Not much happens, just trying to get Essie caught up with everything that's happened. Thank you for sticking with this story and please let me know what you think if you can.

Walk a straight line through the bend.

For the first time in a very, very long time Essie was lost for words. She just stared, open mouthed, as the tiger yawned and stretched and began to lick its front paw. The man in the wooden throne, the large man stage left, the woman behind her, all of them were entirely unmoved by the fact there was a tiger on stage. A tiger.

"I believe our brave warrior is a little lost for words," said the king, looking around at the others.

"You are right sire, but Shiva takes everyone that way at first, said the large man with a winning grin.

"You are a kind and wise steward Jerry, we will give her a moment to adjust."

Essie still hadn't moved from her spot, she stared at the tiger who had moved on to cleaning its whiskers. The woman gave her a gentle prod and Essie walked closer to the stage.

"Welcome Essie the Brave, welcome to the kingdom, I am King Ezekiel," he said in a rich, convivial voice.

She had to think quickly; he could be insane but there were a lot of people in this kingdom to be following a mad man. So then, he wasn't mad...Essie watched him watching her. No, he was as far from madness as she was; this man was clever, very clever. What people wanted most in this new world was someone to follow, someone to tell them what to do, someone who promised to make it all alright, someone to be a father and allow them to be children; and who could do that better than a benevolent King…with his own tiger? Oh yes, King Ezekiel was very clever indeed. More than that however, something about his persona appealed to Essie; she'd been a scholar of English Literature, a canon littered with kings defeating evil, good conquering bad, dragons being slayed and her soul was not without romance. She made a decision and gave an almost perfect curtsey.

"My liege, I am honoured to be in your presence, you are every inch a king." Essie raised her head slightly and caught Ezekiel's eye, he acknowledged the King Lear quote and she thought he knew what she meant, she'd have to wait and see.

"We are grateful to you for saving our people, Connor and Hannah. Will you sup with us tonight?"

Still bowing, Essie replied, "It would be a privilege to sit at your table," hoping she wasn't laying it on too thick.

"Then rise Essie the Brave and know that you are a welcome guest. Hannah will show you to your room," and again Essie caught Ezekiel's knowing look. Shiva's chain clinked as she raised her head and, just for a moment, looked straight into Essie's eyes.

Once inside the small but comfortable room, Essie sat on the bed and replayed what had happened. After weeks of captivity with Negan, knowing Daryl had been in the same building, learning about the deaths of Glen and Abraham, not knowing if Alexandria was still standing or who was left, the escape, the isolation of the woods and now finding a whole new group lead by a king with a tiger, she was feeling a little overwhelmed. Kicking off her boots, she lay back and stared at the ceiling; she had no idea if this group were good or bad or somewhere in between and in that quiet moment, she didn't really care.

It was dusk when Essie woke, she hadn't even realised she'd fallen asleep. Opening the blinds, she saw the town was quiet, people were getting ready to eat. She slipped through her door and went to see what she could find.

Whatever this town had to hide clearly wouldn't be in plain sight so she started at the theatre and worked her way out. A few people were going about their business, entirely unaware of Essie in the shadows. She got to the archery range and then to the buildings behind it without seeing anything suspicious. She saw a fire door padlocked shut with a warning sign, if she was going to find anything it would be in a locked room with a warning notice.

It was dark inside the corridor and there was a strange ammonia type smell. Silently, Essie padded down towards the only door. She opened it as quietly as she could and walked through.

"I hear we have a visitor." Morgan said, joining Ezekiel.

"We do and she is very interesting." he replied.

"Where did she come from?" Morgan asked.

"Hannah and Connor were outside the walls and she leant them her assistance. She is more than she seems although I believe she's hidden it very well even with her British accent."

"What?" said Morgan quickly.

"She is hiding something," Ezekiel said, surprised by Morgan's reaction. He was even more surprised when Morgan grabbed him.

"What accent did you say she has?" he demanded.

"British," Ezekiel said slowly.

"Shit," said Morgan and bolted for the door, "put extra guards on the armoury!" he added.

"Oh shit," whispered Essie as Shiva shifted inside the cage and turned to face her.

Morgan sprinted through the town, shouting to anyone if they'd seen a woman with red hair. Ezekiel had followed him with Jerry in tow. They searched the gardens, the central area, anywhere that wasn't locked up.

"There!" Ezekiel pointed to the open fire door and they ran through.

Morgan pushed open the door to Shiva's cage and stopped almost causing Ezekiel to run into the back of him. Essie, sitting on the floor with her back to the cage with the tiger lying next to her, its head between it paws, apparently sleeping, looked up and saw who it was and smiled. Shiva also raised her head, deemed the situation uninteresting and lay back down with a sigh.

"It's you," whispered Morgan.

"It is," answered Essie, "it's good to see you again Morgan."

Ezekiel decreed Essie should be put under armed guard in her room until he had spoken to Morgan, he'd been terribly chivalrous and she understood his reasons.

"Tell me about this woman," said Ezekiel, settling back into his chair and Morgan took a deep breath.

It took over an hour for Morgan, in a very measured way, to tell Ezekiel all he knew about Essie. Ezekiel asked lots of questions Morgan didn't know the answer to and lots where his answers elicited shock or awe or pathos. When they were finished, Morgan requested to speak to Essie alone and Ezekiel agreed.

She was lying on the bed when he walked in.

"So how did Ezekiel react to my story?" she asked without any other introductions.

"Oh about as well anyone would; he'll want to speak to you," and Essie nodded, "where've you been?"

"I got taken whilst out on a run. It turns out by the same bastard who killed Glenn and Abraham…" and she stared at Morgan.

"You know about that?" he asked.

"I do. I killed as many of them as I could when I got out but I missed the main man; he's next though and he'll die slowly," she said, almost to herself.

"There's a different way," Morgan said, kneeling in front of her, "Rick tried to work with him, find things to give him so he'd leave us in peace. You don't have to kill him, you don't have to kill anyone." Essie looked into his eyes and he felt the full force of her.

"There is no peace with Negan, there is no working with him, there is no stopping him. You put him down or he will not give up," she said.

Morgan didn't reply, he remained kneeling and staring up at her, she met his gaze with a steady stare, unrelenting just like her.

"Carol's here," he said eventually.

"Why?" she demanded.

"She…she wanted to leave Alexandria. She didn't want to lose anyone else and she didn't want to kill anymore," he said.

Essie sighed, "That was you, wasn't it? You got inside her head with your ridiculous bullshit, didn't you? You broke Carol. And now we're standing naked in front of a man with an army and NO self-control without a woman who knows her shit better than I do. Why? Because you still don't get it. Does she know about Glen and Abraham?"

Morgan shook his head.

"For fuck's sake," Essie ran her hands through her hair.

"I didn't wanna tell her. I didn't wanna make her go back to what she was." Morgan said.

"That's who she is!" Essie snapped, "she might not like it, she might not've wanted it but tough shit. It might be that Negan is the last challenge we face and then we can go back to who we want to be but I doubt it. We are alive because of people like Carol…others are dead because of people like you." Morgan fell back as she'd slapped him but she continued.

"I know what happened to you, I know you…went somewhere for a while and someone brought you back, convinced you not to kill indiscriminately but this isn't indiscriminate, this is survival; learn the difference."

Morgan sat back on his heels.

"Where is she?" Essie demanded.

Out a ways, beyond the wall. She chose a house…by a graveyard."

"Are you kidding me? Well…the woman does symbolic very well, I'll give her that." Essie stood up.

"King Ezekiel wants to see you." Morgan said quickly.

"What's with him? Do you trust him?" Essie asked.

"I do." Morgan replied.

"Ok," said Essie, "if you trust him, that's good enough for me," and Morgan nodded.

Morgan walked with her to a garden behind the theatre.

"You know I've only seen Shiva take to someone so quickly with Daryl," he said, breaking the silence.

"Daryl's alive?" asked Essie, grabbing his arm.

"Yeah, he was here a couple of days ago. He got away from Negan and made it back to Hilltop with Jesus. He found out about Carol, went to see her and then left to join the others back there."

"What? He was here? What the fuck is Hilltop? Was he ok? Who else have you seen? What the fuck?" Essie was virtually dancing around and Morgan couldn't help but smile; it was moments like this where he caught flashes of her other side.

"Calm down. He was fine; the others are fine the last time I saw them. Rick's gonna try and go up against Negan soon. Maggie and Sasha are at Hilltop, Rick and Daryl made contact with Jesus who introduced them to Hilltop, another one of Negan's towns like here. Daryl wanted me to convince Ezekiel to join with Alexandria…I haven't talked with him yet." Morgan ushered her through into a garden lit with candles before she could ask any more questions and she saw Ezekiel sitting on a bench.

"Ah Essie the Brave, you are very welcome," and he indicated she should sit.

"My Lord," she said and bowed. Ezekiel smiled.

"You know, I think we can stop this just for a moment," he said.

"Ok" replied Essie, "I thought I'd let you make that decision."

"Morgan said you were clever." Ezekiel watched her and saw the sun come out as she returned his smile.

"I like it though. I really like it. So, Morgan told you my story, what's yours?" and Ezekiel told Essie his story just like he'd done with Carol.

"That is quite a tale," she said when he finished and he bowed, "what made you decide to trust me with it?"

"When I saw Shiva trusted you, she's an excellent judge of character," he said.

"Dinner is served." Jerry said, coming into the garden.

"Ah, a feast for the eyes and stomach," Ezekiel said, slipping back into his character easily. He held out his arm and Essie took it.

"Hope you're hungry," Jerry said to Essie.

"Always," she replied and was rewarded with a Jerry smile.

She slept very well that night, with a full stomach and a renewed sense of hope.

Picking her way through the tall grass surrounding the gravestones, she looked at the house with peeling paint and curtained windows. The door opened and Carol stood there.

"Have you got a cigarette?" Essie asked.

"No," Carol replied, "those things'll kill you."

Essie waited, shifting from one foot to the other. After about 5 years, Carol relented.

"You better come in…but wipe your feet," and she disappeared inside. Essie took a deep breath and followed.