The Rest of the Team

Millia answered the door to find that it was, in fact, the other members of her team that had come knocking. They exchanged pleasantries and the cow girl invited them in. She returned to her bed while Eloxochitl and Najma placed themselves on either side. Helki helped herself to one of the chairs by the wall. She had returned to her human form since the fighting had ended. With the obligatory greetings out of the way, an awkward silence fell over the room. The three veterans stared at Millia with concerned looks.

"Is something wrong?" she said when she could not stand the silence any longer. There was another moment where Helki and Najma waited for Eloxochitl to give an answer on their behalf.

"How did-" the leader stopped herself, rethinking her wording. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"Like what?"

The Quetzalcoatl snorted. "Last night, when the fuvea were attacking, you blew right past us. You fought like... Beginners aren't even allowed to fight, and yet you were upstaging every one of us. How?"

Najma gave the leader a sidelong look. "El'..."

"I..." Millia was ready to explain her alliance with Latonya when doubt touched her mind. Team Tachyon was clearly under the impression that she had fought on her own yesterday. What would happen if they learned otherwise? Would they mind? Would they feel betrayed? Millia had only been on the team for a short while; there was not much trust to betray. Maybe they would be cool about it.

Or maybe they would ostracise her for it. If they reacted poorly and kicked her from the team... Would that go on a permanent record? What if she was never accepted to another team because she was marked as a fraud? Returning home a quitter was bad, but returning a liar was exponentially worse.

Thus, to escape being expelled for deceiving her allies, Millia had to fabricate a reason as to why she had performed so well in spite of her inexperience. It had to be convincing or else they would get suspicious and pry harder. Think, Millia, think...

"El'," Najma touched the Quetzalcoatl's arm to get her attention. The leader looked at her. "I need to talk to you." The cyborg bounced her head toward the door. Eloxochitl gave Millia another look, but said nothing before she followed Najma out of the room.

Millia was left alone with Helki, who slouched on the other side of the room, legs outstretched. The lycanthrope looked at the cow girl with her head tilted lazily. Silence hung in the air for an uncomfortable moment, then Helki spoke.

"You strike me as a Quedsuyan **** metal kind of girl..."

Outside the room, Najma led Eloxochitl away from the door then checked to ensure that no one was within earshot.

"What?" Eloxochitl prompted.

"Your insecurities were showing again," Najma said. The leader turned away in exasperation. "She's only been with us for a few days. Can you swallow your pride long enough to avoid scaring her away?"

"But that's just it!" Eloxochitl snapped back around to face her teammate. She was wound up, but not angry. "She's only been with us for a few days, and we're her first team: so how was she fighting like that?"

"Fighting like what, El'? You're the only one that saw her in action. Are you certain it was that special? Come on, you know your history; you aren't the best at handling competition. Was her fighting that astonishing, or were you astonished to see her fighting in the first place?"

"I..." Eloxochitl raised a finger for her imminent declaration, but her confidence wavered. Najma was not wrong, she could be a little short when people defied her presumptions. She had only seen Millia in action for a short time. Perhaps the demihuman had not been as impossibly stellar as she had remembered.

The leader's shoulders sank a tad. "She's still a rookie; she shouldn't have been fighting in the first place."

"If you want, you can tell her as much." Najma touched the other woman's arm reassuringly. "Then again, if you were impressed with her, maybe we can bend the rules a bit and allow her some time in the field. Who knows, maybe she'll be the game-changer we need the next time Lady Luck decides we have it too good. Whatever we do, let's just avoid crushing her spirit by treating her like she's cheating."

Eloxochitl snorted. "I wasn't that hostile to her."

"I was ready for you to take her by the shoulders and shake her while shouting 'what steroids are you taking!'"

"You just make sure you're not getting any wires crossed up there," Eloxochitl joked as she moved to return to the room.

Back inside, they found Helki holding her smart device aloft as it blasted some intense music.

"... but they have this weird trend wherein every other album they release is fantastic, while the others are so bad its hard to believe they're from the same band." The big woman was talking over the music as she explained to Millia.

"Helki, turn that down, please," Eloxochitl requested. When the music was quiet enough to not impede conversation, she directed her words at the cow girl. "I'm sorry about how I acted earlier. You're recovering, and helping you along is the only thing that matters right now."

Milla smiled appreciatively.

Millia felt immensely lucky that the others had seemingly lost interest in an explanation as to how a novice like her had fought as she had. They sat with her and kept her company while the healing was done. They swapped accounts of the fight, calling out and laughing at obvious embellishments. Millia was careful to downplay her recollections without looking like she was doing so.

When she could, she retreated to her mind to ponder her course of action. Should she come clean with the team? Surely they wouldd value her honesty. No, can't risk that. If they do take it poorly, then the consequences are too steep. Was she supposed to carry on and act like a typical F-Rank, resigning herself to the mundane tasks deserving of a newbie? That was not a bad option, but what if things came to blows again? It had only been her first day and she had been thrown into a deadly situation that called for a capable fighter. If anything like that happened again, she would absolutely prefer to have Latonya to fall back on.

Who do you think you are kidding? asked one of her inner voices. Stop dancing around the question. You want Latonya back, not because she made you feel safe, but because she made you feel strong. The question you should be asking yourself is 'can I justify asking her to stick around?'

That thought weighed on Millia's mind for the rest of the exchange with her teammates.

As soon as she was well enough to do so without compromising the rest of her recovery, she excused herself under the guise of wanting to stretch her legs and get some time to herself. She left the rest of Team Tachyon in that room and set out looking for Latonya.

It was not hard. The Xiong Commandos were still at the settlement, though they did not look like they would be hanging around much longer. As their head, Latonya - or 'Commander Orde' as the Commandos seemed to know her - was in the center of their activities. The ghost was conversing with that gorgon, Omiros, when Millia found her.

"Hello again," Millia greeted.

"Millia!" Latonya threw up her arms and went for a hug before catching herself, remembering how the attempt would play out. "I'm learning," she commended herself humorously.

"Could I talk to you... alone, if you don't mind."

Omiros looked to Latonya for approval and she dismissed him. That left the two of them in plain view of a good many other people, but alone enough to make eavesdropping a minimal concern.

"It's good to see you back on your feet, goodas. Though, you should probably change into something less mangled." Latonya pointed to the same mauled outfit the cow girl had been wearing since she had landed on Sobrihiri. Millia nodded somewhat distractedly and the ghost took notice of her general anxious manner. "What's the matter?"

Millia fumbled with how she wanted to word her question before settling on "Do you want to come with me?"

Latonya stared at her for a moment, deciphering the other woman's meaning. "Why?"

That question was both the most obvious to ask and the one Millia was least prepared for. What reason could possibly motivate Latonya to abandon her life - or, erm, **** - and fellow warriors in favour of adventuring with someone she barely knew? Okay, maybe she had shared a mind with her, but there was still a lot of getting to know one another that needed to take place for this to be a reasonable prospect.

"Don't you want a body? I mean, it looked like you had a hard time doing things you normally would when you were alive. I wouldn't mind hosting you now and then."

Latonya gave a short but sincere laugh. "What, you mean like travel with you? That's very kind of you, but I don't think I could accept."

"Why not?" Millia asked, trying to not let her expression fall too far.

"First and most importantly, I couldn't ask that of you. It's your body and I would be wrong to steal minutes from your life just because I was cheated out of mine. Secondly, ghost or not, I have a team I'm supposed to lead. I can't just up and leave them."

Millia had expected that last point. "Well, what would they have done if you had died and not stayed as a ghost?"

"I..." Latonya lost her response as the question registered. She cocked a hip, looked down, and touched her chin; striking a thoughtful pose. "Huh, I suppose command would have been passed to a successor."

"Could you leave that successor in charge and join me?"

The phantom's eyes narrowed subtly. "Maybe I'm getting the wrong idea, but you seem a little eager to have me possess you. I appreciate you making such a generous offer, but what's in it for you?"

"I was... hoping to get some pointers. You were really impressive last night, and I thought it would be shame to not get a chance to learn from you."

Latonya's posture relaxed and she grinned. "Why didn't you say so? Of course I'd be happy to share my wisdom."

Millia felt a tightness release in her chest. "Oh, but one other thing: since I already have a team, I'm not so sure they would be happy to know I was choosing to take lessons from somebody else. So if you are going to come along..."

"Then I need to keep hidden?" Latonya finished. "Not how I like to play things, but I get your reasoning. Alright, I'll join you. Let me tie things up with my team first."

Millia let Latonya break away to fill in her team. She told the Commandos that she was going away for an indeterminate period of time, but that they should carry on as usual and not worry about her. After all, she was already dead. Latonya told her warriors that they should elect someone they thought would make the best leader in her stead. She said her goodbyes and promised to see them again soon.