Episode Four, Part 1:
By Blood.

The world will always be there, 
and so will I.

"Hey, I found you," Sol murmured, slowly beginning to approach Wynn who was looking over his shoulder to see her as she stepped down towards him. He had been sitting just out of sight from the shore, tucked away behind the shelter of a large shrub which had kept him hidden from everyone until now.

"Mind if I join you?" Sol asked, hoping that she had given Wynn enough time on his own that he was finally ready to face her.

He nodded and let out a deep breath as he scooted along the fallen branch he was sat upon, making enough room for Sol to sit beside him.

She waited a few moments before saying anything - simply gazing her eyes over him for a couple of seconds, hoping he had enough inside him to give her a second dose of forgiveness for the day.

"I'm sorry, Wynn," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. "I didn't mean to be insensitive or stress you out. I should have gave more thought to what I was trying to tell you. And I'm sorry for disappearing earlier; I wanted to take the responsibility so you and Kodiak could catch a break. You know deep down I'm still a little worried about you after what happened on Neptunum."

"I know," he said, setting his hand on her thigh and squeezing reassuringly. "And it's okay. I get why you did it, but I think I was still anxious from not knowing where you were this morning and then when you announced that you want to completely change our plans, it was just overwhelming, that's all. Plus, I didn't want to fight with you."

"Are you still overwhelmed?" Sol frowned, massaging her hand over his shoulder as she listened to him.

Wynn shook his head. "I've just been waiting for you to come and find me. I knew you'd show up sooner or later and I'm better now that you're here; it's always been that way: you show up, and everything inside me feels put back together."

"Well, just for the record, I think you've got it the wrong way around," she smiled softly at him, consumed by a glowing warmth in her chest that was put there by the knowledge that whenever she was with him, she felt at peace. "I'm sorry it took so long," she said. "I ended up telling Kodiak everything about Exile Allegiance after you left. He's conflicted, just like me."

"Well, let's hear what you found out about them," he said. "Are they from The City after all?"

Sol sighed then, chuckled ever-so-slightly. "Surprisingly, I didn't get round to asking that..."

"You were gone for nearly 3 hours," Wynn pointed out, laughing along. "And you didn't ask Tobias the one question you were determined to get an answer to?"

"When you put it like that, it sounds pathetic," she laughed at herself. "But no, I didn't. We talked about his clan and about Terra Firma - how many of his people they've killed, most of whom were kids," she looked down, trying to count in her mind how many children she could recall seeing when she was in their camp. "And I told him about their raid on the beach the other night and he couldn't figure out how we had made it out alive, so I said that some of the bombs had gone off. He didn't believe me."

"What happened?"

"He tried to tell me I was lying. He said there was no way the bombs could have gone off because no one from his clan were killed that day, so then I had to tell him that we set them off... Because we knew where they were."

"You had to tell him we had the journals," Wynn understood.

"Yeah. But there's a catch."

Wynn raised an eyebrow, shifting around to face Sol completely, waiting in anticipation to hear what she had to say.

"They're his journals," she confessed.

"Tobias'?"

Sol nodded, smiling a little as she dropped the bombshell. "And he doesn't want them to get in Calvin's hands, whatever the cost."

"Well," Wynn laughed. "I've got some bad news for him."

"Actually, I told him we gave Calvin a fake copy of the journal."

"What? Why did you do that? That sounds counterproductive to me-"

"I know, it's okay," Sol grabbed onto his arm, interrupting him before he could say anything else. "It's actually given us the edge we need."

Wynn scrunched up his face again, feeling completely stumped for an explanation.

"Now he knows we have the real thing, he'll be determined to do whatever it takes to make sure we don't give it away."

"That's not a good thing, Sol. 'Whatever it takes' usually implies 'I'll kill who I have to', to get it back."

"Not Tobias. Not his people," she shook her head. "That's what I was trying to tell you - why I want us to reconsider the alliance: I think we shouldn't help Calvin to slaughter Exile Allegiance. They're not cruel people: they're not violent."

Wynn frowned, still not completely on board with the idea. "Why does he want the journals so bad? What's in them that we missed?"

"That's what I don't know. Not yet, anyway."

"You think you can figure out what's he's trying to hide from Calvin?"

"Not by myself," she answered. "That's why I gave him an ultimatum."

"An ultimatum? Let's hear it."

"I gave him 24 hours to come and find us and tell us what secrets he's keeping in there, and to give us a good enough reason to not give it to Calvin. If he doesn't, well... I don't know," she admitted. "I'm kind of counting on him to show up - which I'm pretty confident he will, but we might just have to follow through on my warning and actually give the thing to Terra Firma."

Wynn nodded, taking a moment to process everything she had said. "You still haven't told me why you're so hesitant on our alliance with Terra Firma. Is it because we'd have to attack a clan that have done nothing to us? You'd feel guilty."

"No, it's because Exile Allegiance is a clan full of children," she told him. "Full of Harlow's and Izzy's and Jonas' running around. I don't know," she sighed, "but I feel sick to my stomach just thinking about hurting them. Why do they have to die so I can live? That's how I see it."

"I get it," Wynn replied, wrapping his arm around Sol and sitting close to her. "The first victims of war are always those that are the most innocent. Terra Firma would kill those kids."

"When I was walking around their clan, it was like no one seemed to notice that I didn't belong there," she said to him. "Or they did, but they didn't see me as an enemy. They were playing music; everyone was dancing around as their rations were being prepared; kids were chasing each other everywhere I looked. It kind of..."

"It kind of what?"

"It kind of looked like what I've always wanted Basilisk to be," she admitted. "At peace. Not even a distant fear of some war coming their way. Everyone that should be there, was there."

"What'll happen if we don't go through with the alliance?"

Sol sat up a little, leaning away so she could look at him. "You'll consider it?" She asked him, surprised that she had already seemed to have persuaded him without even meaning to.

"I'm with you," he said. "Attacking people isn't what I want, either. I want to get Basilisk off this island and figure out a way home, and up until now, we thought the only way to do that was to help Terra Firma so they agree not to kill us in the meantime. But if there's a way to still protect Basilisk and not kill hundreds of innocent people, then I want to take that option," he assured her. "But tell me there's a way of backing out of this alliance without Terra Firma switching on us because of our betrayal. They'll come after us instead of Exile Allegiance."

"...We could start an alliance with Exile Allegiance instead," she suggested. "Tobias and I actually got along really well. If the circumstances were different and he was a part of Basilisk, dare I say it, but I think I'd consider him a friend."

Wynn huffed out a breath, not sure if Sol was thinking clearly or not. "You said it yourself that they're not violent people," he reminded her. "What makes you think they'd want an alliance with us against Terra Firma?"

"Because then the deaths against Terra Firma would be in self-defence," she said. "It would be two clans trying to protect themselves against an unprovoked attack. It's different than killing people for no reason. At least, I hope that's how he'd see it," she let out a deep breath, running her fingers through her tangled hair.

"What did Kodiak think about it?" Wynn asked, unable to ignore how deeply Dreea's absence was affecting them. It sure would have been good to hear her opinion on everything.

"He was open to it," she answered. "He was just worried about you. He didn't want us to make a decision without you, and even though I'm the Nobel and my decision can technically outweigh both of yours, I don't think it's fair to do that when we're missing one of us," she teased. "It would be so much easier if Dreea was here right now."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Wynn said. "I never thought I'd miss her picking on me, but it's kind of strange without her here."

"Oh, don't worry. I'll let her know how much you missed her and I'm sure she'll make up for it when she get's back," she joked, nudging Wynn's arm as they both laughed at how easily he had walked himself straight into that trap. "But seriously, we won't do anything unless we all want it," she told him. "And I thought it would have been harder to convince Kodiak, but ever since he's adopted Izzy into his family with Elara, his entire outlook on everything has changed. I could see how much it was getting under his skin to know that Exile Allegiance were full of kids. I think he'd be worried about what Izzy would think of him if she were to know what we did..."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Wynn confessed. "Ever since Izzy... Everything's different. It's strange to think that it hasn't even been that long since we found her, but she's so rooted into our family that it's hard to believe she hasn't always been around. Sort of like with Quill; we all find it weird to think that there were two years of his life where he was living with other people," he scrunched his nose up as if uncomfortable at the reminder, feeling a bad aftertaste by his own words as he talked about life before his brother. "Anyway," he said, moving on, "Izzy's family, and none of us are going to let anyone hurt her. I think it's only fair if we try and protect everyone else that's like her, right?"

Sol smiled in relief, too overwhelmed to get up and start planning straight away; she could only wrap herself around Wynn's arm and lean into him, letting out her breaths as easy as they came.

"We'll tell Kodiak in a minute," she said. "He suggested Elara and Chessca be out of camp for if Tobias shows up because we don't know how recently their people left The City and in case, you know, they understand Elara's and Chessca's connection to it... They're going to take Izzy, too, so she can stay with Ell."

"Sounds good," Wynn mumbled, leaning closer against her. "Does Elara know about them yet?"

"No," Sol answered. "I think Kodiak might tell her on the walk up, but I know he doesn't want to. He doesn't want her to feel afraid."

"At least she'll have Izzy around," Wynn said. "That'll keep her mind distracted for a while until we figure this whole thing out - because we will: we'll figure this out."

/////////

As Kodiak encouraged Izzy to run ahead and talk to Chessca, he slowed his pace a little and grabbed onto Elara's hand, holding her back so they were out of earshot from the young girl.

"Are you going to tell me where we're going and why you brought the three of us along with you?" Elara asked, seeming to know to that whatever the truth was, she wasn't going to like it. "I thought it wasn't that safe out here, even with the alliance."

"I'm taking you guys to a hideout. It was marked in one of the journals - not the one we gave Calvin, so Terra Firma don't know about it."

"Okay... But why?" Elara emphasised, coming to a stop completely and looking at him, hoping he would see how desperate she was in need for an answer.

"Because it's the safest place for you to be right now."

"I'm the safest when I'm with you," she frowned, truly beginning to grow miserable that Kodiak wasn't answering her properly. "Or when Quill and Wynn are around, which they're not. This isn't making any sense. Please just tell me, Kodi."

"The new clan that we've found, the one Terra Firma want us to attack," he began.

"Exile Allegiance?"

Kodiak nodded, tugging on her hand to continue their trail after Chessca and Izzy. "West of The City Exile Allegiance," he clarified to her, studying her face carefully to see her reaction. "The City of Targo."

"They're back?" She whispered, her bottom lip quivering as she spoke. "They're after me and Chess?"

"No! No, no no!" Kodiak panicked, hating himself that he had even given her room to make that assumption. He had no choice but to come to a halt again, grabbing onto Elara by either side of her face, forcing her to keep her focus on him. "It's not them. And Rhea and your dad are dead; you know that. You-"

"I killed Rhea..." Elara muttered, cementing the reminder in her head. "They're dead..."

"Yeah, they're dead," Kodiak assured her, tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear, waiting until he saw her relax under his touch, but it didn't come. "These people are exiles from The City. We think. Riv went to their clan earlier today and talked to their leader and she says they seem like a gentle clan, like they don't want to cause anyone harm," he told her. "But we don't know yet where they came from. It could be anywhere, but given their name and where The City of Targo is from here, it's likely that it's the case."

"So you want me out of sight in case they see me and realise that I'm alive and I'm their heir; or in case any of them want to kill Chessca," she understood why they were out of camp, but it didn't make her feel any better to have the answers. "What about Riv? She was their Commander-"

"I don't think they know about Riv," Kodiak said, carefully steering Elara back on path, not wanting them to get separated from the others. "She was with them for a few hours and no one suspected anything, which makes me reconsider all that I'm already worried about."

"Which is?"

"You, of course," he answered. "I was holding off telling you for as long as I could because I don't want you to be dwelling on this or worrying that you're not safe, because you will be; I won't let anything happen to you," he promised her. "But I don't think these people are someone we have to worry about," he said. "And whatever the case, they're not Targo. They're not them."

"Then why are you taking me out of camp?" Elara asked, struggling to keep all her fears locked up inside of her. The last thing she wanted was for Izzy to look back and see the evidence of tears welling in her eyes and immediately become nervous of why Kodiak was leading the three of them away from everyone else.

"Because Riv game Tobias - the leader of Exile Allegiance, an ultimatum," he explained, "and we don't know how many people are going to come with him to meet us or how long ago their people left The City - if they really are from there. Once we get those answers, we'll know what to do and hopefully we'll have an alliance with them, so you'll be safe, either way."

"Wait, what happened to the alliance with Terra Firma?" Elara asked, feeling completely lost. "I thought you were working with them."

"We do have an alliance with them, but we're reconsidering. If the meeting goes well with Tobias today, we might form a treaty with them instead."

"Why? Why complicate things? Why not just do whatever it takes to get off of this island as quickly as we can?"

"Because Exile Allegiance are good people," Kodiak said. "At least, that's what Riv concluded from when she was there, and I trust her. And... And they're full of kids, Ell. Riv said she couldn't even count how many people she saw that were Izzy's age."

Elara let out a shaky breath, finally realising why everything was so conflicted. "No one wants to hurt them."

"Exactly," Kodiak nodded. "I don't even want to imagine anything happening to Iz, or how I'd feel if someone tried to hurt her," he said, shifting his gaze to the ground in discomfort.

"We can't let that happen to the children at Exile Allegiance," Elara continued for him. "We have to keep them safe."

"And we will," Kodiak assured her, squeezing tightly onto her hand. "We'll do what's right, but my priority is always going to be you and Izzy. You know that, right?"

Elara nodded, soothed by his words despite everything else that she was now aware of.

"The hideout's just up ahead," he said, motioning over to where Chessca and Izzy were standing, trying to figure out if they had followed the map in the journal correctly. "You three will be fine here for a while and we'll come and get you after the meeting with Tobias. You have extra water and rations in your bags just in case. But I think the hardest thing might be trying to keep Izzy entertained."

"I'm sure within five minutes of us being here, she'll already be asking me for a story," Elara laughed. "One of you, no doubt."

"Well, make sure it's a good one," Kodiak teased. "No embarrassing ones. And I'll be asking Chessca for a recap afterwards, so watch what you say."

She laughed again, leaning into him slightly as they walked, almost caught up to the others. "Thank you for making me feel okay," she murmured. "I don't know how you manage to do it, but you always come through."

"It's all you," he said, slinging his arm around her. "Because you're so brave, and I love you for that."

"I'm brave because I have you," she smiled, finally reaching the others and reaching her hand out for Izzy who jumped to stand in front of her.

"Alright, there should be a trap door somewhere around here," Kodiak said, starting to scan the surrounding forest floor around where they were standing. Chessca joined in, helping to move the branches that were scattered around them and shift every rock to discover if it was hiding something.

"Found it," Kodiak muttered, tugging on a discreet, stiff handle and pulling up the seal, revealing several steps leading down into the hideout.

Elara tried to move forward to follow his lead inside as Kodiak pulled out a torch from his back pocket, but Izzy tensed up in front of her and made it impossible for her to walk.

"Izzy?" Elara asked. "It's okay. Come with me."

"Down there?" She asked, her voice trembling. "I-I don't want to. What's going on? Can we go back to camp?"

"Hey, Iz," Kodiak interrupted, grabbing onto one of her hands as he stood at the opening of the hideout. "Everything's okay. I need you to stay with Ell and Chessca in here for a few hours."

"Why?" The young girl asked, trying to put on a brave face for Kodiak, but she wasn't doing a very convincing job. Her eyes kept wandering around the area, unable to deny the eery feeling that was creeping in her chest that danger was near, or that something about where she was felt impossibly familiar.

"Because someone is coming to talk to me, Uncle Wynn, and River, and we don't know a lot about them. It's safer for you to be here in case anything goes wrong, which it won't."

"What about everyone else? And Harlow? Uncle Quill-"

"They're all fine," Kodiak assured her. "It's hard to explain, but it's because of a connection Elara and Chess have to these people, and we thought it would be better for you to be with Elara. Sound good?"

Izzy nodded, but she wasn't entirely persuaded. She knew they weren't telling her the entire truth and it made her nervous.

"Think of this just like the Bunker and how it's underground," Kodiak smiled, thinking of anything he could to make Izzy more comfortable. "Only it's smaller, but that's not a problem. There's also a watch-space so you can still see what's happening on the ground if you feel afraid."

"Are you going to be with us?"

"No, I have to go. I'm sorry," Kodiak apologised, noticing how his answer seemed to backtrack any progress he had made at making her feel safe. "But Ell will be with you the whole time and she was telling me that she could tell you a story if you wanted."

Izzy raised an eyebrow and turned over her shoulder to face Elara. "Could it be about-"

"Yes, it can be about Kodiak," Elara laughed, shooting an amused look at him as if reminding him of what she had said minutes ago and how Izzy had asked the question before they even made it inside.

"Okay," Izzy nodded, squeezing a little tighter onto the Sovereign's hand. "Okay, I'll do it."

"There's our brave girl," Kodiak murmured, smiling at her as he began to walk down the steps into the hideout, helping Izzy down. "Just like Elara," he added.

/////////

Kodiak had only been gone for 20 minutes, but it felt as though it had been longer than that, and everyone was waiting until someone would appear with their liberation from the hideout.

Chessca had moved over to the watch space and was keeping an eye out on the ground, her old instincts from when she lived in The City and had to constantly look over her shoulder, kicking in like they had never left.

Izzy was curled up close to Elara, leaning on her chest and lost in what Elara hoped was a daydream, though she knew it was probably a world full of worries.

"How are you feeling, sweet girl?" Elara asked, running her hand through her hair, surprised as she paid attention to how much it had grown since they moved into the Bunker. "You can be honest with me. Are you scared?"

Izzy sighed against her. "Us being the only ones hidden and the rest of Basilisk being together makes me think that something dangerous is happening, but I know I trust Kodi and him taking us away must mean that he's trying to keep us safe," she said.

"That's right," Elara smiled, glad to hear Izzy found the same sense of security in Kodiak as she had always done. "He'd do anything to protect you, just like me, and sometimes those things might not make sense to you and I know how that feels," she said. "When I was younger and it was my brothers who were looking after me, I didn't understand half of the decisions they made for me, but I know they were making them because they loved me and because they didn't want anything to happen to me. That's all we're doing for you."

"I know you protect me. I know that," Izzy said, shifting so she was sitting cross-legged, no longer leaning against Elara. "But I protect you."

"No, Izzy," Elara softened her voice, continuing to comb her fingers down her hair, knowing how much it soothed her. "You don't need to worry about me or Kodi or anyone else. Nothing is down to you, do you hear me? You're a little girl - it is not your responsibility to look after us. It's the other way around."

"I don't know what happened to you when we were on Neptunum, but I know something did," she said. "I know you don't want to tell me, even though I wish you would so I could look after you."

"Oh, Izzy," Elara sighed, not knowing what on earth to say in response.

"I wanted you around so badly when we were on the ship, but I know it's not your fault that we couldn't be with each other then. It's because something happened to you, like I said. Something which is making you hurt and tired; something that explains why everyone's being careful with you; something that will scare me, right?"

Elara couldn't speak. She was so focused on trying to keep herself from trying so Izzy wouldn't see, that there weren't any words on her mind. The only thing she could do was drop her hand down to Izzy's arm and run in up and down, hoping the constant reminder that she was there would be enough to console her somehow.

"I'm just glad that we're together from now on and no matter what happens, I know you're always there for me. You'll always be around. You and Kodi. The three of us are a family now, isn't that what you said?"

"Yeah, baby girl," Elara whispered. "You've got us, for always. We're your family."

"That's good," Izzy said, sniffling slightly to bury away the emotion she was feeling. "Because if I feel scared and then I see you and Kodi there, I don't ever feel quite as scared anymore. That means I love you, I know that."

"I'm glad you know that," Elara said, wrapping her arms around Izzy and pulling her to lean back into her, kissing the top of her head in such fondness that she felt she could explode. "Because I love you so much." 

Four // Part One
You're always there for me.

I LOVED the one-on-one Wynnverly scene and the chance to give them conversations which remind me of when they'd sit and talk at their hideout spot at Basilisk. I miss writing about Basilisk and the Quarters and the Bunker...

Also, cute Izzy and Elara scenes! So much coming up for them and Kodiak! The next few chapters specifically... Big things coming.

Also, I don't know why, but I am having an unfathomable amount of trouble figuring out chapter names for this season.

4.4K words! So glad to have had a lot more writing time this week!

05/03/21 (20 days to my 21st)!