Any way the wind blows...

Char lowered his altitude and skimmed the ground near one of the Cosmoliner tracks, recognizing a Roegadyn balancing on the slim board. Roegadyn was a word he had learned from Nero on the first day Char had been allowed out of the infirmary and Nero had given him a tour. Roegadyn. Viera. Miqo'te. Au Ra. Lalafell. Hyur. Elezen. Hrothgar. Loporrit. Char had been a bit stunned by the variety of sentient life in this world. Nero told him that wasn't the half of it, but said he needn't worry about the rest unless he went down to the planet one day.

The Roegadyn waved at him as he traveled off in the other direction. Char waved one of his Suit arms back. The arms didn't have hands or fingers and when he asked why he was greeted with looks of astonishment from the engineering team. Nero, as usual, explained. Hands were complicated. Fingers even more so and he was quite impressed that Char's world had been able to manage such precise movement and control. Besides, it wasn't needed. The Vacuum Suits admirably performed their intended functions, he said, and moved the conversation on.

In private, Nero had asked more questions and Char had told him about the way Mobile Suits had changed warfare in space forever in his world. Nero took it all in stoically. He was no stranger to war and admitted that he had been part of the military of an imperialist nation.

"But this world has finally achieved some measure of peace," said Nero. "And it's because of that peace that we can now finally turn our attention to the stars. This Initiative is peaceful and we want to keep it that way."

Char asked if they weren't afraid of running into dangerous or warlike species on other planets.

"Not with Severia around," Nero said with a smug smile.

Nero was constantly smirking and making cryptic comments about some person named "Severia" and then refusing to elaborate.

"You'll meet her soon," he promised. "And then you'll see. I think she'll be interested in you."

It seemed this Severia was planet-side for some business to do with her job which Nero described as "getting involved". Char thought the man was having far too much fun dragging out the mystery.

Char accelerated upward as he flew over the large splash of pink called "Weddingway's Bower". There were many surprising things about this world's moon. The atmosphere. The natural gravity. The rabbit people. Perhaps the color should have been the least of it, but the bright pink trees and blue crystal mountains felt like they came from a fairy tale. That, more than anything else, had cemented to Char that this was another world. A concept he had yet to wrap his mind around fully.

Char grinned as he crossed a stretch of inaccessible plateau, shunning the tunnel everyone else had to use, and simply drifted down from above into the Lunar Nadir. Navigating the cave system required more care, but Char was the ace of aces. He could pilot this thing with his eyes closed. But he didn't because he was on the lookout for a specific researcher studying the Lunar fungi. Coming to a quick stop near a tall, grey-skinned Elezen woman that fit Nero's description, Char hopped down from his Vacuum Suit and landed on the spongy ground.

The researcher looked up. "Oh hello! I don't think I know you. Have you ever seen such fascinating growth patterns?"

Char gave her a charming smile but didn't bother answering. She wouldn't understand a word he said. He took a note out of his pocket and handed it over, the task he had been sent out here for.

The researcher frowned. "It says here that you can understand me but I won't be able to understand you. How odd." She scribbled something on the back of the note and handed it back. "Tell Nero to tell Researchingway that this is just an approximation, but it should do for now."

Char nodded silently and climbed back into his mech. In the three days since he had woken up in this place, Nero had been the only person he could speak with through the new translation device that Nero was working on perfecting. Char coming along had actually been a stroke of luck as it allowed Nero to test and improve the device before they set sail for other planets. It was unlikely, the other man said, that they would come across sentient life out there, but he wasn't going to be caught unprepared if it did happen. Unfortunately, there was currently only one device and Nero refused to make more until it met his exacting standards of excellence. However, Nero had assured him, Severia would be able to understand him naturally when she arrived.

"Or perhaps it's supernaturally," Nero added enigmatically.

Until then Char wandered around the Hub listening in on random conversations, gleaning what information he could, all without having to answer anyone's questions. Nero explained things when he could and had introduced him to a few key figures, but he was a very busy man and in very high demand in multiple projects. Char wasn't bored. Far from it. There was so much going on and many places to explore. And as long as he could fly he couldn't complain. He could even occasionally be useful for tasks such as this one.

On his way back to the Hub he circled over the north of Sinus Ardorum. He hovered over the spot, north of Scream Puff, where his escape pod had initially crashed down. The debris had all been cleaned up by now, but there was a small impact crater. Char swooped down and landed. He hadn't been back here since waking, but Nero had marked it on his map. Now he walked to the very edge of the cliff that overlooked a long canyon. Between two mountains there was a wedge of open space that gave him a clear view of the planet known as Etheirys. Or so Nero had told him, grumbling under his breath that he would never use the name of some jumped-up primal calling itself a mother goddess for their star, whatever that meant.

Char considered how lucky he had been to land where he had. According to Nero, the vast majority of the planet was far more primitive than Char was used to. And only a select few knew that travel off planet had become a possibility. Char might have been stuck there, tethered by the planet's gravity, for the rest of his life. Instead he had landed in the one place that would allow him to live and travel in space.

"Did you do this for me, Lalah?" he asked into the sky. "Or was it that other?"

He still understood so little about what had happened to him. Part of him was almost afraid of this second chance. Afraid that he would make all the same mistakes. Afraid that he would squander it. The old questions he had never truly been able to answer surfaced anew. What kind of man did he want to be? What did he want to do with this new life?

Nero had told him he didn't need to make any decisions yet and had urged him to talk things over with Severia when she arrived. The more Nero mentioned her the more intrigued Char felt. And it wasn't just Nero. Many of the Initiative members spoke about Severia in tones of reverence. He asked Nero if she were some sort of wise woman. Nero had laughed.

"She would be very cross to hear anyone say so," Nero said. "She's someone you simply have to meet because description doesn't do her justice."

He seemed to put great trust in her. Char would just have to wait and see. He climbed back into his Suit and headed back to the Hub. When he landed near the mech hangars both Nero and Alerot were waiting for him. He gave Nero the note and the message and then turned to Alerot who was practically vibrating.

"So? What did you think?" Alerot asked eagerly. Nero had explained to him that Char was an experienced pilot from another world. Somehow this hadn't phased Alerot, it had only excited him.

Char gave the man a charming, non-committal smile. Trusting that Nero would translate for him he said, "Would it be possible to paint one red?"