Skysaber's Choice

Part Eighteen

by Jared Ornstead

=====

	"Well?" Jared, aka The Pheonix Mage, asked. "I believe I've passed."
	"No." The Queen replied simply and smugly. "You have not."
	"WHAT?!!" Cried more than a dozen voices.
	Serenity was quite astonished at this reaction. Her eyes opened wide. 
"But he hasn't sufficiently proven himself worthy of my trust." The Queen 
objected.
	"And since when have *you* proven worthy of HIS?" Lita demanded.
	The Silver Queen was having any of it, and gestured imperiously. "Stand 
back away from him. This trial of nobility is not yet over. It shall be 
done only when he has pledged his unwavering loyalty to me, and done so 
under proper magical binding."
	Mina shot a swift glance to the side. That bit about magical bindings, 
if they could do it for *marriage* vows... Then she dismissed that 
thought as unworthy of her and untrusting of Jared and faced forward 
again.
	Tears were running down both Jared's cheeks as he saw this as a ploy to 
separate him from his friends again by demanding more than he could give, 
when he had already stressed his limits on what he could give in to. And 
he was willing to suspect that as tenuous as those magical bindings 
*could* be, the ones used by the Queen were another kettle of fish 
entirely. All their other magic seemed to transcend normal bounds, why 
not that? It even had Prince Darien locked in servitude to Serena in 
spite of death, a few weeks of Queen Beryl's best efforts to break that 
binding, and other minor things.
	Even though he was theoretically immune to geas and such spells from his 
monk training there was no way he was going to risk that.
	"No." He chocked out with evident pain at the word.
	"How *dare* you hurt my Big Brother!!" Serena shouted, presently 
clinging to said big brother's leg. The other Scouts also presented a 
firm barrier against their former Queen.
	"You *aren't* going to catch us off-guard again." Amy informed Queen 
Serenity.
	"Try it and we'll waste ya!" Helen added her input, molding a fist.
	Jared slid his arm around a Scout's waist, happening to catch Michelle 
doing it, while addressing the Queen. "Serenity, your time is limited. At 
this point you have a choice either to continue trying to play around 
giving orders or to fix some of the problems you've made before it's too 
late."
	The Queen made as if to rise from her throne but five of the Scouts 
instantly threw themselves into wind up poses.
	"Jupiter....
	"Venus...
	"Dead...
	"World...
	"Mercury..."
	The Queen froze instantly, eyes pinpricks as she stared at the 
assortment of Silver Moon power blasts arrayed to be thrown at her. She 
sat down quietly, though when the Sailors had relaxed Serenity raised her 
palm and all of the Scouts lost their transformations.
	The Pheonix Mage stepped forward, holding a cautionary palm out, 
interrupting both sides. He raised his face to glare at the Queen between 
fiery red locks. "Now before we start fighting, and potentially kill each 
other, I think it best if you consider that you've just placed yourself 
*against* your own Sailor Scouts. We'll just leave and you can enjoy this 
dead world and ruined court all on your own."
	Mina stared defiantly against the stunned Serenity. "We don't need your 
permission to love Jay-chan! And if force and spells are all the Silver 
Moon Kingdom has to offer then maybe we don't need that either!" A few 
months of outrage and suffering came boiling to the surface as the plucky 
girl went on to shout even more loudly. "Where were *you* when I was 
fighting all alone against the Dark Kingdom!? If it weren't for Jay-chan, 
I'd have been killed and none of my friends here would have been found! 
So stop putting your nose into our monkey business!"
	The Sailors all chimed in with a chorus of nods.
	Amy winced. "That's 'private business', Mina-chan, not 'monkey 
business.'"
	"Maybe later," murmured Helen with a mischievous smirk.
	Blushing rosy cheeks for just a moment, Amy once again addressed 
Serenity. "Jay-chan has all of your wealth and most of your power and 
still he is kind and loving without being selfish or hurtful." She 
provided as a thought provoking measure.
	Another chorus of nods.
	"If he needs to be royalty to have your permission to love us, then 
maybe *we* don't need to belong to this court." Lita interjected.
	More chorused nodding.
	Rae had tears flowing down both cheeks. "Yeah, enough of this mind 
control and erasing our happy memories. The Dark Kingdom wasn't that bad 
to us. Who are you? Our ally or an enemy? Don't you even care about how 
we feel?"
	"Striking us in the back in the middle of battle is what I'd call a 
betrayal." Helen put in.
	Michelle was calmly and sufficiently composed as she completed that 
thought. "And I'd studied history while learning music. Oaths of fealty 
are broken by any acts like that. We are never again obligated to obey 
you no matter *what* laws you've passed."
	Serenity sat devastated, yet thought briefly about the amount of power 
it would take to erase this mess, which she was already regretting, and 
get back to an even footing. With the eventual goal of her in charge, of 
course, but that thought needn't even be said.
	Jared sighed, able to read her body language.
	"Serenity, I can't do much to stop one of your spells, but I dodge very 
well. If you attack me, I will most assuredly kill you. If you attack any 
of my friends again I will kill you. If you somehow disable me, then I've 
trained these girls fairly well, and feel certain *they* will kill you. 
Or we could just leave and your own decree will kill you."
	Serenity met a wall of fierce gazes.
	Susan finally put in a word. "Serenity, with your death the Moon Kingdom 
perished. It is no more. How much longer will you fight against it 
reappearing? Without Jay-chan all the Scouts would now be dead, without 
him *you* would be gone as well, and this moon a ruin of lost dreams and 
broken buildings. Jared *IS* the new Moon Kingdom, whether you like it or 
not. The only choice you have to make is for him to be the enemy of the 
old regime or its ally. Which will you choose?"
	Serenity met tiny Serena's fierce and hostile gaze, and the Queen wept. 
She'd only known that *this* Serena was her daughter when the girl had 
changed to Sailor Moon. Until then she had allowed her granddaughter to 
run rampant, destroying any relationship she'd hoped to have with her 
reborn daughter by being a beastly little thing... with Serenity's full 
support.
	She'd thought to rejoice when Serena had transformed. With the mage's 
back turned to fight youma she'd had an opportunity that had no chance to 
ever come again. She would erase their memories and get a fresh start 
with all of them, a reborn Kingdom...
	"Oh!" Jared blinked in startlement, suddenly understanding from his own 
ruminations. His gaze toward the Queen softened. "Well THAT explains this 
whole mess! No wonder you don't want any male rising to royalty among 
you." He gave silent thanks for his intuition finally figuring this out. 
	"Hm?" The Queen was not prepared for this turn of events. Though her 
barrier against ESP was strong her control of body language was not.
	The Scouts were likewise puzzled, and gave him a portion of their 
attention from where they'd been standing on guard against the further 
efforts of the Queen. Not about to lose an opportunity, Serenity raised 
her hand imperiously and all of the girls got flung away from his side.
	"Double-handed undercrosser!" Mina shouted, seeming to blur as she was 
again clinging to Jay-chan's side for protection as she stared angrily at 
the Silver Queen.
	Serenity smiled serenely toward the Scouts. "Now you can all stay away 
from him as I sort this out."
	She got a firm round of disagreement.
	Serenity was honestly puzzled. "As your Queen, I order you to do this."
	"As my Queen, you can stick it up [CENSORED]!" Rae retorted hotly, also 
clinging to Jay-chan's side (where it was getting slightly crowded). "I'm 
NOT going to obey any command you give!" Rae followed with a long and 
detailed explanation of where Queen Serenity could stick that authority, 
her Kingdom, and her Moon Crescent Wand.
	Amy, having studied anatomy, looked at the wand and said in a very quiet 
voice that she didn't think it would fit.
	For the first time in perhaps her entire life, Queen Serenity considered 
facefaulting, but rejected it as undignified. Jared and several of the 
Scouts winced and blushed at some of the phrases in use here. Helen added 
her choice comments and Michelle said something very rude.
	The other girls nodded firmly.
	"Enough." Jared swept a hand smoothly through the air, cutting off 
debate. "There is no point in discussing this. Come on girls, we are 
leaving."
	Whatever response Serenity had been expecting, it wasn't this. Having 
been the central power in the most praised and accomplished kingdom ever 
in the solar system, she wasn't used to subjects deciding she was 
superfluous and just walking away, especially when there were things she 
knew they still  needed from her.
	She blinked in confusion at their retreating backs. "Aren't you even 
going to ask for their transformations to be restored?" Her voice rang 
out over the empty tiles like a petulant child discovering her playmate 
has decided to quit their game.
	"Nope. No point in it." Jared's voice replied, his back turned and cloak 
billowing as he strode away. "You would only give them back on condition 
that something else be done or conceded that would cost us *far* more 
than those transformations are worth."
	Serenity was blinking in rapidfire mode. That had been her plan, 
actually. "But..."
	"Besides, I am a mage." His voice continued. "It may take me a few years 
but I can outfit them as well as their transformations had ever done. 
Granted the Silver Millennium advantages are useful, they are not 
typically game-breaking. No, we have no need of you."
	That phrase stunned Queen Serenity in her seat. Suddenly she caught an 
image of herself alone in the throne room of an empty palace without a 
court, bodyguard or even a kingdom and scurried off after the mage who 
was still calmly retreating at the head of her Scouts.
	"Wait!"
	They did *not* wait, but giving up on dignity for a moment the Queen was 
able to scramble and catch up to them, halting in front of Jared to pant 
and ask. "I don't understand what it is you are doing. I promised you 
power and royalty, why won't you obey me?"
	Jared stopped and heaved a great sigh. "Queen Serenity, loyalty goes 
both ways. You've given me precious little reason to trust you and plenty 
of reasons not to." He raised his eyes and met hers strongly. "Besides, I 
told you much about Mars. What I told you was scarcely the *beginning* of 
that story, but I shared something I'd sworn never to reveal to anyone 
all the same. To have you ignore that sacrifice and demand that I offer 
even more; unquestioning obedience to you. That's not royalty, that's 
slavery." He grinned sardonically. "And I spend too much time freeing 
slaves to ever want to be one."
	"But... for the glory of the kingdom..." Serenity plainly couldn't 
understand.
	Jared pitied her while flanked by her former Scouts. "What do you have 
left but the tattered remnants? Ask yourself a question, Serenity. By 
your own judgment your power ends at sunset." He raised his arms 
expressively, indicating the moonscape around them. "What will be left? 
No Queen because you'd have left office even if you haven't died. No 
Scouts because you've taken their power because of their loyalty to me. A 
landscape that I restored, but not me as I don't wish to become your 
slave any more than you want to be mine."
	Queen Serenity reacted as if slapped.
	Jared's eyes glinted knowingly as he looked at her. "Because that *is* 
the real issue, isn't it? THAT is the reason the Moon Kingdom has forever 
been a matriarchal line. Because of the whole problem of the Scouts and 
their power verses that belonging to the Knights." His eyes glinted 
softly. "The Scouts have power given them over the elements - it says so 
in your own books and is demonstrably true. Some of the elements are 
funky like Time or Light, but they are elements by your magic all the 
same."
	He cocked his head at the Queen. "That gives you girls the power to blow 
things up, or create new resources by doing things like terraforming 
planets. But the Scouts aren't all of it, they aren't even *half* of it. 
You might say that all of reality was split down the middle with the 
solid, physical half given to the girl Sailor Scouts to control, while 
the nebulous, mental part got left with the masculine Knights."
	Jared Saotome settled back on his heels and crossed his arms. "That 
explains the whole battle strategy of Tuxedo Mask in those worlds where 
he shows up. Because the power base of the Silver Millennial energy is 
all emotional. The power comes from what we feel, and those who feel 
strongly have more power to use than those who don't. But while it is 
primarily the female Scouts who blow up the enemy, it is the male 
*Knights* who empower them!"
	 He smiled at her. "In most universes the only restored Knight is Tuxedo 
Mask, also known as Prince Darien or the Knight of Hope." He made a 
gesture of concession. "Granted we haven't seen him here, but I've been 
in other universes and so I know. What he does is hang out in the 
background until the fight is well advanced, and then when the Scouts 
have expended their immediate power reserves he shows up using his own 
brand of power - granting them all renewed hope to continue and 
incidentally a recharge enabling them to use their elemental attacks 
again. In the balance of power if the enemy and the Scouts are even 
remotely equal, then if they both go at it full power, they both begin to 
get used up (even if the bad guy doesn't show it), and a fresh recharge 
at the critical juncture is enough for the Scouts to batter at a weakened 
enemy with refreshed attacks, almost always finishing it off."
	Jared enjoyed looking at the stunned and slackening features of 
Serenity. "A female Scout can throw about fire or whatnot because those 
are the elements over which they're given power. With a Knight there to 
bolster them they go much farther than without, so you continue to call 
and use Knights. But there's an insidious danger in there, isn't there?" 
The young man smiled more. "A Scout might have power over one element, 
say Water, while a Knight may have power over one emotion. In my case on 
my first assignment it was the emotion of Reason. Tuxedo Mask was Hope 
and I saw that man you'd addressed as the Knight of Duty. As obscure 
emotions in their way as Ice and Gravity are elements, but all equal in 
their way."
	The smile grew wider. "But it doesn't stop there. Knights aren't the 
problem. Scouts aren't the problem. Both have access to limited venues of 
power. Most stop asking there, but I've had the chance of seeing some of 
that in action. You see, Sailor Moon is normally given power over 
Healing. An obscure element I'll grant you, but a useful one and comes as 
close as any Scout does to crossing the line over to a mental power, 
giving her the most flexibility. She can treat a youma as a disease, 
wiping it from existence, cure a taint of evil in mortals, or just blast 
out a curse or dark infection." The young man grew more relaxed as he 
neared his finale. "However, when Serena powers up into Princess mode her 
power alters. It becomes macroscopic. I don't even know what to call it 
but she starts to ignore *all* the normal limits of her usual Healing 
mode, as if she was operating on a different one entirely."
	He leaned forward and poked a finger at Serenity's chest. "While YOU 
have ability to use any element given to any of your Scouts. You aren't 
the Silver Queen, that's your title. if you want a description of your 
powers it would be Queen of Elements, because I've seen you use time and 
gravity and healing and a number of others."
	Jared settled back with a smile. "All very fun to do, but if the same 
applies to a male as it does to a female then he'd start with one 
emotion, then grow to a very WIDE emotion with lots more application..." 
He leaned forward again to say to Queen Serenity's face. "And finally he 
would become King of Emotions, able to inspire or direct any feeling he 
wants."
	Queen Serenity dropped her face to the dust and her shoulders slackened 
and both Jared and his girls knew that to be a true assessment.
	Jared leaned back to give her some room. "That wouldn't be a bad thing 
except that it gives the man total authority. How would a Silver Queen 
even know she was being manipulated by her King? Fire and element powers 
are supremely flashy but the emotive ones are very subtle. As much as we 
*want* to think otherwise all human beings, and elves and dragons too, 
for that matter, are ruled by our hearts and *then* our heads, and as the 
former Knight of Reason I know that *both* are under the possible control 
of a Silver King."
	He shook his head sadly. "It's not that you couldn't trust a man, it's 
that you wouldn't. It would never be guaranteed that a King would misuse 
his power and rule absolutely over his Queen, but the mere possibility 
has you so scared you're never going to be willing to try. Even a prince 
such as you were nearly willing to make me has to be bound *tightly* in 
order to insure that his greatly increased power couldn't influence the 
Queen to do whatever he wished. Yet I was never willing to be tightly 
bound."
	Jared presented a hand as if to say 'that is the problem' and finished 
off. "Well, I've solved the riddle, I know the difficulty. But I also 
know that so tight is your iron grip on power that you'd sooner die than 
relinquish it. Take a good look around you, because the legacy of the 
Silver Moon dies with you tonight. Ask yourself who will miss it more: 
you or I."
	He paused to look at the Queen as she sighed and brought herself up to a 
more regal posture. Then he made as if to leave when Serenity interrupted 
him.
	"You are wrong."
	He turned. "Am I?"
	She nodded. "You see, it was necessary..."
	Helen was shaking her head at this display. "Queen Beryl, Queen 
Serenity... I fail to see much difference."
	The Silver Queen's head snapped up at the rebuke, then down again. "I'm 
sorry."
	Little Serena's heart melted and she rushed forward, clasping the older 
woman into a hug. "That's alright! I'll forgive you!"
	Jared stared apprehensively as reality rippled around him. Then suddenly 
he caught the meaning of what that was and hung his head in his hands. 
"Oh, great! A royal pardon! As if we didn't have enough to deal with, now 
Serenity gets to *stay* in charge, pardoned by the heir."
	Queen Serenity looked up, analyzed the situation, and stood up. "Pheonix 
Mage, I apologize. You have indeed awarded me with great service, which I 
have returned with bile and harshness." The Queen took a deeper breath. 
"I could excuse myself in a million ways, but I must admit I saw you as 
an obstacle to my own happiness and meant to remove you. Instead I see 
you are a source of others' joy, and I have been interfering. Forgive me. 
I was wrong."
	The Queen cracked a smile and proved herself the great ruler she'd been 
regarded as in the Silver Millennium, and had failed to be lately, by 
raising her glowing wand. "Jared Saotome, known as Skysaber, now Pheonix 
Knight and Mage - You are royal, The Prince of Love."
	A cloud of sparkles washed over him to his astonishment, and dismay, as 
he'd once held title as the Knight of Reason back a ways and frankly 
regarded that sphere as higher in general utility than the one he'd just 
received.
	Then he was glomped by a dozen newly restored and transformed Sailor 
Scouts and rethought the issue. Reason wasn't half as useful in retaining 
wives as loving them, and being loved in turn.

***

	Susan flashed forward in time, taking two cats with her and leaving her 
past self of the era behind. Among her talents were an immunity to 
personal paradox and the ability to project herself into different eras. 
Going back a few minutes was tricky, 1000 years was much easier. Longer 
periods, an epoch - was in some ways the easiest of all. Paradox wasn't 
as likely to trip you up, for one thing. Even if you were personally 
immune, you could still get hit with a baseball via indirect consequences.
	So the time periods slipped by in a blur and Sailor Pluto stood on a 
street of Crystal Tokyo, as it was 100,000 years after Queen Neo-Serenity 
had begun it. As always, it was quiet and empty.
	At her feet two cats, one white, one black, sniffed the air.
	"There's no people," said Artemis. "There hasn't been in a long time."
	"What happened to them?" asked Luna, her voice quieter than usual. There 
was something about the utter stillness that seemed to command a quiet 
solemnity.
	"It changes." Sailor Pluto answered the feline. "This is the Crystal 
Tokyo after Serena becomes Neo-Serenity. After Neo-Serenity passes the 
Crystal on to her daughter, Rini becoming Queen Serena II. Queen Serena 
II passes the rule on to *her* daughter, and to *her* daughter, and to 
*her* daughter." Sailor Pluto leaned on her staff and looked out over the 
streets. "Depending on the actions that Serena and the others take, the 
future blurs and reshapes constantly. One constant however is here, now. 
An abandoned Crystal Tokyo."
	"Still, Serena managed to form Crystal Tokyo and continue the Serenity 
line!" Luna said proudly, then thought for a moment. "How many 
generations does the Serenity line last?"
	"The most I've seen is six," admitted Pluto. "Usually by the time of 
Rini's daughter's reign, they've either lost or misused the Imperial 
Crystal. Usually it all starts falling apart in Rini's reign. By that 
time the Senshi are all dead."
	"What about the new Senshi, or their daughters?" Artemis poked around 
the sewer grate briefly but if there were rats or anything they were 
keeping well hidden.
	"Do you remember the games you played, interfering with their 
relationships with normal people? By the time of Crystal Tokyo, they are 
solely focused on serving their Princess. They never marry, never have 
children, never associate beyond their own clique." Sailor Pluto's voice 
took a bitter tone, she understood loneliness. "As to how the city fell, 
it sometimes falls to an enemy - either an invader from without or an 
enemy from within. I've checked the libraries and sometimes there was a 
climate shift or threat of radiation from solar storms or some other 
threat that didn't involve an enemy. Sometimes the inhabitants simply 
gave up the city and abandoned it like some child's toy.
	"And sometimes, the reason was that there was simply nothing more to 
do." Susan made a sweeping gesture. "Many old ways had been abandoned, 
old skills and paths neglected. There were no more great discoveries that 
could be made, or so they told themselves. No great causes to embrace. No 
evils to fight. No hunger, no poverty, no riches, no struggles, no 
passions."
	"A perfect world," said Luna with a nod. "So why would the people 
vanish?"
	"Because there would no longer be any reason for them to continue. This 
is the most common ending I've seen to the Moon Kingdom. Their art and 
literature had continued but grew repetitive. There were no new geniuses 
to challenge the status quo or establish new ideas and channels. And so 
the Kingdom failed even though Neo-Serenity lived 1100 years and Rini's 
reign lasted 3000 years."
	Artemis shivered. "So, how do we prevent 'death by ennui'?"
	"That *is* why I brought you here," said Susan. "What we need is to 
bring others into the mix prior to Crystal Tokyo. People who can later 
energize the society before it becomes static."
	"No, we mustn't corrupt the purity of Crystal Tokyo," Luna said with a 
sniff. "Any distractions from serving their princess should be 
diminished."
	"That attitude, I have learned, is exactly what ends up destroying the 
Kingdom in seven timelines." Pluto warned. "Now, I'd like to suggest a 
little change."

***

	As the Scouts and their Prince departed all happy and joyful and merry, 
sprouting gales of love and laughter, the Queen trudged and hauled 
herself heavily to sit by the side of a silent pond outside of the 
palace. And cry.
	Soon she sensed a silent presence behind her as her fingers dipped and 
rippled idly in the absolutely placid water. "He doesn't know everything, 
you know." She quietly grieved to this person.
	"Bennu ever was subject to blind spots, that's a part of how you once 
controlled him. Back in the Moon Kingdom, that is." That silent presence 
agreed with her, or seemed to, as he came and sat down on a pure white 
marble bench. "But when something came to his attention he ever did have 
a knack for solving it. That's why you gave him a tower of his own 
isolated on a moon of Mars, so you could control which problems would 
come to his notice and that way distract him from those you didn't want 
him to resolve."
	There was quiet as both relived memories of that time.
	"Do you think... ?" Serenity didn't dare voice the whole question. But 
this person knew her well enough that it didn't matter.
	"...that he would have seen Beryl coming and done something about it? 
Probably. That's why we had a Knight of Reason, after all. Bennu was just 
particularly suited to the role and why your mother passed over his two 
older brothers and appointed him."
	Lips quirked as Serenity remembered the long tale of long ago, when a 
young man had to be called to the duty, not even yet in his teens, 
because of how badly his father had botched the role.
	Both had been lost in quietly remembering those long forgotten times.
	"He never did ask what Darien was prince of."
	"Part of those blind spots. If Prince Darien had made his appearance I'm 
sure the mage would have asked." The silent figure breathed heavily in 
and out. With utmost caution, he ventured to add. "You have blind spots 
too, Sara."
	The woman choked on her tears, still looking at ripples in the water. 
"How long has it been since you'd called me that at all."
	"Not by any choice of my own." The figure added in a regret-filled tone.
	"Such plain clothes you wear now." She mentioned as if that had any 
relevance to what they'd been discussing.
	A finger touched the frilly lace at the silken sleeve of the musketeer 
garb he'd been wearing. "The dress uniform of a soldier, my dear. It's 
all I rate now, after my failing to please you."
	Tears had doubled or tripled on the Queen's face for some reason. "You 
pleased me only too well, Basalt(1). I sent you away only because I loved 
you."
	His hand went cautiously to her shoulder and without much transition the 
Queen was smothering herself against him in a hug, weeping bitterly open 
tears of shame. Neither one had to say how much that it had hurt them, 
nor did either one voice that the Pheonix Mage's assessment of the horror 
with which certain factions in the Moon Kingdom had viewed male control 
extended to those naturally inspired feelings as much as ill-used powers.
	It was a flaw, but a tiny one in the minds of those who had never felt 
it touch them. It was sadly neither the first nor the last people to feel 
that pain and hardship caused in a way not touching them was the same as 
no hardship caused at all. And neither were they the last populace to 
think their own flaws minor and not worth fixing, or make sacrifices for 
a form of government they cherished and treasured. Sacrifices which over 
time grew too extreme.
	All nations in all times had those who thought the same.
	They both cried for some time, until finally...
	"There is much you might yet do." The musketeer said softly, once the 
volume of tears had died down to a mere trickle.
	Serenity sniffed and blew her nose on a proffered, frilly handkerchief. 
"Like what? I lose this office at sunset. When the Queen is pardoned by 
the heir, the heir becomes the Queen. I don't know how Bennu missed that."
	"We should hardly use his Silver Millennium name when he does not 
remember it."
	The Queen sniffed and wiped her nose again. "It is the _duty_  of the 
Queen Mother to act old fashioned." She partially stifled a 
strain-spawned giggle. "That's how the old ways are preserved when a new 
Queen takes the throne."
	"Well," the figure's lips quirked in what might almost have been a 
smile. "Then I can hardly say a word against it, can I?"
	"What would you have me do?" Queen Serenity asked of her own personal 
Prince of Love, though it was not through magic or office how he inspired 
it in her.


1. Basalt is very hard and rough, enduring a great deal of wear. Thus it 
seemed appropriate for a name for the Knight of Duty; patient under 
responsibility, plain and common yet strong. It also seemed a fair name 
for a consort for the Queen, father of the new generation of Silver 
Monarchs, because it is also one of the primary sources from which silver 
can be refined.

***

	*BOOM!*
	"There are times, Jay-chan, when you're a little scary."
	"Ah, that was nothing." Jared replied, crawling out of the crater made 
by his landing, if the shock of his fall had shaken windows and buried 
him up to his knees in spite of how he'd landed on his feet he seemed 
unconcerned by it. "I am a first edition D&D character, able to fall from 
orbit on an empty stomach at sunrise, run 24 miles under a heavy pack, 
fight a huge melee with normal encumbrance at the end of my jog and still 
not break a sweat. Pain from injuries does not phase me, I fight just as 
well on my last hit point as I do in full health, and all of that 
*before* we add in the Endurance proficiency or my unreal speed or all of 
those nifty special abilities I have." He chanced a glance to the ladies 
floating down to a rest alongside him. "Those are just the rules."
	Michelle touched down daintily on the ground and the faint nimbus of the 
Feather Fall spell faded. They'd all cast them on finding Jared had 
teleported them in a mile above their target on purpose. As her hair 
settled down around her shoulders she added, looking out over the 
still-milling crowd including practically all of Tokyo's denizens. "It 
does impress folks, I suppose."
	The conversation might've continued, but at that moment their 
communicators started blinking. Curious girls flipped them open to hear 
Central's excited voice. "Attention! Sailor Scouts! Evacuate your area 
immediately! Several countries just launched multiple nuclear-tipped 
rockets toward Tokyo! You have four minutes to find safe shelter before 
the fist wave hits. We recommend a Scout Teleport back to the Moon!"
	The girls instantly went to the verge of panic. The fear of nuclear 
weapons was very ingrained into the Japanese. However, they forestalled 
panic by simultaneously turning to see how Jared would react.
	Jared very calmly touched a control on the Robotech wrist computer he 
wore. "Star Command, this is ground party requesting cruiser support. 
Over."
	The little device bleeped back in bored tones. "Negative, ground party. 
All of our cruisers are on planet capture duty and cannot be disturbed. 
Suggest you use alternate methods to deal with whatever your problem is. 
Over."
	Jared very deliberately cleared his throat, glancing back at the milling 
millions of men, women and children driven from their homes by the 
roaches. "Star Command, allow me to rephrase that request. This is 
Pheonix Mage, acting Commander-in-Chief of the Robotech Defense Forces, 
requesting a cruiser to create a laser umbrella against multiple incoming 
nukes. Over."
	The answering voice was no longer remotely bored. "Affirmative. Cruiser 
Luna to do a pinpoint emergency fold, ETA thirty-five seconds. Over and 
out."
	Jared stared at his wrist computer somewhat displeased. Frowning, he 
said. "That's odd. I never put that kind of personality algorithm in 
there when I was setting up that thing. I wonder how it managed to 
imitate a live response that well?"
	"Jay-chan?" Amy asked in a strained voice, including a whole realm of 
questions in that word, starting with the obvious 'What are you planning 
and why aren't we heading for the hills?'
	Rae was straining at the bit, dancing from foot to foot as if she could 
hardly wait to start using them in the first 300 mile sprint done by 
anyone who wasn't Jared. "Yeah, could we do some talking *after* we've 
all gotten to safety?"
	Jared shot them a very calm and reassuring smile. "It's the 'all' part 
I'm worried about. I could get *us* out of here easily, but *those*," he 
gestured with his head toward the still-not dispersed and blissfully 
ignorant crowd. "Are going to get fried to crispy critters unless we deal 
with the threat itself. I have done so, and having done so I thought you 
might want to stay around and watch the show."
	"WHAT SHOW?!!" Michelle asked, hair standing on end, thinking she 
already knew.
	"The one to happen twenty seconds from now and three whole minutes 
before the nukes are a danger to us." Jared said, looking at his watch 
while he timed it. He shrugged. "I don't think this is a Dark Kingdom 
attack. It's too swift after their other for one thing, for another it 
gives them too little return on energy. With everybody all gathered 
together like this they pretty much all die in a single flash and there's 
no lingering agony or misery, thus no chance for them to pull out any 
real power from it."
	Mina's professionalism was piqued and she calmed a bit to ask him 
curiously. "If not the Dark Kingdom then who?"
	Jared shot her a delighted grin that said he was glad she was thinking 
about this. "My best guess would be some of the governments have become 
very tired of all of the mess centered here in Japan and have just been 
waiting for an excuse to sterilize it. The news of the cockroach army was 
just big enough an event to serve as an excuse, that's all. You've got to 
admit, the world economy is already well over the brink speeding toward a 
collapse. A third world nation could go belly up without effecting the 
rest of the world very much, but Japan was central to so many industries 
and markets... all that's really left is for the Japanese banks to go, 
then their currency goes, and those that depend on it... No, their whole 
social order has just gone bye-bye and the best that most can do is see 
what's the largest scraps that can be saved. You can safely bet that sort 
of thing upsets the guys who'd owned the whole pie before it happened. 
And what better way to preserve what power is left to them than to burn 
out the place that was the source of all their problems?"
	"... the banks all went yesterday..." Amy voiced quietly, somehow more 
timid now that news of other humans trying to kill them sunk in. "It was 
on the news. The American and European stock exchanged had to close to 
prevent yet another crash."
	"It would only be the third one this year." Lita rolled her eyes. Having 
enemies was not something new to her, like it was to the Anderson girl.
	Amy found her voice. "Yes, but the word is this time the markets may not 
reopen. It hit global currency exchanges hard when the yen finally went, 
even though it's not fully been announced." She timidly sucked on her 
forefinger, a gesture he'd never seen in her before. "Everybody knows 
that it's already happened, though. My mother's hospital has stopped 
taking any form of payment except precious metal coin and foreign 
currency, and I've heard of some places that will only take precious 
coins. All yen notes are anymore is toilet paper."
	Their conversation was ended by a great sphere of light opening up in 
the sky, and the Robotech cruiser Jared had encountered on the moon was 
there when the light left. It had no sooner appeared than it displayed a 
fearsome armament of laser guns and began to fire at objects out of sight 
across the horizon. Detonations and huge explosions followed as the 
energy weapons found their targets in the incoming missiles.
	As the blasts whipped his hair, Jared said. "Once you have learned their 
limits then nukes are a great deal less scary. You either have the 
countermeasure or you don't, and if you do or if you don't they either 
hit you or they won't. In either case the problem pretty much resolves 
itself. It is survival in anarchy and radiation disease that scares most 
people, not the actual weapons, and fallout is what scares most in 
regards to radiation. Because if you are close enough to the blast for 
the radiation from *that* to hurt you, you'd already have been killed by 
the shockwave." He shot a sly grin to the girls. "The only fallout that 
is dangerous is the radioactive materials used to make the bomb in the 
first place, and I have an Air Elemental taking care to funnel those 
right now down to a waiting Earth Elemental who will squirrel them *back* 
away in the rocks and minerals they were taken from, in their 
less-than-human-enhanced forms."
	His smile became very reassuring. "So what we are watching right now is 
merely a very expensive light show."
	Rae brushed a lock of her long hair out of her eyes, asking. "How do you 
know so much about them, Jay-chan?"
	Lita was staring raptly at the explosions. "Yeah. I mean, how can you be 
so calm?"
	Jared shrugged, turning his back to the blasts toward the wondering 
people. "When I was back on Mars I was given clearance to hold and use a 
very large stockpile of mega-warhead nukes. Launching them by missile was 
useless because every time we did so the Zentraedi shot them down. So the 
only times we used them was backpacked in, carried by hand to the place 
we wanted detonated - always deep in the heart of an enemy base, and 
leave them disguised and on a timer while we ran away. A couple of times 
we almost didn't make it, yet 'almost' was enough and Earth Mecha is so 
radiation shielded we got away without even any illness or burns. We did 
this several times."
	He turned a serious gaze upon the ladies. "I have detonated more nuclear 
weapons under combat conditions than any nation on this planet, or all of 
them combined. And more mega tonnage than most of them did in test 
blasts." He shrugged. "At some point you get used to it. Even the 
strangest things are like that."
	His look became a smile and his eyes began to twinkle. "Things like, oh 
say, fighting youma and going to the moon, for example."

***

	Serenity's elegantly shaped foot stepped onto the grass of the Cherry 
Hill shrine, a hand lightly brushed the now-bark-covered supports and a 
silver head of hair ducked under the tiny branches that now decorated the 
eaves of the Living Temple.
	Crossing a lawn sprinkled with rose quartz carvings and caressing softly 
a small nest filled with over a dozen eggs a mother pigeon was having 
difficulty covering with her small body, the Queen gently lifted the nest 
aside and brushed away the dirt and leaves beneath it.
	Revealing Jedite's face, forgotten under the spell of Eternal Sleep the 
mage had put him under, trapped with no need to eat or breathe under an 
increasing depth of humus and moss growing under that bush.
	Serenity heeded her Knight's warning and checked very carefully the 
spells the Pheonix Knight had laid upon the general, then she altered 
them, adding a few of her own, and said.
	"Jedite, awake and rise. For you are pardoned."
	The general opened his eyes and began to rise.

***

	"Shampoo?"
	"Yes, Cologne, I know."
	"I just wanted to make sure you understood the gravity of this 
situation."
	Shampoo tracked her gaze down toward the ground and sighed. "Shampoo 
only *wish* gravity effect in this situation."
	The slightly older teenage girl who was actually the three hundred year 
old Cologne gazed wistfully at the road several yards below them. "On the 
other hand," she admitted. "It was a sound tactical decision. If the 
enemy are able to absorb direct attacks trying to use indirect energy 
*was* the thing to try next."
	Shampoo glared balefully at the strand of sticky gray stuff which had 
seized a lock of hair and pulled nastily every time she tried to hang her 
head in a more relaxing position. She sighed once more and tensed and 
relaxed certain muscles to avoid cramping any sooner than necessary.
	Cologne once more tried her strength against the sticky strands that 
bound them both in uncomfortable positions several yards above the road. 
"And I have to admit, for sheer *power* your spells are extremely, even 
remarkably effective. But next time..."
	"Yes, Cologne, I know. Try detonating the web spell on something *other* 
than us."

***

	She looked over her companion. Papa had said that this was important, 
and she'd heard Papa and android-sama discussing something in the next 
room. When she'd come out, Papa had been clutching something that looked 
kind of like a metal egg and chuckling gleefully. Papa had then said to 
go with android-sama, then she'd be introduced to some nice boy named 
"Saotome-san" who was going to do something fun with her.
	Something that would help her protect papa-san and Ryunosuke and meet 
new friends. Nuku Nuku was very happy about this, she liked new friends.
	But she was also curious.
	Nuku Nuku very cautiously tried to peer inside the metal covering to see 
who was inside without breaking anything. "Grey-san, Ryunosuke said 
you're a robot. Is that right?"
	"No, Atsuko-chan. i'm a cyborg. Very similar to you in fact," said Grey 
with absolutely no idea why that statement would cause an offplanar 
feline god of mischief to howl laughing.
	Nuku Nuku frowned for a moment then burst into smiles, climbing up on 
the cyborg's back to peer over his shoulder and ask him curiously. "What 
did you give Papa that made him so happy?"
	"Holographic computer memory storage device containing data on how to 
build a cyborg of my nature. Of course, he's still got to build a 
computer that can access it, but that's his problem." Grey sighed and 
briefly seemed to fade in and out. "Now *that* was odd."
	"You do that once already," pointed out Nuku, then plopped down and 
resumed walking, hands folding behind her back as she leaned curiously 
forward to peer at the great cyborg's eyes. "Is it very far?"
	"Nah, we're almost there," said Grey, not able to grimace. Normally his 
type of cyborg had a faceplate which could be removed for a simulated 
human face. He'd already checked though, and this *was* his face. 
"There's lots of people who you'll be friends with, i think."
	She smiled and made a happy sound, bouncing happily and with lots of 
energy to lap her hands at around head-height for him. Which made it a 
very minor jump for her. "Nuku Nuku get to meet new friends! Yay!!!"
	"And then i've got to get back to building those hovercycles," the 
bulkier cyborg announced, "though i don't know where i'll get some the 
more complicated components. Some of the parts'll be tricky on the 
replicator."
	Nuku Nuku cocked her head in puzzled thoughtfulness. Spare parts? Mama 
always had lots of spare parts! Maybe she should give Mama-san a call?
	The catgirl beamed and spun around a convenient lamppost in glee.

***

	Three figures were floating together, watching the dissolution of the 
cockroach army and eventual triumphant dispersal of the magical assault 
group. Zoicite, Nephlite, and one other, who read like a *major* bad 
youma all hung suspended together in the air. He flew up to firing range 
cautiously, eying them carefully as he did so. This was already looking 
tough to beat, a general alone would be tough enough. The Sailor Scouts 
were all hanging back as Jared prepared this assault, ready to thwart 
their response should he fail to finish them off in the initial rush.
	Then the cloaked youma threw off its hood, and Jared wanted to flee 
screaming.
	"Jay-chan?" The long tressed female youma inquired unbelievingly.
	Almost against his will the reply came from his throat. "Yuri?"
	The lady youma came barreling for him, consuming him in a desperate hug 
as she cried. "Oh, Jay-chan! I was in the 3WA headquarters writing a 
formal apology when I was sucked out and put in the throne room of this 
*terribly* ugly woman who has the worst hair! She wanted me to destroy 
the world, Jay-chan! And she *wouldn't* let me say no! I know it's 
something I'm good at, but you KNOW I *never* do it on purpose!"
	"So...?" The terrified mage asked of the clinging Lovely Angel.
	She increased the intensity of her hug. "So she offered me anything I 
wanted, and I asked for *you* of course! Oh, Jared, can you please make 
that ugly woman let me go?"
	"Sure... not a problem." The frantically trembling Pheonix Mage replied.
	Yuri stared up at him with adoring eyes. "Oh, thank you Jay-chan. Then 
we can go back to headquarters and you can take me on a date. How does 
that sound?"
	~Anything, so long as you don't blow up everything I'm trying to build 
here.~ "Uh, I think that sounds nice, actually." ~Calm, she's shown no 
inclination toward destroying *this* world. Remember what a nice person 
she can be. Focus on that.~
	Yuri increased the affection of her hug.
	Zoicite sweatdropped, turning to Nephlite, who looked rather grim. "THIS 
is Queen Beryl's special youma that will take care of the Mage while we 
destroy his Scouts?"
	Nephlite looked like he was about to nod, when the Pheonix Mage cast a 
glance their way. Nephlite's hands instantly shot up to his face and he 
screamed in agony. "Ahhh!!! I can't believe it! That mage has cast a 
Curse of Niceness upon me! I'll be unable to draw any dark energy through 
pain and suffering! Ow! Oh, the madness is already upon me..."
	Nephlite faded from sight, teleporting away.
	Zoicite was staring about in terror. She turned frantic eyes upon the 
Mage. "You will never get *me* with such a dirty trick!" She said in 
frightened bravado, making her own escape.
	Jared was shocked, thinking. ~Actually, I hadn't done anything.~
	Yuri cuddled closer. "You see? I *knew* that you could get me clear of 
those nasty people! Just like you've always saved me in the past. You are 
my knight in shining armor, Jay-chan." She rose up and prepared for a 
kiss.
	Only to have Lita haul down on her ankle, having leaped up to grab it. 
Jared noted in the background that with the departure of the populace the 
square had become awfully dark and empty. He landed so the situation 
would be less awkward.
	"Who are YOU?" Lita and Mina both demanded of the Lovely Angel, their 
hands perched dangerously on their hips.
	Yuri was familiar with the posture, and ignored it. "Who me? I'm 
Jay-chan's girlfriend, of course. You silly."
	"Says *you!*" Mina screeched. "I'm his WIFE!!"
	Jared coughed gently into his hand. "Uh, Mina?" She looked puzzled at 
Jared and then deflated as Lita reminded her that the marriages had only 
happened in their dream.
	Yuri made a delighted sound. "Oh? Well, if *dreams* count then Jay-chan 
and I have been married for a LONG time!" She went up on tiptoe and 
kissed him.
	Jared was expecting the world to end.
	He kept expecting it to end.
	When it didn't, he opened his eyes. Mina and Lita had calmed down and 
were both standing politely by. When Yuri noticed this, she grew puzzled. 
Usually she had a fight on her hands by now, though fighting over Jared 
was nothing new to her, what with Kei...
	Mina smiled and cocked her head to the side. "So you're an old friend of 
Jay-chan?" She extended her hand in welcoming friendliness. "Welcome to 
the club!"
	"What club?" Yuri blinked at her.
	Lita snorted out some restrained laughter. "The Club of Girls Who Will 
Marry Jared."
	"It's run by his mom." Mina added.
	"I've never agreed to any of that." The mage reminded.
	Yuri rounded on him. "Jay-chan! Does this finally mean I get to meet 
your parents?" Her left eyelid twitched a trifle. ~Though if HE thinks 
I'm sharing him...~
	He nodded, sweatdropping. ~Provided you don't blow them up. And it *may* 
be unavoidable, my dear Yuri. I've been acquiring girlfriends for too 
long and it appears to be catching up with me.~ He was, of course, 
running an ESP spell to read valuable female thoughts. Mind reading had 
*always* been in the job description of boyfriend or husband, he merely 
happened to be one of the remarkably few who could *do* it.
	He sighed. "C'mon, there's some things we ought to pick up at the temple 
before we brave my mom."

***

	"Sure there isn't something you can use?" Grey asked, looking down at 
the mostly completed hovercycle with a certain degree of frustration. He 
sort of felt a need to be useful.
	"Well, not really." Jared shrugged. He tended to be self-sufficient and 
the girls were already trained on the Garland series of transformable 
hovertrikes, not to mention the older Cyclone series. He shook his head, 
with a spell he could outfit them all with those mecha in matching color 
schemes in seconds, and would as soon as they had secure garage space to 
put 'em. The mage sighed. Yet another priority. "What I could *really* 
use is more time."
	"Time?" The cyborg looked up, sensing potential usefulness here.
	"Yeah, time. So many things to do, and not *nearly* enough time to get 
them all done. Speaking of which," Jared mumbled, watching Nuku Nuku play 
highly acrobatic games with his girlfriends who were matching her 
surprisingly well, not in her league, but awfully good for ordinary 
folks. Sometime soon he would have to go out on dates with each of the 
Scouts, then report to his mother about it.
	"Time," said the cyborg in a thoughtful tone, pondering, then seemed to 
straighten a bit as an unseen burden lightened on his shoulders. "Right. 
Uhm, Mako... Lita-san, can you give me a hand with this?" The cyborg 
pulled an object out of his pack.
	"A mirror?" Lita took the object and tried to figure what was so special 
about it.
	Artemis, Amy, and Mina were suddenly there and peering at the object. 
While Nuku Nuku played a form of catch that involved an awful lot of 
chasing ravens, who were losing copious amounts of feathers in the 
process. If Jared hadn't been so distracted he might've noticed the twin 
birds had glimmers and glistens of scarlet, purple, orange and gold 
hinting shyly under their lost plumage.
	"Like most of the stuff, it's on loan for a job i'm supposed to do later 
or was payment for a job i performed. That is the Minor Mirror Of 
Revelations. The demi-power i got it from already had three..."
	"What's it do?" Lita turned it over and around, looking for the "on" 
switch.
	"Sort of like a crystal ball with clairaudience and clairvoyance, except 
it'll only do one vision a day, a major show once a week. Ya also gotta 
say a rhyme to get it to home in on you're looking for. Jared wanted me 
to save him some time, right? Well, maybe if I find out what's some of 
his problems are that'll save a few bumps and thumps before I get on to 
the real problem. Umm, *Also* like most of the stuff i'm carrying, ya 
gotta have chi or spell points or some reasonable facsimile. Ya gotta 
count as human to use magic, and right now i count as a machine to most 
magical items of that sort. It really sucks. So, Lita, if you would..."
	Mina wondered if the phrase "It really sucks" was a mantra for the metal 
guy.
	Jared paused behind the group and wondered what everyone was looking at. 
The angry squawk of Phobos becoming a kitty play toy momentarily pulled 
his attention away.
	"A rhyme? Like what?"
	"Hmmm. Try..." The cyborg whispered to the thirteen year old.
	"As a poet, well, don't give up your day job." Lita took a deep breath 
and repeated what the cyborg said, everyone concentrating so much on the 
mirror that nobody noticed Jared sticking his head over immediately 
afterward or Nuku Nuku's cries of ecstasy from having been delivered a 
fresh and very *vibrant* bag of catnip to distract her from Rae's birds.

"Present times are future seeds,
 brought by what are current deeds,
 bring the info Jay-chan needs."

	The cyborg shook his head and whispered disbelievingly "Jay-chan?!"
	Jared blinked as the mirror cleared.

	The chamber was highly vaulted, with the lights tracked down over the 
walls. This left those sitting at the circular table mainly in shadow, 
which was exactly how those met there liked it.
	"What of the Mano girl?" One of the shadowy figures, a heavyset man, 
steepled his hands in front of himself in Gendo Ikari fashion.
	"Her grandmother confirms what this Jared Saotome has said," a figure 
walked into the hollow center of the circle, and Jared realized it was 
the same stuffy government official as he'd run into earlier. "One cannot 
simply seek the mantle. One is mostly born to it, though a few 
individuals come to it naturally. It is a matter of bloodlines, and a 
Devil Hunter is born, not made."
	"Ah," said another shadowy figure.
	"Ah," seconded yet another.
	"What of the other lines?" Demanded a short yet blocky shadowy form. 
"Are they of any immediate use to us in this scenario?"
	The wiry official snorted calmly. "No. Both branches of the Mano line 
had their most recent generation fail to gain the rank through early loss 
of their virginity, and their progeny are not yet old enough for a 
reasonable chance to survive the burden the full mantle brings. The only 
*active* Devil Hunters are grandmothers or older, not counting those 
lines where the trained Hunters died out, leaving their descendants 
unaware of their heritage, and unable to access it."
	"It is unacceptable this treasure is so rare when the need falls so 
pressing upon us." Interjected a voice that had traces of a Hong Kong 
accent.
	"Your plan, then?"
	"For the good of Japan, or even more importance, the Japanese," came a 
thready whisper from another dark figure, causing the others to jump, "it 
is important we... encourage future generations of these Devil Hunters. 
How have you done so?"

	"Jay-chan?! When did you get here!" Mina hugged him then noticed 
something. "Jay-chan? You're pale and sweating, is something wrong?"
	He was shaking, seeing what the officials were up to. "And here I 
thought I was immune to fear...."
	Grey looked between the mirror and the mage, then clapped his hands 
three times and began rubbing them up and down. "Better you than me."

	"I have begun three separate threads using my subordinates. Soichiro has 
contacted Genma to make him certain deals in exchange for increasing the 
number of engagements to his son." The shadowy figure could not be seen 
clearly, but they all knew he was smiling.
	"The legal angle?"
	The central figure nodded. "A few lines hidden within an Endangered 
Species bill. It will pass through the Diet shortly and quietly. Similar 
bills are on the agendas of all other world governments. They too, shall 
pass swiftly and quietly."
	That brought a chuckle. "If this doesn't work, we might be an endangered 
species. As it is, the Devil Hunter families in Japan are quite few."
	"So it must be. What of the third thread you weave here?"
	"I have contacted various mothers, based on the Gilgamesh Report." The 
official that Jared knew made a gesture and a screen dropped down. Images 
began to flash on the surface.

	"Mom?!" Amy gasped.
	"Uh oh," said Artemis as Mrs Lovejoy appeared.
	"AH?!" Michelle nearly fainted at the sight of her own mother.
	Jared began considering a Worldgate spell again as mother after mother 
appeared, including Mrs Saotome, finally ending with Grandfather Hino.
	(CLAP CLAP CLAP rub rub) "This is fate. VERY MUCH better you than me."
	"Grey, that's fairly annoying."
	"Would you rather Cherry do it?"
	"Good point."

	"The Devil Hunter lines *will* continue," said the official, "it may 
take a few years, but we will be prepared for this in the future. And 
with as many children as this plan might net..."
	"Japan will be well secured."
	"...other nations must follow of course. We will have to manage the 
spread of these bloodlines very carefully."
	"For now volume is all that counts. We can manage subtlety in later 
years. It is well for us the heritage does not dilute if bred with common 
stock. Once we have achieved a first generation crop of sufficient 
magnitude this trait can be spread worldwide."
	"And if it is not?"
	"Japan must be protected first, of course. But I think it in all of our 
interests to insure that this Jared Saotome is well and properly 
fruitful."

	Jared was pale as a ghost.
	"Jay-chan?" Mina waved her hand in front of his face.
	Amy went more directly to the heart of matters.
	"Gaaahhhh!!" He disappeared in a line straight up. Amy looked at her 
hand with a wondrous kind of half-triumphant, half-dazed grin, flexed the 
fingers softly, and smiled.
	"Pervert." Yuri whispered, secretly jealous.
	While still waiting for Jared to fall from his 640 foot leap straight 
up, Amy grinned toward her and answered. "Not at all. From what that said 
it should be fairly obvious that we all are to be married to him fairly 
soon now."
	Rae turned her profile thoughtfully. "You know, if grandfather were here 
he could just perform the ceremonies now. You know what they said about 
making it legal, and all."
	"I wonder what my mom would think?" Mina secretly whispered.
	Michelle gulped. "You know your mother better than I. What I'm concerned 
about is what they might have offered *my* mother. I'm afraid she's a bit 
eccentric and the stranger a thing is the more she might like it." She 
lowered her head and sorrowed. "You wouldn't want to know the kind of 
questions she asked me when she found out I was dating."
	All of the girls blushed scarlet, recalling similar experiences with 
their parents, though details in each case varied. From some opposition 
to asking if the boy wouldn't mind taking a neighbor's daughter as a 
mistress as a financial favor to her family, too.

	Back at the Saotome house Nodoka was finally ready to start interviewing 
applicants and deal with the small horde of girls making a line at her 
door.