Luci

"Come on, Luci. Don't give up on me!"

The water wrapped around Lucinda stitched the crossbow bolt hole at a snail's pace.

"It's fine…" Lucinda breathed. "Just take care of my little Taro for me."

"Shut up!" Hanabi didn't care what the girl said. "I'm not going to lose you right after Hana!"

"Bibi." Lucinda caressed Hanabi's cheek and wiped the blood dripping down her cheek. "Don't kill yourself over me."

Hanabi grit her teeth and ignored her. The wound was closing, but Luci wasn't recovering. Healing magic only accelerated natural healing and Lucinda's elderly body was failing under the stress.

"Lady Hanabi."

Derry's hand rested on her shoulder while another held her wrist.

"Just be with her."

Be with her? Hanabi's throat was coated with sand. Why were they telling her to accept this? She knew Luci would die before her. But she was supposed to die in her bed. Taro would be there with a wife he didn't quite deserve while their children held her great-grandchildren. Not in a filthy cave that smelled like rotten eggs.

"You're right," Hanabi said. She pressed Luci's hand harder against her cheek. It was like ice against Hanabi's feverish skin. "Just hang on a little longer. That idiot son of yours is waiting for you."

Luci nodded with her eyes closed while Hanabi picked her. She cradled the dying girl to her chest and reminisced with her while they began their journey down the mountain.

"I was so angry at you for dumping that bucket of worms on me," Hanabi laughed dryly. "I thought 'what little girl takes the time to collect a bucket of worms'?"

A groan answered Hanabi's story. She could still feel the slight movement of Luci's chest against hers. At least she told herself she could.

"It's hard to believe a girl like that became the leader of Stonewood. I really worried when you decided to stay. I was sure you'd follow me when I left."

"…was scared."

"You were scared? More like infatuated with that boy. What was his name again? Ube?"

Luci gave a wet laugh that quickly turned into a coughing fit that stained Hanabi's robes red. They were barely halfway down the mountain and were going at the children's pace. It was excruciating and every fiber of her wanted to abandon the others to make the journey themselves.

"My Ube…"

Hanabi's ears perked. It was the first time Luci had spoken since the cave.

"I should have… found someone more… handsome."

"Then I'll take you to a place I know in Heilig where you'll be drowning in men. We'll go together."

***

"There they are!"

Yahime had already been heading towards the small group before I pointed. She'd insisted on carrying me to save time and from the look of the group she had made the right choice.

"Lucinda!"

I sprinted to Hanabi the moment I slid off of Yahime's back. The old woman's body was limp in Hanabi's arms. Hanabi herself looked terrible, with streaks of blood coming from her eyes, ears, and nose.

"Quiet," Hanabi said, voice cracking. "She's resting."

I felt Yahime shift behind me. Not that I needed her to tell me the truth. I'd said the same thing recently.

"Alright," I said. "She looks… exhausted. Why don't you go on ahead and we'll stay with the others. Taro is a mess right now."

The kitsune gave a curt nod and jumped down the mountain.

"What happened?"

Derry, Rikki, and Billia pulled the children closer to them and looked away.

"H-have you seen V-Vibby?" Rikki asked, breaking the silence. "She was s-sleeping nearby."

"The other villagers found her while searching for all of you. She and Nyu are with Martoh right now."

The mood lightened a small degree at the good news. Still, no one had answered my question.

I didn't push the question and we rested while I healed their injuries.

"You did a good job walking on that ankle," I told Hachiko.

His tail wagged as I patted his head and I looked over the group again. Their spirits had lifted after resting and getting medical attention, and we finished our hike down the mountain. Part of me wished we hadn't.

My heart caught in my throat when I saw Lucinda lying in the row of victims. I wanted to believe she was injured and resting like Hanabi had said, but you didn't put an injured person in a line next to the dead.

"How could you let this happen?!"

Taro's face was a wet mess. Snot was dripping from his chin as he screamed at the stone faced Hanabi and he looked ready to hit her.

"She trusted you! WE trusted you!"

"Taro, it's not—"

He shoved Martoh's hand away and two other men stepped in to grab him. He kicked and screamed, throwing a tantrum like a cranky child, though I didn't fault him for it. In this instance his age didn't matter.

"You should have just died in the mountain if you were just going to let her die!"

A sharp slap silenced Taro and he blinked, dumbfounded, at Hanabi.

"Enough! What do you think Luci would say if she saw you acting like this? I know she didn't raise you to act like this!"

He hung his head and the other villagers let his limp body slump to the ground.

"She just can't… she was just here this morning and…"

"There will be time to grieve her later," Hanabi said. Her voice was icy, as if to freeze her own grief. "Right now we need to tend to the needs of the living."

Taro nodded and Hanabi helped him to his feet.

"You're right. I'm sorry."

Taking a deep breath, he looked around the half-burned village. The kidnappers had destroyed more than Richard and Louis's attack and every house near the mountain had been ransacked.

"We'll put out the smaller fire and make sure the larger ones don't spread. Once that's done, we'll salvage all the usable supplies and bring them to the village center to inventory."

I was impressed at how quickly he shifted gears. His face was still a mess and his ears flopped on his head, but I could see the leader Lucinda had raised blooming in his sorrow. I was more worried about Hanabi.

***

The fact my worries seemed unfounded only exacerbated them. Through the night and into the next day, Hanabi was a machine, handling task after task without rest. Derry and I had tried to get her to take a break several times, at least long enough to clean the blood off her face, but she'd repeatedly answered "once I finish this".

The only task she refused to help with was preparing for the "Sending Ceremony". I had no idea what it entailed since it was a tradition unique to beastfolk, but the preparations were simple. Six graves were dug for the fallen —a miraculous number given the size of the force we'd fended off— and wooden wall was erected around them. The wall was temporary and not part of the ceremony; some of the Seele Richard had summoned were still prowling the area and I learned they were one of the few predators that fed on souls. Yahime's presence seemed to ward them off, though, so she spent her time watching over the fallen while the rest of us cleaned up the village. In the end almost a quarter of the houses were unsalvageable.

Are these people really going to be alright? Taro is doing a great job keeping people motivated, but it's hard enough to survive out here. The village gardens are all destroyed along with all the dry goods they stored at Derry's bakery.

I wondered if all relief workers felt the same sense of helplessness. I wanted nothing more than to magically fix everything, to bring everyone back so we could all gather at Lucinda's house and celebrate our survival.

Had the people of Edgeton felt the same way collecting the bodies of the guards we'd killed? How many Stonewoods would I create if I continued down the path I was on?