Kali watched Weaver as a golden structure resembling a helmet flickered around her head, sputtering for a few moments before finally stabilizing in a golden glow.
"Finally," Weaver sighed, letting out a breath while closing her eyes and rubbing the bridge of her nose.
The Ghost floated closer. "Are you okay?"
The woman swallowed and nodded, rearranging her legs where she was sitting. "Just disorienting. And wrong. But I'll deal with it."
"Wrong?"
She looked at Kali. "Yeah, it's like having a piece of yourself missing that shouldn't be. …I-I can't explain it really well. Like knowing you were supposed to be able to see, but not having your eyes, and then getting them back but having to close them so that you can't see again. Except it's deeper, a part of you."
The closest thing Kali could imagine was not having the Light, and even that…
Her shell-plates contracted and shuddered at the thought.
"At least now we can do things around here, right?" Weaver said calmly, but the mild discomfort and tension in her was so obvious to Kali, and the Ghost once again wondered how she ended up with such a complex partner.
You searched every planet in the inner system for centuries, that's how, a part of her said, and she couldn't disagree with it. Weaver had been worth it.
"What kinds of things do you want to do?" Kali asked, drifting a bit and examining the ethereal lines of Light that her Risen had woven into a pattern that thrummed with contain suppress insulate in four dimensions.
"Who's that emissary that's out here? The one that was exiled?" Weaver asked, her eyes following Kali's path and a small smile appearing at her Ghost's inspection.
Kali accessed her database. "Petra Venj."
Weaver nodded. "We should probably meet her and ask her if she has any critical news to pass to the Queen. Also get information on this city." She glanced over at Kali. "Unless you have any…"
Kali twisted her core back and forth in her shell. "Not any that would be up-to-date. It's been over a century and a half since I was last here."
The woman appeared thoughtful. "I'll send a message home right after that about the situation and ask Her Grace if there's anything she'd like me to do while we're here. And a preliminary report and request to the Techeun Order on their augmentations." Her expression twisted into a grimace. "I just know they're not going to be thrilled about that."
She looked at Kali. "Any other thoughts? Maybe go looking for some Golden Age tech we can use for Solemn Silence. Or Combustion Therapy. I think the ignition lasers might need a truly intelligent control system. The rounds keep coming out half-formed."
"You can never have too many guns," Kali agreed. "Oooh, and the Gunsmith! I'll bet ten glimmer that it's still Banshee."
"Banshee?"
"Banshee… uh, 44?"
Weaver's eyes widened. "Forty four? I thought Exos could only go through up to twenty wipes!"
"Yeah, well. Banshee's been around since the Golden Age," Kali's shell expanded and then contracted slightly, as though shrugging. "He's like, a fixture."
The woman hummed, pushing herself up off the ground to standing. "What time is it?"
"Nearly one in the morning," Kali answered.
Weaver groaned. "This took longer than I'd hoped but it's still shorter than I expected. Ugh. You have a route to that room they gave us?"
The Ghost bobbed, pulling up the data-packet she'd gotten from the man who had led them to the meditation room. "It's six floors down."
The Risen woman sighed, dusting herself off. "Well, let's go try to get some sleep tonight. We'll probably need it."
Kali drifted back to consciousness, systems coming online and running through their self-diagnostics as she exited her sleep cycle. She blinked a couple times, optic coming into focus.
The room that the Tower had given them was less a room and more a small apartment, practically luxurious with its balcony that looked out on the mountains that surrounded the City.
The Ghost floated up from the table she'd been resting on, looking at her partner who was sitting on the couch in front of it, the glowing wireframe helmet around her head, a steaming mug in her hand.
"Tea. Found it in one of the cupboards. It's my first time having tea from Earth in six hundred years," Weaver said with a wry smile. "You were resting a lot longer than usual, it's almost noon."
"You could have woken me up," Kali countered. "It's not like I need to sleep."
Weaver shrugged. "There isn't anything really pressing. And you're cute when you sleep. Like a small animal or something."
"Oh, well I'm certainly glad I'm on the same level as a small animal to you," Kali shot back humorously, and Weaver shook her head with a smile in response.
It seemed like she was starting to act more like herself again.
"You ready to go looking around? Find Petra?" Weaver asked.
Kali was about to reply in the affirmative when there was a knock on the suite's door. Weaver turned to her right to look at it, placing her cup down on the glass of the table before getting up and walking towards it, Kali floating behind her.
Weaver opened the door, momentarily staring at the large figure standing in the hallway before responding. "Zachary?"
The man gave a conciliatory look. "Uh. Hey. I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"
Weaver shook her head. "No."
Zachary relaxed a little. "Good. I was wondering if you'd like me to show you around the Tower? It's my fault you're here, after all. I feel a bit responsible." He paused for a moment as if remembering something, and then added "…If you can, with that field of yours."
'It'd be helpful,' Kali sent Weaver.
'And they probably want to keep an eye on us,' Weaver added. 'I know that I would if the situation were reversed.'
After a moment, Kali's partner nodded. "It's under control. When? Now?"
"If you don't mind?" Zachary asked.
"Now's fine," Weaver said, stepping through the doorway and closing it behind her after Kali had followed her out.
The hallway (like most of the Tower) was largely utilitarian, concrete walls and bright overhead lights. It was a contrast to what she and Weaver were used to in the Reef, which was either metal walkways and halls as though modeled after ships, or soft aesthetics that made it easy to forget they were really just living on a giant rock less than six hundred kilometers across.
They were about halfway down the hall towards the lift when Zachary turned to her. "So the helmet's new?"
Weaver glanced at him. "It's what's suppressing my field."
"You made it? I've only seen stuff like that from the Warlocks," he commented.
"The scholars, right?" Weaver asked as they got in the lift and it started moving up.
Zachary nodded. "They do all the weird stuff with Light and try to figure new things out."
She looked at him oddly. "You have access to power that literally defies physics and logic and you don't try to figure out everything it can do?"
The Titan shrugged. "What I have works."
"That's…" Weaver just shook her head. "Whatever."
Kali could just feel how much that bothered Weaver, the woman who had spent decades refining her control and use of the Light, exploring its limits (or rather, the lack thereof). Training and improvement had been the singular constant in their life ever since Kali had first resurrected Weaver, and it had only become moreso when they'd joined the Queen's Guard. Weaver could do things with the Light that Kali had never heard of, and she had to wonder if it was because she'd spent so much time on it, or because she'd never been told that she couldn't do those things.
The lift stopped and they got off, Kali and Weaver following Zachary as he led them through a hallway with light at the end. As they emerged into the light, the Titan gestured around.
"So this is the Tower," he said, but Weaver wasn't looking at the courtyard or spires, the kiosks or booths, instead her eyes were glued to the floating white sphere before them that was so large it almost defied comprehension.
The Traveler.
Weaver silently walked out into the courtyard and then towards the railing at the edge of the Tower, just staring at the thing before them that was casually defying gravity.
"And that's the Traveler," Zachary noted, making Weaver look over at him before turning back to the white sphere.
"The Great Machine." Her voice was quiet as she stared up. "The one that created the Ghosts. …There are so many stories about it. Legends." Weaver looked at Zachary. "There aren't many happy endings."
The Whirlwind, Kali thought. The shape-stealers. The wish dragons. The Mast.
Stories and dark legends the Eliksni had brought with them from the stars. Warnings, of just what horrors were possible in the galaxy, the kind that the Traveler inadvertently pulled in its wake.
She'd always wondered about her creation. The very name for the thing that created her race had come from humans. The only thing that Ghosts knew when they'd first awoke was that they had a purpose, and that purpose was to seek out and join another.
There'd been no information on the Traveler. Or the Light. To them, before the names, before the knowledge, it had simply been their creator and energy. They were constructs, but empty.
Ghosts.
Bilavos, the Eliksni called them. "Small-lights." Sparks.
(Secretly, she thought that name was much nicer. More appropriate. But Ghosts they were named and Ghosts they'd be.)
Weaver shook her head, turning away from the Traveler to face the Titan next to her. "So, where to?"
And so began their tour. First it was the hangar, bare metal, full of ships and mechanics, smelling like oil and fuel (and yes she could smell, thank you very much. Air-quality sensors and atmospheric analysis was important when you regularly went to other planets). The courtyard that looked out on the city, with its booths and kiosks and merchants. The calm strip behind it looking out on the Andes mountains. The Vanguard area that descended into the Tower, though they didn't go down there. The North area, with its higher number of civilians and the Speaker's chamber.
There'd only really been one notable interaction: that with a blue Exo who stood behind a set of tables, numerous weapons mounted on the wall behind him and a glimmer fab at the back corner.
Kali had rushed over as soon as she'd seen him, and the Exo had looked up from the disassembled weapons on the table that he was working with towards their group.
"Hey Banshee! Remember me? Kali? …Probably not. It's been a few centuries."
The Exo stared at her for a moment then shook his head. "Sorry. See a lot of Ghosts around here." His voice was just as rough as she remembered, too.
Banshee looked between her and the group. "Is there something I can help you with?" he asked, optics flicking down for a moment to the Queen's emblem on Weaver's chest-piece and then back up.
"Not really—" Zachary started before Weaver interrupted him.
"Actually, yes. I'm looking for Golden Age parts. Smart processor for fire control, superconducting energy conduits, zero-point power cells?" Weaver said.
"You're gonna have a hard time finding that kind of stuff around here," Banshee told her. "I might be able to do some looking and dig some things up, but you'd probably have better luck on your own. Searching places out in the wild. There's a lot of that sort of stuff out there. 's just gotta be found."
Weaver frowned but nodded. "Alright. Thanks."
"Anytime. Just come by if you want me to take a look at what you're doing," the Exo offered. "I've seen just about every kind of gun out there. Might still be able to help."
'He's probably not even exaggerating,' Kali commented to her partner. 'He's likely the best gunsmith in the solar system.'
'He could probably teach me a thing or two, is what you're saying,' Weaver sent back.
'You said it, not me,' Kali returned cheerily.
"…Later maybe?" Weaver offered, looking at the gunsmith.
"I'll be here," Banshee returned dryly. "Same as always."
Up until venturing into the North Tower, Weaver and Kali had only gotten a few curious looks from the various armored people that had been around in the hangar and the courtyard. But here, with the ones who were clearly civilians, there was obvious staring and whispering.
It was different from the Reef. In the Reef, people saw Weaver as something good. Someone who protected them, someone to look up to, to emulate. The kind of person that children shyly ran up to to say hello in the streets and plazas.
(Kali had laughed at how off-balance Weaver had been the first time it had happened.)
That was not how it was here. The looks were cautiously curious, some filled with suspicion. Calculating.
It reminded Kali of their early years of living among the Awoken.
It was uncomfortable.
Weaver seemed to ignore it easily. Kali knew she noticed it, categorized it and threat-assessed every single person because that was just Weaver in a new place. But almost as soon as they were noticed they were dismissed, and Kali could feel just how unmoved by it her partner was.
…Which led to where they were now, Weaver and Zachary eating lunch at one of the food bars in the North Tower.
"So what's food like in the Reef?"
Weaver looked up from her bowl of noodles. "It's artificially grown. Meat in vats. Plants in hydroponics. Vertical farming. The colony ships were more than prepared to replicate a living environment, and that included seeds and genetic information that could be reproduced. Unfortunately, cows don't exactly live very easily in space. So we had to come up with a different solution."
Zachary nodded. "…You talk about it like you're one of them. Awoken."
"Because I am. Maybe not physically, but they are my people," Weaver stated strongly. "When I was lost, they gave me meaning. When I was alone, they welcomed me. When I needed time, they waited patiently. When I needed a purpose, they gave me one."
Kali didn't remember it being quite like that, but it was close enough.
"And the Queen?"
"What about her?" Weaver asked, an edge of warning slipping into her voice.
"She's not exactly… welcoming to outsiders, is she? But you…?"
"The Queen is, and always has been, my strongest supporter. When nobody else was willing to see me as worthy of consideration, she saw something in me and gave me the chance to prove myself," Weaver said. "She welcomed me freely and gave me the chance to become more and work towards something greater when I had nothing else, and I will always be in her debt for that."
"Heeeeyyy there guys."
Without warning, a blue Exo had sat down on the seat to the right of Weaver, dressed in light armor and wearing a cloak like some of the other Guardians they'd seen in the Tower.
"Cayde?"
Ah. Him.
'One of the Vanguard leaders,' Kali sent Weaver.
'Yes, I know,' Weaver returned, the thought tinged with amusement.
'Just making sure~'
"Hey Zach! How're you doing? Who's your friend?" The Exo paused, looking between Weaver and Zachary. "Wait, is this like a date or something?"
The immediate, overlapping 'No' from all three of them —Kali included— was almost comedic.
Cayde held up his hands. "Just asking." He looked over at the man who'd just walked out of the kitchen area. "Can I get a number three? Extra noodles?" The man nodded, wiping his hands on a towel before going back to where he'd come from.
The blue Exo turned back to them. "So. What's up? Who's the new face? Really nice helmet by the way."
Zachary glanced at Weaver for a moment. "This is Ta—"
"Weaver," Kali's partner interrupted. "My name is Weaver. And this is Kali."
"Hello!" Kali greeted.
The Exo nodded knowingly. "Alright. Well, I'm Cayde-6. And this is Sundance," he said, looking at the grey and red Ghost that flashed into existence next to his head. "Say hi, Sunny."
"H-hi?" the Ghost greeted hesitantly.
Weaver took a breath and released the sudden hold her hand had gained on the hand cannon that was forever at her thigh.
"A little jumpy there?" Cayde asked, and then looked down at the white and gold-traced grip that held the Queen's emblem on it. "Nice gun. Mind if I take a look? Handguns are sort of my thing."
Weaver hesitated for a moment, but then looked at the Exo's own gun on his leg, and moved to unclip the restraining strap, pulling it out and somehow single-handedly palming the ammo cartridge before flipping the gun around and holding it out to Cayde by the barrel.
A black body and white grip accented by patterns of purple and gold, with a dark purple metal piece above the barrel that had its own golden accents, it was blocky and hard-cut in design, and the purple almost seemed like it was drinking in the light around them.
"Nice balance" Cayde commented, looking over the detail work. "It feels a bit… weird though. Heavy for a daily driver. What do you use it for?"
Weaver looked at him flatly. "Executions."
Both Cayde and Zachary stared at her. "I'm almost afraid to ask what you call it, now."
"Its name is Final Mercy," she said, holding out her hand, with the Exo placing the gun in her palm. A few seconds later and the cartridge was back in place and the weapon strapped to her thigh.
"Okay then. Well. …You know, I really don't know how to respond from that," Cayde said. "I am now both morbidly fascinated and afraid to know more."
They were saved from the awkward silence that followed by the man from the back coming out, carrying a bowl and putting it in front of the Exo, who split the chopsticks at his place and started eating, the other two returning to their own meals before it got cold.
After a few minutes, Cayde looked up at Weaver and Kali. "So are you like, together?" he asked, gesturing between them with his chopsticks.
"…You're asking if I'm a Guardian," Weaver restated.
"Well, okay, yeah, you could say that," he admitted. "…So are you?"
She looked at him for a moment before responding. "No. I'm not one of your Guardians." Kali saw Zachary blink in surprise before a look of understanding appeared.
"So then, what, she just travels with you?" Cayde asked.
"I'm not one of your Guardians. But I am Risen," Weaver told him, before picking up another bunch of noodles and eating them.
Cayde stared. "Okay. Wow. Talk about a blast from the past. I haven't heard that in like, centuries." He looked at Zachary. "You found a real live one, didn't you?" He turned back to Weaver. "So what are you doing out in the Reef? First thing most Gua– 'Risen' do is come to the Tower. Why didn't you?"
"Because I couldn't," she replied. "I was stranded in the Reef, but still did what I could. When I went before the Queen, she found me… different enough to take me in. To give me a home."
Weaver gave Cayde a pointed look. "Your Last City does not have a monopoly on suffering or need of help," she said forcefully. "And I believe that I do more good at my Queen's side than I would in a place that already has enough who can help them." She went back to her soup.
Kali wanted to laugh. Weaver was channeling the Queen so much right now. She didn't even think her partner was aware of it, but to Kali, who was with her all the time, it was glaringly obvious. The way Weaver's speech became more refined, the way she talked about the Reef.
She really loved her partner.
Cayde nodded. "Alright, fair. But, it's not like the Reef is exactly… open. To either help or helping. And it's everybody's solar system that's at stake."
"We work in our own ways and have more than enough to do ourselves without getting involved in your battles," Weaver told him.
The Exo raised an eyebrow-plate, and then looked between her and Zachary wordlessly.
Weaver sighed. "Yes, I know. Don't expect me to understand my Queen's decisions. They are hers and hers alone. I'm simply her Blade."
Liiiies.
Kali knew her partner knew exactly what this mission meant. It was a test, a sign, and a hint of the possibility of maybe more like this. And it meant that the Queen's slow plots of breaking their isolation were being set into motion after decades of stabilizing the Reef following the turmoil that the integration of the Houses of Wolves and Judgment caused.
"Speaking of which, I know your name, but what do you do?" Weaver asked, not giving anything away. "I know that Zachary is a 'Titan'," she said, and he nodded. "And from what I understand you're a 'Hunter'?"
"Yep," Cayde agreed. "In fact, I'm the Vanguard Leader for the Hunters. Don't do as much fieldwork as I'd like, but it's a good job."
"Huh. Imagine that," Weaver commented.
"Yeah, imagine that."
They both fell silent for a minute, Weaver going back to her food, before Cayde interjected.
"…You totally already knew that, didn't you?" She just raised an eyebrow in imitation of what he'd done earlier as she finished off the last of her soup. "You did. Oh, you are… Yeah, okay, touché."
"I didn't say anything," Weaver countered, but Kali felt her amusement.
"Nah, you don't have to. I know. It's like dealing with Ikora all over again," he looked her over. "…You're not a Warlock, are you?" He turned to Zachary. "Is she?"
"Um. She's something… different?" he answered hesitantly, looking at Weaver while he did so.
"Oh really? Now you've got me curious," Cayde told them. "You wouldn't happen to be willing to, say, go a few rounds in the Crucible, would you? Bit of a friendly competition?"
"Against you?" Weaver asked.
"Well, I mean, I don't really have much time to—" he started, stopping at Weaver's stare. "You know what? You know what? Sure. You. Me. Ten other random Guardians that Shaxx pulls from who-knows-where. Yeah."
Weaver glanced at Kali.
'What do you think? I'm not sure this is exactly what our Queen intended for me to do. But then again it might be, showing the strength of the Reef? Unless we lose, in which case we look weak. Even just turning down his offer might affect our practically non-existent but still important reputation. What I do reflects on the Queen, and he almost certainly has a lot more experience with that "centuries" comment.'
'I don't know. But I'm with you whatever choice you make.'
'Ugh. This is why I hate politics,' her partner complained. 'But, thanks.'
"Tomorrow?" Weaver offered the Exo.
"Tomorrow it is," Cayde agreed. "Say… three o'clock?"
"Three o'clock," Weaver echoed, her grin sharp. "It's a date."
A/N: Gonna try out longer chapters for a bit, see how it fits. Anyways!
Please comment on the chapter, tell me what you thought of Kali's perspective and all that, since she'll probably be a major PoV moving forward. Weaver won't always be with Zach and it gives a new flavor to things, I think. Ghosts are interesting as a concept, and exploring what they're like is pretty fun.
