Episode Three, Part 4:
Exiles

Sol had made her way back up to the perimetres of Exile Allegiance's camp, glad that Atlantis had set out discreet markings for her to find her way back through the unfamiliar terrain.

She wasn't sure what her intentions were; she was close enough to their fences that she could see where there people were and, as their camp was built in what seemed to be a large ditch in the ground - surrounded on all sides but a wall of earth, it gave Sol the advantage of being able to overlook the whole grounds of their territory.

Calvin had been right: Exile Allegiance were a much smaller clan than them, but they were still bigger than Basilisk and no doubt more experienced in their surroundings than Sol and her people were; that much was obvious from the journal.

But even from where she was, even though she had eyes on what she assumed was everyone, she still didn't feel like she was going to be getting enough information about Exile Allegiance as she would have liked.

With no one else around to convince her that it was a terrible idea, Sol clutched onto her blade tightly in her hand and began sliding down the earthy slope until she had reached the edges of the camp. She looked around - three times in every direction - before realising that there were no apparent guards circling around or anyone lingering in the nearby hedges, ready to leap out and heave their weapon into her for trespassing.

Inhaling a deep breath, Sol continued forwards and began to walk around the outskirts of their ground, wondering how tough of a time she would have trying to figure out a way inside, let alone a quick escape in case someone noticed her. As her head bubbled away with questions, Sol noticed that there was a makeshift gate at the end of he trail, seeming to open into the camp.

Oh, it wasn't going to be that easy... She thought to herself, shaking her head for even debating the question however, she found herself pushing on the towering, scrap-metal nonetheless, almost as if she knew that it was worth a shot. Miraculously, the gate opened, providing Sol with immediate access to their camp. She hesitated for a moment, trying to decide if it could be a trap, but she reminded herself that they weren't Blood Riders or Rhea and Kane; they had no way of predicting that Sol was up to no good and was trying to sneak into their grounds. It was just a stupid, open gate.

Leaning on years worth of training, Sol stepped through and entered Exile Allegiance's camp, hovering close to the fence once she was inside to assess her situation. No one seemed to notice her sneak inside; in fact, the nearest people she could see were several yards away with their backs turned - too invested in whatever was happening in the centre of their camp to pay any attention to the foreign Sovereign wandering their grounds.

Just as she was becoming too confident, several people ran past the two huts she was standing in between. It was a quick glimpse, but Sol recognised Joe and Naia from when she had ran into them in the forest. They went past too fast to notice her - which was probably in the best interest of everyone - and Sol couldn't help but make a note of all the other children than followed after them - chasing them around camp as they all laughed.

It suddenly became glaring obvious how different Exile Allegiance were from Terra Firma, even from the limited knowledge she had; Exile Allegiance were a clan bursting with joyous noise of laughter from all the children that seemed to make up the members; Terra Firma seemed completely void of that similarity.

Already feeling like a bias was growing inside of her, Sol pushed herself on with her task, not wanting her mind to get clouded with possibilities before she knew everything she could.

She stepped out from between the huts and immediately felt exposed; her hand was tempted to pull her blade out of her waistband and prepare for someone to alert the guards to her presence - to charge at her before she could defend herself, but no one seemed to notice Sol being there, let alone that she was an outsider.

Confused, Sol began to wander around, almost forgetting her instincts entirely as her curiosity got the better of her. She followed the commotion she could hear, nervously standing towards the back of a large crowd that had formed, hesitantly pushing her way closer to the front at the sound of music.

There were several people beating sticks against a pile of large rocks in the middle - others banging their hands on old, wooden drums that were somehow still in a reasonable condition, despite all the war that had consumed and completely destroy majority of civilisation mere decades ago. One of the people Sol could see even had a tambourine and what liked a ukulele, though, it was severely damaged and sounded somewhat out of tune.

Without even realising, Sol was tapping her fingers against her arm to the rhythm and her toes moved up and down at the edges of her shoes - yet, none of it was as noticeable as the beam that was plastered across her face.

She couldn't remember the last time she had heard music; occasionally - on momentous occasions such as The Decider for when she, Dreea and Kodiak were revealed to be the appointed Sovereigns - Basilisk had a few of their people playing drums around the fire, but never anything like this. And, what stood out even more to her was the feeling that this wasn't a rare occasion. Her eyes scanned the circle of people - most of whom were either dancing or singing along, and she couldn't recall the last time she had ever seen so many people look so happy. The feeling she could see was something she could pin back to when she was on Neptunum, trapped in a small room with Wynn, Dreea and Chessca and Kodiak stood in front of them after removing his mask, revealing himself to be alive. She'd waited six months for a joy that consuming, but it looked as though the people of Exile Allegiance were no strangers to it.

These people were happy, she told herself. They had music, and children, and peace. How could she Calvin and Terra Firma in their attacks against them? Why would anyone want to? The question that she found herself more desperate to have an answer to was how the hell were these people descendants of The City of Targo? It didn't make sense; The City of Targo were cruel, evil and vile people who had no concept of peace of any kind. But Exile Allegiance couldn't have been more opposite to them...

She shook her head, turning around and making her way out of the circle of people, suddenly feeling claustrophobic, but as she broke out of the crowd, she bumped into someone who was walking past.

"Sorry," Sol mumbled, trying to keep her head low, but her eyes stared straight at everything that was falling around her feet, a consequence of her careless walking.

She bent down, gathering up all the fruit that she had knocked out of the basket that a woman had been carrying, helping her to put them all back, hoping that if she was fast enough, she would avoid any questions.

They both stood up and Sol held the last piece of fruit - a bright red, round apple that she could have demolished in seconds after days of barely eating, but she held it out towards the other woman for her to take back and add to her collection.

"Enjoy it," she said, smiling warmly at the Sovereign. "Thanks for your help."

"I-" Before she could get a word out, the woman walked past her, continuing on her path around the camp, completely unsuspecting of who Sol was or what her intentions were.

Feeling as though her good luck was going to run out soon, Sol took a bite of the apple whilst she still could, grazing her tongue over her lips to savour every ounce of flavour she could find. Even if she was moments away from potentially being caught, there was almost nothing else she could focus on in that moment; nothing else that could have mattered.

Once she had finished the fruit - which didn't take long at all, Sol disregarded the core at the base of one of the nearby bushes and drifted over towards one of the larger huts she could see. She paced by a couple of times, trying to see inside and figure out if anyone was inside, but it was hard to do as the building was a couple of feet off the ground, and the windows weren't exactly offering her much insight.

After coming up with a few good excuses for if she was caught snooping around, Sol braved the decision to climb the stairs and slowly made her way inside the hut. The natural light poured through, but it took her eyes a couple of moments to adjust to seeing as it had been so bright outside. Once she knew what she was up against, Sol's heart was swarming with questions that wouldn't rest and she was determined to find an answer to all of them.

In the middle of the hut, there was a large, wooden table that was covered in several maps, journals - alike the ones Izzy had found, and weapons which were quick to catch her attention. Basilisk were short of weapons ever since Neptunum invaded the bunkers and they only defences they had were what they had managed to take off the ship and carry with them on the vessels. Safe to say, it wasn't much and nothing compared to the stash they had at Basilisk before the flood.

Though the temptation to take off with all the weapons she could find was there, Sol reached a resolution of only taking a couple blades - one which she tucked into the back of her boot, and the other in her waistband along with her own.

Continuing to look around, Sol was curious about the archway that seemed to lead into the neighbouring hut, so she followed through, glad to find that it was also empty.

On the far wall, there was a large map pinned up of the island - places marked down that she hadn't noticed in the journals. Losing track of reality, Sol wandered over towards it and stood in front of it, crossing her arms as she stared onwards in great concentration.

Terra Firma's territory was clearly marked out and extended into the island much more than she had originally assumed. As well as that, all the mines seemed to have been pinpointed down as well as writing scribbled down next to each one to record if they had been set off or not.

They hadn't marked down the ones Izzy had triggered, Sol made a note to herself, or the one in the house that Kodiak and Elara dealt with.

Suddenly, there was a creaking sound of the floorboards underneath her and, confused as she hadn't moved, Sol turned around to face the archway, seeing someone leaning up against the wall with his arms folded, but smiling at her nonetheless.

Sol stumbled backwards a few steps, trying to sort through the excuses she had come up with prior to sneaking inside, but she didn't have a chance to test any of them out.

"You took a blade from the hut," he said calmly, the smile on his face not disappearing, even though it seemed genuine - nothing malicious behind it. He turned around behind him, alerting Sol to the two people people who had followed him inside, and nodded at them to step inside.

"You can either set it on the table for me to take, or you can keep it if you allow us to tie a restraint around your wrists - for your own safety."

Sol frowned, not sure what she thought was happening. Did they know she wasn't one of them? Did they just assume she was one of their people who was snooping around places they shouldn't be as well as trying to steal for them? She would have to wait to figure it out, knowing that the ultimatum she had been given was more pressing. She didn't want to give back the weapons she had been so relieved to find, but she knew she couldn't allow herself to be chained up, either: she would have no way of defending herself if they did that.

Sol sighed and rolled her eyes, reluctantly pulling out one of the weapons from her waistband and tossing it onto the table beside her, hoping that they would let her go afterwards.

But the man chuckled, almost as if he was laughing at himself for having predicted her correctly. "I know you took two," he said.

She hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out if he was just bluffing, but it was very clear that he wasn't. Exaggerating her frustration, Sol reached down into her boot and pulled the second blade out, making a point at dropping it on the table beside the first one. Even though she was frustrated that he had seen right through her, it allows Sol to make a fundamental observation about him: he knew more about things than he let on.

"My name is Tobias Bailey," he introduced himself, holding his hand out.

Sol was doubtful at his intentions, half expecting him to be lunging forward with a blade of his own, but it was just his hand. Guardedly, she accepted and shook with her own before retreating back, trying to keep her distance.

"I'm the pioneer of the clan you've ran into: West of The City Exile Allegiance."

"I know who you are..." Sol told him. "I know about your clan."

"You're from Terra Firma Tribe?"

Sol shook her head, watching how even in his confusion, Tobias remained completely calm.

"Where are you from if I may ask? And what's your name so I can address you?"

"I'm the Nobel Sovereign of Basilisk," she said. "My name is Riverly."

"Riverly," Tobias smiled, repeating her name back to him. "I like it. And a Nobel Sovereign? I'm assuming that means you're the leader of your people, too?"

Sol nodded, trying to figure out what his intentions were. Was he going to let her make it out of this alive? Would Chessca be forced into telling everyone what her plans were and she'd be left to deal with the guilt over what happened to her when Exile Allegiance found Basilisk's precious Nobel Sovereign?

"You don't want to say too much," Tobias announced, informing Sol that he seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. "I understand," he said. "I'm sure you're waiting to find answers to your own series of questions; I'd be more than happy to tell you what I can. If that's so, Riverly, would you care to join us for evening rations?"

Every instinct inside Sol told her that she was walking head first into a trap, but, with her stomach rumbling out for more food and her mind spinning restlessly with unanswered thoughts, she couldn't do anything but nod in agreement, wondering if it was already too late to turn back around... 

Three // Part Four
My name is Tobias Bailey.

A character I've been SO excited to introduce! I can't wait for what's coming up. What are your impressions about Tobias and Exile Allegiance? Do you trust them? Or do you think that they're hiding something deeper than what's on the surface...

I really enjoyed writing this chapter! I like that it was all Sol and getting to see her in action as the Nobel Sovereign! This chapter really had me feeling the first few seasons sorta vibes! That's what I wanted to achieve with this season, so I'm happy about that!

24/02/21.