The next time Spei visited his Wonder (after several tries, until he figured out he could only go to the Moon only about once every three weeks), he was prepared to work. A visit to the local hardware store had resulted in a big new tool duffel filled with implements for cleaning and repairing the walls, for working on the garden outside, for making the greenhouse a proper solarium again. It was an ambitious plan, but he felt such love and awe for the small shrine by the lake that he wanted to do the place justice. Besides, he'd been charged to restore and care for his Wonder. He didn't want to let it or the Code down.

Shouldering the heavy duffel after transforming in his flat, he recited the mantra that would take him to his Wonder and was instantly transported to the Moon, appearing where he had before, on the shore of the lake standing in front of the building. He climbed the few steps to the entrance and shouldered the door open to look around. Was it his imagination, or did the inside seem brighter than it was the last time he was here? It certainly seemed that way. With a shrug, he entered the main foyer, glancing up at the room above the greenhouse where he'd placed his Wonder's Code Piece. He'd have to install new doors of some kind on that room…

Spei crossed the marble floor to the room next to the solarium-to-be where he'd found the remnants of gardening tools the last time he was here. This would be a good place to base his work out of. He set down the tool duffel on the lone intact work surface with an echoing thunk, then rummaged around inside for the work gloves he'd bought. Donning them, he next removed a pair of small but robust gardening shears. Today's work was going to involve tending to the solarium-greenhouse and doing a basic sweep of the main floor; it made sense to him that sweeping up would follow whatever detritus came from pruning and clipping plants in the solarium. He had a plan.

About two hours into the execution of his plan, he finally took a break. He had discovered a curved stone bench in the solarium buried beneath debris, so he cleaned it off and sat down with a tired sigh. His pale violet tailcoat was stained and dirty on the sleeves, as were the knees of his pale pink trousers, his boots were scuffed, he was exhausted and sweaty… but he got a lot of work done so far this trip. Some of the urns and pots were long since broken, soil spilled everywhere, but some were still intact, overrun by vines; those he cleared and hydrated with water he pulled from the lake itself. He hoped that the original plants (most of which he couldn't begin to identify – Moon plants were different from Earth plants) would survive, even flourish. The remains of the vines and the broken pots he scraped into a pile near the front of the solarium, ready to go into trash bags for transport back to Earth for disposal (since there was no trash service on the Moon). Then he swept the floor clean.

Despite the broken windows, Spei was beginning to see what this place might have looked like during the height of the Silver Millennium: tranquil, bright and uplifting, giving people hope.

Spei allowed himself a small smile as he stood. Time to finish sweeping the floor.

(WC: 596)