Episode Five, Part 3:
Love and War

Wynn laid down in his tent with Sol draped over him, the both of them covered over by a thin blanket. Her hands were tracing the debts tattooed along his bare chest and for the first time in a long time, she felt wrapped up in peace.

"Hey, I forgot to mention: Kodiak found another journal," Wynn brought up, puzzled how he hadn't found the chance to talk to her about it until now, given how significant it's contents were to him.

"Another one!?" Sol exclaimed, wondering how many more they were going to find. "Is there some sort of secret library that we don't know about?"

"It sure feels that way," Wynn laughed. "But no. He found this one at the greenhouse after he dropped the girls off at the hideout. He said it was hidden in the panelling and that he's fairly sure there no where else for any more to be lying around."

"Anything interesting in this one? Gossip about a third clan on this island? Wait, let me guess... They're long-lost exiles from Blood Riders!?"

"Believe it or not, I think that would actually be less surprising than what was in it," he chuckled, subconsciously pulling her closer.

"I saw you and Kodiak talking to your brother and sister," she said. "Is everything okay? Does this have something to do with where Exile Allegiance are from? I've had the same conversations with Chess, lately. I hate to think that she'll never be able to let go of her fear completely."

"It's a little bit about that," Wynn said. "And partly about Hannah, also."

"Hannah?" Sol sighed, collapsing against Wynn in defeat. Everyone hated thinking about that woman, and for her name to come up in conversation made Sol believe that bad news was surely coming her way. "Well, whatever it is, I'll be here to help you through it."

"Thank you," Wynn murmured against her. "But it's actually not what you think... You see, the journal lists the founding members of Exile Allegiance, as well as it's pioneers - which is how Kodiak knew Ivy was one of them."

"And... Hannah was also part of Exile Allegiance? Is that where this is leading to?"

"Yeah, she was," Wynn confirmed.

Sol propped herself up, one elbow bent on the ground between them, her other arm resting on his chest. "It brought up bad memories," she guessed. "Is Quill okay?"

"Quill's fine," Wynn nodded eagerly, barely able to get another word out before Sol interrupted.

"What about Elara? And you? And by 'fine' do you mean Quill's dealing with it, or do you actually mean he's fine, because they're very different things-"

"Sol!" Wynn laughed, having to raise his voice a little as he wasn't sure how else he could get her to stop. "The three of us are great!" He said. "We talked to each other; we don't hide anything."

"Okay, so what is it?"

"Well, I was trying to get to that..." Wynn teased, earning a playful shove from the Sovereign beside him. "We didn't recognise Hannah's name at first because it was different; her name before she got married."

"Can you even be sure it's her in that case?"

He nodded. "Because next to it, with the same surname - were Izzy and Josiah's name."

"What? They weren't..."

"No!" Wynn brought his hand up to his forehead, slowing dragging it down past his eyes. "Hannah and Izzy's father were brother and sister. We even asked Izzy if she knew she was related to Hannah, and she said yes; she knows Hannah was her aunt."

"And if Hannah is Izzy's aunt, then that means..."

"Yeah," Wynn smiled, relieved that he could finally see the good in the revelation. "Quill and Izzy are biological cousins. Pretty cool when you think about it."

"I think it sounds more like a crazy miracle to me."

"I know, I'm trying to wrap my head around it," Wynn told her. "It actually reminds me of something Ares said to me one time."

"Ares," Sol smiled, wondering if Wynn had any idea how proud she was of him for being able to speak his name. "What did he say to you?"

"It was the morning he died," Wynn said, instinctively biting his lip as if he was afraid that he was going to lose his voice to his emotion, but he was fine; no wave of misery came to pull him down. "Quill and Elara were fast asleep but Ares and I hadn't managed to get any rest; we stayed up the entire night just... Watching over them both, I guess; making sure they were safe and right in front of us in preparation for - you know, the plan."

He mentioned it with a sting to his voice - a reminder that no matter the extents of his healing or how hard he worked on himself, there were always going to be things he would find hard to remember - the day his older brother died being one of them.

"I was crushed after we lost MaReya and Fabian," he recalled. "And Ares noticed, so like usual, he tried to distract me. He brought up the time we were in the Bunker and MaReya tried to ban us guys from entering half of the rooms."

"Feisty. I liked her," Sol whispered, trying to picture the girl in her mind - wishing she had known her longer than she had done.

"Yeah, I think she was in a fight with Fabian," Wynn chuckled. "Ares mentioned something about how Quill and Elara had been the only ones in the Bunker lucky enough to have their own rooms, and somehow, it led me to wondering what would have happened to Quill if he never came into our Bunker."

"I don't even think it's possible to imagine an alternative; it feels like he was destined to find you guys. In fact, the reason I ended up caving to Atlantis was because I saw how close you were to your siblings, and I realised that the idea of having a sibling wasn't really as horrible as I told myself it was. And after I lost my dad, well... I didn't want to give up on the idea of family for good, beside Dreea and Kodiak, of course."

"Just another thing that I'm your inspiration behind," Wynn laughed at himself, knowing that Sol was rolling her eyes, despite not being able to see her face now that she had laid back down. "Anyway, I think we were talking about if he would have been in Atlantis' bunker; it's what Hannah was looking for, after all - a shelter. We even said he might have ended up at Basilisk."

"I hate to break it to you, but I think even if he ended up in our clan as a two year old, I don't think he would have turned out much better in his blade technique," she laughed.

"That's a good one! I'll use that on him sometime," Wynn laughed. "But I think the point Ares was trying to make was that no matter where Quill ended up, we would have found him anyway because, like you said, he was born to be our family. I think it's the same with Izzy. Because we have Quill, she was meant to find us, as well."

"I think so, too," Sol glanced up at him. "You can see how she is with Kodiak and Elara; she feels right at home. She trusts them completely. She loves them."

"Yeah, it's incredible to see," Wynn smiled. "She gave my sister something that's been missing since Ares died. If I'm honest, I don't know what those six months would have been like for Ell without her; there was only so much me and Quill could do, but I think when Elara realised she had to take care of this young girl who was suddenly thrown into her life, it made her take care of herself, too. Izzy has been the best thing to happen to my sister in a long time... Izzy and Kodiak. "

"And now they're a family. A perfect, little family."

"Actually..." Wynn trailed off, remembering the conversation he'd had with his sister in the early hours of the morning.

"What? What's happened?" Sol asked, unable to imagine how any part of what she had said, wasn't true.

"Izzy tried to leave in the middle of the night," he said, frowning into his words.

"She what?"

"She tried to leave. Kodiak caught her," Wynn clarified. "He said he woke up because he thought he could hear her moving around the tent and when he realised she wasn't there, he went outside to check. He told me she was at the edge of the forest just beginning to walk forward when he stopped her. Who knows what would have happened if he didn't wake up?"

"Did Izzy tell them why she was trying to sneak out? It doesn't seem like her at all. She's only a child, but she must know it's not a good idea to leave in the middle of the night?"

Wynn shrugged. "They couldn't get a word out of her," he said. "And, when Elara was younger, she found her way out of camp all the time, even though she knew the risks. How many times were we freaking out because we couldn't find her or because she had landed herself in danger?"

"Yeah, but it was usually to find one of you guys; you or Kodiak, usually," Sol replied. "She didn't like everyone not being together, especially when your dad was around and she knew everyone was in danger because she was the target... It doesn't make any sense for Izzy; she knows we're all here. Elara was right next to her in the tent."

"I forgot to mention that she had my flashlight, Kodiak's blade, and one of the journals."

"So it seemed like she had a plan," Sol pieced together.

"Yeah, but no one can figure out what. I know Elara's trying every approach to get Izzy to confide in her, but it's hard. I don't think the discovery that her and Quill are related is as exciting for her as it is for everyone else," he admitted. "Well, deep down, I'm sure she loves it, but seeing her parents' names in the journal must have been hard for her."

"You're right; she didn't like talking about her dad an awful lot when we were in the Bunker."

"She cried an entire night over him once, do you remember? She ran out of bed and straight over to Ell when we were all on the couches." Wynn asked.

Sol nodded. "And then Fenn and Liam eventually had to take over because Elara got so upset thinking about Kodiak..."

"What a horrible time of our lives that was," Wynn sighed. "We all knew everyone was just faking it; deep down, we were all just as miserable as each other."

"Not anymore," Sol redirected his thoughts, carefully sliding her hand up his chest until she reached the side of his face, slowly tilting him to look over at her. "We're alive. We're here," she said. "We'll all figure this out together."

"'Figure this out' as in right now? Or 'figure this out' as in after we..."

Sol laughed against Wynn as he leaned into her, connecting his lips to hers, hungrily trying to kiss more and more of her. He crawled on top of Sol, one hand pushing against the ground above her shoulder for balance, the other snaking around her waist to pull her closer against him.

"Definitely after," she teased, tugging her hands through his hair, feeling his hot and dangerous breath against her bare skin.

"Hey, you two, there's something out here that you're gonna wanna see-" Dreea began speaking right before she walked into their tent, not registering what she had interrupted until a few seconds too late. "This on the other hand is not something that anyone would ever want to see."

"Dreea, get out!" Wynn chuckled, turning bright red in embarrassment as Sol bellowed out a laugh underneath him. Truthfully, he wasn't all too worried; his biggest concern was the relentless teasing he would receive from her now that she had walked in on them.

Wynn moved off of Sol, falling against the ground with a heavy sigh as Sol hurried to pull her clothes on.

"Disappointed?" She teased, picking up his shirt from the ground beside her and chucking it over at him. "Come on, we should see what all the fuss is about."

Wynn rolled his eyes and forced himself back into his clothes, running a hand through his hair before he left the tent in search of Sol. Immediately, he understood why Dreea had been so urgent and why the hell she hadn't made herself known before storming inside their tent.

"Ivy!" Sol called out - a few yards ahead of Wynn, running over to where Kodiak and Dreea were standing, trying to get some answers out of their former hostage. "What are you doing here?" She asked. "Don't tell me Calvin knows about-"

"He doesn't," Ivy was quick to interrupt, glad that her and Wynn had finally shown up; Dreea was, of course, intimidating to everyone that didn't know her, and on first impressions, Kodiak had been especially sceptical of Ivy given his finding of her name in the journal. She felt a better chance at not being killed with Wynn and Sol around.

"Then why are you here? Has something changed with the alliance?" Sol continued to ask, grateful that the warning looks she could see Dreea giving to the rest of their people seemed to do a good job at clearing everyone away.

"No, I need to talk to Tobias."

Sol frowned and glanced up at Wynn who was equally confused.

"He's not here. You know that," Wynn answered. "You watched him leave and then we took you back to get Dreea."

"I know," Ivy rolled her eyes. "I need you to go to his camp and bring him here so we can talk."

"What? No. Get him yourself," Sol crossed her arms, not appreciating the role of a messenger that Ivy seemed to have gifted her with.

"I can't!" Ivy argued. "Don't you get it? I can't go anywhere near Exile Allegiance!"

"Why not?" Kodiak searched, deeply intrigued for an answer. After all, he had read every line in the journals written between Ivy and Tobias, and couldn't fathom a reason why she couldn't return to talk to him.

"Because Calvin has some of our guards constantly lurking around parts of their camp. If by chance, one of them happens to see me there, the first thing they'll do is try to capture me and take me back to Calvin."

"Capture?" Kodiak asked.

"Get me; stop anyone from Exile Allegiance taking me hostage. Whatever," she muttered, annoyed that she hadn't been more careful with her words. "And if word gets out to Calvin that I was anywhere near their camp, he'll ask questions. A lot of them; questions I don't want to give him the answers to," she said. "Besides, after the way I betrayed them by leaving, I don't doubt that half of Exile Allegiance would take the chance to kill me if they were given it."

"That's why you've only been communicating to Tobias through the journals," Kodiak said. "Because no one from either or your clans can know about-"

"Yes. Congratulations. You're very smart for figuring it out," Ivy said, not having the patience to deal with anything else. For every minute that she was away from Calvin, she knew the chances of him coming to find her were increasing. "Can you just tell me if you can get Tobias for me, or if I'm wasting my time here?"

"Why do you want to talk to him so badly?" Dreea asked, trying to act as though she was being subtle about the blade being twisted in her hands, but she knew Ivy noticed. "If you're going to ask us to make the journey up there for you, we at least deserve to know why."

Ivy bit on her lip and let her wandering eyes focus everywhere but the Sovereigns. She didn't know how they would react to the truth, let alone if she could trust them enough to tell them.

"Calvin wants to initiate the attack soon," she confessed. "He's already weary about what happened to me whilst I was your hostage; I know he wants to get rid of Exile Allegiance while he still has the chance. But I..."

"You don't want to be on the wrong side of the war," Sol finished for her, knowing that she had gotten in exactly right. She could feel the others' eyes on her - a moment of deep consideration, before they turned back to Ivy for an answer.

"I don't know what I want," Ivy said, somewhat nervous that she had been read so easily. "But I can tell you that I'm not prepared to watch Tobias be killed. Take that how you will."

"I think we all know the real reasons," Sol faked a smile her way, wanting Ivy to realise that she wasn't the one with the power, the Sovereigns were.

"Whatever. Will you get Tobias for me, or not?"

Sol glanced over at Dreea, Wynn and Kodiak, grateful in moments like these that she knew them so well. "Fine," she said. "But we'll be talking again before you leave."

"Fine," Ivy repeated, prepared to say more until she noticed a small figure approaching them - a young girl trying to find her way into the conversation.

"Kodi?"

Everyone turned around, somewhat startled by the small voice that came from behind them.

"Iz?" Kodiak asked, confused at why she had came over when it was obvious they were in a confrontation. "Hey, you alright? Go wait with Elara and I'll find you in a few minutes-"

"I don't know where she is," Izzy admitted, suddenly feeling the pressure of everyone's eyes on her. She noticed Wynn share a defeated glance with Sol - as if confirming prior suspicions they might have had about her; declaring judgement after word got out about her attempted escape. A fear rattled inside of her that she had already let them down.

"She wasn't feeling too great; she's sleeping in our tent. You can wait with her or find Harlow and Bas," Kodiak said, wanting to abandon the meeting with Ivy and make sure Izzy was okay, but he had to hold off for a couple more minutes. "I just need to speak to these guys and then Dreea. I'll be right over. I promise."

"It's okay. It's not important," Izzy said, regretfully backing away from everyone and heading in the direction of their tent before anyone could stop her. She looked back every few moments to see if they were still watching her and once she was sure they had returned back to their conversation, she drifted over to the outskirts of the forest, hovering along the edge of the grassy ground where the sand ended under her feet. She spared another glance up both ends of the beach - desperate to make sure no one was watching her, and then crept into the immediate forest, summoning the courage to do what she needed to do.

Continuing the conversation with Ivy, the four Sovereigns were still a little suspicious about her request.

"Tobias is going to ask why we want him to come here," Sol informed her. "What do you suggest we say?"

"...Tell him I'm here. He'll come," Ivy answered after a moment's consideration, but seeming to confuse everyone else, her attention seemed far from the conversation.

"What is it?" Sol searched, noticing she seemed to be peering behind them, not understanding that Ivy was trying to look around for Izzy.

"That girl," Ivy answered, not meeting the Sovereign's gaze. "She has the markings..."

"What?" Kodiak stepped forward, a hint of anger in his voice that Ivy felt the right to talk about her. The fact that he had no clue as to what she was talking about didn't help his discomfort.

"Exile Allegiance markings," Ivy clarified.

"What do you mean?" Kodiak continued, folding his arms now as a protective instinct grabbed hold of him. "What are the markings? What are they for?"

"Three small circles in a line. They're discreet, but if you know what you're looking for, they're easy to see. That's the point of them."

"Where does she have them?" Wynn stepped in, sensing Kodiak's discomfort and wanting to take some of the fear off his shoulders. "How did you ever see-"

"They're usually on the face," Ivy answered. "On the cheek or on the temple - like that you girl's were; they're supposed to be subtle enough to look like freckles, but when Exile Allegiance was founded, we wanted a marking to be able to recognise those of us who had left The City of Targo," she said. "That way, when we snuck back inside The City to help other people leave, we would be able to recognise each other and know who among us was a part of the new exile clan. We couldn't exactly have warpaint on our faces - that would be too obvious, so Tobias came up with those circles. Every member has them tattooed somewhere on their face if they were born in the clan or have guaranteed protection."

"Guaranteed protection by Exile Allegiance?" Dreea spoke up.

Ivy nodded. "If you were born in the clan or your family are from the clan, it's like an open invitation back; 'you're always welcome home', as Tobias explained it."

"Do you have the markings?" Wynn asked.

"Yes," Ivy answered, pointing to the three circles that line the top of her left eyebrow.

She was right; without prior knowledge that they had been tattooed onto her - or that they were part of a symbol, none of the Sovereigns would have even known to look for it.

"So does that mean that you can go back to Exile Allegiance as you have the marking? Why don't you just go up and talk to Tobias? Or better yet, return to them; it's pretty obvious you don't want to be at Terra Firma," Sol pointed out.

Ivy let out a frustrated huff and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She wasn't fond of Sol continuously sticking her nose in her business. "People have left before whether that was because their parents brought them into the clan from The City of Targo and they didn't have a say before, or if they went in search for someone in their family, but what I did was different," she said. "I left to save my own life, even though I was one of their leaders. Do you really think I should be forgiven for that?"

"You said Izzy has the markings," Kodiak said, unable to let go of the anxiety in his chest. "The young girl that was just here. What does that mean for her? If... If Tobias realises she has them, will he try to..."

"Try to take her back to Exile Allegiance?" Ivy searched, attempting to make sense of the Sovereign's half-worded question. She was surprised to see him so nervous.

Kodiak nodded, gulping down a a deep breath of fear.

"No," Ivy answered rather quickly, something in her chest telling her that the right thing to do was to alleviate him of his fears. All of a sudden, he didn't seem like the fierce or intimidating Sovereign she had known him to be; he was pale and struggling for a decent breath and tried everything to conceal the look of dread in his eyes, but couldn't quite manage to hide it.

"It just means that if she ever wants to or ever needs their protection, she'll be accepted into Exile Allegiance without question. Everyone else has to be approved by Tobias."

Sol stepped forward to Kodiak's side, resting her hand on his shoulder and murmuring a "she's safe," just loud enough for him to hear.

"Sovereign Wynn and I will go and bring Tobias here," she said. "You'll get your chance to speak to him, but I mean it: we'll be talking to you, too." 

Five // Part Three
She has the markings.

Ooohhh, a lot going on with Izzy; she's biologically related to Quill, she thinks she's recognising where she is, she was born at Exile Allegiance, and now she's viable for their protection/being accepted into their clan. Also, she's trying to sneak out? Again!?

This was a 4K chapter and the book is currently just short of 90K!! It's definitely going to surpass 100K! I'm just trying to anticipate whether it'll be longer than S6 (129,123K)!!!

5 days until my 21st birthday!

20/03/21.