Family are those who hold your hand as you pass from this world and into the next.
— Achyoni Kekināmi
Linsan's body ached from her fingertips to her toes, but she couldn't find a single source of her discomfort. Instead, pain radiated from every joint and muscle in waves that reminded her of when she was thrown back by the bank explosion. Even her ears were ringing in the same manner, though it was a dull whine instead of the sharp-pitched noise from earlier.
She squirmed, trying to remind her body how to move. Her weight was at an angle, with her feet below her but not touching the ground. One heel rested on a bar and the other was jammed against the wheel of the buggy. She tried to lift one foot but her body slide further down the hood and something sharp dug into her hip.
Flinching back, she jabbed herself with another sharp piece of metal on her other side. The second was much larger than the first, not quite a blade but felt like a sharp edge of metal with a point.
It took all her effort to slowly move away until neither were jamming into her while balancing on her feet. In fear of hitting anything else, she tensed her aching muscles to freeze in place.
“W-What….” Her tongue didn't move as easily and the words stumbled from her lips. “What happened?”
No answer.
Linsan hesitantly shook her head to clear the haze from her wavering vision. She reached out with her fingers, worrying each movement would cause her to cut herself, but she managed to grasp something sturdy but uncomfortably warm. Thankful it wasn't hot, she gingerly tightened her grip to balance herself until she could regain her senses.
A tremor down her leg caused her knee to buckle. She began to blindly slide down. Letting out a short shriek, she kicked out until one foot caught on a warped surface.
Linsan panted as she shook her head again. With her vision coming back, she could see that she was on the hood of the Glasscoaster. It was twisted at an unnatural angle, with gravity tugging her toward a smouldering pit of scorched earth and smoking rocks.
Grunting, she braced herself and held still for a few more breaths and then inspected her surroundings.
The buggy had landed hood-first into the explosion's crater. The impact had crumpled the front. One of the tires was on the wrong side of the hood, dangling from the end of an axle pointing straight up toward the sky. Thin curls of steam rose from dozens of cracked joints.
“Oh, shit,” Linsan said in a hoarse voice. She peered down, found a safe spot, and then planted her feet to lever herself up and away from the vehicle.
The violin against her chest slipped and she clutched it. She didn't realize she still kept it in her grip through the crash. A broken string cut into her skin and she froze. “Shit!”
Holding herself still, she inspected the violin in fear that she had cracked the Sterlig. When she saw shallow gouges in the wood, she cringed. With tears in her eyes, she used her fingertips to inspect each one in fear that one of them had dug deep enough to pierce the violin's body and ruin its sound.
Finding no serious damage, she flipped it over and tried not to think about the sinking sensation in her stomach. If the violin had been destroyed, she wouldn't be able to use magic in the fight ahead. One slip or fall and everything will have been for naught.
The bow, on the other hand, had been snapped in two near the middle and fire had ruined most of the horse hairs. Only a few strands kept the two halves connected. Tears burned in her eyes as she looked at the damage; it would be almost impossible to replace either in a rural community but she might be able to repair it with the right supplies.
She also decided to later see if she could use magic while playing by using the tips of her fingers to pluck out sounds.
“Damn. Damn.” Her hands trembled and tears painted her cheeks. She looked around with a sudden need to escape the ruined buggy. Spotting a flattened area, she carefully set her violin down on it and then dug out her case. As soon as she could, she put away her instrument and closed it to keep it safe from the heat that still radiating from the ground.
From the outside, the buggy looked worse. The axel was clearly ruined, the tires flat, and the front end had crumpled from the crash. The end was caught on the slope of the crater, the large back tires giving an impression that it was about to fall over.
Brook wasn't in her seat but Linsan still crawled back into the buggy to make sure she hadn't been thrown in the far back or was trapped underneath. Not finding her friend in danger gave her a small measure of relief.
The desire to get away grew stronger. She crawled out of the crater, winced when she accidentally brushed against something hot. Her boots dug into the smoking ground and she coughed as the smoke burned the back of her throat.
At the top, she looked back. In the buggy, the explosion looked far larger than she expected. Standing at the edge, it was appeared to be about a rod—sixteen feet—across with a sharp incline in the front and the ruined vehicle on a shallower slope.
A nagging reminder prickled her thoughts. She needed to find Brook. Turning around, she scanned her surroundings but didn't see her friend. She walked around the rim, calling out while clutching the violin in her hands.
Brook sat a short distance away on the far side of the crater. Her yellow-green dress was torn, exposing an uncomfortable amount of bare thigh covered with bloody scrapes. Her dark hair spilled out over her shoulders except where a few strands clung to the rough bark of the tree at her back.
“Brook!” Linsan rushed over. She dropped to her knees and peered at her friend.
With her face tilted up into the noon sun, Brook's cheeks glistened with her tears. Her red-rimmed eyes focused on the leaves above her but she didn't move except for a pulse along her slender neck.
Linsan's chest felt tight. “B-Brook?”
Brook let out a long shuddering breath. It ended with a wheeze.
“Are you safe?” Linsan glanced down. Seeing the still-crimson wound, she reached out to move the fabric away to inspect it. Her fingertips slipped and she pressed against hot skin.
Brook flinched.
“S-Sorry. I wanted to see how badly you're hurt.”
Without looking down, Brook gestured to her other side where her dress had been bundled up. The fabric had been stained and streaked with crimson. Underneath, there were many bloody cuts flecked with drying blood but they looked shallow. Bruises were already forming against her pale skin. Then she lifted her injured leg and flexed it. The heel on her shoe creaked and swung independently with only a single metal nail keeping it attached to the sole.
Linsan didn't know how to assess injuries. She tried to remember what she had read. “Can you move your arms and legs? Anything broken?”
Brook responded by lifting one arm and then the other. She gestured toward one side of her ribs before she slumped her hands back.
“Good, I heard if you can move it, it isn't broken. Are you still bleeding?”
Linsan waited for a response but there was only an uncomfortable silence. Behind them, something in the buggy gave and she could hear metal scraping as it settled further into the smoldering hole.
“Brook? Please, just say something.” Linsan reached out for her friend's face. “I need you to be okay.”
A fresh tear rolled down Brook's cheek. She was just on the edge of crumbling, judging from her struggles to keep her face smooth.
“Brook?”
Brook suddenly let out a long, pitiful wail. Clamping her eyes tightly shut, she reached out blindly for Linsan. Her fingers patted Linsan's thigh before she found a fold of cloth. She dug her fingernails into the fabric to get a grip and tugged Linsan toward her.
Linsan crawled forward to pull Brook into a tight hug.
Hesitation only for a second, Brook buried her face into Linsan's shoulder before letting out a long, shuddering wail. “I lost my Daddy!”
Linsan's heart strained at the pitiful sound. She opened her mouth to say something but the words froze. There was nothing to compare to the agony in Brook's voice. Instead, she closed her eyes and held Brook tightly as the tears wracked her friend's body.
“I couldn't catch them. I tried so hard, I… I couldn't do it. I failed him!”
Linsan stroked Brook's hair. “It's okay.”
“No.” Brook sobbed. “It won't ever be okay. I broke everything, There is no way we can catch up now.” Her body continued to shake against Linsan.
“We'll fix the car.”
“It's in a hole! A Couple-damned hole! We aren't ever getting out of this!”
“We'll find them.” Linsan said. She was on the verge of tears herself. “We know where they live. Even if we have to stay here and watch the place, we can wait. We aren't going to give up.”
The words between them faltered. Neither seemed to need to speak. Linsan kept holding Brook until the shuddering gasps calmed down.
Then silence, punctuated by sniffs and tears.
Finally, Brook spoke. “They're going sell your violin.”
Linsan thought about Palisis. There was no question the murderers were going to sell it now. Her muscles tensed as she thought about losing it forever. But then she looked down to see Brook's shimmering eyes. Swallowing to ease her tight through, Linsan managed to stammer, “I-It's just a violin.”
“An expensive one.” Brook lifted her head to look at Linsan. Her red-rimmed eyes shimmered with tears. “Not even Daddy's wealth could afford Palisis, no one in town could. You…” her lips parted to say something else, but then a strange look crossed her face. She shook her head as a fresh tear ran down her cheek. She closed her mouth and pressed her face back into Linsan.
Linsan glanced up to the sky. “It-it's just a violin,” she repeated more to herself. It was just words, but it felt like she had turned her back on her family and their legacy with just a few short words. Her chest ached with the thoughts that echoed in her head.
The look in Brook's eyes faded. She shook her head as fresh tears ran down her cheeks. “It's my fault I lost my daddy. My fault.”
“No, no,” Linsan said quickly. She hugged Brook tighter. “It was us. We did this and we're going to finish it.”
“How?” came the whimpering cry.
Linsan moved her hands to clap Brook's. She stared into her friend's eyes. “I promise. Come water or winds or flame, I swear on my blood, we will hunt down those men and bring them to justice.”
Brook trembled in her grip. “H-How?”
Linsan blinked past her own tears. “I don't know yet. But we will. Somehow.”
Brook took a deep breath and then buried her face into Linsan's shoulder again. Her sobs wracked her body but the sharpness had faded.
Unable to do anything else, Linsan held her friend and said nothing more.