This is a memory sequence that Hotaru is experiencing.

(indicates memory or dream)

I wrote it, but the Wsmiths (excluding Thog) belong to Faith Sarver/Savere 
Hotaru. I owe the other characters to Naoko Takeuchi and Gene Roddenbery. 
Here goes!




     (She'd been born as a normal girl on Earth, during the
Golden Millenium. Her parents had loved her, but they had died
when she was a teenager. She turned to her musical talent to
survive, becoming a minstrel.
     Five years after she got started in the music business, she
was still avoiding permanent relationships.
     Till one day, she and a traveling bard ended up in the same
village. The fire haired beauty had taken a room next to her in
the inn, and they had gotten to talking. The bard was named
Imani, and she was from the other side of the world. Despite
herself, Hotaru found herself liking the other young traveler.
That night, they performed together and split the huge proceeds.
They parted amiably the next day, heading to different villages
to minimize conflict.
     A few months later, Hotaru found herself offering her
services to a group of nomadic shepherds. The headman had shook
his head sadly. "Sorry, but we have two gleeman types ourselves.
You're welcome to travel with us to the next village, though."
     Hotaru agreed. She had slept well the next night, knowing
there were plenty of guards around the nomad camp. She woke
early, as the entire camp began to stir. She heard a melody float
through the dawn chill. She walked over to a tree, where a
shepherd was watching a herd of sheep. He sat against the tree,
playing a haunting tune on a reed pipe. She sat next to him.
"You're pretty good."
     He blushed, "Thank you."
     A voice came from behind them, "In the morning's fearsome
chill, the brave ones find the will, to shower and survive."
     The shepherd chuckled. "Thogan, that is really, really bad.
I know you can do better than that."
     A blond haired boy walked into their line of vision. "Not
after a full night on guard duty." He started when he saw Hotaru.
"Good morning."
     She smiled. These young men were funny. "Hello. I'm Hotaru,
the one who's job you're stealing."
     The shepherd nodded. "Oh, so you're that bard? Our tribe has
never had to hire outside entertainment before. I'm Brian, by the
way. That idiot who should be asleep in one of the wagons by now
is my brother Thogan."
     Despite Brian's comment, none of the three went back to
sleep. They spent the entire day making sure none of the sheep
wandered off and making music and poetry together. That night
they passed a village, and Hotaru reluctantly left them.
     A week later, she found herself in a small city. She looked
in the main tavern, but she'd been beaten to it. She found four
more inns to be the same. She arrived at another, The Roasted
Hog, and peered in. Her face fell. In this one there was a bard
AND a juggler. She was leaving as she felt a hand on her
shoulder. "Wait."
     She turned around, and the brightly dressed juggling girl
stood there. "Yes?"
     The blond girl offered, "You're a minstrel, right?"
     Hotaru nodded. "Yes."
     The juggler leaned forward. "Every single place in this town
has an established bard. They've all settled in. You won't find a
place to perform. Do you have any money?"
     Hotaru grimaced. "No. I gave my last gold to farmers last
night."
     The juggler frowned. "It's a cold night. Come in, you can
share my room. The floor's hard, but it's warm."
     Hotaru smiled. "How can I thank you?"
     The juggler confided. "I can't find any bards around here
who can play a decent dancing tune. Can you?"
     Hotaru nodded. "I certainly can."
     With that, Hotaru was pulled into the inn. The juggler
introduced herself as Nyale. Hotaru began to play The Apple Falls
on the Fool's Head, a catchy tune. Nyale cleared away the tables,
and started to dance in an exotic pattern on the cleared floor.
Soon the entire audience was clapping. She switched to Girl's
Revenge, a song whose dance includes the girls running helter
skelter through the men while they dance in complex patterns. All
the men in the place began the dance, and Nyale flipped through
them, obviously a dancer by trade.
     After that night, Nyale and Hotaru went their separate ways,
but now Hotaru had four people she couldn't stop thinking about.
She had been cold inside, but now she felt an urging to see the
people she could call acquaintances, if not friends.
     The next month she was captured by a raiding party from a
nearby barbarian village. She was locked up and despaired, sure
she would be despoiled and worse. So when the red headed young
man showed up at the door to her cell, she cringed. He unlocked
the door. He gestured her to be silent and led her out of the
village. Once they were out of the gates, he turned to her. "Good
luck." He pressed her belongings into her arms.
     She was curious. "Who are you? Why did you help me?"
     He smiled. "My name is Mark. Call me a concientious
objector. I was leaving, and I figured I should take you with
me."
     Hotaru blinked. "Where will you go?"
     Mark shrugged. "Wherever. Away from here. I can get a job as
a guard, or a barkeep, or something else. I'm jack of all
trades."
     Hotaru offered, "Come with me. I'm a traveling minstrel. I
could use the help."
     He smiled. "Sure."
     They traveled together, Hotaru performing and Mark
encouraging the crowd for her, increasing their profits. He also
began fixing things for other travelers and farmers they stayed
with. Within two weeks they were a formidable pair.
     That night they checked with an innkeeper of a small, out of
the way village. He laughed. "I go months without one offer of a
gleeman, and now I have two. I'm sorry, you've been preceded."
     A familiar red head poked her head out. "Hotaru!" Imani ran
out. "How did we end up in the same village again?"
     The inn keeper blinked. "You know each other."
     Hotaru nodded. "We're friends. Imani, meet Mark. He saved me
from being ravished by some barbarians."
     Imani grinned. "Hello there. Hey, Hotaru, want to double
team them again?"
     Hotaru nodded. "Be glad to."
     The inn keeper was puzzled. "You're going to perform
together?"
     Imani nodded, and that was that. They performed together,
and with Mark to stir up the crowd, they earned an enormous
amount of money.
     Imani chuckled. "Maybe we should do this more often."
     Hotaru smiled. "Where are you headed?"
     Imani shrugged. "No where in particular. What about you?"
     Mark smiled. "We're going to the same place. Want to go
there together?"
     Imani nodded. "Sounds like fun."
     With that agreed, the three headed out in a new direction,
traveling from village to village, farm to farm. They did this
for several months, since it featured bigger incomes for them
all.
     One day, Hotaru saw a familiar band of wagons in the
distance. She gestured. "Look, we won't have to sleep alone
tonight."
     Imani's eyes lighted up, and they hurried towards the
nomads. For some reason, she hid behind Mark when Hotaru talked
to the headman. The headman smiled. "You're back, huh? With a
friend."
     Hotaru nodded. The headman called out, "Bri! Thog! Get over
here!"
     The brunette and blond brothers appeared. "Hotaru! Good to
see you again."
     Brian walked around Mark curiously. His eyes lighted up.
"Imani!"
     Imani rose and smiled sheepishly. "Hi, Brian, Thog."
     Brian and Thogan embraced her vigourously. The headman rose
an eyebrow. "So my little renegade returns."
     She ran to him. "Dad!" They hugged. "I've missed you all.
What's happened since I left?"
     Brian began to pare his fingernails. "Well, it was big news.
You know, 'Soprano Leaves: Brothers Totally Left In Lurch'."
     She looked guilty. "Sorry, Brian."
     Thogan put in, "Don't pay attention to him. We adapted all
the music to his voice. Don't you miss me writing lyrics for
you?"
     Hotaru was amazed. Imani was Brian and Thog's sister? She
shook her head. "I should have known that you three would be
related."
     Imani turned to her father. "Dad, I adopted Hotaru and Mark
as my brother and sister."
     The headman sighed. "Well, in that case, welcome to the
tribe."
     Hotaru blinked. What was he talking about?
     Brian frowned and stuck his tongue at her. "I would have
gotten around to that."
     With that, it was decided that Imani, Mark, and Hotaru
should stick with the tribe for a few months. That few months
turned into a year. The five grew incredibly close, never
parting. Meanwhile Hotaru learned everything there was to know
about sheep raising, first hand.
     During the next fall, a stormy night ensued. The tribe put
up a hasty shelter. The headman walked in a few minutes later
with a cloaked figure. "Look what the rain brought in."
     The figure started. "Hotaru?"
     Hotaru peered at her. "Yes?"
     The figure pulled her sopping hood off, revealing Nyale's
blond head. "Long time no see. Learned any new tunes?"
     Imani looked at Hotaru in amazement. "Who DON'T you know,
Hotaru?"
     Hotaru blushed. "Well, I've been around."
     Nyale predictably stuck around with the others. The six
gained fame in the villages they passed as incredibly talented.
The coming of spring prompted feelings of wandering in them, and
they chose to break off on their own.)


     Hotaru shook her head, breaking out of the memory. It didn't
exactly go uphill after that. She hit herself. How could she have
been so stupid? Chosen such a silly wish?

     (The lamp sat in front of the group. The seller grinned. "It
will grant wishes. Only two gold pieces apiece."
     They didn't believe in it, but why not? They had plenty of
money.
     Hotaru wished without thinking, "I never want to grow old."
     Thogan went next, wishing more conservatively. "I wish that
we never stop singing, versifying, and traveling."
     Brian smiled. "I wish that we stay together forever."
     Mark concentrated. "I wish for many happy times for us."
     Imani grinned. "May we witness every major event of our
lifetimes' history."
     With that, a man appeared in strange clothing. He had short
brown hair. He spoke in an odd, cutting tone. "Your wishes have
been granted. You shall be immortal, a part of every major
historical event, and never stop being the wordsmiths that you
are. You'll have many happy times, and sad ones as well." He
stared at Hotaru. "As for you, you'll never grow old. Farewell."
     The salesmen backed off in fear. "It's never done that
before!"
     Thogan stroked his chin. "Wordsmiths. Not a bad name for us
six.")

     Hotaru wept. How could she have been so selfish? The others
had wished things for all of them. But she had wished to never
see old age. And as millenia passed, she never had. She'd never
passed her twenty fifth birthday. She would "die" (actually just
disappear) and reappear as a baby nine months later. And the
cycle continued.
     But the others had stood by her, and when she regained her
memories they were always close by. Poor Brian, he saw his love
"die" over and over.
     They'd discovered the wishes had empowered them to
transform, and given them powers related to their specialties.
Hotaru's fist clenched. She still blamed herself for Thog's
untimely death in another dimension, fighting against a terrible
evil. Had she been there they could have transformed, but because
of her wish, he had died instead.
     During the Silver Millenium she'd been born as the child of
the Queen and King Consort of Saturn. She'd gained more powers,
and become the "Dark Messiah" or "Senshi of Silence".



More to come later... I hope.

             Beky NeRichnead
    Grand Potentate of the Universe

Silence is the beginning of all things, the end of all things, and that 
which occurs between all things. - Wordsmith Music

Hotaru, remember that a Queen is not a President. A President does 'the will 
of the people'. A Queen does the good of the people. A Queen has the 
responsibility to make decisions for their subjects that those subjects 
would never agree with. - Queen Xalen Zalondon of Solaran



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