn't be here, evidently. Where is she?" asked Darien, after the necessary
introductions between her siblings and himself had been done sufficiently well by Skyhorse, of course.
However, from at least one previous personal experience of his, that related at least partly both to him and
to Sylvia, back on the Moon, he already knew that Skyhorse was also Sylvia Wakefield, and vice versa.
He didn't let her siblings actually know that very fact though, for all the obvious reasons, of course.
"She went off on one of her usual journeys elsewhere in Israel, some time ago, of course, Darien.
As I believe I've already told you she often has a habit of doing."
"But of course, Skyhorse. Sylvia wouldn't really be Sylvia if she didn't, would she?"
"Nope. I suppose not, Darien." Then Skyhorse let Darien lead them to a little restaurant elsewhere
on the grounds of the KAS, where all of them could get a little bit to eat, if they wanted to, before Rolando
was due to show up at the KAS sometime later.
While they were doing so, they spent at least a little bit of time getting to know each other a little
bit, if they'd not already done so at least one time before. Mainly, Darien got at least a bit acquainted with
Becca, Martha, and Uly, and they did the same thing with him.
They did this until Skyhorse's locket suddenly beeped a few times about a second between beeps,
and about five or six beeps in total. Those beeps told Skyhorse that Rolando and his things were now in
transit to the KAS. So she then said, just as soon as she heard the beeps stop coming from her locket,
"Darien, I believe that Rolando's now inbound. He'll be here within five minutes or so, if I'm not mistaken.
Please pay the check, and then be where you earlier met up with all four of us shortly thereafter, when you
came to the spaceport then with your brother Jacob. And please don't waste any time in paying the check,
and getting there. Because as you know, we're all on a very tight schedule now, of course."
So as Skyhorse gathered up her siblings, Darien paid the required check, of course. Skyhorse
hustled all three of her siblings out of that restaurant as quickly as she could, and she brought them all to
the necessary place before Rolando would appear somewhere close enough to them. Darien wasn't too
far behind her and her siblings, of course. He only stayed in the restaurant long enough to pay the check
and gather up what was left of their food and drink. He returned to the same location where he'd met up
earlier with Skyhorse and her three siblings only about a minute or two before Rolando appeared on the
grounds of the KAS. Until Rolando did actually show up there, though, he and his fellow companions
waited patiently for Rolando to appear near them there, of course.
Rolando appeared within five to ten feet of them at about 12:25 pm local time, as Queen Serenity
thought that he might do within two hours or so after Darien got there to meet them as well. Rolando
appeared with all his things that he'd be bringing to the Moon when he showed up there. All his things were
either on his back, in a sack on his waist, or in a scabbard hanging from his waist as well. Even the shield
that he'd gotten sometime earlier from Queen Serenity and Prince Daniel, in fact, before he'd left the Moon
for the first time ever in his life, if he'd not leave it only once in his own life.
Several minutes later, then, Skyhorse said the necessary phrase, and all six of them soon were on
their way to the Moon, as planned. Some time after they'd left Terra behind again in the required manner,
they all then materialized safely enough in the Crystal Chalice Garden on the grounds of the Crystal Palace
in Moon City, on the Moon. As promised, Queen Serenity and Prince Daniel were already there waiting
for them to show up there when they did so.
I really do hope that you all have enjoyed the first two stories in this particular story series, and the
first eleven chapters of this third story, if you've actually gotten this far. And that you'll all continue to read
its related story series, of course, once I put even more of it up here. The other chapters of this third story
in the series will be up shortly, if at all possible, readers, for your information. I really don't know yet just
how long it'll still take me to get each story in this series up fully here. But it might take a while for each
story in this series, just the same, readers. Until later, then, this is "The Universal Storyteller" signing off
here. Happy reading, and God bless, and all that, of course, readers! Over and out!