Estingai frowned at the guards flanking the door as she approached Wolfden's command room. She brightened her clearnodes to make out the snowflake symbols on their masks, then nodded, straightening her spine and rolling her shoulders. She dimmed her clearnodes, but not completely.

She recognized the first two, Akadi and Imbe, but the others must have been from Icevein or Stormswind.

The two she did not recognize moved between her and the door as she approached, and she fixed their masked faces with an icy glare. The Lightforged armor she wore helped. She hadn't finished repairing it completely but it would function as well as she needed it to. She'd also made some modifications. The Lightforged's mask now adorned the chestplate, and she'd attached her own mask to the helmet, which hung at her hip.

"They are in a meeting," the closest, a woman, said. "We've been instructed not to let you or Uuchantuu in."

Estingai raised an eyebrow, looking at the woman and her companion, then looked past them to the other two guards.

“Sama?” Akadi said. "I think we should let her through."

Sama looked over his shoulder. "Just because she's—"

"You should listen to him," Estingai said, voice low, but firm. "I've had a bad day, and Akadi and Imbe will tell you that I'm not the best at controlling my temper."

The two foreign guards studied her for a moment, then shared a look and stepped aside, the woman letting out a sigh. Akadi opened the door.

As Estingai passed by them and through the door, the woman hissed. "This better not get us written up."

The heavy metal doors closed behind Estingai and she found herself facing Aaden, Marjatla, Uuldina, and Meik'ka, all staring at her with expressions ranging from bewilderment to hostility.

"What are you doing here?" Aaden asked, an edge to his voice as Meik'ka turned her glare on Marjatla. "Your guards must have let her in."

Estingai didn't respond. She took a deep breath, studying each of the four leaders in turn. Marjatla had helped run her family's textile business and Aaden had been a legal clerk. Both had chosen to stand against the Imaia rather than bow to it when the time had come, and though Estingai didn't know much about who Uuldina and Meik'ka had been before the Destruction, she could respect the choice they'd made to fight rather than compromise their beliefs for a life of relative safety and security. Regardless, each were leaders in their own right. They might have personal agendas, but those were also influenced by what they thought they must do for their people.

And you're the Last Knight. No matter who they were or who they are now, you stand above them. Koruuksi and Uuchantuu are the only ones with anyone near that claim. These four worry about themselves and their people. You need to worry about what is best for all those who fight the Imaia. Even those you might not agree with.

That was what they'd sworn. It didn't matter if the goddess she'd sworn to had betrayed her and sent the world into a death spiral. The oath itself was worth keeping.

"This has nothing to do with you, Estingai," Marjatla said, voice cool.

"Especially after that mess of yours at Memfoso," Uuldina added.

"Have you come to take control now that we've forced you out?" Meik'ka spat.

Estingai nodded. "That's exactly what I'm doing."

The four leaders stared at her, eyes wide. The room fell silent except for the low hum of the electronic equipment. Meik'ka even gaped.

Uuldina was the first to regain her tongue. "You have no right—"

"Don't I?" Estingai asked, surprised at how calm she felt despite the energy that still thrummed through her.

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"There is no room for disagreement anymore," she continued. "Between the five of us, or with Ironpeak and Last Shadow. All that does is benefit the Imaia. Each of you can handle the day-to-day operations of our people and work out among yourselves who handles what. Ideally, you will each specialize in something befitting your strengths rather than just administering over your own bases, but it will all be under my direction. If things are not working the way they should, I will step in to take action."

"You think all you need to do is interrupt me and say a few words to take over?" Uuldina spat. "That arrogance alone disqualifies you from any sort of leadership position."

“You may have once been one of the Knights Reborn,” Meik’ka said, “but I have seen none of that these past few weeks.”

Estingai clenched her teeth. What could she say to that? Any excuse would sound like a child’s protests.

“You may have shocked us with your Lightforged armor the first time,” Uuldina said, “but that won’t work any longer. Not after your inconsistent behavior and unwillingness to back up your reputation with action.”

Estingai sighed. “I have not been myself recently. I—”

“None of us have,” Meik’ka snapped. “We live our lives in caves. We have all lost those we cared about or looked up to, Estingai. Losing your husband does not make you special.”

Estingai took a deep breath, looking both Meik’ka and Uuldina in the eye before she spoke.

“And how many of you are the last of an order that everyone looked to to save them?”

Uuldina opened her mouth for a moment, then closed it. Neither spoke.

“Which of you is always associated with the goddess that said she would protect us, but instead broke the world?” Estingai pressed. “With living legends who took on the God King himself, and managed to wound him?”

Uuldina shifted under her gaze.

Estingai looked around the room. “You were all thrust into leadership unexpectedly, but you’d been trained for it. You knew that might be a possibility some day. I fought alongside legends. Men and women who seemed more like the goddess we served than mortals who needed to do things like eat and drink to live. Yours is a role people expect to be filled. The Knights were something beyond what people expected. Some of them had lived and fought the Imaia and its predecessors for centuries. They wielded power greater than any I can ever hope to wield, and yet I alone am expected to take their place at our bleakest moment. I alone must walk through our halls and bear the looks of everyone who expected the Knights and Kweshrima to save them. To know the unspoken questions behind their haunted eyes. Why did Kweshrima betray us? Why didn’t you protect them? Why must we live like this?”

Estingai paused, nearly raising a hand to her throat at the rawness of her voice. She looked to Uuldina, then Meik’ka.

“You’re right,” she told Icevein’s leader. “Losing my husband doesn’t make me special. We have all lost loved ones, we have all lost those we looked to for strength.” Estingai stepped toward Meik’ka. “But you still have me. Whether you see me as someone who will save you, or someone to blame when everything goes to shit, you still have someone who is supposed to be above the rest of you. I had only Svemakuu. And now I have to be that person you all look to. Without anyone who understands that burden. Without anyone to share it.”

Meik’ka’s jaw bunched as she held Estingai’s gaze. The woman swallowed, and said nothing. Silence stretched as Estingai’s words hung in the air, and for a moment, Estingai nearly smiled.

“We will have to take harsher action to ensure she doesn't subvert our authority," Meik'ka said, looking to Marjatla. "You know her. Do you have any suggestions?"

Estingai's heart sank, but she set her jaw.

She had to keep fighting.

Before Estingai could say anything, however, Marjatla spoke up.

"I agree with Meik'ka. However, I chose to expel Estingai from our confidence because she had refused to take ownership of her role."

Marjatla paused, meeting Estingai's gaze. Estingai nodded, and caught the other woman's lips twitch in the hint of a smile.

"I believe that issue is past," Marjatla continued, "and that the best way to ensure she doesn't subvert our authority, is to put ourselves beneath her."

Uuldina and Meik'ka, who had both been smiling up until then, gaped at Marjatla.

"You can’t be serious," Uuldina objected. "She—"

"Is the Last Knight," Aaden said. "Something she seems to have finally embraced."

"Our people respect her," Marjatla added. "All of our people. Especially our soldiers. If Estingai chooses to take charge in finding us a way out of this life, you will find yourselves hard pressed to convince your people not to follow her." Marjatla turned her gaze to Estingai once more. "That is, assuming, she has a plan to get us out of this."

Estingai nodded, stepping up to the table at the center of the room. "I have the beginnings of one. The plan my husband proposed when all the factions met, and their leaders agreed to forge us into the Remnant. That, I will need your help with, as it will take years. As to our first step, though—forging the Remnant—I know what we need to do."

As Estingai laid out the plan, Marjatla, Aaden, Uuldina, and Meik'ka all leaned in to listen. The heads of Icevein and Stormswind still wore frowns, and Estingai knew she had a ways to go before winning them over, but it was a start.

When she got to the part those two would play, their frowns deepened, but Marjatla and Aaden nodded, encouraged, and Estingai reached back to grip the handle of her pan.