It didn’t take long to get to the main building of her Wonder. Though it was still ruins, and still echoed with loneliness, Petra felt a rush of excitement and curiosity. After all, there was one other there on Petra-the-Wonder. Ajda had a look that said she would have welcomed her descendant with open arms were she corporeal, and Petra responded by giving her an ‘air-hug’.

“Sorry I haven’t been by sooner, Ajda! I...tried, but just couldn’t. I don’t think I’m strong enough yet to make the trip very often.” She looked sheepish, and her ancestor just chuckled.

“No worries. I’ve not been idle the entire time! I’ve been mapping out the ruins, seeing what needs the most attention, and thinking of what to teach you. From what you mentioned last time, you’ve not the kind of support a new Knight in my time had.” Petra shook her head, sighing as she flopped onto a bench.

“Not really. I mean, there’s more than a few Knights running around, my adoptive father is a Mercury knight! But...I don’t think we’re near as organized as what you described in the past.” Ajda smiled sadly.

“A shame. Well...I suppose there’s one task I should set to you before anything else. You see, every knight has a special signet ring. It’s very important, and very much needed for your duties. It lies somewhere on this Wonder, waiting for you where I last hid it. I refused to let Chaos have it easily, so I tucked it away before my last stand. Your task is to find it, reclaim it, and in doing so, also learn a little of the place you are now the steward of. Are you up to it?” The little page thought...then nodded.

“Yes. Yes I am. I’ll start now!” Ajda nodded and smiled, and made a shooing motion.

Petra realized after a couple hours of looking that the task before her was not an easy one. Already she was growing frustrated and tired, bruises and scrapes forming from the places where the rock had not been very stable or she’d turned a corner too quickly and struck a protrusion she hadn’t seen. But she was determined. The signet ring was supposed to help, right? Well, she wasn’t giving up! Not until she found it! She sighed, leaning against a wall and closing her eyes. And when she opened them, she noticed an odd little symbol, crudely carved into the floor. It looked like the twelve-point symbol littered all over her outfit as Petra, but...different. Squinting, she noticed it again further down the hall. She followed it, noticing it was that way for a bit before simply stopping.

Damn. A dead end.

Except when she looked up, she noticed the symbol again, small and etched into what looked like a ventilation shaft. It took her a few tries, and retrieving some sturdy items of furniture that hadn’t decayed beyond use, but she finally shimmied into the shaft, which was just big enough for her slender figure. It went up for a little, and then horizontal, and at the end was not the outside.

At the end was a little room with no other way in aside from the shaft. A little room that seemed like it had once been a hideaway, a place all Ajda’s. Curious, the girl began to explore it, looking through the cubbies of an ancient stone desk and shelves carved into the walls. It was one of those shelves where she found her prize.

The box was old, made of petrified wood carved into intricacies. And inside, resting on the remains of tattered old velvet, was a ring with the same symbol she’d seen etched into the walls and ceiling to lead her there. It was thin, and elegant, and it felt right. It felt like it was hers. Slipping it onto her finger, she made her way back to where she knew Ajda was waiting, keeping a mental map to the little room in the back of her mind. There was much for her to learn, and she would start that night with the ring, and what the room had been.

[Word Count: 700, according to Google Docs]