Episode Seven, Part 3:
For Always

I know my kingdom awaits and 
they've forgiven my mistakes. 
I'm coming home, I'm coming home. 
Tell the world I'm coming home. 

Sol made her way into the meeting room in the building, rightfully assuming that it was where Dreea, Kodiak, and Wynn were waiting for her. She knew they would all be together somewhere and that she had been gone long to allow Reegan and the rest of Exile Allegiance to make their way back to their camp, so there was no time left to hide.

She cautiously pushed open the door and stepped inside, seeing a mixture of hurt and relief plastered across everyone's faces once they realised it was her. As well as the three Sovereigns inside, Chessca and Atlantis were also huddled around - perhaps trying to gain an insight into their next steps forward and if there was anything they could do from the sidelines to keep Sol motivated.

"There you are," Atlantis exhaled, leaving the group and hurrying over to Sol, wrapping her arms tightly around her. "I was so worried about you."

Sol managed a tired smile and held Atlantis back, allowing enough time for the younger girl to find her strength and, most importantly, a belief that somehow, everything was going to end up okay.

"I'm alright now," Sol said. "Go wait out there with Chess; make sure she lies down. I'you later."

She made sure to give her instruction extra loud - leaving no doubt that Chessca - who was leaning against Dreea - was able to hear. At the mention of her name, she glanced over at Sol, rolling her eyes playfully before making her way over to Atlantis who carefully led her out of the room.

With the two of them gone, it left Sol alone to face her fellow Sovereigns. She didn't know what emotions she would be met with: would they be angry at her? Would they criticise her for hiding when the world got too unbearable for her to face? Would they ask her to fix the mess she had made?

Before she could figure out an answer, or decide on which one she felt she most deserved, she was enveloped in two, strong arms which held her tight, wrapping every inch of her up against their chest.

"Hey," the familiar, ever-homely voice of Wynn murmured against her. She could feel him take a deep breath and let it out above her head, perhaps encouraging her to find her own relief - as if telling her that it was finally safe to come undone. "Everything's okay. It's all going to work out. You're okay."

"Riv," another voice sounded from her side - a hand resting on the free space on her lower back.

Sol pulled away from Wynn slightly, turning to see Dreea standing nearby - her features softened in a misery that Sol wasn't used to seeing on her.

"Come here," Dreea said, stealing her away from Wynn and holding onto her just as fiercely. "Chessca told us what you guys were talking about. How could you ever blame yourself?"

Sol shrugged, finally pulling away although, Dreea wouldn't let go of her completely.

"War's don't start by accident," she said, "and I'm the Noble Sovereign. That makes me responsible for our people."

"All four of us are Sovereigns," Kodiak chimed in, finally getting his chance to stand by her side. "That means we're in all this together. And whatever you're facing, we're facing it, too," he slung an arm over Sol's shoulder, pulling her into his side and kissed the top of her head. The affection caused Sol to close her eyes momentarily and all the hurt that was weighing her down seemed to evaporate.

"Thank you," Sol said, taking in a deep breath and straightening herself up. "I can't say it enough, or tell you guys how deeply I mean it, but I do. I wouldn't have made it this far without you three."

"Right back at you," Dreea said, sharing a smile with her before she drifted back over towards the table on the far side of the room, encouraging the other's to do the same.

"So... How many of us did we lose?"

Dreea sighed, sparing a glance at Kodiak and Wynn to see who felt brave enough to tell her.

"Twenty eight," Wynn answered. "That's just over a tenth of us."

Sol shook her head, a warning to herself to keep her emotions from spilling out. "Great... And how many people do Exile Allegiance now have?"

"Two fifty? Three hundred, maybe?" Kodiak suggested, but they all knew they were just guessing. "Still more than us."

"That's not the part that I'm scared about," Sol admitted. Everyone's eyes focused on her - searching to know the route of her problems. "It means when we attack them, we'll be attacking some of our own."

"They're not Basilisk anymore, Riv. They left," Dreea said.

"No. They're still our people," Sol shook her head. "Where you belong doesn't change just because of one decision."

"Sometimes it does-"

"It shouldn't," she cut Dreea off, desperate for them to realise that she wasn't prepared to turn their backs on her people just as quickly as Basilisk had done to her.

"What are you trying to say?" Wynn asked. "You don't want us to attack Exile Allegiance because some of our people defected?"

"No, I..." She didn't quite know the truth to Wynn's question; she didn't know what was right and what wasn't, what her heart was trying to tell her amidst everything else that was haunting her from the inside, out. "I'm just saying that sometimes when people make choices, they don't always feel like they're really making it. I mean, can you really call it a freedom of your own decision when you're choosing between a terrible thing, and another terrible thing? If the people that left want to change their minds, we let them. That's all I'm saying."

"If we offer too much forgiveness, people will abuse it," Dreea said. "They'll leave when it's comfortable for them, and come back when we have the advantage. That's not giving us power, its making us weak."

"Forgiveness is power," Sol argued. "Albeit, sometimes it doesn't always turn out the way you wanted it to. Sometimes you forgive someone and with their second chance, they use it to strike you again - like with Tobias, but don't say that it makes us weak. Surely after everything we've been through - mistakes, hard-earned lessons, second tries - at least some of it has shown what good forgiveness does. Where would Wynn be if I hadn't forgiven him for raiding our supplies and almost getting us killed when his family was at Blood Riders? Or Atlantis if I hadn't given her a second chance after realising that the real enemy in camp was my dad? Or Aeryn if we hadn't forgiven her for her role in Rhea and Kane capturing me? I can tell you for sure that a lot of lives have been saved by her, and she wouldn't have had the chance if-"

"Okay, you're right," Dreea cut her off. "I hear you. But it works both ways, Riv."

"What are you talking about?"

"They should have forgiven you first," Dreea said. "Regardless that I still don't think you're to blame for anything... But those people who left - who were angry at you for why they assume you joined The City of Targo, if they want our forgiveness, they'll have to forgive you first."

Sol sighed, feeling like she hadn't had once decent breath of air since she arrived on the island. "What if I don't care that anymore?" She asked. "What if I've been at war too long to worry about how many crimes are tallied up against my name? If people need something to hold onto that gives them power - and the only power they can feel is their anger at me - then that's fine. Just as long as it keeps them alive. They can blame me all they like, just as long as they let me get them home. I can take it."

Dreea smiled, and despite it being sore and tired out, Sol knew that ie was genuine. "That's why your our Noble Sovereign," she said. "No one else could carry this world the way you do."

Sol didn't need to say anything for Dreea to know how much her words meant to her; the sudden ease on her face and the way her shoulders dropped down as if all of the weight was gone, told her all she needed to know.

"Let's figure out a way to protect the rest of our people from any further attacks," Sol suggested, needing to move the conversation forward. "Anyone got any ideas?"

"Not exactly," Kodiak began, "but half our efforts need to go towards locating Hestia. And if all else fails, an alternative route off this island."

"I have said this before, but there's always the option of swimming," Wynn chimed in, earning a harmless nudge to the gut from Kodiak.

"Good idea," Dreea folded her arms, latching onto an opportunity once she found it. "Why don't you get a head start for us now and make sure Basilisk is ready for us when we get there?"

"No way," Wynn shook his head. "You're just trying to get rid of me. You'll find Hestia as soon as I leave and leave me stranded."

"Bingo," Dreea smirked, amused at Wynn's pouting.

"Amazing. Wynn's going to swim. That's one problem solved. But Kodiak's right: locating Hestia is a priority, and our timing is vital."

"There's still so much of the island we haven't explored yet," Kodiak said. "Not properly, anyway. And unfortunately, a large section of that is on Exile Allegiance's side."

"If that's not bad enough, we need to consider the reality that Hestia might not even exist anymore," Dreea contributed. "That, or Tobias made up the story about it, or allowed us to believe it."

"Yeah, he did that a lot," Kodiak muttered under his breath, still feeling violent aches in his chest at the mention of Tobias' name.

Sol was empathetic to his response, instinctively leaning her head against his shoulder and hoping that it brought him some comfort. "He wasn't lying this time," she told them. "He mentioned Hestia several times, and when I brought up the figurine of the ship I found in the Shelter, it wouldn't have got the reaction out of him that it did."

Kodiak sighed, relieved that Sol had managed to convince him, but he still had an abundance of worries which he couldn't shake. "They could have torn Hestia apart and used her for pieces, for all we know," he said. "Used it to make a building, or something like that."

"That would definitely be worst-case-scenario," Dreea said. "We'd stand no chance at getting into Exile Allegiance's camp to investigate if that's what they've done."

"Wait a minute..." Sol interrupted, demanding silence as she tied together loose ends in her mind. "If they did do that, then we might actually have something here," she said. "Our answer."

"We don't," Dreea shook her head. "The only way we stand a chance at getting into their camp is if we kill all of them first, or if one of us 'defects' and tries to get inside information, but I'm sure Reegan would see right through our plans with the four of us being Sovereigns-"

"No, I mean Tobias told me that when they first came to the island, this was their campground; their home," she clarified. "Calvin and Terra Firma Tribe forced them out which is why Exile Allegiance are where they are now, and the reasoning behind Ivy getting caught up in the middle of both clans. Which means..."

"If Exile Allegiance did use the ship as part of the shelter, then it would be here and not on the other side of the island," Wynn answered, scared to get his hopes too high, but the glimmer in Sol's eyes was a joy to his heart that he couldn't deny.

"Exactly," Sol beamed, the smile on her face stretching ear-to-ear. "For all we know, we could even be..."

"...What?" Dreea asked, wondering if there was something she was missing.

"We could be on Hestia right now and not even realise."

As if her declaration reached herself first, Sol's eyes widened and she began searching the room - scanning around for the easiest place to start. She headed to the wall behind her, not sure what she was doing, but focusing on stripping back all the metal shafts covering the walls and pulling away all of the bookshelves and furniture in her way. Before long, Wynn, Kodiak, and Dreea all began to help - gaining more and more certain which each section of the walls they cleared up.

"Here!" Sol called out, urging the others to approach and help her move the wooden case that she was struggling with, heaving repeatedly until it finally revealed the corners of what Sol was certain she had seen... "A window!"

"Ships have windows," Wynn said, earning nothing but amused eyeballs from the others.

"Exactly," Sol said, trying not to laugh at him. "And why would Exile Allegiance build this shelter with windows here? And why would they have them covered up?"

"And how would they even be able to make windows?" Kodiak chimed in. "As far as I can tell, this island was abandoned years ago. The only others evidence of people being here before are the few houses that Elara and I found, but they're completely different to this. This has to be the ship. It has to be."

"I think it is," Dreea confirmed. "They must have extended onto it and built over the shape of the ship, which is why we had no idea it was here all along."

"Before we get too ahead of ourselves... We don't even know how much damage was done to this ship," Sol said. "They could have torn parts of it down and that could put us right back at square one."

"Sol-"

"And even if it does work, how are we going to get it to the shore-"

"Sol!" Wynn tried again, gaining her attention this time. She looked over, eyebrows slightly creased in fear as if Wynn was about to tell her that her suspicions were right, but he was just laughing.

"...What?" She asked, already trying to distract herself from hearing the answer.

"Small victories," he said, knowing Kodiak and Dreea were both staring back at her with the same, patient look in their eyes - all waiting for Sol to relish in the moment and for once, to stop trying to convince herself that everything was going to fall apart.

"We just found Hestia," Kodiak said. "Whether or not there's bad news to follow, it doesn't matter right now. Those things we might have to be afraid of aren't here yet. The triumph is. Because of you."

"I don't-"

"Shut up and celebrate," Dreea cut her off, her words sounding fierce but there was nothing but succour on her face. "You've earned this."

Sol couldn't argue anymore. And whether or not she believed she deserved Dreea's offering, it didn't matter; what did was the three people standing in front of her; the three people who backed her life, her reasons, and all of her achievements. How could she ever be defeated when she had them at her side? When Dreea, Kodiak, and Wynn were always already holding onto her, keeping her from ever hitting rock bottom?

"We earned this," she murmured, slinging an arm around Dreea, and her other around Wynn as the pulled them in to her embrace - Kodiak tugged in just as tightly.

"And we're gonna go home," Wynn said.

"And we won't have to survive anymore," Kodiak added.

"Just live," Dreea said. "Just live." 

Seven // Part Three
Forgiveness is power.

No one else could carry this world the way you do. ♡

This wasn't my favourite chapter of writing I've ever done, but I did love the small victory Sol allowed herself to feel, and the celebration between the four Sovereigns. It's rare that Sol, Dreea, Kodiak, and Wynn get to have a scene altogether where they're not trying to figure out a way to stay alive or keep fighting, and just get to relish in their achievements and look at how far they've come, so it was nice to include it in this chapter. Also, good news about Hestia???

4 chapters left + an epilogue :(((

09/12/21.