Chapter 9:
Leona watched silently as they removed Diana from the council room, once she was gone she stood up from her seat, choosing to leave the room herself. She knew she had soured some of her relationships with the various Elders in the room by disagreeing with them, defending Diana and her actions. They viewed her as naïve for believing that Diana could be telling the truth, for believing that the woman was just curious about what she had found. What they had no clue over was that she knew Diana better than anyone else on Mt Targon, that she knew Diana had no intention to hurt anyone with her beliefs and lack of faith.
She made her way out of the main building of the temple, walking through the gardens out the front and heading for the front gate. She was going to try talk to Diana, to find out why she had decided to keep the books even though she knew what the answer would be. Diana had a love for learning new things, it was almost impossible to sate her curiosity and this time it had gotten the best of her. Leona was lost in her thoughts when she was stopped by Pantheon outside the front gates. She could tell by the way he was waiting for her that he knew what had happened, that he heard Leona had come to Diana's defense and risked her own standing with the Elders in the process. As much as Leona disliked Pantheon's advances, she knew he cared for her and was a close childhood friend; he was worried that she was getting herself involved in something she couldn't take back.
"Leona, I've heard what happened." He said, staring her down through his helmet, trying to get her to speak first but she didn't give in, "Why do you defend her? She challenges everything you stand for, everything that the Solari stand for." Leona looked away, pursing her lips, considering what her response should be. She knew she would have to be careful with her words in this moment.
"I don't believe we should exile people for being curious, what she did was wrong and she broke the law but I don't believe she did it with malicious intent. If I'm wrong, you can hold it against me later." Leona said, hoping that would be enough to stop Pantheon from questioning her connection to Diana. She walked past him and down the front steps, she needed to speak to Diana.
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Diana slept poorly that night after her punishment was decided. Leona had managed to sneak into see her but the visit was brief, Diana couldn't cope with the disappointment that seemed to be radiating off of Leona. She was anxious about what would come next, she had heard stories about what enforced worship was like, she knew it was cruel and painful. She knew that not a single person put into enforced worship for more than a month had made it through the punishment without breaking down.
The guards came to her room early, just before sunrise, escorting her to the Solari temple though this time without cuffs and she was glad for that. The sun room was located at the end of the building, the two large wooden doors had large bolts and beams across it in order to keep it closed once someone was inside. The guards placed her inside the room and placed cuffs around her wrists, she was forced to sit cross legged on the floor and they locked her wrists onto a hook that was on the floor. She wasn't going to be able to move out of the sunlight. She looked up at the glass panes, they were angled in order to direct sunlight right onto the spot where Diana was sitting. For six months she would be sitting here from sunrise to sunset under the heat of the sun without water or food. Others have died during this punishment.
Diana could feel the room begin to warm up as the sun rose. By the time it was midday, Diana was feeling oppressed by the heat, the room was designed to take heat in and not let any of it out, she was drenched in her own sweat just after a few hours. It felt impossible to breathe at times, all she could do was sit where she was placed, her arms locked to the floor. She didn't know how anyone made it through a month of this, she wasn't sure she would be able to make it through six months. She wanted to try for Leona, to be able to stay on Mt Targon and continue to be with the woman she loved though she knew it was a slim chance that she would make it through the six months and come out alive and be the same person, to be the person had fallen in love with.
Diana only felt relief from the heat when the sun went down. The guards entered the room and unlocked her from her restraints and helped her to her feet. She was exhausted and needed assistance in order to return to her apartment on the other side of the town. Once she entered her room she found Leona waiting for her, clearly wanting to know how she had coped with her first day of punishment. Leona could see how exhausted and broken Diana felt after just one full day of enforced worship and Diana could see the fear Leona was feeling, fearing that Diana would be exiled from Mt Targon for good and they would never be able to see each other unless she were to leave herself.
Leona held Diana for a few hours, comforting the blonde as she slept, wanting to make sure that she could at least feel comfortable and loved for a few hours to try balance out the pain being dealt out by the Elders and the worship.