This episode (in fact, the entire fic) is dedicated to the Magic Knights Rayearth Mailing List, who suffered through my writer's block and endless drafts and still said nice things about the earlier parts, and my cat Midnight, who is beautiful, intelligent, loves to play with me when I get inspiration and has yet to learn how to type 'hskfjdlkfguoefh' without a 'z'.

It's all numb now.

Over a week has passed and neither my little sister nor her companions in her lifeboat nor even any trace of them has been found.

Puresea Smith maintains her twin sister is alive. I wish I could hold the same hope. But I am not fifteen and I know the lengths the searchers have gone to. The Fahren Corporation have seen to it that no measure was left undone.

It is ironic. Everyone knows that the heads of the Fahren Corporation married for business, but that they didn't even know their own child was on holiday - nor that that child's cruise liner had sunk and the child was missing for two whole days ...! Some have said, on national television no less, that it's Divine retribution. I can't bring myself to think so anymore. Not after I saw Mr and Mrs Fahren crying in each other's arms. It hurts to think that it took their daughter's death to bring them together.

Father turned up. He looks good for a High Plains Drifter. No, sorry, I should say 'travelling martial arts master'. He is my father, after all.

Ms Green and Mr Saffir are here. No wonder that young Ascot was so quiet and spent all his time in the passenger's pets section. A more mismatched couple I hope I never meet. They're living proof that divorce does not all hurts heal - they've seen each other twice and have had two drawn-out, no-holds-barred fights already. Over place settings at the table at the hotel and where they're each staying in the hotel. And I'm a stranger. I hate to think what Ascot went through before their divorce was finalised. Poor little kid.

Debonea d'Malicia left after the first two days. Poor Nova. I never really saw the girl, but if she wants, I think that I'll ask Mum to offer her house room. At least the Fahrens are sticking it out to the end.

I am now about to go down to the dining room for another meeting with all of our group. I hope Mr Saffir and Ms Green can talk civilly to each other. I hope Father won't go all 'pally' on me. And I hope they have some news of our missing loved ones to report.

Unfortunately, all those possibilities are about as probable as a boat made of chocolate.

The Cruise of the Zephyr Princess, Chapter Four

"It's okay," Clef announced, after examining and bandaging up Presea's hand. "Just a little cut. No problems."

"Just a little cut?" demanded Umi. "She was bleeding all over the place!"

"Yes, that was because the shell she was holding broke into very sharp pieces. The one that cut her must have been almost as sharp as a razor. Razor cuts don't have to be serious to bleed a lot," Fuu told the group, who were all crowded into the hut with the radio (it had the best lamp and most light).

"My poor shell," Presea said softly. "It was so pretty, too ..." Her eyes were crossing and uncrossing as she tried to inspect the bandage. Whether that was from stress, tiredness, pain, a side-effect of the alcohol Lantis and Eagle had produced from the still they had built behind their little hut and poured down Presea's throat as an emergency anaesthetic, or a combination of all of those factors, wasn't clear.

"Don't worry," Nova offered. "I'll go find you another."

"We'll go with you," Aska said quickly, elbowing Sang Yung.

"Yes, it would be our - youch! Aska! - our pleasure - stop it, Aska!"

The three kids tumbled out of the hut and down the path.

Presea stood up. "I'm tired," she announced. "I'm going to go to bed." She picked up the piece of shell that had cut her hand, and twirled it between her fingers. "I wonder how this could be used - maybe a cutting knife? a shaver? hmm ..." she commented, almost to herself. "Hey Eagle - want a face-shaver?"

Eagle blushed. "Uh - not right now, Presea. You're too tired to make one." Not to mention high as a kite from the rotgut I gave you when we first thought you'd need your hand stitched.

"I'll take her to our hut," Emeraude said, nipping the shell out of Presea's fingers and taking the younger girl's arm. Presea protested, but sleepily, and she couldn't repress a yawn.

"Good idea. We all need our sleep."

***

Nova stood on the shore, thinking.

Why was she bothering? It wasn't like a prank or anything. She didn't owe Presea anything, and nobody else would consider it a debt, least of all Presea.

But she'd offered to find another pretty seashell for Presea, and that was what she was doing.

I just want to, that's all.

Nova nodded to herself. Yes, that's what it was. She wanted to do something nice; she was doing it. Not because it was nice, but because she wanted to do the something. The nice bit was incidental.

And that's why I do nasty things, too. Not because they're nasty, but because I want to do the things.

Nova suddenly knew that this was what was going to define her for the rest of her life. People would always and only see the nasty things she did, and not the nice things. But that was okay; she could always walk away from them. But if she did the things she wanted to, she could live with that.

Yes. I'll still do nasty things; but I won't do them because they're nasty. And I'll do nice things, but I won't do them 'cause they're nice. I'll do everything because I want to do the thing.

Nova looked up and saw it. A beautiful golden sandollar; and beside it, a lovely pale red bivalve, with both its halves intact. Both shells were perfect.

She picked up both the shells, and, putting the bivalve in her own pocket, gently carried the sandollar back to the "girls' hut", where she put it, very carefully, beside Presea's pillow, where she would see it when she woke up.

***

"I feel like I want to die," Presea announced the next morning.

"Your hand's that bad?" Fuu asked. "Here, let me see."

"Not my hand. My head. A crew of roadworkers has been misdirected to the inside of my skull and have unleashed the jackhammers."

"Welcome to the joys of your first hangover," Emeraude commented in passing as she headed outside.

"So, are you going to throw up? In movies, the drunk people always throw up the next day," Aska chirped from the other side of the room.

Presea would have given the brat her best Death Glare, if at that point her tummy hadn't decided to fulfil Aska's expectations. Her face an interesting shade of pale green, she just managed to get outside before her stomach emptied itself.

After having heaved up all last night's dinner, and dry-retched a bit more for good measure, Presea staggered back inside and curled up in her pallet once more.

"Pretty shell," she muttered, spotting Nova's sandollar just before she buried her head beneath her pillow. "I swear, I am never drinking again ..."

Across the hut, Nova smiled.

***

"Quick, get up. Quietly."

"Uhh - I wanna sleep s'more - g'way, Mum -"

"Zagato'll catch us!"

"Don' care -"

"And ask about the still."

Eagle was up, had Lantis by the tricep and was heading for the door at speed before Lantis had time to register that he had succeeded in waking him. The two might well have made good their escape plan, too, had Zagato not been awake and waiting for them outside the door for the previous half-hour.

"Good morning, boys."

"Uh. Uh, good morning."

The steady gaze Zagato leveled on his brother had Lantis thinking of small furry creatures and snakes. Or did he mean mongeese?

"About your still."

Breathe, Lantis. Your brother's angry but he's not trying to murder you.

"I am furious. I want you two to know that."

As if we didn't already - no, I shouldn't think that. He's under a lot of stress.

"I don't know which I'm angrier at. That you know you're underage and you chose to make alcohol, or that you chose not to share it until an emergency came up."

Uh-oh. I never thought of it that way.

"I'm very unhappy, and I'll be deciding what to do about this later. Now go do breakfast."

Eagle and Lantis were very sober as they went to make the breakfast.

"Well. That's the most - unusual scolding I have ever received," Eagle commented.

"I never thought of it that way," Lantis said softly.

"I felt we'd get screamed at for sure."

"I mean, he's right. How many nights would have been happier?"

"What are you blithering on about?"

"Oh, nothing."

"One day you're going to tell me what's really on your mind instead of 'nothing', and I'm going to keel over and die of shock," Eagle snapped.

"What will we have for breakfast?" Lantis wondered.

Eagle looked flatly at his friend. "Lantis, you always start saying something deep just when I'm not really paying attention. And then when I start, you clam up. Stop it. What do you mean?"

"What's to mean? I'm asking if you have any ideas for breakfast."

Eagle sighed. "Fine, have it your way. Serve broiled seaweed or something, I don't care."

***

Aska prodded the - stuff - sitting on her plate. The dark green object did not go gloop. It just sat there. Aska felt as if something was wrong. Food on your plate that is unidentifiable and cooked by two self-confessed horrible cooks should go 'gloop' when you poke it, not do an unnerving impression of overcooked spinach. She took a cautious bite. Very salty spinach. Where on the island did they find spinach? Or salt?

"What is - this?" Umi asked, having gone through the same motions.

"Broiled seaweed," Lantis replied cheerfully.

Eagle sighed.

***

Eagle and Presea were officially looking for wild berries. It was a way of getting Presea away from chores which could strain her hand, and Eagle from Umi, who was threatening mayhem and disembowellment over that morning's breakfast. Lantis had quite cheerfully pointed the finger of blame for the menu at his best friend.

"Why did last night happen, Eagle?" Presea asked, apropos of nothing.

"Huh? Oh, Emeraude and Hikaru? I think it's that they're both used to being in charge and neither wants not to be top dog. Or maybe they don't want the other in charge. I guess."

"You guess what?" a cheerful voice asked. Looking up, Presea saw that she and Eagle had wandered over to the stand of fruit trees and had been seen by Fuu and Ferio.

"We're wondering why Hikaru and Emeraude were arguing last night and why people started taking sides," Presea replied.

Ferio shrugged. "Clash of personality and attitude."

Fuu looked at him. "What do you mean, Ferio?"

"I love my sister very much," Ferio said, "but she's not very good at delegating responsibility or at seeing other points of view. On the other hand, from what I see of Hikaru, she has always tried to do everything as a group task and she wants everybody to help. She also likes to share everybody's viewpoint." Ferio shrugged. "Opposite viewpoints. Neither's bad, but they're guaranteed to clash." He blinked. "Whoa. That was deep."

The four teenagers looked at each other soberly.

Fuu looked over the hillside. "I think - this entire thing is."

Presea blinked. "That - isn't good. Right?"

The other three stared at her.

"Huh? What'd I say? Eagle?"

After a long moment, Fuu finally said, "Some hearts are so sunny, it's scary."

***

"Hey, Sang Yung?"

"Yes, Aska?"

"Don't you think that Nova is acting weird?"

"What do you mean 'weird'?"

"She hasn't pulled a prank all day."

Sang Yung tipped his head to one side. Now I think about it, she's right. Nova hasn't done anything at all.

"What are we going to do about it, Sang Yung?"

Sang Yung blinked. "Uh - what can we do, Aska? I mean, she's behaving herself. It's unusual, yes, but it's not - well - she's not doing anything wrong, and that's right, but it's wrong, uh, I don't think I'm making sense but you know what I'm talking about, right?"

"Uhh ... no."

"Well, I mean, she hasn't done anything, and that's unusual to the point of wrongness for her, but it's right because we want her to be a good person, so if we say 'Stop what you're doing' it's like, we're telling her to be bad. And we can't tell her to be bad, because we want her to be good. But it's bad that she's good because she isn't good. You know?"

Aska nodded understandingly. She hadn't really understood, but she followed enough to see that Sang Yung knew what he was talking about. And it did make sense, of a kind.

"So we don't do anything." Aska felt deflated.

"We can't do anything." Sang Yung felt helpless. "She's dangerous and we can't do anything."

Aska suddenly perked up. "If she's dangerous, she needs to be watched, right?" she asked suddenly.

"Yes -"

"So we'll keep watching her! And then when she does a bad thing, we'll see! And we'll fix her!"

Sang Yung sighed. At least Aska wasn't depressed anymore.

***

Caldina and LaFarga were on fishing duty down at the point.

"LaFarga."

"Yes, Caldina?"

"About last night."

LaFarga looked up through his blond bangs at her. "I know. It wasn't the best way for that confrontation to take place, was it? And the way it ended - we're really lucky, I think."

"You knew it was going to happen?"

"Didn't you?"

"Well - no. How did you?"

A cynical twist that wasn't truly a smile touched LaFarga's lips for a second. "Years of playing politics in the office. Who do people look to? Who is likely to take charge? Who's got the power, who is in favour with the Powers That Be, and who isn't? Once you know how to read the power shifts, it's almost impossible not to. People who can read will read signs at the side of the road, because it becomes automatic to read words. And people who know how to read power will because their jobs can depend on it." LaFarga sighed. "Emeraude and Hikaru are both leaders. Hikaru leads the younger set, Emeraude the elder. Currently neither is in control and both wish to be."

Caldina shook her head. "I just can't understand that. I mean, why? What do you get out of being in charge? Everyone just blames you when it all goes wrong." She looked out at the ocean - and saw the small boat passing by.

"Omigod. LaFarga! There's a ship! Hoy! HOY! Everybody! A SHIP!"

***

The captain of the small craft sighed. He didn't mean to come here, but ... some things just seemed right to do. He'd been marooned with six companions here for several years, and now, now that he was back in civilization and business, those years were very fond memories. He could almost taste Mary Ann's berry pie ...

A rattling collection of thumps, bangs and clangs, ending with a resounding "THUMP!" indicated that Gilligan had fallen down the ladder again. How anybody could make that large a racket falling down a six-foot ladder was something the Skipper had never been able to work out. For that matter, how could anyone fall down a six-foot ladder they were climbing up? And if it had been anybody else, the sound would have been just a "THUMP!" and maybe an "Ouch!". But then, this was Gilligan. The Skipper turned back to the horizon and the little island.

He blinked. Someone was on the island! He peered through his telescope. Yes, definitely. Two people, a blond man and a dark lady, waving and yelling. But there shouldn't have been anybody there. Another set of castaways?

"Gilligan, prepare the Minnow II for landfall. It looks like there are some people on our island!"

***

Hikaru looked over the side of the Minnow II. In half an hour, they would be in Honolulu.

Umi and Fuu had spoken of feeling divided - though longing for civilization, they had enjoyed their time on the island. But Hikaru didn't really feel the same.

I don't like who I was there, she eventually decided. Emeraude's a good person. But I couldn't live her way. And I couldn't agree to let others live her way while I was there. But the fighting would have gotten messier. It's better to end it now. In the big world, we can live with each other.

"Hello, Hikaru."

Hikaru started. She hadn't heard Emeraude come up to the rail beside her. "Hello Emeraude."

Emeraude swallowed and then said, very softly. "I regret our argument, Hikaru."

Hikaru turned her head quickly and looked at Emeraude. "I do, too, Emeraude."

"I don't - really - regret anything else. But I do regret - that we weren't better friends."

"I - feel the same."

Emeraude smiled. "It's funny, isn't it? On the ship, among the big group, we got along fine, but on the island ... well! If I'd read about it, I would have thought it would make us better friends."

Hikaru turned back to the sea. "Would you? Really?"

Looking at her uncertainly, Emeraude asked, "Hikaru?"

"I mean," Hikaru said, "we're both leaders, with opposing styles. I respect you, and I do admire and like you. From a distance. But to be your friend? I do not think so. I would constantly wish you to follow me. You would wish me to constantly follow you. I can't follow you, and you can't follow me. We couldn't be friends. But I wish we could."

Leaning on the rail, Emeraude stared out at the sea too. "You're right. But I wish you weren't."

"So do I."

Epilogue

Dear Diary,

You won't believe it! You won't believe it! You won't believe it!

I'm going to be a bridesmaid! Zagato and Emeraude finally announced their engagement, and Emeraude asked me to be one of the bridesmaids! Of course, Lantis being one of the groomsmen, it was to be expected. I know Presea will be one too, so I'll get to see her again.

I hope this doesn't restart all the media circus, now that it's finally all died down. Lantis says that the next camera that gets shoved in his face is going to be shoved up its owner's nose. His habit of glaring photogenically at the photographers didn't help, I know that. Eagle's tendency to pull truly horrible faces at them worked a lot better. But I wish I knew how Ferio managed to vanish just as the cameras came out each and every time. I swear the boy is psychic!

I heard from Aska today. She, her parents and Sang Yung are all going on a trip to Italy next month. I'm really glad. The Fahrens are finally learning how to be a family, and Aska is finally learning how not to be a spoiled brat.

Gotta go, Diary - I've got to ring Fuu and Umi and tell them all about this!

Love,

Hikaru