Soledad

Soledad's family was small and loving. Both of their parents were moderately successful, and they only grew up with one sibling. While Sol's relationship with their sibling was sometimes contentious, they generally believed that they led a charmed life: everything was storybook. They were allowed to be their family's overachiever, and always rose to the challenge -- despite what it did to their relationship with their brother.

When Sol was 18 years old, they were allowed to begin scout training. They pushed themself to their limit, and passed through training with flying colors. When they were 20, they were allowed their first trip down into the wasteland below Postinen, and they spent five years working for the scouts before they found the most important challenge they would ever be confronted with: a wastelander by the name of Caro.

Soledad discovered a camp out in the wastes, and began investigating it for signs of danger. Everything was dangerous in the wasteland: there was Mother Plague, the most dangerous thing imaginable, but there were countless smaller things to look out for as well. Even the corseïs who still lived down here were dangerous: they were far more prone to pick fights than anyone on Postinen, even the criminals, and Soledad had been thoroughly warned never to let their guard down.

This time, they were unlucky: the owner of the camp discovered them, and -- as Sol had expected -- he picked a fight. He was also mouthy, flinging insults at Sol which Sol returned in kind, even up to the point that they won and were driven away by the stranger.

But that wasn't the last time the two of them would encounter each other. Soledad ran into their adversary many times after that, and each time they were accused of following him, threatening him. And each time, something that he said piqued their interest -- he implied each time that there was something they didn't know about the wastelanders, something Postinen hid from them. And Sol's boundless curiosity got the better of them: they began seeking their stranger out, following him across the wastelands whenever their job allowed.

One day, they met and Sol refused to fight. Instead, they asked all the burning questions that had dug into their mind over the months: what was it like to live in the wastelands? Why did he always talk like nobody in the world could be trusted? Why did he hate Postinen and those who dwelled there so much? Sol's rival was wary, but had never been afraid to speak, and every question Sol flung at him, he answered readily. Sol learned much from him, including his name: Caro.

Sol considered them friends from there, but Caro never let go of his innate distrust. He had grown up, Soledad learned, in an environment where trust got people killed. So Sol accepted that he would take time to warm up to them, and focused their efforts on being as unthreatening as possible. When they could, they even directed their own peers, fellow scouts, away from the places Caro stayed -- a measure to protect their friend from those he despised, and who despised him.

All the while, they waited for Caro to come around.

Soledad always knew that their tentative peace couldn't last. It was shattered one day, when a pair of scouts Soledad knew stumbled across Caro's latest camp. Soledad found them after the fight had already begun, and when they saw Caro outnumbered and struggling Sol didn't think before leaping to his defense. Turning against their own peers was a crime, one that would be punished -- but Soledad cared more for Caro in that moment than they cared about their reputation or their career.

When Caro and Sol won, and the scouts were driven away, Caro turned on Soledad. He was angry, it seemed, that Sol had helpedhim; it didn't make sense, he said, that they would sacrifice their life's work to defend him. This argument turned into a mirror of their first meeting: the two of them fought, spitting anger at each other as they did, until one of them finally won. This time, it was Sol.

They pinned Caro to the ground and snarled in his face: they helped him because they cared about him. They helped him because his friendship was valuable to them; because they couldn't stand by and watch someone they loved get hurt for nothing, by bullies who didn't care. They helped him because it was natural to help those they loved. And they told him that they didn't want a transactional relationship with him, where a score was always kept and a debt always repaid: all they wanted was for Caro to stop looking over his shoulder, waiting for Sol to finally turn on him. It stunned Caro into silence for the first time in Sol's memory.

The scouts Soledad had driven off reported them for it, of course. Soledad was stripped of their rank and confined to the island -- only scouts were allowed to take the trip the wastes. Sol and Caro didn't see each other again for months.