Reflections
A Loki ficlet
Sailor Moon and its characters are the property of Naoko Takeuchi and all those involved in the Sailor Moon experience, I am only borrowing these, but all my original characters and themes, are mine.
~/~
Oh, for me, the Queen Mother of the Sulean System, or Crystal Kingdom if you like, life was so much more fun these days, especially now with the load of responsibilities for running the palace and protecting our subjects now shared between my second daughter, Serenity and myself -- once known to you guys as, Small Lady. You know, this childhood endearment, to this very day, still makes my beautiful girl cringe.
Finally, I had gotten what I wanted; I have it all now: three lovely biological daughters, and a fourth, virtual. I also had the best husband and co-ruler by my side, King Endymion, my Mamo-chan as I call him in our more intimate circles.
I was enjoying my leisure time a lot more these days. Also, as you have probably guessed by now, Mamoru and I adopted Arianna. She was overjoyed at the news.
I remember that wonderful and very emotional day as if it happened yesterday. Hey, I know it’s a cliché, but clichés are useful on occasion, bite me!
I hugged her and we both cried tears of joy as I told her of her new status. She was designated, Princess Arianna. I told her I loved her just as much as I loved my biological children. I was proud to announce this to the world and the entire galaxy.
With a smiling and lovely princess of great beauty and poise standing nervously between her father and I on the podium within the throne room, she was radiant. Her chestnut locks poring over the figure hugging silvery-blue gown, the crystal tiara, the white leather shoes, she was enchanting. Also coupled with those large amber eyes of hers and the flowing white skirts swirling about her calves, the hem covered in stars and crescents and a floral motif upon the bodice, and her gorgeous crystal faery wings, she looked every bit the magical faery princess. I adored her, as do all my subjects.
She bowed before the interstellar audience witnessing the ceremony beamed to countless star systems scattered throughout the Milky Way. I was so chuffed, and she blinked away tears as I welcomed her into the family and the monarchy in front of billions. I will never forget the cascade of emotion that washed over us both, neither Arianna or I could speak without almost bursting into tears, we were a fine pair, crying and giggling up there on the celestial stage, we managed to muddle through our speeches in one piece. Arianna and I held hands, as did she and my muffin as the tears of love and happiness flowed freely. Mamo-chan and all my friends and family elated and moved by the rite as Daphne, in her capacity as High Priestess of Chronos, who had come to the palace just for this event, blessed us all in the name of Amaterasu Oomikami.
Luna and Artemis adored Arianna. My forth daughter, her virtual existence fortified by the power of High Magic.
Aki and Eliza, headed up the Sulean Elemental Collective -- a new peak body looking out for the interests of non-biological citizens, including Synths and holographic beings like Arianna.
~*~
I remembered watching as she rode her pushbike. I laughed whenever I recalled how many times she had fallen off the bike, and that was with the training wheels on, I would say jokingly, ‘And I thought I was queen of klutz, Arianna-chan!’ With that, she would pout and blow a raspberry and I would -- as was my way -- retaliate with one of my own. Eventually, she mastered the skill and we would regularly ride with lords Kunzite, Nephrite, Jadeite and Zoicite, these guys, so good to see also enjoying themselves with their partners and children and we were cheered and waved to by the people of Crystal Tokyo as we traversed the broad streets of the capital, so fun!
Additionally, she was adept at the ancient art of horse riding, and our stables were the very best. Arianna’s fave mount, Lansdale, a beautiful soft grey steed with long black mane and tail was fast upon the wind. Then there was my beautiful horse, a lovely black mare with silvery mane, her name, Carlotta.
We would explore the countryside with Mamo-chan, Shingo and Aki, and Miranda and Kantaro, who would assume his Panther form with Miranda riding bareback, and others, depending who was on Earth at the time, and we did this all the time. Fishing and hiking, you name it, we did it, and did it in style!
~*~
Arianna sat upon the boxes in the courtyard watching me whilst playing with her sapphire hair.
“We are going to have so much fun this year, Arianna, and you can bring your, friend, with you if you like!” I giggled, this bringing a rosy tint to Arianna’s cheeks. “The summer in Myola is always so beautiful, and we are going to go gliding, and I know you’ll love it!” I clapped and Arianna smiled at me.
“Yes mother, I am looking forward to it with much anticipation. Oh, and here’s the real buzz, I can scan images to add to your entries, so cool!” she bubbled, her crystal wings fluttering with the movement of her body.
“With your promotion to Chief Archivist for the Crystal Kingdom, I know this will be special! I love you Ari-chan! But you know, being a nostalgic woman, I can’t help but reminisce. I think it the perfect entree before we board the palace transport. So, let’s recant shall we? And that, dear daughter-diary mine…is where you come in, so go to it girl!”
Usagi’s Vacation Diary
I waited for Arianna to begin to read from my incredibly, phantasmagorical, awesome, majorly cool, and enticing…diary entry, err, whoops, I kind of get carried away sometimes. Comes with age, me thinks. But Arianna jumped to her feet and waved her arms, she only does that, when she wants to tell me something she’s been keeping built up inside. She was every bit as excited as I was, but for very different reasons. She had some news to share and it wouldn’t wait.
“He’s asked me to conjoin, Pan, the Mauan Bard and renowned singer. He is my secret lover and we are so happy, mother!” Arianna gushed.
I hugged her and smiled. I knew of their relationship, but played dumb, I thought, they deserved a little privacy and I wanted her to feel she had surprised me. Pan was, like Arianna, a holographic being, and for the longest time I suspected love might be in the air, and enjoyed teasing her about ‘him,’ as I had with Sere and Helios. Then, she and I -- like when I was a younger girl -- got into a virtual pillow fight. And yup, virtual pillows actually do pack a punch, trust me, I should know. ‘Ouch!’ I can still feel the last one whacking me on the head to this very day.
“Congratulations Arianna, this is reason to celebrate. I will see to it this evening, okay.”
“Thank you, mommy Odango Atama-chan, I am so happy and he’s arriving in Crystal Tokyo after we return from Myola City.”
Meanwhile, Luna and Artemis were sitting with the Mauan delegation on the palace lawns, all enjoying some well earned R and R. The Mauan Flagship now stationed here on Earth in a Mauan colony set up in New Neko City on the Myolan continent, built to the exact specifications of the old city King Genji and his queen, Storm remembered from long ago in there historical past. Earth was fast becoming a living concoction of various civilizations throughout the galaxy.
I asked Arianna to read the entries of the past few years for me. I had bookmarked these for her to line-edit for me. With ears pricked, I knew I had piqued the interest of the moon kitties as said felines moved surreptitiously towards us and took their positions nearby and listened intently. I grinned.
“Just my holiday journal guys, but feel free to listen, you might like it, come sit by me, Luna and Artemis!”
Arianna then began, her shimmering silvery-blue faery wings fluttering to a halt.
‘Myolan Vacation 3038’
‘I had visited Myola and its capital with my sweet, handsome Endy, my Mamo-chan the first chance I got, and after all that had happened: babies, marriages, and sadly, the unexpected deaths of a few friends and extended relatives, life’s usual things; I needed a break and knew Mamoru felt the same, too. I just said one day, ‘Endy, let’s get away for a while, I need a vacation and so do you, no argument, I won’t hear of it now. We’re going!’ I was so pleased that he agreed, and I had not the slightest doubt he was looking forward to going to Myola and really exploring it and so our plans were set in motion.’
“Hey, guys, its getting interesting now, Artemis, you’re not falling asleep are you?” I pouted indignantly, as said white furball stretched and pawed at a blade of grass, a look of embarrassment on his face. I grinned, stood up, winked at Arianna and strode towards the cowering kitty. He looked up at me and opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again as I knelt upon the lawn and patted my lap. He stood up on all fours and reluctantly climbed into my lap.
“Okay, I see I have your attention, Ice cream for everyone, and Arianna, let’s go for it again shall we?” I ventured, as Naru and Umino brought platters for both the feline and hungry humans as my holo-diary daughter -- after her ‘giggleplex attack’ as we term these fountains of mirth -- quickly regained her composure and began once more to read.
‘Mamoru and I spent a lovely six months touring the vast continent of Myola and all its provinces. Thirty-two thousand plus square miles of gorgeous terrain. I loved every moment. Also, Eliza and Aki came along as tour guides.’
At that point, I waved Mamoru to sit and remain quiet and Sere stood on the edge of the lawn, giggled at my Muffin’s feigned hurt expression and cheeky wink as she took the bowl of ice cream from Miranda, and sat to listen as Arianna parroted my voice to perfection.
‘We had so much fun scaling the mountains, beautiful, majestic and a little... scary? They were humungous and so big, not midgets. At around an average height of 78000 feet, they were formidable to say the very least.’
‘Eeep! I was dizzy just looking at them, but it was fun letting Mamo-chan catch me as I strategically fell back into his arms as I stared up at the rising giants that pierced the clouds high above. Lucky he caught me.’
“I’ll say Odango Atama!”
“Rei!” I shouted, “Come sit. I want you guys to hear this. Isn’t Arianna good?” I said with all the pride of a mother hen. I was in my element.
Soon Minako, Makoto, and their husbands sat on the veranda drinking wine and plundering the finger food with abandon. Jizela sat with the cats cross-legged on the lawn with her children and played with the kittens.
”Okay, here are the best parts,” said I, as Arianna, in her crystal form glittered in the afternoon sunlight as she took a bow and began again.
‘But oh, the deltas were lovely, the birds and water lilies, gorgeous! Seriously, I have not seen their like anywhere and I've visited thousands of worlds as representative of the Sulean Kingdom. The rivers were incredible, the waterfalls, and the weather, love it as it changes so fast in the mountains, one moment, blue sky, and the next, the wildest, coolest and most spectacular storms, the lightning setting off the primordial colors in the rock. These refracted off the mammoth buttresses of the breathtaking peaks under the ear-splitting thunder, keeping pace with the flashing lattices of lightning. As a girl, I was a little scared of thunderstorms . Now, these marvels of Mother Nature, fascinated me no end. As I stood there taking this all in, I gazed upon the darkened valleys and gorges below, the geological mosaic so beautiful and awe-inspiring. Within seconds, the clouds opened up and a curtain of silvery blue-rain obscured the void below and the dry rocky gorge in minutes had become a raging torrent.’
“You should have tried abseiling from the peaks, Usa-chan, and especially as the Shitennou train in the mountains, you would have been in your element!” Haruka laughed, as she sat with Miro and their laughing children, who were now training at the Senshi and Shitennou academy. “You always close your eyes at the best part of the mountain climb.”
“Ha! I do not, said I, glowering at the grinning Senshi of the wind. “Now please ladies, let’s continue, okay, Arianna-chan,” I giggled, blowing a raspberry.
‘If you want a vacation away from the rigors of life in Crystal Tokyo, there’s no better place to take the family. For example, the fresh water lakes of Atis Province. They're teeming with life. The birds, species never recorded in the old world pre the Big Freeze, some naturally had come from the stars. But others evolved within habitats kept temperate by volcanic vents and massive caverns beneath Ukihiro Island, these magma heated chambers underwritten by deep conduits within the bowels of the Earth. It was remarkable to see both the resilience and adaptability of these incredible living systems, the birds, mammals, reptiles and insects and plant life living within these city-sized caverns. I was now beginning to appreciate first hand what a great legacy my Mamo-chan, along with Aki and Eliza had inherited as monarchs of Earth.’
I looked at Artemis with those eyes that warned him of what was to come. He curled up into a ball in my lap as I giggled, “I-it’s interesting Usagi, really, I mean, you’ve only just gotten started, I was up with Diana’s girls last night, kittens, you know,” he muttered and I stroked him to prepare him for what I had in mind.
“Yes, and so, in the name of the moon… I will…tickle… you!”
“Mina!” he cried laughing uncontrollably.
After Artemis pleaded for mercy, as I had the poor fellow on his back, I was enjoying this heaps and I knew Luna was, too, the entire Mauan contingent giggling at poor Arti's expense, one of those moments I will never forget. Even Robbie, so normally, a stickler for royal protocol was rolling about with Luna, Loki and Celestra cackling as I released Artemis into Minako’s custody. He shook himself, promising he’d be more attentive.
‘I was part of all this. But my legacy was a shared one with the moon. I loved New Serenity City on the Lunarian sphere, the domed wonder truly stunning -- I, Tsukino Usagi, now Chiba Usagi, and Queen Mother, so blessed by the Kamis. But here on Myola, this mysterious ancient continent was a constant surprise, the profusion of both small and large forests: tropical to alpine, so pretty. The deserts, though small, were not glorified sand dunes, but real eco-systems with a complex biodiversity and vast landscape. It was fantastic, and jungles, like you wouldn’t believe, in a word, simply beautiful. I was in awe of the old ruins dotting the entire continent, each with a unique history and stories a-plenty to tell. I especially adored the lush coastal regions, the sun and the surf. I was pleased to see that Ukihiro had also fused with the continent via a lava field serving as land bridge, popping and bubbling, much like my attempts to cook oatmeal.’
‘Don't raise that topic of conversation with my Mamo-chan. He'll turn pale! I actually must confess its not a good idea to mix prune juice with it, though I might add.’
‘It had only taken me thirty years of Mako-chan's eternal patience to teach me not to burn my oatmeal and the children, including my grandchildren, are proof of survival, haha!’
“Okay, guys, let’s get packing, the transport has arrived,” Mamoru announced as we all prepared to go.
