She had felt the pull ever since she first became Gwales, the call to visit her Wonder. But something had always come up: something mundane, like a custom motorcycle show to prepare for or a ride that needed tons of work, or something not so mundane, like getting summoned to Aokigahara's Wonder to help him clear it of monstrous spirits. Prudence – Gwales – simply hadn't had the time.

Or the courage, she mentally scolded herself.

Because despite having been a Page for awhile, it was all still so new to her, this knight thing. There had been no-one to ask for guidance or help or even information. The most info she'd gotten was years ago, when she sat down on a park bench with the Cosmos Knight Hvergelmir and talked. That had helped a little, but there were still so many questions she had, so much she didn't know. One thing she had done was read – like actually read, not listen to – an annotated copy of The Mabinogion, the Welsh cycle of myths and legends that her name had apparently come from, or rather that had informed the name of the place on Earth she was named for, or the wonder itself. (She wasn't sure which came first.) From this she learned that Gwales was the island where the head of the giant Bran the Blessed, High King of Wales, had entertained his comrades after a battle with Ireland. Wales had crossed the Irish Sea to avenge Bran's sister Branwen, who had been mistreated by the Irish, and in the subsequent battle Bran had been decapitated. His brothers in arms took his head to Gwales, where he regaled them with stories and feasting for eighty years. Prudence had found this fascinating, and somewhat enlightening. She wondered what the place on Pluto would be like.

So here she was, deep in the night, sitting cross-legged on the floor in the middle of her studio apartment in Destiny City with only a candle as illumination. Summoning her "weapon", a small egg timer with lavender sand inside it, she powered up, closed her eyes, and began to meditate as best as she knew how to since she'd never really done anything like that before. She felt the pull of her Wonder almost instantaneously as she did so, and at the same moment a phrase entered her mind:

I pledge my life and loyalty to Pluto, and to Gwales.
I humbly request your aid, so that in return I may give you mine.


Repeating the phrase softly, Gwales felt a sudden pull and a whoosh sensation that lasted for scant microseconds. A chill washed over her, and when she opened her eyes all she could see was darkness in front of her. Momentarily frightened, she quickly looked around to see if she could see anything. The silhouette of a tall, silvery-looking tree appeared off to her left, and she sighed in relief. As her eyes adjusted to the absolute darkness, she could make out ruins surrounding her, dimly illuminated by an unknown light source. She slowly got to her feet to better look around her; she was apparently in the courtyard of a small tower, of which only one turret was still mostly intact, the rest crumbled down in jagged ruins.

She looked at the tree again, and as she did so a small blue pool winked into view next to it, its waters churning as if moved by some unseen wind. Tilting her head in curiosity, Gwales leaned over to look into the pool; much to her surprise, instead of a reflection of the sky, she saw clouds and mist that shifted and moved, obscuring things that were just out of her vision. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the pool disappeared, leaving her more confused than ever. Was she supposed to be able to see things in the pool? She honestly didn't know.

Gwales took a deep, calming breath. Well, she was here for a reason, and that reason was to explore her Wonder – for this place was surely her Wonder. She felt it wrap around her with a strange familiarity. Instinctively walking around where the pool had manifested, she made her way toward the one intact turret. The crunch of her footsteps was the only noise to be heard as she traversed the surprisingly level ground, the sound falling dead in the stillness of the air around her. Such a strange place…

The door at the entrance to the round turret was unlocked and slightly ajar. Pushing it open further with a faint creak of long-unoiled hinges, Gwales cautiously stepped inside. There was nothing on this ground floor except dust. A staircase extended up opposite from her, and she nearly tiptoed across the stone floor toward it. It looked to be made of stone, which made her breathe a sigh of relief; given the apparent age and condition of the place, she wouldn't really have trusted a wooden staircase. Tentatively, fingers brushing against the wall, she climbed the stairs to the first floor.

When she reached the first floor landing, she saw an open double door, one half of the door hanging tilted from the bottom hinge inside a room. Looking through the door, there seemed to be some furniture in there: a thing that looked like a desk, a couple of shabby chairs, shreds of fabric hanging in ribbons on the wall and in front of a shattered window over the desk. This must have been an office of some kind, she decided, and a feeling washed over her as if in confirmation. She stepped cautiously into the room to further explore it; everything was covered with a thick layer of dust, and looked like it hadn't been used in centuries. Gwales gave a soft chuckle at that – of course it hadn't, if this place was around as far back as the Silver Millennium. She'd have to come back with cleaning supplies and straighten things up, she thought as she left the room and continued up the stairs.

The second floor was similar to the first, only its broken furnishings indicated that this must have been a bedroom or some kind of living quarters. Again, fabric hung in dusty tatters on the walls and over the window, but there was a bed on one side, a large wardrobe on the other, and a small table with a chair next to it on its back. Entering the room, she nearly sneezed at all the dust everywhere. She opened the wardrobe doors with care; there was still clothing in here, but it was beyond shredded. As she looked around the room, Gwales thought she saw something glinting in the low light on the table. With care she crossed the floor to investigate; brushing away the accumulated dust, she saw that it was a ring. Somehow instinctively she knew what it was: her signet ring. Hers, or did it belong to the person who lived here before? She picked up the ring and slipped it onto a finger; of course it fit perfectly. A memory flashed strong in her mind, of this room the way it had been originally, and in that moment she realized that she and the previous resident were one and the same – she was the previous Knight, reincarnated.

Leaning hard against the table, Gwales let this sensation sink in and inhabit her. No wonder everything felt so familiar.

She left the living quarters and continued up the stairs, already certain what she would find there. In another open room on the landing there floated a softly glowing sphere. The piece of the Code that resided here. She gave it a respectful nod and climbed the rest of the way up the stairs to the roof, which was still intact somehow. Gwales walked over to one of the crenellations and ran her hand over the stone. How many times had she done that in her previous life? She looked out over the ruins of the tower. A small time pool blinked into existence in the courtyard, its blue glow enticing. Would she ever be able to see wonders in it? Maybe, if she fixed the place up..

Reincarnated from a thousand years ago, Gwales had returned home at last.

(wc: 1392)