Many thanks to BeaconHill and GlassGirlCeci for betareading.

Dawn 14.1

The Deputy Director greeted me as I stepped out of the PRT van. His eyes followed Regent as he strode out of the other car to be immediately greeted by a smiling Jess. "I'm glad to see things went well, Mairë."

I nodded. "I think he has a place with us," I said. "He's ready to improve."

"Good. Here's hoping you can make it work." Renick turned away from Regent, facing me fully. "The director wants to talk to you," he said. "ASAP."

I raised an eyebrow. "All right. What's it about?"

"I honestly don't know," he said. "You'd have to ask her."

"I suppose I'll do that." I shrugged. "Genesis—get Regent settled in at the barracks. If anyone tries to give you trouble, tell them to take it up with me or Shadow Stalker."

Jess gave me a thumbs up, then slowly wheeled out of the garage, Regent alongside her. I turned and went through another door, up towards Piggot's office.

She answered immediately when I knocked. When I stepped inside, her eyes met mine. There was a tension there. "Close the door. We need to talk."

I shut the door and took a seat across from her. "What's wrong?"

Her lips twisted slightly. "I'll let the boss explain," she said, gesturing at the monitor on the wall to my right. "Give me a second to call her back."

I leaned back in my chair as she fiddled with her computer, waiting patiently. After a minute, the screen flickered to life, and Chief Director Costa-Brown—or, as I knew her, Alexandria—appeared.

"Mairë," she greeted. "Good to see you again."

I smiled thinly at her. "And you, Director. What's this about?"

"We've been hearing a lot about your success in Brockton Bay," she said. "From what our analysts are saying, the city's gone from having one of the highest crime rates in the United States to one of the lowest in the world in under six months. It's impressive."

"Thank you," I said, though my mind returned inevitably to some of the ways I'd brought that crime rate down. I shook myself out of that spiral. I was doing better now. "But I assume this is about more than congratulations?"

She nodded. "Brockton Bay is an incredible success story," she said. "And as part of that success, it now has one of the largest hero populations of any city of comparable size. With all the organized crime in the city shut down, those heroes aren't going to have nearly as much to do as they have in the past."

It clicked. "Ah."

She frowned. "You understand what I'm getting at?"

"The squeaky wheel gets the grease," I said. "And we've stopped squeaking. You want to split us up."

"Yes," she said firmly. I could see the apology in her eyes, though it didn't even flicker in her expression. Alexandria knew, at least in basic terms, what the Ring-Bearers meant to me. "There are other parts of the country that could benefit from the skill and experience your people could bring them. I wanted to talk to you about the details of these transfers—who would be a good fit for which teams, and who would be best to stay in the Bay."

I took a deep breath. "Most of my Ring-Bearers are Wards," I said. "Minors. You'll have to get their families to cooperate with transferring them."

"We'll talk to them about that," said Alexandria. "But first, I wanted to talk to you. Your insight will be invaluable in deciding where your ten Ring-Bearers, and the other heroes of Protectorate ENE, should be deployed."

"You can't be planning to split up all ten of them! These are people. They're friends! You can't just drop them alone in a strange team and expect it to work out."

"Not necessarily, but this is why I need your insight," she said. "You know who's capable of working alone, and which groups should be kept together. I know which departments most need support. Together, we can come up with a plan, if you're willing to help."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "We need to be able to visit each other, at least," I said. "All of us. We're a team and a support network, not just a bunch of powerful fighters."

"Of course," said Alexandria without hesitation. "We're not trying to break your team, Mairë, or to isolate any of you. We simply need your talents outside the Bay."

I took a deep breath in and sighed. "Okay," I said. "All right. I'll help."

After all, she was right—my Ring-Bearers were needed elsewhere, even if I wanted them with me. At least if I was part of the conversation I could keep the important units—such as Missy and Dean—from being separated by orders from above, or from my lonelier friends, such as Sam and Chris, from becoming too isolated.

"But… I have more than ten Ring-Bearers. Or I will, very soon."

I lingered just outside the door to the meeting room. My hand rested on the doorknob, but I held back, listening. My newest recruit was speaking, and I wanted to hear.

"Eh, wasn't really my thing," Regent was saying, a yawn breaking in between the words. "I never got to help with the high-stakes jobs—all I ever got involved in were the smaller, less visible things. Burglaries, package plants, that kind of thing. Most I ever did was make a guard fall down a flight of stairs."

"And the rest of the time, you were just hanging around playing video games?" Genesis sounded amused.

"Mostly," Regent said. "What about you? How have things been here?"

Genesis laughed. "Oh, you know. Just crushing a gang in three days flat, no big deal."

Regent snorted. "Yeah, sounds like Annatar," he said. "Must be nice to be on her side for once."

I decided I'd heard enough and pushed the door open. "Mairë," I corrected, striding in, one arm around the box at my side.

There were five people in the room, besides me. I'd asked Piggot to call them in while I stopped by my workshop.

Emma was slouched against the wall in one corner, her matted red hair ghoulishly framing her pale face. Brian and Alec sat on one couch, while Marissa was on another, across the coffee table from them. Jess sat in her wheelchair beside her fellow former Traveler. All five looked up at me as I entered.

"Right, right," Alec said, waving a hand. "Sorry, Tats mentioned names were a big thing with you."

I looked at him with a mirror of his own smirk on my face. "Oh? And they aren't important to you, Hijack?"

I saw the minute twitch. "Nah, not really," Alec lied.

"What's this about, Mairë?" Brian cut in, shifting slightly so that his shoulder passed between me and Alec.

I came forward, seeking Emma's gaze. Her sunken eyes fixed on mine. "You all found your way to me from the other side of the old war between heroes and villains. All of you have, I think, done things that you regret." I looked around at them, meeting each one's eyes in turn. No one argued. "You all know I'm no different. We're all here now because we want to turn that around—because we want to grow beyond our pasts and make something out of our futures. Today, I want to affirm our commitment to this road."

I set down my package, a wooden chest with brass fastenings. The latch clicked as I released it and the box creaked open.

The Nine glittered bright, lighting up the room, eclipsing the lights above. There was a collective intake of breath as the mingled colors shimmered, an aurora playing against the walls.

I looked around at my prospective Ring-Bearers. "This is entirely optional," I said gently. "By now, you're all familiar with the risks a Ring of Power represents. You've all seen Coil in the cells. These Rings are powerful and dangerous. They can be addictive. They can bind you to my will, if I fall to that temptation. But if you choose to take them, they will represent an oath—a promise, to yourselves and to me, to walk this path until its conclusion. They will help you hold to that course. They will bolster you when you falter, strengthen you when you weaken, offer you a helping hand when you fall short. In the end, though, you've all demonstrated that you don't need these Rings to do the right thing. Anyone who doesn't want one, you're free to leave now."

No one moved. The room was silent enough that I could hear all five of my recruits' tense breathing as their gazes flicked from me to the box.

I closed my eyes. "Very well," I said softly. "In that case… Brian." I reached down and ran my finger along the band of one of the Rings before plucking it off the velvet. I reached out and met his eyes as I set it in his palm. "This is Hriveya," I said, watching him gaze down at the Ring in awe. The mithril band was set with an iridescent moonstone which shimmered in a blue as pale as the sky reflecting on snow. "The Ring of Winter. It will give you the calm and the perspective necessary to move past outbursts of anger or fear—move past, and overcome with grace."

Brian's fingers shook as he grasped the Ring, then slowly slid it onto his finger. When he inhaled, then, the air seemed to expand him, building him from man into Ring-Bearer. His eyes met mine, wide and dilated, his lips working soundlessly.

I smiled at him and turned back to the box. "Jess." I pulled out the next of the Rings of Power. Her eyes glittered, reflecting the silvery mithril and the pure green peridot stone set within it. "This is Tuileya, the Ring of Spring," I said, holding it out to her. "It will help you build that gentle touch you've so long wished you could cultivate—and it will give you the confidence you need to avoid being led astray. Like spring, you will be nurturing, warm, and inevitable."

The ring fell upon her shaking palm. For a moment, she stared at it, and then her hands stilled. When she slipped it on her finger, there was no uncertainty in her movements. And when the power rushed through her, it only made her more of what she already was. She met my eyes. Hers shone with something wistful. "Thank you."

I smiled at her and turned to my next recipient. "Marissa," I said, taking up the next Ring. This one, too, had a band of mithril, and the stone within was a burning citrine. "This," I said, holding it up to her, "is Laireya, the Ring of Summer. It is not a Ring of temperance, of contemplation, or of doubt. It is a Ring of certainty, of deliberation, and of courage. This Ring," I said, placing it gently into her hands, "is proof and promise—you do not need to be afraid anymore. You must not be afraid. The sun that fears itself is a sun that does not shine."

Her gaze flicked from the Ring, to me, and back again. For a moment some fearful shadow gripped her, and she teetered on the brink, mere inches away from throwing it back into the box and fleeing. Then she swallowed, looked back up at me, and slipped the Ring of Power onto her finger. Her face flushed visibly as the heat rushed through her, and her eyes widened, then hardened as the Song bolstered her heart. She held my gaze for a moment, then nodded once and looked down at the Ring on her finger.

I turned back to the box. "Alec," I said as I took out the next Ring. This one had a translucent stone of violet corundum set in its mithril band. "We haven't known one another long," I said, looking at him. A smirk flickered on his lips, and a snide remark seemed to be on the tip of his tongue, but as he looked at the Ring he swallowed it down. "But I think I know what it is you need. What it is you want." I held out the Ring to him. "This is Yavieya, the Ring of Autumn. For too long you have been stymied—your soul, your voice in the Song, has stagnated, too brave to go back and too fearful to advance. This Ring will end your stasis—it will, at long last, allow you to grow again."

As I spoke, his lips fell open into a tiny 'o'. His hand reached out and took the Ring from me. His fingers were soft upon it as he held it up to the light, as though it were made of the most fragile glass. Then, with intimate care, he slipped it onto his finger. His lungs filled with air, almost surprising him, as if it were the first time his body had inhaled without his conscious intervention. He did not look at me; he just stared down at his hand in wonder.

I turned then to the first and the last of my Penitent. "Emma." The name sizzled on my tongue, rich with old feelings and buried pain. Her skin seemed almost translucent in the flickering glow of the Nine, her sallow face looked like little more than a thinly wrapped skull. This time, it was my hand which shook as I held out the first and last of the Nine. "This is Lumeya, the Ring of Time."

Lumeya had once rested on the finger of the greatest king of the world of Men. He had already been a sorcerer before I came to him. But power never inured mankind to the desire for more; rather the reverse. And so the Seer-King had become the Witch-King.

"This Ring," I said, keeping my voice steady, "is as much a promise from me to you as it is from you to yourself. Lumeya's band once represented the cycle of history; the promise that the past is destined to be relived in the future. But Lumeya was broken outside the walls of Minas Anor, and now it is remade—its meaning has changed. The Ring is a valve, now—a valve tight upon the flowing pipeline of time. It is the promise that we will not, we cannot go back. It is the marker that ends one chapter in the story of our lives—yours and mine—and begins another. It is the promise that the future and the past are discrete, distinct, and never again shall be the same. We may not always know where the future will lead, but this Ring is a promise to ourselves to find and walk the untread road."

Her eyes met mine. The amber stone and bronze band of Lumeya seemed dark in her blue eyes. For a moment, she was perfectly still. Her hands stayed steady at her sides. Then, just when uncertainty was closing its claws around my throat, she reached out. Her hand rested on mine, skin meeting skin, enveloping the greatest of the Nine between our two palms.

"I'll hold you to your word," she said, and her voice was a raspy whisper, "if you hold me to mine." Then she pulled away, taking Lumeya with her. It slipped onto her finger so easily that it seemed almost to jump from her palm without needing to be picked up. The band of bronze rested so naturally against her pale skin that I almost laughed at myself, at my doubts.

I looked at each of my five newest Ring-Bearers in turn. "These Rings are promises," I said. "They always have been. Once they promised power, loyalty, and eternity. Now they promise a future. A future that each of you can and must write for yourselves." I slowly closed the box, leaving the remaining four Rings within. "No matter how many miles separate us, no matter how long it's been since we've heard one another's voices—we will all be together in this, from now on. We are the Penitent, and we are together on this road to the end."

I picked up the box and stepped back. All five of them had their eyes fixed on me. None of them spoke for a moment. Then Brian cleared his throat. "Taylor," he said, and suddenly I felt myself return to earth. Mairë, in all her glory and pride, faded away, and Taylor, humble and honest, reasserted herself again. "What do you mean, 'no matter how many miles separate us?' Are we…" He frowned at me. "Are we not all staying here in the Bay?"

I swallowed. "No," I said. "No, we are not." I passed my hand over my eyes. "Fetch the rest of the Wards, would you? And Dragon and Armsmaster, if they're available. We need to talk."