Whenever Maria couldn't calm herself down, she would bury herself in piles of books, but now that wasn't an option, so instead she sat down, and stared for a long while at the Traveler. The big sphere in the sky that people swore was dormant. The same thing that gave Ghost life, and the others Light.
She closed her eyes for only a moment, taking a deep breath in, and out, finding nothing behind her eyelids but darkness and random shapes and patterns, until an image formed in her mind of a field of grass and flowers surrounded by a darkened forest, and a snowcapped mountain in the distance.
Why do you do this?
The voice wasn't one she recognized, and tried to push it aside, but it persisted in a whisper.
Why do you do this?
"Why do I do what?" She answered at last.
Why do you trust them? Her field was replaced by blood and turmoil, and humans and exos fleeing burning cities, and Eliksni Barons laughing.
The image soon disappeared, replaced with Eido and Mithrax. "Because they can't trust anyone else."
Why give them the chance?
"It's like I told Saint, the choices of some shouldn't dictate an entire race."
But it wasn't some,it was many.
"Everyone deserves second chances, right?"
But evil is present.
"And so is good."
But darkness is present.
"You cannot have darkness without Light."
The voice was silent for a long while, and Maria opened her eyes and found herself laying on the dirt floor instead of sitting.
Why should I give them the chance?
"Maria?" Ghost had been scanning her when her eyes opened.
"I don't remember falling asleep."
"You…you weren't exactly asleep." Ghost scanned her again. "You fell, and I couldn't get you to wake up. What happened?"
Maria sat up and brushed the dust off herself. "I'm not sure, exactly. I was just…meditating, trying to take my mind off the talk with Saint and then…I think I was being questioned about my intentions here. It felt like I was dreaming." She shook her head, "That makes no sense but that's all I could…" She paused. Ghost's attention seemed to be on the Traveler. "What is it?"
"It's nothing." He turned back to her.
"What is it? Just tell me. It can't sound any crazier than I sound."
"It's just…the Traveler has been known to talk to people through dreams, and these people who could have these dreams were called Speakers, but the Last Speaker died long before you arrived, and the Traveler hasn't exactly been talkative. Still, I suppose it's a possibility that the Traveler wanted to know why it should trust the Fallen and allow them to remain in the city." Ghost's panels spun quickly as he thought aloud, "It's unlikely but not outside the realm of possibility."
Maria looked up at the Traveler, shrouded in the darkness of the Vex simulation. Finally, she stood and patted the dust off herself. "Let's explore a little bit."
By 'explore' Maria really meant 'try to talk to the Fallen', Ghost realized shortly after she approached a pair of Fallen with what appeared to be a loom. She attempted to converse with them, but one only repeated the phrase, "Achilles only weaves."
"Do…either of you understand me?" She finally asked after several attempts at communication. Much to her frustration, they both shook their heads.
She approached another Fallen with four babes strapped to her, and a child clinging to one of her arms. When Maria approached, she scrambled away. Others hid in their small houses, with their doors and windows opened to allow the fresh breeze in and allow the children to run in and out.
After failing to approach a nineth Fallen, Maria sat in the middle of the Eliksni's Quarters, a frown visible.
"It'll take them time," she told Ghost…or maybe she spoke to herself, trying to convince herself these people could ever be part of the City.
A group of children played a game Ghost was unfamiliar with, under the watchful eyes of some caretakers. One made eye contact with Ghost, and pointed at him, and soon others gathered around to stare.
Maria laughed. "Looks like you're the popular one here."
Ghost's panels whirled. "Why?"
"They're curious, naturally. Don't they revere the Traveler as a god or something? Since you came from the Traveler it's only natural they'd be curious of you too."
The children looked like they wanted to approach, but seeing Maria also made them nervous. Finally, one huffed their tiny chest and marched over, though shaking. Maria smiled warmly at the child and gave Ghost as gentle push toward it.
It held out a finger and poked him. His panels whirred alarmingly, and the child jumped back, before poking him again! "Hey now!" Ghost yelled, causing the child to run back to its friends. "How rude." Ghost huffed and Maria laughed and pushed him forward, a bit harder this time, so that he sat between her and the children, as if he were a barrier.
The other children now came forward, each reaching for him. He quickly turned back to hover behind Maria. "They'll pull my panels out," he admitted to her. She rolled her eyes and started to draw on the soft dirt with her finger, revealing the roads that lay underneath.
The children came forward slowly, as long as Maria didn't look at them, they appeared to be less hesitant, though the caretakers watched with weary eyes. One of the children crouched down, as if he could somehow gain a better sense of what Maria drew.
On the ground, she drew a house, likely one from her own time, and drew two animals that were likely used as pets, and then she drew two smaller figures, and one larger figure.
One of the children pointed to the larger figure.
"That's my father." Maria answered.
Another child pointed at a smaller figure. "That's me," she pointed in turn, "and that's my younger brother, and my youngest sister."
A child pointed at an empty space, and started to draw a smaller Fallen with hatchlings on its back.
Maria erased the picture, "She died in war. I was…very young when she died."
One of the children pat her hand, which still lay on the ground where the picture had been. Her eyes were so far away, as if she could see a window into the past. When the child touched her, she snapped out of it. The same child erased the drawing, and started drawing on the ground, showing crude pictures of Mithrax, Eido, a Fallen caretaker, and children, and finally Ikora, holding hands with Mithrax.
Maria smiled and nodded. "I hope so too." She drew a picture crude picture of what was supposed to be Saint-14, Ghost supposed, standing by Mithrax, and her standing on the other side. "I hope that we can all work together too."
The children quickly painted in the dirt the sign of warding, and Maria was able to finally look up without scaring the children. At the sound of a calling from one of the adults, they took off, waving good-bye at Maria, and she waved back. Ghost could feel a presence watching them, and when he turned, he saw Eido staring at them, and then she approached once all of the children had left.
"Impressive. You've appeared to win over someone's trust after all."
Maria shook her head, "This isn't trust. We simply share a bond. It's a small start." She stood and dusted herself off again. "Was there something I could help you with?"
"No, simply observing." She turned and walked away, going back to her tablet.
"What makes you think you can win their trust?" Ghost asked her curiously.
There was a mischievous glint in her eyes that he didn't like. One that he's seen countless of times shortly before she got herself into trouble. "You might be my in, actually?"
Ghost's panel's whirled, and he looked at her suspiciously. "You're gonna let them play with me, aren't you?"
Maria laughed, "Oh come on, I hear the Spider has quite the ghost shell collection, if they break you."
"Absolutely not, Maria!"
She laughed again. Her laugh brought a shine of light everywhere she went. Maybe, just maybe…just maybe she would be a lightbearer in time, and he hoped that he was there to see her rise once more. He had to admit to himself, though, that imagining her partnering with another ghost brought a twinge of jealousy to him that he'd never felt before.
He thought back to the ghost now known as Juggernaut. She had found her in the middle of Venus when Osiris still traveled with her, before he brought her to the Tower. Juggernaut had followed them of her own accord, something about Maria just…told her to follow, she had once told him. When she found her lightbearer, she was finally able to part herself from the Vanguard's Spectral Network.
Maria brought the Light wherever she went, even if she was lightless, she still had a spark of Light that drew people to her. It was a kind of Light like the Traveler's, and though that light dimmed sometimes, she still found a way to brighten it again. Without him, would she still have this bright light?
"What are you thinking about, Ghost? I was only joking."
"I was trying to decide if you were joking or not," he lied.
She laughed again. "Well, I've got to get some sleep. Can you wake me up after 8 hours?"
Ghost nodded, and she walked away.
