The Harmonization Hall had grown quiet.
The bright pulses of earlier stabilizing cycles dimmed into a faint glow that clung to the moss cradle like a warm haze. Resonance drifted through the air in soft threads, barely audible beneath the silence settling over the roots and living walls. The forest outside held still, as if listening to the same distant tremor that had shaken the hall earlier.
Aeri sat beside the hybrid without leaving even once.
Her glow had faded to a gentle, steady blue—calm, grounding, protective. Every so often, faint gold threaded through the blue, especially when she looked at him. She didn't try to touch him. Even Veshari instinct told her that his frame was too fragile for contact. But she kept her glow close, within the range his unstable core seemed to respond to most.
His optic had been dim for long minutes, not powered down, but resting.
Aeri watched him breathe—slow, irregular vent cycles from the cracked plating along his ribs. Each breath made a faint metallic whisper that echoed softly against the curved walls.
She didn't understand how someone could look so broken and still fight to stay awake.
Selora returned from the boundary lines, her glow dimmer than before. Aeri lifted her head.
"Elder… is it getting closer?"
Selora shook her head. "Not closer. But restless." She moved toward the cradle, lowering her palms again over the hybrid's chest-node. "The corruption pulse remains in the eastern ridge. For now."
Aeri's glow flickered violet at the edges. "Why does it… feel like it's listening?"
"Because it is." Selora's glow tightened. "Corruption clusters follow instability. They are drawn to it, like insects drawn to heat."
Aeri's breath caught. She looked down at him—the hybrid lying so still on the moss cradle.
"So it's… because of him?"
Selora did not answer with words. Her glow spoke for her: heavy blue and faint gold—sadness and certainty.
Aeri frowned. "But he didn't ask for this. He didn't choose any of it."
"No," Selora said gently. "But corruption never chooses its victims. It senses weakness. Damage. Light without defense."
Aeri looked down again.
He was the definition of all three.
Seven stirred.
His optic flickered open, then half-closed again, adjusting to the Hall's ambient glow. He took a slow, unsteady breath, venting a faint trail of cold vapor from a cracked seam across his collarbone.
His sensor logs fired weakly.
CEC-7 // INTERNAL LOG
Power Core: 8% → stabilizing
Cooling Channels: Functional (low)
Matrix Activity: Rising
External Anchor: Aeri
Recommended Action: Maintain proximity
The hall sharpened into clarity around him.
He saw Aeri first.
Her glow hovered near his left side, warm threads of gold woven through the steady blue pulses. She was watching him—eyes wide with cautious relief.
He turned his optic fully toward her.
Aeri inhaled sharply. "You're awake again."
Her glow brightened.
He tried to lift a hand. His fingers twitched—weak, shaking, but deliberate.
Tap.
Her breath trembled. "Still answering… good."
He blinked once, slow.
Aeri leaned closer. "Can you see me clearly now?"
He processed her silhouette—soft biolight along her jaw, hair shifting like pale-blue fire, glow veins pulsing in gentle waves.
He blinked again.
Aeri exhaled, relieved. "Okay… okay."
Selora studied his responses with narrowed eyes.
"He's stabilizing faster than an organic hybrid should."
"He's not normal," Aeri whispered.
Seven tilted his head fractionally, trying to follow their voices.
Words slipped past his auditory filters, but tones remained:
Concern.
Uncertainty.
Protectiveness.
He processed them all.
Saved them.
Minutes passed.
The hall hummed through its quiet cycles, adjusting resonance around Seven's frame. Aeri matched the hall's rhythm unconsciously, her glow rising and falling in time.
Seven watched.
He didn't understand.
But he felt… pulled.
Drawn to the glow.
To the rhythm she shaped.
He reached for it again—lifting his hand a little higher this time.
Pain tore through hybrid conduits.
He froze, tremors shaking him from head to torso.
Aeri flinched. "No—no, don't—"
Her glow flooded gold-blue, desperate.
Seven's logs spiked.
CEC-7 // INTERNAL LOG — PAIN EVENT
Hybrid Gel Layer: Tear detected (minor)
Core Pulse: Unstable
Cooling: Overheated
Recommended Action: Cease movement
Aeri pressed her hands above his arm—close but not touching.
"Steady… sha… sha… calm, please…"
Her glow softened to steady blue, a healing rhythm without touching.
Seven's tremors slowed.
His breath vents steadied. His optic dimmed again, less violently.
Aeri stayed crouched beside him, breathing hard.
"You can't move yet," she murmured. "You're not ready."
He processed the tremble in her voice.
He saved it.
Selora stepped back. "He's attempting voluntary motion too soon."
"He just wants to… reach," Aeri whispered.
Selora exhaled heavily. "Yes. That's what concerns me."
Aeri looked up sharply.
"Why? He trusts us."
"He trusts you," Selora corrected. Her glow darkened thoughtfully. "And I do not yet understand why."
Seven's optic drifted toward Aeri again.
Aeri felt the gaze. Her glow warmed.
Selora didn't miss it.
She approached him slowly, lowering her palms to hover over his head-node.
"Hybrid," she said softly—her voice deepening with harmonic intent. "Can you understand me?"
Seven listened.
Her glow was calm, heavy gold-blue.
He blinked once.
Selora watched closely. "Again."
He blinked twice.
Aeri's glow snapped brighter. "He understood."
Selora's glow tightened—interest and unease folding together. "So he can follow basic tone and context."
Aeri nodded. "He learns fast."
Selora murmured, "Too fast."
A faint tremor rippled under the hall.
Seven stiffened.
Aeri froze.
Selora's glow hardened.
The tremor faded.
Aeri exhaled shakily.
"It's still out there."
"Yes," Selora murmured. "But not approaching. For now."
Seven's optic shuttered partly, running a passive scan.
CO2L // PASSIVE SCAN
External Vibration: Weak
Corruption Signature: Distant (~0.5 km)
Behavior: Cluster drift / seeking
Threat Level: Monitored
Recommended Action: Remain in fortified zone
He blinked once, then let his optic close again.
Aeri didn't move. She watched the rise and fall of his vents, tracking the rhythm.
After a long moment, she whispered, "Do you want water?"
He didn't understand.
But the softness in her voice soothed him.
Aeri hesitated when he didn't respond.
Then she turned toward a low basin carved into the hall floor. Biolight water shimmered inside—cool and clean.
She dipped a woven leaf-cup into the water and carried it carefully back.
Aeri stopped right beside his cheek plating.
"You can't drink like we do," she murmured. "But maybe this will help you cool."
Seven opened his optic slightly—drawn by her glow.
She tipped the leaf-cup gently over the cracked seam near his collarbone.
Cool water trickled along the damaged plating.
His sensors reacted instantly.
CEC-7 // INTERNAL LOG
External Cooling: Effective
Temperature Drop: Moderate
Matrix Stress: Lowered
Emotional Matrix: Warm response triggered
His optic flickered bright—like a quick flash of recognition.
Aeri's glow softened. "There… better?"
He blinked once.
Aeri's smile was small but radiant. "Good."
Selora watched her with a long stare.
"You have a natural instinct for resonance care," the elder said. "And he responds."
Aeri flushed gold. "I'm just… doing what feels right."
Selora murmured, "That may be exactly why he follows you."
Aeri looked down at him again.
His optic was open—half-lidded, tracking her glow.
"You're safe here," she whispered. "We'll keep you safe."
He blinked slowly, almost like a nod.
Time slipped into a soft silence.
Aeri stayed.
Selora remained nearby, maintaining the hall's protection.
The guardians rotated shifts outside.
But Aeri refused to leave.
Her glow became the center of the hall's calm—soft, steady, always near the hybrid's cheek plating.
Seven's optic opened every so often, each time seeking her glow first.
He never looked afraid when she was near.
He remembered the cold darkness of the hull.
The silent void that held him for countless cycles.
The isolation.
Here, there was light.
Warmth.
A pulse he could anchor to.
His logs cycled.
CEC-7 // INTERNAL LOG — LOW-POWER CYCLE
Anchor Detected: Aeri
Core Stability: Partial
Emotional Matrix Response: Warm / trust-like
Recommended Action: Sustain proximity during recovery
Aeri's glow dimmed slightly—fatigue pulling at her.
She lifted her hand and pressed it gently against her chest, breathing in slow.
Seven's optic tracked the motion.
She whispered, "I'm not leaving."
Her glow flickered gold at the edges—truth.
He saved it.
His optic finally closed fully, not from collapse but from something quieter.
Rest.
Aeri leaned closer, glow brushing the air above his cheek.
"Rest well," she whispered.
The hall dimmed.
The forest stilled.
Only their glows remained—blue, gold, and faint silver—breathing softly in the quiet between trembles.
Seven drifted into low-power mode again.
But as always now—
it wasn't into darkness.
It was into her glow.