I hope you wanted to read 13,000+ words on a Lunar doujinshi series. (Part one.)
Enclosed please find a synopsis of that Ama no Kairou (Heaven's Corridor) series of Lunar: Vheen Hikuusen Monogatari fan doujinshi that I bought a few months ago. To recap, they were written, intriguingly, from someone whose first exposure to Lunar was the Vheen Hikuusen Monogatari/Tales of the Vane Airship Ghaleon backstory manga, and the original characters of the manga feature prominently.
(Note: I use the Japanese names of the characters when I'm discussing Lunar stuff of Japanese origin; I'm sure that'll tick someone off. Also, apparently, this post is too large for LiveJournal, so I have to cut it into two parts.)
BOOK 1:
Chapter 1 of the manga, "The Promise," starts off with Mia narrating a memory from when she was a little girl discovering Ghaleon in a graveyard. The graveyard is stark and silent (like much in "Kokuhaku Suru Kioku," right down to the barren-tree motif) - except for the two graves in front of which Ghaleon is kneeling, which are overflowing with flowers. Mia identifies the flowers on the graves as the flowers from his garden - "it looks like you brought all of them." She also notes that Ghaleon is in the section where her ancestors are buried.
Ghaleon looks up with a start at Mia's arrival; for a moment, he sees in her the image of another little girl, one with light-colored hair. Ghaleon asks Mia to promise that she won't tell anyone that he was visiting these two graves; Mia, in exchange, asks him not to cry. (He had his hand up to his face when Mia first came upon him.) Ghaleon insists he wasn't crying; steering the conversation away, he remarks that it's getting late, and escorts Mia home as the wind blows a storm of petals from the flowers on the graves.
Chapter 2, "Sweet Taboo," jumps time frames, opening 12 years after Ghaleon left Vheen at the end of KSK. Ghaleon & Morris have come back to Vheen at the request of the Guildmistress to perform a check-up of and some maintenance on the transfer system. In narration, Ghaleon identifies the Ausas as the women in charge of managing and unleashing "Vheen's hidden power" (which I assume refers to something from the novels, or something of the author's own extrapolation) but who in return "could never let their bloodline die out" (ditto).
After some expository chit-chat with the Guildmistress (the Guildmistress has been upkeeping Ghaleon's house, but all other vestiges of mazoku settlements have been cleared out to make way for dorms), a teenage Niea shows up with refreshments, overjoyed to see Ghaleon again. The Guildmistress upbraids Niea for coming, and the two have an outright argument right in front of Ghaleon & Morris: Niea is angry that her mother keeps her shut up at home all the time (presumably attending to Guildmistress duties, though this seems a little out-of-character for the Guildmistress). Morris waltzes off with the Guildmistress, leaving Niea & Ghaleon to enjoy some pie alone.
Niea, who is going right for the throat in this doujin, immediately starts talking about how mature she's gotten and how she'll become a bride soon (to which Ghaleon remarks that "more like you'll be taking a husband"). Niea a) blithely laughs that she's not going to become a Guildmistress, b) remarks that "it's long been my dream to marry the man I love," and c) gets up to take Ghaleon "somewhere special." That turns out to be a sunlit cave (just go with it) filled with birds and a species of "magic butterfly" that was supposed to have been extinct. Niea's kept it a secret from the guild and her mother; she's been protecting the cave so that Ghaleon could see it one day, knowing how he loved animals.
(I should point out at this juncture that Ghaleon looks exactly as he did at the end of KSK, and a) while I know he's teenage there, that makes putting him in a relationship a little jarring for me, and b) Funato did do a pic of Ghaleon returning to Vheen when Niea was still a child (like, one year older), and his appearance had changed a bit even in that short period - he had slightly longer hair.)
Niea then has flashbacks - not only to the bit in KSK where Niea's trying to show him a bird, but to a memory where she (again, KSK-age) wants to go to the garden and has grown curious about the plants and animals she's found there, but her mother and the other human residents of Vheen will pay no attention to her. Only Ghaleon has the time to spare for her, happily sitting down with her with a book and promising to "tell her anything you want to know...come by anytime!" Niea remembers that Ghaleon "was always so patient with me when I was little...he always had time for me." Niea's mind then touches upon Ghaleon leaving Vheen at the end of KSK, and the author adds a line here; after Niea promises to become a great Guildmistress, after Ghaleon teleports away, she adds: "And then, when I grow up, you have to-- You have to---"
Teenage Niea wakes up, crying. She gets dressed, takes some candy, and tells her mother that she's going out for a walk. Her mother notes that "You've been going out every day lately, haven't you? On these...'walks.'" She adds that Niea has been dressing up extra-special, is taking candy with her, and doesn't return until nightfall: "It's a man, isn't it?" Niea cheerily affirms Mom's suspicions, boldly proclaims that she "off to the west side," and leaves; the Guildmistress, realizing the object of Niea's affections, stares with a sour look on her face. (Not without reason, because such a relationship would be headed for nothing but trouble, but the author does kind of make this Guildmistress an OOC overprotective taskmaster.)
Niea arrives at Ghaleon's house, and she's found something along the way: an injured bird, tangled up in the grass in the cave. Ghaleon (who is wearing that same dress with the basket sash/skirt Zain did in flashbacks; I hope he wasn't raiding his late brother's closet) notes that that's odd - the bird is the same species as the one Niea brought him during KSK so long ago. Niea is confused, since that bird was blue and this one is white, but Ghaleon states that the bird is an albino. Niea goes on to speculate that if that's so, then since albinos are generally physically weak (citation needed), the bird probably has difficulty flying. Ghaleon adds, though, that since daily life is an even greater struggle for a physically frail lifeform, the organism has to have a good deal of tenacity to survive - "so the 'weak' are in the truest sense actually the strong - wouldn't you say?". Niea smiles and agrees.
Ghaleon goes on to compare the situation to that of the humans and the mazoku: "Even though they seem strong, the magic race has been eliminated by natural selection and is on its way to extinction." He continues that though humans have relatively short existences, they live their lives to the fullest because of that fact and put great effort into passing their hopes & dreams onto future generations; mazoku, on the other hand, eventually grow weary of their long existences: "we grow tired of loving; of hating; of living. ...And nowadays, there are more and more of us who seek to hasten our own deaths." (His mind touches on Latona at this point.)
Niea is shaken by this; crying, she grabs onto to Ghaleon and begs him not to do the same. Ghaleon is perplexed and says that he was only speaking "in general terms," but this fails to soothe Niea; he eventually apologizes, and returns her embrace.
Niea returns home, to be scolded by her mother; apparently, the Guildmistress has arranged for Niea to be married in a month, and she's not supposed to be waltzing off with Ghaleon. (The author really wanted to make the Guildmistress a villain in this. I mean, she's not my favorite character, but this is laying it on a little thick.) Niea retorts that she'll marry whom she pleases; the Guildmistress shoots back that while Ghaleon is a fine fellow, mazoku can't have children with humans (Elie might argue with you on this, Guildmistress), and Niea's love affair can't trump her duty to carry on the Ausa bloodline, etc. Niea reflects that in "fifty-two generations," the Ausas have always given birth to only one child, and always a female - "like the Goddess's reincarnation in miniature," she thinks (even though SSS's Althena didn't reincarnate on a regular basis like TSS's goddess). "A 'holy bloodline blessed by the goddess'? What a joke! What we've received from the goddess is nothing but a curse!" Niea lashes out, asking, not unreasonably, "why would Althena place this burden upon a single bloodline? ...We're not gods!". (I mean, what if one of the Ausas ups & dies or something? Granted, for all I know, this idea is just an invention of the comic, and not something that's from the novels or elsewhere.)
Niea goes to visit Ghaleon the next day, to find him sitting at his window, back to the door. Before Niea can even get out "Good morning," Ghaleon tells her: "Go away." He's learned of her impending marriage. Niea angrily says that the marriage is arranged, something with which those around her have proceeded of their own accord; she then softens and says: "Oniichama...it's...you whom I wanted to...". Ghaleon, not turning around, smoulders that she's "still talking like a child" and dismisses her emotions as just her "being influenced by childhood sentimentalities." Niea frantically denies this, saying that while she never forgot about him, she'd met many other people in the intervening 12 years - "and yet, when you came back..."
Ghaleon then asks if Niea remembers Latona. A memory of her death indicates that Niea very clearly does. "Do you know why the magic race is having skirmishes with humans along the Frontier?" Ghaleon says. "Because they know they don't have a chance against such superior numbers with the humans. They can't stand against natural selection or the will of a god. They've been told they've going to be destroyed - they just can't accept it." At this point, Ghaleon's anger has led to him magically busting crockery around the room, which frightens Niea. She stutters an appeal to him, but Ghaleon persists: "Her madness lies deep within me. And I can't say that if I have the chance, I won't try to kill the humans like Latona - that I won't try to kill you!!"
Ghaleon's rage abates, and Niea stands for a moment, tears streaming down her face. She then flees.
The Guildmistress & Morris then enter, apparently having been in the house for an unspecified period of time. (I'm not sure if this indicates that Ghaleon's outburst was part of an arrangement or what; I don't think they're supposed to be in Ghaleon's home, because Ghaleon upbraids Morris, at least, for it: "You shouldn't just barge into another person's house.") Morris notes: "You could've let her down a little easier, you know." The Guildmistress tries to stutter something to Ghaleon, but he proclaims that he's leaving Vheen tomorrow morning and won't be back "for a hundred years." (Real mature, Ghal.)
Ghaleon teleports down, and he remembers Niea as a little child, reminiscing how "you alone were always able to bridge the divide between the humans and the mazoku so easily - without hesitation. When I was homesick...when I thought back to you...I was a little scared - scared that you'd change when you someday became an adult...that you'd grow apart from me..." Ghaleon turns back to look at Vheen in the skies. He says "goodbye" and leaves.
Later that night, though, he senses someone following him through the forest. He turns to find - Niea, of course. Niea says she "had a bad premonition" and snuck out at night. Ghaleon freaks about her being out by herself, but Niea merely runs to Ghaleon, embraces him, and says: "Take me with you." Niea says that she regretted it for a long time when Ghaleon left earlier, and if she lets him leave now, "I'll regret it for the rest of my life! If you don't like it, you can go ahead and kill me, just like Latona!" (Ummmm...) "And even if you try to destroy humanity - even if you try to destroy Lunar - I'll still love you!!" (First: A bit too on the nose; and second: Ummmm...)
Ghaleon pauses but isn't much moved; he says: "I can't be selfish and bring disaster upon every living thing on Lunar!" Then, of course, we have the typical romance moment where Ghaleon realizes that he said "I can't be selfish," and Niea realizes his true feelings, etc. etc. Niea says that "I'll never give up, no matter how many times you say you reject me - because you've never once said you hate me. And...I haven't yet heard once how you feel." (But you just did, Niea.) Ghaleon walks away, but Niea keeps following him, like Dyne at the end of "Tamashii no Kokuhaku."
Niea eventually lags behind, though, and loses her way in a forest, where she's attacked by those bush monsters from early SSS. Niea uses a fire spell, but, bizarrely, it has hardly any effect. (I mean, come on - these are low-level monsters, and Niea's an Ausa.) So, of course, Ghaleon has to swoop and save her. She wakes up in an abandoned shrine, and Ghaleon explains that she got lost in the Forest of Illusion (Forbidden Forest in the English version - the place in SSS with the women's spring), which is a wacky high-concept place where monsters don't have their usual HP, etc. Niea apologizes for putting Ghaleon out, but Ghaleon apologizes for putting her in danger; Niea is amazed at Ghaleon's strength at destroying all the monsters, but Ghaleon says that she's the strong one, and claims that when she was injured, it was like his "the world went white before him," and the earth was about the collapse on him, etc.
"You win, Niea," says Ghaleon; "I won't leave again." He leans forward to kiss her, and the two decide to exchange vows before the statue of the goddess in the abandoned shrine come nightfall. With that, the first volume ends.
Free Talk: The author explains that they encountered the Lunar series in an odd way: first, their little sister brought the manga home; then, they played the 32-bit Eternal Blue; then, they got around to SSS. Man, that is odd.
BOOK 2:
Chapter 3, "The Silver Magician," begins with an odd prologue explaining Vheen, Lunar, and its various races that introduces the mazoku as "counterfeits" of or "falsely similar" to humans. It also implies that the three mazoku in Vheen are the last three "good" magic-race anywhere, which is extrapolating a bit.
The action of the story begins with a boy (with pointed ears) sitting in a chair, complaining, "That picture book again?! Aren't you tired of it, Sheila?" Sheila, a young girl seated in a four-poster bed, happily explains that her father wrote the book for her: "With this, he said, I can learn both sides of the history of Vheen." The boy objects that it's "kinda written from the mazoku point of view," and that there aren't any mazoku left in Vheen, and he hears that the mazoku are attacking humans anyhow. Sheila objects that Vheen was built by the mazoku, and that the humans & the mazoku once lived in peace & harmony, etc. We see Sheila for the first time here, and she is the little girl Ghaleon initially saw when Mia visited him way back in Chapter 1. (Sheila is older than that vision, though - perhaps in her early teens.) The narration notes that she has silver & gold hair (yes, both), pale skin, and "pale, pale" mint green eyes. (Or, rather, Sheila's boy companion notes this, rather lovingly; he kind of has a crush on her.)
Sheila mentions (as if it's been a recurring topic of conversation between the boy and her) that she's never once been outside her room. She then has an ominous coughing fit. The boy (whose name, rather confusingly, is Shia) rushes to her aid, but Sheila claims to be all right - and says that her mother'll be returning in a bit, so he'd better skedaddle. She summons a huge globe of...water? into which the boy climbs, and he leaves. He notes in narration that even though Sheila's so young, she can use extremely high-level magics, like the water-globe-teleporting-thing.
Later, Shia is sitting up in a tree while two scholars below discuss how Vheen has been having earthquakes lately. Er, I'd like to know the seismic science behind that. Actually, one of the scholars notes that the "quakes" are actually irregularities in the magic power holding up Vheen, and the Guildmistress has called a special meeting to address the situation. They gossip maliciously as to whether Vheen's "hanare no ojousama" (which translates to something like "shut-away daughter" or "girl in a case") is at fault; they begin to relate a story about something Sheila allegedly did in her early years before Shia uses some water-based magic to scare them off from continuing.
The next day (or possibly the same day - later, let's put it that way), Shia is coming back to meet Sheila through the aqua globe. Sheila wonders why Shia uses this method of travel to teleport; Sheila's tried getting the birds & beasts of the garden to travel through it, to no avail. Shia evades the question with an offhand "I'm special" - "if water's present, then I can do just about anything!" - then presents Sheila with a rose. Sheila thanks Shia for the flower, and for being her friend; she claims to have never talked to anyone else but her mother, father, and grandfather. All right, Sheila's obviously sick in some way, but what the hell are they doing with this kid, if she doesn't even get to talk to anyone?
Sheila explains a bit: she was born either with "low resistance or immunity or something"; as a result, she's not only extraordinarily photosensitive, but doesn't have the immune system to tolerate everyday germs like other people. She's a bubble girl, in other words - and, actually, Ghaleon did create for her a magic bubble inside her room to allow her to live. (Couldn't you have made it portable in some way, Ghal?) Ghaleon is currently traveling Lunar looking for a way to cure her; he visits Vheen only once a year.
For maximum tragic convenience, Shia notices a man and a little girl outside the window and asks who they are; Sheila identifies them as her little sister and her little sister's father - "not my father," Sheila specifies, just in case you were worried that the Ghaleon-Niea plotline was going to resolve itself happily. (FYI, the girl & father are indeed the husband & child Niea has in Ghaleon's flashback at the end of TnK.) Shia muses on this, wondering to himself if a Guildmistress can have two husbands.
Meanwhile, at the emergency meeting, one of the senior guild members notes that the combined strength of Vheen foremost magicians isn't what it was, and certainly isn't going to suffice to take care of whatever the current problem is. Also, something's up with the magic amplifier that we see Remilia use in TnK, so it can't be used in this scenario. One of the guild members asks if Ghaleon can come back, since he can fix it; Niea says she's sent a message, but it won't arrive in time.
A guild officer suggests asking Sheila to help, but Niea won't hear of it: "That child won't last an hour outside her room!!" The guild officer mentions that she's been "getting stronger" since her early childhood, and mentions that - "beg your pardon, but the damage caused long ago because of that girl"--and gets cut off. "I and the girl's father take full responsibility for that! She was an infant when that happened!" In any case, we're not getting any elaboration on that mysterious incident now, and Niea is forbidding Sheila from entering the Silver Tower.
A bit later, S & S are playing cards in Sheila's room when they hear Niea outside. Shia hides, and Niea comes in; after the obligatory "I thought I heard someone" exchange, Niea announces to Sheila's delight that she's gotten a letter from her father, and that he'll be coming to visit for Sheila's retirement party in two days birthday next month. Sheila asks about the earthquakes, but Niea deflects the question with "that's not for children to worry about." Niea lovingly cradles her daughter and tells Sheila that she'll be busy tomorrow and might not be able to come by, but asks that she "be careful, and stay happy & healthy, until your father comes back."
Niea leaves, and Shia emerges. He asks about her, and Sheila replies that "she went through a really hard time when she had me, and she's not very healthy." Sheila explains that a mazoku & a human weren't supposed to be able to have children (again, Elie rears her head), and so Sheila was conceived, it was expected that she'd die shortly after birth. Sheila survived, but Ghaleon & Niea were told that she wouldn't last a month; that she wouldn't last until her first birthday; that she wouldn't see three. Sheila, however, kept on living. Her parents told Sheila that her weak constitution isn't because Althena hates her; it's because her birth took up both their lifetimes' worth of blessings. They tell her that she's extremely tenacious for making it this far, and that every moment, she's stronger than the last. Sheila says, "--They're good parents," and Shia agrees. Shia reflects to himself that Sheila "truly is a gift from heaven" and "the most blessed girl in the world."
It's implied that time passes and Shia leaves. When he comes back, Sheila is dressed in a brand-new outfit: a magician's gown with a very Herself the Elf flower-petal collar. Shia, disturbed, wonders why she's dressed in business garb, and Sheila responds that she's "going to the Crystal Tower for a bit." Vheen's "earthquakes" are being caused by an abatement in Althena's power, which is in turn being caused by a bad alignment of the stars or an eclipse or some damn thing. (She mentions that this happened "13, 14 years ago, too," shortly after she was born. This seems a little too frequent: either Vheen should have adapted to this or have been felled by now.) Sheila mentions that her mother & grandmother, as well as the guild officials, are going to the Crystal Tower to pool their magic power, so she's going, too.
Shia panics; Sheila's not supposed to leave the room. Sheila says she'll be all right; her father taught her emergency protective spells for a time just like this. Shia argues, however, that expending her power to save Vheen will eventually weaken these spells, and Sheila's life will be in danger. Or, rather, he tries to argue that - before Sheila traps him in a magic barrier. "I'm sorry, Shia. I was born an Ausa...and yet I've been shut up in this room since I was born. The members of the guild just think of me as dead weight - I want to be of use. Long ago...my magic power ran amok. I destroyed half the manor - and even hurt other people. ...Don't you know? The Ausas...they have only one daughter per generation - because Vheen needs only one ruler. So that's why my half-sister Lila was born - because I'm expected to die early. That's what the guild members say. It's because I'm not the daughter recognized by Althena...that's their guess. But if I can be of help to them...then they won't speak ill of my mother and father. So I'm going."
As Shia marvels to himself that Sheila is able to constrain him, Sheila explains that "I am weak...but I have magic power." She then reveals to him that not only is she the daughter of an Ausa, but of "the last descendant of the mazoku leaders who built Vheen. ...But you'll keep that a secret between us...won't you - Blue Dragon?" (And, indeed, as Shia weakens inside the barrier, we see Shia revert to flying-cat form. I thought the Blue Dragon in SSS was female (wasn't her name "Amelia" or something?), but that might have escaped the author.)
As she departs, Sheila adds: "And tell Althena - that if she won't accept me, it's all right. I love my mother and father more than a woman I've never met...more than anyone. And I have been able to lead a happy life because I am loved by those I love. I'm the happiest girl in the world!" Shia, weak, screams (so much as he can) for her to wait, but Sheila leaves.
The guild members are all smiles when Sheila arrives - save for Niea, who is horrified. (She goes to stop her daughter, but grown-up Smarter-Than-the-Average-Guild-Student, the father of Niea's other child, holds her back. I'm kind of not fond of him being a villain; I liked that guy.) Everyone - including Niea, Sheila, the previous Guildmistress, STtAGS, and someone I believe is STtAGS's mother - chants the spell; at length, it succeeds, and Vheen is saved. Everyone is all smiles...but Sheila falls to the ground dead. (There's an appropriate dark comedy in this - Niea, of course, reacts as predicted, but it is totally like the people of Lunar to be "fuck you got mine" in response to someone sacrificing themselves for the greater good.)
We then cut to Mia Ausa, awakening in tears. She for some reason has been sleeping in the Blue Dragon's cave (???), and the previous recounting of Sheila Ausa's fate has apparently been part of a dream Mia's been having. Mia wanders up to the Blue Dragon, and he notes that, while he said that Mia greatly resembled her mother before, he thinks now that she looks more like Sheila Ausa. Mia recalls the name, and not from her dream; she recounts her as "Sheila Ausa, the young & noble Sainted Guildmistress, whose magic power exceeded that of any other head of the guild and who sacrificed her life to save Vheen." (She counts Sheila as the 54th Guildmistress, in case you're wondering.) Mia says that's she gripped with a sense of inferiority every time she looks at Sheila's portrait, but the Blue Dragon counters that Sheila didn't lord her powers over others, but instead was just an "ordinary girl" who wanted to help people.
Arhes then starts calling to Mia offscreen, and Mia excuses herself, saying they have to go check on the Dragonmaster's helmet. She leaves...but soon after, another figure teleports in: Ghaleon. The Blue Dragon turns and greets him like an old friend, thinking he's come to help Arhes (dude, are you not up to speed with what's happening here?). Ghaleon, predictably, does not reply, and simply fires up his magic to capture the dragon. The last thought that goes through the Blue Dragon's mind is why he didn't notice before - that Sheila had the same hair as Ghaleon. (You never twigged? How can you not keep up on these things?)
Part 4, "Garden of Reminisces," opens with Ghaleon catching little Mia as she falls out of a tree. I don't know if they're going for Mia being a reincarnation of Sheila, but man, she sure has the whole mazoku kid "disastrous falls from trees & high places" thing down (cf. Alice/Elie/Ghaleon himself). Mia apologizes, saying that she was just trying to pick some flowers (in a tree?), and sees that cut his arm in catching her and is now bleeding. This upsets Mia even more, but Ghaleon tells her not to worry, and instantly heals his wound. Amazed, Mia asks how Ghaleon is able to do that (shouldn't an Ausa child, even a very young one, be acquainted with the concept of magic already?), to which Ghaleon replies: "I'm a magician."
Mia recalls his words as she sees Althena's magic city soaking up Lunar's magic power and erasing its vegetation. Mia recalls the kind man who picked flowers with her and wonders what could have happened to him to change him so. Arhes & co. eventually get on their way to Althena's magic city/fortress, and Mia is separated from the group during a teleport.
She winds up in alone in a strange room with a door that bears a crest she recognizes from the old magic-race ruins in Vheen. She commands the door to open by the name of the Ausas; it does, to reveal...well, they appear to be the ruins in which Latona was sitting during the "this will all be gone soon" conversation in KSK. Mia wanders about, twigging that the ruins are "faintly familiar"; she comes across a fairy, who calls her by Sheila's name. Mia tries to correct her, but the fairy insists that she is "Sheila, Ghaleon's daughter" - to which Mia reacts with wide-eyed shock.
The fairy then leads her to an old, overgrown stone podium with tumblers & switches. Mia fumbles with the controls as directed by the fairies, whereupon the podium emits...a holographic projection of Niea, at the age she was when Sheila died. "Ghaleon!" she says, "come home safely - and quickly, even if it's just by one day earlier! Sheila and I will always be waiting for you here in Vheen!" The image then projects Sheila, who says: "Father! Don't go anywhere too dangerous, now! I'll be all right here just so long as you don't get hurt! Come home soon, OK?"
Mia then connects the name "Sheila" to the dream she'd had in the Blue Dragon Cave. She recalls that she's heard the name Sheila somewhere else, and after some thought, finally remembers that she heard it in the Ausa family graveyard - Ghaleon had mistakenly called her by it once there.
Speaking of the devil: Mia senses another presence in the ruins with her. She turns around - and discovers Ghaleon standing wordlessly a short distance away.
Free Talk: The author explains that Mia's dream about Sheila has actually a nightmare/recollection that the Blue Dragon was having, and she had it too, sympathetically. She talks about getting the Younenki no Owari manga, marveling that it was in its sixth printing (it was that popular?), and opining that the "only one Ghaleon's heart held dear" line probably has most people shipping Ghaleon-Dyne, which is not good news for a Ghaleon-Niea partisan like her. You gotta hang on to your OTPs, girl.
(A note before we leave this book: Is Sheila's inadvertent destruction an attempt by the author to account for the weird TnK/KSK discrepancies in drawing Vheen?)
Anyhow: Onward to Part Two!
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(Note: I use the Japanese names of the characters when I'm discussing Lunar stuff of Japanese origin; I'm sure that'll tick someone off. Also, apparently, this post is too large for LiveJournal, so I have to cut it into two parts.)
BOOK 1:
Chapter 1 of the manga, "The Promise," starts off with Mia narrating a memory from when she was a little girl discovering Ghaleon in a graveyard. The graveyard is stark and silent (like much in "Kokuhaku Suru Kioku," right down to the barren-tree motif) - except for the two graves in front of which Ghaleon is kneeling, which are overflowing with flowers. Mia identifies the flowers on the graves as the flowers from his garden - "it looks like you brought all of them." She also notes that Ghaleon is in the section where her ancestors are buried.
Ghaleon looks up with a start at Mia's arrival; for a moment, he sees in her the image of another little girl, one with light-colored hair. Ghaleon asks Mia to promise that she won't tell anyone that he was visiting these two graves; Mia, in exchange, asks him not to cry. (He had his hand up to his face when Mia first came upon him.) Ghaleon insists he wasn't crying; steering the conversation away, he remarks that it's getting late, and escorts Mia home as the wind blows a storm of petals from the flowers on the graves.
Chapter 2, "Sweet Taboo," jumps time frames, opening 12 years after Ghaleon left Vheen at the end of KSK. Ghaleon & Morris have come back to Vheen at the request of the Guildmistress to perform a check-up of and some maintenance on the transfer system. In narration, Ghaleon identifies the Ausas as the women in charge of managing and unleashing "Vheen's hidden power" (which I assume refers to something from the novels, or something of the author's own extrapolation) but who in return "could never let their bloodline die out" (ditto).
After some expository chit-chat with the Guildmistress (the Guildmistress has been upkeeping Ghaleon's house, but all other vestiges of mazoku settlements have been cleared out to make way for dorms), a teenage Niea shows up with refreshments, overjoyed to see Ghaleon again. The Guildmistress upbraids Niea for coming, and the two have an outright argument right in front of Ghaleon & Morris: Niea is angry that her mother keeps her shut up at home all the time (presumably attending to Guildmistress duties, though this seems a little out-of-character for the Guildmistress). Morris waltzes off with the Guildmistress, leaving Niea & Ghaleon to enjoy some pie alone.
Niea, who is going right for the throat in this doujin, immediately starts talking about how mature she's gotten and how she'll become a bride soon (to which Ghaleon remarks that "more like you'll be taking a husband"). Niea a) blithely laughs that she's not going to become a Guildmistress, b) remarks that "it's long been my dream to marry the man I love," and c) gets up to take Ghaleon "somewhere special." That turns out to be a sunlit cave (just go with it) filled with birds and a species of "magic butterfly" that was supposed to have been extinct. Niea's kept it a secret from the guild and her mother; she's been protecting the cave so that Ghaleon could see it one day, knowing how he loved animals.
(I should point out at this juncture that Ghaleon looks exactly as he did at the end of KSK, and a) while I know he's teenage there, that makes putting him in a relationship a little jarring for me, and b) Funato did do a pic of Ghaleon returning to Vheen when Niea was still a child (like, one year older), and his appearance had changed a bit even in that short period - he had slightly longer hair.)
Niea then has flashbacks - not only to the bit in KSK where Niea's trying to show him a bird, but to a memory where she (again, KSK-age) wants to go to the garden and has grown curious about the plants and animals she's found there, but her mother and the other human residents of Vheen will pay no attention to her. Only Ghaleon has the time to spare for her, happily sitting down with her with a book and promising to "tell her anything you want to know...come by anytime!" Niea remembers that Ghaleon "was always so patient with me when I was little...he always had time for me." Niea's mind then touches upon Ghaleon leaving Vheen at the end of KSK, and the author adds a line here; after Niea promises to become a great Guildmistress, after Ghaleon teleports away, she adds: "And then, when I grow up, you have to-- You have to---"
Teenage Niea wakes up, crying. She gets dressed, takes some candy, and tells her mother that she's going out for a walk. Her mother notes that "You've been going out every day lately, haven't you? On these...'walks.'" She adds that Niea has been dressing up extra-special, is taking candy with her, and doesn't return until nightfall: "It's a man, isn't it?" Niea cheerily affirms Mom's suspicions, boldly proclaims that she "off to the west side," and leaves; the Guildmistress, realizing the object of Niea's affections, stares with a sour look on her face. (Not without reason, because such a relationship would be headed for nothing but trouble, but the author does kind of make this Guildmistress an OOC overprotective taskmaster.)
Niea arrives at Ghaleon's house, and she's found something along the way: an injured bird, tangled up in the grass in the cave. Ghaleon (who is wearing that same dress with the basket sash/skirt Zain did in flashbacks; I hope he wasn't raiding his late brother's closet) notes that that's odd - the bird is the same species as the one Niea brought him during KSK so long ago. Niea is confused, since that bird was blue and this one is white, but Ghaleon states that the bird is an albino. Niea goes on to speculate that if that's so, then since albinos are generally physically weak (citation needed), the bird probably has difficulty flying. Ghaleon adds, though, that since daily life is an even greater struggle for a physically frail lifeform, the organism has to have a good deal of tenacity to survive - "so the 'weak' are in the truest sense actually the strong - wouldn't you say?". Niea smiles and agrees.
Ghaleon goes on to compare the situation to that of the humans and the mazoku: "Even though they seem strong, the magic race has been eliminated by natural selection and is on its way to extinction." He continues that though humans have relatively short existences, they live their lives to the fullest because of that fact and put great effort into passing their hopes & dreams onto future generations; mazoku, on the other hand, eventually grow weary of their long existences: "we grow tired of loving; of hating; of living. ...And nowadays, there are more and more of us who seek to hasten our own deaths." (His mind touches on Latona at this point.)
Niea is shaken by this; crying, she grabs onto to Ghaleon and begs him not to do the same. Ghaleon is perplexed and says that he was only speaking "in general terms," but this fails to soothe Niea; he eventually apologizes, and returns her embrace.
Niea returns home, to be scolded by her mother; apparently, the Guildmistress has arranged for Niea to be married in a month, and she's not supposed to be waltzing off with Ghaleon. (The author really wanted to make the Guildmistress a villain in this. I mean, she's not my favorite character, but this is laying it on a little thick.) Niea retorts that she'll marry whom she pleases; the Guildmistress shoots back that while Ghaleon is a fine fellow, mazoku can't have children with humans (Elie might argue with you on this, Guildmistress), and Niea's love affair can't trump her duty to carry on the Ausa bloodline, etc. Niea reflects that in "fifty-two generations," the Ausas have always given birth to only one child, and always a female - "like the Goddess's reincarnation in miniature," she thinks (even though SSS's Althena didn't reincarnate on a regular basis like TSS's goddess). "A 'holy bloodline blessed by the goddess'? What a joke! What we've received from the goddess is nothing but a curse!" Niea lashes out, asking, not unreasonably, "why would Althena place this burden upon a single bloodline? ...We're not gods!". (I mean, what if one of the Ausas ups & dies or something? Granted, for all I know, this idea is just an invention of the comic, and not something that's from the novels or elsewhere.)
Niea goes to visit Ghaleon the next day, to find him sitting at his window, back to the door. Before Niea can even get out "Good morning," Ghaleon tells her: "Go away." He's learned of her impending marriage. Niea angrily says that the marriage is arranged, something with which those around her have proceeded of their own accord; she then softens and says: "Oniichama...it's...you whom I wanted to...". Ghaleon, not turning around, smoulders that she's "still talking like a child" and dismisses her emotions as just her "being influenced by childhood sentimentalities." Niea frantically denies this, saying that while she never forgot about him, she'd met many other people in the intervening 12 years - "and yet, when you came back..."
Ghaleon then asks if Niea remembers Latona. A memory of her death indicates that Niea very clearly does. "Do you know why the magic race is having skirmishes with humans along the Frontier?" Ghaleon says. "Because they know they don't have a chance against such superior numbers with the humans. They can't stand against natural selection or the will of a god. They've been told they've going to be destroyed - they just can't accept it." At this point, Ghaleon's anger has led to him magically busting crockery around the room, which frightens Niea. She stutters an appeal to him, but Ghaleon persists: "Her madness lies deep within me. And I can't say that if I have the chance, I won't try to kill the humans like Latona - that I won't try to kill you!!"
Ghaleon's rage abates, and Niea stands for a moment, tears streaming down her face. She then flees.
The Guildmistress & Morris then enter, apparently having been in the house for an unspecified period of time. (I'm not sure if this indicates that Ghaleon's outburst was part of an arrangement or what; I don't think they're supposed to be in Ghaleon's home, because Ghaleon upbraids Morris, at least, for it: "You shouldn't just barge into another person's house.") Morris notes: "You could've let her down a little easier, you know." The Guildmistress tries to stutter something to Ghaleon, but he proclaims that he's leaving Vheen tomorrow morning and won't be back "for a hundred years." (Real mature, Ghal.)
Ghaleon teleports down, and he remembers Niea as a little child, reminiscing how "you alone were always able to bridge the divide between the humans and the mazoku so easily - without hesitation. When I was homesick...when I thought back to you...I was a little scared - scared that you'd change when you someday became an adult...that you'd grow apart from me..." Ghaleon turns back to look at Vheen in the skies. He says "goodbye" and leaves.
Later that night, though, he senses someone following him through the forest. He turns to find - Niea, of course. Niea says she "had a bad premonition" and snuck out at night. Ghaleon freaks about her being out by herself, but Niea merely runs to Ghaleon, embraces him, and says: "Take me with you." Niea says that she regretted it for a long time when Ghaleon left earlier, and if she lets him leave now, "I'll regret it for the rest of my life! If you don't like it, you can go ahead and kill me, just like Latona!" (Ummmm...) "And even if you try to destroy humanity - even if you try to destroy Lunar - I'll still love you!!" (First: A bit too on the nose; and second: Ummmm...)
Ghaleon pauses but isn't much moved; he says: "I can't be selfish and bring disaster upon every living thing on Lunar!" Then, of course, we have the typical romance moment where Ghaleon realizes that he said "I can't be selfish," and Niea realizes his true feelings, etc. etc. Niea says that "I'll never give up, no matter how many times you say you reject me - because you've never once said you hate me. And...I haven't yet heard once how you feel." (But you just did, Niea.) Ghaleon walks away, but Niea keeps following him, like Dyne at the end of "Tamashii no Kokuhaku."
Niea eventually lags behind, though, and loses her way in a forest, where she's attacked by those bush monsters from early SSS. Niea uses a fire spell, but, bizarrely, it has hardly any effect. (I mean, come on - these are low-level monsters, and Niea's an Ausa.) So, of course, Ghaleon has to swoop and save her. She wakes up in an abandoned shrine, and Ghaleon explains that she got lost in the Forest of Illusion (Forbidden Forest in the English version - the place in SSS with the women's spring), which is a wacky high-concept place where monsters don't have their usual HP, etc. Niea apologizes for putting Ghaleon out, but Ghaleon apologizes for putting her in danger; Niea is amazed at Ghaleon's strength at destroying all the monsters, but Ghaleon says that she's the strong one, and claims that when she was injured, it was like his "the world went white before him," and the earth was about the collapse on him, etc.
"You win, Niea," says Ghaleon; "I won't leave again." He leans forward to kiss her, and the two decide to exchange vows before the statue of the goddess in the abandoned shrine come nightfall. With that, the first volume ends.
Free Talk: The author explains that they encountered the Lunar series in an odd way: first, their little sister brought the manga home; then, they played the 32-bit Eternal Blue; then, they got around to SSS. Man, that is odd.
BOOK 2:
Chapter 3, "The Silver Magician," begins with an odd prologue explaining Vheen, Lunar, and its various races that introduces the mazoku as "counterfeits" of or "falsely similar" to humans. It also implies that the three mazoku in Vheen are the last three "good" magic-race anywhere, which is extrapolating a bit.
The action of the story begins with a boy (with pointed ears) sitting in a chair, complaining, "That picture book again?! Aren't you tired of it, Sheila?" Sheila, a young girl seated in a four-poster bed, happily explains that her father wrote the book for her: "With this, he said, I can learn both sides of the history of Vheen." The boy objects that it's "kinda written from the mazoku point of view," and that there aren't any mazoku left in Vheen, and he hears that the mazoku are attacking humans anyhow. Sheila objects that Vheen was built by the mazoku, and that the humans & the mazoku once lived in peace & harmony, etc. We see Sheila for the first time here, and she is the little girl Ghaleon initially saw when Mia visited him way back in Chapter 1. (Sheila is older than that vision, though - perhaps in her early teens.) The narration notes that she has silver & gold hair (yes, both), pale skin, and "pale, pale" mint green eyes. (Or, rather, Sheila's boy companion notes this, rather lovingly; he kind of has a crush on her.)
Sheila mentions (as if it's been a recurring topic of conversation between the boy and her) that she's never once been outside her room. She then has an ominous coughing fit. The boy (whose name, rather confusingly, is Shia) rushes to her aid, but Sheila claims to be all right - and says that her mother'll be returning in a bit, so he'd better skedaddle. She summons a huge globe of...water? into which the boy climbs, and he leaves. He notes in narration that even though Sheila's so young, she can use extremely high-level magics, like the water-globe-teleporting-thing.
Later, Shia is sitting up in a tree while two scholars below discuss how Vheen has been having earthquakes lately. Er, I'd like to know the seismic science behind that. Actually, one of the scholars notes that the "quakes" are actually irregularities in the magic power holding up Vheen, and the Guildmistress has called a special meeting to address the situation. They gossip maliciously as to whether Vheen's "hanare no ojousama" (which translates to something like "shut-away daughter" or "girl in a case") is at fault; they begin to relate a story about something Sheila allegedly did in her early years before Shia uses some water-based magic to scare them off from continuing.
The next day (or possibly the same day - later, let's put it that way), Shia is coming back to meet Sheila through the aqua globe. Sheila wonders why Shia uses this method of travel to teleport; Sheila's tried getting the birds & beasts of the garden to travel through it, to no avail. Shia evades the question with an offhand "I'm special" - "if water's present, then I can do just about anything!" - then presents Sheila with a rose. Sheila thanks Shia for the flower, and for being her friend; she claims to have never talked to anyone else but her mother, father, and grandfather. All right, Sheila's obviously sick in some way, but what the hell are they doing with this kid, if she doesn't even get to talk to anyone?
Sheila explains a bit: she was born either with "low resistance or immunity or something"; as a result, she's not only extraordinarily photosensitive, but doesn't have the immune system to tolerate everyday germs like other people. She's a bubble girl, in other words - and, actually, Ghaleon did create for her a magic bubble inside her room to allow her to live. (Couldn't you have made it portable in some way, Ghal?) Ghaleon is currently traveling Lunar looking for a way to cure her; he visits Vheen only once a year.
For maximum tragic convenience, Shia notices a man and a little girl outside the window and asks who they are; Sheila identifies them as her little sister and her little sister's father - "not my father," Sheila specifies, just in case you were worried that the Ghaleon-Niea plotline was going to resolve itself happily. (FYI, the girl & father are indeed the husband & child Niea has in Ghaleon's flashback at the end of TnK.) Shia muses on this, wondering to himself if a Guildmistress can have two husbands.
Meanwhile, at the emergency meeting, one of the senior guild members notes that the combined strength of Vheen foremost magicians isn't what it was, and certainly isn't going to suffice to take care of whatever the current problem is. Also, something's up with the magic amplifier that we see Remilia use in TnK, so it can't be used in this scenario. One of the guild members asks if Ghaleon can come back, since he can fix it; Niea says she's sent a message, but it won't arrive in time.
A guild officer suggests asking Sheila to help, but Niea won't hear of it: "That child won't last an hour outside her room!!" The guild officer mentions that she's been "getting stronger" since her early childhood, and mentions that - "beg your pardon, but the damage caused long ago because of that girl"--and gets cut off. "I and the girl's father take full responsibility for that! She was an infant when that happened!" In any case, we're not getting any elaboration on that mysterious incident now, and Niea is forbidding Sheila from entering the Silver Tower.
A bit later, S & S are playing cards in Sheila's room when they hear Niea outside. Shia hides, and Niea comes in; after the obligatory "I thought I heard someone" exchange, Niea announces to Sheila's delight that she's gotten a letter from her father, and that he'll be coming to visit for Sheila's retirement party in two days birthday next month. Sheila asks about the earthquakes, but Niea deflects the question with "that's not for children to worry about." Niea lovingly cradles her daughter and tells Sheila that she'll be busy tomorrow and might not be able to come by, but asks that she "be careful, and stay happy & healthy, until your father comes back."
Niea leaves, and Shia emerges. He asks about her, and Sheila replies that "she went through a really hard time when she had me, and she's not very healthy." Sheila explains that a mazoku & a human weren't supposed to be able to have children (again, Elie rears her head), and so Sheila was conceived, it was expected that she'd die shortly after birth. Sheila survived, but Ghaleon & Niea were told that she wouldn't last a month; that she wouldn't last until her first birthday; that she wouldn't see three. Sheila, however, kept on living. Her parents told Sheila that her weak constitution isn't because Althena hates her; it's because her birth took up both their lifetimes' worth of blessings. They tell her that she's extremely tenacious for making it this far, and that every moment, she's stronger than the last. Sheila says, "--They're good parents," and Shia agrees. Shia reflects to himself that Sheila "truly is a gift from heaven" and "the most blessed girl in the world."
It's implied that time passes and Shia leaves. When he comes back, Sheila is dressed in a brand-new outfit: a magician's gown with a very Herself the Elf flower-petal collar. Shia, disturbed, wonders why she's dressed in business garb, and Sheila responds that she's "going to the Crystal Tower for a bit." Vheen's "earthquakes" are being caused by an abatement in Althena's power, which is in turn being caused by a bad alignment of the stars or an eclipse or some damn thing. (She mentions that this happened "13, 14 years ago, too," shortly after she was born. This seems a little too frequent: either Vheen should have adapted to this or have been felled by now.) Sheila mentions that her mother & grandmother, as well as the guild officials, are going to the Crystal Tower to pool their magic power, so she's going, too.
Shia panics; Sheila's not supposed to leave the room. Sheila says she'll be all right; her father taught her emergency protective spells for a time just like this. Shia argues, however, that expending her power to save Vheen will eventually weaken these spells, and Sheila's life will be in danger. Or, rather, he tries to argue that - before Sheila traps him in a magic barrier. "I'm sorry, Shia. I was born an Ausa...and yet I've been shut up in this room since I was born. The members of the guild just think of me as dead weight - I want to be of use. Long ago...my magic power ran amok. I destroyed half the manor - and even hurt other people. ...Don't you know? The Ausas...they have only one daughter per generation - because Vheen needs only one ruler. So that's why my half-sister Lila was born - because I'm expected to die early. That's what the guild members say. It's because I'm not the daughter recognized by Althena...that's their guess. But if I can be of help to them...then they won't speak ill of my mother and father. So I'm going."
As Shia marvels to himself that Sheila is able to constrain him, Sheila explains that "I am weak...but I have magic power." She then reveals to him that not only is she the daughter of an Ausa, but of "the last descendant of the mazoku leaders who built Vheen. ...But you'll keep that a secret between us...won't you - Blue Dragon?" (And, indeed, as Shia weakens inside the barrier, we see Shia revert to flying-cat form. I thought the Blue Dragon in SSS was female (wasn't her name "Amelia" or something?), but that might have escaped the author.)
As she departs, Sheila adds: "And tell Althena - that if she won't accept me, it's all right. I love my mother and father more than a woman I've never met...more than anyone. And I have been able to lead a happy life because I am loved by those I love. I'm the happiest girl in the world!" Shia, weak, screams (so much as he can) for her to wait, but Sheila leaves.
The guild members are all smiles when Sheila arrives - save for Niea, who is horrified. (She goes to stop her daughter, but grown-up Smarter-Than-the-Average-Guild-Student, the father of Niea's other child, holds her back. I'm kind of not fond of him being a villain; I liked that guy.) Everyone - including Niea, Sheila, the previous Guildmistress, STtAGS, and someone I believe is STtAGS's mother - chants the spell; at length, it succeeds, and Vheen is saved. Everyone is all smiles...but Sheila falls to the ground dead. (There's an appropriate dark comedy in this - Niea, of course, reacts as predicted, but it is totally like the people of Lunar to be "fuck you got mine" in response to someone sacrificing themselves for the greater good.)
We then cut to Mia Ausa, awakening in tears. She for some reason has been sleeping in the Blue Dragon's cave (???), and the previous recounting of Sheila Ausa's fate has apparently been part of a dream Mia's been having. Mia wanders up to the Blue Dragon, and he notes that, while he said that Mia greatly resembled her mother before, he thinks now that she looks more like Sheila Ausa. Mia recalls the name, and not from her dream; she recounts her as "Sheila Ausa, the young & noble Sainted Guildmistress, whose magic power exceeded that of any other head of the guild and who sacrificed her life to save Vheen." (She counts Sheila as the 54th Guildmistress, in case you're wondering.) Mia says that's she gripped with a sense of inferiority every time she looks at Sheila's portrait, but the Blue Dragon counters that Sheila didn't lord her powers over others, but instead was just an "ordinary girl" who wanted to help people.
Arhes then starts calling to Mia offscreen, and Mia excuses herself, saying they have to go check on the Dragonmaster's helmet. She leaves...but soon after, another figure teleports in: Ghaleon. The Blue Dragon turns and greets him like an old friend, thinking he's come to help Arhes (dude, are you not up to speed with what's happening here?). Ghaleon, predictably, does not reply, and simply fires up his magic to capture the dragon. The last thought that goes through the Blue Dragon's mind is why he didn't notice before - that Sheila had the same hair as Ghaleon. (You never twigged? How can you not keep up on these things?)
Part 4, "Garden of Reminisces," opens with Ghaleon catching little Mia as she falls out of a tree. I don't know if they're going for Mia being a reincarnation of Sheila, but man, she sure has the whole mazoku kid "disastrous falls from trees & high places" thing down (cf. Alice/Elie/Ghaleon himself). Mia apologizes, saying that she was just trying to pick some flowers (in a tree?), and sees that cut his arm in catching her and is now bleeding. This upsets Mia even more, but Ghaleon tells her not to worry, and instantly heals his wound. Amazed, Mia asks how Ghaleon is able to do that (shouldn't an Ausa child, even a very young one, be acquainted with the concept of magic already?), to which Ghaleon replies: "I'm a magician."
Mia recalls his words as she sees Althena's magic city soaking up Lunar's magic power and erasing its vegetation. Mia recalls the kind man who picked flowers with her and wonders what could have happened to him to change him so. Arhes & co. eventually get on their way to Althena's magic city/fortress, and Mia is separated from the group during a teleport.
She winds up in alone in a strange room with a door that bears a crest she recognizes from the old magic-race ruins in Vheen. She commands the door to open by the name of the Ausas; it does, to reveal...well, they appear to be the ruins in which Latona was sitting during the "this will all be gone soon" conversation in KSK. Mia wanders about, twigging that the ruins are "faintly familiar"; she comes across a fairy, who calls her by Sheila's name. Mia tries to correct her, but the fairy insists that she is "Sheila, Ghaleon's daughter" - to which Mia reacts with wide-eyed shock.
The fairy then leads her to an old, overgrown stone podium with tumblers & switches. Mia fumbles with the controls as directed by the fairies, whereupon the podium emits...a holographic projection of Niea, at the age she was when Sheila died. "Ghaleon!" she says, "come home safely - and quickly, even if it's just by one day earlier! Sheila and I will always be waiting for you here in Vheen!" The image then projects Sheila, who says: "Father! Don't go anywhere too dangerous, now! I'll be all right here just so long as you don't get hurt! Come home soon, OK?"
Mia then connects the name "Sheila" to the dream she'd had in the Blue Dragon Cave. She recalls that she's heard the name Sheila somewhere else, and after some thought, finally remembers that she heard it in the Ausa family graveyard - Ghaleon had mistakenly called her by it once there.
Speaking of the devil: Mia senses another presence in the ruins with her. She turns around - and discovers Ghaleon standing wordlessly a short distance away.
Free Talk: The author explains that Mia's dream about Sheila has actually a nightmare/recollection that the Blue Dragon was having, and she had it too, sympathetically. She talks about getting the Younenki no Owari manga, marveling that it was in its sixth printing (it was that popular?), and opining that the "only one Ghaleon's heart held dear" line probably has most people shipping Ghaleon-Dyne, which is not good news for a Ghaleon-Niea partisan like her. You gotta hang on to your OTPs, girl.
(A note before we leave this book: Is Sheila's inadvertent destruction an attempt by the author to account for the weird TnK/KSK discrepancies in drawing Vheen?)
Anyhow: Onward to Part Two!
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