"It's pretty much worked out," Washu said through the beginnings of a yawn, bringing a hand up to cover the rest of it. "Two Juraian knights will join every legion of Hyurodan guards, and I'll hold daily holographic meetings with the senators. Should achieve a nice balance." "You seem exhausted, Washu," Funaho murmured, stepping close and laying a hand on the queen's shoulder. The Juraian empress' kimono was done up fully today, hiding the silver strips around her middle that continued to heal her energy sword wound even as she moved about as if nothing were troubling her. "I am, to tell the truth. I've been on the comm all night, waking up senators, who are likely only not joining the revolt out of some lingering respect for the fact that I appointed them." The pink-haired Hyurodan turned a tired smile to the other woman. "I'm joking, of course. I wouldn't have appointed them if I didn't trust them." "Now I know you're tired, my friend. You never explain yourself so openly unless it somehow flaunts your intellect," Funaho teased gently, smiling back. "To bed with you, then. If we are to leave this afternoon as you've asked, you have plenty of time to get some sleep." "Yes, yes," grunted Washu like an old, cranky woman as she stood slowly, putting both of her hands on her back and bending to work out a few kinks. The fact of the matter was that she was quite an old woman by most species' standards. Only middle-aged by Hyurodan standards, and she'd had her daughter relatively late in life. 'Ah, the quandry of whether to make the same choices all over again.' "Is this yours, Washu?" Funaho leaned forward slightly, plucking up a flower that was laying on the table. It was actually two flowers, springing from a single stem, the small blossoms surprisingly different, though obviously of the same type, with flat, teardrop petals that curled out and down from the center. One blossom was a deep, rich red with random-seeming colors speckled across the petals, while the other was a soft yellow with small purple dots forming a neat pattern. The center of each blossom, however, was the same royal purple. "Hm? That? Oh, no, Ryoko was fiddling with that earlier while she was in here with me, before muttering something about using the guards for something and hurrying off. Kids today." "It's beautiful." The Juraian woman cupped the flower in her hands and brought it to her face, inhaling slowly, then made a soft sound of pleasure. "And it smells lovely. Like... the hour of the morning where the night has not yet receded but the light of the dawn shines brightly." Washu chuckled. "Very poetic. Unfortunately, Hyurodan poetry is almost without exception absolutely terrible, and it bears the very unpoetic name of 'rock lily'. They grow in cracks of rocks, usually tend to hide in shadow. They're prolific and always come back no matter how often they're picked, but they're a pain in the ass to get out of the rocks, and hard to find in the first place. They're pretty, but few would consider them worth the trouble." ------------------------------------------------------------ Ayeka's pout was already in place as she started to wake up. She'd gone to sleep upset, and had every intention of remaining so when she got up. However, the first thing to assail her senses was an absolutely beguiling smell, which settled into her mind like a welcome cool fog on a hot day, and before she even opened her eyes she could not help but start to feel positive about the day. When she opened her eyes, a gasp escaped her lips before she could even consciously register what she was seeing. Her room had exploded in color! Was she going mad, seeing spots before her eyes? But, no... as the haziness of morning vision cleared her eyes, she saw that what she'd taken for blasts of pure color were instead small flowers, lain over every flat surface almost like a carpet, pinned or tucked into every non-flat surface that they could possibly be affixed to with any sort of ease. 'Oh... oh my,' Ayeka thought, putting a hand to her mouth, stunned with the beauty of it, and the... the romance? Was that it? She flushed slightly, looking down at the flowers spread across her bedcovers, and spotted a rectangle of white amidst the vibrant color. Picking it up, she saw her name emblazoned on the front in purple ink, in a hand attempting to be elegant but obviously unused to it. Opening the card, her expression wary, Ayeka began to read the words, written in that same attempt-at-elegance handwriting at first, but slowly progressing into a more simple if still carefully-done style, and finally during the last few words turning rather messy. But despite the degradation of effort put into the handwriting, Ayeka's wary look progressed steadily into a smile as she read. - Ayeka, I know I screwed up pretty bad last night, and I'm really sorry. There, I said it, are you happy? Well... you better be. I had every royal guard in the castle out digging around in the rocks to get these things for you, and I'm pretty sure they intend to murder me in my sleep for their scratched fingers and broken nails. So don't get used to me doing nice things... I probably won't be around to do them for much longer. Anyway, don't worry, I didn't let them in your room. I cleared it with your maid or whatever she is and then came in through the balcony. If you're pissed about me being in your room while you were asleep, well, tough, because if I feel like doing something nice for my fiancee after inspiring traitorous thoughts in my loyal guards, then I'm damn well going to do it. I have to go now. Kallista and Riyata are coming over here, and I think they have rope, and I don't think they intend anything fun with it. Ryoko - 'Oh, Ryoko.' Ayeka sighed softly, smiling and falling onto her back, the card held to her chest, eyes sinking closed. 'I am happy. And I am very impressed and grateful.' Her smile turned rather wicked. 'And I am never, ever, EVER going to let you know that.' ------------------------------------------------------------ Kallista sighed, examining her torn and broken nails as she walked along towards the kitchen. Getting rousted from her bed only minutes after she'd gotten Riyata to calm down enough to get to sleep was bad enough, as was spending all night and morning flying over most of the hemisphere finding rock lilies... to know she was doing it so that Ryoko could do something nice for that annoying little Juraian princess was all the more galling. At least she'd made sure they hadn't woken Riyata. A few guards were wearing spear shaft-shaped red marks across their butts to emphasize Kallista's displeasure at THAT notion. As Kallista emerged into the large kitchen, she spied a figure draped in white sitting at one of the plain tables the kitchen staff often ate at. The Hyurodan guard blinked a bit, then shrugged and waved a hand, getting a cook's attention, then tilting her head to show where she was going to be sitting. As she made her way over, the orange-haired woman observed her target. Kiyone seemed out of place in the bustling, plain kitchen, wearing her elegant and spotless white Juraian kimono and headband, and with her posture, poise, and grace. And yet, despite the calm, cultured look on her face and her dress, there was something... unprepossessing about her, as if she had no problems with eating in a kitchen with scullery staff surrounding her, and in fact was comfortable with it. That manner made her seem to belong... even if at the same time she was out of place. "Hey there," Kallista said with what good cheer she could muster as she stepped over the bench to sit down next to Kiyone. "... Good morning," the Juraian replied with unintoned politeness, taking another spoonful of the soup the kitchen was serving as its 'simple' breakfast for the morning. Kallista raised an eyebrow at that, then shrugged and looked down at her own bowl as it was set before her. Fairly typical stuff, a somewhat thick mash that had a sort of soft, sweet taste to it. The Hyurodan woman ate a few spoonfuls in silence, then tried again. "Sleep well last night?" "... Yes, thank you." Kiyone's cheeks colored faintly, but she allowed neither her expression nor her tone to change. "And you?" "Nope. After I left you, I went to comfort my friend who lost her lover in the assault, then got rousted out of bed to go search for flowers, of all things." Nodding her thanks to a servant girl who set down a glass of juice for her, Kallista took a drink, waiting for a few minutes to see if Kiyone said anything. When the silence continued, she cleared her throat, and said, quite bluntly, "Is this your version of 'the fuck was nice, now take a hike'?" Kiyone started a bit at the crude language, then turned slightly on the bench and gave Kallista a dirty look. "No, it's not, though that's what I thought you wanted anyway." "Why'd ya think that?" Kallista took another spoonful of her soup, slim orange eyebrows arcing up a bit. "You come into my room, announce 'to hell with it' and start ripping off my clothes, and leave almost immediately after we're done." Kiyone scowled down at her own breakfast, picking at it with her spoon as if having lost her appetite. "It seemed like the very definition of a one night stand." "Okay, so shoot me if I'm not sensitive and emotional and crap!" Kallista snapped back, then sighed, again almost immediately regretting her words. "Oy... okay, look, I really am sorry I didn't make myself more clear." "I thought it was clear," the Juraian muttered sulkily. "Not THAT!" Kallista shung her head momentarily, shark's-fin hair swaying behind her. Then she straightened up and scooted a little closer to the other woman. "I meant... okay, look, it may have been a kinda impulsive thing, but I genuinely like and respect you, Blue Fire." "... Yeah?" The green-haired woman seemed to be trying to hold on to her bad mood, though her tone held a tiny note of hope. "Yeah. I like you, I respect you... I'm sure as hell attracted to you. Isn't that enough to just be lovers for awhile?" "... Maybe." Kiyone looked at Kallista out of the corner of her eye, then sighed. "Unfortunately, we're leaving for Jurai this afternoon." "I know. I'm going with you." "Y-you are?" Indigo eyes went wide, and Kiyone swallowed, feeling bursts of nervousness, relief, and apprehension well up inside her. "Yup. So if you're okay with it, I'd like ta continue our little thing when we get there." "..." Kiyone looked down, then smiled a little at the other woman. "We'll see." "Sure, no pressure." Both women resumed eating, seeming much more at ease now that some of the tension had been resolved. But a great deal of it was still there, wrapping itself around them, unresolved issues lurking just in the wings and waiting for a slipup from either of them to send their little casual relationship crashing to the floor. ------------------------------------------------------------ "They've filed a flight plan... they're leaving in a few hours." "Excellent. Alert the proper number of rebels as to their exact flight plan." ------------------------------------------------------------ "Careful, please!" Ayeka called haughtily, gazing reproachingly at one of the Hyurodan castle staff that was carrying a trunk of her clothing out of the room. "Those trunks are very important to me, they are priceless treasures!" 'And there's no way I'm going back to where I bought them, the staff was horribly rude there.' "Ayeka," Ryoko said quietly as she approached the Juraian princess from behind, voice casual and perhaps expectant. "Ryoko," Ayeka returned in a neutral tone, nodding once to the other princess, then once more tucking her hands inside the sleeves of her elegant blue-and-purple traveling kimono and watching the movers critically. Blinking a bit at the total lack of reaction, Ryoko leaned a bit to the side to look into Ayeka's room. There wasn't a single rock lily to be seen, it was as if they'd never been there. By now a bit puzzled, wondering if she'd somehow forgotten to actually put the flowers in her fiancee's room as she remembered doing, or if she'd merely dreamed the whole thing, Ryoko turned her curious gaze to Ayeka. But the Juraian princess apparently had no attention to spare for the other girl. Privately, it was difficult not to grin, smirk, or in some other way acknowledge that there had been any form of appeasement at all, other than the fact that she was treating Ryoko civilly. "So, uh, we're all goin' on your treeship, huh?" Ryoko tried, resting her arms behind her head. "Treeships, actually," Ayeka replied, deigning to favor her fiancee with a small smile. "My mothers are each bonded to a Juraian royal tree. Mizuho and Karin are very unique treeships, however... they are twins, and in fact are bonded together so closely that they appear to be but a single ship. So it is very large, and very comfortable." "Huh. You got one of those treeship things yet?" "No." Ayeka let her face return to neutral. "No treeship has spoken out to me yet. Likely as part of my coming-of-age ceremonies, to be held soon, I will spend days in one of the royal arboretums, fasting and meditating, awaiting a tree to speak out to me." Heartened by the fact that they were engaging in an actual conversation, Ryoko lifted off the floor, tucking her legs up under her and floating a little closer to the other young woman. "So, these treeships... do they just fade away when the person they're bonded to dies or somethings." "Occassionally. Often they merely replant themselves and await a new person who they feel is proper to bond with. Sometimes a tree so dearly loves the person that they are bonded with that they choose not to continue after they die. In fact, there is a tale of just such a thing." "Well, I like stories." Ryoko nudged Ayeka lightly with her elbow. "C'mon, tell me." Frowning briefly at being poked, but seeming to appreciate Ryoko's attentiveness, Ayeka cleared her throat, taking on a tone similar to a schoolgirl reading a report in front of her class. "Long ago, when the Empire was only beginning to grow, the two greatest Juraian Trees ever to take leaf were grown, Tsunami and Mizutamari. They were siblings, and loved one another very much, though they were as different as the night and the day. Tsunami was fair, and gentle, and spoke only in soft words, and gave aid to all that she could, while Mizutamari was dark, and rough, and was often harsh in what he said, and believed in letting others find their own way and their own strength. "Tsunami was bonded to the Empress, and Mizutamari to the Emperor. Never had such bonds of love existed between Juraian trees and Juraian royalty, and it was said that the royal couple loved their trees as dearly as one another, and with good reason, for though Tsunami was gentle and kind, she was also a fearsome warship and many times defended all of Jurai from attack, and though Mizutamari was rough and aggressive, he was a strong passenger ship and never failed to bring those under his care safely to their destination. "Eventually, though, time took its toll, and the Emperor and Empress began to die. A great and heated argument broke out between Tsunami and Mizutamari. Mizutamari loved the Emperor and Empress greatly, and said that he could not imagine existence without them, and wished to pass over the final threshold with them. Tsunami loved them just as greatly, but was adamant in the belief that one day Jurai would need them again, and they could not afford to indulge themselves in such things, even if it were such a great act of love. "And so, when the time came, the argument unresolved, Mizutamari chose to end his life with that of the Emperor and Empress, while Tsunami remained, replanting herself in the royal arboretum, and awaiting the time when she would again feel the proper bond, and rise again to defend the Empire in its time of greatest need." "Nice little story," Ryoko murmured, more amused by Ayeka's manner throughout than she was by the tale itself. "So, did Tsunami ever find someone to bond with again?" "No." Ayeka shook her head, seeming to have discarded her more formal storytelling method. "She is still in the innermost royal arboretum at the center of the palace, silent and still, waiting." "Must be lonely for her," Ryoko said, almost startling herself with her own sincerity. Perhaps the recounting of the myth or history or whatever it was had gotten to her more than she'd thought. But somehow she really did feel bad for Tsunami, alone in that place, without the two people she'd loved most, or her brother. "Perhaps," Ayeka allowed after a moment, looking rather annoyed. She felt irritable at the thought of Tsunami being lonely, though she really couldn't think why. After a few long minutes of thought, she decided that it was probably because Tsunami was such a part of history, glorified and exaulted through so many generations, that it was a little unsettling to ascribe such a merely human feeling as "loneliness" to her. Seeming to sense that she was treading a fine line towards pissing Ayeka off again, though she couldn't quite understand why, Ryoko debated her options. She could either just plain back off and leave, try to make it better... or try to make it worse. The last option was certainly attractive in its own way, as she very much enjoyed her little spats with the other princess, especially since they tended to culminate in a giant catfight. After a few moments' consideration, though, Ryoko decided it was a little too soon after her big screwup to try and recapture that old flame, since there was a little too much margin for it to actually make Ayeka seriously and lastingly ticked at her again. So, instead, she settled for something a little ways between option one and option two. "Guess I should go do my own packing. I'll see you aboard ship...?" Ayeka nodded slightly. "... Indeed. I will see you then, Ryoko." "Later, Ayeka." ------------------------------------------------------------ "I miss you." "I miss you as well," Funaho murmured, her voice carrying a great tenderness even as her smile to her husband was rather soft and a bit restrained. "But we shall be home soon." Emperor Azusa leaned back on his throne, regarding the holoimage of his wife solemnly, much as he wished he could reach out and attempt to put his hand over hers, as impossible as it was. Yet even over the distance of holoprojection, when his eyes met hers, he could tell that she felt how much he yearned for her, and could feel the same thing in her own gaze. "I look forward to meeting my little daughter's fiancee," he added, though his fingers clenched slightly on the arms of the throne, and his voice betrayed a certain tightness. Funaho smiled just a little wider, feeling laughter bubbling about inside her. 'Doting as always, my love.' "Ayeka is not all that little anymore, Azusa." She let the laughter show in her eyes as she looked at him. So handsome, so imposing, with his thick dark beard and hair, his broad shoulders. So royal and elegant, even if he was acting like any common father displeased with his daughter's growing up. "She is a grown woman now, having had the first emergence of her power. Even if she still has some growing up to do, we can hardly continue to treat her as a child." "Of course," Azusa replied in a perfectly reasonable tone, which translated to: 'I can and will and I fully intend to!' Bemused, not having been fooled at all, Funaho raised her hand and held it out with her fingers spread, Azusa copying the action a moment later. There was a faint flicker on both ends as flesh and blood brushed against photons. "I love you, Azusa, and will be glad to be home again." "As I love you, Funaho. Hurry back." Funaho nodded once, then rose and moved aside and back, allowing Misaki to plop down in the chair she had previously occupied. "Hiiiii honey!" Misaki cooed, propping her elbows up on the control panel and resting her chin against her palms. "Misaki," Azusa replied with a smile, voice turning warm and cheerful. "You're taking good care of Funaho while she is recuperating, I hope?" "Oh, you know her, she never listens to me," Misaki snorted, sticking out her tongue a bit in a gesture of disgust, while Funaho merely looked bemused where she stood in the background. "But I'm doing my best, of course! You're really gonna like Washu, honey, she's a lot of fun, and I think Ayeka really likes Ryoko!" "Ah... does she?" Azusa murmured, obviously fearing for his daughter's virtue. "Uh-huh, you can tell by the way they try to kill each other!" the blue-haired empress chirped. Both Funaho and Azusa developed rather large sweatdrops. "Anyway, sweety, gotta go! It's almost time for us to leave!" On Azusa's side of the connection, the hologram of Misaki suddenly moved up, becoming life-sized, and proceeded to grab the Emperor and give him a very solid kiss. Then, fading back to normal proportions, she waved cheerily. "Bai!" Azusa stared at the holoimage as it derezzed, eyes wide, then murmured, "How does she DO that?" ------------------------------------------------------------ "You look adorable," Ayeka assured her little sister, adjusting Sasami's traveling kimono, which was an exact duplicate of her own, albeit sized appropriately. "Uh-huh," Sasami replied dubiously, but offered no real objection. Ayeka occassionally enjoyed dressing them both alike, something Sasami thought had more to do with her big sister's vanity than with an attempt to look like sisters. Once Ayeka was satisfied that Sasami was properly attired, she moved towards the staircase, Sasami pausing only long enough to bend down a bit so that Ryo-Ohki could scramble onto her head. Descending the stairs, they found that most everyone was waiting on them, grouped together and talking amongst themselves. Funaho was speaking with Washu about the care typically given to Juraian trees in the royal arboretums, the dimunutive Hyurodan queen attired in a dark long-sleeved shirt with golden buttons, a green vest, and khaki shorts. Kiyone seemed to be giving Mihoshi some sort of lecture while Kallista and Riyata looked on in amusement, the Juraian maidservants in their simple white kimonos, and the Hyurodan guards, as always, in their gold breastplates and white loincloths, golden spears resting against their shoulders. "Ah! You two look sooooo cute!" Misaki cried, hurrying over to sieze Sasami in a tight hug. Ayeka started to answer, but became mildly distracted when she noticed Ryoko was looking at her. The Hyurodan princess was wearing very, very tight black pants and a shirt of scarlet silk, which only seemed to be buttoned up about halfway, leaving the shirtfront draping over the full curves of her breasts, and making it abundantly clear she wasn't wearing anything under it. Noticing Ayeka's gaze, Ryoko tilted down the mirrored sunglasses she was wearing, amber eyes dancing a bit. "Something catch your eye, Ayeka?" Ayeka immediately gave a haughty sniff and turned her nose up. "Only that the quality of that shirt is greater than the quality of the one wearing it." Ryoko snorted and used her middle finger to push her sunglasses back up. "Yeah, whatever." "Now now, children," Washu scolded with a smirk on her face. "We have a long flight ahead of us, and I don't want to have to seperate you two." "They have more power when they collide, don't they?" Funaho added mildly as she walked towards the main entrance of the castle. Most everyone stared after her, silent, staring a bit. "Did... FUNAHO just make a double entendre?" Ryoko murmured, her glasses slipping down her nose again. "Oh, you'd be surprised at all the things she can say when properly motivated," Misaki chirped, following after her cowife, leaving yet more stares and not a few sweatdrops in her wake. The transport ride to the spaceport was quiet, mostly because most of the younger people were still staring at the Empresses as if not quite sure what to make of them at the moment. "Will we be taking an orbital transport to the station where Mizuho and Karin are docked as we did last time?" Funaho inquired of Washu, seeming to not even notice the fact that Ryoko was sitting across from her, watching as if she expected the dark-haired woman to sprout a few extra appendages. "No, the orbital transports are temporarily grounded, what with the recent terrorist attack," Washu said, seeming chipper anyway. "We'll be taking the orbital elevator. It's a fifteen minute ride instead of a five minute one, but it'd take something the size of your ship running into it to damage it. All the luggage is already aboard, we're the last bit of cargo to take up!" The transport drew to a halt beside the orbital elevator, a shining semitransparent tube that went up into the sky, seeming to curve slightly somewhere beyond the clouds, even though it ran in a perfectly straight line all the way up to the station where the Juraian treeships were docked. Without ceremony, the royals and their entourage entered the elevator cab, which was a little smaller than the dining room of the castle they'd just left. Save for a few benches and long rectangular windows, it was unadorned. Funaho moved to sit down, flanked by Misaki and Washu, and Ayeka suppressed a little qualm as she realized she'd forgotten that her comother was injured. Funaho seemed so composed and so graceful that it was hard to imagine that she was still healing, even from such a grievous injury as being run through with an energy blade. Riyata and Kallista almost casually took up positions to either side of the doorway, and Ayeka found that Kiyone had drifted closer beside her, and Mihoshi was, at the moment, helping Sasami up to stand on one of the benches so she could more easily look out the window, then staying close by, hands on the little princess' shoulders. It was a subtle reminder that the danger of the rebels displeased with Washu's rule had not passed. Ryoko seemed unaffected, however, simply leaning back against the wall of the elevator carriage, arms folded over her chest, one foot raised up to rest against the wall, the other tapping against the floor for a moment. 'I wonder where she bought those?' Ayeka thought, focusing on the black low-heeled shoes Ryoko was wearing rather than the fact that obviously the guards didn't feel the royals were quite safe, despite what Washu had said about the orbital elevator. Ayeka noticed that the foot-tapping had stopped, and looked up to see that Ryoko was beckoning her over with one finger. Plastering a put-upon look on her face, the Juraian princess moved over, only pausing as the floor shuddered faintly under her feet, causing her to look about in startlement. "We're moving!" Sasami cried delightedly, eyes fixed out the window as they began accellerating rapidly. Trying to calm her rapidly-beating heart, Ayeka resumed her short walk, coming to stand in front of Ryoko. "Yes? What is it?" "Relax a little, princess. You look too jumpy." Ryoko grinned at her, cat's-eyes hidden behind the mirrored lenses. "If you get all scared, you can just hold onto me." "Hmph!" Ayeka turned her nose up and her head away, eyes closed to give her face the maximum expression of haughtiness. "I assure you, I am perfectly fine and in need of no such thing!" "Fine, fine, suit yourself." There was a faint chime from hidden speakers, preceeding an artificial voice coached into a sort of neutral pleasantness. ~Hello, and welcome aboard the Magnificent Spaceport Company's orbital elevator 1567-E, service to Magnificent Spaceport modular geosync station H3N7A1. Transit time today will be approximately sixteen minutes from the chime.~ *ding* ~The station has today been arranged to provide direct corridor access to the Juraian ship MizuhoKarin. If this is not in accordance with your travel plans, we apologize for the inconvenience; please inform one of the attendants upon your arrival. Thank you for using Magnificent Spaceport Company services, and have a good trip!~ "I think whoever writes those things was on a good trip," Kallista snorted under her breath. Little else was said during the short ride, as the blue sky outside faded into dark navy, and then into black with steady, bright shining stars. There was a brief view of the silver slope of the space station, and an arch of Mizuho and Karin's bow, before the elevator was sliding into its docking port aboard the station. The doors slid open, revealing a long, wide hallway, and two attractive Hyurodan wearing dark teal miniskirts and uniform jackets, as well as odd little berets. 'I never quite got why some people think those stewardess outfits are so hot, I think they're ugly as hell,' Ryoko thought with a mental scoff, pushing off the wall and walking for the exit. "Welcome to Magnificent Spaceport Company geographically synchronous station H3N7A1," one of the stewardesses bubbled at no one in particular. "I hope your ride up was pleasant?" "No, the elevator developed a hull fracture and we all explosively decompressed," Ryoko replied blandly, much to the amusement of her guards, mother, and her Juraian guests, though the latter tried not to show it. "Ahem." The stewardess cleared her throat, having to do her very best not to shoot the rather high-ranking VIP a dirty look. "If you'll follow us, it's just a brief walk to your ship." Both of the station attendants turned around to lead the way, revealing the little cotton puff "bunny tails" affixed to the backs of their skirts. Still, despite her opinion of the uniforms, Ryoko couldn't help but notice that they did flattering things for the hips and rear. 'Hm, maybe I can see the attraction.' Ryoko glanced at Ayeka, out of the corner of her eye, hidden by her sunglasses, then grinned a bit. '... Nah. She'd never go for it.' 'If only the color weren't so horrible, I'd look magnificent in one of those,' Ayeka thought rather wistfully, averting her eyes upwards to keep them off of the stewardess'... tails. 'Perhaps it's time to get Misaki's stewardess uniform out of storage,' Funaho mused. ------------------------------------------------------------ "These will be your quarters," Misaki said brightly, throwing open several doors. "The ship's garden is that way, entertainment area on the one side of it, observation area on the other. If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to call us." The empress swept off to her own room to see to Funaho as the Hyurodan began settling into their own rooms, the duck shuddering ever-so-faintly under their feet as it disembarked from the space station and began its gradual acceleration to the edge of the system. "Quite a ship, huh?" Kallista said appreciatively as she flopped down on a red velvet "fainting couch". "I think this place if fancier than the castle back home." "I'd wager money on it," Riyata murmured, crouching down on one knee and resting a bit of her weight on her spear. "I mean, if their ships are this opulent, can you imagine what the palace must be like?" "Quite a bit more amazing." Both guards blinked and looked over at Washu, who was standing with her fists on her hips and a smug look on her face. "You've been to the Juraian royal palace?" Kallista said, rather impressed. "Oh, a long, long time ago, back when I was attending the science academy on Jurai." "You mean back when the sulfur pools heated and the first amino acids began joining together to create cells?" Ryoko snickered from nearby. "I'm glad you think I'm God, Ryoko, but if you're going to kiss up, do it here, huh?" Washu replied with a smirk, tilting her head and tapping her cheek. Once Ryoko had rolled her eyes and given her mother a kiss on the cheek, Washu continued, folding her arms over her chest. "The Juraian royal palace was begun almost four million years ago, and wasn't completed until about 500,000 years ago, and is the size of a large city. It contains four arboretums, each at least twenty miles in diameter, with the main arboretum far below the ground over fifty miles in diameter. At least two of its towers had to be built by workers wearing vacuum suits due to the height coming close to scraping the stratosphere. It contains a small planetoid's worth of minerals, a lot of it white marble. It has its own population of maintainers and servants, and contains for them its own restaurants, shopping areas, and of course many different sports arenas and parks." "Good lord, there must be almost as many people living there as there are on our homeworld," Riyata said, exchanging a slack-jawed look with Kallista. "Not quite, but it might be an embarrassing comparison all the same," Washu murmured, looking bemused for a moment, then shaking her head. "But we're two very different races, remember girls. Though the Jurai have greater cities and many more colony worlds, few outside of the royal family have any special abilities, and their technology, save these treeships, is merely galaxy-standard. Any Hyurodan with a power gem can do amazing things, and our technology is more advanced." "Yeah, it's too bad it hasn't helped us," Ryoko snorted, dropping into a chair and sprawling out at it, endeavoring to look bored and mildly annoyed despite the comfort of her perch. "It is odd, isn't it?" Washu frowned marginally, her voice turning thoughtful. "The Juraians certainly seem populous and prosperous enough that they could support themselves, and with the Hyurodan advancements in energy crystal usage and technology, we should be flourishing and expanding at an almost alarming rate." "'Alarming'?" Kallista raised one eyebrow. "Alarming if you're not a Hyurodan," Washu amended with a grin, before turning serious again. "However, it's almost as if no matter what we could have done, the Juraians and the Hyurodan would have to come together for this alliance. A most peculiar occurrence of massive circumstance. I'll have to look into it." "Whatever, whatever," Ryoko said airily, waving a hand dismissively. "Doesn't matter to me. I marry Miss Priss and proceed to live out my days in luxury in what's starting to sound like a self-contained paradise. The universe can attend to itself." Riyata rose and took a slight step to the side, smoothly blocking Washu and Ryoko's view of Kallista's annoyed expression. "I think I'm gonna go take a look at the garden. Kallista, mind covering duty for me while I do?" "Sure," the orange-haired woman replied, having composed herself. "Be respectful to any trees," Washu advised brightly. "Very funny," Riyata grunted, rolling her eyes and heading for the door. "Who said I was joking?" Riyata paused in the doorway, then nodded once and resumed course. A few minutes walk brought her to the ship's personal garden, a slight dampness almost immediately settling on her skin. The black-haired guard blinked a little, then inhaled deeply. She'd noticed that being aboard a Juraian treeship was unlike being on a normal ship or station in that the air was as fresh as on a planet, not recycled or pumped from cylinders. But here... here was the smell of plants and wet, rich earth that she hadn't smelled in decades. She'd almost forgotten what it was like, on the damaged Hyurodan homeworld where the air, even in the castle's garden, had the tang and dry shock of the desert that surrounded it. She glanced around briefly, finding herself feeling a little nervous, as if there might be a 'Do Not Walk On The Grass' sign. When she realized what she was doing, she grumbled a little to herself and strode forward determinedly, then paused just to watch dew collecting on the metal of her boots. The novelty wore off after a few minutes, but not the simple joy of being in a place that was so thoroughly alive, of looking up to see stars slip past above a canopy of leaves. Riyata walked more slowly as she wove between various sorts of trees, some of which she recognized, others that were completely foreign to her. But as she approached a large pond which had its own small waterfall, she noticed that all the trees were of a sort she recognized... and what's more, they bore large, just-shy-of-ripe blurfruits, their color still a little bunched-together in places, red still close to red, green still close to green, the blue just starting to meander its way in amidst the other colors. A personal favorite of hers, as well as the exact stage she liked to eat them in, when they were still tart and the flavors not fully blended. Again, she got that guilty feeling, like she was contemplating something she shouldn't do. After a moment, she shrugged it off, then paused before continuing. With a sort of half-serious embarrassment, she looked directly at one tree. "I'm just going to take one of these. ... Respectfully, y'know. Thanks." She listened for a moment, as if for an answer, then made a face at herself when she realized what she was doing. Shrugging it off again, she reached her spear up and gave a blurfruit a good rap, careful to temper her strength so that it simply jarred from its stem and fell to her hand, rather than turning into a multicolored smear on a viewport. Catching it easily, she took a close look, making sure it wasn't some odd mutant sort (at least visibly), then raised it to her lips. "You didn't say please," came a lyrical voice almost directly in her ear. Riyata immediately stepped forward and whirled at the same time, dropping the fruit to bring her spear into a guard position. She didn't know how someone had snuck up on her, but... they... hadn't? She blinked as she saw... well, nothing. The garden looked just as it had. She could faintly hear someone in the distance, but they sounded like they'd just entered the garden from close to where she had... it couldn't have been them. Suspiciously, she glanced down at the blurfruit, as if suspecting it of having made her hear things even though she'd yet to so much as actually touch it with her teeth. "And that's really not very polite," came another almost musical admonishment, of a slightly different timbre, from the side this time. Riyata whirled again, facing the pond, and again saw nothing. She scowled. Maybe some sort of pollen from one of the trees she didn't recognize. "So atone!" This time, it was both voices together. Riyata whirled yet again, and this time was rewarded with the sight of two tall, near-identical Juraian women. In fact, only their hair and eye color distinguished them, the one on the right with blue hair tinted with purple and purple eyes with flecks of blue, the colors flip-flopped on the other. And it seemed that their ankle-length locks were the only thing they were wearing, other than the merry expressions on their face, since Riyata got quite an eyeful as each of them raised one leg and booted her into the pond. The Hyurodan guardswoman *oomph*ed as she landed on her rump in the water, finding it to be only about a foot deep where she had landed. She sat there in a bit of shock, looking all around the shore for any sign of the women that she'd seen. Instead, she saw the dark-skinned Juraian guard she'd been coming to know the past few days, Mihoshi. Mihoshi was covering her mouth with one hand, though whether it was to cover dismay or amusement wasn't readily apparent. "I suppose you think this is funny?" Riyata grumbled, taking a guess. "Not at all," Mihoshi replied hurriedly, laughter in her voice. Finally, she let her hand drop, revealing the bright smile she'd been hiding. Still, there was just innocent amusement there... despite the laughter being due to Riyata's misfortune, there was such a lack of maliciousness there that Riyata nevertheless found herself soothed. Mihoshi rounded the shore of the pond, to stand in front of Riyata. "I guess the twins got you, huh?" "Yeah, looks like," Riyata murmured, looking down at herself, then looking up and blinking, something about the phrase "the twins" clicking in her mind. "... Mizuho and Karin?" "Uh-huh. The garden's the only place they can manifest their, um... oh yeah, their spirit forms!" Mihoshi nodded, looking a bit proud of herself for remembering the term. "At least when they're in space like this. It's the only place where they can take on a human form and really interact, and they get pretty mischievious sometimes." Mihoshi glanced around, then leaned forward to whisper to Riyata, seeming undaunted by the fact that the beings she was trying to avoid being heard by comprised the whole of everything surrounding her. "Personally, I think they get pretty mean sometimes." As if to prove Mihoshi's point, the twins shimmered into being behind her and, moving in perfect concert and taking advantage of the maidservant's position while speaking to Riyata, each delivered a good, hearty slap to her buttocks. Mihoshi gave a yelp that must have been audible all over the ship and toppled forward, sending up a small geyser of water as she involuntarily bellyflopped into the pond. Mihoshi gave a pitiful moan of anguish as she sat up, holding her hands out and watching her sleeves drip. "I'm weeeet!" Riyata felt something lurch inside her stomach, and a faint trembling began all throughout her body. For a small part of a second, she wondered if she were going to be sick. And then, she burst out laughing, putting one hand to her head and leaning back on the other. Mihoshi jutted her lower lip out in a pout. "Hey! It's not funny at all!" "Yes, it is!" Riyata howled, smacking a fist against the water, her shoulders shaking. "It really, really is!" The blonde maidservant continued to pout, but slowly it faded away, and soon she was giggling, putting both hands over her mouth. Riyata's laughter began to trail off, and she smiled at Mihoshi, chuckles still rumbling in her throat. She realized with a shock that it was the first time she'd laughed or even really smiled since Ada had died. That's why she'd been so confused when she'd felt it beginning... somehow, the grief had so consumed her that she'd believed she could never be happy again, let alone sitting in a pond in the middle of space laughing. Shaking her head, the smile refusing to leave her lips, and looked at Mihoshi. Again, realization hit like a blast of lightning over how beautiful she was. Smooth, dark skin, flower-yellow hair, eyes the color of the mildest, clearest skies, the drenched silk of her white kimono ever-so-faintly transparent and clinging to her breasts and stomach and legs. But this time, the sickness she felt almost immediately was real... how could she? She turned her head away, glowering. What kind of monster was she to look at another woman, when the woman she'd loved was dead and in the ground, slipping ever further away with each second the ship was moving? "Um, Riyata," Mihoshi whispered, leaning forward and tilting her head, her own amusement having disappeared. "What's wrong?" "... It's nothing, really." "But... you-" Whatever Mihoshi might have said in her attempt to comfort the other woman were cut off by the ship lurching abruptly. Mihoshi shrieked in surprise and fright as she was sent lurching forward, and Riyata instinctively grabbed for her, shoving the Juraian under herself and assuming a wolflike protiective stance on all fours in the water, one arm wrapped around Mihoshi and under her head to keep it above water, the other against the ground and gripping her spear. "We are under attack." Two voices speaking as one, filling the ship, impishness, laughter, and song gone from the tone. "Repeat, we are under attack."
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