Their next stop, incidentally, is Jillian.
She has reclaimed her role in Arq Tech, the portal returned to its rightful place in her private laboratory, dutifully plugged in, but also rigged with explosives in case something else unwanted comes through.
This time, there's more than one trigger.
She doesn't seem surprised to see them. Maybe she's been expecting them all along. She does give Ava a hug, though, and Beatrice can only wonder what the two of them actually spoke about before that final showdown with Adriel. Or immediately after Ava's return.
Does it even matter?
Jillian asks the question everyone will surely ask, though, and Ava is somehow expected to answer. "What happens now?"
The answer is still the same. They prepare. They build. They come together, and they get ready for what's to come.
Ava does, however, ask, "Is there some way to be able to contain it?"
"It?"
"The fight. Whatever it is. Wherever it is. Can we make it so it happens in only one place? Centring all our forces in one location; to give us a better than expected of winning?"
Maybe Ava asks this of her to keep her involved; to give her something to focus on after losing her son two times - and losing her company the one time. But also, maybe because they need her. They've definitely needed her in the past.
Jillian asks, "Will we be ready?" in a way that belies her belief in them, and the fate of the world.
"We'll have to be," Ava says. "We don't really have a choice."
"What a world to live in, hmm?" Jillian murmurs, looking away from them. "To have so many things thrust upon us."
For a moment, Beatrice wants to apologise to her. She can't say for sure why, but Jillian is yet another person who was dragged into this War relatively against her will, her true only fault trying to do all she could to save her son from the influence of Adriel - and then inadvertently helping them release him. She didn't choose this, and neither did Ava.
Beatrice did, before, and now it has chosen her in return.
The next few weeks and months are going to be difficult, Beatrice knows, so maybe this carousel of visits is needed before they do make their final return.
Jillian throws them slightly when she says, "Lilith visited, after."
Ava's fists clench under the table where they're seated, which Beatrice knows because one of her hands is caught in the clench. "What did she want?"
"I don't know," Jillian says. "I didn't see her."
"And she just left?"
"I suppose," she says, getting to her feet and retrieving a medium-sized box from a hidden drawer. "She left this, though," she tells them as she places it on the table and slides it towards them.
After a moment of hesitation, Ava opens it to reveal the Crown of Thorns, which is unexpected. Truthfully, Beatrice hasn't actually thought about the Crown's whereabouts since Ava disappeared through the Arc. Camila didn't mention anything about it, either, though she imagines that Yasmine had to have wondered of its location. Perhaps they just assumed Ava took it with her into the other realm.
Ava looks over at her now, frowning. "I don't remember seeing her take it," she says, which is easily explained. She was too busy dying to notice Lilith thwarting all their plans - again.
"What does this mean?" Ava asks, eyes remaining on Beatrice.
"Maybe this is her way of telling us she's chosen a side," Beatrice offers. "She wouldn't give us back this weapon if she's still working against us."
