Kazu sat at the oak desk in his office, poring over a section of a rather large book. Frowning, he turned to the back for a few moments and went to another section. Not seeing what he wanted, he closed the book and groaned.

He stood to return it to its place in the sizeable library behind the desk just as Lucinda opened the door and walked in.

"There are just too many potential meanings for a sudden and brief gust of wind," he said, walking over to a high backed, cushioned chair on the other side of the room. He dropped, sinking into it. "On one hand, it could signal a special birth of some important child but on the other hand it could signify the creation of a dastardly plot to destroy the world. Not to mention the numerous standard meteorological meanings." He wiped his hands over his face. "I've spent most of the afternoon after the Inner Council meeting yesterday and a good chunk of this morning cross referencing all the relevant books that could help but they all come up short. If we had something that happened alongside the wind, we'd have a better idea of what we're dealing with."

"So what do we do now?" asked Lucinda.

Kazu straightened up and leaned forward.

"I told Queen Serenity that I would release the Mice," he said. "Gather the entire Network and send them all over their territories. Tell them we're looking for information on something malevolent. Extra pay to anyone who comes up with something meaningful and worthwhile."

"Extra pay…meaningful and worthwhile" Lucinda repeated, writing the directive in her notebook. "Got it."

"Good," he said, sitting back in the chair. "Do I have an agenda for today?"

"Nothing pressing that needs to be done today," she said, looking through her notes. "But you do need to determine Max's fitness as head trainer relatively soonish."

"That idiot," Kazu sighed. He stood. "I'll check with Misaki about her schedule, see if she has the time to double up on a hearing. Other than that, I'll probably get something to eat, see if anything interesting is happening in the throne room. Think Jupiter would want to go on a walk?"

"Is that even a question, sir?"

Kazu chuckled. "You have your orders," he said, making for the door. As he opened it, Lucinda walked through into the hallway. "If I need you," he said, walking after her and closing the door. "I'll send for you."

# # #

Few clouds drifted by in an otherwise sparse blue sky over a secluded lake in which a rowboat carried two young lovers: Prince Endymion, ruler of the Earth, and Princess Serenity.

"This has been a wonderful day," Serenity said as Endymion rowed the two of them to a shaded area along the shore. "Another one I wish could last forever."

"Our day's really only just started, Serenity," Endymion laughed. "But yeah, so far it has been. I'm glad the weather was fair enough for us to come out here."

"Any day I get to spend with you is wonderful," Serenity said, smiling at the prince opposite her. "Even if we were just walking around your palace grounds. But being out here, talking a walk with you in the forest and a boat ride over this lake… I imagine this must be what paradise feels like."

Endymion reached the sandy shore of the shaded spot, jumped out and pushed the boat further onto the sand.

"Not quite paradise," he said, helping Serenity out of the rowboat. He took her and sat her down by a couple trees. He went over to another and pulled out a sizeable picnic basket. "But just close enough."

"Food!" yelled Serenity with a smile.

# # #

Kazu slipped into the far door of the throne room, behind Queen Serenity's throne and sidled up next to one of his guards along the wall. Scanning the room, he saw Princess Venus, and Princess Mercury chatting amongst themselves at the back of the room while others who thought themselves important, both truly and otherwise, mingled with each other in their efforts to further their influence. The queen was speaking with his sister, but he couldn't quite make out what they were talking about.

"Anything interesting yet today?" he asked quietly.

"Not much," the guard responded. "Princess Misaki and the queen are hashing out something to be done with repeat thieves. She spoke privately with your brother earlier for a few minutes. Apart from that, the only notable thing to happen was that the feud between Lady Siava and Sir Manksu went to another level."

"Mm," Kazu replied. "Court can be so boring sometimes."

"I prefer it that way."

"Yeah, me too," Kazu said, breaking off to join Venus and Mercury.

# # #

Deep in the asteroid field far beyond the planet Jupiter, in a solitary building carved out of one of the larger bodies, Hayate sat alone reclining in a wooden chair with his feet resting against the stone table in front of him. Watching the doorway in front of him, he twirled around three small asteroids he had conjured from his hand.

A noise came from outside and Hayate perked up and waved the asteroids out of existence. He grabbed the hilt of the sword at his side but eased up when he saw Princess Uranus and Princess Neptune walk through the doorway.

"Good to see you two," he said. "Anything to report?"

"Saturn still sleeps," Uranus said. "Nothing unusual from there."

"Nor has there been anything unusual that we've noticed from outside the Solar System," Neptune said.

"Fantastic," Hayate said, standing up and heading for the doorway. "I'll inform Serenity."

"Anything you need to tell us?" asked Uranus.

Hayate paused for a few seconds. "I suppose it does warrant a mention…"

# # #

Silently, Kazu snuck behind a kneeling Jupiter who was handling and smelling some of the hydrangeas in the Moon Palace gardens. As she stood, he came closer, caressing and twirling her hair with one hand while he leaned into the side of her neck.

"Good afternoon, my lightning bug," he said, kissing her neck at the base of her shoulders and moving upward. Eventually, she turned around and the two embraced, sharing a long, passionate kiss.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in forever," Jupiter said, putting her hand on the side of Kazu's face."

"It's only been a couple days," Kazu said, looking into her eyes.

"Same difference," she said, kissing him again. She took his hand and the two began strolling through the garden. "What have you been up to?"

"Inspecting trainees, giving demonstrations, a couple boring meetings," he said. "I've been a little stressed over some research I had to do that went nowhere. But," he continued. "Now that I'm with you, none of that matters."

The two came to a large tree in the middle of the garden. "Have I ever told you that this is my favorite tree in the whole garden?" Kazu asked.

"I don't think you have," Jupiter said, smiling wryly.

"You're a liar," he said, snickering.

"Tell me whyyyy," she said, leaning into him.

"This is the tree," he said, putting his arm around her. "Where I confessed my love for you. And you reciprocated."

"I've never regretted it," she said.

"Me neither," he said, turning to her and stroking her face. "Can I convince you to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening with me?"

"You can. But you've never had to," she said as the two kissed again.