The next few days passed in more of the same peaceful training, eating and mundanity, as the Keep grew to know and accept the little alien gifted to them. And she, in turn, adapted to their ways and customs. Even if she so often didn't understand them, it still warmed him to see the amount of effort she was willing to put into learning them still warmed his heart. The first thing she learned thoroughly was their food, for the obvious reason of her nigh overwhelming appetite. After she grew either satisfied or bored with that, she began to ask more and more about the Keep's history.

Knowledge and food weren't terrible things for someone to fixate upon, he supposed, compared to other, lesser pursuits.

"And this one?" She asked as they walked along the Keep's now gloriously restored halls, painted in rich blacks and lined with tapestries and art of their storied history.

"That is a chronicle of our place among the warriors who stood against the Heretics who wished to fight against the founding of our Covenant." The Guardsman, who had taken up the cause of answering her questions when he tried unsurely and failed. Kipo's vibrant, pink eyes narrowed confusedly at the words and the guard explained, "When our sacred Covenant was founded, the Prophets enlightened our forebears to the glory of the Gods and their makings. Some, though, doubted and fought against the creation of our great union."

"And so we fought them, and faith prevailed." R'Tas rumbled, more than familiar with the old tale. "The best end of many possibilities, if tragic for the loss of so many wayward souls."

"You didn't try talking…?" Kipo asked quietly, looking at the bright iconography of warriors standing over the scorched earth of their fallen kin proudly with a deep, dark frown.

"We did." The Guard answered, stepping up beside her and sighing wearily, if proudly, "And many heard our father's words. Some, even lacking the true faith, bent the knee for the sake of peace and the future. Others, though… Others refused peace, and so we were forced to come to blows."

"They tried, though." R'Tas promised her, nodding when those vibrant, curious eyes turned to him hopefully, "Every effort that could be made was. Kin would not so easily strike kin down, after all, Kipo."

"Yeah." She nodded quietly, looking at the bright new tapestry with an expression he couldn't read beyond some form of… Fear, perhaps? There was no way for him to tell for sure, and she moved on before he could ask. "I guess they wouldn't, would they?"

"Of course." He nodded curtly, suddenly… Less than comfortable, for Kipo's questions. Why that was he wasn't certain, but there it was. "They were forced to battle by the heretics. What else could be the case?"

"Yeah…" She smiled and waved him off, chuckling, "I believe you, R'Tas, promise. I was just asking 'bout it was all. Not arguing."

"Hmph..." He rumbled, flicking a look to her and then shrugging the matter off. It was more than merely possible that she was a messenger of the Gods themselves, or would be one soon enough, given where she had come from. But neither he or the old guardsman were anything approaching who she would be speaking to then. "Very well, Kipo. Would you like to continue our walk now, then?"

"Yep!" She smiled, "Gotta kill time, right?"

"Not for much longer we do not." He warned her quietly, following behind her as she bounced along, looking at the new art crawling across the walls of the Keep. "The Prophet will be here inside the hour, after all."

"I know, don't worry!" She assured him, "Just not worryin' about him until he's here."

"No?"

"Nope!" She smiled, stopping to look at a fine, marble statue of a Sangheili warrior of the Keep's storied past. "Won't do any good even if I do. And heck, might do bad since it would stress me out. And I do not do good with meetin' people when I'm stressed out."

He didn't contest her on that, for the obvious reason that she would know herself better than he ever really could. Instead, he gestured to the bust and rumbled, "A venerable Blade Master of several generations back, who took part in the Grunt Rebellion. He defended the Keep when it came under siege by the minute creatures. By his sword arm and command, our line continued on to today."

"The Grunt Rebellion?"

"The cowardly, jealous Kig-Yar sabotaged their food and drink, sterilizing and murdering them en mass." The guard explained quietly, a trace of… Sympathy for their plight coloring his voice. "In the wake of so much death and betrayal, the Unggoy rose up with a fury that one would not believe them capable of."

"No matter what was done, they persisted in their war of vengeance. A war that ravaged every sector of Covenant space where their race was allowed. Which was, to be quite clear, almost every single planet and sector." R'Tas rumbled on quietly, more than a little of his own respect filtering into his words. "They cared not how many fell in battle, or what was sent against them. They simply fought on, as though possessed."

"Then what happened?" Kipo asked, those eyes of hers once again flat and sharp, and boring into his own. "How did the uprisings end, if they were fighting that hard?"

"Only the partial glassing of their homeworld could end the war." R'Tas answered after a short moment's hesitation, "Seeing it burning, and knowing it would not end so long as they fought, the will of the Grunts was at last broken. But their ferocity and fearlessness impressed the people of the Covenant, and so they were allowed to fight and granted better conditions."

"And the Jackal fools that had started the war were found and punished as well." The guard rumbled quietly, "The Snagheili know well the power and will of our smaller brethren. And we respect it even now."

"That's not what it looks like…" She argued quietly, "It doesn't look like you even like them all that much, really."

"They are still a young, lesser race, if one that has shown its will to be indomitable when pushed beyond their limits." He rushed to explain, before the nameless guard could do so himself. "The hope is that in time, they will show themselves again. Until then, we must protect and guide them. For the betterment of the Covenant and their own species besides."

"I guess…" She sighed, "I just dunno."

"Leave it be now, Kipo." He finally grunted firmly, laying a hand on her shoulder and meeting her eyes meaningfully. "Even if you are right, it is neither my nor your place to speak on such things. In time, perhaps you may earn the ear of a Prophet. But until then…"

"Keep my head down?"

"Rhetorically, at least." He nodded, turning a grave look on his kinsman beside him and asking, quietly, "And you?"

"We all doubt our path for a short time when we are young, Brother. She is not so young, but she is new enough for it to be the same." He shrugged unflinchingly and, most importantly for the moment, uncaringly. "She will prove her loyalty in some direction. And questions, when so freshly told all we are told over the years, do not speak to me of worthy proof. Especially given her uniqueness. Of nature, and origin."

"A fancy way of saying you will keep your breath."

"A fancy way of saying this isn't my concern, more like." The warrior rumbled a low laugh and shook his head, "The Gods created her. I would not bring her to harm if she said direct that she wanted to supplant the Covenant. Her words are more likely to be true than any other's, after all, are they not?"

"I suppose…" He rumbled, thinking of the Grunt from the Market again… Finally, he sighed and asked, "Shall we head to the meeting room, then? I believe time runs short to when we are due to be awaiting the Prophet."

"It does indeed, though there is still some time. Unless you wish to have time to gather your thoughts..." He nodded and the guard answered in kind, turning and grunting over a shoulder, "Follow me, then. I shall show you to the council room from here, if you will but follow me."

He and Kipo of course more than knew the way to the Council room by now, having been guided to it more times than he could count by now. But he also knew very well that he was not of rank to simply walk to the Council chambers. The Keep guard would be honor bound to stop him or, failing that, kill him. And so, he allowed the guard to guide him there as always, trundling along quietly while the guards and workmen of the Keep did their work around him.

All normal, until they reached the Council room itself.

Instead of the normal guards that stood watch over the Council room's great doors, a quartet of Honor Guard were waiting, split two to each side. Their armor was as resplendent as he'd always been told it would be, with rich hues of violet and black so dark that he was sure the void itself must have been jealous. Their hallmark halberds stood at their sides, edges honed to a lethal, warning edge. A dangerous razor's edge that seemed almost as close as the sharp eyes of the Honor Guards themselves, roving over all three of them warily as the guard stepped forward.

"R'Tas Vadum'ee, Guardian of the Relic's Gift." It was a difficult thing, not to flinch at the honorary, rank giving 'ee on the end of his name when the Keep guard waved to him. But he managed it, and in his silence the old guard turned to Kipo, "And the Gift herself, Kipo Vadum."

"You claim her as part of your Keep?"

"My Kaidon does." R'Tas answered quietly, when the guard rounded on the Honor Guard, his shoulders set firmly. An argument would not go well, here, and so he rushed to reason, "She was given to our Keep, after all. And so her acceptance is the Kaidon's will and, thus, the will of all within this Keep."

"Hmph." The old Honor Guardsman, presumably the leader for speaking for them all and his clear age, merely nodded towards the Council door. "The Minister of Fortitude awaits within, R'Tas of Vadum Keep. May you speak as well to his high eminence as you have done to me."

"Indeed..." He sighed, nodding in turn as two Honor Guards turned to pull the door open.

As always, the Kaidon was in his seat, directly across from the door into the vaunted and rightly venerated room. Beside him, dressed in his lightly armored robes, stood the every wary Shadow, Gel'Ton. On the Kaidon's left sat an empty, if ornate, wooden seat that he knew by way of the workmen who had empaced it was meant for the Village Elder to sit. His right side, where the aged Gel'Ton would sit in future, sat empty of any furniture or decoration and was flanked by a pair of Honor Guards.

And, sat on an ornate, silvered chair fitted with advanced gravity generators that kept it aloft, sat the withered form of the Minister of Fortitude. Like so many of his kind, the holy creature was weak looking, his body weighed down and marred by the wisdom of the gods on high. His leathery, pinkish skin was spotted by wrinkles and odd scars that surely hadn't come from any blade or claw, and he had sharp brown eyes that bored into R'Tas' own as surely as a drill did unto rock.

Kneeling with a fist to his breast, R'Tas rumbled, "Your Eminence."

"So you're the 'Guardian' I've been hearing about." The Prophet murmured as R'Tas rose and nodded. The Prophet hummed, leaning back in his gravity chair and drumming his fingers on the arms of it. "Hm… I find myself distinctly unimpressed. I'd expected so much more from you, given everything, you must understand."

"Your Eminence…?" He murmured, confused, "I am… Afraid I don't understand."

"But of course not. Why should I have expected you to understand what we Prophets expect or look for?" The Minister of Fortitude sighed, like he was tired, though his brown eyes remained sharp and calculating. Sighing, finally, he poke magnanimously, " Very well, I'll explain it for you then. Such is my purpose, after all. I don't see anything that would give an Oracle reason to mark you for greatness."

"I fear I have little to offer in explanation, Minister..."

"Did the Oracle explain his choice, perhaps?" The Kaidon asked quietly, "Anything at all?"

"Only that I was the only one to reach him and survive." He answered quietly, speaking to the Kaidon though he kept his gaze on the Minister. Younger he may have been, but R'Tas knew the venerable Elite's aim in what he'd asked. "It seemed a test of some kind, to be able to reach the cave. What it was testing beyond luck, though, I cannot begin to guess."

"Luck hardly seems something the gods would put stock in." The Minister huffed wearily, waving a hand to dismiss the notion entirely, "Strength, speed, wits- These are the sorts of things the god's messengers value."

"Actually, um… Father always said that luck was just as important as anything else." Kipo cut in suddenly, voice just a bit quieter than normal. She met his eyes when he turned to her and he nodded, which seemed to nudge her along well enough. "He used to say that it 'doesn't matter how fast, or strong, someone is if their luck is so bad they'll get themselves eaten right out of the gate' when he talked about it. So he… Might have wanted someone strong enough to get there, but lucky enough to survive it."

"I… Suppose so." The Minister murmured after a long moment of pause, before he steepled his fingers under his chin. "I shall send your words along to the Council, I suppose, as you would know more than even we do of at least that Oracle's understanding of things. Your name is Kipo, is it not?"

"Mhm." She nodded, "Father sent me here."

"Do you know why?"

"Nope!" She shrugged, her energy returning as her confidence built up while she talked, "But he had to have some kind of reason. Father doesn't do anything without a reason to do it. If he wants me here, then there's something goin' on."

"I see." The Minister murmured, drumming his fingers against each other slowly, "Do you know why I am here then, Kipo?"

"Kind of?" She answered unsurely, explaining when he waved for her to, "You're here to make sure that the Keep is… Following the rules, right?"

"Yes, among other things, that's why I'm here." The Prophet answered with a toothy smile and a cold look he turned on the Kaidon. Still smiling, he said, "Sadly, it seems the Kaidon of Vadum Keep elected not to immediately inform the Council of his findings. A very blatant violation of the Covenant, that."

"We merely-"

"It was my idea." Kipo suddenly said before the Kaidon could speak. "I wanted to get to know everyone before they did anything, so I asked 'em to wait for a couple days. And since I'm… What I am, they agreed, as long as I didn't make them wait too long."

"Oh?" The Prophet murmured, turning to the Kaidon and asking almost coyly, "Is that the truth, Kaidon? Did you only neglect your duty for what at least would have looked, to your ignorant eyes, like a higher calling?"

"...Yes, it is as you have said." He murmured, going along with the lie after barely a moment's consideration. "Per her request, we acted as we did. We would never have done so without it, I assure you, most noble Minister."

"Hmm... " The Prophet eyed the Kaidon for a long time, tapping his fingers against each other while he seemed to think. To consider. Finally, he sighed, pulling a strange little machine out of his robes and waving the matter off. "Well, your reasoning is solid. So such a trifling concern can remain between us, I suppose. So long as it does not happen again, and you remember to report such things to me, that is. I may elect to honor her requests myself, but such is not your decision to make. Understood?"

"You've my word." The Kaidon rumbled, bowing his armored head, "From now on, we shall defer to you on such things."

"Hmph. As you should have always been doing." The Prophet sighed, waving a hand towards Kipo and offering the little device to his Honor Guard. "Now, we've but a formality to end this meeting of outs. A scan, to log your race in the Covenant's registries. Simply stand still, and I will see it dealt with later."

"Oki doke." The scan itself only took a moment, the light dancing along her fine robes and fair skin. Then, with a little chime, it was done and the armored Elite turned to offer the machine back to the waiting Prophet who looked at it for a long, silent moment. Long enough Kipo asked, quietly, "Is, uh, something wrong?"

"...No, I don't think so, after all." The Minister answered quietly, after a time, before he turned to the Kaidon and said simply, "I will be visiting, from time to time. To… Test this gift in a variety of ways. I'll handle sending reports on her to the Council, though, don't you concern yourself with it."

"Very well." The Kaidon rumbled, "Is that… All, then?"

"It is." The Minister nodded, his chair listing forward slowly at his command. As he left, he waved a hand dismissively over his shoulder and added, quietly, "And see her trained! I, and the Covenant, will have need of her one day… And probably soon, too."

And like that, the Prophet was gone, leaving them confused as much as comforted. Inside the hour, his guards had left the Keep and, in their wake, R'Tas could think of little to do. Besides, of course, training as the Prophet had demanded of them.