Rust and Water: Part 8 - Past Shadows

Part 8: Past Shadows --- Libraries always had a certain scent to them, paper dust and mold, dried leather and glue, those smells that proclaimed, in their silent way, that this was a repository of knowledge. The silence itself spoke of hidden secrets, lurking in the muffled pages and scrolls. Rarely would one raise their voice between the shelves, as through speaking too loudly would alert something that should not be awakened, an idea, perhaps, that lay in wait for the curious and the unprepared. Red lights flashed in the darkness. A hulking figure sat in the shadows, the single flickering light behind its shoulder illuminating the manuscript over which it was poring. The light danced across chromed fingers as they reached out and turned the page with a quiet rustle. The hand stopped, mid turn, as the light flickered again. The red lights moved through the darkness, head turning towards muffled approaching footsteps. Otherwise the figure did not move, just waited. “I thought I might find you here, Knight.” Zavala moved into the small pool of light. Knight-12 nodded, neither greeting nor annoyance in the gesture, just acknowledgement. “More often than not,” He replied. “I don’t make myself difficult to find.” His finger carefully stroked down the page, as though reminding what knowledge was contained there that it was not forgotten. Zavala walked over to the other chair in the crowded nook and removed the pile of books on the seat. The EXO watched with sharp eyes as the commander carefully placed the pile on the table before sitting. With a sigh he leaned forward and tented his hands before his face. Knight waited patiently, light flicking over his silver chrome faceplates. “Cayde claims he may have found her.” The EXO shifted slightly. “Reliable source?” “He seems to think so.” “So she was not lost after all.” Zavala sighed and rubbed at his forehead, avoiding the EXO‘s steady gaze. “Perhaps. Not in the way we thought, in any case. It has been…a long time.” “Where?” “Old Chicago.” “Interesting.” Zavala looked up, turquoise eyes glowing in the dim, mote-laden air. “Why would she go there?” There was an unfamiliar note in the question, one not many would have ever heard in the commander’s voice. Knight’s eyes didn’t move, their red glow casting violet shadows on Zavala’s skin. “You don’t know?” Zavala stood in a sudden convulsive move and Knight’s optics blinked once, slowly, before he pointedly turned them back to the book before him. Zavala stopped, arresting whatever impulse had moved him, but remained standing. “That wasn’t what I was asking.” “But it was a question that needed to be asked, my friend.” Knight replied complacently. “Or at least an answer remembered.” Zavala stood silent. With a sigh Knight set his book aside and unfolded himself from his chair. His massive shadow eclipsed the small light behind him as he towered over the awoken commander. “You have a request to make of me, I assume.” The commander folded his hands behind his back. “I recommended that you be approached to check in on one of Cayde’s Hunters. He was sent to Old Chicago over two months ago.” “Oh?” “Herro-7.” “I know him. We’ve worked together before.” Knight paused, as though searching his memory for further information. “He likes to climb things.” “Given the state of Old Chicago such an inclination should serve him well.” Zavala agreed. “But the fact remains that he has not returned and has not been in communication since he was sent.” “She would not harm him.” Zavala’s expression flickered. “We can’t know that.” He said after a long moment of silence. Knight shook his head. “Guardians have changed before. It has been…a long time.” “You should trust that she would not have changed so much as to be unrecognizable. After what happened…” Zavala’s stance became stone-like, unmoving, unmovable. His head lifted. “You were not there.” “No, I was not.” Knight interrupted, raising one hand in a placating gesture. The Commander’s jaw clenched and relaxed several times as he strove to gain control over his emotion. The EXO sighed and murmured under his breath. “Incomplete information can be more harmful than a deliberate lie discovered.” He shook his head again. “When asked, I will agree.” Zavala ducked his head, deciding to ignore the first comment in favor of the second. “My thanks.” He replied, voice tight before he turned on his heel and vanished into the maze of shadowed bookshelves. Knight turned and began gathering up his books. “Gideon, I assume you were auditing the conversation?” “Very interesting.” Knight’s ghost replied, appearing from behind another bookshelf. “To think that after all these years he would still feel so…strongly about the matter.” Knight hummed thoughtfully, gently tapping the edge of one book against his palm before replacing it on the shelf. “He is not one that changes easily. Adapt? Yes. That is what makes him a great tactician, and a good leader. But his core? That is built as strongly as the walls that surround us.” He turned, replaced another book. “Very few things have managed to shake those foundations.” “One of them being Alia.” Gideon agreed. “The only time I’ve ever seen him crumble was the day she disappeared.” “A good many things happened on that day.” Knight replied, a note of sadness in his voice. “Yes, and none of them good.” The EXO stopped, turning his head, his ghost mimicking his movements. “That will be Cayde.” He commented, listening to the pattern of footsteps, the displacement of air as a cloak swished around the corner of a bookshelf. “I think you intimidate him.” Gideon observed. The EXO smiled. “That so?” “Be nice.” Gideon chided before he vanished, leaving Knight to find the best place to properly loom in wait for the Hunter Vanguard. --- Part Nine: https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Post/1371758/227529950/0/0 https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Post/1371758/226526566/0/0 - Table of Contents