A time before the great tragety, A time of gathering a peace

[Liam Aino]

Liam found events away from his home to be tedious and rather overwhelming. He liked his routine and when he returned from school he would disappear into his room or some other place so he could hide from his mother or sister. He considered both a bit overbearing. He knew they loved him and were well intentioned but he still they both tried sod hard to find him someone who they thought would be a good for him. He let them try and as he finished up dressing for the formal affair. He sighed again as some of the palace staff came in to check on him. He smiled politely and waited while they offered assistance. He politely declined as he had come ahead of his mother and sister. He didn’t cherish the ride on the military transport with either of them. He had finished up his swim practice and caught the first transport to the palace. He was glad that there was space for him. He waited until they left and then looked at his attire in the full length mirror. He had purposely chosen not to comb his hair as a point to his mother. It wasn’t he didn’t like her. He loved her and he wanted to be out of her gaze for a while and that wish was granted. He heard the door open again only this time he knew the measured step of who it was who entered.

“Liam I know your here, are you dressed and ready?”

He kept from cringing at the sound of her voice as he exited the room and presented himself to his mother. She smiled and then it dropped half a centimeter at his guess.

“You’re not combing your hair?”

Liam shook his head and this caused a small shrug of Minako’s shoulders but her smiled returned.

“Alright let’s get in there. I’ll be along shortly after I change my clothes. I left your sister there. Please go and see your girlfriend Chi. I wouldn’t want to leave her to long with Freya.”

Liam nodded again as Minako came over and hugged him.

“You’re so big from the little one I brought into this world. Liam have fun please?”

His mother was very aware of his introverted behavior and didn’t push him to hard when it came to public events. This was one of the few times when he knew she would insist on this event. He smiled at his mother as he left the room quietly and started the walk to the ball room. It was at least a twenty minute walk and once he arrived he felt an hit of anxiety as the palace staff opened the doors. He took a deep breath and entered into the sea of people. He said hello and waved at people he had met. He stopped and said a small thing to others he had met more than once. When he was nearly toward the opposite wall he saw Chi and made his way over. He rendered pleasantries as he moved through the people. He stopped as he approached Chi and noticed Freya was with her. He had to calm himself as he came up and hugged Chi. He placed a kiss on her cheek.

“Chi, it’s nice that you haven’t been stolen away for a dance yet.”

The kiss was well practiced for public and he took her hand and held it as a couple would have held it in public to denote they were together.

“Anything interesting happen yet?”

[Ada Mizuno]

Ada was about to stand up and emerge from the Mercury Guest Room before her mother got really angry and did something drastic like take away all of her projects and computer systems. Her projects and computer systems numbered in the tens at the very least and ranged from ancient Terran systems that cost a pretty penny to the newest computer software and hardware that the famous Mercury technology firms produced. While they would be very time-intensive to move, Queen Mercury would do it just to prove a point to her offspring. Faced with that dreadful possibility and with no other way out of the situation, Ada reluctantly went along with her mother's wishes.

The bespectacled princess stood up when she heard knocking at the door and felt a minuscule sense of dread that her mother was going to issue another ultimatum. That dread changed to something resembling joy when instead of Queen Mercury, the form of the famous Du'Avatar opened the door and entered the room. For once Ada had a pleasant surprise in her life. Most surprises came from ancient Terran computer viruses and ancient Terran spam updated for the new era.

Ada could not believe that she was in the presence of the most famous technophile in the galaxy. Du'Avatar was so proficient with technology that she made the Mizunos look like novices playing with plastic children's toy computers. There was no computer system that Du'Avatar did not know how to operate, no problem that she could not fix in the blink of an eye. The woman standing before her was what all computer programmers and technophiles aspired to be like.

"This is... this is awonderfulsurprise!" The stunned Ada squeaked before leaping out of her seat and rushing to hug Du'Avatar. She was three steps away when she realized what she was doing and stopped herself before her arms wrapped around the levitating living legend. The bespectacled princess felt something approaching embarrassment and caught a glimpse of the holographic screen as she looked away with a red face. She did not see what her idol was doing and it was none of her business.

"Um... sorryaboutthat." Ada meekly apologized to Du'Avatar. This was really awkward.

[Tomoe Natsumi]

Natsumi followed her mother and made her way to the carriage to be taken to the party. As always....she found herself getting lost in the beauty of the darkness....and the stars. The stars..how they twinkled.... And yet....Natsumi always thought that this was lost on her. This wasn't her. It wasn't her destiny. She couldn't say what she was meant to do, but this - going to parties and wasting time on small talk - wasn't it. She didn't actually have any hard feelings against her 'cousins' (Cousins being the operative word as she actually had no blood ties to them at all), but she simply wasn't able to find a tie to them yet. She sighed against as their carriage got closer and closer to the grand gala.

"I wonder if stars snore." She said absent mindedly.

"If anyone would hear it," Her mother joked.."It would be my daughter..."

[William Tenoh]

William was hanging around with Hayate and waiting for the other shoe to drop when his mother arrived. He bristled when she touched him. He knew that as soon as they found out about buzzing the Moon Palace he was going to get an earful from Queen Neptune, his other mother. While William disliked Queen Uranus, he absolutely loathed Queen Neptune; he was pretty sure that the feeling was mutual. Queen Neptune was not the sort to tolerate imperfect children that she could not control.

"I lost track. It was pretty fast, though. It probably scared the air traffic control personnel." William said to his primary mother, making a vague reference to the commotion he had caused with his flashy entrance. Queen Uranus was the one who had given William life... such as it was. However, she had also given him more than blond hair and blue eyes. Thanks to the magic of science and carefully selected genetics she also passed on her need for speed and her amorous nature to William. Queen Neptune had wished that the Tenoh siblings would keep their feet on the ground, but the younger Tenoh was not interested in giving up his birthright, which was the sky itself.

Neptune probably wished that he would give up his customized Liberator and settle for riding in the dropship, but that was not going to happen either. The Liberator was one of the few things keeping the male Tenoh anchored to the world. The other thing was the possibility of going out with Freya Aino, but she had the hots for the perpetually moody Felix Hino and William was left in the friend zone. At least Sakuya Hino was friendly towards him... maybe she would be the one to connect with William. Maybe.

[Freya Aino]

Freya smiled as Chi returned the hug and took her hand. She thought of Freya as the sister that she had wanted but instead she had a brother she loved. She had at one time thought of making a swap with Mizuki so she could get Chi and she could have Liam. This being after Liam started talking. He was a good brother but quiet. She loved him now and wouldn’t trade him.

“You need the break and let Mizuki do some work. I don’t think you’ll be missed at all.”

When she went onto how they had outdone themselves she nodded in agreement. Chi’s parents had really done an excellent job.

“Your mom and dad really have done a great job with this ball.”

She smiled as she watched as her brother entered and approached Chi. Well he was being a bit bold here. She was happy for him and Chi. She felt she was intruding here.

“Ah I see he has arrived. Why don’t you two go get some time. I’ll snag Mizuki to take over your duties. After all I wouldn’t want you to miss time with Liam. Go.”

She giggled happily for them as she shooed them off. She waited though to see if Chi was going to take advantage of the break.

[Du'Avatar]

Du’Avatar accepted the hug and hugged Ada back. It wasn’t awkward and she generally found the practice to be acceptable in most situations. The princess never struck her as a hugger but her mother was so this was logical that the offspring was as well. She hasn’t ever thought of the princess as a bother. It was quite contrary to that. She found the princess to be refreshing and intelligent in a world where everyone else aspired to be something that was emulated from something else. This young mind though had potential and her mother either didn’t see it or wished to ignore. She was an Esper.

“Not as surprised as I was when your mother asked me to come along. I’ll be in good company with you though.”

She released Ada from the hug and smiled at the young girl who had decided on her own that she shouldn’t see what was on her holographic screens. She wanted to see if she could make them do what she wanted.

“You needn’t apologize princess about the hug. You can view them. All I ask is you turn them to you. After that you can look all you wish at the information. It is after all something you’ll need to be able to do as the future Queen of Mercury. Command them to swivel to you.”

Her smile spoke of her acceptance and joy at a child like Ada. She was one that wouldn’t be out of place in her Data Hive as a secondary processor and then finally after a hundred years or so the new Avatar of Technology. It would not happen though as she was born to Queen Ami Mizuno. Her talent would not be cultivated and that was a true shame in her eyes.

“You can feel them can’t you, the thrum of their existence, the data they hold, and most of the call of them. Listen and you will hear it.”

She gently nudge her to open up that sense she had hidden away that her mother didn’t allow her to cultivate.

[Ada Mizuno]

It was said that Du'Avatar had an understanding of technology that few could match; not even the famous Mizunos could hope to match Du'Avatar's expertise with computers. It was said that Du'Avatar had the exceptionally rare gift of being able to literally speak with machines and understand them in a way that no one else could. Many coveted the youth's ability and many more wished to learn how to commune with the machines that were an integral part of modern life in these peaceful time. However, Du'Avatar was notoriously selective of who she associated with and even more selective of who she offered to train in her gift.

And here the "high priestess of technology" was, standing in the corridors of galactic power and at the heart of its government. She was face-to-face with the Princess of Mercury and it felt perfectly natural. Ada could not quite put a finger on why, but the bespectacled princess felt at ease around the being standing before her.

Ada eagerly listened to Du'Avatar and reached out to the nearest piece of technology, which just so happened to be the PDA left lying on the couch. The princess closed her eyes to focus entirely on it and listened to the small device speak. It told the story of its creation and of its purpose. It began to speak in high-pitched binary code, then it spoke in soft human language. Ada understood it all before Ada lost focus and it cut off when talking about its inspiration, which was a device on Ancient Terra known as the PDA.

"The PDA tells me of its origins in Magellan Castle's labs and how it was created to help me. It spoke of being the descendant of Ancient Terran portable technology, perhaps even a device owned by Queen Mercury in the days she was known as Ami Mizuno. It also told me what is old will be made new again. I find that last part to be a bit cryptic." Ada reported what she had learned to her mentor. Speaking with technology was strange, but it felt natural. It felt "right" to Ada Mizuno.

[Hayate Tenoh]

Hayate looked at her younger brother's "interaction" with their primary mother and knew that what little affection he showed her was feigned. He had disliked Queen Uranus for years, but their relationship had taken a tiny turn for the better a few years ago. He and Queen Neptune were still enemies, but the animosity was mostly one-sided because the ocean queen had only wanted her offspring to do well. William detested Queen Neptune's perfectionist ways and stern admonitions against what she perceived as irresponsible behavior on the prince's part. Hayate had sort of made peace with the ocean-haired monarch and was not as openly disdainful of Neptune as her brother, but the older Tenoh sibling did not care for her either because she wanted both Tenohs to give up flying and keep their feet firmly on the ground.

That was something that the Tenoh siblings could not tolerate.

That would be like Queen Uranus demanding that the Kaiohs quit swimming and move to a dry desert planet instead of residing on the aquatic planet that was their birthright.

The Tenohs were the sovereigns of the sky. Despite being born in a lab thanks to test tubes and plenty of other assorted techno-wizardry, Hayate and William still felt the call of the sky and would answer it any chance they got. No one would deny them what was theirs, not even Queen Neptune. Queen Neptune would just have to learn that there were some things in this world that she could not control with stern words and disapproving glares.

"Yeah... I'm pretty sure that William came close to setting a speed record." Hayate said diplomatically, deliberately omitting any mention of the chaos that her brother's stunt had caused. It was not like she could hold that omission over his head for leverage. William cared little about the consequences of such actions and only lived in the moment. It was hard to threaten someone who cared so little for their own life that they would willingly risk death just to perform a stupid stunt to shake up the "squares" who worked at the Moon Palace.

[Mizuki Tsukino]

Mizuki has Eileen with her and was making her rounds as she caught sight of William coming and smiled. He was here and his mothers were already accosting him. That was sad but she decided she would throw him a life line. She nudged Eileen and made a motion toward William she smiled and nodded. They made their way over to the Queen of Uranus and the Queen of Neptune and both curtsied in unison.

“Your majesties.”

As they rose Eileen looked at William and realized he was rather cute maybe even ruggedly handsome. Mizuki spoke up first though to keep the attention on them.

“I was hoping we could borrow Prince William for some light work of assisting me in greeting people as they enter. I promise we will keep him out of trouble.”

She had heard from some of the guards the ruckus he had caused flying in. She decided to up the ante as well.

“I was hoping to relieve my sister to allow her time with Prince Liam since they would most likely enjoy the company of each other. A dance as well most likely.”

She smiled as she waited for them to answer.

[William Tenoh]

William nearly frowned when he heard that Mizuki was trying to shanghai him into greeting people who were guests at the party. He especially hated someone forcing him into work. He was about to protest the unwanted chore when in a rare moment of rational behavior he slowed down and actually thought about what the pink-haired royal was trying to do for him by making the request that she did.

Mizuki was trying to bail him out of the trouble his dumb-ass stunt had created.

William saw the escape rope for what it was and was eager to take it. However, he had to play this smooth. If he looked too eager, the queens would cotton onto what he did sooner rather than later. Ideally the prince wanted to be as far away as possible when the fecal matter hit the oscillating air device. Mizuki's idea would at least give him enough room for a running start before Queen Neptune released the hounds on him.

"I think Mizuki has a great idea." William said in a calm manner. He was trying to be smooth, but if he laid it on too think he might give himself away. It was best to be cool and stay low-key. Maybe Hayate would also help him pull the great escape off.

[Chisana Usagi]

Chi sighed as a break was mentioned from all the greeting. She enjoyed seeing everyone all dressed though seeing so many people was exhausting . She just liked having all her close friends around. It made her small one feel bigger. Plus she really liked Freya and Liam.

“I sometimes think it is their own personal challenge. I would have been fine with a smaller party of sorts.”

A smile crossed her face as her boyfriend was mentioned. It was time to keep up their public appearances. She knew this was beneficial for both of them. It allowed their parents to get off their backs and not step them up with poor dates. She could count the number of those on both her hands. The last guy was awful. She was thankful for the rescue from a prince, just not her one and only.

She kissed him on the cheek as she hugged him. She sighed as she squeezed his hand. She winked at Freya, “Thank you, i promise to return him in one piece.”

She winked as the blonde girl took off. She was happy that her sister would take over and she could get into the quiet recesses of the castle. Her attention was on Liam as he body turned fully towards him.

“Shall we get some punch and then I can show you some of the new statues in the garden? Or we can get a quick dance in?” It was code for how much of the pretending he wanted to do. She was more than happy to offer him an escape from the royal duties.

[Neri Kaioh]

Neri sighed as the one princess came to greet them. She curtsied as well to the high princess. She usually thought of the twins as nothing more than high and mighty. Most likely they never have issues as everyone loves them. She wanted to be long gone from here. She doubted she would ever get the rescue as her brother did. She could get out of trouble all on her own.

Michiru nodded her approval as the crown princess offered a job. This was in no way saving him from this discussion later. She had a lot of questions for him and his flying. “I approve of this. Please enjoy your time together.”

Her attention was back to her other children. “It’s time to mingle with those here. Isn’t that the ambassador from the Orion system?”

Neri felt the arm of her mother wrap around her as she was guided into a conversation she did not want. She felt a nudge in her side as she put on her pretend smile. This was going to be a long night.

[Mizuki Tsukino]

Mizuki smiled and curtsied to the Queen’s of Neptune and Uranus. She was happy to have someone to face the masses with her as she motioned for Eileen to help her escort him over toward the entrance doors.

“His help and your permission is appreciated. He will stay out of trouble with us. Right Eileen?”

Eileen who was looking at William the way she sized up a wound on a rugby player smiled and nodded quickly in agreement with Mizuki.

“Yes your majesties he will be in good hands. Firm but good hands.”

Mizuki hooked her arm in William’s and Eileen followed suit and they led him off to station themselves by the door so they could greet people as they entered.

“Will, this is Eileen, Eileen is the team doctor for our school’s rugby team. She’s a good friend, my best friend. I know we’re going to get along and do this right. After all Chi deserve time with Liam. Let’s not get in trouble with our parents ok Will?”

Eileen was thrilled to be here even though she had come to the palace many times. This however was her first formal event. She was loving it.

“So Prince William....what kind of trouble did you cause that Miz had to bail you of just a moment ago?”

[William Tenoh]

"Oh, I buzzed the castle's air traffic control tower on my way to land." William admitted to Eileen once they were away from Queen Uranus and Queen Neptune. There was no point in hiding what he had done. It would only be the talk of the staff by the time the formal ball started. Queen Neptune would find out soon enough and play the gracious queen in public before herding him to a private place and tearing into him for a laundry list of sins both real and perceived.

So what?

It was the same old song and dance Queen Neptune had used on her prodigal son so many times before. William could even recite the lines to her well-worn speech that was always delivered with false concern for his well-being. She was more worried about him tarnishing the family's perfect image.

She was rough on him because she just wanted him to succeed.

William needed to shape up and be a prince, not an immature teenager.

William needed to keep his feet on the ground and take his royal responsibilities more seriously.

William needed to give up his birthright in the skies just to make Ocean Lady happy.

If she wanted a Tenoh puppet to control, why did she consent to creating William instead of ending the Tenoh line at Hayate? Who knew what ran through Queen Neptune's mind at any given time? Did it really matter? William was a defective part in Queen Neptune's plan and she would either force him back in line or create a new Tenoh who was more amenable to being controlled by her.

[Librarian Echo]

The conversation would be interrupted by a voice that may be a distant memory to Hotaru but it’s inflection would ring with memories of her Glaive.

“You have done what many have wagered you wouldn’t do. I find this offspring to be runty looking and lacking. She will carry the burden of the Glaive?”

It was a disembodied voice but quickly coalesced into a form. It was a form Hotaru wouldn’t ever forget and one that came with a price. That price was passing on the weapon to her daughter as only a daughter would be able to carry it.

“Stars have their own life child. They tend to have a long waking cycle and when they sleep they go blue in color. Your mother could make a star sleep. A snore from a star would be dangerous as they do it only once.”

The green eyes burned in the hood and were the only thing that could be seen in its depths.

“Saturn....Bringer of Death...Mistress of Destruction....Lady of Silence....when do you give this child a proper education of her duty? When is the time? She must be given that duty. I fear if I were to allow it she wouldn’t like how I find out if she’s worthy.”

The words held a quiet menace all their own. They were threatening but carried weight. That of a parent who had already started with their own children.