"Oh, boy, can you believe we're actually going to go to Solaria!"Saturn exclaimed.
"I'm going to miss Mommy and Daddy, though."Small Lady said. "I wish they were going with us."
"It's quite a privilege to go to Solaria. The Solarians never allow anyone other than themselves to be on their estates, much less their planet."Diana thought for a minute. "I think that guests usually stay in small parts of an estate. I'm not sure how they go about choosing, but away from the Solarians themselves."
"Where do you think we'll stay?"asked Saturn.
Diana shrugged.
"I guess we'll find out when we get there."she said.
They said good bye before boarding the spaceship.
"Behave yourself, Small Lady. And do everything that Amaterasu tells you."Queen Serenity told Small Lady.
Neptune said the same to Saturn, and Luna and Artemis to Diana.
"Don't worry, we'll be good."Saturn promised.
Diana nodded.
"And I won't let either of them out of my sight."Diana promised her parents.
"That's just what they want to hear!"Jadeite said. "Ow!"Mars pinched his arm.
"Just be on your best behavior."Nephrite told them.
"And I baked you some cookies to take with you."Jupiter told them.
"That's good. I don't care how many chefs, or cooks, or whatever there are on one estate on Solaria, I'll bet none of them can match any of Jupiter's cooking."Nephrite told her, kissing her.
"Thanks."said Small Lady, and they boarded the spaceship.
"Wow! It's so…roomy. It didn't look as big from the inside."Saturn exclaimed, as they looked around.
"Actually, I think it did."Diana nodded, looking around. "I think it's the biggest, even bigger than the one we came in. Anyway, we're supposed to stay in these rooms."she told them.
"We'd get lost if we tried to go anywhere else!"Small Lady told them.
Diana looked out the window.
"I think we already left. At least I can see that we took off."Diana nodded.
"Already? But I didn't feel anything!"
"I don't think on these Solarian vessels you're supposed to."
"Do you think it'll take us long to get there?"Small Lady asked.
Diana thought.
"I'm not sure. I think that Solaria is more or less the same distance as Earth from the here. At least in astronomical distances, it's pretty small. It'll probably be the same as when we came from Earth."
"Should we take a tour?"Small Lady suggested, marveling at the size of the room.
"I think we might get lost. Beside, we were told to stay here, only, and we promised we'd be good."Saturn said. "Anyway, the room is so big, we'll never see all of it in the entire trip."
She skipped to the opposite wall.
"Just look at these books! I'll bet Mercury would love this! There's probably more books in this spaceship, than in Marina Castle!"
Small Lady ran to her, with Diana on her head.
"Wow! There are a lot!"she admitted. "We'll never read them in all our lives!"
"They don't sound like they're boring, either."
They only stopped to eat, or sleep, dictated by the ship's time. The trip to Solaria took the almost the same amount of time as that from Earth to Sagitarius.
When they arrived, the only indication that they'd arrived, was that the same girl who had attended them during the journey told them they had landed on the surface of Solaria.
"How come we haven't seen Amaterasu during the whole trip?"Small Lady asked.
The girl looked at her with startled eyes, the only and first time she'd shown any expression.
"See? That's a dirty word."she simply said, and kept walking.
"But I thought she'd be disembarking with us."Saturn said.
The girl didn't hear, or at least pretended not to hear. They exclaimed when they got their first glimpse of Solaria. There were more flowers than even in the garden of the Crystal Palace back on Earth. The scents were different, too. Much stronger. The three sneezed.
"Every planet has its own unique smell. The soil, plant life, animals. You cease to notice it after a while."she told them.
"I've never seen flowers this color before!"Small Lady exclaimed. "They look like…they're made of….jewels."she said, not finding another word.
"That's simply the water that gathers on the petals. Even though Solaria is not a dry planet, the plants still store plenty of water. Of course, they lose it again."she explained to them.
She led them up to a house.
"This is where we'll be staying?"Saturn asked, in awe.
"It is the mansion, the dwelling place on this estate. You will be living on this estate, you will be living in the mansion."she said simply. "The mistress is waiting for you in one of the conversation rooms."
"She's already here? I thought we were on the same ship!"Small Lady exclaimed in disbelief.
"We never saw her."Saturn admitted.
They walked through what seemed a maze.
"How are we supposed to know our way around? This place is gigantic."Diana asked.
"If you get lost, you simply summon one of the staff."
"How long will it take for someone to get here?"
"They shall be here as soon as you summon them. We are here."
They walked into a large room, decorated in cool marble. Amaterasu was waiting for them. She looked up as soon as soon they walked. The room was obviously not meant to be occupied by more than one person at a time. There was only one chair.
"Welcome to Solaria."she said to them.
"Thank you."they answered.
"So, are you comfortable?"
"We've only been here a few minutes."Diana answered.
"Of course,"Amaterasu said.
"Who else is going to stay here with us?"Saturn asked.
"The staff. You will also visit the farm, on another region of the planet."Amaterasu told them.
"What farm?"asked Small Lady.
"The only one."said Amaterasu, clearly uncomfortable with the subject.
"So, what time do we have dinner?"asked Saturn, seeing that Amaterasu looked uncomfortable.
"At the eighth ducad."Amaterasu told her.
"What's a ducad?"asked Small Lady.
"The Solarian day is divided into ten ducads."she told them.
"Isn't a day divided into hours? Twenty four?"Saturn looked confused.
At her statement is was Amaterasu who looked confused.
"Oh! You mean, yes. It is a little difficult to get used to it, but you will. That's the trouble with traveling among different planets. That's why we don't."she told them.
"I've seen ambassadors."Small Lady offered.
Amaterasu nodded.
"Naturally. Such oddities. I never view them if I can help it, which I can't. I am, after all, planetary princess of Solaria, aren't I? But they're made to be that way. At least that's my understanding. The fetologists and eugeneticists would tell you more about them, when you speak to them."
"So, what do we do here? For fun?"asked Small Lady eagerly.
"You're time is your own. You can do as you please."Amaterasu told them.
"Really? We don't have to lessons?"Small Lady looked delighted.
"Not right now. You just got here."Amaterasu seemed surprised that they would think about lessons so soon, but one must always be considerate about the customs of other planets.
"Well, we'll see you at dinner. Uh, how do we know when it's time for dinner?"asked Saturn, looking at her watch, then at the clock on the mantelpiece.
"If you wish one of the staff will let you know."
"Can we go outside?"Small Lady asked.
"Of course. If you wish to view me, simply ask someone, and they will know how to reach me. Done viewing."