By now, a pattern must be apparent to those of you who've been following 
this epic. I own, not Dune, not Tenchi Muyo, not its related characters, 
just the character Trinth Milodon and the ideas that accompany him. 

Gold and Silver
part 3b: Thursday

	It was dusk and Mihoshi was out wandering the forests surrounding 
the Masaki shrine. She did this often when she had alot to think about. 
Most of her thoughts dwelled upon the recent arrival of Trinth Milodon. 
It had been an emotional overload for her during the period of his stay. 
Most of it had been trying to restrain herself from pouncing upon the 
knight every time she saw him. 
	<Is this how Ryoko and Ayeka feel around Tenchi?> she wondered. 
<It must definitely be how it feels for them with Tenchi not choosing 
one of them as a lover.> She strayed a bit off path. There was a little 
clearing she went to when she really wanted time alone. It was her spot, 
just like Ayeka had the hilltop and Ryoko had her tree. As the trees 
thinned out to reveal Mihoshi's hideaway, she noticed a figure kneeling 
in the center of the space. She crouched behind a sapling and crept 
closer to see who it was that had invaded her spot. Upon closer 
inspection, she found it was none other than Archduke Milodon. She gazed 
upon the body of the knight. His tunic had been removed, revealing his 
ivory-skinned back. The flowing expanse of smooth skin was interrupted 
by a tremendous number of battle scars. Deep scratches, blaster burns, 
knife cuts, and bullet holes peppered his back. Mihoshi wanted to run up 
to the Calab and run her fingers over the war-worn skin. To soothe and 
caress flesh that had known so much agony. Her eyes travelled around to 
the front of the knight. His chest had suffered much the same. His arms 
were folded across his chest, forming an x. Trinth's hands clutched his 
pair of daggers with their tips pointing down. His head was bowed, eyes 
closed, with his long silver tresses cascading around his shoulder. The 
noble's appearance gave him the look of a fallen angel. The spring wind 
carried aloft an old prayer that Trinth was chanting. Mihoshi quieted 
her mind and focused on the voice of the Calab. 
	"Falcon's eye, falcon's beak.
	Falcon hear me as I speak.
	Falcon's feathers, Falcon's tail.
	Falcon gide me down life's trail.
	Falcon's claw, Falcon's wing.
	Falcon's praises I shall sing.
	Falcon's screech, Falcon's flight.
	Falcon grant me strength to fight."
	Trinth's eyes snapped open. They flashed with intensity as he 
leapt to his feet. His arms dropped from their crossed position. Mihoshi 
watched as the knight began to slowly circle, blades ahead of his body. 
He tensed as he stopped in front of a small sapling. A primal scream 
rose from the depths of his soul and crescended above the trees. He 
rushed towards the sapling and uprooted it with a single upslash. The 
tree was tossed into the air. Trinth jumped into the air to follow. With 
unimaginable speed, he repeatedly leapt, slashed at the tree, and used 
the momentum of his slashes to push himself towards other trees in the 
clearing. He ricocheted from tree to the airborne sapling to tree, but 
never seemed to actually touch the log. Finally, he touched ground just 
where the sapling was about to land. With one swift kick, he dislodged 
the splintered wood, turning the seemingly solid log into a shower of 
wooden shrapnel. 
	Mihoshi gasped as she witnessed this display of fighting prowess. 
His agility and power was so awesome. She could barely believe that a 
person could do such things without ethereal assistance or bio-
engineering amplification. She leaned out from behind her tree to try 
and get a better view of Trinth. The loose gravel under her hands gave 
way, causing her to tumble out into the clearing.
	"Well, what have we here?" Trinth said as he turned to the fallen 
maiden. He extended a hand to help her up. She grasped his hand and 
lifted herself to her feet. 
	"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been spying on you like that. It was 
just so interesting to watch you do......" She trailed off for a moment. 
"What is it that you are doing?"
	Trinth turned his back on the girl. He spoke in a low voice. 
	"I'm not sure if you would want to know such things about me."
	"I want to know as much about you as I can, Trinth Milodon." 
Mihoshi whispered into his ear. Trinth sighed and turned a serious look 
to her. 
	"What you just witnessed was the ritual of Milodon dagger practice 
in its ancient form. A form that hasn't been enacted in four 
generations."
	"What was the prayer?" 
	A slight pause. "That was the prayer of the Milodon Falcon. The 
emblem of House Milodon of Calaban."
	"I've never heard of any religion on Calaban that was devoted to a 
falcon." 
	"Of course you haven't. The Empire does not approve of its nobles 
practicing such barbaric customs." Trinth said with a sneer.
	"Please tell me why the falcon is so important to you." Mihoshi 
asked softly.
	Trinth motioned for her to sit down which he also did. 
	"The Falcon is very important to my family. Or at least it was 
until four generations ago. As I said before, the Falcon is the emblem 
of House Milodon. However, there was a time when the Falcon was 
considered sacred by the Milodons. That is because it was the Falcon 
that brought us our rule over Calaban."
	"How could a bird give your family its power?"
	"There is an old legend about that. Long ago, Calaban was ruled by 
a race of off world warriors known as the Shaimog. They had chased the 
Calab race away from the feritile plains and oceans and into the high 
mountains of the west. Their mightiest of warriors, the Crown Prince of 
the Shaimog, built a tremendous fortress at the base of the mounntain 
chain. He lived there, making sure that the Calabs never strayed from 
the mountains and never grew as strong as the Shaimog. So it was for 
many years, until a boy was born into this life of despair. He was one 
of the fortunate few male children who the Shaimog regarded as 
physically inferior to themselves. Thus, he was allowed to live. Unlike 
his bretheren, the lad was blessed with a keen intellect and a thirst 
for knoweledge. In his seventeenth year, the boy found a falcon's egg 
that had been abandoned. He cared for the egg and thereafter, the falcon 
who hatched from it. The boy raised the falcon, teaching it to hunt and 
to fly. It spent much time perched upon the boy's shoulder. Other boys 
in the tribe thought him foolish for raising the falcon. They thought it 
to be a waste of time and precious food. But the boy, loved the falcon. 
He would sit at the edge of the  mountains a watch as his winged 
companion would glide through the air. His favorite act was when the 
falcon would close its wings and speed towards the ground, striking its 
prey with stunning accuracy. One night, the boy heard the elders 
speaking of how wonderful it would be if they could attack and conquer 
the Shaimog fortress. The boy commented that it would be grand if they 
could swoop in from the sky as his falcon did. The elders laughed. 
Undaunted, the boy set about building a machine that would enable him to 
do just as he had planned. The glider's construction took up the boy's 
every waking moment. The other members of the tribe mocked the boy's 
idea. They called him 'Mi-Low-Don', which means 'Head in the Clouds'. 
But still he persevered. The glider quickly took the shape of the 
falcon. As he built the glider, a girl in the tribe began to court him. 
Soon, they were wed and she bore him a son. Upon hearing this, the 
Shaimog began their task of weeding out the strong of the Calab tribe. 
Mi-Low-Don could not tolerate the idea of the death of his son. The day 
of the Shaimog Prince's arrival, Mi-Low-Don took to the hill near his 
home. He strapped the glider to his back and grabbed a pair of daggers 
shaped as the talons of his feathered friend. He shouted the prayer I 
had said as he leapt into the wind and dove at the Shaimog Prince. He 
slew the Prince with a single blow that was magnified many times over by 
the speed of his craft. As the Prince's body fell, the scream of the 
falcon echoed through the mountains of Calaban. Announcing that this boy 
was the one to lead the people of Calaban. His son was given the name 
'Milodon' which translates to 'Heart with Wings'." 
	Mihoshi drank in the story slowly. It seemed so mystical. Trinth's 
ancestor had defeated an entire race with a single blow and all because 
of a falcon.
	"Trinth," she asked, "If your family owes all that to the falcon, 
why don't they say its prayer?"
	"They did until four generations ago when Calaban joined the 
Empire. The Empire did not approve of a religion that worshipped what 
they called 'a matter of coincidence'. They said to my great-great-
grandfather that 'we would woship a pig or a slug had that inspired the 
boy in our fable'. The foolish man believed them and denounced the 
falcon as anything more than a symbol of House Milodon. My father and 
grandfather took it a step further, calling the followers of the old 
ways silly and pagan. When I became Archduke, I learned the old ways and 
followed them in secret. I revealed them in battle as a knight of the 
Empire. I was mocked by the rest of the aristocracy." Trinth's eyes 
began to fill with tears and his voice started to break under the strain 
of an incredible backlog of emotions. "They say I have betrayed my noble 
blood by reverting to such practices. That I am a fool for believing 
rubbish about a mystical bird and that I should forget all of it."
	Mihoshi put a comforting arm around the knight. <So this is why he 
didn't want to tell me. He was afraid I would think he's crazy just like 
the rest of the nobles.>
	"Trinth, you're not foolish. Your beliefs are important to you." 
She said kindly, "I still burn incense for the three moons of Cyrn. It 
comforts me and gives me strength in hard times. That's all religion 
needs to do."
	Trinth attempted to regain his composure. 
	"I understand this, m'lady but I just wish....." The knight burst 
into tears "I just wish it wasn't viewed as heathenistic by the other 
nobles!" He buried his teary face in her shoulder. Mihoshi held the 
crying archduke close to her, running her hands through his long hair, 
slowly rocking him back and forth. All she wanted now was to try and 
heal his wounds. To comfort and soothe his aching heart. 
	<No wonder Washu dislikes the nobility so much. They do horrible 
things to their own just to put forward a good image.>
	Trinth lifted his head from her tear-dampened shoulder and looked 
into her eyes.
	"I'm terribly sorry to have brought this upon you. The troubles of 
a renegade noble shouldn't be your concern."
	Mihoshi's reply was a quick and sudden kiss upon Trinth's lips. It 
was full and powerful. She threw her weight against him, practically 
leaping into his arms. 
	<Falcon be praised!> He thought as the lovely blonde's lips met 
his. <This is pure  bliss, but why is she doing this?> He started to 
draw away from her. Trinth wanted answers almost as much as he wanted 
her.
	Mihoshi felt the knight pulling away from her. 
	<Oh no! I've done something wrong. Oh why did I kiss him?> She 
timidly backed away from the knight. She gazed at him with puzzled and 
hurt eyes, then turned and dashed down the path back to the house, 
crying all the way.
	<Damn you!> Milodon cursed to himself. <Now look what you've done. 
You idiot. Now you'll never be able to tell her how you feel.> Angrily, 
Trinth strode over to the edge of the clearing where his tunic lay 
neatly folded. Out of the corner of his eye,  he saw some branches 
rustle strangely. They seemed to move along a line of travel. Trinth 
smirked to himself and leapt into the trees to pursue the movement. He 
jumped from tree to tree as a squirrel would. Eventually he caught the 
one who had caused thie disturbance.
	"Well Yosho, I never took you for the type to be a voyeur." Trinth 
said haughtilly.
	"I never could hide from you, old friend." The elder Shinto priest 
spoke.
	"Yosho. There is no need for your disguise between old comrades 
such as us."
	"True, very true." A blue light emanated from Yosho's body, 
causing the years to melt from his visage, revealing the young man that 
had been Trinth's partner so long ago. "Satisfied, old friend?" 
	"Quite. Now why were you watching me?" 
	"I take it as my responsibilty to protect the young ladies who 
dwell here. That clearing is Mihoshi's refuge from daily life. When I 
found that you were there, I became concerned for the girl." 
	"Surely you jest, old friend." Trinth said incredulously, pacing 
madly. "You believe that my habits from centuries ago still persist? You 
cannot be serious, Yosho."
	"Trinth. Let us be reasonable. Your past record has been less than 
admirable.  I do not want any 'unpleasantries' occuring between you and 
the women here." Yosho said to his increasingly irritated friend.
	"Do you even realize why I returned to Earth?" Trinth's voice rose 
sharply. "I came to find what you found. I can no longer roam the galaxy 
aimlessly alone. I find that now I desire something more fufilling then 
the women I've had in the past. I want to find someone who I can always 
return to. I want someone at home, waiting for me, breathing life into 
the tomb-like halls of the Milodon Palace with her charm and youthful 
wonder."
	Yosho pondered Trinth's response for a moment. This was not what 
he had expected from his old comrade. Trinth had always had that aura of 
youth about him. Now it seemed that time had caught up with the Calab. 
	"I seem to recall the last time you pursued a serious 
relationship. That time you were lucky to be with an understanding 
partner. If you are considering the girl I surmise you to be, you will 
not be so lucky."
	This was more than Trinth could take. 
	"How DARE you bring Tsunami into this equation?!" Trinth demanded. 
"That was over four-hundred years ago. I was foolish then. You are 
right, Tsunami did understand why our romance fell through. That's why I 
still breathe. If I had been half as knowing of myself then as I am now, 
she and I would have united upon the temporal plain where she dwells in 
all of her majesty. Nowadays, though, I find that a slightly less 
surreal, yet equally beautiful and charming woman has captured my 
heart."
	"I noticed this." Yosho mused "Mihoshi is a fine girl, but you are 
a bit much for her. She is still young in both heart and mind. Still 
innocent. Unspoiled by the corrupting forces of greed, lust and death. 
Have you forgotten your role in this universe, Trinth?"
	"Yosho," Trinth said quietly, "that very innocence, that youth is 
what endears a battle weary warrior such as I to her. My soul cries for 
someone to care for me regardless of the deeds I've done or the glories 
I've received. I long for a simple love. A simple caring heart to heal 
my own. I know well the misery I've caused. Even as I've followed the 
Code, I still have killed, still have indulged, and still have been 
driven by material want. That has changed, and I want to severe the 
final tie to that life of gluttony that is my unspoken past."
	<He's serious about this all.> Yosho thought in astonishment. 
"Trinth, I believe you may have changed. However, please be careful. 
Mihoshi is far different from the floozies you charmed in your earlier 
years."   
	"You needn't worry about that. I have events under control." 
Trinth said with finality. Yosho nodded in acknoweledgement and turned 
to walk back to the Shrine. Trinth went off in the opposite direction. 
Soon he arrived at the shore of Funaho's lake. He gazed to the tree in 
the center of the water. 
	"Funaho how goes everything?" He called to the tree. Her branches 
began to light with beams of energy. Trinth smiled as he watched the 
Juraiin ship's form of communication. "I'm glad to hear that you're 
happy here on Earth." More lights twinled and flashed. "Someone wants to 
speak with me?" A single beam flashed. "I see. Let them come to me 
then." The knight said smugly. A blue beam of energy shot from the trunk 
of Funaho, telepoting Trinth from the shore of the lake onto the bridge 
of an all too familiar ship. 
	"Trinth Milodon." A bemused, ethereal voice called out. "How many 
years has it been lovey?" 
	"Tsunami. You never were to subtle in getting what you want, were 
you?" Trinth replied wittily. 
	The goddess released a small laugh. "When you're a goddess, you 
shouldn't have to wait."
	The reunited couple chucked at this remark. Trinth looked upon his 
old lover. She was as beautiful as ever. Still the very model of grace 
and loveliness. 
	"It's good to see I still please you, Trinth." She said.
	"Reading my thoughts as usual, Tsunami?" 
	"Yes I am. I see they dwell upon the young detective Mihoshi. I 
must say, she is a worthy successor to me. That is, if it's meant to 
be."
	"Cryptic as ever." The Calab sighed, exasperated at his ex's 
interest in his current pursuits. "I suppose that you didn't just summon 
me here to reminisce."
	"Quite right." Tsunami motioned for Trinth to sit down. He took a 
seat as she knelt down to make direct eye contact with him. "Trinth, I 
need to ask a tremendous favor of you. One that greatly effects the 
future. I would not even ask you unless it was totally necessary."
	"What is it you need of me?"
	"There will soon come a decision you must make that, if you choose 
correctly, will set into motion a chain of events that will bring about 
a grand era of prosperity and happiness within the Galactic Empire."
	"What is this decision you speak of? Just tell me what I need to 
do and it shall be done."
	"I can't do that, knight of Calaban. For if you knew of the chain 
of events that would occur after the proper decision is made, you would 
never undergo the necessary follow-through actions. All I can tell you 
is that you must act upon what your heart tells you is proper. If you do 
so, all will be right within the universe."
	Trinth contemplated Tsunami's proposal. It was incredibly rare for 
her to directly intervene in the chain of time. This was a serious 
matter if she was doing so.
	"I agree, Tsunami. For you, and for the sake of generations to 
come, I shall act upon the whim of my heart rather than the reasoning of 
my mind so that the future may progress as you forsee it."
	"I thank you, my eternal knight. If there is anything I can do to 
help you, just say my prayer. I'll do as much as I can to assist you." 
With that the bridge of the Lighthawk began to dissolve from around 
Trinth. He soon found himself in his own room. He turned to the bay 
windows at his room's edge. He gazed out towards the Masaki house and 
thought of the goden-haired angel sleeping within it. 
	"May the Falcon's wings shelter you in the deep of the night, my 
love."


Author's Notes: How about this for a lot of wild plot twists, ne? This 
was the most difficult of all the parts/sub-parts to write. I went 
through three versions before I came up with this one. I'd like to thank 
my good friend Celticmyst13 for giving me the idea for the first big 
event in this part. It is his fault that I had to rewrite it the first 
time because the idea was so bloody good.