After spending an hour getting chewed out by Admiral Shepard upon returning to the Archangel, Morrigan gave Mo’Emori a brief tour on the way to her quarters.

  To say Shepard was still mad with her was an understatement however, Morrigan was content with simply taking her berating, after all, she knew what she had done worried everyone especially since going into a ship alone was how their last Inquisitor had been killed. As Apollyon was so quick to point out though, Morrigan was not their last Inquisitor but that didn’t keep her from understanding the very real worry the crew felt.

  In the end though, Morrigan walked onto the Federation ship a miserable wreck and left feeling significantly better with additional news that made the entire excursion worth it.

  Once the crew of the Archangel finished looting the Federation Frigate, they would be off to the true Eskarii homeworld; a planet called Escostia within the Centuria system. The fact that the homeworld was significantly closer to Tik’Taq’To than she would have expected irked Morrigan but, having Mo’Emori there prattling off the events she had experienced since parting ways at the Void Star kept her distracted.

  “So, you really went to Tik’Taq’To and spoke with Xitzocl?” Morrigan asked in disbelief as they sat in her quarters chatting, Skoll wedging himself onto the sofa to lay his head in his master’s lap.

  Mo’Emori nodded vigorously, “Yeah! She was really nice, well, as nice as one could expect-Oh! I even saw Qiote! He’s such a happy little S’randin now!” Her giggling was infectious as Morrigan couldn’t help but feel relieved that Qiote was doing so well.

  “Speaking of, I thought about how you said you met the Danth?r. He must have been left on Tik’Taq’To after the war,” Mo’Emori noted eyeing Skoll’s sleeping form.

  Morrigan looked down as she gently pet him, recalling what she knew about the Marmuro’k-Eskarii war. “But that would make him… nearly 300 years old, at least,” she pointed out as she looked back to see Mo’Emori shrug.

  “It’s possible. We’ve tried to study the Danth?r for a long time but their longevity surpasses our own and they’re… extremely dangerous. Many hunters and researchers have been killed alike, to see you with one is just… well, if anyone could bond with one of the deadliest creatures known to the Eskarii, it would be you,” she replied. Morrigan could hear the subtle nervousness in her voice despite appearing calm.

  “So… Skoll’s species is from your world?” Morrigan asked.

  Mo’Emori’s ears drooped slightly before shaking her head, “No, they’re exclusive to the planet Turisa. It’s one of few worlds the Eskarii use exclusively for hunting… it’s where my Tad’a died… he was killed by a pair of Danth?r.”

  Skoll opened one eye too look at her only let out a contemptuous huff. Morrigan gently slapped him over the head, “Hey, be nice,” she scolded which only earned her a complaining grumble from the massive beast. Skoll watched Mo’Emori’s ears droop even more as she looked away hurt by the memory, snaking one of his tentacles towards her before whining to get her attention.

  Mo’Emori looked back to be surprised by a furry tendril hovering in front of her face. She leaned back nervously and looked over to Morrigan to see the soft smile on her face.

  “He’s trying to break the ice,” Morrigan said softly with certainty as she gently scratched the soft spots above his eyes.

  Hesitantly, she reached up with both hands so her fingers could touch the poufy tip of the tendril nearly the size of her head. The moment the tips of her fingers touched the soft fur she gasped murmuring, “Its so soft.” She gently ran her fingers along the length of the tendril however, without warning, Skoll booped her in the face with the pouf of his tendril before retracting it, earning an amused chuckle out of his master as she saw the surprised look on Mo’Emori’s face.

  The silly interaction let Mo’Emori ease her nerves, her mind that never stopped racing seemed to slow down enough for her to relax and appreciate the woman across from her; to really see her.

  “Mori… how come your eyes are different?” she asked with the innocence of a child.

  Morrigan blushed as she couldn’t help but laugh. If she was honest with herself, she was entirely surprised that it took as long as it did for the question to come up. Instead of being embarrassed or ashamed of her visage, the fact that Mo’Emori didn’t freak out or make a big deal about it, she felt as though the physical changes of her body were acceptable; not that she had much choice on the matter.

  “That isn’t the only thing different,” Morrigan commented before opening her mouth wide enough to show off her fangs, something she oddly felt proud of.

  Mo’Emori’s jaw dropped in shock as she spied the four sharpened teeth in her mouth, “What happened?” she asked simply.

  With a shrug, Morrigan leaned back into the couch and stroked Skoll’s snout tenderly, “I honestly have no clue. I just… woke up like this one day. That’s not even everything but…” Morrigan pursed her lips nervously as she referred to the tattoo that had nearly enveloped her entire body.

  Mo’Emori tilted her head curiously before realizing that what ever the new thing she talked about was something intimate. Her ears burned red as she shook her head giggling, “Well I bet it’s really cool… have the doctors been able to figure anything out about it?”

  Morrigan snorted loudly at that, “Dr. Tamina isn’t coming anywhere near me if I have anything to say about it. It’s bad enough she finally managed to nab Nora.”

  “Nora? Is she okay?” Mo’Emori asked with genuine concern only to watch Morrigan nod with a deep sigh.

  “Yeah. She managed to get injured on our last mission… but the docs are fixing her up, speaking of… she should’ve been out by now,” Morrigan pointed out curiously as she realized after five hours since she started her rampage, Dr. Tamina had failed to notify her about Nora’s surgery.

  She reached towards the table and grabbed her personal data-slate much to Skoll’s discomfort before pushing back into the couch. She searched her messages to find one from Tamina stating that Nora’s surgery was a success and had been resting for over an hour in the same medical room she had been in before. It was then had she realized she never turned her comm bead back on.

  “Well, she’s out of surgery, apparently it went well…”

  “We should go see her!” Mo’Emori exclaimed.

  Morrigan felt a wave of guilt vibrate through her, something she thought would subside longer though she knew she would hate herself if she started avoiding Nora over her own stupidity. “Alright, though she still might be sleeping,” Morrigan commented before forcing Skoll to lift his head so she could slip out from underneath him.

  “Do you wanna go see Momma, sweetie?” Morrigan cooed at Skoll. His response was simply rolling over and dangling his paws in the air as he closed his eyes with a content sigh.

  “Aweee! Looks like he wore himself out,” Mo’Emori cooed excitedly in adoration, unable to believe something so big and deadly could be so cute.

  Morrigan snickered at that, “Yeah, he was certainly busy today… anyways, let’s go.”

  As they walked towards the door Mo’Emori stopped as if she remembered something important, “Wait! She’s… she’s not going to be mad at me, is she?” she asked timidly as a wave of worry radiated from her.

  Morrigan furrowed her brow, “Why would she be mad at you?”

  Mo’Emori shifted nervously as she looked away towards the kitchen to her left, “Because… when we last saw each other I… we kinda…”

  It dawned on Morrigan as she blushed fiercely at the memory, “Oh! That, no, no actually… if anything, Taylor would probably be madder about it than Nora would be…” she stated instantly regretting bringing Taylor up.

  “Wait, Taylor?” Mo’Emori inquired.

  Morrigan chuckled nervously as they left her quarters, “Yeah, didn’t I mention? He’s on the ship too…”

  ◇◇◇

  On the way to the med bay, Morrigan gave Mo’Emori a brief run down of the events that surrounded her life; from how she became the chieftain of a Marmuro’k clan to finding and conscripting Havoc Squad to the assault on the Federation forces at Gelia which left Mo’Emori enthralled as they walked.

  For the first time since, Morrigan found herself able to speak of Sigurd without breaking down, allowing her to fully regale the mad man’s history and antics which made Mo’Emori laugh just as much as the man had once made Morrigan laugh.

  Before they knew it they found themselves in the medical bay where Nora stayed, Morrigan auto piloting towards the room she was in.

  “Wow, your life has changed so much since Dr. Yuma’s office,” Mo’Emori commented brightly as if proud of Morrigan’s accomplishments. However, Morrigan couldn’t necessarily see too much good in the history of violence she was creating, though she did have to admit there were some things that would always be looked upon with fondness.

  “Yeah, it sure has… the question is, is it worth it all though?” she asked absentmindedly as she tangled with her own thoughts.

  “What are you saying? Of course it is!” Mo’Emori’s high pitched excitement pulling her attention.

  Looking up she could see the subtle worry in her bright yellow eyes, “Mori, you’ve done amazing and wonderful things! You saved Taylor and his friends from a terrible fate; you’ve saved millions of Eskarii lives and even helped another community of Eskarii from slavery! You met and tamed a legendary creature, and you are closer to the Marmuro’k than anyone could have hoped to become, you’ve even given the opportunity for potential friendship between the Eskarii and Marmuro’k! How is that not worth it all? You’ve done incredible things, Mori.”

  “I usually just tell her she’s sexy and beautiful… that usually works,” came the tired voice of Nora as she snickered to herself while sitting up to greet her visitors.

  “Awe baby, you shouldn’t have. I always wanted a quirky alien girl-pet,” Nora mused drowsily as she watched both women enter the room.

  Morrigan chuckled at the comment as she stepped towards the bed to lean over and kiss Nora, careful not to bump the sling that held her right arm to get chest.

  Nora moaned slightly before pulling away, “Mmm I missed that,” she commented with a grin.

  “How are you feeling?” Mo’Emori asked softly, beating Morrigan to the punch as both women sat down.

  Nora rolled her eyes with a grin before nodding, “Oh yeah, I’m good. These pain killers are superb.” Nora snorted as she began laughing before actually taking a close look at Mo’Emori. “Oh hey! It’s you! Little miss I like to kiss taken women!”

  Mo’Emori’s face burned bright red as she shrank into herself, which only made Nora snicker more.

  “Nora, be nice…” Morrigan commented with a sigh which only made Nora laugh more.

  “Psh! When am I ever nice? But really though, it's all good, girl, bring it in!” Nora stated as she held out her one free arm towards Mo’Emori.

  “I’m really sorry about that… I just…” Mo’Emori started before Nora cut her off.

  “Less talky, more huggy, missy,” Nora demanded.

  With a meek smile, Mo’Emori tentatively obeyed standing up and leaned down to wrap both arms around Nora as she was pulled into a tight hug. But as she let go, Nora hooked her fingers around the crook of her neck and pulled her down further until Nora’s lips pressed against Mo’Emori’s, causing the nervous Eskarii girl to squeak in surprise as she held her arms out to keep balance.

  Jaw fallen, Morrigan watched her drug induced girlfriend steal a kiss from Mo’Emori, something she couldn’t make heads or tails about as Mo’Emori’s eyes met hers with a silent plea.

  On one hand, Morrigan felt that she deserved it after what happened between the two of them on the Void Star, as well as certain events that happened recently which made her feel like she didn’t deserve an opinion on the matter but on the other hand, there was something about watching Nora make out with a gorgeous Eskarii that tickled her fancy in several ways.

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  Well, well, now that’s a sight for the ages, ain’t it? Apollyon snickered as the deity teased her.

  She couldn’t be surprised though. Despite never acting on her words, Nora had always been very vocal about her attraction to other women, especially women Morrigan too had been attracted to, but what was surprising was that Morrigan harbored no jealousy as she stared slack jawed for only the moment, whether she believed she was entitled to jealous or not.

  As soon as Nora let go Mo’Emori stumbled back in bewilderment and worry as she looked between Morrigan and Nora, her face and ears turning a darker shade of crimson, “Why did you do that? Why did she do that?”

  “Now we're even,” Nora grinned.

  Mo’Emori looked entirely confused as she glanced at Morrigan, “Mori! Aren't you going to say something?”

  Morrigan glanced between both women as she blushed slightly, finally closing her mouth and clearing her throat, “Well I, uh, did say she wasn't going to be mad…”

  Oh, that was just lame!

  Nora snorted loudly at that before looking at Mo’Emori with a predatory gaze, “Oh I am, just wait until I have use of both of my arms.”

  “What does that mean? Mori, what is she talking about?” Mo’Emori exclaimed as she took a step back. Mo’Emori may have been young at heart however, she was well old enough to understand the ambiguity of violence but when it came to Nora, one couldn’t be entirely sure what her threats entailed.

  “Oh my, this is going to be so much fun,” Nora said darkly with a big grin, side eyeing Morrigan intently.

  Morrigan looked at her girlfriend curiously, “That is a good question, even I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  Nora slapped the bed as she leaned forward, “Heh! Even better! Looks like we’ll find out in a few weeks!”

  The shift in topic grasped Morrigan’s attention as her mind tried to consider every possibility Nora could be thinking, which was a very long list.

  “A few weeks? Why is it taking so long to recover?” She asked.

  Mo’Emori took a seat outside of arms reach of Nora as she fidgeted nervously with her fingers, equally curious though her mind raced with worry at the ramifications of the mad woman.

  “Well, apparently they had to shave down both sides of my shoulder and put some weird shit in there that’ll harden into “bone”,” she commented with a single set of air quotes, “So it’s kinda squishy right now which is why I’m in half a straight jacket, ha!”

  I'm still stuck on the whole girl on girl action, I mean are you really being that stupid right now?

  “What?” she asked as her periphery caught Mo’Emori watching Nora nervously.

  “What happened? That sounds so painful,” Mo’Emori asked genuinely as her ears drooped slightly as her tone shifted to slight sadness.

  “Oh, isn’t she a darlin’ lass?” Nora asked poorly mimicking Sigurd before busting into laughter.

  Look at these two, despite the delirium and confusion, there is most definitely a lustful bond growing. 50 bucks you end up wrist deep in both of them by the time she’s healed, Apollyon stated factually with a dark, condescending undertone causing Morrigan to blush fiercely as her heart began to race while watching Nora and Mo’Emori focus on one another.

  “I wish you could’ve met Sigurd; he was a lot of fun. But yeah, apparently Xol threw me hard enough into a drop ship and cracked my shoulder blade before my sister knocked me out,” Nora stated factually with a drug induced aloofness.

  The last part caught Morrigan’s attention, “I’m sorry, what? I thought Xol knocked you out?”

  Nora shook her head as her smile faded, “No. Taylor told me it was Stephy… which is fine, I get it, I was being an asshole but…”

  Morrigan ground her teeth as she saw the hurt expression on Nora’s face, “It just sucks because, besides the two of you and ol’ one eye, no one has come to visit me… I was really hoping she might…”

  Morrigan let out a growl that caused Mo’Emori to jump, looking at the silent snarl of anger on Morrigan’s face before looking at Nora who looked away.

  “Well… fuck this,” Morrigan snapped before standing up.

  Nora’s eyes went wide as she realized how pissed Morrigan looked, “baby, please don’t-it’s fine, I promise.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Mo’Emori hasn’t seen Taylor yet, we’re going to see him…” she lied as Mo’Emori perked up tentatively, excited to see Taylor yet worried about the rise in tension in the room.

  Nora turned to Mo’Emori, “Please don't let her make a scene… there is already enough drama between me and my sister…”

  Mo’Emori gave her a questioning look before watching Morrigan storm out of the room, “Well, shit… I’ll do my best but you know what she’s like when she’s mad!” Mo’Emori called out as she raced out of the room leaving Nora hurt and upset knowing something bad was going to happen.

  As nice as the painkillers were, Nora pulled the device around her wrist out with her teeth, wincing as the dual needles shifted painfully before being yanked from her veins.

  She needed to hurry though, knowing full well Morrigan was at her limit when it came to the hostilities between her and Stephanie as she pulled herself out of her bed and stumbled towards the door, her legs feeling like jelly as she used her one good arm to keep herself upright.

  ◇◇◇

  After demanding Stephanie’s location from Sister, Morrigan stormed into one of the gymnasiums where Aleksei and Taylor attempted to fend off Xol with their shields all the while Stephanie sat on the floor off to the side meticulously sharpening the teeth of her chain blade.

  “Mirina Sor!” Xol barked in surprise mid swing of his fist, halting his movement which caught both specialists off guard.

  “Do not leave this room; you’re next,” Morrigan said loud enough for the entire room to hear. Xol simply nodded knowingly as he stood up straight and crossed his arms to watch the new event unfold.

  “That can't be good,” Aleksei commented as he and Taylor watched Morrigan bee line towards Stephanie.

  “Hi Taylor, hi Xol!” Mo’Emori chirped as she jogged over to the trio, smiling awkwardly as she watched Morrigan storm across the room.

  “Mo’Emori? How are… what's going on?” Taylor inquired with surprise to suddenly see the quirky alien woman aboard the ship.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Morrigan shouted a moment before reaching Stephanie.

  “Yeahhh, Mori’s mad,” Mo’Emori stated.

  Taylor sighed at the obvious; thankful the wrath wasn't towards him however, he felt defeated by the need to rush to his girlfriend's defense as he dropped his shield.

  “Why the hell would you knock your own sister unconscious like that? Do you not realize how much she is hurting because of you?!”

  Everyone watched Stephanie look up at Morrigan passively before refocusing on sliding a thin file against one of the numerous teeth of the chainsaw blade with a shrug and an expression that told Morrigan that she didn't know nor did she care.

  Taylor, with Mo’Emori in tow, reached the two just in time for a hand of crimson claws to reach down are to rip the motorized weapon from Stephanie's hands, holding it up in the likeness of a bully taking away a toy.

  Stephanie took offense to that, springing up to her feet and staring down at Morrigan as she squared off with her.

  “Hey, whoa!” Taylor exclaimed before wedging his arms between both women without thinking, attempting to separate them. Mo’Emori too attempted to grab ahold of Morrigan but quickly realized that she had no intentions of backing down from the woman who stood nearly a head taller than her.

  Stephanie and Morrigan locked eyes until she scoffed and stepped back, quickly signing her own irritation.

  Morrigan looked at the slowly panicking Taylor as he quickly stepped away a healthy distance from both women, not looking to truly get between either of them but more so to stay away from Morrigan. “Good, you’re here, translate,” she demanded.

  “Uh, she um…” Taylor processed the signs Stephanie made as quickly as he could, “She said she doesn’t know why you’re so mad. She kept her from getting herself killed.”

  To punctuate the point, Stephanie raised her palms to either side as if asking Morrigan what her deal was.

  “Yeah, which I get but did you not think for a second that she could have died from a blow to the head like that? Or that you've done nothing but torture her ever since I let you on this ship!” Morrigan exclaimed, slamming Stephanie’s chain blade onto the ground instead of crushing it within her hand like she really wanted.

  Stephanie looked away obstinately with a huff before signing, “Our problem is between me and her, it has nothing to do with you.”

  “Oh, it has everything to do with me. Incase you forgot she is my girlfriend and this is my ship. I’m the one who watches over her, who takes care of her and stays up with her… i'm the one who is there for her every time she cries, because of you!” Morrigan pointed at her with a single crimson claw wrapped around her finger as she struggled to contain the impulse of reaching out and strangling the dread headed blonde woman. More so when Stephanie’s twisted in what looked to be disgust and disbelief.

  However, before anything more could be said, a shout drew everyone’s attention, seeing Nora stumbling across the room, “Mori stop!”

  Mo’Emori quickly rushed over to help Nora, exclaiming how she shouldn’t have been out of bed all the while Morrigan growled to herself with a very mixed tone of worry and irritation. “Fucking great…” she sighed angrily before looking at Stephanie who rolled her eyes. “You know what? This ends today,” she added before turning her back to Stephanie and stepping towards Nora.

  To her delighted surprise, anyone not involved in the dispute had either shuffled out of the training room or moved to the opposite end, giving their Inquisitor space all the while rubbernecking the entire event as Morrigan reached Nora, catching her in her arms as Nora stumbled again.

  “Baby, please stop. I asked you not to make a scene,” Nora complained tiredly as Morrigan and Mo’Emori both held her upright.

  It hurt Morrigan to see Nora in such a state; upset and drugged up stumbling around the ship without energy when she should have been in bed resting, though it didn’t surprise her that Nora managed to find her.

  “Maybe a scene is what’s needed,” Morrigan said offhandedly before cradling Nora’s face so they could look at one another, “You need to talk to her sweetie, this whole thing between you two needs to stop.”

  Nora shook her head before staggering back only to be caught by Mo’Emori, “No, no, I can’t, not after all this.”

  To Nora’s surprise, Mo’Emori squeezed her arms as she placed her chin on Nora’s shoulder, “No. Mori’s right. I have several chwaede and I couldn’t imagine fighting with any of them. This is terrible…”

  Nora shook her head some more as a panicked sadness crept up her spine, her lip quivering as she spoke, “No… I, We…”

  Morrigan crossed her arms authoritatively which was something Nora was often fond of, using it as a point and distraction for Nora, “Nora, you don’t deserve to feel the way you do because of her and I am tired of standing by and doing nothing about it. I’ve tried giving you both time but enough is enough…”

  Meanwhile, Aleksei stepped up to Taylor and Stephanie as she leaned down and picked up her weapon, angrily inspecting it. “So, what is actually going on?”

  Stephanie hissed through her teeth when she realized a gear had been broken on her weapon leaving the chain loosely sitting within the blade and rendering it unusable.

  Noticing, Aleksei quickly commented, “Don’t worry, Steph. I’ll get that fixed.”

  “Well, as you can see, family drama…” Taylor commented with a sigh as Stephanie angrily handed the weapon to Aleksei.

  “Who does she think she is?!” Stephanie signed in outrage.

  Both men watched her get into a tirade as she paced back and forth as if refraining from doing something rash as she complained. However, Taylor sighed loud enough to get her attention, “As much as I hate to say it, I have to agree with Mori on this one.”

  “What are you talking about? Why are you taking her side in this?” Stephanie asked in pained disbelief.

  Taylor shook his head. “I’m not taking her side. I'm actually taking yours… Do you remember that night on the Chevelle?” Taylor asked grabbing ahold of her hands tightly.

  Stephanie looked away telling him she knew exactly what he was talking about, “You don’t want this either. It’s time to put this behind you Steph… and it doesn't look like Mori is giving us much of a choice,” he said before catching Morrigan out of the corner of his eye stepping closer to them.

  “You two, come here, now,” Morrigan commanded.

  Stephanie rolled her eyes and Taylor sighed indignantly however, with little choice they obeyed as they walked over to where Morrigan, Nora and Mo’Emori stood.

  “Okay, you two are going to talk this out, Taylor, you're translating for Stephanie,” Morrigan stated as they joined the group before huffing in frustration. “I frankly don’t care if either of you want to do this because if there is anything I’ve learned recently is that our time together can be cut short at a moments notice, we can’t plan for everything, whether it be you, or her or Taylor or even myself… Sigurd’s death proved that even the most powerful of us can’t escape reality and we don’t have time to be hating each other or whatever this is…” Morrigan sighed as she gestured to both Stephanie and Nora, “You’re sisters, you're supposed to love each other. I know what happened between you two but I also know that neither of you know each other’s side… so you’re both going to listen to each other and talk this out.”

  Everyone was silent as they looked tentatively towards one another, Nora growing meek and nervous while Stephanie crossed her arms defiantly glaring between Nora and Morrigan.

  “Nora, I know you have something you want to say,” Morrigan said softly, still causing her to jump.

  Nora fidgeted with the edge of her sling as she looked up to see Stephanie’s glare. Sadness and worry spread across her face as she tried not to shrink under her gaze.

  “Stephy, I… I'm so really sorry…” she choked on her words as a single tear rolled down her cheek. “I, I didn’t mean to…”

  Stephanie rolled her eyes for signing angrily before ripping off the scarf she wore to reveal the scarred wound, “You drew a blade of ice across my neck!” Taylor parroted evenly.

  Nora shrank under the accusation as a sob slipped out, “I know! I didn’t mean it. I, I just panicked… when you said we should go back I… I was so scared… A-after what you went through, I knew it was my turn soon…” she said as tears freely rolled down her cheeks.

  “You were scared? I thought I was going to die! I thought…” Stephanie looked at her crying sister and something inside her resonated deep within, her demeanor calming and her expression softening as she looked at Morrigan and then to Taylor. She sighed, pursing her lips, “I didn’t believe we could escape… and I thought I was going to lose you… you were the only thing that kept me going.”

  Nora broke into full sobbing finally hearing how Stephanie felt back then, “I’m so sorry, I truly didn’t mean it-I wasn’t think straight… we went through so much and I, I just couldn’t take it anymore… I needed to get out and-and I… I didn’t want to leave you, I wanted you to come with me!” Nora tried to wipe her face as she tried to control her breathing as tears continued to fall, “I was such an idiot… I thought of we escaped... but it didn't matter… I… it still happened…”

  Stephanie watched Nora cry harder, her lips parting at the realization of what Nora was talking about. “I regretted it… every single day… I couldn't stop it and I was alone!” Nora said through her sobs, “I loved you Stephy, you were my sister! I never wanted to hurt you… I was just so stupid… I had nightmares… I couldn't… I’m so sorry Stephy.”

  Nora continued to cry as Stephanie simply stood there watching her sister bleed her heart to her, unmoving as her eyes scanned over Nora’s frame to see the visible litany of scars she carried. The fact that Nora only wore shorts and a surgical bra didn’t elude Stephanie telling her she had just come from the medical wing, which made the entire counter that much more painful for both of them.

  “Please say something…” Nora pleaded as she finally worked up the courage to look up at her older sister.

  Stephanie’s face fell with a frown, Morrigan watching as the torrent of emotions that radiated from her finally melded into two distinct feelings; love and sadness.

  Stephanie shook her head before reaching towards Nora and hooking her arms around her neck and back gently pulling her younger sister towards her in a tight embrace, careful not to touch her injury.

  Nora stopped breathing as her mind stopped, stunned by the sudden shift of dialogue between them. Once she realized that her sister was hugging her, Nora broke down in an equally tight embrace and bawled her eyes out in the crook of her sister’s neck.

  Taylor sighed in relief as he looked at Morrigan in astonishment, Morrigan smiling with satisfaction.

  “That’s so much better,” Mo’Emori whispered, Morrigan turning to see her wipe away a happy tear as she smiled back knowingly at Morrigan.

  With that settled, Morrigan turned her gaze to Xol who hadn’t moved from his original spot across the gym. “You,” she said loud enough for her voice to carry across the gymnasium as she pointed.

  Leaving the sisters to reconcile, Morrigan stormed towards Xol who stared her down unmoving and slammed her shin across the backs of his knees with enough empowered force to topple the giant Kêzi’kan.

  In a show of force, sat on him to watch her work unfold as he held her up on his hands and knees. “Lie to me again and we’re going to have a real problem,” she promised.

  Xol took his punishment without question, refraining from moving as he nodded with a deep understanding hum, “Yes, Mirina Sor.”