OK, Epilogue Three, this time from Raye’s eyes! Hope you 
enjoy it! Ja mata ne! My e-mail is still 
sailoreuropa@geocities.com! 



						*


				    Time Honored  
			     Epilogue Three ~ Mars 





	“Raye. RAYE!” I heard my mother yell. I glanced 
towards my gilded door, to see her standing in the way, 
tapping her foot impatiently, wearing a perturbed look on 
her otherwise pretty face. “We’re going to be late. You 
know how I hate that.” She said again, glaring at me. 
	“So?” I said laconically, pretending like my make-up 
was the most important thing at the moment. I could hear 
her laugh in spite of my disrespectful remark. I had a 
wonderful relationship with my mother, but I’ll be the first 
person to admit, I do tend to push my limits. And tonight I 
thought I was in for it. However, I saw her smiling face 
after I finished, and knew she was too happy to get mad. 
She walked over, and pulled my hair back, smoothing it on 
my back. She sighed, staring at my reflection.
	“You are so beautiful, you know that Raye?” She said, 
her face smiling kindly. I was taken aback for a second, not 
used to this kind of openness. “You remind me so much of 
myself when I was the Princess. You are so mature for 14.” 
She sighed again, this time moving away from me and 
sitting on my bed. “I wish you didn’t have to grow up so 
quickly.”
	“Please don’t tell me we’re going into one of those 
mother-daughter “You’re growing up so fast” routines.” I 
groaned, and she laughed gaily. 
	“No, nothing like that. I just think you had to mature 
so fast, after your father died. I know you had to help me 
out a lot more.” She said, her voice a little reminiscent. She 
missed my father a lot, I knew. They fell in love, after their 
arranged marriage, and had me, but they hadn’t met before 
the wedding. It was just chance that they ended up loving 
each other after the honeymoon. I also know she hadn’t 
wanted to marry him, because of the arrangement, and that 
was why I was aloud to marry whomever I chose, provided 
he wasn’t already arranged, and he was a prince. I hadn’t 
met anyone who fit that description just yet.
	“Well, we better get going. We don’t want Serenity 
getting upset.” She said, breaking my deep concentration. I 
got up, groaning inwardly at the thought of going to the 
Moon, just to see Serena and her future husband. Serena 
alone was bad enough, but Serena with a guy? Now that 
was hard to imagine.
	I grabbed my wrap, and headed for the transport. I 
stepped in, and in seconds we were among the smiling 
people gathering on the palatial Moon grounds, milling 
around, mingling. I felt a little better, noticing all the well 
dressed royalty, knowing one day, I would be throwing one 
of these parties myself. I smiled at the thought of me at the 
head of the crowd, people gathering around me. I snapped 
out of my fantasy, as I saw my mother headed towards 
Queen Serenity, and Serena. I quickly bid my mother good-
bye, and went off on my own. I walked around the garden 
hedges, careful not to snag my dress on the carefully carved 
plants. I started getting a funny feeling like I was being 
followed, and I turned around quickly. I saw no one, 
however, except the entire family of Neptune, talking with 
the family of Venus, with the exception of Mina. I searched 
amongst them, thinking maybe he or she was hiding in the 
throngs of people, when I caught a glimpse of what I was 
guessing a Neptune Prince, glancing my way. I looked 
down, hoping he didn’t notice me looking. I quickly ran 
into the maze of hedges, to get away from my 
embarrassment, when I found myself next to the west 
entrance of the Ballroom.
	“Guess I should go find my friends.” I said shrugging. 
I entered the vaulted doorway, and was immediately 
greeted by the sound of people laughing, and the faint smell 
of champagne. I took in the convivial atmosphere as I 
searched the crowds, looking for my friends. I was looking 
around the east side when I heard my name belted out 
behind me. I turned to see Lita waving, smiling at me. I 
groaned and laughed, both at the same time, seeing Lita all 
dressed up, and still bouncing off the walls like a kid. 
	“I think she forgets she’s a Princess sometimes.” I 
muttered as I quickly strolled over to where her and Ami 
were standing. 
	“Gee Lita, could you be a little more loud?” I said, 
waving my hand at her, trying to get her to quiet down.
	“How did you expect me to get your attention? Smoke 
signals?” Lita replied, smirking. I giggled 
	“You seen Serena?” I asked, searching the crowd for 
her familiar meatballs. Ami and Lita giggled at some 
private joke that I seemed to miss, and shook their heads. 
	“Nope. Probably off meeting her prince charming.” 
Ami started to laugh, but was cut off by a figure bumping 
into her. Ami turned around, ready to apologize, when I 
heard the familiar ringing of Mina’s voice rise.
	“Hi! Seen Serena yet?” Ami and I shook our heads in 
frustration.
	“No, sorry Mina.” Ami answered, a slight sigh in her 
voice. I leaned my head to the side, in an effort to relax my 
mind, when I heard Ami start to shriek something. *Gee, 
and she’s the mature one?* I thought, ready to elbow her to 
quiet down. 
	“Everyone! There she is!” Ami said, causing me to 
stop my elbow, and look in the direction she was gazing 
towards. I saw her dancing gracefully with a very attractive 
man. I titled my head to the side, trying to figure what he 
saw in her. He was around his early twenties, and he looked 
very mature. *So what does he see in a meatball head like 
Serena?* I asked myself. 
	“I was right! She’s already in love, I can tell!” Lita 
giggled, covering her mouth. I could see what she meant. 
Serena had a glazed look over her face, and was absorbing 
every word he uttered. Oddly enough, he seemed to be 
doing the same with her. *Go figure...* I thought again, 
rolling my eyes. I suddenly noticed an older man leading 
Serena’s partner away, and Serena walking in the other 
direction, after kissing a bewildered Moon Princess on the 
cheek. I was about to speak another remark, when Mina 
started barking orders.
	“Follow her!” Mina said, pointing towards Serena who 
was walking through a small sitting room to the left of the 
immense entryway. We all walked quickly after her, 
preparing all our questions ahead of time. Lita threw the 
curtain back when we approached, catching Serena by 
surprise. 
	“Serena! Is that him?” Lita exclaimed excitedly as we 
entered the room. She glanced up, trying very hard to look 
bored. It wasn’t working.
	“Yes...” She replied, her voice ringing.
	“Oh, you lucky girl you! He is so gorgeous! Wow, you 
get all the good ones!” Mina screeched, rather annoyingly, 
and sat beside her. Mina sat there, trying very hard to be 
calm. I sighed, knowing Serena was only doing this to keep 
us guessing. Not being able to take it anymore, Mina finally 
exploded.
	“How old is her? Is he nice? Does he have a brother?” 
Mina asked excitedly. I glanced at Lita, and we both 
snickered, and rolled our eyes. *Vintage Mina questions.* I 
thought, laughing inwardly.
	“He’s 20, I believe, yes, and I don’t know. Maybe.” 
She shrugged. I groaned. She didn’t know how stupid she 
looked, trying to sound bored. It was something she never 
was. I waited, unable to take the silence much longer. 
*Maybe she really _is_ maturing...* I thought, trying to 
assess her reaction. I tried to count to seconds it took for 
her to burst. 
	“I’M IN LOVE!” She screamed. *Bingo.” I thought 
smugly. “He is sooo handsome!” she said, sighing and 
leaning back on the bench, causing her to fall to the ground, 
with her feet still up in the air. I laughed to myself, thinking 
how like Serena it was to lighten an otherwise silent mood. 
	“I can’t wait till the wedding.” She swooned. I 
laughed, out loud this time, unable to keep it bottled up.
	“You just met him, don’t you think that’s a little 
premature?” I asked, smirking slightly.
	“No, we’re arranged. Whether he likes it or not, we’re 
getting married.” She said, pointing her nose upwards. I 
started cracking up her last statement. The others were all 
laughing hysterically along with me, I noticed, much to 
Serena’s puzzlement. She seemed to be going over her last 
words, when she finally realized what she had just said. “Of 
course, he does like it. I can tell.” She said, in a rather futile 
attempt to cover her mistake.
	“I hope my husbands as wonderful as yours, Serena.” 
Ami said, trying to hold in a blush.
	“Who are you betrothed to, Ami?” Lita asked.
	“The eldest son from Pluto.” Ami replied, blushing 
even more. 
	“Oooh, my mother said they have handsome kids.” 
Mina said, swooning. I rolled my eyes, at her useless 
knowledge of the other Kingdoms. *You’d think she would 
keep up with more important topics, like war.* I thought. 
*Instead, she keeps tabs on the attractiveness of the other 
Kingdoms children.* 
“You would know something like that, Mina.” I said, 
rolling my eyes. I could Ami nodding slightly, and I was 
taken aback at her reaction. She was never one to chide her 
friends habits. I grinned. That was my job.
“My mother was good friends with their father!” She 
said, defensively, and it reminded me of Serena’s tone of 
voice a few minutes back. I laughed inwardly, thinking how 
appropriate that they were best friends. *Simple minds, 
simple pleasures* I thought. 
“Who’s _your_ fiancee, Raye?” Lita asked, changing 
the subject. 
“My mother had originally arranged me to someone 
from Neptune, but she told me I didn’t have to.” I 
answered, sounding slightly bored. I thought back to earlier 
in the evening, and the attractive boy I was caught staring 
at. I blushed slightly, hoping no one noticed my desperate 
show of emotion. I knew that I never really showed how I 
really felt, and my friends thought I was thick skinned or 
something. I sighed at the thought. I really wasn’t. But I 
hated the thought of people seeing me vulnerable, when I 
was overcome by emotion. “It’s not like I’ve met him or 
anything, so maybe I will end up marrying him.” I added, 
for effect. I sounded laconic, but in my heart, I was truly 
hoping I would fall as deeply in love with someone as 
Serena had. I never really had ever been loved like that. 
And I could feel the loss burning a hole right through my 
sole.
	“Who’s that with your man, Serena?” I asked, after 
glancing out the curtains to see a beautiful woman talking 
intimately with her fiancee. Serena’s head bolted up, her 
eyes firing right along with it. I could swear there was 
steam coming out of it.
	“Who does that hussy think she is?” She bellowed, 
putting her hands on her hips. Once again, I rolled my eyes. 
	“I don’t know, but she seems to have Dariens 
complete attention.” Lita added, her face twitching slightly 
upward. I could see tears fill up in her eyes, and her lip 
quivered, and I covered my ears, knowing what was next.
	“She can’t have him! He’s mine!” She wailed, tears 
pouring like rain from her blue eyes. I uncovered my ears, 
and I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her. But only a 
little. 
	“SSH! People are starting to look!” Lita hushed, 
covering her mouth hastily. Serena sniffled, and climbed 
off the floor. Her gaze hardened, and she set out towards 
the pair laughing together. We all got quiet, and watched 
our friend walk towards her future husband. As he noticed 
her, his eyes lit up, heaven knows why. Darien introduced 
the two, and the older woman flushed slightly, and said a 
somewhat embarrassed good-bye. Serena seemed to shoot 
daggers at her as she exited the scene. We all stared at the 
two, alone now. 
	“Can you make out what he’s saying?” Mina asked, 
squinting. I tried leaning closer to the doorway, trying 
desperately trying to read their lips. 
	“We need to get closer!” I cried, frustrated.
	“Gee, you’d almost think you cared about her, Raye.” 
Lita said sarcastically. I ignored her, not knowing whether 
to deny it or confirm it. I turned back to the two figures in 
the middle of the ballroom. Serena’s eyes were watering, 
and he said something to her, making her blush furiously.  
She answered back, and he put his hand under her chin.
	“HE’S GONNA KISS HER!” Lita screeched 
excitedly. I leaned in closely, almost loosing my balance. 
We all watched in silence as the two met in a tender kiss. 
The only sound was Mina softly counting how long the two 
embraced. I laughed slightly, know that if she hadn’t done 
it, I would have. The clock finally struck twelve, startling 
the couple, causing them to break apart, somewhat 
unwillingly. 
	“Wow! 2 and a half minutes!” Mina said, after the two 
had stopped. *You’d think they’d have to come up to 
breath sometime!* I thought, *Then again, there’s enough 
air in Serena’s head for the both of them!* I stifled a giggle. 
Dariens father lead Darien away, leaving a completely 
bewildered Moon Princess in the middle of the floor alone. 
She finally snapped out of it, and started towards the 
immense marble staircase. Lita and Mina both jumped up 
to follow her, and Ami quickly grabbed the back of their 
dresses, holding them back.
	“No you don’t! Let her be alone right now. She 
doesn’t need us making fun of her right now.” She said, 
receiving threatening glares from Mina in turn. I watched as 
Serena disappeared behind the corner at the top of the 
stairs. 
	“I better go, my mother is probably ready to go.” I 
sighed. I picked my dress up off the floor, and headed 
toward the pack of Queens from the other Kingdoms. She 
smiled when she noticed me coming nearer.
	“Did you have a good time, Raye?’ She asked. I 
nodded.
	“Yes, Serena should be very happy, if her life goes 
half as well as tonight.” I answered. 
	“Life rarely goes as smoothly as one would hope.” She 
sighed. I knew this was another reference to my late father. 
I sighed along with her. A year ago, I hoped she wouldn’t 
be so depressed all the time. And she had improved a lot. 
But there were times when she was so horribly blue, I 
couldn’t stand to be around her. And she was right. 
Because of the death of him, I had to grow up very fast, and 
there were times when I would give anything to be as 
carefree as Mina or as flippant as Serena, but I realize how 
totally ignorant to the wars and economic pressures and 
disease they are. I knew one day, they would wake up and 
see how bad some of the kingdoms are, and would be 
forced to mature. I sighed in spite of it all. I look at myself 
and compare my image to that of Serena, and wonder who 
is really worse off.


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Third one done! E-mail me with comments or donations!