A/N: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the States. For everyone else, happy Friday Eve!

Minerva crouched over one of the dead Fallen, and tugged the scarf-like covering down from over its face. She gave a grimace of both distaste and curiosity.

"Ugly, aren't they?" Her Ghost said. He had vanished during the battle to ride digitally and thus safe from errant gunfire, but he had emerged almost the moment the shooting was over to heal her.

"Insectile, I think," she said distantly, turning its head with a nudge of her knuckles. This one had some kind of ridge of fur over the top of its head but it appeared to be an adornment, attached to the rudimentary skull plate it wore in place of a helmet.

She lifted one of its hands and brought it closer to her own face plate, regarding its three fingers and claws.

Kalina and Gen had been talking to each other a few feet away and were now approaching her, the sounds of their movements almost lost in the steady rumble of rain. It was washing the Fallen's blood into the mud surrounding it.

"Going to propose?" Kalina asked amusedly, and Min looked over her shoulder at the Awoken.

"Huh?"

The Hunter gestured at the way that Minerva was holding the Fallen's hand- as if she meant to kiss it. Minerva gave a tight, wry smile, then dropped it again.

"Just curious," she said, and shifted some of its clothes. "That big one had four arms. This one only has two, but…it looks like stumps here?"

"That 'big one' was a Captain," Gen told her. "From the markings on his armor, his name was Rahn. House of Devils."

"These little guys are just dreg," Kalina said, and nudged the dead one's leg with her foot. "Pushovers one on one but dangerous if you get a whole squad on you. They're cowards but at the same time, don't have much sense of self-preservation."

"They're worthless in the eyes of their society," Gen said, watching as Min straightened up, stepping off the dreg she'd been examining. "They have their arms cut off as a sign of that worthlessness. If they distinguish themselves in battle there's a chance they may get promoted; get more ether, a chance to grow their arms back."

"They regenerate?" Min asked in surprise.

"Yeah, you see the leather caps he's got on each stump? That keeps them from growing back until they have permission."

"So they're social insects- is there a queen? Are they-?"

"Nerd alert," Kalina said with a grin. Minerva blinked at her.

"Nerd?"

"Never mind. You two eggheads are just so adorable," Kalina said.

"There are books and records in the Tower," Gen told Minerva as she visibly grew even more confused at the term 'egghead'. "They're freely available to Guardians. You can read up on what we know of the Fallen there, or I'm happy to tell you more about them later on. Right now- "

"Right now we still have Lightless to protect," Minerva nodded. Not all of the 'dreg' had died; several had fled back into the ruins and still posed a potential danger to the caravan. "Kalina, do we know what they were here for?"

"Yup. There's an old jumpship not too far from here. Looks like it may have crashed a long time ago. I managed to lure them away when I blew up their servitor."

"So, they were just scrapping?" Gen asked.

"Near as I can tell. Doesn't seem they had much of any idea that caravan was even nearby. I can show you where it is. I haven't had a chance to scan its systems, but it looks pretty old. We should clean up the last of the dreg while we're at it."

Minerva just managed to resist asking what a 'servitor' was, making a mental note to look into those records at the Tower at her first convenience.

Following Kalina, they moved through a couple of the old, overgrown buildings. The rain had settled in for a good old soaking and more than once she saw the distant flash of lightning and heard the lazy rumbles that followed.

"It's good to see you in the field, Mini," Kalina said as they crossed an old alleyway. "Wasn't expecting to run into you here."

"Wasn't expecting to be here," Minerva told her. "Zavala told me I had to stop doing the Crucible as much, take some R&R."

Kalina laughed. "Curious R&R! Leave it to a Titan to figure fieldwork was a good way to relax."

"That was Gen's fault," Minerva said with a smirk.

"Guilty," the Exo admitted.

Kalina climbed effortlessly over a small pile of rubble, Gen at her heels. As Min headed up after them, she spotted one of the Fallen dreg peering around at them from behind a thick clump of ferns and ivy. She paused, lifting her rifle, but it darted away before she could fire.

"You don't think there'll be any more than just the dreg here?" she asked. "Another Captain or two?"

"Nah," Kalina said. "We'd be seeing a lot more dreg if there was another Captain."

They moved into another building, then down a broken stairway, through a hall and into what looked like another small square. A rusty old jumpship took up most of the space in the square, nose down in a pile of dirt that had sprouted grass and a spattering of goldenrod. Its aft end rested among broken brick and piles of concrete.

"There she is," Kalina said.

"This is all they wanted?" Minerva could not see the value in such an old piece of junk. It looked like it had crashed there centuries ago.

"They're scavengers," Gen told her. "Given half a chance they'd strip her down to nothing just for her parts. There's also the chance she might still have some valuable tech hidden in her rusty circuits or digital storage. If she has any sort of a functional NLS drive they'd be in little Fallen heaven."

Minerva felt like she was asking too many questions, but could not help yet another as she approached the wreck, peering into its cracked cockpit. If the pilot had gone down with the ship, they'd long since rotted away or been dragged out by animals. "NLS?"

"Near Light Speed," Kalina was digging out her engram as she approached the ship as well. "Without one it would take a jumpship eight hours just to get to the moon from Earth."

She suddenly stopped rummaging in the pouch at her belt and looked at Min.

"I have an idea. My engram is nearly full and I'm betting yours is empty. Seeing as this is your first day in the field, why don't you take the ship?" she said. "Call it a graduation gift."

Minerva eyed the old ship again dubiously. "What am I going to do with a load of scrap?"

"Give it to the shipwright," Gen shrugged. "Amanda. She loves these old birds, and she'll get it going like new. You're going to need your own ship anyway sooner or later. Might as well make it this one."

Minerva reached into the pouch at her belt and took out her engram. She'd not touched it since it had been given to her. As she looked at it, Kalina extended a hand to the ship and gave a theatrical bow. Min got the feeling that Kalina had winked again behind her inscrutable face mask, as she stepped past the Titan and went down to rejoin Gen.

"I don't know how to do this," Min whispered softly to her Ghost.

"I don't either," he whispered back. "I'm as green as you are, remember? Just…hold it out or something."

Min held the tiny white device out toward the ship, and nearly dropped it as the whole vessel shimmered with light and seemed to draw into the engram. Rusty beams groaned suddenly as the structure that had been supporting them vanished, and part of the roof started to fall in. Minerva took a stumbling step backward and felt a hand catch her shoulder.

"Not bad," Gen said, then whispered, "You realize that we can hear everything you say to your Ghost, even if you whisper, yes?"

Minerva felt her cheeks grow hot as she put the engram back into her pouch, her eyes darting toward Kalina a moment. If she'd heard the whispering- and she must have- she gave no indication.

"Let's get the rest of the dreg cleared out, and then head back toward that caravan," the Hunter said instead. "They've got to be ready to move soon."

They'd found and shot six more dreg before her companions felt that Akron was clear, and they headed back out through the woods toward the camp. Gen had a quick conversation with Preston, Crash, and the leaders of the caravan and determined that the Lightless still planned to move, despite reassurances that the Fallen in this area would not be bothering them.

The rain, at least, had stopped. The five Guardians perched atop a couple of the trucks, their weapons held ready but loose in their hands. Minerva watched the landscape roll away on either side of them, keeping an eye out for any further signs of Fallen, or any other threat that might come upon the Lightless. More goldenrod spread out in fields in every direction, broken by the occasional copse of trees or the dilapidated remains of civilization. What struck her most was the lack of wildlife; a few birds flitted by, and at one point she thought she may have spotted a deer or a small horse at a far distance, but that was all.

With all the noise the caravans are making, the wildlife has probably gone into hiding for miles around, she told herself.

As it got dark, the caravan finally drew to a halt and fires were lit, food cooked. Gen conversed with the Lightless leaders again, and told his fellow Guardians that they should arrive at their destination by midmorning of the next day. Min sat near one of the fires, and watching the flames brought the dreg back to her mind; them, and the way her arms had appeared to be on fire when she'd tackled the Captain.

Kalina came upon her a short while later with a pair of plates, pausing as she watched her in bemusement for a moment.

"What are you doing?" she finally asked, nearly making the Titan jump. Minerva lowered her hand and looked almost sheepishly at the Awoken.

"I was trying to bring the fire back," she said. When Kalina kept staring at her without comprehension, Minerva made a weak gesture back the way they'd come. "When I tackled that Captain, my arms looked like they were on fire."

"Oh!" Comprehension dawned on the Hunter's face, and she folded herself into a sit beside Minerva, handing her a plate. She set her own down beside her and then lifted her hand. Tangles of purple light danced and threaded through her fingers. "Like that?"

"Yes," Minerva said. "How did you- "

"You're trying too hard," Kalina said. "Don't think about it, just do it."

Minerva lifted her hand again and when nothing happened frowned in frustration.

"You're thinking about it. Don't think about it. You didn't think about it when it happened in the Crucible did you? Or when you ran in to grab that Captain. Stop thinking. Here."

She lifted her hand again, and the same dance of Void light began. She knit her brows a bit and the Void light turned into orange and yellow flame, but it appeared to be an effort. With her free hand she reached out and took Minerva's, turning it palm upward.

"Here."

She passed the little flame over to Minerva's palm as easily as if she'd just passed her some small trinket. As Minerva stared at it, the flame grew three times as big and bright, dancing like a ball above her palm. Kalina dropped her hands and gave a satisfied nod.

"There, you see?"

"But I'm not doing it," Minerva said. "You- "

"I'm not doing anything." Kalina said, holding her empty hands up as if surrendering. "It's a trick Cayde showed me way back when I was a babe. By appearing to pass you the ball, it tricks your mind a little into expecting the ball to be there in your hand. Just by expecting it to be there, it's there. I can't really pass you anything, that's not how it works."

"I'm doing this?" Min stared at the flickering flame that burned without heat on her hand.

"Yup, that's all you. You see? You're not even trying, you're just doing. Hello Gen."

This last was said to the Exo as he seated himself nearby. "Hello. Preston and Crash are on first shift. We three are on second shift."

Min hardly heard him. She put her empty hand up next to the flame and 'passed' it across. Grinning, she started passing it back and forth, tossing it between her hands as if it were a real ball. Kalina clapped with delight as she watched.

Then the orange light snuffed out, and a blue one began. Where the flame ball had been of decent size, the blue one was little bigger than a marble, licking with tiny flashes of lightning. Minerva grimaced at it, then shook her head. "This is…different."

"Harder?" Gen asked, and she nodded.

"It still shows up without thinking about it but, well, look how small it is."

"Size isn't everything," Kalina said with a smirk.

She passed the little blue light to her other hand, and with another grimace it turned dark purple, but grew no bigger. "This one too, you see?"

"That's usual," Gen told her. "Guardians are able to wield three paracausal powers but usually only one of the three feels more natural, and…well, right, I suppose."

"I keep hanging out with you two and your great big words and I'm going to start feeling stupid," Kalina said lightly. "Paracausal?"

"Any ability or power that seems to violate the laws of causality," Gen told her. "They don't actually violate the laws of causality, of course, as that's impossible. Any sufficient tech would appear to be paracausal from a less enlightened perspective."

Kalina gave him a pointed look and darted a hand over her head. Minerva, who had turned the little ball back to a much larger orange flame, said, "Anything that looks like magic."

"Ooooh!"

"This one feels more right," Minerva said, looking up from the flame. "It's like writing with my dominant hand, rather than my off hand."

"That's how Void feels with me," Kalina said, and made a ball of Void light as large as Minerva's one of flame. Gen lifted his own hand and a ball of Arc appeared to rival theirs, licking and spitting with miniature lightning.

"We should start a band," Minerva said lightly, then smiled when Kalina laughed.

"We'd need to write a song first," she said, when she'd recovered herself. "I don't know about you, but I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket."

"I have a decent singing voice," Gen said, as his ball of Arc vanished.

Minerva's flame vanished as well as she started to chuckle. Kalina pointed at her. "She does laugh! She does! Binky, take a picture! We'll have proof!"

"If your Ghost takes my picture, I'll learn to play the bongos for our band. Starting with her." Minerva said, still chuckling. Kalina laughed all the harder, tears starting to run from her eyes. Binky turned her small light onto Minerva's Ghost.

"I don't know if I should be worried," she said.

"She wouldn't. I don't think," he replied. "Better not take her picture, just to be sure."

Gen shook his head, but he was chuckling a little as well. "I will probably regret this, but I have to admit, we three do make a good fit. I was honored to work with you two today."

"It was an honor to meet you, Gen," Minerva replied with a grin and a nod. "Thank you for making me jump off the Tower."

"It was my pleasure," he said. Kalina, still giggling as she tried to regain control, leaned over and whispered theatrically in Min's ear.

"I think he may be hitting on you."

"We can still hear everything even when you whisper!" Gen said, and the three of them burst into laughter again.