Ekko covered his nose with some material upstairs. He just had to go down real quick to grab his ride. It was right by the stairs and not too far. He'd travel to the tree and get it ready. As he grabbed it, he went back out for Heimerdinger. "Heimer, get on." He made it larger.
"Oh." It wasn't Heimerdinger's favorite way of travel. "Must we?"
"I need to prepare home. I have to trust Sevika for this." He had to trust her with Jinx. He couldn't just take her in there, Vi might be over there, Scar was unaware of what was happening, he wanted to see some things before Jinx came, and he had to take his original band, and talk to them.
It was a lot to cover, but they were all really important.
"Hmm. Okay. There's more I want to tell you," Heimerdinger stated, "but I will let you settle your own business first."
"Thanks." He got them out of that area and started to head home.
When he arrived, he went to Scar first and gave him the worst news. Scar took it better than he thought he would have.
"It only makes sense," Scar said. "When we first started, when we had just the bare minimum of people who wanted to take on being a guerilla and stopping the shimmer? We were okay. Right after Silco died, this place became a sanctuary. Overcapacitated even back then. We built more. We build outward. There was always too many. If it happened once already. Even if Jinx helped us."
"It was gonna happen again, and again." At least he understood. "It's everything we don't stand for. I'm . . . real sorry for this."
"Yeah, but we know what it's all about," Scar answered. "It is everything we can't stand on the surface, but once we've all played this charade?"
"Then it's over." The shimmer trade. Gone. Forever. Not just one guy taken down for another to take their place, not just constant swarms of people trying to make a buck, nothing. It'd disappear, because it would be worthless.
"In the meantime. What are the steps?" he asked.
"We are now living by our absolute fronts," Ekko said. "If we act rough, then no one will mess with us. I'm . . . the new bad." It felt odd to say that. "With Sevika and Jinx, it's real convincing. But, we also have the obvious bad side. Jinx isn't Powder, and Powder isn't Jinx. Like? When I tell you Powder is a kid? I mean fully kid."
Scar nodded. "Vi hasn't come yet. I doubt she'll come 'til the morning. You don't think she'll get enforcers, do you?"
"Not this soon. I doubt it. I'm hoping if she does come, she just wants to talk, because she's not seeing her." He couldn't risk it. "Just, spread the word of who we are, and what we stand for now. I'll set up and have an original meeting real soon. Find our OG's, and Marlene." Marlene walked off that ship in disgust when he was leaving Jinx to head to prison with Vi. She was giving up everything. "If there is anyone you know and trust in the group, super know and trust? Invite them. Otherwise, no one else."
"OG guerillas."
"OG guerillas." Okay, now the next important thing. "Where are the new people from the village?"
"The woman Shields and her daughter are in the guest room. The little boy. He's . . ." Scar sighed. "Missing. Nobody can find him. He didn't sneak out, the cover is still on the front."
"Oh, just great." He tried not to roll his eyes. "Okay, thanks."
"Did you ever meet her?" Ekko asked Heimerdinger.
"Oh, just when she was a wee little one," Heimerdinger told Ekko. "She won't remember me at all."
"You knew her mom, maybe that will help." Before Ekko did anything else, there was something he had to take care of. He couldn't do much on the ship, and she had someone to get through it with.
He went into the guest area Scar put them in. It wasn't very big. Shield's was still asleep, but she was okay. "Hey there."
Cake looked toward him. She was quiet in the corner near her mother's bed.
"You might need this." Ekko went toward her and tried to hand her a container of magic. "I got this for you too." He bent down toward her and gave her a piece of fruit.
She didn't really speak back.
"Hey? I know that feeling," Ekko said to her. Yeah, she didn't change her look. "When I was kid? I watched someone really close to me die too. After I saw that, my whole life changed. Something, similar to yours."
"My mother is okay. I thought she was dead, but she's okay. She's sick though. And. But." Cake said to him. "Tomato . . . Tamara Matthews."
Tamara Matthews. "That was your friend's name?" She nodded.
Heimerdinger whispered to him. "Children have ridiculous names made from their real names, until they prove to be useful."
Ekko sighed. That was terrible. "Why'd you even stay there, Professor?"
"Because. It was a place that took care of the question 'what to eat, what to fix, what to wear, all of the little things are taken care of, you just focus on the craft," he answered back. "Mage villages are such a great place to focus, one of the best. None of the little problems get in the way. Although?" He shrugged. "There were drawbacks, here and there. Things that I should have . . ."
"Didn't mean to say it like that," Ekko said to him. He looked back at Cake. "You can go by Cake here, or you can go by . . . Um." What was that name Heimerdinger called her? "Charlotte or Charlotte Kay? Whatever you want."
"I don't. Know. I don't." She was starting to cry again. "I don't know what's going on."
"You're not going back to that village," Ekko told you. "Not you or your mom. This is a nice place, filled with nice people. A little bigger than your village, but it's a good place. Your mom is in good hands, and so are you."
"Swords?" she asked.
"He's with a friend, so he's okay." Hopefully they didn't just put him in prison for no reason, but he couldn't say. Enforcers were strict. "When do you usually take your magic?"
"In the morning," she said.
Yeah, Ekko had a feeling it was something safer like that. "What time in the morning?"
"Nine."
Yeah, he didn't want that. He wanted a level base he could see himself. He held out the fruit again. "It's really good." Poor girl was still not feeling food. "It's fine." He put it on a table on the side. "You can eat it when you get hungry."
"I don't know what's going on," she repeated again. "Pow-Pow was getting married, and then a fight, then mom, then Tomato, then a ship, and then . . ." She curled herself up, bringing her legs and feet closer to cover her face.
"Yeah, it was definitely a hard day," Ekko agreed with her. "You got all dressed up for a nice wedding, and it all turned to shit." He noticed her look of surprise, pulling her face out of it's hidey hole in it's shock. That wasn't even that bad of a word. Her whole life is really about to change. "Jinx was messed up by that mage guy, and part of the day she's going to think she's about your age. The other half of the time, she's going to be older, but she won't know you. It was back when she wasn't so . . . good."
She nodded. "Cake for now."
"Cake for now." Got it. "Cake, you think you can hang out with her like another kid, if I bring her here to play?" Cake nodded. "Good. Me and her, we used to play together, but I'm too old to still play that same way. I tried, but."
Cake nodded. She seemed to get it. "Is Pow-Pow okay now?"
"Yeah. Over the next few months, you're going to hear some questionable stuff about me. It's all an act, okay?" Ekko said to her. "I'm a good guy, and I'm just trying to do the best I can for Jinx, and my own village. Okay?"
"Will Swords be back?" she asked. "Soon?"
"I don't know, but he's fine," Ekko said again to her. "I'm sorry about what happened, and this is going to sound really bad, but I have to go now." He needed to hurry and address the Firelights, he hated the idea of Jinx being out there with Sevika alone, but he had to see Cake first. "I know you really need some personal attention, but you don't like when anyone touches you."
She nodded. "Jinx. Swords. Momma. My friends. That's it," she said. "I've tried. I've tried a lot, it just happens."
"Yeah. I definitely get that," Ekko said. "What if you initiate contact?" He held his hand out for a low five. "Can you gimme five?"
She looked at his hand. She took her hand and poked at his. She bristled a bit, even with just that. He gave her a second, and she gave him a low five.
"Good, how about up high?" He held his hand out again and waited for her. She hesitated again, poking his palm first. Then, she slapped him a high five. "Good. I'm going to leave you with Heimer over here," he said. "Heimerdinger? Keep working on high fives. I gotta go soon."
Cake waved goodbye with a slight smile. "Thank you, Ekko. If I'm away from the trauma, I should be able to heal. Momma should finally be able to help. Right?"
Yeah. Definitely Shield's daughter. "Right, I bet you can." He smiled at her. Anatoly definitely tried killing her when she was younger. "Before I go, do you know where the little boy is that we brought? Or any idea where he could have gone?"
"Bear was different," Cake said. "He didn't have a mom or a dad and he snuck off a lot. PJ found him the most."
Well, that wasn't an option. "Where would he sneak off to?"
"Wherever he felt safe. It used to be low to the ground, but when Jinx came, she taught him how to go up super high instead."
Why am I not surprised? Fine, he'd be found soon. "I'm going to leave this magic with you." He sat it next to the food. "I want you to take that. Can you do that? It'll be better if we set a new time for this medicine. It'll be safer."
She moved and grabbed it. She popped it open and drunk it down like water. She closed it back up and set it back down.
"Thanks." He looked toward Shields. He shook her awake briefly and showed her the magic. She tried to move upward, but couldn't. He helped her until she was in a position to drink it safely. She didn't say anything, drank it, and just let herself lie back down again.
Cake looked at her mom briefly.
"She'll be okay. I'll see you later," he said as he headed out.
"Alright, Miss Charlotte Kay? Let's try that again," Heimerdinger held out his hand as he left.
Yeah. She'd get used to hearing that name.