Malachite reread the letter again through hooded eyes, and considered the cryptic message - Old Blood calls to Old Blood. Are you truly one? Old Blood. Malachite hadn't heard that particular phrase for a very long time, and even then, it was said in secret, for the Queen would behead anybody suspected of harbouring loyalties to the Old Kingdom. He wondered if this was a ploy to draw him out, or if this was a prelude to something else. Jadeite was also of Old Blood, and in fact they were first cousins - their mothers had been fraternal twins, but that was a well-guarded secret. He decided to consult the professor and see what he had to say about the message.

Jadeite looked up from his desk when he felt something brush the edge of his room's shields, and relaxed when he found that it was somebody he knew very well.

"Come in please," he called out, and the tall form of Malachite slipped noiselessly into the room, locking the door behind him as he did so. Jadeite's study was warded against all forms of intrusion on the excuse that a professor shouldn't be disturbed by some of the more 'active' students under training in the palace. He was sure that this was not a mere social trip - Malachite seldom had time to indulge in pleasantries - and he watched in curiosity as the General handed him a scrap of paper, nothing fancy and much folded.

"Old Blo-" Jadeite cut himself off, folded the piece of paper and looked at his friend. "What in Gaia?"

"Precisely. I wanted to see if you knew anything about this."

Jadeite shook his head regretfully. "I haven't received anything of this sort. Besides, you're the obvious one. I'm the closet cousin, remember?" Malachite swore softly to himself. "So we have no way to check if this is authentic or a trap?"

Jadeite shook his head again. "I'm 'fraid not. But I think that this is just the beginning of something. At the most, if a meeting is required later, you could go along, and if the person slips, arrest him on charges of treason. If it is indeed a trap, you'll merely prove your 'loyalty' to the Queen. If not, you can free the person. Either way, we stand to gain."

"Curse the choice my parents made that day. I can't believe that they actually acquiesced to the Queen. I was to be sworn into service in two months!" The General banged his hand blindly on the table in an attempt to diffuse the tension in him. Jadeite looked at him calmly.

"Cool it, Mal. I'm sure that Earth will one day be free of her captors. If you've read MacBeth, you'd know that the natural order of things will always be restored."

Malachite gave the professor a wry smile. "As I recall, there was no thunder, lightning or wild animals howling on the day that the Queen steam rolled her way into power. That play was written in a totally different time."

Jadeite was still smiling. "Ah, but literature always reflects society, and history always repeats itself. Speaking of which, I wonder how the four Outer planets managed to resist occupation."

"Pluto is no secret. There's a force field around it, or rather a time field, since it's Queen can play around with the time line. Apparently, the squad of soldiers who tried to breach the field aged a few hundred years in one second. The entire ship was reduced to dust in space. As for Uranus and Neptune, they smartly allied and joined armies. Saturn came into the picture barely a few months later. Their combined power is great. Besides, the Royal families of the Outer planets are rumoured to have powers like those of the senshi."

Jadeite mused on this. "If the note works out, perhaps we should recruit them to our aid. Pluto's neutral and won't help, but between the four of us, I think we can tell the Lunar Empire to back off!"

Malachite grinned. "I was thinking more along the lines of 'get your butt outta here', but that will do. See you soon, Jadeite. Is Gingetsu your direct student?"

Jadeite was rather surprised at the sudden change in subject. "Yes. He's in my class. A very bright student, brilliant speaker. In fact, he and Nephrite VeNeer are neck to neck when it comes to the rankings."

"How interesting. Both of them are also neck to neck when it comes to swordplay. And as far as I know, Gingetsu has not a drop of training in him, unlike Nephrite, who's had many good teachers."

The professor stared. "Is that so? He's not had any formal education, yet he has no problem staying at the top of the class. Strange."

"I suggest you keep an eye on our young student. The senshi have an account with him too, for what reason I don't know. Do you know of his ambitions?"

Jadeite raised an eyebrow. "His ambitions? What are you thinking about?"

"I don't know. Do you suppose he could be another lost noble's son?" Malachite leaned forward to lock eyes with Jadeite.

The professor looked troubled. "Perhaps, though we would have heard, wouldn't we? But as far as I'm concerned, the boy wants to specialize in botany, or become a linguist."

"That fits his outer appearance," Malachite agreed. "If anything new comes up, I'll inform you of it. I'm sorry to have taken up so much of your time." He rose and slipped out of the room as noiselessly as he when he entered. Jadeite leaned back in chair and massaged his temples. What a pot load of 'what ifs' Malachite had handed to him.

Gingetsu waited patiently outside the Generals' rooms, flanked by the two tall soldiers. He felt positively pint-sized compared to them, like a falcon's quill among broad swords. Finally, the tall figure of the Lord General strode up, and he glanced at Gingetsu in surprise, as if he'd forgotten that he'd ordered the boy to see him.

"Come in," he ordered, opening the door to let the teenager enter. Malachite's office was as spare and severe as the General himself - the furnishings were spartan and functional, and very minimalist. Gingetsu caught a scrap of paper on the table with Malachite's name on it, and strangely, the handwriting looked like his father's. The General slid it under a file and sat down, indicating that Gingetsu should do the same.

"I'm thinking of sending you for proper training in the ways of the sword, not this mass training that you are now undergoing."

Gingetsu looked surprised. "Sir, pardon me for being rude, but I'm not interested in weaponry, so I don't think this course will have any benefits. If I may suggest, Nephrite should be the one sent for further training." He ended, and sat back gingerly to see if the General would take off his head. Malachite looked at him steadily as if really seeing him for the first time. "You are the first to decline such an offer. You have talent, I am merely cultivating it. Nephrite has already been told, and he accepted. I hope you will reconsider, such talent should not go wasted."

Gingetsu shook his head. "Sorry sir, but my interests lie elsewhere."

"Then perhaps I should rephrase my offer. You will be trained for a compulsory two months. After that, it's up to you. Dismissed, Gingetsu."

Gingetsu's eyes flashed with palpable anger, though he tried to conceal it. His voice, when he spoke was quiet and controlled. "Thank you, sir."

Left alone, Malachite brooded off into space. Gingetsu was such a study of contrasts. He was physically delicate, but had a temper; he was a 'peasant', but scored highly in class; he had no interest in swordplay, yet outshone almost everybody. Grimacing, he pushed the boy away from his mind, and slid the paper from under the file and read it.

"If you are Old Blood, meet at the Compass Rose of the Campus tonight, at eight." It was dated today.

Damned! This game was double-edged, and Malachite was sure that the other person knew that too. And unless he was an agent of the Queen, he was putting himself in considerable danger. But still, he was intrigued. But right now, he had more pressing business - there was a candidate applying for the position of sword master.

Outside the General's office, Gingetsu cursed softly to himself. All his free time was going to vanish towards something he didn't like one ounce. He wasn't a fighter, and damned if he knew when he needed a blade. Probably never. Giving the diminishing door a sour glare, he started off to take his frustrations to his room. It was sound proof, and there, he could yell his lungs out and nobody would hear it.

He ran into Nephrite on the way to his room, both of them colliding hard enough to knock the wind out of their lungs and both ended up on their rears. "Look out where you're going!" both of them yelled simultaneously, saw the humour in the situation and laughed.

Gingetsu scrambled to his feet first and offered a hand to Nephrite, but the other teenager pushed himself off the floor without assistance.

"Nephrite, why do you always have to be so cold?" Gingetsu asked quietly, making sure he had eye contact with his classmate.

Nephrite slumped on the opposite wall and sighed. "I'm not cold," he defended, but it sounded weak even to himself.

Gingetsu walked over to him. "No?" One fine eyebrow lifted. "You've got to have friends, Nephrite. It's what makes life so worth living."

Nephrite gave a cynical snort. "Oh, so you're counseling me now? Don't preach sermons at me, I'm not interested."

"If you wanted to hear a sermon, go find yourself a priest!" Gingetsu shot back a little more sharply than he had intended. "Yeah, you're right. I've got no right to mess with your life. If you want to remain by yourself all your life, you'll burst one day either by having a mental breakdown at one go or by debauching yourself to a state where you have the mental capacity of a cauliflower." Gingetsu turned to leave.

"Wait!"

Gingetsu looked back over his shoulder and waited patiently while Nephrite struggled with his inner feelings.

"Are you offering to be my friend?" he asked finally.

Gingetsu smiled. "Well, you're already my friend, so the choice lies with you." At Nephrite's air of bewilderment, he grinned exasperatedly. "You dolt! Yes, I'm offering to be your friend." The relief in the air was thick enough to cut and spread on a slice of bread.

"Well, thanks, though I like to know how I ended up with a peasant as my first friend." The mahogany haired teenager sounded serious, but Gingetsu could hear laughter in his voice.

"And I wonder how I ended up with an arrogant prig as mine. Come on, let's go scrounge up something to drink to our friendship!"

Nephrite winked at him. "I've got just the thing. How 'bout a vintage 1800 red?"

Gingetsu's jaw dropped. "1800? How in Gaia did you preserve it?"

"Oh, I collect wines for a hobby. Let's go and get rip-roaringly drunk!"

"Hmm...just don't forget that we have practice with Malachite tomorrow. I doubt if he'd appreciate up with hangovers. We'd probably run each other through!"

"Drunken swordplay, anyone?" Nephrite laughed.

"Malachite Tregard?"

If Malachite was surprised that the man was not startled by his appearance, he did not show it. "Yes, I am. And might one inquire who you are?" The stranger did not reply with his name, but with a finger upraised to sketch a symbol in the air. As he drew his finger down, an almost invisible glow followed it. "I hope you don't mind me warding this conversation, but the stakes are too high."

"Old Blood?" Malachite asked warily.

"Are you loyal to your own people?" the stranger asked outright.

Malachite debated his options. He knew that none of the Queen's people were allowed to use magical abilities like that, and those who did not report their Gifts would be killed. He decided to take the risk. If need be, he would kill the person.

"And don't even think about killing me, because you'll never escape this ward otherwise."

Malachite cursed that closed off avenue of escape. "Yes. Though you better make this good. If the Queen notices this use of magic, you'll be dead without me assisting."

The stranger smiled, and that reassured Malachite somehow. "Don't worry. The ward spell expands a very minute amount of energy, I doubt anybody will notice it unless that somebody is right next to me. I am Alexandrio Priol, and my ward, Gingetsu Illandi is actually Zoisite Merdeka, only son and heir of Lorien Merdeka."

Malachite's jaw dropped. Here, in person, was the last noble to see Lorien before he died, and everybody feared that Zoisite had perished with him after that fateful explosion.

"How do I know that you are truly Earl Priol?" the General asked warily.

The ex-Earl pondered a moment the asked, "have you ever heard of me having any birthmarks?"

"Yes, my father told me that when he went hunting with you last time, you were almost mauled to death by a boar. If you are indeed Priol, you should have a scar on your right leg, just above the ankle."

Smiling, Alexandrio bent and drew up the leg of his pants, revealing the shiny scar that had not quite faded from the skin. "So, General Tregard, what do you think?"

"I think," Malachite said seriously, "that you have handed me a pot load of complications. Zoisite! Who'd have thought...?" he trailed off.

"Indeed, I have waited 18 years for this moment. Damn me, but I sound like some cheap B-rated hero in an action flick," the ex-Earl said self-depreciatingly.

"Gingetsu is really Zoisite? I saw King Lorien and his Queen, and Zoisite does not look like any of them."

Alexandrio sighed gustily. "That's quite true. I was a little worried during his growing years, seeing him so small and everything, but damn me if I'm ever on the receiving end of his temper! But what plans have you got to wrest the throne back for the rightful king?"

"At the moment nothing. If we'd known that Zoisite was still alive, we'd have planned something, no doubt, but since we didn't know..." the General shrugged. "We were considering allying ourselves with the Outer planets. They seemed to have held out remarkably well."

Alexandrio nodded thoughtfully. "That is wise. From what I remembered, the Queen of Neptune was a very gracious woman, and I mean sincerely gracious, not like that Queen of the Moon. Still, can you get the list of all surviving Old Blood, and check if they are loyal to the Queen? We need to properly meet to get anything going."

"Does Zoisite know? He seems rather clueless about everything."

Alexandrio shook his head. "No, I didn't want to risk anything leaking out, not slighting Zoisite of course, but the best secret is when only one knows. Can you swear an oath not to let this slip?"

Malachite drew a breath to defend his honour when he realized that the ex-Earl was relying on mutual trust alone, with nobody he knew backing him, so he quietly gave his oath.

"Thank you," the ex-Earl said in a rather relieved manner. "I was so afraid you'd be insulted. In that case, I think we better go seek our beds. Please don't tell Zoisite until the time comes. I don't want him to be too affected." Before Malachite could say anything, he'd dissolved the ward and slipped away.

"Jadeite is going to be in for a shock," Malachite muttered to himself. A load of trouble indeed.