-0-0-0-0-
This day had started out like any other, with Kalara standing in her usual spot. It had become habit when she wasn't 'chasing rookies' or running missions. There just weren't that many new Gaurdians, and even fewer new Hunters. She sighed, shifting her weight. She generally had a book or two handy to read, but today she was going over some data with her Ghost.
Finally a Hunter appeared, and walked up to stand across the table. Kalara recognised him as Alexi Dazmakov, one of the Hunters she had taught a few things a while back. He had been out patrolling the Cosmodrome. Cayde asked "Hey, how'd it go out there? find anything interesting?"
The sandy-brown haired gaurdian grinned. "Sure did." he summoned his Ghost, who transmatted in the broken top part of a patrol beacon. Cayde stared at is a moment. "ooookay. You broke a patrol beacon." Kalara giggled.
Alexi pressed the button, it dinged, and the message played.
"This is Cayde-6 of the Hunter Vangaurd. I have a couple of individuals I need you to track down. Keep in mind they'll be armed, and could be dangerous, so approach with caution. We need them brought back to the tower by any means neccesary. Your Ghost will have the details."
Kalara's grin vanished. "Where did you get that?"
"The cosmodrome." Alexi leaned on the table. "So what did you two do to get into so much trouble?"
Kalara opened her mouth then shut it, turning to Cayde "I thought you deactivated all the beacons and brought them back to the tower."
A shrug "I did. Must have missed one. But they were all shut down."
Alexi added "It was, but one of the Gurdians on my team fixed it." He tilted his head. "Bet it's a heck of a story, right? Hunters have their stories, yes?"
Kalara shook her head and picked up the beacon "I can't tell you what happened." Alexi folded his arms. "Then maybe someone else will." he nodded to Cayde "Boss." and walked out. Kalara muttered "I hope not. Lav and my being here in the Tower's in big trouble if word gets out."
It had been the agreement, of sorts, they had come to with the speaker.
- TWO WEEKS AGO -
Kalara ignored the two Tower Gaurds walking behind Lavender and herself as they headed to the North Tower. They were escorted up the steps to where the Speaker was studying something. He straightened as they approached, then politely told the Gaurds "You may go." They descended the stairs to stand just outside the door.
"Your Ghosts, please."
Kalara asked "What're you gonna do to them?"
"One cannot fix what is broken without first knowing what is broken."
Lavender started to open her mouth but shut it again when Kalara gave her a look. Kalara said "we're not broken, and neither are our Ghosts. Our powers are evolving."
"All Gaurdians have a class to which they belong. If they do not belong to a class, then they are not a Gaurdian."
Kalara wasn't sure how to take that. She shook her head. "I know it's supposed to be a secret. We can keep it, stay in-class."
"Lies are a web that tightens with time. Why use a facade when the truth is so much easier?"
Kalara shifted her weight, thinking to herself "Darnit. He's talking in riddles again."
Lavender folded her arms.
"I must analyse your Ghosts to find out what went wrong." The Speaker held out a hand.
Suddenly Gavin's voice sounded from behind the pair. "I don't think That's going to happen."
Behind him, a whole troupe of Hunters filed in. First was Flitter, Gyster, Fon, Tanner, Aries, Klyne... seven in all.
Behind them, Zanthyr walked in with Saniya, Trystan, Viktir, and the Warlock-class they had saved in the Crucible Arena.
Gavin folded his arms. "I happen to know someone who doesn't want word about our two friends here getting around the tower." He thudded up the steps so he was face-to-face with the Speaker. "Those Gaurdians know about Lavender and Kalara. And as long as you leave these two alone, and let them stay in the Tower, the way they are, My friends will keep their mouths shut."
the Speaker looked past him. Tanner folded his arms and tried to look defiant. The Speaker regaurded the Titan, then thought for a moment "You would threaten the Tower with such knowledge." It seemed more of a statement than a question. Another pause, then "It would appear I have no other choice. You may stay as you are. But I encourage you strongly to leave the Tower and never come back."
Kalara did a silent "Yesss" motion with her arm. Lavender hugged Gavin. "We already tried that. I don't think it's gonna happen."
The Speaker looked at her. "You were not supposed to have been allowed to leave; But now it would be the wisest course of action."
Lavender looked suprised. Kalara passed them down the steps. Lavender and Gavin followed after a minute to join their joyful friends. The group headed back to the watch, talking amongst themselves, and Lavender wondered about what the Speaker had said.
- PRESENT MOMENT -
Kalara asked asked "How many of those things did you put out, anyway?"
"About a half a dozen or so." The Exo looked over at her. "Relax, we got all of them back." He paused, then added "I think."
Kalara groaned softly. "I sure hope so." she set the beacon on the floor next to her under the table until she could figure out what to do with it.
Alexi crossed the tower watch, heading for the Hangar area. The Hunters' Lounge was allways a popular hangout. Maybe he'd run into someone there. No Hunters, but a couple of civilians were sitting on the couch to the right talking quietly. One of them greeted "Hunter."
Alexi grinned. "what do you know about Thunder and Lightning?"
The man looked up, suprised. "You know them? Thunder and Lightning? They saved our settlement. My wife and I came here to be safe after they left. " Alexi sat on the crate across from them. "Yes, I know them." He grinned. "Please, do tell."
Two hours later, Kalara saved her research on her tablet and rubbed her eyes. She turned off the second, which had the source-data on it and put her own tablet on standby. She was about to leave for lunch when Lavender walked in.
"Hey Lav, shouldn't you be out training rookies?"
Lavender shook her head. "We got done early. one of them didn't show up. I checked with the infirmary, and he's not sick or anything. I don't know what's going on. It makes the second one in as many days." She shook her head and tapped her tablet, handing it to Kalara. The purple-haired Gaurdian frowned. "Well, they all have trackers, so let's see where he is."
She turned on her tablet and brought up the trackers. She typed in the Gaurdian's name. "He's still in the tower. Looks like he's on level 242. Not sure what that part of it is, I've never been to it." she handed Lavender her tablet back.
About half an hour later, Lavender reappeared, still looking puzzled.
"You find him?"
Lavender shook her head. "It's a section marked "Authorized Access Only". Kalara tilted her head, knowing Lavender could phase through solid objects if she wanted to.
"I thought about Blinking through the wall, but I don't know what's on the other side." Lavender shrugged, adding "I'm sure he'll turn up eventually." Kalara nodded, agreeing. Lavender collected the details of her next mission and walked out.
She wondered what team she'd be on, if not her own. After Trystan's return, he'd been put on Gavin's fireteam, along with an Awoken Warlock-class named Viktir Tavec. She understood, her own team needed her back anyway. And they weren't supposed to date Gaurdians on their own team. Speaking of which...
Lavender hit her comm "Lavender to Gavin, you there?"
no response. "That's wierd." she tried it again. "Hey, you busy or something?"
nothing. Lavender was beginning to worry. Gavin *allways* answered his comm right away. Even when he was sleeping. It was part of his job to answer, being a member of the Tower Gaurd. She headed down to his apartment to see if he was home. She ran the doorbell what seemed like a hundred times before giving up and going to the hangar to see if his ship was still sitting there being repaired.
She looked across the bay and it was still in the farthest 'corral', one of the repair frames sanding away at the deep gash on one side. "Hmm." she muttered and walked out. She commed "Lavender to Xanthyr. You there?"
there was a pause then the Titan replied "Heeeey. What's going on?" he sounded nervous.
"Have you seen Gavin? I can't find him or get ahold of him over the comm."
Zanther replied slowly "No," then hastily added "Uh, this, isn't really a good time. I'm sorry?" He eyed the two gaurdians aiming their weapons at him. He had the feeling he shouldn't have answered the doorbell.
Lavender sighed. "You're right. He's a mature Gaurdian, he can take care of himself. I'm worrying too much. Sorry for bothering you."
"OkayBye." Zanthyr hung up hastily.
Lavender thought for a second, then commed Quantum. "Hey, Lavender, what's up?"
"Not much. Got a mission to run, is Red back yet?"
"Yeah. We'll meet you in the courtyard."
"Great, thanks."
-
An hour and a half had passed and Kalara rechecked the time. Tonight was Friday, the night she and her friends had what they had dubbed "The Memory Circle." It basically involved sitting in a circle shooting the person across from you so they could see memories of their previous lives.
Since Gaurdians shot at each other in the crucible, and because of the rule-bending involved, the group decided to move their event to the Crucible arena at Bannerfall. Kalara had already booked their "Private Match" under the guise of stealth training, which would be after that.
She hoped somebody would let her know they were coming to the event. The previous Friday they'd had Memory circle, lit a fire (inside a metal fire ring) and sat around for a couple hours having drinks and snacks, then around midnight started a game Kalara remembered from her previous life, called 'Rabbit'.
The game was hide-and-go-seek in the dark, and involved one person throwing a bouncy-ball at whatever player they came across. That person then became 'it' as well, and got their own bouncy ball. And so on and so forth until there was only one person left. However, since the only *throwable* ball in the tower was the Soccer ball, Kalara and company had paid one of the vendors to make more.
The Hunter went back to her tablet, waiting for Six PM to roll around so she could go home and get ready for the night's activities.
She watched the Gaurdians come and go for a while, then spotted Gavin. "Hey, Gavin!" she waved. He walked over, a serious look on his face..
She noticed and asked "What's up?"
"I think you should go talk to Tanner. Not right now though, tomorrow morning."
"Why? What happened?"
Gavin glanced at the door, then looked back at her. "He got drunk in the lounge and started a fight with a pair of Titans. We had to take him in, but he'll be released tomorrow."
Kalara rolled her eyes. "Who were they, dare I ask?"
"Benj and Typh."
"WHAT!? How could he start a fight with those two! they're sweethearts, both of 'em."
Gavin nodded. "I don't know, I didn't file the report. But just.. go talk to him tomorrow, okay?" He put a hand on her shoulder before walking away to speak to commander Zavala.
Kalara called "Hey Gavin?"
He turned mid-stride. "Are you coming to the thing tonight?" He looked confused, then realised what she meant. "Yeah, I'll be there."
"Great!" now if she could find out if everyone else was planning on being there. They had discussed it earlier in the week, so she could guess they would be.
Finally, Six O-Clock rolled around and Kalara gathered up her tablets. "Well, it's six, so I'll see you later." She got two steps and Cayde called after her "Have fun. You know where I'll be. Right Here."
Kalara smiled and hurried a little faster.