“Nothing. Forget about it.”
As the words formed, it had occurred to Sol just exactly what would make someone―or something―so quick at locating the cans. Visual acuity in low light conditions. In other words, seeing well at night. Just the kind of thing daemons were good at.
When they’d had the encounter with the Deathgaze, Luna had seemed to be pulling or absorbing some kind of energy from the monster. And the particles that rose off her open wound―for the brief span of time it had been open at all―were just like those of a daemon.
And now, here was another daemon-like skill. Hunting things in the dark. It fit right in with the other odd feats the Oracle was apparently capable of.
But it didn’t seem right to jump to the conclusion that Luna was an enemy just because she had powers in common with the daemons. Sol had made sure to visibly lower her guard a few times the previous evening to see if her new companion might go for a surprise attack. She’d seen no indication of a desire to try.
And of course, to top it all off, there was the woman’s ludicrous claim that she intended to face off against Ardyn Izunia himself.
How were you supposed to react to something like that? Sol was still wrestling with the question as their search for the wayward cans wrapped up.
After that, they hopped back on the bike, and when they’d ridden for about an hour, they were met with bits of white falling gracefully from the sky.
“Not a cloud in sight, but we’ve got a flurry,” Sol observed. It was said to happen around here, along this little swathe of land sandwiched between the desert and the mountains locked in eternal winter, but only at this particular time of year, when temperatures were low and the air was dry. Strong wind lifted snow from the peaks and carried it to fall like a winter flurry over the land below, creating the bizarre sight of snow falling from a clear sky.
“Heh. I guess it’s probably nothing new to you, being from Tenebrae and all.”
“I have known of it, yes, but this is my first time seeing it with my own eyes,” Luna responded. “It was described to me as resembling a cascade of white blossoms dancing through the sky.”
“Against a sky like this, I’d say it’s more like a swarm of insects.”
But how did it look to Luna’s eyes? With her vision, perhaps snowflakes against a dark sky didn’t look so bad. It occurred to Sol that everything she saw might look quite different to her companion. They might stare in the same direction and see two very different things.
“I wonder if I could ask you a question,” Luna ventured hesitantly.
“Shoot.”
“The way to Insomnia―no, the way to Lestallum. How many days’ travel is it?”
“Hate to say it, but I really can’t give you a precise number.”
A vast expanse of sea stretched between the former lands of Niflheim and Lucis, where Lestallum was located. To get across, they’d need either a dropship or a watercraft of some sort. But dropships were reserved for patrols and reconnaissance; other uses weren’t permitted. As far as ships capable of traversing open water, well . . . there were never enough hands available to keep the things in proper shape. And without many seaworthy vessels, it was likely that they’d make it to the port only to find it empty and have to wait.
“From what I hear, this area used to be about two days from the port. But we’re making the trip hunting daemons along the way, so let’s say four or five. Problem is, after we get there, we may be waiting for a while before there’s a ship that can take us.”
“And I suppose even once we’re across, it will take several more days.”
“More than that. The City of Light itself is the only place that’s safe. Daemons lurk everywhere else, so it’s slow going.”
“Yes, I suppose that makes sense,” Luna replied, in a voice so small Sol thought it might get carried off by the wind. They’d had to deal with three daemon encounters already, just to get to the site where they lost the cans. They’d narrowly managed to avoid two other packs by spot-ting the daemons before they themselves were spotted and speeding away on the bike. Three or four hours had gone by since they left Wael, but it certainly didn’t feel like they’d managed to cover much ground.
“And daemons aren’t the only things that’ll slow us down. We gotta make time to rest, too.”
Sol gently pressed on the brakes. Luna looked over with astonishment. She seemed to want to protest that she could go farther; she wasn’t yet tired.
“Not for us,” Sol explained. “For Regina.”
Sol patted one handlebar as she said it. The engine had been pretty hot for a while now. It was well past time to let it rest. The bike was running again, but it had been a quick fix. She’d had to make do with whatever parts she could find, and Cindy, too, had made a point of telling her not to push the vehicle very hard.
“‘Regina?’” Luna asked.
It wasn’t until Luna chirped the name back that Sol realized what she’d done. Ugh. She hadn’t meant to reveal that.
Sol had met Regina during one of her early missions. She’d been busy helping beat back the daemons, and bam, there it was: an old Niflheim-built motorcycle just abandoned there on the side of the road. It was love at first sight. Sol knew she had to ride it, and she begged Cindy to restore the machine to working condition. Cid shook his head as he muttered about it being the kind of thing a “do-nothin’ bum” would ride, but he helped Cindy fix it up, and no sooner was it running than Sol was riding and thinking up the name she’d christen her new partner with.
“What, you got a problem with my bike’s name?” she glared at Luna.
“Not at all,” the Oracle responded.
Not that any other answer would have mattered. Rider and bike were inseparable now. Sol wasn’t going to let anyone laugh at the fact that she’d named her bike―or at the name itself.
“No travel faster than the slowest member of the group,” Sol said. “That’s an ironclad rule among the Hunters.”
Since departing Wael, they’d stuck exclusively to one particular route that ran parallel to a railway track. It was a fairly narrow road, offering much less space than the major thoroughfares, and at least for the portion they’d traveled thus far, it was poorly maintained. Lunafreya had assumed Sol chose the road to avoid encounters with daemons, but now she wasn’t sure. They’d run into plenty so far. Why, then, travel along such a tedious route? It wasn’t until the end of their first day that she finally understood.