September 18, Fall, year 36

We get to see the Earth tonight. I don't know whether to get excited or to be uncertain… Admittedly it seems a little cruel, to show us the place we can't go back to just yet.

I know, I know, it's an official festival, and not meant to be like that, but I can't help it.

And strangely, that reminds me… I've been feeling a bit odd these past few days. It might be nothing, but I should go and talk with Miharu about it soon. I hope I remember… the tedium of this place tends to drive the thinking right out of me.

The Earth Viewing was apparently a large, public festival. At least, this was the observation of Lauren, who was half-hanging from the balcony outside the 'junk' room. She had begun to be able to see the difference in the 'clones,' usually in the style of their dress. She could easily pick out several of the lesser nobles—the few her and Jamie's age who 'deigned' to talk to them—based on how they walked, how they wore their hair, and the colors of their clothes.

But this was more than just an influx of nobles—because apparently the Tranquility castle was the best place for viewing the Earth—there were…

"Hey bro," She made certain her voice was loud enough to reach only her twin who was flipping through a book. "I think we have common People coming in today."

Jamie blinked, looking up in confused startlement. Lauren's voice had been amused, but sarcastic as well. Intrigued, he put the book on the arm of the chair and wandered over to join his twin as she shifted position on the balustrade, moving so that she sat on the white stone railing as opposed to holding herself up by her arms.

"Why do you say that?" he asked, blinking his blue eyes at her.

"Take a look for yourself."

So he did. The mass of silver hair were expected but after a minute he saw what she did. There was the occasional head of black, blonde or brown hair among the sea of silver, and no limit to streaked hair similar to the younger twins'. The clothing was a definite give-away as well, no gauzes and frivolity for these folks.

It wasn't obviously rough or homespun like he'd seen in old movies, but it wasn't the high class silks, linens and satins that the nobles wore. Most of what could be seen held a patchy look to it. And was almost brilliant compared to the pastel hues of the nobles, even though the colors were similar, just… deeper, darker.

"Wow… maybe we'll actually find kids who like us in that crowd," he commented, running an idle hand through his hair

Some people—or rather, People—might have taken it for a gesture of vanity. Lauren knew it for a nervous gesture, a habit he'd been using more often since they came up here. Being the only one outside of their dad who fit in was almost as uncomfortable to him as being someone who stood out in a crowd. It didn't help that he wasn't as suave as his father or as outspoken as his mother.

The blonde teen reached out after a minute and whacked his arm in a friendly manner.

"What're you moping about?" she teased lightly. "Sad you won't be seeing Sharron for the Moon festival?"

Jamie blushed, and glared slightly at Laurie, who giggled in reply.

"Don't you miss anyone?" he grumped slightly. "What about Mel?"

He was startled to see a faint blush cross his twin's cheeks. It took him only a few seconds more for things to click. His eyes widened.

"So that's why Rob doesn't like you!" he exclaimed.

Lauren kicked him—gently—in the ribs. Now she was the one glaring, and it was Jamie's turn to be triumphant.

"Yeah…" she admitted reluctantly. "He overheard me telling Alicia, and took it the totally wrong way."

The silver-haired boy covered his mouth to help muffle the snickers. This time Lauren's kick was a little harder, and deserved as well.

"Have you talked to Mom about it?"

"Nah…" Lauren waved the question off negligently. "She's got enough on her mind right now… Did you know that she cornered Dad and made him tell her all the details about the king's death?"

"Oh boy…" Jamie grimaced slightly. "If Mom's getting involved maybe we should all just duck down for a while…"

Lauren laughed, leaning back slightly. She didn't notice several People look around in surprise, or the smiles in response to her obvious amusement even though they couldn't track the sound.

"How did you find this out anyways?" Jamie asked after a minute. "I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be a secret…"

"Overheard," Lauren shrugged lightly. "But they stopped talking about it when I got closer, so yeah, it's probably not supposed to be spoken about beyond the family."

"Jeez sis," he grinned wryly. "For something that's supposed to be a secret you sure did mention it quick enough!"

"I'll throw a shoe at you…"

A loud crashing noise, followed by loud squabbling and crying pulled Claire and Skye out of their discussion about the worst of the petitioners he'd dealt with the day before.

Sharing a resigned look with her husband, the blonde rolled off the bed and padded over to the door, already seeing the scene in her mind's eye.

So she was surprised to see that the cause of the chaos was the older twins, not the younger ones. Lauren was chasing Jamie around the room wielding a shoe. Her other one was lying in the remains of the block castle that Alan had been building—which was why he was complaining at the top of his lungs—part of which had landed on Meredith's head, which was why she was crying.

In fact the only one not involved in the chaos was Mirei, who was sitting on her bed, for once playing quietly with a doll.

The blonde sighed, put two fingers in her mouth and let out a piercing whistle that got the attention of everyone in the room. Lauren took the opportunity to smack Jamie with her shoe before she was done, huffing her annoyance when he yelped and rubbed the back of his head.

Claire raised an eyebrow at the pair, who had the decency to blush as Skye started to soothe the youngest of the brood.

"I'm not going to ask," the mother said, one hand propped onto her hip. "But I do hope you're not going to do this when we have to sit on the dais…"

Faces were made all around. None of them really wanted to be sitting near Tsukiko and the others when their robes were on, even if it was their official spot. Not only did it mean being under the eye of the assembled, it meant they would have to dress up in the fancy Moon-Clothing. Skye had requested it… he might not have been on good terms with all of his family, but he cared enough about them to not want unpleasant rumors starting.

"They knocked over my castle!" Alan complained loudly, again. "It was almost done too!"

"It was time to collect all of you anyways," Skye said, handing Meri off to Claire. "Time to clean up and all that."

There was a chorus of groans, silenced under Claire's stern gaze. She didn't like it any more than they did, but if she could put up with it, so could they. After all, unlike the festivals at home, going to these was mandatory.

"First though," and she fixed her blue eyes on her oldest twins. "The two of you are going to clean up the mess that you made."

"Yes Mom…"

"That was your fault…"

"Oh, shut up…."

In what seemed to be a whirlwind of activity, everyone cleaned, bathed and dressed. Everyone's hair was brushed until they gleamed various shades of gold and silver.

Claire took a hand with the girls and did her best to apply some of the makeup that she had brought with her to herself and the older two. Mirei, who loved to dress up and be pretty, couldn't stop hurrying to the mirror every few minutes once she was done, just to stare at her reflection.

For the youngest twin, the colors were blue and gold silks, as vibrant as the child herself. Claire had put the palest of blue eyeshadow's on Mirei, and only a faint touch of lip gloss. Her hair was tied back in it's usual fashion, with a brilliantly gold ribbon that dangled halfway down her back. It took a bit of careful looking to notice that it wasn't cloth, but actual gold, interwoven with blue stone chips that Skye identified as sapphire.

Lauren was in pale green and gold, with a pale green over her eyes and a more substantially colored lip-gloss on her lips. She had left her hair loose after a quick discussion, and had actually agreed to wear a small gold and emerald tiara, mostly to keep her hair out of her face.

Meredith wore cream and yellow, being the youngest, and a white-gold circlet with a shining topaz inserted in the center. She had no makeup, being too young for it, and her hair was left loose as well.

It made the boys glad that they weren't expected to wear any of that fancy stuff, but they too had to look relatively well dressed.

Jamie wore silver and a deep blue that was almost black, accented here and there by flashes of silver thread. Instead of the slipper-like shoes, he was allowed to wear dark brown boots, though they weren't the most comfortable of items.

Alan was in silver and bright green, shot through with golden threads. He wasn't sure he liked the clothes as they wouldn't wear well if he played in them, but for fancy… well, they weren't too awful. At least he could move and breathe.

Claire and Skye were wearing the same clothes they'd worn for their wedding.

Her dress was pale white, with a scoop-neck and thin shoulder straps. The sleeves were connected by golden, off-the-shoulder straps, with white roses embroidered onto them. The cuffs of said sleeves—as well as the hem of the dress—were of the same gold fabric with white embroidered roses. All around the bottom part of the dress were butterflies in rainbow hues.

While she settled her circlet and decorative belt—both with cream-colored gauze veils—Skye pulled on his silver, grey and green robes, trading a piece here and there for blue to break up the color scheme.

They made quite the picture when finished, and even Lauren had to admit that if they all looked like Skye they would have fit in impeccably.

"Scary, isn't it?" Skye winked slightly.

The effect was ruined as Claire's elbow lightly jabbed him in the side as she tried not to laugh. He clutched at his ribs dramatically, causing bright laughter to peal forth as they left the room.

The pavilion for the royalty—both visiting and not—was wide, and in the middle of a water-lily strewn lake. It was covered in pale blue and green veils that fluttered in a slight breeze, and thick cloud-cushions adorned the myriad of benches that were set up in an almost haphazard manner, very different from what they were used to seeing.

"…catching People trying to go through the portals already…"

"…cannot believe how many we have had to…"

"…think we would be lax on such a day? Fools…"

The topic under mass discussion was the fact that many of the People—the "common" People—were unsatisfied with merely looking at the Earth, they wanted to visit it instead. But all the portals were on Palace grounds. Since this was one of only a few scant days where the public could come onto Palace lands, many tried to attempt to get into a portal house, in hopes of working their way down to the Earth.

"Silly clutches do not understand that we are more vigilant on this day because of them," Hikari whispered to Claire. "If only they could be content with what we grant them…"

Claire frowned. She didn't like it when people spoke like that, acting as if they were better simply because they were the Royalty of the Moon. But because she liked Hikari, a little, she chose to keep her mouth shut and simply wait, idly bouncing Meri in her arms to keep the smallest child content. Alan and Mirei had wandered away, then back with Yue and Hoshiko in tow. They had proceeded to set up camp under a refreshment table and play some sort of game. Claire had one eye and most of her attention on them, so when Skye touched her shoulder she jumped slightly.

He chuckled faintly, and gestured upwards. Sure enough, the blue overhead was vanishing, being replaced by the black velvet and shimmering light of the twinkling stars, which they hadn't seen in what felt like forever.

Alan and Mirei hurried over to their parents, joining Jamie and Lauren who had simply waited with them as the blue, green and white ball of the Earth became visible. Claire let out a soft breath of awe, staring at the globe that was her home.

Skye slid an arm around her waist, smiling faintly.

"Now do you see why I like it better?" his voice was a breath in her ear, barely loud enough for her to hear. "Other than the fact that it has you…"

She didn't have the heart to elbow him for that, instead leaning her head against his shoulder. Stepping on his foot on the other hand, she did do that. Lightly. He just chuckled and lightly kissed her forehead.

"It's pretty…" Even Alan was awed into near-silence by the sight, having never seen a thing like it before.

"Yeah…" Mirei nodded, reaching out to grab the edge of her father's robe, drawing closer.

"Alan, gimme the camera," Lauren whispered. "This would be amazing framed, even if no one ever believes us."

Wordlessly the younger boy passed over the camera he had received from his best friend Jasper. Lauren, in turn, passed it over to Jamie who could work the darn thing better than her any day of the year.

The silver-haired teen adjusted the camera several times before taking a multitude of shots in rapid progression. In truth he used up the last ten shots on the roll of film, most of the rest had been used to take pictures of the many wonders and beautiful things in the Palace already. Not to mention the three rolls of film before it…

Claire endeavored to ignore the whispers of the courtiers, who were tittering behind their hands at the awe of herself and her children.

While the nobles moved around, chatting languidly, they simply looked up at the stars and the Earth.

"I want to go home now…" Meri piped up unexpectedly. "'way from the ghostie-peoples an back to fun peoples!"

It was a sentiment quickly echoed by the rest of the family, even Mirei who wanted to play at the Goddess Spring again, without worrying about getting too dirty. Claire gave her youngest a gentle kiss to the forehead.

"Have they stopped arguing yet?" she asked Skye, eyebrows drawing together in a mix of worry and hope.

It was obvious which 'they' she meant, and he regretfully shook his head.

"Hopefully by December," he sighed. "Daisuke and I are leaning on them to hurry up, but they are old and quite set in their ways… I'm sorry my loves."

"It's okay Dad," Lauren said. "I mean, it's long, but we get to see something new, right? Even if we don't ever come back…"

"The experience will stay with us," Jamie finished. "For a long time."

The Prince started slightly, then smiled at his beloved children, warm and open.

"Right."

There are no words to describe how utterly beautiful the sight was. It's supposed to stay this way for a week, so we'll get to see the stars for a while yet. Now, how to curb the homesickness, that will be the tricky part. I suppose it help a little not being able to identify our island… but still.

I want to go home!