So I just realized I never posted this to AO3 or FFN, so whoops. Here you go. Next chapter'll be another past-chapter with more of Weaver's Adventures in the Reef.

Petra isn't quite what Kali expected.

Then again, she isn't entirely sure what she expected, so there is that.

What she got was them finding an Awoken woman at a bar, drinking, her outfit looking like she couldn't decide between wearing the clothes that Kali and Weaver had seen during Zachary's (rather extensive, actually) tour of the City, or those more like what was seen in the Reef.

"Are you Petra Venj?" Weaver asked, seating herself on the stool two seats down.

"Why? Who wants to kn—" Her words stopped suddenly as she turned and saw Weaver's armor, illuminated by the soft glow of her ephemeral helmet. The hand holding Petra's glass whitened. "Is this supposed to be some kind of Guardian joke? Have another laugh at the exiled Awoken? You don't deserve to wear that emblem, City-girl." She turned to face forward. "And you got the colors wrong, besides."

Weaver's spine straightened.

Here we go… Kali thought to herself.

"I'm from the Reef. Not the City," Weaver countered calmly, though Kali could feel the irritation she was suppressing.

Petra snorted. "Oh? Really? Try again, because I'm a century too old for that to work. There are no humans living in the Reef. The Queen doesn't—"

"The Queen does what she wills," Weaver interrupted.

The Awoken woman's expression darkened. "This isn't amusing anymore. You've had your fun. Now leave."

"No."

"No?" Petra echoed.

"I'm one of the Queen's Guard, se—" Weaver was cut off by almost hysterical laughter.

"You. One of the Queen's Guard?" Petra repeated, breathlessly.

'Kali. Left arm please,' Weaver sent, and Kali could feel the restrained frustration and waning patience behind the request.

The Ghost obligingly dematerialized the left arm of her partner's armor, revealing a black and white tattoo that seemed to almost glow underneath the skin. The tattoo started mid-bicep and climbed until it disappeared under Weaver's chest-piece.

Pieces of it moved, twisting and changing at random, while other sections—a crown inside an eight-pointed starburst, a collection of three knives, a shield and spear, and the scarab that Weaver had taken as her icon upon gaining her title, its wings spread wide around her shoulder, in front of a large sword—shifted in other, subtler ways.

Petra's laugh had slowed to a stop until she was staring at the symbols with wide eyes.

"I am Weaver of the Royal Awoken Guard. You will give me the respect such a position merits," Weaver stated harshly. "And I will not accept any more insinuations that I serve our Queen with anything less than the respect and loyalty she deserves."

A blue hand seemed to reach out without conscious thought, the tattoo moving faster, as if agitated, the closer it got.

"…We used to dream about receiving one of these," Petra said softly. "But after Amethyst… I chose the Corsairs. Still, a human…"

Weaver huffed and rolled her eyes, the Awoken woman looking up at her face. "Isn't this a conflict of interest for a Guardian?"

"I'm not a member of the Vanguard. Her Grace found me first," Weaver said. "This is my first visit to Earth since my original death."

"Oh. Well, it's not my preference but perhaps you…?" Petra led.

Weaver shook her head. "The sky's too empty. There's not enough metal around me and the Great Machine just looms overhead."

The Awoken woman laughed. "Yes! Exactly!"

After a minute, Petra schooled herself. "Do you bring news?" And then she straightened. "Am… Am I being recalled?" The hope in her voice was almost palpable.

Kali replaced Weaver's sleeve, her partner adjusting it momentarily. "No major news. I've only been assigned by the Queen to assist in a mission of interest, and that's what led me to the City."

"Ah…" The disappointment was carefully hidden, but still noticeable. "I understand. Anything else then? Any other happenings? I receive so little out here."

Weaver's fingers tapped against the counter-top. "The Houses of Judgment and Wolves have been fully integrated and now serve as part of the forces. There have been a few… minor incidents, but they were ended swiftly."

And of course Weaver neglected to mention that she had played no small part in stopping them so quickly. Kali wanted to sigh.

"Awoken population levels have been slowly rising since the Wars and we've been expanding the infrastructure to match," the Risen woman said. "There was a brief attack on Vesta by a splinter faction of the Cabal a couple decades ago, but that was dealt with without issue. None of the other legions have shown any signs of changing their patterns."

Petra nodded and sipped at her drink.

"Can I get you anything?"

Weaver blinked and looked over at the bartender who'd walked over at some point in the conversation. She turned to Petra. "Anything good?"

The Awoken woman shook her head. "No Reef wine, no Vestian sugar-spirits, no Pallasian raki, no firewater, not even any bloody simple rebaijiu."

Weaver just stared for a moment before turning to the bartender. "I'm guessing it's too much to ask for you to have any ether at all for mixed drinks."

The bartender just slowly shook his head, eyes wide.

"Sherbavos," Weaver sighed. "Fine. Just… just bring me a gin and tonic then. Hard to get that wrong."

The man nodded and quickly left.

"Probably not even worth it without the ether-water," Weaver muttered.

"Where'd you get a taste for that, anyways?" Petra asked.

Weaver just looked at her. "Drinking with the Eliksni in my squad for twenty years."

Petra nodded. "That would do it."

"You used to work with the Techeun Order, right?" Weaver questioned.

"Mmm," Petra hummed after another sip. "Yes. I grew up among them. Why?"

"How willing would they be to share their augmentations with someone outside the order?"

Petra gave a slight frown. "Just the augments? I… cannot see them being too unwilling, especially if it were a matter of health or importance. Why?"

Weaver reached up and pointed at the golden strands around her head as the bartender returned with a glass and placed it in front of her. "I have an… innate ability that I don't have much control over that I only regained recently."

"And you think the Techeun's augmentations could help you?" Petra asked incredulously.

Weaver took a sip of her drink and sighed in mild disappointment before looking back at Petra. "It's not from the Sky or the Deep. I have an entire extra region in my brain, what… thirty-five, forty percent, Kali?" The Ghost bobbed in affirmation. "A whole additional cortex, essentially, that normal humans don't have, mostly centered in my parietal lobe, but it stretches through my entire brain."

Petra nodded from where she was drinking, motioning to go on.

"It's what lets me have control over my ability, or… it used to." Weaver winced. "Somebody… changed it, but what I gained in strength I lost in control, among other things. So I need something that'll help with my control. Right now it's either on… or blocked," Weaver said, motioning at the tracery helmet. "And it's a physical issue, so no amount of meditation's going to help me."

"What's so bad that you have to lock it up like that?" Petra asked. "One of the first things we were taught with the Techeun was to not suppress our abilities."

Weaver eyed her, and then took a long drink. "I control people."

Petra blinked. "What?"

"I control people," Weaver repeated. "Fifteen point nine-eight feet. If someone's within that distance, they are mine. They can't move, can't react, can't breathe unless I will it. Unless I do it for them."

"Oh. I see. Yes. Well." Petra cleared her throat. "I can see how that might be a problem."

Weaver simply gave her a look, and Kali couldn't blame her.

"I think that in a case such as yours, they would be willing to assist you. Especially as one of the Guard," Petra told her.

Kali's partner nodded. "Good."

They fell into silence for a few minutes, each drinking slowly.

"What do you do here?"

Petra looked over at Weaver. "I… well, my official position is as our Queen's emissary. But… there's not exactly much need for one when there's no communication between the Reef and this City, is there?" The blue skinned woman sighed. "In the beginning I tried to collect information for the Queen, but the people here, I tried to connect with them, to understand them and the way they live but…"

"They aren't the Awoken," Weaver finished.

"No, no they are not," Petra agreed, taking a drink. "And so here I am, official 'emissary', unable to act in any other capacity, and with nothing to do each year but wait for something to change."

Talk about punishment.

The Queen never did do things half-way.

"I am lucky the Queen mercifully provides me with enough funds to make do each year. I shudder to think about the position I'd be in otherwise."

Weaver hummed in sympathy. She looked at her glass, took a large drink, and then sighed. "I'll be here at least through the end of the week," she said, an open-ended statement if Kali ever heard one.

Petra just nodded in acknowledgment.

After a few silent minutes, Petra looked at Weaver.

"So tell me about the ships they've got you flying these days…"