I thought I was dead, until my vision began to clear. I could feel furs beneath me and see the flicker of candle light. I tried to move but searing pain shot through my body. A voice urged me to stay still. I looked up to see a woman sitting beside me, I knew her face, I knew her name, she called herself Niylah.
She'd found me bleeding on the ground about half a mile from the cabin. Her trading post wasn't far from my location, the rising smoke had caught her attention. She'd found my horse and managed to move me back to her home.
I asked her why on that day she'd saved my life, knowing I was once Skaikru? She told me the men I'd killed had become a problem for her also, I'd done her a favour. Secondly she stated she wasn't in the business of letting people die for no good reason. As I let her words wash over me I gave in to the comfort her bed offered me and the feeling that under her watch I was safe, sleep soon followed.
It was over a week before I could get to my feet once again. Niylah was one of the most kindest souls I'd met, selfless, even when she had no need to be. We spent many weeks together as I physically and mentally returned to health. I helped her with supply runs and anything else I was able to. We worked together, ate together, conversed together. It was good to feel safe, to have a purpose that wasn't leading to my self destruction.
One evening, after many drinks, we ended up having an open conversation about life, love and loss. She still mourned the lost of her parents and I told her how my heart still desperately ached for Lincoln. She let slip her involvement with Clarke and I joked that no wonder things were a little off between them when we we're last here. We laughed, we cried, we honoured the dead with a bottle of spirit and old grounder songs that Niylah had kindly taught me.
That night she helped me to make a life changing decision. She said one simple thing to me, "Octavia, you need to find your peace. If its not with Skaikru, if its not with Trikru you must seek it out or you'll never be free."
I told her about Luna and the peace she had with her clan, that Lincoln wish us to have that kind of life together. Within a heartbeat the decision was made.
I stayed with Niylah for another week before travelling on to see Luna. I was done with a life of fighting, I needed peace. Maybe one day I'll see Niylah again. Not only had she saved my life, but she saved my soul and for that I'm forever indebted to her, my sister of the forest.