In Mu's Garden

A rise in volume and a shift in tempo behind him told Gold Saint Aries Mu that the entertainment had taken a turn back in the main hall.

Silver Saint Shaina's Bronze, Cassios, was probably beating the shit out of Docrates' recent offering. That was "offering" as in the sacrificial kind. These weekly dinner displays in the Master's Hall - Master's Hall, not Athena's Hall - had become little more than demonstrations on various methods of disembowelment and dismemberment. However, the competitions paled in comparison to the carnage that passed for instruction nowadays on Sanctuary's training grounds. Mu's storm-kissed gray eyes closed as if he could block the memory from his head and his heart but that wasn't possible. The Saint's training had always been brutal; children had died in the past. It had been Mu's hope that those methods would cease. That hope, like too many others, didn't seem possible anymore.

It was true there were some differences between what occurred in the dining hall as opposed to what went on in the arenas. The Master of Sanctuary provided more fanfare, fireworks and food at these chummy gatherings than was available to the fledgling recruits. Recently, the Master had begun actively encouraging, all but insisting, that the Gold Saints bring their own proteges into his private, weekly hell. He probably sensed the Golds' restlessness and thought, accurately, that competitions concerning a more personal interest would stir their enthusiasm but Mu didn't have the heart for it. Or the stomach.

And Kiki wouldn't stand a chance in there - not a chance! Mu sighed and wished, not for the first time - certainly not for the last - that he was back on Beliaceae. There was still so much to do there and this - this was nothing but a waste!

"I couldn't agree with you more, Mu-chan but you should try to keep your thoughts closer to your center. These are political times. You would be wiser to be more politic."

Mu paused in mid-stride to turn and face the vision that appeared like dawn captured in an alcove as Gold Saint Virgo Shaka made his presence known.

"Shaka . . . ." Mu smiled and the hall grew pleasantly warm.

"Impetuous Ram, you're going to get in trouble again."

"It's the curse of my sign - childish and headstrong. Isn't that how you put it?"

"Childish and headstrong, honest and vulnerable, creative and charming as always," Shaka amended. "You may not have begun an Aries but you certainly grew into your Cloth. You haven't changed much, Mudrah mine."

"You have, Shaka-chan."

"That's true. But you sound disappointed."

"I don't feel I know you anymore. I don't feel I know anyone here."

Melancholy returned to Mu's wide, up-turned eyes. The two, tiny, round points of his brows drew together although not in anger. Eyes and brows alone marked him as something other than human although the purity of his countenance, even distressed, struck most on-lookers as distinctly humane.

"Change is as much an element of life as Fire, Earth, Air and Water," Shaka said. "You are less childish and more child-like in your simplicity and trust. Still, even I would think you'd understand Change.

Nothing can stop it, not even a Gold Saint." Smiling, the Virgo Saint inclined his head, lifted a slim, gold-clad shoulder, let it fall. "Why should you?"

"Because this isn't a good change. The Master doesn't even pretend to represent Athena any more. He's Ares' man - and that means war, certainly global, possibly galactic if you consider all the possibilities, the intractable results. Complete devastation . . . death, famine, disease - all the endless horrors. The Master didn't gather us here to protect Sanctuary from the Athena imposter. He's gathered us here to watch us, to try to control us. What's happened, Shaka? We were all brothers once but now . . . now I have trouble staying in the same room with some of these people."

"Desumasuka . . . Cancer Deathmask."

"Yes. Our gentle moonchild, the change is the most terrible in him. Have you been to his temple? Have you heard those lost souls wailing? Do you think what Miro said is true?"

"I know it's true. I've been there."

"Ah, Shaka . . . how could you bear it?"

A tiny smile danced across the serenity of Shaka's face. His lashes fluttered briefly although his eyes never opened. Shaka kept his visions to himself.

"Aries Mu, I told you before you should have come with me, studied with me. It would have made this easier for you to accept now, to understand. I read the portents, paid heed to the signs. It didn't take a great mystic to guess how it would go when Sagittarius Aioros killed the Athena incarnation. The Gold Saints were meant to guard Athena. Our purpose was destroyed with her death. This leaves only Ares for us to serve. Being who and what we are, we do what we must to continue. We each cope with this in our own way - Camus, Desumasuka, Miro, Aphrodite, Shura . . . all of us. Fear is the result of misunderstanding, of ignorance. The Endless have always been with us, will always be - Death, Devastation, Disease . . . Dream. And Desire. You must stop dwelling in terms of good and bad, Mu-chan. Realize that sort of thinking is the child in you talking and, while that child is very sweet, it must mature and accept life as it is, not as he wishes it were. Mu-chan . . . my Mudrah, the Master is watching you, in that you are correct. But he doesn't want to be your enemy."

"Is he my enemy?"

"Not at this time."

"Did he send you to speak to me?"

"Would it make such a difference to you if he had?" Shaka stepped close to Mu, raised his hand and brushed Mu's lips with a feather's caress. "This is hard for me. So hard . . . . I knew you'd be angry no matter what I said or how I said it. But. It. Has. To. Be. Said. We are more than friends to each other, Mudrah. More than brothers. I love you and it would kill me if you were hurt."

"Oh, Shaka . . . . " There was sorrow in Mu's laughter. "I think you would survive it just like you survive everything else."

"True again. But life would be much sweeter surviving with you than without you, Mudrah mine. It is such as you that makes this life very fine."

"You've survived these past dozen years without me very well."

"I wanted you to come with me. You could have come."

"I wanted to go with you but Beliaceae - our island - that was something I had to do. The war didn't just scatter my people, it all but annihilated them. This is our chance to renew, to be again."

"And you wish you were back on your little island now, don't you?"

"Beliaceae is my home, not this bleak pit. Goddess, there's so much pain here."

"I can imagine your gift for healing would be something of a liability since the training here has become so intense."

"It wouldn't be so terrible if the Master would let me help."

"Well, we can't cater to the weak, can we? There's a great storm coming. Even if you've closed off your intuition, you must feel that. The Master says we must all be strong to survive into our new order. It's going to be much worse before it settles."

"It would appear that you and the Master of Sanctuary are great friends."

"I would rather have the Sanctuary Master as a great friend than a great enemy. He can be both." Shaka's eyes fluttered open and Mu found himself gazing suddenly into star-shot sapphire. In that brief moment, Mu plunged into the depths of a deep, blue well for what seemed like years before those eyes closed again. Shaka put his arms around Mu, pressed his cheek to the Aries Saint's face. "I don't care about any of it," Shaka whispered. "I want you back again. Don't leave me alone. Don't leave me again."

Mu's arms closed around Shaka with more than comfort.

"I never left you, Shaka-chan. You left me, remember? Long before Beliaceae."

There was no accusation in the melody that was Mu's voice, no anger or shame but the pain wasn't lost on either of them.

"It was the worst thing I ever did," Shaka moaned.

"Ah, so? Surely not the worst?"

"Well . . . it wasn't very bright."

"You don't seem to have done too badly for yourself. That's quite a following you've brought back with you - and very attractive. Just your style, Shaka-chan."

"Hush. Don't talk now, my Mudrah."

Shaka's mouth and body was the bliss Mu remembered. Better since this was no midnight fantasy. It had been too long since he had been asked to hold and been held by another, especially this other.

The holding would have continued for quite a while longer, too, except for the high-pitched rush of a child's voice that cried: "Ha - beat you again! I win, I win, I win!" that soared between them from somewhere near.

Mu glanced back over his shoulder, smiling. "Kiki . . . ." His fingers curled around Shaka's, gently urging him down the hall. "I was looking for him. I wondered where he'd gotten to. What he's gotten into."

Shaka frowned and followed. "You're more easily distracted now than you were in the old days."

"In the old days, you wouldn't have allowed me to become distracted."

"Don't be difficult. Hm . . . I would have thought, considering your concern for children, that you might have been more circumspect in bringing that child to Sanctuary."

"I didn't expect to find Sanctuary so different. Anyway, Kiki's seen no worse here than he already has. Besides, he's no younger than we were when we began our training."

Another trill of laughter called them to a balcony. Peering over the rail to the short drop below, flame-haired Kiki challenged Gold Saint Taurus Aldeberan to a game of jacks and won again. Aldeberan's mass could have made up almost two of the bulls for which his Cloth was named. Now he sat cross-legged beside a four-foot, hyperactive boy-brat whose bright, blue eyes snapped and sparkled with humor, greed and mischief. Kiki's remarkable eyes were like Mu's, bonding them in ways other than affection.

Aldeberan's great, horned helmet lay discarded on the pavement beside them as the two studied the remains of the game. Thick, black brows met in a deep bow of concentration, like a raven glimpsed in distant flight, over a grand, broken beak of a nose that flared over a generous mouth whose corners creased now in a reluctant grin.

"Well, I won, didn't I?" Kiki demanded, defiant in the face of a man who would have made at least a dozen of him.

"Looks like that's what you did."

"That's 'cause I'm the best," Kiki crowed with all the modesty of his eight years.

Shaka laughed, observing. "I see the Bull has met his intellectual master."

"Shaka," Mu reproached, although not without a smile, "you're as bad a brat as Kiki."

"Then you know you were wrong. I haven't changed."

"Kiki," Mu called. "Are you bothering Taurus Aldeberan?"

"Mu-Sama!" Kiki shrieked with ecstatic surprise. The shriek was followed by a slight crackling sound as the child disappeared and then reappeared in the thin air over Mu's head.

Kiki flickered out again and back by Mu's elbow --

-- reappeared by Mu's opposite shoulder --

And came to rest on the railing between Mu and Shaka forcing the Virgo Saint to retreat a step. Mu's long, lavender locks lifted gently in the breeze and static charge that permeated the air. He shook his hair back, laughing.

"Mu-Sama, did you see me?" Kiki demanded. "Did you see what I did?"

"No. What exactly did you do?"

"I whipped the Bull-Sama's ass at jacks. I can do it again, too. Want to see?"

"I think I'll take your word for it." Mu was politely aloof.

Kiki's head tilted to one side, weighed by a expression of ferocious concern. "You're upset. Mad at me. Why?"

"Why do you think?"

"'Cause I left the hall?"

"Not that . . . not now."

"Then it's 'cause I bragged about winning?"

"That's right."

"But I like winning!"

"Everybody likes winning. But don't you remember how it feels to lose?"

Kiki nodded, solemn, and turned back to face Aldeberan. "I'm sorry you feel bad about losing. I shouldn't of bragged." A ghost of the former, triumphant grin returned to the child's elfin face. "But I really like winning."

Aldeberan's laughter thundered against the stonework. Kiki looked startled for a moment, then grinned as Mu unsuccessfully tried to conceal a smile. The Bull gathered up his helmet and got to his feet. The shadow of his mass covered the ground for yards like the outline of a small mountain. "I'd lose again for a laugh like that." Aldeberan's deep, bass voice rumbled with the echo of his mirth. "It felt good."

"It sounded good," Mu said no longer trying to hide his pleasure.

"Like music."

"Which should be starting again in the main hall," Shaka reminded them. "The competition should be over now. Shall we return?"

"And listen to a blow-by-blow recap of the recent slaughter?"

Aldeberan asked. "I think I'll pass. I'm for bed. Maybe a drink first. Thanks for the game, Kiki." A bright disk of gold flickered through the air to be deftly captured in the child's grubby fist.

"You're not going to check your winnings?" Aldeberan asked watching the coin disappear in the folds of Kiki's tunic.

"It's okay, I trust you," Kiki said. "Besides - I know where you live."

The Bull roared again.

"He's not joking," Mu cautioned, laughter hovering on his lips, in his eyes. "He's a thief -and a good one. That's how we met. He tried to steal my armor."

"What?" Shaka gasped.

"I was hungry," Kiki said with a slight shrug. "I wasn't going to take it all - then."

"You would have come back for the rest later?" Mu asked. It wasn't really a question.

"You were dumb enough to leave it out where everybody could see it."

"In its stone chest. Six floors up. Behind locked doors."

"I see . . ." Shaka murmured. "Well, you've always been the generous one."

"There's not a lot of satisfaction in stomping an eight year old, Shaka," Aldeberan returned.

"I think Kiki was about five when we met," Mu said, lost in happy recollection.

Aldeberan watched Shaka's elegant perfection darken almost imperceptibly, acutely aware beneath lowered eyelids. His back to Mu and the Virgo Saint, Kiki caught the Bull's eye and made a face which started the laughter anew for Aldeberan. He reached for the child and wrestled him down from his perch to sit on his shoulder.

"Of course stomping a five year old is a different matter,"

Aldeberan growled. "I would have mashed you flat."

"You could of tried," Kiki replied and settled himself comfortably, legs circling Aldeberan's neck. "Mu-Sama, are we going home now, too?"

"I'll make your excuses for you if you wish." Shaka dropped a delicate hand to caress Mu's wrist. "I know you don't want to go back to the hall."

"Thank you." Mu hesitated briefly, then, very gently, kissed Shaka's eyelids and mouth. "I'm happy to have found my friend again, Shaka-chan."

"You'll remember what I told you?" Shaka whispered.

Mu stifled a sigh. "How could I forget?"

Shaka's smile pierced him like a blade.

"There will be other nights," the Virgo Saint promised. "Soon."

The three watched Shaka disappear into the deserted hall's impenetrable darkness although to Mu, Shaka never actually faded from sight. Like a ghostly after-image, his golden presence remained a tantalizing, distant glimmer even when it was no longer reasonable that Shaka's physical being could have been in view. Mu tried to ignore the warring visions, impulses and signs that soared in to follow in Shaka's wake but that presented too much of a conflict with his personal training, so similar to the Virgo Saint's.

Goddess, all the portents were so dark and heavy, fraught with pain and grief. At the fore of Mu's visions, he witnessed universal fabrics irreparably torn. Shaka's talk of storms and new orders wasn't superficial chatter. Divine entities, sacred and profane, manifested among humankind again; creatures, of legend and other, arrived to dwell within nature's plane. In the veil that was the cosmos, Change screamed and shifted like a woman on a birthing-bed. Mu sensed that many of these newborns were ill-intentioned, vengeful and obscene. The potential consequences were frightening and Mu was frightened.

Yet beneath the darkness, the Aries Saint sensed something else.

Something very bright -iridescent threads connecting points of brilliance on an unknown constellation. It was so close it was hidden by... familiarity? Its location was unknown although it called to him like an impatient child. The message that came through was loud and clear - find and help, guard and love. The premonition was cloaked in an aura of unconquerable decency and kindness, genuine affection. That spark was so intense, so intriguing he wanted to plunge into that black-hole star pit to search it out, to know it personally for himself.

But always, just as he would dare that step, another, warning spirit-voice cautioned - Wait! Mu felt as though he were caught in the center of some astral tug-of-war. He had been hard pressed to stifle hysteria when Shaka had warned him to keep close to his "center". Since his return to Sanctuary, Mu could hardly place where his "center" was.

His head ached. Well, sleepless nights, unpalatable meals, worry and unfathomable psychic omens would cause that. Mu pressed his hand against his forehead and banished the physical pain away, grateful for the gift.

"Better than aspirin?" Aldeberan demanded from below.

Mu glanced down, laughed --

-- disappeared --

Reappeared standing beside Aldeberan and Kiki, smiling.

"It works faster," Mu said. "Anyway, you should know, friend."

"Sleep is better," Aldeberan told him. "And food. Real food, not that crap they dish out here. You should worry less."

Mu regarded him silently.

"I see the lights on in your quarters most of the night and I know you're not entertaining. I've seen the look on your face when you're wandering around the garden and you don't think anyone's looking so don't try to tell me everything's all right."

"From the sound of it, I wouldn't guess I'd have to tell you anything."

"I thought we'd cut through the preliminaries and get into it straight off." Aldeberan's huge grin flashed.

"Goddess, Bull, I'm tired. I don't feel like getting into anything right now."

"Are we going home or not?" Kiki demanded and yawned.

"Smart idea, kid. Let's blow this pop stand, okay?"

Kiki grinned, too, pleased. "Okay!"

Gratefully, Mu fell into step beside Aldeberan as they began to make their way down the mountain passing the first of the Gold Saint temple homes, this one belonging to Pisces Aphrodite. Torch light spilled out on the courtyard as the servants waited their master's return. The scene was cheerfully ordinary but did nothing to lift the ice from Mu's soul. Still, somewhere in the far, far distance, Mu felt the strength of his own constellation hidden beyond the clouds that covered Sanctuary Island and while, at this time, the stars held nothing but questions, Aries' presence was soothing.

Comfortably perched on the great Bull's shoulders, under Aldeberan's hardly necessary prompting, Kiki launched into an enthusiastic description of his life on Beliaceae and his initial meeting with Mu. Kiki could babble on at length and, while Mu usually took great pleasure in the child's descriptions of the island, tonight his words only accentuated his own home-longing. Gradually, Mu turned his eyes from the sky to the path at his feet. He tried again not to think, not to feel so much - especially these feelings. The possibility that they might never see Beliaceae again had probably never crossed Kiki's thoughts. Mu hoped it never would but Beliaceae's future was shrouded in the darkness that covered everything he turned his sight to now.

It came as a surprise when Aldeberan stretched out one of his massive arms to circle Mu's shoulders and bring him into step against him. It was a startling and even more pleasant sensation when Aldeberan reached up under the length of Mu's hair to cradle the back of his head and massage tension-knotted tendons at the back of his neck. Shaka had awakened the need and desire for touch at the Master's Hall, reminding Mu how long it had been since he had lain with anyone. He hadn't embraced the celibate's life but it had found him all the same. He knew what others, mostly humans, said about him - that he was "otherworldly", "untouchable", "unreal" and he didn't really mind. Not really. Those phrases were usually uttered with respect. They didn't mean to be unkind. Still Mu would have preferred a little less awe and a little more passion. He enjoyed the give and take of physical affection yet, too frequently, he only succeeded in intimidating the object of his interest. Psychics made most men and women uncomfortable. Gold Saint status kept him apart from others, too, even his own people - what there were of them. This loneliness was the one unexpected and troubling situation he'd encountered on Beliaceae, the one thing he'd hoped to change. Mu slipped his arm around Aldeberan's waist and moved closer to his friend. This closeness what just what he needed to bring him back to himself. How like his earthy Bull brother to recognize that and act on it.

Kiki talked himself out eventually and fell into a child's immediate, exhausted sleep. Mu was pleased. Experience had left Kiki less trusting than most children his age. That he could drop into sleep with such abandon pillowed against the top of Aldeberan's head was a gesture of friendship that was a tribute to the Taurus Saint's good nature. And one Mu knew Aldeberan would appreciate.

Mu glanced up at the Bull. "I thank you for taking care of Kiki."

"Heh - I thought the kid took care of me pretty well, actually."

Aldeberan paused before he continued: "Another minute in the Great Hall and I would've been ripping someone's head off."

"I saw you talking to Aphrodite."

"I was trying to talk to Aioria. He's been here all along. I thought he might have some clue as to what the hell's been going on."

"Was that smart? In the Master's Hall?"

"Where else? There are spies everywhere. But I bet you sensed that already."

The soft chime of Mu's laughter floated into the night. "I sense that the Bull and the Ram are going to butt heads again - with the wrong people. . . . Don't stop that. It feels good."

"You've never been afraid of a fight."

"Bull, I'm very much afraid. There are too many people involved, too many innocents to suffer and die without good cause. . . . Even when the cause is just, that's hard to accept. Hard to live with."

"How is it on Beliaceae?"

"Better."

"Have you heard anything from Libra Roshi-Sama?"

"The Master's furious that he isn't here. You can tell, can't you?"

Mu's eyes sparkled with sudden mischief. "Roshi-Sama is a sly old fox and keeps to himself as ever. But he's got a new student and I can tell he's very pleased with him."

"Roshi-Sama is a good teacher."

The peace between them shivered for an instant as they approached Cancer Deathmask's temple and the first soulless cry whispered towards them.

"Why don't you take Kiki and pop ahead?" Aldeberan asked. "I'll catch up."

"You don't like this any more than I do," Mu said. "Why should I leave you?"

"Because I think you've had just about enough."

"Careful, Bull. I've been told that kind of thinking isn't politic."

"Hmph. Right. It's all politics now, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"And the others are falling in line with it, aren't they? Even Miro and Aioria."

"You're not?"

"I made the same vows as the rest of them, the same you took. I'm only a soldier. Most of us are. You and Shaka are the mental ones." Aldeberan frowned. "I'll fight where I'm told just like everybody else but I don't have to like it."

"If there was a way out you'd take it?"

"In a minute. Why - do you know something?"

"No. I wish I did."

They fell silent as they passed the worst of Cancer Deathmask's temple. Kiki moaned in his sleep. The two walked faster.

"So, you and the Virgin are together again," Aldeberan observed once they had moved out of range.

"I see you and Shaka still don't get along."

"Why end an established tradition?"

"Why continue a joyless feud?"

"Shaka and I don't feud. We don't like each other. Never have."

"You seemed to get along with him well enough when we were younger."

"You were always Shaka's friend. Anyone who wanted to be friends with you had to be friends with Shaka, too. So I got along with him." The Bull shrugged. "That's how it was with most of us."

"I've always suspected as much," Mu said sadly. "I never understood why the others didn't like him more. He was always so fragile and lonely. So easy to hurt."

"Oh yeah. You need at least a crowbar to get his attention. Look - Shaka's never been as lonely or unloved as you thought - not while Shaka has Shaka. You watch, Mu. He'll come out on top of this, too. Don't worry about him. Although, knowing you, I guess that's impossible."

"He says he wants me back."

"For what?" Aldeberan choked. Blushed. "Sorry. Didn't mean that the way it sounded. But . . . but, damnit, Mu - Shaka doesn't have friends. Shaka has allies and enemies - Period. People are either convenient to him or they're not. You're one of the most powerful Gold's, if not the most powerful. Shaka would really have it made with the Master if he brought you into their camp. When we were children, Shaka used you when he needed you and, when he didn't, he dumped you. How the hell can you be so smart and so dumb at the same time?"

Mu froze on the path, slipping away from Aldeberan's arm. Aldeberan wheeled about to face him, the scarlet flag of anger deepening his naturally dark, bronze skin. Mu took a deep breath, put his hands on his hips. The storm came up in gray eyes.

"Tact has never been your strong point, has it?" Mu demanded.

"Only on Tuesdays."

"You are driving me insane!"

"Aw . . . what are friends for?"

Mu made a sound he hadn't made in years, something he could only remember using in "conversations" with Aldeberan. He raised both fists, battered them down on the Bull's chest, a very un-Gold Saint-like thing to do. Aldeberan caught his wrists before Mu could strike.

"Careful, you'll wake the kid."

Mu made the sound again. A twisted, little grin appeared on his lips that would have been appropriate for Kiki and completely out of character for the serene Gold Saint, Aries Mu. The inspired grin was followed by a golden-sheathed foot connecting - hard - with a similarly garbed shin. Aldeberan let Mu go and began to preform an energetic, little hopping dance on the walk.

"Careful," Mu warned, smooth and smug, "you'll wake the kid."

"What's going on?" Kiki murmured, sleepy.

"Nothing," Mu said, reaching to lift the child down from the Bull's shoulders. "Aldeberan stubbed his shin."

"How did he do that?"

"The Bull put his foot in his mouth."

"Happens all the time," Aldeberan confirmed. "You haven't lost your touch, Mu-san."

"That's Mu-Sama to you."

Kiki watched them, stunned into silence. Smart enough to stay silent, too.

"Don't get all bent out of shape," Aldeberan began. "I'm sorry. Sort of. I wish I was more tactful. My mouth gets me into a lot of trouble. . . but most people take one look at the size and think twice. Guess they're not up to the challenge."

"This wasn't exactly what I'd call a challenge."

"Truce! Truce!"

Mu scowled. "No more Shaka-baiting. All right?"

Aldeberan scowled back. "All right," he agreed grudgingly.

Mu nodded, took Kiki's hand and began to make his way down the rest of the path. Aldeberan followed. They continued in stony silence until they reached the front of the Taurus temple. Across the small valley beyond the Bull's house, the white, marble pillars and steps of the Aries Temple shimmered in the moonlight.

"What happened to the garden?" Aldeberan asked. "I've been meaning to ask. Didn't they take care of it while you were gone?"

"They tried . . . . Look around, Bull. Nothing's growing anywhere on Sanctuary. It's as if Athena's island were as dead as our goddess." Mu scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand. He felt tired and gritty, defeated. "I thought I might work on it myself but the ground's no good."

The Bull gave a little shrug. "Shouldn't be impossible."

"I didn't want to argue with you," Mu said suddenly. "There's enough anger here already. Brothers shouldn't fight."

"It wasn't much of a fight . . . was it?"

"No."

Aldeberan basked in the warmth of Mu's smile.

"Good night then," the Bull said. "Take care of yourself."

"Aldeberan . . . ."

"What?"

"What you said about Shaka tonight . . . I thought about it before you said anything."

"Ah. So." The scowl returned to the Bull's face. "And?"

"I don't know. It hurts. It just - hurts."

There was nothing more to say. Mu watched Aldeberan turn and mount the steps of the Taurus Temple, then disappear through the massive portals. Spent and wordless himself, Mu guided Kiki the short distance to his own Aries House and went inside.

Mu awakened sometime the next morning after another restless night. He knew it was morning because the sun was up although it felt quite early still. It took him several minutes to realize that the crashing, whooshing, banging and grating sounds were not the result of some hellish hangover -he hadn't had enough to drink for that - but were coming from a spot located directly outside his bedroom window. Curious, he slipped out of bed and moved to the balcony that looked down into the small valley separating the Aries Temple from the Taurus House.

Outside, Aldeberan was dumping great loads of earth onto the barren ground at the temples' base. That explained the racket.

"Bull - what are you doing?" Mu called, caught between curiosity and irritation.

When Aldeberan continued, obviously unable to hear over the noise, Mu zapped a little arrow of thought across the short distance where he hoped it would do the most good. It effectively caught the Bull's attention and unseated him, with a minor roar of surprise, at the same time.

Aldeberan squinted up at Mu's balcony. Waved.

"You're awake," the Taurus Saint noted. "Good. I thought you were going to sleep all day."

"What are you doing?"

"You said the garden earth wasn't any good so I sent for more. It helps to be an Earth element. This ought to do the job, don't you think?"

"You're making a mess. And a lot of noise."

"How can you make a decent omelette without breaking a few eggs?"

"What have eggs got to do with this?" Mu wailed as the scope of the Bull's project began to sink in. "What are you going to do with all that dirt?"

"You could get dressed and come down here and show me."

An almost sinister laugh - as sinister as Mu could get - rose unbidden from his slim throat. "Don't tempt me," he advised.

It took only seconds to pull on an old tunic, trousers and sandals.

Early morning adrenalin-rushes had a tendency to speed things up. Mu was very much aware of Kiki's wise absence and guessed he would find the boy somewhere below "helping" Aldeberan. As he considered Aldeberan's initial contribution to the day, tiny blue sparks began to ignite in the air while he dressed. Mu carefully gathered only a modicum of the surrounding energy to effect movement --

-- And still arrived with a blinding, blue flash in the garden below.

Aldeberan picked himself up off the ground for the second time in minutes, once again rubbing the pain out of a delicate section of anatomy.

"I see you took your time." The Bull grimaced. "Good morning. I think."

"What's good about it?" The storm had returned.

Aldeberan's face fell. The welcoming grin disappeared. "You don't like it."

Abruptly, Mu found himself staring into a pair of large, woeful brown eyes that would have been more suited to a baby basset hound than an adult male Taurean. He looked at his grounds - what was left of them. He had never seen so much raw, naked soil piled, strewn, heaped or otherwise collected together at any one time before. The accumulation went beyond impressive all the way to staggering.

"There's a lot of dirt," Mu said after a long silence.

"I didn't know how much you'd need. So I got a lot."

"I see that."

"I could get more."

"NO! No . . . that's all right. This is fine. This is - enough."

"You're still mad at me." Puppy-dog eyes again.

"Not mad exactly . . . ." Mu searched for an explanation as he continued, wide-eyed, to scan the premises. "It's just, when am I going to find the time . . . how am I going to . . . where will I . . . ? There's just so much of it."

"Well, you don't really want to supervise the training grounds again, do you? Other than that, there's not a whole lot to do around here, is there? And, I could help you with this if you tell me what to do. I've done a little gardening."

"Yes. I understand you're an Earth element." Dawn began to break for the second time that morning.

"Taurean through and through." Aldeberan struck his fist against his chest. "I was made for my armor."

"I began a Pisces."

The great grin returned. "I know. Earth and Water - mix them up and they grow things together."

"They also make mud."

"You're not mad at me any more, are you?" Aldeberan asked.

A shimmer of light announced Kiki's eminent arrival. The boy appeared with a tray laden with hot tea, fruit and fresh bread.

"I brought breakfast," Kiki said, a little less pleased with himself than usual. "But the cook said we don't have any puppies so I guess we can't go look for them."

"What do you want with puppies?" Mu asked completely puzzled.

"Bull-Sama said you were a pushover for a lost-puppy look. I didn't know you liked to look for lost puppies.... What's a pushover?"

"Uh . . . *heh*" Aldeberan garbled and Mu watched the Taurus Saint's complexion go truly pale and then flush bright red.

"Mad?" Mu speculated quietly. ". . . Mad? That's an interesting word and frequently misunderstood. Aldeberan - let me share with you my definition of the word 'mad'."

Wondering, Kiki surveyed Aldeberan's backwards-scramble across the yard. The terrain was very loose and he stumbled frequently. And painfully.

"Ah, Mu-Sama, don't bother yourself," the Bull protested.

Mu began to smile and Aldeberan began to sweat with genuine enthusiasm.

"My friend," Mu began. "It's no bother."

It was like trying to put a puzzle together when the pieces didn't match the picture on the box or playing a game with some of the pieces and/or instructions missing, Kiki thought. Then reconsidered.

No, playing a game without instructions was possible. You could make it up as you went along. That was how Kiki approached most situations anyway. However, to achieve the most satisfying results, one tried to discover and learn the ground rules, the constants that never changed no matter what. In Kiki's universe, Mu-Sama was a constant. Mu didn't change. He wasn't supposed to.

When they had first arrived at Sanctuary, Mu-Sama became, simply, more Mu. He was a quieter Mu and, yes, a sadder Mu but he was still the same person who Kiki preformed chores for, the same person who supervised Kiki's training or, rather, made up those ingeniously difficult games and posed the unanswerable questions that stuck in the boy's head like puzzle rings that wouldn't work the way they should. The big difference there was Kiki had eventually been able to solve the puzzle rings, permanently, with a hammer and a pair of pliers. Mu's puzzles weren't that easy to fix and whenever Kiki came up with an answer, Mu turned those solutions into more puzzle-questions.

On the other hand . . . Kiki's answers almost always sparked Mu's laughter - not a mean laugh either but a happy sound - and that was worth playing almost any game no matter how dumb and frustrating. On the other hand, Mu-Sama was there when Kiki went to bed at night and there when he woke up in the morning. Mu-Sama knew some absolutely terrific stories and didn't mind sharing especially when bad dreams came. Mu knew how to make bad dreams go away.

These were still the constants, the ground rules that didn't change.

Until Sanctuary.

On Sanctuary, Mu-Sama had bad dreams and even though he was still there for Kiki, Kiki understood that he wasn't always there for Mu. He didn't know how to stop Mu's nightmares, the terrifying visions. Kiki had grown to trust most of the people on Beliaceae. He liked Mu-Sama's friends. On Sanctuary, Kiki quickly re-learned that people who called themselves "friends" weren't always friends. On Beliaceae, people took orders from Mu-Sama. On Sanctuary, Mu took orders from others and obeyed them even when Kiki could tell he didn't want to. On Sanctuary, people got hurt and Mu-Sama was not allowed to help them. For a short but terrible while, Kiki had been terrified that if he were hurt on Sanctuary, Mu wouldn't be able to help him but Mu put an end to that scare quickly enough so Kiki had been reassured that at least one other Important constant remained.

But . . . on Sanctuary, Mu-Sama cried and that was unacceptable. Kiki had heard him late at night. Kiki didn't know what to do about that either but he wanted it to stop. It had never occurred to him, in all the while he had been with Mu, for as long as Mu had cared for him, that Mu-Sama might - need - someone - to - take -care - of - him!

Anywhere else, this situation would have been inconceivable but Kiki had determined that Sanctuary had provided the variables to make the unimaginable possible. It was an evil place. The sooner they left, the better. However, until they could manage a safe get-away, Kiki resolved to find a proper champion for Mu-Sama and set about creating his own private review board. Kiki understood that he was in a delicate position and his operation had to remain clandestine. It would have to fall under the heading of "good deeds no one was supposed to know about". Mu-Sama could never suspect because Kiki was fairly certain that would ruin everything.

So the applicants remained blissfully unaware of Kiki's scrutiny and purpose. For the most part, the applicants were not even aware that they were applicants which was just as well since Kiki, for all his energy on Mu's behalf, was unable to find a proper champion although once or twice so far, he had come very close.

Recently, Gold Saint Taurus Aldeberan had seemed the most acceptable possibility but that hope had met with yet another defeat. It occurred to Kiki that it would be best if Mu-Sama were friends with his protector and Kiki couldn't tell if Mu liked the Bull-Sama or not. One minute they were laughing and talking in a manner that suggested great friendship. The next minute found them fighting as if they were going to kill each other.

Kiki had never seen Mu's Aries Ram manifestation until that morning and the child was impressed and only a little frightened by this side of Mu's personality. Once Kiki crawled out from under the edge of the servant's privy, he could see how pretty the ram was with its curling mother-of-pearl horns, violet light, and Mu-like long-lashed eyes. That Aldeberan would manifest as a giant, red bull came as no particular surprise. Mu-Sama and the Bull-Sama had spent the better part of the morning charging at each other, crashing head-to-head and into buildings, tearing up the ground, smashing off chunks of temples and mountains, hurling great waves of golden light at each other until Kiki was unsure if either the Aries Temple or Taurus Temple would be left standing by lunch time.

At some point, they had landed in Pisces Aphrodite's pretty pond among the koi and lotus. Lightning bolts transformed into muddy missiles and insults to laughter again. Mu and Aldeberan spent the second half of the morning repairing the damage they'd created and shoving earth around in Mu's garden. Or what Kiki supposed was to become Mu's garden. It was nothing like the yard they shared on Beliaceae.

So, unfortunately, it didn't make any difference the two seemed to be enjoying each other at this point because, underneath it all, Kiki could sense that the prior instability which caused the Ram to lock horns with the Bull was waiting to burst forth again. Aldeberan upset Mu too much. The Bull was not the champion who would return their lives to the predictable placidity Kiki was used to.

No, Taurus Aldeberan was no longer an acceptable candidate for Mu-Sama's protector which was really too bad because the man had money and he was obviously a pushover at jacks.

Kiki knew what that word meant now. At least one puzzle was solved.

The last thing Mu remembered was lunch. They had located one small patch covered with the rough green weed that passed for grass on Sanctuary and fell-to on the food that arrived from the kitchen. Tapping the macrocosm induced the equivalent of a cosmic hunger, a true challenge to satisfy. Mu had found satisfaction. Afterwards, with an uncharacteristic belch and accompanying giggle - there had been good wine, too, lots of it - he laid back on the grass and watched snowy-white ram-lambs gamboling about on a bright blue field.

The sky was green when he opened his eyes again and Mu stared for a minute, disoriented, until he figured out that the green was Aldeberan's tunic. The Bull had thrust two broken branches into the ground creating a makeshift canopy to screen the sun from Mu's pale skin as he slept. Mu smiled and rolled to his side, wondering how long he'd been asleep.

"Hours," Aldeberan said.

Mu glanced up from under drowsy eyelids to find the Bull sitting cross-legged beside him. The fading sun brought out the plum-colored jewels in Mu's gray eyes.

"I still feel half asleep." Mu yawned.

"You look half asleep," Aldeberan agreed. Sighed. Shook his head. "Well, you needed it. But you know . . . this is a lot of dirt."

"Do you really think so?" Lazy laughter bubbled out of Mu's throat. He pushed himself up to sit beside his friend. "Looks like it's all still there, too. I see you've pushed it around a bit."

"That I did." Aldeberan looked down at his earth-crusted hands and winced. "I'm not as much of a gardener as I thought."

Mu peered over and winced as well. "Blisters . . . let me . . . ."

He took Aldeberan's hands in his, gently brushed away some of the dirt. "You're worse than Kiki, you know."

"Really?"

"Really." A warm, gold glow drifted over their hands, dissipating into tiny bits of light that floated away in the deepening twilight. Mu continued to study the Bull's palms with friendly interest, reluctant to release him. There was such pleasure in healing.

"You have good hands," Mu murmured. "A good life line . . . heart line. Look there, fortunate man. See that joining? You'll be hand-fasted soon. I - I didn't know."

"What?"

"That you had someone in your life."

"For a long time," the Bull said. "We've known each other for years."

"Oh. Well, I wish you well with her."

"Him."

"Him?"

"Him," Aldeberan confirmed. "What do you see in your palms - other than my hands?"

"Nothing. Seers are notoriously blind when it comes to divining their own futures, don't you know that?"

"I'd heard it. I believe it now."

Suddenly timid, Mu released Aldeberan's hands only to feel them close, gently, on his arms bringing him closer. His eyes were open when Aldeberan kissed him, registering equal parts of shock, surprise and, finally, pleasure. Yes, Mu admitted to himself, there was certainly pleasure although initially he remained so dumbfounded he could hardly move. This wasn't the elegant expertise Shaka had demonstrated the night before. This touch was so gentle as to be almost chaste. It brushed against Mu's lips, then on the tender spot where the curve of his jaw met his ear lobe and throat, dropped to his shoulder, to the hollow of his throat. Then it was back to his mouth once again only this time, Mu was ready. When Aldeberan pulled him even closer, Mu came willingly and with joy. Their arms went around each other and they joined, flesh to flesh, heart to soul.

Aldeberan didn't fumble with Mu's belt, he simply removed it. The Bull's hands were rougher now, impatient as his palms raced over the tiny buds of Mu's breasts, the smooth, cream skin of his back and shoulders, chest, ribs and stomach. There was more hunger than grace in this touching but Mu didn't care about that. He wrestled with Aldeberan, not against him, to slide uncooperative trousers over hips and legs, to kick them off into the grass beneath them. Mu's shoulders were shaking when he slid his leg over Aldeberan's to sit, straddled over the Bull's thighs.

The sun set, boiling into the sea but the glow of Mu's saffron and Aldeberan's amber spiraled and pulsed like a new star birthed on the hillside darkness. They created luminescence of their own. Tiny spurs of blue flame burst and died leaving the outline of pale, ghost-flowers behind to drift and fade in the mist. Night-sky stars were very bright as if they had somehow managed to pierce the unnatural fog that had shrouded this less-than-natural island. Mu could feel their presence dancing through his being although nothing was as bright or magnificent as the eyes that stared into his own. Mu took Aldeberan's hand, guiding him to the secrets of his body past the obvious gender. It was the Bull's turn to register shock as he probed the extent of Mu's small, moist mystery. Mu almost faltered then, almost looked away; this rejection would be unbearable. So many others had refused this little gift. Shaka had never wanted it of him. No one ever had. That was how Mu had learned there was a difference between desire for the exotic and acceptance of the truly alien.

He could have sobbed with relief when Aldeberan, pleased, smiled at him again. When strong hands closed around his hips, brought him down.

It wasn't what Mu had thought it would be. A voice from somewhere told him these things never were. The pain was almost crippling, a violation of shared pleasure, not a bonding at all. It hurt too much to scream. He hung in Aldeberan's hands like a broken doll, his head flung back as if weighed down by the mass of his hair. For an instant, Mu could have hated Aldeberan - until he felt the concern in his lover's voice, Aldeberan's comfort and strength pouring into him. He was held and suspended somewhere beyond pain.

Somewhere . . .

. . . alone . . . .

Confused, Mu opened his eyes again and found the stars were very near and clear, much brighter than before. The air was freezing cold and the sweat on his skin had jeweled to little beads of ice. He wasn't frightened, though. He wasn't hurt. With a great calm that simply married curiosity, he saw the threads appear again - blue, red, aqua, white, gold - living, joining. He raised his arms and held up his hands, palms cupped to catch. He felt the threads pierce through, merging into one, bursting and breaking apart into their livid components. It wasn't unpleasant. There was a sharp thrill of electric sensation that raced through his arms and across his shoulders, down his spine and up the back of his neck, across his scalp to lodge in his temples and brow.

Ahead, the black-hole star-pit materialized, opened and released its secrets.

All the secrets.

Mu screamed.

"Let's not be collective idiots," Aphrodite casually addressed the group at large. "Aldeberan and Mu may have been playing a little Zeus and Europa but the Bull would never harm his mystic. Kink is not Aldeberan's style."

"That's your specialty," Capricorn Shura said with a smirk.

"Well, goat-boy," the Pisces Saint admitted, pausing to inhale the fragrance of a dark, blue rose, "it's all my style. Don't look so self-righteous, my darlings. At one time or another, I've been with each and every one of you. I know what all your little habits are - all of them - and I tell you Aldeberan didn't hurt Mu."

"Then how do you explain the blood?"

Desumasuka laughed, an ugly sound from a soul-corrupted man. "Goddess, Camus, just because you've never been with a woman before-"

"Mu is not a woman," the Aquarian protested.

"Mu is Mu," Aphrodite said with uncontestable conviction. "Give me strength. Look - there's more going on here than a little idyll on the hillside. We are experiencing a major-league psychic-bowlarama. It's revelation time, babies, or is your cosmo so completely fucked you're soul-dead as well as brain-lame? I don't think so. It would have to hit Mu or Shaka first and hardest. This is the first chance we've all had to get together outside of the Master's Hall to talk. Let's not waste our opportunity, guys."

"We have no right to question the Master's position," Gemini Saga's voice echoed from the depths of his double-faced helmet.

"Another planet heard from." The petite Pisces flashed a smile. "Talk to us, Saga. You're closer to the Master than anyone. We're Gold Saints. If we can't find the cosmic answers, who can?"

"No one. There is no need for answers when the questions have been eliminated. We have each received our instructions. We each know what we have to do. You are willfully insolent, Pisces Aphrodite."

Saga's voice fell like a thunderclap in the stone room. Silence grew like a fungus.

"I don't mean any disrespect to your twin, Saga," Aphrodite began, "but -"

"Stow it, Deetz. Nobody's interested. Don't pay any attention to him, Saga. You know how brothers are." Scorpio Miro sounded more relaxed than he felt. "Especially younger brothers. They've got big mouths." He glared at Aphrodite.

"Maybe it's time we said goodnight," Shura suggested. "Shaka will let us know if there's anything to be concerned about. If it's anything more serious than a little - fracas, we'd have been advised by now, right?"

Aphrodite's lashes fluttered over bright, blue eyes. "Shura - how many rolls of gold-tinted aluminum foil does it take to make a suit of armor these days?"

"Deetz!" Miro warned, appalled.

Shura's lips parted in a saccharine-soaked smile. "Sweet child. What a shame you're all beauty and no brains. Poetry in motion. Why not move along like a good boy and treat us all to the thrill of your departure? You're making brother Scorpio very nervous."

The Pisces Saint displayed his rose, thorny stem up. "You want a thrill, Shura? Sit and spin."

"Let's go."

Scorpio Miro fastened on his brother's arm and made a line for the courtyard bringing the smaller youth with him. Behind them, the others began to head towards other exits.

"Ow," the Pisces Saint gasped. "Better cool it, nissan, or the rest of them are going to think you're the one who goes in for the heavy stuff."

"Deetz, you're suicidal! That's all - suicidal!"

"No. Just bored and anxious like everybody else."

"Bored? Shit!"

"Well, fuck me with a chainsaw, honey, it's not a crime."

Miro's heels dug into the chalky ground as he skidded to a stop, pulled his brother about with one hand and brought the other down across the youth's face. Shocked more than hurt, Aphrodite gaped at the fury in his brother's eyes. Miro grasped Aphrodite's shoulders, shook him.

"Why can't you just think before you open your mouth?" Miro demanded. "You've been playing games for so long, you don't remember what real trouble is. This isn't a game, Deetz. You make up these stories and suspicions just to see which way they'll jump. You taunt men who could - and probably should - eat your liver for breakfast and go back for seconds at lunch. You're going to get hurt if you don't learn to shut up."

"Gee - I didn't know you still cared. I think you might have loosened a few teeth."

"I ought to loosen your head."

"Miro - you think I'm playing games? Maybe you should talk to the big Dungeon Master up on the mountain and find out what he's up to. I'll bet you'll hear a game plan from that one that will make your head spin.

I'm sorry you think I'm just jerking everyone off. Maybe I am in a way. I don't know which way is up anymore. I don't even know in what direction to look. Brother, I'm the weak link in our little circle, I know that. I worked hard to win my Cloth. It means more to me than I can say . . . . It's - it's all I am. I'm not strong like you or Aioria or Aldeberan. Psychically, I'm on a par with a divining rod. Goddess knows I'm no mental giant. But I know who we are, who we're supposed to be."

"I know who I am. I also know there are impostors trying to corrupt everything you say you love so much. If we don't unite against them-"

"Give me a break. You can't believe that little girl, those children are a serious threat? To us? Talk about a smokescreen-"

"Athena's dead." Miro released Aphrodite. Stepped away.

"So what?" Aphrodite's beautiful eyes glistened. "That's the one question no one seems to be able to answer. No matter what happened or what will happen, we're still Athena's Gold Saints. We have purpose enough in that. We don't have to go running to Ares or his nimrods for a new one -do we?"

"We each swore allegiance to the Master of Sanctuary. We obey his orders. That's our purpose now."

"We pledged to the Master when he was Athena's champion," Aphrodite snarled, "not Ares' ass-wipe."

"Get your head out from between your legs and breathe some fresh air, boy! The wind's turning whether you like it or not," Miro snapped.

"Hmph - you liked my head between your legs well enough all those years back till you fell for Camus. And now Camus' gone for Crystal and you're still in a snit. You're the one who's got his head stuck between his legs - and your tail, too. Why don't you just get yourself laid, Scorpio, and lighten up? Then maybe we can talk. Then maybe you can think with something bigger than your balls!"

Miro's fist flashed out again and while the Scorpio Saint barely felt the impact, Aphrodite hit the ground and slid. Dirt and gravel shredded pale skin through a gauzy, Grecian tunic. Aphrodite sprawled in the dust, hovering on the threshold of consciousness. When he thought he could stand it, the Pisces Saint gently touched the bruise on his face. He winced with more than pain.

"Don't say anything! I don't want to hear you." Miro trembled with grief as well as rage. "Do what you want. Go where you want - but keep away from me. I'm done with you!"

"Miro!" Aphrodite scrambled to his knees. "Miro - wait!"

But Miro didn't wait. Gold Saint Scorpio Miro made short work of the path out of the courtyard. Stricken, Aphrodite watched him go.

"Oh . . . shit. I fucked up bad." The youth took in a deep, shaky breath. Released it in a sob. Tears slid across his ruined angel's face and he brushed at them angrily with the back of his hand. "Aw, Miro - I didn't mean it. That's not right. I meant it, I just didn't mean to say it like that. I didn't want to hurt you . . . ." Aphrodite sank back on his heels. "Well, there it is. No mental giant, right? Mental gnat is more like it. I'm so stupid, stupid, stupid! Damn!"

A shadow dropped over the ground. The Pisces Saint twisted about to look up.

"Saga," he groaned. "Now the evening's complete."

No response issued from the dark hole of the Gemini Saint's helmet. Aphrodite struggled to his feet.

"Oh, right - I forgot. You've gone all tall, dark and mute on us, haven't you, big boy? And you used to be such a party animal. Well, why don't you call me when your shuttle lands?"

"The Master wants you."

"Ha! They want ice cream in Hades but, trust me, it isn't going to happen. Not tonight anyway. But be nice - tell him little Deetz has a headache. Believe me, honey, it's no lie."

"Now."

Gemini's metal-encased fist closed on Aphrodite's forearm with an audible crack. Agony drove the Pisces Saint back to his knees. Another blow ended the youth's cry before it was completed. Aphrodite collapsed in a still, small heap by Gemini's boots.

For long minutes, the island was horribly quiet as if a spell of silence had been cast upon the night, a tomb-like emptiness that sucked the peace from every living thing. Eventually, Aphrodite moaned, catching his lip between his teeth to keep from crying out when he tried to move. A flash of movement caught his attention. Fear-widened eyes traveled to hells' golden-garbed guardian and stayed. The Pisces Saint made a final, panicked effort to rise and run but Gemini's glove captured Aphrodite's ankle and brought him heavily to ground again.

Slowly, the Twin Saint lurched about and began to walk towards The Master's Hall dragging his prize behind him.

Mu opened his eyes and light, faint as it was, pierced him like broken glass. He gasped and nearly returned to the fertile, green island of his sheltered dreamscape. But there was no comfort to be found in that haunted oasis so he opened his eyes again to see the mask of Shaka's serenity, fixed in concentration, only a few feet away.

"Mu . . . ?" Shaka's voice was a lost chord in a jarring, arcane harmony. Mu reasoned at least that voice hung on the air instead of beating about in his head. His mind actually felt bruised.

A little frown fell onto Mu's mouth and stayed. He knew what Shaka had been trying to do. The Aries Saint shifted focus, searching for another, a nearby presence he had sensed rather than touched or seen. The Virgo Saint, his friend, hadn't allowed him that privilege until the end.

Shaka had the grace to look somewhat less composed. "I brought him in at the last," he began, "to bring you back . . . ."

"Aldeberan-"

The Bull was there, of course, looking wonderful and terrible, fierce, proud and weary. Love did not incapacitate Aldeberan, it did not leave him defenseless. Mu held out his arms and found his strength hadn't returned to him yet, not that it made any difference. Aldeberan had strength enough to catch onto him and hold him. Brains and heart enough to know not to let go.

Virgo Shaka quietly withdrew from the room and closed the door behind him.

Eavesdropping in halls wasn't Shaka's style. The Virgo Saint employed more sophisticated and effective methods, skills that he had cultivated into an art form. It was a source of pride to him that his subjects rarely suspected his interest.

Mu was a fascinating and personal study. The Aries Saint trusted more than was usual among the Golds but even Shaka would have thought twice before he called him a fool. Foolish, perhaps, but not slow, not stupid. Mu's taste in companions was unfortunate but that was more of an . . . accidental trick of his libido than his brain. There was little one could do to control that. That kind of control took real expertise, true finesse.

Shaka was controlled. He knew feeling as a series of specialized tastes the individual developed to perpetuate its' own unique continuity. Survival. Choice wasn't necessarily an option. He had ceased categorizing in terms of good and bad long ago. Natural forces were identified as either positive or negative. There was no ultimate evil, no supreme good, only varying intensities in the combinations of plus and minus. Some creatures were a little more negative than others. Some tipped their balance in the other direction.

Which brought him back to Mu, his friend, a very positive creature who was - understandably - not feeling too friendly now.

It had been the correct and natural response for Taurus Aldeberan to summon Gold Saint Virgo Shaka's help when Mu collapsed although neither the Ram or the Bull could have guessed that moment had long been anticipated. Under those circumstances, felled by psychic and - unforseen -physical shock, Mu's soul-self should have welcomed Shaka's aid. It should have been impossible for him to suspect any other intention - much less to have barred Shaka from the revelations he had received. Shaka had always accepted the fact that Mu was as much a mystic master as himself. Mu was a natural, his skills and abilities all but effortless in execution. Shaka, on the other hand, had developed his own gifts with a passion akin to religious mania. Mu was passionate. That alone should have made him more vulnerable, predictable, accessible.

Shaka had miscalculated and he found that fascinating. It was considered somewhat less than good form - actually, among the Saints, his actions would have been considered comparable to the crime of rape - for Shaka to invade Mu's intellect and visions as he had. Well, Shaka reasoned, that he could have just as easily been the one to receive the dream. He had prepared for that as well as a number of other possibilities. The Master of Sanctuary had taken him into his confidence knowing that Shaka was flexible enough, politic enough to appreciate all views of their current situation. Mu's perceptions, like Aphrodite's, like Camus', Aioria's, Roshi's, and, of course, the Bull's were limited. They could only dwell in dreams as opposed to reality but Shaka knew they would, in time, come around. Their survival was all that mattered. The Golds' would see that eventually. At any rate, the vision had come to Mu and, under orders, Shaka had stolen what he could of it. Still, he had to wonder what sort of compensation he would be required to make for his trespass. Compensation would be necessary to purge negative karma and, after all, Aries Mu was still his friend.

Unfortunately, while Shaka found himself excited by these unusual circumstances, he doubted the Sanctuary Master would be as pleasantly stimulated. He wondered how that distress might be diverted.

To that end, Shaka wasted no time in approaching the Master's Hall. It had been better than three days since Mu's collapse. He could only surmise the Master would be cresting the wave of anticipation by now and irritable at best.

But Shaka was wrong again. The Master arrived for their exchange, fresh from the bath, and in an obviously happy humor. In physique, the Master dwarfed the delicate Shaka in much the same way Aldeberan dwarfed Mu. That was a bit disconcerting since Shaka couldn't remember Saga's twin as being this large. It took some serious getting used-to - but that seemed to be the theme of their present decade.

"Let's walk," the Master said once informal greetings had been shared. "The sun is shining, the day is bright. A good day to be alive, isn't it?"

"With you, my lord, always," Shaka replied. "Although more days passed than I expected before I could conclude your errand. Please forgive this repentant one."

"I managed to lose myself among other diversions. The wait was not impossible."

As a pair, Shaka and the Sanctuary Master glided across marble floors polished to the consistency of mirrors. The Master paused beside a great, marble fountain where violet-blue, fan-tailed koi drifted peacefully among the roots of flawless, alabaster lilies. The Master carefully selected a single lotus and presented it to Shaka.

"Please accept this token of my regard, golden Virgo, although its perfection is but a pale shadow beside the purity of your devotion."

"Generous Lord, your unworthy servant trembles with bliss before your benign recognition. If only the extent of my commitment were equal to my insignificant skill, I might maintain a dream to someday merit a brief, breath of notice from my glorious liege." Shaka executed a willow-graceful obeisance, returning the blossom. "My pathetic efforts are a curse upon this husk I call life. I am undeserving of your magnificence."

"Keep the lotus, Shaka. It suits you. I hope your efforts weren't too pathetic."

"It could have gone better."

"Aries Mu received the vision?"

"Yes, precisely as you said it would come about." Shaka allowed the regard he felt for the Master's accurate prophesy to show in his voice. "Mu built up an incredible amount of psychic energy barricading the traumas on Sanctuary from his center. Eventually, the stress became impossible. There had to be a distraction. And when those barriers broke down, the vision was waiting. It took him so completely, I wondered if I would ever be able to bring him back."

"It wouldn't do to lose the healer."

"I didn't think you considered that an essential ability. There are others."

"Aries Mu is the only one of us that can heal armor. That makes him necessary. But what of the vision? What did you learn?" the Master demanded.

"That was difficult. I saw it - most of it . . . but - divinations are so personal, filled with symbols and talismans that are only significant for the receiving seer. If I had a clear idea of what you wanted to know precisely."

"In the coming conflict, will Athena's forces win - or Ares?"

Shaka didn't hesitate before answering. "Ares will win."

"Ah, so . . . . Just as I thought." There was an unmistakable ring of delight in the Master's voice.

"You seem pleased." Shaka sounded - and looked - surprised.

"Pleased, yes . . . that I have forecasted our condition so precisely. We won't be caught unprepared."

The Virgo Saint wondered. Mu wasn't the only Sanctuary psychic whose senses had been battered over the last several months. There were times when Shaka doubted his own perceptions. This was one of them.

Suddenly fatigued, Shaka would have liked to take a seat on the edge of the fountain but the Master of Sanctuary, deep in thought, had begun to make his way outside the Great Hall again and it was more politic for the Virgo Saint to follow. Shaka found that he was suddenly hard pressed to control an almost overwhelming urge to weep. The outcome of the long-awaited vision was disappointing. The emotional intensities of Mu's dreams were staggering, stunning - joyful one moment, agonizing the next. Misery had consistently defeated any pleasure Mu had felt. It was the most unrelenting anguish Shaka had ever experienced and there could only be one interpretation to that. Only one thing would upset Mu so much - Ares triumph over Athena's cause.

So the balance of positive and negative was about to dip irrefutably into the dark. That which made life worth its price was to suffer a terrible blow. Shaka was more than just a little shaken with this new revelation. He began to wonder if there really was such a thing as evil.

"So, will Aries Mu be our friend or foe once he acknowledges our position?" the Master asked as they made their way into the stables.

"Mu will never cease his efforts on Athena's behalf," Shaka said. "He will follow orders, honor his vows, but I don't know if he will be able to accept Ares' victory."

"How can he be controlled?"

"I would think through his companions. Through the child, certainly. His affections make him vulnerable - but you would have to be careful. He'll fight if you push too hard." Shaka didn't like the way the conversation was going but was uncertain as to how to change it.

"What do you suggest?"

"You couldn't act without justification. That would cause the others to rally to his support. He's well-loved. At some point, Mu may give you cause to discipline him. If that happens-"

"When that happens," the Master corrected.

Shaka shrugged slightly. "Strike through Beliaceae. Destroy the island and its settlers. It would be a great loss to him, cause him to consider what remains more precious. The key is in destruction and restraint. If you destroy all, you leave him nothing to protect, nothing to live for. He'll fight you to his death vow or not."

"I believe you care for Aries Mu."

"Very much."

"I doubt he cares so much for you now. You might keep that in mind."

"I do."

They passed through the stables and entered the darkened shelter of the kennels. Shaka wasn't fond of animals, especially dogs. They smelled, they were dirty and they were presumptuous with their affections. He inhaled the lotus' gentle fragrance in an effort to combat the stench.

"Your psychological strategies are flawless," the Sanctuary Master said, descending the stairs to the lowest level. "I remember how impressed I was when we first talked. Your composure was like ice. I respect your philosophy to embrace all, to learn all - the discipline that prevents your emotions from getting in the way of your education. You don't have to deny your passions to me, Shaka. It's your ability to go beyond your feelings that I find so extraordinary. You test yourself continually, don't you? Like you did with Aries Mu? You don't allow friendship to get in the way of what you want."

Virgo Shaka gave another self-depreciating, little shrug. He wasn't feeling as pleased or content as he thought he should. Fatigue . . . and the surroundings were, perhaps, to blame. The atmosphere of confinement didn't bother him but these filthy, dark, and humid quarters struck him as foul. Great dogs lolled about on matted straw, dark shapes in the pens along the wall whose yellow eyes followed their progress. These were unnatural animals, vile. Nausea made a fist in Shaka's stomach.

As Shaka gathered the courage to suggest departure, he heard a sound that captured his attention. He realized he had been listening to it - a continual, soft, human whimpering - since they had left the stairs. Its source was a heap on the straw in the back of the far cage. Embarrassed, Shaka looked away. Surely the Master hadn't brought him here to witness the punishment of some errant stable boy.

"You might have heard, I was experiencing some problems with this one," the Master said. "Well, as you can see, the insolent puppy has gone to the dogs. Look here, my little rosebud. I've brought a new visitor."

Shaka looked into the cage. Froze. Horror replaced confusion.

"Aphrodite . . . ." The name was a wound in the Virgo Saint's throat. His slim fingers locked on the bars of the cage.

"I thought you might appreciate this," the Master said. "Desumasuka and Shura would enjoy it - and have. You, I believe, will understand it."

Shaka spared him a reply. The metal in his fists began to glow.

"Don't do that . . . " It was a gentle warning.

Shaka pulled at the bars, felt the iron give under his hands. There was a separate, blinding flash, a yellow bolt that struck the small of Shaka's back, paralyzing in its power. The pain was incredible. Shaka swayed but remained on his feet, holding iron for support this time.

"Never disobey me, Shaka. Remember - your vow puts your life in my hands. And don't try turning those wild eyes on me. You'll regret it."

"When the others discover this - when Miro learns what you've done, you'll regret it! This is obscene. You have no right-"

"I don't need your permission to act. You are impertinent to suggest it."

Still shaken, Shaka made himself be still, torn between the boy in the cell and the man who slowly paced before him.

The Master crossed his arms over his chest. "Virgo Saint, allow me to expand your education. You've been taught that strength without compassion and power without mercy is self-defeating at best. It's the ancient creed of might for right that is the underlying purpose of the Gold Saints. I tell you now - that is wrong. Strength and power speak for themselves.

"Don't you wonder why this so-called Saint didn't call on his cosmos to save him, why he hasn't summoned his armor? Aphrodite has no strength other than his faith in the Gold Saints' doctrine, his role in that little order. You can see how well it's served him. Strength is its own reward! Power is its own reward! Believe that, Virgo Saint. You have no need for other dogma.

"As for Miro's wrath . . . can you hear me, Aphrodite?"

There was some small movement as the Pisces Saint faced them directly. Small movements were all he was capable of. A heavy choke-collar circled his throat, locked to a chain in the floor; he couldn't lift his head more than a foot from the ground without strangling. His ankles were shackled in iron. A length of pipe riding the chain between cuffs prevented him from bringing his legs together. One arm was indeed broken and still not set; he'd used the other, extensively, to defend himself, apparently without much success.

"The other half of the Saints' holy doctrine dictates that the mighty serve the weak in times of distress," the Master continued. "Scorpio Miro knows you're here, boy. He felt your suffering from the first, came to me and pleaded with me to spare you. He's a good soldier, your brother. He understands discipline. Of course I didn't go into the details - you wouldn't want him to know, would you? At any rate, I promised him I wouldn't kill you. That was enough."

Shaka trembled under the Master's gaze.

The Master laughed. "If Miro were truly strong, he would have torn me apart from balls to brain. He would never have allowed his brother - his lover - to endure this obscenity. You were right in your assessment, Shaka, and I promise you it will become even more so before I'm finished. The Gold Saints will learn a new creed even if I have to drag them screaming to Hell to do it!

"As it is now, Miro is loyal - extraordinarily grateful. I've earned his undying devotion. He deserves a reward, don't you think? Something less debauched . . . . Perhaps I'll find a way to inspire Camus' interest in him again. The noble Aquarian is very sweet."

"Why?" Shaka asked. "Why do this?"

"Because I must."

"I see Ares rules already." Virgo Shaka took a deep breath, searched for the center of his composure. All he could feel was a tortured child - a funny, loving friend he had deliberately isolated himself from. Aphrodite's friendship was too diverting, too distracting to be included in Shaka's so-serious objectives. The Virgo Saint sighed. Even still, after all that had been done to him, Aphrodite retained the form of his incredible beauty despite the bruises, filth, and blood-crusted wounds . . . that mangled arm. Shaka turned away. He couldn't bear to feel the shame in those perfect blue eyes.

"You are bursting with a need for answers, Virgo Shaka. Literally burning." The Sanctuary Master smiled. "Ask your question, Gold Saint. I swear you'll hear the truth."

A question, Shaka thought, a single question out of so many.

Choosing was a nightmare. There was so little time to think but, at last, Gold Saint Virgo Shaka opened his eyes, fixed the Sanctuary Master with the power of his gaze and asked: "Did you order Sagittarius Aioros to murder the Athena incarnation?"

"No."

Shaka blinked, taken aback. There was truth in the Master's answer. He could feel it. But it wasn't the answer he expected. If only he had learned something that would allow them to renounce their vow with impunity. He covered his mouth with his hand, pressing hard against his lips. It was that or scream.

Or vomit.

"If there's nothing else," the Master concluded, walking towards the stairway, "I think we should depart. You know what the dogs are like with a new bitch in the cage."

". . . shaka . . . ."

It was such a little voice. Such a lovely sound. He should have walked away.

Couldn't.

". . . don't tell . . . don't let - the others tell . . . ."

"As you wish," Shaka murmured.

One foot in front of the other, that was how it usually went. Shaka managed to find the strength to follow the Master. There was nothing else to do. Behind, he heard a final movement on the straw and a muffled groan that twisted into a tiny, gasping sob. There was madness in that sound, soft as it was, and it followed him all the way up the stairs and out into the yard. Shaka knew it would continue to follow him, lodged in the secret corners of his soul with the smell of dogs and the crush of footsteps on straw-covered stone for the rest of his life. This would be with him for many lives. No evil deed went unrewarded. At last Shaka had to acknowledge, there was a force called Evil. Much of it lived in him.

"You look tired," the Master said. "We can continue our discussion at another time, when you've rested."

"I lay the pearl of gratitude eternally at your feet, my lord, for the kindness of your concern."

"Sarcasm becomes you, Shaka." The Sanctuary Master smiled again. "When it comes time to deal with the situation at Beliaceae, I want you to take care of it. I know you'll be thorough."

Shaka bowed, his tall, slender body a picture of grace, his face, once again, a mask of serene detachment. No one noticed the white lotus crushed in his fist or the tiny beads of blood that fell from nail-pierced palms into the dust by his slipper. Not even the Virgo Saint.

Aries Mu searched through the clutter on his dressing table looking for one of the thin strips of colored leather he used to secure his hair. He found an amazing amount of accumulated debris -photographs, combs and brushes, crystals, buttons, colognes, two and one-half pair of lace-up leather wrist-supports - one pair belonging to Aldeberan that Mu could have almost used for a belt - scarves, jacks, shurikens, jewelry, vials of this and that, assorted belts and clasps but not one hair-tie. Those were scattered in various crannies and couches in the Aries' and Taurus' Temples. Aldeberan was fond of catching hold of Mu's hair at its clasp - gently - as an emphasis to whatever point he making. One thing usually led to another. Those tender little tugs were frequently followed by another pull on the band itself, releasing Mu's hair, so the Bull could spread its silky length out along the Ram's back and shoulders like a pale, violet fan.

And that usually led to something else.

Mu smiled, warmed by the rush of pleasant memories. Sitting so at his table, with sunlight beaming on him, the Aries Saint looked to be the essence of purity and he knew it - an androgynous, elfin Madonna. He wondered what others would think if they knew the kind of thoughts that ran through his head? Take last night at the pool, for example. Mu could remember every detail from the moment Aldeberan had opened the front of Mu's robe, to the second the Bull's lips and tongue began roving the sensitive skin of inner-thighs and beyond. Goddess, that was heaven - when Aldeberan nibbled at that tiny, crazy spot in the crease behind his knee. Who would have thought the sensation of flesh on flesh could create such moaning bliss? He couldn't do it by himself. He'd experimented once just to see if he could recreate that feeling. But no, the pleasure came from the Bull's touch. Nothing else - no one else would do.

The pool. Last night.

There was a moment when they had both come very near to drowning.

Mu's smile turned into laughter. He relished the sex, the silliness, the affection and sharing. He knew he was lucky. The misery that continually surrounded them reminded him of his fortune. Every day, more of his vision was made clear either by new sight or actual manifestation. Every day Mu brought flowers and burned incense at Athena's shrine in gratitude for the joy that had been bestowed on him.

He had been very sure his world was finished the night he'd returned from the star-pit. The first and best omen he'd experienced was Aldeberan's presence. That initial touch, the Bull's wise counsel saved Mu's life and sanity. Mu had explained the terrible truth of his vision, that Beliaceae was doomed, its' people - Mu's people - condemed to extinction because of something Mu would do. It would be a punishment, a sentence carried out on innocents. And Kiki and Bull - all he loved would be in danger because of his unalterable actions. At the time, anguished panic blanked his memory; he couldn't say just what it was he was going to do but when he'd awakened, he had been prepared to perish himself before allowing the horror to come to pass even though Mu understood the consequences of his inaction would ultimately be far worse.

Aldeberan had held him until the worst of the grief was finished, then asked with his usual piercing irony if psychic-visions always smoothed the seer's frontal lobes and left one unable to reason or plan? Mu would have responded with his own usual death-threats, might have carried them out, too, if he hadn't felt so dead himself, so defeated. "Evacuate the island - quietly," Aldeberan advised. "Save your people. No one has to know where they are. Distance yourself, reasonably, as much as you can from Kiki. Send him to a new sensei, anything. You still keep that temple in China, right? Out of sight, out of mind."

"But it has something to do with the temple in China."

"We're not going to let anything happen to the kid," Aldeberan insisted. "We're not helpless, Mu. Do you really think they could go through both of us - if we're careful? Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself. And you, too, till you're able."

Mu believed him. In all their time together, in the past as children and especially now, Mu never had reason to doubt Taurus Aldeberan.

So Aries Mu relaxed, that night in exhaustion. He'd wakened later briefly, to find Kiki asleep in his arms and himself cradled in Aldeberan's firm embrace. Later, as they built a life together, relaxation married caution and care. In spite of gruesome odds, they were happy. Mu considered. Omens, portents and visions could be read many ways. Some signs acted as warnings and could be altered. Others . . . .

The sun sank farther down on the horizon and cast a shadow in the room. Mu shivered, chilled. He walked to the balcony, looking for warmth and light. It was a constant quest, a continual challenge. There was no turning back from the sight once the veil was lifted. No matter what one saw - evil or good, sorrow or joy, ill fortune or sweet - knowledge could not be denied. He could never forget, even if he wanted to.

In many ways, Shaka was right. Change was as inevitable as the passage of time. This old world was dying. The age of goddesses and gods had come again and it was time to leave known, familiar paths and welcome the new. What Shaka could never understand, not when they were children and, unfortunately, hadn't grasped as an adult, was that Change could not affect the challenge of good and evil. That battle never ended. The power sources changed, the symbols changed. The song of life itself remained the same.

There would be casualties in the coming war, souls lost and lives destroyed, the corruption of nature, madness, lust without love and unlimited, mindless cruelty. But Mu also divined they would experience the compassionate strength of virgin warriors, decency and kindness, genuine affection, courage and the power of personal sacrifice. Even now, a vision of a gentle dragon-boy reeled out before his eyes. Mu didn't know him - now - but it cheered him to see how much he reminded him of Shaka save that this one's hair was black, his wonderful and wondering eyes gray. Shaka would be so humiliated at this reminder of his youthful enthusiasm. Mu longed to share it with him but that wasn't possible - yet.

Mu laughed. Another omen had been revealed.

Taurus Aldeberan entered the room and walked over to stand beside Aries Mu.

"You know what they say about people who stand about in rooms laughing to themselves, don't you?" the Bull asked. "What are you looking at?"

"Dragons and pegasi, maidens and firebirds. Great, white swans with beautiful, blue eyes. You know, the usual."

"Uh-huh. Been telling stories to Kiki again, right?"

"No."

"Then I guess you're finally losing it. Here - look what I found in the garden."

Aldeberan held out a frail stem covered with delicate, lacy blooms. Mu caught his breath in delight. The Bull slipped the stem in Mu's hair over the curve of his ear.

"Faeries' Tears," Mu exclaimed, "blooming in my garden?"

"I thought it was our garden."

"You haven't set foot out there since the day you dumped it full of earth. You're some gardener. The only thing you wanted to plant was your seed in the golden valley between my legs."

A raven's wing brow took flight over one dark star. "Golden valley? You've been playing with the crystals and drinking wine again, haven't you?"

"Join me in a glass?"

The Bull considered. The beauty of Mu's questions - any of Mu's questions - was the magic of their infinite possibility. Aldeberan placed his arm around Mu's shoulders, brought him close.

"Always."