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"Hey, so, Ikora, I'm not one to question your authority or anything, but-" Cayde peered over Ikora's shoulder at the feed she was studying intently, the crackling of storms audible even through patchy sound quality. "Tash doesn't exactly seem like a good candidate for the whole 'being a Stormcaller' deal."
Ikora responded first with a simple raising of her eyebrows. "Correct, Cayde. You are not in a position to question my authority."
The feed was glitching and quivering with static, small text at the bottom making it know this was a live Ghost recording. Within a ruined city on Mars, a Warlock clad in purple and gray was spraying lead and ramming into Vex with her shoulder just to keep them away.
"Bold move, Cayde," Zavala muttered quietly from his end of the table.
"No, no, I get it, I'm just a lowly Hunter," Cayde put up his hands in defense. "But, like, I've heard you talk about the Stormtrance before. You make it sound like this- I dunno, something that requires a lot of focus and patience and restraint. And Tash-"
On the feed, through the storm and the Vex, the Warlock was laughing maniacally, even as several shots fired into her helmet and shattered her glass faceplate.
"Tash doesn't really do restraint." Cayde finished.
"Correct. You really ought to leave me to my students, Cayde."
"But you know I'm nosy," Cayde slid up next to her to get a better view at the carnage, the metal scrap and spewed radiolaria. "C'mon, tell me what you're thinking. I know you wanna."
There was a small smile on Ikora's lips, a glint in her eyes. "Has Tash ever told you about her… unique method of being a Voidwalker?"
Cayde tilted his head. "No?"
"She doesn't fire off Nova Bomb like many others do. She charges herself full of Void, and flings herself at enemies. It usually kills her. She takes to being a Sunsinger in a very similar way. Her body becomes emboldened by Solar Light, and suddenly she's punching things like some kind of Titan."
At that, Zavala spared a look up from his own feed. "I'll assume no offense to that."
"Of course not. She fights like a Titan, a very skilled one. But the Storm… the Storm cannot be used like that. You command the Storm like it's a dog, and it'll bite back like a wolf."
"So, all this is…" Cayde gestured vaguely at the feed.
"A lesson in restraint. We shall see if she learns it." On screen, Tash whipped around with a wild smile and slammed the butt of her auto rifle into a Minotaur's center. The metal creaked and folded, bending in on itself, and the Minotaur collasped.
"Tash!" Ikora barked her orders into a small microphone. "A show of force is in order. Call the lightning. You shall return a Stormcaller or not at all."
Tash straightened, breathing heavily. "Just watch me."
Cayde whistled low. "Trying to get rid of her, Ikora?"
Tash took to a full sprint, out to a long strip of metal dangling over the edge of a valley. The storm roiled around her, lightning crackled.
"Ikora," Tash's Ghost came in with a timid voice, carefully shielding his voice from his Guardian's mind. "Ikora, I don't think-"
"Quiet, both of you," Ikora said. "She will learn her lesson. The Storm will teach her."
Out on the metal, above grey nothingness, Tash lifted her head, stretching a hand into the air. The Storm did not obey.
"Come on!" Tash shouted after a moment. "I showed you what I can do, that I'm strong enough! You think I'm scared?"
Ikora couldn't help but smile. Taunting the Storm. She expected nothing less of a woman like Tash.
The Storm finally answered.
When lightning struck Tash, her entire body went rigid, muscles contracting, nerves lighting up. Tash couldn't even scream — her vocal chords and throat were stuck, the air forced from her lungs, and all she could manage was a gasp.
It passed after only an instant, and Tash's body spasmed and went nearly limp, swaying on her feet. Her eyes, already a vivid blue, were glowing with Arc. Lightning dashed between her twitching fingers. When she exhaled, small clouds of static collected by her face. She straightened, her breathing evening out. When the Vex came, she was silent.
~ ~ ~
Tash had seen the Storm in that instant she was struck. It was pure Light, pure energy, injected right into her bones. She had seen power.
Her mind and body slowed, and she thought for a moment she must be dying — that the lightning strike had stopped her heart, she'd collapse, plummet down several miles, be revived in a pit, and return to Ikora ashamed.
But her heart didn't stop. She could still hear the beat roaring in her ears like thunder. It had slowed to something calm.
She breathed out. Her lungs crackled. Her body was covered in pins and needles. Maybe her heart didn't stop, but her brain had been fried. While the rest of her body went into overdrive, her thoughts slowed.
This is what it feels like. It was the only thought Tash could put into words. This is why they call it a trance.
Her body twitched before her eyes could even track the movement of the Vex. It was a strange kind of autopilot, where her body was already moving and attacking before her brain could make sense of the signals it was being fed. She didn't know where she dropped her gun. She wasn't sure where she was going. But she knew lightning was in her veins.
When Tash came to, the Vex were gone, her body was still twitching with reflexes, and her Ghost hovered in her vision. Ikora Rey's voice was fading into focus.
"As you carry your spark from this place, remember this lesson." Her tone had mellowed from the earlier barking orders. "I told you already. This is power channeled — not controlled."
Tash could see that now. Her Void and Solar light were malleable, responding easily to commands, cloaking herself in their power and detonating it like a nuclear charge.
But the Storm could not be moved. She was a lightning rod, at best.
"Right," Tash replied. "I'm a conduit."
She could nearly hear the pride in Ikora's voice. "Precisely."