After several weeks, they finally arrived close to the Aphrodite Hills. The entire court was excited. Everyone would only go as far as the palace.
"Can you see?"asked Ceres.
Malwina, Fayruza and Ceres each held a pair of opera glasses.
"Yes."Malwina lied.
"You're lying. All I can see are mountains in that directions. Are those them? Is there ocean on the other side?"
"There has to be, Your Grace."
The three of them stood on one of the balconies which faced the Aphrodite Hills. Malwina put down her opera glasses.
"Ah, well."she said. "You'll get to see soon enough."
They went back inside. In the corridor there hung a huge painting of a beach.
"Is that the actual beach?"asked Fayruza.
"Supposedly it is."said Malwina.
"It is. It was painted by my ancestress Aphrodite IV. She painted it when she went. She was a great artist. She didn't need a court painter. Small Lady won't either."Ceres told them. "Small Lady is a great painter, as well. They might match!"
"Small Lady?"asked Fayruza.
"The daughter of the Duchess of Serenity, the Crown Princess of the Moon. Her Grace will serve her one day, just like the princess serves the Duchess of Serenity. And like Lord Kunzite serves her consort, Prince Endymion."Malwina explained.
"Oh."
"But the painting looks so lifelike."said Malwina. "The woman in it, too!"
"I don't know if it's among the coronation portraits at Magellan. Or maybe Aphrodite appeared to her!"exclaimed Ceres.
A few days before Minako and Ceres departed, there was a special banquet for them. Minako was given several live hares. Here, however, only Minako and Ceres ate the hares. Everyone ate hares often at the Cerean court, it being one of Ceres's favorite dishes.
Not rabbits! Malwina had said, sounding horrified, when Fayruza first asked. But hares! There's a great difference! Aphrodite was fond of hares. Selene was fond of rabbits. That's why many empresses of the Moon are named Usagi. For rabbits. Hares are different. You'll have to learn more history. The story of Aphrodite and the hare is quite different from that of Selene and the rabbit. Very different. If you eat hare, you will be beautiful for nine days. It's even better if you catch the hare yourself, though. Which they often did. Ceres also kept pet hares, not to be eaten, but kept as pets. Around her gardens, there were many, which everyone sought to catch.
Hares were one of the things the people gave Ceres and Minako as gifts. They both also gave the people several gifts, including things such as gloves, textiles, fruit, coins, goblets, dishes, and other things. Once Ceres had given someone a lock of her hair. That had made the woman almost faint. People especially valued rings, gloves, earrings, and other such things. Not for the value of the ornament itself, but because it had touched the princess's or the duchess's person. To have received a lock of hair, something from her person, the woman was especially honored.
The banquet here consisted mostly of shellfish, especially bivalve molluscs, such as oysters, mussels, and clams, and other seafood. Molluscs, and especially oysters, were also something that was eaten at Ceres's court, being one of her favorites as well.
Are they also for beauty?she had asked Malwina. No, Malwina told her. They're aphrodisiacs, don't you know? Only the bivalves from Venus, though. I don't know if any of the ones from other planets do, but definitely ours.
The desserts of apple and quince pies, as well as other fruit. The Venusians were great fruit eaters. Their preference for fresh fruits for dessert was greater than that for pastries. There were also swans, and doves. Many people also wanted to keep the shells the oysters and molluscs came in. The servants would come and take them. They would be cleaned very well, and then returned to them. Before being returned, all the shells would be brought to Minako who would touch each one, and then they would be returned.
After the banquet was over, Ceres watched, with Kunzite as the shells from the oysters were brought to her, and she handed them back out to the diners herself. She would have asked to perform the ceremony herself, but it had to be the crowned and reigning Princess of Venus.