Ice Falls From the Sky

It seemed like just another day in the complex of Rooms Behind the Waterfall. Priire, and Ippin were off working on their ships. Hisui, Shuorong, Cammy, Oola, Misha, and Xarae had gone off to work out with some of the senior Padawans who were between missions. Kiri was showing Zyta her horse, while Numako was in the crèche, making a group of young Initiates laugh. Nami had gone off to swim with Obi-Wan's friend, Bant, and Nom had taken Chakra off for some training. Fon and Audra were cooking up sweet treats in the complex kitchen. The resident artists, Michisu, Nagareboshi, Chouko, Kirana, Mika and Yoshiko, were involved in a lengthy discussion concerning expanding one area of the senshi's rooms into a proper large art studio. Lysthea listened intently to the discussion while she drew pictures of a dozing Schylar and Solai, while her twin, Lys, and Rene worked on their latest stories. Kairiku, Koumi, Sutaru and Annika was busily reading some of the Earthborn senshi's manga. Yukiko was hard at work studying the history and politics of Hoth. After the third loud sigh in as many minutes, Annika looked up from her book.

"What's wrong, Yuki-chan?" she asked with concern.

Yuki sighed again. "I just didn't realize how much work there would be learning how to be Princess of Hoth." She indicated the piles of datapads scattered over the table with a tired wave. "Politics, government, asteroid belt mine management… then there's all the details that go into running the three resort domes!!" She looked at Annika with pleading eyes. "How on Coruscant do you manage to learn all you need to be the future ruler of Bakura?"

Annika just laughed. "Well, I have been raised as a Princess, so my whole life has been geared to learning what I need to rule someday."

Yuki groaned. "But I didn't even know I was the Princess of Hoth until coming to this galaxy!" She stretched her cramping muscles carefully. "I had always planned on becoming the master of my own martial arts studio, not princess of a planet!"

"I thought you were leaving the details of running the planet to the Planetary Governor and the High Council," said Sutaru as she reached for a namana candy on one of the plates of sweets that were scattered amid the datapads.

"True," admitted Yuki, "but I want to make sure that the Council is doing their job right. I promised the people of Hoth that I'd make sure things were run fairly. Though…" her eyes dropped and her voice fell to a whisper, "it sometimes all seems so futile." She looked up at her friends with sad eyes. "The coming Darkness will do terrible things to my planet, and I'm not sure there's anything I can do to stop it."

Annika considered Yuki's words carefully. The Earthborn senshi didn't talk about what visions of the future they had seen except with Master Yoda. "Well, the Jedi say that the future is always in motion and that we need to live in the Moment." She smiled compassionately at her sad friend and in a deliberately cheerful voice declared, "And I say this Moment is perfect for eating sweets!" waving a plate of cookies under Yuki's nose.

Yuki just shook her head and reached for a goodie. Her friends always seemed to know how to cheer her up!

Priire stormed in. "How like my twin to go off like that…" she grumbled.

"What's the matter, Priire?" asked Kairiku as she traded concerned looks with the other senshi sprawled around the large common room. When Priire got upset, things tended to get broken. "Here, have a sweet cake."

"Oooo, my favorite!" Priire eagerly grabbed the piece of cake. The rest of the senshi relaxed as she settled in on to one of the many comfy chairs scattered around the room. She grumbled as she munched the cake, "Ippin's gone on another of those Guardian of Space/Time trips."

"Space/Time trip?" asked one of the newer senshi.

Priire just sighed, "Sailor Yavin, as Guardian of Space and Time, is usually the one who helps newly discovered Earthborn senshi get to this galaxy."

Schylar stretched sleepily, causing Lysthea to sigh in frustration, as she'd almost finished her drawing of the two sleeping cats. "She didn't want me along this time," Schylar yawned. "Said something about being a distraction..."

"You're always a distraction to me, baby!" purrred the now awake Solai. Schylar rolled her eyes and reached out a paw to thwap her fellow feline, who yelped and fell off the table. The senshi just laughed.

With a crash and a rush of air, Sailor Yavin appeared in the middle of the room, accompanied by a little senshi of about seven who carried a large wiggling bag.

"I think this one's yours, Yuki-chan!" Yavin said with a grin as she tranformed back into Ippin and plopped on the overstuffed couch next to her twin's chair. "Whew, dimensional travel always takes a lot out of me. Would you toss me a cookie, please, Koumi?"

The little girl with ice blue hair up in two odango, wearing an adorable blue and white version of Super Chibi Moon's outfit, rushed into Yuki's arms. "Yuki-chan! I missed you soooo much!" she cried.

Yuki just gasped as the little bundle of energy knocked the wind out of her momentarily. "Aisu-chan! I missed you too. But, but... what are you doing here? I thought you were going to stay with your mom in San Franciso 'til you were old enough to train as a Sailor Jedi!"

"I'm plenty old enough to be a Sailor Jedi," the little girl pouted as she struck a Chibi Moon type pose. "I'm Chibi Hoth and in the name of Hoth, I'll punish you!" The other senshi in the room just chuckled at the look on Yuki's face. "Besides, I brought Riko with me!"

"Riko?" Yuki gasped. Just then, the wiggling bag Aisu had dropped opened to reveal a small creature with snow-white fur tipped in black and an elegantly bushy tail. Its twinkling blue eyes gleamed with mischief as it gazed around the room.

"Awwww, it's adorable!!" "Oooh, is it yours, Yuki-chan?" "What is it?" "Here little cutie..." The senshi oooed and awwed over the cute little creature, while the two cats just rolled their eyes.

"This means trouble..." sighed Schylar.

Little Riko nimbly danced around the room, winding her way to her chosen person. She leapt into Yuki's lap, snuggling in. "This is my pet arctic fox, Riko, which means clever in Japanese. She was originally the pet of a celebrity who just wanted an exotic creature for a status symbol. When she wasn't a kit anymore, the celebrity abandoned her, and I rescued her." Yuki smiled down at the happy fox in her lap. "I'd left her with Aisu when we first came to this galaxy, thinking she'd be safer there than here."

Riko like Yuki. Yuki... sister-friend! Riko stay with Yuki! came the determined thought from the little fox, picked up by those senshi who were Force-sensitive.

"Riko! When did you learn to talk through the Force?" asked an astonished Yuki.

Riko always talk. Yuki can hear now, shrugged her pet, rolling over for a nice belly rub.

Ippin laughed. "Remember, you'd said that your Force-sensitivity was latent until you came to this galaxy. Somehow, I think that any creature who is the pet of a senshi is probably pretty special."

Yuki just shook her head, scratching behind the soft ears of her beloved Riko, who broadcast a general feeling of contentment. "I'm just glad that it means we'll be able to communicate." She grinned at the other Earthborn senshi that were in the room. "I'd always wanted a dragon or bondbird kind of friend I could talk with." As the other senshi made Aisu feel welcome or came over to meet Riko, Yuki's spirits lifted. Whatever Darkness the future would hold, she knew that she could face it with the help of her friends, her sweet little cousin and her loyal little foxy friend.