forged in fire (and not a small amount of love)
By: Karasu Kyra
Ta-er al-Sahfer knew the words were true when she spoke them. "You deserve someone better. You can harness that light that is still inside of you, but I'm not that person and I never will be."
The first time she and Oliver shared a bed after her return, she knew it wasn't love. They were both using sex to cope with their problems and she needed to put an end to it. The way Oliver looked at Felicity told her that he could find the shining beacon of good that would coax the pure parts of him through the cracks to the surface. And Felicity's feelings for Oliver weren't a secret to anyone. But he wasn't going to realize that he needed Felicity until the Canary removed herself from the picture.
She was not Sara Lance, anymore; not the girl from before, or the woman she became on the Amazo and Lian Yu. She was still Ta-er al-Sahfer and she always would be. While Nyssa al-Ghul had saved Sara Lance, she had forged Ta-er al-Sahfer in blood, sweat, tears and not a small amount of love. The many years spent in the League had changed her irrevocably, as did the many years spent in the company of Ra's al-Ghul's eldest daughter.
When she contacted Nyssa in order to get the League to help them in the war against Slade, she knew she would have no choice but to go back, so she laid out her terms to her former lover and couldn't help the smile when she agreed. A part of Sara still longed for Nanda Parbat, it was a beautiful land where time moved differently, but more so, a part of the Canary still longed for the Heir to the Demon.
Having Nyssa back in her life, fighting beside her instead of against her, woke feelings in Sara that she had been trying to bury since Nyssa released her from her bond to the League. As they marched to war against Slade, with the daughter of Ra's al Ghul at her side, she knew she had made the right choice, that she needed to go back to Nyssa if not the League.
As she said goodbye to her father, the words Nyssa spoke to him were the final key to opening her heart to the woman once more. "I know the power of a father's love, and I would die before I let anything happen to your daughter."
So, as she boarded Nyssa's ship, she walked steady knowing she was going where she was meant to be. Ta-er al-Sahfer was going home.