Page 131 "Wow... this place is gorgeous!" Admiring her vacant new living quarters, a hunter races from one sunlit room to another. Finally, she thinks. A place to rest her head. A disgruntled little creature of a Ghost hovers over her shoulder. "It's... just a one bedroom apartment—" "It's so cool!" She gives a little spin of enthusiasm. If the Ghost had a heart, it would have warmed at the sight. While this awoken girl wasn't exactly what he'd expected his guardian to be... (maybe a strong, burly titan, or a quick witted warlock) it was hard not to find her endearing at times. He follows her as she stops in front of a mirror and begins to remove her dusty old armor. "So... have you thought of a name for yourself?" As she tugs her shirt away from her neck, the Ghost notices a tattoo, faded but still visible, just under her left collarbone. It seems to catch her eye just as well, and she stops to give it a good, long stare. The Ghost is silent for a moment. Fingers trace over dulled ink on her pale awoken skin. "...[i]Shadow[/i]..." she pronounces slowly, still remembering how to read. "What?" "Thats my name," she says with such certainty the Ghost almost thinks she's remembering her past life. He blinks. But that wasn't possible. "You think you got your [i]own[/i] name tattooed on your body?" he scoffs, his shell whirring beside her ear. "Past you must have been very vain." "Hey!" She flashes him that wide, crooked-toothed grin of hers. "Leave old-me alone. I'm sure she had a good reason to have this marked on her." The Ghost blinks a few more times. "Is that [i]really[/i] what you're going with?" He quips, finding the name a bit silly. "Yes." When she turns her sparkling golden eyes on him, he can't find it in himself to object. "It's important, somehow," she insists. "I know it." "Alright then... Shadow it is," he sighs fondly. "Let's go get you registered." *** Staring into her reflection, Shadow's fingers find a faded tattoo just under her collarbone. She hardly recognizes herself anymore. Her eyes are sunken and tired but still remain the most familiar thing on her face. "I can't believe how much has changed..." Glitch is staring at himself. She can feel his eye boring into the mirror. He speaks what she's thinking. "Some days I.... I close my eyes and I can still hear them. Down in the city. The construction, the birds, the children..." Shadow closes her eyes, as if she's seeing them now. A heavy silence rests between them. "You were arrogant...typical, for a new hunter," Glitch comments. She goes on in agreement, "I remember guardians talking about killing fallen. And I was one of them." "And then you met him?" Glitch finishes for her. "Yes... I met him." The faintest of smiles pulls at her mouth. Her eyebrows come closer together in a pained expression. "I really wanted to fit in," she starts, and Glitch already knows what she's going to try to say. "I know," he interjects. "Shadow, you don't have to justify this to me anymore. I know how things were, between us, but...they aren't that way anymore. I understand." Rotating the amethyst Variks had gifted her in her hands, Shadow aims her eyes downward. "This is my little family here. N' you and him." Her words are quiet, choked with emotion. "It's all I have left. I just don't want to lose it." Glitch floats a little closer to her. "You won't," he tries to say confidently, but the words fall flat. "The way they looked at me... they [i]hated[/i] me... I just wanted peace. I wanted to be able to see eliksni and humanity together in that city under the traveler." She scoffs at herself. "A naive idea, I know." "It could still happen," her ghost offers but she can hear his doubt. "Leaving was hard. The idea of going back and seeing how much more they hate me now is even harder." "It's not just Variks's affections you've won, you know," Glitch diverts. "They really love you, especially the children. You've become someone they can look to for care and hope," he reminds her gently. "I've heard them call you mother-Kell." She smiles. Not like she used to, but a smile nonetheless. "I thought you would lose yourself, when you started working for him. I thought you would just be... well, his shadow. No pun intended." The hunter throws a wry glance his way. "But I was wrong about you. You loved someone unexpected, and maybe spent more time with them than I would have liked you to, but... Your goal was bigger than I could understand at the time. I really thought you didn't care. But you still wanted to help the city... You just wanted the eliksni to be a part of that. You wanted [i]him[/i] to be a part of that." Shadow blinks misty amber eyes at her ghost. "Thank you," she murmurs. "For what?" "Taking the time to understand me." He can see how desperately she's craved someone to understand. All she'd had was Variks to truly know what she was feeling. "I'm scared," she rasps quietly. Glitch nestles his shell into her chest. "As long as you still know who you are... I believe everything will turn out alright," he says softly. A cold hand keeps him held close. "I know who I am," she murmurs barely audibly. Fingertips reach to feel over the cursive ink on her skin once more. "I'm still Shadow."