Megrez found herself spending long periods of time on her planet, partly due to wanting to see if life was returning and partly to a sense of exhaustion with everything. It felt good to get away from it all, to sit in the grass (which seemed softer than normal) and watch the birds hop around and periodically fly overhead.

Yes, birds. It took Megrez a moment to realize that was a new element, but sure enough, birds had started appearing on the planet, little sparrow-like ones with a gentle tweet. They would peck at the ground and regard her with a wary curiosity, letting her observe them but not come too close without scattering them. They seemed happy and healthy though, and for that she was endlessly glad.

The planet with the placid sky and the ruins of civilization was waking up bit by bit. Perhaps someday it would rain, and some new crop would grow. Sometimes Megrez would be deposited by the egg fruit tree from before, and she would avail herself of her planet's bounty… or, well, just snack on one. There might come a day when she could bring people to enjoy the fruit with her, but the planet was not ready yet, and more importantly, she was not ready yet.

She hadn’t experienced a past life vision in a while, which she was fine with. Long ago she might have complained, but right now, she enjoyed the peace and quiet and the opportunity to rest easy. It was just her, the planet, the birds, and the butterflies.

The birds had a song that sounded like "deetdeetdeet-deetdeet." They most likely held no special significance (at least, none that Megrez could guess at this juncture) aside from their mere existence on the planet, but birdsong was a new and pleasing sound that she had no idea she needed to hear. As she wandered around outside of the cathedral's ruins, she found herself following the birdsong just to see where it would take her. So far, that was "nowhere of any real significance," but she was left wondering if there was a village of some sort nearby. It didn't make much sense to just put an important cathedral in the middle of nowhere, right? Surely there was a population center somewhere nearby to at least house important officials, if not also the worshippers of whatever new religion was coming around.

She was a bit iffy about leaving the recognizable landmark of the cathedral behind, but she figured that she would be returned to it eventually, and so she strode forward, following the birdsong and letting it lead her wherever it would. For about 10 minutes of walking, there was nothing, but after that point, Megrez saw the distinct silhouette of buildings in the distance. Certainly, they weren't likely to be very intact, but that was a sign of something worth investigating in the future. Thinking carefully, she decided she would save the possible village for another trip. There were a few things she wanted to put together at the cathedral before she went home, and so she would do that first.

Birdsong ushered her back to the cathedral, and she set to work on some small modifications. When she was done, this cathedral would be relevant to the present as well as the past.

Megrez can visit her homeworld once more in this 7-day time period (3/12/2022).