"No," Eris said at once. "It is because I know there are Hive here on Earth."
"We've covered this ground before," Zavala said, rubbing one finger over his lower lip. "You say you know they are here, but cannot tell us where they may be, how you come upon that knowledge, or what they may be doing."
"Yet I still know," Eris replied. "I spent five years among the Hive, hiding in shadow. I have seen their preparations, their rituals."
"They have not left the moon, not in centuries," Zavala replied.
"That is more than enough time to plan and prepare an invasion," Ikora pointed out. "To grow numbers that would overwhelm ours."
"Then you believe Eris?" Zavala asked. "That they are on Earth again?"
"I do," Ikora told him. "Eris and I have spoken at great length of many things. I believe her when she says the Hive are on Earth, that they are planning an invasion. Moreover, I believe her when she says that our new Titan friend here needs to go to the moon to stop them."
Minerva felt jolted at that revelation. "Me?"
"No," Zavala was already shaking his head. "I do not agree. Minerva is becoming quite the capable Titan, but she is only six weeks Lightborn, and two days out of the Crucible. She has had one foray into the field to face a small handful of Fallen scavengers, and that with four other Guardians. I cannot in good conscience send such a young and untried Lightborn to the moon, potentially to face a Hive army centuries in the making."
The Speaker turned back to his table, but he did not resume writing or looking at his books. His face was turned toward the City, and the Traveler hanging above it.
"It must be her!" Eris said, pointing at Minerva.
"Why?" Zavala asked. "Can you explain that?"
"I…cannot. I only know that it is true."
"Then I'm sorry, Eris. I simply cannot send a Guardian so young to the moon."
"I have seen what the Hive call a God," Eris said sharply. "I went down into the pit, with my five companions. I have seen his throne, felt his Eyes, heard the screams of his Will. Crota. He will not stop until all Light has been extinguished. Toland knew this-"
"What Toland may or may not have known doesn't help us," Zavala told her. "Yes, six of you went down into the pit, but only one emerged; after five years and much changed. Yet you ask me to send a newborn to the Light to succeed where six seasoned veterans have failed? Where Toland himself, with all his knowledge, failed?"
"I cannot explain," Eris said. "I have no words to tell you all that I have seen and suffered, but you must know this; this woman must go to the moon if Crota is to be stopped. If she does not, if you send another; I fear that one, too, will be lost."
"Ooh, maybe it's a prophecy?" Cayde interjected, with an excited glint to his eyes. "We haven't had a prophecy in so long. Maybe Minerva's a Chosen One?"
"Cayde," Ikora said, with both long-suffering admonishment and affection in her voice.
"I'm just saying, if she's the Chosen One she needs a really good name. We could call her…Moonbreaker? Or, no…Hive Hunter? No, she's a Titan. Oh, I got it! Crota's End. We could call her-"
"Enough," Zavala said with irritation.
"Ok, jokes aside, I'm with Zavala on this one," Cayde said to Ikora and Eris. "We can't send a green newbie, no matter how awesome or chosen, to the moon to face the Hive only six weeks out of her coffin. Might as well just smash her Ghost now and slit her throat. It'd be kinder."
Lev floated backward a few inches when he said this, and Minerva swallowed.
"You would do nothing, while the Hive land on our shores?" Eris asked.
"That isn't an option either," Zavala said reluctantly. "We could send someone more seasoned."
"I'd suggest resending the Twins," Cayde replied. "They've certainly got the experience under their belts, and Nara's been all but tearing down the walls wanting to get back to the moon anyway-if that idea wasn't the most terrible idea in a long history of terrible ideas."
"No, that would not be wise," Ikora agreed. "Blayd is terrified of returning, and Nara…"
"Is far too eager," Zavala nodded.
As they mentioned Nara, Minerva suddenly remembered.
"What is Dredgen Yor?" she asked. Immediately all eyes were on her.
"Where did you learn that name?" Zavala asked.
"I overheard Ikora and Cayde say something about a Dredgen Yor in the stairwell," she said, and as the two in question exchanged looks, she added "I did not mean to eavesdrop, I was simply walking past on my way to the lift."
The answer came from none of the three Vanguard, but from the Speaker.
"Dredgen Yor was a Guardian. A Titan, like yourself. Like Nara. His name used to be Rezyl Azzir, before he fell to Darkness."
"He, too, went to the moon," Zavala said. "And came back…changed."
"Dredgen Yor was not the same as Nara," Ikora said. "He went to the moon because he was suffering from nightmares. There, he fought a Hive Knight and returned within hours. His nightmares were what prompted him to go to the moon, and they worsened after he returned. Over time, he became-"
"A psychotic rage fueled murder machine?" Cayde said.
Ikora shook her head, but did not correct him. She looked at Minerva again. "You would be wise not to mention his name to other Guardians, or the Lightless. It is a curse on their lips. Never before since the first of the Lightborn has a Guardian been so despised."
"And you are concerned Nara-"
"We are not here to discuss Nara or Dredgen Yor," Zavala began, but this time the Speaker interrupted, as he turned back to them.
"No, tell her," he said. "As a Guardian, she deserves to know."
"There's a reason we're watching Nara so closely," Cayde said. "Dredgen Yor is it. We don't really understand why, or how, but the man who came back from the moon was not the man who went to it. He killed several Guardians, and countless Lightless. Even his Ghost abandoned him. He no longer wielded the Light, but Darkness instead."
"Just as the Traveler brings us the Light, its enemy- the one who so wounded it- wields the Dark," The Speaker said. "This Enemy is still out there, Guardian. Always, relentlessly, it seeks to destroy the Light and all who hold it. It seeks to destroy the Traveler, and when it can, it will turn its own tools against it."
"We watch Nara more closely than you know," Zavala said, "However, she is not Dredgen Yor. She has made no move to cast off the Tower or the laws of the Last City. She has not abandoned her Light, nor has her Ghost abandoned her. But know this; we will not allow another Dredgen Yor."
His tone had a finality to it, and Minerva didn't need to ask what would happen if Nara ever did happen to step off the very thin line she was treading.
"I am afraid, Guardian," the Speaker said suddenly, in the weighty silence that followed Zavala's declaration. All three of the Vanguard seemed surprised at this admittance. He looked only at Minerva.
"I am afraid that the Darkness is returning, and this time, we will not survive it. Cayde jests that you are a prophesied 'Chosen One', and I myself hold no stock in such nonsense- but there is much about the universe we still do not understand, nor should we pretend to. And in the end, were we all not 'Chosen Ones?' Chosen by the Traveler? There is reason here. Your Ghost was sent out, for a reason. He found you, Minerva Anasova, for a reason. Eris Morn has returned from the moon and arrived back here after five years lost, almost the moment you were Lightborn- and I believe this, too, has a reason.
"My head agrees with Zavala; we cannot send you to the moon. Not now, so young and unpracticed. But my heart tells me that there is reason and truth in what Eris speaks as well. That someday, perhaps far sooner than any of us expect- you must go. However, that day is not today. Cayde-6, I do believe Tychon is finishing up some work at the edge of the Lunar Restriction Zone?"
"That's correct," Cayde nodded. "Tychon is one of my best Hunters; if anyone could scout the situation on Luna undetected, it'd be him. Of course, I'd be even better. If I could-"
"You are not going to the moon, Cayde," Ikora told him, and he made a sound remarkably like a raspberry, despite having no actual tongue.
"Spoilsport."
Minerva remembered Tychon; she had met him briefly the first time Kalina had taken her down to the Crucible. He was the one who had brought Ian and Rhonda down. She wondered how those two were doing; she'd seen neither hide nor hair of them since that day.
"Minerva, do you have a ship yet?" Zavala asked her.
"Sort of," she said. "We found one when we chased off those Fallen scrappers. Amanda Holliday is fixing it up, but it needs some parts for the NLS drive."
"I think we can get those to her," he said. "I'll impress upon her that fixing that ship for you is a priority. I'll also make sure you're equipped with a sparrow. I'd like you to do some more fieldwork in the next few days; I will forward any concerns that reach my desk I feel you will be suited to handle."
Unspoken but understood was the reason for this; he wanted her to get her hands dirty as much as she could right now. If she was indeed going up to the moon any time soon, at least she'd be slightly better prepared.
"A sparrow, sir?" she asked.
"Minerva, it is not necessary to call me 'sir' all the time," he said with a faint smile. "A sparrow is an anti-gravity bike used to travel more quickly dirtside. It is standard Guardian equipment, and is usually kept digitally aboard your ship until needed. I will make sure you get one."
"I understand. Thank you sss…" she trailed off as she caught herself just in time to not say 'sir' again. Cayde laughed.
"You sound like a tea kettle," he said, and snapped his fingers. "We could call you Crota's Blend!"
"One of these days, Cayde, you are going to make a joke, and one of my Titans is going to twist you in half," Zavala told him.
"I'll bet anything she was military," Cayde replied off-hand, ignoring Zavala's warning as he turned to go.
"Am I needed for anything further?" Minerva asked, watching the Hunter Vanguard depart, with Ikora on his tail. Eris lingered near the door; she had been oddly silent after suggesting that the others meant to do nothing about the Hive threat.
"No, thank you Minerva. I will be in touch," Zavala told her. She looked at the Speaker, and he nodded.
She tied the new Titan mark around her waist, in the same manner she had seen other Titans wear theirs, as she headed out the door and back into the corridor. She had gone no more than a few steps when she heard a voice behind her.
"Please, if I may speak with you?"
Her shoulders tensed unconsciously, a tingling feeling of goosebumps running down her spine. She paused and turned, lifting an eyebrow toward Eris Morn.
"I am…sorry," Eris said, halting a few steps away. "I did not intend to make you uncomfortable- both now and before. I was lost on the moon for so long, with nothing but shadows and monsters for company- I have somewhat lost touch with the niceties of being human."
Minerva nodded slightly. "It's understandable," she said. "I-"
Then she paused, a bit of wonder coming over her. "If you'll excuse me," she said. "Would you…say that again?"
"You wish me to impart my apologies a second time?" Eris asked, and Minerva blinked in surprise.
She had been too distracted to notice before, and it struck her now how stupid she had been not to. Eris Morn had no Ghost, and Lev was not translating her words.
"You are speaking Russian!" she said.
"Yes," Eris replied. "I am able to speak several languages, as you will be in time- as all Guardians do in time. However, this is the tongue I spoke when I was Lightborn, as you were."
But of course she would be, Minerva thought. There are reasons they think she may have known me before I was Lightborn, reasons beyond that she simply acts as if she does.
Most disturbing of all, now that they were standing alone for the first time, was the tiny little voice in the back of Min's subconscious, which seemed to be telling her that she knew Eris, too. Min found herself trying to picture the other woman's face without the strange cowl, the covered triple eyes, or the odd greenish cast to the skin, and for a moment she felt on the verge of a revelation. Almost defensively, she tried to pull her mind back to the here and now- she did not want to know. The very idea of knowing made Minerva feel as if she was being submerged in ice water, struggling to breathe.
A hint of beer hung in the air. A gilded archway made of dark wood was over her head, and sunlight glinted off of iron-wrought windows. Someone laughed. A curse. A crash of glass.
Black hair floated in lazy whorls…
Min's chest tightened and she heard herself take a gasping breath. She took a step backward, and Eris's hand- the one not holding that ghastly glowing ball- reached out for her.
The gesture had no malice in it; if anything, it was a gesture of concern, a simple reflex to catch hold and help someone steady themselves after they tripped. Yet somehow, this simple gesture ignited a wave of mortal terror that tore through Min like a tornado. Her simple step backward turned into a violent recoil, as if a venomous snake had darted toward her. She caught her balance at the last moment only by grabbing hold of the wall with her hand, ramming it awkwardly and hard enough to break her finger.
"Don't."
Turning, Min strode away from Eris and her sad, bewildered expression. She did not run, but when a lift nearby opened and disgorged two happily chatting Exos, she turned into it without hesitation or thought on where she was going.
"Minerva?" Lev asked as soon as the lift doors shut. "Minerva, are you all right?"
She did not answer him, but sat down in the back corner of the small car, drawing her knees up and covering her face with shaking hands.
"What is it?" her little Ghost asked, drawing near to her. She felt the vague tingle in her hand, and the pain in her finger melted away. "Minerva, you're frightening me. What happened?"
Cold. That was all she could feel. It seemed to be swallowing her up. Endless, agonizing, searing cold.
When she didn't answer again, Lev said, "That's it. I'm calling someone."
She shook her head, drawing even more tightly into herself. The cold was eating into her, consuming her. It was all she could think about. She felt like she wasn't getting enough air, and realized she was holding her breath. The very idea of releasing it only made the panic worse.
Any sensation of the lift moving was lost in the raging cold. Anything further Lev may have said to her was similarly lost in the rushing of blood in her ears, the burning need to breathe, and the fear that if she did breathe, she would die. A single breath, that was all it would take to kill her. Not like in the Crucible. Not in a way that Lev would be able to bring her back. Really, truly, irretrievably, die.
Then the lift doors opened and someone rushed in. She felt warm hands on her arms, but she was so cold the hands felt like they were on fire.
"Mini!" Kalina said. "What by the Traveler…my god are you ok?"
Minerva could hold it no longer, and let out her breath. As she drew in the next and only air entered her lungs, she began to cry.
