It took Osiris hours before the threads began to appear in his hand. "Like magnetic poles." He whispered.
"I guess. That's not how I see them."
"How do you see them, then?" Osiris inquired.
She shrugged, "Like…the thing that keeps life together. Humans were woven in the womb, Exo's were woven by a hand, and Awoken were woven by circumstances." Arizona felt someone looking over her shoulder. She turned her head to see Nimbus.
"You two have been busy. And no screaming. I was beginning to worry that Arizona might've killed you already."
Osiris grunted and shook his head.
"Well?" They leaned against a stack of metal boxes.
Osiris let the strands go with a sigh and then said, "For so long we saw Light and Dark as Antagonists. We lightbearers believed we were the champions of good because we wielded the Light. If these are not moral forces, if they are not opposites what are they?"
He began pacing, "At its root, the Traveler is a terraformer…a-a gardener. It generates natural life. A physical transformation at a molecular scale across whole planets. This should have been our first hint. The domain of the Light is the domain of the physical. The Darkness then is revealed in many facets. Dreams and nightmares. Emotions. Pain. Memory. The nature of Strand confirms this line of thinking. Darkness is something entirely apart from Light. A paracausal union conjoining intangible conscious realities, discursively linking to-"
"You're talking about the river of souls." Nimbus interjected.
Osiris stopped pacing. "River?"
"Yeah, it's a story we tell kids on Neptune."
"A nursery rhyme."
They shrugged, "Sort of." They walked to the Pouka pond. Osiris and Arizona followed but stopped at the top step so they could be eyelevel with them. "Since before history, there's been this raging river. In the story, some try to divert the river. Others try to build a dam. But nothing stops it." Three Pouka raced across the pond, skimming the surface, dancing along the path of the pool. "Lots of people have believed that we either sink in the water, or learn to swim."
"Don't we?" Osiris asked.
"See, that's the real wild part. We ARE the river."
Arizona folded her arms, "So what are you suggesting, Nimbus? I start going with the flow?"
"Well, yeah. Kind of. Actually, I think I know of a place where we can find some of that power."
"Already hating this idea, guys!" Arizona yelled into the comms, secretly hoping that she was making Osiris go insane with her constant yelling.
"Look, you're almost there! Don't give up now!" Osiris yelled back, hurting her ears.
She had to fight her way to the "training area" that Nimbus had told them about. The area looked like a meadow, with cliffs, rocks that looked like someone had piled them to be pillars, a shallow pool of water that barely crested her foot, and she felt the strong tug of strand and saw the threads almost as clear as day. In the shallow pools were pink flowers surrounded by bright green leaves that seemed to creep over the water.
Vex appeared, surrounding the area and cutting off any exits. "Good, now the real training can begin." Osiris said.
Arizona created a healing rift and as her hand cut across the threads some of them cut away and sought out the Vex opponents. It was a small wave of Vex at first, easily defendable with a shotgun. The Minotaurs were the worst of the Vex. Balls of threadlings were left after some of her kills, and throwing these at the Minotaurs made eliminating them much easier. However, she could still feel her energy being drained quicker than if she were to use Stasis.
Finally, the exhaustion overwhelmed her. She fell to her knees among the flowers in the shallow pool of water. "We're hitting a wall with Strand. The after effects are stacking up." Ghost informed.
"I don't understand," Osiris snapped. "You've got more power, more practice…hasn't this done anything to condition you?"
"Stop…yelling…or I'll..." Arizona struggled to stand and struggled to finish her threat.
Again, energy filled her. Her breathing returned to normal as a new wave of Vex appeared around her.
"Back in action." Ghost said.
"Hit them again. Hold nothing back." Osiris demanded.
Arizona started again the same way, with a healing rift that sent tiny threadlings into the weakest opponents. Now there was a large Minotaur, rather than several small ones. It wasn't easily defeated by the threadling balls and a couple of shotgun shots to the face like the others, not that Arizona could even reach its face even if she tried. With each rift she had to lay down more energy was taken from her. With each threadling needle she sent flying out more energy was taken. Everything she did took more energy, even running.
Exhaustion overtook her again, faster this time. She took cover behind one of the rock pillars, struggling to breathe. "Get up! Now is not the time to slow down!"
Arizona couldn't even gather the energy to tell him off.
"I don't think you know what you're asking, Osiris." Ghost did it for her, though she would've preferred if he had told Osiris to shove the Strand threads in a very vulnerable and uncomfortable spot.
"Babe, listen: don't strain for the energy." She focused on Nimbus's voice. It made her heart race, but their voice also filled her with energy. "Drop the effort and just…let it flow through you."
Arizona laughed humorlessly, "I don't know what that means!"
"Think about what I would do."
She nodded as if what they said somehow helped. Still, their voice filled her with enough energy to stand. "Just go with the flow, huh?" She whispered to herself. "Go with the flow…" She closed her eyes. She could feel every thread, but only a few of them jumped out at her. Some of them were stiff to the touch, others were loose, but only a few jumped in her hands, excited to be part of some action. Several threadlings appeared around her, and she threw them with such force that the giant Minotaur stumbled back and fell off the cliff. Arizona looked over the cliff. She didn't feel as exhausted.
"Now that's how you send the Vex packing! Nicely done." Nimbus applauded.
"Yes, that was a challenging fight but you pulled through." Osiris sounded like he was deep in thought.
"Finally. About time you offered words of encouragement." Arizona shook her head.
"Still, we cannot afford any faltering when facing Calus. You should be able to wield Strand without strain." Osiris grunted. "We're still missing something but what? I must think We can discuss this more later."
"Unbelievable!" Arizona sighed and sat on the edge of the cliff.
All Arizona wanted to do was rest. Ghost could feel her exhaustion and her frustration, but he could also tell that she wanted to see Nimbus again sooner rather than later. Still, she didn't exactly rush back. She laid on the damp ground and stared at the deep blue sky.
"Hey, Ghost." Arizona pointed. "Is that what I think it is?"
Ghost followed her finger into the sky. Threshers were taking something over the city. It was huge! He had to really zoom in his sight as much as he could to get a better look. "That's the Radial Mast!"
Arizona was on her feet before his vision could normalize. "They're going to attempt a link!" She was off, as always. She never slowed down, and this time didn't call for it either.