Chapter 36: Shine Aqua Illusion
March 24, 8983 – April 2, 8983
"Wait, Miki is dating Sayuri? Since when?"
Haruka raised one eyebrow as she looked up from her data pad at the question. "Ami, you are the last person I would have expected to care about gossip from Uranus."
"Uranus doesn't have gossip," the genius replied smartly, echoing Haruka's words from the night of the council meeting when Makoto had found a story about a priest being turned into a deer. "And I heard it from Lilia, who also avoids spreading stories that she does not know are true. She is related to Sayuri, and she heard about it through her information sources among the fleet currently orbiting my world. She also told me that they are the not the only War Queens currently dating."
"Hiroko has been dating Sanae for some time, despite the fact that both of them have husbands and children," Michiru replied flatly, startling her wife who had not expected a non-Uranian to see that. "After spending so much time on Uranus, I get the impression that our kind of relationship is more common there than we would believe."
"It's certainly more common than my father ever let me believe," Haruka confirmed, rearranging something on her data pad as she helped plan her planet's entry for the festival that would be starting in a week. "Sayuri never met Miki before she left to serve on Neptune. She only inherited the Tenth seat within the last two years and would not have taken time for relationships or a family before achieving that goal. She has always been a bit of a loner, though her sisters keep her company, but she has needed someone in her life for a long time. I hope that Miki can help her fill that emptiness."
"At least it explains why Miki was happy to hear that the other War Queens would be arriving for the festival earlier than expected." Rei lowered her data pad and glared at Haruka across the room, hearing the whisper of a thought through their bond. "Haruka, the last three ceremonies we attended were pretty Uranian-heavy. The rest of us would appreciate it if you could keep your festival party to just the War Queens this time. The rest of us don't have enough relatives to compete, otherwise."
"Hey! In all fairness, the Yamakami ceremony and coronation were on my world, and I only invited all of the War Queens and their families to Neptune to irritate Shousha. Which worked, by the way." She turned her data pad so Rei could see it across the low table in their guest suite, pointing to the names of participants from her world. "See, only the War Queens and a few Lesser War Queens will be involved. I won't need more than that for the demonstration I have planned."
Rei nodded in approval and turned back to her own plans. In the past, the queens of each world had organized their displays and demonstrations for the eleven-day festival, but the new senshi had asked their mothers if they could take over that responsibility since the senshi of each world would all be in attendance for the first time in over two decades. "Serenity confirmed that we are using the main courtyard for the event, so we should plan to each have a main stage for demonstrations with booths and tables elsewhere for displaying wares from our worlds, selling food, and whatever else we plan. I think that if we all use the same setup it will be easier for each group to clear out that night."
"Good plan," Minako replied, scrolling through images of famous artwork from her world. She would not be bringing the originals, of course, since it would be dangerous to transport most of the ancient statues and paintings, but there were holographic sculptors on her world who had already created perfect reproductions that could be used during the festival. "Do you think I should focus on the Neo-classical period of Queen Sachiko or the Renaissance period of Queen Sakae for my displays?"
"I always preferred the modernist stylings of Queen Chizuru," Ami replied. "After we learned that senshi used to marry their soulmates, I checked some of our historical records for alterations. Chizuru's wife was Chinatsu of Uranus, and you can see that influence on the art of her era. I find it fascinating."
"A Venusian and a Uranian," Rei murmured, glancing at the two blondes sitting on the couches near each other. "I would love to see that."
"Why do you put ideas in her head?!" Haruka demanded, glaring at Ami and waving her free hand between the Martian and the sudden murderous glint in her wife's aqua eyes. "Did you forget that Michiru can blood rage and that she is a terribly jealous woman?"
Ami raised her hands in apology, glaring at Rei. "You should know better than to say something like that, Pyro."
Rei pointed at Minako, the Venusian's pale blue eyes glowing lustfully at her partner. It seemed that Minako liked that mental image very much, probably as much as her sister from Neptune hated the idea. "I know exactly what I said," the Martian murmured, her lust flaring across the link they all shared. They were learning to control their connection somewhat, but strong emotions could still break through their barriers.
Michiru sighed, her jealousy fading as she realized that Rei's words had been directed at her own girlfriend and not at Haruka. Minako dropped her data pad and headed for her rooms, the Martian two steps behind her and clearly unrepentant for any issues she had caused with her words. Makoto sighed and dropped her own pad, unwilling to fight against the fire in their link, taking Ami into their own rooms to cool the passion flamed by their sisters.
Alone in the room, Haruka sighed in relief and raised her data pad. "Finally, they're all gone. Now I can work in peace with no more frivolous interruptions."
She felt a flash of icy cold wash over her, and she looked up into aqua-sapphire eyes that were somehow lustful and annoyed at the same time. Michiru pushed against their link, switching from icy cold to fire, pulling on that power she had gained from the Martian senshi. A grin slowly spread across Haruka's face as her emerald eyes brightened to gold and she followed her wife into their room.
"This is patently ridiculous."
"Just because you don't enjoy horses doesn't mean that this isn't a wonderful way to start a festival." Rei straightened her black leather pants and red shirt, fastening her riding jacket as a servant buckled her knee-length boots. The other senshi were also dressed for riding, wearing the colors of their planets with their hair braided neatly out of the way. A series of footmen held a row of colorful horses still, each one draped in the colors of a different planet, waiting patiently for the senshi to mount and join their delegations.
Haruka, who in fact did not mind horses, would still have preferred to have the entire parade on foot. For a Uranian, it was more comfortable. However, she had been out-voted by her sisters, who thought that the horses would be more majestic, especially wearing such beautifully-embroidered drapes. Minako waited as the servants set up a mounting block for her golden palomino mare, Rei having no issue swinging herself onto her own sorrel chestnut stallion without help. Haruka helped Michiru mount her blue roan mare before effortlessly leaping onto her own gold champagne stallion and letting the servant lead him into line with the other senshi. Makoto needed no help with her own dark bay stallion, though she did assist Ami with her tall gray mare as Setsuna joined the procession on her own stallion, black as night with a thick white blaze on his face. A servant led a small white mare into the line, Princess Serenity confident on her back, her mother on a similar horse behind her. The other queens joined their daughters, dressed in identical colors and riding similar horses, pairing up before joining their delegations.
The delegation from each planet would enter in order of its distance from the sun, Mercury leading and Pluto in the rear. Though her planet was technically not currently the farthest away, Setsuna always preferred to keep her customary place at the end of the parade. The footmen moved away as Ami and Amami guided their horses toward the group of Mercurians, the nobles on horses and four rows of merchants, servants, and performers on foot. Two heralds on gray stallions carried the banner of Mercury and the coat-of-arms of the Mercurian Royal House, moving into position in front of the queen and princess.
Each planet had a similar delegation, vibrant splashes of color against the pale silver of the Lunarian streets. The houses along the main road, all of them the opulent homes of high nobles, were decorated with banners honoring each of the planets, people standing on balconies and leaning out windows for a better view of the parade. Lunarian guards in their silver-and-white livery lined the wide road, holding back the crowds and keeping the parade path clear. A small number of merchants from each world walked through the crowds, selling wares and foods and adding to the parade atmosphere.
A series of trumpeters rode to the front of the column, a pair of organizers galloping up from the back of the line. The two women, both Mercurian Scholars, were frantic, but they always were before the First Day Parade. The two of them had been organizing the festivities for two decades and they had never disappointed the people of the Moon or the attendant planets, and no one expected that they would fail this day. Ami watched them ride past, having attended four times previously and deliriously happy that she was not the one tasked with organizing this party.
The trumpeters began to play, and the horses moved into neatly organized lines, the people on foot gathering near their leaders and moving into precise and practiced lines. Some of them were musicians, and they readied their instruments while the dancers checked their costumes and props. Without any command that the senshi could see, the entire line suddenly began to move as one, horses stepping forward in unison with precise parade timing, ears alert as they tested their reins. The parade moved up the main road slowly, spectators cheering and throwing flowers as the royals waved at them.
The long line of horses finally reached the marble-adorned courtyard of the Moon Palace, the members of the four Inner Planets splitting off to the left while the congregations from the Outer Planets headed to the right. A booth had been set up for each planet in a circle around the center of the yard, each one bearing a colorful flag with the planetary senshi symbol and manned by the Head Organizer for each planet's delegation. Queen Serenity and her daughter stopped in the center of the yard, turning to face the throngs of spectators as the lavender-haired woman raised one arm for silence.
"Citizens of the Silver Millennium, I wish to welcome you to the annual Presentation of the Planets. Today all of you will have a chance to enjoy the hospitality of the Moon Palace and visit with the royals from each world, and tomorrow will begin the Presentation of Mercury." Cheers and screaming followed her words, the queen smiling as she waited for calm to descend. "As some of you may know, this year we have a special treat. For the first time in two decades, the queens and senshi of every planet are present for the entire week!"
The senshi each raised their Planet Crystal, calling on their transformations as the crowd cheered even louder, throwing flowers and ribbons at the royals. Haruka grinned and ran her gloved hand through her unruly blonde hair, emerald eyes flashing as she caught her wife's gaze. I might actually enjoy this.
Who would have thought, Michiru purred, that the senshi avatar of Uranus would enjoy being worshipped? Certainly I would never have anticipated that.
Haruka's eyes widened as the memory of her time with Michiru in her study returned in a flash, her wife's eyes darkening to sapphire as she shared the thought. Not fair.
Michiru chuckled into her hand, the very image of a demure, respectable Neptunian princess. By her side, Shousha continued to wave to the crowd, but she had noticed her daughter's brief moment of distraction. She and Kazeko had shared a bond when they were younger, when they were senshi, though perhaps not as strong as she imagined the one between her daughter and daughter-in-law to be. For perhaps the first time in her life, she was content to let her only child be happy, seeing a brighter future for her kingdom and, indeed, the entire Silver Millennium.
"Well Mercury isn't a planet of art or war, Makoto! It's a planet of scholars and technology, two things that are not easily converted into flashy performances for the gathered masses!"
The tall Jovian wisely backed away from her frazzled girlfriend, watching as Jurin joined Ami to perfect the display on their main booth. Mercury's celebration started in less than an hour, and the courtyard was swarming with Ami's people, hundreds of craftsman, scientists, scholars, and large clusters of musicians putting the finishing touches on their booths as the smell of sweet breads filled the air. Mercurians knew that the rest of the Silver Millennium generally saw them as introverted scholars who rarely looked up from their books to interact with the rest of the planets. They tended not to notice that there were many Scholars in musical and artistic fields, so that tended to be the focus of the Mercury Day display.
Ami did walk past three displays of new technology, including a new dome that was designed to be portable, not much larger than a collection of tents. The designer intended to market the design to explorers who wanted to visit the smaller, lifeless moons throughout the system without having to rely on bulkier life support systems at night. While the entire Mercurian delegation thought the idea was brilliant, they did keep the scientific displays off to one side in order to highlight their more artistic side.
"Five minutes!"
If Ami had been frazzled before, that was nothing compared to the panic that gripped the young princess at the organizer's call. Makoto grabbed the bluenette before she could run back to the stands, forcing the smaller woman to meet her eyes. "Ami, everything is going to be fine. You have done this for years now, and you always put on a spectacular performance."
"Yes but this is the first year that you are here! A-a-and all of the other princesses, of course."
Makoto reached up and ran her fingers through Ami's hair, smiling as the smaller woman slowly relaxed under her gentle ministrations. "I've watched the holofeed before, my love, and I was entranced by a certain blue-haired young princess on a harp."
Ami blushed but she didn't look away. It was hard, but she was learning to accept praise, at least from her lover and friends. "I've only played twice."
"And quite well both times, though I didn't realize it was you until just recently. You will be fine, the exhibition will be a success, and you will gain enough confidence to help me through my own planet day later this week."
Ami smiled and took a deep breath, letting Makoto's presence calm her. "I plan to give my best performance ever this afternoon."
"And I'll be in the front row cheering you on," the Jovian replied, leaning down to offer her partner a chaste kiss. "Now go; I must rejoin the other spectators."
Ami dashed off toward the large stage in the back of the courtyard, one of the organizers leading her to the back where the rest of the performers were already practicing. Makoto rejoined the other princesses near the gate and the flock of servants fluttering nearby, all of them eager to make sure that the royals enjoyed their time at the celebration. Serenity, used to the pomp of the Lunarian court, smiled politely at her three attendant ladies but most of her attention was focused on Endymion. The young prince had his own retinue of servants on Earth, of course, but the color and spectacle of the Lunarian Court had been a bit of a shock to him at first. The five servants assigned to him, as well as the two companions-in-arms, waited patiently nearby until he had need of something, knowing that the young Earthling would eventually get used to them.
"How is she doing?"
"As expected," Makoto replied. "She's going to perform in the main event at noon and she is slightly concerned about it. Jurin and Haname are doing what they can to keep her calm, but they are both manning booths and don't have the same pressure on them."
"Doesn't she have a Scholarship in Music? Why is she worried?"
"She's Ami," Makoto replied, as if that were answer enough. Endymion nodded and accepted it.
The princesses and prince looked up as the Head Announcer walked toward the gate to the courtyard, touching an amplifier on her collar so she could be heard by the restless throng beyond the wrought metal. The senshi entourage had been allowed in with Ami, and they were just as eager to see all of the exhibitions as the crowd outside. "People of the Silver Millennium, it is my great honor to welcome you to the second day of the Presentation of the Planets. Today we honor Mercury, a planet known for science and technology, though today you will see that their skills extend far beyond that simplistic label. Come in and be welcome."
The courtyard had been capped by a small dome, meant not for atmospheric regulation but only for display, and it came alive as the visitors began to stream through gates. The dome was meant to replicate the sky of Mercury, itself an artificial construct, the Sun shining through dark blue and wispy gray clouds with a few bright rays illuminating the azure-decked stage. Ami had always been proud of the dome technology of her home world, the scientific breakthrough that had allowed people to inhabit the planets and moons that weren't capable of supporting oxygen-breathing lifeforms. Only Earth, the origin of all of the peoples of the Silver Millennium, was capable of supporting life on its own, but the early tribe that had eventually settled on Mercury under Hermes's protection were brilliant scientists. Their domes made life possible, and Ami never looked at an artificial sky without whispering a silent thanks to her early ancestors.
The princesses moved ahead of the crowd toward the food stands, eager to try some authentic Mercurian cuisine. Many foods eaten on the innermost world were not that popular anywhere else, so this festival was often the only time that off-worlders got to taste those delicacies. By a combination of societal choice and physical reality, Mercurians were vegetarians, though many who married off-worlders would eventually incorporate some animal-based meat into their diets. They raised no food animals except for a hardy ground bird that had been bred to lay blue yolk eggs daily, and those eggs were not found anywhere else in the system. Serenity offered a small dessert pudding to Endymion, who glared at the blue color but gamely tried it anyway. He was more fond of a rice dish made with four kinds of vegetables, though Serenity warned him to only eat small portions so he would have enough appetite to taste everything. Mercurians also cultivated dozens of species of insects and small reptiles to fertilize their plants as well as others that produced edible products and sweeteners, so some of them had been brought in small cages for the assembled visitors to view. Serenity saw a sign pointing toward the displays of insects and reptiles and dragged her boyfriend in that direction so she could get a closer look. With their servants, guards, companions-at-arms, and the general safety of the festival itself, the other princesses let them go off on their own.
Rei and Minako wandered off to one of the booths run by a pair of Battle Tactics Scholars, both of them eager to try out a new simulation program based on the last skirmish on Pluto. Due in part to her position as the leader of the inner Senshi and in part to her mirroring her more warlike teammates, Minako was developing quite the interest in battle tactics. Setsuna, who had seen more wars in her thousands of years of rebirth than any other Senshi, had worked with the team of Scholars for over thirty years to help create the simulator, incorporating a number of surprise scenarios that had not happened at that actual battle but added weight to the importance of the work she and the queens had done in driving back the darkness. Minako could sense that a new darkness was coming, though none of the warning devices on any planet had any active alerts, and Rei was willing to do anything to help ease her partner's concern.
Haruka and Michiru headed over to the cluster of shops along the left side of the courtyard, the young Neptunian entranced by a beautiful, gem-encrusted violin. It was carved from the black wood of the nhi'irin tree, which only grew in protected groves on the two innermost planets and four sanctuary moons in the outer system. By Silver Millenium law, all of the trees belonged to the planet of Mercury, specifically to the Royal Family, who kept them in trust for the rest of the system. The trees were all descended from a single tree on Earth before it went extinct almost eight thousand years earlier, one that was much beloved by Hermes. Over time, the wood itself had darkened until it shone with an onyx luster, and it grew so slowly that the entire violin had no age rings at all. The sound produced by stringed instruments made with that dense, slow-growing wood surpassed anything a violin from her own moons could boast, and Michiru had always wanted to play one. The vendor, recognizing a princess and having heard of the musical aptitude of this particular young woman, eagerly led her into the booth to a seat where she could rest while trying the violin.
Michiru ran her fingers reverently over the wood, pausing to glance at each tiny gemstone and admire the patterns they made. Part of the pattern was the mark of the Scholar who carved the instrument, a member of the Akabane family, one of the founding families of Mercury. Their members generally tended toward musical or artistic scholarships, though a notable pair of twins had been warriors decades earlier, fighting alongside the queens in the battle on Pluto. The vendor, whose gentle manner with the instrument marked him as the person who had created it, handed Michiru a bow made of the same black wood, strung with the hair of a beast kept on Mercury for recreational riding, a creature distantly related to the Earth horse but adapted to the prickly plants that grew under their dome. Michiru tested the bow before raising the violin to her chin and running it across the strings, pleased to find that the instrument was perfectly in tune. Without consciously deciding, the princess began to play the first haunting chords of The Last Betrayal, freeing as Haruka's long fingers silenced her strings.
"Let's pick something happier," the queen murmured, smiling as Michiru bowed her head in acknowledgement. She changed over into a bright, lively folk tune from her world, seamlessly falling into a Martian drinking song and then a song from Jupiter that celebrated the birth of Zeus and the magnificence of his power. It was a difficult song on a violin, written for the wind instruments more popular on the world that looked to him, but the instrument was able to keep up with the Neptunian's bow.
Michiru lowered her bow as she reached the end of the song, offering a rare true smile and not her trademark demure approximation. "This is a magnificent instrument. I have never been able to coax such beauty from my own collection."
"Is it better than Yuuka's?"
"Yes, much. She had the best violin that could be made in her time, but this one is far superior. It would also be at home in Poseidon's vault, and its appearance is just as important as its function. I can't believe I've never found an instrument like this."
"This violin is at home in your expert hands, Highness," the violin maker offered. "Normally the price would be forty-five million credits, but for a princess of Neptune I could certainly discount that to forty million."
"Michiru is also a queen of Uranus," Haruka murmured, the barest hint of a threat in her voice. Michiru turned to scold her wife, pausing as the vendor chuckled and placed one hand on the case. It was also studded with gems, and somehow he had worked the symbols of every planet into the lid, twined together like vines.
"Her Majesty is a shrewd negotiator, as expected from the planet of the winds. I couldn't let it go for less than thirty-five, and it's a difficult choice for me."
"Thirty million and she will say your name when she plays this instrument Presentation of Neptune in a few days."
The merchant's eyes lit up and Michiru could also see the currency signs in his eyes. "For the queens of Uranus, one a princess of Neptune, to honor my humble enterprise would mean more than I can truly express. I am Akabane Kenji, of the family that has grown and protected these trees for untold generations. We harvest only a handful of trees a year, and most of the wood cannot be used for stringed instruments. The rest becomes small figurines, small wooden flutes, or music boxes, things like that, some of which I sell and all of which is not available off-world except during this one event." He looked up at Haruka, who towered over him as she did most Mercurians, and a mischievous light entered his pale blue eyes. "The wood on a violin has a huge impact on the quality of the music it can produce, and my family has branched out into other instruments in the past few decades. We have a piano crafted similarly, if you would like to see a holo image of it."
Michiru grinned into her hand as Haruka leaned forward curiously. The instrument maker had identified the one hook to land her wife, and she was content to watch and see if he would succeed. Haruka watched as Kenji activated a holo imager that contained his full inventory, including pieces like the piano that would be difficult to transport off-world. The piano was unbelievably gorgeous, the wood blacker than onyx with the lights in the image catching the faint traces of the wood grain. Gems were set along its length, mostly golden diamonds mixed with navy and lighter blue stones, the exact colors of the grains of sand at the top of the Chime Cliffs. Haruka stared in wonder, reaching out her hand as if she could touch the instrument, offering the slightest gasp as it rotated to show the keys. The white ones were opalescent, a rare enough material that Haruka knew they had to be made from the bones of an Oriyhn Alyesh, a Uranian predator that haunted the deepest deserts on Oberon. The Sxarthin frequently hunted the old and infirm of those beasts, but off-worlders would never be allowed to kill one or take any trophies. The black ones looked to be carved from the bones of a Lortest Basiil, which were black like their teeth. Those were commonly traded off-world, sometimes used for trinkets or small figurines, but more often for armor or decorating weapons.
"Her Majesty has recognized the bones used for the white keys," Kenji commented, a smugness in his voice common in the highest tier of merchants on all planets. "You also noticed the colors in the gems that I decorated this piece with, I would guess."
"I've only seen that pattern once."
"Only a few Uranians would know this pattern. One of them, a Yamakami like yourself, was kind enough to visit my grandfather and describe what she had seen to him. No one takes images at that sacred spot, the place where the High Duke of Umbriel coaxed the goddess Uranus from her dark cave, but the colors she described were magnificent. That same Yamakami was kind enough to speak with the Sxarthin of your world and obtain bones from Oriyhn Alyesh beasts that had been found dead or were sustainably hunted, and they offered these in trade for supplies that only Mercury could provide." Tents built to resist the brutal weather in their desert home, upgrades to their water reclamation systems, and better desert suits were all things that the Sxarthin traded with Mercury for, including machines for water purification and food storage without which their lives would be impossible. Uranians were a practical people; while they preferred solitude, they would not capriciously refuse technology to improve the lives they chose to live, or anything that would protect their people from the harshness of their worlds. "The only request they had was that these bones be used for an instrument that would only be sold to a person who could recognize the significance of its beauty. She knew that a woman like you would come to see my family one day, though I don't know how."
"Who was she?"
"Her Majesty's grandmother, Chisaki. We took fifty years over three generations to find the correct trees for this instrument, the correct gems, carve the keys directly from the provided bones, and to build the piano and set each gem by hand. We have waited patiently since."
"She'll take it," Michiru replied instantly, knowing that Haruka desired that beautiful instrument designed by her grandmother so long ago. It was a finer instrument than the piano that she had played for her Asachou ceremony on Oberon, and the colors of the stones that decorated the black wood told the story of what they found at the top of the Chime Cliffs the day the senshi all completed the climb that earned their Yamakami titles. The keys of both were made from the opalescent bones of desert creatures, but these were from a rarer beast and they would certainly allow the pianist's fingers to move across them more gracefully, producing a finer sound in the process. "What is the price for this work of art?"
The two negotiated for a few minutes, Haruka's eyes never leaving that spinning image. She silently connected with her mother's spirit, still anchored to the Space Sword, who sent her some memories of Chisaki's Yamakami ceremony from holos Kazeko had seen when she was just a small child. Chisaki had been only thirty when she climbed the cliffs, not marrying and birthing her heir for a decade more. Kazeko herself had never attempted the climb, not thinking herself strong enough, and Chisaki had never made her child think that she was less of a Uranian for not approaching the place of their beloved patron goddess's exile.
Kenji held out his sale pad, accepting Michiru's handprint for the sale. Michiru also signed off on the violin that Haruka had negotiated, charging the first to the palace of Uranus and the second to her own personal accounts on Neptune. "Where would Your Majesties like the piano delivered? The violin I can send to the palace, of course, by the end of the day."
"Haruka will probably want to play it during her Presentation Day. Are you able to deliver that one to the palace, as well? I can arrange transport here and later back to Uranus on my own."
"Of course, it will be no problem." Realistically, for the hundred million credits the merchant had earned that day, he would gladly carry the piano on his back from Mercury to Uranus without complaint. "I will arrange everything, please do go enjoy the rest of the festival! I know that the new domes on display would be quite useful on Uranus and even some of the smaller Neptunian moons."
Michiru nodded gratefully, taking her wife's hand and leading the blonde away from the stall. The Uranian finally broke eye contact with the piano, smiling gratefully at her siren. "I've never been moved by a musical instrument before."
"Hmmm, you're becoming more Neptunian by the day."
"Ha, perhaps. I wonder why my grandmother helped them to make this piano. I didn't even know that she traveled off-world much before settling down as queen, and the one we have at the palace is impressive enough. Why would she think one of her descendants would need another?"
"The only answer I have for the second part is the pure beauty of the instrument, but the first is more clear to me. Haruka, you must know the reason she would be on Mercury before getting married and starting her family."
"Her soulmate was Sailor Mercury of that time. She was probably interested in the ways that her soul mate's world approached music and musical instruments, since she was known to play the piano, as I do." They passed a stall selling food and drinks, two more selling jewelry and trinkets, before meeting up with Makoto at the dome presentation. "It makes me wonder how much the senshi influenced their soul mates' worlds and lives before inevitably marrying men and starting their own families."
"Probably as much as we are influencing each other, my heart."
"Hmm, do you consider me a good or bad influence?"
"Bad, of course," Michiru quipped, smiling as Haruka covered her heart and fell back as if in pain. "But I've always liked a bad girl."
"Man, I don't think I want to know where that conversation is headed," Makoto commented, examining the specifications of the smaller domes while a pair of technicians hovered nearby. "Did you see these?"
"We've been examining some instruments, but they certainly could be useful on some of my tiny moons or even in the deep desert. How are they at managing water?"
"Zero percent loss, Majesty," one of the technicians offered, handing over a second pad with the specs so Haruka and Michiru could read them. "We also include water traps that can be emptied in the morning when the traveler is ready to move on the next day. It will be equally effective on airless moons and in the inhospitable environment of the deep desert. The dome can also be programmed to pull moisture from the air outside when used inside a planetary atmosphere, such as the water formed overnight in the deserts of your own moons."
"The same rate as the Hermes 7440 Light?"
"No, more like three times that rate. The 7440 does have some issues with moisture, though it is used frequently in difficult environments, but we have made improvements here." Michiru and Makoto moved to sit on a nearby bench, the ever-present guards keeping a light perimeter to prevent any curious visitors from bothering the women. They knew that Haruka would take some time at this booth, so the princess of Jupiter produced a map of the festival and pointed out the performance schedule.
"It looks like we have a couple of hours until Ami's performance," Michiru observed, watching her wife get more and more excited about those tiny domes out of the corner of one eye. Ado, who had spotted the group, joined Haruka, the merchant expertly pulling the First War Queen into the conversation. "This will take a while. Did you look at the battle simulators yet?"
"No, I saw that there was a bit of line and I know that Minako and Rei would make enough of a scene without my help. I thought I might go check out the astronomical booth; I hear that the newest space telescope can see galaxies that we can't even spot in the night sky."
"That could be interesting; shall we?" The two headed over to a nearby booth exhibiting a large telescope with a fair number of smaller ones displayed nearby, physical and digital star charts covering the tables behind them. A group of astronomers greeted them, happy to have famous royals visiting their booth, and some of the other festival-goers clustered near the pair. A quartet of guards stood near them, but as long as the visitors didn't interfere they would be left alone.
The astronomers eagerly pulled up a live image from one of those deep space telescopes, currently showing a bright cluster of stars in the Andromeda Galaxy. They were able to focus in on one star, one that they had examined for years already, and they were able to show a tiny shadow that indicated the presence of a large planet. The rest of the planets around that star were harder to see, but the newest telescope had counted twenty of them, seven rocky worlds similar to Earth and Mars, the rest large gas giants with clusters of moons. It was breathtaking to see another solar system in another galaxy two-and-a-half million light years away shown in such detail by the Mercurian telescope technology.
"And, of course, since the light is traveling at only the speed of light, what we are seeing right now happened that long ago on their world. They could be more advanced than us or our other close neighbors like the Kinmoku empire based in the Betelgeuse System or the Antares system which is a couple hundred light years further away, but we are seeing primitive worlds with no hint of civilization. The radio signals that we started sending thousands of years ago have barely reached any close neighbors, and they certainly are nowhere near leaving the Milky Way. When they look at us, if there are people there to look here, certainly they see the beginning of an ice age on the Earth and a mass extinction event caused by a series of nearby supernovas. Whatever hominids were here were primitive, struggling to use basic tools and to walk upright, and, of course, none of the other planets were inhabited yet."
"Well, we have ships that can travel faster than light," Michiru pointed out. "Three thousand years ago, we regularly traveled to Antares and Kinmoku and other systems."
"But we have had little communication with either system since then, only routine messages and keep-alive signals, many of which travel at the speed of light. It would take us hundreds of years to learn of any disaster on those planets. For all intents and purposes, we are alone here. Part of what the Northern University wishes to do is return to a time when we had those more reliable communication with our neighbors. If we can figure out how to cross galaxies, or at least speak across them, then we could certainly reestablish those relationships we once had with stars in our own neighborhood."
Michiru reached for the mirror at her side, raising it as the image of a tall, fiery-haired woman appeared in its depths, the crown on her head marking her as royalty. She stared at the image as Makoto leaned over her shoulder, curious, and both watched as the woman took a seat at a large, oval table with a huge red symbol embedded in the dark wood. Two dozen other women, dressed in finery and wearing their own crowns, took the other seats, smiling at each other and bantering in small groups as they waited for the meeting to start. The nearest astronomer glanced at the mirror curiously, gasping in shock as she instantly identified the symbol in the center of the table. The two stars visible outside the windows of the meeting room, a huge red supergiant and its smaller blue-white partner, confirmed the Mercurian's hypothesis as Michiru let the image fade.
"That was Antares! That was their queen and the senshi of their planets! How did you see that so clearly and so far away?"
Michiru chuckled. "That's part of my senshi power. I just wanted to show you that we are not alone, and I know that one day we will be able to rejoin the other stars in our local neighborhood. We will return to the days of traveling faster than light between systems and keeping active, instantaneous communications with those other planets. The work you are doing will help lead us back into the stars that you love so much."
The Mercurian could barely find her voice through the tears that suddenly overwhelmed her, silently thanking the princess for that one glimpse of a world she had only seen through lenses for most of her life. The two left that booth, listening to the whispers behind them as those who had glimpsed that brief image described it in wonder to their friends, a story that would surely spread to the rest of the festival guests by the end of the day. It would spark curiosity among many who heard, and they would visit the astronomers to look at that star system that used to be a close ally of the Sol System and might one day again.
"How did you do that?"
Michiru glanced at her mirror as they walked toward the battle simulator, having already decided to see if the lines had shortened any since early that morning. "What do you mean?"
"I have always heard that Neptune may be shown premonitions of new or strange places, but she can only focus a vision on a place or a person she knows. You've never been to Antares."
"Yuuka was there," the aquanette replied. "She remembers that overwhelming red light with the faint contribution by the smaller star, and I can still feel the ache in her heart for the warm golden glow of her home star. She saw that meeting chamber hundreds of times over the course of the war, though now there is one chair missing."
"The ninth planet."
"Yes. If Saturn rises here . . . what world would she target? Where would the darkness be found and ultimately need to be destroyed?"
"She has risen before and never destroyed one of our planets, though once an uninhabited rocky moon of Jupiter was scarred by her power. What happened in the Antares system was worse than anything that has ever happened here, and I don't think we need to be worrying about an empty chair at our own council table."
A cheer went up from the crowd gathered around the battle simulator, catching the senshi's attention as Rei and Minako emerged from one of the pods set up. A score flashed above the pod, a series of nines filling the scoreboard. Clearly, the two had decided to fight as a pair in one of the battles, probably the battle on Pluto based on the images on the side of the machine. Rei looked up and chuckled, tapping Minako's shoulder and directing her attention toward the flashing numbers. Both of them were laughing as they spotted their sister senshi and joined them, moving away from the throng somewhat so they could talk.
"Was that the Pluto simulator?"
"Yeah, it was great! It lets you fight as one of the senshi, with her powers, so I picked Pluto and got to fight with her key. It's similar to the quarterstaffs we trained with, but heavier on the top." Rei mimicked swinging the key, Minako ducking dramatically.
"I picked Sailor Uranus, and the simulation actually gives you the increased speed, and it has these sensors that kind of ping your arms to warn you before things happen when you play a senshi with enhanced senses or premonition. I guess it was recorded that Kazeko had super quick reflexes, almost to the point of seeing the future like you can do, Michiru, and that is the game's way of recreating that. I have to say, I think that Haruka would demolish the Uranus position in that game; we played one round as Neptune and Jupiter so we could watch Pluto and Uranus done by the computer, and Kazeko was good but her daughter is phenomenal."
"Don't let her hear that," Michiru warned; "she already has a big enough ego."
"Hmm, you seem to like it well enough," the Uranian purred as she appeared behind her wife. "Are you planning to try the simulator?"
"Yes, but you can't play Uranus. You have to pick someone else."
Haruka raised her eyebrow at that, glancing around the group as she considered her other options. "Mars. I think I could handle that bow."
Rei snorted. "I mean, I wish you luck, but you saw how my mother handled it during my Challenge. She's pretty good with it, and I heard a lot of stories about how she managed her soldiers during the uprising."
"How many people can the simulator handle?"
"It maxes at seven; all of the characters are senshi so you each have to pick one."
"I'd like to pick Uranus," Michiru requested, smiling at the curiosity in her wife's eyes. "I'm pretty fast already; maybe I can beat Minako's score."
"Well, we sort of broke the scoreboard," Minako pointed out. Ah, so that's why the crowd had been cheering a few minutes ago. "But I know that we can max it out again. I'd like to try Neptune; I think it would be interesting to fight in a different way. Also, I think Rei cheated a bit when she played Neptune because she has her own premonition power."
Michiru pulled out her mirror and spun it around her finger a few times, a challenge in her teal eyes. "Let's see who can play another role the best."
"I'll try Venus. It'll be a huge difference to use a ranged weapon like that chain when I'm used to unarmed combat and my staff."
"Rei, you should try Jupiter for the same reason. It's not a bad idea to home your unarmed fighting skills. Also, you can see if you play her better than Minako did."
"Haruka, always the teacher."
Ado, who had followed Haruka over from the dome display, and Hikari who had been snacking nearby, joined the group and glanced at each other as they both decided to give the simulator a try. "We'll fill out your group so you can get the max level. Hikari, I think you would like to play as Pluto and I would enjoy a round as Mercury. As a citizen of a desert world, ice power intrigue me."
"Great, we have a full group! Let's see how fast we can max out the score." Rei led the group back to the Pluto simulator, all of the senshi greeting the people gathered around watching the screens. The simulators were certainly effective training machines, and Haruka made a note to see about getting one installed on the Moon permanently so she could continue using it to train her sister senshi to fight the coming darkness.
Ami squirmed uncomfortably on her chair, stretching her arms along the side of the harp before leaning back and fiddling with her sleeves. She was never nervous, never anxious, but here she was exhibiting the common signs of both of those things. The senshi forced herself to take a deep breath and count her heartbeats until they slowed down and she could think clearly again. The sheet music for their concert hovered in the air beside her instrument, the holo projector programmed to listen to the music and scroll down as the musicians needed it to. There were a number of songs, including one from Winds of Uranus, and all of them were very popular and should be recognized by most of the crowd. Ami had played all of the music before, often multiple times, but today everything was just intense.
"I've never seen you so flustered." Amami, who had performed for decades at Presentation Day, took the empty seat beside her daughter, the musician who would take that position having walked away to talk with her friends at the water station. "You know, I was a little nervous the first time Meika came to watch me."
"Is that what this is? I know that she's heard me before, so nothing should be bothering me, but I can't shake this ice in my stomach."
"Hmm, the Senshi of Ice can't thaw her own?" Ami smiled at her mother's teasing, enjoying this new aspect of their relationship. Ever since the senshi had reformed their planet crystals, they had been much more at ease with their predecessors, and Ami's own mother acted like a huge weight had been lifted off of her chest. "You love her, it's normal to be worried. As your mother, I have heard you play for years and you are one of the finest harpists that has ever earned a Scholarship in Music. Admittedly, it is a bigger harp than the one you carry as Sailor Mercury, but it also doesn't produce ice to freeze your audience, so there is that."
Ami chuckled and waved her mother back to the flute section. Amami knew from that gesture that her daughter was going to be alright, so she checked on Hakuchou and Kaichou in the children section. All of the youngsters were learning the instruments they would play as adults, but for today they were tasked with playing simpler instruments with fewer lines on the sheet. Ami had played the triangle often as a child, until she earned her Scholarship and proved her proficiency on the harp. Amami gathered all of the musicians from the water station and sent them to their seats, checking in on the conductor before returning to her own chair.
It only took a few more minutes for the conductor to call the musicians to order, the last few stragglers rushing for their seats. Ami could hear rustling on the other side of the curtain, knowing that the crowd was gathering at the base of the large stage. Each of her fellow senshi had planned a different main event, all scheduled for the same time two hours after the midday meal, and all of the shops would shut down during the main event. The graphic artists behind the orchestra got the huge background holo screen turned on, loading in the program that they had designed to add a three-dimensional visual component to the music. People of the Silver Millennium knew that Mercurians made war simulators, but they also made digital art and games, so it had been important to the princess that the visual art was also on display during the main event.
The curtains shook as the stage assistants started pulling them back, revealing the orchestra to the gathered Presentation Day attendees. The conductor, a revered man who held one of the highest levels of the Music Scholarship on Mercury, including focuses in almost every instrument arranged before home, raised his baton and the symphony began.
Ami focused on the floating notes and let herself lose her anxiety in the music. The harp was an extension of her body, expressing her deepest emotions among the sea of instruments around her. Ami knew that Makoto and the other senshi were certainly seated in the front row, but she knew that making eye contact with her lover could disrupt her flow. For today, she had to believe she was alone, as she had for her previous concerts, though there was a warmth coming from the front row that she accepted and channeled into her song. As they moved from one song to the next, Ami knew that she had never played better in her life.
Makoto was seated in front of the stage in the section reserved for the royals, her brothers and parents in the chairs beside her. Each planet had its own set of chairs, starting with the Moon and each planet in order after that, though Haruka and Michiru both sat in the Uranus section and Rei and Minako were on the edges of their own sections so they could be beside each other. The princesses themselves knew that Ami could play the harp, but to hear her in concert with the best that her world had to offer, including her own mother on the flute, was breathtaking. The light show behind the orchestra, responding to each note with a beautiful abstract aurora, added to the majesty of the presentation, and Makoto wondered what her girlfriend had been worried about. This was amazing, even better than last year's performance, as if every citizen of the Silver Millennium could sense the coming darkness and were doing everything in their power to drive it away. Even one note of music would make a dent, and they were here to prove that Mercury was ready to fight against the worst of the prophecies and visions that the group of senshi had seen. They would never give up.
Setsuna, seated in the Pluto section with her highest-ranked nobles, looked to the side in shock as her divine senses alerted her to the presence of one of her family members. Hermes, invisible to mortals, had taken a seat floating above the crowd where he could see his senshi playing her harp. Athena, dressed in a silk dress to match her sharp gray eyes instead of her normal armor and aegis, settled into a second invisible chair beside him, clearly still spending time with the messenger god after their romantic interlude during the awakening of the planet crystals. She had released her hair from its tight braids, the light red locks tumbling down her back in playful waves. Hermes glanced over and spotted his cousin, waving at her across the crowd. Se, not willing to make a scene, offered only a brief nod before turning back to the performance, though she knew that he understood her greeting.
Setsuna could see that Ami, so entranced in her music, did not notice the god at first, but as he was her patron and the father of her soul she could not help but react to his presence. Unseen by the mortals but sensed by the senshi, Ami glowed in response to Hermes's presence, the power of the god bolstering her as she gave the best performance of her young life. Setsuna knew that it had been lifetimes since the gods walked so brazenly among their people, three thousands years since they had truly cared about the senshi, so seeing Hermes coming just to watch a musical performance gave her some measure of hope for the coming battle. These senshi were blessed by their patrons, the parents of their souls, and she knew that their power could herald a bright future for all of their people.
As the concert came to an end, Ami leaned back from her instrument and finally looked up into the crowd, meeting Makoto's eyes instantly. The two shared a secret smile, the Jovian sending her impression of the concert across the link, as well as the ever-present undercurrent of love. Now that the concert was over, Ami hopped down from the stage to join the other senshi and enjoy the festival that she had spent so much time planning and fretting over. The Mercurian looked up and to the side while her friends congratulated her, smiling as she met Hermes's eyes above her friends' heads. Setsuna was surprised that her cousin had allowed himself to be seen by the young woman, but it was clear that he wanted her to know that he loved and supported his soul daughter. Hermes bowed his head, vanishing moments after she returned the gesture. Setsuna made a mental note to search for any of her other divine family at the rest of the Presentation Days, knowing that they had never visited the festival before.
AN: Uh, I'm not dead. Forgive me for making you wait so long for an update. In the last seven years I have branched out into more fandoms and some of those stories came to me easier than this chapter. At first, I planned to have the whole Presentation Festival in one chapter but just this first day has taken more words than I expected. I have written the end of the entire fic, the end of the last Presentation Day, and parts of the days in-between it's just been hard to get through certain sections. I also have done a massive revamp on "Kazeko" in line with updates from these last few chapters, including the very end, but I cannot release them until I finish this (major spoilers, but it does explain a lot of things that just can't be explained here). I am planning to spend a lot of time on this for now, though I do need to release some Supernatural fanfic chapters in the meantime. I'll try to keep a better balance and not make the next chapter take another 7 years.