It was anything but a short walk from where they were.

Of course, Waipoua didn't bother to say anything more about it while they were still on Earth. As soon as he made his decision, she offered him her hand, and when he took it she focused, quietly said her pledge, and off they went.

She felt their arrival before she saw it. She could hear the humming again, as though something was breathing and alive and aware that she'd arrived. The air was thick, humid, though not unpleasant. It smelled of earth and ancient wood, though it carried a sharp undertone that reminded her of crushed mint. The ground was soft, almost spongey...

Waipoua finally opened her eyes and found that they landed among the trees, just as she expected, though there was a difference from the last time she was here. Likely elsewhere in the forest, she thought. The fog at their feet was consistent enough, if slightly more noticeable here, and she regarded it with a curious little quirk of her brow before eventually looking up and around to see where they were.

The trees here were as wide and as tall as the last area she'd been in, but the bark was lighter. A pale brown, she noted with quiet fascination, and some streaked with silver and white. She could see the treeline, and a subtle glow from beyond it. She took a step and felt her foot slip slightly. Looking down, she noted the thick moss–thicker than what she encountered the last time, which felt like it was saying something–and tangling, silvery roots interspersed throughout.

"Careful," she said quietly, as though not wanting to disturb the stillness of the forest. There was the strangest sense of reverence that overcame her whenever she visited. Inherent. Involuntary. The idea of it irritated her, but she left it alone. Just the thought of rebelling when it first occurred to her caused her stomach to threaten her with a certain, most unpleasant, sort of twisting. She looked over at Zayaan, catching his eye first before flickering her gaze to the forest floor. A quiet instruction for him to look.

Mindful of her steps, she quickly moved toward a thick trunk and took a seat.

"Anyway. This is a Wonder. Specifically, mine. You can think of it as a magical domain that you're in charge of. Beyond that, I'm not entirely sure what we're supposed to do with them." Waipoua looked up, quietly appreciative of the way the light filtered in through the broken canopy high, high above them. A smile touched the corners of her lips, fleeting but visible if he'd been looking at her, before she sighed.

"I guess maybe restore them? Or...something."

-----

Zayaan was prepared to take a long walk to some secluded place, but he was not expecting Micah to take his hand, whisper something, and then find himself being beamed up like something from Star Trek. The entire experience was…Surreal really, and he couldn't figure out how to process it right now. When they landed, the ground beneath his feet went from hard to…Soft? The air around them smelled….Minty? Just where WERE they? He watched as Micah walked, noting the small slip, reaching out half way just in case only for her to right herself.

The whole area was a…Forest?

It was beautiful in it's own way, but he’s never seen this forest before. “Where is this located?” He started to follow her, keeping mindful of his steps as he went. He stood there in front of her with his arms crossed. A magical domain that you would be in charge of…The smile on her face was nice to see, amplifying her features for the brief moment she kept it. Restore…But how would you be able to do that? There are more questions than answers here…

“There is no place to go where we could find out more information?”

-----

She shrugged.

"Not that I know of," she said, again taking a sweeping glance around to take in their surroundings, maybe commit it to memory if she could manage. "But honestly I haven't spent too much time looking into these things." Another shrug. "I've mostly focused on keeping the Chaos away from the hospital and the surrounding area, and that's honestly enough work on its own added on top of what we already do."

Now that they were both "knighted," or however it was phrased, she imagined their...whatever it was...would take even more of a backseat. Undefined as they currently were, the thought still caused a slight wrenching in her chest. She crossed her arms, huffing as she did her best to shove it aside.

"Anyway, Wonders are located on planets, or similar, out in space. My Wonder is on one called Cybele. Yours will be, too. So to answer your other question, it's located on Cybele."

-----

Chaos?

Is that what they called the creature that gave him his new scar? He didn't ponder for too long because he swore he heard Micah say space and Cybele, which were two foreign concepts in his vast dictionary. They were not on Earth? “I'm sorry….Space?” his eyes narrowed a bit at that. Okay, magic he could…Kind of wrap his head around. But space as well? He was assuming said magic would lead them through space to their wonder yeah, but how did the public not catch onto this?

They were literally astronauts, in a sense.

He was not aware Cybele was a ******** planet. He thought originally it was a star, which meant… “Cybele is not the only planet with knights….Is it?” What other planets were out there? Did that mean they were wrong about their system as well? Like Venus, Mercury, and Mars? Cybele wasn't even IN their solar system and yet they made it here within seconds it seemed. There were far too many questions and not enough answers.

“How…Long has it been this way?”

-----

"Does it matter at this point?" she retorted, almost with a snort. She hadn't asked too many questions when she got started, if only because there was no one to ask. Consequently, she sort of stopped asking them, and since that hadn't taken away from her overall experience...well.

"But yes, space. And no, it's not. Pretty sure every planet in our solar system has knights." She paused there and vaguely gestured in the air above her head. "And then who knows where and what else beyond our solar system."

It was a lot to take in. It certainly had been for her, though her awakening experience had been a bit more exciting than picking up a stuffed animal paw stuck in a bush. She'd been running from something, presumably for her life, and only narrowly escaped because of the speed she gained from powering up. Looking back now, she wondered if she'd still be here if it hadn't been for her weapon presenting itself with such fortuitous timing.

Not that she believed in coincidences, so maybe it had all been a massive setup by the powers that be in the universe.

"I wish I had more information for you," she said, though with a roll of her shoulders that said that she wasn't actually all that concerned about it, "but I've been on my own since I got started. I've learned enough to feel productive, but that's about it."

-----

So…He would have to do research to figure this out. Perhaps for the both of them…It was still a bit hard to wrap his head around the space and things on other planets but then again…He did touch a magical stuffed paw and transformed into something else entirely. Something told him there was more to this knight thing than what they currently knew.

With that said, they could either go home or…

“I want to…Explore.” If this was where his wonder was located, then he wanted to see whatever he could. He decided to wait and see what his companion would do before just walking. He could very well get lost and he wanted to make sure he could get home.

-----

Waipoua's gaze trailed away for a moment, toward a curious shimmer from just beyond the treeline. She thought it'd be a good idea to leave the quiet man with his thoughts for a bit, though she quickly got caught up in her own thoughts as a result.

His voice jarred her back to the present, and her eyes snapped to him.

"So let's explore," she said, carefully moving to stand and dusting herself off. She settled her purple gaze on her guest soon enough, and then gave another little huff of amusement. "For starters, though, you should probably power back up."