Work Text:
It had been over a year since they had exposed and eliminated Duvos in Sandrock. And one season since her wedding day. Her Yakboy-Ass was picking up bounties all across the Eufala. Sometimes he would be gone overnight or maybe a couple of nights, never more than that. So, when she got the letter from Trudy, she was torn. She wanted to take him, but her family thought she was dead. Nia, her best friend and childhood coconspirator, thought she was dead. They saw her body, and they buried her in the ground. They had cried, blamed themselves, blamed the Church of Light, and even the Light itself. At least that was the report that she got from the ACI sent to protect them and Highwind.
The real reason she didn’t want to drag Logan into the mess that was to be her rebirth and disclosure to Nia and possibly her parents. Duvos, though now mostly exposed, had infiltrated every city-state, and even if they hadn’t succeeded in getting the relics they were looking for in Sandrock, they had gotten away with some heinous things against the Monster Hunters in town. Not limited to poisoning and murdering their patriarch and successfully blaming it on the son, her Yakboy-Ass and love of her life.
Duvos hadn’t even started their plan in Highwind when Lucy, with the help of the ACI and a few other groups, had foiled it. Although she mostly trusted the vigilance of the ACI, after all, she had a friend who used to work for them, she didn’t expect them to have completely rooted out all the cells of Duvos operatives. Logan had so little safety and so much taken from him in the past few years, she just couldn’t, or more wouldn’t drag him into Hightwind. Lucy would have to wait until his next overnight bounty.
Logan hated leaving his beautiful wife and son. Especially as they were still newlyweds, he had watched her sleep this morning. She had muttered his name in her sleep, deepening the love in his chest past the soles of his favorite boots into the Eufala’s deepest depths.
Her eyes opened, and she caught him watching her sleep, “Hi, Yakboy-Ass. What ya thinking about?”
Logan looked at her with raised eyebrows, “What a question! Darlin’ ya know ya send the thoughts outta my head with yer beauty. Only think I thinkin’ is I love ya.
Lucy pulled him closer and kissed the sweetness his words made off his lips, “Same.”
The afternoon, even in the earliest vestiges of spring, got a bit warm in the afternoon or quite a bit depending on who you asked. Logan walked back from his talk with Justice, where he picked up the commission. His feelings were bouncing around in his head like a desert hopper. He needed to help these caravans, but in doing so, he would leave his newly formed family for several days, maybe even as much as a week.
He sighed. Ain’t nothing for it. He caught Lucy looking his way with the sharp look that saw his deepest thoughts as if he said them out loud.
“What’s up, Handsome?” she asked with her hands on her hips.
“Damned, Dive Buzzard’s hasslin’ caravans in the Eufala, Justice is sending me out there to investigate and then lead ‘em caravans to their summer grounds. Cain’t leave people out there on their own. I reckon to be gone bout a week.” Logan said quickly to get it over with.
“When do you leave?” Lucy stated quietly in that way she gets when she wants to be supportive and not show the sadness.
“In the Mornin’,” He sighed, “Can ya help me with the gear? I need to pack for sleepin’ rough.”
Lucy wrapped her arms around him and said right to his beating heart, “Of course I will. I need you safe, so you come back to me.”
“Ma,” Andy called.
“In here,” Lucy called from her bedroom, where she was quietly packing.
“Watcha doin'?” Andy said as he jumped onto the bed.
“I’m going back to Highwind to see if my friend will come back and help us with the trees,” Lucy replied.
“Huh, don’t they all think yer dead?” Andy said.
“Yeah, that’s the hard part,” Lucy sighed.
“Ma, can I stay at Gramma’s? Aunty Heidi and Jaz are building a sus..pen… a bridge,” Andy asked.
“Sure,” Lucy stated. She had already spoken to Heidi and Trudy about taking him while she was gone, but she was glad he was okay with it.
Finished with her packing and with the ticket to Highwind, she took another look around. Logan’s pillow still had the dent from his head. She briskly made the bed, thoughts of him and what he would think about her leaving left her with a made bed, and guilt settled in her stomach. She would be back. Hopefully, he won’t have time to miss me.
Logan sat on the bed with his Darlin’s note in his hand. She had seemed so reserved for the past few days before his bounty that he thought she had a surprise to share with him. He had secretly hoped she would tell him she was pregnant. This, though he didn’t expect at all. A letter. One he found when hanging up his road gear. His Darlin’ had left him. At least he knew which city she was in, Highwind. However, her location was still a mystery.
Highwind was a large city with many districts. Heck, he didn’t know which Highwind Lucy was in East or West. She rarely ever spoke of that place. She had told him about all the pain associated with the Duvos plot, so he wasn’t really surprised that she was reluctant to tell him about her childhood. Still, to leave him with just a note. That wasn’t like her. They had no secrets between them, or so he thought.
I reckon where she was grown was a mighty big secret. No sense sittin’ here, I need to find Andy.
Logan raced to City Hall. He thought Trudy might know something. Lucy would have had to tell someone before she left. He was breathing hard by the time he got to the town square. You da think I’d be used to runnin’ by now chasin’ my Darlin’ round.
He reached the steps to the city hall and noticed a group, including the Mayor, by the town’s bulletin board. Logan waved his hand to get Trudy’s attention. She nodded in response, so he went into the city hall to wait for her. Waited was a strong word because Logan wasn’t known for his patience. Pacing was about all he could do to slow the rage and dread that had found a spot to settle right near his heart.
Trudy walked in and waited for Logan to see her. He paced like a caged tiger. The look on his face was telling. Devastation on loss sat on him like armor. “Logan, hey, I have some information for you. Let’s talk.”
Logan stopped in his tracks, “Trudes,” he said with all of his desperation, hung onto that one syllable, “Do ya know where she got to?”
“Yes, or the general area anyway,” Trudes said, “Highwind is the second biggest city-state in the free cities, though. She might be hard to find.”
“Andy,” Logan looked up, hope and fear fighting for dominance in his eyes, “Did Lucy take him with her?”
“No, no,” Trudy said quickly, “He’s at school right now. Lucy asked Heidi and me to look after him.”
“I ain’t knowing if that’s better or worse,” Logan sighed, “She left me just like my ma did.”
Trudy wrapped her arms around Logan, “She didn’t leave you, Logan. She went to try to get her friend and family back.”
“Don’t look like that from here,” Logan stated sadly, “Ya think she’ll be back?”
“Of course,” Trudy said as she released him, “For you more than anyone.
Lucy still couldn’t believe how much had changed in Highwind in the last few years, as well as what hadn’t. She had gotten off the train and realized she had left without a clear plan as to how she was going to convince anyone she was alive. Or, how she was going to keep it a secret from those who wanted to harm her. Nia, first, I think, Nia will know what to do about my parents.
Nia would likely be at Highwind Botany Institute, maybe. Trudy said that a young woman was Professor Luo’s assistant, a young woman whose description fit Nia to a tee. Lucy no longer owned a hang glider, which was the primary mode of travel in most of the city, at least between higher and lower ground. The train station was right in the middle between Highland West, where she grew up, and Highland East, where Nia worked. Lucy started walking to a hang glider shop she knew. She could build it herself if she had a blueprint, but seeing as she had never worked as a builder in Highwind, she didn’t have the means or the time it would take to build a workshop just for one hang glider.
Just like most buildings in Highwind, the Institute had a landing pad on its roof designed for a soft, springy landing for gliders. Lucy was grateful for the soft landing as she was out of practice after years of not using this method of transportation. Except, that is, for another glider, which landed in the spot she had chosen. To Lucy’s horror, she was going to crash into the other glider.
They crashed into each other and fell into a small heap.
“Hey,” a girl dressed in a flight suit stood and took off her helmet, “Where did you learn to glide, Sandrock?” she added with a glare. Her familiar blond tresses gave her away, Nia; she had crashed into Nia.
Lucy removed her helmet and sighed, “No, but it’s been a while. I guess I’m out of practice, sorry.” Lucy stuck out her hand. “Hi, I’m Lucy by the way.”
Nia stared at Lucy, a crease forming between her perfectly shaped eyebrows. “Sorry,” she said with a shake of her blond hair. “You remind me of someone.”
Lucy, though she knew the answer, asked. “Oh, who?”
Nia’s eyes teared up, and her voice shook as she said, “A friend, one that is no longer here. I mean, she’s dead.”
Lucy thought for a minute and then said, “When we were 10, you and I painted the barn door with pretty flowers, or so we thought. Your dad wasn’t happy with us. I never saw your dad’s face so red before. I grabbed your hand, and we ran away to hide in my tree house.”
Nia gaped at Lucy, “How do you know….wait LaLu?”
Lucy nodded, “I built little greenhouses for you when you told me you wanted to grow up to be a botanist. You used to grow seeds in it and share what grew. My favorite was the bananaberries.”
Nia vibrated with energy at that point, “LaLu, it is you, but you're dead. How are you not dead? Are you a Zombie?”
“Actually, it’s a long story. I need your help and Luo, too. I have a letter from the Mayor of Sandrock and the Moisture Farm horticulturist Zeke. Our last test to build a forest didn’t go so well. We need your help to figure out what went wrong. I have samples.” Lucy pulled out some biocrust and tree samples and handed them to Nia.
“Whoa, cool, how did you know where I was?” Nia asked as she took the samples and pulled LaLu into a hug.
“Also, a long story, one of several,” Lucy sighed, “If you end up coming to Sandrock, I will tell you everything.”
“By the way, name’s Lucy, Lalu, and her name are permanently dead,” Lucy said, and my parents don’t can’t know.”
“Of course I’m coming, silly,” Nia said with a hug, “My best friend is back from the dead and not a Zombie. I can’t wait to hear what happened to her in the last few years.”
Logan had gotten up well before dawn. Today was the day that Lucy had told everyone except him that she would be back. He had a bag packed and a ticket for the evening train. He gave her the hardest three days of his life. Even worse than the first day after he, or actually Pen, blew up the temple. The pain in his foot was nothing compared to the current hole in his heart. If she didn’t come back today, as promised, he was going to tear Highwind apart until he found her.
He picked up the bag and slung it over his shoulder. It was ready to drop it off with Jensen. He figured he might as well have breakfast and hang out with his friends, whom he might not see for a while, at the Blue Moon before he heads off with Andy to Highwind.
“Andy,” Logan called in the direction of Andy’s room, “Ya need help packing?”
“Na, got it, Pa.” Andy said right before a big thump and crash, “I uh meant to do that.”
“Sure ‘bout that, Andy?” Logan asked.
“Uh, yeah, packs heavier than I thought,” Andy said, “Can ya carry it?”
Logan picked up the pack and almost dropped it because it was way heavier than Logan had expected, “Kid, what ya got in there? Feels like rocks.”
Andy smiled proudly, “That’s my SS Mach IV. It’s still in R&D, according to the science guy, but I thought it would help if we ran into bad guys.”
Logan’s first instinct was to say there ain’t no bad guys in Highwind, but he knew it wasn’t true, so he said instead, “Thank you, Andy, yer always lookin’ out fer Lucy and me.”
“Pa,” Andy said anxiously.
“What?” Logan said impatiently, then he sighed, “Sorry, it ain’t yer doin’ that got me feelin’ this way.”
“Ma,” Andy said quietly, “said she’d be back, she ain’t one to lie. We ain’t leavin’ too quick, are we?”
Lucy got off the train to Sandrock, her home, relieved that she was back here and away from what used to be her hometown. It didn’t feel homely to her anymore, even though it contained Nia and also her parents, whom she missed, sure, but since her parents still thought her dead, she guessed they didn’t count yet. One step at a time, Lucy.
She didn’t have her hat, so she used her hand to shield her eye and take a look around. Home, the still dusty little town, the same rainbow in the distance, and the same sunset she knew and loved. The sand, the neon Blue Moon, man, she had missed this place. Silly girl, you’ve only been gone a little over a week.
Lucy knew she needed to see Trudy and let her know that Nia and the Professor were coming. They weren’t here yet. They had needed to test the samples and then gather equipment, but Lucy couldn’t wait for Nia or Professor Luo. She had her family to get back to. She promised, and she wasn’t going to break a word of that promise, no matter what.
Lucy whistled one of the songs Logan had taught her. Her thoughts like her feet turned to home and her guys. She made her way past the train tracks and saw that Rambo was in the stable with Merle. Good, my YakBoy is home.
There was a loud crash when she opened the door. She heard Andy, followed by Logan, talking about a shield. She took a few steps up the staircase.
“Hey,” Lucy called up the stairs, “Everything okay up there?”
“Ma!” Andy yelled first.
Followed by Logan’s “Darlin’!”
Lucy smiled on the inside and the outside. Home, yup, it’s good to be home.