She stood on the balcony and gazed out upon the green pastures, full of daisies, peaceful violets and roses, all contentedly basking in the sun. She wondered what it would be to share their simple happiness, to be carefree as the dandelions that swayed with the breeze.

It was difficult to remember the last time she had felt that way, and even if she could, it was terribly faint in comparison to the burden she now felt constantly. It had only been a month, and yet somehow she had spent an eternity walking on eggshells, swallowing passionate words that fought to the surface, shielding her emotions from the harsh light of inspection…how had it come to this?

Well, she knew the answer to that question, she thought ruefully, even if she lacked answers to any of the other hundred. Her hands clenched and she shuddered involuntarily as she remembered the sight that had made her stagger backward a little over a month ago.

Even now, she felt stunned into incredulity by the memory of that pale, unconscious young man outside the door, his face almost blue with cold, and crimson blood dripping down from his forehead. There was blood on his arm, which was slung around the shoulders of another blond man with haggard features, the man who had rescued him. For a moment, Serena simply blinked in shock, not even recognizing the lifeless man on the doorstep, whose blood was soaking through his snow-covered cape, everywhere.

And then…how could it be? Darien was so immovably strong, so powerful, so sharp, so carelessly, masterfully fixing any problem in his way, so utterly unlike this broken creature. She had desperately stifled a scream, and after a moment, wordlessly helped his friend Jadeite bring him into the house, upstairs to the room that he had stormed out of that very evening.

And as though someone else had possessed her body, she softly, calmly instructed a shaking Luna to bring her some towels, a basin of warm water, and any clean rags she might find in the kitchen. She carefully took off Darien's cape, shirt, and heavy boots, forcefully biting back a cry of horror at the deep wound in his chest, the gashes on his powerfully muscled arm and perfect face, now marked by a deathly pallor. Jadeite quietly aided her all the while, telling her of what had occurred in low tones.

"I rode there as fast as I could…wish to God I had been there sooner, they'd already gotten to him, six of them…stars above, who in HELL were they? Er, beg your pardon, Miss Tsukino…I fought off the ones who were still standing, cut them to ribbons, I didn't have any idea what I was doing, but I saw him lying there and something in me just snapped…god, who WERE those men? They didn't even take anything, they just seemed bent on killing him, but why? I brought him here as soon as the other two were dead; I'm sorry for the shock it caused you, it was the only place I could think of other than Raye's...Raye, damn, I've got to go to Raye…Miss Tsukino-Serena-"

Despite the growing fear bubbling inside her stomach, Serena was touched by this handsome man's devotion to her best friend…that sort of devotion was so precious, too precious…she gently told him to go the temple, and bring Raye back to Lunaria, so that he could be near his dearest friend, and she could enlist the support of hers.

She cleaned Darien's wounds, gently caressed his freezing chest and arms with a warm, wet cloth, tied bandages around the injuries on his arms, chest and forehead. She didn't know what to do for his burning fever, but Luna distractedly suggested that she feed him and apply cool cloths to his head every so often. The latter was reasonable, but how to feed him when he was completely unconscious? He refused to awaken even when she tried to shake him gently, and only the faint pulse in his wrist convinced her pounding heart that he was still alive. She changed his blood soaked bandages every half hour, and applied cool compresses to his pale face, all the while anxiously pacing about the room, waiting for Raye. Raye would know what to do, Raye was the only real, sturdy thing she could hold onto tonight, Raye was the only balance left in her world, a world gone frighteningly awry, Raye was the sweet, wise, perceptive angel who would fix everything, just as D…where was she?

In the distance, she heard the clicking of hooves on the ground, and pattered down the stairs in a flash, skipping over the broken stair by instinct. The sun was shyly peeking from behind the mountains, and the telltale pink radiance in the sky told her that dawn had arrived. She saw gleaming blond hair some distance away, and two horses stopped suddenly. One figure, probably male, jumped off, and easily assisted another, with impossibly long black hair, off her horse. They hurried up to the door and amidst hugs and kisses, Serena tearfully thanked her best friend for coming so soon. They all rushed up the stairs, and Raye made some preliminary observations as Serena told her and Jadeite about Darien's condition.

"Seems like the beginnings of pneumonia to me," Raye remarked, frowning, "He hasn't regained consciousness at all?" Gently touching his forehead with her small, slender hand, she remarked, "His fever is still dangerously high…hm, Serena, I normally don't do this, but I think it's the only way." Her friend's questioning, frightened glance made her continue.

"His defense against pain and illness is at its weakest right now, so he won't be able to heal quickly, and pneumonia compounded with wounds like these can be…well, I think this is the best way. Don't be frightened, I'm just going to aid the healing process," she said gently.

She closed her eyes and stood perfectly still beside Darien's form for a few minutes, before a golden, glowing aura slowly started to appear around her form. Slowly, as though in a trance, she put her shapely, delicate hands out and gently laid them on the uninjured part of Darien's bare chest. The golden glow about her grew brighter and slowly enveloped his body as well, and she simply stood there for a very long time, intensely concentrated, eyes closed. Slowly, Darien's pale face gained a little of its color back, and a peaceful expression slowly graced his features, much like the one on Raye's face.

Serena and Jadeite simply watched in amazement from their seats near the bed. Both knew of the life she led at the temple and were somewhat aware of the powers bestowed upon her as a result of her intense, daily meditations and prayer, but neither had realized how much power resided within her slight, graceful form. Her black hair seemed to fan out, her cheeks were flushed with rosy color, and the glow about her was so beautiful that it took Jadeite's breath away to gaze at her.

The glowing aura about the two raven-haired figures became even more pronounced for some minutes. Suddenly, Raye opened her eyes and, gasping for breath, broke her trance. The glow ebbed away into nothingness, and she panted, as though she had just run for miles and miles. Her normally clear purple eyes were wide and glassy, and her face was almost as pale as Darien's had been; she seemed as though she might faint.

"Raye…you…what did…are you alright?" Serena gasped out.

"Y-yes, I'm just fi…" she never finished, for her face became even more pale, and she collapsed into Jadeite's waiting arms. He easily gathered her petite form into his arms and Serena led him into her own room, where he carefully laid Raye's slim, lovely figure out on the bed, and tenderly brushed away strands of shining black hair from her face.

Serena was frightened all over again, yet something in the calm expression on her friend's sleeping face told her that Raye was indeed all right. Sure enough, she woke up an hour later, and told Serena and Jadeite that she was merely exhausted, for the process of healing Darien took great amounts of energy from her own body and transferred them to him so that his body's recuperation would become more effective and rapid. Both of them were moved by her complete willingness to sacrifice so much strength for a man she hardly knew, but the look in her eyes told them that such a sacrifice was nothing to her. She explained that she would continue to repeat this process every day and monitor his progress over the next month…

And that month was over now, Serena mused as she gazed out over the grassy field, but in some ways, everything was still as murky as it had been before. Certainly it had relieved them all to see Darien finally gain consciousness the day after Raye's arrival, but Jadeite was filled with consternation upon realizing that his friend remembered nothing about that night. He clearly recalled the infamous fight, as Serena could tell from the awkward uneasiness with which he now addressed her, but when Jadeite asked several mysterious questions about what had "happened" at the tavern, he seemed to recall nothing. For some reason, the blond man was very disturbed by this, and asked several times whether Darien remembered any of the things he had said that night, but the black-haired man responded with only a blank look.

Her parents had left soon after Raye's arrival; they had been wanting to visit Lady Irene's brother in England for a very long time, but had never gotten the chance; Serena, feigning illness said that she would rather remain at Lunaria. They hesitated, for ill or not, there was a young man in the house, and it would be very unseemly to leave their daughter alone with him, but with Luna and Raye promising to act as chaperones for the full duration of their absence, her parents agreed to leave Serena at Lunaria, taking Sammy with them.

And here they were now. Whenever she met his eyes, they both hurriedly looked away, she constantly hovered between too much tenderness as she brought him food and applied cool compresses to his forehead, and too much detached coldness as she ripped off old bandages to replace them with new ones. She sat there, day after day, gently caressing his forehead with cold cloths to reduce the fever, knowing that he was gazing at her intently for whatever reason, and wanting so much to know why. But she couldn't, for that would so easily lead her to ask so many other questions, and the last thing she wanted was to lose control. She had a tight leash on all emotion, and this was all that worked in her favor at the moment. Yet she couldn't say that she felt nothing as she watched him silently suffer, and be unable to comfort him for fear of his misreading her intent, as she tore off bandages and cleaned his wounds with painfully hot water, which Luna said would kill germs.

She knew he didn't care anything for her, that she was to him what a blade of grass was to a determined wind. She knew that his words on that night long ago spoke volumes of his true priorities in life, and that she simply wasn't one of them, nor would she ever be. She was trying to come to terms with that, but how could she? How could she, when most of her day was spent nursing him, being within five feet of him all the time, and thus being constantly subjected to his wan smiles, amusing remarks, and all that had attracted her to him in the first place? She tried to speak to him no more than was strictly necessary, tried to bite back any feeling that might accompany her words when he gently inquired about her own health every so often, tried to suppress her admiration for his ability to withstand so much pain without more than a slight grimace on his face. It was working, it seemed sometimes, and she was growing to not care for him anymore, and yet it was failing, just as she had always known it would.

And to accompany all this was the seething jealousy that was so close to the surface these days, the burning envy that she could not admit even to herself. After Jadeite returned to Sacred Flame Hill to take over Raye's responsibilities there, Darien and Raye took to one another very quickly. Upon finding out what an essential role Raye was playing his recovery, Darien was full of gratitude, and their personalities were so well-matched that Serena often sardonically wondered whether one had dreamed the other into existence. Granted, Raye had a temper that she was far less capable of controlling than Darien was, and Darien's tendencies to distance himself from those around him were much stronger than Raye's.

But both were fond of making sarcastic remarks that were tempered with a self-mocking quality, both were often quiet, contemplative, always preferring to remain independent and unattached to others as far as possible, and both were capable of extraordinary affection and extraordinary coldness. Serena cynically told herself that they differed here in the last as well, for Raye's warmth and affection were genuine, which could hardly be said of Darien. Raye was always the first to read any change in her friends' emotions and the first to proffer vital advice for any dilemma, and Darien possessed a disarming ability to get to the heart of any problem within a matter of minutes.

And so it followed that the reserved, amazingly handsome nineteen-year old man was immediately charmed by a quiet, perceptive beauty four years his junior, who spent a half-hour healing him every afternoon with her mystical powers. Kindred spirit warmed to kindred spirit and many happy mornings and evenings were spent laughing, teasing, and arguing about every topic under the sun. There was an easy banter that never ceased between the two, and each thoroughly enjoyed the other's company. Darien wasn't blind to Raye's exotic beauty, and yet he might have been just as grateful for a companion without her lovely, dusky skin, huge purple eyes and endless ebony hair, for he welcomed any sort of distraction, anything to divert him from the thoughts that haunted even his dreams.

The obvious mourning in those beautiful blue eyes was occasionally almost too much to bear, all the more so because he didn't even understand why it was there. He knew that even if Serena had cared for him before, she couldn't possibly possess such feelings anymore, especially in light of what had happened between them that night- the night that he tried to banish from his memory without success. Yet she barely spoke to him, and often stared into space, looking lost and faraway, in a world that only she knew. He asked after her health not just to make conversation (for somehow there was really nothing else for them to talk about anymore) but also in hopes that maybe she would say something to set his mind at ease, to convince him that she wasn't tormented as he was.

He didn't care for her- at least, not nearly as much as she had professed to care for him- and he certainly wasn't deserving of such devotion on her part. He felt guilty to be the unworthy recipient of another's concern and attraction (not love, he told himself), and all that could set him at ease was to know that she was all right, that he hadn't hurt her, that she hadn't cared enough for his actions to cause her pain. Yet his inquiries about her well being were met with neat, brief replies, and she usually didn't even bother to look at him when she gave her characteristic response of, "I'm quite well," or "Just fine, thank you." He often pretended to be asleep when she came in to put cold, wet cloths on his head, or redo the dressing around his chest, just to avoid having to look at her, or speak yet another meaningless pleasantry just to fill the empty space. His trust in her had disappeared the night she had read the journal, and he had realized that he really didn't care about her that much, yet he couldn't help but miss their constant arguments, and the furious expression on her blushing face when he taunted her.

Thus, Raye was a wonderful friend to have- he could tease her, and pretend that the purple eyes that snapped with mock-fury were cerulean blue, and that the sharp replies came from lips that possessed more pink than red. Yet, as Darien soon realized, Raye wasn't simply a stand-in for a certain other amusing companion, but someone he had truly grown to care for. She was so like him that he often wondered if perhaps she could be his younger sister, perhaps lost long ago, but knew that was impossible. Her rare, musical laughter warmed his tired, disillusioned soul, the fire in her sparkling eyes strengthened him with its fervor, and he found himself slowly opening up to the most unlikely of people, a 15-year-old girl who had spent most of her life alone, in prayer and meditation. He often found himself grinning at the clash between her sweet innocence and remarkable maturity, and he could share her contemplative silences without any awkwardness at all.

Jadeite's deep attraction to this gorgeous young woman had not been lost on him at all, and Darien often wondered about the agonized glance she had given him at their first meeting during the king's ball months before. When he subtly alluded to her undefined relationship with Jed one afternoon, Raye found herself slowly pouring out a story that no one, save Serena, had ever heard before. Darien had not known the tenderness he was capable of, and yet somehow he found himself cradling her shaking form on the bed, holding her tenderly with his good arm as she sobbed. She wept softly against him, trying valiantly to keep the tears from falling, as she told him about Patrick, the young man she had met through Mina, the man she had foolishly, unthinkingly, given her heart to only to have her love ignored and finally rejected.

She told him nostalgically, through both funny and sad memories, about Patrick's not-so-handsome face that took her breath away when he smiled, his amazing intelligence, his unfailing sense of humor, his engaging, effortless charm that mesmerized her and so many others with its carelessness, his secret, intimate grin that she felt belonged to her, his inability to comprehend her feelings for him, his charisma, his insensitivity, his wit, his apathy to others' feelings. She told Darien, who she had come to look upon as a beloved brother, how in the end, Patrick had left their several years of friendship (and more, she thought) behind him without a care. He had made her what she was, she told Darien, he had taught her the power of witty replies, the fun of silly faces and ridiculous wagers, just as he had unknowingly taught her the power and pain of unrequited love. He had walked out of her life so long ago, and had taken the glow within her along with him, a glow that she didn't think she could ever retain, not even for Jed.

Darien held her close to him as she cried, years worth of pent-up emotion flooding out within an hour; he soothed her with wordless murmurs and caressed her tumbled hair till she fell into an exhausted sleep. He was stunned by how similar their stories were- the abandonment, the lack of familial warmth (he had told her the truth about his lifetime as an orphan, just as she told him about her lonely life since the death of her beloved grandfather a few years before). And in the end, he thought a little sadly, both their tales had yielded the same result- a strong reluctance, almost an inability, to grow close to other people. Then why had they opened up to each other? It was a complete mystery as to why two such reclusive individuals would reveal themselves to another just like them, and yet their differences and likenesses and some other intangible quality had brought them together- best friends. No, soulmates, he realized.

Then why wasn't he afraid? Why was he willing to yet this beautiful girl sneak into his heart and know him and not another? As she lay against his chest, fast asleep, he pondered this troubling question, and could come up with no answer. He wasn't in love with her, he knew that didn't even enter into the question, but he had grown to care for her deeply. Why bother, he finally decided, frustrated, none of it mattered anyway.

Just then, the door opened and he sat up, startled. Serena appeared in the doorway and her face, rosy from riding about the grounds on Flame, turned pale. She bit her lip as she took in the scene before her- Darien sitting up on the bed, his arm around the waist of Raye, who was asleep practically on top of him, her head on his chest. Before Darien could even explain their compromising position, Serena rushed out, closing the door behind her with a quiet slam.

Damn, he thought with a frustrated sigh, as if things could get any worse. Right on cue, Raye stirred and rose a little, yawning and stretching her arms out wide on either side of her. She turned and looked at him, smiling contentedly.

"Thank you for…listening Darien. I've never told anyone about, well, about Patrick except Serena, but you seemed like you would understand."

"I'm sorry you had to experience that kind of pain, Raye. No one deserves so much suffering, especially you. You are an amazing girl and when Patrick left, he made the biggest mistake of his life. Someday he's going to realize just what he lost. Now, look here…" he said awkwardly, removing his arm from around her waist, "I-"

Raye laughed lightly, and replied, "Yes, I know. I've never been in such close contact with any man…except the one time when Patrick and I danced at—ugh, never mind," and her laugh was bittersweet. "I shouldn't have—well, I shouldn't have fallen asleep like this right next to you," she said, blushing, "someone could get the wrong idea."

Someone already did, he thought ruefully, but he decided not to say anything about Serena's appearance- no need to complicate things even further.

Sitting up on the edge of his bed as she always did, she smiled slyly and said, "Now, it's your turn to talk. What is there that is so bitter between you and Serena?"

"You…you notic- I mean, what are you talking about?" he answered, taken completely unawares on one of the few occasions of his life.

She raised her eyebrows as though it were completely obvious and replied, "Priestess! It's my job to notice, er, changes in the wind, shall we say?"

"Oh, right." He gave her a weak smile. "We had a, er, falling out."

"Well, obviously," she said impatiently, "a blind deaf mute could tell that much. I'm asking you what actually happened?"

Having grown used to Raye's often acerbic tone, he merely ignored it and gave her the basic details of his fight with Serena. She listened carefully, and suddenly all the tensions she had sensed building up made sense.

Being as emotionally intuitive as she was, Raye wasn't surprised by Darien's story. She had known Serena and her nature for so many years, and though she had known Darien for only a month, she felt as though she knew him just as well, probably because his instincts seemed to echo her own in so many ways. She keenly perceived the sharp contrasts in their personalities, and understood how all those differences had finally culminated in their clash that night. She and Serena were just about as different as Serena and Darien were, but because they were best friends, they were more honest and open with one another, and worked out their differences as they came along, even in the form of seemingly superficial arguments. Darien, however, being even more of the cold, "strong and silent" type than Raye, had made this type of complete openness almost impossible.

Serena's picking up and reading Darien's journal was characteristic of her impetuous, carefree nature, just as the journal itself exemplified Darien's cool, methodical, duty-bound manner, and of course Darien's walking out wasn't because Serena told him to, but because he had been forced to choose between emotion and duty, and had made the choice most obvious for someone like him. Sure, the pair had argued for months before they admitted their 'feelings' for one another, Raye thought, but those were trivial, light arguments pursued just for the sake of arguing and keeping the other at a distance.

Serena and Darien had never really been friends, and thus had never acknowledged and ironed out the differences between them, with the honesty that only friendship can possess. They had jumped straight from avowed opponents, in a silly battle between two headstrong people, to romantic lovebirds. Couple this lack of comprehension of each other's true natures with Serena's too-quick decision that she loved him and Darien's inability to admit the depth of his feelings for Serena, and it was no wonder that their relationship had encountered such a disaster soon after its inception.

It didn't take Raye very long to comprehend her friends' problem, but this was because years of contemplation, meditation and solitude had taught her soul many lessons. She was usually practical in dealing with day-to-day affairs, but her experience with Patrick had made her realize that when it truly mattered, emotion was her defining factor, and she thought with her heart, not her mind. This bestowed her with the power to understand other people's motivations, desires and deepest feelings.

The problem here however, she recognized very quickly, was that while she understood what was lacking between Darien and Serena, they hadn't realized it themselves. It would mean nothing, she thought with amazing perception, if I tell them that they don't understand each other, that Serena can't decide so rapidly that she loves him when she really doesn't know all of him, and that Darien underestimates his own ability to feel, to love other people, especially her. It will mean absolutely nothing; they must learn for themselves- it may hurt, but they are no strangers to pain, and it may take forever, but time isn't their enemy, it can only be their friend.

So she listened to Darien's story, and when he was finished, she said solemnly, "I'm sorry, Darien," and he could tell by the depth of expression in her dark violet eyes that she meant it.

After that, she avoided spending too much time with him, and made sure she was never as comfortably affectionate with him as she had been before. He was a little hurt by this change, but figured that it was for the better, because the pained expression in Serena's eyes, which she always tried to hide, seemed to reside there less often. It never occurred to him that Raye had changed her manner for this very reason.

And when Serena broke down every so often, within the privacy of her own room, Raye was always there to hold her, soothe her, gently wipe away her tears, listen to her incoherent half-sentences about how she had trusted him, how she had foolishly given herself to him, what a black-hearted wretch he was, and how she still cared for said wretch, though she didn't know why. Raye was silent through all of these episodes, always listening to her sobbing friend's cries and the words that laced them together, never speaking other than to encouragingly murmur, "It's all right, Serena, I'm here, let it all out, I'm not going anywhere."

It saddened her that while her healing powers were causing visible improvement in Darien's condition every day (he was now able to walk around the room without feeling faint), she was powerless to reduce Serena's pain, for against suffering of an emotional nature she was nearly powerless. The most she could do was administer a tonic she had created herself out of herbs on Sacred Hill, which would allow Serena to sleep dreamlessly and thus, let her awaken feeling far more relaxed and peaceful.

Concerned as she was for her friends, she failed to notice the toll that her healing and constant work were taking on her own health. Her face was paler and more drawn even hours after a healing session, and she felt weaker when she woke up in the mornings. Finally, at Darien's insistence, she reduced their healing time to only fifteen minutes each afternoon, as his health was far better now, and as he said, he did not want to overtax her, especially as it was entirely unwarranted.

One night, as she finished her evening meal, she remarked, "You know, I think I'd like to take an evening walk. I want to learn once again the secrets of the moonlight."

Serena simply stared, for her friend's strange, often dreamy way of speaking still surprised her sometimes. For someone who could be so cutely abrupt and impatient, Raye was certainly a puzzle when she said things like this.

As she rose from the dining table, Darien, who was now strong enough to join them for dinner downstairs, stopped her. "I think the, er, 'secrets of the moonlight' can wait, Raye," he said, unable to keep a slightly mocking intonation from his voice. "You're looking a bit pale tonight, why don't you just go onto bed. You need rest."

"Darien Shields, are you telling me I can't go for a walk if I damn well please?" Raye asked, her eyes blazing as she rose from her seat. Serena felt another temper tantrum coming, and eased back in her chair to watch the show.

"Yes, Raye Hino, that is exactly what I am telling you," he replied calmly, his expression not changing at all, although his mouth had turned up slightly at one corner in dark amusement.

"Well, if that's what you want, Darien," she replied sweetly, and went upstairs. Serena was stunned beyond belief. Had Raye just complied with Darien's order? Good god, that girl must really be ill, or else she was plotting something. With her, it could really be either one.

Darien, completely unperturbed, remarked amusedly, "You know, I think with her, it's just the matter of the right handling. Regular little spitfire, that one," he smiled, shaking his head.

"Oh, yes, I'm sure you would know all about that," Serena replied mockingly, but the usual hint of good-natured humor was gone, making her sound rather bitter. "Now if you will excuse me, I'd like to retire as well, with your permission of course."

He simply nodded, a little dazed, and with that, she rose, a cold expression on her sweet face, and disappeared up the stairs as Raye had a few moments before.

He went into the library and read for a while, but when he found himself nodding off, went up to bed, Serena's bitter words oddly echoing in his mind. Darkness surrounding him, he slowly fell asleep, and as the hours passed, all was quiet.

Then, shattering the silence, a terrified scream reverberated throughout the mansion.

Serena, Luna and Darien awakened with a jolt and rushed out of their respective rooms, hearts pounding as they raced across the hall to Raye's bedroom.

Luna threw open the door and they all stopped dead in the doorway. Raye was sitting up in bed breathing heavily, her paper-white face and nightgown drenched in sweat, eyes wide with horror.

"The king…the queen," she gasped, "They…they were murdered! Darien, you…you were…"

She collapsed in a dead faint.