"I missed this," Wren said, tucking her helmet under her arm. "Just another simple scouting mission, then home again."

"It is nice to slow down," Kiran said, rolling his shell as they surveyed the surroundings.

Wren straddled her Sparrow on the rise above a vast plain. As far as the eye could see was flat land covered in thick golden grasses that swayed in the breeze. Tiny blue flowers could be seen in the distance as a thick patch, like someone had spilled paint there but otherwise there was nothing that stood out.

Above the sky was clear and the sun beat down on her. While the Tower was getting ready for winter, this place was heading into summer and crickets and grasshoppers were teeming in the grasses. The sun beat down on her cheeks but she closed her eyes and tilted her head back anyway, relishing the discomfort of the heat with a smirk.

"Doesn't look like much is going on out here," Kiran said.

"Good. I've had my fair share of intense situations this year." Wren blinked and rubbed her eyes. It'd only been a little more than a year since she woke up and it was hard to come to grips with everything that had happened to her. More than most Guardians had gone through, that much was clear. But she'd handled it. Tackled it all and with her team, they'd overcome everything they'd been put up against.

"You know, there's old archive data that says there's a Golden Age bunker out there," Kiran said, tilting in a curious but challenging way.

"What kind of bunker?"

"Not sure. Most of the file is blocked but it has been flagged by Cayde. Wow… that was flagged decades ago. I wonder if it could hold one of his caches?"

"Let's go find out." Wren put her helmet on and tucked her hair toward the back before speeding off down the embankment.

Grass whipped against her legs and the Sparrow was slowed by the density but still she pushed it as hard as it could go. Insects jumped all around and grass seeds sprayed in all directions as she raced across the field. They were headed toward the area with the blue flowers and Wren smiled. She'd hoped to have a reason to go there.

"Hey Wren?"

"Yeah?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What's that?"

"Well, it's about Cayde. I know I'm not with you when you die, but I still know what you see. I've always thought it strange that you see him in that place, but that last one… I'm not sure but it feels like you're a little at war with yourself about him."

"I guess that's partially true," Wren said, speeding up though she knew there was no running from anything with Kiran. "I just… I want to know what I'm getting myself into. This Queen of Hearts or whatever, is a big deal to me."

"Why's that?"

"What if she's still alive? What if she comes back some day?"

"What if she doesn't but you can't live up to his image of her?"

The patch of blue flowers came ever closer and as Wren neared it she slowed, not wanting to destroy the flowers as she had the grass which now lay in a flattened path across the field. Wren came to a stop above a mound of dirt with only a section of a metal door showing. She pulled her helmet off again and sighed.

"You know, Kiran, I hate it when you do that."

Kiran spun, pleased with himself. "I know. Let's get in there already."

"Give me a minute, would you?" she said, taking a look around. This place was beautiful. The grass here wasn't as high as what surrounded it and the flowers were in full bloom here. Vines tangled around their stalks closer to the edge of the grass for the first time she could see that part of the tall grasses had been flattened, strangled by the vines that crept in from the far side. Probably a good thing they found the bunker when they did. That vine would eventually take over as far as it could and the door was in its path.

There was something sad about knowing this place wouldn't stay beautiful like this forever. Maybe someday she would come back here and the whole field would be that thick vine. She frowned. It was like the Darkness, in her mind. Reaching out to choke the life out of everything in its path and nothing of the Light could stay.

"Wren? Are you alright?"

She shook her head and smiled. "Yeah, just wandered off for a minute. Let's get to it then."

Wren dug the door out of the dirt and yanked it open. A ladder descended into pitch black and Kiran's light couldn't reach the bottom. Wren's stomach knotted and suddenly, Wren felt the urge to run.

"We can turn back," Kiran offered, settling on Wren's shoulder.

She sat and dangled her legs into the hole. Answers were down there. Answers about Cayde that she couldn't get anywhere else. All she had to do was descend. It was just darkness after all. It couldn't hurt her. But… whatever might be down there could. Just dangling her feet in was enough to send anxious tension to her shoulders.

"I've killed gods," she whispered. "I'm not going to let the darkness win. I'm not going to let Emelie win. Or Flak, or anyone else. Not even myself. I have to do this, Kiran. Even if the cache wasn't down there, I have to do this."

"A-alright. I'm with you. All the way."

Kiran hovered close as Wren eased onto the ladder. Her hands shook and she could feel her sweat seeping into her gloves. One more deep breath and down she went, focusing one rung at a time while her heart pounded in her ears. The opposite wall of the tunnel felt all too close and there were times she had to stop and look back to the surface, back to the light, and remember that she was safe before she could continue.

"We're almost at the bottom," Kiran said. "Just a little farther. There!"

Wren's boots touched the floor and she inhaled deeply though he shoulders remained tense. Slowly she turned and Kiran shone his light around the space. It was hard to tell just how big the room was, but she could see the vague outline of several doors on the left and right sides.

Across the room Kiran's light reflected off broken glass and Wren headed there first, cautious of any movement though the place was silent as the grave. Dust coated everything and the newspapers that littered the floor crumbled when she walked over them.

"No one's been here in a long time," she said. "I wonder what this place is?"

Kiran flew a few feet away and scanned a deactivated terminal. "Hmm, there's not much I can do with the power out. Seems like a good bit of the files are locked behind some kind of security system that can't be activated without power. Odd… well, sort of."

"Sort of? What do you mean? It's either weird or it's not, right?"

"These bunkers weren't all that special. There's tons of them all over the system, owned by different corporations. I'm not sure if the security here was put in place by the original owners, or by someone who's used it since."

"Cayde?"

"Hmm, maybe? But I doubt it. He probably used this place for his cache cuz he had no reason to think anyone would ever come here. Data from the Tower says it's inactive, so why would anyone look?"

"True." Wren peered past the broken glass and into what might have been a storage room. Shelves lined the walls and stretched beyond Kiran's light, but they were all empty. Labels were stuck along their sided, most worn off, but a few still readable. "What do these say?"

Kiran shifted and tilted a moment. "I think this was food supply for the people who lived here. Kinda spooky if you ask me. I know no one's been in here but knowing there's all kinds of tunnels and corridors and rooms snaking under the field is enough to creep me out."

"Yeah, thanks for that," Wren muttered, twisting the silver ace's chain around her finger. "Where might we find this cache?"

"No telling. All I said was that there might be a cache because this place as flagged by Cayde. I never said there was a cache."

"Well, I don't see Cayde doing a lot to hide it." Wren broke out more of the glass and slipped through the window with Kiran. "He'd probably figure that if anyone was to look for it, they'd think it as somewhere hard to get to. Somewhere as secure as possible. So he'd put it somewhere easy."

"Not sure I agree with that."

"You don't have to. But remember that cache in Deepcourt? It was literally on an open roof covered with a tarp. The fact that this one would be in an underground bunker is already way more secure than that one. And what about the Queen cache we found before? If that tower would have fallen, it would have been lost or destroyed. I think if there is a cache here, it'll be somewhere in this storage room."

Kiran grumbled but followed, staying close to Wren's right ear and tracking her movements so she could see better. The farther back they got, the more boxes there were on the shelves, as if looter just got tired of this place and didn't bother taking some of the supplies with them.

"What's in those boxes?" Wren asked.

Kiran gave a shiver after reading one. "Spam."

"Spam? What the hell is that?"

"You don't wanna know."

"It's probably gone bad anyway."

Kiran chuckled. "You'd be surprised."

"Hey, look at that." Wren picked up the pace toward the back corner and there it was. A dusty gray box half covered with cardboard. "Told ya he's bad at hiding things. Let's see what we have here…"

Wren pushed the debris away, trying to find the ace symbol on top when a faded red heart made her freeze. This was it. Of all the caches she could have found, of all the secrets she could have discovered down here, this one was the biggest. Spades, diamonds, clubs… they all would have been interesting but hearts? A cold chill ran down her arms and she clenched her fists a few times to settle her nerves.

"This could be it, Kiran. Answers."

"Or more questions. Let's take it back to the Tower."

"I'm going to open it here."

"What? Wren, this is Cayde's stuff. If you open it without his permission, he's not gonna be happy."

"Relax, Kiran, I'm not going to take anything. I just want to have a look. He won't know."

"I don't like this."

Wren unlocked the cache and flung the lid back in a puff of dirt and dust. She waved the cloud away and as it settled, she had a look at what was inside.

"I don't understand," she said after a moment. "There's all kinds of junk in here."

The cache contained strange odds and ends. Notebooks full of research notes, some from Ikora but most from a woman named Maya. Wadded up papers with diagrams and blueprints, plans for devices Wren didn't recognize. A dartboard with knife holes but no darts, a scattered deck of cards, tools with red tape around the handles, bits of cloth, some engrams, and a journal.

"Bingo," she whispered and lifted the journal from the pile of junk. Carefully she opened it as the pages were worn and frayed.

Sketches and notes filled the pages. Some of a little boy, some of a woman with long black hair. A lot of her, actually. The farther she went the more drawings there were of her. Was this her? The Queen? Then whose stuff was in the cache? What about Ikora and whoever Maya was?

Most of the handwriting was illegible but from what Wren could see, the woman's name was Dovie Russo and she was a scientist but Wren couldn't read what else was written. What she could find were passages or lines that hadn't been ruined about how much he loved her and… wait…

"Kiran, I think this journal was from before Cayde was an Exo." She sat down. "I never… I never thought about what he was like before. Was this woman his wife? It mentions a little boy he called Ace but the real name is gone. I'm confused. If this Dovie was his Queen, and their… son? Was he their son? What's all this other stuff? What's the rest of the cache? Is it meant to throw people off?"

"I don't know, but I don't like snooping through Cayde's things. We need to take it and get out of here. If he wants you to know, he'll tell you."

Wren bit her tongue. She hated to admit that Kiran was right, but at the same time, she felt Cayde wouldn't come forward with the answers to the cache so easily. Maybe it was for the best that she find out before handing anything over. If she wanted answers anyway.

So far the answers weren't what she wanted to hear, and yet, they were better than she thought. If this woman was human, from before he was an Exo, then she'd likely be long dead by now. Not likely, actually, it was certain that she was dead. That was a conflicting emotion. She felt bad that she was able to breath a sigh of relief that this woman wasn't coming back. She tucked the journal back into the cache and stepped away while Kiran transmatted it away.

"Let's take it to Cayde then. Maybe he'll answer some questions," Wren said.

"Yeah, good luck," Kiran muttered. "He's gonna be so mad, I just know it."

"It'll be fine. Bring the ship in and let's get home. I think I've done enough scouting for today. Looks all clear out here."

"I agree. Woah, we have an incoming transmission from Rorick."

"Patch him in," Wren said, heading back toward the broken window at the far side of the storage area.

"Wren?" Rorick asked, his voice crackling.

"I'm here."

"Where are you? Sounds like you're in a tunnel."

"I found a bunker out here but it's clear. I'm headed back."

"Good. We've been called to a briefing with the Vanguard."

"Another mission already?"

Rorick laughed. "We're the best fireteam at the Tower. What did you expect?"

"Any idea where we're going?"

"Yes. The Iron Lord Temple."