Joining
The room was packed but no one was being pushy. Brianna Executor stood by one wall, at least a platoon's worth of Tenno against another, some in warframes, some not. Everyone was on edge as the Reverend Mother slowly held out the cup to Sara who took it. Sara smiled as she drank deeply of the nanite filled milk. She drank slowly and carefully, wary about spilling a single drop of the priceless fluid.
"I didn't expect you to gulp, but this is a bit much, Sara." The Reverend Mother said dryly as Sara made it halfway through the cup. Sara flushed, but did not speed up. The appointed mouthpiece of the Clergy shook her head. "No one will rush you, but Time is the most precious of human commodities. We rarely have as much as we need or wish."
Sara nodded as she finished the cup. "I know, Reverend Mother." The girl said formally as she handed the cup back. The not-quite-a-nun took the cup and it vanished back to wherever the Reverend Mother hid such things. "I still need to face Orokin justice."
A heartfelt groan went around the room, but Sara met the Reverend Mother's eyes calmly even as heavenly music soared inside her skull. Then more minds than hers crowded into Sara's head, but Sara was well versed in such and let it happen. It wasn't natural, but it felt right. The Corpus Clergy had centuries of experience in adding new members to itself, so they were gentle. Not that any of them would have dared be any other way with the Reverend Mother's daughter!
I guess we cannot expect your daughter to be anything but stubborn, Reverend Mother. That was Vina, the administrator of several Relays out in the Solar System. Like so many others, she could not be physically present, but she was there to witness for herself and other interested parties. Then again, I remember Sara. Sara flushed brighter as Vina's tone turned wicked. I still expect to have you come back and help clean up, girl.
"I cleaned!" Sara protested as several people chuckled at her discomfiture. She had made a spectacular mess in a Relay that some people still talked about to this day in mixed wonder and horror. Few knew how many toilets a Relay had. Sara did for very good reason. An ill planned foray into systems she knew nothing about had backed up every single one of them.
That she did. Vina admitted. But then the administrator snickered. But we always have more messes. Her tone turned serious. Have you decided on a career path yet, Sara?
"Some."Sara said both to her mother and to the assembled minds of her new peers. "Definitely a tech related field. I am not a soldier and I am not going to be one. If needed, I will fight to defend myself and others, but I want to create things, not break them."
That is good. Came from Mercedes, Vina's paramour and Commander Horatius' wife. I think I speak for everyone when I say I hope your life stops being so painful. The empathy in her voice had Sara choking for just a moment.
"Life is pain." Sara's tone was flat but the Reverend Mother reached out, pulled her into hug and held her while she fought her emotions. Her eyes burned as the elder Clergywoman did nothing more, just held her. "I am sorry, Mom. I am so, so sorry."
"We both need some time to come to grips with this monumental change, Sara." The Reverend Mother reassured her. "Everyone is still worried about you, so Brianna has offered hospitality for you, Harriet and a team of specialists for the foreseeable future. I can't stay." Pain sang in her voice. Sara bowed her head and nodded. The Reverend Mother hugged her again. "That said? I am only a thought away now. You are not alone, Sara. You will not be alone." She promised. "Lis is… um… Well." She made a face. "You know."
"She is very angry with me." Sara made a matching face.
"Putting it very mildly." Harriet sounded far more alive in her mind than she did in person as she laid a hand on Sara's shoulder. "I will stay with you, Sara."
"But… Tina needs you." Sara protested. Harriet's daughter defined the word 'odd' in many ways but she was a good kid. That said? Tina was a kid and learning all kinds of things as kids did through experience. Good and bad.
"So do you." Harriet replied. "Tina understands. What you did was insane, Sara. It was needed, so we understand that. But it was insane." She shook her head. "Nef Anyo may or may not keep his mouth shut. Anticipating people like him is difficult at the best of times. Either way, we need to make sure that this tower remains secure. For your safety and other reasons."
No one would say many of those reasons aloud. Eliza had not woken yet. Brianna Executor was living and working here. Kaitlin Executor was sleeping here despite everyone's attempts to wake her. Then there was Kat, the mother of one of the wardens of reality. That in and of itself was a good reason for all kinds of people to ward this tower. Said wardens had very limited restraint when their kin were threatened. Even structures as incredibly robust as Orokin towers could be blown up, given enough power.
"I have no power over other people." Sara said weakly. "But I would really prefer people not die for me anymore. Jane had no family, did she?" She asked the Reverend Mother who shook her head. "I… She trained me well, but I wasn't close to done. She was not always an easy person to deal with. But now? I miss her."
"Jane was a good person." The Reverend Mother's voice was husky now. "She too was not a warrior. She went through anyone's definition of hell and took a long time to come to grips with her memories of that. With her grief. We all know grief, Sara. We all know pain. We are here to help each other. I need far more help than I care to admit sometimes. You will too after your ordeals."
The Reverend Mother hugged Sara again and released her. She smiled at her daughter as Harriet did the same leaving Sara to stand on her own two feet. Sara straightened and nodded to both Clergywomen.
"Orders, Reverend Mother?" Sara asked, only to flinch as Harriet reached out and flicked her ear! "Hey!"
"We are not a military, Sara. We deal with the Special Forces quite a bit, but we are not them." The Reverend Mother's tone was severe, but it was spoiled by the twinkle in her eye and the small grin that creased her lips. "We are a collective. We have to focus on our goal, which is the preservation of humanity. Brianna wants you under observation until Eliza wakes up. Until we know for sure that the Empress took no hurt from what you and the other did, we can take no action. I want to bring you to one of the colonies. I want to introduce you to everyone in person, but that will have to wait." Sara's mother shook her head. "I know what you fear, Sara and do not." She reassured the girl who stiffened. "Lis and I are talking when Nikis lets us. I will not abandon her any more than she will abandon you. She loves you and you love her. I love her too. She knows you did this for her and she is..." The Reverend Mother broke off as Sara choked back a sob. "Sara, it is okay." She reached out and hugged Sara again. "Lis is angry and she has cause, but she does love you. We will find a way." She grimaced again. "Probably an odd way."
"You don't say!" Sara chorused with at least half a hundred others in her mind.
"I have to go, Sara." The Reverend Mother didn't want to, that was abundantly clear. "Bek is starting his negotiations and I need to be there for some of that. I am pretty sure he is going to want us to approach Darvo for some attempt at reconciliation but after all of what he did to that poor boy? That won't work."
"Duty first." Sara hugged the Reverend Mother again and released her, stepping back to stand by Harriet who nodded approval. Sara bowed formally to the Clergy's mouthpiece. "I serve the Clergy."
"I did not want this, but we will make it work, Sara." The Reverend Mother bowed back. "And yes, Lis will be involved somehow. I have no intention of getting between you. In any way." She warned. Sara stilled as the Reverend Mother turned and left the room.
"Uh..." Sara looked at Harriet who shrugged.
"Lis is very upset with cause. What you did was insane. How you did it was worse. That said, you had few choices and none of them good." The other Clergywoman replied. "We understand about families, Sara. We have several in our midst, if few with as...um… spectacular problems as you and your mother had or Janet and her brood." She shuddered. "Thank god!" Everyone shared the same feeling of relief as Harriet laid a hand on Sara's shoulder.
Harriet was a far cry from the first time Sara had seen her. Harriet had been a mess psychologically after what had transpired between her and a fairly scummy Corpus executive who had demanded she access the mind of a captured Tenno. A fairly memorable Tenno. Sara's mother in fact, before she had become the Reverend Mother. When Harriet had realized what the scum had really wanted, she had refused his orders and had paid for that both physically and mentally. She was much better now, but she would bear the scars of her ordeals for the rest of her life.
A mewl came from the side and Sara bent down to pick up her companion. Iso was all but bristling with barely restrained energy. Then again, he was a kavat kitten, so such was understandable. His fur was a dull shade of brown and his tail hadn't grown all the way but to Sara? He was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She had been both humbled and more than bit frightened by the responsibility that the Queen of Cats had literally dropped in her lap without even an explanation. But Iso was a good soul and Sara needed the comfort he provided. He would grow and when he did? He would be as dangerous as any kavat. For now though? He was almost as vulnerable as Sara and she promised herself again that she would protect him.
Are you done, Mistress? Iso asked, not quite upset but close. That mind stuff is weird. Sara fought hard not to laugh as she looked at the kitten. For his part, the kitten was not mollified. What?
"That is how you talk to me, Iso." Sara said with a smile as she hugged the kitten close but gently. "In my mind." Iso made a face and Sara chuckled. "Come on, Iso. Don't be prejudiced? There is enough of that in the Solar System." She nuzzled his face and he gave hers a lick. "I had to do it, Iso. I had to join my mom formally or all kinds of people would take advantage."
They will try anyway! The kitten said with a growl that was more squeak than scary. My mom explained but it made no sense to me. I do not understand it all, but I am here, Mistress. He nuzzled her face back. We are together.
The love he shared with her soothed her soul even more than the Clergy could. More than one person in her mind heaved sighs of relief as Sara relaxed fully for the first time since the Reverend Mother had handed her the cup. Liriel had chosen well. The Queen of Cats was a very bright being and knew all to well the pain that came from being different. From being made to be something that one did not wish to be. She understood Sara's mindset perfectly. Hence, why she had delivered Iso to Sara and vanished just as quickly a she had appeared. For her part? Sara was more than a bit troubled by the trust that Liriel had shown her. Add to that a bit daunted by the responsibility, but her aching soul was mending now so it was all good. Nothing could replace the love of her birth mother or her second adopted mother, but she could go on and would.
Admittedly with a little help.
"We face our future together." Sara reaffirmed the ancient Compact to her companion and then turned to Harriet who nodded soberly. "And what will the Corpus think of me having a kavat?"
"They can think anything they want." Harriet extended a hand to Iso who let her pet him. "If they try anything else, we will 'explain' things to them." Her tone was serene, but her eyes held grim promise. "Or let Iso's mother 'explain' things to them."
No need to get vicious. Iso complained when Sara tensed a little. You know my mother doesn't want to be evil. His tone was sad now and Sara held him close.
"We know, Iso." Sara reassured her sworn companion. "It just… What she does will bother anyone. She has no choice but to scare the..." She glanced at Harriet whose face was set. "...the crud..." She corrected herself quickly and Harriet smiled just a little. They had done a few 'discussions' recently about Sara's language. Language that had not been improved by hanging around Warrior Tenno. "...out of people. It is meant to be unsettling, what she does and it is." She stroked the kitten's head and he relaxed. "That said? She has never been less than polite to me and I… I am a mess." She admitted.
A cough from the door had all three turning to see a Nova Prime warframe standing there. She stood by the chair that had rapidly become the bane of Sara's existence. Two Clergymen in their formal robes stood beside the warframe. They seemed a bit nervous, and who could blame them? Nova warframes played with anti-matter! For her part? Lilly seemed amused. The Tenno nodded to the chair as Sara groaned.
"Oh, no. Not another brainscan." Sara begged weakly as Harriet took her arm in a gentle but clearly unbreakable grip. "I am so sick of those things."
"Sara." Harriet said mildly, but with enough force that it was clear she would drag Sara to the chair. For his part, Iso just sighed.
Mistress, everyone is afraid. The kitten begged her, eyes huge and beseeching. You need to let them take care of you.
"I am not sure which of you is more evil, Iso." Sara complained. 'You or your mom. Those eyes are dangerous."
Sara let Harriet guide her to the chair and let Lilly seat her. It grated. She was not an invalid! She could do things for herself just like everyone else. Standing, walking, eating. She could do all of that as well or better than everyone else. But not everyone had held the disembodied mind of a dead Orokin emperor in theirs, so in her heart, she knew that she was being petty. That her pain was nothing compared to Lis' or Eliza's. Or Lilly's. Sara didn't know for sure what had transpired between the ancient Tenno Royal Guardswoman and the last Orokin Emperor, but what little she had felt from the mind in hers? It hadn't been anything bad. Sad to the point of heartbreak, but not bad.
"I will try not to complain too much." Sara said as she settled Iso in her lap and smiled a bit forlornly as the kavat spread himself out. She started to pet and his purrs were a balm to her soul.
"We are all worried, Sara." Harriet said with a small frown. "We should have waited, but you argued well. This needed to be done, if not quite this quickly." Her frown deepened and Sara sighed. "Sara, we will help as we can." Harriet promised as the two other Clergy members took up station behind the chair as Lilly started it off. "Brianna Executor has offered you hospitality and care to ease your recovery. Ease is something you sorely need right now. Add to that? The Tenno wish to know how to undo the binding." Sara stiffened in instant rebellion, but Harriet shook her head. "Sara, think."
"I..." Sara swallowed hard but then nodded. "We are a powerful weapon, as Nef Anyo found out the hard way. They need to know how to stop us if it comes down to it." Harriet and the two other Clergy nodded. "We are dangerous and dangerous allies make for nervous people." Harriet nodded again. "So…" She blew out a deep breath. "I will do as I am told. I want to see how I can help the Clergy, but you say this will?"
"The last thing the Clergy needs is some residue of a dead Orokin connected to them through your mind, Sara." Lilly cautioned her and Sara shook her head. "Sara." Lilly's tone turned flat. "We can argue as to whether it was really him or not until the stars go cold and it won't change the facts. I knew the Emperor. He tried to be a good man, but in the end? He was Emperor. He did not do the job by being nice."
"I… I know." Sara said in a tiny voice. "I don't remember anything, or feel anything that I cannot identify as my own, but I know he was sad. So very sad."
"Yes, he was." If Lilly's voice was trifle husky, no one was about to comment. "This hurt us all, Sara. You know what we did."
"I don't know much, but what little I do know? You didn't have a choice." Sara reached up to lay her hand on the warfame's right hand where it lay on the controls of her chair.
"None that we could see." The ancient Tenno warrior laid her other hand on Sara's. "Courage, Sara. As uncomfortable as you may get? You are not alone. I am not leaving until and unless Lis, Eliza or one of the Princesses orders me to. Commander Petra understands. She has cut me detached duty orders."
"Um..." Harriet stared at the Nova Prime warframe. "For how long?"
Just the thought of a warframe following Sara into some of the ultra secure Clergy facilities would give any number of Clergy's security specialists heart attacks. A heartfelt groan came from several of those into Sara's mind as Lilly shrugged. Several of said specialists started to protest in the Clergy massed mind and then cut off as the Reverend Mother growled at them. Wise.
"Until I am ordered otherwise." Lilly's tone brooked no further comment and Harriet nodded.
"And I thought my life was complicated before." Sara sighed as they approached a doorway and Brianna Executor appeared in it, a sympathetic smile on her face as she beckoned to Sara. Sara put on a brave face. "I am ready."
Lilly did not comment further as she guided Sara towards the room filled with scanning equipment. She did pause as another warframe appeared nearby, but the Hildryn frame simply bowed her head to the Royal Guard in passing and then continued on her way. The way she did it was oddly formal.
"Lilly?" Sara asked as she was guided into the scan room. "Do you know that Tenno?"
"No." Lilly mused. "I don't."
"So, why did she…?" Sara broke off as Brianna frowned. "Apologies, Brianna Executor."
"So formal, are we, Sara?" Brianna's face creased into a smile. Sara grimaced but then relaxed as had been the healer's intent. "That Tenno brought in a pair of orphans who needed medical care. She asked to stay until they were out of danger. They are and she is heading back out into the field."
"What is her name?" Lilly asked as she guided Sara to the table that would be her home for the next few hours. "I don't know her."
"She gave the name Helen." Brianna went still as Lilly did. "Problem?"
"I don't know any Helen who wears a Hildryn warframe." Lilly said slowly. "Can you ask her to-?" She broke off as Brianna made a face. "Let me guess."
"She just left." Brianna shrugged as Lilly groaned halfheartedly. "I can try to track her if you wish."
"Later." Lilly replied, focusing on Sara who was also frowning. "It is not life threatening. Just weird."
"Story of my life." Sara replied as she lay back on the scanner.