I look up to the transparent ceiling, the light of the Aurora star shining down on the statues of the Founders in the promenade’s heart. One hundred meters tall, towering above this place they forged together, this Legion that saved a galaxy.
The first is carved of black opal from Trask, her face wise and brave and serene, looking into a future of infinite possibility. The second is marble mined on Terra, and I smile as I look up into the familiar face of Nari Kim. She’s older than the kid we knew, her chest covered with medals now, admiral’s stars on her shoulders. But she’s still a kid I knew.
“Looking good, Dirtgirl,” I grin.
“Hey.” Scar pinches my arm. “That’s a Founder of Aurora Academy you’re talking to, legionnaire.”
“Yeah, but she got me shot. And blown up. And incinerated. And admiral’s stars or no, I’m certain she was still a colossal pain in the ass.”
Scar laughs and squeezes my hand, smiling at the statue above. “She does look good, now you mention it. I think they polished her.”
“Well, she’s got company coming.”
I nod at a third shape, standing between the Founders. It’s covered in a massive sheet of green velvet, but it’s clear another statue has been built alongside the first two. A statue all these people have come to see.
The mysterious Third Founder. The unsung hero of the whole Ra’haam war, set to be unveiled in tomorrow’s grand celebration. She was content to spend her whole existence in the shadows for the sake of secrecy, of avoiding paradox. A life devoted to saving a galaxy that would never even know who she was.
But tomorrow, we change all that.
Tomorrow, the whole Milky Way will know her name.
“Come on,” Scarlett insists. “We’ll see her tomorrow. The others are waiting.”
We push our way through the crush, the people, all these lives, finally making it to the turbolifts. Rising up, looking out through the transparent walls at the crowd below, I can’t help but smile at the sight.
My smile only widens as we find our meeting room and discover Aurora, Kal, Tyler, and even a scowling Saedii Gilwraeth waiting for us. The scene disintegrates into squealing and hugs as Scar throws herself at Auri, and I have to admit I kind of join in, and Kal bears up with considerable dignity when he’s pulled in too. I notice a neatly dressed, serious young woman standing at the head of the table, but my musings about who she is are cut short as Auri hugs me so tight my exo moves to protective settings around my lungs, to make sure I can keep breathing.
Ty just laughs, and lets it die down of its own accord, reaching out to lay one hand on Saedii’s. She must be feeling pretty loved up today, because she doesn’t even look like she wants to bite it off. I guess they’re making long distance work.
“What are you and Kal doing here?” Scarlett demands, grabbing Aurora’s hand as we all take our seats. “I thought you were on the other side of the galaxy!”
The two of them have been working with the Syldrathi rebuilding effort—now that a peace accord has been signed between the Unbroken and the rest of Syldrathi society, it’s time to do the messy stuff like settling a new planet. Usually Syldrathi don’t like outsiders much, but Auri says her history as a psychic superpower and her connection to the Eshvaren win her enough respect to get by. Probably doesn’t hurt to have a Templar as part of the family, either.
“Are you kidding?” Auri says. “We wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
“Have you seen the design?” Scar asks.
“Tyler sent it to us,” Kal says, nodding to our Alpha. “Beautiful work, Brother.”
“Still think you should’ve put a disruptor pistol in her ha— OW!” I yelp as Scar kicks me under the table, glowering at me, then smiling at her twin.
“It is beautiful, Ty. Seriously. Zila would be very proud.”
“Zila would be very uncomfortable is what Zila would be.” I grin and rub my bruised shin, looking around the room. “Come on. You think Zila Madran ever imagined herself sculpted a hundred meters high out of solid gold? Maker, I wish she was here so I could see the look on her face when we unveil it.”
“Welllll … ,” Tyler says.
All eyes in the room turn to our Alpha.
“Well what?” Kal says, suspicious.
“… Ty?” Scar asks.
“Well, there’s a reason I called you all here a day early,” he says, nodding to the woman at the head of the table. “And there she is.”
All eyes turn to the stranger now. She’s Terran, maybe mid-twenties, neatly dressed in gray attire. She has a serious face, but she doesn’t scream “military” to me, so I don’t think she’s Legion. She looks around the room at each of us, dark eyes finally settling on Aurora.
“Who are you?” Auri asks.
“A messenger,” she says simply, bringing up a projection from her wrist unit and letting it speak for itself.
Aurora’s face lights up, Scarlett gasps, and I feel my own lips curling in wonder at the projection before us.
It’s Zila.
She’s an old lady, hair completely silver, smile lines at the corners of her eyes. She’s gazing straight down the camera, and it feels like she’s gazing straight at each of us.
“Greetings, my friends,” she says, and though some of the edge has come off her voice over the course of her lifetime, it’s still unmistakably Zila Madran. “This message is due to be delivered one year after the events for which I spent my life preparing. I hope with all my heart that you are all present to receive it. I have accepted that while I know many things, this will forever remain a mystery to me. I was once told by my Alpha that some moments require faith. Know that I have faith in you.
“Aurora, I hope you are well. This message is for you, in particular. It took me some years to realize that in my new timeline, your mother and your sister would still be very much alive and well, and mourning your loss. I know this has been a source of great sadness to you, and so I considered the options available, remembering always that the avoidance of paradox in the timeline was of the utmost importance.”
Auri lifts her hands to cover her mouth, her eyes bright, and Kal shifts his chair so he can quietly slip his arm around her. Scar squeezes her hand.
The footage of Zila continues.
“I spoke to your mother shortly before she died, and told her you were safe. I am sorry I could not do so sooner, but I judged the risk of paradox too great. Please know our conversation brought her great peace. I studied your sister, Callie, for some time before deciding she was capable of the levels of secrecy required, and eventually I confided the truth of your fate in her.”
Aurora is crying properly now, though I think it’s a happy cry, and the woman who brought the recording lifts her wrist unit again. With a flick, she sends a picture up to sit alongside Zila—it’s a woman who looks so, so like Aurora, though older, and she has a toddler sitting on her hip.
“This is your sister, with your niece, Jie-Lin,” Zila says.
The woman brings up another picture—now the woman who must be Callie is older, and beside her stands another woman who might be Jie-Lin, and there’s a new toddler.
“And here is her daughter,” Zila continues. “I have arranged for further pictures to be added to the collection as new generations are born, and it is my hope that this file will now be delivered by—”