April 14th, 5038

"Hey, Petra! Petra! C'mere for a second!"

"What is it?" Petra hurried toward Kenzie, who grabbed her arm and dragged her around a corner, where two other hunters she didn't often see were lurking around. Both were Exo and she only recognized one, a dark blue one with a silver horn- Cayde-6, the hunter Vanguard. The second had copperish faceplates, thick steel armor, and a bright yellow patched cloak.

"These are Shiro-4 and Cayde-6, you've met Cayde, right?"

"Yeah, I have."

"We want to ask you some questions about the Hildean Asteroids," Cayde told her. "You were one of the survivors of the campaign, right?"

"Yeah."

"There's only a few, mostly renegades now, and we couldn't track any of them down. Then Tigs cracked into some of the files and we realized there was a Hildean survivor right here, at the tower. Handy, right? There's still quite a bit of cover-up going on, but we read Prince Uldren's report and that's what lead us to you. Tell us exactly what happened."

Petra thought about it. "I was sent to Rox-9. No-engagement scouting. There was heavy rain and it ruined our communications. We- me and my partner- hid in a cave, but Skolas ambushed us from a deeper part of the cave. His symbol was scratched into the cave floor. He killed Niff, but I fought him off and escaped with her body."

"You fought him off?" Cayde whistled. "Skolas is as bad as Taniks. You'd make a good hunter."

"Tell us about the cave, though," Kenzie said.

"All I remember is that there was a surface cave and then a tunnel that went deeper in. We probably went down about 250 feet before we saw the Wolves symbol scratched into the floor and that was where we were attacked. It was filled with noxious carbon monoxide, too. When I knocked off Skolas's rebreather he started choking." Petra paused. "That's all I remember." She looked up. Cayde was taking notes. "Do I want to know what y'all are up to?"

"Nope," Cayde replied cheerfully. "Can you give us the coordinates of the cave? Shiro, it's your turn to buy drinks. Go."

"I'll look through my personal log, and see if I put anything in there," Petra said as the exo in the yellow cape left, grumbling. He was back by the time she finished scrolling through her log to find the coordinates. "Here they are!" she copied them. "I'll send them to you."

"Thanks. Have a drink!" Cayde took one of the plastic cups from Shiro and offered it to her.

"Oh, no." She pushed it away. "I can't not, not legally."

"What?"

"I'm only twenty."

"Dang, you're young! No one really cares about that here, though."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

She took the drink and sipped from it. Heck, it was good. "Cool, thanks. I'm sure they don't care in the Reef, either, but with my record, I wasn't willing to risk it. Whatever y'all are up to, I hope you thought this through. The Hildeans are hard to navigate."

"Let me tell you a secret," Cayde whispered, "I never think anything through."

"Yes, guardians tend not to." Petra rolled her eyes.

"Nah, mostly hunters." Kenzie flicked her bangs out of her face. You should see my Titan trying to make five bajillion backup plans before every battle- sometimes I have to slap him!"

"Same with Zavala." Cayde took a swig from his cup. "We really only need one of him. Too many would slow us down."

Petra laughed. Uldren had told her about the City's Commander Zavala and his treachery. She certainly did not think much of him. "Come back alive, then. I need y'all to get back there so I can go home."

"Don't worry, we'll bring back some good loot, too," Kenzie assured her.

"Oh, I'm sure."

April 20th, 5038

Petra was happy, happier than ever. She was finally going home. Uldren was knocking on her door, he had come to tell her she was going home and they were going to be happy forever. She flung the door open, beaming.

"Hey, Petra." He said quietly, coming in. Something about the look on his face told her something was wrong.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

He rested his hands on her waist, giving her a gentle kiss. "I have bad news."

"Oh. I thought... Kenzie told me the negotiation went well."

"It did. Mara is very pleased with your work as emissary." He took a deep breath. "In fact, she's considering assigning you here permanently."

"W-what?" She felt her heart stop. "B-but I didn't really do anything! It was all Kenzie and her buddies, mostly!"

"I know." He turned way, and whispered, "This isn't going to work."

She stared at him, mouth open with a silent scream of protest. What was he saying?!

"She's not going to let you come back, Petra. I can't keep doing this much longer. It's torture." He gazed at her intently. "Sometimes it's not quitting, it's being wise enough to let go. I don't want to do this anymore."

She stared at the floor, shaking, trying to muster a response. She didn't understand what he was trying to say. He squeezed her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I... I said that all wrong. I mean, I don't want to have to keep sneaking off to visit you here every few months. You're the best thing that ever happened to me and I want to be with you all the time. I love you, I can't live without you, please. We can go anywhere, anywhere you want."

"I want to go home," She choked. He wasn't letting go of her, he was asking her to let go of everything that kept them apart. She could see the pain in his eyes. She couldn't take for granted how much he sacrificed for her. "I'll write to her myself. Give it... give it three weeks, and if there still aren't any solid plans for me to come home..." she rested her head on his shoulders as a few tears slipped out of her eyes. "After that, I promise, I'll go with you. I don't care where."

"Really? You promise?"

"Y-yeah, really, I promise."

He held her tight, stroking her hair comfortingly. "Thank you, baby, I promise, I'll take care of you and make you happy and keep you safe. We'll find somewhere pretty. I'm sure there's lots of pretty places besides the Reef."

"Not too safe, though," she murmured. "You know I like action."

He chuckled. "Don't worry, there aren't many safe places left in the galaxy. We'll make it pretty and dangerous, then- just like you."

"Thanks." She gazed into his golden eyes as he rubbed his nose against hers. "Being with you makes me happy."

"Me too, darling."

They lay down on the couch together and he wrapped his arms around her. "What do you think, my love, should we build us a home from scratch or try to find something pre-col to fix up?"

She laughed. "Slow down, we haven't left yet."

He made a face, grumbling, "I just want to dream."

"Oh, alright. I say we try to find something to fix up. We don't know how to build a house from scratch. Renovating is easier. Plus, we could get something much bigger that way."

"Good idea. I'm sure we can find some abandoned golden age settlement with a nice house intact enough to renovate. Electricity and plumbing will be an issue, but I'm sure we can fix it all up after we push hostiles out." He grinned. "I know I act rather pretentious in the Reef, but really, I've always wanted to live out alone somewhere and hunt and work for a living. That's what I did in distributary, and I miss it. I'll have a workshop where I'll sell weapons and sparrows I'll make from salvage. I'll be a- what do the guardians call them?- a vendor!"

"You hate guardians, and now you want to sell things to them?"

"Oh, I can put up with them as customers. They won't know who I am. I don't really hate guardians, per see, I just hate everything about them and find them very convenient objects to take out my anger on."

Petra laughed. "You're adorable."

"I'll have to get a disguise, though," he continued, looking thoughtful. "There will be a lot of talk about the runaway Prince and if word gets back to Mara about where we are, she'll drag me back and do something awful to you."

"This life does sound rather fun," she admitted, gazing up into the golden eyes only a few inches from hers. "It sounds wonderful, actually."

"We could have our own family," he murmured, snuggling closer. She felt a surge of delight at this wonderful thought, and they shared a passionate kiss.

"Now I'm afraid you'll be angry if I do come home before three weeks."

"No, I promise, I won't. I know how much you care about the Reef and really I just want to be with you. And, I mean, it'll never be too late for you to decide you do want to run away with me."

"Yeah, true."

He gazed at her. "I just love you, really."

"I just love you, too."