"We have to be careful who we send down to purchase supplies. I don't know how much Haven would have revealed to the authorities here. They could already be waiting for us!" Serenity wrung her hands in worry. Sol leaned close in worry. She was so weighed down by her responsibility. Her eyes were dark with fatigue. He smiled gently and took her hands in his own before she could hurt them.
"Don't worry. We'll send the strongest of us to purchase the supplies."
"Shouldn't we send some of the less prominent of us? Ones they're less likely to have descriptions of?"
He shook his head. "We've got Ginzuishou. Haven'll be shouting all of our descriptions in every direction--they have to catch us. No one will go unrecognized, but some of us can go through safely, if we're well protected." He paused for a second, and Serenity nodded in agreement.
"Yes, I see now. I almost have to go--Ginzuishou's protection will be invaluable. I think Cronus will have to come along too..."
Sol shook his head in disgust. "I think you're the only one who could convince him to. The man is so reclusive!"
Serenity smiled. "He's just shy. I think it's rather sweet...." Sol fought his jealousy down as Serenity continued. Sometimes his emotions were as fiery as his powers. "Hades and Poseidon would probably also be good." Serenity turned back toward Sol and leveled the full devastating effect of her smile on him. "Of course, I couldn't forget you, Sol."
Sol's heart melted again. Every time he saw her. . . He cleared his throat. "I know my powers come in useful--most people don't want to anger someone who can make their sun go nova, among other things--but I don't like threatening people with my presence." He forced his voice to sound nonchalant. He felt Serenity's soft hand fall on his shoulder.
"I understand, but we both know you would never do anything to their sun--I think we would both rather die than destroy a whole stellar system."
Sol looked into her sapphire eyes. "That doesn't mean we have to tell them they're perfectly safe while we need to buy supplies, though."
Serenity nodded. "Exactly." Her lips looked so soft. . . His heart finished melting, and kindled into a hot flame. He began to lean toward her, his eyes fixed on hers. His heart began to beat more loudly.
Serenity's eyes widened; she took a hasty step back, and quickly interposed the wordpad with their shopping list printed out in glowing letters between them. "I--uh--I was wondering if we could add something else to the list."
Sol stepped back too, and stared at Serenity from across the small command room of their ship. He felt his cheeks and ears heat up, and was thankful for his dark complexion. His eyes wandered uncomfortably around the walls before coming to rest again on Serenity. "Sure," he stuck his hands in his pockets, "what would you like to add?"
Serenity cocked her head to one side and brought her hand up to her head to finger her distinctive hairstyle. She pulled out a sprig of some sort of plant. "I want to buy some soil to plant this in. It's a twig from a silverberry bush. See," she held it out toward him, and he looked at it awkwardly. "it has some berries on it. I want to plant it, if I can." Serenity brought the twig close to her body and cradled it gently in her hands. "My last piece of home. I'd like to keep it alive if I can."
Sol felt an overwhelming desire to hug her, but after their awkward moment he couldn't quite bring himself to go to her. Instead he forced a smile to his lips.
"Of course we can. It's not as if we're going to need money where we're going."
Serenity lifted her tear-streaked face up to look into his eyes.
*****
Serenity jerked her head up to look at Sol. He was smiling at her after giving her those kind words, but the smile didn't reach his eyes, didn't give them their usual merry crinkle.
Serenity could barely wait.
*****
Aphrodite smiled winsomely at the customs agent, while Sol and Hades glared at him threateningly, and Serenity, in icy silence, refused to even acknowledge his existence. This was such an adventure! Aphrodite was stronger than her deceptively soft appearance first suggested, but her magic was always leveled at one person--it had a strong effect, but narrow focus. She put most of her attention into befuddling the poor man in front of her. It wasn't really necessary with such big, strong men behind her--Hades' glaive was so wonderfully threatening--but it didn't really hurt either.
"I'm sorry miss, but we've received word that you were to be detained for questioning," the red-faced guard managed to stutter.
"Oh, bother Aphrodite stuck out her bottom lip in her most enticing pout, "Please don't tell me there's going to be any unpleasantness ."
The guard's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to speak, but before he could manage a single word, Sol cleared his throat loudly, and raised one eyebrow, while Hades' knees bent ever so slightly, obviously ready for action. Serenity didn't move a single muscle, but a pale white glow--with it's unmistakable source cupped within her hand--suddenly surrounded her, and the guard took a frightened step back. Aphrodite grinned with excitement. What fun
Sol's face was just as jovial. Aphrodite pursed her lips in thought. Now he would make a good match for her. With that blond hair and those amber eyes, they would make beautiful children together. She sidled up to him and took his hand as they walked out of the spaceport toward the market area. He held her hand, but Aphrodite didn't get the feeling he was as flattered as men usually were when they received her attention. She looked over to her other companions. Hades' gaze was fixed ahead of them, his mind on the purpose of their visit and nothing else. As usual Hades was such a bore. Serenity's reaction was more revealing, however. She kept glancing at the two of them, and more than once her gaze fixed on Sol's and Aphrodite's twined fingers.
Well, wouldn't this be interesting
"Let's start there," Hades pointed toward a brightly colored building right ahead of them, with loud signs declaring the quality and low prices of the establishment's wares. Having no objection, the group began to make their way toward the store.
"Excuse me, ladies, gentlemen, but I think I may be of service to you." Aphrodite turned to look at a strange looking man, with the most outlandish white costume on. What was with all of the straps and belts? Close behind him was a beautiful woman, with curly black hair and four small odangos on her head, almost like Serenity. She sighed. Yet another unavailable male. It was most unfair. Well, back to work. She had come along for a reason, after all. She smiled again with a little less seduction and a lot more friendliness.
"How kind of you to offer! What do you wish to tell us?"
"I was just going to offer a friendly piece of advice. I know Hestia's establishment is the most obvious one to outsiders, but you really don't want to shop there. She overcharges and sells defective equipment."
The woman spoke up. "She knows offworlders will be too far away to complain to her when her products break down. We can lead you to better stores."
Hades spoke up. "I'm curious. Why would you want to help us?"
The man in white grinned, and flipped his long pale hair over one shoulder. "Well, usually monetary compensation would be sufficient, but-"
"Oh, Artemis! Stop that! We don't have time!" The woman's teasing smile belied her harsh words. "We don't want money. We want to leave with you when you go. My name is Luna, and this is Artemis."
"Artemis?!" Aphrodite winced at the mocking tone in Sol's voice. "Isn't that a woman's na-" She gritted her teeth and dug her nails as deep into Sol's hand as she could. ::Idiot!:: she sent. ::Don't alienate a possible contact!::
Artemis didn't hear their silent conversation. He grinned, showing more teeth than was strictly necessary. Luna leaned forward to grab his arm, and Aphrodite winced. Luna was more ruthless than she--she thought she saw a little blood where Luna's nails had been. Suddenly Aphrodite focused on Luna's nails. They were sharper than normal, as if they were claws, not nails at all. There was more to these people then there seemed.
Aphrodite breathed a sigh of relief as Serenity stepped forward. At last ! They needed women to take over this conversation before the men started beating on each other. Honestly, men could be so stupid about these things!
"Please excuse my companion," she started quietly, shooting a dangerous look in Sol's direction. "I'm sure he meant nothing by his hasty comment. But I'm not sure I understood what you said earlier. You only want to be allowed to go with us? Do you know who we are?"
Luna chuckled. "How could we not? It's not often one of the members of your family is declared outlaw, Lady Serenity. We are also concerned about the rise of Chaos' power in Haven, and we want to escape her reach before we come to her attention. Things are too hot for revolutionaries now, and we're well known as such here on Mau. Right now, we're respected for it, and tolerated because Chaos' influence is weak here. Soon, we'll be in great danger. We want to help your voyage succeed, because we want to go with you." Luna spread her hands, indicating she'd put all her cards on the table, and Aphrodite had to admit she had said it all. She cast a loaded look in Serenity's direction, but she could tell Serenity had already come to the same conclusion. She smiled that dazzling smile that even Aphrodite couldn't match, and held out a delicate hand.
"I would be pleased to have you join us," Luna reached out to take Serenity's hand. As soon as it entered Serenity's grip, she tightened her hold and her eyes held Luna's. "but if I ever have reason to suspect duplicity from you, I will kill you."
Luna held her gaze, and the smile on her face froze a bit, but did not leave her face. "We will never give you reason to doubt us."
Serenity nodded and let go. "Well, then," she handed Artemis their list, "these are the items we need, and this is the amount of money we have to buy them with. Don't worry about reserves. Where we're going, we won't need them."
" Well then, since all that unpleasantness is over, finally, can we please begin to shop? That is the whole reason I came along, you know." Aphrodite fluttered her eyelashes shamelessly. As they began to walk down the street she smothered a smug expression. She'd even managed to coax a smile out of Hades with that one.