A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 26

"We need to talk," Arrax said, looking at them all, "I am Arrax, an old fighter known to Shaevre. Are you Azrael? Who are these others?"

Shaevre looked for a place on the opposite hillside which looked to the south and would receive the most of the sun's warmth. She carefully sighted on it and one after another, she sent two of her remaining missiles there before switching the meg off and taking it off to set it down.

"Why did you do that?" Cha'Khah asked after getting over her surprise.

"The ground here is frozen hard," Shaevre shrugged, "Faith needs a place to rest. I will dig out the rest with my hands."

The quiet conference in the snow took most of the next hour with Dahlgren stepping away to help as Shaevre laid Faith to rest. After a few moments, he walked back up the slope with the tracks of his tears evident. He rejoined the others and he listened. When it was over, they stood with him at the grave for a time.

Before Arrax left to rejoin Xhan and begin his reports concerning the failed search for Nahl'een, Shaevre pulled him aside for a quiet and earnest conversation.

To the Merren machinery later that evening, he presented an ashen face, and asked his Xer masters to be relieved of his duties. He vowed to remain here in retirement, using his own resources to continue the search. The missing Xer were reported, but with little in the way of infrastructure on the ground anymore, it was decided to list them as missing and presumed dead in an altercation with the insane ambassador. The Merren concurred, preferring to close the unsavory chapter. Their only interest was in their missing Ranger and his adopted daughter, and Arrax indicated that he would make reports on what he found. A proper Merren search now with no Xer support would be tremendously expensive.

With the assistance of his uncle, Xhan was offered a command in the Xer Expeditionary Brigades and made ready to leave on the cusp of a career that he now felt ready to begin.

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The thirty-ton doors opened slowly and Azrael stepped through with Faith, followed by Dahlgren and the two Drow, all carrying what Xer hardware that Shaevre had gathered from the bodies and indicated was valuable to her. Selena stood with the young ones, holding Nahl'een close and willing that two more might pass through the doors before they swung shut once more.

They were all obviously tired from the way that they set down the hardware in a few piles. Selena stared at what was there, recognizing pieces which looked as though they'd come from the weapon that Shaevre had coveted so much.

"Why bring this back?" she asked as she struggled to hold back her tears, "None of us can use this. Most of us can't even pick it up."

"Shaevre asked that we bring it back," Azrael said.

"But, ..." Nahl'een whispered, "Shaevre, where is Shaevre?"

"She's back there a little. Even the Xer get tired. She's had a hell of a day. She's coming." Azrael said as Dahlgren walked away.

Just then, Shaevre stepped through the doors and the massive monoliths began their slow excursions back to their closed positions. The Xer stepped forward and slipped Meg's harness from her shoulders to set it down on the floor with a soft thud. She straightened up to stretch the kinks out of her back. She felt like dirt and she knew that she looked --

Nahl'een and Selena flew at her, hugging her with bright tears of relief in their eyes. Shaevre was surprised for a moment and then she embraced them listening to Selena sob against her.

"It's alright," she smiled a little, looking at them, "I lived."

Selena pulled away and looked as though she still wasn't sure, but after a moment, she pulled herself up higher on Shaevre and she kissed her with everything that she had.

The others were a little shocked, but it only lasted a moment. "You're all dirty," Nahl'een laughed.

Selena stared then, "You're hurt!"

Shaevre grimaced as she reached to pluck a bit of shrapnel from her thigh, nodding, "Just a little. I got off pretty lightly. I keep finding more of bits working out of me every once in a while. Ny'Zeille is dead. She was with a team of Xer -- the others from the house. They're dead too."

"You should have seen our warrior girl back there," Cha'Khah laughed softly, "I have always heard that I am grim in a fight. I have never seen anything like that, this way of fighting that you have."

She turned to the others, "Their weapons spit death to each other. Meg screams and the pieces fly everywhere. Smoke that stings the eyes hangs in the air and trees fall; wood and bark fly about, and through the middle of it walks mighty Shaevre, her face truly grim as she walks in the face of it and brings death to those she hunts. She fears nothing. She -- "

"Where were you to have seen that?" Shaevre smirked, "It sounds better than the place where I spent the midday. Thank you all again for your help at the end. If you had not gotten there, I would not be here to make faces as I pull out these little pieces of metal in me. Don't be too quick with your praise. Those Xer were not fighters, as they learned at last, I guess. If they had been other Death hounds, I would still be there fighting, if I was even still alive. Everything that I had was not enough to do more against Ny'Zeille than to keep rocking her back on her heels for only moments each time. Sooner or later, I would have run out of tricks and then ..."

She smiled, "But it was not me today and I am happy for that. I need to wash this smoke and blood and mud from my fur. We met Arrax and he gave me more combat rations for Azrael to enjoy at dinner." Cha'Khah saw Nahl'een look around and she knew what would be asked next, so she pulled Nahl'een and Selena toward her as she bent a little for the girl.

"This was not a victory without cost," she said, "Faith did the most, but her efforts were too much for her and she passed. I know that she was not in your life for very long, little one, but she loved you and your father grieves now." She watched as Nahl'een's mouth opened and she pulled her close, "You should go to him."

Selena picked Nahl'een up and saw that Faith had left her mark on her little sister in such a short time. The loss of her grandmother over her inexplicable madness to the child's view, combined with finding someone who wanted to be as a mother to her before she'd even met her, only to lose that one after two days caused her to hug Selena tightly as she began to cry. Selena stood for a time comforting Nahl'een and she carried her to Dahlgren.

"She's right back where she started," Selena said to Cha'Khah quietly as she stood with the Drow and Shaevre as they watched the pair.

"No," Shaevre said, "She has lost, but she still has you, and she still has the others. You will need to be as her mother for a time. Dahlgren is as ready to be her father as he always was, but a little help would be good for everyone, I think."

She looked around, "I will help with the meal. First, I need a hot bath more than anything. Having a meg is a thing about love and hate. When you need one, you love her with all of your heart, but then you must carry her everywhere and it turns back to hate then."