It all happens at once

It's been quiet on Hale's Moon for weeks. Too quiet, some would say. But the quiet has let me concentrate on the issues between Lily and Aurora and my ancillary duties to Tag. Not that he was pushing. My position in the Intel community was unusual, to say the least. No permanent staff. No fixed duties. A very, very, flexible assignment.

I wasn't expecting a lone Reaver though. We'd heard that Krenshar's compound over on the far side of the Blue Sun facility had been attacked a couple times by one or two Reavers. Was never clear whether they were Reavers that'd somehow snuck down to the surface through our navtrak arrays or whether they'd been in hiding with the refugees all along. There was the finite possibility that they'd escaped from the Blue Sun research lab, but that seemed unlikely given our ongoing business relationship.

But a Reaver we had nonetheless. Just one though.

Was talking to a transport pilot by the name of Iskrin Nightfire when we heard the cries from outside. The familiar, feral, snarl of a Reaver and the shouts of townsfolk running for shelter. While I was putting out the call to the Militia, Iskrin went outside with his sidearm to deal with the Reaver.

Brave man. Especially considering the Reaver got the drop on him and only bolted back out of town when the Militia started coming for them. Gave the Militia something to do to keep their edge, and gave me a chance to brush off my field medic skills.

A chance to refresh my bar tending skills too, actually, when folk started to show up at Fook's after I was done patching Iskrin back together. Since Sobi'd decided to go back to Surfer's New Paradise with Miss Jade, it'd fallen to a number of folk to tend bar off an on. Myself included.

That's where I was when Cody set down with Lily.

Both had been injured during the extraction, but the details could wait until I'd patched them up and they'd both had time to settle back down after the ordeal. The thing was, they'd hatched a plan to end Aurora. Not AuroraBlue. Aurora. The personality that had been AuroraBlue was gone. We knew that, painful as it was.

This whole hunt business had been part of Aurora's plan to get what she needed from Cody and to end Lily. A fairly obvious trap that relied on Lily's known needs and the inherent innocence that made her who she was. It had almost worked. Lily'd fallen in the hunt mentality until it was almost too late, and now Aurora would pay the price for underestimating Lily's capability.

Errors made in haste
Overconfidence can kill
Lesson learned too late

However it came out, it would hurt. If Lily won, as I expected, there would be a second candle on the little alter when I said my prayers for Caitlin. If Aurora won?

If Aurora won, there would be three candles. And people would know that Dragons can cry.