"Have you seen Jayesh lately?" Kari asked her ghost, Neko.

It had been a week, and she hadn't seen him anywhere in the Tower. Kari was coming up for a mission soon, and her fireteam was missing - Madrid on patrol, and Jayesh to who knew where.

It was a bright, cold morning, and the wind in her face in the Tower courtyard was bitter. Kari pulled her robe around her a little tighter. She was a human with short, auburn hair, her fair skin a contrast to Jayesh's dark complexion.

Her ghost, Neko, floated beside her in a royal blue shell with a rampant lion painted across it. He turned in a circle, pinging for Phoenix. "Ah, I see. He's down in the City."

Kari gazed over the railing at the City spread out below them. "What's he doing down there?"

"Phoenix says that he and Jayesh were assigned healing duty at a clinic nearby."

"Oh." Kari leaned on the railing, following the streets with her eyes until she spotted the tiny white roof of the clinic. "I've been assigned there before, but not since the war. I'll bet it's really bad. When's his time up?"

Neko sent this question to Jayesh's ghost. As he received a response, his shell drew down in a frown. "His assignment ended yesterday."

"Yesterday? What's he doing, then?"

"He's currently arguing with the head of the water and sewer department for this district."

Baffled, Kari stared at Neko. "You're kidding. Jayesh is? The guy who had nightmares for months about being Taken?"

"Kari," Neko said, "I have nightmares about that, too. And losing you to the Hive. And of Darkness devouring the Traveler. Don't judge people by their fears."

"I'm sorry." Kari drew Neko close in her fingertips and kissed his cold shell. "That was wrong. I'm just ... surprised that Jayesh would do that."

Neko decided he liked being so close to his Guardian and snuggled into the scarf around her neck. "Jayesh is stronger than you give him credit for. If you want to find him, Phoenix gave me coordinates."

Kari smiled. "Let's play fly on the wall and see what they're up to. I love seeing Jayesh take charge."

"I think you just love Jayesh, period," Neko said in an undertone.

Pink appeared in Kari's cheeks that had nothing to do with the wind. "Quiet, you."

The head of the Tower district was a man called Fortride. He was noticeably cleaner than the sick people Jayesh had healed all week. His office was in the Core East district, where more buildings had survived intact.

"We have been working on the sewer and water lines," Fortride said, smiling in a shifty way Jayesh didn't like. "You have to understand, the Tower district was one of those hit hardest in the war. The lines are buried under rubble in many places. My hands are tied, see, until the cleanup crews make it here."

A map hung on the wall of his office. It showed a layout of the city with water and sewer lines marked in red and blue. Three breaks had been flagged in the Tower district.

Jayesh pointed at them. "These are the major breaks?"

Fortride nodded. "Mostly bomb craters that cracked the streets."

Jayesh produced Phoenix, who flew to the map and scanned the flags. Fortride watched the ghost, shifting his weight uneasily.

Phoenix spun to gaze narrowly at Fortride. "All of these streets have been cleared of rubble. I saw it in the Tower records."

Jayesh gazed first at his ghost, then Fortride, and smiled. "In that case, the lines should be accessible."

"I don't have the funding," Fortride stammered. He backed away a step from the Guardian and his knowledgeable ghost. "And it's so hard to find the earth moving equipment. The Red Legion captured our reserve fuel stations, you know."

"I know," Jayesh said. "I understand how hard it is. I wish I could offer you extra glimmer."

"Extra glimmer would help," Fortride muttered, hunching his shoulders. "Precious little of it flowing my way these days."

Jayesh pointed to a secondary line that connected from the north. "How's this one doing?"

Fortride traced it with a forefinger. "Sewer and water both undamaged as far as this station. We closed the valve here to keep the contaminated water from flowing any further. The broken line is shut off between this station and this one, about four miles down."

Jayesh studied the station's location. "Would it be possible to dispense clean water from this location to customers affected by the contaminated line?"

"Yes," Fortride said grudgingly. "I suppose we could borrow hoses from the fire department. That might stretch it a few blocks."

They talked about methods of extending the water's reach to people who needed it. Fortride slowly brightened at the idea of a cheap, easy solution, even if it was only temporary. When Jayesh left, Fortride was calling up the foreman at the pumping station.

As Jayesh stepped out into the snowy street, he found Kari leaning against the wall beside the door.

"Hey there," he said, grinning and shaking her hand. "What're you doing here?"

"Trying to find you," she replied. "Did you seriously persuade Fortride to get off his lazy ass?"

"I hope so," Jayesh replied. "Let's go, I have one more stop before dark."

The warlocks fell into step, making their way down the slippery, slushy street. Not many vehicles moved - the price of fuel had reached astronomical levels since the war. Most people moved about on foot. Even in this nicer part of town, people still clustered in small groups in doorways or under porches, wherever there was shelter.

Jayesh told Kari about how bad off the Tower district had become. "And there's other areas hit just as hard. We need a crack squad of warlock healers in all the clinics and hospitals. Meanwhile, the infrastructure is shot. It'll cost millions of glimmer to repair."

"If we can get it," Kari said. "I was reading about the power plants as I was waiting-"

"Eavesdropping," her ghost corrected.

Kari shooed him away, and he phased.

"-and there's a reason there's no power. One plant took a direct hit from a Red Legion bomb. They're saying it'll take eight years to rebuild. The other plant is functional, but it's a clean plant that uses glimmer as a power source. The power company has been pouring glimmer into it, but they can only power about half the grid. That's not counting all the areas with damaged lines."

"No power means no heat," Jayesh muttered, glancing at the clear, cold sky overhead. "People are going to die by the thousands this winter." He summoned a tiny flame to his fingertips and gazed at it. "All I can think of is to haul wood from the forests and tell everyone to build fires. Can ghosts transmat trees?"

Phoenix popped into sight. "We can transmat anything, Jay."

"Without cutting them down?"

Phoenix squinted. "That might be tricky."

Kari nodded. "Cut down or not, that'll be a job for the Hunters and Titans. They'll just love working together, but it's the only way."

Jayesh turned a corner and headed down the street toward a space where several buildings had once stood. They had been demolished and the rubble cleared. In their place stood a row of prefabricated houses, little more than garden sheds. But people moved in and out, children played in the snow, and smoke from charcoal fires scented the air. There was also a distinct smell of outhouse.

"At least they have walls," Jayesh remarked.

A girl of about twelve years ran up to them. She wore adult clothes that were too big for her, and she studied them with a directness that seemed too old for her years. "Are you Guardians?"

"Yes we are," Jayesh said. "I'm Jayesh and this is Kari. We're warlocks."

"I can tell by your robes," the girl said. "I'm Panther."

"Panther?" Kari said, raising an eyebrow.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Samantha, but Panther is my nickname. Do you do healing magic?"

"Yes," Jayesh said. "And it's not magic, it's Light. From up there." He pointed at the Traveler, floating among its own swirling debris field.

Panther glanced at it, unimpressed. "All the little kids are coughing. There's no medicine and it's hard to find warlocks. Could you heal them?"

"Lead the way," Jayesh said. "And tell anybody else who is sick to come, too."

This began an impromptu healing of the entire little neighborhood. As people gathered around, taking turns cramming into the circle, Jayesh asked questions. How do you stay warm? Is there enough to eat? Is the water clean? Are there dangerous gangs or looters?

As it turned out, this particular shanty town was fairly well off, if a little hungry. They had water and basic outhouses, but aside from a little charcoal for cooking, there was no heat. But they pointed him toward shelters with much poorer conditions, less food, no water, and nobody well enough to dig latrines. Jayesh promised to visit them the following morning.

As the warlocks finished healing everyone and left the neighborhood, Panther followed them to the road. "Will you come back?"

"I hope so," Jayesh said. "There's so many people to help, and there's so few of us."

"You lost your Light for a while," Panther said, gazing at each of them closely. "So now Guardians know what it's like to be human."

Jayesh didn't answer. But Kari said, "Yes, and that's why we want to help. We know how you feel."

"I lost my whole family in the war," Panther said. "I live on the edges now. Lots of kids like me. War orphans. Think about us as you help people, huh?"

Kari nodded, gazing at the brave, lonely girl. "Panther, I'll speak to the Vanguard. We'll find you a family."

Panther smiled. "Thanks."

Jayesh and Kari began the long hike back to the Tower. The sun was setting, and the buildings cast long blue shadows across the streets. A few street lights struggled to life, but those quickly gave out as they entered the Tower district.

"I never did," Jayesh said in a low voice.

"What?"

"Lost my Light."

Kari studied his downcast face. Jayesh looked horribly guilty. "Oh, that's right. You were inside the cage with the Traveler, weren't you?"

"I'm the only Guardian who didn't," Jayesh said. "Not that it did me much good - I couldn't fight or save anyone. I just ... sat there and argued with the Traveler. But I was never cut off. Like you were."

"It wasn't so bad," Kari said with a smile. "Guns still work without Light, you know. Besides, the other Guardians and I waged psychological warfare to convince the Cabal that our city is haunted. We had entire squadrons terrified to enter the Crucible arenas in the Core district. We never fired a shot until Zavala busted in."

"Still." Jayesh glanced at the sky. "Can I really sympathize with human beings if I don't remember being human?"

Kari laid a hand on his shoulder. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Jay. Nobody has to know, for one thing. And you've already helped so many people. Your heart's in the right place, and that's all that matters."

They walked in silence for a few minutes. Then Jayesh said softly, "Thanks."

They were in the middle of the Tower district, surrounded by indistinct piles of rubble with a thin road cleared between them, when a submachine gun chattered to their right, shockingly loud in the stillness. Kari gasped and doubled over.

Jayesh was only carrying his sidearm, Drang, concealed beneath his robe. He whipped it out and fired at the spot where the sound and muzzle flash had come from.

Someone scrambled into cover in the rubble, but in the near-darkness, Jayesh couldn't tell where they were.

"I don't think they expected us to shoot back," he muttered, gripping his pistol in both hands.

Another gunshot - this time the heavy thud of a large caliber rifle. Jayesh took a bullet in the left side. He grunted and sank to one knee, the pain washing through him in a scalding wave. But he was still able to squeeze the trigger, sending enough bullets at their attacker to force him to duck out of sight.

Beside him, Kari straightened, drawing a deep breath as her ghost healed her. "Right." She held up both hands. "Pulse rifle, Neko."

The weapon shimmered into being in her hands as Neko transmatted it from the weapons rack in her dorm in the Tower. The sparkle of blue Light illuminated the street like a flash of lightning.

A voice yelled from the rubble, "Shit, they're Guardians!"

"Thieves," Jayesh muttered through his teeth. As his ghost healed him, he stood up and holstered Drang. "Right. Let's shed some light on this." He drew on his Light and his entire body burst into flame. A fiery sword materialized in his hand, and golden wings spread from his back. He leaped an impossible twenty feet in the air, illuminating the wrecked building where the thieves had been waiting in ambush. Three men in black clothes were scrambling for cover inside the walls of a roofless building.

Jayesh plunged to the floor inside the building, blocking the doorway. One man fled the other way, but the other two had already jumped down inside, and the walls were ten feet high.

"Surrender," Jayesh commanded, brandishing his sword. His Light illuminated the ruined room like a searchlight. "Don't make me use this on you."

One man slowly raised his hands. The other shoved his companion aside, lifted his rifle, and fired at Jayesh from the hip.

A bullet scored through Jayesh's shin. He caught himself against the doorframe as his leg gave way. He slashed at the man with his sword, sending a blast of fire into the man's face. The man whirled sideways, took the blast on the right side of his body, and screamed as his clothes and skin burned away instantly.

Jayesh's fire faded and his ghost healed his leg. He drew his pistol and approached the two men, covering them.

The man with his hands up whimpered and shrank against the wall. "You killed him. You just burned him to death."

"Not quite," Jayesh said, inspecting the quivering lump of humanity before him. He pulled the rifle away from the man and tucked it under one arm. Then he dropped a healing rift.

Blue light shimmered across the floor. The burned thug cried out as the Light touched him, healing his wounds. He stared up at Jayesh in stark terror.

"I can kill you or I can heal you," Jayesh said. "I hate to think of how many innocent people your gang has murdered. You're coming back to the Tower with me. Understand?"

Both thugs nodded violently.

Jayesh smiled. "Good. Hand over your weapons."

A few minutes later, the thugs emerged back into the street, hands on their heads. Jayesh followed with a pistol in one hand, a rifle under his other arm, and two long knives stuck through his belt.

Kari met him with the third thug. She had tied his hands behind his back with her belt. The thug's face was blackened and his hair stood on end. Kari's power was lightning.

"Oh, you actually healed yours," she said, as Jayesh approached with his prisoners. "This one had a little shock that he won't forget any time soon."

"Come on," Jayesh said. "We'll let them stand trial before the Vanguard. Might be a good warning to their friends."

"We don't have any friends," babbled the one he had burned. "It's just us. We only do this to feed our families. Our kids are starving. Don't you care about starving kids, Guardians?"

"Sure," Jayesh said, prodding him in the back with his rifle. "Tell the Vanguard, not me."

The three thugs poured out sob stories all the way to the Tower, contradicting each other and themselves. Jayesh had never been so glad to see the Tower guards standing at the ground level entrance. They took charge of the prisoners, handcuffed them, and locked them in the guard house's tiny holding cell.

Jayesh and Kari told the guards what had happened. The guards, fellow Guardians, barely contained their savage satisfaction.

"With vermin like this preying on our people," one said, "no wonder our city is struggling. Good work, warlocks."

Jayesh and Kari rode the lift upstairs in silence. As they emerged in the chilly Tower courtyard, Jayesh took two steps sideways and folded onto a crate against the wall. He wrapped his arms around his knees and rested his forehead against them.

Kari followed him, concerned. "Jay? Are you all right?"

Their ghosts phased into being, too, studying him.

"I burned him," Jayesh muttered.

Kari had to sit beside him to hear. "You what?"

"I burned that man," Jayesh said. "The short one. With my Dawnblade. Third degree over half his body."

"But you healed him," Kari pointed out. "Why'd you burn him, anyway?"

"He shot Jay's leg," Phoenix said indignantly, his blue eye glowing in the darkness. "Jayesh told him to surrender and he fought, instead. The idiot."

Jayesh turned his head and stared miserably at Kari. "I've never used my Light against a human before. I could have killed him. I don't think I ... I can't relate to humans."

Kari put an arm around his shoulders. "Well, I lost my Light, and I can't relate to scum who hunt their fellow humans to steal what little food or glimmer they have. You didn't kill him, and you probably should have."

Jayesh gazed past her for a long moment. "I don't want to be a killer. I'll fight aliens, but ... not my own people. Not humans."

"Sometimes," Kari said, "you have to kill in order to protect."

They sat there a few minutes longer, until the frosty night drove them indoors. Kari went to the mess hall for one of their last, un-rationed meals. But Jayesh went to his room, heated a frozen dinner, and ate at his desk. He didn't even turn his computer on - just ate in silence, staring at a black screen.

Phoenix floated beside him, waiting for his Guardian to be ready to talk.

But Jayesh didn't. He finished his dinner, undressed, and crawled into his bunk. He beckoned to Phoenix. The ghost flew to him. Jayesh clasped the little robot under his chin like a child with a favorite stuffed animal, curled up under the covers, and fell asleep that way.

Phoenix didn't mind at all.