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Pendour had a promise to keep.

It was a simple one, really, but it took time until she could hear her wonder calling to her again during the brief times she powered up and listened for it. She sat out longer the night she heard it, smiling under the moon. The next morning, she raided her art draw, pawing through a drawer of half-used sketching pencils until she found her calligraphy quill. It was on the cheaper side and plastic, not quite knightly, but better than just texting. She really did want to try out her signet ring, and her ink, at least, was blue as Neptune and the sea.

She began to write.



Sadie stamped her signet on with a watercolor in the shade Sea Breeze right next to the signature. She watched in wide-eyed wonder as the paper shook, dissolved into light, and then was gone.

It was awhile before Sadie's phone buzzed, but when she picked it up, a smile spread across her face.

Then, she got to work.

The next day, she showed up to the cafe in her full Pendour regalia, shells in her hair, pearls on her wrists, and a large canvas bag slung over her shoulder. Inside the bag were egg salad sandwiches from the organic market. Several egg salad sandwiches. She'd seen Encke's appetite last time they'd done this. There were also apples, Galas, the kind that were sweet as sweet for eating but so sugary they'd just melt if they were put into pies. It was the closest thing to something fresh that she could get her hands on in the last dregs of winter. To finish things off, there was a thermos of lemon tea and a few bits and bobs that she might be able to use for the wonder itself.

Her arrival wasn't graceful, despite the outfit. She'd lost track of time working on a logo design and that left her jogging across the city at a speed that didn't seem like it should be possible, but it also meant that her bag kept hitting her in the back. It hurt, and also she feared for the fate of the sandwiches. She showed up at about 5:02, panting and taking inventory.

Quick as quick, the aura flared up and he was coming around the corner.

"Encke!" She smiled just at the sight of him, but her eyes went wider still as she saw what he was holding. Chocolate. "Oh, this is lovely," she said, accepting it, although she did steal a glance at his fingers before taking a sip to make sure they weren't frozen blue again. They weren't. It was just the normal purple. If he'd had ice powers, it would have been harder to tell.

As it was, she tried the hot chocolate, which was delicious, and then held out her hand. "And sweets to go with it this time? Oh, this is awesome!" She beamed, tapping her fingers against the cup. "Are you ready?"

She closed her eyes and focused, and she could tell in a few seconds that Neptune was still ready for her. "I pledge my life and loyalty to Neptune, and to Pendour. I humbly request your aid so that in turn I may give you mine."

Around them, everything changed.

Despite all of Pendour's warnings and hesitations, her wonder was far from a graveyard at first glance. The cove was before them, stretching back several hundred feet. At least, it was what would have been the cove. It was dry. The sea was above them, past giant, crumbling arches that held up a glass dome. The light that came through was blue-green and rippling. Covered walkways stretched around the sides of the cove, supported by columns. Past those were the huge stairs that curved up towards the second story. Most of the buildings were up there, but it was hard to get more than a glimpse of them from this angle.

Depending on how tied Encke was to his heritage, he might see a hint of Barcelona in the tilework that covered most of the ground and the whimsical lines of the more structural elements. There was classical influence, too, with the columns and the marble, and something else, something to soft to be from Earth but that Pendour couldn't quite put her finger on yet.

In short, it was beautiful, despite the rather pungent smell of salt and rock, and Pendour smiled softly at her cove.

She watched Encke look around before she turned back to the details of her wonder. A soft smile crept across her face as she saw him realize that they were deep underwater, and there was something deeper inside her that felt reassured when he spent a long moment admiring the architecture. She was glad that this place could make people happy. She gave a light laugh at the name confusion, though.

"Sadie's fine, up here," she said. "Otherwise it's all a mess, especially if Irving shows." She made a slow spin to give the place a more investigative look, but she saw no self-assured ghost lurking yet. It was a relief for a few reasons, one of which was that then it would be Pendour and Pendour walking through Pendour.

"Well, I thought we could sit by the cove, if that's okay?" she asked, softly taking a few steps forwards to lead the way. It wasn't far from where they'd landed at all, but that had been on a flat and eventually the floor started to slope downwards so it looked like the side walkways were rising up. "The beach, if you will." It was probably more like a very fancy swimming pool, with the arches, columns and mosaics more visible from this angle. There were also some sloping openings in the upper floor that Pendour was starting to realize were where waterfalls came through. The biggest one, centered at the back, was practically dripping with algae.

"I think the pipes are just overgrown," she said, nodding at it. "I might be able to get the water going. Well, once I clean out the cove." They were close enough now to see a concerning, if vague, amount of whitish shapes towards the deep end. She turned back to Encke. "Um, if there's anywhere else you want to see, we can look around."

Pendour took another turn around, and then, satisfied with the spot, began to settle in. She plopped down to the ground in a tangle of limbs, keeping her blind side to the bones. She still had a view from here of some of the closer arches, and of the overgrown waterfall if she turned her head a little, but she focused on the ground instead. The mosaics here on the beach were of sea life mixed in with the more organic, abstract patterns. This one was an octopus, with dark, soft eyes and swirling tentacles. She ran her fingers over a few of the tesserae and smiled.

The weedwacker was a practical suggestion, and she nodded softly, but then shook her head. "They're dirty, though, and I don't know how well they can handle water," she said. She hadn't really analyzed the algae ooze, but it looked like it had a very different consistency from the crabgrass and chicory she was used to pulling from the soil. Was there even soil in the pipes? If there was, that had to be its own problem. Her brows furrowed, just a little. "Pulling it all out by hand is also going to be very gross." It could possibly even be dangerous. Scales on her dress or no, she couldn't breathe if she hit water up there. She'd have to look up what people usually did about algae and hope it didn't involve too many harsh chemicals.

"I don't know the pipes," she said. "Irving might, but for now I was thinking I could start a little smaller." She rustled through her bag before pulling out a little packet of spinach seeds and shaking it so that they rattled around with a grin. "Oh." She pulled out a sandwich, too. "Sandwich?"

There was a glimmer in Encke’s eyes that Pendour couldn’t match when he talked about looking for the back of the pipeworks and bringing up weedwackers and even talking about more ancient tools. She smiled to see the light in his face, though. “You like technology, don’t you?” She asked, too soft and half to herself. It made sense, given the way his planet was crackling with plasma and electricity and architectural wonders. Louder, she said, “There’s probably thousand year old tools for everyday tasks like plumbing hiding around somewhere. If not, I can bring up a sickle.”
Maybe it wouldn’t help too much with the mess of it all, but it would give her some options for maneuvering things around. If nothing else, her clippers and spade should help.

Today was about picnicking, though, and she got one of the sandwhiches set out for herself on top of a napkin. Her eyes went wide when she saw the full expanse of the collection Encke had brought along. She reached in with careful fingers and pulled out two sugar cookies. “Thank you,” she said. Space, sweets, and technology. She felt like she was getting to know him. "Who's Basiluzzo?"

As it always seemed to happen just when she was settling in, she finally saw another figure coming down the walkway towards them. He was even taller than Pendour, and he had pale skin, long dark hair, and mermaid scales on his waistcoat. He slowed and then stopped a few paces behind Encke.

Sadie audibly let out a breath. “Hello, Irving.”

She wanted to learn about Encke's friends, or his family, or whoever it was who was providing them with these lovely sweets for their space picnic. Being up on Pendour had a few negative consequences, one of which was that Pendour was face to face with her own family, and not only that but one of the strangest branches of the biological family tree.

"Hello, granddaughter," he replied, which made something in Pendour's chest go tight as tight. She'd confirmed that he was some distant ancestor from a thousand years back, but he still liked to act like they were closer than that. If that wasn't enough, he was also staring, first at her face, where the scars were finally starting to fade from pink to pale but were still very present. Then he turned to look over Encke with the same appraisal, the same salesman's smile.

Sadie looked down at the octopus again, instead. It looked much friendlier than he did, for all that it was made of bits and pieces of glass and stone. Unless there was stranger magic around than she knew, mosaics had never drowned anyone.

"You've brought another friend," said Irving, sweeping around gracefully to stand where they could both see him. "Oh, a complete specimen, finally, and a special one, too." He seemed interested in the transcendence marks.

Sadie sat very straight. "Encke, this is my ancestor, Irving," she said, enunciating the word as sharply as her soft voice could get. "Irving, this is my friend, Encke." She tried to look at Encke and apologize with her eyes.

Oh, this was just too much.

Pendour finally looked up through a stray, wispy curl to where her friend and her ancestor were locked into some kind of terribly awkward staring contest. At least Irving seemed on decent behavior. He wasn't trying to drown anyone at the moment, and Encke didn't seem too uncomfortable, but Pendour's heart still went hummingbird fast, and she still might have left for Earth if she hadn't been promising Encke this trip for months.

Irving was as relaxed as Pendour was tense. He didn't hide the fact that he let his eyes rest on Encke's fingers for several long moments before moving back to his face. He laughed right back at the specimen comment. Pendour knew that Encke was trying to be polite, and maybe Irving as well. This was edging towards the side of etiquette she'd always been terrible at, which was almost worse than having her injuries analyzed.


"Everyone?" Asked Irving, sparing a pointed glance around the very empty wonder. "The people my granddaughter brings up are everyone, and yes, I like to see who's taken up the mantle, as it were. The last fellow she brought up was interesting," he chuckled again at that, a deep throaty sound that made Pendour narrow her eyes. "But you look like you know how to take care of yourself much better. Sarandon could learn a thing or two from you, although unfortunately it's a bit late for her."

"Okay," said Pendour, swallowing hard as she tried to keep this from going too far down the road where she'd failed the wonder. "Um, okay, Irving." She brushed the hair back from her face and looked up from her ancestor. "If you want to teach me something, can you tell me where the pipes for the cove are?"

Irving looked at her curiously. "The pipes?" She nodded. "The control room is upstairs, towards the back. You can get down to the maintenance level from there." He didn't seem nearly as interested, but that was fine. Pipes seemed like a safe enough subject.