In the team's third and final day at the ruins, Leah almost fell asleep twice.

The first time, her falling head had bounced her to wakefulness. The second time, she'd made the mistake of leaning her back against the wall while copying down one of the larger murals, and it wasn't until a hand on her shoulder shook her awake that she realised she'd drifted off.

"Leah!" said Kieran again. Leah blinked and sat up, rubbing her eyes as Kieran leaned back, scowling. "You can sleep when we get back to the League, but I fully expect you to get everything possible down before we reach that point."

Leah nodded. "Sorry. Just drifted off."

Kieran's scowl softened into a frown. "I realise you've been trying to make your place on this team, but you've worn yourself out staying up too long trying to squeeze several day's work into two nights. You haven't even recharged your heart entirely, which just makes you dangerous to yourself."

It was true. After the Light she'd used last night, the morning ride here hadn't been enough to fill it entirely. Leah dropped her eyes. "Sorry. Guess I'm just trying to prove that I'm good enough for somewhere."

Kieran sighed and took her half-finished sketch off her. "I'll finish your section. You get up top and recharge your heart." As she stood up to leave, he gave her a look she couldn't decipher. "And for what it's worth, I'll put in my recommendation with Emrys if joining the cure team is still what you want."

Leah wasn't sure she was still dreaming. It made sense, if he wanted Terrell back, but surely there were easier ways to get him back. "You'll--what?"

"If he still thinks you'll do more good in the field, you'll have a place on my team," said Kieran, not bothering to repeat himself. "You're rough, but you have a lot of potential. Just remember to look after yourself in the middle of your work ethic." He waved his hand towards the ladder. "Now go. I don't want to see you in the dark again until your heart's completely full. This once, I'll even forgive a nap."

Leah nodded her thanks and climbed the ladder to the surface.

She was dozing against the side of the hut, heart in full view of the sun when the others surfaced. When she moved to pick up the glider she'd shared with Kieran this morning, he stopped her.

"I don't trust you to drive it at the moment," he said, taking the glider from Leah. "Mira! You're swapping with Leah."

Leah wandered towards the now-free spot on the back of a glider, only to find that Kieran had paired her with Sef.

Sef grinned as she walked over. "You look a little worse for wear. After only a three-day expedition, too. Geez."

"Shut up," said Leah, climbing on the back.

"Sef's glider taxi, at your service!"

It was strange taking the backseat. It was a little more secure against movement, but the lack of control unnerved her the most. As Sef controlled the glider, Leah found herself making slight adjustments to his driving on her non-existent crystal. He had a tendency to lean too far left. It bugged her that she couldn't fix it.

They didn't return the gliders to their lodgings like the previous two days. They took them instead to a garage a few blocks away filled with all kinds of wonders Leah could barely comprehend--though none as sleek or impressive as the gliders were, she had to admit.

With the gliders safely locked away, they walked the last few blocks to their lodgings. Outside the foyer, Kieran stopped them.

"Tidy up, pack your bags, and meet on the roof in twenty metres with your Displacers ready. No one leaves until their rooms are the way they were when we arrived." His eyes slid to Leah. "If you've managed to lose your Displacer, come and see me beforehand so I can make arrangements."

Leah sucked in a breath as Kieran dismissed them, uncertain if she wanted to arrive to her room as soon as possible or not at all. If Shade hadn't kept his word, if her Displacer wasn't there... her breath released. In short, he was going to regret it.

She unlocked her door and pushed it open slowly.

Her bed was made, her books and clothes rolled up and packed inside her bag with far more skill than she'd ever possessed. She knew it'd been a mess when sh'd left in her half-conscious state this morning and opened her bag already suspecting who was responsible.

Sure enough, her gleaming Displacer was nestled among her clothes. Leah picked it up, turning it over to ensure it wasn't a fake, though she doubted she'd have been able to tell the difference if it wasn't.

She glanced down, catching sight of the note that'd been underneath it.

Sorry for keeping you up last night. I know how much you Radiants need your beauty sleep, but hopefully this makes up for it a little. -Shade

Leah caught herself smiling as she read it, only to fall into a mild panic when footsteps approached her door. She crumpled the note in her hand, whirling around and trying not to look as guilty as she felt.

Kieran appeared in the doorway and looked at her Displacer. "Oh good. I was wondering why you asked me about it yesterday. Glad to see it wasn't worst case scenario."

Leah gave him a nervous smile. "Nope. Was just curious, just like I said."

Kieran raised an eyebrow. "Apparently so. I came in to see if you needed any help packing away the documents, but it looks like you've got everything under control in record time. I'll take the journals to the roof, you follow up when you're ready."

Twenty minutes later, the team was assembled on the roof, rooms made to Kieran's standards and bags at the ready. A minute after that, they were back at the League, their Displacers once more a part of the white-lit Spire that marked the centre of the League.

Kieran kept them for an extra ten minutes after that, ensuring everyone knew their individual jobs for the next two days that mostly involved inventory and other management tasks. At the dinner bell, they were dismissed.

Illiya found Leah at the dinner table, but by that point, Leah could barely be bothered to lift her fork to her mouth. After satisfying the pangs of hunger, Illiya dragged Leah off to her room where Leah slept for almost twelve hours straight.

*+*+*+*

Under the cover of darkness, Shade kept only to the deepest shadows as he made his way to Dusk's usual hangout inside the flooded Radiant ruins.

As expected, Dusk was standing at his desk. He didn't have a chair, saying it let him get too comfortable and that was something he couldn't risk. Shade knew it caused him no ends of back-pain with the hours he spent hunched over the Lightless documents, always trying to do more than was possible for one man.

"I got your message," said Shade, ensuring the hallway behind him was clear, fire-burning torches placed so any intruder would be at a disadvantage. "Came as soon as I could."

"That was two days ago, Shade. Where were you?"

Shade licked his lips, the tip of his tongue tasting the cloth across his face. "Usual duties."

Dusk didn't even look at him. "Don't lie to me. I had a messenger attempt to get in contact with you during your usual availability, and she said she couldn't find you. Where were you?"

"In the ruins," said Shade. "The ones the expedition team was sent to document the last three days."

"Why?" asked Dusk, an edge to his voice that Shade didn't recognise in him. "Don't you spend enough time in places like that on a regular basis?"

"This was different," said Shade. "The fullblood the Radiants brought in was assigned with them, and she's figured out the ancient's language. Most of it, anyway. The door I told you about--she was able to open it and inside there were--"

"Enough, Shade!" growled Dusk. "Even if it turns out you were right about the code--what does that gain us? How does that help the Lightless?"

"I thought--"

"I'm not interested in legends!" said Dusk, slamming a fist on the table. He spun around to face Shade completely, and for a moment, Shade was ready to avoid a blow. "The League likes to chase those down and they're so deluded that they're killing innocents--the innocents we're trying to protect, or have you forgotten that?"

Shade recognised this anger. It wasn't directed at him. It was directed at Dusk himself.

Shade raised his hands. "We lost another safehouse, didn't we?"

Dusk sighed and turned back to his desk, palms flat on the surface. "Yes."

"Which one?"

"One of the ones on the borders of eleven and twelve," muttered Dusk, waving a hand over the paper. Shade moved closer to see the numbers he knew he wasn't going to like. "Between this and eleven's safehouses, that's almost a hundred and fifty Lightless captured in a week."

Shade's blood cooled as he read over the report from twelve about the latest raid. They hadn't seen it coming, she said. It'd been too swift, too precise to avoid, and they'd had no chance. "Have they moved the captive Lightless yet?"

"No," said Dusk. "That's planned for three days from now, when those from twelve meet up with them."

Shade's fingers nearly tore the paper as they clenched.

Dusk straightened. "If nothing else, you'll be pleased to know that this is my final straw. We're going to do something about this."

Dusk? Acting? "Are you sure?"

"You're always telling me we need to do more."

"I meant sidelines wise, but I'm not going to say no to a frontal assault if you think we can pull it off."

"It doesn't matter if we can pull it off or not at the moment," said Dusk in a very un-Dusk-like manner that caught Shade completely off guard. "We have to tell the Radiants that we aren't going to lie down and die." He went quiet, fingers curling into a fist. "We have to fight for those hundred and fifty that I doomed when I told them to stay put."

Shade placed a hand on Dusk's shoulder, only to have it shrugged off. "We're with you, Dusk, but you've always been the cautious one, and that's kept us alive whether it's frustratingly the best way or not. I respect that, and so do the others. Don't--"

"I've already been given the same speech by the other safehouse leaders," said Dusk. "But enough is enough. Eventually there isn't going to be anyone left to protect. At least this way, we can give the Radiants something to think about." He pointed to a place circled on the map, the area around it covered in various squiggles and shapes. "Can you be here two weeks from now?"

"I could," said Shade. "I have a few spare Displacers lying around that went mysteriously missing from the League a little while ago."

"Good," said Dusk. "Then in three nights, we're going to do or die. I'll call you back when everything's set."

Shade knew he'd been dismissed. Without knowing the words that would bring Dusk back from whatever edge it was that guilt had pushed him to, he could only walk away.

The slosh of water under his boots echoed down the once-drowned crystalite hallways as he wondered whether the Lightless were about to meet the same fate.

*+*+*+*

A/N - Short chapter, but chapter ^_^ Sorta a bit of a filler, back to exciting things next chapter => 

Wordcount: 32,968