Korsha flung open the door to her master’s apartment as she fled from the world. Slamming the door behind her, she blocked out the chaos that had just unfolded. The images that had chased her across Megara, from the hospital to the apartment. They had attacked her relentlessly, predators in pursuit of weak prey. Every now and then they’d lunge, strike and she’d see an image. It burned into her mind like a lightning flash. Now with the door firmly fixed behind her, the sanctuary was complete.

Yet there was an intruder.

Tal.

Korsha’s eyes widened, brow arching up to a crest before dipping. He wasn’t here in any official capacity. That was evident my his civilian clothing. A street jacket of deep turquoise that intensified his eyes. It was the kind of jacket a bounty hunter might wear in a holo-drama. His rudy hair was slicked back, falling back like a thin cap as it duck-tailed around his shoulders. Korsha's heart throbbed, he looked nearly the same as he did in the Academy. Though the lines that now pressed down against his once youthful face created angles of seriousness that went counter to the happy-go-lucky image she’d placed upon the shelf of her mind.

He was neither imposing but his presence filled the room. It filled Korsha with a sense of dread. A reminder that the universe gave and took in equal measures. Though never revealing the ledger to which it did its transactions.

He cocked his head to the side, eyeing her. It was a familiar gesture and she already knew what he was about to ask. It brought a sad smile to her lips. She still understood him, at least on some level.

"What's wrong?"

"My mas… Anadrov was attacked. An… assassination attempt."

Tal's eyes widened and his jaw dropped, "How did this happen?"

Korsha sighed, a weary thing that died upon her lips as she trudged across the floor and relinquished her burden onto one of the chairs. The soft cushions rushed up, guiding her into a comfortable position. Guilt skittered across her skin, spider bites that made her want to itch until there was no skin left for it to assault. Why should she be here? Alive. Comfortable. Her master had been assaulted. Had saved her.

Korsha’s breaths came in long hurricane-like bursts. They drowned the world as her master’s body collided against her. The force, so sudden, so strong, yet so tender and loving in its desperation, threw her away. Casting her aside as judgment burst forth, ravenous and wrathful. The heat licked at her skin. A demented demon that wanted her to know that it could have had her. That it had wanted her but that it was willing to take an alternative sacrifice. One that would destroy her in a far slower and methodical way.

“Korsha.”

She gasped. Her mind dropped back into the apartment. Found herself sitting in a chair, seated across the Tal. Her old friend leaned forward, elbows on the edges of the armrests.

"It's my fault. I hesitated. Again."

Tal's eyes narrowed and he shook his head, "That isn’t like you."

Korsha suppressed a sneer but the bitterness found an escape through a small suppressed huff. It lingered in the air between them. That wasn't like her? How would he even know what she was like? He’d abandoned her after… after Deidra. The truth was evident. He’d only cared for Deidra. She’d seen the way his eyes glazed over as he stared at Deidra. Korsha understood the feeling. Deidra had been a living force, an embodiment of something the universe had long since stopped making. She was fire incarnate, wild and warm, loving and destructive. Focus, you're not here to make a friend. He could be useful.

"Tal, do you know what happened to Deidra after," she trailed off, unable to say it.

Tal’s face hardened, the lines deepening into trenches. His brow came down to a sharp point as his eyes narrowed. She could feel the anger radiating off him, an icy malevolence that crept along the ground towards her. Freezing out the world. It was the same anger she’d felt when they’d met a day ago. Yet now she could see beneath its surface. The dark ocean of sorrow that remained fixed. Unmoving. Perhaps even incapable of moving. He was just as stuck in the past as she was.

"The last time I saw Deidra she'd come to tell me," he stopped, turned away and gazed off into the distance. His eyes became glassy and he shut them for a moment before turning to look at her, "goodbye. If I’d known it was a goodbye, I’d…”

He trailed off, his words exhaled in a broken sigh.

"So you don't know what happened to her?"

"I know that you happened to her and that your master." He spat, causing her to wince.

A heavy silence formed between them. Their inability to speak, to reach out to one another, allowed it to build. Block by block it became a wall. An immovable force that demanded their separation. All because they failed to speak. The truth of it cut into Korsha once more but she ignored it having grown accustomed to such damning realizations. Yet Korsha knew that in this moment Tal was all she had left and she’d give nearly anything to have the wall destroyed. She’d cover the distance. Tal shook his head and held up a hand.

"This isn’t productive. I don’t know where she is. You were there when I was informed.”

Korsha’s eyes dropped, a link between who she was now and the person she’d been in that moment. Once more unable to meet Tal’s eyes. His judgment. To see what truly laid behind the veil of blue irises to what lingered within his soul. She couldn’t see the reflection of her worth there. No, instead once more she’d turned away. Ignore it. Press down the urge and focus on what truly mattered. The mission. There’s a mission here. What are my goals? Find the assailant.

Those cold calculated thoughts, which had only started churning, ground to a halt as she saw fire once more. Warmth blossomed within her chest, oozing out into the rest of her body as she remembered what those flames had felt like. Even tangentially they were potent. Fierce. A deadly beauty of scarlet and gold. Her head snapped up. The suspicion rose within her, boiling over until it just burst out of her.

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"I think Deidra is the one who attacked us."

Tal's eyes widened. His mouth opened but then snapped shut. He shook his head.

"That's not," he stopped himself. He blinked several more times, eyes jumping back and forth like uncertain pendulums. His head shook, then fell back into his chair, “Are you sure?”

"During the struggle I cracked her helmet. I saw red hair, it was the same color as Deidra's."

"That doesn't necessarily mean it was her. It wasn't her hair that made her unique." Tal said motioning up to his own ruddy hair, though in Korsha’s opinion it lacked whatever fierce vitality that Deidra had once had.

"The assailant was a pyro. Their fire was magic. That's why Anadrov is in the hospital.”

"The Betrayer’s blessings are many, those marked by her are just as numerous. Far more than the Dominion is really willing to admit, though, thankfully, they aren’t organized like they once were.” Tal became quiet for a moment. He leaned back, bringing his hands together.

Korsha could sense his quiet reservation, an unwillingness to accept Korsha’s words. Why should he believe her? Why should she even believe herself? Could she be sure of anything? She’d been hit pretty hard in the head. Anaku healed me. His work has never been sloppy before. There was always the chance that what she saw was a manifestation of a stressed and close to fracturing mind.

“It could have been someone masquerading as her. I've seen what assassinations amongst the aristocracy look like. They're designed to dismantle the person even if they don't succeed in killing them.”

Korsha considered that. Even though she wasn't the target of the attack, it had succeeded in creating chaos within her. If this truly was an assassination attempt by someone in power, then it had been carefully planned. They’d done their research, delved into her history and had exposed her weaknesses. Weaknesses that I should have become callous to. Korsha thought with a bitter heat that made her want to choke her past self for ignoring it. She’d been so foolish. She’d been trained to not ignore problems but to face them head on, smash them or find a way to remove them as an obstacle.

Unlike a normal adversary the past was elusive. Memories weren’t something one could grab or choke or smother or strike. They were ghosts, things that one had to sit with or else they’d slip away. One had to either suppress them and allow their shadowy influence to creep in or they had to endure them. Korsha hadn’t been able to endure them. To endure her friendship she’d once had. To endure the happiness of those times. Because if she did she had to realize her mistakes. She had to confront herself and the misery she’d made for herself.

She shook the melancholy off, once more wielding her focus like a shield. She disagreed with Tal’s assessment. She too had seen assassinations. She’d participated in them. Though she wasn’t about to tell that to Tal. Assassinations were a clinic thing. An outsider who was called upon to intervene into other’s rivalries. That didn’t fit with what Korsha had seen.

The fight had been intense. It lacked the cold professionalism and focus of a typical assassin. No this was targeted in an intimate way. If it was her… Korsha blinked. Jaw clamping down, the muscles aching as she solidified the prison her emotions were trying to escape. She has plenty of reasons to burn us to cinders. Her wrath will burn the universe around us…

The silence within her cracked and Korsha roamed through the labyrinth of her mind to find what had shattered. She knew it had only been an echo. The ghost of a fragrance that had died upon a gale. Trudging through her mind she found it. The crack. The spiderwebbed scar that had been festering in her mind, in those silent moments, for all these years. Like a picture thrown from a shelf by a world-altering quake, Korsha knelt down and saw the fragmented image of Deidra, Tal and herself. Happy. Inseparable.

Separated.

Yet staring down at that phantom something rose up within her. Light and feathery at first before gaining momentum. Power. It magnified and clasped hold of her, drawing her out of that dark labyrinth and back into the present moment.

Maybe.

Just maybe…

She could find Deidra and reconcile.

They could be a family again. Sisters bound by duty. Two souls serving penance for the blessing pressed against them. Together they could find a way to endure their blessings and once more have a future. Her eyes fixed themselves on Tal’s.

"There's a chance that it was Deidra. I have to eliminate that chance before I pursue any other leads."

"So why do you need me?"

Korsha took a deep breath. This was it. She was about to lay herself bare.

"I need to know where the Grimnar Academy is."

He laughed, a high shocked thing that caused him to run a hand through his hair, "You realize how many laws I’d be violating telling you that? And after everything that happened between us, I'm not ready to throw myself out there like that."

"Tal, if I'm wrong then we can do a memory spike or something once I get back. But if I'm right, and Deidra's back," she paused, letting her words soak into him. "We have a chance at getting her back. I'm willing to do anything to see my sister again."

Tal was quiet for a long moment. He leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers back and forth along the thin beard on his chin.

"If we do this, you better believe that I’ll make certain this doesn’t come back to me. If you’re caught then you’re on your own.”

“Not like I’m not used to it by now.”

“Grimnar’s shut down. It’s no longer active so there shouldn't be any guards, only lockout protocols. Maybe an acrena or two but I doubt it."

It was Korsha's turn to be surprised. Grimnar was no longer active? What happened? She was about to ask but decided against it. That wasn't the reason she was here and she'd probably get a chance to figure out what happened while she was there. He brought his omnivice up, pale blue light swirled around his forearm. His fingers jabbed a short series of commands. A data packet formed in his hand and he reached out towards Korsha. She went to take it but he grabbed her hand just as she was about to take it.

"If she’s still alive, promise me you'll bring her back. Alive."

The word stung Korsha. Once again he could still get under her skin. She hesitated. If Deidra was responsible then Korsha was obligated to bring her back to justice. Once more, like that horrible day in her nightmares, she was torn between her master and her sister. Back then she'd hesitated, choosing neither one. This time she'd have to choose. She'd already chosen. I won't fail you again, my master.

Maybe there was a way to fix all this. Perhaps she was being coerced or was being controlled somehow. All Korsha had to do was show that she was an agent, a pawn. What if she was a willing pawn? Like you, the thought struck Korsha like a slap across the face. It made her boil over with rage. She wasn't a pawn. She was a servant. A valued asset to a generous master who could see the value in another asset.

She returned her attention to Tal.

“If she's still alive. I will bring her back.”

What she did after finding her and bringing her back, she didn't know. That she wouldn't promise. There was a chime from her omnivice and she saw the data packet had loaded. She had the coordinates. She rose and Tal followed suit.

“Thank you, Tal.”

Tal stopped at the door, his hand resting on the handle. He glanced back at her. He opened his mouth but then shut it and left without saying another word. Korsha watched him slip down the hall. A sad smile crept up her lips as he popped the collar of his jacket, bringing it up against his neck. He’d always thought he looked cool. Korsha had agreed. Deidra had laughed. Korsha shut the door and sprinted back to her bedroom. She had to get ready to leave.