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“It’s supposed to be this way,” said Naeria, glancing at the article she had downloaded onto her ComTech from the Earth Internet. It featured a messily drawn circle over a part of the official map of the reservoir, which, best she could tell, they were drawing near.

“Do you see anything?” she asked Andreyia. Looking up from the trail, she didn’t immediately see signs of the caves that were meant to be in the area, but that might be a good thing. The more visible places like this were, the more likely humans would come vandalize them.


She’d taken a tour of a cavern once, wondering what species Earth might be hiding underground. The whole time she’d been blinded by artificial lights, and told to look at stalactites that were covered in algae that was never meant to be there. The small holes she found in the woods sometimes, while not as grand, were much better, and she hoped that this might be similar.

Especially since it seemed to hold rare caterpillar species.

Summer was not Naeria's favorite season, but she was used to the sun and the heat and the insects, since she spent so much time outside to work on her research. She had good hiking boots and good sunscreen.

Andreyia, on the other hand, was showing signs of fatigue. Getting into the cave and away from the sun would reduce the strain on him, so she turned away from her screen, which was not giving her much new information, and back towards the surrounding area.

"The trail is coming back towards the shore here," she noted. There wasn't a beach here, like the one they'd had to walk past before being able to access the woods, but if she listened, she could hear the soft lapping of water, and she could see the glimmer of reflected water through the trees.

She stepped off the path and closer to the water, expertly sidestepping some brambles while also taking care not to damage any of the nearby ferns that were thriving in this moist, shaded environment. From here, she had a better vantage point.

"That appears promising," she said, pointing towards where she could see a rock formation jutting right up against the edge of the reservoir.

"We can stay as long as you would like to," said Naeria, who did not want her friend to wither up like a caterpillar just because of some sunshine. She felt awful for the insects that the humans had tried to move, against their will. Of course she wouldn't try any such thing, which meant that they would need to study them in their on habitat, which would take most of the afternoon anyway.

"Do you need water?" she asked, glancing over to him and hoping he was taking care of himself. She did hope that his equipment would turn out to be useful, but he seemed so uncomfortable. "I think I see the entrance," she added as she stepped around a few more trees, looking at where the rocks seemed to open up into the earth.

Once they were in there, they could sit down for a while. She started to walk faster even as the sweat started to bead on her own face, wanting to get out of the weather as quickly as she could for him.

"I'm starting to think that Earth starts at the end of Destiny City," she told him. "The concrete and the skyscrapers are more lifeless than even Velencya."

Naeria considered what he said about the humans for a long moment as she stepped into the cave, bringing out a flashlight to shine on the walls as they began to pass into the shadows.

"Humans are difficult to predict," she said, after that long moment. "And they are wrong about many things, but they can also be, um, kind?" There were a few among them that Naeria would call friends. "But all that can change in a second. They are volatile. Maybe it is because they barely live long enough to stop being children?"

They acted young with their wastefulness, and their tantrums.

A place like this, though, felt ancient. It felt quiet. It was cool, which would hopefully be of help to Andreyia. Naeria went silent for a moment, just breathing in the cool air.

Then she steppe forwards again, pointing towards where she could see a hint of a glow on the wall.

"I miss home, too," said Naeria, even as the soft glow of the bioluminescent caterpillars brought a true smile to her face, in the middle of that cave in the middle of Earth.

Then she hesitated, because this was one of the deep thoughts that she did not often speak, but this was only Andreyia she was with. They were deep underground, where no one else could hear them.

"But I also wonder, if Velencya is dying, and some of the senshi are having success with reviving their worlds," she paused, "Is there not somewhere else we can live?"

It wasn't the ideal solution, but it made more sense to the logical part of her mind than trying to fix such a huge energy crisis with their small research projects, or than to try to hunt Caedus on the hope that his starseed would fix their problems.

"But a plan like that would need a lot of alliances, and those are difficult, as you say. There is the one human who I spend several hours a week with. I like her, but," there was bafflement and slight anguish on her face as she said, "She also purchased me a horse."

She'd made the most of the situation, and was happy to have Portabella as a friend and teacher, but it was still something she had a hard time processing.

"We still have a chance to save Velencya," said Naeria, quickly, because that was the ideal, wasn't it? She didn't want her friends to have to choose between their cultures and their lives, between one of their leaders and the other. "And I am going to work hard for that, too."

If she was supposed to be thinking practically, though, she did not want to be without a backup plan. There was overlap, too. They woul need resources and support from other worlds if Velencya was going to survive.

The insects were as beautiful as she had been hoping they would be.

She stopped by them, sucked in her breath, watching the soft glow of their bodies which reflected in their large eyes.

"Things like this, they do give me some hope," she admitted. "There is so much that we have still not discovered."