Everything gains more gravity after the show the outsider woman had put up.
Additionally, she starts to venture into the old Gulag. Jacob and the rest of the Remnants are forced to stay blind when she starts to examine the indoors and the old mining tunnels. Consequently, following her without her knowing becomes impossible. Instead, they have to follow in her footsteps. Jacob takes the task as the old plans to collapse the pathways are still vividly in his mind.
He hates the mines, though, hates what they cost to his people and how inadequate he had been to prevent the destruction. It had been Kitezh all over again, and for a second, he wishes he could give the Divine Source to the woman and be done with this.
But he feels that his task isn't over yet, and thus, swallows his redundant feelings. He has pondered the meaning of his life for so many centuries and searched the answer in every bird song and every drop of water so unyieldingly, that it's excruciating to have faith sometimes; he still pushes forward, though.
He swims through the waters and descends down the old shafts thinking back to every message that he had received from his people here, the orders he had given in return.
Not much is amiss. In fact, the woman has taken so little that it takes him time to spot the changes. She hasn't taken anything of historical value, of the pieces that are one of a kind. However, she has taken money, gems, and small pieces of jewelry. He tries to convince himself that they are lighter pieces to carry and she can always come back for more. But, the way she hasn't mapped everything out into one pile for easy pick-up, tries to lure him into believing in her. The Divine Source is enticing but few don't at least delay their quest in front of these riches.
Of course, that is a matter of how desperate the person is for healing in ways money can't provide.
And the woman pushes forward and gets closer to the Valley with each day. Moreover, she doesn't only turn every stone, but fights her way through every barrier and seal his people have built over the centuries.
There are no other sightings from the wilderness around the Gulag, and Jacob doesn't know if he is relieved or even more apprehensive that this woman has gotten so far simply by herself. Her capability to find the Valley, and through there, fight her way to Kitezh, is becoming an unavoidable issue. And that's what fills his heart with apprehension.
They can let her in the Valley, act like there is nothing there, and let her go empty-handed. But she isn't the type of a person to accept that. The way she hammers even the strongest of walls and squeezes her way through the smallest of gaps under the mountains, make it evident just how indomitable and dedicated she is.
Jacob values his skills to work with people, to listen, and steer them in the right direction. But he can't fight the feeling that she is different and won't alter her quest – just like Trinity. Still, she continues to feel different from them in the way that she leaves nothing unused of the carcasses and keeps short silent memorials after reading about the fates of the prisoners that were killed in the Gulag.
He is only worried that they might have to fight her, too.
Jacob can still count the handful of people who have come to retrieve the Divine Source and who had been ready to dismiss their objective for a life in the Valley. Of course, it was much easier and common when they still had Kitezh. In the austere state, the Valley holds no such comforts. And the way the woman is constantly on the move, never bothering with rest to seek for another treasure or relict, he knows that it's an empty wish to think that she would settle to live the rest of her life in the Valley.
He follows from the distance as the woman walks deeper and deeper into the mountain through the old passageways, finding their small paths from where the Soviets' advancements had been stopped to. He watches her discover the main passageway to the Valley, but he sidesteps the room when she starts to read the murals. He enters the daylight from a smaller crevice and follows the main entrance when walking atop the old barrier.
Eventually, the inevitable happens and the woman sets her foot on the Geothermal Valley. From his hiding spot, he watches the wonder on her face at the rugged mountains and the lush greenery. The first reactions of the outsiders always take him back to the first time he saw the beauty in here and he could touch the recuperation it would offer for all their people after an arduous journey.
Jacob notes from the crumpled watchtower how the woman doesn't almost notice the stairs as her eyes try to take it all in. He gives a signal to Sofia and his warriors who have already been alerted by a runner; the reassuring nod, however, is as much to himself as it is for the hidden Remnants.
The outsider is visibly shocked by the army that rises against her after her zipline to the wrecked inner ward. She stays crouched only for a few seconds, though, and when the arrows don't immediately head to her way she meets Sofia's steely gaze and the order to stop with more confidence – which is, at least, partially genuine, Jacob surmises.
"Easy! Easy!" The woman placates but Sofia is less than impressed.
The outsider puts her hands up in surrender but keeps fighting, "I don't think that we need to be enemies. I'm not here to harm anyone."
Jacob stays out of her sight and watches his daughter give the woman a chance to leave, once.
"But I don't mean harm."
He can see the gears turning in her head, how she is thinking of relenting in front of the threat but not to leave the Valley, instead she is counting her odds on how she can find another way to the Source. The warning that has turned back mightier men than her, doesn't seem to affect her resolution.
"No outsiders," Sofia growls and tenses her bow. She doesn't shoot yet, and Jacob knows that she is waiting for his decision, his order.
He can almost picture the volley of arrows piercing through the woman's small body and how the situation could be buried in one of the surrounding caves. If she truly is as alone in this as she acts, no one will be there to search for her body or link her disappearance to them or the Valley. The only mark that she would leave here would be the one on his conscience, but there is a flock of crosses for people like her, and with time, she will just be another nameless victim to this madness.
Still, he wavers with the order and ultimately gives a clear shake of the head before sighing. He doesn't look at Sofia and the look of a verified prediction he knows is on her face. Instead, he follows the lowering of bows only from the outskirts of his vision and focuses his attention on how the woman does an admirable job to cover the relief and surprise she must be feeling at the avoided execution. She has, however, noticed Sofia's glance in his direction and turns to spot him. She freezes for a second, but then the recognition rises into her eyes, and the one plus two she must make out of this causes him to resent himself at his weakness.
With their guards still in position, he orders the woman to drop her weapons. Once she has slowly complied with a measuring stare, he contemplates the order to have her hands tied. He has seen far too good examples of how she can fight for survival. But she is after information and hasn't cowered in front of them. Something in him trusts that he can get her around the same table to talk without means of force, so he doesn't let the words drop from his tongue.
She only takes quick glances at the fifteen plus warriors – many of whom still have an arrow lined with their bow – and saves her gaze for him when he ascends down from on top of the wall. She doesn't look betrayed or scared per se, it's almost like she understands the reason behind their actions. Her emotions are still deeply guarded though, and he makes no mistake that she intends to survive anything they could potentially throw at her.
She would have made an excellent warrior in his ranks.
She accepts his offer to talk about this, and they take her to Stephano's hut. On the way, he doesn't miss the awe on her face when she sees the Valley in all its after-rain glory, but he refrains from showing any emotion on his face. He would have wanted to use his house for this, but there are a few pieces of memorabilia that he doesn't want her to see. And the Remnants are a united group in this ageless war: ready to share what's needed.
They gesture her to sit on the wooden chair in the small kitchen area as he moves to light a fire on the stove. Sofia leaves with the few guards while directing one longer glance at him.
The outsider's gaze follows his every movement and it takes him a few minutes to realize that she is eyeing him to weigh if he is going to use the heat to torture her with the poker. What makes his stomach drop even more, is how calmly she sits to wait for what's to come. It's only the small hardness in her eyes and the depth of her breaths that give her feelings away.
He sighs towards the fire and sits down on the bench near it. "We aren't too keen on outsiders," he finally offers and overpasses the notion of torture to prevent it from etching into his mind. He might have become a lot of things over the years but that is not a title he wants for himself.
"The Gulag?"
He takes the lucky straw he gets, marvels at the sympathy she is showing, and how honest it seems under these circumstances, "Yes."
"I'm not with them. I'm not… I told you, I'm looking for the Divine Source," she begins to explain only to realize somewhere midway how the people in this village are the same ones that the Soviets had wrote to become agitated when they had pushed deeper into the valley. "You know about it," she eventually whispers, and that's the first time, he can hear a trace of an accusation and fear in her tone.
He contemplates long on what to tell her, finally opting for a half-truth that leaves his lips all too easily. "It's gone," and when she only answers with a question in her eyes, he continues, "There are tales that something existed here a very long time ago, but there is no recollection of anything for dozens of years and the elderly never spoke about it. – We've searched, too, tried to prevent our owns from dying. In the state that we are, letting anyone into the valley has proved out to be deadly for us."
She softens at his words and seems to think back on something far away. "I don't mean any harm."
Jacob believes despite not wanting to but pushes the thought aside to focus on the one thing that has intrigued him since their last meeting "By coming after our people. I must know, why are you really after the Source?"
It's now her turn to measure how much to tell him and it makes his wariness return, because her previous story is bound to change. "I'm an archeologist."
He slowly adds another log into the fire and only raises his right eyebrow to tell her how he knows that archeologists do not travel alone through these regions, especially with no gear and risking their lives.
She gives a curt chuckle at getting caught and explains, "My father was an archeologist, too. He… It was his life mission to look for treasures with myths about immortality, the Divine Source, and I… disliked it. Hated it that he was so hung up on those things," she confesses and falls quiet for a second but the look on her eyes keeps Jacob from interrupting her before she continues somberly, "I was nine when we fought, and when everything, the doubt and the mockery just became too much for him." She is silent for a long time, before relenting under his lack of condemnation, "I found his old notes some time back and, I want to honor him, do something with my life. Make a difference. With the Source all those who pestered him would be proven wrong, I could restore his honor, help millions," she reflects, pleading subtly for him to understand.
And in that moment, he realizes that the young woman is still determined to finish her mission despite his white lie. Her story invokes sympathy in him and he can relate, deeply relate, to the need to be better and to correct past mistakes but it's a fool's job. "Your father has already passed away."
She moves her gaze to stare at the wall with such indignation that it's clear that her father's death is not the only reason, she is pushing herself this far.
She has risked her life to come here, meaning she has very little to lose.
"I'm sorry", he offers nonetheless. The silence that follows leaves him enough time to pull out a pot to boil water.
"I've met them," she starts in a mission to find another way, "Trinity."
He stills long enough that it spurs her on, more determined now that she has found a subject that is in his interests, "They were doing an excavation in Syria. I was there after my father's notes. Had to blow up an old temple on top of them and cover in a tomb to escape them alive."
Maybe he shouldn't be surprised but he is. Syria is ancient past to his people and few know its tale anymore other than the crude outline. He still doubts that her words are a coincidence, and the Oasis comes to his mind like he had been there yesterday. Subsequently, the memory is followed by one of the battles and the lost men and women. However, the woman's story fights for attention with the horrors it unleashes in his mind and manages to overcome them. It takes a second for him to realize that it was the tomb built for him that she hid in and blew up. And in that moment, a smile tugs the corners of his mouth before he gives it the permission. It can all be lies but the way the woman tells the story, nonchalant to a point it comes across as a little smug, draws him in. The determination she has shown supports her story, too. And after over a millennium spent on fighting a lost war, it's nice to meet someone who doesn't accept the grimness of life and fights tirelessly to prevent it from consuming her.
The woman, however, doesn't seem to know how to read the various feelings that pass in his eyes, so she pushes on, "There was a mark that I remembered seeing in my father's notes, and it led me here."
"They are searching for this place, too?"
"I think so, yeah."
Jacobs stares at the fire again, it's an unpleasant piece of news because they are still scattered after the Soviets.
"I could help, make it public, take the Source away."
He rubs his eyes while trying to keep up with her and how relentlessly she pursues to find the Divine Source. Moreover, they'll need to prepare for battle. They are still weakened by the floods but if Trinity has made it to Syria, it won't take them long to get here.
He can't help but think if this is the beginning of the end.
The Valley is once again called to arms, prepare weapons, and gather provisions. He has no idea how long they'll have but every day counts. Whatever is Lara's role in this, he is thankful for the warning she brought with her. Still, they had needed years to beat the Soviets and their numbers had been higher, their villages in the better condition – but they have no other option but to try.
Jacob lets the woman roam around the Valley, knowing that they have a few means to stop her other than killing her, and he is reluctant to order that. The only request that he makes is that she returns to the village every evening to help them in their efforts. The limited time prevents her from walking too far and gives him some ethical relief to know that she at least has food and a safe place to sleep. It's also a way to keep her coming back to talk to him, to give him time to understand her and how to alter her mission. Plus, he knows that she is reasonable enough to accept the offer in return for her freedom.
He cleans the notes and the artifacts from his house and takes her in. After the first unslept night at Stephano's, he had offered her a chance to live with Sofia instead, but she had chosen him as the smaller harm, "The red-head with the ornamented hair-do, I don't think she wants me under the same roof." He doesn't tell her that the bed she occupies in the living area belongs to the said woman.
He is surprised by the outsider's trust towards him because it clashes with her hardness in survival, but, then again, the people absent from her side might not be missing only because of betrayal but because they died in something she survived. Sofia gives a blunt explanation to his unasked question on a one morning stroll through the market, "She knows you could have taken advantage of her the first time you met her. And I have a feeling she senses how everyone here respects you." The words ease his apprehension only a little bit because of the memory of her patience before the torture she had been expecting.
After the first night at his cabin, the dark-haired woman disappears before the roosters make a sound. Jacob looks at the made sofa-bed and asks himself to trust the feeling that she will come back despite his nervousness. In the end, he doesn't go after her. It's the outward sign of trust he is determined to give her because the scouts in the area will prevent it from causing harm.
She comes back just as the sun inches below the horizon. She doesn't say anything or acknowledge her long absence, making Jacob simultaneously amused and astonished. She is a combination of transparent and elusive, and she surprises him with her personality in every turn. It's been some time since he has met with people outside the Valley, but she is very different from those he remembers.
In return, his mind warns him to tread carefully.
She eats in silence but asks dozens of questions afterward while trying to make the interrogation appear harmless. "How long have you lived here? How many people live in the village? Do you stay in contact with the outside world?"
He continues to give her half-truths in return.
Before long, the arrangement ends up meaning that they spend quite a lot of time together. He spends his days on the war preparations, but in the evenings, they are cooped in the same room. The Remnants continue to be wary of her and don't offer her much help or warmth – not that she seems to expect those either. She doesn't complain about the lack of hospitability, and more than that, her questions speak of understanding over their distrust.
The Remnants and Sofia look at him questionably over the first few days, but their trust in him is solid enough to protect him and his status. After a week, him housing an outsider in his home is tolerated like the pack of wolves in the eastern ridge. He hasn't heard anything incriminating about her, and instead, his informants tell him how she has gathered supplies for them and helped them to rebuild the watchtowers in and out of her travels.
He tries to learn everything he can about her mission without letting her close. He uses his best tactics: the silence, the waiting, the sympathy, and the casualness. He even hunts down a deer one evening before she comes back to have a project to include her in. The Remnants have given him daily updates on her movements and he has learned her schedule by now. And if she knows of her trackers, she hasn't mentioned them.
Instead, she asks about the Source in cunning points, but mostly, she focuses on learning more about the Valley. It's in those moments that he gets inwardly irritated despite his understanding because she unknowingly forces him to recite his past mistakes to her step by step. He doesn't sleep well those nights and lies awake in the dim moonlight to fret over the future. His instincts don't give him an answer except the will to keep her close.
In return to the shamefully scant information he gives her, he learns that she is rich enough to hire a crew to reach the mountains, that she takes pride in the skills she has acquired, and based on the sounds from the cabin, she has trouble falling asleep after she finds the cemetery in the Bathhouse. He stays awake and feels the surprising desire to go and talk to her, but something in him holds him back from abusing her sorrow and potentially even opening his own grief to her. She is gone the next morning too, and this time, he hasn't heard the sound of her exit.
It takes him over a week and a half to ask about her background and why she is alone in here.
She is hesitant but answers him after a while, "My friend and father's old acquaintance wanted to come with me or stop me from going; they were very adamant, to be honest."
Jacob isn't surprised by what he hears, but like every time she tells him something, he is filled with dozens of new questions and it takes effort not to still his work on sculpting birchwood into arrows.
"I ran off in the night. Destroyed all the evidence about where I was going."
"You didn't want their help?"
Her eyes turn distant before she answers slowly, "I don't have a good track record of drawing people into following me into these travels."
Jacob watches as Lara adjusts the hide to sit better on her shoulders, curling in on herself and pausing her own work. And before he can help it, he's opening his heart to her pain, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Lara shakes her head incredulously and blinks away the despondency that threatens to overcome her.
He nods his understanding and moves to offer her another cup of herbal tea. He has already learned that time and space – the chance to be in control of the situation – are crucial for her. This time, too, it's the sovereignty he offers for her that makes her reciprocate.
"There were eight of us who traveled to an island in Japan. Four of us made it back. The rest were killed in front of my eyes," she confesses quietly and forgets the tea in her hands. Her eyes fall distant and she still looks like she is trying to understand what actually happened, making Jacob realize how fresh the tragedy is. "And that's why I need to– I need to find the Source, do something meaningful. Otherwise, I'm just letting everyone down even more. And there's no point that it was me who…"
…didn't die.
Suddenly there is nothing to root Jacob to his spot and his own existence feels like a foul dream. She is battling with the same question that he has asked the high heavens for more times than he can count: why is he destined to survive while everyone else perishes. It might have been something that he already sensed in her but the admittance makes him see her in a new light.
And it makes everything even harder, because it's one of the only questions that he doesn't have a comforting answer to; his answer has been to have faith but he doubts it will be enough for her.
"I'm sorry for your loss," he offers simply which makes a humorless smile form on Lara's face. She is at loss, fighting for a purpose, and maybe he can work with that. It's not the most sensitive option, but he is starting to trust her conscience, and thus, leaving the Divine Source untouched is the only logical outcome for her too.
And when he watches her gradually drink the tea he had offered her, he hopes that he has enough time to convince her of their alliance.
