Jayesh lay in bed, smiling at the ceiling.

"What?" Phoenix said from his spot on the pillow beside his head.

"Nothing," Jayesh said, still smiling. "But I think I'm going to sleep better tonight than I have in three weeks."

"Funny how making up with your girlfriend does that," Phoenix said.

"She's not my girlfriend," Jayesh said.

"Jay," Phoenix said, "she's been in love with you for months. She just threatened to kiss you in public. What else do you call that?"

"Future wife," Jayesh replied.

Phoenix laughed so hard, he toppled off the pillow.

"I'm serious," Jayesh replied, catching his ghost before he could fall off the bed. "It won't happen right away. But in a few years."

Phoenix re-settled himself in place. "Good, because the City is so screwed up right now, it'll take years to stabilize it."

"And I'm not comfortable proposing right now, anyway," Jayesh said. "I may not be an unworthy worm, but I've barely been a Guardian a year."

"A year and two weeks, actually," Phoenix replied. "Your resurrection day was March twenty-first."

Jayesh went quiet, thinking of opening his eyes in the snow and seeing his ghost for the first time.

"Phoenix," he said, "just so you know, you'll always be my best friend."

His ghost angled his eye light and segments in a smile. "And you'll always be my Guardian."


Jayesh and Kari went to work together the next morning. They sat together on the monorail and held hands openly for the first time. Jayesh still had a grayish look from overwork, but he was more cheerful.

"Things are looking up," he told Kari. "The city is pulling through, and winter's almost over. We can catch up on healing and rebuilding once the weather warms up."

Kari nodded. "You did this, you know."

"It wasn't me," Jayesh said. "The Vanguard pulled together in a great way. I'm so proud of all of us Guardians."

"You started the ball rolling," Kari pointed out.

"Ikora did," Jayesh said. "All I did was help. Don't give me too much credit, Kari."

She smiled and squeezed his hand. "You're so infuriating."

He returned her smile. "In a good way?"

"Maybe."

He gazed into her eyes, his smile fading. "How are you feeling? You know, since the battle."

"All right, I suppose," Kari replied. "Neko's so good at his job, I don't remember the pain much."

"They killed you," Jayesh said, clasping her hand in both of his and gazing at it. "I was wounded a few times, but I didn't die."

She leaned against him. "Jay, I've been resurrected so many times, it doesn't bother me. Just part of being a Guardian."

"It bothers me," he said, very quietly. "I should have been there. We're a fire team."

He gave her a long look, and she glimpsed in his eyes how much he cared. He'd carried that quiet anguish for nearly three solid weeks.

"I forgive you," she whispered. "It's not your fault. Conditions were terrible and it was hard to keep track of each other."

He stroked the back of her hand. "I shouldn't have stayed away. That's what's bothering me. But you were hurt, and I ... I didn't know what to say. I'm a coward."

"I hurt you, too," Kari said. "You're not a coward. Just ... inexperienced."

"Boy, am I," Jayesh said dryly. "I promise to never run from you again. I'll always try to talk things out, even if I make it worse."

"And I'll never run from you," Kari replied. "Even when I'm so mad at you I can't see straight."

He grinned a little. "It's a deal, then."

The monorail arrived at the station, and they rose from their seats, still holding hands.

"I think my Light is stronger today," Kari said.

Jayesh gave her a quick, adoring look. "Mine is, too. Funny, I didn't even ask for it."

They exchanged a secretive, longing smile, and set out for the hospital.


"Want to go on a walk?" Jayesh asked Kari a month later.

It was May. The evening was actually warm enough to wear short sleeves, and the sky swirled with golden cirrus that promised a spectacular sunset.

"Sure!" Kari followed him out of the Tower and onto the top of the wall. It was less crowded out there, with only the occasional guard to see them. One side of the wall reflected the setting sun's orange rays, while the other side was bathed in blue shadow. Birds sang evening songs in the distant trees, sometimes winging overhead on their way home for the night.

Kari's hand found Jayesh's. They strolled along the top of the wall together, surveying the City on one side and the countryside on the other.

"You know," Kari said, "I was reading a report on the warlock healing statistics. They estimate that we saved three hundred thousand people. That's more than half the City's population."

"That many of them had War Lung?" Jayesh gave her a shocked look. "Although ... thinking of some days when we healed crowds and crowds of people, it makes sense."

"War Lung is dying down, finally," Kari added. "Warmer weather means the water's not frozen, and people are staying cleaner. Plus, there's more food."

"And jobs and better conditions," Jayesh said. "And hope. Hope is good."

Kari nodded and tucked a lock of auburn hair behind one ear. "Another article mentioned that Light construct entertainment is so popular, they're featuring it in theaters. Can you imagine Guardians doing that on the side? What fun."

"I'm on the roster for the Tower Troupe Entertainers," Jayesh said with an embarrassed grin.

Kari socked his shoulder. "No way! Seriously?"

He nodded. "I've gotten pretty good at performing for crowds. I plan to get in lots of practice this summer. Plus, extra glimmer."

Kari beamed at him. "I'm proud of you. Staying involved, branching out."

He shrugged. "I learned that I like people. Making them laugh. I'm still a Guardian - you know, a protector - but I can also use my powers to enrich human lives. There's so much more to being a Guardian than killing things."

They found a clear spot on the wall and sat down to watch the sunset, letting their legs dangle over the City side. By now, the golden clouds had turned pink and scarlet, the powerful colors reflecting off the Traveler and its debris field.

"And you know," Jayesh said, "it's funny, but the Traveler approves."

Kari gazed at the huge moon-like orb, now filled with cracks and holes where it had blown out its own hull to save humanity from Ghaul. "How do you know that?"

Jayesh folded his hands in his lap and gazed at them for a long moment. "Well, I ... I apologized to it. For wasting its Light on entertainment."

"Unworthy worm," Kari muttered.

"Hey," Jayesh said, looking petulant. "I was concerned, okay? I'd been reading about what happens when Guardians misuse Light, how that whole slide into corruption starts. It always starts with little things. Self-serving things. And I'm using my Light to earn extra cash, so, I told the Traveler and apologized."

Kari waited as Jayesh gathered his thoughts. The scarlet clouds had darkened to purple, but a crimson glow still tinted the horizon. The Traveler was entirely blue with a thin pink rim of afterglow along its extreme edge. A warm breeze touched their faces.

"And it replied," Jayesh said, gazing at the Traveler. "It told me that ... well. That's kind of personal. But using my Light to delight and refresh others is entirely acceptable."

"I probably don't want to know the personal bit," Kari said.

Jayesh sat in silence for a moment, drumming one heel against the wall, debating how to phrase it. "It has to do with love."

"Oh," Kari said, drawing it out.

He smiled a little. "Guardians are fighters, you know. We weren't meant to love. But ... as it turns out, when your Light surpasses a certain level, you regain that part of your humanity."

Kari stared. "I never knew that."

"I found it in the Warlock writings, actually," Jayesh said. "The Traveler confirmed it. The strange thing is ..." He took her hand, interlacing his fingers with hers. "All the things that make me weak ... you know, caring about people, thinking too much ... that's because I was resurrected with so much Light. Phoenix?"

He held out his other hand, summoning his ghost. Phoenix looked at them, confused.

"I need to ask about when you resurrected me," Jayesh said.

Phoenix replied uncertainly, "All right."

"Is there any way you could have given me too much Light?"

The ghost didn't answer for a moment. He turned and watched the last of the sunset, his red and yellow shell picking up a little of the color.

"I searched for you for a thousand years, Jay," Phoenix said at last. "I was one of the first ghosts the Traveler sent out after the Collapse. By the time I found you, my own Light was dim. Reviving you, bonding with your spark, revived me. If you have extra Light, it's because of you, yourself." He gave his Guardian a tender look. "I always thought your spark burned brighter than any I'd seen."

"Hm." Jayesh released his ghost, who floated watchfully over his shoulder. "Honestly, I don't know why I came back more human than Guardian. Maybe that's why adjusting has been so hard."

Kari slid closer and put an arm around him. "Maybe that's what drew me to you. Lots of Guardians don't care the way you do. Killing and dying and being resurrected becomes this weird sport. Just ... part of the way we live. I was like that."

"But you loved Rem," Jayesh pointed out.

"After I'd been a Guardian forty-four years," Kari replied. "Until that point, I didn't care. I met him when I killed him in a Crucible match. He asked me out afterward."

Jayesh chuckled.

"He was mad at me, I think," Kari went on. "That first date was some kind of weird revenge. We bantered and argued and wound up having a great time. We kept dating and I ... I started caring. So did he."

Jayesh slipped an arm around her, too. "And you never stopped."

"No," Kari said. "Finding his body and dead ghost was the blackest moment I'd ever experienced. To learn to care ... and then having the person you care about torn away ... If I didn't have Neko, I'd have lost my mind."

Jayesh put both arms around her and hugged her properly. Kari leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I can't imagine anything worse."

They sat like that for a while, their arms wrapped around each other. Jayesh had wanted to hold her for so long, he didn't want to let her go. But finally she stirred and he released her, keeping one arm around her waist.

"Then you came along," Kari said, tears clinging to her eyelashes. "Your Light is as powerful as a century-old Guardian's. I couldn't believe it when your ghost told me you had barely finished training. You destroyed a Gate Lord by yourself. Nobody does that."

Jayesh gave her a wry smile. "I may be powerful, but I have zero experience. I just wanted to save you."

"And you resurrected me," Phoenix added from overhead. "Nobody does that, either."

Jayesh started to reply, but his voice cracked and he stopped.

"The point is," Kari whispered, "the things that make you weak also make you strong. It's why I ..."

Jayesh turned his head and kissed her, very gently. His lips were like a velvet flame against hers.

"... I love you," she breathed.

He kissed her again, longer this time, running his fingers through her hair. "And I love you," he whispered, nuzzling her cheek. "I love you so much that I've stayed away from you. You've been so hurt. I don't want to make it worse."

"You won't," she murmured. "You're a healer, remember?" She embraced him and kissed him firmly, decisively, showing him how much he meant to her.

Afterward, they sat close together, arms around each other, as the stars emerged twinkling in the indigo sky.

"I suppose we should get married," Kari said. "Make it official and all that."

"I think we should," Jayesh agreed. "Sorry this proposal isn't more romantic. I didn't really mean to do it this way." He conjured a tiny flower with hearts for petals in the palm of his hand.

Kari took it and gazed at it until it faded. Her heart swelled with tenderness. "How would you have done it?"

He smiled ruefully. "Flowers. Jewelry. A ring with a diamond the size of a thirty-stone glimmer piece. Fancy dinner. Instead, we're sitting outside on the wall, watching the sun go down."

She kissed his cheek. "Seems romantic to me."

He returned her kiss and stroked her hair. "Some Guardians really go all out for their mates. And I ... I guess I'm just not very fancy. Do you really want to put up with me? I mean, my idea of a wild weekend is reading Warlock lore for eight hours."

"If you can put up with me," Kari replied, "and my obsessive cleaning habits."

He grinned. "I think I could put up with a lot more than that. Like Neko. He's going to hate me for stealing you from him."

Neko popped into view. "No I won't! Well, not very much."

"Neko," Jayesh said gravely, "would you give me permission to marry your Guardian?"

The ghost stared at him for a long moment. Then he gazed at Kari with a soft expression. Finally, he turned back to Jayesh. "Yes. As long as you're very kind to her."

"That's why I want to marry her," Jayesh replied. "To be kind all the time."

Phoenix zipped into view. "Same thing in reverse," he told Kari. "You'd better be good to Jayesh. I've seen him suffer for too long to allow him any more heartache."

Kari smiled. "Don't worry, Phoenix. I'll take the utmost care of him. I know how sensitive he is."

"I'm not sensitive," Jayesh protested.

"Yes, you are," Kari, Phoenix, and Neko all said at once.

Jayesh blushed.

Neko gave Jayesh a severe look. "And when you have children, you'd better be a good father."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Jayesh said. "We're going straight to kids now? I didn't think Guardians could reproduce."

"What gave you that idea?" Kari said. "We have families. Thing is, when you're immortal, you tend to outlive your kids."

Jayesh's face fell. "They wouldn't be Guardians, would they?"

"It does happen," Phoenix said. "But not very often. If their spark is compatible with the Light, a ghost will find them eventually."

Jayesh gazed out at the City. Only portions of its lights were on, but even the dark sections had the red glow of wood fires.

"We could raise a family down there," he said quietly. "Does the Vanguard give leave for that?"

"Yes," Kari said. "They know very well that it's an investment in the future of both the City and Guardians."

They sat there in silence, contemplating building a legacy together.

Jayesh brightened. "On the plus side, if our kids have kids, and their kids have kids, pretty soon, you and I will be the matriarch and patriarch of a whole clan. That would be awesome."

Kari laughed. "That's true! I know some Guardians do have huge numbers of descendants, all mortal, of course. But it'd be comforting, knowing we have family."

"And all the more reason to fight for the Last City," Jayesh said. "Although, in a few generations, we might spread out and have multiple cities. I just hope we get some Guardians, too. I don't want us to die out."

Kari leaned against him and rubbed the back of his neck. "You have such foresight. It's one thing I love about you."

They held each other and watched as the moon began to rise over the mountains, casting a silvery light across the Traveler.

"I'm afraid I can't marry you yet," Jayesh sighed into her hair. "I've got finances to sort out so I don't dump a bunch of bills and debts on you."

"It doesn't matter," Kari said.

"Yes it does," Jayesh insisted. "Look, I'm a Guardian. I'm going to be your Guardian. And I'm going to do it right."

Kari gazed at him, his face shadowy in the darkness. "Jay, I could probably pay off everything from my savings account."

"I'll take care of it," he said. "Can you wait a year?"

"It seems so long," she sighed. "If I have to, I suppose. But why do you have to do everything yourself? Why can't I help?"

He held her close, breathing the aroma of her hair. "I'm going to prove I'm not an unworthy worm. I'm not going to sponge off you. I want to be a plus, not a minus."

She laughed breathily against his neck. "Fair enough. But there's better be lots of dates while we wait."

He tilted her chin up and kissed her again. "There will be."

The end