September 22nd, 5037

The sky was choked with smoke and debris. Where there had once been a Wolf fortress, there was a crater in the rocks. Petra should still have been able to see nine glowing shields as nine ghosts resurrected their guardians. They'd been warned. Why hadn't they gotten out of the way?

"Signal out. Kill confirmed. Petra, give a status report."

"I've a got a bit of a situation down here," she responded into her earpiece. "There were some guardians in there. I'd sent them a warning and they sent back a go-ahead. So I gave you the all-clear. But I don't think that they actually got out of the way, and I'm not seeing them anywhere."

"Damn. Guardians are idiots. Did they think their obnoxious Ghosts could survive a nuclear blast? They think themselves indestructible."

"What do I do?!"

"Start by trying to make contact with them."

She frantically tried to connect to their line from earlier. All she got was an error message: cannot connect. Channel not found. There had been nine, nine of them! Why had she assumed they would actually get out of the way? This was all her fault. Nine guardians, dead on her orders. She couldn't stand it anymore.

"Uldren, I'm going in to look for them."

"Absolutely not! It's too dangerous. You could-"

She switched off her earpiece, cutting him off mid-sentence. She had to fix this, somehow. She opened the door to her ship and climbed out, starting down the hill into the pit of destruction.

May 3rd, 5037

Queen Mara walked through her garden, listening to the water trickling in a nearby fountain, to the wind whispering in the leaves of exotic plants her awoken had brought back from Distributary. The flowers waved with their hypnotizing array of colors, the soft grass was covered in patches of shade from towering trees. The tranquility of the garden was untainted by the demonic creature napping in the center, under the largest, oldest tree, its wings folded over its eyes, and so long as Mara held the Ahamkara's loyalties, the garden would continue to flourish. Riven opened one of her enormous eyes as Mara approached and settled down in the shadow cast by the dragon-like creature's leathery wing.

"How fares thy plan, oh ruler mine?" her voice sounded as its usual clever murmur, an echo of Mara's.

"Well enough. But there is a gap, a huge gap, ever since the loss of Sjur. Who shall keep the faith and lead the awoken in my stead while I am… away?"

"Much must be rearranged without thy faithful wrath. And what of thy brother?"

"Uldren can't do it." Mara said flatly.

"How is he?"

"Worse every day. These reckless adventures are going to be his end. He is far too dependent. No matter what I try, he will not realize that I cannot be the sister he needs. I only wish there were another he could share his secrets with, someone he could follow and lead, someone who can stay here in this world, with him."

"You wish?"

Mara realized her mistake. "No, no, no. I.. I wouldn't want to force someone into being. That wouldn't be good for anyone, and Uldren would be furious if he knew. But… if, and only if, there is someone already like that…" she stared up into Riven's intelligent eye. "I wish that they would meet… and soon."

Riven tilted her great head, exhaling slowly. "Very well, my Queen, we shall see if anything becomes of this."

September 22nd, 5037

Someone was calling her name. Her head was spinning. Dizzy, she tried to sit up, but felt too weak to move. She groaned.

"Petra!"

The voice was close. She forced her eye open and her vision was filled with a blurry face.

"The guardians," she murmured, "I found pieces of their Ghost shells… they're… gone…"

"I don't care. That's their own fault for being idiots. I told you not to come down here- the radiation could kill us! You're practically dying already, and I'm starting to feel it myself."

"Leave me, then… I'm not worth that…"

She felt something cold being attached to her face, covering her mouth and nose, and she took a breath of fresh, oxygen-rich air. Her vision cleared a little, the pain in her head was alleviated. Uldren's face was partially obscured by his own oxygen mask as he put one arm on her back and the other under her knees and pulled her up to his chest. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

This was highly embarrassing. He was carrying her back up the rocks, her head rested against his shoulder, completely limp in his arms. He held her tightly, careful not to jostle her as he made his way out of the ruin. Every breath of air brought back a little of her strength, when they reached the top and he was striding across the flat grass toward his ship, she strained against him, muttering, "I can walk, I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Relax. I'm taking you to the Hull."

"Why?"

"You need treatment, before all that radiation kills you." He stepped up into his ship and gently lowered her into the copilot's seat. He pulled off his oxygen mask, before removing hers. By the time his ship was out of orbit and on a set course to the Hull, Petra was feeling a little sick, but could think and move normally. Uldren switched to autopilot and turned to her.

"Why did you go down there?"

"I- the guardians- I said it was all clear, but they didn't actually make it out. It's my fault they're all dead, I.. I had to try to find them."

"No, it was absolutely not your fault! You said that THEY told you to go ahead!"

"Yes, but-"

'It's THEIR FAULT for thinking they and their dumb Ghosts could survive a NUCLEAR BLAST! The City can get as mad as they like, but guardians need to get it into their heads that they aren't invincible. As for you- I TOLD YOU NOT TO GO DOWN THERE!" Now he was really yelling. "You could have DIED! You're not responsible for them, but now that you've acted like it, that's how the city will see it! You KNOW I don't give that many direct orders, but when I do, I do for a reason! That was one of the DUMBEST things I have EVER seen you do!"

"I'm sorry," she whispered, slumping in her seat, crossing her arms, and turning away so that he couldn't see the tear in her eye. She had failed. She should have known this would happen. He'd given her hope that someone could care about her without needing to impress them, but she had been wrong. He was a prince, and she was a corsair. Their friendship only lasted as long as she did well, and it would never be more than that. As soon as she failed, he would move on to work with a more promising soldier, and she'd simply have to get over it. Maybe she was being dramatic, but she should have known this would eventually happen. She could already see it in her mind, him talking and laughing with another corsair. Telling her that no one had ever understood him because he'd forget all about Petra and how he'd sworn that she had known him better than anyone else. She tried to take her mind off that track, knowing it was only a spiral of unlikely possibilities, but the idea that their friendship was somehow over had dug its claws in deep. Either way, his anger had startled her, and she couldn't prevent a sob from escaping her throat.

"Oh, Petra- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" he turned in his seat to face her, putting his hand on top of hers. "I just…When you said you were going in… and when I saw you lying there.. I thought I'd lost you. I was so scared."

She turned to look up at him, and he smiled, that irresistible smile, pressing his hand against her cheek and gently wiping a tear from under her eye with his thumb, murmuring, "This… the way I care about you… I've… never felt that away, about anyone before…"

"Me either," she whispered. Her heart was beating so hard it frightened her. Surely he didn't mean… Did he? Could he? Surely this wasn't real, one of his hands still on her face and the other on the back of her head as he slowly pulled her in and pressed his lips against hers. Surely she was dreaming, his warm fingers in her hair, as he held her tight against him. Surely it was her imagination, all the fear and worry and doubt in her mind replaced by a dizzy joy as he kissed her, but somehow, no, it was real. He pulled away, but kept his arms firmly around her, gazing down at her and now she saw- how had she not noticed before?- she saw in his eyes, that he felt the same way she did. There were a million vague thoughts without words running through her mind, a million questions, but the one that she started with was, "I.. how… how long have you… How long have you felt this way? About… me?"

"Several months, but.. I didn't want to risk upsetting our friendship and scaring you away. You were too important to me, but… I guess.. Almost losing you… you might have never known how much you matter to me. I've spent a couple thousand years searching and searching without ever knowing that this was what I was looking for. I couldn't not try and get it. Being with you makes me so happy. And... you're gonna be okay, trust me."

"I… I do trust you. But… won't I be in trouble for all this mess with the guardians?"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about that. Probably a demotion. I'll help you get back up there. You're an amazing fighter and you got a good head on your shoulders. They'll see that. You could really get up there, you could be a commander or something really important."

"Thanks," she whispered, hope rising inside her at the thought of working with him even more. "Being with you makes me happy, too."

She closed her eyes as he leaned in for another kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull herself closer to him. Somehow she must have already done something to prove she was worth caring about this way, but she didn't care at that moment, she was too focused on the happiness filling her. This feeling was everything she'd been looking for, and she'd only convinced herself otherwise because she thought she could never have it. It took away all her doubt and self hatred and left her with a warm contentment as he gazed at her again, almost nose to nose.

Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion passed over her. She slumped back in her seat again, putting a hand to her head as a sharp pain shot through it.

"Petra?"

"Sorry, I'm sorry. I'm… everything is starting to hurt again."

"The damage is setting," he said, looking at her with all the tender concern that no one had ever before given her. "But nothing that a few days in Cryo won't heal."

"A few days?"

"Hey, you won't be awake for it."

"True."

"Well, come on. We're here now. I'll file the report- another victory against Skolas' last few supporters!" he pulled her to her feet, whispering, "And everything's going to be different now, I suppose."