Light glinted through the trees, the clouds of dust raised by feet and vehicles making rays of gold that danced around Kipo as she moved down the edge of the roadway. Her eyes were wide, collecting as much as possible, taking in the rough buildings, the wonderfully confusing smells, and the people. There were so many people! This village, as the guardian had called it, was at least twice as big as Kipo's burrow back home, and people were so different!

There were ragged refugees, sitting in groups and looking generally wiped out, carrying very little. There were the traveler groups, with their guns, stacked backpacks, and full-headed helmets. The merchants, dressed more colorfully and in various stages of setting up, selling, and taking down. There were all kinds of clothing, rags and robes and armor, ponchos and trench coats and billowing capes! Ah, the fashions were amazing! A lot of the races Kipo recognized, Asians and Africans and Caucasians and more with their groups and subgroups, all had been present in her burrow and she saw them here too.

Then there were the differences. The people like her guardian whose eyes glowed, with blue or unearthly white or even purple skin, all shimmering and alien. And robots, at least Kipo assumed they were robots, beings of metal that walked and talked like people. There were the humanlike ones, with pupiled eyes and moving expressions, that talked and laughed with their human friends, and then there were the simpler ones, that swept and carried and took orders.

And then there were guardians. There were not many of them, but Kipo could easily identify them. Even when surrounded by normal humans, they carried themselves differently, and had shinier armor and sleeker weapons. Sometimes their ghosts floated beside them, sometimes not. Kipo suddenly began to understand why her guardian was cautious about them; they were powerful, confident, and more often than not, walked with purpose.

The biggest thing that Kipo noticed was that her guardian had been right. Almost everyone here had guns. The refugees with rough, homemade looking hunks of wood and metal, the merchants with small guns in holsters, the guards with armor and larger rifles and shotguns. Even some of the children, younger than she, had smaller pistols or knives on them. The entire settlement had a wall around it, with guard towers and large guns facing outwards into the forest.

She took a breath, and suddenly the Dynasty on her own hip felt heavier. She had a gun, too. Kipo Oak was armed and ready. Well, she had been before she'd come to this world, with her metal-cutting claws and mega strength, but with a real gun hanging at her side that could kill people with a simple squeeze of a trigger… it felt different. Heavier.

A massive dropship roared by overhead, lifting Kipo's eyes up in wonderment. She'd seen the spaceships -the spaceships!- before, and really wanted to get a closer look, but for now she had something to do. The guardian hadn't trusted her with a lot, but she had one thing to do for him specifically, outside of her personal errands. She held up the map he'd drawn her, then turned it. Wait. Which way was north again? She looked around the edges of the town, and watched the ship land just out of view. "South! This way."

She spun on her heel at a corner, and turned right, just barely dodging out of the way of a pair of the humanoid robots.

"Hey, watch where you're going, kid," one of them shouted at her already retreating back.

Kipo turned around, walking backwards. "Sorry! I will!" Immediately after she bumped full backwards speed into someone, sending her staggering. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, are you ok?" She reached out to help them up, then blinked in surprise.

On the ground was a boy about her age, maybe a little older, with tousled black hair and quite possibly the darkest skin she'd ever seen. But his eyes were… sparkly. They were a deep brown, but with every movement hints of light played across their surfaces like motes of sand in water. Then the boy replaced his round-rimmed sunglasses with one hand and took her hand. She helped him up, lost for words and surprised at the roughness of his palms. He gave her a lopsided smile. "Careful there, miss. One day you might bump into someone that takes offense to your collision courses."

Who even spoke like that, she wondered, then got some words out. "I promise I didn't intend to be... collisionary." She laughed, hoping it wasn't too forced. "I guess my orbit's just a little elliptical, sometimes."

His smile grew at that. "Eia, aren't we all ellipticals in this strange universe?" He nodded to her slightly. "Don't worry your pretty little head, I'm not easily thrown off course."

"Well, that's good, I guess…?" Kipo began, but the boy was already headed away. In another moment he was gone, turning a corner that she hadn't seen before he'd turned into it. "Nice to meet you too…" she muttered, not sourly, just in a strange state of... unsettlement. Her anxiety hadn't all been from the situation or his totally not-normal eyes, but something... other. If her fur was out it would have been standing on end.

Kipo tried to shrug it off, and looked back down at the map in her hand. Then she looked up at the shop in front of her. "Gary's Guns," she read aloud. That was it. She moved aside the cloth door and stepped inside.

An older man sat at a counter, polishing a long staff of cylindrical metal, but at her approach, he set it down. "Hello! What can I…" He then noted her age and size, then his expression changed to confusion. "Do for you?"

Kipo pulled out her most charming smile. "Hello! Are you Gary? I'm here to pick up an order for guardian, with a lowercase g."

He blinked at her. "Ah, yes. That one. I didn't expect anyone else to come in for that."

"Yeah, he's busy at the sparrow market so he sent me."

The gunmaker looked to her, eyes narrowing slightly. She met his gaze evenly. "Do you have it? The guardian told me it would be ready."

"Look, kid, do you have any proof that you're affiliated with him? It's standard policy for pickups."

Kipo sighed dramatically and pulled out the small node he'd given her for this possibility. "Sure."

She pressed the button, and the guardian's voice emerged. "Hey, Gary. I sent Kipo to pick up the mod for me. You know I've already paid for it, so don't you dare ask her for anything, because I didn't give her any glimmer. She's pink, and that about covers it for appearance. I let her borrow my Dynasty."

The gunsmith's eyes flicked to her side, where the sidearm was holstered. He nodded. Kipo ended the recording, then raised an eyebrow.

"All right, one counterbalance stock coming right up." He shrugged and lumbered to a metal door set in the wall, entering. While he was gone, Kipo took a look around the shop, eyes going wide at the racks of guns. Then she realized she wasn't alone in the room. One of the humanoid robots was there too, dressed in heavy armor that kept his metal face exposed. "Oh, hi there! I didn't see you."

He didn't reply. Didn't even blink those glowing blue eyes of his.

"Ah." Kipo moved hesitantly closer to the displays. "Is it ok if I look at these?"

No reply.

"Thanks!" She neared the wooden cases, taking in first the rack of hand cannons. One in particular caught her attention, a blue-and-silver cannon that was partially wrapped in cloth, held together with elegantly curved steel plates. She read the small sign under it aloud. "Waking Vigil. One-hundred and fifty rounds per minute. Zen moment, Outlaw. And… wow. That's a lot of glimmer." The guardian had told her about the monetary systems, and she'd found them fascinating. Money you could grow? Awesome. She looked back to the guard. "Can I touch it?"

He again didn't reply, but did move his eyes in her direction.

She waited a moment. "I'll be careful." She gently removed the cannon from its place on the wooden rack, holding it in both hands. It was surprisingly light, and she held it like she would shoot it, pointing it down. The grip was too large for her, but Kipo still loved how it felt in her hands.

Was she becoming a gun fan? That was an odd thought. Kipo wondered if she could bring any with her when she went back to her own world. That would definitely be interesting. Gently, she placed the Waking Vigil back in its spot, moving further down the line of weapons.

Next were… huh. Kipo didn't know those guns. "Excuse me?"

No reply.

"What are these? They look like small auto rifles."

Still nothing, so Kipo took to naming them out loud. "Antiope-D. Escape Velocity. Protostar CSu. Oooh, the Quickstep. I like that one." Then her eyes alighted on the bottom gun. "Oh! It's so pretty!" She picked up the weapon, examining the golden trim and small purple jewels set near the barrel. "CALUS Mini Tool."

Her ears pricked up as Gary entered the room. Kipo felt his moment of hesitation before he spoke. "Ah! You have good taste. That's from the Emperor's new Menagerie, out on Nessus. I got it off a Hunter who traded it in last night." He stepped up beside her. "That's the curated roll, Underdog and Eye of the Storm."

"I love the colors," Kipo said, looking up at the large man, sorting through all the unfamiliar words. She held it up to her shoulder, aiming it. "And the balance. It would be the perfect size for me, if I had any glimmer." She laughed, setting the weapon back on the shelf. "Thanks for letting me look at it."

"No problem. I always have a lot of submachine guns, so they're usually a little under market price." Kipo took mental note of the name, and Gary handed her a bag, which she took. "There's the guardian's counterbalance stock."

"Thank you!"

She moved to leave, but Gary cleared his throat. Kipo looked back, curious.

"Young lady... is the guardian a friend of yours?"

"Yes! He helped me out when I needed a place to stay."

"You're sure he means you no harm?"

Kipo narrowed her eyes. "Why would he do that?"

Gary sighed, broad shoulders rising and falling. "Just know, that nobody in this settlement knows much about him. He never goes to the Tower, and as far as I know I'm not even sure he does guardian duties. Nobody knows what a wild lightbearer is capable of, until they do... something."

She cocked her head at him, letting her annoyance at his suspicion out in her tone. "What are you trying to say, Gary?"

He waved a hand. "Just be careful, is all I'm saying. There's a lot of people that don't trust him, least of all in the company of a young woman."

Kipo looked him in the eyes. "Thank you for the warning, but I think it's unfounded. He's not been anything but a gentleman to me, I'll have you know. Thank you for the business, and," She pointed at the silent roboman in the corner. "Thanks for the conversation!"

The massive metal figure nodded to her.

She left the tent victoriously, the smaller bag set into her new rucksack, trying to put Gary's words out of her mind. She had nothing to worry about, her guardian was a good person who only wanted to help her. Kipo trusted him, and words from people she didn't know weren't going to change that.

Kipo cast her eyes to the sky, and saw another ship lifting off. The guardian wouldn't mind if she watched them for a little bit, right? She set off in that direction, watching out for other people.

Kipo reached the small skyport without any trouble. There were at least six smaller ships on the flattened green being used as a landing area, and two large blocky ones that didn't look like they could go into space. Kipo moved around the large area until she found piles of crates that nobody was moving. Perfect. She moved to set her bag down, then she saw a dark figure leaning against a crate.

It was that kid again! She watched him for a moment, seeing that he was doing literally nothing besides what she planned on doing, then sauntered over. "Hello there!" The boy looked to her, sunglasses glinting in the afternoon light. He didn't immediately respond as she neared his sitting spot, but didn't make any objections. "This spot free?"

"As free as a square meter of trampled earth could be. I make no claim to it."

"Cool." Kipo set her bag down, sighing in relief. Well, it wasn't that heavy, but she'd been carrying it all afternoon. She sat cross-legged and leaned forward, watching a line of refugees boarding one of the large bus-looking ships. "Where are they going?"

"Back to the Last City."

"Back?"

"Yes." The boy looked to her, examining her behind his shades. "There was a great war several years ago that scattered humanity to the four corners of this world."

"Now they're coming back."

"Yes."

They sat in silence for a short time, and Kipo realized suddenly what she had just revealed about herself with her questions. She decided to try and play it cool. "I'm Kipo, by the way. Kipo Oak." She reached out to shake his hand, and he looked at it with a blank expression. Then he took it.

"Undira Raja. Nice to meet you, Kipo."

"Same! Cool name, where's it from?"

The corner of his mouth lifted and he shrugged. "The mouth of someone who knew me well enough to give me a name."

"Oh. That works." He looked back to the ships, so Kipo took a second to get a better look at him. He was dressed simply, in an open dark jacket with sharp shoulders, but underneath was an undershirt of very hardy-looking material, almost like incredibly fine chainmail made of plastic. Kipo also noted with a spike of anxiety that he had a sidearm at his hip, a pretty silver and red thing with a wrapped handle.

Undira said something, and she started, surprised. "I'm sorry, what was that?

"Your name means something. Do you know?"

Kipo started, surprised. "Yes. My dad told me kipos means garden, in Greek."

"An ancient tongue." He touched the ground, lifting a blade of grass up from where it had been flattened. "Do you like growing things?"

"Nobody's ever asked me that before." She leaned back and thought about it. "I do. I was always more interested in astronomy than biology, but I took care of mom's plants after she... well, it's a long story. Yeah, I like growing things."

He said something very softly to himself, but Kipo's enhanced hearing picked it up. "A child of the gardener. Interesting." He looked up then, watching as the space bus closed its doors. "But you prefer the stars?"

"Yeah." She thought for something to say that wouldn't immediately identify her as an alien. "It's such a wonderful thing, to be able to travel out there in space."

"Yes, it is." Undira let the blade of grass fall. "Before the Collapse, Earth sent colony ships to other planets, unfathomably far away. The Exodus Project, it was called. So that humanity could continue to grow, out there in the light of other worlds." He pointed up, and Kipo couldn't help but follow his finger to look into the deep blue expanse of the sky. "The Traveler made so many things possible."

Kipo's breath caught. "Really? Where did they go? Did they make it?"

Undira's hand fell. "No."

Kipo shook her head. "Wait. Why not? What happened?"

Undira looked to her, then looked around. She followed his gaze and saw the roughly built buildings, the ragged survivors, the weapons on almost every person she could see…

"And then everything fell apart," she said, shoulders lowering. Man, if she'd known he'd be a downer she might have reconsidered sitting here.

"No." Undira's voice was soft. "Everything was broken."

"By what?" Why was he telling her this? She hadn't even asked him any questions!

He met her eyes then. "I know you wonder why I say these things. You're a stranger here, I know." A smile broke his solemnity. "You're not very good at hiding it."

She laughed nervously. "Yeah, I never had the best poker face… but you're right." her smile faded away. "Why are you telling me this? How do you know so much?"

"You, of all beings in the immediate vicinity, deserve to know how the stage is set." He set his finger into a patch of bare dirt and drew a small rectangle, then began to detail it until it was a stage. "And you need to know who the actors are." On one side of the stage, he drew a circle. "The Light, and the guardians who serve it." On the other, he drew a triangle. "And the Dark, with their innumerable servants." He met her eyes intently. "Everything will be given a choice."

Kipo was unsure how to respond to that.

Undira smiled. "Yes, it's a lot to comprehend. I will simplify. The Light is the Traveler, the one who grows. The Darkness is the oncoming threat, the one that takes." His smile left and he looked to her. "The Darkness was the one that took away the stars."

Things started clicking, and Kipo felt relief that she was finally getting it as well as horror at the meaning of his words. "They did this to humanity? They destroyed the earth?"

"Yes. You're getting it."

"You weren't making it easy," she accused.

"Wasn't I? The ultimate primeval forces only have five or six names each. Not my fault you didn't know them."

"That's hardly fair as you know I'm not from here, Mr. Know It All. You didn't say why I had to know this. All I want to do is get home."

"What brought you here, Kipo?"

"Why are you asking me? I haven't the slightest idea!"

Undira gave her another of those glinting grins. "Exactly." He moved his position for the first time, turning his entire body her direction. He looked over his glasses at her and she caught another glimpse of those strangely shiny eyes. "Something brought you here, garden child, and I want to find out what it was and why."

Shouting erupted from somewhere off in the camp, mocking, laughing. Kipo's ears perked, and she heard the word "guardian" being passed around. She looked towards the other end of the camp, where the sparrow dealership was. "Ah, wish I could keep talking about random deep stuff, but I gotta go."

Undira nodded, understanding. "Go help your friend. He, of all of us, needs your protection."

"What? Ah, never mind." She stood, gathering her pack. "Also!" She pointed at him, fixing him with a light glare. "When you figure it out, what brought me here, let me know, ok?"

He laughed, a bright sound. "Oh, παιδί στον κήπο, I will try."

"What did you call me? I heard my name in there somewhere, never mind again it's not that important why is it so hard to stop talking to you bye!" He waved, and Kipo sprinted off, the light humor of her leaving evaporating, her feet slapping on the dirt of the road. The guardian had told her that things might go badly, and the weight of the Dynasty bouncing on her hip became more pronounced. She'd fought before. She'd help her guardian, even if it meant hurting people.

Kipo hoped it wouldn't come to that.