#SymweaverWeek2025

Satya walked into the streets at the worst possible time it seemed. She was coming down from the office, bag over her shoulder, when a big bang echoed throughout the ground and into her ears.

Truly a less than optimal way to end her day. She had heard some coworkers mentioning some kind of villany going around, Satya just didn't think she would have the luck to run into it.

Looking around, she saw the street was jammed, with a few cars on top of each other. On one side, a big dark pink mech was fighting some flying magical girls, so definitely not the way to go. 

Promptly turning on her heels, Satya crossed the road. There was so much noise from that fight, car alarms going off, and honking, she closed her eyes for a second. All she needed was a breather, then she’dl be able to get home and away from all this. This horrible feeling that lowered her stomach to the ground, and made the wind seem harsher than it really is would go away. She kned the world didn't feel like this before she crossed the street, so it'd pass if she just--

Suddenly, the weird feeling in her stomach stopped, and the noise unexpectedly diminished. 

Satya opened her eyes to find herself in the same height as the skyscrapers around her. A gorgeous man in a costume standing in front of her. She quickly took a step back, but nearly fell off what she realized was some kind of magical flower. He stepped closer and held her to keep her from falling.

Satya takes a deep breath and sends out the call. She prays to any god that will listen that he’ll pick up. If he doesn’t, she’s not sure what she’ll do. She can’t hit another wall, she has nowhere else to turn to. Her head is spinning and she barely hears when the call connects.

“Hello? Satya?”

Satya heaves a great sigh of relief when she hears his voice. It sounds just like it did when they first met at the temple.

“Zenyatta!”

“Hello dear Satya, it is a pleasure to hear from you.”

“It is wonderful to hear from you as well Tekhartha. I wish it were under better circumstances. I wish we had time to simply chat.”

“What’s wrong? Are you in danger?”

Satya swallows hard, unsure how to proceed. “Not yet. But I will be soon. I certainly will be after this call.”

“This call will endanger you?”

“I can’t stay silent Zenyatta, not anymore.” Satya stops as her voice cracks as sobs begin to form. “There are things I’ve discovered that are just… too much…” Before she can help it, she begins to full on sob.

“This is about Viskar I assume.”

Satya nods before realizing that he won’t be able to see that. “Yes.”

“You do not need to give me details here. What do you need? How can I help?”

“I need to leave. I can’t- I won’t be complicit anymore. I need somewhere to hide, if only for now, until I can come up with a plan. I know it’s a lot to ask from you, and I’m not sure if you can help me but you’re the only one I can ask. The only other person I could ask I’ve been unable to contact. I’m sorry-”

“It’s alright Satya. I believe I can help you, perhaps more than you realize. That is, if you are willing to accept the help I can give.”

Satya blinks. “What? What are you talking about?”

“Have you heard about the new Overwatch?”

Satya blinks again. “Overwatch?”

***

Overwatch is the last place she would have expected to get help from, given their reputation, but just as Zenyatta promised, they came through in almost perfect form. An agent, a previous Overwatch member, Satya believes she’s called Tracer, came to pick her up at the designated spot mere hours later, and even shook off the tail that materialized, almost certainly courtesy of Viskar. Satya is unsure how Zenyatta came to be an Overwatch member, and she’s not sure what to expect from them, but this is the best she can hope for.

Even if the thought of working with a whole organization of unknowns leaves her trembling.

Luckily though, Tracer either doesn’t notice her unease or is politely ignoring it. But halfway through the trip, she offers Satya a gentle smile, so perhaps it’s the latter. Satya still isn’t sure.

Soon the Watchpoint comes into view. Watchpoint Gibraltar’s architecture isn’t very noteworthy at first glance, but as Satya studies it, she finds that the way it’s incorporated into the landscape is rather interesting and unique. Satya could probably spend weeks studying the whole complex.

Satya is lost in thought, puzzling over how the buildings she saw are anchored onto the cliffs, that she doesn’t even notice that they’ve landed until Tracer calls her name.

“Miss Vaswani?”

Satya startles and looks up at her. “Yes?”

“We’re here!” Tracer stands and opens up the pod doors. “Come on out! Everyone will love to meet you!”

Satya swallows hard, suddenly much more nervous. She uneasily stands, while trying to make it look effortless. “Of course.” She motions forwards. “After you.”

“If you insist!” Tracer hops out of the doors. Satya can hear her say, “Already gathered a small crowd!”

Satya takes a deep breath, trying not to panic. She smoothes the wrinkles out of her dress, and tries to will herself to not bunch it up in her hands. She takes the first step towards the door. Then the next. Then she can hear the voices from outside the ship. After the next step she can see some figures through the door.

Then she’s standing in the door.

Whatever she had expected, it wasn’t this. There are maybe a dozen of them or so, no uniforms, nothing to signify their allegiance. Some of them are dressed less than professionally. Satya has to desperately hold back a scoff. Near the front of the group is an actual full sized gorilla. She had heard that Overwatch had a gorilla at some point, but to actually see him-

“Miss Vaswani.”

Satya looks to her side to see a bearded man in a cowboy hat of all things, standing just below the door, holding a hand out to her.

“Need a hand getting down?”

Satya looks down at him. The hand he’s offering is a prosthetic, making her more clearly feel where her own is attached.

She takes the hand.

After he helps her down from the pod ship, he releases her hand and waves out one of his own towards the rest of the landing site.

“Miss Vaswani, allow me to welcome you to Watchpoint Gibraltar.”

The remaining members of the present group watch her curiously, but none of them approach. Instead, the gorilla steps forward.

“Yes, welcome! It’s my understanding that you’ve been having a rough time, and we’re here to help!” He takes another step forward and Satya scrutinizes him. He doesn’t look dirty, doesn’t smell dirty either, so Satya takes a small step towards him. “And don’t worry! We’ll be sure to keep you safe from Viskar!”

Satya swallows and tries to ignore all the eyes on her. “Thank you.”

A thought occurs to her as the gorilla is the one to address her. Is the gorilla the one in charge here? She supposes there’s no reason why he couldn’t be as he’s supposed to be as intelligent as any human, but still…

“My name is Winston. If there’s anything you need, feel free to let me know.”

Satya absently nods again, and dares a glance at the crowd. But her eyes stop at the sight of one man pushing his way to the front.

Satya feels her breath stop. “You’re Lucio Correia dos Santos.”

Satya didn’t even mean to say anything but now the entire crowd has turned to look at Lucio, then back at her.

Lucio looks at her awkwardly, then takes a couple steps forwards. He clears his throat. “Uh, yeah, I am.”

Satya is too stunned to do anything other than say, “I see.”

Lucio continues to approach her slowly. “And you’re… Viskar.”

“Satya Vaswani. Formerly Viskar.” Those words still feel strange in her mouth, but they need to be said, now more than ever.

Lucio nods. “Right, yeah, good.” He coughs. “I mean… whatever. Good to… have you here.” He gives her an awkward smile.

Satya gives a stiff nod. “Thank you.”

She wants to tell him that she likes his music, but she doubts her words will work for her right now. Perhaps later.

“Zen says we can trust you,” Lucio says. “And I know better than to doubt him.”

Satya’s eyes widen a little. Could Zenyatta’s words inspire this much faith? Faith that he has in her?

“I…” Satya starts, but as she suspected, her words fail her. “Thank you.”

Lucio just smiles and nods at her.

Speaking of, Satya hasn’t seen Zenyatta yet. That’s truly what she needs right now, a familiar face. She braves another scan of the crowd and still doesn’t see him. And now, the rest of the crowd is starting to approach her. Her brain is setting off alarm bells, if all these strangers try to approach her at once-

But a few of them turn their attention away from Satya to behind them instead, and Satya only just has enough time to wonder what they’re looking at when a pink platform in the shape of a flower rises up behind the crowd.

“Satya! It is you!”

There is a man on the flower. A man that jumps over the crowd as though he’s riding the wind.

Satya gasps, and speaks very quietly. “Bua?”

Niran lands in front of her and pulls her into a hug. “Satya! It is so good to see you!” 

Niran pulls back and looks at her with a grin as bright as the sun. A wave of relief washes over Satya so strongly that she has to hold back tears.

“I heard a Viskar agent was coming and I was hoping-”

“Niran,” Winston says as he approaches them. “You two know each other?”

Niran turns to him. “Yes! You know I used to be a student at Viskar's academy, right?” He looks back to Satya with delight in his eyes. “Satya here was my roommate!” His smile softens and speaks softer. “And best friend. And one of those things hasn’t changed.” He gives her a slightly unsure smile. “Right?”

Satya gives him a small smile. “Right.”

And with that, Niran’s grin comes back full force.

“That’s great!” Winston says. “That means you can help show her around and introduce her to everyone!” He turns to the crowd. “Speaking of…”

The crowd starts to surge again and Satya’s eyes widen with panic, when Niran holds out a hand.

“Wait! Perhaps introductions can wait a bit?” Niran looks between her and Winston. “After such a day and such a trip, perhaps some rest is in order? We already have a room prepared for her, right?”

Winston nods. “Right, it’s 901 in the east wing.”

“Perfect!” Niran laces their arms together and starts to pull her away. She goes willingly. “Sorry everyone, but not to worry! The lovely Miss Vaswani will grace you all with her presence after she has had time to rest!”

Before she can even process what’s happened, Niran has whisked her through the crowd and further into the complex.

***

Satya is so overwhelmed that they’ve reached her room before she can speak again. Once they arrived, Niran sits her down in the small chair in the room and starts unpacking her things for her. He’s almost arranged everything just as she would have. There’s a couple things she’ll have to fix, but it’s a good start at least.

When she’s finally able to speak, all that comes out is, “Overwatch?”

Niran turns to look at her with a questioning look on his face, then he smiles. “Yes! Welcome to Overwatch, my love!”

Satya tries to clarify her question. “You’re in Overwatch?” 

“Oh! Yes! I joined about a month ago. It was the Martins’ idea, when they heard about this new Overwatch ramping up, they suggested I contact them about joining them, figured they could make good use of my technology and skills. I was hesitant at first, I wasn’t sure why they had so much faith that my technology wouldn’t be misused. But now that I’ve been here a while, I understand their thinking more! The people here are lovely, and there’s a good heart at the center of this organization.” He leans into her conspiratorially. “But between you and me, I was planning to abscond at the first sign of trouble, but…” He smiles at her. “Now that you’re here I may have to rethink that plan. I don’t want to leave you behind. Not again.”

Satya looks up at him with wide eyes. Before she realizes what’s happening, tears are rolling down her face.

Niran’s face shifts to worry and he quickly comes over to kneel down in front of Satya. He wipes a tear off her face. “Are you alright, Satya?”

“I just-” Satya’s cuts off as her words fail her yet again. But she tries again. “I tried to contact you before, at the Arcology, but they said you left and wouldn’t tell me where. I never would have thought-” She’s cut off again by a hiccup. She swallows. “I’m just so happy to see you.”

Niran looks at her with surprise, before it turns into a smile. “I’m glad to see you as well, more than I could possibly express. And I’m glad you’re finally out of Viskar’s clutches.”

Satya sighs. “I was not looking forward to this part.”

“What part?”

“Your gloating.”

“I would never!”

Satya gives him a look.

“Well I was right, but that’s not what’s important. All that matters is you’re safe.”

Satya looks at him for a moment. “I suppose.”

“Do you intend to work against them now?”

Satya grimaces.

“We can talk about this later!” Niran is quick to add. “If you would prefer to rest and think that’s fine.”

Satya shakes her head. “No, I strengthened my resolve when I first tried to contact you. I know where this path leads. I no longer believe Viskar can be redeemed. They need to be stopped.”

Niran looks at her with wonder. Then he nods. “I’m with you, always. And I’m sure the others will help as well. They know what Viskar is.”

Satya sighs. “I should have done this a long time ago.”

Niran rubs her head and down her hair. “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to believe in the good of the world you lived in. And take it from me, I did leave Viskar a long time ago and it didn’t get me very far.”

“But at least we could have been together.” Satya says quietly.

Niran gently takes her hand. “We’re together now, that’s all that matters.” He leans forward and gently kisses her forehead. “Get some rest. Tomorrow I’ll show you around the base and introduce you to some agents. We’ll go at your pace,  whenever it’s too much, just say the word and we’ll take a break. We can take our time, the others will understand. And whenever you’re ready, we can talk to Winston about Viskar.”

Satya raises an eyebrow at him. “So the gorilla is in charge?”

Niran grins at her. “Yes, the gorilla is in charge.”

Satya stays stunned for a moment before breaking out into laughter. “Of all the people… He did seem very nice at least.”

“He is very nice! And very smart, and has been a good leader so far.” His smile widens as he strokes her hair again. “When was the last time I heard you laugh? Oh how I’ve missed it.”

Satya smiles at him and feels her face warm. “I can’t promise you’ll hear it often, but I think you’ll have more opportunities in the future from now on.”

“That is all I could ever ask for.”

***

She did finally get to see Zenyatta. He was the first stop on Niran’s welcoming tour. Zenyatta apologized for not being there to greet Satya on her arrival and expressed gratitude that Niran was able to help her in his stead. It was good to see him again, and seeing him helped make her more comfortable. Together, Niran and Zenyatta introduced Satya to some of the agents, including Zenyatta’s pupil, Genji. Most of it was a blur, and though she tried to hold out as long as she could, she soon had to signal to Niran to take a break. Being in a completely new place with completely new people, she was easily getting overwhelmed.

It takes several days, but eventually, Satya has been introduced to the whole of the current Overwatch. Which is… smaller than Satya would have thought. Apparently the dozen or so people that were present at her arrival were most of them. Even so, it’s more people than Satya has had to be around for extended periods of time in a long time. And having to share so many living spaces with all of them… it’s been incredibly draining on Satya. It’s been a long time since she had so little control of the space around her.

One day it’s just all too much for her to handle and she stays cooped up in her room all day. She could hardly sleep the night before, and sleep still escapes her now. Winston had given her the plans of the Watchpoint, so to give herself something to do, she manically goes through them looking for any points of interest. An in-person review of the buildings would be preferable, but she doesn’t have the strength for that right now.

Her eyes have started to hurt from blinkless staring at the plans, when she’s interrupted by a knock on the door. She considers ignoring it, but there’s one person she wouldn’t mind seeing right now…

“Athena, who’s at my door?” Even Satya has to admit, the Watchpoint’s operating AI is rather convenient, even if it's rather off-putting.

“It’s Agent Niran PruksaManee, call sign, ‘Lifeweaver.’”

Satya sighs. So be it. She pushes herself from her desk and slowly makes her way to the door and pulls it open. Niran offers her a soft smile once she sees him.

“Good evening, my love. How are you today?”

Satya stares at him. Most likely he already knows the answer to that. He’s always been good at reading her.

When she doesn’t answer, he continues. “No one has seen you around today. Have you even eaten at all?”

Satya’s mouth twitches. No point in lying. “No.”

“Well, luckily, I brought you a snack.” From behind his back he pulls out a basket and holds it out to her. “Can I come in? We can eat together.”

Rather than answer, Satya wordlessly moves to the side out of the doorway. Niran takes that as an answer and enters the room. He sets the basket on the table and Satya comes over and turns off the hologram plans so there’s room for him to empty the basket.

Niran eyes the plans file as he unpacks the food. “You'll have to tell me what you learned about the Watchpoint’s architecture.” He looks up and eyes Satya as she opens her mouth. “But food first.”

Niran seems to have made some of her favorite comfort foods. She doesn’t have much of an appetite but she’s able to eat more than she would have had it been anything else. Together they eat in silence.

“Have you been sleeping well, Satya?”

Satya shakes her head. “It’s hard to settle my unease.”

Niran nods. “I understand. New places have always been hard for you, and given everything else that’s been happening, I imagine that only adds to it.”

Satya nods in silence.

“Would you like me to stay here tonight? You did say that my snoring helps you sleep.” He gives her a grin.

Satya looks up at him with wide eyes. “Bua… I couldn’t ask that-”

Niran waves a hand. “It’s fine! It’ll be nice for me too! Just like old times. Your presence is always comforting to me as well.”

“But… where would you sleep?” There’s only one bed in Satya’s dorm, and while she wouldn’t mind sharing it with Niran, it’s so small…

“Not to worry my love!” He gets up from the table and goes to a corner of the room. In a flash of light, a pink chair with a reclined back appears in the corner.

Satya looks on with amazement. She gets up as well and goes to examine the chair. It’s so soft and plush, perfectly serviceable for sleeping. She could never make something like it with hard light only. Niran’s bio light always continues to amaze her.

Niran gently takes her hand. “It’s late. How about we get some sleep?”

Satya nods.

***

Just as expected, Niran’s presence helps Satya fall asleep within minutes. It’s the best sleep she’s had since coming to the Watchpoint. In the morning when Satya awakes, Niran is gone, but the chair remains. It’s as though he’s saying that it will always be there should Satya need it again. That he’ll be there. Satya smiles.

Satya steps back on the campus, looking up at the grand buildings. Luggage in hand, she trudges forwards. She was told about her new room arrangements, but she can hardly believe it.

She stops in front of her new dorm building. It’s the nicest dorm building on campus, the dorms are more like suites, with private bathrooms and a built-in kitchenette. Satya never would have even dreamed about living here, and yet…

“Satya!”

Satya turns around to see a boy with pale hair running towards her.

“Hello, Bua,” she says to him.

“What are you doing just standing outside? Come in, I’ll show you to our room!”

He starts towards the door, but Satya doesn’t follow. Seemingly sensing she’s not following, Niran turns around to look at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“So, it’s true then?” She asks. “You requested for me to be your roommate?”

He gives her a bright smile. “Of course!” When she stays silent his smile starts to falter a little. “You said yes, right? I was told you said yes… Do you… not want to?”

Satya shakes her head. “That’s not it. I just thought… that you didn’t like me very much.”

Niran’s eyes widen and he takes a few steps towards her. “Satya, no! Of course I like you! I know I tease you sometimes and we argue sometimes and I know I get annoyed at you sometimes and you get annoyed at me sometimes…” He stops, blushing. “I’m not being very convincing am I?”

Satya looks at him for a moment. Then, she lets out a little laugh, before following it up with more laughter. After a moment, Niran follows suit, laughing along with her.

Niran wipes his eyes as he speaks again. “But, if you thought I didn’t like you, why did you agree to be my roommate?”

“Because…” Satya looks down at the ground. “Even if you didn’t like me very much, you’re still my best friend.”

Niran is silent after that, so Satya risks a glance up at him, and sees him stunned. Then suddenly, he pulls her into a hug.

“Satya! You’re my best friend too!”

Satya blinks in surprise, pressed against him. “Really?” Niran seems to have so many friends, it’s hard to believe that he would consider her his best friend.

Satya can feel him nod. “Yeah. No one gets me like you do. There’s no one else I’d rather live with.” He pulls back from the hug. “I promise that we’ll set everything up just the way you like it, and I’ll help keep things clean, and not make too many messes!”

Satya narrows her eyes at him. “And you’ll go to bed on time and not skip class?”

Niran gets a sheepish look. “Uh…”

Satya sighs. “I suppose this will have to do.” She looks up at him and gives him a small smile. “I’m looking forward to living with you, Bua.”

Niran smiles back at her, his cheeks rosy. He grabs her hand with one hand, and her suitcase with the other.

“Come on! Let me show you the room!”

“I don’t believe we ever established what we’re to do if we come across one of Blackbraid’s crew.”

Satya trudges ahead through the jungle, not even looking back at Vivian as she responds. “Protocal would require that we eliminate them.”

Satya can hear Vivian give a small sigh behind her. “Okay, right, but we have some extenuating circumstances here. Captain Amari simply requested that we find the missing members of the crews. If we find any members of Blackbraid’s crew, we can capture them, but we don’t need to kill them. We can always decide what to do with them later.”

Satya scrunches her face up in annoyance. “I don’t see why we wait to kill them when-”

Suddenly, a figure bursts out of the trees, and Satya and Vivian immediately have pistols drawn. Satya sets about examining the situation, and the first thing she realizes is that the new figure is very.. pink. A familiar shade of pink at that.

“Satya, my dear, it is you!”

Satya lowers her pistol in a daze, and before she can process anything else, she’s pulled into a hug.

“Bua? I mean, Niran?”

Niran draws back from the hug, a familiar bright smile on her face. “Oh Satya, it’s such a wonder to see you again! It’s been so long! And look at you! A full fledged navy officer! I knew you could do it!”

Satya blinks, speechless. Satya wasn’t sure if she’d ever see Niran again, and this is about the last place she’d expect to see him.

“Satya…” Vivian says carefully. “You… know this man?”

Satya looks over to see that Vivan still has her pistol ready. “Ah, yes, I do. This is Niran, we were in training together, but he… didn’t end up finishing training.”

Niran lets out a little laugh. “I appreciate the delicate wording, but in truth I ran away. Never wanted to be in the navy in the first place, you see, it was my parent’s idea. My lovely Satya made the whole ordeal tolerable, almost enough for me to stay, but I’m afraid some… extenuating circumstances caused me to have to leave rather suddenly.”

Vivian looks Niran up and down. “I… see.” She keeps her pistol up.

“But Niran, what are you doing here?” Satya asks. “This island is hidden, the only ones that should be here are…” Satya’s eyes widen as she realizes what Vivian must have realized much sooner. “Don’t tell me…!”

“Ah, yes, this is a tad awkward, as these days I am… well, a pirate.”

“You’re one of Blackbraid’s crew?!” Satya's head is starting to feel fuzzy.

Niran looks unfazed. “Yes, Captain Ana is very accommodating.”

Satya has no idea how to respond. Luckily Vivian takes over for her.

“We’ll have to ask for your cooperation for now. You’re not under arrest, yet, but if you try to hinder us we’ll have to resort to force.”

Niran grins at her. “Do not worry, my cooperation is given.”

Vivian nods and slowly holsters her pistol. “Good. Now, we’re members of Captain Fareeha Amari’s crew, we’re currently searching for survivors from Captain Reinhardt Wilhelm’s crew and Blackbraid’s crew.”

Niran furrows his eyebrows. “Captain Fareeha… Amari?”

Vivian raises an eyebrow. “Yes?”

Niran gives a little shake of his head. “Right, sorry, it’s nothing. You were saying?”

Vivian gives him a skeptical look before continuing. “Do you know where anyone else is? From Captain Reinhardt’s crew, Captain Reinhardt, Private Lena Oxton and Sergeant Winston are all still missing.”

“Winston is the gorilla, right?”

Vivian sighs. “Yes, Winston is the gorilla.”

“Well, I don’t know where Captain Reinhardt or Winston are, but Lena is the cute little girl with short dark hair, yes? I know where she is, and don’t worry, she should be safe. Captain Ana gave us strict instructions not to hurt her.”

“Not to hurt her-?”

Satya interrupts Vivian. “Wait, you know where Blackbraid is? She’s alive?”

“Well, I don’t know where she is currently, but she is alive at least.”

Finally shaken out of her stupor, Satya tries to get down to business. “By ‘we’ you mean you and other members of your crew, yes?” Her voice turns serious. “And you have Private Lena captive?”

“Well, sort of.” Niran looks a little nervous. “Some of the others are a little… rough around the edges and are not quick to play nice. Still good people I assure you! But yes, by the time I met up with them they had already captured Lena, and I managed to convince them not to hurt her before Captain Ana came and properly ordered them not to hurt her.”

Vivian interjects. “You seem softhearted enough, but why would Blackbraid ask her crew not to hurt a naval officer?”

Niran pauses for a moment. “You know, I’m not so sure about that myself.”

“You said you don’t know where Blackbraid is,” Satya says, trying to get back on track. Blackbraid’s motives can wait. “What about the rest of your crew? Are they all accounted for?”

“Not all of them, no. Dez, Bastion and Cassidy are still missing, to my knowledge.”

“We have Cassidy.” Vivian says.

Niran gives a small smile. “Ah, a captive of your own, huh? Perhaps we can do an exchange later.”

Satya sighs. “Niran-”

Before she can get any other words out, Niran is just about on top of her.

“Satya, look out!”

A deafening crack rings out just as the two of them hit the ground. Satya looks over to see Vivian has crouched in the brush as well. “A sniper. I didn’t know Blackbraid’s crew had a sniper.”

“We don’t.”

Niran’s voice comes from above Satya, and she feels her face warm, being this close to him again.

Niran looks over at Vivian. “And I would assume they're not navy, so it would seem we have some uninvited guests on the island.”

It’s been months already since Satya was pulled out of the ocean. Mariners looking to capture rare sea creatures that hit the proverbial gold mine. A mermaid. They sold her to a museum. Supposedly a place of science, but Satya can hardly believe that when they’d keep sentient creatures in a cage like some kind of animal. She wonders if they’d treat other non-humans this way or if this is something they only extend to merfolk. She’s never been in a human city before, and she has yet to see any non-humans visit the museum, so the outlook for non-humans seems bleak here.

At first the day is just like any other. Gawkers walk to and fro in front of her tank, unashamed in their staring. Perhaps they truly think she’s lesser than humans.

These days it’s hard to not be filled with nothing but contempt.

She’s resigned to sulking in a corner of her tank for the day, when she hears a voice in her head.

I wonder, is your face as lovely as you are from behind?

Startled, Satya looks up and outside the tank, trying to determine the source of the voice.

Ah, even more lovely I see.

Satya scrunches up her face in annoyance.

The voice in her head laughs.

Even when you’re making a face like that. But your beauty is besides the point right now. No one deserves to be trapped in a cage. Do you happen to have an idea of how I could go about freeing you?

Satya scoffs in her mind. She’s not sure if simply thinking at the voice will reach them, but she tries anyway.

I could easily free myself, but there are runes etched on the glass that prevent me from damaging it.

The voice responds. Say no more.

That is when Satya notices a cloaked figure that must have been hiding in a shadowed corner approaching the tank. Curious, she approaches the glass to get a better look at them. They keep their head down until they reach the glass, at which point they look up just enough that Satya can see glowing gold eyes.

Satya’s eyes widen. She’s heard about aasimars, but she’s never seen one in person.

Then, the figure winks at her.

Slightly taken aback, Satya only barely notices the figure put their hands on the glass. After a few moments, she can feel the magic of the runes fade.

Satya gives a small satisfied smile. Using her magic, she freezes the water just next to the glass, making it brittle, then she sends a powerful current at the glass, shattering it easily. Satya follows the water out of the tank, then stands outside it for the first time in months. Museum patrons are panicking and alarms are blaring, but Satya is unfazed. She will not be captured again.

Satya examines her surroundings, looking for a way out, when guards round the corner. The aasimar grabs her hand and pulls her into a run in the opposite direction. Satya considers shaking him off, but he probably knows where to go better than she can guess, so she decides to follow him.

In a few moments, they’re out on the street, running away from a group of pursuers that only seems to grow.

The man leads them around a corner, where they face a dead end. Satya gives him a disapproving look, which he returns with an apologetic one.

Satya sighs and turns to face their pursuers, but just as they round the corner, they all fall. Satya blinks in confusion, and just barely sees the glint of a small metal object embedded in them.

Suddenly, a new figure drops down beside them, startling Satya a bit. They look like a construct. Satya readies to face him, but they are looking at the man Satya is with.

“Can’t you go one day without making trouble?”

The aasimar shrugs. “I can’t help it, it’s in my nature.”

The construct sighs. “I’ve cleared a path, let’s go.” With that, he turns his back to them and heads out of the alley way.

The aasimar takes a step forwards, then gives a small bow, gesturing Satya forwards. “After you.”

Satya rolls her eyes, but follows after the construct.

Their pursuers lost for now, Satya’s new patrons lead her to two others, standing in the shadows a few streets away, a man in a large cloak that Satya can tell is a marsh dryad, and a second construct. Together, the five of them head through the city gates, and they all board a carriage outside.

Satya is hesitant to board, but when the aasimar offers his hand to her, she finds she can’t resist.

They take off, but more officers file out of the city gates trailing after them.

One of the constructs pulls out more of the sharp metal objects he used earlier. “Leave them to Master and I.”

The aasimar places a hand on his shoulder. “No need.” He rises from his seat and pulls at the tie of his cloak, causing it to fly off in the wind, revealing a dark hair in a ponytail, golden glowing eyes, and golden wings that look like petals unfurl from his back.

Satya blinks at him in awe. “A lotus…”

The aasimar says a string of words that Satya doesn’t understand, waving his hands in the air, and suddenly their surroundings begin to warp. When everything comes to a stop, they’re somewhere else, on a path in a woodland. Satya looks around in awe.

The aasimar sighs and sits down as the carriage continues forwards again. “There, see? Not a problem.”

The dryad lets out a laugh, and the second construct lets out a hum. The first construct gives the aasimar a look, and Satya has a feeling he’s not nearly as amused.

“Ah!” The aasimar says. “Where are my manners! In all the rush I wasn’t able to introduce myself!” He gives a small bow in his seat. “My name is Niran.” He turns to the others. “And these lovely gentlemen are Genji, Zenyatta and Lucio.” He points to them all in turn as he gives their names.

“Hiya!” Says Lucio the dryad.

“A pleasure.” Zenyatta the construct says.

Genji the construct simply nods at her.