A long in-hiatus fic slumbers back awake - actually this has been posted to
my LJ but wasn't released on the FFML.

Lesson 0 can be found in the link below.

Disclaimer: As always, Sailormoon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi. Use without
permission.

********************

The Education of Usagi Tsukino

A tale set in the Dances Set to the Music of Time sequence 

By Elsa Bibat

Lesson 1

Learning

********************

1996:

Usagi Tsukino, future Queen of the world, was pissed.

"SETSUNA!!! I know you're in there! Open up!"

That was Haruka Ten'ou impression as she shared a glance with her long-time
lover.

"Think it would be surprise her that Setsuna just left for New York a few
minutes ago?"

Michiru just rolled her eyes and smirked in the most unladylike manner.

"I have dinner to cook. See you later." With that, the teal-haired woman
flounced away. Must still be mad about the anniversary thing, the blonde
grimaced. It was so not her fault that the race organizers scheduled it that
way, but Michiru was taking none of it.

Another harsh round of knocking interrupted her contemplation, followed by
Usagi's voice screeching for the Guardian of Time's head on a stick.

Sighing, Haruka reached for the doorknob to cure at least one of her
headaches.

Besides, Setsuna left a letter.

********************

Usagi scowled as she watched Rei waving goodbye, while the dark-haired girl
herded the other Inners away. Yesterday, after leaving her weirdo sensei's
home she went to visit the Outer's apartment. They weren't of much help.
Just a letter from the Guardian of Time on how everything was fine and that
she should go with the flow.

Hmph

Today, she had somehow managed to convince everyone to take a look at her
new sensei, hoping that someone would back up her suspicions. Luna and
Artemis were no help; Setsuna's seal of approval was good as gold for them.
Eventually, she had managed to wear them down and get them to come with her.
Rei had met them on the way from Juuban High, also interested in what sort
of person 'could stomach teaching you anything', so she said.

They had arrived at the estate's gates to be greeted by the two ravens
again. One look at the pair and Rei just smiled, shook her head and
pronounced everthing was fine. She then gave her best friend a smirk that
just said 'you are _so_ screwed, Usagi-chan' according to the young Tsukino
girl's Hino face vocabulary and proceeded to convince everyone to go on
home. Soon, only the young blonde and her waiting pair of feathered
guardians were left.

One of the dark birds let out a derisive caw and fluttered down to perch on
her right shoulder. It regarded her with an ebon eye, the avian gaze somehow
conveying amusement at her predicament.

Usagi stuck out a tongue at it.

"Careful, he might take a peck. Tongues are a favorite of his."

"ACK!"

The harsh voice cut through the silence like a sharp knife. Husky and low,
Usgi recognized the voice of her teacher and she turned in surprise.

Weyland-sensei was standing underneath the shade of a nearby tree. Dressed
in the same black clothes she wore yesterday, she looked like a gaunt
spectre.

"Sensei!" Her quick bow forced her her shoulder's unwelcome tenant to leave
abruptly, launching itself into the air and fluttering to her teacher's
waiting hand.

The older woman bowed in formal response and reached her laden hand to her
right shoulder, letting her pet jump to another perch. A flutter of wings
and its twin had landed on the redhead's left shoulder, mirroring the other
bird perfectly.

"Hugin prefers tongues." Ruffling the right-side raven's throat feathers
with affection, her gloved hand disappearing into the ebon plumage. "His
brother Munin likes the eyes."

A tight little smile appeared on Weyland-sensei's face as she gestured for
her young charge to follow her.

"Come, child. Twilight is coming and we may as well get the preliminaries
over with."

Puzzled, Usagi followed the red-haired woman as she walked off into the
trees.

********************

The young blonde trudged alongside her teacher, managing to keep pace with
the longer-legged woman's stride. Weyland-sensei must have stood a little
over six feet, taller than Haruka or Mamoru. They were taking quite a while
in their walk, which disturbed Usagi to no end. It wasn't possible that such
a large estate could be found in metropolitan Tokyo. Something strange was
happening and she didn't like it.

"Child, may I ask you a question?"

"Er...okay." Great. More qestions. Usagi really didn't like questions. They
usually meant that she'd be embarassed by her own ignorance.

"Aren't you curious?"

"Huh!?" This was getting weird.

Turning her face towards her, Weyland-sensei spared her a look with her eye
as they continued their trek.

"Curiosity, child. Don't you want to know?"

"Know?"

"To know the answers. To know the reasons."

Usagi just looked at her blanky. Weyland-sensei sighed and shook her head, a
slight gesture of impatience.

"For example, why aren't you asking me why we seem to be taking quite a bit
of time to reach our destination?"

"Er..." Usagi blushed.

Her teacher smiled, a surprisingly gentle expression on the redhead's face.
"Japanese politeness, I see. My dear, asking questions is one of the things
I'd like to teach you and I assure you I will not take offense to any
question you may ask, though I may defer answering them to a different
time."

The older woman returned her gaze forward, continuing both her walk and
explanation.

"Setsuna has told me of you, child. She is of the opinion that you have
potential and I agree with her. For you to unleash that potential you must
first learn to learn and the first step in learning is asking questions. You
must have the desire to know if you wish to actually know."

"But-" Usagi blurted and stopped.

"Yes?" Her redheaded teacher asked they walked on.

"But, I don't want to know." The young blonde muttered and her head drooped
in misery.

"Why?" One word, yet the tone was filled with both understanding and
amusement.

Why? Usagi wondered. Looking back at her life for the past few years where
she went from normal schoolgirl to savior of the planet, she decided on an
answer. "Because... it makes things so complicated. Sometimes... it's better
not to know. I just want everything to be simple...easy. I don't want to be
special. I just want to be me. I know it's selfish but can't someone else do
it?"

The tone of her teacher's response was kind, the voice it was delivered in
like sandpaper on glass.

"'Saying, Mother, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless,
not my will, but thine, be done.'," The eye turned to gaze at her again,
this time with a considering look. "But, my dear, can you afford not to
know? Is being special all that bad?"

"I..." Thinking again, the young girl thought of the adventures, the thrill
of it all, the beauty she had seen and the magic she had experienced. "It's
not so bad," she finished lamely.

A smile from Weyland-sensei and they continued their trek.

"Normal people think complexity is bad, that being different a curse. In the
end, my dear, it is all a matter of perspective. You just have to have the
right eye for it. As to how this relates to you education-Ah ha! Here we
are! Just in time, too."

It was a small glade. A large tree, standing like some grim solitary giant
holding up the sky, was at the center. An old-fashioned well of wood and
stone stood just underneath it. Dusk was fast approaching and, to Usagi, the
image somehow held some strange import.

"Come along, dear. I think you'd be quite thirsty after such a walk."

Motioning for her, Weyland-sensei strode towards the well with a purposeful
gait. Usagi hurried after her, the dying sun leaving long shadows on the
ground. Stopping at the well, the older woman dropped in the bucket, heard
water splash and started to crank the wheel. In a few moments, the wooden
vessel, filled with water, came into view. Picking up a wooden dipper, which
Usagi only now noticed, the one-eyed redhead dunked it into the
liquid-filled container.

Raising the dipper to her lips, the older woman drank it all in one gulp,
eye closed, a sigh of refreshment indicating the pleasure of the cool water.
When she turned to her charge, a strange light seemed to have been born in
her single eye. Dipping once again into the bucket, she presented it to
Usagi with a smile.

"Take a little sip. Water refreshes. It will make things a bit clearer."
Usagi might have been dense, but even she could sense that there was another
meaning to her one-eyed teacher's words. She wanted to say no, but there was
some strange power in Weyland-sensei's eye that compelled her.

"All right." Usagi took the dipper from her teacher's hand and took a sip-

the world blossomed outwards-inwards

music-piping flutes from the centre of the universe- from the dawn of time

around her, the grass turned from green to brown to dead ashes under winter
snow

the tree behind her grew to encompass the sky and the roots were gnawed by
the lowly worms under the earth

an eye, a great bright burning eye set into a face that has seen pasts of so
many worlds, eternally beautiful and terrifying in its wisdom

the dying sun lanced red fire across the firmament like tentacles grabbing,
seeking

the wind rose up swirling turning, whispering secrets of the ages

the solid earth rumbled displeasure in its endless sleep

the water churned in her stomach spreading into her skin leaking out of her
pores

all was chaos, all was change

it was all so beautiful-

Her cheek stung, a sudden sharp pain, and she noticed that she was back. As
the pain in her cheek spread across her face, Usagi realized that she had
been slapped.

"Sorry about that. But first-timers almost always need to be pulled back."
Her teacher's apology was punctuated by a small laugh, the harshness in her
voice turned it into a vicious bark of amusement.

"What was that?" The young girl looked around. Everything had returned to
normal.

"That was the world through one set of eyes. How was it?"

"It was... strange." Usagi smiled, though it made half her face hurt. "It
was beautiful."

Weyland-sensei smiled and reached out with a hand to the younger girl's
burning cheek. The pain disappeared.

"And that, my dear, is the first lesson."

*************************************************

          DANCES SET TO THE MUSIC OF TIME
            An Epic History of Humanity
             From The Age of Silver
              To The Age of Crystal
                  And Beyond

http://rakhal.com/florestica/elsa-bibat/index.html

         Other fanfiction by the same author:
http://rakhal.com/florestica/elsa-bibat/index.html

          Kindly archived by Larry F and
          The Lost Library of Florestica:
           http://rakhal.com/florestica/
*************************************************


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