They live in @Angela & Kaelen’s Hut.
The five-year history of Angela Basser and Kaelen Bane is a secret chronicle of resilience, played out in the quiet corners of the Senna community. While Lucas Priestley’s followers see a mother and daughter bonded by faith, the reality is a partnership built on a shared, dangerous truth.
When Elias Bane fled five years ago, Kaelen was left in a state of spiritual limbo. As the child of a "bad seed," she was at risk of being discarded or sent to the Makeshift Prison to prevent her father's "rot" from spreading. Angela Basser, a woman who had already spent two decades hiding her own growing cynicism toward the Fire God, stepped forward. She claimed Kaelen as her ward, promising the community she would "rectify the girl's path."
In that first year, Angela didn't teach Kaelen scripture; she taught her how to breathe. She provided a safe haven in her rectangular stone hut, shielding the ten-year-old from the traumatic stares of the faithful.
As Kaelen matured, Angela realized that kindness alone wouldn't keep them alive. Together, they developed the Shepherd’s Guise—an act of performance art. Angela taught Kaelen how to move her lips during the morning prayers at the Prayer Circle without speaking the words, and how to carry the Sacrificial Focus with the proper "reverence."
During these years, the @Scavenger's Greenhouse became their sanctuary. Under the pretense of teaching Kaelen about medicinal leaves, Angela shared stories of the world before the crash—of cities, of technology, and of a God that didn't demand blood. It was here that Kaelen’s "Dissent" took root, nurtured by Angela’s quiet rebellion.
By the time Kaelen turned fourteen, the dynamic shifted from protector and ward to two equal conspirators. They began a ritual of their own: every evening, they would retreat to their hut, pull the heavy hide over the door, and speak freely.
The Cache: They began a small collection of "unfaithful" items—a stray piece of metal from the old world, a drawing Kaelen made of her father, and extra rations hidden beneath the floorboards.
The Search: Angela has spent the last two years using her role as a greenhouse scavenger to subtly look for signs of Elias. Whenever rumors of "The Shunned" on the horizon reached the village, she would find a way to verify them, keeping Kaelen’s hope alive without alerting the Iron Guard.
Today, their relationship is the only thing keeping them from being consumed by the Senna machine. To the community, they are the model of "Saintly" reform. In private, they are a two-person resistance, waiting for a crack in Lucas Priestley’s well-oiled machine. Kaelen sees Angela not just as a surrogate mother, but as the person who saved her soul from the volcano; Angela sees Kaelen as the daughter she never had and the only reason she hasn't fled into the jungle herself.
They also act as the resident guides for newcomers to the island, making them perfect to decipher whether a newcomer is worthy of knowing the secrets of Senna community and how to survive here or letting them succumb to the sway of the leader.