Andromeda was hours behind them, Leviathan somewhere ahead, but the farther they traveled, the stronger the urge to turn back became. She was going the wrong way. Every beat of her wings was a battle, every lightyear they traversed a war to be won. Her soul willed her to turn back, her head and her heart urged her to continue forward. She grit her teeth, clenched her fist, gave herself ways to fight against the compulsion by providing a physical stimuli to parallel the mental and emotional powerhouse her connection with her planet used with the intent to overwhelm her. Images of her old home, of her city, of her people – nostalgia was the easiest to combat; the horrors of her imagination were less so. For every imagining of her world in darkness, she cut into her palm with a fingernail and retaliated with other worlds in darkness; for every Enyalian child screaming, an Andromedian face under the Siren’s call; for every remembered death in battle, a chaos agent attacking an ally. Time’s passage was not on her side, however, as whispers of hesitation tied the two notions together. Enyalian children screaming, approached by other Enyalian faces under another’s command; wars fought by brave soldiers attempting to save her world without her, fighting an agent of chaos they had no hope against. Soon the images melded together so completely there was no distinction between imaginings and retaliation – images and scenarios of her world in peril marched across her mind, tempering her resolve, making every wing beat harder, heavier.
 
She was going the wrong way.
 
She was needed on Enyalius.
 
But she couldn’t go back.
 
She needed to go back.
 
She wouldn’t go back. Her jaw ached as her eyes sharpened on the line drawn from Nocturnus’s gadget; she wouldn’t let her Sailor Crystal manipulate her. Her people didn’t deserve to be saved – images of children disagreed. She couldn’t go back on her word – she wouldn’t go back on her word! She would save Leviathan, and then, if there were anything left to save, she would head back to Enyalius. If there were nothing left… starting over may be the best thing for her people.
 
But she was growing tired. She couldn’t face it alone anymore – she needed a distraction. Any distraction. Until then she hadn’t been paying attention to the people around her; she had the general idea that everyone had been quiet until now, keeping to themselves and their thoughts; her intrusion wouldn’t be seen as out of the ordinary, right?
 
Turn back!
 
Right. She unclenched her jaw and blurted out suddenly, “So what’s it like on your planet, Sedna?”

Amatheia almost seemed to swim past the stars, her wings beating in time with her legs moving, her arms occasionally doing a brief stroke. To break the silence, she softly hummed snatches of song, random bits of melody that came into her mind. Her hair streamed behind her, and occasionally she brushed a few unruly strands of hair out of her face.

Then she was aware of Enyalius asking something, almost a bit of a shock after the silence. But then she decided it was a good question with interesting potential, and with a few beats of her wings, she moved closer to hopefully listen to the answer.

Lost in thought as they flew towards Planet Leviathan, leaving Andromeda on her planet, Eshana nearly missed Enyalius’s question.

“My planet?” It took a few seconds for her to realize what the other senshi was talking about. “Ah, if you mean planet Sedna, I honestly have no clue. I would imagine a barren rock. If it ever had life, it has been a very long time since anything has survived there, possibly since the destruction of the Silver Millennium.” She hummed in thought for a moment before continuing.


“My home is Earth, it always has been. I was born here a very, very long time ago, although I suppose I do have a different view of the planet than many people do.” She grinned at the thought. Very few people knew exactly what she was and she was curious if the senshi she was with were smart enough to figure it out if she gave them enough clues.

Sailor Nocturnus

Sailor Nocturnus listened quietly to the discussion, her eyes mostly focused on the guidance from her Asturlab. She kept it carefully balanced in her gloved hands, letting it lead the way to their next destination. Her thoughts were occupied with Sailor Leviathan and Shadow, the first two to take on the Chaos seed at planet Leviathan. How were they doing? Had they made much progress? Poor Sailor Leviathan and her poor planet... Sailor Nocturnus felt empathy and sympathy for everyone who was impacted by this terrible situation.

She made sure not to think about her own home.

Nocturnus wondered what Sedna meant when she said that she had a different view of Earth than others. It was still a place that fascinated the young sailor solder-in-training. Neo Queen Serenity and her court of sailor soldiers—they all seemed astounding and amazing in their power and influence to the refugee child. Sedna must have been around to see so many of their adventures and travels, or at least Sailor Nocturnus imagined it was so.

Amatheia had begun humming lightly again, and for a moment it seemed she had ignored Sedna's answer, though she had a musing expression. Then she abruptly stopped and tilted her head somewhat at the other senshi. “Then how do you view the planet, Earth?” She asked. She'll admit she probably knew less about the planet than most of the other senshi, but lack of knowledge was typically an easy thing to rectify. It would be interesting if she could get multiple viewpoints about Earth.

Though admittedly she was intrigued. She didn't dwell on the planet bearing her name? She had thought that was always so for a senshi. But the biggest mystery to her was the detachment in her voice. Surely she cared about her source of power? That meant either her personality was a very uncaring sort, or perhaps planet Sedna was not her source of power. But one question at a time, she decided. If one rushed through knowledge, they could lose bits.

As the group of senshi left Planet Andromeda far behind, silence fell over them. With nothing to grab her interest anymore besides the stars around them, Callisto's mind wandered back to that moment in the spire-and her bloodstained shield. Th guilt hit her again, and she found herself purposely lagging behind the others as they moved. She still wanted to apologize, but...should she even bring it up again?

Instead, she let Sedna take everyone's attention for the moment. Callisto could understand her actual planet being empty, as her moon was also uninhabited now, and it wasn't much of a home to her anyway. But what did she mean by being born a very long time ago? Was Sedna older than she looked, like the senshi of Crystal Tokyo

Sedna paused thinking about how to answer Amatheia’s question. While she was aware that most of her group wasn’t from her home planet, and therefore couldn’t realistically be able to put any clues together, Callisto was and Eshana couldn’t help but be curious to see what she could come up with.
 

“When you’ve lived as long as I have, it tends to alter the way you view the world, although I’m sure my…upbringing had its own unique influences as well.” The world tended to go in cycles of creation, life and death, with Eshana’s life very much focused on the last two parts of the equation. Her father taught her the value of life and mortality while her mother taught her about death and the afterlife. There was beauty in all of it she supposed.

The flaw in her plan became apparent. She had assumed Sedna was from outside the Solar System, rather than within; her hope of a long and drawn out, verbally enthralling and idealistically intriguing description of Sedna's homeworld ended with Sedna's response. Part of her, the part that wasn't dedicated to pointedly ignoring the sharp pain in her chest, held out hope that Sedna would then talk about the world she grew up on, but her mention of the "Silver Millennium" flagged some trivia in her head and before she could devote energy to figuring out where she had heard that phrase before, she was given her answer: Earth. Sedna was from Earth. Another senshi from the Solar System. She was disappointed, but not at Sedna or her answer, but rather her own expectations. That system was the 'brightest' in the galaxy - it held tens of sailor crystals, all attracted to the light of Sailor Moon and her Crystal - the odds that random senshi she ran into, especially in this sector, were from there were nonzero, considering that this whole operation was being organized by Crystal Tokyo. 

But this wasn't the flaw in her plan.

The flaw was in herself: she was terrible at small talk. She had no idea what to say in response to Sedna; she assumed the other's final remark was an allusion to seeing it through a senshi's eyes so she didn't feel like she needed to ask a follow up question, and so suddenly there was silence again. Silence that left parts of her mind unoccupied, parts that slowly started to fill with the panic that tried to break free from the constraints she had put up, constraints she had to reinforce to keep the compulsion at bay, the pain at arm's length rather than the writhing, striking thing that existed in the heart of her. She was screwed. She was so screwed. 

She dove into Amatheia's question, forcing herself to examine it thoroughly, and then turned to Sedna, waiting as though on a precipice for the dark-schemed senshi to reply. When she did, Enya jumped into this, too, taking as much as she could from it, picking up now that Sedna was wanting them to pick up on something and ask about it. She could pick this apart. She would work this, she could solve this. Sedna had lived a long life, the long life altered how she saw the world. Okay. Wisdom comes with ages, changes in perspective comes with age. Unique upbringing though... she didn't know enough about Earth to even know where to begin there. What was unique on Earth? If Callisto had been the one to say that she'd almost be willing to wager the girl had been raised by bears, or something like that, but Sedna... she had no idea. 

As she waited for someone else to ask a question that could get her further - she'd almost prefer not knowing for the moment so she had something to chew on - she started to put together "unique" scenarios that were probably very far off base, but it gave her somethign to think about.

Achelois imagined the trip between the planet with the maze and her own planet under attack, it had been very quick but even so, every moment had felt like a stab to her heart.  And yet, she glanced to Enya, knowing that she must feel it.  She was mildly surprised when her companion started a conversation not about their powers or information needed for teamwork.  This was a random conversation...

As Sedna answered the question, the conversation picked up and stalled.  Achelois focused on something Sedna had said, maybe it would prove interesting.  "When you say 'as long as I have' exactly how long have you been alive?"  Achelois herself was nearing a century but she had visited planets with occupants older than she as well as younger.

She could tell she had peaked the interest of several of her companions, and outright grinned when Achelois asked her exactly how old she was. Seems someone had been picking up to what she had been hinting. 

"When I was born, it wasn't common for my people to records dates of birth. From my own calculations, I'm somewhere close to my second millennium of life." More accurate time keeping had come later, but knowing her people’s history and being able to fill in the blanks through her own research and learning about the Silver Millennium, Eshana had a rough idea of how old she was; somewhere in her 1,900s. She honestly couldn’t really get more accurate than that and besides, at her age, who really wanted to? Her own mother, who was a Goddess wasn’t much older than she was, having had Eshana early in her Goddess-hood.

Amatheia was musing over Sedna's answer, as little as it revealed. She was still curious about how she saw the planet Earth as her home and a world. Now she was a bit curious about her upbringing as well. She almost chuckled, trying to imagine the sorts of things other people went through and learned as they grew up. Then she was aware Achelois was speaking, asking rather point blank how old the other woman was. She had thought that was some kind of taboo on Earth. Something about 'Never ask a lady her age'? But then Achelois possibly wasn't from Earth. Would Sedna still be offended though?

Contrary to her half expectations, Sedna seemed quite delighted by the question. And Amatheia smiled to hear her age, and only gave a nod of simple acceptance. “That is a very good age, you're fortunate. I cannot wait until I can reach my first millennium. Perhaps then I will not be treated like such a pipling by my parents.” Her voice had taken a somewhat joking yet musing tone and she chuckled softly at herself.

“Your people are long lived Amatheia?” Sedna asked. How long lived were Sailor Amatheia’s people? Were they immortal as Eshana herself was or were they simply slow to age? The senshi of Death made a mental note to find out.

“Before Neo Queen Serenity, humans barely lived to see their first century. I still remember a time when someone living into their third decade was considered to be quite old.” She smiled at a memory that came to mind. When she was a child, her father would take her to the surface world with him to learn how to interact with mortal beings and to allow her to interact with people her own age. She had befriended a young boy and had remained friends with him until he had died of old age in his early 30s. What fun they had. He had always teased her about remaining young and beautiful while he would become old and ugly.  

“Even with the Queen’s magic giving humans a long life, I am still quite old by comparison. Although my longevity comes from my mother, not the Queen. ” She hesitated a moment wondering if she should continue. She’d come this far, and part of her felt that she couldn’t back down now. The few times she had shared her secret of who her mother was and the fact that unless Eshana was killed, she would essentially live forever, with mortals they became scared and no longer wished to talk to her. She had lost a few precious friends over the years, the pain sealing itself away in her heart, forever scaring it.

But these Senshi were different, right? Many of her companions came from different planets outside of Earths solar system. Would this be such a shock to them? Steeling herself, she continued, careful to keep her voice steady and even.

“My mother is the Goddess Sedna, ruler of the Underworld, and the person the planet to which I draw my senshi powers was named after.”

Sailor Nocturnus

"Goddess" was a term that Nocturnus vaguely knew, but not really one she understood. Longevity, though, that was not entirely unfamiliar. She herself was young, but her mother and the awful Sarastro... they seemed nearly ageless. It hadn't really occurred to Sailor Nocturnus that things would be different elsewhere. The small sailor soldier continued on her path, listening as Sailor Sedna mentioned the people of Earth and their natural lifespans. Such a short time! How that must change the way they lived!

But there was one part of Sedna's story that Nocturnus could claim affinity with.

"My powers are from my mother, too!" she exclaimed, blushing slightly at her outburst. "But she's not an underworld ruler."

Amatheia blinked somewhat at the question and mused it over, thinking of her experiences in the past. Would her people be considered long lived? She had spent a brief time in Crystal Tokyo, but had gathered that people on that planet generally lived about a thousand years. She had met some people who lived as long as hers and some who lived shorter, and yet others who could live longer.

Then Sedna mentioned how the people only lived to three decades or a century and Amatheia's expression turned completely horrified. She couldn't imagine what such a life would be like. How could anything be accomplished? It was barely a few blinks and their lives were over! Amatheia gave a shudder of horror. How fortunate they were to have their Queen to increase their lifespan now.

Then Sedna detailed her own mother and Amatheia's horror eased into a more relaxed expression, tinged with confusion. “What is an underworld? And I am surprised a deity would require the powers of a senshi...They are powerful enough on their own correct?” She mused it over a moment longer. “I did not think any offspring of gods or goddesses would exist anymore. Only descendants of the offspring.” And she smiled as the youngest girl burst out about her powers being from her mother as well. Then she remembered Sedna's previous question and shook her head, quickly finding her previous train of thought before it had been derailed.

“About my races lifespan, it would depend on perspective I think. By the standards of Earth as it is now then yes, my race is quite long lived. I think perhaps our oldest recorded lifetime is...what was it? Oh yes, the priestess Eidothya. She died when she was over twenty thousand years old. Twenty seven thousand and....” She frowned a bit as she struggled a bit to recall the exact number from her lessons. “eight hundred and sixty five. Nearly triple our average life span. Though if you take care of yourself, you can easily live to see your twelfth millennium. But the Crystal makes a difference too.”

She touched the brooch on her chest and smiled softly at the gentle pulse of power she felt, like a faint heartbeat next to her own. For some reason, it always made her think more of the waves as they hit the shore and retreated in their endless rhythm. “My mother was the senshi of our planet before me, and she's already nearing her tenth millenia and still quite strong. But don't tell her I told so.” She laughed now. “She still insists she's only five thousand years old.”

Callisto's eyes widened a bit at Sedna's admission. A demi-god? She couldn't imagine someone living for so long, an she was often around people who had been alive for 1,000 years. But almost 2,000 and counting? She continued to listen as Nocturnus and Amatheia spoke up, stunning her further. 10,000 years? Callisto couldn't remember what she had eaten two weeks ago, yet there were beings that easily lived for millenniums out there. 

It was incredible how vast the galaxy could be, but it did make her feel far smaller.

Maybe she was a fish to start out with? Like a pet fish, and had a caring owner and who loved her so much that she took her everywhere in a little bowl to teach her the ways of the world, and one day her owner died tragically and with the a lust for vengeance and hitherto-unknown dormant Sailor Crystal, the fish transformed into Sailor Sedna, and with her trident she swore to.... no that's getting out of hand, and sounded a vaguely like a television show she had seen on Earth. And why a fish? ... Okay it wasn't so out there - Sedna did have water-based powers, and they had just gotten off of Andromeda where they had fought fish monsters, and were heading to Leviathan, where there were bound to be more fish monsters, and Amatheia was swimming nearby, so fish-by-proximity ---

Achelois. 

Her voice calmed the ridiculous flow, washed away the slightly panicked train of thought, cutting through to resonate with her core. Her new core, the core she had built when she separated from Enyalius, when she decided not to go back. Achelois helped her become the woman she now was, and part of her wondered why she hadn't sought her out the moment she started feeling so uneasy. She looked around until she found her, and dropped back so they were even with one another in flight, and breathed deeply in an attempt at relaxing around the sharp pain that beckoned with every heartbeat. 

Achelois's question and Amatheia's followup brought on a wealth of information about both Sedna and Amatheia; Sedna's revelation about her age first elicited surprise in Enyalius, but then, as her mind wrapped around what the scope of such a life might be like, she recalled other long-lived beings she and Achelois had encountered, and surprise turned to sad sympathy. She caught Achelois's eye and held her gaze, wondering if she was thinking the same thoughts Enya was. Such a long life... with such memory, had years become meaningless for her yet? What could she remember of her life? What had she forgotten? Enyalius was barely fifty, and already time without distinct and new action blurred together; when keeping to a schedule the days melted beneath her feet - in the blink of an eye a week without incident would pass, grains of time slipping between her fingers. They say it happens that way when you mind doesn't have to forge new memory pathways, so days seem shorter, eventually weeks, months, and years blend together, passing so quickly that one barely notices... and to be nearly two millenniums old... what a potentially sad existence. For the older beings she and Achelois had met, natural beauty was wasted as they had seen hundreds before; danger was fleeting because they had always survived and so would endure - there was no excitement, and without excitement, what was life? 

This was one of the aspects about her future as a senshi that kept her up at night. So long as she wasn't killed in battle, she could theoretically live for an extremely long time; she feared waking up one morning and losing all respect for time, and life, and the little moments that made everything worth it - she was afraid of becoming like the Luytenites. 

Sedna continued to speak, taking them back to a time in Earth's history where its people had much shorter lifespans, where third decade was seen as old - this was neither foreign or unheard-of to Enya; back on Enyalius the average lifespan was also in the third decade, but due to war or disease of some sort. She was still considering the implication that humans somehow aged faster on Earth in their past when Sedna revealed her Goddess parentage. This drew Enya's attention for a moment, more for the "Underworld" part than anything; she had been accused of serving the god of the underworld before - it was interesting to meet the real deal. 

Nocturnus's sudden exclamation warmed Enyalius, her heartfelt enthusiasm bringing a smile to her face. Such a sweet and brave little girl; when they finished with Chaos here, maybe they could offer to help her with her problem...

Amatheia picked up Sedna's question, and Enyalius was reminded again of the Luytenites, her spirit falling. Twenty-seven thousand years... how cruel. She couldn't even fathom the listlessness, the ennui every day life must bring, and yet Amatheia seemed to look forward to it; perhaps a coping mechanism? Did their elders pity their young so much as to put on a daily show of vigor and excitement to keep them from fearing what was to come? ... maybe it was a mutual tactic, if self-defeating... but still, how sad.

With her mind still contemplating the concept of living functionally forever, Callisto took a slow breath and decided to make her apology now during the lull in conversation. She had sulked enough, and life was too potentially short to hold regrets for too long. Especially since they were heading to another Chaos infested planet...

After a few more preparation moments, Callisto flew a little quicker, catching up with the rest of the group. But her attention was more closely focused on Sailor Achelois than anyone else.

"I...I'm not sure if this is a good time, but..." Callisto started, having positioned her beside the other senshi. "I...wanted to apologize for..." For what? Almost killing her? Could someone just say sorry about that an have it be okay? It sounded stupid in her head already, but it needed to be said. "For hurting you back on Andromeda. It was my weapon and I should have been more careful..." 

Uncharacteristic for her, Callisto kept her eyes away from Achelois, not sure she wanted to see her expression after admitting her error.

Achelois was more surprised about having someone with so many years lived traveling with them, than the senshi's actual age.  She and Enya had made acquaintances of those with long life spans before,  they didn't exactly go adventuring.  Enya seemed to remember as well as her companion fell back and matched position with her.  The copper eyes easily gave away the memories being recalled, Achelois too remembered the Luytenites.  She drew her breath in a little sharply, staving off the loneliness that crept in along the edges.  Her heart squeezed slightly as she remembered their despair, their faded motivation, their strong desire to continue on with their monotonous existences.  As she looked at Enya, she felt a shadow fall over her heart.  Living for a long time could be bliss, but only when lived with their beloved, if that person were to die...  The two senshi seemed happy with their prospective long lives, maybe they wouldn't be like the Luytenintes, maybe they just didn't know yet, what old age can do to someone.  

Achelois's thoughts were redirected when Callisto moved up next to her.  The senshi seemed nervous, and it was soon apparent why.  She smiled softly at the senshi, her voice kind, "Accidents happen, wounds can be healed, but don't let this become a wound to you."  She wondered how long the apology had been on Callisto's mind.  "If you want to make up for it, then let your mistakes make you stronger, protect others well."  She hadn't meant to turn this into a life lesson, her memories from earlier still influencing her a little.

Sailor Nocturnus

Even if time hadn't worked differently where Nocturnus came from, she was still too young to really understand all of this talk about "age". She existed in that stage of life where anyone younger than her, even by a teeny-tiny smidgen, was someone she could feel confidently "elder" than. In that same way, anyone demonstrating maturity or physically appearing to be a teenager or adult qualified as "old". Thus they deserved respect and at least a little bit of awe. That was the case for everyone else she had adventured with, so the difference between a few decades or a few millennia was not a useful statistic to her. She just nodded quietly, wanting instead to hear more about everyone's mothers.

Those who had ventured about before with Sailor Nocturnus knew she had a mother-complex, not entirely surprising for someone whose mother comprised her entire world. Her mother was her only family and her only friend. Nocturnus missed her queen mother every second that she was away from their home world. Her new friends filled interesting gaps in her life that she hadn't even realized existed, but it was never anything that could make up for the core separation. She felt like a wandering moon, drifting uselessly away from its planet, everything different and wrong. Sometimes she didn't know if she wanted to try and ignore her memories, so she wouldn't have to think about how lost she was...but she couldn't stop herself from thinking about her dear mother. With that kind of childish pride in family, she wouldn't let pass an opportunity to tell everyone about how absolutely amazing her mother was.

And now, with this mention of other sailor soldiers' mothers, this was finally alllllmost a chance to do so. Maybe.

Sailor Nix was flying alone, having just finished helping a team of senshi clear another planet of the Chaos infestation. She had been instructed to go to planet Leviathan next, though none of her teammates from the previous planet was assigned to the same place, hence her solitary journey. She felt uneasy, wondering if her home would be attacked too—if it was just waiting for its turn. Nix was a small remote planet, far from everywhere, but Chaos was everywhere these days…

Halfway there from where she came, Nix sensed other Sailor Crystals nearby. Actually, it felt like a lot. Five? Maybe even six? That many senshi traveling together… could they be headed in the same direction? Was this to be her new team?

She closed her eyes and followed the mental tug, altering her course slightly. Even if they weren’t heading to the same place, it would be comforting to exchange news and get a status update on the whole project.

A couple minutes later, she saw them in the distance. Six figures, heading toward where planet Leviathan was. She felt hopeful, and after a brief hesitation, she flew on to approach the group.

She didn't know what to expect from Callisto; as the senshi deliberately rearranged her flight pattern to maneuver closer to Achelois, Enyalius first wondered if somehow the Bear-Senshi had gotten hurt. As she started her halting apology, Enyalius was first confused as she stammered, wondering what Callisto could be apologizing for, but then she remembered. She remembered the horrible sound as the shield cut through the air and then bit into flesh, she remembered her own panic, how quickly Achelois had grown pale, how afraid she had been -- she hadn't let herself dwell on it then, when they had a job to do, but now she couldn't help but feel annoyed and over-protective of Achelois, even though she knew it had been an accident. Grumpily she listened as Achelois was all nice about it and tried to turn it into a 'learning moment' or whatever, but, honestly, wounds can be healed? Not all wounds. Not when she doesn't have her staff and nearly gets sliced in half; if it hadn't been for Nocturnus coming in when she did, Achelois would've been in even greater pain, if not worse than that. 

Frustrated, grumpy, depressed, sympathetic, confused, panicked - she hated this trip. But it wasn't the trip that was to blame, it was this stupid feeling in her chest - she'd be much better at curbing or controlling these stupid and erratic emotions if it didn't stinking hurt as much. She hated not being in control of herself; the only time she had felt remotely good (beyond the relief Achelois had given), was when Nocturnus spewed cute all over the place. 

Enyalius looked over to the little senshi-in-training, holding her little device steadfastly for them but looking wistfully around at the rest of the group as though dying for someone to say something she wanted to hear; with the energetic reaction from before, Enya could take a hint. "So, Nocturnus, your mother isn't an underworld ruler?" she teased.

The knot that had been sitting in Callisto's stomach loosened when Achelois smiled at her, and she nodded in response. Though it was embarrassing to have to be told to focus on protecting people... 

"I will keep that in mind," she said softly. It would take a while for her to personally let it go, however, and Callisto had no idea how Enyalius felt about it. She'd seen the other senshi's reaction to Achelois being so badly injured, and could guess that they were closer than average comrades.

Sailor Nocturnus

She might have recognized the teasing tone after a few seconds, but she was mostly focused on the actual words. A chance to talk about her mother?!?! Wonderful!!!

"No, my mother is Queen of the Night!" she proudly proclaimed. Her current expression was much more cheerful and lighthearted than the others would have seen from her during any of the missions where they all fought together.

It didn't even really occur to her that her mother's title may not make sense to anyone unfamiliar with her home and their ways. To Nocturnus, knowledge of her queen mother was as natural and obvious as the recognition of Neo Queen Serenity in Crystal Tokyo.

"It's because of her that the stars guard me."

In saying so, she gave a slight nod towards the Asturlab and the path it illuminated for them.

Amatheia smiled softly, an almost dreamy expression on her face as she mused over things. Movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she saw one of the other senshi moving to fly next to another. She smiled again and shifted onto her back, flying like this for a few heartbeats as she took a moment to look over everyone to observe what they were doing before she shifted back into a normal position.

She chuckled under her breath at the young girl, and her warm exuberance at detailing her mother. Somewhat. She tilted her head slightly as she turned the words over in my head. “Queen of the night. So you have control over the night? Or only the stars?”

Sailor Nocturnus

Amatheia's question was not one that immediately made sense to Sailor Nocturnus, so she took a few moments to muse on it before responding.

"'Night' at home isn't really like 'night' the way it gets used here," she replied. "It's more like... 'void'? Like everything out there in the dark that's not stars or planets. My mother, she is the brightest of the stars and also the darkest of the places untouched by starlight."

There was a brief pause from the child, almost melancholy, but when her voice spoke again the enthusiasm was still present.

"She's amazing! I hope I can be like her when I grow up."

Enyalius listened closely, focusing on the younger girl and the description she was painting around her mother. She connected what dots she could, and logged it all away, hoping that one day she could offer to help Nocturnus reunite with the mother she had been separated from.

"I'm sure you will, Nocturnus," Enyalius replied, a note of fondness in her tone, "You are well on your way to being a bright star."

She was within sight of the group now, and stopped before she got too close to them, in order not to alarm them. They should be able to feel her Sailor Crystal, but if they weren’t looking for it, it would be easy to miss. Nix gathered her courage and spoke.

“Excuse me, are you heading to planet Leviathan?” she asked the group, hoping they were. Traveling alone in space was a very lonely thing; all the emptiness and void around her making it easy to forget that she was actually going somewhere rather than just floating in the middle of nothingness forever.

Amatheia tilted her head somewhat. Powers of void then? She mused it over a bit, humming a few snatches of melody as she did. It was intriguing, to her, void meant nothing, and had no relation to the stars, which the girl seemed to be quite connected to. But then not everything about the senshi powers made sense. In the end she let it go as simply more information learned.

It was beginning to get a bit quiet again and she was about to start humming once more when she heard a voice calling out. She quickly flipped on her back, flying upside down once more which allowed her to quickly locate the source of the voice, which wasn't hard considering the rather bright colors she wore. Another senshi? But then she remembered how she and some of the others had been sent by Jupiter to help on Andromeda. “Yes we are. Who are you?” She responded and answered with her own question.

Nix exhaled in relief, a smile forming on her lips as she realized she had just gained new companions. Perhaps now she would not feel so lonely anymore. “I am Sailor Nix. I am on my way there myself. I was just from another planet, but the rest of the team there was sent away to different places, so I’ve been on my own. Are you the team sent to clear it, then? May I travel with you?” she asked, looking at their different faces in turn.

She doubted they would mind, but it was always more polite to ask.