It had taken a bit of soul searching and introspection, but Iapetus had made up her mind to go back to her homeworld. And it wasn’t as if she was afrid because she wasn’t. It was more of a feeling of did she really want to invite more weirdness into her life after having dealt with a world eating snake and being yeeted out of her own body. But the snake was back in its weird little prison (which Iapetus sometimes swore she could ******** see when she was out on patrol and happened to look up at the sky) and she kind of wanted to see her world when it wasn’t under the influence of weird lightning storms. Besides, she’d done a little research and wanted to see how well it matched up with an in-person visit.

Having sufficiently psyched herself up, Iapetus pressed her tumb against the little icon on her phone’s screen that would send her up. Just like the first time, the journey was very nearly instantaneous, but this time, she’d been plonked down in an open, empty area. As she looked around, she was mildly disappointed to note that what she could see didn’t really mesh with the various images from the Cassini that she’d studied. Sure, the spot she stood on was fairly light colored, but bright and icy? Nah.

But something about the ground tickled at her brain. Kneeling, Iapetus brushed a hand against the earth and bit back a startled ‘Oh!’ The dirt, or in this case, sand of ages had brushed away to reveal the ruins of what must have been brightly painted tiles at one point. Picking up a shard of ancient ceramic, Iapetus looked at it, flipping it around between her fingers. Only the vaguest hints of color could still be seen, though once she suspected that they’d been eye blindingly bright. Dropping the shard, she stood up and really looked around. Now that she had a better idea of what she was seeing, she could spot where the tiles had been blasted into bits or whole patches destroyed completely, leaving only the dead dirt underneath. Wandering, she realized that any whole tiles left were the anomaly here rather than the norm. One such tile still held traces of golden paint and if she squinted, she could jussst make out the raised bits that had likely been a design.

It was too bad she couldn’t bring the tile back with her, but how on earth would she explain that one to her parents? Yeah, I went up to this moon and found old tiles, isn’t that cool? She’d be tossed into a psychiatric ward before she could blink. And then her dad would blame it all on her playing sports. Yeah… no. Besides, the atmosphere here had to be a little different from Earth. What if she brought something back and it crumbled to nothing? Or turned toxic? Cool as the tiles were, she would have to check some things first.

With a sigh, Iapetus set the tile down carefully. She didn’t have the first idea as to what this place might have been. Maybe a big courtyard? Or like something out of Greece or Rome where roads and clearings would be paved for markets and the like? She didn’t see anything that screamed ‘building’, so it was hard to say. Wandering a little more, Iapetus came across a twisted and mummified tree laying on its side. Not too far from there were the remains of other trees and scraggly, ruined and withered vines. She was no expert, but she thought that the way they were placed seemed more cultivated than wild. What she needed was someone who knew about old civilizations who could help her figure out what, exactly, she was looking at.

Or she’d need to study archaeology for herself.

Making a face at the thought of becoming some dry little scholarly type, Iapetus began to laugh a little at the idea. Yeah, that wasn’t the life she wanted for herself. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t learn a few things to help her out with this place.

Wandering on, Iapetus got out her phone and began to take pictures of random things. She could always talk to another senshi or maybe knight and get their input as well. It would be a start.

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