Chapter Text
Dawn was breaking over the valley as Eden Dawnvalley struck out down the road leading West out of New Jorvik.
The poetry of the setting was not lost on her.
The year-old filly she and Phoenix were leading gave her head a festive toss. It was a promising morning, spring once again finding its way up the slopes of the Silvers. Alonso was home on furlough, the Dawnvalley herds were thriving, and the turmoil of the preceding years felt like a distant memory.
“Morning, Eden.” Viv Strongarm’s voice, lilting up from the road behind her, snapped Eden out of her reverie, and the rhythmic trot of Stormsong’s hooves punctuated the awakening. The healer reined in to fall into step with Eden, and both were enveloped in a cloud of fragrant herbal aromas wafting from Viv’s saddlebags.
“Delivering to Doc Eiren?” Eden deduced, letting her eyes flutter shut as the gorgeous cocktail of thyme, yarrow, feverfew, and valerian invaded her senses.
Viv chuckled. “Naturally. And I suppose you’re taking this lovely girl in for a checkup?”
“Yeah, she’s recovering from a run-in with some nasty brambles,” Eden replied. “Thanks for the goldenseal paste, by the way, Mardi’s nose is-”
A voice carried to them from up ahead, around the bend. Eden and Viv exchanged grins and listened:
“Of course I remembered the strawberries, you turkey,” Ariana Wolffall was telling her horse. Lion gave a gusty snort and Ariana tutted. “And the lemonade, the blankets...”
Despite being perhaps the most glamorous woman on this side of the divide, Ariana was well-known for talking to her horse when she thought nobody was listening. Her friends found it endearing.
“Ariana!” Viv hailed her as they rounded the bend. Ariana reined in and the three riders proceeded abreast. “Looks like Rania’s in for a treat,” Viv winked, conspiratorially.
Ariana pinked beneath her full face of makeup. “We’re headed up to the hotsprings for a brunch picnic.” A brunch picnic sans clothing. It was finally warm enough to justify such an excursion but still chilly enough that they were sure to have the place to themselves.
“Couldn’t ask for a better day for it,” Viv commented, but their gaze was already caught by a greasy smudge of black smoke just rising over the hills to their North. “You two know a thing about that?”
Eden glanced over and wrinkled her nose. “Looks like it’s coming from Buttergoods’. Or maybe Mr. Peterson’s? Their spreads share a fenceline for miles and miles.”
Ariana sighed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of Junior’s or Scott’s schemes. They lost a fortune in stocks when Dark Corps folded, and they’ve been trying to make it up ever since. Mostly with dynamite.”
Viv shook their head. “I’m delivering old Valdemar’s weekly honey order on my way back from Eiren and Sigry’s. I’ll see what intelligence I can gather, but the old man usually just rambles at me. He’s not up to date on his sons’ activities.”
Presently the three riders dismounted in the Varanger-Doyle dooryard. Eiren bustled out to pay Viv and take stock of Eden’s filly while Ariana led Lion into the barn in search of Rania. She found her arguing with her mother, the town’s mayor.
“...next there’ll be dogfights and cockfights and- Ariana!” Rania heard her girlfriend from across the barn and turned, beaming. “I was just trying to persuade Mama to go shut down the Buttergoods’ gambling hell before it turns New Jorvik into the next Dodge City.”
Sigry pursed her lips. “Again, darling, it’s just a racetrack as far as we know, and it’s not even open yet. I have no just cause to search the premises just because the two older Buttergood boys are roughnecks.”
“It has ‘illegal’ written all over it, Mama,” Rania sighed, and continued saddling Delingr. After a moment she turned back to Ariana, brightening. “I have tea and cake for our picnic! I’ve been looking forward to it for-”
“Ride safe, girls,” Sigry called as she strode back to the house. As soon as she was out of earshot Rania dropped her cheery voice.
“You don’t mind if we stop by the new racetrack on our way to the hot springs, do you?” she muttered. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Of course,” Ariana agreed, trying to quiet the goosebumps tracing their way up her arms.
Meanwhile, across town, a small crowd was gathering by the train station. Photographers from every paper in the county were fussing with their tents and tripods at the trackside. A coterie of onlookers was intently studying the three well-dressed people waiting behind a velvet rope- the only velvet rope in New Jorvik, trotted out for this occasion.
“This is uncomfortable in a multitude of ways,” mumbled the burly man at the right of the three, tugging at his necktie.
“It’ll be over soon enough,” sighed the upright woman in the middle, adjusting her plumed hat. “How are you faring Mad- Senora?”
Senora Nacida y Oscuridad side-eyed through her black lace mourning veil. “I’m in accord with Stoneground,” she muttered. “Widow’s weeds are the last thing I want to be wearing.” She wafted herself with a black satin fan. Disguises were not her favorite anymore.
All three breathed a sigh of relief when the plume of grey smoke from the locomotive finally appeared on the horizon, but Carina put a stilling hand on both Nic and Miranda’s arms and jerked her chin the other way, Northwest, where an oily cloud of black smoke marred the pristine desert sky.
“That ain’t no locomotive,” Miranda drawled for comic affect.
Carina shook her head. “Trouble brewing for sure,” she commented. “Good thing we have an aeronaut and a Broadway star about to land on our doorstep. I get the feeling that their skills will be needed in not-too-long.”
“It’s about time we had another adventure anyway,” Nic grinned. “I’ve not recognized a face on a wanted poster for what seems like years.”
As the train chugged closer and the crowd held its breath, one Wanted face also watched from the hillside. She hadn’t seen New Jorvik for some time now, and as much as she hated the feeling, it was good to be home.
That black cloud would demand her attention soon. For now, she watched and waited.