Incepted-Consort Suvah Dat'Lenyaknar crouched atop a jagged ledge and focused her triple eye stalks toward the horizon. A mining excavator approached, rumbling destruction in its path. Its glaring lights surveyed the craters and dunes. Monstrous treads crushed boulders to gravel and scraped at the regolith for precious minerals.

Humans dared to trespass again.

Filthy life-eaters.

They came for her maat, but she wouldn't let them have it. Humans coveted the superconductive ore, which nourished Suvah with electrons. Maat was the reason they scavenged Lenyak's surface, and the reason they'd destroyed her people years ago. She was the last surviving Lenyaki, and she bore a vendetta—to protect what was hers. As an Incepted-Consort, she was an arbitrator sworn to preserve the Sacred Polarity.

She flexed her fourteen spindly fingers as the excavator rolled closer. Her electrophore-veined talons extended and snapped sparks. Humans were creatures of daylight, rarely venturing here, the Shadow Face of Lenyak. She'd make them turn back and punish them for disturbing her exile.

Secondary glider appendages unfolded from Suvah's shoulders. She'd grown and shaped them herself for easier travel out here in the barrens. Her sleek body had been camouflaged in solid black for a long time. With the rush of impending conflict, veined patterns of scarlet and gold flamed over her chromatic skin. Luminescence pulsed through the mane of mind-tendrils covering her slender head and neck, her innate bio-electricity fluctuating. She was fully charged and ready to fight.

The excavator entered a narrow ravine below. Hydraulic compressors hissed and whined. Dozens of scanner beams danced along the stony walls, prospecting for maat. A noxious plume of dust and exhaust blurred the stars.

Suvah winced at the stench and crouched low.

Closer, little thieves. You will learn not to cross an Incepted-Consort.

She waited, muscles tensed. When her prey was in range, she sprang from the precipice. Her glider membranes caught an uplift, and she angled the dive with a sharp flick of her finned tail. She plummeted through open darkness and landed on the broad, flat hull of the excavator. Her talons generated electric bolts across the steel as she slid to a halt.

Human toys were no match for the size and strength of a mature Lenyaki. The excavator wasn't the first of their machines to meet her wrath, and as long as the upstarts invaded, it wouldn't be the last. Communication turrets and receiver dishes crunched beneath her fists and tail. She ripped the largest antenna from its transmitter and hurled it over the edge. It struck the side of the ravine with a satisfying crash.

The excavator lurched to a stop with its emergency signal bleating. She didn't have much time, but she wanted to teach them a lesson. When humans were mute, blind, and stranded, they always retreated. They were superstitious beings, afraid of what lurked in the dark. It worked to Suvah's advantage every time.

She leaped to the front of the vehicle, where a domed bulkhead housed the central fuse column. A single swipe of her talons ripped the panel aside. The tangled breakers provided a delicious surge of electrons, while she shredded wires and circuitry with glee.

As she absorbed more power, she pushed her field into the excavator's system. An unusual energy source emanated from within the bowels of the vehicle. Familiar pulses of electric current seeped into her awareness. Many forgotten emotions emerged—longing, grief, desire.

Home.

This excavator contained Lenyaki bio-circuitry. She recognized the wavelength without a doubt.

Impossible.

Her Sisters were all gone. None remained to harvest or shape mind-tendrils but herself. Even Jiruu Dat'Lenyak-tineh, Liege of the Polarity, had been murdered in the Inquisitors' genocide.

The bay doors of the excavator squealed open, and a wedge of light pierced the dark ravine. A pair of humans wearing sustain-suits descended the loading ramp. Their heavy mining boots thudded on steel. The face shields on their helmets gleamed dull amber against the airlock's backlight, and their breath hissed through the suit filters. Both aimed their bulky pulse rifles at the emptiness in front of them.

Suvah's natural stealth served her well. She swooped closer and flattened herself against the excavator's hull.

"I don't like this." The short human's voice had a higher pitch, likely female.

Suvah understood the humans' peculiar language, having worked as an ambassador and translator during the time of peace—before everything went so very wrong.

The second, larger human pointed a humming manual scanner toward the top of the excavator. "Something big and fast registered up there. Probably another swarm of gorzfliers gnawing at our circuits. I'll climb to the turret and assess the damage."

The woman clutched her rifle to her chest. "Be careful, Luther. I hate this tide-locked waste of a planet. Too many creepy things slithering around out here."

Deep male laughter sputtered over the large miner's mic. "That's what you always say. Just keep an eye out." He climbed the rungs bolted on the side of the excavator.

Escape was the wisest choice, but Suvah wanted to know about the mysterious bio-tech. It might mean another Lenyaki had survived. She gathered her limbs under herself. When the human made it halfway up the ladder, she lunged and pinned him to the ground.

She tore the pulse rifle from his hand and threw it out of reach. Her long talons stabbed into the vulnerable joints beneath the helmet and shoulders. Lenyaki were twice as tall as humans and many times stronger. She restrained her electric field, as her vows allowed killing only in defense.

Lenyaki didn't speak with the resonance of breath like human voices. The complex speech organ in Suvah's throat emitted a flexible series of electrical pulses and snaps. Lenyaki spoke through six slitted vents on their elongated necks. Suvah hadn't attempted human words in many years, but the odd cadence returned to her.

"How do you have Lenyaki mind-lines in your vehicle, human?"

The man's features were visible behind his face shield. Those flat, lidded eyes and the disgusting orifice, called a mouth, gaped. "It can't be. You're a..."

"Let him go, or I'll shoot." The woman aimed her weapon at Suvah.

"No, don't. She won't electrocute me unless we attack." The man lifted a cautious hand toward Suvah. "I never thought I'd see a true shock-shaper alive, after all these years. This is a miracle."

"Tell me where the mind-lines come from, then leave this place." Suvah's voice cracked static. "All of the maat here is mine."

The woman lowered her rifle. "So, the Conglomerate is right. There are Lenyaki survivors in the Shadow Face."

A third human appeared in the bay door, hefting a cumbersome weapon on one shoulder. Coils of fluorescent bio-tech glowed along the smooth contours of the metal barrel and cylinder, curled up his arm, and merged into his flesh. He bellowed, plainly male, "What have we got here? A rare prize for the Liege of the Polarity."

Brilliant green splotches of surprise swirled over Suvah's skin. "The Liege of the Polarity is alive?"

The newcomer didn't answer. He aimed his weapon, an ominous drone initializing its charge. Hybrid hardware. It was time to flee.

Suvah darted for a break in the ravine wall. A steady stone incline offered the best escape. She bounded on all fours and swung her tail for balance.

With a heavy thoom, the weapon fired. Supercharged projectiles shrieked after her.

Trackers.

These miners carried the ammunition of the dreaded Inquisitors, the humans who had hunted her people to extinction. The enhanced smart ammo swerved around her. She leaped to the cliff's edge.

The trackers knew her flesh, recognized her fear, and struck as they were designed to. Splitting into micro tethers, they sealed Suvah into a web of conductive maat filaments. Their bio-tech reversed her charge and paralyzed her.

The man with the hybrid weapon gloated over her. A starred Inquisitor symbol on his chest revealed his dire profession. "How many of you are alive out here, shock-shaper? Confess."

"No."

The Inquisitor laughed. "The Liege will force you to talk. You have no choice."

He shouted a command, and three bipedal simultrons lumbered down the ramp. More hybrid bio-circuitry flared green to amber along their sturdy metal bodies. The machines seized Suvah, immune to her electric field. Her charge fed them as if they were Lenyaki.

The humans detached a reserve vehicle from the excavator, and the simultrons carried Suvah into the cargo bay. The Inquisitor claimed the pilot's seat and started the engines.

How humiliating.

An Incepted-Consort should never be weak and foolish enough to be captured. Alas, she now met the same fate as her Sisters. A prisoner. Shamed.

*

The older man named Luther and the young woman removed their helmets and lingered near Suvah.

"I've never seen a Lenyaki before." The woman stepped closer. "They died out before I was born. I never imagined they'd be so beautiful—all those colors blazing like rainbow fire. The old stories just say they were tall, strong, and temperamental. And this one has wings."

"Those aren't natural appendages." Luther chuckled. "She's fashioned them herself, from her own body. The Lenyaki cut those spidery mind-tendrils from their manes, and they can grow and shape the carbon nano-fibers into anything they want. They use powerful electric currents to stimulate the proteins."

"Fascinating." The woman's wide eyes wandered along Suvah's figure. "How do you know so much about them?"

"I was a small boy when I first met the Lenyaki." Luther lifted his chin, expression distant. "They taught me their ways, and about the balance of their great Polarity. One of the Incepted-Consorts took me as a disciple and raised me."

Suvah's ears pricked forward. "You were a disciple? Which of my Sisters was your teacher?"

Luther knelt beside her and raised two fingers—the ancient salute of the Polarity. A lock of gray hair drifted loose from his topknot and trailed along his weathered jaw. "Her name was Xixanka Dat'Lenyaknar, an ambassador and translator to the original colony. She was a kind and elegant being. Like a mother to me. Did you know her?"

"Yes. Xixanka was one of our most esteemed Consorts. We all cherished her counsel." Memories flooded Suvah's mind--her joyous youth in the halls of the Circuit's heart, the warmth of the Shining Face, sunlight dancing on water in the sacred pools of Vtzk'a. That water had later been tainted, stained forever with the blood of her Sisters, and of Jiruu. Jiruu, the spark of her heart's yearning. All gone. A soft cry escaped her.

Luther blinked and looked away. "What a shame it's come to this. I've never known a race as beautiful and gentle as the Lenyaki. They were my family."

Most of the young human disciples had been orphans, refugees from the Conglomerate Wars on other planets. Those little ones had learned the Lenyaki teachings with eager hearts and minds. All was shattered when the Conglomerate invaded Lenyak's first promising colony and corrupted most of the population with greed for maat.

If Luther was a disciple, he might also be a friend.

The Inquisitor scoffed. "You're wrong, Luther. The Lenyaki were just a hive of territorial bitches enslaved to their only male, the king bee God-Tyrant named Jiruu. Eventually, even he tried to destroy us, and the Conglomerate took care of the problem."

Suvah's field surged in outrage. "Blasphemer. You disrupt the Polarity with your vile words."

"Keep quiet, you glow-in-the-dark slut," the Inquisitor yelled over his shoulder. "Kase, Luther, stop aggravating the prisoner. Get your asses over here and shut the hell up."

The miners shuffled to the cockpit.

For the rest of the journey, Luther watched Suvah. The odd human expression of sorrow glistened on his face—drops of water they called 'tears' flowing from his eyes.

They crossed the Divide several hours later and entered the bright sunlight of Lenyak's Shining Face. Radiance shafted through the oblong viewing ports and bathed Suvah in warmth. Her skin reacted, changing from the black of her exile into the shimmering bronze the Lenyaki wore in reverence to the Polarity.

The Inquisitor activated his comm terminal. "Expedition 12 to Guild Base. Prospecting mission aborted due to sabotage. We were out looking for maat, when a ghost from the past showed up and wrecked our rig. Open the locks. We've got a big surprise for Her Eminence."

"Affirmative." Laughter chortled over the speaker. "You're clear to rendezvous, Ex-12. We look forward to meeting this ghost of yours."

The vehicle entered the airlock, and a subtle charge struck Suvah's mind-tendrils, an electromagnetic frequency she'd assumed was dead forever. All Lenyaki recognized the field of the Circuit, the perpetual transmission of the Liege of the Polarity. She shivered with grief when she remembered her Liege and mate. Jiruu's wisdom had always guided her, and his caresses had stirred endless delight beneath the veiled canopies of his bedchamber. She'd believed he was dead, but an ember of hope rekindled. "Jiruu. My beloved lives...where is he?"

Luther's brow creased. "I know you can sense him, but it's not what you think."

"Then why do the mind-lines of the Circuit sing his presence?"

"Much has changed since you were last here." Luther sighed. "The war never ended, noble Sister. In fact, it's still ongoing. An army of rebels seeks to overthrow the Conglomerate, and the city is under constant attack."

The Inquisitor threw his helmet at Luther. "I told you to shut the fuck up and stop harassing her. You disobey orders one more time, and I'll hand you over to the Liege. Her Eminence will punish you in unthinkable ways, a she did to the others."

Luther picked up the helmet and flushed red, an expression Suvah had always found amusing—one of the rare times human skin changed color like her own.

Rushing compressors announced their arrival. The shuttle landed, and the bay doors opened. Daylight spilled through. Suvah retracted her eye stalks, unaccustomed to the glare after living in the Shadow Face. The simultrons lifted her onto a cargo transport and pulled her outside.

So many years had passed since she'd seen the city of Vtzk'a. Before the human settlement, it had been the capital of the Lenyaki civilization. Everything was different, now. Sterile buildings towered over bustling streets. The chatter of human voices pressed from all sides. Across the outer walls, watchtowers launched mortars from rail cannons. Distant gunfire rattled alongside the boom of demolitions.

Gone were the pools and shrines, the lofty frescoes and pillars, the serene electric hum of the Incepted-Consorts' tch'xiktu mantras broadcasting from the pagodas. The heart-structure of the Circuit still stood at the center of the metropolis, unchanged since she'd escaped to the Shadow Face. Inlays of crystal and maat shimmered across its massive dome.

The simultrons hauled her to the top of a wide launch terrace. A Conglomerate detention shuttle waited nearby with its boarding ramp extended. While Kase unloaded equipment from the reserve mining vehicle, the Inquisitor conversed with an armed squadron.

Luther glanced about, then approached Suvah. "I want the peace we once knew to return, noble Sister. We were powerless then to stop the Conglomerate, but we can stop them now. The new Liege of the Polarity must be overthrown. She's converted the Circuit into a massive generator to power all of the defensive systems in the city. I'm an agent of the rebel forces. Please, help us." Protected by the insulated gloves of his sustain-suit, he knotted a small object into her mane. He placed a hand over his mouth to simulate a Lenyaki speech vent and spoke in Suvah's language. "Ssk-t-t-pch-Xik-Kiuk-t." It meant 'find balance in the Polarity' in human words.

"What did you just give me?"

He whispered. "A keepsake from Xixanka. She gave it to me years ago, before the Inquisitors executed her. Soon you'll face the abomination who prevents the rebels from reaching victory. You can save all of us, but you must be swift. Kill her and her experiments, and set us free."

Suvah's skin swirled red in surprise. "Who is this abomination, this new Liege?"

There was no time for an answer. The security squadron marched toward them.

Luther backed away from Suvah. He nodded farewell and disappeared into the crowd.

*

The simultrons loaded Suvah into the detention shuttle, and the squadron followed. Thrusters roared as they flew over the city. Suvah studied the guards and their high-powered Inquisition weaponry. Her reflection fractured across their shiny black visors.

Long ago, Jiruu had praised her beauty. He'd stroked her face and admired her exquisite eye stalks, which were tipped with orbs of startling green. Greener than the pure veins of maat he wore on his filigreed diadem and mantle. Jiruu had loved to watch her dance within the crystalline halls of the Circuit. Those days were faded in time and pain, but she would never forget them.

Suvah dreaded meeting this new Liege. If evil had poisoned the Circuit's heart, only a true arbitrator could right the balance.

Lenyaki were long-lived. Their lifetime equated to several thousand human years. Regardless, the shorter-lived, faster-breeding humans had conquered the planet to claim its precious maat for themselves. How had the new Liege survived the Inquisitors? Luther had said it was a female. A Sister posing as the Liege was sacrilege.

Sadly, no males had survived the genocide. Jiruu was gone, and Suvah couldn't reproduce again. Each Lenyaki female only laid a single egg in her lifetime. Millennia before the arrival of the humans, Suvah's initiation as an Incepted-Consort had required the traditional sacrifice—sexual union with Jiruu—but no viable egg had been produced. Instead, the Consort surrendered herself, and all of her egotistical qualities and desires were absorbed into the Circuit.

The egg, which resulted from a Consort's transcendent rite, became a symbol of all her carnal faults, an imperfect clone of the mother. These eggs never hatched but remained suspended within the vast bio-capacitor of the Circuit for all time. Once the mother's flaws were Incepted, she was purified, worthy to dispense justice as an arbitrator. The Incepted-Consorts had once punished transgressors of the Polarity until the Conglomerate came and unbalanced everything.

The detention shuttle landed, and the squadron wheeled Suvah down the ramp. They transported her inside, their booted heels plodding in irreverent rhythm along the polished stone foyer. After climbing several fluted staircases, they marched down the long central corridor and entered the throne chamber of the Circuit.

Static bolts pulsed along the mind-lines set into the incandescent walls and columns. Greenish inlays of maat heightened the circulating power. The translucent crystal heart-dome opened above. Suspended from the ceiling, the enormous maat orb of the Circuit zapped and sputtered with the current of the Liege of the Sacred Polarity, the source of the energy Suvah had sensed upon arrival.

A carved mezzanine surrounded the throne room. Figures huddled around the upper railing, distorted human faces peering down. Their wild eyes darted between the narrow slits. Whispers and laughter echoed across the chamber.

Suvah tried to get a better glimpse, but the creatures ducked out of sight.

Muffled explosions rumbled outside. The rebels' war against the Conglomerate raged on.

A tall figure strode closer in a rustle of layered robes.

Suvah pivoted her eye stalks and extended them to full length. She recognized the slender body, long and graceful limbs, and the deep teal and violet colors of curiosity flowing across smooth bronze skin.

A Lenyaki.

Suvah tried to turn her head, but she was still paralyzed. She could only see a torso wrapped in sheer fabric and a mane of mind-tendrils snaking to the floor. Only a male Lenyaki, the Liege of the Polarity, wore his mane so long, but this was a Sister. Whoever she was, this false Liege violated every sacred tenet of their people.

The Polarity was a perfect balance of opposites—positive and negative, male and female, darkness and light. The Liege must always be a male to maintain the natural order of their species, which had evolved as predominantly female.

Suvah's curiosity at meeting another Lenyaki dimmed, and she whispered a mantra against evil.

The Liege twirled a seven-fingered hand and spoke in the human language. "Release her, and leave us."

The security force scrambled to obey. They deactivated the reversal tethers, then left Suvah alone with the Liege.

Suvah suppressed the urge to strike this deceiver across the face. Be patient. Knowledge must prevail before action, as Jiruu taught.

"A renegade surviving in the Shadow Face?" The Liege paced, her lithe tail swaying. "How splendid. Rise, Consort. What is your name?"

Suvah stood and answered in the Lenyaki language. "Svahh Dt'Ln-k'kyar."

The Liege laughed, sounding much too human. "Please address me in human speech. I don't speak our native language, and I don't wish to learn it. The Circuit has been reborn through me."

She was thin for a Lenyaki and wore a gossamer robe of human textiles. The jeweled ornaments encircling her face were hewn of plated maat. Power ebbed through the blinking wires and circuitry hemming her attire.

"Who are you?" Suvah straightened herself to equal height with the Liege.

"I'm called Hubris. It's a human concept. Do you know the meaning?"

Suvah's skin flared orange. "An unethical name for pride and corruption. You dishonor our people in using it."

"How typical. We Lenyaki had no sense of humor or sarcasm before our human friends arrived to enlighten us. Always so serious. Perhaps this contributed to our downfall in the end." Hubris turned. Jewelry chimed along her arms and tail as she ascended the throne, the seat which had once been Jiruu's. "So, Consort Suvah, how did you survive the Inquisitors?"

Suvah hesitated. Jiruu would have ordered Hubris executed for these crimes. Not yet. Though filled with loathing, Suvah wanted to learn the truth.

"I escaped the city when they seized the Circuit and slaughtered Jiruu and the last of the Sisters," Suvah said. "How did you survive, and why do the humans obey your commands?"

Hubris tossed her long mane. "The silly Inquisitors didn't know about the Incepted-Consorts' sacrificial eggs stored within the Circuit. When they killed your Jiruu, and his field subsided, the eggs were released. A few of them hatched. Of the young ones that emerged, I alone lived to maturity. The humans had realized their error in killing us by that time and kept me for study. We've come to an understanding of sorts. They've learned from me, and I, in turn, learned their ways. Through much careful maneuvering, I've earned their devotion and their fear. Humans and Lenyaki are perfect companions, despite our past differences. You might even say we're symbiotic. We can weave our mind-tendrils into their bodies and their technology, as I'm sure you've seen on your arrival here. Their flesh shapes as easily as ours. You should thank me, Sister. I've elevated our kind to be supreme and have gained complete power over our murderers."

Suvah flicked her talons. "Misbegotten. You were never meant to live. As the last arbitrator of the Sacred Polarity, it is my duty to slay you."

Hubris lifted her azure-tipped eye stalks toward the Circuit sphere, which glistened above the throne. "Foolish Consort. The old ways were but a step in our evolution. Come, my little friends. Show yourselves."

From around the mezzanine, down the curved stairs, a horde of distorted creatures crept in. Lenyaki skin swirled with garish colors upon hunched human bodies. Mind-tendrils snarled around deformed limbs and heads. Mutants bearing features of both species surrounded Suvah.

"What have you done to them?" Suvah reached for the device Luther had hidden in her mane. The small, round object was forged with maat and mind-lines into a weapon she recognized—a charge amplifier. The Incepted-Consorts had used them to defend the Circuit during the last tragic battle. If she could get to the top of the dome and overload the heart, she could electrocute everything here. Her own life mattered little. She had to balance the Polarity, no matter the cost.

Hubris pointed to one of her pathetic creations. "Do you see that one, the crawler with eye stalks down his spine? That was once the Head Inquisitor of the Conglomerate. Now he's one of us. Isn't he lovely? We can enhance them, Suvah. Raise them to our higher level of being. I've even charged a few, and they can function as capacitors for us. They make a great little snack that can follow you about on a leash. A fitting punishment for those responsible for the genocide. Join me. Together we can restore Lenyaki society to glory."

Suvah slashed her talons at one of the mutants. "You will restore nothing. I have already borne my egg, and you are a miscreant. We will die together, as our Sisters did."

Projecting her field to its fullest, Suvah leaped over the writhing slaves. She landed on the gilded rail of the mezzanine.

"Traitor. If this is your wish, so be it." Hubris waved her hands and tail. More mutants slithered from the alcoves and balconies. All pressed toward Suvah with shrieks and groans.

Suvah raced on all fours along the narrow railing, toward the highest vista in the dome.

A sea of grotesque bodies reached for her, biting with human teeth. Electric fields crisped their flesh as they tried to stop her. Such anomalies must be destroyed, along with their wayward creator.

Once Suvah reached the top, she wrapped her fingers around the amplifier and jumped off the railing. She spread her glider membranes and landed atop the Circuit sphere. The electric orb swung upon its sturdy maat chains.

Hubris ran to the throne, sheltering an ornate box beneath it. Her minions wailed around her.

Suvah held the amplifier aloft. She rested her other hand against the Circuit and prepared for the killing surge.

Another explosion thundered outside, followed by the steady rumble of pulse-cannon fire. The dome shook. Bits of stone crumbled from the ceiling. The maat supports and inlays hummed with Suvah's enhanced current. The amplifier rang in her palm. A large slab of the ceiling collapsed near the throne, and human shouts echoed from outside.

"Txkaa, sst-t-shxa'k-tik'xk." Suvah spoke the promise of an arbitrator and dedicated all death she now caused to the Polarity. Webbed lightning danced over her body as she generated a charge not even Lenyaki flesh could endure.

Hubris ran for the doors. Bolts danced around her, smoke trailing from her skin. Her scream rang shrill over the moans of her bio-experiments.

The doors to the throne room burst open. A team of armed humans wearing shock insulation suits entered, weapons at the ready. They paused near Hubris' convulsing body.

"Consort, stop your attack." Luther's voice hailed clear and triumphant over his helm mic. "The interference of the false Circuit is gone. We've won."

Too late. The Circuit blazed in white-hot devastation. The current engulfed all.

Luther shouted, and the human rebels activated a neutralization shield around themselves.

Suvah remained conscious long enough to see Luther shoot a similar field around her. She collapsed and plummeted from the orb. Darkness claimed her before she hit the ground.

*

"She lives, Kase. She's an Incepted-Consort and a tough survivor at that. Have faith." Luther's voice reached Suvah through the gloom of death's abyss.

Life returned in a searing daze. Suvah awoke and found herself surrounded by humans.

Luther knelt beside her. "It's a new day. The rebels are victorious, thanks to you."

Suvah crawled to her feet and glanced at the humans' battle-weary faces. "We have won...but to what end? I am still the last Lenyaki. I wish you had let me perish with Hubris."

Kase stepped forward, bearing the strange box Hubris had stashed beneath the throne. "You aren't the last. We found this after you shocked the hell out of that bitch's lair. It's alive, and I think it belongs to you, now."

Kase opened the lid and revealed a Lenyaki egg. The bronze and maat-green patterns on the shell indicated the hatchling was male. A new Liege of the Polarity grew within, a rare event which occurred when no other male was alive. A Lenyaki Sister could self-fertilize, a survival mechanism inherent in their species.

"Looks like your nemesis was hiding her baby in an insulated nest," Luther said. "Another shock-shaper will soon walk at your side."

Suvah reached for the egg, but her skin flared sorrowful blue. "He is the child of a miscreant, and there are no fertile Sisters left for him to mate with."

Luther smiled. "I'd say this is the balance restoring itself. You can teach him about the true Polarity. As for the missing Sisters, we'll search for more survivors. There must be others, hiding among the dark stones and canyons of the Shadow Face, as we found you. We've registered unusual life indicators out there on many excursions. Help us find them, and we'll summon them home. We can rebuild together, as companions and allies once more."

A soft wind blew through Suvah's mane. She cradled the egg, and a maternal joy she'd never dreamed to experience washed over her.

"There is a new balance in this," she said. "It is not what I expected, but the Polarity always fluctuates and leads us to new adventures. Today, I will make a new vow. We will begin again."