Saint and Maria sat in the hangar, feeding the pigeons that often visited him. Maria couldn't be bothered to do anything more than watch them while Saint sprinkled out the seeds. He finished with a long sigh. "I remember our first meeting in this hangar." He laughed. "You almost crashed into my ship and Amanda, ho, I don't think I have ever seen her so mad."

Maria couldn't help but smile. "I stole one of her best ships…and wrecked it and Osiris got really mad and yelled at me."

"Not before Amanda did." He laughed again.

One green pigeon was brave enough to venture a little closer to Saint. Maria sprinkled some seets near Saint's feet, and watched it wearily scuttle toward the pile of food.

"Those were good days." Saint's voice became unusually quiet as he, too, became fixated on the green bird.

"Osiris isn't okay, is he, Saint? Nobody can tell me, or they don't want to tell me, but I can tell, he isn't okay."

Saint leaned forward, scaring the green pigeon, which hopped a little away before making another attempt. "Wounds that deep need time to heal, little angel. And between you and me, Osiris has never been very good with his feelings." The pigeon pecked at Saint's shoe. He kicked his foot forward, slow enough for the pigeon to move and fly away, and the rest took off after it. He turned to Ghost. "How goes your search, little light?"

"Not great. We searched on the Tangled Shore a few weeks ago, and nothing."

"Do not fret. I know Maria can find you someone. She's done it for others after all, right?"

Maria held up a finger, "One other, Saint, that doesn't exactly make me qualified for anything."

"Still, two ghosts followed you for a reason." He gave her a playful push, "Hey, maybe you have a little Light in you too."

"Don't get her hopes up. With her jump from the past, I'm not sure the Light even chose her."

"Nonsense! Who wouldn't want her on their side?"

Maria shook her head with a laugh. "It's very late, Saint. I should head home." She put her hand on his arm and kissed the side of his helm. "Thanks for this. I needed it."

"If you are ever in a bad mood, Maria, just come this way."

She nodded and stood and ran out of the hanger.


Ghosts never slept. They didn't need to, so he always wandered the apartment. Guardians, lightbearers, he noticed, never slept either. Especially not Ikora Rey or Commander Zavala. They didn't need to, he supposed. However, lightless, like Maria, needed sleep, and once she was asleep, she often slept until the sun rose. Except, something was off.

He scanned her body when the sun didn't rise, and she didn't wake. She stirred, and everything told him that she was still functional. "Maria, you have to wake up." He got in her face and scanned again, hoping the bright light would wake her.

She finally stirred. "Stop it, sleeping."

"Maria, I really need you awake!" He did it again, shining the scanner in her face until she opened her bright-almost glowing-green eyes.

"Why? Can't you just wait until morning?"

"It is morning. You've been asleep for ten hours."

Her eyes flew open, and she sat up. "What? No way!" She tore open the curtains. "It's still dark out." Turning around she saw the clock and her eyes widened. "We've got to get to the Tower."

Maria couldn't move fast enough, and she wasn't the only one alarmed. The people of the city panicked, especially when Fallen ships appeared over the edge, under the Traveler. "What's going on?" Maria asked breathlessly as she rode the elevator upward.

"I wish I knew." Ghost replied.

She pushed her way through Guardians, all of them scrambling to do whatever jobs they set out to do. Ikora and Osiris stood together, watching everything unfold. "Ikora, what's going on? Why are there Eliksni ships?" She leaned on the rail. "God, I gotta catch my breath."

"You won't have long to do that, unfortunately. This is a vex simulation, an endless night. As for the ships, well, we're granting these Fallen safe haven for now."

"They'll need a voice. God only knows nobody will listen to anything that comes out of their own mouth." Osiris said, picking up the conversation where it had been left off, Maria assumed.

"We need an ambassador for the Cabal as well." Ikora's hands came folded behind her back. "Zavala and I have a few ideas of who to put in those positions." She turned to Maria. "And what of your luck with tracking down Savathun?"

Maria sighed, looking out over the city. Where did she even begin?

"Ophiuchus has already gathered some information from Ghost."

"Then you know already…it's all a jumbled mess. It's like she…disappeared, Ikora. There's literally no trail after Oryx dies. She and her Court withdrew…but where to," she shrugged, "I'm afraid there's nothing she left behind. Xivu Arath, on the other hand, boy does she have quite the trail. It's easier to track her than Savathun. I don't know if Xivu is trying to find her sister, or if she's trying to fill a power vacuum."

"Why would Xivu Arath need to fill a power vacuum if she is the power?" Osiris inquired curiously.

Maria shrugged. "That's the other theory, call it a gut feeling, and I know Ikora, you don't work off gut feelings, but it seems to me that there's a clear trail. Xivu Arath isn't bouncing around aimlessly, she destroyed the Cabal home world because it was on the way. She sent Wrathborn ahead of herself, to the Tangled Shore and Dreaming City. If you ask me, she's trying to find something. What it is, I don't know." She sighed and stared at the Traveler, her eyes far away. What was she thinking? Ghost desperately wanted to know, but kept quiet by her shoulder, watching the Traveler.

He couldn't remember much about being in the Traveler. It felt like a lifetime ago, but he remembered at the time there were a flood of ghosts. They all pushed their way out of the Traveler, as if evacuating a building that would collapse at any moment. Some ghosts still had flashes of memories of their few seconds of life, but most ghosts didn't remember or didn't care to remember. After all, what use was it to their Lightbearers to remember something so meaningless and trivial. Still, flashes of the memory came unbidden.

Ikora nodded, "But you have no evidence of that yet."

She shook her head. "None, like I said it's just a gut feeling."

Ikora nodded. "I'll give you more information once I've gathered more. Until then, however, Zavala and I have been talking, and I think it's time we put you in charge of more than just some desk jobs, while still keeping you in the safety of the City. You haven't exactly improved to the level of fieldwork…but I think you'll enjoy this much more than being stuck in the tower."

Maria's eyes sparkled, and her smile reached her bright eyes. "Well? What is it?"

"Come with me. I will explain on the way."