"Did you do wrong?
Is this your punishment?
Where am I?
Speak to a wretched wanderer.
Enough - I have been tried enough-
My wandering -long wandering,
Yet I have found nowhere
To leave my misery.
I am a girl who speaks to you,
But horns are on my head."
-- Io --
They disembarked at Uranus with no difficulty other than the need of fresh air. They've been travelling for five days hence in a floating ship and the need to breathe with clean air has become necessity to them after being confined in their own chambers for so long. Naturally, the Uranus Royalty invited them to stay in the Miranda Castle as long as they could while looking for the celestial gems. The Earth Generals and Endymion thanked them courteously. They found themselves admiring the palace, with its turquoise shades and beautiful gardens.
After dinner, everyone bid good night to each other and retired to their bedchambers, waiting for tomorrow to come.
By dawn, the generals and the prince were gathered around outside the palace. King Ura'ns each presented them a horse and whatever they needed for the journey.
Nephrite, who was already settled on a horse, glanced at the prince who was still putting his hand baggage and such to his horse.
"I trust that you slept well my prince?" He asked.
"Not a wink Nephrite. My thoughts were always running amok about the celestial gems even in sleep. And what of you? Did you sleep well?" Endymion put his right foot in a saddle and mounted himself up.
"Like a babe." Jadeite retorted instead who was seated in his own horse, his eyes full of hilarity. "You can hear him snoring all the way to the other room."
Nephrite took a swipe at the amused general.
Kunzite, who was adjusting his armour on his torso with his sword perched on the side of his waist, enquired. "Are you ready for this Your Highness? I trust that you remember everything we've thought you?"
Endymion appeared aggravated. "Yes, yes, I remember everything. And call me Endymion, will you? You know I detest having someone to address me with that."
Just then Zoisite came storming out from the palace with his nanchukus still in his hands and evidently heard the last declaration from the prince.
"Ah… But it is the way to demonstrate we have a high regard for you my prince. We'd hate to be penalized for the reason that we address you by your name." He commented with good humour that was overlooked by the prince.
"You forget Zoisite. I am a prince and I can always punish you by not abiding my orders." With that statement, Endymion went galloping from the palace and to the direction of the city.
The four looked after him for a moment.
"Such amusing to tease him, ne?" Zoisite remarked.
Kunzite, without a word, trailed after the prince leaving the other three no alternative but to follow.
Endymion chose to stop on the road so it was effortless for the generals to catch up on him.
The generals found the prince marvelling the city downwards. They stopped beside him and also stared at the view.
"Magnificent, isn't it? Like the palace itself. You can never see anything like it on Earth." Nephrite murmured.
"So where do we start looking? Do any of you have any suggestions?" Kunzite, ever the grave one, queried.
Jadeite glanced at the prince who was still admiring the view. He cleared his throat to get Endymion's attention.
"Endymion, did The Elders give you any clues?"
"What?" Endymion stated and looked at the generals. "Oh… yes. My mother presented me this scroll. She said The Elders gave it to her to aid me find the gems. There's nothing but small inscriptions on it though. I am not certain that it can help us at all."
Zoisite shrugged. "It is better than nothing."
"Well as indicated to the legend, the celestial gems scattered at least five to six thousand years ago. So we must find something of old that can lead us to them." Jadeite commented.
"You forget Jadeite, it also stated in the legend that the celestial gems become warriors. Perhaps they might be inside of a human body. We cannot know for sure." Zoisite pointed out.
"Can you not see anything in your vision Nephrite?" Kunzite asked.
Nephrite closed his eyes towards the heaven. After a moment he spoke. "My vision is clouded. If Zoisite is precise and the gems are inside of human bodies, I cannot distinguish anything if that person isn't aware of any gems inside of him. My vision has its own limitations."
"So we assume each gem is inside of a man?" Endymion asked.
"Men can only become warriors Endymion. Female bodies are too fragile to handle such strengths to become a fighter." Jadeite answered.
"If such is the case, then what we should do is to ask around whoever the oldest are in this planet. And in doing so, we question those people if they have seen anything unusual that happened in their times. And if they do remember, then we proceed to wherever place they point us and just track the gem from there." Kunzite explained.
"There's just one problem though. Which gem do we seek out?" Zoisite asked.
"Is there a reason why they can't be in one planet all at once?" Endymion enquired.
Nephrite shook his head. "That's not likely. If they were as powerful as The Elders said they are, then Queen Serenity would have scattered them as far away from each other as possible. As such, it'll be too difficult for the enemies to locate them which I'm sure was the queen's intention."
Endymion sighed. "So which gem do we look first?"
Jadeite glanced around. "Hmm… this planet surely is green. Everything you see is green. So perhaps we should be looking for The Suishoku."
Kunzite shook his head. "You forget, the planet Jupiter is also green and there's only one green celestial gem."
"Oh yes, that's right." Jadeite nodded.
"Then perhaps we should be looking for the Taakoizu." Zoisite suggested.
"Taakoizu… oh you're right. It is probable." Endymion murmured. He took out the scroll on the left side of his left boot. He rolled it out and read the inscription. "There are only one clue in each gem I'm afraid. The word 'flight' is written beside the Taakoizu so that must be what we have to find." He rolled the scroll again and put it back on its place.
"Flight… do you guys have any idea?" Nephrite asked everyone.
"The ability to fly… so we might be looking for a warrior who can fly. Hmm… that must be it." Jadeite murmured.
Zoisite raised an eyebrow. "Levitation perhaps? Such as myself?"
"Okay then. We have to keep an eye on anyone who can fly or have wings on them is that understandable? Good. Let's go." Kunzite instructed.
They nodded.
Then together, they rode towards the raucous city below them.
They arrived in the city of Setebos shortly afterwards. It was filled of people in its busiest hours.
They observed that the Uranians were involved of tall and light-blonde haired individuals. Even some of the female inhabitants were as tall as Zoisite.
They dismounted from their horses and tied them from a tree nearby.
"You all know what to do. Just be back here in this same location within thirty minutes. Is that all right?" Kunzite queried.
A chorus of 'Hai' were being said.
Kunzite nodded approvingly. "Zoisite you go with Endymion in a different direction and Jadeite will go with Nephrite. We have to split up to speed up the search. Just be on your guard gentlemen."
In so saying, he walked away from them to the right route while Jadeite and Nephrite went to the left.
"So then we'll go straight ahead." Endymion commented.
Zoisite just nodded and followed the prince.
Jadeite and Nephrite were both looking around their surroundings with amazement. People were bargaining to merchants and children were playing Bocce and Wari on the street. They also noticed people were of old but not utterly aging of at least a thousand years.
Jadeite approached an old woman in a cape who was shuffling tarot cards. But before he could say anything however, the old woman nattered.
"You're here for the Taakoizu." She asked, not looking up.
Jadeite and Nephrite gaped at her in astonishment. Then they became suspicious and Nephrite retrieved his mace from his back and pointed at her.
"How did you know of such thing woman? Confess!" Jadeite roared.
The old woman just smiled and put a card on the table revealing The Fool card.
"The card reveals a youngster setting out on a journey. The character is optimistic, innocent and ingenuous, and he has a lot to learn. Your prince perhaps?" She said, tapping the card with a finger.
Nephrite's eyes narrowed. "Who are you? Are you an emissary? Tell us!"
Instead, the old woman again set another card on the table exposing The Magician card upside down.
"Hmm… the message here is to avoid trickery, both by being strictly ethical in your own behaviour and by guarding against manipulation and lies from other quarters. It also exhorts you not to overlook or to back away from an opportunity for advancement."
Jadeite and Nephrite looked at each other. They had the same thoughts of either the old woman was an emissary from an enemy or she really had the gift of sight.
Vigilantly, Nephrite slowly put down his weapon. What the old woman articulated disturbed them. She might be of help to them.
The old woman took off her cape and lifted her blue eyes at them.
"So gentlemen, do you want to know more or do you just want to keep accusing me of such twaddle?"
Once again the two generals looked at each other before nodding.
"Tell us more… Please…" Jadeite said.
The old woman put The High Priestess card on her table.
"The Priestess often turns up when a period of study is in the pipeline and it suggests that you are about to spend some time learning a new concept or getting to grips with a new skill. The figure on the card is a cool and knowledgeable woman who is a well of spiritual understanding. The Priestess tells you that something has yet to be revealed and that you are not in possession of the full facts. Another good interpretation is that a good female friend is about to enter your life." The old woman explained with a smile.
Jadeite frowned. "Yes but which one of us applies to that card though?"
Her smile widened. "Ah… you both are about to meet your soul companions. But you yourself will have to recognize that because that is one of the things I cannot help you with."
Then she drew the last card The Moon, upside down. The Moon card showed a moonlit scene with a road emerging from a lake and winding into mysterious distance, between two apparently pointless towers that are perched on a hill. A dog, a jackal and a weird crustacean were shown too.
"The mysterious nature of this card exactly fits the muddled and deceptive turn of events that surrounds you. You can't trust anyone when this card appears, and your own feelings are confusing and frightening. If your intuition tells you that things are not all they seem to be, listen to this inner voice. You don't know the whole story -- still less what is really in the minds of those around you -- and there are matters that have yet to be revealed to you."
Then Nephrite noticed the clouds were getting dark.
"Look lady. We only want to know one thing. How did you know about the Taakoizu and where might we find the others?" He asked.
The old woman hesitated before responding. "I am sorry. I cannot tell you where the Taakoizu is because I've only heard of it from my grandmother. However, I can tell you a place where you can find a person of old that might help you locate the gem. Take this road until you've reach the Stephano village up to the north." Then she pointed a finger towards the forest.
The two generals breathed a sigh of relief and thanked the woman. They were about to set off when the old woman called them back.
"Matte! I must warn you… There's a sorceress that live over there. Sycorax is her name. She's an old hag that feeds on people's energy. You have to be careful. The only way to defeat her is to strike her from the heart. And Prospero is the person you seek of. You'll know him when you get there. He'll introduce himself to you."
"Arigatou for your assistance." The two generals bowed to the woman and left. When Jadeite looked back, she was gone.
He frowned.
"So did you take it to heart what she said about us?" Nephrite asked.
"I'm not sure. She might not be telling the truth." Jadeite shrugged.
Without another phrase between them, they walked back to the direction where they would be meeting the others.
Two figures from the shadows were watching the two generals.
"What did you tell them?" Asked the male figure.
"Nothing. I told them where they were heading is all. I couldn't very well tell them the exact location when I don't know it myself now could I?" Snapped the female one.
"Fine, fine. Don't be too histrionic about it." Said the male figure before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
The female figure stared at him in shock and antagonism. "Why that… obtuse, aggravating man… he'll pay for that remark!" She retorted before following her companion and disappeared.
Kunzite, Zoisite and Endymion were already there and discussing some things waiting for Jadeite and Nephrite to arrive.
"So have you found something?" Asked Kunzite while untying his horse from the tree.
"Nothing. Seems not too many people wants to cooperate." Zoisite shook his head.
"We never saw anyone who looks older than a hundred either. And what of you Kunzite?" Endymion queried and also untied his horse.
Kunzite also shook his head.
Just then Jadeite and Nephrite appeared with a satisfied smile on their faces.
"I trust with that smile on your face that you have some good news?" Endymion commented.
"Hai, my prince. A lady told us of a village up north that might help us find the people of old." Jadeite answered.
"That's good. Lead the way then." Kunzite said.
They all mounted on their horses and Nephrite leaded the way towards the village of Stephano.
-- The story is Copyrighted © by dloveheart 2002 --
(some characters excluded)