Gaia 3

XVII. Monument

Jaleah brushed the dirt out of her hair and glared at Liyan, who shrugged.

"I had no other choice," she smirked. Jaleah rolled her eyes but followed her to the breakfast table.

"So what's the plan for today?" she asked, grabbing a slice of bread. 

"We're going to head into that city, explore it for a couple of hours, then keep heading west," Daviron announced. 

"Well, more like south-west," Aedard corrected, "There are some mountains directly to the west of us that seem like they would be hard to get through." 

"West, south-west, what's the difference?" Daviron asked, rolling his eyes. 

"West means we'd go in a direction perpendicular to this planet's north-south direction," Aedard began explaining, "Southwest means - " 

Daviron glared at him. 
"I know what the difference is, Aedard," he said, rolling his eyes. 

"You're the one who asked," Aedard replied defensively. 

"Alright, boys, let's maybe talk about something else," Karmyne sighed, "There's no need to argue." 

"Except that it does give you great practice for parenthood," Liyan mumbled. Karmyne snorted but otherwise chose not to explicitly agree to the statement. 

--<<>>--

They descended into the city, excited for what it had to show them. Most of the buildings had long since been destroyed, either by the planet's weather conditions or by its former occupants, but a few of the larger buildings remained. 

One of these buildings was another ancient place of worship. It looked similar to the one they had seen two days prior, except instead of being yellow, it was a faded turquoise color. But besides the color of the facade, the two temples shared several characteristics. Both had a square facade flanked by a tower on each side. The biggest difference, however, was a large turquoise dome located the square facade of this new house of worship. 

They entered the building quietly and reverently. Even though the practitioners of their religion had long since died, and there was no way of knowing which god - or gods - these people worshipped, it still felt wrong to enter the temple without the proper amount of respect. 

The interior was intricately decorated, but time had taken its toll. In one corner, a large chandelier had crashed to the ground, bringing with it a chunk of the ceiling. Other parts of the space were also covered in dust and debris. However, nothing could detract from the temple's beauty; even now in its decay, it outshone the buildings around it. 

--<<>>--

They spent most of the morning in the temple, quietly admiring its exceeding beauty. Finally, Karmyne managed to herd them all outside. 

"I'm sorry to rush you out of there," she sighed, "But we've been in there for a few hours already, and we need to keep going." 

The crew nodded in agreement. 

"Well, I propose that our best option is to cross the city," Aedard said, "But some of these streets are blocked by debris, so it might be a little difficult to find a way through." 

"It'll give us a chance to sightsee," Daviron shrugged, "This is one of the best preserved alien cities I've encountered, so I have nothing against taking a more leisurely pace." 

"It will certainly be leisurely," Aedard agreed. 

They started back, slowly following the streets of the ancient city.