Disclaimer: Trigun is sadly enough not mine, or there would have been way more episodes!

Chapter 54: Meryl's POV
After breakfast they had collected their items and checked out of the hotel-inn, heading off to the property to get a feel for it. It is roughly a fifteen minutes ride to the edge of the property. From there, she uses the map that the sheriff had given her to determine where the edge of the property is. Upon figuring that out, the four of them discuss where at on the property they wish to have the housing complex built.

"Well if it stretches for several miles, how about toward the middle of it? That gets us closer to the middle of the two villages' right?" Milly inquires as she looks around at all the sand and rock.

Hoping off of her Thomas creature, she kneels down in the sand, and sinks her fingers into the sand. Almost immediately she can feel a brush of warmth and welcoming coming from the ground below. The planet herself is greeting her. Focusing on the area she is in, she tries to create an image of what she needs. She had discovered that images were the best form of communication with the planet due to the differences in how they view time.

Eyes closed, she watches the response the planet gives her. According to the planet, the best place to build was on the edge of the property, closer to the Seeds village than Maran. It has a low wind rate, and if one can get past the bedrock there is actually dark, rich soil that could support plants. Standing up, she follows the directions across the sand and stone on foot, barely keeping the connection clear at times.

She knows the other three are giving her a funny look but she still does so, muttering, "I asked the planet where would be a good place to build. She's showing me."

"Logical," she hears Knives mutter as he grabs the reigns to her Thomas creature before Vash can spook it.

It takes her nearly an hour before she reaches where the planet says is the best place to build. When she does reach it, the ground seems to shiver slightly, almost in welcoming. Looking around, she is surprised to see that it sits in the middle of an outcropping of hills. The small valley that they are standing in seems to have little sand compared to the surrounding area, however it does have a rather heavy bedrock.

"According to the planet, this is the best place to build at on this property." She tells the three of them as she grabs her canteen and drinks.

She can see Knives calculating where they are in relation to the property and the different parts of it. It's actually kind of funny to watch the way his eyes move over things as he determines what use they are. Vash is also looking around, but he has more of an excited look on his face, like a kid who just got a new toy. Milly on the other hand is just relaxing on her Thomas creature, she doesn't particularly care right at the moment as long as it is not in outer space she is happy.

Vash eventually comments, "Do you feel that? It almost feels like there is a plant nearby."

Knives' focus changes to him, before he nods once. "There is one, buried from the feel of it, about half-mile that way." He points towards the east, which is still part of their property and not from either village. "Should I have lizaeri and memousi bring it with them? We could build a reactor for her if that is her desire, or leave her free standing, if she prefers."

Milly is the one to answer, "Wouldn't she be lonely wherever she is? Why not bring her here, and then we can see what she prefers."

He nods once in acknowledgement before reaching in to the saddlebag and digging around for a few minutes. When he pulls his hand out he has small, roundish silver device that he flips open. Above it appears the image of Hassaar who greets him politely before he speaks.

"These are the coordinates to where the housing complex should be built, it is a hilly area, adjust the plans accordingly. Also, there is a bulb along the route from the ship to here, unbury it and bring it along. We will be gone for seventy-two hours or so." He tells the lizaeri, his voice softer than she is used to hearing.

As she listen to him speak, she realizes he has affection for the lizaeri in his tone, not as much as he has for Vash, but still affection. Well that's a good sign, she thinks. If he can show affection to the lizard person, there should be no problems with him showing affection to Milly eventually. She had already accepted that there seemed to be something between the two of them. Particularly after her friend had described what she thought of Knives with wings. The tone of her voice had said more than she actually had.

When he closes the communication device, he glances at each person before inquiring, "Shall we head towards the Seeds village?"

She chuckles to herself, remounting in front of Vash and commenting, "Sounds good to me, though I plan on thinking through all the information Kikyo gave me about the village on the way so don't expect me to listen."

"Don't worry Meryl, I am sure Mr. Vash won't let you fall." Milly replies smiling.

Vash hugs her, before dropping his arms down loosely around her waist as they had been every other time they had rode together. Knives just shakes his head, a low chuckle escaping him. She watches her friend in interest as Milly stares at him before shaking her head, and looking at Vash expectantly.

Heading out the four of them make decent time travelling, the Thomas creatures seem to know where they are going without too much direction because they are almost leading themselves towards it. Meanwhile, she sinks herself into the notes she had taken the previous day when discussing the village with Kikyo. She had figured that the queen of the plants would know about the people that had cared for Vash when he was injured and she was correct. Even better was the fact that Kikyo had been more than willing to assist her even before she explained her reasoning. So now she had a great deal of history on the village and those living in it to sort through before they reached so mentioned village. She wanted to be well prepared for the situation she was certain they were riding into and the only way to do that was to know. Thankfully, besides the information, Kikyo had also provided her with suggestions for how to deal with everyone there.