Hey guys, sorry for the long wait for this chapter. My personal life has been pretty turbulent recently, but I've recently taken some time to figure some things out and travel a little bit. Also, the PC I was writing this on decided to have a stroke, and I'm having to rewrite some of the character outlines and other supplementary material I was using. Now that I'm back, and inflation has put any further traveling outside my budget, I figured it would be a good time to publish something now that I'm in a better place mentally.
Also, for those unaware, this story is also on Archive of Our Own, if you prefer that site's format. I wanted to have a backup copy in case this place shuts down, so if you're interested, feel free to leave me some Kudos or a constructive comment - my username is the same over there as it is here.
Do be warned though, that this chapter contains references to abuse and kidnapping, specifically that of a minor. If you're sensitive to any of these topics, please proceed with caution. These topics are gonna come up pretty frequently in later chapters, although I'll try to avoid anything too explicit.
Daiyu woke up in the white canvas tent she and Tabitha shared. Looking beside her, she saw Tabitha, sprawled on her back on the quilt they both shared, snoring like a locomotive.
Between them had been the girl, Hannah, that they had rescued from a watery death on the muddy banks of the Dakota the previous night. The spot where she had slept was now occupied by Tabitha's left leg. Tabitha had a bad habit of tossing and turning as she slept, making it a rather arduous task to share a bed or a tent with her. Having known her for so long, Daiyu was accustomed to Tabitha's sleep habits, although she still found herself woken up occasionally with a smelly foot planted in her face.
Daiyu rubbed the crust of sleep from her eyes and stretched her arms up above her head, causing her shoulder joints to crack. The girl had told her and Tabitha about what she had endured over the past few days, but she had broken down into tears before she could finish. Despite not wanting to talk about it, it was rather obvious that Hannah had been assaulted by her abductor in more ways than one.
Through her tears, Hannah had admitted to working as a prostitute on the streets of Valentine. Despite being only fourteen, she had been desperate for money after leaving home, to the point where she had resorted to stealing food from cabins in the wilderness. She had observed prostitutes in other towns she had been in and figured that some old pervert would eventually accept her services. The man who did, her eventual captor, had asked Hannah to perform a particularly disgusting sex act, which she had refused to do. Enraged, he had knocked Hannah out and then dragged her to his home outside of town in the dead of night.
The deep marks on Hannah's wrists were from chains, which had kept her secured to the wall in the man's basement. According to Hannah, she had been kept there for two or three days without food or water, all while being beaten and abused in various ways. While she understandably didn't want to provide further details about her ordeal, Hannah had appeared to relax greatly after Daiyu had confirmed that the man was dead.
After voraciously downing a bowl of stew that Cripps had prepared and chugging a canteen full of water, Hannah had self-administered some salve on her bruises before getting some much-needed sleep between Tabitha and Daiyu in their tent. It was a tight squeeze – the two outlaws couldn't afford a bigger tent, but Hannah had nonetheless felt safe having them so close.
Peering through the darkness of the tent though, Daiyu couldn't find Hannah anywhere. As her eyes adjusted, she could barely make out the outline of a roaring campfire, which splashed the outside of the tent with its warmth. Daiyu slipped out of the quilt that she and Tabitha shared, then made her way silently to the tent flap, hearing the crackle of the fire as she approached.
Hannah was hunched over the fire, sitting on the dead log in front of it as she held her hands close to the flames. She was wearing a clean white nightgown, one of Daiyu's spare ones. Living as rough as they were, the girls didn't have many spare clothes, especially not for a girl as small as Hannah, and thus the garment spilled over the grass in front of her, making it look more like a wedding dress.
The girl appeared transfixed by the flames dancing in front of her eyes, so much so that it took her a moment to notice Daiyu's head peeking out of the tent flaps. She jumped a bit at the face peering at her in the darkness, then appeared to remember what had happened the previous night and how she had been saved.
"Oh…hey," Hannah said quietly.
Daiyu's eyes lowered, as if ashamed that she had scared the girl. She squeezed through the hole in the canvas tent, silently shutting the flaps so that Tabitha wouldn't be woken up by the cold air. The sky had begun to turn a soft orange with the rising of the Sun, which was hidden behind the foothills on the other side of Valentine.
Even though she had gotten some sleep, Hannah's eyes were heavy and ringed with dark circles. The girl quickly turned her attention from Daiyu back to the fire, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.
Daiyu sat down beside her on the dead log, goosebumps appearing on her bare arms. She was clad in a white sleeveless chemise that came down to about her knees, which did little to protect against the frigid early morning air. She shivered, holding her palms close to the flames.
"Look, I-I'm sorry for using your firewood, miss," said Hannah. "It's just, it was really dark, and I got scared. I-I'll help you chop some more if I-"
Daiyu gently raised her hand and nodded, quieting Hannah, who was visibly nervous and talking rapidly. With the same hand, Daiyu swept her arm over the Dakota Valley, revealing a great number of trees along the river banks. Even though they were still on the arid and largely treeless Heartlands, this specific campsite had been chosen because of its closeness to the river, a location that had undoubtedly helped young Hannah as well.
The smaller girl gulped and dug her heels into the sandy soil. She joined Daiyu in holding her hands close to the flames, being mindful to roll up the sleeves of her nightgown so that they wouldn't catch fire.
"So, you can't talk at all?" Hannah asked.
Daiyu shook her head. She put her index finger to the scar on her neck, then traced along it with her fingernail, mimicking the act of slicing.
"Oh." Hannah's eyes lowered, reflecting the flames. "…Someone tried to kill you too, huh?"
Daiyu didn't answer for a while. Her dark eyes were consumed by the flames that reached aimlessly toward the pink, cloudless sky above. Daiyu looked at Hannah and half-nodded, although just the memory of what had happened to her seemed painful to confirm.
"I-it's okay, I wasn't gonna ask you more about it," said Hannah. "You've respected my privacy, so I'm gonna respect yours, okay?"
Daiyu attempted a smile, although it didn't last very long. Reaching over her shoulder, she withdrew another wooden rail from a dwindling supply of firewood. The red-orange flames grew angrier as she laid it across the top of the pyramidal structure supporting the fire.
Suddenly, Daiyu seemed to hatch an idea in her mind. She sat up from the dead log and got down on one knee next to the fire. A coffee percolator was resting near the fire, along with a set of small metal cups, only slightly rusted with age. Daiyu took one of these cups and poured in some water from a canteen. She poured a few cupfuls into the percolator, then added some ground coffee beans into the device's top chamber.
Daiyu set the percolator on top of a tiny stove above the campfire and allowed the water to come to a boil. While she waited, she withdrew a steel pan full of biscuits, leftovers from last night's supper, and heated them up over the fire in a similar fashion. Hannah watched all of this absentmindedly, her chin resting in the cup of one hand.
When the coffee was done, Daiyu quickly poured a cup and gave it to Hannah, who took it in both of her hands.
"Thank you, um…I-I'm sorry, miss, what was your name again?"
Daiyu didn't hesitate in reaching for the easel she had been practicing on the previous night. With a tiny piece of chalk, she underlined her name in English, then gave it to Hannah, who took a few moments to decipher the letters on the board.
"Die…yu? Is that how you say that?"
Daiyu nodded, seeming proud of the girl for having guessed right. Hannah smiled back, taking a tiny sip of her coffee.
"My mama taught me how to read shortly before she passed. That's the first time I've ever heard that name, but it's very pretty."
Daiyu smiled and shrugged, pouring herself a cup of coffee and taking the biscuits off the fire. She set the pan down between her and Hannah as she took a seat on the log, blowing on her coffee a little before taking a cautious sip.
"My mama's name was Sophia," Hannah recalled with a far-off look in her eyes. "A couple years ago, she got tuberculosis, and it took her pretty quick. My daddy was never the same after. The drink got a hold of him…Are your parents still alive, Daiyu?"
There was a pause before Daiyu shook her head no, her eyes lost in the roaring blaze in front of her. Hannah nodded understandingly, but hesitated in speaking further, afraid that she may have pushed too far in asking for private details from this mute Asian woman she had just met.
There was another pause between the two as they sipped their coffee and ate their reheated biscuits. Underneath the crackling of the fire was the low rumble of Tabitha's snores, irrespective of the Sun rising over the rugged sandhills to the east.
Daiyu suddenly sat her cup down and fetched the easel from between them, along with a stick of chalk. Hannah watched as she drew three crude shapes on the chalkboard, which she quickly guessed were supposed to be people. The tall man had on what looked like a straw hat – one of those triangle hats that Hannah had seen the Orientals in Saint Denis wearing. Beside him stood what looked like a woman in a dress, holding some basket-like object that Hannah couldn't make out. Between these two was clearly a child, judging by the height. Daiyu pointed to this last figure and then to herself; Hannah nodded to signify that she understood.
A breathy sigh escaped Daiyu's lips, a strange high-pitched sound with no voice behind it. She grimaced as she drew two more figures, both of which held long objects that roughly resembled guns. From these guns, straight lines issued in the form of bullets, all of which struck the father figure in the picture.
Hannah gasped, putting a hand to her mouth.
"Oh my Lord. I…I'm so sorry, Daiyu."
Daiyu smiled sadly and nodded. She set the chalk and the easel down beside her and grabbed her knees, staring up at the cloudless sky above them.
"Were…" Hannah began, stuttering a bit. "Feel free to not answer this if you want, but were they the ones that…put the scar on your neck?"
Daiyu shook her head no. She pointed to the scar, then threw her arm forward slowly in an extended motion. She sensed that Hannah didn't understand what she meant, and so she repeated the motion, hoping she would get it.
Hannah pondered for a bit before perking up where she sat.
"Oh, so that happened way later? Is that what you're sayin'?"
Daiyu's eyes seemed to light up as she nodded affirmatively, causing Hannah to smile back.
"So…what happened to your mom then?" asked Hannah, scooting a little closer to Daiyu.
Daiyu looked up at the sky and shrugged. She pointed at the picture, then made a circling motion with her index finger near the side of her head, crossing her eyes as she did so.
Hannah took a moment to understand this gesture as well.
"Do you mean that she…went crazy?" Hannah said these last two words timidly, half-expecting wordless backlash from Daiyu over the word 'crazy'.
However, Daiyu simply nodded and smiled, as if relieved to find someone that understood her. Hannah seemed proud of herself as well as she took a small bite of her biscuit.
"Well, thank you me for tellin' me that, Daiyu," she said with her mouth full. "I mean, losin' your parents, that had to have been hard on you. But you made it through, and now you're this tough, no-nonsense woman who travels around the country savin' folk. I…" Hannah gulped. "I think that's what I'd like to do as well."
Daiyu looked down at her feet in deep thought, perhaps not having considered so noble a description of her activities before.
Hannah gripped her coffee cup so hard that it was shaking in her hands. She quickly set it down in the sandy soil, sitting up straight and resting her hands on her knees.
"Look, I know you three are livin' kinda rough, so if you can't take me in, I understand. But…well, I'd rather not spend the rest of my life sellin' myself and gettin' taken advantage of or killed by men. I wanna be independent, like you and Tabitha. So, could you at least…teach me how to be more like you before sendin' me away?"
Hannah felt a tear leaking from her right eye, but she wiped it away with a quick flick of the hand. She took a deep breath as she awaited Daiyu's response, even if a verbal one wasn't forthcoming. A frustrated look crossed Daiyu's features; she looked like she had much that she wanted to tell the girl, and her lack of ability to do so was deeply troubling her.
Then, her eyes drifted back to the easel. She grabbed an old rag next to the campfire and dropped some spit onto it, then used it to clean the easel so that she had room to write. She made sure to leave Cripps' versions of her and Tabitha's names for future reference.
Daiyu took some time to think of the appropriate drawing to convey her thoughts. After a moment, she drew what was clearly a female, holding a gun like the two figures who had shot her father. Daiyu pointed at this figure, then at Hannah, who nodded that she understood.
"I can handle a gun, if that's what you're concerned about. My daddy taught me how."
Daiyu didn't respond to this. Instead, she drew another figure, this one intentionally vague enough to not represent anybody. She then proceeded to draw three straight lines from the barrel of the gun into the vague figure's chest, then cross out its head with an X.
Hannah remained stone-faced and composed as she held her hands on her knees.
"So, you kill people…That what you're tryin' to say?"
Daiyu nodded, more slowly this time. She and Hannah locked eyes, perhaps Daiyu's way of testing how serious she was. Hannah's young features were fierce, like those of a lion cub that was far beyond her years.
"Y'know, Daiyu…I've got scars too now," she responded evenly. "They might not be as intimidatin' or as prevalent as that one on your neck, but I do have 'em." Hannah pointed to one of the raised purple bruises on her face. "I'm not talkin' about this – I know this'll heal in time. I'm sayin' that I won't ever forget the man who nearly killed me for as long as I live…I'll remember his face, his smell, his voice, all the horrible things he did to me in that basement. I don't know who cut your throat, Daiyu, but you probably remember who did it, right? Even if you can't say it, you remember?"
Daiyu quickly confirmed this with a nod. Her lower lip twitched the slightest bit as the memory came back, but she managed to stay sitting up straight, her hands folded in her lap as she listened to Hannah.
"Well again, this is just speculatin' on my part, but you probably hold that memory close to your heart, and you use it to motivate you. I ain't never killed anybody, but I imagine it ain't the easiest thing to live with. Some folks, rather than live with the guilt, they just let themselves go to seed, associate with bad people, and give up tryin' to be moral."
Hannah scoffed, taking a small sip of coffee.
"They're no better than animals, when you think about it. All animals care about is survivin', they don't know nothin' about morals…But you're not like that, Daiyu. You kill people, sure, but you don't do it for pleasure, or just because you can. You do it because deep down, you still believe that there can be good in this world, despite all the things you've been through. You two savin' me last night…it reminded me that the whole world wasn't against me, and that I should keep fightin'. I mean, I've got a second chance at life now, and not many folks get that. I just wanna…make sure that I make the most of it, you know?"
Hannah sniffled, wiping at her eyes with the sleeve of her nightgown. She took a deep breath to compose herself, gripping her metal coffee cup for comfort.
Daiyu looked at the ground for a long time, scuffing her bare heels in the sand as she sat in deep thought. Hannah couldn't possibly tell what Daiyu was thinking, but she was at least relieved that this strange voiceless drifter was taking her words seriously enough to ponder them.
After a minute or two, Daiyu looked at Hannah, causing the girl to tense up reflexively. Daiyu gently reached over and tugged at Hannah's right arm. Hannah allowed Daiyu to take her hand and shake it twice, which Daiyu did with a warm, sincere smile.
"So, you're gonna let me stay?" Hannah asked with a bewildered smile of her own.
Daiyu nodded firmly and let go of Hannah's hand, reaching for her coffee cup. Hannah held hers out as well.
Pointing to her throat, Daiyu shook her head dismissively, then pointed at Hannah, who immediately knew what Daiyu meant.
"Alright then…To new beginnings. Let's both make the most of our lot in life and try to make this world a better place."
Daiyu's eyes lit up, and she grinned to signal her approval. Both girls clinked the side of their metal cups together and downed swigs of coffee. Hannah seemed much more at ease as she sat there by the fire next to the woman who had saved her, as if she valued having Daiyu close.
Noticing rustling coming from their tent, Daiyu turned her head, listening as Tabitha stirred awake. She quickly got up and retrieved the percolator from the camp stove, pouring a third cup of steaming coffee. Taking this cup, she ventured over to the tent and opened the flap. Hannah could hear Tabitha's groggy protests as freezing air and sunlight invaded the cozy dark tent, telling Daiyu that she'd be up in a minute.
Hannah couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the girls' interactions. For as short a time as she'd been in their tiny camp, she could already tell that Daiyu and Tabitha were close. Hannah wished she had such a close friend to look out for her; if she'd had someone like that, maybe she wouldn't have decided on something as stupid as prostituting herself for money.
Sitting by the fire as Daiyu got ready for the day, tying her long black hair in a loose braid behind her back, Hannah felt at peace, knowing that perhaps her life would have some purpose. With these two experienced women guiding her, she would become a helper of those less fortunate, someone to protect people from bullies and outlaws, which seemed to be everywhere in these parts. She had a long way to go, and she still wasn't fully healed from her injuries, but she felt confident that she could do it. Now that she had this second chance at life, she wasn't going to let go of it for anything – and she wasn't going to let anyone take advantage of her again.