Ludz

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Chapter 27

 

It amazed Ludz how just thinking about Chiyo could make him feel so guilty. He followed Handi’s hooded outline in the rain. They both wore dark green hoods, that the water bounced off of due to one of Stein’s great ideas. He carried a big backpack made of the same magic fabric. She walked fast with purpose, seamlessly passing through the elements. 

 

“Food or materials this time?” Ludz asked.

 

“Food,” she said.

 

Ludz opens his mouth to speak, but thinks twice about it. He needed to tell Handi that Vince knew about Chiyo now, but he didn’t want to ruin their time together. He smiled at the back of her head. He’d enjoy today. 

Peace at last.

 

Handi was the only one on the island he could have a comfortable silence with. She enjoyed the comfort of having others around her, even if it was without conversation. They’d often just walk through the forest together without more than a word or two like today. Just the noise of the rain shooting into the ground surrounded them in a steady beat. Their feet squished into the mucky forest floor. Mud flowed down the mountainside, covering their ankles in a gooey slush as they went higher.

 

She stopped beneath a large tree with long winding branches. He could see that wicked grin of hers as she looked up at it. She looked to Ludz, her golden brown eyes seemed to glow in the numbed colors of the rainy forest. He nodded in agreement, and kneeled on one leg. He put his hands palm up on the other. She used him as a stool and Ludz helped lift her up safely into the branches. She was light for someone so strong. She easily pulled herself up higher into the tree until she was out of his sight.

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Ludz took off his backpack and opened the flap. He stared up, searching for Handi’s slim figure, but all he could find was little shifts of movement in the leaves until oranges rained down on him. He barely managed to catch them in his backpack.

 

“Warning next time!” Ludz yelled up to Handi.

 

“Warning!” The tree shouted back as more fruits were tossed down. Ludz struggled to catch them all, after a few more barrages the orange rain stopped. Ludz shook his head with a small smirk as he tied the flap of the backpack down. He knew she trusted him to catch them all, but she didn’t make it easy. He pulled it over his shoulder. It was a lot heavier than before, Handi really did her best to fill it completely. Handi swung down from one of the branches and stumbled on her landing in the slippery sludge, but Ludz caught her by the arm.

Ludz pulled her towards him to stabilize her. She smiled up at him appreciatively, he looked away. She kept doing that, looking at him so clearly with a smile. It was disarming, but he kind of liked it. She began walking back down without saying anything. He smiled softly as he followed her back to their home. 

 

They carefully and slowly walked down the mountainside. Ludz kept more of an eye on Handi’s steps than his own, ready to catch her if she slipped again, but she didn't falter. She reached a particularly sharp ledge and signaled him to stop with a flat motionless hand. Handi sat down by the ledge in the mud covered grass. She lowered her legs down slowly reaching for rock to stand on. Ludz looked around frantically for another way down, he saw a less steep path through a shallow river, with a strong current. Not the best option but better than falling off a cliff for whatever Handi wanted. He would never try to stop her, but helping her he could do.

 

“Hey, Handi,” he said. She looked up at him just for a second and her foot slipped and vanished. “Handi!”

 

The second he lost sight of her his body went into autopilot. He ran to the river. It was deeper than he thought. The water rose to his waste and tried to push him down. He struggled through the current, the only thing in his mind was Handi’s smile. Her teasing smile, like she knew exactly what he was thinking. 

 

He made it to the hillside and stumbled down it, looking for Handi anywhere below the ledge. “Handi! Handi!” He yelled. 

 

He couldn’t find her anywhere. And like a miracle he looked up, and there she was without a scratch hanging onto a long, moss-covered rubber tube tangled in the surrounding trees, half a dozen feet above his head. He held his breath. She wasn’t out of danger yet. She reached out to a string that glistened just out of her reach in the dark tree line. Handi noticed Ludz below and gave him a wide childish grin. Ludz closed his eyes and finally breathed a sigh of relief. Somehow she seemed to be in control of the situation, like the fall had been a part of her plan. 

 

He watched Handi as she began to wiggle back and forth on her hose as calm as can be reaching for the string. Ludz could only see it when the string hit the right light, but somehow she managed to grab it and in the next moment she let go. She dropped to the ground in front of him without even stumbling.

 

“Guess what I found?” She said ecstatically, while Ludz tried to calm his still panicked heart.

 

He grabbed her by the shoulders and examined her. “Are you okay?” He asked. Not an inch of her perfect golden skin had been harmed.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine. But, guess what I found?” She held up a long violin string. Ludz blinked. He couldn’t focus on it when he was still thinking of how much danger Handi had been in. He wouldn't have been able to go back home without her. Handi took Ludz’ shaking hand from her shoulder. He hadn’t even realized his hands were shaking. She gently placed the metallic string in his hand and closed his fingers around it.

 

“Are you sure you’re fine,” he asked again. What if she had gotten hurt somewhere he couldn’t see. 

 

“Of course. Did you see what I found?” She looked up at him with wide expectant eyes. Ludz looked down at the little string he had been longing for since Chiyo departed them, but somehow that constant whispering need for music went quiet when Handi was around. He didn’t need the distraction when he could focus on her. “Can you believe how lucky I am? I thought it would take us months to find one of these babies again,” she said giddily.

 

Ludz chuckled. “Unbelievably lucky,” he said. He looked at Handi’s gleeful face. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have her. He smiled at her, grateful for her safe return to him. “Impossibly lucky.”

 

Handi laughed and continued their walk back home. “Don’t worry so much. My island will never hurt me,” she said, full of undeniable confidence, and as usual she was right. The island had never hurt her, only Ludz had when he had decided for everyone to keep Chiyo's departure hidden. All he could do now was try to make it up to her, but constantly getting these little pieces of happiness from her made it hard to catch up.