All in all, Athega Tertius had been a rousing success, to Alexandra's mind. A rebellion had been quashed, the corrupted PDF unit on the planet had been taken down with minimal loss- though of course, those who had been lost were honoured in the end- and the Imperium kept safe from the rot of heresy from another angle. The mere physical damage to her arm had been readily fixed, and though her Chaplet-Ecclesiasticus gained a few more beads and her back a few more scars, Alexa's faith wavered not.

Nor did her workload. In the months after the fight for Athega's sanctity, Alexa's work remained constant, the healing of Imperial citizens and her fellow Battle-Sisters repeating time and again, not to mention the training in matters of combat that all Adepta Sororitae were expected to take upon themselves. Yet the Taneia sector remained oddly quiescent. The closest she came to battle again in that time was when she was called down to Athega Tertius again, not as a fighter but as the doctor for a number of civilians who had been caught in the blast of a rogue element's makeshift bomb. Most lived. A couple were too far gone for anything but the Emperor's Mercy. Another couple of beads were added to Alexa's Chaplet after that.

Nonetheless, she'd trained, and worked, and improved, and to some extent allowed herself to relax a bit more without such pressure upon her. And even so, it was almost a surprise when she heard that she and the other Survivors were wanted again. The same locale, the same Canoness-Preceptor, perhaps the same Inquisitor leading the way to boot. Echoes of her nerves at the time of that meeting returned, and indeed grew into their own tree of worry all over again, such that by the time of her arrival, her visage was hidden within her helm all over again, and no matter that the vox was somehow still not fixed, and that everyone else in the reformed squad seemed happy to be back together. Her aquila sign, in response to those of Lisbeth and Vitruvia, felt half-hearted in her mind, though she was sure it looked perfectly put together.

[i]Speaking of which, you ought to pull yourself together,[/i] Alexa chided herself, gritting her teeth. [i]What Adepta sees herself heading off to fight for the Emperor's glory, and worries about such childish things as whether they are worthy of the honour? Your Sisters are perfectly happy to do it. Why not show off your happiness too?[/i]

It was almost embarrassing that she had to be her own punisher, but the logical side of her mind won out as a result, and she forced herself to answer Sister Dominica's question in cordial fashion. 'If our formation is any indication,' she replied, rolling her eyes at the vox's harshness all over again, 'I fear we may have another instance of Athega Tertius on our hands, though I cannot claim to know what ills the enemies of Mankind bear for us.'