Tribulations
Liriel was not in pain now, but she could not get comfortable. Not seeing as how she was the center of attention. She lay on Abigail's lap as the girl finished her explanations and tried hard not to move. Her leg had been healed and only a dull ache remained to remind her of her clumsiness. It was fading.
Now if only the ache in her soul would fade.
"...and then I woke up with Liriel sitting beside me." Abigail was more than a bit distressed by this, but between Liriel and Brianna, she was calmer. Her right hand was on Liriel's head and every so often, she petted the distressed Kavat. It helped them both. "She was so calm, so gentle."
They were back in the Tower. Quais had been both quick and efficient in delivering them back. He also hadn't left their sides.
"Yes." Brianna Executor looked sick. She hadn't been happy to find out that both Abigail and Liriel had been abducted from her care and none of her systems had noticed. Then to find out what had happened? She was not a happy Orokin! "Yes, she is. Liriel?" Brianna asked softly.
The Kavat did not react. When she had spoken at all, she had limited her answers to yes and no. Then she had received a message from the Grandmaster of Cyberlancers and now? She flatly refused to speak any more. Brianna hadn't pressed. She could see how distressed Liriel was.
"I don't understand what happened or why." Abigail said softly. "Liriel, please? Talk to us?"
"She can't." Quais might have been a statue through all of this. "She surrendered to me and I have reported this to the Grandmaster. He is on his way. Until he arrives, she is not supposed to talk to anyone. We need to limit her exposure. For her sake, not ours."
"She hasn't done anything wrong!" Abigail snapped.
"She broke her oath, Abigail." Quais sounded sick. "Such a thing for such as us is not something to do lightly. Yes, what she did was a good thing. Saving you was a very good thing. But..." The Ash warframe shook his head. "She broke her word."
"Am I bound not speak of what I heard?" Abigail demanded tightly. Liriel shook her head, silent. Abigail stroked the Kavat's head again, the girl's hand soft and gentle. "Because I am angry."
"It will likely cause problems." Quais cautioned. "Liriel showed me what happened. What she saw and heard. I was and am more than a bit angry myself." Rage sounded in his tone, but it was quickly squelched. "To find another Cyberlancer is a good thing,..." Awe sounded in his tone followed but sadness. "...but like this? This isn't good and won't be."
"Let me be sure I understand. Liriel was bound by her oath not to use her powers." Brianna said softly. Quais and Liriel both nodded. "Seeing Abigail in such dire straits made her break that oath." Again, both nodded. The female Orokin made a face. She had examined Abigail almost down to the molecular level as soon as the trio had arrived. She was really not happy about what had been done to the girl on her watch. Good news was that she was also kind and gentle. She didn't need to be. Not in the middle of a tower she controlled. "Is such really that bad?"
Liriel looked at Quais who sighed and nodded.
"If anything?" The warframe clad Tenno was quiet, reflective. "Worse than you think. You saw what happened to Jesse during the mess with Gemina Horati, Brianna." Quais' words were not a question. Brianna made another face as she nodded anyway. "You helped her, after. You know how powerful she is. How powerful we are. If Jesse had lost it completely, no one would have been safe. No one. Nikis himself might have had trouble killing her if she went off the deep end. Tenno are incredibly hard to stop, and Cyberlancers are that to a whole new level. Olim and I would have had to put her down and it might have cost one or both of us our existences." Brianna stiffened. "Admittedly, Jesse is far more powerful than Abigail is, but still; yes. The records do not lie. Programming Cyberlancers drives them mad; human, Tenno or other. Liriel did what she had to do to save Abigail and likely many others." Both Abigail and Brianna were staring at Liriel, but the Kavat ignored them.
"Thank you." Abigail's voice was weak as she stroked Liriel's head again. "I don't think I said that."
"You were and are stressed, Abigail." Quais reassured her. "After everything? You have a right to a few off moments." He scoffed. "Hell, more than a few." Liriel had to smile at that.
"What will happen to Liriel?" Abigail begged into the silence that fell.
"I don't know." Quais admitted. "Cyberlancers did not break their word often because there are always repercussions. For something like this?" He shook his head. "Liriel, whatever happens, I saw and heard what was said. You are not alone and if the worst should come to pass? I will find them and make them safe. You have my word." Liriel looked up at Quais, gratitude in her eyes and he nodded.
"Find who?" Brianna asked, her face closing.
"The kittens that the Feline Corps apparently made from Liriel without her consent." Quais' words were soft, but his tone was about as soft as an avalanche. A pin dropping might have sounded like a grenade going off in the room when he finished.
"I don't understand!" Abigail cried. Both hands were stroking the Kavat now, but Liriel barely felt them through the agony in her soul. Matril loved her. That had been quite clear. She felt for him, but she couldn't trust him. And now? All she could do was wait for Grandmaster Olim to arrive. To decide her fate.
"Neither do I." Quais admitted.
"That doesn't make any sense!" Brianna was aghast. "Liriel was asleep! For months!"
"Was she?" Quais asked softly. Brianna jerked and Quais continued. "According to your systems, she was right here all along with Abigail. Who is to say the cats didn't subvert the dojo's systems as well?" Brianna stared at him and then winced, hard.
"Oh dear. That won't go over well." The Orokin female said weakly. "With anyone!"
The clan would not be happy if the cats had subverted their security systems so thoroughly. Karl had offered them sanctuary, but if they had abused that hospitality… Ouch. If they had? That wouldn't end well. For anyone.
"Small understatement there." Quais had a wince in his voice as well. "Olim is checking that now and then he will come here." He stepped forward to touch Liriel with a soft clawed finger. "You are not alone, Liriel. You are not."
The Kavat looked at the Ash warframe and then bent her head back to pillow on Abigail's thigh. She was bone tired. She had used up far more of her energy than was safe but she couldn't sleep. Not until she talked to Olim, faced the Grandmaster's judgment.
"Is there anything I can do?" Abigail asked, her hand never ceasing its petting. "She is so weak."
"Now that her leg has been healed, Liriel is all right, just tired." Quais reassured her. "Making a portal like that is not a minor expenditure of energy. Even with my help, it drained her badly. It was a good thing, to remove you from that situation, but she will be weak for a bit. Hence why I haven't left. I will not leave my sister defenseless."
"Is there anything I can do?" Abigail repeated, her voice heading for strident.
"Focus on yourself." Quais said flatly. "You cannot help her. I may not be able to. I have to try, but she did what she did, knowing the cost and accepting it. You need to face what happened to you and Kieko. Kieko needs you now, Abigail. Liriel probably won't." He slumped a little.
"Will the Grandmaster kill her?" Abigail asked in a tiny voice.
"I don't know, Abigail." Quais laid a hand on her shoulder. "But know this, you may never walk our path, but we do know our own. You are kin to us. Not the Tenno, Cyberlancers. Whatever you choose, we stand with you. Even if you choose not to follow our way, we will never forsake you. And no matter what some may wish, it will be your choice."
"Thank you." Abigail said softly. "I… I need to see Kieko, Brianna."
She did not resist as Quais carefully lifted Liriel out of her lap and cradled the Kavat in his arms. She reached out to pet the Kavat once more. She paused as Liriel leaned over and gave her hand a lick. Then Abigail slumped in her chair. It shifted a bit and then lifted off the ground as Brianna focused on it, altering to a hover mode. Orokin tech definitely had its uses.
"I don't know what I will choose, Liriel, Quais." Abigail said very quietly. "But thank you. Both of you." Liriel smiled at the girl as the chair moved from the room, Brianna walking beside it. The Orokin's face was closed, remote. She was angry. Likely almost as angry as Liriel was.
Quais stared after them for a moment and then looked at Liriel. "This is a mess and no mistake. We will wait together, sister."
Quais slowly knelt, careful not to jostle the burden in his arms. Liriel patted his arm with a paw and he set her down where she sat in a feline form of seiza. He nodded to her and they began a basic Cyberlancer mediation. Such formality was soothing to the distressed Kavat and probably to the furious Tenno as well.
Time melted into the elegant beauty of computer code. Nothing else mattered but the lines of power that both crafted with pure thought, red and lavender mixed in glorious harmony. Then, a new line of code appeared. Neither of them reacted as golden code joined theirs and then blue code. Another line and another. Liriel did not flinch, did not react at all as the world fell away.
The room she found herself in was bare, but beautiful. There was no furniture. It wasn't needed. The walls, floor and ceiling were all golden computer code. She was on her feet, but then knelt slowly, putting her head to the floor as a form appeared in front of her. A Frost Prime warframe.
"Rise, sister. Sit with me." Olim, Grandmaster of Cyberlancers, said softly as he sank into sieza. Other forms appeared beside him. Quais knelt without a word, but the unarmored girl in the golden gown who stood beside him looked thunderous.
"Those lying, furry pieces of crap!" Jesse was not happy. "Mother will tear them apart!"
"Jesse, be calm." Olim's words were soft, but a command and Jesse nodded, forcing herself to relax. "We do not have all of the information. What we have, admittedly, is damning. You may speak here, Liriel. None but us can hear you."
"I know not what to say." Liriel could make herself heard aloud in this world. Odd, but no odder than many things about Cyberlancers. "I broke my oath to Trinity."
"You really think Trinity of all people will censure you for saving Abigail?" Jesse demanded. Olim looked at her and she flushed. "Apologies, Grandmaster."
"Trinity was the First Cyberlancer, but the records are vague about you, Liriel." Olim said quietly, waving Jesse's apology aside. "What is there was sealed for Grandmaster eyes only and it only really says that you were one of us." Liriel nodded. "Can you speak of your past?"
"I do not know if it is germane, but yes. To you, here, I can." Liriel replied. "Do you wish to hear?"
"Even without detailed records, I know this will hurt you, to remember." Olim said heavily. He paused and then nodded. Liriel did not react as a hologram of a human female appeared beside him and then knelt as well. No, not a human, half of her face was metal! An AI! Olim nodded to the stunned Kavat. "This is my sister and partner, Rianna."
"I am honored." Liriel said and she was sincere. She had dealt with Orokin AIs a few times, sometimes on good terms, sometimes on not so good terms. Politeness was rarely wasted in such situations.
"As am I." Rianna nodded to the Kavat. "This… This travesty hurts us all. Why, Olim? Why would Intelligence try to program Abigail? Sun has to know better!"
"Sun, yes, probably." Olim might have been carved from stone now. "The rest of them?" He shrugged. "Quais shared your memories with me and Jesse. I hope you don't mind, Liriel."
"You are Grandmaster." Liriel replied. "My fate is in your hands. I am conflicted. I am angry. Furious, even. I am also sad and sick. I have hated the cats, but this? This doesn't make any sense. I am not a cat. Why would they make kittens from me? How did they make kittens from me? From Matril's reaction, they used him too. Stupid that." She shuddered. "Angering him is a bad idea."
"No joke." All four of the others responded in unison. Liriel smiled at them, but then her face fell.
"I don't know what to think, what to believe." Liriel admitted. "I may be a Cyberlancer, but I am not your equals in intelligence and I know it." All of the others stiffened, but she continued. "I am not denigrating myself, I am speaking fact. I am not human or Tenno. Even with code augmenting me, I do not have the same amount of brainpower you do. This is not what I was made for or trained for with Trinity."
"You were made?" Rianna asked carefully. Liriel looked at the AI and the holographic girl looked sheepish. "I mean… It was... Yes, I know Kavats were engineered, but… I don't..." She broke off, stammering. Liriel took pity on her.
"Yes, I was made." Liriel gave herself a shake. "I don't remember a lot of before I came to the Citadel, but while I trained with her, Trinity told me what they discovered in the lab where she and Ariana found me. There were many who tried electronic attacks on the Citadel, on the Tenno in the field, for many reasons, so Trinity found a way to defend her kin. Her enhanced code was a bit of a surprise to all the would-be hackers out there." That was dry and all the others chuckled.
"I bet." Jesse smiled at the Kavat. "But then, they tried to counter her."
"Yes." Liriel sighed deeply. "Many groups. Many reasons. Many attempts. Some came close to success, but with the help of the other Tenno, Trinity always prevailed. I was one of those attempts." She slumped a bit. "A group of Orokin scientists were trying to make a means of destroying Infestation. They bred the first Kavats to eat it, digest it and destroy it. They hoped to help the Tenno fight outbreaks. Not a bad goal, all said."
"But not well thought out." Olim was shaking his head.
"No." Liriel admitted. "Orokin tech may only have changed when its masters desired it, but life? Life changes. As the movie said, 'life will find a way' and the Technocyte virus is alive. Kavats changed over time. Some in some ways, others..." She slumped. "I don't remember my mother. Sometimes, I wish I did. Most of the time, I think I am glad I can't. The memories I have of that time are not pleasant."
"What happened?" Olim's voice was kind and gentle.
"Trinity said that I was the only survivor of a litter of Kavats bred in a lab." Liriel said quietly. "I was the runt. The smallest. I should have perished, but I had a genetic quirk. An ability that none of the researchers who had made me planned for. I could generate code with my mind. Just like Trinity. I don't know what they intended at first, but as soon as they realized what I could do, they kept me alive and did things to me to make me do as they wished. They used my ability to attack the Tenno in the field. My first coherent memories are pain and fear. Lavender code hurting people and..." She shook her head, tears falling. "I don't know for sure, but I think…" She trailed off for a moment. No one pressed her and she continued after a moment. "Trinity and Ariana never said, but I bet I killed my litter mates and maybe my mother with code during that 'training' of theirs. I never dared ask. I didn't dare know. I have killed, in service to the Tenno and Ariana, but… that? No. I didn't dare ask."
"Oh, Liriel." Jesse was all but crying.
"And then?" Olim inquired, his voice still gentle.
"Trinity responded to the attacks of course." Liriel scoffed. "In her usual understated fashion." That was biting and both Jesse and Rianna smiled at the Kavat. "The word 'overkill' might have been invented expressly for angry Cyberlancers." Everyone laughed at that.
"So very true." Olim snickered. "And Ariana took you in?"
Just like that, the mood shifted from humor to serious.
"I woke in the Citadel, in her care." Liriel said quietly. "I didn't understand much of anything at first. It took me some time to understand what had happened and why. When I did? Ariana had become my friend. I stood with my friend. Many have asked why Ariana didn't kill me, why she took me in and all I can say is that she wasn't heartless. Far from it. She was..." The Kavat paused and then made a sad mewling noise. "Yes, according to what I have been told about human society, what she did was wrong. She didn't have a choice, she was driven."
"I cannot condone what she did, Liriel." Olim said quietly. "But I do understand it. She had been conditioned at a genetic level to kill humans by whoever the hell made her a gladiator. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop killing humans. Could she?"
"She tried!" Liriel begged. "So many times, she tried! She couldn't. All she could do was pick her targets." She sighed and relaxed. "I do not judge her and I will not. She is my friend."
"A loyal friend." Olim sighed deeply. "Liriel, your oath will hurt you." Liriel nodded. "There is one who can absolve you from it. Will you speak to her?"
"I..." Liriel slumped all the way to the floor. "Yes. I will speak to Trinity. But it cannot be here, can it?"
"No." Olim agreed. "I have requested a Guardian of the Dead to meet me at Mars. I am an hour out. Quais, can you stay with Liriel?"
"Try and pry me away." The Ash clad Tenno said grimly.
"One thing..." Everyone looked at Jesse as she nodded slowly. "In Liriel's memory, Matril said he tried to report and couldn't. I bet Empress Eliza will react almost as badly to that as we have. Add kittens into it and all hell will break loose. Liriel, you are not alone in this. Not now, not ever!" She swore and all the others nodded agreement.
"You are all needed." Liriel protested weakly. "Trinity may demand my life. If so, I will give it. I am not Tenno, but I serve. Ariana never fought Tenno who did not attack her and neither will I."
"We can hope she does not, Liriel." Olim was fading now and Liriel felt her own focus flying back towards her form. "We need all the help we can get. And I can say I am very pleased to meet you, sister."
Of course, Liriel had to have the last word. She was both Kavat and female.
"You say that now."
Laughter chased her from the virtual world back to reality.