Her hair was loose and tumbled around her shoulders in tired waves, and she was dressed for battle. Her steel-plated jacket was cinched tight against her torso and her short blade was belted at her side. The ships had collected quickly, giving her very little time to dwell on the fact that she was about to ask the same people she’d failed in Cloudbreak to join ranks with a Fiveson.

As she looked over the gathered crowd, she was once again in awe of how many people had chosen to follow her. Fifty-four ships had been reduced to twenty, nearly a thousand people to four hundred and nine. But for Gloriana’s ship, they were all here, watching her with strong, resilient faces.

“We have lost a great deal,” Caledonia began, taking the receiver from Harwell and turning in a slow circle. She fought the urge to apologize, to lay bare every ounce of pitiful remorse she felt. Instead, she focused on their immediate needs. She could blame herself in private, but an army needed to know their leader trusted herself. “We were prepared, and we were taken by surprise, but we are still here.”

There was no immediate cry of approval, no roar of ready rage from the crowd. This was not the pre-battle moment of near-visible energy and anticipation, when the possibility of victory was as real as that of defeat. This was a trembling moment on the other side of defeat.

It was Caledonia’s job now to lift them up, to invite them to feel this loss and return to the fight.

“We have all lost people we love. That has been the way of the world, the way of Aric’s world and now Lir’s. Fighting against that has always been hard. Once, it was impossible, but you made it a reality. And as long as you choose to stay, I promise to lead. To choose our battles well.” She paused, sensing unease worming its way through the crowd. “Our next fight is far from here, and it’s one we cannot undertake alone. Aric’s Fivesons have long been our enemies. Lir most of all. But Lir has turned against Fiveson Tassos and they are brothers no more. This gives us an opportunity: if we ally with Tassos, join our forces with his, we stand a chance at stopping Lir once and for all!”

A quiet murmur threaded through the air. In the faces before her, Caledonia spied uncertainty, mistrust, and deep hurt. It was impossible not to feel responsible for all of that. And wasn’t she?

“You want us to join a Fiveson?!” a voice shouted.

The crowd shifted and another voice called, “We’ve been fighting to get away from them!”

“I want you to win this war with me! And to do that, we have to keep driving into it. Not away,” Caledonia continued, forcing them to bend their attention back to her voice.