Luscin sees Thuma on the horizon and sighs in relief. It takes twenty minutes to close the distance and get near enough where landing is practical. Instead of landing she decides to circle the city, and fly up the shore of Thuma Lake, where she met Windmaster Wheller. She spots his old home where they shared so many meals and decides to check in on him.

Her landings have improved considerably since her first flight a week ago. She reverses the direction of gravity, it feels like she’s been propelled upwards and is slowing down as gravity bleeds off her momentum, except she’s falling sideways. Not paying attention to the ground is crucial to keep the content of your stomach through this maneuver. Once she reaches that moment where she isn’t moving, she releases her control on gravity entirely and allows herself to fall the remaining 30 yards. She easily absorbs that impact, with minimum discomfort at taking on so much energy at one time. She knows as her control improves, she’ll be able to maneuver closer to the ground and cut that drop in half.

She works her way up the sandy path to the little driftwood shack she briefly called home.

“Ho, Wheller! It’s me Luscin, your little fish.”

She listens intently for a return hail as she slogs through the drifts of sand accumulated on the walking path from beach to shack. She observes it doesn’t look used in quite some time. When she reaches the shack, she finds it abandoned, the door open and unlatched, same for the window shutters. No signs that anyone has lived there in more than a year judging by the amount of sand that has piled up inside. She knew he was old, perhaps he moved to the city to stay with family or was out on the lake with a band of wind runners.

She was fond of the old man but isn’t surprised to see he’s moved on. This was a spur of the moment decision; she isn’t sure why she would come here.

Absently she opens a cupboard and picks up the bright red tea pot and moves it to the open window facing Thuma. She shakes her head and exits the shack without another thought.

Returning to the air she for Downwind, she hopes she can spot the old warehouse from the air. After circling for a while, she thinks she knows where it is and comes down hard in the street where her and Wendy first came here together.

She looks around for a moment and is sure she’s in the right place. She hops up on the concrete loading dock and enters the warehouse, her last childhood memories were of this place. After coming here, she was forced to grow up fast. The place is as deserted as that shack she spotted on the beach.

She only has two other places to look for allies. Her family home, which is out of the question, and the Study. She might know some kids there and they can help her figure out if her mother’s letter was legitimate or inu-poo.

Now she faces the question of walking the old neighborhood or taking to the air. Nostalgia or maybe homesickness wins out and she decides to walk. She retraces the route her and Wendy took the first time they came here for two reasons. The first reason was because it was fun and allowed her to reminisce about all the fun they had together before the betrayal. The second reason was because it would keep her well away from Father.

She walked up streets, down alleys, and eventually found herself on the path she used to walk daily to study. When she reached the corner with Sir Jenkin’s Mart her heart broke. The store was boarded up and as deserted as the warehouse the kids used to occupy. His business was thriving when she last saw it, she needed to find out what happened.

There’s a steady stream of foot traffic here, she calls out, “Excuse me, can anyone tell me what happened to the man who ran this store?”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Nobody said a word, nobody looked her way. You could say they now actively looked away from her instead of staring at the ground as they walked.

“Somebody must know, tell me what happened to this man!” she angrily points to the store.

Nobody acknowledges her.

Luscin starts feeling anxious at there being so many people around, but nobody would acknowledge her.

She’s had enough and will not be ignored. Bending the light around her she makes herself 10 inches taller and her voice twice as loud.

“Stop!”

That worked, three people that were walking towards her stopped and looked up.

“Who can tell me what happened to the man that owned this store?”

The first man shrugged, but the second man smirked and looked her in the eyes.

Luscin pointed her illusionary long arm at him, “Approach and tell me.”

The other two men hurry away, while the smirking man approached eager to share what had happened.

The man was of average build, had sandy grey hair and pink eyes, “I can tell you what happened; that pervert got what he deserved.”

Softening her voice, “What happened?”

The man enthusiastically continues, “It was going on for years right under our noses, kids were disappearing slowly at first, but then it picked up and the bodies started washing up all mutilated, something had to be done. Then someone remembers seeing this Jenkin’s guy always approaching children and giving them presents like fruit. That must be how he gets the kids to come to him. When we finally had enough a group of fathers tried to give him a beating, but he ran away. He was tracked to a field in Downwind. He was hiding in the tall dry grass. Instead of going in after him, they lit the grass on fire. He tried to leave but they’d beat him when he left the field. First the smoke got to him, then the flames. They say he flailed around for five minutes before the fire killed him.”

Luscin went numb hearing his recital. She had two questions for the smirking pink haired man, “Did it stop?”

“What?”

“Did it fix the problem, where there no more kidnappings? Murders?”

“No, but something had to be done. That man was obviously one of them.”

“Where - you - there?”

“No, but something…”, the mans words trailed off when Luscin suddenly walked away and turned up the street.”

She had to get away from the man before he said something that would get him killed. Had he answered yes, she’s not sure what she would have done, but she knows it would not have been good for the man.

Now with tears in her eyes, she releases the illusion and continues to make her way to Thuma study.

Distracted as she was, it is no surprise she didn’t notice the team of young adults tagging off every few blocks as they tailed her. They kept a discreet distance and every few blocks one would turn down a side street or stop as another would be waiting ahead to pick up the trail a few paces after she passed. The next tail would follow from a full block away, no two using the same distance, side of street, or pace as the tail before them. Working together is second nature for this team, they’ve been trailing people like this for two years. The hardest part was keeping their eyes down, a recent requirement of the last six months as the demoralized city population sank further into a malaise.

This is a high priority target; the bird watchers have had this girl’s description for the entirety of their club’s existence. A messenger was sent ahead to inform the club president of the rare species making an appearance. They wonder if it will be a problem that she seems to be heading straight for their clubhouse.

Luscin sadness grew into anger as she walked. She is no longer listlessly moving forward, she’s on a march. She doesn’t know what she’s marching towards, other than possibly some familiar faces.

When she rounded the last corner, the study was a block away and she couldn’t help but notice there was a woman standing there in the middle of the entryway. At this distance she couldn’t be sure who it was, but as she came closer there was something familiar about the way she stood; Her weight on one foot, her hand resting on her pushed-out hip. That head tilt, where even if she’s shorter than the person she’s looking at, she is looking down at them. She knows this person but doesn’t recognize this robust full-figured woman ahead. She gives up trying and just closes the distance.

Luscin stops in front of the woman and looks up into the woman’s face. The tears come back as she realizes who this is. “Mom!” The two women throw their arms around each other and don’t let go.