"I believe we may finally have gotten through to some of them, Storm. I think we can be proud of what we accomplished this time. We may have gained another advocate for mutants' rights."

"I agree, Cyclops. It was a journey was well made."

The last thing Scott Summers expected to see as he and Ororo walked into the kitchen was a strange young woman wearing jeans and a sweat shirt asleep at the table, a still-hot cup of cocoa beside her head. "Excuse me?" Scott inquired politely. There was no response.

"Excuse me!" He tried louder this time.

Her head snapped up and she glared at him acidly. "I heard you the first time, Cyke."

"Who are you?"

"Celeste. I'm staying here as Charles's guest for a few days. How did it go in Kiev?"

"It went better than I...uh, it went well, actually."

"Never admit something went less than perfectly, hmm?"

"Right."

Scott stared at her for a moment, taking in the full measure of her petite loveliness, completely unprepared when she snapped at him like a harpy. "Well, don't just stand there, you idiot, go find your wife. She missed you."

The tone of absolute command in her dulcet voice crushed his free will, and he obeyed her order as though it had come from the Almighty.

Ororo shook her head at Scott's quick obedience and turned back to Celeste. The girl inclined her head regally, which seemed totally incongruent with her appearance.

"How long will you be staying with us, Celeste?"

She replied vaguely, reminiscent of Wolverine. "As long as it takes, Ororo." She stared out the window a moment before meeting the other woman's eyes. "As long as it takes."

A week later, "as long as it takes" was too long, as far as Callie was concerned. Hank noticed that Callie had developed some kind of selective nervous disorder. The rest of them had noticed that Celeste was awfully jumpy when Logan was around. She was developing an absurdly adolescent habit of blushing if he so much as looked at her.

Celeste spent the day as she usually did; wandering the grounds, talking with whoever she happened upon. She and Rogue spent a lot of time together, and it was she Callie ran to with the problem of the day. "I think I'm in love!" Callie wailed, not so loudly that anyone with preternatural senses would be able to hear.

"Ah was wonderin' when y' would get around to that."

"Then you knew?"

"Any woman whose ever been in love can see th' signs in somebody else, sugah." She paused, "An' believe me, sugah, Ah know what it's like."

"What am I supposed to do?!"

"Go to him, sugah, he'll know where to go from there."

Celeste nodded absently and drifted across the grounds to sit on a rock beside the lake. Rogue couldn't know that she'd already tried telling him how she felt once. Callie yelped as her heart constricted in her chest, stretching flat against her ribs. She took a desperate breath and forced herself back to the day , almost a hundred years ago now, when she had met a short, belligerent eighteen-year-old who didn't take no for an answer and didn't know how to back down from anything.

. . ."Why, Mother?" Sixteen-year-old Celeste whined to the statuesque blonde who might have belonged in any fashion magazine, except for her blue-green streaked hair and the unicorn standing patiently behind her. "Why must we leave the palace? Why must we go to this 'Canada'? I don't wanna. I wanna stay here with Jack."

"Stop whining, Daughter. A princess does not whine," Illyana paused to fold strange-looking garments and put them in a square satchel with metal seams that closed with a tiny silver tab. "We are going to this place because I would like you to experience something more than this world. This place is but one of a thousand, and someday you will have access to them all." Illyana glanced at her daughter to see her blandly inspecting her fingernails. She sighed. How was she ever to teach her daughter that which she would not listen to? She chose a topic she knew would infuriate the girl. "Besides, Celeste, you've been spending entirely too much time around that lecherous changeling, mooning over this 'Jack'. Why, it's-"

"I do not moon over him! He's my friend! At least he listens to me!"

Illyana rounded on her daughter, fury beginning to smolder within. "When the time is right you will have thousands to hang on your every word, millions to obey your every command!" She reached over to take Celeste by the shoulders and give her a vicious shake. "You must understand, Celeste! When you reach eighteen, you will cease to age. You will fear no weapon but one: the Sword of Charon. You will belong to the ages, and someday YOU WILL BE QUEEN!

"Jack will grow old and die and there will be nothing can do to stop it! Your only duties will be to uphold the will of those who have come before you, to serve Mother Earth, and to produce an heir!" Her mother's tirade ground to a resigned halt as she stared into her daughter's blank face. She released Celeste and calmly went back to packing.

"Do we have to go?" Celeste whined one last time.

"Yes. Now come here; I want to show you this clothing." She held up an odd scrap of white cloth. It had stretchy borders and three holes at the edges, one larger than the others. "This is called 'underwear'. You wear it beneath your clothing. Your legs go through these holes. . ."

"Mom? If you wear it beneath that other stuff. . ."

"Yes, darling?"

"Then do I have to wear it?"

"Celeste!"

Two weeks later, Celeste fled the Canadian village for the surrounding forests. Her mother was so unfair. All Illyana did was order her daughter around like a slave, make her learn French and English and a dozen other languages all at once. She claimed she'd need to know this stuff. Yeah. Right. Au revoir, Maman!

So lost was she in murderous thoughts of her tyrannical mother that she didn't identify the loud crashing sound as a rock slide coming from the ridge above until it was almost too late.

"Look out, stupid!" The hoarse shout reached her ears just as a heavy weight slammed into her from behind and she was rolled beneath the lip of the ledge. She lay with the heavy weight, now on top of her, and stared beyond the boy's shoulder as the rocks showered down on the path where she had just been standing. They waited in silence until it was over.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" He bellowed at her as soon as the forest had gone quiet again.

Celeste pushed angrily at him, and drew herself up, incensed at his disrespectful tone. "Do you know who you are talking to?" she clipped out icily.

"Ooooh, Princess, your tone just puts me in my place."

Celeste, who had never heard of sarcasm, nodded in satisfaction. "Good."

He looked at her strangely. "Darlin', you're not from around here, are you?"

Celeste shrugged and looked away. "Not really." She finally looked over at him and caught him staring at her. She returned the favor. He was short and muscular, dressed in a green fleece shirt and those denim pants things. He had a rugged face, with high, wide cheekbones and thick, shoulder-length black hair brushed back from his forehead. Finally she noticed three white rolls of paper sticking out of his pocket. "What are those?" She pointed.

"Cigarettes? Want one?" His brown eyes gleamed. "Bet you've never smoked before."

"What are they?"

"Tobacco," He pulled one out, and then fished a match-stick from his other pocket. He dragged the latter across the trunk of a nearby tree. When it turned to fire, he touched it to the tip of the white thing. Celeste shook her head at the general stupidity of humans. They figured out such complicated ways to get things done. She could have lit the white thing with her finger.

He handed one to her and lit his own. "Now put it between your lips and suck on it."

By imitating him, she managed to look quite capable. Until she sucked the smoke down into her lungs. While she coughed and gasped for a breath, he laughed at her. Of course, he was good enough to stop when he saw her expression. "Ugh. Why do you do that?"

He shrugged. "Because I can."

Celeste spent the entire afternoon with the boy, whose name was Logan, just proving that she could do it, too. Celeste later decided it was worth it when her mother looked up in horror to see her daughter swagger through the doorway, a cigarette stuck to her lip.

After that, Celeste spent every afternoon with Logan in the forest. He taught her how to identify animal tracks, build fires with two sticks, and once or twice he even indulged her in hide-and-seek.

The day he gave Celeste her first kiss, she decided she was going to marry Logan.

After two months' worth of afternoons with Logan, Celeste couldn't find him. She checked the path where he had saved her life, the glade, the trees he liked to climb. She looked everywhere, calling his name. It was on her second trip back to the glade the that she found him. He jumped her from behind and rolled on top of her. Celeste threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He kissed her lustily, which was just fine by Celeste. When he pulled back, he saw the blazing fury in her eyes. "You son of a bitch!" she bellowed, "I was scared I'd lost you!"

Logan ducked his head, honestly contrite. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, and felt some of the tension leave her body. He kissed her again, this time gently. "You mad?"

"A little." She growled and rolled over, so that she was on top. He wrapped his arms around her, and they kissed again. Celeste, too young to understand much of what was going on, let things happen as they would.

Until Logan slid her clothes off, mildly surprised to see she wasn't wearing underwear. She already had her hands under his shirt, the same one he had worn the day they met, intent on pulling it over his head. They touched each other, almost innocent in their exploration of each others' bodies. Logan slid his arms beneath her again, taking a moment to stare into her eyes. They were clear and purple and beautiful. He inhaled sharply as he felt himself stumble at the edge of some abyss. "I love you," she whispered, and he felt himself fall.

Three bone claws burst from each hand, cutting into her back as they extended. They were each a foot long, and they opened bloody slices in her back, all the way to the tops of her shoulders. She gasped, and her beautiful eyes clouded with pain.

He screamed and sprang away from her. Fear, shock, and disbelief were all evident in his eyes. He stared down at his hands, almost doubting that they belonged to him. She stood up quickly, oblivious to the dark blood pouring from her wounds. She walked calmly toward him, trying not to spook him. He shook his head, backing away from her, his hands held out to his sides. "No. No. No." He stopped his dumb recitation to look at her, standing three feet away, her hand held out. He focused on the trickle of blood running over her left shoulder. "I hurt you."

He looked down at his claws, his intent obvious in the hideous regret of his eyes. "No!" For the first time, Celeste used her powers. She poured her authority into that one perfect word.

Logan looked up, and the suicide was gone from his eyes. Celeste took his face in her hands, and opened his mind to her. "You would never forgive yourself if I let you keep this memory." She searched through his mind, and stole back all of his knowledge of her that she could find. Last, she took back the whole of that day. "You will remember your claws when the time is right." She shook him, and he focused on her face again. "Do you hear me? You will remember!"

Tears streamed down her face as she pulled on her clothing and left the forest for the last time, halfway home before she realized she clutched a wad of green fleece. . .

Celeste came back to herself with a cold rush of air. She lifted her head from her arms, staring across the black waters of the pond. Night had fallen in the hours she had spent drifting in the past, and the starlight gilded the tears on her face. She had checked up on him after that, every so often. By now, he had so many holes in his mind it was like Swiss cheese. He couldn't possibly know that she was the one who had told Heather and James Hudson where to find him, wandering in the forest after the infamous adamantium crisis. She had been the next student after Logan to study under Master Ogun, and she had had a ringside seat the day Logan defeated the leader of Clan Yashida.

Her muscles strained at each other, each tightening beyond their capabilities. Dimly, Celeste realized her body was feeding off her futile emotions and struggling to shift to animal form. She threw her head back and screamed. Winds churned the skies into a black abyss.

Those back at the mansion heard a lone wolf's cry, nearly lost in the fury of the Elements. Involuntarily, everyone glanced at Storm. She blinked back and shook her head. "It's not me."

Celeste stopped, sensing the barrier in front of her. The winds died to sporadic breezes, the sky cleared, and Callie's heart began to beat steadily once more.

"Bad day, darlin'?"

She sobbed and threw herself into his arms. She shook uncontrollably when they closed around her. "I love you," she sobbed, over and over, until he stilled her words with his lips.

They fought each other, trying to pull each others' clothes off simultaneously. Celeste hissed and yanked off his flannel shirt, not caring that several buttons popped off. She ripped his tee shirt from his body, almost taking his head with it. "Easy, darlin'," he chuckled, "I like my head where it is." He scooped her up and lay her on the grass. Apparently, he wasn't allowed a moment to look down at her, because she snarled and surged up to catch hold of his belt loops and pull him down on top of her.

He laughed at her angry impatience, pinning her wrists above her head with one hand.

Her legs were trapped between his, and still she squirmed under him. He smiled, and one claw burst from the back of his hand. She stilled, panting as she watched the solid length of bone slice through the thick cotton of her shirt and her jeans as if they were only air.

He used his lips and tongue to tease her, and she increased her desperate wiggling. She bucked her hips against his, by turns moaning his name and cursing him at the top of her lungs. Finally, she said the words he was waiting for. "Please, Logan, please!"

Her wrists were freed and she tugged on his zipper to reach inside and touch him. Logan gasped and closed his eyes, the image of her beneath him forever branded in his memory.

And then she stopped. He opened his eyes, certain he had just died. Until he saw her smiling placidly up at him, her arms crossed over her chest.

He growled, his hands closing over her hips. Her eyes widened, and she reached up to pull him against her, wrapping her arms and legs around him. She sank her teeth into his shoulder at the moment he thrust all the way inside. Logan paused long enough to let the spasm pass. He moved back enough to see her face. "Why didn't ya tell me?"

"Logan, I'm not a virgin...It's just been a real long time."

"Well, I mighta taken it a little slower if I thought-"

"Logan?" she interrupted in a strangled, reedy voice, "Can we talk about this later?" She moved her hips a fraction of an inch. "Weren't we in the middle of something?"

He laughed. "I guess so." He stopped laughing, though, when she pressed her lips to the hollow of his throat and began to move. Logan let the sensation sweep over him, unaware that he was laying there like a paralysis victim. "You know, this might go a little smoother if you'd help me."

Logan met her eyes and decided to do his best.

Storm, Jean, Scott, Rogue and Gambit stood clustered at the bay window in Charles's study. They stared out in stupefaction at the strange electrical storm outside. Suddenly, a blinding flash of white arced over them and stars flashed before their eyes. Jean puzzled aloud. "I wonder if this indicates mutant activity."

"No, Jean," Xavier said cryptically, "It's history in the making."

Sometime later, Celeste lay at Logan's side, and, as if in a trance, saw herself light his cigar with her finger. She rested her head on his shoulder and said nothing.

Logan stared up at the stars, accepting the fact that he loved her. She made him forget everything else. When she was with him, he forgot the other women, he forgot that he was more animal than human, he forgot that he couldn't even tell her simple things about himself, because he didn't know. He forgot he had ever met someone named Mariko.

He only remembered Celeste; her body, her face, her eyes.

Her eyes.

He looked down at her at some small movement she made. Her eyes, as he stared into them, faded back to a muted lavender. But they gleamed with the rainbow sheen of a soap bubble.

He focused on her lips when he realized she was talking, even then straining to hear the words.

". . .I love you. Je t' aime. Te amo. . ."

He fell asleep with a grin on his face.

"Logan! Wake up, ya dumb ox!" Logan woke up obediently. Celeste, looking vaguely hunted, was sitting on his chest, still naked.

"What's wrong, babe?"

"Oh, for God's sake, don't be cute. You're just trying to get into my pants again."

"Yer not wearin' any."

She poked a finger at him. "Exactly! How am I supposed to get back to my room? Gambit alone can sense a naked woman within a hundred mile radius."

"Just wear my shirt, darlin'."

She relaxed. "Oh. Well, still, they'll be able to tell we've been doing-uh, we've been-um."

She blushed furiously as he gazed innocently up at her.

"I think they all saw the Northern Lights last night, Callie. They'd 've guessed what's goin' on by now."

She looked down, embarrassed. "You noticed."

"Kinda hard not to notice a lightnin' bolt strikin' above yer head, darlin'."

"Sorry. I think that's part of the deal. If I'm really focused on something, I tend to project a lot of emotion. It messes with the Mother."

"The Mother?"

She nodded and explained while they pulled on their clothing. "Mother Earth. I'm the Princ- I serve the Animals, and my sister upholds the Pact of Plants." She looked up at him, hoping he would understand what she was about to say. "But to accept the covenant and take the power, I had to give something away."

He sighed and tipped her chin up. "What'd you let go?"

"Part of my humanity." He had expected any answer but that.

"Well. I only got one thing t'say." She hung her head, accepting the brush off that was coming.

"What?" she said quietly.

"We're perfect fer each other."

Her head jerked up, and she paused to judge his sincerity before throwing herself into his arms.