Even just poking her head above the pipes she cat see Tatiana’s distinctly human silhouette against the nighttime sky. If she were honest, she didn’t know why she expected anything else. Betos considers her options for a moment, then pulls herself up entirely onto the roof.

“Taťána. It is late,” she says, sitting down beside her.

Tatiana jumps slightly at the sudden noise and reaches for a pistol that isn’t on her hip. Once she sees that it’s just Betos she does her best to play it off as nothing. “I’m aware,” she says lightly.

She turns her attention back out over the landscape, a once mostly barren desert now brought further to life by the alien flora that had taken hold of the area. Betos does not turn to look out over it with her. For all that she’d ever heard about the former commander of XCOM, the woman herself seemed more like a newly freed Skirmisher than a once fearsome human.

“You know you can speak if you have an issue, yes?” she says gently. “We are all trying to heal here.”

Tatiana nods. Betos waits for a few moments, but she does not offer any verbal reply.

She sighs and finally looks out over the slowly evolving landscape herself. She hesitates a moment longer, then hazards a guess at what might be bothering her. “Many of the newly freed have difficulty adjusting to new lines of thought,” she offers. “I would imagine the same troubles affect you.”

Tatiana does nothing to acknowledge her words. After a few long moments have passed, she lets out a deep breath and closes her eyes. “I can’t focus on anything,” she admits quietly. “Nothing that’s not strategic.When I look around the base, I think about how to defend it. When I talk with someone, my mind slips into their worth in battle. I’ve tried and I just —” She stops to take a deep breath. “I have a headache.”

Her explanation is curious at best, but Betos does not question her. Now was not the time to try to uncover just why the Elders had wanted her for. She felt it best to let sleeping dogs lie, but she was sure that Tatiana and the rest of the Skirmishers would not agree in this case.

“You have only been freed a short while. Any lingering effects of the chip likely have not worn off yet,” she says after a moment’s thought. “I am sure with time your mind will free itself.”

She sees Tatiana slowly open her eyes, moonlight reflecting off of them. “I hope so,” she agrees.

Betos makes mental note to ensure that Tatiana stays as far away from combat as she could get her to, for as long as possible. “Is there anything else bothering you?” she asks.

Again, Tatiana does not move or speak. Betos can only assume that it is a yes that she has not yet found the strength to say.

“I can leave, if you would rather,” she offers instead.

“No,” Tatiana answers quickly. “I’d rather not be alone. It’s… easier.”

Betos smiles at her, one she knows she cannot see in the darkness. “Of course.”

She surprises everyone by dragging herself to her feet after only a week at the new camp. Tatiana wobbles, almost collapses, then seems to steady herself. The steadiness lasts for only a moment though, and fortunately Betos is close enough to her to run and catch her.

“You should still be resting,” Betos scolds lightly. She tries to nudge Tatiana back towards her cot.

Tatiana manages to hold her ground, even in her weakened state. “I’m fine,” she insists. She takes a second to catch her breath, then tries to walk forward. “I want to see my daughter.”

Betos keeps a hold of her, helping her to keep her balance, but she does not try to dissuade her from her goal. “You will heal faster if you rest,” she says lightly.

“Hasn’t been working the past few days,” Tatiana retorts. They spot Cecily and John playing together near the edge of camp, with Ines nearby talking with Mox. She pushes herself a bit harder, almost stumbling again if it weren’t for Betos’s help.

“I will ask Bejj to examine you again, if you’d like.”

“No, I don’t-” Tatiana cuts herself off before completing her thought. She takes a moment to recollect, then starts again. “I felt the same way waking up today as I did the past two days. I don’t think laying down any longer will help.”

They stop a few feet away the others. Betos looks at her, and for just a split second Tatiana has to hide her own blatant distrust of her kind. “If you have truly reached a plateau in your recovery here, I may know where you can receive additional help,” she explains quietly. “But I would rather not let you leave until you can walk on your own again.”

“And if I insist?”

“Then I would hope you listen to your friends,” she retorts, glancing pointedly at John.

Tatiana glances at him to catch his own worried look, then sighs. “Point taken.”

Betos smiles at her then takes a step back, still keeping one hand on her arm just in case. Once it’s clear she can balance long enough for the moment, she lets go. “Don’t strain yourself,” she warns.

Tatiana offers her a faint smile in return. Without another word, she turns to the others and takes a few careful steps forward. “Cecilka!” she calls.

Betos watches as the girl takes off and tackles her mother as best she can. She shakes her head in amusement and leaves them be.

They find themselves sitting across from Betos in her tent almost a week later. Tatiana does not look much better than a few days prior, but she wasn’t wobbling while trying to stand anymore.

“Go south far enough and you will eventually run into the Templar’s territory,” Betos explains, pointing on a map. “From there you will find one of their bases.”

Tatiana and John stare blankly at her. “You can’t tell us where it is exactly?” he asks.

“I don’t know its exact location.”

“Then how are we supposed to find the Templars?” Tatiana snaps.

Betos looks at her again, her gaze piercing though into her core. “They will find you,” she says.

Tatiana shifts uncomfortably at the certainty in her voice. “And you’re sure they can heal me?”

“Yes. On the odd occasion, some of their members have healed our own. Others have witnessed them healing other humans, too,” she assures.

Tatiana looks at John, and he nods slightly. “We’ll try our luck,” he says, looking at Betos once more. “Thank you for your help.”

The four of them set off the next day to the south after some almost reluctant goodbyes and promises to help each other where they could.

True to Betos’s word, the Templars find them. Two of them appear on a ledge above them, and after some brief introductions, they have no qualms about bringing them to their hideout.

Tatiana hopes that it is John and Ines’s XCOM connections that make them seem almost too eager to bring them back. Betos’s piercing gaze lingers in the back of her mind, but she follows regardless.

They reach the base by nightfall, a building that appeared to have once been some sort of resort that had been half destroyed. As they approach, they spot a girl a few years older than Cecily pestering an older man carrying a baby.

More importantly, the girl spots them. “Dad!” she shouts, running to meet them and wrapping her arms around one of the templars’ waist. He pats her head a bit awkwardly. After a moment, the girl steps back and takes a look at the four of them. Eventually her gaze locks onto Cecily, simultaneously eager and a bit nervous. “Hi,” she says. “I’m Sophie.”

Cecily glances up at her mother, and she offers her a few quiet words of encouragement. “I’m Cecily,” she manages.

Bill urges his daughter back over to the other man so that they can continue into the building. “Sorry about that,” he says, glancing at Tatiana.

“Nothing to be sorry about,” she assures. “I didn’t expect to run into many kids out traveling. It’ll be good for her to play with someone closer to her own age.”

“Good for Sophie, too,” the templar says.

“Maybe we’ll stay here for a bit longer, for them,” John muses, glancing down at Cecily who was still practically clinging to Tatiana’s hand.