Today Master Clow told me the purpose of my creation. It is an important duty. I will not fail.

It took Clow a full week to fully replenish his energies after Yue's 'birth'.

In the days while Clow recuperated, Yue spent his mornings gaining a pleasing competence in the art of flight. It wasn't long before he was attempting progressively complicated aerial acrobatics. Clow, nervous at first but recognizing the merits of practice, allowed this with a reluctance that he attempted to scoff at himself for. It was quite unneeded, however, as Yue was careful never again to sustain injury to himself.

Afternoons and nights, the Moon Guardian whiled away the time in the library. He exhibited, to Clow's amusement, a fascination with Clow's collection of romance novels, particularly contemporary hits that Clow had taken to reading during the stressful last decades.

"Do you take a liking to Mr. Heathcliff?" Clow asked him one day, watching his creation in his cool-eyed study of Wuthering Heights.

"I prefer Mr. Darcy, I think," Yue replied quite seriously. "Mr. Heathcliff is much too frivolous." The poor Moon Guardian could not understand why his Master laughed so hard.

It was a slightly drizzly day when Clow called Yue into his lab to explain to him the purpose of his being.

"These are the plans for my Clow Cards," Clow siad, showing Yue the pile of meticulous notes he had contructed for his nineteen magical Cards.

"Clow Cards?" Yue asked, frowning at the Tarot-reading notes for Jump.

"I thought 'Read Cards' just didn't have the same ring," Clow commented, relishing the look of utter bafflement on Yue's face before going on to say, "Well, that's not important right now." Yue nodded, looking just a little put out, which amused Clow as well. Indeed, there wasn't much about his creation yet that failed to divert him.

"You know what talismans are?" As expected, Yue nodded in affirmation. In addition to romance novels, Clow had seen Yue paging through various magical texts - literacy in the fairly complex script of magic having been imprinted on Yue at creation.

"The Cards will be something like talismans - inasmuch as they will be spells that must be invoked. They will be bound to my magic so that only I or one sharing my magical signature may use them."

"And will I?"

"In extreme cases, you and one other will be able to use their primary power. At all times, you two will be able to use their secondary powers."

Yue, who had been tracing with one long forefinger the casting diagram for Thunder, snapped to attention. "One other?" he repeated.

"Yes, there will be one other to balance you, a Sun Guardian to your Moon."

"I am unbalanced," Yue followed, with the veiled asperity that Clow was becomming accustomed to hiding his smiles at.

"You are well-balanced," Clow corrected. "Otherwise, you would surely have ceased to exist by now." Indeed, Clow had taken the utmost care to balance his creation's magical energies and physical attributes both.

As a boy, Clow had once created a small turtle-like creature based on an illustration from one of his fantasy books. Magical energy it had drawn from the earth, but the balance connecting magic use and its physical body had been flawed and it had expired in less than a day. His mother had been quite severe with him about the incident. His father, who, although also a wizard, did not come from a family as steeped in a history of magic as his mother, had comforted him with a French Spaniel puppy.

"Then why is this other being needed?"

The petulant question was as surprising as it was amusing. To Clow, it had been a given from the start that there would be two Guardians. He had never imagined Yue taking exception to it. He had to gather his thoughts before replying.

"In all things, there must be balance. Levers, for instance, are balanced to minimize the force required. The rhythm of day and night regulates our natural lives. You have read enough to understand that magic is no exception, especially Eastern magic, which is founded on the Yin and Yang.

"Since my magic is itself a balance of Eastern and Western magic, it is imperative to have a balance in each instance if one hopes for permanence. Therefore, where there is one, there must be a counterpart. Do you understand?"

Yue nodded, but did not look fully persuaded.

"Besides which," Clow added, just to see his Moon Guardian's reaction, "I wish there to be another. Is that not reason enough?"

It was a long moment before Yue lowered his violet eyes. "Yes, Master. Of course."

Now, that was interesting. Clow had rather expected an argument. It seemed that either Yue's servility was strengthening, or else that Yue had developed a bit of self-doubt. Clow rather hoped it was the latter, as it was much more correctable - and rather more fun.

To assist in the task, there will be one other. 'A Sun Guardian to my Moon.'

Clow spent several hours showing off his plans for the Clow Cards to his rapt audience of one. He explained each card's characteristics, usage, and place in the hierarchy of power, the effect of each elemental card against the other, the categorization of Sun and Moon cards... Here, Yue pursed his lips but made no comment.

Lastly, Clow explained the power of tarot reading. Yue, who had not yet learned about tarot cards, showed some interest.

"The future is not something to dabble with unnecessarily, however," Clow warned. "Despite what one may think, seeing the future is as much a curse as a power."

Yue nodded sagely. "Just as Macbeth sought his ambitions only after gaining the knowledge of his future, yet he was defeated because he saw only a small part of it."

Clow smiled, even as he reminded himself to show Yue some history texts. Shakespeare was a wonderful study of human nature, but it would hardly do for Yue to live forever in the world of fiction.

"You can See the future, can you not?"

Clow nodded, unsurprised that Yue knew. His creation knew best of all the extent of Clow's power. He would have learned from A Brief History of Magicians, which he had been studing yesterday, that most powerful magicians developed clairvoyance.

Clow had had it nearly his entire life.

He must have let his feelings show more than he wished, because Yue asked him, "Does Seeing the future hurt you, Master Clow?" Clow was surprised and touched by the question.

"Sometimes it can't be helped." He had learned to become accustomed to it. He had studied magic avidly since he was a small child. All the great magicians suffered from the consequences of Sight, though, as Clow was dismayed to discover, none as acutely as himself. He had had to teach himself to forget what upset him, and not to rely on what brought him overconfidence.

He had learned to seek out and study the unpredictablility of life itself.

"Have you ever been glad for it?" Yue queried.

Looking at Yue's faintly frowning face, Clow recalled the first vague image of himself, flanked by two beings whom he knew in his heart would belong to him more than anything else in the world. He thought about how that remembered glow of peace and cherishment had led him (carefully, though, so carefully lest he ruin it all) down his current path.

"Yes," he replied softly. He had to turn back to the Cards then, before his emotion could overwhelm him. You are getting old and sentimental, he chided himself, half-mockingly.

He noticed Yue lingering on two images, twin shapely women with eyes closed and auras of unmistakable mystery. They were modelled on Clow's mother as he remembered her, at the height of her youth and power. He smiled and pointed first to the one with long, luxuriously straight hair. "That one is Dark," he informed his Moon Guardian. "She is yours."

Yue, as usual, did not show any change in expression. However, Clow thought the tilt of his head and the slight straightening of his shoulders a bit smug. "The other one," he said, pointing to the woman with bright rays of tresses fanning around her, "is Light. She is the Sun Guardian's." Seeing Yue's expression, he couldn't help but add, "His name will be Cereberus."

His name will be Cereberus, Master Clow says. I do not like this name at all.

Clow watched Yue's journal-writing with an appraising eye. He detected the smallest of wrinkles above the concentrated violet gaze as Yue worked to set his thoughts to paper. While Clow had impressed his mind with the ability to write, Yue needed the practice. Clow had hit upon the idea of a journal as the perfect way for both writing practice and a way to find out what his taciturn Moon Guardian thought about all day.

On the night of Yue's creation, Clow had presented him with a notebook and a quill pen and ink and asked him to write a daily entry regarding his thoughts of the day.

"Will you read it?" Yue had asked.

"I imagine that I will," Clow had answered quite truthfully. He had always had a curious and - as he was honest with himself, he would say - a prying mind. He saw no reason to hide this from his own creation. He also saw no reason not to pry into the affairs of a being whose existence depended upon himself.

"How much shall I write?"

"As much as you feel like. Just a few sentences is fine."

Yue had nodded and set to work. However, being apparently a very literal creature - or at least a very non-expressive one - he usually wrote no more than a few sentences a day. And invariably before bedtime.

Clow would be very interested to see what his creation said tonight.

I wonder.

(To Be Continued...)