Hawk had given up trying to track Calli. He had followed her trail as far as the mountains. She hadn't been trying to hide her passage so it wasn't very difficult. But then the freak storm took him by surprise. He took shelter in an old, abandoned building and waited for it to pass. It had lasted long into the night. By morning all traces were gone. There wasn't anything else he could do. He had gone to Jack's grave, expecting that was where she had gone, but there was no sign she had been there. He had no idea where else she would be going out here. He headed back to Megaton.
Calli opened the door to their home in Megaton. The house had that feeling that it does when no one is home.
"Hawk?", she called. No answer. So he hadn't come back yet. She put away her armor and weapons and began cleaning. She wondered if he was still miffed at her.
She heard him approaching before he even opened the door.
"Hey", she called pleasantly as he came in. "Want me to start some lunch?"
"Where were you last night?", he asked.
"How do you know I wasn't here?", she inquired curiously.
"Because I came back to apologize. I should have gone to the grave with you first thing since it so important to you. I went looking for you.", he said.
Calli was quiet for a moment. "I'm glad you came back. I was in pretty bad shape, I admit it. I spent the night with a man."
Hawk stared. She hadn't evinced any interest in any man since Jack.
"Well, you seem the better for it this morning", he said seriously. "I'm just glad you didn't do anything dangerous. I was so worried."
Her eyes became darkly sad. "Hawk", she said quietly. "I know now what you were trying to tell me. We need to go to Arhome and get Aileen. I think it's time we put Jack to rest."
Hawk gently squeezed her shoulder. "I understand.", he said. "Now, you wanna tell me about this man? Do I know him?"
Calli's eyes lit up. "Oh, I don't know if you know him, but I'm sure you've heard of him. Come on, let's get some lunch and I'll tell you about him.", she grinned. She wasn't about to tell Hawk the circumstances that had led to her spending the night with a stranger. He would really have worried about her then. But she was happy to share part of the story with her best friend.
Calli and Aileen were sitting in the living room of Aileen's new home. Her husband was at work in Bay Cave, so they were alone. The radio in the corner was playing the favorite wasteland station. Aileen handed Calli a beer.
"Calli", she said, soberly. "you didn't come yesterday. Why didn't you come? Because I married again?" Calli looked down at her hands.
"I didn't think you would want to be reminded of Jack. You haven't been married that long." .she said. She looked up. "That's why I'm here now, Aileen. I think it's time we put Jack to rest, don't you? It's been four years. We should take him from the wasteland to the sea, where he belongs, and say goodbye to him."
Aileen took Calli's hands in hers. "Calli, I loved him too. There will always be a place for him in my heart, but I think you're right. It's time for us to say goodbye to Jack. We should have a public burial. He gave so much to the wasteland, they deserve the chance to mourn with us."
"But how can we do it?", Calli asked. " Only a few people know he died four years ago. The public has been allowed to believe he's still alive. Even most of Arhome and Baton Rouge believe I was keeping him somewhere in the wasteland all these years."
They began to discuss plans. They would notify Arhome in a public forum that Jack had passed away and there would be a public funeral. However due to his condition the coffin would be closed and no one would be able to look on his remains.
Eventually all of Arhome would be involved in planning and preparing for Jack's burial. The woodworkers were put to work creating a full size coffin. They did an excellent job, making a beautifully shaped coffin decorated in motifs from the sea. Those who had known him best all agreed Jack would have loved it.
Calli and Aileen left early one morning on her motorcycle. Hawk accompanied them on his. Calli always wore her helmet in the wasteland. People could wonder who was with her, dressed in wasteland armor, an encompassing helmet hiding her features. The heavy armor hid her so well no one would be able to tell if the tall figure was male or female. The powerful weapon on her back would restrain most people from trying to find out.
They didn't try to approach the crypt until after dark. They had made sure no one had tried to follow them or was spying on them. Calli used the small cutter Hawk had brought to cut through the stone and dirt. They carefully removed each bone, brushing the dirt away with small brushes, and placing them in the pack that would go on Hawk's motorcycle. It took several hours to carefully and respectfully disinter each bone and make sure all were accounted for. They left the bones in an old building in the western mountains and returned to Arhome for the coffin. They would sleep most of the day in Arhome.
Late that night Hawk and Calli took the coffin from Cave Entrance in the horse pulled cart and went west past Tennpenny to the building where they had left Jack. They carefully arranged his bones in the coffin with his favorite sea man's garb Calli had brought from Megaton, where she had kept it. They left late in the day so they would approach Tennpenny tower from the west. They did this so no one would know where they had come from. It would seem as though they had travelled many hours from the west. At the tower she informed them that Jack had died and they were going to the sea to say good bye to him. Word would spread rapidly as she well knew.
They spent the night at Tennpenny tower. The coffin was sealed and kept in the suite. No one would be allowed to look upon the man that had changed the face of the DC wasteland. The horse was kept in the courtyard where it was carefully guarded. Such an animal was rare and valuable. The residents were more interested in viewing the horse than the coffin, though many of them had known Jack.
By the time they reached the river at the mouth of the sea the Tradewind ll had docked and was waiting for them. The wasteland had turned out to see the fancy coffin and the rare animal pulling it. Many people had known, liked and respected Jack. Calli stood by the coffin, wearing a long soft dress and hat with veil that hid her features…and her armament. Hawk stood by her side and she was surrounded by her friends to protect her at this vulnerable time. The wasteland had never seen an elaborate burial like Jacks.
Several people wished to say something about him. At the end of the speeches the coffin was loaded into the hold of the Tradewind ll along with the horse. It was announced he would be taken to Baton Rouge where Jack would receive burial rites by his family. He would be accompanied by Calli, who would be gone for the three weeks it would take the ship to make her trip to Baton Rouge and back.
It wasn't announced that the ship would first stop in Arhome Bay where the coffin would be displayed on the deck of the Tradewind ll while a second funeral service was held for the citizens of Arhome. Aileen and all Jack's children would then accompany her to Baton Rouge for the final funeral and burial of Jack Lelland, founder of the Lelland Trading Company.
Scott Halliday stood on the edge of the crowd and watched the small figure. He couldn't get to her here, surrounded as she was by her friends, which included the highly dangerous and heavily armed Charon's mercenaries and half the Brotherhood army. His anger and hatred burned in him. Someday she would pay.