Welcome to Gaia! ::

Oh no, it was one of the Dark Mirrors!

Sutai was cautious after Lesath's warning. Stay away from Dark Mirrors. They'll attack you on sight. Did Dark Mirrors really hate Knights? Sutai didn't understand it but it couldn't be true of all Dark Mirrors, could it? The Polaris knight had been out patrolling alone that night when she felt the familiar dark aura. Standing off to the side, Sutai had been watching this Dark Mirrors for a few moments, trying to decide if she was alright to approach. She seemed to be the same power level as Sutai herself. That meant, if things got ugly, it would be easier to run away...

The Icecapade knight approached the pink Dark Mirror and bowed. "Um... hello! Are you... by yourself? Would you like some company?"

It didn't hurt to be nice, right?

Color Sutai stunned.

"Umm... you're not going to do bad things to me because I'm a Page, Miss...?" She twiddled her fingers in anxiety. That warning Lesath gave her still rung loudly in her mind, but this girl seemed so friendly. What could the harm be? Tsui said it might be a good idea to befriend some Dark Mirror Senshi. Maybe they'd see the light through friendship? They couldn't be entirely to blame for what was happening! Some of them weren't even friends with their princess!

That's such a shame.

After being offered a seat next to the girl in dark hues, the page nodded and sat down, smiling. "I'm Sutai! What's your name?"

So she didn't want to hurt people?

That made Sutai breathe a sigh of relief.

"I just heard from Lesath that all Dark Mirrors hate Pages for some reason and it kind of scares me, because, I'm like you!" she explained, pushing herself back and forth with the swing. "...I like to make friends and I don't like to fight, but I will fight the monsters to protect people!" She nodded to herself, the crystals in her hair making sweet music with the movement.

Aurora's sphere seemed very interesting! Sutai had met a few senshi, the oddest of which was peppers. But romance was new! "Miss Aurora, do you like romance? Is that why you're the senshi of romance? I always wonder how senshi pick their powers, if they pick them at all!"

Sutai nodded but didn't swing as high as her Dark Mirror counterpart. She looked up at the sky. Was Lesath wrong? Or was Sutai just lucky? The page wasn't sure at all anymore. "I think so too. I mean, we all have special powers, don't we? So why then can't we work out our differences? We're all special... it doesn't mean people need to die." The last part made Sutai quite sullen. While she hadn't seen anyone's death in person, she'd heard about it.

Why wouldn't they all just get along and come to a compromise?

"I'm a knight of Polaris! I serve a very nice and very pretty princess. We're like best friends, I think. But I didn't pick this. It seems like our powers pick us!" Sutai's spirits lifted and she giggled, turning to Aurora. "You know, I ask this of every Dark Mirror I meet, but..." How can I ask this without Miss Aurora being offended? Oh I hope she doesn't take this personally... "Miss Aurora, I've heard a little bit about your princess but... do you love her? Do you like her? Is that why you stand by her?"

Moon Bag?

"Oh no no~!" Sutai giggled once she realized where the mistake happened. "Princess Polaris is a princess of a star, not a moon. That star, right up there!" The page gleefully pointed to the star that always shone brightest, the North Star. Her guiding star. "Sailors would use that star to help guide them when it was dark because it was always North in the sky, like a compass. That's where my princess hails from. The Moon Queen is dead, I'm afraid. It's kind of sad. I never knew her and I never met her but I guess all that's left is a ghost that some people saw but I don't know more than that. Kind of creepy if you ask me."

Sutai gave a solemn moment of silence in honor of the fallen Moon Queen before picking up right were she left off before. "Oh I have met many knights and they're all very nice. Let's see... Earth, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Neptune... lots of them! But I don't know if their princesses are around anymore. If they are, I don't think anyone's seen them or they just fail to mention them in conversation."

Aurora's admission about a broken family brought tears to Sutai's eyes. "Oh Miss Aurora, I am so sorry to hear that. Nobody deserves a bad family." Not even bad guys! Family is everything! She tilted her head, as if the question she was about to ask was a little scary to her. "Did... did you princess give you the family she promised? Are you happy there, Miss Aurora?" She looked down at the ground. Sutai found herself thinking she was incredibly blessed to have seen her own princess as often as she had while others had either never met theirs, didn't like theirs or had only met theirs once. How can that be a family?

"What are you worried about, Miss Aurora? I'll tell you something I'm worried about if that makes you feel better?"

Sutai was concerned and stopped swinging to look at Aurora fully.

Bad things? She didn't want to find out about whatever bad things happened?

Sure, bad things had happened on both sides. Sutai figured, since the Queen is dead something bad had to have happened to her. And the ambush she heard about. Quite honestly, Sutai didn't know of any examples of bad things her side had done, but in her heart she knew something had to be there. She just didn't know about it yet. But she believed wholeheartedly in her princess and that belief was unwavering. Probably much like Aurora's belief in her princess.

Right?

"I can't imagine what that's like, Miss Aurora." she started. Sutai didn't want to try and comfort her friend (was she a friend now?) falsely. If there was one thing Sutai learned in her short time in the war it was that the truth meant so much more than falsities. "But... I think you know in your heart what you need to do. If I ever have a concern, I always ask my princess. And she always tells me. Your princess should do the same for you! I mean..."

The Polaris Page stood up from her swing and clenched her fists in determination. "...if it weren't for you and the others, there wouldn't be a princess, you know? One can't govern if there's nobody to govern. Then it's all meaningless so I think..." Sutai tapped her foot in the sand. "I think she should take the time to talk to all of you. If she promised you a family then she should be part of that family, you know? And it's never too late, Miss Aurora. I know I haven't been around very long but hope springs eternal, right?"

Right?

Sutai's demeanor brightened considerably when Aurora, one of the Dark Mirror senshi Lesath had warned her about, admitted to hoping they could be friends. There is always hope!

"Oh yes, Miss Aurora! I would love to be your friend! Friendship can conquer anything and that is the truth, even though it's cheesy." The page giggled and started swinging again, as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders from the other's admission. Things seemed much less tense now than they did before. "I hope things work out and the war ends so we can all go back to being friends..."