"For Serenity's Sake"
By: Isis @}->--
isis@moonkingdom.com
Rated: G
Disclaimers:  Please do not copy.
AN:  Never loose your calm, it may well be the only thing between 
you and sanity.  Dedicated to the introverts of the world; we are the 
ones to rise up and lead when everyone else has proven that they 
are incapable.


Chapter 8
@}->--


"We have heard the testimonies of several witnesses present during 
the attempted assassination of Princess Serenity during her time on 
Earth.  Yet it has been the decision of this joint council, and the 
wish of Queen Selenity, that you should be brought here before us, 
Prince Endymion.  We thank you for coming and are highly 
impassioned to hear you speak on this mater."  The High Council 
member Loki finished his introduction and Endymion swallowed 
the dry spot in his throat after seeing the utter contempt held high 
in the man's eyes, directed solely at him.

While the other members appeared a bit more resigned to listen to 
his words, this was truly a hostile situation… and he was ready for 
the challenge.  "Thank you, Council Loki, honorable members of 
the Moon Councils.  I appreciate you asking me here to speak with 
you."  He looked directly to the lead council and bowed 
minusculely, "What is it that you wish to know of me?"

The apparent submissiveness did its job quite well as the other 
puffed up his chest and addressed him a bit more importantly than 
one in his underling position should.  The man had no humility, 
which was one thing to note.

"Prince Endymion, we are extremely concerned over the apparent 
lack of respect and out-right hostility shown to the crowned heir to 
the System's thrown.  How should such a thing as this be allowed 
to happen?"

"Allowed to happen," he repeated silently to himself.  The prince 
had known from the start that this member was out to disrepute 
him, yet it seemed he was doing all he could to make sure that no 
bond could come from these meetings.  More than likely he had 
been the prime instigator in the rest of the members' reactions.  He 
had made up many of their minds for them.

"Council Loki, I assure you that nothing was 'allowed' to happen 
as far as any of my people were concerned.  I truly wish that I 
knew what was the cause of such a grievous act, yet I can find no 
understanding of it myself."

He looked at him studyingly, expectantly.  "Then, you and your 
men still have been unable to apprehend the leader responsible for 
over-seeing this event?"  There was no mistaking the sarcastic 
reference meant to intimidate him into being viewed as either 
incompetent or hiding something.

It was a ploy that was working.  "I am afraid that I can offer you 
no excuses for the fact that we have been unable to apprehend the 
one responsible for this, except to say that we seem to be chasing a 
ghost."

The new information was something that the council was not 
expecting, nor for that matter, were the rest of the assembled 
guests, including Queen Selenity, her daughter and her daughter's 
court, all of whom he was doing his best not to look at during these 
events.  "What do you mean by that, Prince Endymion?" came the 
question from a second councilman.

"I mean that during the interviews with all of the men captured 
after the attack, not one of them was able to relate to us what had 
happened during that time.  They all claimed an amnesia and 
clouded memories."

There was a stirring and not-so-whispered murmurs over the news 
and the panel was pressing forward in their seats.  Endymion 
calmly raised his hand for a moment of silence, sufficiently taking 
the control from his overly-annoyed rival.  "I understand how 
disconcerting this seems, and I know that it sounds like a botched 
cover-up.  Yet through all of the methods available to us we have 
found nothing to indicate that these men are telling us anything 
false."  Indeed, his own powers used to their full extent could not 
unlock the memories, or lack there of, of the attackers.

"And you believe that they were coerced into these actions by 
someone else?"  The speaker of the panel did not like being up-
staged, yet he was holding his temper… barely.

Endymion blinked, a bit surprised to find the councilor come 
readily to that conclusion.  "At this point we are exploring all 
options available to us.  Yet I know these words must be hard for 
the Council to come to terms with and I invite you to take me at 
my word and explore any means to justify for yourselves that this 
is the truth."

The level of confidence did not raise much higher yet it did 
decrease the mumblings.  Though as the words fell out into place a 
member of the audience, set before the Council's table, rose to 
height and Endymion looked down curiously from his place to the 
side of the assembly, opposite the High Council Speaker.

Queen Selenity stood from her place in the center of the assembled 
courts and addressed the table before her.  "I also have news on 
this matter that should be placed before the Council," she stated.  
"I have been in contact with Queen Juno of Jupiter for some time 
now, as she has been very concerned over these proceedings.  As 
some of us know, the queen has unique powers to sense the energy 
of other life forms.  Though mostly unusable and hardly debatable 
she has the gift to sense the characteristics that make up a person.  
It was these powers that caused her the greatest amount of concern 
after the incident."

The room stirred quietly, "Why did you not bring us this sort of 
information before, my Queen?"  Once again Loki found himself 
surprised and clearly taken off guard by this turn of events.

"We found it best to restrict this knowledge until after you had 
spoken with a representative of Earth and knew for sure that her 
suspicions were true."

"May I ask what it was that the Queen felt?" Endymion asked, 
knowing exactly what she would say and wanting to have control 
of the discussion once it was out.

The queen looked to him directly and nodded, understanding his 
desire to steal the spotlight for a time.  "She believed that during 
the assault she could feel only one presence from the attacking 
men.  She told me that she was sure that the one central figure was 
somehow controlling the others in a way that she did not know 
how to do."

Endymion nodded at the comment and once the talk had quieted he 
added onto what she was saying.  "The men were not acting on 
their own accord.  Yet there was something else that the members 
of my court noted during the attack."  He looked back to the elders, 
"Many of you know the Earth's High Oracle, Kallisto.  She has 
been praised well throughout the System as being very powerful in 
her art.  Yet while in the room with us she, as well as myself and 
my Queen Mother, noted that she could feel no true presence from 
the central figure either… as though he was not physically in the 
room."

Queen Selenity nodded once more, "That was also how Queen 
Juno found it to be."

The cards were out of the table with much more emphasis behind 
them than he had hoped.  With the added perspective of a third 
party to all of this there could be much less doubt of his sincerity.

"But what does this mean?" asked one of the elders.

Endymion saw the High Queen seat herself once again next to her 
daughter who was holding her hand tightly, he noted, and the 
prince once again turned his full attention to gaining the trust of 
these men.  "It means that whoever this leader was, he is a man 
that has the power to trans-locate himself to anywhere he desires.  
Mentally he can be anywhere, thoughts and powers included 
apparently.  Also in this way, he can manipulate enough of his 
thoughts into others around him that he can control their 
impulses."

"And these other men, the ones that attacked you, were under his 
control?"

"As far as we can understand, yes."

The audience was startled and there was a great amount of 
disruption as the news began to sink in.  The elders were also 
debating among themselves, yet Endymion let them and kept a 
non-committal eye on the High Chair.  The man was not speaking, 
yet chewing thoughtfully, and menacingly on what had been said.  
Once the din quieted he again spoke, "This seems rather 
unfortunate for us then.  How is it that we should be able to locate 
this person who can be anywhere?"  The question held every trip 
line possible, and he was trying desperately to make it seem that 
the Earth should be left to rot where it was for not catching this 
villain.

Yet it was the line that the prince had planned on coming.  He 
straightened himself and looked directly at his most vocal 
opponent.  "With all due respect gentlemen, we apprehend this 
person by removing this ban."

The audience silently roared again, yet not a person on the board in 
front of him said a word.  It was only Loki who decided to smile 
through gritted teeth, "And do you suppose to tell us that we 
should open the Earth so that this villain may escape to some other 
world?"

Endymion lowered his head in a thoughtful manor, confident in his 
message, "I am saying that in order to hunt for someone that can be 
anywhere, we must look for him everywhere."

Loki rose to his feet once more and leaned his hands upon the table 
before him, glaring at the prince.  "Do you mean to tell us that this 
henchmen is not on Earth?"

Endymion knew the man's temper was gone, a bit more pressure 
and he would discredit himself.  "I do not know where he is, be it 
on the Earth or in the center of the galaxy, but I do know that 
confining us there will only hinder the all out search that is 
desperately needed."  The calm in his voice matched the 
confidence in his words and he could see the contemplation on the 
faces of those in front of him.

All except one.  "Preposterous!  Earth has had her anti-Moon 
views open for publicity for decades, should we believe that 
someone else would want to damage the seat of power in such a 
way?"

The un-intimidated prince waited just long enough for every eye in 
the room to focus on his debater before beginning his answer.

Only to be cut off by a steady, yet emotional voice risen from the 
audience behind them.  "Has the battle always been so one sided, 
Council Loki?"  He turned to see Serenity standing from her seat, 
her mother's hand still in her own, yet she stood on without fear or 
anger… but with silent tears sparkling at the corners of her eyes.

"The unfounded rumors and speculations that have given rise to so 
much distrust and anger were started so long ago that our two 
worlds have never known true peace.  Through the rule of the 
Moon, an order has been formed throughout this System, yet we 
can not openly relate with our closest neighbor.  So much has our 
fears torn at us that even now we do not wish to see a difference 
taking shape."

The young girl looked over at Endymion, possibly for guidance, 
possibly for support, yet he only gazed back at her, unsure where 
all of this strength had come from.  She continued, "Our marriage 
was founded in order to do away with this old order of fear and 
resentment.  To begin a new chapter in which we could truly co-
exist…"  Serenity lost her gaze from his eyes as she looked back to 
Loki.  "I believe that this ban is the direct result of those old 
theories.  This debate itself is only set on such high priority 
because of the prejudice encircling this orbit."

There was a commotion as the small crowd resounded their 
muttered responses, and for the first time Serenity seemed to notice 
where she was.  Unsure of herself she looked first to her mother 
and then to Endymion still looking back at her.  He smiled, just bit 
at her, and she sunk slowly to her seat again worriedly.  Once more 
he turned on Loki bent on finishing his wife's speech.  "I agree 
with the princess, I know the differences that our people have had 
in the past, yet I beseech you to think over what this means to our 
future.  As one System working in peace, may we be able to end 
this debate and bring those responsible to justice.  Small battles 
between us will resolve nothing."

The room resounded as Loki sunk back into his chair foaming and 
the rest of the council sat back to deliberate.

Endymion knew this first battle was his.  Or rather, he looked back 
to Serenity's seat as she watched him just as intently, the battle 
was theirs.


"Impudent, miserable child!"

High Council Loki was not a man that handled rejection and 
upheaval well.  He was a man that held a strong arm to every 
affliction and despised the weak and their mindless followings.  
They were sheep, they never thought for themselves and they 
could never harbor and opinion of their own.  Those were the ones 
that relied upon others to do their thinking for them, to make their 
decisions, to decide what they thought and how they would act…

They were people just like his own princess.

"Insufferable brat, standing up against her own council like that!  
Has she been so brain-washed by her barbaric husband that she 
dares defy her own?"  The man walked through his quarters raving.  
He picked up the book that he had been reading each night and 
carried it along as something to fling to and fro as he stomped 
around the dimming room.  "She has never had a brain of her own 
in all her years!  Never once has she ceased to be the whining, 
spoiled little clone of her mother's creation, until she claims 
importance as the wife of some retched Earthling!"

Loki paced around his sitting room.  His flowing white robes flared 
out with the rush of air he was creating by the speed of his, slightly 
aged and tilled, steps.  The knotted knuckles were white and either 
clamped tightly to the thick book or knocking against it as he beat 
his left fist upon its cover.  His gray eyes shown and flashed as he 
muttered comments both above and below his breath.

"I expected the prince to have such disrespectful words in him, yet 
to have the princess blindly follow his lead and speak against 
me…"  The outrage was prevalent and he rounded in his steps to 
face the window through which the last rays of the sunset were 
being seen.  The orange glow of the sun had been encroached upon 
by the Earth's huge sphere and swallowed whole.

He looked without to the gardens and the surroundings of the 
Moon Palace.  "The sheltered little brat is completely incapable of 
leading anything let alone an entire System!  That is exactly why 
the queen married her off so soon and so suddenly.  They can say 
all the pretty words they like about how this should end the 
bickering, yet it was only a ploy to set at least one person on the 
thrown that could lead a planet!"

He chuckled to himself humorlessly.  "Oh but could they not find a 
suitable match for her?  No, they decided upon an Earthling!  Oh 
yes, the prince is high and mighty all right," he spat.  "He has a 
brain in his head worthy of much more than Serenity's, for what 
good that is."  He spun away from the window again and continued 
his thoughtless pacing.

"Yet, he was apparently not brainy enough to refuse vows to that 
little royal twit!"  He swatted at the back of his sitting couch with 
the book before throwing it full force onto its cushions.  "Who else 
would they chain into marrying her!"  He laughed again at his own 
joke and stomped back to the window.

"Did they not realize that by imploring such a face-saving act as 
placing her with someone half capable of rule that they were only 
turning control of their own fates over to that one?  Could they not 
have found someone more suitable of the control of the System?"  
He frowned in contempt at the window he was facing.  "We have 
released our trust to an idiot of a backwards planet controlled by 
the power of poverty and 'natural selection'."

He walked still forward and placed, a now much more calm hand, 
against the glass of the window.  "Were they not aware that the 
choice should have been made by a council that could see where 
the future of the Moon should lie?  We could have chosen a much 
more reasonable ruler to 'accompany' our fair princess, ensuring 
that the royal rule of the Moon continued in the order to which it 
has always been."

He stood still and let the powerful flow of his controlling voice 
filter through the empty rooms of his all too quiet quarters.  
"Something must still be done…" came his ultimately calm, 
deathly quiet voice.

And from the deepest corner of his room the artificial shadow 
chuckled softly and slowly blended back out of existence.


"Are you sure you are comfortable?  Can I get you anything?" 
Serenity fussed about nervously as she rushed this way and that.

"Serenity," Endymion caught her hands and held them firmly not 
to let her go.  "What are you fretting about?"

She just looked at him, wide eyed and confused.  "I…  Am I?"

He chuckled at her and nodded.  "You are also shaking."

She looked down at her hands, wrapped in his, and sighed softly as 
he pulled her down to sit on the couch beside him.  They had 
finally gotten a moment to themselves as they made their escape to 
her quarters.  The councils were still in deliberation but under the 
watchful eye of Queen Selenity, as she would not excuse herself 
from their discussions any longer.

His young bride seemed rather taken aback after her little speech 
and she had not been quite herself from that point on.  Once they 
were both released she had hopped into his arms for a quick hug 
even with the elders still in their places.  Yet he could not mind in 
the least, he was more than happy to have her back by his side.  He 
had never known just how much a part of him she had become 
until she was suddenly taken from him.

Yet she sat now beside him as though lost for some reason he 
could not understand.  "Serenity, what is it that troubles you?" he 
asked pulling on her hands to make her turn towards him a bit 
more.

She looked up as he saw tears forming within her eyes and her 
bottom lip trembled slightly.  Endymion did not have the time to 
become too surprised by her condition before she flung herself into 
his arms and proceeded to start sobbing.  He could not say for sure 
whether this was from joy of their reunion or disappointment of it.

Although fairly sure of the former he resigned himself to simply 
soaking up tears and holding her closely.  He smiled in spite of the 
situation; unbelievably thankful that the child he called a wife was 
again wrapped inside his arms.

Wrapped inside his arms Serenity found herself feeling all of the 
emotions that she seemed to have locked away over a month ago; 
things that she could no longer feel on penalty of drowning herself.  
She only wanted desperately to stay right where she was for as 
long as real life would allow.

Yet she could never say why she was crying other than that she 
was simply so overwhelmed by the return of feeling that she could 
do nothing else.  She felt Endymion place his chin in her hair and 
pull her a little tighter.  She was so blessed to have him beside 
her…

"Serenity?" he asked softly, trying to pick her chin up with one 
hand.  She responded groggily, realizing that her tears had found 
their leave by the same mystical door that they entered from.

"I am sorry," she mumbled, wiping at the remains of dew left on 
her lashes.

"No need to be," he said, nuzzling his forehead against hers.  "Are 
you all right, though?"

She smiled at his affection and nodded against him, "Quite all right 
now."

"Good."  He moved back from her a bit and looked at her more 
closely.  "Now will you tell me what got into you in that hall?"

She looked up at him and blushed a bit at the spectacle she had 
created on standing up against her high councilor like so.  "I am 
sorry, I do not actually know what I was thinking."  She lowered 
her head a bit and mumbled, "I must have truly cracked."

He chuckled merrily beside her and she looked up to find him still 
smiling at her.  "If that was cracked remind me not to have you 
repaired."

She was rather confused at his words.  "I went against my councils, 
that is normally never condoned."

"Even Councilors can be wrong, Princess.  I understand why you 
feel that you did them a dishonor, yet you reminded them of 
themselves.  Every human needs someone to remind them once in 
a while that they are only human."

She thought it over a minute and nodded slowly.  "Then I did the 
right thing."

"Of course, Princess," he said tipping her chin up again.  "You 
brought up the heart of the conflict that all others were toeing 
around.  You saw through what was said and what was not.  That is 
a true gift, especially when dealing with those that fall into group-
think too readily."

"I see," she said, finally smiling.  "As long as I do not make a habit 
from this, I think the Elders shall forgive this ingrate of a royal 
family member."

"Well you certainly surprised me with it," he commented 
skeptically.  "I am not sure that I enjoy the idea of having a bride 
with a backbone."

She laughed evilly and wrapped him back up in a hug.  "Your 
influence."

"How did I cause this?"

She smiled, snuggling closer.  "You have become my strength… as 
much strength as I have anyway.  Your example has been on my 
mind since we have been cut off from each other.  I have tried to 
follow what I know, and what I have learned from you."

"You have strength of your own, Serenity.  No mater how much I 
would like to take credit for it," he said chuckling lightly.

"Maybe, but I have needed to learn from you.  You have so much 
more confidence than I.  It is simply that…" she trailed out, 
looking for the words.  "I feel safer with you near.  I feel that I can 
trust myself more with you to back me up."  She smiled a bit, "I 
guess I am becoming too use to your protection."

"You will always have it, and you will always have my support," 
he said softly into her hair.  "Confidence will come, you only need 
time."

"I hope so.  With all of this going on, it appears I will need to come 
by it quickly."

She could feel him caress her hair and she also felt the mood shift 
before she looked up to see it on his face.  "I never had the chance 
to make sure that you were truly all right after the attack, 
Serenity."

She nodded and laid her head against his chest once more.  "I 
know; I was spirited away so quickly."

"I am sorry that it had to happen," he whispered.

Serenity closed her eyes and just snuggled closer for a moment.  "I 
know.  In all the time that I have had to think on it I can only say 
that I wish I could have been some help to you."  Endymion made 
a confused sound and she continued with her thoughts.  "If I could 
control the power of the Silver Crystal more evenly, then I could 
have done something.  As it was I could do nothing, I was 
petrified, Endymion," she let her voice trail off.

"That is not entirely true," he said in that explanatory tone of voice 
that she had come to know rather well.  "Even if you could control 
it as assuredly as your guardians control theirs you may have very 
well done the same thing."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because you are not a warrior."

She thought on that a moment.  Of course she was not a warrior, or 
a soldier, or a fighter of any type.  She would never be.  Yet why 
should that make a difference in a situation like that?

"You have never been trained to use your powers in such a way, 
for defense or for offence.  The road to becoming able to see a 
threat and take the steps to eliminate it does not come easily or 
readily to someone that has not trained for it.  It takes time and a 
lot of errors and over-comings in order to grasp a true 
understanding of battle.  That is time that you did not have."

"Yet I feel so helpless should something like that happen again.  
How am I to fight, if need be, in order to save my friends… my 
loved ones?" she asked looking up to him.

There was a softness in his eyes that said that he did not miss the 
reference, yet he continued.  "With your heart, Serenity, you would 
find a way if the need did raise itself.  And over time, I know that 
heart would lead you to become as great of a warrior as you should 
ever need be."  He smiled, "Though I hope you will never be in 
need of such things."

She smiled back, her eyes clouding once again.  "I hope none of us 
need to."

He nodded, trying to wipe the tears away before they found their 
way down her checks.  She rolled her eyes in response and wiped 
at them too, wanting the dreadful things to cease once and for all.  
Endymion tilted her face back upwards, stopping her efforts and 
instead brushed them away with a light caress of his figures.  She 
smiled thankfully and he caught her eyes again as he looked at her.

She turned away again, blushing slightly at the affection.  She felt 
him lean closer and was terribly surprised to feel him place a 
lingering kiss on her forehead.  Shocked she allowed herself to be 
pulled closer and only heard him whisper words into her hair.  "I 
am only so thankful that you were unharmed."

Serenity found no words to reply to him and only closed her eyes, 
wrapping her arms more strongly around him as well; never 
wishing to be released from such a warm feeling…


The Moon's perfect weather was actually a wonderful release from 
the winter taking over Endymion's home city on Earth.  The 
gardens were flourishing and he wondered around the roses and 
flowers as he passed time.  Having Serenity back home the Queen 
had instituted her studies again, much to the princess' dismay.  She 
was never the most studious of pupils, yet she was forced rather 
harshly by her state in life.

Yet it gave him time alone, to think and to plan; and of course to 
meet with the still suspicious councils over the matter of finding 
their most wanted villain.  Nothing could be linked to anyone 
anywhere though and it seemed as though it would be impossible 
for them to discover who had instituted the plot.  Endymion 
worried that the only way to find him was if he found them again.

Thinking in this way, he had ordered his generals to join him on 
the Moon, and Lady Styx had offered her services to him as well.  
With both courts well assembled he still did not feel secure of the 
princess' safety.  How could a husband?

He heard a slight rustle of fabric and turned to catch only the 
retreating image of Styx's hair trailing the shadows of her wake in 
one of the crossways.  He had not noticed her approach, nor did he 
understand why she did not stop had she noted him.  Curious he 
walked towards the T intersection of the bushes.  Lady Styx had 
not seemed herself of late.  She was continually more quite and 
their normally frequent conversations had been omitted or cut 
short.

True there was much on all of their minds, yet he wondered if 
something more was troubling her.  He met the intersection and 
turned to the way she had been walking only to find it leading to a 
long row with no one in it.  He walking down a ways to the first 
juncture and looked in, still discovering nothing.  For the most part 
the gardens were unmanned; so large an area that they occupied, 
one could walk about for hours in the maze and never see another 
soul.

Yet he was sure that he had seen her…  Endymion sighed and gave 
up the fruitless search, looking up he saw the huge orb of the Earth 
looming powerfully at the horizon.  It was dark this evening, 
displaying none of its bright colors or features.  This night it would 
be a full moon on Earth, yet from the opposite perspective in was a 
new earth.  It was dark, yet the light of the sun skirted around its 
frame to brighten the Moon's face.  Though now, due to the 
artificial spin that had been instituted to its orbit, they were now 
headed for a calm, starlit night sky as the two giants turned in for 
their rest as well.

He gave one more look to the surrounding area of dimming colors 
for Styx, yet found nothing but deepening shadows that seemed to 
be reaching for him…

So wrapped in his thoughts he almost did not hear the voice that 
spoke up from behind him as he was staring fully at one of the 
silver roses in front of him.  He turned around at the sound of his 
name, yet found no one near him.

Such was the case when he again heard his title called, "Prince 
Endymion, I am down here."

The prince looked in the direction of the voice again and settled his 
eyes on those of two blue orbs mounted inside the head of a black 
cat perched on one of the stone sitting benches.  She bowed in the 
most feline of ways and looked back up at him with eyes that 
seemed so very human…

"Forgive me for interrupting you, Prince.  I was sent by Princess 
Serenity to ask you if you would join her in the garden's 
selenium."

Endymion stared down at the talking cat for a moment after she 
had finished speaking before finally tearing his gaze away and 
rubbing the center of his forehead.  "Forgive me, but if you are a 
figment of an over-worked mind then you will have disappeared by 
the time I open my eyes."  He reopened them to see her still sitting 
where she was and blinking curiously at him.  "I suppose not 
then," he mumbled to her.

The cat bowed again and did not rise as she began to explain.  "I 
am sorry, Prince Endymion.  I had thought that the princess would 
have told you of us."  She looked back up and then sat down on her 
back legs, taking on a peculiar facade of lecturing.  "My name is 
Luna, and I am an advisor to Princess Serenity.  Forgive me for 
startling you, I had thought that my charge would have told you 
that on the Moon many such as myself exist."

"Such as you?" he questioned, noting for the first time in the 
deepening light the golden crescent gracing her forehead.

"Yes, I am feline, though I am also human.  I have the qualities of 
both you might say.  Due to the Silver Crystal's power sometimes 
such crosses are made for no truly understood reason."

"So you were not particularly suppose to be this way?" he 
questioned taking a step or two closer.

"By some ordination I was," she said slowly.

"Of course, forgive me.  I had no idea of such things.  Although to 
her credit, Serenity did tell me of you.  She only seems to have left 
out the fact that you resemble a cat," he mumbled.  She had told 
him of her all right, she had told him of her lead school instructor 
that tutored her.  She had also mentioned the fact that she thought 
of her as a slave driver if not one of her best friends.

"I see," the cat sighed.  "The princess does neglect to mention 
things quite often when she attempts to explain herself."

"She is easily excitable, that should be quite normal for a youth 
like her," he said in defense.  This one seemed very noble, and also 
very proper, it was no wonder that they should conflict on a great 
deal of things.

"I do say that you are right," she sighed again.  "Yet she is waiting 
for you at the Selenium."

He nodded before thinking and had to correct himself.  "I am sorry, 
I do not seem to know much of anything tonight.  What is a 
Selenium?"

The cat rose to her feet, all four of them, again and hopped off the 
bench.  "Come, I will show you."  She led away and Endymion 
followed… a cat.

"The Selenium gets its name for the material it is made from, 
selenium, which can only be refined in low gravity here on the 
Moon.  It was named for the place that it was naturally cultivated.  
Here many things are made from it, a non-metal, it would be 
something like lead."

"I see, so this is a building created from it?"

"More of a gazebo of types, it serves as an observation outlet for 
anyone…"

Endymion stopped listening to her as the hair on the back of his 
neck prickled upright as a dull twist of something in his mind 
halted his steps dead.  Something somewhere was wrong and he 
was almost certain that Serenity was at the end of it.  His hand 
reflectively dropped to his sword belt at the thought and snapped 
back to attention.  "Get me there quickly!" he commanded of the 
feline that was staring up at him wide-eyed.

She did not hesitate but dashed off in the way they were going and 
he followed as closely as he could to the sprinting cat.  Mentally he 
screamed for his generals, which he did not know could hear, 
being that they were not on the Earth whose power they used to 
communicate with so well.  Not taking his eyes from the path he 
silently prayed for his home, that seemed too far away now, to lend 
its strength to him.

The bushes blurred into the maze of green and he noticed nothing, 
concentrating so hard on the throb pounding harder at the back of 
his head as he drew closer.  Luna pounced through the pathways 
and managed to remain ahead of him, more sure was she of the 
gravity.  The prince had already noted that if it came to a physical 
battle he would be levering a serious disadvantage.

But the emotional drive pounded at his heart and he soon found 
that he had lost his feline companion as he had sprinted over a row 
or two of the climbing roses.  He no longer needed a guild… nor 
did he need conformation that it was Serenity he was tracking 
down on.

A circular mass of shining metal rose in an inlet of the sea of 
garden green nestled close to a splashing fountain.  And what 
would have been a beautiful exhibit of usable art was now the sight 
of unnatural flickers of orange lightning.  The whole scene seemed 
much too familiar and Endymion hurtled the last row of obstacles 
and never had time to draw his sword.


@}->--_____________
"If everyone is thinking alike then somebody isn't thinking." - 
George S. Patton, Jr.

"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." - Isaac Asimov

"Tact: Ability to tell a man he's open-minded when he has a hole in 
his head." - Jean Cocteau