pwinram@coastnet.com

Claire de Lune

Enter Star Navigators

Chapter Four
The Sword Navigator's Story

	"Where?" asked Triese, "Why can't we do whatever it is here?"  She swung
out her arm to illustrate her point, and accidentally slammed it into
Ailine's chest.
	"That's why we can't do it here." explained Elwing, "There simply isn't
enough room.  We need to go to Raye's place, where there's lots of room."
	"Alright." agreed Triese, "Could this procedure also bring back memories
from my present childhood?"  She said this with a kind of suppressed hope in
her voice.
	"Why do you ask?" queried Elwing.
	Triese told the story behind her constant meditation.  "When I was seven
years old, I was in an accident.  I was riding in the front seat of my dad's
car, and as we were going through an intersection, a drunk driver ran the
red light and slammed into the front passenger side of the hood.  My father
got away with a few bruises, but I got a bad knock on the head, and was in a
coma for about a week.  All of this I know from being told it; my first
memory is waking up in the hospital."
	"I'm sure we can help with that." assured Elwing.  She transported them all
to Raye's temple.  She then brought the cats, and took them aside to explain
the situation.  "So what do you think, Luna?" she asked, "Would the Luna
Mind-Meld help with her childhood memories as well?"
	"It should." said Luna.
	"Alright, I'll introduce you three then."
	  She brought the three talking cats with her and introduced them to
Triese, who seemed (to her) strangely unsurprised at meeting talking cats.
"It's nice to meet you all," said Triese, "but where's Reyltain?"
	Everyone looked at her with confused expressions.
	"Who's Reyltain?" asked Lita.
	"The name does sound vaguely familiar," said Caiona, "but only as a word,
there aren't any memories attached to it."
	"You mean you don't know Reyltain?  When I realized you could talk I
thought for sure that you would know him.  Reyltain is the talking cat who
gave me this power stick.  He jumped into my cage out of nowhere and gave me
the stick and instructions on how to use it, then jumped back into nowhere
and disappeared.  You're sure you don't know him?  He's a bluepoint Siamese
with a crescent moon on his forehead."
	"No," said the three cats in unison.
	"We're getting away from our main reason for being here." pointed out Ailine.
	"You're right." said Luna, "we can investigate this 'Reyltain' later, right
now, we have to bring back Triese's memory."  She sat down in front of
Triese, and established the Luna Mind-Meld.  
	Triese's eyes went blank, and she began to speak.  "I'm... starting to
remember, I was Duchess Rigel, a cousin of Princess Mars, and I came with
her entourage to the moon, and thus became one of the Star Navigators.  I
was investigating some suspicious activities on earth, and realized that
this threat came from within the Moon Kingdom as well.  Much of the
information possessed by Queen Beryl and her minions could only have come
from someone high in the councils of the Moon Kingdom.  I was too late with
that information, though, by the time I got back to the palace, the invasion
had already begun.  I tried to rouse the other Star Navigators, but they
were all drugged.  I was shaking Duchess Elwing when a blast from the battle
outside exploded the building I was in, and that was my last memory."
Suddenly her demeanour changed, and she began to yell in a childish tone,
"Daddy!  Daddy watch out, there's a car coming!  Daddy, help!"  She snapped
out of her trance, tears streaming from her eyes.  "Thank you." she
whispered to Luna
	All the Sailors gathered around and comforted her.
	"Is something wrong?" asked Darien from the door.  "Your Grandfather let me
in, Raye."
	"It's alright." answered Serena, "This is Triese.  Luna was just helping
her get her memory back."  Serena explained to Darien about Triese's lack of
childhood memories.
"Well, I certainly know that situation." said Darien sympathetically.
	Triese shook off the others and wiped her eyes.  "I'm alright." she said.
	"Now that you're here, I should properly introduce you to Ailine and Treyor
as well as Triese."  She introduced them, and as he and Treyor shook hands,
it triggered Darien's memories of his cousins.
	"Well," he said, "It's good to see you're awake again.  I've missed that
eye-burning hair of yours without knowing it."
	"And I've missed that scowl of yers too, cousin o' mine." Treyor joked.
	"Oh, those two!" laughed Ailine, "I thought it might have stopped after
such a long time, but they're still trying to one-down each other."
	Everyone laughed, and Elwing and Serena groaned in concert.  "I certainly
haven't missed this." Elwing said to Serena.
	"Me neither!" she agreed.

	In the Negaverse, Colg had just discovered that Triese had escaped from
cage.  He immediately went on alert.  He was beginning to investigate what
had happened, when Lord Anord called him.
	"You said you had a prisoner, Colg.  What have you learned so far?"
	Colg immediately panicked.  If Lord Anord found out he had lost his
prisoner, it would probably mean his head.  Especially since he had
underestimated her power and importance to the other side, otherwise why
would they have come and saved her?  "Indeed, I do have a prisoner, Lord
Anord," lied Colg, "but I haven't managed to get her to talk yet.  I figured
a day or two with no food should not only make her more talkative, but also
bring more visions.  I have requested that she be left in solitude in order
to further break her spirit."  'That gives me a couple of days to get myself
a more pliable prisoner.' he thought to himself.  He touched the cell, and
it crumbled into dust.  'Obviously Sailor Rigel is with them.' he thought,
'She's the only one who could weaken protected metal to that degree.  And
Sailor Elwing is the only one who could have gotten them in and out of here
so quickly, so that makes at least four awakened Star Navigators now.'  Colg
pondered what to do about the now-useless cell.  He knew no way to bring up
images of past events, and didn't trust any of the lackeys who did have the
necessary skills.  Finally he decided it would be better to simply seal up
the cell, and put a preservation spell on it, so it could be investigated
later.  "Where to look now?" he mused as he walked down the hall of still
intact and empty cells.  "I've been finding people with the memories easily
enough, but it was luck at first, then I lost my second prisoner so quickly.
I think I stuck too closely to this 'Ailine'.  She obviously has ties to the
Sailor Scouts, and could come in useful later on, but no, now I need to find
someone far away from all this."  Suddenly it came to him.  "I'll make a
crystal tuned into dreams from the Silver Millennium." he walked on down the
hall and through a warphole to his laboratory.

	"So," said Caiona to Triese after everyone was settled again, "you were
saying that this cat named 'Reyltain' gave you your powers.  Did he give you
any indication of where he came from?  Did he tell you how he got there?  I
know I can't jump into or out of nothingness, and neither can Luna or
Artemis." they concurred, "It makes me just a little suspicious."
	"I told you pretty much everything that happened already." Triese
admitted"He did say he had to get going before he was missed, but apart form
his instructions to me, that's really all he said."
	"Then how did you know his name?" asked Caiona.
	"I asked him lust as he jumped off." Triese explained.
	"I hate to interrupt all this," said Raye, "but there's a wedding at the
temple tonight, so I've got to prepare the temple, and that includes this room."
	"Really, a wedding?  How romantic!" exclaimed Serena.
	"No, you can't stay and watch." said Raye firmly, "You'd probably klutz out
no matter where I tried to hide you, and you'd ruin the whole ceremony.
Besides, you're not invited!"
	"Aww, Raye!  C'mon, Pleeeeease!" wined Serena.
	Darien looked exaspirated.  "Uh, Serena, don't you have chores?" he
ventured, trying to break up the fight which was brewing.
	"But it's only Saturday night, not Sunday!"
	"Well, maybe you should take advantage of the opportunity to get them done
ahead.  Now that the Negaverse has started a new attack, you never know from
one day to the next how much spare time you might have!"
	"I guess you're right." Serena admitted, and they both left.
	The others all looked at each other with stunned expressions.  "Did I just
hear that?" asked Lita, incredulously, "I could've sworn I just heard Serena
say she would do her chores ahead!"
	"I guess so!" said Mina, shocked, "because that's what I heard too!"
	"Well, I have studying to do for my extra-credit summer courses, so I've
got to go." said Amy.
	The three of them left, and Elwing said, "Well, I guess we'll be going too,
right guys?"  Ailine and Triese nodded, and Treyor came over form where he
had been talking with Artemis.  "I'll take us all to our place." stated
Elwing, "I think we need to have a bit of a meeting."
	"Bye guys!" said Raye, "Nice to see you again, Triese, I've missed having
you around, now that I remember to miss it.  I'll have to introduce you to
Chad sometime, he'll probably drive you nuts!"
	"Sounds good!" said Triese, then Elwing transported them to her house.

	In his laboratory, Colg had just finished making his black dream hunting
crystal, when it began to hum.  "Good!' he said, "I'll have a replacement in
no time!"  The resonating crystal created a warphole and he followed it
through.  In Germany, a fourteen-year-old girl tossed in her sleep, caught
in the throes of a nightmare she had been having for two weeks now.  She was
reliving the destruction of the Moon Kingdom, although she didn't know that.
All she knew was that it was frightening, and it wasn't letting her get a
full night's sleep.  Colg emerged from the warphole above her, and the
nightmare stopped.  He grabbed her and popped back into the warphole
carrying her and the crystal.  The warphole reopened in his laboratory, and
he quickly implanted her with a small black crystal just underneath the skin
of her left wrist to let him know when she had another vision.  He then took
her to a cage identical to te one Triese had been in and left again,
confident that his previous suggestion to Lord Anord would be followed, and
she would be left alone for a couple of days.  "I'm really in luck on this
one." he said to himself, back in his laboratory, "She even looks a bit like
the one I lost." he chuckled at his own cleverness in designing such an
efficient crystal.  "And the best part is, she's from Germany, where we
haven't heard the slightest whisper about the Sailor Scouts or Star Navigators."

	At Elwing's house, her mother insisted on serving them all dinner, since
she'd made more macaroni than she originally intended.  Elwing drew Treyor
aside for a quick whispered conference.  "She knows nothing about our past,
so could we downplay our relationship for her?  I love her dearly, but I
don't think she'd understand me announcing that I'm betrothed to someone
who, as far as she knows, I only me this week!"
	Treyor laughed, "Aye, I'm sure she'd pitch a fit on ye.  Alright then, I'm
yer math tutor.  That'll give me a b'lieveable excuse fer comin' 'round a lot."
	"Okay, math tutor." Elwing grinned.  
	They made it through dinner without any major slipups, then went back to
Elwing's room to "study".
	"I asked you to meet tonight because I wanted to discuss this new
information Triese has brought.  It may seem a little late, but it's
important nonetheless.  If these traitors were sent into the future with us,
they could become a problem if they ever regain their memories.  So Triese,
would you please tell us what you remember." Elwing smiled, "Better late
than never, don't you think?"
	Triese sighed, then closed her eyes in concentration.  "While I was on
Earth investigating the rumours Queen Serenity had been hearing of a
rebellion there, I discovered that the rebellion was being incited by one
'Queen Beryl'.  She was spreading lies about the 'tyranny of the Moon
Kingdom'.  It was all ridiculous fabrications that a child could have seen
through, and yet, people were being taken in by them wholly.  I quickly
realized that it wasn't natural, so I insinuated myself into one of the
higher echelon groups, and began gathering information.  Unfortunately, even
those high up in the councils knew very little.  They knew that there was
going to be an attack on the moon, but apart from the fact that it was
coming soon, there were no other instructions given them other than to be
ready.  The thing which really worried me was that they had maps readily
available of the inside of the palace.  After I saw this, I realized that
there must be a group inside the palace leaking information.  I decided I
had learned as much as I could, and that it was important enough to warrant
returning to the Moon.  I don't know whether they had already picked that
day for their attack, or whether they had discovered that there was a spy in
their midst, but before I could get back with my warning, they had attacked."
	"Well," mused Elwing, "That's a lot for us to think on, thank you, Triese."
	"It's getting late, and I have a lot of homework to do," said Ailine, "so
if you don't mind?"
	"Of course." said Elwing, and sent the two of them home.  To Treyor, she
said, "I guess I have to send you home too,'math tutor'.  Darn!"
	"Goodnight, then, me math student." said Treyor, and kissed her tenderly.
	"I just realized, my mother's going to expect to hear the door, lets go
outside for a minute, otherwise she's really gonna wonder what's going on."
said Elwing.
	"Good point!" said Treyor.
	They went to the door.  "Mom," called Elwing, "I'm just going to walk the
guys to the bus stop, I'll be back in a few minutes." Elwing unlatched the
door, and they went out into the yard.
	"Why don't we go somewhere on Tuesday, since it's our day off?" said
Elwing.  "Having a 'math tutor' is going to be very useful!" she said,
kissing Treyor in the nose.
	"I think I'm goin' te like tutoring!" grinned Treyor.  Elwing hugged him,
then sent him back to his apartment out of the circle of her arms.

FIN



