Page 73 of Bannerless (The Bannerless Saga 1)

“Bien. Travel safe, then.”

“You too.”

And she was off, her horse splashing in puddles as she urged it forward.

No solar cars were out—the roads were likely too treacherous for them, and the sun was still spotty and unreliable. Every time she passed others on foot, similar conversations happened: what’s it like, how are the roads, are you all right, and do you need anything? She gave her packets of raisin bread to a couple of men who were hoping to reach the next way station—they had a sheepherding station that had washed out and needed help. At least she was able to tell them that they were close.

No one from Haven came along. Not until the next day.

She ended up stopping for a few hours under a stand of cottonwoods that somehow hadn’t blown over in the storm. It was the driest patch of ground she could find, and she needed the sleep. But the night turned cold, and she didn’t think trying to start a fire was worth the effort. Despite it all, she managed to let go of enough tension to sleep for a little while, but as soon as she started awake, she figured she might as well keep moving. She’d stay warm if she walked.

She wondered how Dak was doing, and where he’d decide to go when he left the way station. Maybe he’d come to Haven. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. It might be easier if he stayed away forever. Then she wouldn’t have to think about him anymore.

When a lone figure came down the road toward her, she took notice. She was on a rise and saw him first. Whoever he was had a brown uniform—an investigator, out on some official business. Likely storm-related, and she wondered what. Was he coming from Haven? What was the news? She picked up her pace and got a better look at the shape of him, hair in a tail and a lanky stride. Then, she recognized him: of course, it was Tomas.

Shouting his name, she ran. Somehow, after all this, her muscles were able to run. Time enough to rest when she got home. The man looked out at her. Laughing, he opened his arms, and she collapsed into a powerful hug. She had never clung to anyone so tightly.

Finally, she let him go and he held her at arm’s length. She was almost as tall as he was; she’d forgotten, in the few months since being gone. Had too many memories of being a child around him. But now, it was almost like she was a real adult or something, no matter that she didn’t feel like it.

“Enid! Are you okay? Please tell me you had shelter during that mess.” He glanced over her shoulder, surreptitiously looking around, but no, this stretch of road was open and no one could hide. Obviously he was curious, but he didn’t come out and ask where Dak was. She supposed she ought to explain that.

“Um. We kind of got caught out in it. But I’m fine. Really, I’m fine. I just want to get home because no one’s had word about Haven and I got worried.” It came out in a rush, and she had so much more she wanted to tell besides—too many stories to tell. In the end she just said, “I’m fine. I’m fine.”

He pressed his lips in a thin smile and nodded, maybe not satisfied with the answer but willing to accept it.

“Haven’s a mess right now,” he said. “Some buildings down, roads washed out. Couple of injuries. It’ll be okay; folk are already cleaning up. I’m taking messages south to see if there’s anyone worse off needing help. Any news?”

“Way station a couple days south has a lot of folk sheltering. They’ll have news if anyone does.” She held on to his arms. “What can I do? I want to help—what should I do?”

“Get to Haven and start working. That’s it for now. You sure you’re okay?”

She grinned wide. “Am now. It’s so good to see you, Tomas.”

“And you! When I get back in a week or so, I want to hear all about your adventures.”

She almost asked if she could go with him. She was so happy to see him, to see anyone that she knew, she didn’t want the reunion to end.

But Haven needed help, and that was something she could accomplish right now.

“All right,” she said, still beaming. “Be careful, yeah?”

“You too.”

They waved each other off and continued their journeys. For Enid, though, the world had righted itself. Everything was going to be fine.

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For those of Enid’s generation, it was the worst storm any of them had seen. A full typhoon, it had lasted some three days and generated winds that blew down entire stands of trees, stripped fields of grain and orchards, knocked off roofs, and collapsed buildings. Older folk spoke of the last worst storm, and the one before that, trying to decide if any of them had been worse than this one. Enid didn’t understand how they could be.

But no, previous storms had washed entire cities away. Haven still stood. They all still had a place, and if the harvest fell short this year, they’d make do with stores, get help from other towns, and they’d be all right. This had been a bad storm, but not the worst.

It was Tomas who first suggested she think of becoming an investigator, a couple years after the storm. She’d become a messenger to the northern households and way stations, and did that for a year or so. Never ran into Dak again, and had stopped worrying that she might. She’d met Sam by then but hadn’t slept with him or fallen in love with him yet. Meeting Olive and Berol was still a little ways off, and building Serenity another little ways after that.

“I think you’d be good

at it,” Tomas said. And also, she thought, the uniform didn’t scare her. Maybe that was all it took. So she started the process, which wasn’t as hard as it might have been since folk already knew her from her messenger rounds. She got the recommendations. Met Nan and started as her assistant. Kept on with it. Started wearing the uniform and mostly worried that she might disappoint Tomas. She spoke to him often about the job, about the effect the uniform had on people, about what she should look out for and how she should respond. She picked his brain and was grateful for his patience.

“What’s the most important thing about being an investigator?” she asked. She was about to go off on a case as Nan’s enforcer for the first time. She was starting to build her own household. The world had gotten bigger than ever, and she sometimes felt very small indeed.

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