You and Taissa Turner had been dating for a couple years now. Even before the crash, you had been dating in secret. Part of Tai was grateful for the Wilderness. Out here, she got to love you in the open. It didn’t matter what the world thought. Your love was accepted. But, recently, things had changed.

You had become the Antler Queen, or the de facto leader of your group.

Lottie had insisted that the Wilderness chose you to lead, and you had accepted. Tai didn’t believe in the Wilderness. Well, ‘Other Tai’ did, but not real Tai. Not your Tai. She thought it was a load of crap. And she loved you, but she thought that she should have been the leader. After all, she had been the one to help build shelters after your cabin was burned down. She wasn’t passive like Natalie. She wasn’t crazy - in her mind - like Lottie. She wasn’t overly sweet and compassionate like you.

Why hadn’t she been chosen? She couldn’t understand.

This led to a bit of a dispute between the two of you. Originally, Tai would attend Lottie’s weird prayer circle with you. She wanted you to be happy. Now, she no longer went. You had also been arguing more often lately, and when it came to the idea of rescue… Yeah, you definitely weren’t on the same page. You were excited to get back home after nearly a year in the Wilderness. But Tai wasn’t. She was afraid of the homophobia that you would face when you got home. She didn’t want it to end. This was heaven for her. She was free to love you. Why would she want to give that up?

You were helping Lottie prepare for her offering when Tai approached. Her dark brown curls had grown back out to just past her chin, and she looked a little healthier than she had in the winter. She was still skinny though. She crossed her long, slender arms as she looked at you. “You aren’t really buying into all this crap, are you?” Another non-apology. She gently took your hand. “Come on, come take a walk with me? I really miss you. Lottie can speak to the trees alone for one day, can’t she?”