[spoiler] [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/254570734?sort=0&page=0]My Previous Tale: The Drifting Gun(s)[/url][/spoiler] The Shadowsun sisters, as they called themselves, were unusual in that they were blood relations all raised as Guardians. Three Awoken, for each of the three paths of the Guardian. Erennia's strength made her an ideal Titan. Linavil's agility had suited the way of the Hunter. Nemiya, who considered herself a scholar first and foremost, had seen the path of the Warlock as natural to her. Of them, only Nemiya remained. She had believed everything that had been said about Osiris, at least at first. How his obsession led him to abandon his duty to the City, how it would ultimately destroy him and anyone who followed him. The drooling zealots who kissed the ground he walked on seemed to emphasize that point. When the Speaker banished Osiris from the City, she had not batted an eye; she had thought him right to do so, and believed that Ikora Rey would bring stability to her fellow Warlocks. It was the common answer to the ever-present question of why: "It all seemed right at the time." Then she had set foot inside the Infinite Forest... and that was when she truly heard it for the first time. The music of the spheres. The great harmony of the cosmos, somehow embodied within the ever-shifting realm of the Forest. She wasn't sure what had truly awakened her to it. Perhaps it had been the fact that her sisters had fallen during the liberation of the City, just before the defeat of Ghaul and the re-awakening of the Traveler, and getting lost in the Forest was a way to cope with the loss she felt. Perhaps it was the fact that there was still so much that was unknown about the Forest... enough to entice one like herself, one who sought to learn all that was learnable. Or maybe, just maybe, it was because Osiris was right about the Vex being the key to everything. She doubted she would ever know for sure. But that didn't stop her from coming back - just like now, standing before the great portal on Mercury. She was still devoted to the City and the mission of the Guardians, of course; she had been among the many who had set out for the Moon to battle the Hive, both the "real" ones and the nightmares seemingly spawned from the Scarlet Keep, and the Vex that invaded from the Black Garden. But while she was perfectly glad to blast away at whatever threats lurked beyond the City walls with her weapons and her "magical" talents, she was even more satisfied when she was studying. And of the places she often went to learn, the Forest seemed to have the most ideal environment - probably because, the way she saw it, it was a metaphor for life itself. Everything that was known could change, and no one could truly know everything... but it didn't stop people from trying. People like Osiris. People like her. Of the friends she had left after the Red War, none of them truly understood this mindset. Ediren was a Titan, and that meant his approach to life, to service, was straightforward: Find the enemy and kill the enemy before they could harm the people. It was something she could appreciate at times, but she also understood that there was a time for subtlety, for tact, and - for all his good intentions - the hulking Exo had neither. Nyssha had combined that straightforward approach with finesse, the precision of a blade. She was smart, of that Nemiya had no doubt - perhaps not scholarly, but she knew plenty. Thinking on Nyssha, Nemiya's hand tightened around the handle of the gun her Hunter friend had given her, which looked for all the world like metal vines with thorns of gold wrapped around the barrel. Ever since Cayde had fallen to that wretch Uldren, Nyssha had been listless. Most of the Hunters that Nemiya had worked with since had been listless. Nemiya couldn't entirely understand why. After all, the Hunter Vanguard was widely known to be a revolving door; some even said it was cursed. So what was it about Cayde that led them into this funk? She didn't understand it at all. She didn't think she ever would. The people of the City depended on them to carry on, even in spite of loss. She knew what it was like to lose, but she honored her fallen sisters by carrying on the role that all three of them had been chosen for. They were Guardians. That was the way of things. "Perhaps [i]that[/i] is the reason I'm here," she said aloud to herself. Yet, as with everything, she was not entirely sure. But she aimed to find out, as she stepped through the gate... to hear the music once again.