Rules Are Meant To Be Broken-Part 5
Feeling his eyes on her, Ami stopped laughing finally and thought about what to tell him. Her mind whirred as she contemplated whether or not to reveal the truth about the senshi to him. Zoicite did seem trustworthy, and besides that, he was genuinely concerned...or should she just lie and say she fell down an entire staircase or something like that? Before she made up her mind, he unwisely pressured her again in his anxiety.
"Ami, please, what happened to you? Are you sure no one attempted to, well-"
The pale pink of her cheeks darkening to sullen red, Ami stood up angrily. "Stop pressing me, Zoicite. It's none of your business, like I said before, and I can take care of myself. I've done so for nearly twenty five years. Besides, I'm sure you have many other court ladies to spend time with. Why don't you ask them about their personal experiences? I'm sure they'd be glad to give you a full account." With those blistering statements, she teleported away in a frigid wind, never noticing that she had forgotten her book again.
The general, meanwhile, remained in the garden for a few minutes, too stunned to do much else but stare at the space where she had been. After a few minutes, he began to smile and picked up her book, teleporting out of the maze and near the back door to the palace. Whistling, he proceeded cheerily to his rooms, greeting everyone graciously with a sparkle in his leaf-dark eyes. Yes, the Princess Ami was much more intriguing than he had ever thought she would be...and she definitely had a lot more pride than he thought she would.
~~~~*~~~~
After teleporting back to her rooms, Ami made sure no one else was about, especially Kathrina. Sinking onto her bed, she buried her face in her hands until an immense wave of hot anger came over her. Punching her pillow as if it had offended her deeply, she was unaware of the tears pouring down her face as she asked herself, "Why does he have to make me so mad? I don't understand him at all...first he practically ignores me at the ball, then I ignore him during the meetings, but it doesn't seem to affect him one bit. And now, he can try to be so kind and worried about me just because of senshi training, but he's really only-only another typical man who's in insulting-and-and pushy, to boot. Well, he can go and take his perfect looks and charming attitude to hell!" With that, she burst into tears, as fresh salty drops poured down her cheeks over the old tear stains. Exhausted from her ordeals that morning and afternoon, Ami sank into a deep sleep, although her dreams were troubled and dark.
~~~~*~~~~
The next morning, Zoicite rose from his comfortable bed at the crack of dawn, stretching groggily. It was on days like this, in the chill air of mornings on Mercury, that he truly resented his job. Although he had gotten to meet one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen...but what had ever possessed him to become a general? Well, okay, Kunzite definitely had something to do with it, and so did Endymion...and so did his past. Shaking himself, the blonde pulled on his boots, then cursed as he reached out for the white tunic and pants on his chair, taking off the boots again. After pulling on his clothes satisfactorily, Zoicite walked cheerily down the hall to the buffet breakfast the Terran Embassy enjoyed every day. The large room was bright and cheery, and the aroma was almost more than a hungry man could bear. Nodding to quite a few people that waved at him, he filled his plate easily (growing quite knowledgeable after three days on the planet about which foods were good to eat and which would shock his system) and sat down next to Antin and a few other of his friends. "Morning."
Various grunts and waves came from down the line, as well as a few groans. "Morning," replied Antin, along with a few other people. "Sleep well?"
Raising an eyebrow acridly, he asked, "Does it look that way?"
"Well, besides the fact that your hair looks as if birds nested in it and that your eyes seem to be permanently sunken into your cheekbones-"
"I get the point," the gen growled rather testily. "What're we meeting about today? Anything passably interesting?"
Shaking his head regretfully, Antin shrugged and said, "You know in delicate things like this, it takes forever to get through all the political mumbo-jumbo." Suddenly, cheering up after his gloomy state, he winked conspiratorially and nudged Zoicite. "So, Zoi, I hear that you spent the first and last dances of the ball with a certain princess. What was she like?"
Looking around, the green-eyed man sighed when he noticed that Antin had gotten everyone's attention by his rather impudent statements. "She was nice. And she isn't a sorceress, so you can all rest assured."
Curiously, another man Zoicite was only vaguely familiar with, asked, "Is she as beautiful as she is up close as she is from far away?"
Stiffening slightly, wondering why he felt the first pangs of jealousy, the general shrugged. "Yeah, I'd say she is."
"She's as beautiful as the Moon Queen and her daughter or even the Princess of Venus." (This particular statement produced a few squabbles among the men, who had traveled to many planets. Several of them were in love with Princess Serenity and even her mother, while others were ardent admirers of Mina of Venus.)
Shaking his head, listening to their squabbles, Zoicite's attention was attracted once more as Antin elbowed him urgently. Giving him an odd look, he followed his friend's motions and went out into the deserted corridor. "What is it, Antin?"
"You stay away from the princess while you can, Zoicite. She's dangerous, and if you father a child on her, you'll be dead in ten seconds flat."
Turning a dark red hue, he replied, "I had no attention of doing that, but thank you for your advice. I can watch out for myself, you know."
"Just in case you needed a reminder," he returned, unperturbed. After a disquieting silence, he shrugged and eyed Zoicite carefully before returning to his breakfast. Meanwhile, frowning thoughtfully, the gen retreated back to his quarters to think about something that had never occurred to him before....
~~~~*~~~~
‘Well,' Ami thought to herself, rather discouraged, ‘at least they've finally gotten down to the basic problem. Of course, they're referring to it as "communications failure," but at least today wasn't a total waste.' Beaming blissfully when Greg announced that there would be a two-day rest break from the talks with between the Mercurian and Terran ambassadors, Ami headed towards the door eagerly when everyone had gone. Everyone she thought, that is. As soon as she had closed and locked the doors behind her, a masculine voice startled her. Whirling around, she glared at her surpriser until she saw that it was Zoicite and then blushed. "Er...good day, General Zoicite."
"Your highness," he bowed. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind walking with me for a short while?"
"It would be no problem," she agreed softly. "I don't believe you've seen the Hall of Honor yet; would you like to tour it?"
"That would be wonderful," Zoicite agreed readily. He tried not to gape as they entered the long hallway and succeeded admirably-or so he thought.
Watching his expression, Ami smiled slightly. "I used to be afraid of this place when I was a child. I always thought that all the statues were scary and that they would come alive. The paintings were also creepy, because I thought that the people's eyes were following me. And yet, at the same time, everything was so cold and dead. It frightened me."
Nodding slowly, he stopped short and looked hard at an extremely old painting in the middle of the hall. "Who is this? She looks a little like you..."
Smiling when she realized which painting he was talking about, Ami replied, "Amiliena, one of the first ruling princesses of Mercury. She was also a planetary sailor senshi."
"What happened to her?"
"She fell in love with someone she was forbidden to marry, which soiled her reputation. But before that, she was a wise and widely-acclaimed ruler."
Curiously, the general asked again, "What happened to Amiliena?"
"After she bore his child, she was exiled. Somehow, he rescued her, and they escaped together. No one knows where they went, but their child, since there were no other heirs to the throne, was one of my ancestors." Hesitating for a moment, Ami said softly, "I was named after her."
"She's beautiful," Zoicite whispered softly. After a moment, a thought occurred to him. He had almost forgotten his original purpose! "Uh...Ami, I wanted to ask you to pardon my extremely uncouth behavior yesterday."
Cheeks reddening, she said hurriedly, "Oh no...I mean, it wasn't your fault at all. I was just-frustrated and lost my temper. I didn't mean to be rude and snap at you. I'm sorry; please forgive me."
"I'll do my best...that is, if you'll forgive me as well." When she nodded accordingly, they walked along the hall for quite some time as Ami explained the history of Mercury, its first colonization, and a bit about the planet's rulers-not all of which were as intelligent and as industrious as they had been thought to be. None of them, however, struck the gen as much as Amiliena had. She really did look a lot like her descendant, with shining dark hair, graceful cheekbones, and the same wistful eyes. ‘So she fell in love with someone she wasn't supposed to,' Zoicite thought to himself. ‘Good for her. And I'll bet she was just as proud as her current successor.'
~~~~*~~~~
It was very late when they both started to return to their rooms that day, and Ami was just telling him about the importance of mining. Many precious crystals had been found underground, and they had been found to be useful in storing magic in large quantities. Considerably and particularly interested in crystals, as part of Zoicite's magic (besides plants), he had asked many questions, which the princess had answered with great tolerance, until she had laughed and promised that she would try to take him to see the mines one day soon. As they walked, Zoicite asked curiously, "What are the people of Mercury like? I mean, the commoners, not just the nobles in the palace. Are they different from Terrans? Or even Lunarians or Martians?"
"Well, actually, most of the people here, unless they have magic, are like Terrans. We farm the same way you do to survive; although, as you may have noticed, our foodstuffs aren't exactly the same as yours. Besides that, we also have merchants and craftsmen just like everyone else in the Solar System."
"So how are Mercurians different from Lunarians?"
"Most Lunarians have silver or blond hair, and they magic in their bodies, is well, greater. But that may be because of the influence of the Silver Crystal. Oh, also, Neptunians and Mercurians are more aquatic than the rest of the galaxy, shall we say. Some of us can breathe under water without gills, and others can stay under water longer. Hardly anyone has hydrophobia. Some Uranians have learned to fly because of their superior control over the winds. They use their powers to manipulate the wind to its strongest so it will pick them up."
Quietly, Zoicite said, "It seems like many people are magical nowadays. Isn't it a disadvantage to, well, people who aren't gifted?"
She looked away, obviously uncomfortable with the subject. "Well..."
Sensing her discomfort, the general pushed on. "There have been all sorts of rebellions on Earth who want to burn anyone with powers, calling them heretics and unnatural. Every year, more and more people die because of fear of the unknown. How do you deal with his?" he asked, looking intently into her deep blue eyes.
Haltingly, Ami said, "We find the leaders of the rebellions...and we punish them...to lesson the public."
"What kind of punishing?" he demanded.
"They...die."
Green eyes wide, Zoicite said, "But what if they were reasonable in their doubts? You just kill them to give the public a lesson?"
"It's not my choice," she whispered, tears falling down her cheeks. She hated those tears, but she hated him more than anything or anyone else at the moment.
Disbelievingly, he replied, "You're the ruler here, aren't you? Princess Ami?"
"Just because I'm a princess doesn't mean I have a complete control," she snapped. "I have a council, I have a Prime Minister, and there are other seats of government that even I do not have complete control over. Don't tell me that Prince Endymion has complete control over Earth!"
About to give her a sharp remark, Zoicite closed his mouth with an almost audible click. "I'm sorry. I guess you're right. But it's late, and we should be going to bed now. Good night, Ami."
Feeling equally uncomfortable, the dark-haired princess nodded to the gen. "And I, as well. Good night, Zoicite. Sleep well." ‘Or at least better than I will, because even my dreams are not undisturbed.'
~~~~*~~~~
Ami woke up groggily the next morning, feeling as if she wanted to cry. Crying was bad, and in these past five days, she felt as if she had done more crying than in the past year. Sighing, she thought about the snippets of dreams she remembered. Men hanging from gallows, the public screaming, and the dark dungeons below the palace...shaking, she wrapped her arms around herself tightly until she got herself under control. Breathing deeply, she thought to herself, ‘And his eyes are still haunting my dreams. But why?' They were really beautiful eyes, actually, with great intelligence...but...she wished they would stop harrying her every minute she tried to rest, whether Zoicite was with her in person or not.
Soon Kathrina came in, carrying breakfast and chattering cheerily as usual. "Miss Ami, good news! You get a break from those boring old talk for two days!"
Smiling wanly, she took the tray and began to eat mechanically without appetite. "That's good news."
"Are you planning to do anything today?"
"Actually...I think I may put in some more training, and afterwards...hm...isn't there an informal dinner scheduled for tonight?"
"Yes, my lady. Have you planned what you're going to wear?"
"Something casual....and blue," Ami said slowly, glancing out the window at the beautiful sunrise.
Looking through her closet, the maid pulled out a gown and flourished it dramatically in front of her mistress. "Well? What do you think about this one?"
Raising her eyebrows, Ami examined the light silk dress, which had thin straps and a rather low neckline. Tiny water sapphires decorated the bodice at opportune places. "Where did this come from?"
Smiling, Kathrina explained, "Princess Mina sent it to you around a month ago, remember? As a present?"
"Oh, right...I remember now. She said it was the anniversary of....of...." Her eyes grew misty and faraway as she remembered both painful and wonderful times.
"An anniversary of what, Miss Ami?"
"Just-just...I don't remember. I guess it wasn't very important. Anyway, I suppose I'll wear this one, tonight. Mina would want me to. Could you just put it on that chair, Kathrina? Thank you."
Once she was finished eating and Kathrina had left for other purposes and duties, Ami dressed in comfortable clothing and stopped by Zoicite's room, knocking lightly.
Almost immediately, he shouted, "Come in, Antin. I've been waiting for you forever!"
Smiling slightly, she opened the unlocked door, waiting for him to notice that it was not whom he was expecting. "Good morning, Zoicite."
Swinging around abruptly and wincing as he slammed into the edge of his desk, the blond-haired general stood up immediately, green eyes startled yet amused at the same time. "The same to you, Ami. Is this a particular habit of yours?"
Blinking, she inquired, "What habit?"
"Scaring people out of their wits so early in the morning," he replied dryly, smirking slightly.
"Actually, you're the first. Don't you feel honored?"
"Actually, I do. So, to what do I owe the honor of your visit? Besides your obvious intent to give me heart failure."
Smiling back, Ami replied, "I was wondering...well, generals have a training program, don't they? To keep in shape?"
"Don't tell me princesses do that, too," he commented, looking extremely interested.
Winking at him, she said, "Let's just say that most princesses don't...but there are always exceptions to the rules."