The Zodiac Lullaby

p r e p a r a t i o n

"A little more to the right, please. Now move it more forward. Thank you!" The nymph turned her back to Virgo and rolled her eyes. Virgo turned back to Libra. "They're getting tired of me."

"I don't blame them." Libra said. Virgo kicked his chin. 

"I just want it to be perfect. I finally got to help you organize a meeting and I just want to show everyone I can do it. I know I have problems with outbursts and all these things, but-" Libra put his hand on Virgo's shoulder.

"You're doing great, Virgo. Believe me. Other people might think something else, but to me, you're completely competent." Virgo wiped her eyes and nodded her head.

"Thank you so much." Virgo smiled. "I'm going to go sample some appetizers. Coming?" Libra nodded and followed Virgo to the kitchen.

Scorpio yawned. "It's been two days and we still don't know anything more than when we started. I think we could try the Olympus Library." Capricorn rubbed her eyes and closed the huge novel in her hand and put it on her bed. Scorpio flopped back on her bed and stared at the ceiling. Capricorn brushed a pile of papers off Scorpio's bed and crossed her legs and leaned against the wall.

"How are we going to get to the Olympus Library? It's all the way in the middle of Olympus while we're just at the Zodiac tower secluded from everything. It'll be expensive to get there." Capricorn sighed. Scorpio rolled over and sighed as well.

"We can't just give up on this case. This is the beginning of something to do with my time. I'm not going to pass up on a cool adventure. I haven't had one in a while." 

"Well, what do we do now?" Capricorn asked. She was getting bored. She was wearing Scorpio's clothes and the only thing she'd eaten for the past two days was untoasted bagels with cream cheese.

"Experiment." Scorpio answered.

"But how?" Capricorn asked. 

"See if it'll fix anything broken other than a body. See if it'll heal scars. See if it fixes... hair damage." Capricorn giggled.

"Alright." Capricorn took a plastic knife and snapped it in two. Scorpio turned her head around and sighed.

"Please don't break any more of my cutlery." Capricorn nodded and smiled. She took out her flute out the bag and played the song. It didn't work.

"Maybe I should touch it." She picked up the flute once more and played the tune again. The knife still didn't get fixed. Scorpio sighed in disappointment.

"Now I have to spread my cream cheese with half a knife." Capricorn smiled and stared out the window. Outside was the view of the city and the walls. Walls were there to keep people from falling off the floating island they lived on. If she looked hard enough, she could see the bridge connecting their island to the center transport island that would take them to Olympus. How would they get there?

Aries ran across the bridge to a secluded cold island on the outskirts of the star's warm circle. If he went outward more, everything would be so cold it'd be covered in ice. The star was far, making it permanently in a state of twilight, the light cold and blue. It was already snowing and he shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. He crossed and stood over a snow covered rock. Everything around him was cold, dark and white. He lit a match and set the rock on fire as he got up. The ice on the rock immediately melted leaving a place for him to sit. 

He looked further and saw the Second Star Project. Around the cold circle area they were planning to build another star to accommodate more people. Only the frame was complete. The project was put on hold due to resuming the project to making the hot circle cooler and to regulate rain flow there.

He never knew why he explored Olympia as much as he did. He was always camping on the top of buildings and walking across ledges where he couldn't see the people below. He once even built a para-glider and surfed the fog below. He got in so much trouble with the Olympia Court for that one. He still flew in the fog, but he made sure he didn't get caught again. He didn't.

"And why do we need him again? All he does is wander around the cold circle all by himself. He wouldn't care about owning a healing song." Aquarius tried to reason with Libra.

"You just answered your own question, Aquarius. He wouldn't be suspected by much and wouldn't try to steal the song from us. He knows Olympia like the back of his hand and the city of Olympus even better." Libra reclined even further into the chair he was specifically told by Aquarius not to sit on.

"I suppose... and you've agreed to work for this guy who'll pay a large sum for it. Doesn't that feel a little sketchy?" Aquarius brought her knees to her chest and rested her head against them.

"We are selling out, but with the money..." Libra looked out the window. "I want to go spend more time on Earth again."

"Not me. I'm staying right where I am." Aquarius took a sip of her chrysanthemum tea.

"I'm going back downstairs to see how Virgo's doing. I'll be meeting you soon." Libra walked out of the room while Aquarius packed up her tea.

The night had just fallen and each sign had arrived to the meeting. Virgo was sitting her chair glowing with pride. Aries had arrived a few minutes later than everyone else because he lost his way in the snow.

The meeting had begun and each sign reported the alignment of their stars and claimed children under their sign. All Olympus issues were discussed including the project to cool the hot circle and blow the hot air to the cool circle to fuel another star.

The meeting progressed with no complication. 

Virgo couldn't hide her smile as she walked out of the door. Her first hosted meeting was perfect. 

Words (including these) : 1036