Sweat dripped down my back as I clambered up the tree in front of me. I did so swiftly, but not frantically, the old maxim of 'Smooth is fast, fast is smooth' ever true in warfare. I eyed my compass and bearing as I neared my newfound perch.

In position, I mechanically turned towards my target. Almost reflexively I Created a SRS99 sniper rifle and racked the charging handle to load a round. Six hundred metres was a manageable distance with my knowledge of the area…

I brought my crosshair over the target, I held my breath to steady the rifle completely.

"That's time." I heard over comms. Grunting in disappointment I made the rifle disintegrate in my hands.

Dropping to the forest floor I watched as Zachary calmly approached from his spectating at the side, "I think I'm starting to lose focus, I didn't even get a shot off that time."

He glanced at the makeshift dummy target I had made and then back to me, before taking off his helmet and sighing. "I think we'll stop here then we'll go over your performance on the way back." He started walking back to the base, motioning for me to follow. When I came up by his side he began his deconstruction of my performance, "We'll start with that last exercise, I know I'm making these up on the fly but you still fell short of Spartan standards. Why did you create the rifle after you got to your firing position, and how much concentration does it really take to make one?"

I considered that for a moment, "The weight difference was almost negligible honestly, I thought it was more efficient to make it later rather than earlier but…" I couldn't quite summon the words to describe it right away.

"You hesitated, or it caught you in your head?" He suggested, I shook my head.

It was difficult to describe, but I could attempt to, "It's like a… dissonance, almost. It doesn't feel unnatural, but my mind doesn't really register that something is in my hands even though I'm the one that made the thing." I shook my head and sighed, "I'll work through it, I need more practice I think."

Zachary hummed in acknowledgment, "We'll stick to fixed loadouts then, I shouldn't have included it at the last minute anyway." He tilted his head and looked at me. "I wasn't expecting you to be proficient with most of the weapons we have either." It wasn't worded as a question, but I could hear the curiosity in his voice regardless.

I snorted in derision, "I'm cheating, kind of." I waved my hand uncertainly. "Whenever I touch something I get a detailed understanding of its history, composition, and design. I store that info away and it comes to me instinctively later, but I can still consciously bring it up." I formed an assault rifle and handed it to him, "That's a copy of an AR you were using on Reach, I was already a decent marksman before, but stealing a bit of your skill allows me to more competently use a weapon."

He racked the bolt and checked the chamber, before handing it back to me, "Don't get rid of this one please."

Taking off my helmet I raised a brow, "You want to keep this one?" He shook his head. "You know I can make more any time I want right?"

He looked amused at that statement, before countering, "I know, but the quartermasters are hounding everyone about maintaining whatever little equipment we have." He continued, his lips quirking upward, "I think they'd feel better if you donated anything you can just, ah, 'replace'."

My mouth formed an 'oh' as I considered that, I guess my perspective had been slightly skewed. It was no wonder the quartermasters reports' had been almost zealous in their documentation, they didn't know when we could put production towards more firearms and equipment. That made me feel a little bad about destroying that sniper rifle. I frowned, "I'll need to make some regular contributions then, I hadn't quite realised the stress it was causing them." I narrowed my eyes at him, "This is the kind of thing I need you to tell me you know, everything I get through reports is so filtered through lower brass I would never even know this was happening."

Zachary shrugged, "I hadn't really thought of it as important, I knew you'd fix it eventually." I prodded him in the side at that. He rolled his eyes, "It's true. You'd already told me you were going to start making more fabricators and workshop facilities once the new buildings were up." I had to concede that point. "I know now that it won't take long either, with your majestic divine powers or whatever."

I rolled my eyes at that, scoffing, "Fynn's garbage again. Anyway, I'm going to put up housing by the end of the day," He looked surprised at that. "It's mostly because logistics needed to plan how we were going to route power and water to everything, it was slow going until we made an effective way to map out where everything was going to be." I shuddered, I'd never before seen the mix of predatory glee and awe that had found its way onto the faces of the staff when I'd revealed my abilities.

Zachary gave me an odd look, I couldn't quite parse before he spoke, "It'll be good to have an actual barracks to sleep in then." He sounded hopeful.

Confused, I motioned for us to stop, "I'm not making any barracks, not right now at least."

"What? You just said you were making housing."

I put my hands on my hips and leaned forward for emphasis, "Zachary, I'm making housing, as in actual apartments. As small as they'll actually be." I added that last part for good measure. The concept didn't seem to compute for him as he stood there, looking evermore confused the longer I let my statement linger. My concern grew in time with his confusion.

Eventually he seemed to form a response, "But… why?"

I looked at him, really looked, he seemed uncomfortable or rather unnerved.

"These people don't need to go back to war at the end of their day, they need to go home." My voice tapered off at the end, I didn't trust myself not to choke on the words. Home seemed so very far away these days, there was so much that was familiar in the people around me. But I didn't know them, not really. I tried to resume with confidence, "Besides, with the abilities people are manifesting they need their own spaces. There's a woman who's literally venomous now, and her breath emits some kind of poison." I looked to him hoping that I'd reassured him somewhat.

Zachary seemed to choose his words carefully, "I…" He paused. "That's not home to me." There was so much meaning in that statement, so much subtext I couldn't begin to unpack the breadth of it.

There were a million ways to respond to that.

I reached over and laid a hand on his arm, "I know." I said simply. I pulled him slowly into a hug, he hesitantly reciprocated after a second.

We stayed like that for a while, just basking in the comfort.

Pulling away I looked up at him, "Zachary." He looked down directly into my gaze. I could see the thoughts racing through his mind, the raw emotion that rivalled that of the first time I had truly seen him on Reach. "We can make it be home, together if need be. I'll be with you every step of the way."

Eventually, he nodded, "Together."

I nodded in return, "Let's head back before Carrington gets passive aggressive over comms for me being late." I sheepishly continued, "ODST armour is really heavy and I'm going to need some help taking it off."

Walking through the mess hall, I rubbed at my eyes with my free hand. Still carrying my food and tablet with the other, paperwork never rested and neither did I apparently when they kept throwing it at me.

Sitting down at a random table I glanced at those sitting around me, just taking in the orderly chaos. Some were practising whatever strange abilities they acquired, others were just chatting or apparently group… whittling. I just nodded to myself, everything was temporarily right with the world.

I sunk into a report about recon, which was mostly trees, complaints, and details on damaged equipment. Pausing and absently chewing on my food, I just digested the information.

It genuinely baffled me how I hadn't realized the extent to what logistics and the quartermasters would stress over our situation. It made sense to preserve and conserve manufactured goods when you weren't expecting a resupply. Hindsight was twenty-twenty I supposed.

Talking to the quartermasters was a somewhat embarrassing experience. Walking into the complex's storage area my intent wasn't to cause a scene, that hope of course was dashed immediately. Handing in the assault rifle was fine, they were grateful for the addition. Perhaps too grateful… That should have clued me in, but I continued without realizing.

Initially when I told them that I was going to be dropping off weapons and equipment every so often they had been delighted, then puzzled. The question of how I could find all of it had been brought up eventually.

Their reaction to the reveal of my abilities had been… expressive.

They had gazed upon me with awe and envy, I almost thought I could see tears of joy among them. It was like, well, a god had descended among them. A god of logistics and limitless ammunition, also maintenance kits. I was getting off topic.

Leaving the storage area was a lesson in patience as I constantly bombarded by attempts of the quartermasters to ply various supplies from me, even as I assured them that materials were going to make their way to them eventually.

By the time I made it out of the storage area I was practically jogging to outpace them.

I sighed and set down the tablet, what was I even doing?

I leaned back and cleared my thoughts, I just let myself be for a second.

Briefly I looked back over at the soldiers whittling away and then back to my tablet. With little else to do I stood up and walked over, bringing my food with me. I knew I wasn't going to get much work done today anyway.

Approaching the table I squinted my eyes as I tried to put the names in my memory to the faces at the table. It was still difficult even after meeting them multiple times, "Thorn, Matsa, Heneghan-" I paused greeting them by their surnames and narrowed my eyes at the last soldier, I snapped my fingers after a moment of thought. "Pembroke." I finished and sat down with a small smile and watched them react to my presence.

Heneghan, a man with dark hair and a probably out of regulation patchy beard, grunted in greeting as he kept focus on his careful carving. "Nice to see you again, Lady." The others responded similarly.

It was a test of willpower to maintain the smile on my face, although I'm sure it came off as stilted nonetheless. Being referred to as the 'Lady' left a somewhat sour taste in my mouth, and not just because it was popularized by Fynn's manipulations. It felt unearned.

Sinking into thought I let my gaze fall onto their deft hands as they slowly worked at the wood in their hands. It pleased me for some reason that their combat knives were being repurposed for their new task.

Abruptly a thought occurred to me as I observed their smooth movements, "Is this a Skill?" I put an emphasis on the word so that they would understand what I was referring to.

They all looked up at me surprised, "You can tell?" Heneghan asked, eyes fixed on me, he seemed intent on something.

Nodding, I rested my head on a palm before speaking, "I can see the difference in the movement. There's a smoothness to actions done with a Skill rather than, well, actual skill." I thought for a second before amending that statement. I waved a hand, "Not that it's not really your skill. It's more… emphasized if you know what I mean." I searched their eyes for understanding.

They seemed to consider my words for a while, eventually someone spoke up and it was Heneghan again, "So you know how Skills work, generally anyway?" There was a need in his eyes, a kind of burning desire.

Blinking, I was suddenly unsure at the direction the conversation was going. Looking at the others they seemed similarly confused. "I mean sure, I've guided some people on how to get started. But you'll have to be more specific…?" I needed to find out what he was getting at.

Heneghan took time to choose his next words, he began slowly. "I'm the one who taught them the Carving Skill." He paused looking frustrated, "My Skill isn't Carving though, it's Rune Carving." I raised a brow at that. He stopped looking at me for a moment before I nodded for him to continue. "I haven't been able to use my MP- mana- whatever, so all I can do is carve the symbols. But I can't get them to do anything." He slid the chunk of wood over to me he had been working on.

It was in the process of becoming… something. But the important part was the symbols layered over it, I could see the same few characters repeated over and over again. I traced a finger over it, I felt like I had seen them before but the actual memory escaped me, which was somewhat concerning considering I now had perfect recollection- It seemed he had been trying to brute force his attempts-

Wait.

I closed my eyes, something was very wrong and I had an odd sense of deja vu. I could tell when my thoughts seemed to skip over themselves, and instinct propelled me to look deeper. The symbols were important somehow, they had a kind of weight to them, but why?

A headache painfully blossomed in my head and I persisted. I needed to look deeper- The wood felt coarse in my hands, I should hand it back to him- Deeper- It was like a recursive loop that seemed to spiral ever forward- What are you?

Suddenly, my headache stopped, my thoughts stopped whirling, and everything was ever so clear. "They're concepts." I said out loud, before laughing. "Calling these 'Runes' just hides how potent these are, they represent laws of the universe in written form. Or rather, bending those laws when used like this." I looked up and they seemed concerned rather than interested in what I had to say.

Thorn looked almost upset at something before pointing at his nose, realizing what he had been telling me, I touched my nose and my fingers came away bloody. Right. I Destroyed the blood before continuing. "It's fine, I just dug too deep so to speak." I looked Heneghan in the eye realizing that tangent hadn't actually helped him. I drummed my fingers on the table, "Can you feel your mana at all?"

He shook his head, before responding, "Am I going to end up like whatever happened to you just now if I do this?"

It was my turn to shake my head as I denied what he said, "No." I collected my thoughts before elaborating, "It's not something you'll have to worry about. I should be able to use my mana to kind of jumpstart yours so to speak, if I cycle it around your body you should be able to do it on your own." I tapped a finger on my cheek before shrugging. "In theory at least, I haven't really done this before."

Heneghan looked slightly reassured by that, although not by much.

Rolling my eyes, I motioned for him to sit next to me. "It shouldn't take long, and even if it doesn't work you should be able to unlock it naturally." Sitting down beside me slowly, he stiffened as I placed a hand on his shoulder. I looked him in the eye, "Hey, relax, I'm basically just testing a muscle you didn't know you had." I slowly began the process of what I thought would 'unlock' his mana

He slowly untensed before speaking, "It's not just that I'm worried." I smiled encouragingly at him. "I-" He raised his hands and looked at them, before glancing back at me. "I got this as soon as I woke up and since then I've been constantly reminded how useful it could be, not just for me but for everyone. They can be inscribed anywhere, and anyone can use their mana to actually fill them." He looked away, seeming ashamed, "I don't want to be useless, not when someone else could've survived and helped instead."

It dredged up feelings I had done my best to bury since Reach. That feeling of guilt, that every action and mistake could have been fixed. That I could have saved lives had I just been better, if I had given just a little more.

I froze, "Don't you dare say that." My voice was frigid. He almost seemed to fold into himself at my tone, I tried for something softer. "Please don't say that. Every time I wake up I feel that way too, and god-" I cut myself off before I could continue that line of thought. I sighed, "The point is we can't dwell on what if's. Not now, and not ever. I don't need you to be useful, I want you to live and find something to live for." I pulled him in for a side hug.

Heneghan nodded to himself once, lost in thought he absently responded, "Yeah."

I gave him a tap on the shoulder, before grinning. "Yeah?"

"Yep." He said more confidently, a small smile tugging at his lips.

I let him go, "You should be good to go now." I let the statement linger and after a moment he blinked in confusion.

Heneghan blinked once more, before looking down at himself. I could tell he was slowly noticing the fact he now had access to his mana. "Oh. Oh…" He looked almost overwhelmed by the possibilities available to him now. I let out a small huff of amusement, concealing it behind a hand so he wouldn't see it.

Getting up from the table I gathered my things and offered them a wink before leaving. I had made a scene and there were a lot of eyes on the table now, I wanted them to get some peace for whatever they were doing. I called out behind me, "Heneghan you'll see a message from me later, I want your help with something."

He didn't seem to really register what I had said, simply waving a hand distractedly.

I let out a breath as I left, gazing at the ground. I could only hope more issues wouldn't crop up from the System's introduction, well, one could dream anyway.