"Okay, so these Cabal are trying to attack the City...again." Maria summarized.

"That's the gist of it," The masked man answered almost timidly.

"And our job is to…spy?"

"No, gather intelligence," Osiris remarked with annoyance dripping from each word.

"How is that any different from what I said?"

Osiris sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What? Why are you suddenly so annoyed with me, Osiris? I haven't seen you since Sagira-"

He pointed a finger in her face, putting every ounce of poison to his tone, he said, "Don't you ever mention her to me again."

Maria folded her arms, looking Osiris in the eyes, trying to see some ounce of pain, but all she could see were the fires of his anger. "Why not? Because you don't want to be in pain or because you'd rather forget you'd ever let anyone get too close?"

"How about we all just calm down?" The masked man said softly.

"And who the fuck are you, anyway?" She could feel Ghost hovering closer to her face, just over her shoulder. His presence should've been a comfort, in some ways it was and the comfort was lost under her own anger and frustration.

The masked man was taken aback by the sudden attack, but his ghost answered, "This is Crow."

"Crow…butt out." She turned her attack back at Osiris. "You know me, Osiris, and you know all that I've been through, and you've helped me through my own grief. Why won't you let us help you with yours? It doesn't have to be me: Saint, Ikora, Zavala, we all want to lessen your burden."

"You want to lessen my burden? Then get moving. You'll be going along with Crow to gather more information about Caiatl starting with Crow's friends in the Tangled Shore. Ghost, it's best if you stay here for this one." He walked out.

Maria huffed and turned to Ghost. "You're coming, we still have to find you a Risen."

"Wait," Crow's ghost came closer, the shape of him reminding Maria of a mandala, "you mean to tell me you two aren't…?"

Ghost's body shook. "She found me at my lowest point and promised to help me find my own Risen."

"Then why is Zavala allowing her to come with us?"

Maria sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "We should just go, get this over with, right? The sooner the better?" She turned to Crow. "Oh yeah, you're driving."

Ghost added before Crow could even think to object to the idea, "Trust me, you don't want her driving."

His ship was docked in a part of the hangar that was often left unlit. As Maria climbed in after him, she wondered why he would bother parking so far away. "Hey," she softened her voice as he clicked a few buttons, the air lock closing quietly. He barely acknowledged her. She couldn't blame him. "I'm….sorry for snapping at you."

He stared at her, his glowing eyes staring at her as if he could see through her soul. "It's…it's fine. You aren't the first."

"No, really, what I did wasn't fine in the least." She sighed. "Ever sense Osiris came back…he's been different, you know? I guess grief can change someone but…I don't know. Anyways, really, I'm sorry, Crow, I shouldn't have snapped at you when you weren't the one I'm angry with."

The engines roared with life, and they were off soon, into the stars.

"How did you and Osiris meet, anyway?" Crow asked.

"That is a long and complicated story, Crow, and one I don't fully understand myself."

Ghost said, "Nobody understands it."

Maria rolled her eyes and waved her hand at Ghost like how one might shoo away a fly. "Nobody asked you, Ghost."

Crow chuckled, "Why do you call him Ghost anyway? I always assumed it was kind of…I dunno, disrespectful?"

"Well, he wouldn't tell me what to call him. Osiris kept saying 'ghosts this' or 'ghosts that' and I had to start calling him something."

"Why didn't you just name him then?"

"I'm no good with names and besides that…he refused every good name I could come up with. Kept saying that his Risen will name him and that's the name he'll proudly bear and no other. So, I said I would keep calling him Ghost until he gave me a name. What about your ghost? I never got a name from him."

Crow's smile softened his face, and his eyes glowed brighter when he did. It was a subtle smile and made him seem kinder. "Glint."

"Glint…" Maria nodded, smiling as she watched the stars blink by, barely anything more than a dot in the darkness of space.

"Could you tell me anyway how you met Osiris? Even if it's something you don't understand?" Crow pressed.

She never took her eyes away from the glass. "I suppose, but you might not believe me. I came from a different time. I haven't lived with the Traveler my whole life like the other Lightless in the City. I...honestly didn't even know life existed outside of earth. We had dreams of colonizing mars one day, or the moon, but...our space exploration was limited."

"That sounds...different."

Maria laughed. "Yeah, I suppose it was, wasn't it? We had planes, instead of ships, and cars instead of Sparrows. We weren't limited to a small corner of the earth. Anyway, the...the last day in my time I suppose I was living out my normal day."

"You sound like you don't remember it."

She nodded, "Because I don't. Not really, anyway. I remember I was with my friends...we had been hanging out that day, and then...I dunno. I remember this flash of light and I opened my eyes on...Mercury." She laughed. "It still doesn't feel real. I met Sagira that day too..." She leaned back in her seat and pat Ghost, who sat silently by her shoulder.


The Tangled Shore was full of nothing but Fallen. Crow seemed to have a lot of friends here based on how many of these Fallen he spoke to. They didn't always understand, definitely there was a language barrier, but he insisted Maria talk to none of them. Instead, Maria helped Ghost find what little dead bodies there were here, Fallen and Awoken alike, but each and every body he scanned there was no spark. There was nothing that excited him. They were just corpses strewn around the Tangled Shore, and he became more and more doubtful that they'd ever find his Risen here.

Maria's hands came around his body, gentle as always. "Hey, don't worry, we'll find someone for you," she smiled underneath the mask. So hopeful, and he didn't understand how or why she would be.

"There you are!" Crow jumped down from a boulder lightly as he approached. "I thought I told you to stay put!"

"I found a body and then another one… I told you, I promised Ghost a year ago that I would help him find someone." At Crow's shoulder there was Glint, like a parrot. "Glint, I'm curious, how did you know that Crow was the one you needed to revive?"

Glint seemed taken aback by the question, and seemed to have to think about it for a long while. Finally, he said, "I don't know, it just…felt right, I guess. When we were created by the traveler we…sort of knew who to find, not what they looked like but…what they felt like, I guess."

Maria nodded, hanging onto each word. Truly, Ghost thought, she is a scholar much like Ikora. "I see, well I guess that's not particularly helpful, huh? How did the talk go with your Eliksni friends? Anything useful?"

Crow shifted uneasily. "Not really. All they would say is that the commanders were brutes or warlords looking to impress Caiatl."

"That seems like important information." Ghost said.

Maria nodded in agreement. "If they're looking to impress the Empress then…they'll be doing something big."

"Like what?" Crow folded his arms.

"Well, it's no different from when I had to impress my bosses at work, you can either kiss ass or do something grand and impressive. From what little I know about the Cabal, they aren't exactly the ass kissing type, leaving the latter."

Ghost said, "And I don't know about you, Crow, but if I were a Cabal, I'd want to take out someone big in the Vanguard."

"That leaves a lot of people." Maria turned to Ghost and then to Crow.

"Let's report back for now. Lord Saladin and Commander Zavala need to know."