Knights

Lynn was hardly the only one to gasp as the clone introduced himself, but she was quick to recover. She had died. She still existed in some limited way, so, it sort of made sense that he could to? Sort of. She did not move, since most of the beings in the area were at the very least unhappy with her, but she did nod to the clone who nodded back. It did not shift his focus from Adiinah.

"I want to help Sir Aziz.." Adiinah said firmly. "What can I do?"

"Lady Adiinah, you cannot bring him back." Fairburne said quietly and Adiinah went still again. "He chose his path. He chose his fate. He chose to help people and that was a good thing, measured against a lifetime of bad. As long as I knew him, and it was a long time for my kind, he never hesitated to act when innocents were in danger." He smiled, but it was sad. "I can do very little here without causing far more problems than I solve. There are limits to my power, just as as there are to yours. You cannot save him."

"Then why bring me here?" Adiinah demanded, halfway to angry. Lynn started to warn the Sentient that being rude here was not a good idea, but Janet glared at her and Lynn shut her mouth with a click. Blind she might be to consequences occasionally, she might be. Stupid, Lynn tried very hard not to be. She failed quite a bit these days, but she tried. "Why give me hope?" Adiinah demanded, anger rising.

"Because..." Fairburne was unmoved by the Sentient's sudden rage. "...Lady Adiinah, hope is what he taught me." Adiinah gasped and Lynn went utterly still as Adiinah jerked in place as if shake her metal form. "Giving others hope is what Sir Aziz did. He dedicated his life to bringing hope to the hopeless. Orokin slaves had no hope, and then, he brought it whenever he could. The Order of the Sword as it was founded…" He glanced at Ric and his empty gaze held quite quite a bit of reproof. "...was meant to help people. It was meant to be better than most knights in human history. Just like works of fiction such as Thomas Mallory's 'Le Morte d'Arthur' inspired the Code of Chivalry in Europe, the Order was meant to channel negative things and make them positive things."

"I read that." Adiinah's voice was very small now, but no one else spoke. It might have just been the Sentient and the warden in the crowded hall in the quiet that fell. "I didn't know anything about knights before I met him and then… He was so different from anyone I have ever met. I was curious."

"So was I, which is why I did the same." Fairburne smiled at the Sentient. "When we first met, I fought him." Adiinah made a noise of disbelief and Fairburne heaved a sigh. "I tried to, anyway. The ones who owned me ordered me to stop him, or at least delay him while they fled his wrath. All their Dax warrior servants had died trying to stop him." He smiled, but his face was downcast, still sad. "He could have killed me easily. I had no chance against him. You know why he didn't, don't you?"

"Because you had no chance against him." Adiinah said very softly and Fairburne nodded. "You had no way to win against him any more than 'I' could have."

"So very true. All I knew was working in the fields for the golden overlords." Fairburne said with a nod. "Then, one day, a crazy Tenno appeared and started pulling all of the slaves out of their work spaces. He tried to send them away, but like me, they all only knew work. It was all we had known for our entire existence. Not a fun life, but an understandable one. I knew nothing of weapons or war, but when the overlords came and tried to stop him, he trounced their warriors and then threatened their lives. Orokin never liked being thwarted, so they killed several of the ones he was trying to save. A mistake on their part. He acted as he always did when faced with such evil."

"He attacked." Adiinah's words were soft, reflective and Fairburne nodded again.

"They were all cowards in those days as ever." Fairburne smiled in grim memory. "He charged them and they fled, taking their other slaves with them, including me. He was right behind us, though, so to cover their escape, they made me a weapon I had no idea how to use and told me to attack him. I did." Now the clone was shaking his head. Then he smiled a little. "I don't think I hit him, to tell you the truth, but he didn't kill me no matter how many times I fired at him. Then he hit me and I woke up in his care. I was the only one he could save from my fields. They killed or took all the others."

"That does sound like him." Adiinah gave a tiny sob. "You can't help him?"

"I am afraid not." Fairburne said heavily. "He knew that sooner or later, they would take him again. He and I both took steps to keep it from happening. We barely survived the first time, you see and I…" The massive clone seemed to slump. "I was tired. Dying. I had lived far beyond my appointed time due to his aid and the Order's but it was not enough."

"Limited lifespan. To the Orokin, Grineer were disposable labor." Adiinah said weakly. "Just like my people were supposed to be."

"Yes." Fairburne took a deep breath and then shook his head. "Lady, you cannot save him. What is wrong with him cannot be healed. It was intended that way." Adiinah made a noise of grief, but Fairburne wasn't done. "But, such does not need to be the end. Even if he is no longer physically present, his spirit lives on. Many will remember him now, and heroic deeds will done in his honor."

"You are here!" Adiinah snapped. 'Why can't he do what you did?" Fairburne looked at her and Adiinah made a small noise of fear, but she held her ground. "It doesn't make sense!"

"Yes, it does." Fairburne said slowly. "You lack information. A moment, Lady Adiinah." He turned to Ric as the Vauban warframe flashed, but nothing else happened. The clone's voice hardened. "You are being an ass."

"I have to make things right!" Ric retorted, but did not try to struggle. Wise since Cathi Gata had a silver hilt in hand and her entire posture was of readiness.

"You cannot make things right when all you do is make things wrong!" Fairburne all but spat the words at him.

"He doesn't know." Adiinah said suddenly and everyone was looking at her, but she wasn't afraid now. No, she was almost poised! The Wisp warframe eyed the Sentient and then, brought her lightsaber hilt to her forehead in a salute! "Juni will need help. Support on her path at the very least."

"Lady…" Fairburne said softly and then stilled as Adiinah started to speak. And what she spoke!

"A knight is sworn to valor,
Her heart knows only virtue,
Her blade defends the helpless,
Her might upholds the weak,
Her word speaks only truth,
Her wrath undoes the wicked."

Many of the shades knelt as Adiinah intoned the words of the Code of the Order of the Sword. Gwenneffar was smiling wide. Lynn stared at the other female shade who nodded to the ancient Tenno. The words called to something in Lynn's long dead heart and she found herself speaking.

"A knight is sworn to valor." Adiinah spun in mid-air to scrutinize the ancient Tenno shade and Lynn bowed her head. "I am not a knight. I can never be one. All I ever wanted to be was a Healer and yet, all I do now is cause harm. I need guidance, Lady Adiinah. Will you take my oath?"

Gasps of shock came from all around the area, but Janet, Mother and Gwenneffar were statues. Fairburne was slowly shaking his head, but bemused, not in negation.

"Will you obey my commands?" Adiinah's voice was calm, but held deep conviction now.

"Yes." Lynn bowed her head and the small Sentient moved to hover in front of her. "If I deem your commands dishonorable or dangerous to innocents, I will speak, but unless I deem them so? I will obey."

"If I give commands that are that, I expect you to speak up." Adiinah moved to hover beside Lynn and everyone eyed her. "We cannot retrace the steps of the past, but we must not forget it either. Aziz was a good man, a good Tenno. I am the one holding him, aren't I?"

That was to Fairburne who frowned and then made a gesture of helplessness as Ric snarled and flashed again, but nothing more happened as Cathi Gata slammed a hand onto his shoulder and he all but collapsed. The wardens holding him took firmer grips.

"I did not wish to hurt you with such knowledge delivered so bluntly." Fairburne said slowly. "But yes. Your linkage to his mind is all that is holding the remnants of his mind together. He will not recover, Lady."

"Do not lie to her, Warden." Everything stopped as Cathi Gata growled at the clone who stiffened.

"I am trying not to hurt her, Bladeborn!" Fairburne growled right back at the Wisp warframe. He would have spoken again, but Adiinah made a noise of shock and the clone stared at her. "Lady?"

"I think I understand." Adiinah said softly. "I absorbed quite a bit when I linked to his mind." Fairburne and the other wardens stilled, but Adiinah made a noise of exasperation. "I will not speak my suspicions. I believe they will cause far more harm than good. I did not intend it, but yes, I do understand." Her chassis turned to where Mother hovered beside Janet. "Mother?"

"I didn't want to say." Mother said weakly. "Tanah told me, but I didn't want to believe him. I hoped for better. I liked Sir Aziz."

"You only knew him for a short time." Fairburne said with a laugh that Ric shared. "His sense of humor could annoy you faster than anything else in existence. He worked at that, you see. It was a means to keep opponents off guard." He laughed again, delighted. "He drove the Orokin absolutely bonkers with his sick jokes."

"Yes, he did." Ric heaved a sigh and then relaxed in the grips that held him. "Adiinah, 'knight' is hard road and my Order… Mori and Juni are all that is left." he looked around. "I expected Mori to be here, to be honest."

"I doubt she could keep her temper if she saw you." Adiinah said flatly and Ric stared at her. "You had no right to leave Cecelia alone!"

"What I have to do is too dangerous-" Ric broke of as Adiinah flashed, her power almost spewing indignation. "What?"

"That was her choice, not yours alone." Adiinah snapped and everyone in the area nodded except Ric. "But have no fear. I will make sure she stays safe. From enemies and from your idiocy."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ric demanded, only to pause as Adiinah flashed again! "What?"

"Lynn?" Adiinah said in a conversational tone. "I am about to give you a command since I am physically not capable of doing what I want to do without vaporizing him." Lynn looked at the Sentient and then she nodded as she turned back to Ric who stared at her. "I am going to honor Sir Aziz's wish. If you would please, kick this deadbeat where he so richly deserves!"

"Gladly." Lynn took three quick steps and then, slammed her foot directly into the crotch plate of the Vauban warframe. Power in the form of golden computer code flared from the shade to slam into the warframe. Ric gave out a muffled sound that was half squeal and half groan as he collapsed into the hands that held him. Without a word, Lynn turned her back on him and strode back to where Adiinah hovered. No one looked at the stricken Vauban and many people were smiling. Fairburne's smile all but split his face. "Adequate?" The ancient Tenno asked.

"For now." Adiinah was still calm. "Maybe that will teach him not to do such, maybe it won't. I absorbed enough of Aziz to want him to not get the hint fast."

"Why?" Ric managed though pain that was nothing to do with physical, but Lynn could make it seem that way even through a warframe. "What did I do?"

"You left Cecelia in my care without even a 'by your leave'." Mother replied and Ric spun his head to stare at the huge green Sentient's energy 'face'. "You just left. She had no idea if you were ever coming back! She broke down completely! If not for Iriana, she might have done something very rash." Mother muttered what had to be an electronic obscenity. "Then again, Iriana knows all about that kind of thing."

"Indeed she does." Janet's cool tone silenced the few mutters from the area around Adiinah. "Adiinah, I cannot see what will happen to you. I care for you too deeply to see anything clearly. But count me an aunt, for now and forever. If you need my help, call."

"Sister of my mother." Adiinah said formally. "I will." Janet nodded to Adiinah and then, she and Mother vanished. The smaller Sentient turned back to Fairburne who looked at if he had swallowed a bug as he tried to keep from laughing at Ric's pain. "Go on, laugh. From what I feel of his mind? Aziz was always trying to make you laugh."

"He was. This is not really funny, but in a way, it sort of is." The clone shook his head. "He really has no clue, does he?"

"No, he doesn't." Adiinah agreed.

"What are you talking about?" Ric tried to rise, but the hands holding him wouldn't let him budge. "I am not going to run, people!"

"I don't trust you." Cathi Gata tried to keep her tone stern, but Fairburne was chuckling and a snicker came from the Wisp. "I knew the moment I met you that you were a devious sort, never to be trusted." Was she mocking him?

"I can't take her where I need to go!" Ric protested, but stilled as Lynn started to glow with golden computer code. "Hey!"

"The only place you need to go right now is Brianna Executor's tower." Adiinah said firmly. "There you will wait until Cecelia wakes and then you will grovel until she forgives you for being a fool. She is a good soul, but she is very angry and she has cause. It may take a while for her to forgive you."

"I have to fix what I did!" Ric declared and tried to rise again, but he was going nowhere.

"Shut it!" Adiinah actually snarled at Ric and the Vauban stared at her. "I don't know much about alternate realities. I never studied such. But I believe that the messes you made will still be there after Cecelia gives birth to your child."

Fairburne and Cathi Gata both nodded but Ric was staring at Adiinah, his whole posture one of shock.

"What?" The ancient knight asked weakly.

"Do I need to get Lynn here to go into clinical detail?" Adiinah was more than bit snide now. Lynn looked at her and then the Tenno shade folded her arms and set herself as if to lecture. "You slept with her before all of this started." Ric nodded, almost against his will. "You do know what happens when males and females of the compatible species 'get together', yes?" She snarked and now Fairburne was really trying hard not to laugh.

"She was-" Ric stammered. "No! I was… She was protected!"

"Ah, Ric?" Lynn spoke very slowly and very carefully, as if to a not-quite-bright child. "You do know that when the enslavement device was removed, all of her defenses went with it. Right?" Ric stared at Lynn and then he moaned. "I mean, you are a Technician! You have to know such is what happens when that kind of energy is deployed."

"I…" Ric was stammering hard now. "I was just trying to keep her calm! Yes I exited the warframe, but she never stopped crying! I was just trying to get her to sleep! Yes, I was in the bed with her, but that is it! She needed time and gentleness to calm down! Yes, we did, but she- I- No! She needed time!"

"She needed you, jackass!" Lynn sighed and turned to Adiinah. "Apologies for the language."

"No need to apologize for that. If I keep any of Aziz's memories?" Adiinah snickered as Ric winced hard. "I will call him far worse." Now, she addressed Ric. "You will go to the tower. You will stay there. Am I understood?" There was no give at all in her voice now.

"I will go to the tower." Ric said in a monotone.

"And stay there." Adiinah snarled. Ric nodded and then, he and his captors were gone. Adiinah heaved an all too human sigh as Cathi Gata saluted her again and vanished as well. When she spoke, it as sad, but firm. "What do I do, Warden Fairburne?"

"Let him go, Lady. Let him find peace in his next life if there is any justice in the multiverse." Fairburne said quietly as shades started vanishing. In moments, only Lynn, Adiinah and Fairburne remained and Adiinah seemed to wilt in mid-air.

"It is done." Adiinah was very quiet and very sad. "I um… I better go."

"Leaving without saying goodbye?" Lynn gasped as a form coalesced out of nowhere. The odd looking Excalibur warframe was wreathed in green energy and he slapped Fairburne's shoulder in a friendly manner as he stepped to face Adiinah.

"Better if I don't." Adiinah said weakly. "Zato, I… I am sorry. I didn't even think about it! Did I hurt him? Holding him like that?"

"Nay, Lady. The dead feel no pain. That is reserved for the living, organic or otherwise." The being who had been Nikis, Grandmaster of the Dead, once upon a time, looked at Lynn and his voice hardened. "If you or they hurt her, I will find you. She is Mother's bud and not a combatant. 'I' count her kin." That was pure Nikis threat and Lynn knew better than to quibble.

"Like Kat and Iriana." Lynn swallowed hard. "I will… um… figure out what to tell everyone else."

"I go my own way, wardens." Adiinah said softly. "Janet and Mother know far than they can ever say, I bet." Zato nodded. "They won't tell me, but I think I understand. He did it himself, didn't he? Came back both times?"

"All three of us died with the slaves we were trying to rescue when the asteroid exploded, Lady Adiinah." Fairburne said quietly. "But the wardens are always looking for people who hate slavery and are willing to fight to end it. Almost all of our enemies act that way. Aziz's squire Costa chose to pass on to whatever reward or damnation awaits Tenno in the next life, but we took up a new role together and we fought for a cause that is worthy. Freedom."

"I hope to find a worthy cause myself." Adiinah gave a squeak as Zato stepped forward and laid a hand on her hull. "Sir, I…"

"Be at ease, Lady Adiinah." Zato said quietly. "He knew such was his likely fate, but he never hesitated. He perished a final time here, but he did a good thing before that. I hope your life is less painful than his was."

"But why?" Lynn asked the group when the warden retracted his hand. "If he was a warden, why come back only to die?" Zato shook his head and like a waft of dream, he and the clone were gone. "I don't understand!" Lynn all but begged Adiinah as power started to swirl around them.

"Sir Aziz came back because he was needed. Because in the darkest shadows of evil, even Tenno need help sometimes. Wardens are too powerful, so he probbaly didn't remember being a warden. The people in this system didn't need more warframes, weapons or powers. They needed a knight. In my darkness of pain and fear, 'I' needed a knight and I got one. Even as he died, he gave me hope again." Adiinah said softly as she was started on her journey back to her ship. "Knights are still needed, so I have a lot to learn before I take my vows."

"I am with you."