That was so dumb of her. It was so core to her Knighthood--it was what she was named for! But there had always been so much to do on Earth, and so little reason to launch herself into space. Honestly, the whole thing felt sort of silly, when she thought about it for too long, but...Kerberos had said that her place in space was important. That it was what she served. Her starseed, her very soul, was tied to it somehow.
So she needed to go. Eve if she didn't want to, for reasons she couldn't quite make herself express. Maybe, she supposed, she was afraid of what she might find--but how bad could it be? It was on a planet with an entire Princess, after all, someone who had likely been caring for the world for years, and it couldn't possibly be all that bad. Certainly it wasn't like there would be monsters or anything lurking up there. Surely Kerberos would have warned her if that was a possibility. Probably ti was just...lonely, and it would need someone to care about it, and the only person who could do that was Sonora, so she needed to go. And. Do. That.
Even if it was silly. Even if it was just a thought she was chasing out. Even if she was totally unprepared for whatever might be up there.
She was still wet, and cold, and this was very much impulsive, and she really ought to be going home, but if she didn't do it now, she might put it off for another six months, and that was just dumb. She needed to go.
So she took a breath. Closed her eyes. And let herself feel a pull in her chest, a pull that almost felt like a melody in her very core. She smiled to herself.
And when she opened her eyes, she was elsewhere.
For a moment, she was standing in a paradise--a massive glass building, like the biggest greenhouse she had ever seen--like those butterfly houses, full of all sorts of plants she couldn't identify, and a whirl of colors and smells and sounds, and bright insects flying all over, and--
And a woman, with Sonora's own multicolored hair, and an easy smile, and a face that Sonora hoped was what hers would look like when she was older, because she looked beautiful and confident, like the type of woman who took no s**t from anyone. She was dressed like a gardener, not in what Sonora imagined her Knight fuku would be, and she was looking at someone Sonora couldn't see, and laughing at a joke Sonora couldn't hear.
"Ah, Princess, we'll manage," the woman said, and she set something--a ring?--on her workbench.
And then the vision was gone, and Sonora felt her heart break.
Because, in an instant, she wasn't looking at a beautiful, lively conservatory. There were pots and plots and the remains of what had been, but all of it, every single plant, was either gone or dead. The glass of the building was cracked, and she could see holes in places, and there were none of the sounds of life that had filled her vision. Her Wonder, it seemed, was a shell of what it had once been--all dead things and empty silence, and it made Sonora shiver.
The centuries, it seemed, had not been kind to this place. But perhaps that was the truth for every Wonder and Homeworld. After all, no one had been there for so long, and the old Knight was long dead, and it was all Sonora's responsibility now. Never had she been so glad that her parents and grandparents loved gardening--it meant that she had plenty of experience and equipment back home. Next time she came up here, she would have to bring some supplies. A broom, a shovel, a trowel, trash bags. Start by clearing out anything damaged on the floor, and uprooting all the dead plants. She could figure out what came next...well, when it came next. There would obviously be plenty to do; and it would probably take her a very long time. But that was okay. Sonora could totally be a "projects" kind of girl, if she just put her mind to it. She could definitely fix this place up. She could totally make it presentable, and turn it into something that old Knight she'd seen would be proud of.
She reminded Sonora of her mother and grandmother--which she guessed made sense, since that was...her, wasn't it? The her that had existed a thousand years ago, looking gorgeous in her middle age, with beautiful vibrant hair that was just starting to have grays come in and strange markings on her skin that Sonora didn't recognize. She wondered what those were--a feature of Idans of the past? Maybe if she talked to her Princess, Ida would know.
It seemed like she wasn't the only one taking the place in, though. Her little wisp friend seemed to appear out of nowhere, and as she watched, it darted all around the area near her--never getting too far out of sight, but clearly curious about this place.
She smiled. At least it wasn't a total loss--and her little friend's presence made her feel significantly better about the whole thing.
But there had been one other important thing she'd seen--and so she moved over to that workbench, and there, where she'd seen it left in her memory, was an elegant, delicate ring with a symbol of a butterfly perched on an orchid. It made4 Sonora's heart leap, and she slid it on, feeling a sense of awe and wonder.
This was something magical, she was sure of it. And she would figure out exactly what it was later.
For now, she took one last look at her Wonder. A mess. A project. But a place that, she knew, had once been full of life and light and color.
She would make it that way again. That would be her mission, as a Knight--to make this place shine. It would take a lot of time, and a lot of work, and a lot of elbow grease, but she could do it. And maybe she wouldn't have to do it alone--she had made some good friends as a Knight, and maybe Princess Ida would be willing to come with her too.
Sonora would be beautiful again. That was her promise to herself.
[wc:1,097 words]
