I stopped shivering five minutes into meeting Yang and Blake, and was completely dry by ten. After fifteen minutes, I could barely stand from the strain on my legs. The two huntresses-in-training, as they called themselves, were wholly oblivious to my struggles. I unwrapped myself from Yang's arm and stopped walking.

"I need to rest," I breathed out, moving to sit under a tree. My legs instantly started to feel better and I sighed in relief.

"Uh, sure. I suppose we can take a break," Yang acquiesced hesitantly. She seemed suspect that something was not quite right with me, like I'm much weaker than she originally thought. Her gaze moved to Blake. "I'll keep watch if you keep our new friend company. Sound good?" A quick nod. "Great! We'll move out in, say, ten minutes? I wanna see what this relic is." Yang then walked out of earshot, leaning against a tree casually.

Blake sat down next to me and started reading a book she pulled out from… somewhere. Of all the places to read a book, it had to be in the middle of a monster infested forest. This woman was either foolish or incredibly confident in her abilities. Both of them were. It didn't calm my nerves knowing that my allies were not taking this situation seriously.

Even so, I was still very curious about these two individuals. "Hey, Blake." I said first to get her attention. "What are you reading about?"

She looked at me for a moment as if contemplating what to say. "It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body."

I've never heard of a story like that. "That sounds interesting. How could anyone manage to live with-"

USELESS HOLLOW SHELLS

"Tenno? Are you still cold? You started shaking for a moment." Blake's concerned and quiet voice snapped me back to reality. "Do you need to warm up?"

"No, no! I'm fine! Really." I replied hastily, hoping my lapse into memories I would rather leave buried wasn't noticed. "I'm not cold anymore."

Her bow twitched slightly. "If you insist." She replied, going back to reading. "To answer your question, it would all depend on the who the souls are, what each one stands to lose, and which one believes was there first, if applicable."

This girl seemed quite adamant about her interests, considering she could easily extrapolate possible plot points from an overarching theme or concept within a story. With that in mind, I pushed my curiosity a little further. "That makes sense. In what way does all of that fit into your story?"

Blake lowered her book and looked back to me, seemingly surprised at my question. "Well, I'm not finished reading through it yet, but the man inadvertently creates the second soul through a botched science experiment, and it constantly begs for release." She paused, closing the book. "Look, I can lend it to you once I'm finished, or we can look for another copy in Beacon's library. I would rather not spoil it. Besides, I think Yang is ready to move out."

Sure enough, Yang's obnoxiously blond hair could be seen swishing as she sauntered toward us. Had ten minutes passed that quickly? "Alright, up and at 'em girls! Initiation isn't gonna complete itself!"

I rolled my eyes and adjusted my limbs to make standing as easy as possible. Before I could make the maneuver, a hand and a black ribbon appeared in front of my face. I followed the appendage up and saw Blake standing over me with a hand outstretched and small smirk on her lips. Taking the cue, I grabbed her arm and she hauled me onto my shaky feet. I offered a nod in thanks and began following Yang through the trees.

Blake matched my rather slow pace, wanting to hang back out of earshot of Yang. "I'm not blind," She said quietly, "There's something important you're not telling us."

"So what if I am?" I retorted hotly, then sighed. "Fine. You have questions and so do I, but they can wait until after this 'Initiation' of your ends."

A distant roar caught our attention. Yang picked up her pace and waved us forward.

"I'll hold you to that." Blake agreed, moving to catch up to her partner.

Lotus carried a limp Excalibur Warframe down the Liset's ramp and into the Orbiter. The Tenno's Foundry module sparked and hissed as it tirelessly worked on components begun by an absent owner. The Arsenal module blinked awake as the Lotus approached it, ready to accept the inactive Warframe.

"Lotus?" Ordis' voice reverberated throughout the Tenno's home base. "I am… deeply sorry for what happened to the Operator. I will take full responsibility for their disappearance and-"

"Ordis." Lotus commanded, releasing the Warframe as the Arsenal took it into storage. "You are not at fault for what happened. The Tenno was never inside the Transference pod to begin with."

"O-oh? Then – SILLY ORDIS – what do you suppose we do to get them back home, assuming they are still alive?"

Lotus turned around and walked back up the Liset's ramp, then kneeled before the Navigation panel.

"For now, we wait." Was her only reply.