"Here we are, where it all began. Remember your mother's favourite passage? Revelation 21:6.

"'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life, freely.'

"Don't you see? This is what it all means. The water, the purifier. This is the water of life. Your mother's dream."

James reminded her of the Bible passage again as the purifier facility buzzed with activity once more. Of course she remembered it. She had spent her childhood reading it where a special print sat, framed, on the shelf in their shared Vault quarters. His eyes gleamed as if he'd found the final piece to a puzzle he'd been working on since Catherine died.

Talia became aware of her pillow before she opened her eyes. A groggy sound escaped her throat and she rolled over. She should have stashed some Nuka-Cola in her room last night. Now she was going to have to shuffle down to the cafeteria for the vending machine, and the Overseer didn't like people to be moping around the Vault without being properly dressed.

Something triggered in her mind and she groped the pillow a few times before realising it didn't feel right. She winked her eyes open one at a time to look around. It took a few seconds for her memories of the past few months to reconfigure themselves in her mind, and she recognised her surroundings as the inside of the Brotherhood of Steel fort. She couldn't say how she got there.

"Good morning, Jailbird," a woman's voice said from across the room.

Talia poked her head over the covers to see a blonde woman sitting in a chair watching her reanimate. "Oh, it's you. Um… from yesterday…"

"Sarah Lyons," Sarah prompted.

"Yeah. Er… can I help you?" Talia croaked.

Sarah laughed. "I don't think so. Not until you've sobered up anyway. Big night?"

Talia blinked several times, testing her vision and trying to remember what happened. "Um… I'm not really sure."

"Let me fill you in: it was heavy but short. Elder Lyons asked me to come speak to you, and I found you and your dog in a jail cell in Rivet City. Hammered, I might add. And all before midnight. That's a strong effort. Thankfully you didn't crash out til I got you back here."

"Jail?" Talia asked with a nonchalance that could only be due to feeling entirely drained or still being drunk. "Ow, why does my face hurt?" She rubbed her jaw tentatively.

"You've got a graze. Must've taken a punch or a fall." Sarah crossed the room to sit on the adjacent bed. "The security guards locked you up for drunk and disorderly behaviour, conspiracy to break and enter, use of profane language against a figure of authority, and solicitation."

"Oh god, what?"

Sarah raised her eyebrows playfully. "Apparently you tried to bargain for your freedom. Don't worry, I had them merge that with the drunk and disorderly charge since you were off your face. To be honest I think that was just a vindictive interpretation of your amusement over you and your friend being in handcuffs."

"Shit, Butch. Where is he?"

"Sleeping it off back in the city. They said he'd go free in the morning with a warning. You however, I had to post bail for."

Talia pushed herself up in the bed. "You shoulda left me there. I might've learned something." Like not to mix booze and Butch.

"And let the Enclave pick you up? Nope."

"Ungh. Enclave?" Talia rubbed her head.

"They're probably looking for anyone that was working on the purifier. Doctor Li was right- you're safest in the Citadel right now."

"Oh. Why do you guys care?"

Sarah frowned at the question before softening. "Oh, I suppose you five had a rough day yesterday. Look, with the return of the Enclave the Brotherhood is at war again. We have to take the purifier back, and there would be a lot more point to that if it actually works. So you and your nerds need to stay here or keep your wits about you out there, you know?"

Talia had expected as much. The Brotherhood of Steel wasn't going to let her run away. They'd just declared war on something like the former government and she was already ensnared in events. Still, this woman wasn't admonishing her actions. And she had gotten her out of trouble she barely knew she was in. "Well, thanks. Will the city be after me too?"

"Oh, they were happy just for me to get you out of there, I think, so long as they don't see you again."

Talia pinched the bridge of her nose. "I see. Well, thank you. I can pay you for the bail. Only, all my caps are back at the tower. If I can get there I can-"

Sarah cut her off with a raised palm. "It doesn't matter. You want to pay me back? Help us with this thing. And don't run off getting arrested anymore."

Talia privately agreed that was a good idea considering how many people seemed to be after her now. She nodded and Sarah grinned.

"Now drink this." She handed Talia a tall glass of something that looked more like it ought to be served in a bucket and poured into an engine.

"What is it?"

"Hangover cure. Tried and tested."

Talia sniffed it.

"You probably don't want to know what's in it. But it will have you feeling better in no time."

"I'm really not feeling that bad," Talia chirped.

"Oh but you will, I can see it coming. This will stave off the worst of it, trust me."

Talia shrugged. Accepting strange drinks from strange soldiers in a secretive, almost religious army seemed dumb. But the last time she did something similar she followed up by nuking a town off the map. It couldn't be any worse, right?

It actually tasted kind of spicy, and Sarah was probably right. A hangover may not have been incoming at all, but somehow Talia doubted it as portions of the night flashed back while she cleaned up. But still most of it remained a blank.

"It's a blessing you can't talk, Dogmeat," she commented as he followed her back to the bunk room from the showers.

The building was in decent condition with fairly comfortable living quarters, partially because it was an old government building. Something called the Pentagon, which rang a bell from history classes. It had been built to be relatively bomb proof with much of it stretching underground, and the Brotherhood of Steel had done a good job fortifying its remains to use as their base in D.C.

She assumed she'd awoken in the same room she was put in when she arrived; she didn't really remember anything after entering the Citadel courtyard. They had emerged from the tunnel in front of a large set of steel doors, guarded by soldiers in power armour similar to that worn by the Enclave. They were refused entry. No supermutants, civilians or travelling salesmen allowed. Li pushed past the guard and yelled down the intercom herself. She demanded entrance, Talia remembered that clear as day. The woman was at the end of her rope, but had saved enough to hang anyone who tried to stop them taking this final step to safety.

The Elder allowed them in. They were greeted by more soldiers in power armour. An old man in strange robes. Sarah. Li almost collapsed, telling Talia they were safe but warning her not to trust the Brotherhood. Sarah's words fell on deaf ears as Talia finally relaxed her hold on her weapon and sank to the floor.

Now she was present and sober, Talia saw Sarah more clearly as she reentered the bunk room. She was young, hair swept neatly into a practical bun, and she held herself with impeccable posture. She was sipping a coffee and looking at Talia with evident interest.

"So how did you get those egg heads out of the tunnels?"

Talia sat on the bed in her towel. Sarah didn't move or adjust her gaze. A life of communal showers and sleeping arrangements probably didn't foster much sense of privacy. She sighed as she tried to recall the previous day. "I don't really know. I mean I remember what happened, but I was kinda… watching myself. It was weird. I just forgot everything that went down and moved forward. Doctor Li really handled the others. I cleared the path. There were some Enclave, a lot of ghouls. I can't believe it was me that was shooting the place up."

"Well it was. Good job, girl. Sounds like you had some training kick in. Or a near death experience."

She puffed her cheeks. "Both?"

"Where'd you learn how to take care of yourself? And when? Can't be much older than twenty?"

"Oh, um, I took on some special work when I got out of the Vault-" She paused. "I assume you know about the Vault?" Several people in the Citadel had already stopped her to mention knowing of or working with her dad.

Sarah nodded. Of course.

"Well I've been learning everything there is to know about staying alive out here since then." She shrugged and looked over her now single set of clothes, grimacing at the thought of getting back into them.

"Here," Sarah tossed her a set of fatigues. "You might be able to get some more if you sweet talk the laundry guys, but borrow mine for now, we're about the same size."

Talia sent her an embarrassed but grateful smile. "Oh. Thank you. Man, I feel like such a vagrant."

"Don't worry about it. So, a few weeks with the Brotherhood and you might be good enough to join the Pride." She chuckled.

Talia made a questioning noise while turning to get dressed.

"That's my unit. Best of the Brotherhood. No one gets in without my say so."

"Your unit? But you're what… a few years older than me?"

"Twenty six."

"No shit!"

"Age is just a number. Well, you have to be old enough to start combat training to begin with around here. But I mean it doesn't make you better just because you're older. Ask anyone, they'll tell you I got to Sentinel on merit and nothing else. Even if I am the Elder's daughter. Everyone wishes they were good enough to be in the Lyons' Pride."

"I know the feeling. I got a pretty sweet set up where I live and everyone thought I slept my way in."

"And did you?"

"What? No!"

"Sorry, it's just with the solicitation charge, you know…"

Talia caught her smirk and laughed. If she didn't she might cry. "What a mess."

"Those rumours are always flying around, even here. I swear it's as if we've got nothing more pressing going on."

"I'm going to choose to believe it's because people are romantics-"

"Not just that they need to get laid? Sure. Oh shit, how'd you get that?"

Talia followed Sarah's gaze to the scar on her thigh. "Oh, ran into some guys who didn't like me much. Got me with a knife when I thought he was down."

"Shit. Recently?"

"A month or two ago. I can still feel it. Hasn't slowed me down so far though."

"Damn girl, you don't say. You're a tough one, I'll give you that. One of our initiates got hurt in hand to hand training the other week- cried like a little bitch."

Talia giggled at Sarah's blunt appraisal.

"Check this out." She pulled her arm under her shirt and rolled the fabric over her shoulder. On the outside of her upper arm was a patch of skin darker than the rest. "Bullet wound. Doesn't look like much now."

"Was that-? No, couldn't be Enclave, they've just reappeared right?"

"Ha! I wish." Sarah replaced her shirt and smiled. "My one real wound and it wasn't even in combat. If you see Squire Maxson around here- he's the little kid- don't let him touch your guns."

"What happened?"

"I tried to teach him some things… but let's say there's a reason we have a minimum age for combat training."

Talia raised her eyebrows. "If that's your only wound, you can teach me. I think someone's got one of those voodoo dolls of me."

"Oh, no mistake, I've been hurt. But power armour stops you getting shot to pieces. So long as you wear it…"

"How does it work?"

"I don't know how it works, just that it does. Talk to Scribe Bowditch for the details. If you've got a few days to spare that is. But it makes us stronger, able to carry heavy weapons and heavier armour that's impervious to small arms."

"So... like a mini tank."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"I knew it."

"Anyway, enough of the questions," Sarah rounded up as Talia laced up her boots. "What is it you need to do next regarding the purifier? The Elder said we should assist your group until we're ready to make a move on the Enclave."

"Oh, we uh… we needed to find some Vault-Tec gear. Li and… and Dad were looking for information on pre-war computers in the lab."

"Pre-war tech is what we're all about. But for computers you'll have to speak to the Scribes. Scribe Rothchild will know what you need. I'll show you after breakfast."

Scribe Rothchild told Talia they had an actual Vault-Tec terminal in the archives and directed her there once she'd torn her eyes away from his favourite project: Liberty Prime.

He was Head Scribe, which meant he oversaw the Senior Scribes who led the three Orders of the Brotherhood: the Sword, Shield, and Quill. Their role was known as Proctor. In the lab, where she found Rothchild, Talia had also met the Proctor of the Sword, Scribe Peabody. (His immense opinion of himself and his intellect, which he held in much higher regard in general than those "dumb grunts" who actually used the weapons he developed, amused Talia greatly. He reminded her of Butch, if he had any of that intellect.)

As Head Scribe, Rothchild also got to choose a project in which to be personally involved. From their initial conversation and his appearance as an elederly academic (further enhanced by the monk-like robes worn by those in the research arm), Talia didn't expect his special interest to be in giant soldier robots. But as soon as she asked about the forty foot tall steel humanoid dominating the lab space, he had ignited with just barely professional enthusiasm.

"Magnificent, isn't he? We found him well over twenty years ago. 'Liberty Prime' was the designation we found on him. He was developed as a superweapon before the war, the first joint operation between RobCo and General Atomics International. He was supposed to liberate Alaska from the Chinese, but they had to go in before he was completed.

"And so we've been unable to power him in all this time. Well, not to an operational standard. It's the energy consumption you see. Something so big, with such advanced weapon systems…"

"Big boy has an appetite, huh?"

"Oh, you sound just like Sentinel Lyons. No appreciation…"

In the archives Talia charmed a young Scribe into searching the Vault-Tec terminal for information on the whereabouts of a G.E.C.K. She wasn't really one for tedious study. But he found the information surprisingly quickly. He said the terminal had been repaired and scoured for all data long ago, be it hidden, deleted, encrypted or corrupted. The information she sought was just waiting there for interested eyes to view it.

"Those nerds sure are efficient," Sarah commented when Talia returned to her in the Lyons' Den before lunch. "So what did you find?"

"The thing my dad needed is called a G.E.C.K. Vault 87 had one. It's here," she showed her the location on her Pip-Boy map. "But Rothchild says the entrance was bombed and the area is too irradiated to cross."

"So? There must be another way?"

"That's what he thinks. The Vault is next to some natural caverns. He said there could be a way in through them, but they were never explored. He'd 'be grateful for any data I can bring back if I find a way in.'" She rolled her eyes at the flippancy of the comment.

Sarah grinned. "That man is hungry for information and he doesn't care who has to risk their neck to get it. Well, let's get lunch early. We'll have a lot of prep to do to make this excursion, and we'll have to leave early to slip by the Enclave roadblocks."

Talia blanched, eyes following Sarah up as she sprang from her seat. "We?"

"Yes. I've been tasked to assist you. I can't let you wander halfway across the wasteland on your own- I know what kind of trouble you get into. Plus, if this geck will make the purifier work, it should be a priority mission to get it here safely. It should only take a few days.

"So, the sooner we leave, the sooner we can take the fight to these Enclave assholes and kick them out of that purifier."

And so it was Talia found herself heading to bed not twelve hours after waking, in order to get up at 3 a.m. so she and Sarah could sneak out of D.C. under the cover of darkness. She would have liked to hide under the blankets all day instead, but if it was this or being found in jail by an Enclave agent or Regulator, she wasn't going to complain to Sarah about it.

There was something she liked about the young Sentinel, something she could relate to, and a whole lot she couldn't. They were close in age. Age may just be a number, but knowing Sarah likely understood where Talia was coming from, even if she didn't have the same problems herself, counted for a whole lot. Despite being the most celebrated soldier in the Citadel, she was still the subject of gossip and attention. She was a young woman after all. Sarah didn't seem the least bit phased, or even interested in anyone, though there was no reason for her to talk to Talia about it; she was solely focussed on pursuing whatever the scientists needed so she could get back to fighting the war.

And therein lied the difference. Talia was well and truly caught up in plans she'd only learned about just over a week ago. This Enclave, she'd learned, were remnants of the USA's elite. They had protected themselves from the bombs and had already tried to retake and rule over the scorched land and its inhabitants elsewhere in North America. The Brotherhood were their natural enemies, regardless that the East Coast chapter was no longer recognised by its superiors in the west.

It made Talia's head spin. But the gist of it was that she couldn't just run home and ignore it. The Enclave wanted the country and the purifier was going to help them win over the capital. Li, Alex, Daniel, and Talia were key to making it work, at least in the Enclave's eyes. And Three Dog's Good Fight apparently required everyone who could hear to know that Talia resided at Tenpenny Tower. Reluctantly she started to wonder if she really was a vagrant. Could she really entertain returning to the tower, even briefly?

She thought of her room. The bar. Burke's room, smoke filled and quiet, insulated from the other penthouse residents by the garden and its own hallway. She couldn't risk bringing this well equipped, ruthless army anywhere near the tower. Gustavo and his men couldn't hold off power armoured troops with plasma weapons. And if they did, a vertibird gunship could drop more inside or shoot up the tower itself.

She sat cross legged on her bunk and pulled out the paper and pencil she'd swiped from the archives. She wanted to write to Burke. Just because she didn't know when or how she could see him again. Definitely not because she worried she might not come back from this trip, despite how excited Sarah appeared about a chance to tangle with some Enclave troops.

She bit the end of the pencil and stared at the blank page.

For five minutes.

One of the Knights quartered in the room entered. "Well I've been hearing about the outsider all day, and I finally find you squirrelled away here, wrapped up in your own thoughts. What are you writing? Not making notes I hope…"

"Huh?" Talia peered up at the woman, not really paying attention.

"I'm just messing. Some people aren't sure about having an outsider in here, but Elder Lyons trusts you, and I trust his judgement."

"Oh, I see. No, nothing like that. I'm heading out with Sarah soon. I'm trying to write to someone before I go. But I don't know what to say."

"Well, I know that feeling. You must know what you want to say?"

Talia sighed and let it all tumble out of her chest, free of the worry of how it looked or how few sheets of paper she had left if she had to restart. "That I don't like how things got left between us, that I miss him, that I want to come back but I can't, I don't know how things got so crazy. I just want to see him… he always knows what to do..."

The Knight paused a moment until Talia had clearly finished. "Then write that," she shrugged. "Nothing good can come of holding back before you go out on patrol. Trust me."

Talia took the finished letter to Li. Despite her standoffishness, she trusted her to do the right thing and ensure it got to a courier. What she'd said about not trusting the Brotherhood stuck in the back of her mind, and the Knight mentioning a distrust of outsiders made her wonder whether her outgoing mail would even make it out of the Citadel.

On her way back to bed, a tall woman in her forties or fifties stopped her in the hallway. Her eyes were piercing and she was made more imposing by the power armour she wore. "Hail to you. By the traction of our hospitality and on the word of Elder Lyons, I welcome you to the Citadel."

"Um. Hi?"

"I am Star Paladin Cross, Keeper of the ARM, and Seneshal to Elder Lyons."

Talia smiled as if she understood more than two words she'd said.

"I am honoured to say that I was acquainted with your father."

"Oh, thank you. How did you know him?" Talia asked almost robotically. She'd been batting off well wishers all day and was now just looking forward to some sleep after the previous night.

"Long ago I helped guard the water purifier against the mutant horde. When your father left, I escorted him, and you, to Megaton."

Talia blinked a few times as the words sunk in, kicking up Moriarty's words from months ago. "Your father, his Brotherhood of Steel Friend, and you…"

"That was you in Megaton? In the bar?"

"Yes, as I said, I was escorting the two of you to a safe place, far away from the city ruins. I was saddened to hear of his passing. He was… a noble man. From what I heard, he died with honour. He died for you.

"I only pray that my own death has such meaning."

Talia frowned at the strange addendum. She shook her head. "What does it matter? Death is death… he's gone."

"True. And in the end, death claims us all. But how we die can say as much about our lives as how we lived. Your father died for what he knew to be right, and he died protecting those closest to him. This is a good man's death."

Talia was getting used to the slightly weird vibes of the inhabitants of this place, but she was too tired for it not to rub her the wrong way. "A good man's death, huh. I guess that makes all the hurt okay." The woman either ignored or missed her meaning.

"With love must come pain. Continue to remember him, continue to tell his story, and continue to do his work. Through you, he shall carry on."

Despite Talia badly suppressing a yawn, Cross carried on in her tone that was as curt and staunch as her hair. "As for you, I have heard tales of your travels in the wastes. I must say, I am disturbed by them. I had hoped to fight by the side of the child of my former friend, but my conscience cannot allow it."

Talia blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"We have said all that we have to say to one another." With that Cross continued down the hallway, leaving Talia mostly confused, a little upset, and slightly offended.

"Rich, for a woman who left us in a town run by the likes of Moriarty," she muttered to Dogmeat, thinking of nothing now but the sweet embrace of her set of Brotherhood issue blankets. Even if they were kind of itchy.