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Time had a way of escaping Alkaid in a way she could only assume was natural for her kind - an assumption because, honestly, there was no way of knowing. Case studies were not best performed on focus groups of only a singular entity and all she knew for certain was that her lack of being defined by human needs had allowed her to pursue her cause without pause or fail. She was so, so close to having the key to Ascending in her fingertips..

..but she was also dangerously close to completely losing herself in pursuit of her dream.

It was something first proposed by Hematite, then Labyrinthite, and she had paid it no heed in the early days - what right did lovers and former lovers have to be so selfish over her own, personal sacrifice? Then she had encountered sweet Adamantine and remembered what it was like to be something similar to her - young, unsure, fearful. For the first time in a long while, she had felt the need to protect someone for their humanity and not their promise. That was troubling and that was why she was here.

The gazebo overlooking the lake was one of her favorite spots - it had been as a human and it would, she believed, always be. The stars stretched out above her from treeline to horizon, unclouded by the light pollution of the inner city, and reflected across the placid, mirror-like surface of the lake so that she felt swallowed by the cosmos. This spot was the closest form of comfort she had ever found because it undeniably reminded her of Kurma. It was also something of torture, as were all things that reminded her too much of her life as Kaia.

If she could still feel the pain of her nostalgia, though, then she was not yet completely lost. Not yet. There was still time left for her.

Somewhere beyond her, she could feel the energies that always dotted the park at night. There were enemies to be found or allies to assist but she was content to be here, alone with her wonder and pain, sprawled across the roof of the grand gazebo.

The energy within her vicinity was not overlooked as she lay there, amber eyes glued to the pinpricks of light glimmering above her. At such a distance, she had no reason to fear an attack and thus, seemed rather unconcerned with his proximity. She could be gone before he moved another inch and there was always the small hope that the enemy soldier would simply satiate his curiosity and leave her to her musings, however unlikely.

When his words rang out and interrupted her otherwise peaceful scene, she realized he had no intention of leaving her to her to her lonesome. It had only been a small hope, anyway.

"Are you here to ask me what sort of atrocity caused my being?"

She spoke with her eyes still roaming the stars, turning her head to look at him only as she'd finished speaking. He was familiar in a way many of the senshi were, mere blips of recognition as she recalled their faces and fukus framed by dozens of battlefields, mingling with the blood and magic of war. They weren't often important to her, at least apart from their demise, but they did always seem moved by her presence - either to fists or words. Some, like Pollux, chose to attack her out of loathing while others, like sweet Hvergelmir, asked her questions so long as she allowed it. It seemed he was going to choose the latter of the two options. It was fine, tonight; it suited her mood.

"That seems to be the only thing you ever ask."

As she pushed herself up, her legs slid over the edge of the gazebo, though she remained sitting there for the time being. Her eyes watched him from the distance, picking out the most striking parts of his guise and committing them to memory. The curious ones were meant to be remembered.

It was silence that met Thraen at first, marked by the blank, unwavering stare of the Ascendant while she turned over his words and picked them apart behind her mask. There could have been so many reasons for his questioning but, in truth, there was no way for the shattered woman to really know what his purpose was here anymore than there was a chance that he would unravel her own without admission. A dozen thoughts began and were abandoned in her heavy silence, trails of processing that ended the moment they seemed too improbable. What good did he really hope to do by talking with her? What good would talking do her even if he had reason?

Pointless; The word rang true and clear as a bell even as her face finally crumpled into a look that could only be resignation. Yes, it was pointless, but the bit of Kaia curled in the center of her starseed begged for the chance to pursue something other than fruitless hunts in the rift. If he knew that she was willing to die to unravel the mirror walkers then he was a part of a mission many, many years past - how far back did this one go?

"Alkaid I am, though I am sick to death of mourning."

The sound that followed her words was nearly a laugh, as if she thought the sorrow of others to be a great joke - many a soul had mourned her and it had never done them the tiniest fraction of good. Whoever had inspired the myth of the daughters was not who sat before him, no matter that they shared a name, and she was determined to guide this conversation by her own terms. If he wanted to know her motivations, it certainly would not be through reminding her of what she'd been.

If he wanted to know what war she was fighting and why, she would take him to the beginning.

"Have you ever been to Elysion, Senshi?"

"So you are not quite so old as I."

It was a statement, not a question, and it was unlikely that she meant true age - by Earth's turns she knew she had to be somewhere close to thirty by now but what point was there in measuring it when her face had been frozen in time? She knew the date of her induction into the Negaverse and the date that she had given up her all to serve Metallia for the rest of her years. No, what she meant was that he had not been fighting this war for as long as she had and thus, could not know the battles and rivalries that had marked it since the inception. So that was why he was here? And why he was so curious to her nature and motives. It was admirable. Few cared about the why when they were looking their worst nightmare in the face.

"Yes, long ago when our ranks first formed and I was but a fledgling in Her service, we made a move to steal back Earth's crystal for the army. It was our prime," her voice was almost wistful as she recalled it, "and our leaders were the Greatest I have ever known."

It would have worked, she thought, had there not been a counter in place and a foolish, blind Priestess that chose to interfere with their attempts to save her precious Elysion.

"But from the way you chose to word that so carefully, I have to assume that you have some knowledge of what that world can do. Perhaps not, assuming is not always the best route to take." She narrowed her amber eyes on the pale Senshi, trying to pick at any hint of his feelings or motives. He was a well guarded one and so, she thought, perhaps old in his service even if it was not as far reaching as her own.

"When we entered Elysion it showed us the history of this war, reaching back longer than any of us have even been alive, longer than the Earth's history books can even recall, to the treacherous days of Sailor Moon and Sailor Earth." The names were like acid on her tongue, vile and full of spite - if nothing else, she held true to her loathing and convictions in this and it was just as well. Without them she had no purpose, no drive, and no reason to continue to exist in such a false body. Without it, she would slip into nothing. She crossed her legs one over the other as she sat perched atop the roof's edge, staring down at him. Would imparting this wisdom change his mind at all? She doubted it, but she had also never shied from telling the White Moon how unwelcome they were upon the Earth. "We watched as they defied the Kingdom and seduced a Prince. Their own Senshi turned upon her people and offered the Earth up to the White Moon Kingdom on a silver platter, all for the sake of a vain, spoiled Princess."

And there it was.

"Tch," her disapproval was apparent as a tongue clicked behind her teeth. A year earlier and perhaps she would have blown out a sigh to show him how frustrated she was with this conversation topic but now she couldn't be bothered to play at the over dramatics. Apart from his flowery rhetoric, he didn't seem the sort to care for it.

"I believe that the war for Earth can be whittled down to one Romeo and Juliet, or, if you would, the selfish acts of Serenity and Endymion. Whatever has befallen these dead ecosystems of stars, your lost empires, in 50 billion galaxies or more is no concern of mine." The words were a bite in the cold night air and the plates of her face shifted grotesquely as her eyes narrowed on him. They grated along their edges, grinding loudly enough that one might hear them, but she made no other motion except the expression of her detest. "The realm showed me the beginning of our empire as it started to crumble and it can all be traced back to a broken promise and a greedy, spoiled princess. Senshi were never meant to rule this realm, Earth belongs to the people."

Alkaid spoke in a way that removed her from the Senshi menace, disassociating herself from her roots even if they were still clearly stamped along her person. The General held her title with pride, even if she still bore the tell-tale wings at her hips. Often, she wondered, if she could simply rip them off without causing herself a catastrophic leak.

"So you see, the mirror senshi directly oppose my dreams here of an Earth free of your kind. If they take your worlds from you then where will you go? Killing you all will be much more difficult."

It was a new view point that he expressed and for a moment, she sat in silence as she took it in. If what she could infer from his words was truth, he seemed to care more about the planet than the war, and for the first time in a very long time, Alkaid found herself incapable of making a judgement. It left her face blank, even as he dissected all that she was and what she had said, digging for information that she had and could give but no longer knew if she should. Often, she gave such little faith to the Senshi that letting information leak to them was no skin off her back but this one? No, she thought, this one was a little more dangerous. There were thoughts and reason in his words, pointed questions that were nothing to do with passion and fire but everything to do with piecing together a puzzle often too grand for anyone to wrap their mind around.

It reminded her of others, long lost.

"I will be very honest when I tell you that the first time we went, I do not know how we arrived there. The machinations of our sovereigns are not something for me to understand. The only way I know of returning, individually, is through dreams - even if the Priestess wanted to let me in, the truth is that I have not slept in years. The pursuit of it would be useless."

Alkaid had long ago given up on chasing things that could never be for her. Sleep, love, pain, pleasure, heart ache, hope - these were all things that were better left for people made of flesh and blood. She was her anger and her loyalty and that was all that she held onto anymore. Anything else was exhausting in a way that she could not put into words and would not try to. Perhaps this one would understand, perhaps he wouldn't, but she did not care to try - at least not this night. Besides, he seemed rather unlike Hver, she who wanted to save the scrap of a human still left inside of her; that sweet, foolish girl was made of too many emotions. This one was not the same.

"If Metallia wished for me to find out about these crystals then I would devote myself entirely to it. Perhaps that's not the answer you want to hear, but it is the one I have to give. I do what she wills of me and that is all. I've traded flesh and star and life to fashion myself into a weapon for her and I've no reason to be ought but that." A shrug rolled her shoulders, dismissive. There was no more information for him if this is what he was looking for. Perhaps their sovereigns were seeking out these things, perhaps not. The stars, for Alkaid, meant something entirely different. "If these crystals are her goal then she must have others working to find them because I know nothing else. I have my goals, and my orders."