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Pendour was still having some issues with her signet ring, but her senshi friends had stepped in and let her know about someone who was looking to go to space. Of course Pendour was more than willing to help out. She'd stepped outside one night and felt that she could go to space a full week before she'd been expecting to.

Maybe her bond was getting stronger.

She still preferred taking people to going up alone. Dealing with Irving by herself was getting a little better, but it was still a little bit awful, so it was nice to have someone to show around.

She didn't think it would be hard for the senshi to find her as she walked up to the meeting site. She had her new stronger aura, now, and the long mermaid skirt that swished behind her as she walked. She was also holding a tree, a four-foot dogwood that had been on clearance because its bloom season was over. Her attempts at growing things had been going well so far, so it seemed worth trying out.

It turned out he had arrived before her, though, so she waved with her free hand as she approached, feeling a little self conscious, as always, but trying not to turn her face away. "Um, hi."

The fluttering in Pendour's chest started to fade as she got closer and saw the way he was smiling. It made it easier for her to smile back, especially as she thought about why they had met up.

"It was just lovely, knowing that someone wanted to see more of space. So, um, you're welcome." She took a few more steps forward, into what might have been conversational distance under normal circumstances, although the tree, even with its little sapling leaves, was probably getting into his personal space a little bit. Pendour didn't seem to notice.

"Takamizawa." She said it a little slowly, careful to get it right. She hadn't been sure, when she just saw the messages. "That's how you say it. Okay. My name is Pendour."

She went ahead and held the tree out to him. It wasn't really heavy, and not heavy at all when she was like this, but she knew people liked being able to help. "That's sweet as sweet of you," she said, then held out her other hand. "We will have to hold hands and the tree if we want to go anywhere but here, though," she said, still with a soft smile.

Pendour let him take the tree from her, and she took his free hand in turn, her grip, for the moment, butterfly-light.

She glanced at him through the leaves. "I don't know if seeing Pendour will prepare you to see your world. The sad things will be sad and the world will be happy to see you no matter when you go," she said. She was smiling. She thought space was more happy than sad, in the end. "But I love seeing all these places, too, and I'm happy to show you mine."

That was when she squeezed his hand, murmured her oath, and watched the scenery shift around them.

Pendour, the wonder, was a bubble of air under the sea with a high glass dome arching overhead like a reverse fishbowl. It was held up by stone arches which were still half crumbled, but it seemed like the wonder was holding its shape anyway. The ground, on the other hand, was made of tile and stone. There was a mishmash of mosaics by their feet, mostly abstract swirls and soft shapes in shades of blue and green.

They had arrived on the first floor, in the same spot as always. They were a short walk away from the cove. Even from this distance, the large, empty pool surrounded by the most intricate columns and arches on the wonder was the most eye catching thing around. There was also the large marble staircase that led up to the second floor, the one with the lovely carvings on its railings. They were right at the foot of that.

Pendour, the knight, didn't look at either. She turned to a spot more towards the back wall and squinted, even before she turned back with a little smile and said, "Welcome to Pendour."

Pendour's smile might have been soft, but there was a touch of pride in it as she looked back, almost over to her new guest. Without the tree between them, she was much more aware of her eye and didn't quite look up to his face. "Thank you," she said. "I think my ancestors cared deeply about first impressions. Even after all this time, the sadness and the worst of the brokenness is only there if you look to closely."

Pendour didn't shy away from looking closely. As she looked over at the distant cove, something in her expression went somber as a grave, but it didn't last. She was not here to linger on the broken things, but to heal them.

"We can start with my garden. It's the part I've been trying to fix up the most, and it's where I wanted to try planting the tree. Here." With just one more glance over her shoulder, she was off, moving away from the cove towards the outer glass wall.

The gardens beds took up nearly half of the first floor, swirling around of the paths in a way that was both flowing and manicured, though it would take a trained eye to know that they were even supposed to be gardens. The soil had long ago turned to dust, ancient and pale. The garden bed that Pendour had been working on was one towards the center that was hard to miss among all the others. It was looking much more chipper, filled with hostas and coral bells and a somewhat overgrown patch of spinach.

Pendour nodded deep with a soft smile, accepting the compliment. Then she walked over to the corner of her garden bed and shoved both her hands wrist deep into the dirt. Her eyes closed, blissful, as she felt the soil, cool and soft and full as full of life. After a moment of that, she pulled a trowel from where she'd left it under some leaves and she started to dig. It would be a little slow, but she had a tendency to bring up plants or food rather than big gardening tools.

"I was thinking the tree could go here," she said, not looking up. "And then three more for the other corners, when I can get them." She traced a finger along the stone edge of the garden bed. "I've never had a formal garden before. I like seeing things grow a little freer, but the wonder will like the structure, I think, and the plants won't mind."

She looked up, then. "Moving on to the other beds will be where it gets harder. There's irrigation in this one, but in a lot of the others it's broken or just not working, and I don't know why."

Babbling and half-blind, Pendour did not see the other figure approach, but Kami might have. He was a tall man with a scale-patterened waistcoat, long dark hair, and eyes that were a familiar shade of gray-green. "Hello, Sarandon," he said.

Pendour jumped, then turned to face him, brushinf off her skirs. All the sudden, she was stiff as stiff. "Oh! Hello," she said. She turned to Kami. "Um, this is my ancestor, Irving."

Irving looked the senshi over, slow, calculating, and not showing much emotion. "Who did you bring up this time, granddaughter?"

It wasn't obvious at first glance, but if someone looked closely, they could see that Irving was just the slightest bit see-through. Pendour stood there, blinking too fast and not quite making eye contact with anyone, and she hoped and hoped that Kami could put the pieces together and answer his own questions because pointing out the fact that Irving was a dead member of her biological family just seemed a little rude while he was standing right there.

"Oh, it's, um, something only knights have," she said, looking to the ground.

Irving gave a too-bright smile. "Yes. I'm here for support. Guidance. Passing the torch, if you will." He glanced back over to Pendour, just for a moment. "I like this one." When he returned to looking over Kami, his gaze settled on the clothes, especially the mask. "Medical skills? I like that. See, granddaughter, if you'd had friends like this, you might not be in your current predicament."

Something about his wording made Pendour's stomach drop. She was trying to get along better with Irving, but between the cruel legacy he wanted her to carry and the way he had no care for her insecurities, it was hard to listen to him at all sometimes without her insides twisting tight as tight.

She glanced over his shoulder at Kami and mouthed, sorry.

I had surgery, you know, thought Pendour. I've been in and out of hospitals. I've had kind friends, and capable ones. She took a deep breath. Then, she took all of her thoughts and she shoved them into the dirt under her hands. She kept digging as she tried to get up the nerve to say something to Irving, but Kami got to it first.

"Yes, Irving, we're just doing the tour," said Pendour, voice soft as soft. "I think we're okay."

Irving looked between the two of them. Pendour still felt uneasy under his oddly familiar sea-green gaze, but eventually he nodded. She tried to focus on the positive. He was getting a little bit better about respecting her space.

"I can see you're busy," he said. "Well. I'll see you around." With one last pointed look at Pendour, he continued on along the glass wall, as if he had just been taking a stroll.

Pendour's fingers were shaking as she continued scooping soil. "Sorry," she repeated, still quiet, as soon as Irving was out of immediate earshot. "I try to warn people. He's-" she tried to wrap her mind around a word and ended up just shuddering, instead.

"Um. Anyway. I do think we can plant the tree, now." The hole in front of her certainly seemed sapling sized.