It only made things worse that she’d let herself get separated from her comrades. She had been so certain she could mop up that pack of daemons on her own and so intent on proving herself a proper hunter in her own right.
At any rate, a couple of nights’ sleep had brought things into perspective. It was on her to apologize. She was in for a scolding, but she’d stand up and take it like a woman.
Sol tapped the contact and waited, but the call didn’t go through. Their phone was probably switched off. A letdown, but not out of the ordinary. The person Sol was trying to reach might be in the middle of planning an operation. Or maybe piloting the dropship. Signal interference was a legitimate risk and a smart one to eliminate in any situation that might require quickly issued commands. It was a funny little coincidence how Lucian smartphones and communication equipment aboard imperial dropships tended to get in each other’s way.
“Welp, guess that’s not happening,” she muttered, and turned to go back inside.
Then she remembered there was someone else who deserved an apology. She looked back at her phone and brought up the contact. This call would definitely involve an angry earful, probably starting the second the call went through. The thought made her hesitate a moment before dialing. A bunch of angry shouting, first trying to ascertain whether she was safe, then demanding to know her current location. The fact that the yelling was born out of worry rather than real anger made it the harder to bear. But she bit her lip and dialed.
When the call connected, she was met with a different, much calmer voice.
“Well if it isn’t the little lady!”
“Would you please stop calling me that?”
Wedge’s insistence on “Lady S” was bad enough, but the way Biggs addressed her was absolutely humiliating. Lately, she’d finally managed to convince them to refer to her as “Sol,” but every once in a while, for who knew what reason, they’d pull out those terribly embarrassing nicknames.
“Look,” Sol continued, “I just called to say I’m sorry to make you worry. You, uh, already hear about it from Cindy?”
“Called us yesterday.”
Honestly, Sol didn’t even need to ask. The other day, she’d been so anxious to dump the two smothering babysitters that she lied to them. She told Biggs and Wedge that the rendezvous time with the hunters was an hour later than it actually was. After she’d given them the slip, they’d probably panicked and called everybody and anybody they could think of, desperate for any leads on where Sol might have been headed. Cindy was probably the first person they’d dialed―which meant that after yesterday’s chat about the bike, Cindy had undoubtedly passed the news on to Biggs and Wedge.
“And what about Mom?” Sol asked.
“Lady A’s, uh . . . ”
There was the briefest pause, then, “She’s busy planning an op, as it were.”
“At the ruins?”
“That’s right. She’s just gone, as a matter of fact. On her way to reinforce the advance team.”
Biggs’s choice of words seemed to imply that the initial survey team had run into trouble. Surveys in former imperial territory, and especially excavations of ancient ruins, were a double-edged sword. They often yielded desperately needed resources, but danger was ever at the teams’ backs.
Biggs continued, “But don’t you worry. It’ll all be fine. Wedge and I will rendezvous with her shortly.”
“I wanna go, too!”
The situation bothered Sol. The fact that the advance team had called for assistance at all suggested something big had happened. And there had been that slight hesitation before Biggs answered her question.
“Where are you now?” Biggs asked.
“Just outside Wael, at the nearest signal station.”
“Puts you a day or two out from Nohm, yeah? Head over and sit tight. Sure we’ll have it all sorted soon after you arrive.”
Nohm. The largest outpost in former imperial territory. The station house there was old, but it was a big, solid structure and there were always a few hunters posted there. It was close to the ruins, too.
“If I start out now, I can make it to Nohm tonight. Wait for me to―”
“Tonight? Maybe if you don’t come across a single daemon on the way, but chance’d be a fine thing, eh? Don’t push it.”
“But―”
Biggs cut her off. “We’ll be shoving off any moment. Won’t have time to wait for you, so just take it slow.”
This last statement suggested precisely what Sol didn’t want to hear: Biggs and Wedge were probably already close to Nohm. If Sol stamped her feet and Biggs relented, she’d only end up delaying the rescue operation.
Sol mumbled sour agreement into the phone, to which Biggs replied, “There’s a good girl. You take your time and play it safe, all right? If something happens to our little lady, we’re the ones who have to answer to Lady A.”
“I told you to quit calling me that!” Sol yelled into the phone, petulant child once more, and cut the call. The way their conversation had ended was par for the course, except this time the routine didn’t do anything to help calm Sol down.
She had a feeling they needed to hurry to Nohm. It was time to wake up Luna and hit the road.
Perhaps because they occurred when she was on the cusp of waking, the dreams Lunafreya saw at dawn were always brief. The images in her mind were clear and crisp, but they lingered for only a moment. So she’d believed the same would be true of this dream. Gentiana stood before her now, but since she surely would be gone soon, Lunafreya’s words spilled out in frenetic fashion.
“Gentiana! How I’ve been longing to see you! I would have liked it to be in the waking world, as with Umbra. But I’m delighted you’re here now, even if only in dreams.”
Lunafreya had been waiting eagerly for this reunion. There were so many things she wanted to say, and she needed to get them out before the dream ended.
“Tell me, did you know from the beginning? That the ring would take Noctis’s life? Yes, I suppose you must have, but you kept silent for my sake. You did not wish to see me tormented by worry or anguish.”
Gentiana smiled fondly. Lunafreya drew closer, only to find she was unable to reach out to the Messenger.
Of course I can’t, she told herself. This is a dream.
“That is why,” she continued, “I’ve decided to confront Ardyn. If I fight, I can drive away the darkness. The Star will be safe, and Noctis will not have to use the ring. It is my new calling, bestowed upon me by the Draconian. That he asked me must mean I am capable if I try.”