Megrez’s meetings with her friends had inspired her to travel to her planet again. There was something she wanted to investigate. Two things, really, and that meant two people. She had seen proof that Elliot and Melantha were lovers on her last visit, and a budding curiosity was leading her to investigate further. It wasn’t like she wanted to walk in on them doing their thing or anything (knowing her luck, that would probably happen anyway, wouldn’t it), but she found herself wanting to know more about their relationship.

Heading to Henshin Alley as was her custom, Luca transformed into Megrez and pulled out her phone, listening for the gentle hum that she knew was that of her world. Sure enough, she felt the familiar sensation of movement, and she was flung across the universe once more.

When Megrez's feet touched ground, there was a large, church-like building in front of her. There was, of course, nothing to tip her off to the function of the structure aside from its general architecture (prominent arches and spires) and the apparent grandness of the building, but it certainly looked important. The door was missing and all the windows were blown out, which was a little worrisome (what had gone through here and wrecked the place like that?), but at least it meant that there'd be no problems getting in. A quick look around to get more details on the setting revealed that, though the "church" had a good deal of space to itself, there were indeed other buildings in the area, some of which looked like smaller versions of the "church" and some of which didn't. She was in a city, to be sure, but which one it was was a good question.

Curious, Megrez wandered into the church-structure. The main room was largely empty, with the exception of a few table-like surfaces scattered about. Right on cue, the room burst into life, filling with people. The "tables" rearranged themselves in a more organized fashion, and judging from the decor, they were not tables but altars. Each altar had a statue of a humanoid figure sitting in an egg cup, and people were leaving offerings of crops on each altar. A man in ornate white and orange ceremonial robes approached Megrez. "It's a good thing you came back in time for the harvest festival. The people have been waiting to see you." After a quick glance past her, he added, "I see you are unattended today. Where is Elliot?"

Megrez heard Melantha's voice come from where she was standing. "He had to return home early for some political business, and then he went to another city for more business." She sounded unimpressed with the sheer amount of business Elliot had to do.

"What a shame. Well, we both know you're here for something more important than simply watching everyone leave their offerings and prayers to the harvest gods and spirits. Come with me."

The priestly man headed towards the back of the room, unlocking a door and gesturing for Melantha (and Megrez) to follow. After he went through the door, the room was dim and quiet once more. Clearly, there was only one thing to do: follow the priest's shadow into the now doorless hallway. As she went down the hallway, she could see a faint afterimage of the priest, and followed it accordingly. Eventually, she wound up in another chamber, smaller than the main chamber but still rather roomy. There was a single large altar towards the back of the room, and aside from what appeared to be storage closets, it was mostly bare. While she waited for any sort of enlightenment as to what was going on in this room, Megrez checked the storage closets, only to find that they were empty. After she had opened the third closet, the voice of the priest from before echoed through her mind. "The communion chamber... you should know this place well by now."

"Indeed I do," Melantha said from Megrez's position. Megrez turned around to face the priest, who set a crystal egg into a golden egg cup on the altar. "Every important non-public ritual is held here. It kind of makes me wonder... why isn't the Linker ritual held in public? It's a performance. You'd think people would want to see it."

"What if something were to go wrong with the ritual? People would know that the past senshi had rejected the present one. It would be a public relations disaster."

"Wouldn't that just happen anyway if something bad happened, regardless of when?"

"You're sharp," said the priest. "But I trust that you've done your homework and you understand your predecessor enough to make an accurate dialogue. Ask her for her blessing, show her the strength of your will to protect and guide this planet, then leave your blessing for the next senshi. Above all, state that you embrace your role as the senshi of Megrez. No, even more than that... connect. Connect with your predecessor, and with your planet."

"These are all things you've told me already," Melantha said.

"It's important to make sure you understand it. We have had senshi botch the ritual and pay for it dearly." The priest paused, then changed the topic. "I hear you intend to make the connection through a song. That's an interesting choice. We've had a few singers over the generations, but it seems that speeches and chants have become more popular recently."

"My power manifests as eggs. Birds come from eggs. Birds sing. So, why not try singing myself? It just makes sense to me, somehow." Megrez noticed a peculiar bluntness or flatness to Melantha's voice. Something had put her in a rotten mood before she had come here, Megrez decided.

Before the priest could continue, another, less-ornately dressed priest barged into the room, looking quite flustered. "High Priest Lorenz, Lady Megrez, there's been an emergency! Lady Megrez, you are needed back at the palace as soon as possible. Chancellor Thornbell has received distressing news."

"Did he tell you anything about what this news was?" Megrez could tell that the sudden intrusion was enough to shake the flat quality out of Melantha's voice.

The lower-ranked priest nodded. "We've learned something about Elliot's whereabouts, and they're not what you'd expect at all."

"Something happened to Elliot?!" That name was enough to get Melantha walking out of Megrez's standing space towards the door. "I'm sorry, I understand that rehearsal and going over my notes is important, but so is this!"

The high priest reached out to stop Melantha, and then the vision blinked away, leaving Megrez with a bit to think about. On one hand, she had finally learned what the Linker ritual entailed: communion and connection with the previous senshi and the planet. She did it through a song, huh? I've got just the thing, she noted to herself, ideas already bubbling at the edge of her mind. On the other hand, something serious had happened, and now Megrez had to figure out how to get to the palace from wherever she was. She didn't even know if she was in the capital city right now.

Well, if she was already in the capital city, one thing she could do was look for that main street that led to the marketplace that she had ended up on on her first visit to the capital city. She went up the street that the church was located on, and following a brief flash of Melantha doing so, turned right after a while. Following that street eventually took her to a wider street that appeared to be more residential than the area she had been in; another flash of Melantha gave Megrez a target to follow. Sure enough, the ruined houses began to look familiar, and after a while, she was in the marketplace area once again. From there, it was only a few minutes’ walk forward until she reached the palace and darted in.

As though she were walking in on a meeting in progress, Melantha and Chancellor Thornbell were already there inside the palace, engaged in a heated discussion. “We found the whereabouts of that missing trade ship, and with it, where Elliot really went when he returned home early.”

The consternation on Melantha’s face was clear. “And that means…?”

The chancellor hesitated, apparently aware of the ramifications the news was going to have. “If you recall our negotiations with a certain aggressor planet not long ago… well, the trade ship went there.”

“There? Why there, of all places? Was the ship captured?”

“We have no evidence that the ship was captured or compromised at all. If anything, it seems to have gone directly there. Do you know what this means, Lady Megrez?”

Even from Megrez’s angle, she could see Melantha go pale. “He’s got some connection there, doesn’t he.”

Nodding, Chancellor Thornbell said, “Most likely, and it is most likely not an auspicious one at that. If he intended to do anything good with those people, he would have at least told you, wouldn’t he?”

“You’re not saying… you don’t think he’s a spy, do you?” The chancellor’s grave nod was all Melantha needed, and her voice went serious. “I will wait for him to come back, and when he does, I will have a word with him.”

“No, you will not. We don’t know what he’s going to bring back with him. Above all, you must remain safe. I’ll arrange for someone to guard you till we can ascertain his intentions.”

“No, you will not! I want to be there when he comes back, and I want to hear what he has to say myself! Besides, my powers aren’t just for show! I can defend myself.”

“If you say so.” For a moment, Chancellor Thornbell appeared to be studying Melantha intently. “You’ve come a long way from that confused farm girl we brought into the palace three years ago.”

“Thanks, I guess.” With that, the vision ended abruptly, only for Megrez to feel like she was being watched from behind. When she turned around, Melantha was standing there, watching the door intently. In her right hand, kept behind her back, was a knife. Somehow, this vision was different from the others; Megrez could feel a bizarre, needling anxiety flowing into her from somewhere. She had a sense that Melantha had been waiting there for a while.

The door creaked open, and sure enough, Elliot stepped through, looking around suspiciously. Melantha’s voice echoed through the empty foyer: “You’re late.”

Before Elliot could respond in any way beyond the surprise registered on his face, Melantha charged forward with a roar that Megrez had no idea she had in her, and when the motion blur ceased, Melantha’s knife was embedded in Elliot’s stomach. “You won’t take my planet,” she said softly, then again, louder: “You won’t take my planet!”

With a gasp, Megrez reached forward, as though she could stop her past self from what she had just done. She had expected her to be angry with her apparently traitorous lover, but angry enough to try and kill him? That was not something Megrez had thought Melantha could do at all. The trepidation from before was growing stronger, yet Megrez could attribute no real source to it (aside from the shock of seeing Melantha, that sweet, domestic girl, stab someone). Guards seemed to flow in from every direction, and they pulled the two apart, but not before Melantha called up a large, super-level egg, just like what Megrez used. The guard yanking her from behind caused her to lose her grip on it, and it fell forward and splattered in a mess on the ground.

At the moment of the egg’s contact with the floor, a wave of foreign sensations flowed into Megrez, so many that they were nearly impossible to parse at first. After a moment, she was able to recognize them as emotions, and a moment after that, she could pick out what those emotions were. Much to her surprise, anger was not the strongest emotion. Pain and sadness were instead, and they were so powerful that they made Megrez physically stagger as tears came to her eyes. It reminded of her of how she felt waking up from those visions of the future where she had lost everything.

A blurry blink of tears, and the scene was gone. The flow of emotions was beginning to settle in Megrez’s mind, and as it did, she felt something new: understanding, an understanding she had lacked for so long.

She loved him. We loved him. I loved him.

She-we-I killed him.

I killed him.

And even if we-I didn’t kill him… I wanted to.

The tears did not stop. Her past self was not pure, like she had thought. They had both experienced that despair, a pain of loss, and even if Elliot somehow survived being stabbed like that and Melantha hadn’t successfully killed him, she had wanted to for endangering her planet and her people. They were not so different. Those brief flickers of resentment of her past self were unwarranted.

Is this how Penthe felt when I saw her on her planet that one time?

It all made so much sense now.

Megrez didn’t want to be here anymore, at least not for now. She wanted to go home, go straight to her room, and think everything over. The rush of emotions was so sudden and so strong that it drained her.

She would be lying if she said she wasn’t curious to see the fallout of this happening, but she would be willing to wait the two weeks. After all, she had a song to write.

[Megrez went to her planet on November 8th. She will not be able to return till November 22nd.]
[Word count: 2285. x2 solo bonus!]