When Liv arrived back at Petra's setup, she was greeted with concerned looks from both Petra and Tristan. Right. She had run off on them rather suddenly.

As she came to a stop in front of them, it all came rushing back. Tristan's arrival, Harley's death. Her encounter with Riven had distracted her for a bit, but she couldn't hide from them any longer.

Liv sighed. "Hey, guys."

"Where were you?" asked Tristan, trying and failing to conceal the worry written all over his face. "You were gone for a while."

She decided not to tell them about her encounter with Riven. There was no way that would go well.

"Just went to clear my head," she replied, "Sorry I ran off."

Petra shook her head. "No need to apologize, cousin." She laid a comforting hand on Liv's shoulder, her face creased with sympathy. "Your friend told me what happened. I'm truly sorry to hear it... Harley's Light shone brightly."

Liv just nodded, wordlessly accepting Petra's condolences.

She hated this. She hated having to react to Harley's death. She should have been there to stop it, just as she should have been there to stop Cayde's. Now both of them were gone within mere months of each other, leaving her with a whole horde of emotions that she wasn't ready to reckon with. Liv glared down at her hands, feeling useless and despising it. She needed to do something. She needed to make some kind of difference, needed the confirmation that she could.

Coming to a decision, she marched forward and grabbed Tristan's wrist. "Come on," she told him, "We're going to go charge the Well."

In terms of blowing off steam, the Blind Well was probably the best outlet available to Guardians in the entire system. It was reminiscent of Escalation — a protocol of the Warmind Rasputin that drew out large numbers of Hive for the Guardians to clear out.

The first time Liv had seen Escalation Protocol in action, she had been more than intimidated. The sight of hundreds of Hive swarming over the Martian surface was a daunting one. However, like most of the other Guardians, she had come to see it in a less drastic light. It was one of the few instances where large numbers of Guardians could congregate and, over time, it became more of a friendly competition and bonding activity.

But not all Guardians shared this view.

Liv had noticed that nearly every time Kai went in to face the Hive, she was less talkative, charging into Hive ranks with a snarl on her face and swinging her hammer with a lethal brutality. It always took the Titan some time to come out of that state, even after the Hive had been scattered to the polar winds. Liv never brought it up between them. She knew that Kai had fought in the Great Disaster. They had been friends then too, after all, but Kai had run with a different fireteam. She hadn't formally joined Liv until later. Kai had never outright said what had happened to her previous fireteam and Liv had never asked. But every time they joined Escalation together, she knew her friend wasn't seeing Mars, but the lunar battlegrounds once more.

Like Rasputin's Escalation Protocol, the Dreaming City's Blind Well drew out enemies that Guardians would come together to fight, charging the Well with their Light as they did. It had been exceedingly difficult in the beginning since there hadn't been many Guardians in the Dreaming City at the time, but now Liv usually ran into a decent crowd of them every time she entered.

That was true of today as well — Liv and Tristan had entered to find that a group of four other Guardians had already activated the Well. The duo joined in easily and all but one of the other Guardians had welcomed Liv by name. Now, they moved between the different domes of Light, fighting off the Scorn that swarmed in a neverending stream.

"What is the function of the Blind Well?" Tristan asked as he shot down the Screebs scrambling toward them.

"It's basically a giant machine," Liv called over the sounds of grenades and gunfire, "Basically, we fight these guys and charge it up with Light, and on the third week of charging, it opens a portal to Elusinia."

"What is Elusinia?"

"Mara Sov's Throneworld."

Liv turned away to take down a group of Scorn that had been getting much too close to the group for comfort. When she turned back, Tristan was standing in the bubble of Light, his gun dangling at his side.

"Mara Sov has a Throneworld?" The Warlock's voice was confused and more than a little wary. That was understandable. Liv had had much the same reaction when she'd learned about it herself.

She nodded. "Yeah. At least, she did… Remember when Oryx invaded?"

"That would be difficult for me to forget," said Tristan dryly.

"Yeah, well, it turns out that he got into Mara's Throneworld and wrecked the place."

Noticing that the others had moved to the next platform, she nudged Tristan and the pair of them hurried to follow. As present as the Light was in the Blind Well, so too was the Darkness. While the Well was active, it was dangerous for Guardians to remain outside of the protective domes of Light for very long. If they did, the Darkness would suffocate their Light, causing another Guardian to have to lend their own Light in order to raise their fallen comrade.

It was an unspoken rule to never activate the Blind Well alone, and most of the time, Liv stuck to that rule. However, there were certain occasions when she couldn't withstand the draw of blowing off steam in the easiest way she knew. That was when she treated the rule as more of a suggestion.

Taking up a defensive position around the new platform, Liv and Tristan resumed the assault on the Scorn.

"He corrupted her Throneworld and some Wizard moved in," she explained, "Savathûn's daughter, apparently."

"Oryx's sister has a presence here?" Tristan sounded even more surprised and wary than before.

Liv sighed, stabbing a Scorn in the head. "Both of them do. We've run into minions of Xivu Arath as well… This place is pretty popular among Hive gods, apparently."

Tristan frowned. "That is… troubling."

She snorted. "No shit, Tris… Savathûn's daughter is Dûl Incaru. Dûl Incaru, the Eternal Return."

There was a confused note in Tristan's voice. "The Eternal Return?"

Liv's brow furrowed in frustration. "Yeah. We learned the hard way why she's called that…" At the Warlock's silence, she elaborated. "I went in with two other Guardians and killed her. That was the first time. She doesn't stay dead. When she dies, the Dreaming City's curse resets and she comes back. Then we have to kill her all over again."

There was a long pause as Tristan considered what she had told him. They pushed back the last of the latest Scorn wave and moved to the next platform.

"If her death resets the curse, is there any merit in the idea of not killing her? I know she's a powerful Hive wizard, but if you can stop the curse cycle-"

Liv shook her head. "It doesn't work like that," she said, "If we didn't kill her, the curse would probably just keep getting worse and worse." She sighed. "You haven't seen it, Tristan. This- we're in the first week of the loop right now. This is the curse at its lowest. You haven't seen when it's at its peak. It… it gets bad, Tris."

She wished that she could give him more information, but there was just so much that couldn't be captured by words. How could she possibly hope to explain the perpetual horror of watching the Dreaming City grow more and more corrupted by the week? Of watching allies fall only to be forced up again when the curse reset? Of doing everything in her power to make even the tiniest change, only for that change to be negated the very next week? How could she impart to him the dread of knowing exactly what would happen every week yet being powerless to prevent it? She was a pawn. Merely a pawn on a board too vast and incomprehensible to be understood. She knew enough to understand that she was but one small piece in a cosmic game, but not enough to comprehend the game or alter its events by any measure.

Tristan sighed. "...I will take your word for it," he said grimly, "I figured that wouldn't solve it anyway. The universe rarely makes things so easy."

Liv chuckled humorlessly. "I'll drink to that, bro… Anyway, this is my life. Every week, I run the same missions, charge the Well, and report to the Queen. Every third week, we kill Dûl Incaru, and every following week, the curse resets again. It sucks big time… But also we learn a little more every week. Who knows? Eventually, we might crack the secret to beating the curse for good."

Tristan agreed that it sounded like a bad situation all around. But he also saw the merit in gaining knowledge. "If anyone can figure out how to break the curse, you can." Liv could hear the smile in his voice. "You're the most stubborn fireteam leader I know."

She laughed. "Thanks. Now let's stop talking about depressing stuff and beat up some Scorn."

After the Blind Well wound down and the other Guardians had made their exits, Liv and Tristan sat on the main walkway catching their breaths. At least, Tristan was. For Liv, it had just been another day in the field, but the Warlock seemed like he could use some time to process it all. He had been muttering about paracausal forces and dimensional rift generators all throughout the last half of the activity. Liv didn't know the meaning of half of the words he'd used and she didn't particularly care to find out. As long as she knew broadly how the Well worked and what it did, that was good enough for her. Sure, some people might find it helpful to know exactly how the Blind Well did what it did, but Liv wasn't there to be science-y. She was there to stop a curse.

The Hunter nudged Tristan playfully, jolting him out of his thoughts. "So, what did ya think, Wise Guy? Was your first time in the Well everything you dreamt it would be?"

"I certainly never dreamed about it, I can say that much," Tristan replied, "It's a great deal more than I was expecting to find here. Though I doubt it's the most interesting of the Dreaming City's secrets."

Liv laughed. "It sure isn't! Once you've been here long enough, you'll see. They play by different rules here. This city's secrets have secrets."

She had planned to tell Tristan about slaying the last known Ahamkara in existence, but after the Blind Well, she figured he had enough to think about for the time being. Still, he was sure to hear about it sooner or later. It was one of her biggest accomplishments, after all, and well known to the occupants of the Dreaming City.

The Warlock hummed. "I'll say… I was surprised to learn that Mara Sov was still alive. I thought she had fallen in the Battle of Saturn."

Liv nodded. "Basically everyone else thought so too. She only survived by doing some Throneworld fuckery that I haven't bothered trying to understand… Anyway, the 'how' doesn't really matter as much to me. I'm just glad we have another ally against the Darkness."

"I suppose," mused Tristan, "I don't know how much I trust her based on how little we've interacted with her so far, but I do trust your judgment."

At that, Liv had to laugh again. "It would kinda suck if you couldn't trust your fireteam leader's judgment," she said.

A small smile appeared on the Warlock's face, but it wasn't long before a frown replaced it as Tristan's eyebrows drew together. "...I'm sorry that my arrival heralded such bad news," he said sincerely, "I would rather have stopped by on much more pleasant business."

Liv sighed. So that was what they were going to talk about now. Fair enough. It wasn't as though they could avoid the subject for the duration of his visit. They would have to discuss it sooner or later. Still, part of her wished it could have happened later.

"It's not your fault," she told him, "Someone had to be the messenger."

Tristan's shoulders slumped. "I don't know," he said with a sigh, "There's a lot that I could have done differently…"

"What even happened?" she asked, "I heard there was some trouble with the Praxic Order, but I'd left Mars for the Reef when all that was going down."

"I know," said the Warlock. He pursed his lips. "...It's a long story. To be honest, there are parts of it that I'm still not certain of myself."

Liv gestured at their surroundings. "Well in case you haven't noticed, we're sitting in a city that's trapped in a three-week time loop. You can tell all the stories you want. We have the time."

As bad as it was, the curse was almost like a safety net in some ways. If they fucked things up, they could just kill Dûl Incaru again and get a do-over. Not that they made a habit of messing up, though. In fact, the Guardians tried their best every time in hopes that each loop would be the last. It hadn't borne fruit so far, but there was always the chance that could change, and that was what they clung to.

"I suppose…" Tristan frowned to himself, fiddling with the hem of his robes. "How much do you know about it?"

Liv snorted. "Pretty much nothing I haven't already said, Tris. All I know is he got in trouble with the Praxic squad."

"Ah, so you're missing quite a bit of context." He looked up from his robes to meet her eyes. "...I'll do my best to keep to the relevant information. There's a good deal of background, but for the sake of brevity, I will stick to the basics."

She shrugged. That was fine with her. It sounded like a complex situation, so maybe it was better if Tristan didn't try to explain every little detail. As long as she finally understood what happened, it worked for her. She gestured for him to proceed.

Tristan sighed. "Very well… So, the Praxic Order placed Harley under arrest for possessing a Weapon of Sorrow…"

Liv hadn't wanted to interrupt the Warlock unless it was strictly necessary, but she felt like she had to interject there. "Sorry, what?"

Tristan's expression was tired but understanding. "Someone planted it for them to find, Liv."

"Ah, alright." That made more sense. Harley wasn't the type to go parading about with a Weapon of Sorrow. She nodded. "Continue."

"While he was in Praxic custody, Rogue and I began looking into the situation and discovered that there was a larger conspiracy behind it. Harley was meant to go into Praxic rehabilitation, but his file was leaked to the Consensus by a mole in the Order and they wanted to put him on trial instead."

"That's messed up," said Liv automatically. Tristan shot her a pointed look. "...Sorry."

"We looked into the mole as well, but during our investigation into the conspiracy, we discovered that the people behind it planned to have Harley killed. Thankfully, Rogue and I were able to intercept the assassin and break Harley out of the Praxic holding cells. We hid him in the City while continuing to investigate discreetly, but at that point, the Praxic Order — as well as countless criminals — were looking for him."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Why? I mean, I know why the Order would be looking for him, but why criminals?"

"Someone put a bounty on his head. We got Kaedro to fly him out to Felwinter Peak to avoid the hit, but apparently, he later gave Kaedro the slip and returned to the Tangled Shore."

Now that was something that Liv didn't understand in the slightest. The Tangled Shore held no good memories for Harley, so why would he go back? However, instead of interrupting to ask, she let her friend continue his tale.

"By then, Rogue and I had figured out that the mole who leaked the files was a member of New Monarchy. We questioned Executor Hideo about it, but were unable to make much headway… So we sent the Praxic Order an anonymous tip."

"Wait. You sent them info even though you knew there was a mole?" Liv demanded, "How does that figure?"

"We sent it to members that we knew we could trust," Tristan explained, "Aunor Mahal and Sarren Windrunner."

"Ah, gotcha." Liv knew both Guardians. Not personally, but she knew their reputations and they seemed trustworthy enough. Aunor in particular was well known for being as by-the-book as they came.

"Sarren questioned Hideo as well and discovered that he was the one who had ordered Harley's file to be leaked to the Consensus. His motivations were separate from the rest of the conspiracy, however… Meanwhile, the Spider managed to get ahold of Harley in the Shore and was fully prepared to hand him over to anyone who turned up that could pay. Aunor and Sarren left for the Reef and Rogue and I followed, hoping to get there in time. Unfortunately, all of us were too late. Harley had escaped from the Spider, but by the time we got there, Shin Malphur had gotten to him first."

Something tugged inside of Liv's chest and she leaned forward, resting her head in her hands. "...How'd everything get so screwed up, Tris?" she mumbled.

The Warlock laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder but made no reply.

Her thoughts churned discordantly. How had no one realized the conspiracy for what it was until it was too late? She wanted to believe that they were wrong, that Harley was still alive somehow. But she hadn't been there like Tristan and Rogue had.

Liv would be the first to admit that she sometimes went a bit far into the whole "loner" aspect of being a Hunter. Sure, she had spent a good amount of time with Kai on Mars after the Red War, but by the time Harley had returned to the Tower, she was already flying out to the Reef to help Petra. It was easy to get lost in what she was doing, particularly in the Dreaming City. The city had always felt isolated to her, cut off from the rest of the Reef — the rest of Sol, even. Everything that happened in the Dreaming City seemed to happen within a bubble. And for all she knew, that was exactly what it was. Transmissions took a while to get through and often became scrambled, so any messages she sent or received were kept short and to the point. She had gotten a message about the Praxic Order situation fairly early in, when she and Petra had been gathering a team to kill Riven. Liv had made a mental note to follow up about it after the Ahamkara was slain, but she had been so swept up in everything afterward that she'd sort of just…forgotten. And now she felt terrible for it.

"I can't help but feel responsible," Tristan said suddenly, pulling Liv from her thoughts. She looked at him in surprise. "I mean, Rogue and I uncovered the conspiracy fairly early on. We could have easily warned the Praxic Order and they would have been able to anticipate the assassination attempt… Harley might have survived."

"What stopped you?" she asked, hoping that the question didn't come off as accusing.

Tristan sighed. "We were concerned about the possibility that the conspirators had someone inside the Order." He rubbed his forehead tiredly. "They didn't."

Liv frowned. "You didn't know that at the time."

The Warlock's reply sounded frustrated. "We should have risked it anyway. If we had, we could have prevented everything else."

"You don't know that." Tristan cast her a doubtful look. "You don't! For all you knew, you could have been sending him to a quicker death. You had a good reason for waiting."

"Having a good reason doesn't make it okay," he pointed out.

"Maybe not," she conceded, "But we lost a clanmate, Tris. There's nothing that can make it 'ok'... Wanna know who I blame? I blame Shin Malphur. I blame the Spider for selling Harley out. I blame the conspirators who landed him in Praxic Custody and made an attempt on his life! Hell, I even sort of blame the Praxic Order for not figuring it out sooner and stopping Malphur… But I don't blame you or Rogue. Sure, there's probably things you guys could've done better, but everyone finds things they could've done better with the benefit of hindsight. In the end, you weren't the ones that killed him, you were the ones actively trying to save him." She paused. "And that's more than I can say for myself."

Tristan shot her an incredulous look. "Liv, you didn't know."

"I would have if I'd responded to the message like I meant to," she said bitterly, "But it slipped my mind."

"Yes, and that is understandable. You're a Guardian, Liv. You were preoccupied with doing your job. You weren't in the Tower. Neither were Kaedro or Kai. Bazzle, Fyr, and Jade had their duties as instructors to think of… Rogue and I were there, we knew what was happening, and we had the time to pursue it. I know you would have helped if you'd been able to." He took a breath. "You won't allow me to blame myself."

"Yeah." Liv shot him a look. "If you start blaming yourself again, then… then I'm gonna blame myself. Checkmate, fool."

Despite the situation, she could see Tristan's lips quirking upward. "It goes both ways… Since I'm not allowed to blame myself, I won't let you blame yourself either." He sighed. "We have to accept that we did the best that we could at the time, and we have to accept that it wasn't enough to prevent what happened."

"It is what it is," said Liv monotonously.

"Yes."

The Hunter echoed his sigh as her posture slumped, leaning into her teammate. "It fucking sucks," she told him, "...But I'm glad you're here."

Tristan put an arm around her shoulders. "I'm glad I am too."

A/N: Not gonna lie, I nearly forgot this week's update. I was so caught up in thinking about the kickass pirate season (Season of Plunder) that for a moment I lived in a world where my story didn't exist.

Don't worry about plot, that will kick off soon enough.

See you next week!