Val and Zyra walked in silence for nearly fifteen minutes, far enough into the city where normal citizens could be seen moving around freely on the streets. The change was jarring to Val after the past three days. Her eyes darted back and forth, trying to catalog every motion and analyze it for danger. Twitchy fingers nearly grabbed her knife multiple times as the traffic pressed in towards her, although she stopped herself before causing an incident. She found herself wanting to put her helmet back on, but she doubted the general populace would appreciate the blood-spattered blank visage.

She nearly jumped when a hand landed gently on her shoulder. Her head snapped forward and she dropped Noir’s needle into her right hand on instinct. The weapon remained in its baton form as her wide eyes locked on the person who had touched her. Her mother’s concerned face hovered a mere foot away from her. No, that’s not right. Val blinked furiously, and Zyra came back into focus instead. The expression of concern was real, though.

“I know you’ve been through a lot, Valriya, but you can relax a bit now,” Zyra said gently.

“No I can’t!” Val snapped at her, brushing Zyra’s hand off her shoulder. Her outburst caused several people to look over, and Val felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment.

“You of all people have no right to say that to me,” Val continued more quietly, but with just as much heat in her voice. A pained expression crossed Zyra’s face before it was smoothed away, gone so quickly Val was not sure whether she had imagined it or not.

“I’m more than happy to take whatever insults you want to throw my way if that’s what helps you unwind,” Zyra said. “But you should know that what you are experiencing right now is common for anyone returning from extended periods of time in the wilderness.”

Val’s brow furrowed in anger. “Really? I’m pretty sure our… disagreement has nothing to do with my unplanned excursion through the forest.”

Zyra shook her head. “Of course, I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. But it’s being amplified by the stress of the moment. Always having to check over your shoulder, ready to run for your life at any moment. Daemons can help take the edge off the fight-or-flight response and keep you functional for much longer than normal, but there’s a limit to what our biology can handle. It’s no surprise that some deeper… stressors are coming to the surface after constant anxiety for three days.”

She looked intently into Val’s face, but Val refused to meet her gaze. Zyra turned and continued walking down the street, but not before lightly grabbing Val’s arm and pulling her along. Val’s feet moved on their own, following on autopilot. Traitors, she thought as she looked down at her boots. It was a weird sight to see them scuffing the concrete of the street, rather than sinking into soft soil.

“The Messengers have entire decompression procedures for this. I’m sure your Scout training would have mentioned something as well.”

Zyra’s words triggered memories of Celedon lecturing at her trainee cohort about the importance of rest and recovery time after returning from missions.

“Fine, they might have mentioned something like that,” Val grumbled.

Val’s feet started taking her to the left, but she bumped into Zyra who continued to move forward. Val looked around and noticed where they were in the city for the first time. The central district of the surface city was off to the left, which included outposts for many of the Guilds. Val had assumed Zyra would take her there for some form of debriefing, but they instead continued forward through the city.

“Where are you taking me?” Val asked, confused. Zyra looked over her shoulder, tightening her grip on Val’s arm slightly before answering.

“Home, if you’ll let me.”

Home. The word slammed through Val’s frayed mental defenses like a sledgehammer through wet paper. Visions of her father chasing her through large gardens, the musty smell of real books in her mother’s prized library. Memories bubbled up in her mind unbidden, and Val didn’t have the strength to keep them locked away anymore.

“Why?” Val squeaked out, tears threatening to form in her eyes.

Zyra raised her free hand, lifting fingers as she ticked off reasons. “One: It’s in the inner city. Two: The personal property of a Guildmaster is not subject to the same surveillance as many Guild properties. Three: I’ll personally be able to guard you while you rest. That should all make it much more difficult for them to get to you.”

Val didn’t have to work very hard to imagine who they referred to, although it surprised her that Zyra was so up-to-date with the situation already. Val expected she’d have to do quite a lot of explaining, but it appears someone had already done that for her.

Gaia.

Noir’s one word answered everything. Val nodded but shuddered, remembering her encounter with the almost omniscient Daemon earlier that morning. Zyra misinterpreted Val’s shiver and looked over her shoulder as she continued pulling Val along.

“You don’t have to, of course. But I think it’s a good option.” Zyra’s tone was perfectly cool, but Val could see a flash of emotion in her eyes.

“No ulterior motives?” Val couldn’t stop just a hint of bitterness from entering her voice.

Zyra was quiet for almost a full minute before she responded. “I think… it’s well past time we talked. About everything. So yes, I have ulterior motives. But that is for later. Your rest and recovery is my top priority at the moment.”

Val stumbled along in silence. The candid answer was far more than she was expecting, and she found it difficult to maintain her emotional distance from Zyra.

What do you think, Noir? I don’t feel like I can make objective decisions right now. I’m too tired to think of anything else, even though I feel like she’s kinda taking advantage of me right now.

The general consensus of the collective is that Zyra is trustworthy. So I’d be inclined to take her up on her offer of a safe space to rest. As for her “ulterior motives”... well, you’re a big girl, aren’t you? Can’t say I see any harm in repairing a relationship with family, especially when she’s a Council member.

Val snorted, causing Zyra to look back over her shoulder again. Still throwing my own words at me, I see. Yea, alright.

“OK, I’ll take you up on that.” Relief visibly washed over Zyra’s face, but Val continued, “At least for the night. For anything else… We’ll have to see how I feel in the morning.”

Zyra nodded. “That’s all I can ask. Thank you.”

Val’s face flushed red at Zyra’s heartfelt gratitude. It had been years since she had spoken so openly with her aunt. Frankly, it had been years since they’d spoken at all, considering that Val had gone out of her way to cut connections with the Messenger Guild in the aftermath of her parent’s death.

No doubt the stress and isolation of the past several days contributed to Val opening up slightly. Fynn and his family had supported her through the past few years but Val was hesitant to draw them into the shitshow her life was becoming. The Defects seemed like good allies moving forward, but certainly not close enough to tell her whole life story yet. The idea of having at least one person she could talk to that knew both her past and present circumstances seemed… nice. Val fell into a deep thoughtful silence as Zyra continued pulling her through the city.

Apparently Zyra had not expected the conversation to turn out the way it had either as they passed the next ten minutes in an awkward silence. Eventually Val had shrugged her arm free of Zyra’s grip, walking behind her instead. With the adrenaline wearing off, the exhaustion was finally getting to Val. She winced as she pushed her aching legs to keep up with her aunt’s quick pace. A Guildmaster’s time was too precious to walk slowly, it seemed.

“How long has it been since you’ve been in the inner city?”

Zyra’s question broke Val out of her thoughts, causing her to stop glaring at her heavy boots and look around. Val blinked as she took stock of their surroundings. Small groups of people spilled out from numerous small streets, joining the crowds that streamed up and down the busy main boulevard. Several hundred feet ahead, the building and streets came to an abrupt stop as the city butted up against a large rock wall.

The sheer cliff face was broken up by a single, large fortified opening where the main boulevard entered deeper into the mountain. Just as with the city outskirts, Val knew the lack of obvious defensives was misleading. Stationary embankments for heavy weaponry were hidden in the mountainside surrounding the opening, and thick blast doors could close off the entrance in mere seconds.

“It’s been years,” Val answered quietly.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zyra give a small nod in response. There had been little reason to return once Val had left her previous life behind. Professionally, the Guilds all had outposts on the surface where she had completed her three Guild rotations. Socially, Fynn and his family were already living in the outer city and Val actively wanted to cut herself off from the negative attention her family name got from the inner city rumor mills.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the shade of the mountain behind Zyra. They followed the rest of the crowd as it spilled out onto a large plaza. A small marketplace occupied the center of the space as vendors tried to take advantage of the commuting traffic between the inner and outer cities. As they neared the marketplace, the scent of grilling meat and aromatic spices hit Val. Her stomach growled loudly and her legs suddenly seemed to have much more energy as she lurched towards the nearest vendor.

“Two of whatever you’ve got!” Val said, barely acknowledging the balding man manning the grill. The bemused vendor didn’t seem to mind as he dexterously plucked two meat and veggie skewers off his cooktop, handing them over while already turning towards his next customer. Val eagerly grabbed them, barely registering the ding in her mind confirming the transaction as she sank her teeth into the first skewer.

She hummed appreciatively as flavor burst in her mouth. Sure beats decade-old rations. She turned around and found Zyra standing several feet away, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. Val stared back challengingly as she pushed through the crowd towards Zyra, chomping away at the first skewer continuously.

“What? I’m hungry and they smelled great!” Val exclaimed after swallowing another glorious bite. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Zyra, turning away slightly and gripping both skewers tightly. “And just to be clear, this second one’s mine too. None for you.”

“Never even crossed my mind,” Zyra said, shaking her head. “Ready to go?”

“Mmhesh,” Val confirmed around her next large mouthful. Dropping her arms, Zyra turned and walked towards the edge of the plaza. A series of pillars ran alongside the perimeter of the large chamber, each about ten feet wide and embedded partway into the rock. Small crowds of people congregated near each pillar, but Zyra headed towards one near the entrance flanked by a pair of Guardians. Now it was Val’s turn to raise an eyebrow questioningly.

“Really, a private tube?”

“Yes,” Zyra answered, “we have one dedicated to Council use.”

“Fancy,” Val mumbled under her breath. Given the glance Zyra gave her, clearly not quietly enough, though. She hid the slight reddening of her cheeks by ducking her head and finishing off the first skewer. She tossed the empty skewer into a nearby waste receptacle, where nano broke down the refuse and sent any reusable matter back into the production system. Chances are that the skewer had been made from mostly recycled wood in the first place; after all, it was rare to get goods made from brand-new, unprocessed material nowadays.

The Guardians nodded at Zyra and looked suspiciously at Val, but let her pass as she followed behind Zyra. A large doorway yawned open as they approached the pillar, revealing the inside of the pod that would carry them further into the city. They stepped into the pod together, Zyra stepping off to the left. Val casually took another bite from her second skewer as she leaned against the right wall, feeling nano flow out from the wall of the pod to secure her exosuit.

The doorway started shrinking closed as nano filled in the gap. Val watched as the two sides of the opening met before the seam smoothed out, leaving an unmarked wall behind. She knew the whole system was designed to keep the inside of the tube at a near-perfect vacuum to reduce air resistance during travel, but the blatant use of nano still amazed her every time.

“The Peakcour residence, please,” Zyra said. Val met Zyra’s eyes and gave a small nod, which her aunt returned. Zyra didn’t have to speak out loud; indeed, she could have just finalized their travel plans with her Daemon. The verbal confirmation was just a courtesy so that Val knew where they were going and that they were leaving soon.

Well, I guess she could still be lying and we’re actually going somewhere else. I’d never trust her again if she did that to me, though.

The system has the Peakcour residence registered as your actual destination.

Ah, I forgot you could check stuff like that. Thanks, Noir.

Val felt a slight shudder as the pod detached from the boarding zone and started speeding down the tube. A screen flickered into life on one wall of the pod, showing a map of the inner city with their current position indicated by a pulsing dot. Rather than stare at Zyra, Val watched the map intently as they quickly dropped in altitude and headed deeper into the mountain. She was surprised how quickly they were moving. It must have shown on her face because Zyra spoke up from across the pod.

“Council privileges also come with tube priority, so we’re probably getting some favorable routing.”

Val schooled her face as she nodded, not taking her eyes off the map. Rather than a single static configuration, the majority of the tube transport system was in constant flux. Stations had fixed locations and certain well-trafficked areas had dedicated routes, but large portions of the system were raw nano that opened up to connect the few fixed points as needed. An entire fleet of Daemons were dedicated to routing the tubes efficiently; after all, no one wanted to leave the task of juggling thousands of pods, each moving at hundreds of miles per hour and missing other pods by mere feet, to the reflexes of mere humans.

Still, this is kind of ridiculous. We basically took a straight line from the surface to the house. I’m sure hundreds of other pods were rerouted to accommodate us.

In the grand scheme of things, delaying a hundred ordinary citizens by several seconds is worth it to save a Guildmaster that same amount of time. You humans think so slowly that every second counts.

Val snorted again, studiously ignoring Zyra’s gaze.

Stop making me laugh in front of other people. They’ll think I’m crazy or something.

Think of it as practice for keeping a straight face. After your near disaster at the city border, you could certainly stand to get better at lying.

Is that a normal skill you recommend to Users?

Users in general? No. My Users? Yes, out of necessity. You, in particular? Absolutely. We both know things are going to get worse from here on out. We need to stay as far under the radar as possible.

“We’re here,” said Zyra, breaking Val out of her conversation with Noir. The pod shuddered again as they came to stop. Her exosuit was released as the nano flowed back into the wall and the side of the pod opened. Val stepped out after Zyra but immediately froze as she took in the inner city.

She didn’t lie about our destination after all.

A wave of emotion washed over Val as she took in the familiar streets. Even ordinary things brought back a plethora of memories from her childhood and teenage years. One street corner where she had fallen and scraped her knee when she was six. An intersection in the opposite direction where she met her friends every day before high school so that they could walk to class together. A few streets over, a stand of trees marked the park where she had spent most of her summer days.

Val started walking down the street, taking the first right and continuing on for several more blocks. She was vaguely aware of Zyra following behind her, but clearly giving her space. Val came to stop in front of a large two-story house. It looked just like the others on this street, but her eyes wandered up to the corner room on the second floor.

Not just any room. My old room.

After the years away, it felt odd to come back home. And it was true, Val realized. Despite all her efforts to separate herself from the Peakcour name and everything that came with it, part of Val knew that deep down, she had always still considered this her home. It had just been too painful to return. It was still painful, of course, but the exhaustion numbed the sensation.

“You OK?” Zyra asked.

Val nodded slowly. “I think so. It’s… a lot, but it’s fine. It’s just a house.”

Val wasn’t sure she believed that, and the look on Zyra’s face implied she didn’t think so either. But thankfully, Zyra didn’t say anything else as she stepped up to the house. The door unlocked automatically at Zyra’s touch, letting her twist the handle, pull the door open, and step inside. She looked back at Val from the threshold, holding the door open with one arm. Emotions warred inside Val, but eventually she just sighed and started walking towards the door. She was too tired to deal with everything, and the closest bed was merely dozens of feet away.

“Sleep first, talk later,” Val said to Zyra as she passed into the house.

“Of course,” Zyra replied.

Val ducked through the first doorway into the living room, beelining for the couch. It looked exactly as she remembered. Muscle memory took over as she tossed her rifle and half-eaten skewer onto the table, as if they were school supplies, before launching herself onto the couch. The slight cracking of wood reminded her that she was still wearing her exosuit, but she groaned in relief as she sank into the cushions.

Just one minute. Then I’ll get up and get ready for bed properly, she thought moments before sleep took her.