Crow reported to Osiris, who reported to Saladin in turn, while Maria reported to Zavala in the garden. Zavala nodded at every word, but his face was a mask. Whether he was worried, or found the information useless, Maria didn't know, and it frustrated her that she couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Thank you, Maria. That will be all, I think."

Maria bit her lip. "Commander, can I ask you a question?"

He nodded. "Ask away." He inspected a bush, littered with small red flowers.

"How is Osiris? I mean…is he…okay?"

"You would be better suited to ask Ikora or Saint-14 than me."

Maria hung her head. She had been hoping to avoid the questions with Saint because she feared he would tell her he was 'fine'. Clearly he wasn't. "Love makes people blind to truth, that's why I'm asking you. It's just that…we got into it the other day and…he doesn't seem fine, Zavala. He's the closest thing I've got to family here so, I'm worried."

"Grief changes people."

"Yeah, that's what everyone tells me but not like this. It shouldn't be like this. I should be allowed to talk about Sagira! I really liked her! And I'm pissed that she died, but I'm not gonna not talk about her like she didn't sacrifice everything for him!" She kicked the marble bench, and immediately regretted it. She cursed at the pain as it traveled to her stomach and finally sat down.

Zavala sat next to her with a heavy sigh.

Maria wiped her eyes quickly, her hands shaking.

"You want there to be rationality where there is none." He leaned his hands on his knees, watching the blue birds chase each other in a form of ritual she's seen every year. "Give him time to heal and things will get better." He put a hand on Maria's shoulder.

She stood and walked away, still wiping the tears from her eyes. Nobody's been much help, she thought bitterly as she walked into the HELM. Osiris spoke to a hologram at the war table again, and again as she entered the hologram disappeared.

"What did Lord Saladin want?"

"We were just relaying the information Crow gathered. We were going over our best course of action."

"And what exactly is our next course of action?" Osiris handed her a tablet with a file with hundreds of documents. "What's this?"

"Your next assignment. Go through it, see what you can make out. We have a couple of Guardians going to Nessus."

Maria flipped through each document with Ghost staring over her shoulder. Osiris walked out and she followed behind quickly. "Wait, I don't understand, all of these documents are on Xivu Arath's movements. What's this got to do with the Cabal?"

"It was Xivu Arath who destroyed their homeoworld."

She grabbed his arm and brought them to a halt. "I know that, we all know that, try again! What do you know that I don't, Osiris!" She yelled in the Bazaar, forcing several Guardians and ghosts to come to a halt to watch.

"It's important to know what she's up to."

"She's a Hive god of War, I'm no mythology expert but that name pretty much implies she's out for War, Osiris! She'll decimate any planet with intelligent life! Try again!"

Ikora appeared next to them, her hands coming on her shoulder to gently get her attention, but a serious look was about her. "That's enough," she said sternly to the two of them, speaking low. "I thought it would be a good idea for the two of you to work together. Am I mistaken?"

Maria glared at Osiris, and shoved the tablet in his hands. "I'd much rather work with Amanda Holiday again than work with you if you keep pushing pointless assignments on me."

"The last one I would hardly say was-"

"Did Crow not tell you what I did? Me and Ghost wandered the Tangled Shore. He could've-should've-done the last assignment by himself."

"Both of you, my office, now." Ikora walked with her head high, and disappointment hanging around her. She and Osiris walked with her to the large room she often went to borrow the books. "Osiris, did I make a mistake by allowing her to work with you?"

Osiris shook his head. "No, Ikora, she's simply being stubborn."

"I'm not being told anything! Crow is more open with me than you are, Osiris. What am I supposed to do with these files? Look through them and uncover where Xivu Arath is? We know where she is, who we don't know about is Savathun, and I think if you're going to put me behind a screen then uncovering her whereabouts is a better use of my time!"

Ikora sighed and put her hands behind her back, her warm eyes holding a cold far-off look, as if she were predicting every possible future before her. Then, she said, "I have to agree with her, Osiris. Your team is supposed to be reconnasaince, not something to be shoved behind a desk." She looked back at whatever image she had been staring at, something only she could see, and turned fully back to reality at last. "I put her with you because I was hoping you would show her what it would take to be a Guardian of the Last City, lightless or not. You've always protected her, but she's growing and she's learning. It's time we get her beyond our walls, as a Guardian."

Ghost's panels whirred and his whole body seemed to drop.

"What is it, little ghost?"

"I…have to disagree with your decision, Ikora. She's better to stay at the Tower."

Maria turned to ghost, her heart dropped to her feet. "Ghost…"

"If you die, there's no telling if you'll be a Lightbearer, Maria. If you die out there…I couldn't live with it."

Ikora nodded, her eyes going back and forth between the three of them. Finally, she motioned for Osiris to give the tablet to Maria, and she grudgingly accepted it. "Then this will be your new assignment, Maria. For now, you'll be focusing in on Savathun and Xivu Arath." She added before Osiris could object, "I agree that a better use of her time is to track Savathun's whereabouts since she's disappeared from her court, but I also agree with Osiris about Xivu Arath," she turned her attention to Maria now, "We want to keep an eye on her, with her sister gone there's no telling where she'll go."

Osiris walked out first, and Maria walked out with a sigh.

"Maria, I'm sorry but I had to-"

"It's fine, Ghost, really. I understand. I would've done the same thing if it were you." Still, she felt a twinge of betrayal when he had said those words. Did nobody find her capable of holding her own?

Normally, Maria wasn't one to hold a grudge. By the next day she would be happy and on speaking terms with everyone again, and that's what Ghost expected. Weeks went by and she barely spoke to him, and she avoided Osiris entirely. Even in conversations, she avoided speaking about him.

Saint stopped bringing it up after a time, and the two of them spoke as if they'd always been good friends. When she wasn't talking to him, she was deep in her files, the wall in her apartment was now fully dedicated to finding Savathun and a map near the window was dedicated to tracking Xivu Arath. Every week she reported to Ikora, and Ghost sent images to her Ghost, Ophiuchus. Once a week, Ghost was able to convince Maria to sit at the Tower's tallest edge, and sit still in quiet. It was mostly for himself. Sure, he could travel to this spot without Maria but…Maria needed him now more than he needed the quiet of the City.

Still, he could tell she became more relaxed in these moments, watching the Traveler's body turn a hazy orange, and pink, and finally navy.

"I knew I could find you up here." Osiris climbed over the edge and sat near her, but she never acknowledged him. They sat in silence, with the wind blowing Maria's hair away from her face.

Soon, Crow joined them as well, but something was different. Maria smiled, "Hey, you're not wearing your mask?"

Crow's face froze with fear for a moment, but soon he smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, I don't have to wear it anymore."

Maria nodded and turned back to the Traveler, "That's great, Crow."

Ghost dropped his floating point, and all of his points pointed to the ground. Soon, Maria's hands came around him. "What's wrong, Ghost? You seem…sad."

"Perhaps he's sad that you've been ignoring him." Osiris said.

Maria's smile disappeared when he spoke to her. Osiris's very presence used to cheer her, but lately his presence had been nothing but a burden to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and forced her to turn to him.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you."

Maria stood, she almost seemed to forget that she was holding Ghost in her hands, and she climbed back over the rail, and started down the hallway. Osiris soon caught up with her and grabbed her shoulder, and she turned on him. "You would have never yelled at me like that before. I know I've messed up some in the past like stealing, accidentally set that fire, and nearly crashing into your ship but…" Her grip tightened on Ghost.

"Hey, hey, hey, easy." He finally yelled and she let go of him. She started to cry.

"You know, I'm hurting too, and so is Saint. All you've done is push us away since you've returned."

Osiris nodded. "I know." He put both of her hands on her shoulders and squeezed, gentler this time. "And I know you've been worried about me."

Maria wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry, I just need to be away from you for a while, Osiris." She backed up slowly, and soon she ran down the hall. It took Ghost a moment to follow her. By the time he caught up, he saw she had ran into Saint.

"Hey, what is wrong?"

Maria refused to look at him, choosing to only look down at the ground.

"Osiris…" Ghost began.

"Osiris? What did he do?"

She shook her head and wiped her eyes again.

"I think she's still mourning…for Sagira, I mean. He…doesn't want to talk about her death, and she does." Ghost continued to explain.

"I understand." He put his huge hand between her shoulderblades, towering over her. "Come, let us sit and talk together of Sagira."

Maria nodded and quietly followed him.