Story Quest 2: Meeting the Trinity

The Senshi clad in white and dark blue, Sailor Sapphire Swan, stood in  the glittering hallway and couldn't believe what she was witnessing.  This... all of this was real! This was really happening! She was indeed  standing in this... well, crystal hall, surrounded by other girls -  other Sailor Senshi - and there was a trio of graceful and - in case of  Sailor Amethyst Dragon - intimidating women, introducing themselves as  the Crystal Trinity. Unlike most of the girls gathered here, the members  of the trio displayed obvious traits of the animals or rather creatures  their name related to and were covered in clusters of the corresponding  gems. But aside from such obvious differences to the crowd before them,  they also had that certain aura of strength and leadership around them.  It was the way they spoke, they moved. Unlike the nervous newcomers,  those Senshi were not only fully aware of their powers, but also entrely  in tune with them. They welcomed the new arrivals and gave small  speeches, promising answers and some kind of evil rising. If this had  been a story or some kind of television show, Sanjica would have called  this kind of event an overused cliché. But.. well, now she was Sailor  Sapphire Swan and a part of all this and it didn't feel like an overused  plot arc at all. In fact, it felt exciting - save for the part about  the old evil that she was going to fight sooner or later. Yet, before  she was going to face it, there was surely enough time to become  stronger and, well, figure out what exactly her superpowers were. So  far, she only a faint idea what she could do - the only attack she had  mastered so far was called "Sapphire Rain" and was pretty much that. It  looked cool though, with a pair of translucent white wings emerging from  her back and flapping, thus creating the small blue objects that flew  towards the enemies, as if they were water droplets - painful,  supernatural water droplets. But that couldn't possibly be all there  was. There had to be more. There had also be an answer telling her why.  Why her. Why the swan. Why sapphires. Diamonds would make more sense,  seeing as they were white, like swans. Why the combination. Why her. Why  was there the trinity. Why did a place like this exist. What was the  old evil the scary dragon lady mentioned. What was that gibberish she  had muttered. Why were there computers in a place so strange and magical  and how could they have issues. Why were the other girls one by one  approaching the Trinity and given a rock. What was this hall of legends  and who were the women depicted in the statues. What-

Someone, maybe  Sailor Opal Spider, or maybe one of the other girls around her, poked  Sailor Sapphire Swan in the back. She blinked and looked around. A lot  of eyes were resting on her. It was just like those dreadful situations  in school, when she her mind had wandered off and the teacher had chosen  that moment to ask her something. This hadn't happened now, had it? Oh  please no...
The Trinity was looking at her and a familiar heat crept up her cheeks. So it had happened now. Great...
"Come again?", Sapphire Swan asked, trying to hide her nervousness.
"Step  forward, child", scary Amethyst Dragon repeated. Her tone didn't sound  unfriendly, but the white haired Senshi still feared she had managed to  annoy the leaders on the very first day in less than a minute. Slowly  she did as she was told, her footsteps clicking loudly on the ground.
"There's  no reason to be nervous", Sailor Moonstone Kirin assured her with a  smile, but it was unable to remove the tension that had befallen the  young girl. With stiff movement, she stepped up the dais on which the  Trinity waited.
She wanted to apologize for drifting off, for keeping  them wait, but at the same time she wasn't sure if she should speak at  all or wait until the others said something. What was the polite thing  to do? Oh god, why was she so awkward now? Usually she didn't behave  like that, usually she knew what to do and what to say. Yet, this whole  situation was everything but "usual".
A hand rested on her shoulder and Sailor Diamond Unicorn beamed at her.
"Relax, my dear."
This  was not helping, not helping at all. Sapphire Swan felt her nervousness  developing in fully fledged panic. She held her breath to contain her  inner turmoil, but seeing the three powerful, yet so welcoming (and  still intimidating) leaders, she lost it.
"Why?", she blurted out.

"What do you mean?", Diamond Unicorn asked friendly.
Overwhelmed by the amount of questions she had, Sapphire Swan waved her hand helplessly around.
"Why all of this? Why everything?", she tried to clarify.
Moonstone Kirin chuckled.
"All  questions will be answered, but now is not the time", Amethyst Dragon  answered. Of course. They had announced that earlier already.
"It's  okay to be confused. We all were in the beginning", Diamond Unicorn  said. Sapphire Swan tried to imagine a member of the Trinity blushing  and acting as weird as she had earlier. But her normally very vivid  imagination had to give up on this task.
"How about you get yourself  accustomed to this place? I'm sure some of your question will find  answers this way", Moonstone Kirin suggested. Sapphire Swan nodded  without a word - at first at least.
"What's with those stones?", she asked and immediately wanted to slap herself. To her surprise Amethyst Dragon smiled.
"That  is your task to find out", she replied and carefully handed one of the  stones to Sapphire Swan. It looked like an egg. Could it be a fossil  maybe?
"Take good care of it."
The stone egg was as heavy as it  looked, but maybe this was some sort of test? Or a strange way of  starting fitness training, who knew? After all, taking care of a rock  was not going to be too hard. As long as she didn't drop it, everything  should be okay.
"I'll do my best", Sapphire Swan answered and manages  to give the Trinity an assuring smile. She really wanted to be part of  all this and after her, well, flawed first impression, showing her  actual dedication was surely the best way to smooth things out.
The three leaders smiled at her.
"You'll  do great", Moonstone Kirin assured her and Sapphire Swan had the  feeling her time with the Trinity was up - at least for now. She smiled  at the Trinity again and left the dais. The name of a Senshi was  declared, but Sapphire Swan's mind refused to take notice. A girl she  hadn't met yet emerged from the crowd and climbed the dais to talk with  the Trinity and to received her stone - geode! The realisation hit her  as sudden as a lightning. Sapphire Swan was fairly sure she had heard  someone, probably Amethyst Dragon, calling these stone eggs geodes. That  didn't help much when it came to the taking care part of the task, but  using the right name was a start. Now she only had to figure out what to  do with that brownish-grey thing in her arms.