The passing of months had done little to temper the senshi of harpies’ fear of approaching the island. Harold’s presence electrifying the sky had provided an easy excuse to push the thought to the edge of her mind, a task for a nebulous future that might never come. In the wake of the cantankerous creature’s confinement she could no longer keep the Tower at bay. No amount of plumbing the depths of her mind could dredge up even the most tenuous justification for keeping her distance, no amount of telling herself she wasn’t ready to make the swim would make today’s gently lapping waves any more menacing. Tempesti ran an absentminded hand along the tightly wound braid that restrained her long hair before dropping her transformation, leaving her standing in the hydrodynamic suit she’d purchased for the occasion. Swimming against the unforgiving drag of her fuku was a less than ideal prospect. Even with the boost to her strength, she couldn’t help but find the thought terrifying. More terrifying.

Warmth enveloped her body as she entered the water, even without a wetsuit the bay was more inviting than she would have liked. It should have been forbidding, a more suitable match for the anxiety pushing the bile upward in her throat. She still didn’t have a firm grasp on the planet’s seasons, but the clear sky and simmering heat matched her imaginings of a Tempestine summer. Even the process of acclimating to the water’s temperature went far too quickly. An involuntary shudder stampeded through every nerve in her body, eyes locked on the Tower in the distance. With a final, deep inhale she propelled herself forward, allowing her body to take control and give her mind a break from its frantic rambling. In the deeper water, the bay was gentler than her psyche was willing to be, almost buoying her along with its currents. She tried not to think about what she was doing, tried even harder to push away the relative lifelessness of the water around her. With its warmth it should be riotous with the rhythms of life, explosive with flora and fauna alongside the small green tendrils that swayed beneath her. It was all Rowan could do to remind herself that the planet would awaken in its own time and though she couldn’t hurry it along, she wanted to do everything in her power to nurture what came forth.

The chop in the water caught her off guard as the island drew closer. It had been part of her plan, part of her research, but her wandering mind left her breathless and struggling against the formerly agreeable current. Panic set in as the waves buffeted her just out of reach of the rocky shoreline, panic at the helplessness, panic at the panic she knew could sink her just as easily as the surf. Then sand beneath her fingers, the slightest loosening of the knot in her chest as she hauled herself wet and bedraggled onto a jagged beach. The remains of what might have been a stone dock vanished and reappeared beneath the lapping waters.

Rising against the horizon, the Tower of the Winds stood starkly alone on the barren, rocky island. Tiered and elaborate, pale in an expanse of deep cloudless blue, its remaining spires reached skyward among sweeping arcs of once-golden metal. At the Tower’s apex she could make out some…structure…rendered in a battered gold that struggled to reflect the. A cold hand of terror crushed Rowan’s throat, trapping her breath before it could reach her lungs. She drew her henshin pen from her pocket, clutching it tightly to keep it from tumbling from her shaking hands into the sand below.

“Tempesti power, make-up!”

Shielded behind Sailor Tempesti, she clenched and unclenched her hands, dusted them unconsciously and uselessly on her skirt. There was no avoiding this now.