Ludz

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Chapter 23

 

The clouds above were a dark angry grey. With every guest The wind shook the trees surrounding their home base. Ludz watched as the leaves quivered like an anxious sea of greenery. He followed Vince into the workshop. They hadn’t traveled that far of a distance, just between the shacks but their clothing was already soaked through and Ludz’ hair was plastered to his face and neck. 

 

The rain pounded onto the metallic roofing. The loud thuds melded with Stein’s tinkering in an almost harmonious way of steady repetition. He fiddled with Maj’s crooked head. She laid limp on his table.

 

Stein looked up at them. “Got caught?” He asked. His hands moved just as efficiently without him looking. 

 

Water dripped off of both Ludz and Vince. “The storm came fast,” Ludz said. Just like Handi predicted. One moment it was sunshine the next rain. Vince walked past Stein, not acknowledging him.

 

“What’s wrong with him,” Stein asked.

 

Ludz smirked. “The usual.” He tossed his sack in his corner of the room and walked over to Stein. He peered over Stein’s head to watch his hands working away on the bird. There was something about the monotonous noise of him working that comforted Ludz. 

 

“Handi,” Vince said.

 

“Oh.” Stein said in a less than interested tone. They were all starting to get worn out with Vince’s constant complaints about her, not just Ludz.

 

Vince began pacing behind them. Ludz rolled his eyes, this tantrum was going to be a good one.

 

“I don’t get why everyone is on her side? She could say we’re on a moving island on the back of a magical turtle and you all would believe her,” he spouted. Ludz did his best to ignore him and leaned into Stein. He rested his head on top of Stein’s. He didn’t want to listen to Vince’s own flavor of nonsense and he didn’t want Stein to hear it either. “Don’t expect me to be placated just because she agreed to take me up the mountain. I don’t care if you’re all satisfied staying here. I have a life to get back to!” Vince shouted some more.

Ludz sighed. He gives Stein’s head a brief hug before releasing him and turning to see Vince’s red face full of rage. He just had to push for Handi to take him out during the storm didn’t he. It’s no wonder Handi reacted so harshly, considering hiking in this weather could put them both in serious danger. If only she hadn’t wound him up so much.

 

“I’m not going to be like you all! I’m going to at least try,” Vince continued.

 

Stein stopped tinkering. Vince went too far again. “Vince. Shut up,” Ludz said in the most stern voice he could muster. This was about to get messy. 

 

“It’s not like we didn’t try. Chiyo-,” Stein started, but Ludz cut him off.

 

“Stein,” he said just as sharply. They don’t talk about Chiyo.

 

Stein put his tools down. He looked down with a deep sadness. His arms wrapped around his stomach like he was going to be sick. “Sorry…” he said quietly. His voice was so small it sounded like it should have come from a different person, not their little energetic genius.

 

“Chiyo? Who’s Chiyo,” Vince asked. Sometimes his inability to read the room really amazed Ludz.

 

Ludz dragged himself across the room to sit in his bed. He rested his back against the wall. He’d need to be sitting to explain this. He gazed off into nowhere as he let his memories drift back to Chiyo for a moment. He could hear her voice so clearly singing off tune. 

 

“Auntie had three rings

They fitted on one long fing-ga

She wraps them tight

for in the night

when scales fly fast

The trap is cast.”

 

She’d sing along to the song as her strong hands wove together fishnets out of leaves. With each note she’d lay another leaf over the three rings that made up the trap. That’s how they had learned how to fish. He had a sinking feeling in his gut, like he’d lost something in himself, not just Chiyo. 

 

“Chiyo… She was our sister,” Ludz finally replied. “An old arrival.” He had no choice but to explain. If Vince didn’t get a response he would just keep bringing her up along with all the bad memories.

 

Vince finally noticed the somber mood in the room and his tone became more gentle. “Why haven’t I met her?” He asked.

For once Stein left his work bench to sit with Ludz. His big brown eyes glistened with tears already. “She wanted to leave too…” Stein started, but he struggled to get the words out. “She really wanted to leave. I- I shouldn’t of helped her. Ludz if we- If we didn’t help her then…” He couldn't finish the thought without sobbing. Stein carried a lot of guilt for what happened to Chiyo, probably even more than Ludz. Ludz put his hand on Stein’s shoulder as he wiped away his tears.

 

“What happened? I have the right to know if someone made it off the island.” Vince said, filled with hope. Hope the Ludz was about to crush. “You have to tell me.”

 

“Fine. Take a seat,” Ludz said. Vince pulled Stein’s stool over and sat in front of them.

 

Ludz didn’t know where to start. Chiyo was brash and unafraid and of course reckless. Before Vince she had been the oldest arrival to the island at the age of eleven and since she first arrived her entire being burned with a passion for revenge. She’d arrived after her family, just average fishermen, were attacked at sea by pirates. It was likely she had been the only survivor. Knowing this, hunting them down became her only reason for living, but to do that she needed to leave the island first.

 

“Chiyo wanted to leave like you. She wanted to return and a few years ago she… tried.” Ludz said. By then Handi had made her thoughts about leaving clear and they all helped Chiyo hide her plans from her. The worst part was in his heart, and maybe even the others’, he wanted someone else to try first. Maybe if she succeeded that meant he could follow after without risk or fear like she faced. It was cowardly. He was cowardly to hide it from Handi, to take away her chance to say goodbye, but he was even more of a coward not to go with Chiyo.

 

“And?” Vince asked, reminding him he needed to finish the story.

 

The ending was simple, and expected. “The spouts got her,” he said numbly. He could still hear Handi’s sharp screams as they watched from the mountain top Chiyo’s makeshift boat getting swept up into the air. He could feel the pain in his shoulder from the piece of metal that fell on him as he tried to stop Handi from running through the spouts to Chiyo’s aid.

 

Vince’s voice was muffled by the clarity of that memory. “How? I thought the ridiculous theory was that they protected everyone.”

 

Ludz shook his head. “She wanted to leave. Handi told her not to and… she was right.”

 

“I’d never seen Handi that upset. She burned everything,” Stein added.

 

Handi had collected everything of Chiyo’s in a fury of tears and burned it all, as if she had been trying to burn away the memory of Chiyo herself. If there was nothing to remind her of the loss it wouldn't hurt as much.

 

She was rightfully angry with all of them, but most of all she had been hurt. Hurt by their betrayal and hurt by the loss of her one and only big sister. Chiyo had spent a good few years with them, teaching them how to fish, how to navigate the seas, and how to predict the weather. She taught them anything she could just to keep the memories of her family alive and Handi had become especially close to her. She looked up to her fearlessness. Handi was brave because of her belief in the island, but Chiyo was brave because of her belief in herself. Seeing that bravery end in tragedy was the most terrifying part. 

 

“I don’t ever want to see her like that again. So stop asking about the spouts,” Ludz said, but he didn’t think Vince would after this. He could see that same look of loss they all had on his face, because that day they didn’t only lose Chiyo. They lost their hope to leave a well.