"What do you think?"asked Serenity, putting down the note Rei gave her.

"I came as soon as I could."Rei said.

"You haven't told me what it said yet."Ami told her, not looking up from her book.

"Of course I did, Ami!"she said, shaking the paper at her. "You just never pay attention to anything, do you?"

Ami put a piece of lace between the pages, and looked up. They sat in the garden, a fountain playing behind them, and the scent of flowers surrounding them.

"Of course I do, and anyway, it seems to me that you're the one who doesn't pay attention! Just look at these stitches, you'll have to undo every one of them!"she said, taking up Serenity's embroidery, and the embroidery scissors.

Serenity pulled it aside.

"We can do that later. Read this instead."she gave Ami the letter.

Ami sighed, and took the letter. Serenity wouldn't stop nagging her until she did, and she wanted to get back to her novel.

"I don't think it's a good idea."she said. "Not again!"she insisted.

"But who knows for how long he'll be here!"Serenity exclaimed, and tugged at her arm.

Ami shook her head. She was always like. Or at least almost always, until she got her way, which she usually did, anyway.

"We can't risk it."Ami insisted.

"We won't get caught. We haven't before!"Serenity insisted.

"But what if we do get caught this time!"Ami exclaimed. "It could mean…"she stopped, not daring to go any further.

"Oh, Ami, you're no fun at all! You never like to do anything except sit here and read, and sew!"she said. "Oh, please, Ami, you know how much it means to me!"

Ami was always like this. She never liked to have any kind of fun, and she obviously had no notion of romance, although she had helped her for months. It had cost Serenity hours of weeping and begging Ami to help her meet him whenever he came. Of course, she always had to endure Ami's scolding before and after, but she knew Ami would never say anything to anyone. Ami would never betray her.

"All right."Ami said. "I still don't think that it's right. Perhaps we should quit this once and for all."she suggested.

Serenity hugged her, and paid no attention, Ami would probably be like this until dinnertime, at least.

"It's too risky. We'll have to take every precaution we can!"Ami went on.

"Well, I wish you luck."Rei told them.

"How long do you think this'll take?"Minako asked her cousin. "It's been weeks."she sounded tired.

"It probably won't take much longer, you'll see."said Makoto, who was a year and a half younger.

They had spent the last weeks in a dark ship, not knowing where they could possibly end up. They were cramped, and had hardly eaten in days.

"I don't think I'm going to survive until the end of this journey. If only we had an idea of where we were going."Minako said. "The one who comes and brings the water, and the bit of bread never says anything. What do you think will happen to us?"

"I don't know."Makoto answered. "They won't tell us anything. That's the worst part. I hope we find out soon."