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“Hindsight being 20-20, I almost feel like we should have brought a couple of tools with us.” If she’d known about the area being covered with ice before, she might have suggested an ice pick to break through it or a hand axe. If push came to shove, she supposed that her weapon would work.

Speaking of… a thought struck her as she extended the cord that attached the weapon to her wrist. “Hold onto this.” Rainier then passed it to him. “If for some reason you slip, or the ground somehow becomes a lake-” Not that she expected that at this altitude but always best to be cautious. “I can pull you back up and vice versa.” At its longest, the length of the cord was only about 3 feet; less distance to slip or fall and she hoped that it could hold the weight of at least one of them.

“Honestly though,” Glancing around she took in the serenity of his world. For as quiet as it was, it also felt kind of peaceful to her. The chaos of sirens blaring, and lights flashing, aggravated civilians, and being on the receiving end of endless threats. This world did not seem as daunting to her as it did to him.

“If I didn’t know any better. I’d think we were near my wonder.” Minus, you know, the large snow-peak mountain. But it felt like they were wandering around the base of it. “Your trees are much taller than mine though.”

“I’ve been there twice. I’ve had someone mention to me the Code and I want to try to find it. It’s likely inside the cave somewhere but I’ve only really been exploring the area outside of it.” There were a couple of nice trails and overlooks to be seen. Spots where, if you look out past the trees, there were large valleys and what looked to be a frozen river off in the distance. It made her curious if she’d ever have an opportunity to meet any of the other Mercury Knights who might have a wonder connected to her own.

As of yet, Rainier had only met two other Knights; one of Polaris and the other of Cosmos.

“You’re definitely welcome to join me sometime. But-” she glanced around, motioned to the trees around them and the blanket of snow beneath the feet. “The scenery’s going to be much like this.” He might enjoy going to Acrucis’ world more. The main city there was absolutely stunning with walls and buildings made of marble-like material. Built up against a mountain side it extended out towards the coast so that cobblestone city streets became waterfilled canals like Venice.

Absolutely stunning.

“I’m curious though. What do the winds say to you?” To this, her tone became slightly more serious. “Is it more like an ancestor, or maybe memory, trying to warn you of something?” The questions were asked before she even thought to consider if senshi were like knights and had such things.

“It’s hard to say,” Rainier matched his stride, stepping in his tracks where she knew it would be safe. “The best advice I can offer in that situation is to trust your gut.” Everything can seem to be going smoothly when that feeling strikes and suddenly things are not alright.

“When I first transferred to the Destiny City Precinct, there were calls- muggins or animal attacks that honestly didn’t feel quite right. I had no explanation for it, but some of my peers seemed to have similar occurrences and because of their tenure, I believed them. My partner, at the time, was skeptical. But-” Rainier paused, wondering if she was sharing too much information but felt it was applicable.

“Anyway, he went missing for several days. It took myself and two others to finally find him. I wasn’t a Knight yet, or Page- yet… but that was when I was introduced to all this.” She made a gesture with her hand to the world around them. “It’s when I learned that the feral dog I was probably chasing after a week prior was more than likely a youma. Or that the person passed out at the bus stop wasn’t high or drunk but likely drained of energy.” Sometimes both, she’d admit to that since it was hard to mask the stench when approaching them.

“If your gut says something’s out there, then take what precautions you can. Not coming alone is definitely a good start but when you come again, you might want to consider some bear spray or, it might get expensive…, but a drone with a camera might help you see something that might otherwise be hidden.” Might not be a bad idea regardless if he needed to map out trails that were shown on the map.

For as many centuries old it seemed, the terrain could have changed and areas might be gone or too dangerous to travel upon. “Just a thought though.”

It was possible that they could have worked together at some point. It wasn’t too uncommon for an officer to be called to assist in cases of domestic abuse or where drugs were involved. For the protection of the ones there to execute an order given by a judge to remove a child, if there is reason to believe that the parents may be violent, it was her job to ensure that CPS officer was safe. Sometimes it was viewed that having a female officer there might help diffuse the situation or keep kids calm while they waited in the car as a parent gathered belongings.

When Beira offered his hand she took it, pulled herself up onto the fat surface beside them then looked out over the cliffside. The vantage point was breathtaking but the sense of peacefulness was short lived as he pulled her attention back to the task at hand.

“You know…” Rainier stood beside him. Reached out with a gloved hand to touch the icicles he’d been inspecting. “If you can pull out the map again and see if this area was maybe once a river. It could be or rather… could have been behind a waterfall.” Assuming that’s what they were looking at here.

She leaned her head close to it and knocked her knuckles on the sheet of ice to see if she could hear any sort of tone difference, like when looking for a hollow spot in a wall where a trap door might be. Sadly, the ice did not work as well as drywall but- it was worth a shot regardless.

“Quite the conundrum…” Rainier drew in a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh.

“I’m no scientist, but-” her head leaned back and she looked up at the sky with a scrutinizing gaze. “Have you ever stayed here long enough to observe the day and night cycle? Or do you have notes from previous visits that you could compare to this visit?” Her own wonder, she imagined, stayed the same year-round. All other peaks and valleys were covered in a layer of snow and eyes which made her think that was just the state of the planet.

Always an arctic cold.

“I just wonder if your world might be in a state of cryostasis.” She pointed a finger at him suddenly. “I know that’s not the right word for it, I’m no scientist but you know what I mean.” An ice age essentially was what she was getting at but she didn’t have the background to articulate those thoughts.

Rainier took another look at the map.

“All roads lead to this spot it seems…” She took a step back, and looked up the cliff to where the plateau should be. “Here,” Rainier held her hand out to him. “I’ll use my weapon like a crampon and climb up to the top.” Not quite the right shape but close enough and should serve the same purpose. “If it is flat up there, then you can probably jump that high and join me. But at the very least it will give us a viewpoint that could possibly help us read the map better.”

Rainier nodded solemnly, understanding that word responsibilities took precedence over all of this; especially when the safety of children was involved. Being on call made things just that much more difficult since he’d run the risk of not being available in the event of an emergency because no cellphone plan covered intergalactic transmission.

Might be something a Mauvian could assist with but she didn’t know any to ask if it was possible.

Best to make use of what time they had and so she stepped over beside him and cupped a hand behind her ear as she leaned towards the ice. Rainier listened intently as he tapped the ice in a more solid-sounding place then again where Beira thought he’d heard a difference in tone. “I definitely hear something but it’s hard to tell if it is because of the thickness of the ice or if it is hollow behind it.”

Leaning back she looked up at the cascade of ice above them; the sheet of frozen water only seemed to reach about fifteen feet which was high enough to make her cringe. “As much as I’d like to say stand back and throw the rock harder…” Rainier paused, shifting her weight to her other leg she retracted the cord so that her weapon clicked back into its spot on her wrist. “Unless we break it from higher up and work our way down, I’d advise against trying to get inside without having better tools and safety equipment.”

“You’ve played Jenga as a kid right?” Of course, he had, everyone she knew had that game in their closet at some point in their life, and since his career involved kids then surely he’d gone into a home where some of those rectangular blocks were laying on the ground. “Similar train of thought, never take a block from the bottom otherwise you risk everything come crashing down. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I can get out of the way quick enough if we cause an avalanche because the sheet of ice can’t support itself.”

She sighed. A puff of white air formed and immediately dissipated in front of her.

“For now, if you don’t want to go to the plateau up top, then I think we should find a way to obviously mark this area and come back more prepared.” Assuming he’d want her help trying to get in.

“Quite the gentleman,” she mused. His concern for her wellbeing was endearing. With work, she knew too many who would try and push her beyond her capabilities but that was something she’d come to expect working in a male-dominated environment. Yes, there were other female police officers, but at times it felt like being stuck trying to prove that she could keep up.

Linking her arm through his, Rainier looked up at him and smiled, “I’d be happy to host you on my wonder sometime, and if you need help here when you come back again, know you can reach out to me.” When they got back to Destiny City she would be sure to give him her cellphone number since it seemed that Senshi phones couldn’t send messages to Knights; at least that’s what Acrucis had mentioned once- then again her phone might be out of date.

Who knew with Mauvians these days?

Her smile did widen a bit into an amused grin at his last statement, how the cold was getting to him. For as warm as it had been the last month, she was quite glad for the cooler weather but she understood the sentiment. Still, as she’d mentioned earlier her own wonder was much like his world; incredibly cold- covered in snow and ice.

Perhaps it’d be best to wait a week or so before throwing him back into cooler climates.