Disclaimer: quite a few of these will involve Chasing Fate characters. However, the events might not be canon in the main series.
It was one o'clock in the morning and Tristan was awake. He hadn't awoken violently or in a rush. One moment he was asleep, the next, he was awake. As simple as that. As soon as his eyes opened, he knew there was no chance of falling back asleep. Something just told him it wouldn't be happening. So instead of lying there for the rest of the night, he got up, throwing on a hoodie and a pair of sandals. He decided not to wake Trillian - she had more than enough to worry about as it was.
Treading softly to the door, he stepped out into the cool night air. Then he began walking. He had no particular destination in mind, he just felt like moving. The moon hung silvery and pale, peering over the shoulder of the Traveler. Tristan looked up at the night sky, speckled with stars and crisscrossed with jetstreams from jumpships. They were lucky to get nights like this. Often around this time of year, the sky was crowded with thick grey clouds that promised snow. A brisk wind nipped at his face and feet as he wandered across the plaza. His only company was the pigeons roosting on the railings, refusing to migrate even this late in the year. Within a few weeks, the Long Night would be upon them, bringing with it a shift in season.
He emerged into the North Tower, glancing around. No one would be out at this time of night, not even the Speaker. Wait. He stopped.
Standing at the railing inside the Speaker's study was a figure. Against the lights of the City that was never truly asleep, they appeared as a silhouette, a shadowy outline facing the Traveler with their head tilted down.
Curiosity stirred inside him and he approached, keeping his footsteps even and silent. He was a foot away when they whirled, grabbing his wrist.
He felt a sharp edge press into his neck and froze. But for some reason, he was not afraid. As he squinted, he was able to make out the details of their face, most notably, the glowing white eyes that shone out at him. "Rae?"
The Awoken Warlock shifted. "Tristan?"
Tristan looked down. "You're threatening me...with a book?"
Rae huffed, pulling the book away. "The hell are you doing out here?"
Tristan chose to ignore the hypocrisy of her question. "I was unable to sleep." Rae nodded, accepting his answer before turning back to the railing. "May I ask what you were doing?"
She shrugged. "Never slept well here."
"I see… When did that start?"
She shot him a suspicious look. "Why do you care?"
"I was just asking."
She sighed. "Since always, Tristan. Since I got here."
Tristan nodded, but her answer didn't satisfy him. He wanted to know more. "Can I ask you a personal question?"
"Haven't you already?" He didn't reply, waiting for her answer.
She groaned. "Whatever."
"Where were you revived?"
"I wasn't."
"I mean to say, where were you revived the first time?"
"Cosmodrome. Stupid Captain got the jump on me during a mission."
"That's not what I meant."
"No, I know what you meant Tristan and I already told you. I. Wasn't. Revived."
"But to become a Guardian-"
"You what? Have to have been dead?" She snorted. "Guess I have more existential issues to sort through than I thought." He didn't say anything but he was pretty sure she felt his questioning look. "My Ghost, Shard, found me at the Reef during the City Age. It's where I was born and it's where I grew up." She glared into empty air. "I didn't exactly 'fit in well' with my peers. My parents were traditional Reefborn Awoken - they wanted nothing to do with Earth or the City. I became a soldier as soon as I was able and it wasn't long before they promoted me to the Corsairs."
Tristan blinked at her. He knew enough about the Awoken to know that not just anyone could join the Corsairs.
"Had a lot of opportunities to prove myself, 'cause a couple years later, the Wolves tried to push through the Reef to join the battle of Twilight Gap. I was there at the Siege of Pallas, the Hildian Campaign, and my squadron helped foil the Cybele Uprising." She didn't speak with the air of one looking for praise or recognition, her tone was matter-of-fact and to the point. "I was also there when Petra Venj called in the strike that took out three Guardian fireteams. Shard was sent later with a message. That's when he chose me."
Tristan was fascinated. Rae's story made it clear to him that he still had a lot more to learn about how Ghosts and Guardians worked. Still, there had been a point to this conversation and he wanted to know where it was leading. "It's an incredible story, Rae, but I fail to understand how it has anything to do with why you have trouble sleeping."
"I'm getting to it," she said, a hint of annoyance in her tone, "Tell me, what do you think happened after I was chosen as a Guardian?"
"I assume you left the Reef to come here."
"I did leave, but it wasn't by choice. You have to understand what it's like at the Reef. The Awoken want nothing to do with Earth and even less to do with Guardians. Some stuff's changed since then but not as much as you'd think. They would've seen me as a traitor. I'd've been locked up or worse. Instead, I went to the City. It's not the same here. I miss looking out into deep space. I miss being a Corsair."
Tristan frowned. "You shouldn't focus on the negative aspects so much, Rae. I know I can't begin to understand what your life was like before, but maybe if you stopped dwelling on the past, you would have an easier time sleeping. The Last City isn't just a place, it's an idea that has brought people together even when they were scattered across the Earth during the Dark Age. It belongs to everyone that seeks it out, and that means it belongs to you, too."
Rae frowned thoughtfully as she took in the glittering lights of the City. "...Thanks, Tristan."
He smiled.
"But I wanna make this clear… while you may annoy me the least out of our merry band of idiots, if you tell any of them about this, your death will be swift."
Nothing in her voice hinted that she was joking. Tristan nodded and decided he might try and get some more sleep after all.
