(Note: Backdated slightly)

Having accidentally shorted herself the week before with the length of her visit, the eternal senshi had decided to avoid the activities from the week prior. She'd just get angry and then try to get away from the scenario as fast as she could. Where as the week prior, she had decided against it, today she figured that random wandering though the desert would probably be less troublesome than trying to walk on her hands (again).

Her memories had never been discourage whenever she walked around, casually exploring the land. In fact, her memories of the past seemed to almost thrive off of such an activity. She had remembered some very key things as a result of wandering. Perhaps it wouldn't be any different today. Perhaps there would be another meaningful memory to this place.

Initially, when she had started returning to this asteroid, it had been quite difficult to navigate the sands. She knew nothing of the land, unable to read the seemingly featureless landscape. Yet time had given her a vague sense of familiarity, and her most recent memories seemed to only strengthen her ability to navigate this land. At times, it almost felt as if her feet were guiding the rest of her body.

Eventually, her feet stopped in front of the remains of a wagon. The boards of the bed were bent back and snapped off in several places. There was one loop of metal that seemed to rise up high over the remains, and to Iris, it almost seemed like the outline to a large tombstone. It might as well have been, since last the senshi had checked, there was nobody else here. Ever.

She was about to turn away when she managed to catch a vague glint of something in the sand. "...what do we have'ere?" she asked as she turned towards the hint of an object that wasn't quite like the rest. The object was partially covered, but eventually her fingers were able to pull this object from the sand.

It was a shard of what seemed like a mirror. It was perhaps one foot long and in the form of a thin jagged triangle. It definitely had belonged to a much larger mirror. "...of all th'things t'randomly find out 'ere..." the teen mused, moving the mirror piece slightly one way then another, as if she was trying to see which way her own partial reflection looked best. Sailor Iris didn't think of herself as vain, but when you had a partial piece of a mirror, it almost felt natural to try looking into it.

"I plan to repair that one next, Sailor Iris."

As her golden eyes once more glanced away from the shard, everything had changed around her. The sky was dark, but there was a large fire burning ahead of her. Surrounding the area were more carts and wagons, and a more even mix of Sand Munchers and Sand Crunchers who were resting. In her gloved hands was still the piece of the mirror (which Iris felt was a bit odd, but she wasn't going to question it). To her side was a familiar face, if only from the memories.

Many times, the memories would have her past self speak up for the present senshi, yet this time, it did not seem to be happening. "Babba, I know you will be able to mend it flawlessly." The corners of her lips curled up before she glanced to the bonfire again.

"Nothing is flawless. You know that better than anyone."

"Fair enough." Leaning back slightly, the senshi placed the mirror shard back into the wagon she was now sitting in front of. Casually, she mentioned "I came across Kefod after I had finished my duties..."

The woman shook her head in shame at the mention of the other elder. "Kefod is a petty fool."

It felt wrong to say anything negative against the man she had encountered before, as if it was just something she shouldn't do. "He seemed to be quite proud of himself for finding me immediately after my duties. As if that was some sort of omen in itself." She paused for a moment as she reached for something else in her lap, a chunk of dried meat. She took a large bite, chewed it, and swallowed before thoughtfully adding "...have our ways really become so lost upon someone who is supposed to be a leader?"

"Kefod is a petty fool," the woman repeated again. "One becomes blind to reality if jealousy takes hold of them. He is leading his clan to death, and he cannot blame anybody but himself." The woman lifted what seemed like a bowl to her lips and took a sip of its contents. The way she spoke about such a harsh subject sounded merely like facts about survival. There was an emotional detachment to the subject which almost told a tale about how she had seen such mistakes many times before.

The two remained silent for a moment, though Iris reached to the bowl which Babba had just sipped from and took it for herself, drinking what seemed like a thin gruel. It was Sailor Iris who eventually broke the silence. "Babba? Why were you not the first one to greet me after my journey to the Sacred Lands?"

That woman smiled a kind wrinkled smile at the girl. "Verin had birthed her very first child just prior to the completion of your task. There was no way we would have been able to make it on time with the addition of something so new to our ranks."

"Ah... I will have to visit Verin before I head back to the Port then." Though the present Sailor Iris had never met Verin, memories of a girl with an orange-red head of hair and dark skin came to mind. "...it makes me feel old... knowing that a girl I played with as a child now has her own to worry for."

"Verin has her duty to our Clan, as you have your duties to all of Iris. You are not much different than anybody else living here." The woman reached back to take her bowl and once more drink the gruel. "You have more opportunities than many of us, yet you are still the same as us all. You will be an Iridian all the way until the day you no longer live." The woman set her now empty bowl back down into her lap, her eyes turning to the flames of the fire.

"I think everyone is a bit envious of your lifestyle. To be able to affect so many people, and at a young age too. You are talented and get to travel to exotic places. I know it is all work for you, yet it still seems far more glamorous than anything here."

The senshi's arm reached out to her side and pulled the woman close to her for a large side-hug. "You keep talking like that, Babba, and I'll make you do my duty next year!"

The pair laughed, knowing full well that would never be well received by the public and just a foolish dream if anything. With that laughter, the spell that had been cast upon the current Sailor Iris seemed to fade, leaving the blonde sitting in the sand with a shard of a mirror gripped between her hands.

"...so... this was Babba's?" There was a pang somewhere in her chest as she realized yet another person from her past was dead, but nothing nearly as overwhelming as when she had found Aque. Perhaps if she dug around a bit, she'd be able to find a skeleton. This was not something she planned to do. A slight sorrow, she could handle. A full out mourning session would have been too much.

Pushing herself up to her feet, the tomboy remained clutching onto that shard of mirror. There was nothing wrong with bringing this home with her. It wasn't like disturbing a grave. Mirrors weren't living beings and didn't have final resting places.

With that, Sailor Iris and the mirror shard returned home.