Tenchi Muyo - Alliance - Chapter Eight
Author: Rann Aridorn
Comments: Things begin falling into place. This is where I really begin to
indulge the fact that this fic's AU... creating whole history and mythos
for the Juraians that just isn't there in the show or manga. Things are
finally in motion again, too, as everyone gets ready to head back to Jurai.
"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."
~End Part Eight~
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