When Whisler was sure he had managed to get far enough away, he collapsed onto a park bench, breathing heavily. His heart felt as though it were going a million miles an hour, and he felt almost feverish. What had just happened? He had been so caught up…so ready to just…

To just go home.

No. Not home. To give himself to chaos again…chaos the monsters who tortured people and hurt people…

Whisler’s mouth felt dry and his hand’s curled and uncurled themselves into fists. Was this what a heart attack felt like…? Or perhaps just a panic attack. Regardless…he didn’t like it. One of his hands moved to his weapon, fingers lightly moving over the smooth crystal at the center of it. It was the symbol of Polaris…sort of. The compass rose. A beautiful, ornate weapon that was perfect for him…keeping chaos away…drawing order closer…

The knight leaned back against the bench, closing his eyes, trying to clear his mind…to focus on good things, good things…calm things…

The words were past his lips before he realized what he was saying. “I pledge my life and loyalty to Polaris and to Whisler. I humbly request your aid, so that in return I may give you mine.” It was no more than a whisper…but the magic took hold, and a moment later…a moment later….a frigid wind blew around him, one that had not been there when he had closed his eyes.

Oh.

He was no longer in Destiny City, no…he had once again said his knight pledge and was once again on the snowy, frigid wonder that was Whisler. As far as he could see…everything was simply…simply white. Snow and more snow…and for something different…there was snow. He was up on a mountain, he could see that…see that there were clouds beneath him at the moment…and that was rather disconcerting. To be above the clouds though…it was interesting.

He began to shiver, and started walking, remembering that he had thought that he had seen buildings around here…somewhere, the last time he had been up here. Though where those buildings were now was a complete mystery.

After a few minutes walking he spotted them again. Dark spots against the white snow…welcome shelters against the cold. Whisler picked up his pace and after another quarter of an hour, reached one of the buildings and hurried inside.

It was still quite cold inside the surprisingly elaborate stone building, but at least there was protection from the wind, that alone made the cold almost bearable. It made it easier to look around though, now that Whisler’s eyes weren’t shut tight against the fierce wind, he could look around. The celings of this building were higher than he had expected, and they looked as though they would have been quite beautiful, had this been when they were first made. Even in ruins though, this building was something impressive. There were no less than four levels to it, two above the ground level where he stood and what seemed to be one below ground…there were stairs leading down to something at any rate…and of course, this being a building smack dab on a mountain…well.

Now Whisler was curious.

It was a good kind of curiosity, one that had him thinking of something other than Benitoite and his issues and Ashanite…this was something that was only him. Only Whisler.

He walked down the slightly crumbling stone steps, taking his time, and at once felt a warmth in this basement room. It was almost pleasant down here, but why that was wasn’t obvious upon first glance. It was a very strange room though. Two areas of flat ground next to two big empty indentations that had a crumbling wall between them. The indentations were both full of stones…presumably from the wall, and there was an odd sound coming from underneath the rock. Sort of a hissing, but also a gurgle. A gurgling hissing that Whisler didn’t understand…though he wanted to figure out just what was going on.

The knight unfastened his cape and folded it neatly, laying it on the ground beside him, and finally jumped into one of the craters in the ground.
It took several hours, but finally he had cleared most of the rocks from the two holes in the ground, and as he moved the last of the rocks, the hissing grew louder and steam issued from a tiny hole in the side of the pool wall. A slow trickle of water began to flow into the pool from that hole and others, now that the pressure had been removed, and Whisler stared in amazement, scrambling out of the pool and just watching as it slowly began to fill.

How…how interesting.

As he watched, the room grew hazy, and for a moment, he was somewhere else…no…no not…not somewhere else…some when else.

The hot springs were such a busy place. Whisler was one of the prime vacation destinations out there. Or at least that’s what Gabrielle liked to think. She grinned as yet another person, a Mars Knight this time, complimented her on how lovely this warm little oasis was. Hm. Of course it was lovely. She made sure of that. A hot spring, on the one of the coldest places in the galaxy, of course it was perfect. The knight tossed her crystal filled black hair over her shoulder and stood, back against the wall just admiring the place. It had been nothing before she had taken over, and now it was a thriving haven to rest and relax and get yourself back on track. Her father wouldn’t have been pleased…but he wasn’t around anymore to tell her what to do. She was a big girl and she was going to keep this wonder how she wanted it. How it wanted to be.

It was peaceful, and it benefited the entire galaxy. What more could anyone ask for?

There was a smile on his face when the vision cleared, and there might have been a fine layer of moisture in his eyes as well. This was what it was. This was what Whisler was…something wonderful…a hot spring…a warm oasis in the middle of a cold mountain…

The knight felt better. The burning in his chest had dulled to a soft almost warmth.

It was time to take a dip in his hot spring. It was time to really explore his wonder.