1: Basics
Guilty. Guilty, on all charges. Every single one. Thank the stars.
There was really, really no surprise to the verdict in the matter, really. Truly, how could there be any other outcome? I couldn’t think of any other one then, and not even now can I fathom another ending.
Of course, to those who don’t know of the Great Matter…..explaining is in order.
My name is Floritiuse. It means “child born in a hospital.” Instead of that, however, you are all permitted to call me Themis. Sailor Themis, that is. Yes, a sailor soldier, a champion of justice. I come from a very distant planet, in the distant galaxy of Blusdlue, a place not even discovered by your kind, and possibly won’t be for years to come.
Oh, yes…..speaking of your kind. This really is all your fault, I’ll have you know. If it hadn’t been for you…..
-What? You suddenly ask. -What’s out fault?
The Great Matter, of course. It wouldn’t have been such a great matter if all you humans could figure out how to control yourselves. How to change yourselves. How to……
But I digress. I sometimes stray off of the subject spoken of, when I am caught in a flow of thought.
Then again, like thoughts, great matters sometimes take on lives of their own. Sometimes, they do so in ways no one would ever imagine.
Perhaps more of my life’s story is in order before an explanation. I was born on Themis, raised on Themis, and live on Themis. And so, I am soldier of that planet. I was working - as all sailors do - as a defender of the planet, and guardian of my loved ones. Of course, that is the mission of a soldier, as set by our nature - and dictated in finite terms by the Seemarin, the Sailor Counsel.
The Seemarin is the oldest establishment in the universe, and the most respected. All galaxies have senators in it, and all sailors who are awakened abide by the rules for as long as they are sailors. From the first day a sailor soldier transforms, they are members until their death and rebirth in Galaxy Cauldron, because they may not awaken in their next life. Sometimes, a sailor may not re-awaken for hundreds of lives, while others have never had an incarnation where they lived with no soldier duties……but I digress.
The Seemarin is ruled by the three wisest soldiers in the universe. You can almost say they are the rulers of the universe. They’re the Three Judges, and they control everything, and in some cases, they will try a soldier for transgressions, such as that which spawned the Great Matter.
I, Themis, was not a member of the Seemarin senate, though I always wished to be. My friend, Koogairu, the soldier of a planet several systems away from me, was….is…..the representative for our district in the Seemarin. She, of course, tried to make me see otherwise.
-Trust me, Themis, she told me after one fight. -You don’t want to be in there. You would have to take responsibility and be answerable to the Three.
But of course I didn’t care. I had no problem with it. To be elected a senator was the greatest honor one could be given in reward for services done for the bettering of the world….er, universe. One could always aspire to be a Judge, of course, but the judges were appointed for many millennia, so that hope was moot.
Anyways, the Seemarin has a motto: “Beauty in Birth, Dignity in Death”. It applies to all sailors. A soldier must take death as a part of life, for it is in the natural cycle of a soldier to die so that she may be reborn. To die in battle was the greatest thing, for it meant immediate rebirth through the Galaxy Cauldron, considered the mother of all living things.
This, of course, gives birth to the most sacred rule to a soldier. No soldier, it was decreed, may resurrect or give the power of rebirth, under any circumstance. Though all soldiers had the power to do so, that privilege to use it is only afforded to the Cauldron.
I awakened as a sailor with I was about twenty. I had been a soldier for ten years before the Great Matter. I had fought many different monsters, and demons. It was almost fun to be a soldier, perhaps because many of the demons were not very difficult to defeat. Most of the time, my worst injuries were scratches and bruises.
My section was considered a model of peace and tranquility. As a result, I was afforded many different honors, including a knighthood from the Ydhh queen. Even though fighting took up a lot of my time, I managed to bring out a living as a teacher in Ydhh, the neighbor of Themis, another reward for my services. The students would always ask me so many questions about being a soldier.
-Is it hard? One might have asked. -Giving up your life for others?
-It is hard, I admitted. -But it is worth it.
-You are a very pretty woman.
-Can I see your medals?
And they would look at my metals with awe. I was always so proud of being a soldier. There was so much peace between myself and my sister soldiers.
Before the Great Matter, everything was perfect.
