Serena
Chapter 26- Ghosts of the Past
 

        First thing in the morning I got up and went to the top drawer.  Skyler had unpacked everything the night before.  I opened the drawer and pulled out a small sack.  It was some of the gold coins I had brought.  I got dressed and attached the sack to a belt loop of my shorts.  I was wearing a pair of black short shorts, a white tank top and a jean jacket over the top.  I went to Skyler's side of the bed.
        "Baby, I am going to exchange this gold for currency." I told him.  He grunted a reply and answered me by pulling the covers over his head.
        Ivy was already up with the twins.  She was just washing the plates from breakfast.  "Good morning Ivy, Lina, Stephanie." I greeted.
        "Why, I suppose it is, isn't it?" Ivy answered me.  I realized that I would have to stop using Moon expressions.
        "Ivy, where is the nearest bank?" I asked.
        "Bank?  What do you mean, dear?" Ivy asked.
        "Um...  Where do you exchange money or get money from?"
        "Oh.  You want to go see the Creditor."
        "Yes.  Where is the nearest Creditor located?"
        "Oh, don't worry about it, Fiona.  I'll take you there myself.  I wouldn't dream of sending you out there alone with everyone in the town staring at you!"
        Ivy cleaned up the twin's hands and put on their jackets.  We headed out the door and walked down the street.  The twins walked ahead of us and were skipping and giggling with each other.  I could sense a feeling of true bliss within them.  I figured their school must have been a lot more exciting than mine.
        Ivy dropped the twins off at school and we headed down the street to the Creditor.
        "Thank you so much, Ivy.  I just need to get currency here so Skyler and I can buy a house of our own.  We do not wish to impose forever, you know."
        "Buy a house?  You and I come from two very different worlds, Fiona.  Here, there are no houses for sale.  You buy the materials and draw up the plans, and then the whole town builds your house together.  It is almost as big a social event as a wedding.  It is just another way to get to know the people in the town."
        Well, I could not argue.  It would be fun.  I was beginning to like this planet.  Except I thought it would be depressing to out live everyone I knew.  I was already going to out live Skyler.  I figured I would forfeit my life at the time that he died.  That way, we did not ever have to leave each other.  I could not live my life happily without him there.
        We reached the Creditor’s office and I walked up to a man behind a counter.  He was old, probably five.  He had white hair, no beard, and had a round belly.
        "Excuse me.  I was wondering if you could help me." I said reaching for my pouch as I approached the counter.
        "I probably can.  I haven't seen you before, you new in town?  Oh, you are probably Fiona.  Staying at Tobin's house, right?  Word gets around quick in our town.  You were lucky to survive the Nemesis.  Now, what can I do for you?"
        I was shocked.  I had never been assessed like that in my life.  The whole town already knew everything about us.  I almost felt the way I did when Tuxedo Mask knew everything about me from books.  I just could not seem to get any privacy, no matter where I went!  I laughed.  It was really rather hilarious thinking that the whole town knew everything about me already and I had not even seen all of them.  "I would like to know your name, considering you already know so much about me."
        The man introduced himself as Grant.
        "Now Grant, I have in this pouch some material that was very valuable on the Moon but I am unsure of whether or not this is worth anything here.  Would you tell me?"
        "I can try." Grant stated.  He put on a pair of glasses and I spilled the sack onto the counter.  Grant's eyes shot out of his head.  "Gold Coins?  Gold is VERY valuable here, but I have never seen it made into coins.  Honey, you'll need to buy a safe when you build your house.  This is about a lifetime's worth of wages right here."
        Grant exchanged it into bills and coins and sent me on my way.  I did not mention that this was just one of about twenty sacks of gold that Skyler and I had.  But considering we had to live ninety years on it, I figured that we better be careful with it.
        Ivy took me to the places I needed to go to buy the supplies for a house.  I picked a piece of land that was not too far from Ivy and Tobin's home.  First I met with a man who wrote down everything I wanted and drew up a floor plan in about a half-hour.  I was amazed.  I bought wood, picked out carpets and rugs, tile floors, beds, mattresses, spreads, kitchen supplies, appliances...  Everything.  I would have never been able to do this on the Moon, but everything that I needed to build a house with was all in one store.  They showed me catalogs for a good three hours before I finished.
        We returned to the house to find Skyler sitting at the kitchen table.
        "Hey, Fiona.  Where did you two get off to this morning?" Skyler asked yawning.  "I told you.  I exchanged the gold we had for currency.  Then Ivy told me how people do not buy their houses here.  Instead they buy the materials and then the whole town works together and builds the house.  We went by to see the man who designs houses and he helped me draw up the plans.  Look." I laid the blueprints out in front of Skyler.  He looked at them for a minute.  The house was to have three bedrooms, two bathrooms, one off the master bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, a study, and a dining room.  There was to be a backyard with a pool and a deck.  Skyler looked pleased and handed me back the plans.
        "Looks good, Babe.  How soon can we get everyone to help us, Ivy?  What's the customary amount of warning time?"
        "A day."  Ivy said.  Nobody here needs much warning.  Everyone merely stops working and we work on the house until it's done.  This one is fairly large and will probably be a good two days work for the town.  Because of the purchases Fiona and I made, the town should already be planning to help start tomorrow.  After the house is done, you will throw a party and invite everyone.  Don't worry.  Nobody really makes a mess during these things.  It is mainly a formality and it is a chance to thank the people who helped build your house."
        I smiled at Skyler.  These people were so friendly.  And quick.  I supposed they got so fast at everything because they only live such short lives.  While we spend months planning a house and a year building it, they could grow old.  They needed to move quickly.  But surely not the whole town would be there; the businesses and the armies could not just stop.  I figured that I should not ask any more questions.  I should just sit back and watch.
        The next two days went swiftly and sure enough, the house was built.  It was amazing.  I bought the furnishings to make it look like my old room in the palace and bathrooms, since I knew Skyler liked it.  The living room had overstuffed leather (plastic) furniture and had a pine coffee table and a pine bookcase.  We bought books to go on them, and to Skyler's delight, he had never read any of them before.  The kitchen was all pine too, with a pearl colored refrigerator.  We had bought all the kitchen appliances and had put them away in pine cabinets.  The whole house had sky blue carpeting.  The dining room had a pine table and four chairs.
        The study had five bookshelves, a desk, (all oak) and a couch that was brown.  The other two bedrooms had queen beds and a bookshelf with a desk and a nightstand.  Our house was perfect.
        After the house-warming party, we really felt like we had gotten to know everyone better.  Ivy had introduced me to two of her friends, Victoria and Jessica.  They all helped clean up after the party.  Skyler walked around the house in amazement.  Then he went over to the sink.  "I'm going to make some tea, do you want some?" he asked.
        "No thank you." I replied.  "Oh, Skyler look at this."  I walked over to the sink.  There were three faucets.  "This one is cold, this one is warm, and this is a new thing.  It is an instant-hot.  As soon as you turn it on, it gives you hot water."
        "Oh, really?"  Skyler put his hand under the faucet and turned it on before I could protest.
        "Yaaah!" Skyler yelled.  He had burned his hand.
        "I told you.  Instant-hot."
        "I just didn't think it would be hot so...instantly!”
        I laughed at Skyler.  It was quite funny.
        The next night we invited Tobin and his family over for dinner.  It was our way of saying thank you to them for their hospitality.  Ivy was so sweet.  I thanked her for teaching me everything that she had.  She said she was pleased to do it.  But she still could not get over the fact that I was sixteen.
        Skyler and Tobin went out into town.  They were going to a bar of some sort.  The town could not have held more than two thousand people, and yet they seemed to have everything that the Moon Kingdom enjoyed.
        Ivy and I walked back to Tobin's house to put the girls down to bed.  She offered me some juice and I accepted.
        "Ivy, how many towns are there like this on Trysidia?"
        "Nobody knows exactly.  We think about a dozen.  You see, the whole planet used to be populated with Trysidians.  But then one day the Nemesis attacked us, unannounced.  We were completely unprepared.  We had no armies because we all lived in peace with each other.  The ruler was King Willingham VII.  All of the royalty was slaughtered, as were many of our people.  Those of our people that survived were scattered across Trysidia.  Our people were forced to live in the underground caves for many years.  They came up only to hunt food and bring water.  Eventually people started coming out and living on the surface again, once we were convinced the Nemesis had left our planet.  We built small towns, but this time, we trained armies to fight, in case of an another attack from the Nemesis.  We got reports that there have been colonies attacked on other parts of Trysidia.  We now have a great army of almost seven hundred men, almost half of our town’s population.  Just about every man joins the army.  Will Skyler enroll?"
        I thought a moment.  It had still not set in with me that we were going to have to get jobs.  Neither Skyler nor I had ever worked before.  Surely with the amount of gold we had, we could live quite well for about the next forty or fifty years.  But I figured as a social obligation that we should work.  Besides we did need to integrate ourselves into society, and a job might be just the thing to do it.
        "I do not know what Skyler is planning to do." I told Ivy.  "I will speak to him about it though."
        I had not realized that the Negaverse went after innocent people as well as the Moon Kingdom.  It was a terrible thing that they were attacking the poor Trysidians.  But as far as I knew, the Negaverse only attacked people that they could gain something from.  Why attack this peaceful planet?
        "Did the Nemesis just kill of your people, or did they demand something of you?" I asked, trying to determine the cause for the attacks.
        "Well, no.  They didn't just kill the people; they gauged out their eyes and cut off the hands of each victim.  Gruesome, I know.  Luckily, they did not get to all of us.  We have been living here for twenty years and we have yet to be attacked again.  But rest assured, they'll come."
        I talked with Ivy a while longer before returning home.  Skyler came in shortly after I did and sat down on the couch next to me.  He must have seen the puzzled look on my face, for put his arm around my shoulders.
        "What's on your mind, Fiona?"  I looked up at his face.  He looked so different without the patch.  I loved his eyes.  They were so warm and loving now, whereas the first time I had met them, they were cold and lifeless.  I really had changed him.
        "I was talking to Ivy today about the Nemesis.  It is definitely the Negaverse, right?"
        "I think so.  Why?"
        "She said that more than twenty years ago, the Negaverse, or Nemesis, attacked their planet.  They killed many people and not just killed them, took their eyes and their hands.  I just do not understand.  The Negaverse always has a reason behind what they do.  But what could possibly be gained by killing these innocent people?  What are they doing?"
        I was frustrated.  Skyler pulled my face to his and kissed me.  "Seren...Fiona, I don't have any idea.  All we can do is help them fight.  The Negaverse is just violent.  There is nothing rational about them.  They probably just want to get a foothold in this part of space.  Rather than attacking the Universe at its strongest point, the Moon Kingdom, it's coming through the back door.  But don't worry.  The Moon Kingdom and your Mother could hold off any invasion."
        "And that is another thing, Skyler.  The Negaverse IS attacking innocent people.  If they had wanted to completely wipe out all life on this planet, they could have done it easily.  But they let some of the people live.  I just do not understand."
        Skyler pushed me back on the couch and lay on top of me.  "You're stressing.  Stop it.  I am going to get you to relax.  Skyler turned me away from him and began rubbing my shoulders.  I had not had a massage for a long while.  I was very achy, and was relieved when his hands worked out the knots in my neck.  I felt the brush of his lips against the back of my neck.  I sighed.  He began to work his way around my neck and up to my ear.

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