Welcome to Gaia! ::

It would be winter back on Earth before it was summer here? That seemed like a long time for crossing from the asteroid belt just to Mars. It made sense logically, it was just that with how everything was, lately, it was easy to think that space was so much smaller than it was, that these asteroids weren't far from the sun at all. Technology made it so that she could hold the night sky on the screen of her phone. Magic let her go to the edge of the solar system with the whisperings of a few words.

But space was ever-expansive, and worlds took their time walking through their orbits.

It wasn't a bad thing, even if it made Pendour feel a little small. "That will be nice," she said. "When you're sick of winter, you can come somewhere warm as warm."

She let him get more bread, but afterwards she put the rest back in the bag before rising to her feet in a smooth motion, her excitement not having faded one bit.

"Yes," she said, completely serious. "I want to see the grass!"

Her gaze wandered then, from Encke and the garden to the line of buildings back in the direction they'd come from. Having time to build such technology usually had something to do with abundance. The other option was that the people here really were resilient as weeds, and likely resourceful, too.

"How far back can you remember?" she asked, since the one who was tied to the soul to this place was the one who was most likely to know for sure. "Do you know why people decided to build a city up here?"

Although, thinking about it, even a rocky comet was probably a little more forgiving than an endless sea.

Pendour's eyes went wider, not just with her usual space excitement, but also, now, with surprise. "Mercury?"

She was quick to follow as he started back, although she did wave goodbye to the garden plot as they walked. Then, her attention was all the way back on Encke. "Can you even come up here, then?"

Space magic could help with a lot of that, she knew. If they were out past Mars, now, everything should have been all frozen, but instead they were here, comfortable and looking for plants. Plants! Still, getting close to the sun seemed like it would be even harsher. She'd never seen any knights from Venus or Mercury.

She could see why people would want electricity up here, for temperature control.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a name that was familiar but not quite right. The glowing, of course, was familiar, too, even though it seemed like people now could glow no matter what world they were bonded to. "Do you think you're connected to him, beyond the memories, maybe?" Her good eye lingered on the markings on his fingers for a second.

"Well, except you're not that tall." It was said musingly, not a tease at all, just an observation that he wasn't quite lanky as she looked just slightly down at him.

Pendour laughed softly at being called tall. "Well, you're under six feet," she replied, her voice still gentle but with just a hint of smirk on her lips. She was also careful to walk at her full height, then, which was only the slightest bit over six even, but she was going to take full advantage of the inch she had on him.

At least, that was the case until she saw the grass. Then, she topped short. She let out a soft gasp that had every bit as much reverence in it as her crooning over the crops had, and she sprinted the last few steps forwards before kneeling down to get a closer look.

"Hello, lovely," she murmured, but didn't stay staring too long before she looked back at Encke. Of course space plants were really the most perfect thing she could think of, but she was almost as interested in the memories that some people held, the different ways that people connected to worlds and to each other.

"Do you mean you feel like you've lived his life, too?" she asked,"Or do you feel like you were actually the same, somehow?"

Pendour could understand having part of her heart out somewhere that wasn't on Earth, and she could even partially relate to the other things they'd talked about, to being hurt by the war. These memories, though, this other type of connection, was something foreign to her. She could only listen, hands folded neatly in her lap.

She did look up at the sky when he did, always interested in seeing what the stars looked like. The ones up here were new to her, and ever changing, which she liked, but which meant she would never be familiar with them. Someone who truly lived there, though? Could they?

That would take lifetimes.

"So you really are connected to this place," she said, her gaze lingering on a nearby crackling spire before she looked to him again. It made sense that if a soul could linger somewhere for a thousand years that it could come back around, instead.

It was an interesting question to chew on, but also an odd one. Were half of the people she met on the street as ancient as the worlds they came from?

She kept those thoughts to mull over later and smiled up softly instead, saying, "I think you'd make a good king."

He laughed, and laughed again, and maybe tried to tease her about flattery, although it didn't quite register. She just sat there, head slightly tilted, still smiling, but only a little.

"Well, monarchy has its flaws as a system," she said, "But I wasn't joking. I think within that system, you'd do better than many." Her moment with the grass was past, and she stood up so she could look at him a little more easily, then spent a moment trying to brush the dust of her tights with, again, only mild success.

She was really starting to look a mess.

"You're kind, you're willing to serve, and that's true even with you being a little famous." She still wasn't sure what to think of what had come up when she'd looked him up online, but she thought it lined up a bit with being a king, someone everyone knew.

"I was thinking more that you're good at talking to people, strangers, even, which is a skill you'd need to not get dethroned." She paused, her smile going just a bit wider. "I don't know if that's flattery. I was thinking about connections."

In some ways, it seemed strange, but in some ways, it seemed simpler, knowing who you used to be. All Pendour had, instead, was a very twisted family tree, and yet again, she wasn't sure how she felt about that.

Maybe it was flattery, just a little bit, just not in a dishonest way, or seeking anything in return. To be a good king, someone had to be a good person. There were a lot of good people, though, people who deserved to know that they were good in a world that ran on criticism.

Pendour didn't mind encouraging her friends.

She didn't stop his jokes, this time, about getting a kingdom. Her smile brightened, and she raised an eyebrow a little bit. "I don't know if I could support you charming your way onto a throne," she said. "Conquering," she raised a hand for emphasis, voice going more serious. "Please don't."

Then she softened again, smile going wide. "But inheritance?" She looked away, not looking up at the sky this time, but further into the city, the kingdom, really, the streets that flickered and sparked right back up at the stars. Of course their weren't any people here, but it was still a nice thought. "I think that would be okay. I would visit."

She adjusted the bag on her shoulder, which made her wonder about the shelf life of the leftovers in the open air, and the cut flowers they'd been carrying around too. "Is there anything else you want to do up here?" Not that she'd mind staying, but she felt happy enough just seeing the garden.

It was all so far-fetched, even though it also wasn't. They had inherited power, hadn't they? Their magics and their empty worlds weren't quite the same as leading a country, though.

Either way, Pendour was glad that her friend was not a conqueror.

The bow was different, and it threw her out of her musings, and she actually giggled, seeing him go all formal and thinking of herself as a lady. Even after that, there was a smile that reached her eyes. "Thank you," she said, soft but sincere.

"Well, you're always offering to help me with cleaning, with work. If you've got a project, I don't mind returning the favor." This place seemed like it was in such good shape already, but she would still do what she could to help improve it further. Encke deserved that, for all of his support, his enthusiasm

"Otherwise it might be time to go," she said. It was a little sad, but there was food to think about, work emails to check, life to get back to. Earth was important, too.