It was rare that Nadie cursed her existence as a Siren. As much as it had meant years of keeping the marks hidden and endeavoring not to get caught using her power, she almost never wished that she was other than she was.

Today, however, was not one of those days. She did not wish that she was no longer a Siren—those desires were far in the past. What she did wish was that her power was something more aggressive. The young woman wanted nothing more than to destroy something in an awe-inspiring display of power, even if there wasn't anyone around to appreciate it, but her gift of healing didn't quite cut it. She contented herself with releasing the limitations on her body and slamming her fists into large boulders, leaving deep cracks behind in the wake of the impact. The lacerations in her skin mended nearly instantly, shattered bones knit together in a matter of heartbeats, and it was still not enough to quell the raging tempest in her heart.

Eventually, the Siren gave up, her shoulders sagging as she panted in exertion.

"You are noisy, kit."

The voice was soft and haunting, and the words seemed to appear inside her head. Nadie froze and then looked around slowly, seeking the origin of the invasive thought. There was nothing around her but sand and rock.

"Where are you?" the Siren demanded.

"Right before you."

For a moment, there was no change, and then suddenly, an odd twist in the air manifested in front of her like some mirage. As the effect faded, it revealed a stalker settled in the sand, half again her height even crouched down as it was. Nadie gulped.

"Uh… hi. How can I help you?"

Since bonding with the Heart of Pandora, the Siren had dealt with and spoken to animals that called the planet home, but never anything of this magnitude. The stalker's voice was strange, too—when speaking, most animals made their normal churring or chittering sounds and she just instinctively understood them. However, the stalker before her made no external noise other than a low thrum, yet its voice came through her skull like the ever-constant ocean's waves rolling upon the shore, there and not and then there again.

"I was going to ask the same of you, kit."

Her. Definitely a female voice. Nadie had thought stalkers were genderless since they reproduced asexually, but there was no denying the strength of the feminine presence that came off the beast.

The stalker rose out of the sand and slowly approached her, the creature's claws sinking into the soft ground. These particular beasts were not known for inhabiting this kind of area—they were typically found in the Highlands and in wetter climes. She dropped her blunt face down into Nadie's to study the Siren, which gave the green haired woman ample time to return the favor.

The stalker's nose was smooth and her wedge shaped head was pointed directly at the Siren. Bioluminescent markings detailed the creature's face and decorated her skin. The stalker stood on four legs, the back muscular and built for propelling the body forward at high speeds. The front pair was elongated, the main bones arcing up and away from her chest, and a panel of skin stretched from her side to the furthest fingertip, giving the stalker a set of wings meant for gliding as opposed to flying. Behind her, a barbed tail swung gently back and forth. The bioluminescent markings that lined her nose and forehead shifted colors; pink, then red, then blue.

"You are noisy," the stalker said again. "And noisy kits draw hunters." She looked passed Nadie at Erikeep and then returned her dark eyed gaze to the human woman.

"You are upset. You feel threatened, thus the Spirit of the Land feels threatened. I came to its aid."

"Spirit of the Land? You mean the Heart of Pandora? You know about it?" Nadie asked, mouth agape. As much as any animal had a level of intelligence and awareness it demonstrated, none had come even vaguely close to the force of will and knowledge of the world this creature showed.

Suddenly, a bell that had been ringing softly in the back of the Siren's head went off at full volume.

"You were there, weren't you? You were the stalker who saved Tina and me from the thresher when we were fighting Asha!"

The stalker let out a huff and her markings shifted in color to orange.

"Worms," she spat. "This is not their home. They should know their place. I will eat them whenever I can. Yes, kit." She dropped her head and tapped her nose against the top of Nadie's head, her markings going back to azure once more. "I was there. The Spirit called, but its voice was weak. I almost did not hear it. But I came. And I saw the Kith fight amongst themselves. I saw the Kith shed each other's blood. But I would not allow harm to fall to the Spirit, no matter which Kith held it."

"Kith? You're talking about us Sirens, aren't you?" Nadie held her left hand up to the beast, exposing the blue tattoos that ran across her skin. The stalker let out a low rumble.

"Kith, Siren, Child, Kit, Scion… You are beyond name, beyond control, beyond death. You are old, kit, even as you are young."

The stalker cocked her head to the side as she regarded Nadie.

"You are still weak, but you have promise. Your claws have not yet toughened. Your sight has not yet sharpened. But I can see you are a hunter." She looked over at the cracks left by the Siren's rage in the rock.

"I shall teach you," the stalker decreed. "You shall learn to hunt and stalk and kill. I shall teach you to walk as one with the Spirit and to work its will. None will see you coming."

Nadie struggled with a response for a moment, trying to figure out what to say to a five ton predator that had decided it would mentor you whether you wanted it or not. The stalker went on in that silence.

"My name is Nahnish. The soft folk call me Huntress." She lashed her talk back and forth a couple of times, giving off the impression that she was pleased with the title.

"Um, nice to meet you, Nahnish. My name is Nadalie."

"Nadalie…" the stalker repeated. "I had a kit named Nadaal. The soft folk took her from me." The bioluminescent markings shifted to red and then a pale green.

"They have taken many kits from me."

Nahnish's voice was soft and there was an undeniable tone of sadness in it. Nadie couldn't help feeling the pang of sympathy for a mother who had lost her children.

"Babe!" a male voice called suddenly. The Siren looked up in surprise at Jack's hail, and when she turned back, the stalker had vanished.

"I will find you, kit. We will begin soon."

"Here you are," Jack greeted as he hopped off one of the large rocks to join her. "You've been… busy." His gaze went to the cracks in the stone.

"I was venting," she replied, shrugging a little in embarrassment.

"Is it safe to approach the bullymong?" he asked, smiling teasingly. Nadie sniffed.

"Since there isn't one here, I don't think you're in any danger."

He approached her and tucked her into his embrace, making sure he had a sturdy grip on her before replying, "Right, right. I sometimes forget you're only part bullymong."

"Hey!" the Siren protested, halfheartedly struggling in his arms. He laughed and leaned down to kiss her cheek.

"I'm glad you're in a better mood," he said. She settled back into his embrace and buried her face into his chest.

"I think I'm ready to go home now," she stated, voice muffled in his vest.

"You all done with your festival?"

"I'm not in the mood to celebrate anymore. I want to go home and go back to work. I want to make sure Michael and Alexander haven't burned down the lab."

He placed his palm on her head and began stroking her hair gently while she clung to him silently for a long while. Finally, she spoke again.

"I don't know what possessed you to come out here, but thank you. This would likely have gone very badly if you hadn't been."

"Well, you'll have to thank Jimmy for that when we get back, sweet cheeks. He threatened me with more paperwork if I didn't go find something to do."

Nadie leaned back and peered up at him suspiciously.

"What were you up to? You must have been causing quite the stir if he was trying to get you to do paperwork."

"I wasn't doing anything," Jack grumbled, "which was sort of the problem." He sighed. "Ok, cards on the table, babe. Some of the data we've been reading off the Vault Key had indicated there might be another Vault somewhere about. Problem is, no one has been able to figure out any other information about it."

"So, what you're saying is Mister Blake needed you out of Opportunity so people could get their work done."

"Sweet cheeks!" Jack protested woundedly. "Are you suggesting I am anything less than an excellent motivator?"

"Oh no, you are, but you're also a terrifying force of pressure when you're intently focused on someone. People panic and make mistakes out of fear of disappointing you."

"As long as they don't disappoint me, they'll be fine," Jack replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Nadie smiled.

"I think they realize that."

"Then just don't do it!"

The Siren laughed softly.

"Sometimes, that's harder than you'd think. Come on. I want to check on my dad, and then we'll go get Patricia and Pops so they can start to study that artifact."

"Finally," the president grumbled.

/

/

"Patricia! Come look at this!" Darrell Dobos called. The aforementioned scientist sighed as she made her way to the artifact.

"I have requested on several occasions that you do not address me in such a familiar manner," Patricia Tanis stated firmly, her lips twisting in distaste. Darrell waved a soothing hand, not looking away from the active Eridian artifact.

"Yes, yes, I am sorry, force of habit and all that. But come look at this!"

The former Dahl scientist crossed her arms over her chest irritably, but joined her colleague in his study.

"I take it he's who you picked that up from?" Jack asked Nadie. She glanced over at him.

"Picked up what from?"

"Calling her Patricia. I've never heard anyone else refer to her that way."

"Oh yeah. I have no idea how that got started. It's just how he's always talked about her, and I guess I picked it up from him."

Jack looked back at the duo.

"So, what can you tell us about it?" the president demanded of the scientists. Darrell looked up.

"Uh, it's on?"

Jack frowned at him and Nadie touched his arm quickly.

"Not helping, Pops."

Darrell shrugged helplessly.

"I don't know what else you want me to say. It's never been active before, this is my first time looking at it, and I haven't even been able to touch it yet."

"Give us your first impressions."

The older man let out a slow breath through his teeth and looked at Tanis for a moment.

"Well," he began, "it's clearly a database of some kind. Hold on, hold on, I'm not done!" he hastily continued when he saw the look on Jack's face. "Its location indicates it was probably used as some sort of device for lectures. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say the projection effect of the text we're seeing now probably can extend to encompass the entirety of the coliseum."

"As far as the information on the Vault Guardians goes, we'll need time to learn the navigation of the system and decipher the data," Tanis continued. "I'd be most intrigued to find another Vault, but we are sorely lacking in details on its location or any indication of whether the Key in your possession will do to open it."

"You don't say," Jack grumbled dryly.

"Look, sir, it's not that we're not willing to help," Darrell assured the president. "Trust me, we both want to get to the bottom of this. It would give us invaluable insight into this place, and it looks like it might very well be the largest repository of Eridian knowledge we've ever seen."

"It's just that you don't know how to use it," Nadie supplied.

"Yet," Darrell stressed, raising a finger in emphasis. "But to fix 'yet,' we need time."

Jack stared at the scientists for a long moment, clearly debating his options, but he finally sighed.

"Fine. I'll give you until my meeting with the Tediore rep is dealt with."

Nadie hissed a little and it was the president's turn to brush a hand across her arm. The Siren quieted and he turned back to the former Dahl scientists.

"That should give you about a week, which should be enough time to figure something out."

"We'll do our best," Darrell said.

"Do better than that," Hyperion's president ordered. "Find me something." He shifted his gaze to his girlfriend.

"You ready to go home?"

"I cannot stress how ready to go home I am."

"Good," he nodded. "Because now that I know the Heart interacts with your Siren powers, we're going to go test something I should have started experimenting with some time ago."

"Uh oh," she said worriedly.