|
|
Blue-tipped flames licked the night sky. The crackle of burning wood and the smell of smoke alarmed the small creatures of the forest; they ran and hid from the massive celebration. A crowd of no more than thirty people danced around the orange fire; some chanted, some drank, but all were eagerly awaiting the arrival of their Queen. Her return had been prophesied, and through the years, they had come close. So close to resurrecting her spirit that grand parties were held. None of this level, none quite as extravagant as this.
Now, as the music from the drums and flutes grew louder, the Queen drew nearer. Her presence was as alive as ever. They no longer had to communicate with her via deep trances or drunken, late-night spells. She was living.
A small man, no bigger than a child, waddled forward and gave a signal to the leader of the make-shift music band. The music stopping gave warning that the Queen was about to take the throne. The moment they had waited centuries for was approaching.
"Evet, mone dare t’zui bikal!" Finally, we welcome the new era! the small man said. The crowd exploded with applause, and they made small whooping noises in appreciation. They gathered closer to the fire to be able to see her when she entered. Everyone at the party wore the same uniform - black pants and jackets, with a yellow feather sewn onto the sleeve. Embroidered under the insignia were the words "Kiiroi Hane"... the "yellow feather."
Rhythmic hand claps by the anxious onlookers caused the small man much distress. He stood on a box and silenced them. "Porea! Jiuk ta fada bari nopu!" Quiet! Or you will upset her! he spat at them. His bald head reflected the flicker of the fire and made his small physique all the more sinister. The ruckus quieted, and a hush fell over them.
From behind a tree strolled the figure of a woman. She walked carefully until she was fully visible by the firelight. Her long brown hair billowed around her face and shoulders, her green eyes seemed to be swirling with evil, and her skin was pale. She was wearing a long, beautiful, cape made of yellow feathers.
The people expected to see their Queen in her glorious true form, showing her green hair and purple skin, not this falsity. Some of them began to have doubts, and some started to murmur to anyone who would listen.
"Silence!" the woman yelled. The power in her voice shook the leaves from the trees and caused her audience to gasp. She stepped to the little man. "Gram, you may be excused." She shooed him away with a wave of her hand. He bowed and backed away from her slowly. She sat down at the throne causing another gasp. She laughed softly. "So, you do not think I am who I say I am?" she spoke softly. Her voice sounded drastically different. It was soft and quiet, almost tired.
A woman in the front bowed, then said, "Forgive us, but you look so strange..."
"Ah. You have judged me by my outward appearance, have you? How quickly it was forgotten, yes? I was made to roam this miserable planet without a body. If I was to return, I would need a body. Luckily, for you all, a suitable one was found."
They seemed to understand her explanation, for they nodded and remained quiet. But some still carried doubts. Sensing this, the woman reached out to prove to them that she was indeed their longed for Queen. "I suppose it is proof you require? Have you no trust?" she laughed, "Gram!"
The tiny man suddenly appeared before her and bowed deeply.
"Gram. You have been one of my most loyal priests. I shall repay your loyalty by using you as my proof." Before the man could complain, the woman reached out a single finger and touched his head. Gram took a sharp intake of air; then his body crumbled into dust. The woman raised an eyebrow at the crowd.
Immediately they all dropped to one knee and bowed their heads. The Queen laughed loud, her voice reaching higher than the flames.
The next morning, at the main palace in Naboo, the usual suspects sat around the breakfast table. Annika, Kairiku, Lys, Kirana, Mika, and Suta. They each had their plates and bowls full of the delicious foods that had been prepared for them.
Annika yawned loudly, then stood quickly. "Oh! Guess what Kirana and I can do?"
"We know Annika," Suta sighed while jabbing a pancake with her fork.
"No, that that... watch this." She and Kirana both stood and joined hands. The entire table looked on.
In unison, they said, "Suku," and vanished.
"So what’s new? We’ve known since yesterday they could teleport," Mika said. She lifted a muffin up to her mouth, but it was swiped from her hand.
"Hey!" she protested. Kairi-chan was sitting next to her, so she punched Kairiku in the arm.
"Ow!"
"Why did you take my muffin?"
"I didn’t."
"I did!" Kirana said. She appeared behind the blonde Mika and smiled.
"If we just say Suku, we disappear and don’t teleport!" said Annika, who had reappeared in the exact spot she had been.
"Seriously? That is sort of hoth," Suta said.
"What’s me?" Yukiko jokingly asked as she entered the dinning room. Kirana quickly told her the amazing trick that she and Annika could do.
"So that explains why four different senshi have grabbed my hands and uttered strange words all morning," the blue-haired girl smiled. She sat down at the table and poured herself a bowl of cereal. A small bag plopped out into her bowl, and three girls squealed at the same time.
"Give me that toy!!!" Annika, Suta, and Kairiku screamed. They made mad dashes for it; the faster Yuki snatched it, and all they got was handfuls of cold, soggy Droid-O’s.
"It fell into my bowl, that makes it mine! Now, let’s see what this is..." she said over the whines of the three girls. She opened the bag and a small plastic Schylar fell out.
"Kawaii!!!" the room said. Yuki decided that Ippin should be the proud recipient the toy, since it was a replica of her cat.
Lys smiled, "Haven’t these people ever heard of over-commercialisation? How many products can they stick us on anyway?"
"Oh that’s right! You weren’t here when the cereal came out," Yuki mentioned.
"There was a cereal?"
"Yup. Odang-O’s, from the makers of Droid-O’s. The cereal was shaped like the various odango of our senshi. Mika’s little cereal bits were yellow, Annika’s were pink, Suta’s brown, and Kairi-chan’s were orange and yellow. You don’t know weird until you’re eating cereal shaped like the hair of your friends," Yuki laughed.
"I’m glad I missed that!" Lys laughed too.
All eyes were focused on the door when Minae walked in. She looked terrible - she had been sick, but she looked worse than ever. Her hair was a tangled mess, and her eyes were swollen. The brunette walked over to the breakfast table and made her a plate of waffles and doughnuts.
"Are you feeling better?" Annika asked.
Minae seemed distracted. Her eyes showed confusion, then, finally, recognition. She nodded and finished loading her plate before sitting down at the table. Yuki and Annika exchanged worried looks. They watched as Minae picked delicately at her food, not really eating much. She yawned several times and appeared to be falling asleep in her chair.
Lys leaned forward at the table and said, "Why don’t you go back upstairs and lay down Minae? We’ll bring you lunch."
"No... no. I’m feeling fine, really. I’m just so tired. It’s as if I only got five minutes of sleep. I don’t know what’s wrong with me."
"Have you seen the Royal doctor? The Queen will surely allow you to visit her," Yuki said. The ice-blue-haired girl touched the Minae’s arm reassuringly. Suddenly Minae jerked her arm away from Yuki’s warm touch.
"Don’t you touch me!" she quietly hissed.
Yukiko was startled; she clutched her hand around one of the clean, white napkins. "What?" she whispered.
Minae stared at her plate for a second; then her eyes shot up to meet Yuki’s. She saw the entire table staring at her. What just happened? she thought. If was if her mind had been turned off. Putting her hand to her head, she tried to remember the last few minutes. Mika cleared her throat.
"Are you sure you’re all right, Minae?" she asked carefully.
"Of course I’m fine. I just feel light headed. Maybe you’re right... maybe I’m still sick. I think I will go lay down."
Minae shuffled her feet past the entrance to the library and up the stairs to her room. Xarae and Kyoko were still in the library and saw her walk past. They noticed her bewildered appearance, and they shared a thoughtful glance.
"I just don’t want to jump to any conclusions, Xarae," Kyoko said after Minae was out of earshot.
"You think I do? I don’t want it to be Minae, either. But all the evidence points to her."
"Did you give Annika back her wand?"
"Yes. I told her I found it this morning when I went for a walk."
"We have some serious problems to face here if Princess Kizi has in fact inhabited Minae’s body. I still haven’t found a way to defeat her. Plus this morning, I found an old log book that belonged to the Princess. Her plan calls for complete integration with the host."
"Which means?"
"Which means Kizi will, in essence, eat Minae’s soul. Her body will change to resemble that of the princess. Once that happens, Minae is as good as dead." Kyoko rested her head in her hands, and a few weary tears slid from her eyes.
"We can’t let that happen. We’ve got to find a way to get her out of Minae immediately."
Straightening her posture and drying her eyes, Kyoko nodded. "I just hope we can do so without killing her."
"We will."
"Did you find out anything more about Bakura and Omwat’s new power?"
"Only that it’s annoying. They’ve been disappearing and reappearing all over the place. Kirana almost scared the life into me this morning."
Kyoko laughed for the first time in two days. She sat back in her chair and sighed. "I wonder why they’re the only ones who can do it? Where did the power come from?"
"I don’t know. My reasoning is that in a moment of sheer desperation, they combined powers. Their lives were on the line, and the magnitude of that fact caused them to subconsciously create a new power for themselves," Xarae said.
"You’re probably right. It’s amazing the power we can have when our life is threatened."
Xarae agreed then opened another book and began jotting down notes. Kyoko did the same.
The day passed far too quickly for the younger senshi, and they refused to go to bed, causing the handmaidens much grief. A half-naked Aisu ran down the massive staircase and slipped through the waiting hands of Saché.
"Please, Miss. It is time for you to sleep," she said, running after the blue-haired girl. Yané was having more success with Chakra. The little blonde girl was tucked into bed and sleeping soundly, and a few minutes later, she was joined by Aisu. Yukiko had cornered her in the kitchen and carried the naughty Chibi to bed. Not betraying her young age, Aisu kicked and screamed the entire way.
Minae rolled over in bed. The sound of the crying child normally wouldn’t have bothered her, but this night was particularly bad for her. She couldn’t sleep even though she was exhausted, and her head pounded and ached. Cold chills ran the length of her body, and she grew nauseous. A voice rolled into her ears.
"I know you’re tired, Minae. Let me handle things for a while. Let me control your sickness for you."
Too sleepy to complain at thoughts she figured to be her own, she relaxed deeply, and her consciousness dimmed. Without warning, her eyes snapped open and a malicious grin spread across her face. Her eyes swirled in hypnotising patterns, and she chuckled.
"Finally," a voice definitely not belonging to Minae spoke. The woman climbed out of the bed and tried to create a warp, but her powers were still too weak. Another few days and she would have enough power to reign over the planet Naboo and eventually the Universe. The era of Princess Kizi was close at hand.
Since she was too weak for the teleportaion, she was forced to use the door. Darkness crept throughout the palace walls, and the only sounds heard was snoring from several rooms. Princess Kizi wrinkled her nose at the sound of the humans. She couldn’t wait to make them her slaves.
The door loomed closer. Her hand was on the knob when...
"Where are you going, Mistress Minae?"
It was Trynt, a member of the Queen’s security guard. Kizi froze in her tracks. She couldn’t be detained, not now. Forcing an innocent smile, she turned to the concerned man and shrugged her shoulders.
"You caught me... I was going to a meeting of the Kiiroi Hane." Kizi inched closer to the boy. He furrowed his brow. "For you see, I am the rightful Queen of this disgusting planet and am planning on taking it over," she laughed.
The man smiled uneasily. He wasn’t sure if she was joking or not. Amidala wouldn’t have this girl as a guest if she were dangerous, he thought. His smile turned into a small laugh, and he took his hand off of his blaster.
"I’m glad you find that funny. That way you’ll have a smile on your face when I kill you."
"Wha..." he started.
Kizi grabbed his neck and squeezed. Her fingers tightened just enough to knock him out - she needed him alive if she was to drain his energy. Grabbing his feet, she dragged his body into the woods, and when she was quite sure she was no longer visible, she placed her mouth over his.
A stream of blue energy travelled the course of his body and entered the Queen’s. It filled her from head to toe and electrified her. She smiled delicately and sat back on her heels. Trynt was still alive, but barely. Kizi licked her lips and got closer to him, this time, to finish him.
"...stop..."
Kizi bolted upright and glanced around.
"...stop, please..."
That voice. It belonged to Minae. It echoed in Kizi’s mind.
"Minae... dearest... I told you to let me handle this," the Queen purred.
"...no... you’re hurting him..."
She tried to fight back the voice, tried to make Minae sleep, but she couldn’t. Finally, Kizi decided to let the soldier live, for now. Anything to get that voice silenced.
She trekked the hidden path that led to the secret clearing. Her presence was greeted by bowed heads and an offering of her favourite wine.
"My children," the woman in Minae’s body said, "how much do you love your Queen?"
One of the men who had attacked the senshi the day before stood and said, "Enough to give our lives for you, Highness."
"Excellent. The time is approaching, and you very well may die, but do not fear children, for I am your eternal guardian and will always protect you."
