Nora James didn't fit the Brotherhood mold, but she sure as hell was a leader. The knights, paladins, hell even the star paladins in their group listened to every order like they'd lay down and die for her. It's likely they would, considering all she'd done for Maxson and the Commonwealth. Shiloh felt distinctly out of place here. She liked Nora, felt some twinge of companionship with her that she'd had with Sarah, but she also felt a pang of jealousy.

Nora was who people in the Capital Wasteland wanted the Lone Wanderer to be. Some kind of hero of the little guy, saving the Wasteland one settlement at a time. It's not who she was; she couldn't be the leader of a group. Shit, what few companions she'd chosen to take along with her all had died screaming...or ran off as soon as they could like Butch did. She wouldn't make those mistakes again.

But, hell, Nora was a born leader. Her past life had been dedicated to standing up for what was right. It was only fitting she did as much after she woke up. If Nora hadn't come back to the Brotherhood for this, Shiloh would have seriously considered slipping away. She was exhausted, and not just physically. They'd been marching for hours but that wasn't unusual for her. It was dawn when they reached the facility, looking much like an army.

The power armored soldiers took first search and came out with an all-clear before Nora and the scribes headed in. The facility looked less worn in the coming light. Shiloh didn't know how much nine years could tear down a building. The scribes gathered what they could on the functioning terminals and the knights set up a guard perimeter to keep watch.

Nora ordered them to stay off the fifth floor, where Shiloh knew the cryopods were. Only the two vault dwellers entered the lab. They rode the rickety elevator up, avoiding eye contact. Shiloh knew Nora could tell she was nervous. Nora, for her part, was unreadable.

The pods looked exactly like they'd left them. Behind some glass room with cold tile. There was a storm in Nora's eyes when they came upon Davies's body, "My husband died the same way. Shot down like an animal then frozen that way." It took some time for the two women to remove the frozen corpse and wrap it with a tarp Nora had brought from downstairs. It would have been easier to ask for help, but silently neither woman wanted Brotherhood soldiers in this place. The risk of them wanting the technology they feared was too great. Maxson promised Nora could destroy it and destroy it they would.

"Back at one of my settlements, Sanctuary Hills, I have a friend named Sturges who personally taught me how to ruin these things electronically. We went one by one in Vault 111 and destroyed them together. It gave me a peace I hadn't felt since I woke up. It gave me a chance to bury my husband." Nora walked to each pod, messing with the wiring in their back panels as she spoke, "There. Now, here's where you come in." Nora proceeded to open one of the luggage cases they'd dragged up here and presented Shiloh with a bat riddled with nails.

Shiloh stared at the crude weapon, "Don't you think Anderson and Ripson should be present for this, too?"

"This will be our only chance. Besides, those two have become tangled up in the Capital Wasteland. Anderson is back with her family and Ripson is working with intel back at the Citadel."

Shiloh frowned at this information being kept from her, even though she really had no entitlement to it, "Why is he with intel?"

"The Brotherhood is looking into every route towards these scientists that they can. Including interrogating their own members. Anderson was quickly ruled out. She's far too traumatized to provide anything solid." Nora shook the bat slightly until Shiloh took it from her hand. "Do the honors. This," she gestured to the room, "this is your Vault 111."

Shiloh felt a little stupid as she tapped the cryopod lightly with the bat. Willing herself to take in the full scale of being frozen for nine years, she took a deep breath before swinging hard at the glass. It shattered loudly. Nora didn't so much as flinch.

She thought of Sarah and hit the pod again. By the time she was done, it was smashed to bits, a tangle of wiring and metal. She could only damage it so much, but the damage was apparent. Shiloh didn't stop there. Nora stood to the side, smoking a cigarette and sitting on a desk.

By the time she's smashed the second pod, all she saw was red. Nine years. Nine goddamned years. The Institute, The Children of Atom, whoever the fuck they were, they stole everything from her. What little friends she had left. Sarah. Arthur. All the people she'd helped and everyone who would remember her in the vault. She was dead to everyone and the idea scared her. It scared the fuck out of her. She had already been hanging on by a thread. She was a vault dweller. She wasn't meant for the wasteland, she was forced out into it. She chose her father over her own safety and he died anyways.

Tears streamed down her face and she realized she was screaming as she smashed the last of the pods. Nora was watching her now, waiting for her to stop. With no energy left in her body, Shiloh dropped the bat and slid against the wall onto the now dirty tile.

She didn't know that she wanted comfort until Nora gave it to her. Shiloh hiccuped quietly, rubbing her eyes but only succeeding to dirty up her face. She should be in her thirties by now, she should be older than Nora. Hell, Nora should be long gone from this world. But scientific curiosity...or whatever it was stole that from both of them. Nora pressed her close, paying no mind to how Shiloh dirtied up her uniform.

"Now you begin to heal. This was the only way. We still have a long way to go, but we'll find them. I'll find them. I'll use every resource I have, and you must understand that's a lot."

Shiloh went slack and waited until Nora released her. She leaned her head back against the wall, still trembling from her emotional episode, "So we begin with the Children of Atom."

-0-

The Children came in the afternoon. Nora met them just like Maxson had. Shiloh was yet again forced to wait in the back. She cursed her height when she had to stand on her toes to peer over a pile of crates at the scene. The Children were again dressed in elaborate armor, looking very much like a military. The same leader who'd met Maxson stood at the helm. "We warned you to stay away from this facility."

"What's done is done. I want answers. Are you Richter's people?" Everyone at the scene was surprised by Nora's words. Shiloh had never heard of a Richter and the Children suddenly looked wary.

"No, we moved south when he came to become grand zealot at the Nucleus. We had some...reservations with his approach to proving loyalty. We work strictly for Mother Isolde in the Glowing Sea."

"I know Mother Isolde. She was non-hostile towards me. Yet she's been heading an armored group for nine years."

"We keep to ourselves until we are threatened, Sole Survivor," Nora seemed to ignore the nickname they gave her, "and we only act on Atom's will."

"Enlighten me, why then and why now?"

"The one you hide has twice defied the will of Atom in the Capital Wasteland. She disarmed His bomb and she survived His rage at the purifier's activation. Our zealots have had visions, dreams of her, and we have foreseen that she survived not because of Atom's will, but in spite of it."

"So you waited for her to come to the Commonwealth?" Shiloh and certainly the rest of the Brotherhood stood in awe at how Nora just...got them to speak. Perhaps it was because she didn't scoff at their mentions of visions. Perhaps it was because she knew Richter.

"It was foreseen. It was Atom's will to surrender her to the Institute. We will say no more. Keep your Lone Wanderer. If she is to be returned for our judgement, it is Atom's will she will come." The leader and his followers left, Nora and the soldiers watching them until they faded in the distance.

A paladin approached Nora, "Why let them go?"

"The Brotherhood does not police the Commonwealth. We have nothing to charge them with save for their word. Shiloh," she called the younger woman over, "we know now that the Children chose you specifically. We don't know why the Institute is involved, but I think our next step is to see Mother Isolde personally." Nora then ordered the scribes to finish up with the facility.

Shiloh didn't say a word as they burned it to the ground.

-0-

Maxson and Quinlan met Nora in Maxson's quarters. The three sat at the table, sipping whiskey as Nora explained what occurred at the facility. She finished with noting that Shiloh had silently retired to her room.

"This isn't my area of expertise, but I think Knight-Commander Cade should evaluate her again," Quinlan spoke.

Nora nodded, "Maybe, but for now she's been through enough. We should let her sleep."

Maxson looked rougher than usual; he'd been woken from a restless sleep for this meeting, "What are you suggesting we do next?"

"The Children don't respond kindly to the Brotherhood, but they know me and they know the peace I've brokered between them and Far Harbor. This may be a different group from the north, but compassion towards the Children is not something commonly seen and they would have heard of me by now. I will need to speak to Mother Isolde personally."

Maxson frowned, still not able to understand why a dangerous group of irradiated lunatics would deserve compassion. He'd heard enough stories of their zealots spraying innocents with irradiated water. And if they were responsible for what happened to Shiloh...he would hold nothing in his heart for them. He was gripping his glass tightly again, a bad habit.

Nora noticed, picking up on his body language as she spoke carefully about her plans for the mission. Maxson was stewing in his rage, but paid her full attention as she quoted the amount of fusion cores needed for the trip there and back.

Quinlan, bored with jargon that involved physical labor, excused himself. This created a problem for Maxson, because the veil of commander and subordinates immediately lifted when he left. Nora relaxed slightly in her chair, but her face was less passive than before. Maxson lifted a finger in warning to her, "If you're about to suggest-"

"I'm about to suggest two things you won't like, but they are going to happen. In spite of your feelings, she has to go with me."

"You're bringing her to certain death."

"She wants to go."

"I won't allow it."

Nora sighed in frustration, completely ignoring Maxson's command over her, "Arthur, listen to me. Please."

She'd begged him to listen before. And he'd listened that time too. "Go on."

"I need to know the nature of your relationship with her."

Maxson's eyes snapped up immediately, "Where did this come from?"

"I don't know. There's something with you two that neither of you will give me a direct answer to. Whether it's my business or not isn't the case. You must understand that she wants to go. She needs to find answers and if I can't protect her from them, nobody can."

"The Brotherhood can protect her."

"No, Arthur, you can't. Their methods are non-traditional and you can't keep her on this airship forever. They will hunt her for her entire life."

He knew she was speaking the truth. Nora had a way with words. She reminded him of Sarah. If he hadn't met her as her commanding officer, they might have been friends. But the Brotherhood and the situation with Danse always hung over them. "You're asking me to sign off on her death. I can't…" he grew frustrated with his own hesitation, "I can't do that."

Nora's eyes were searching him and he broke eye contact, refusing to put a name to whatever was stirring in his chest. Unfortunately, she did. "Do you love her, Arthur?"

He didn't focus on her use of his name. He didn't focus on her at all. He was trying with every fiber of his being to not focus on his conversation. "It's been a long time." A quiet settled over them as Nora continued staring a hole into him. He tossed back another shot of whiskey, clearing his throat. "When are you going to ask about Danse?"

Nora looked surprised, as if every private conversation they'd ever had didn't turn to Danse at some point. Since her promotion to sentinel, she'd openly ignored his order that they would never speak of his former soldier. "I wasn't sure you'd ever entertain the idea."

"I'm not fond of entertaining either of these ideas. You've already asked me to send Shiloh to the Glowing Sea. I don't know how much worse you could make it."

"All three times I went to the Glowing Sea for Virgil, it nearly killed me. I am doing this for her. She's the only person in this world who knows what I've been through and she's lost. She doesn't know where she stands with you and her father is dead. I can help her. I will help her. But it might kill her. If she meets just one person who knew her and cared about her from her past life, it might help her hold on."

She was giving him an out, he knew. She wanted him to say that he could be that person for her. But Maxson wasn't sure he wanted to be that person. She might look like she walked out of his memories every time he saw her, but he was a stranger to her. And he was her Elder. No, he wouldn't take the opening she was giving him. "You want it to be that person for her?"

Nora frowned at his choice of words. "She should at least know he's alive."

"That information could ruin my entire career. I knew that when I spared it, to keep your allegiance. However, I don't know how much I can just trust others with that information."

"That's your choice to make, Arthur, I won't force you either way. But she will come with me, if I know her at all. With or without your approval. You decide if you trust her enough to give her this."

Maxson stood, turning to face the Brotherhood flag above his terminal, "Sarah trusted her till the end. She never betrayed that." He continued looking at the flag for a long time while Nora sat quietly behind him.

"You said it's been a long time. Was that your only answer for my question?"

Maxson didn't ignore her, but he chose not to answer. Instead, he turned to the woman who would hold Shiloh's life in her hands, "Take her to Sanctuary before the Glowing Sea. Bring her back alive, Sentinel."

Nora nodded, her eyes light, "Of course, Arthur."

Arthur didn't let up his glare, "Bring her back alive."