Sarai stood amidst her sisters, overseeing the modification of their armor as Evaria had instructed. Her gaze settled on the new sister whom had assisted Evaria during the assassination attempt. She didn't know her. Her mind warred over this woman's origin. Evaria had introduced her as Elisaria, yet none of the sisters knew of her.

  Sarai wondered if she was from one of the other convents of Miqdash. After all, at least one whole one had been wiped out.

  The thought started to nestle comfortably in Sarai's mind, but the fact she'd yet to see Elisaria's face slowly picked away at its foundations. Not to mention Elisaria's own caginess about the subject, often avoiding it to see to Evaria.

  "Sister Elisaria?"

  The battle sister looked up as another painted her armor. They'd taken to working in pairs for this so none would be unarmored in case of an attack.

  "Yes, Canonness Sarai?"

  The voice was smooth and familiar, even after being filtered through the helmet.

  "Remove your helmet."

  Elisaria hesitated. It was enough. Sarai rested her hand on the hilt of her power sword. "That was not a request, sister."

  The Sororitas painting her armor stopped and took a step back as the rest all paused and prepared themselves. Elisaria finally relented and lifted her hands to her helmet. She lifted it off, and Sarai went still. Elisaria was the spitting image of Evaria, though with a few minor differences. Her eye color was a bright blue rather than the verdant green of the Primarch's, and her hair was of a lighter mahogany. It was similarly long, and carefully braided in a viking style to keep it contained.

  "Is this to your satisfaction, Canonness?"

  Her voice was much like Evaria's. Too close, in fact.

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  Sarai narrowed her eyes. "Is this a test?"

  Elisaria tilted her head slightly, her confusion apparent in her posture and expression. "I don't understand."

  "Why do you look like our Lady?"

  Elisaria shrugged slightly. "I'm not sure, Canonness. It is likely the d?ppleganger effect: throughout history you will find two or more people who will look exactly alike. I would say there are enough humans that the chances of someone at some point looking near identical to our Lady is rather high. She and I just happen to be alive at the same time, which isn't unheard of."

  "That would require you to be related to the God Emperor himself."

  "Not necessarily." Elisaria's voice was calm and measured. "I could be related to our Lady’s other side of her family. But even if I was, so what? The God Emperor was likely born to a human woman before his ascent to godhood. Therefore he'd have had relatives who had children of their own, and so forth. In any case, this was why I kept my helmet on."

  Sarai thought for a moment, weighing the value of Elisaria's words. "What convent do you hail from?"

  "Muzav Mivneh."

  Sarai's heart almost stopped, and she glanced away as guilt for questioning her took hold of her heart. The Golden Spire was at the base of the main Warp Portal.

  "Were you present during..?"

  "Yes, I was in the Inner Sanctum. Blood Ravens came in and rescued me, though the rest of my sisters, and some of the Blood Ravens, fell as we evacuated. It was... Horrible."

  Sarai swallowed and nodded. "I apologize, sister."

  Elisaria shook her head. "No need. It is your duty to ensure that all of us are as we are supposed to be. One traitor could cause great harm to our Lady, and I would rather die a thousand deaths than to know that she'd been betrayed due to our incompetence."

  Sarai could only offer a slight nod, and a few words. "Well said, sister."

  Elisaria turned her attention to repainting her helmet as the other sister resumed painting the rest of her armor.

  "Why do you think the God Emperor had Evaria's history expunged?" One sister asked aloud. They all glanced at one another, silence reigning in the room as they continued their work.

  Sarai took in a breath. "It could have been to protect her, or to prevent upheaval from the death of a Primarch. Knowing now of the fact that a Primarch has been concealed could mean there were once many, many more than the Nine."

  The sisters all seemed to quickly accept this explanation, but Sarai noticed something in Elisaria's eyes, a knowledge she withheld. But Sarai didn't call her on it, opting to let her keep her secret: for now.