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Cybele sat down carefully on the branch, and then sank into the water. Jada did she same thing, when she wasn't sure how a pool might be, or when edging herself into the water at a beach. But here, on Scylla- she just jumped.

When the Senshi of the Hunt rose from the waters, she was BEAMING, and Scylla couldn't help but give a short, joyful laugh in reply. She hardly knew the other woman, but at the same time... felt like she had known her for years. Ten out of ten, good girl, would protect.

She splashed water lightly at the other senshi, grinning, her skin dark in the glowing water. "There are definitely archaeological hints, but it's more than that." Pursing her lips and sucking on her teeth, she tried to frame an answer.

"I've been a senshi for a long time," Scylla said after a moment, swirling her hand through the waters. "When I come here, sometimes I... remember things. About who I was, before. Never anything large, not really. I didn't remember how to use Andromache's sword, or fully the way that she- I- died. But sometimes I'll be walking through a hallway, and I'll remember the laughter of my wives. I'll remember battling on this shore, or looking out a window I'll see the past, for just a moment. A flicker of a memory of the way the world used to be. Things can be pieced together. I have bits and pieces of an old religion, shards and shreds of ancient rituals, I remember names or faces of my wives, warriors who fought beside me. Some of them died for me, some of them actually loved me."

Letting her body float, Scylla leaned back. "It's years and years of shards and shreds of memory. I just wish it was more useful to everything, you know? Not just... here."

Is that a normal thing, Cybele asked, and Scylla glanced over to her. "I... wouldn't say it's normal?" she said after a moment, and remembered the way Cybele had asked her if Jada knew her. "I don't think I'm the only one getting them," she said after a moment, considering back over the... years. "Some of the knights get them. I've been collecting bits and pieces over the years. Even when I wasn't in Destiny City, I would power up just long enough to go 'home' as it were. I've collected a lot of little things. None of it concrete enough to read the writing or truly speak the language, but... enough."

A glance at Cybele had her add- "All of it from when my homeworld was whole, for me. I haven't remembered much about how I... died. I know it wasn't in-fighting, which is nice. But not all of it is pleasant. Some of it... hurt. Even before I transcended. That was just my world. But the memories that came helped me learn to love it. I remembered... this."

She swirled her hand through the water. "It brings peace. Doesn't stop me from being scared, but when I worry, and fret, Scylla is there. Something bigger than myself, arms to catch me when I fall. A reminder of who I want to be- who I am meant to be."

She'd suspected as much, but to hear Cybele confirm it brought the tightness of pity to Scylla's chest. "We might be able to trace some of it back, you know. Who you were? It can't restore family lost, but maybe some photos could be found. Something to hold to, so you can remember you were loved. And you are loved. You have your new sister, and you'll make new friends, and chosen family. You'll be able to forge a new relationship with your homeworld."

Scylla turned her gaze to follow Cybele's, gazing over to the temple in the distance. "Ah, yes." her smile brightened, her attention moving to less emotional pursuits. "Andromache had fifteen wives- that I remember, anyways. As Scylla, she would have never taken a husband, though some of her wives could have been male. It's... easier for me to use the terms wife and husband to explain the mechanics of the relationship, patriarchal as it seems. The wives were the protected. Husbands were the protectors. Scylla could never be seen in a protected, submissive role. Ever. Two of the wives had been her brother's wives, and when she came back to Scylla she found them and brought them under her protection. Scylla was... well, you know the phrase 'keep what you kill'? If you killed them, you got everything that was theirs. Their gems, their spouses, their favored weapons, their children. Some of the wives were abused partners; she killed their husbands and brought them into her own home. Others were the wives of foolish sea-kings who challenged her power. She killed them, she took their family."

Ah, if only spouses were so easy to obtain Earth-side.

"Of course it would be hard to love someone who murdered someone you may have loved. Others sought families, which Andromache could not provide. So she turned a blind eye to lovers, or 'traded' their protection to the person of their choosing. Of the fifteen wives I can remember, around 40 children were born, and Andromache's job was to protect them all. I think only the one son was born to Andromache, a reminder of her time as a slave and the lover she'd left behind."

That didn't include the child that lay frozen with its mother, of course. Those were memories not remembered, and nor could she say if Andromache had ever risked carrying another child of her own past Solon and that unnamed fetus.

That was... fair. And lucky that Cybele had her old name, to try and get some of that closure. And the expression on Cybele's face... well. There were things to think about that wouldn't dredge up (the lack of) old memories.

"Very awkward," Scylla agreed, "Not the way I'd like to acquire marital partners in this lifetime. Especially since marrying for love has been all the rage for a couple hundred years now." Not that arranged marriages weren't still a thing- Szelem had been very determined to arrange suitable partners for her female children. Since marriage for love had worked fairly terribly for Szelem Montgomery.

She peeled off her heels, digging tanned toes into the sand. "Better to live with an unhappy wife than die. Most of the time Scylla was challenged by one of the chieftans- the Sea Kings- it was because they were in the way." Under her feet, Scylla could feel the drums, and the breathing; and she closed her eyes. All that they are is yours, Andromache. "Saba was the first King to challenge her that I remember. The Council was not pleased to have the Scylla return. Especially not Awakened. And a mother. They were greedy for violence and easy prey, and in her thought they could scent weakness."

Jada opened her eyes, flashing Cybele a feral smile. "Saba's wife was a beautiful girl who hated her as much as Andromache did. Kyma was at Andromache's side for many years after." Kyma had died on this beach, in battle.

"Fifteen unhappy wives would certainly make me reconsider that though, I think, though." Scylla shot back with a small giggle. "Andromache was a braver woman than I am. One unhappy partner, fine, but fifteen seems like an awful lot of grumpy."

Scylla led Cybele slowly through the abandoned village, letting her take in the vibrant cloth fluttering from windows, awnings Jada had repaired with her own hands over the years. white walls streaked with dirt and grime where Jada had scrubbed poorly or the planet's weather had begun to wear on the buildings again. "I am too. She deserved happiness. I just wish my predecessor had gotten more of it. But who has the perfect job, right?"

Cybele's next question made Scylla laugh, and it was tinkling, but also... sad. "Not married, no. Unless my work is my spouse. I am raising three kids- my mother left her youngest to me as Guardian when she died- and my own daughter. I work with my father, running a company, and I used to model, though I haven't in a little while. I haven't even been on a proper date since my daughter was born. I'm tempted to dip my toes into the dating pool, but... I doubt there's a lot of people who would appreciate my baggage." her lip curled in a wry smile.

"And however would we split my homeworld in the divorce?"

Jada laughed with delight as Cybele let our another giggle, and cracked a joke. "I think it worked the opposite," she said with a cheerful grin, "When I get exhausted I get angry and start hunting trouble. I like to imagine the extra wives and kids just made her fight harder. Gotta work your stress out somehow, you know." Jada smiled, shifting her weight. "My old team used to use their anger as fuel. When we were getting ready to fight, our leader would remind us of all the reasons we had to continue to struggle against the Negaverse. Dead friends. Dead family. Living lovers, living family, and keeping them safe. Anything we could think of that gave us a reason."

The homeworld is yours, Cybele commented, and Scylla looked around at it- at the evidence of years of hating it, loving it, and trying to restore it- and smiled. "It is mine. I told it I hated it a hundred times, and it's still here. It still let me become who I am now, still gives me its power. It waited for me to be ready, and here we are."

But the idea of dating... "Being alone is hard." She said it lightly. "I miss... human touch. Just hugging, someone holding me. Kids are one thing, but the touch of a friend- not even a lover. I was such a romantic when I was younger, and it's hard to give up on that. But one of my siblings is a chibi, and I'm a senshi, and my daughter's father is a senshi- his brother, too- and the thought that I could pick the wrong person to date and bring danger to my entire family... And most the senshi I know are taken. Or gay. Or both. Or ace. There's my ex, but it's.... complicated. And he deserves better than to have some part of me wondering if I settled from lonely desperation."

"No," Scylla agreed, "I imagine it would not, or at the least it would get very corrosive to burn after a while. Ashes of rage clogging your chimneys, so to speak." And perhaps that was what had led some to chaos. "I never thought of my fights as fighting to die, but fighting... without caring if I lived. I have money, of course, but that's a cold bed to lay in. Literally and figuratively. I doubt she..." Scylla's voice choked in her throat, thinking of the things she knew. "She had something to live for. And so now do I. It hasn't made me stronger, but I feel like... it has made me braver. If I want them to live in a better world, I need to be willing to build it with my own hands. And while I need to be prepared to pay the cost for it, it will be a sad victory if I don't get to see them living in the world I help make."

Cybele's arm slung over her shoulders and the senshi of The Kraken gave a small jump of surprise, then smiled. A comrade- how nice.

"There was..." she inhaled. "Years ago, there was this... mass hallucination, I guess. Or visions. Of this... dystopian future, where the Negaverse won. And my father was one of them. They had taken him, because of his business acumen and our social connections. It's thrown a wedge in there, because I fear what will happen if he finds out. And he's been taken. I have siblings. A daughter. I'd rather not know and worry, than risk losing my father. Risk losing myself. But the fear holding me back from telling him, I just..." she shrugged. "My siblings all know about me. My daughter doesn't, but she is nearing the age where she could be awakened, and I'm afraid of it."

Her nose wrinkled. "All that to say, I want someone I can trust. Who knows my most important secret, and won't judge me for my fears. A relationship built on doubt and secrets isn't something I can tolerate."

Scylla's lips curved in a warm, mischievous grin. "You set me up a blind date," she promised with a laugh, "And I will be there."