Cancer For one month Mirna was not able to move. Since Draco was the only one who could use the black room fluently, he kept an eye on her business as well house sitting. While doing this he had the chance to meet the dragon king. Draco would not disclose Aquarius’ location, though informed the dragon king that she was doing well. And should be back on her feet in less than two months. Ashur was the only one who was not satisfied with the turn of events. Draco made a few points that brought down Ashur's temper. The biggest factor was that being at the house was not the safest place for Aqua. Not everyone had been captured, many fled the location to locations unknown. What we all knew was Chaos was not our foe. As with Pirapancam, we treated the dragon king the same along with his hatchlings. Between Fay and Mirna, we were able to stop ninety five percent of the attempted kidnappings and killings. Our numbers increased with recruits, but the attacks were every day several of them at a time. The Constellation started to refer to Mirna as Aquarius, even if the Zodiac council did not vote her in, the Constellation adopted her … against her wishes and protest. After seven weeks of bed rest Aquarius would not stay in bed demanding that she be able to do light duty work. She was able to gather information faster than all of us, Fay was called on to back up Aqua’s claims. Navigating the system, Aqua was fast to organize and sent the appropriate personnel out to deal with issues. There was not one issue that she was not ready to tackle. With all of us working together we were starting to function more like a small society within a large system, versus an unorganized group. When anyone would praise Aquarius for her leadership, she would be quick to remind them that I was the one who kept everyone safe and I should not be disregarded. Heading into the tenth week Aqua was begging to get back to training. I could see it in her eyes that she wanted revenge more than any of us. Yet Jennifer would not give our little queen the green light to get back in the ring. She ordered Aquarius to remain on light duties for a whole four months, to ensure that her wound was fully healed. With her ability to heal nicely, it did not mean that one hit to the side would not be life threatening. I tried to explain to Aqua that we just found our queen. We were not ready to lose her prematurely due to stupidity. Trying to reason with an educated pistol whip is like pulling out my wisdom teeth.I had to play dirty to get our little spirited queen to see reason, I used the orphans that we found. Aquarius was hard as nails but when it came to the wee children, Aqua melted into a puddle of water for them. Pointing out that if it were not for her, the children would never have been found until they were heading into puberty. The children needed all of our strongest fighters and thinkers in the best shape. If Aqua had gone into the fighting ring and got hurt, that could place the children in danger. Something I knew she did not want to see happen. “We need to make sure this fits!” For over a year now Draco and my son have been working on armour that fits under our clothing. Thin enough that it is not seen, strong enough that a bullet can not penetrate it. After several failures, Aqua was going to be the first to try on our new armoury. “Black Iron!” Pisces gave the mettle a name as he handed the armoury to Aqua. The second the mettle touched Aquarius’ skin, it moulded to her like a glove. “This will feel like an extra layer of skin. The spell casted on this will focus a lot more on the vital organs and less on your limbs.” Pisces began to tell Aquarius. “This armour is not full proof, so if someone snaps your neck … well your are dead.” “Translation, do not allow anyone closer than arm's length! Got it!” Aqua hit the armour. “If anyone throws a dagger, it will slide off the armour. Anyone aiming a gun at you, the bullet will ricashad off of you. Though I would not be surprised if you go flying backwards.” I added to the conversation. “It will also not protect you from any spells that are casted your way, so do not get too cocky! There are still issues we are having to make this one hundred percent foolproof.” Aquarius placed her clothing over the armour, “If you think about it, it is full proof. As in the fighters skills, plus this … it is the best combination there is! We just have to stay ahead of the spell casters. Or at least integrate spell casters into our fighting style. Then we are even more successful!” Draco plus several other Constellations snorted in disagreement, “majority of the spell casters are female, with wee little ones to care for. It is bad enough that their fathers may not come back to them. For both parents to sacrifice their lives is out of the question.” For the longest time, Aqua has been saying we need to train the mages and other magical, especially the individuals that specialized in manifesting their energy or summoning the elements with only a thought. For those who were more aggressive in nature, this was the best idea that had been brought to the table. For individuals like myself, this had a lot of risks involved. It was not that I did not see the advantages of this strategy. I just know when it comes to war, there will be more destruction and death first before there is anything else. I tried to take this to a vote as I always do when a tough situation comes up. Always the majority would be what we would do.Aquarius made it clear she would not take this to a vote. As she put it, this was not a council's decision to make. Those who were willing to fight for everyone's survival should have a say. It was our responsibility to open the doors up for opportunity, it was the others to decide if they wanted to join or not! As I had predicted many of the species had more concern than anything. The children on the other hand were the first to step up to the plate. Aqua was not ignorant of the parent's and elders' concerns. Each issue was addressed promptly. Aquarius made it clear that there were guidelines that each recruit had to pass first. Before they would be accepted as part of the army. She even went as far as adding healers into the fold. Something that she did not discuss with us. As she was speaking to the people I could smell how the people trusted her. She was transparent and answered their questions one at a time. Not only was Aqua building an army she was bringing everyone together. The magical community and hybrids were joining forces like no one had seen since the last purge. “Father, we have a queen without a crown!” My son whispered in my ear. The next thing Aquarius suggested was that the children from the ages of four and sixteen, with parental or guardian approval learn basic defence training and strategy techniques to avoid being captured. The crowd glanced back and forth from each other. I was sure that now the people would scream no. To Aquarius’ relief, the parents agreed with this idea. As Aqua put it, our survival depends on education and understanding. Our success rate will increase if everyone young and old, male and female, have the skill of defence and running.