“So,” she continued in the present, as if explaining to a child, “if there aren’t any people, there aren’t any cars.”
Admittedly, there was some traffic in the areas outside of Lestallum. Trucks still had to haul materials from one location to another, and hunters hit the road for recon missions or to take out particular packs of daemons that needed quelling. But that didn’t amount to a large number of vehicles, and the farther out you went, the fewer there were. The former expanse of the empire wasn’t exactly on the doorstep of modern civilization.
So the idea of a car cruising down the highway, blaring its horn at a couple of travelers sitting in the middle of the road, was a scene that could have been straight out of a fairy tale.
Sol turned to look at her companion. “Assuming you’re the real Oracle and everything you’ve said is true, that you did actually die ten years ago and came back to life . . . ”
Speaking of fairy tales, she thought.
“ . . . it still doesn’t add up. We’re talking ten whole years. You had to be doing something during that whole time.”
Lunafreya remained silent, crestfallen. Sol sighed. This was the real world. Not a fairyland.
“Whatever,” Sol said. “Break time’s over. Let’s get some more effort out of those arms, Lady Oracle.”
The stranger stood up, looking determined once more. It seemed like her spirit might match her unanticipated physical strength. Clearly, there was more to this woman than met the eye.
“Not much farther to Wael,” Sol announced.
This time, it wasn’t a lie.
“Ready . . . steady . . . push!”
Right around the time they’d developed a nice rhythm and the motorcycle was rolling along at a steady clip, Lunafreya saw a stretch of road ahead lined by several wooden structures. Sol nodded her head toward it. So this was the temporary outpost she’d spoken of, Wael. They’d made it.
According to Sol, nobody lived out here in the remnants of the Niflheim Empire, but the Hunters and the Kingsglaive were still active. It seemed they came out this way for reconnaissance or to conduct surveys of the land and daemons. Wael was one foothold from which they could carry out those duties.
When they drew close to the buildings, Lunafreya could see that everything was old and worn―all except the doors and their locks. The outpost seemed to consist solely of repurposed structures. These buildings must have been abandoned residences that the Hunters and others had salvaged for their own needs.
Lunafreya breathed a sigh of relief at the thought that their long walk was over. Sol had lent her a pair of boots when they began pushing. She was grateful to have them, but the fit wasn’t quite right and the way the leather chafed against her bare skin made it difficult to walk. She’d been determined to do her part in pushing the motorcycle, but in truth, her feet were sore and she was exhausted.
They parked the motorcycle, and Sol produced a keycard to open the door of one of the buildings. From her confident movements, Lunafreya perceived it wasn’t the first time she’d been to this particular outpost.
“Hey! Anyone here?” Sol shouted.
Then after a pause, “Guess not.”
Sol flicked on the lights and gave a small shrug. None of the windows had been illuminated as they’d rolled in. Apparently, Sol was right. No one else was here.
From the way Sol had spoken, Lunafreya assumed the young woman’s companions would be waiting for her at the outpost. Perhaps it was simply her way of making Lunafreya feel a bit less forlorn―just like how she’d continually described the distance to Wael as “a stone’s throw away” when for most of the trek it had been anything but.
“Hello? Cindy?” Sol stood with a small device in hand. “Finally! It’s about time you picked up.”
The device was thin, flat, and rectangular. It must have been some kind of transceiver. And whoever “Cindy” was, Sol seemed ecstatic to be talking to her.
In fact, she realized, Sol had been trying to reach this person for some time. Before they’d started pushing the motorcycle, and again during each of their breaks, she had fiddled with the same transceiver, apparently trying to get through to this Cindy. Each time the transmission failed to go through, Sol had made a sour face and muttered, “Why isn’t she picking up?” Then she’d put the transceiver away with a sigh.
Whatever the case, Lunafreya could guess at a few things: Cindy was versed in whatever knowledge they’d require to get the motorcycle running, and Sol desperately needed Cindy’s help.
“Yeah. That’s right,” Sol was saying. “Wham. Right down onto the pavement. And now she’s not making a peep. I don’t even know where to start.”
It seemed her assumptions had been correct. Sol moved back outside to the parked motorcycle, and Lunafreya followed at a slight distance. She’d promised to help. It didn’t feel right to stay behind in the building, resting by herself.
But it occurred to her that perhaps she ought to hang back a bit longer, so as not to accidentally appear to be listening in on the conversation. Just then, she heard a familiar bark. She turned around to find a black dog bounding toward her, excitedly wagging his tail.
“Umbra!” Lunafreya exclaimed.
She hurried over to meet the dog and immediately began running her hands through his warm, soft fur. His poofy tail swished excitedly from side to side. The sight of it made her glad, but it also brought to mind another tail, this one white.
“If it’s just you, I suppose that means Pryna . . . ”
The other dog had remained beside Lunafreya until the very end in Altissia. Again and again she’d commanded Pryna to flee, but the dog had stayed stubbornly by Lunafreya’s side. Her absence now surely meant that she’d sunk into the sea alongside her master’s wounded body.
Lunafreya looked at Umbra. “I’m sorry. I wish I could take you back with me, but . . . ”
Umbra just wagged his tail in response, as if to say he understood.
“Thank you,” Lunafreya murmured, as she stroked his ruff.
“What about Noctis?” she asked.
Umbra continued to wag his tail. He gave a spirited bark. It seemed Noctis was safe. Still, Umbra wasn’t carrying their notebook.
“The notebook,” she asked him. “Does Noctis have it?”
She desperately longed to write a message, to tell Noctis that she was alive and well. She tried to think of something she could use in the notebook’s place, then remembered what she’d seen inside the outpost building.