It's a Long Way To Dearest Gravesfield

Chapter 8: Making Home

Willow takes his hand, "And you've worked against that and have the family he never wanted you to to have, friends, and other grown-ups who care about you." She winks, "You rebel."

He laughs, "Yeah, and it's thanks to you, Captain."

"I feel like I need to hear this story," Eda says. "How's this Willow's doing?"

She smiles, "You want to tell this or me?"

Hunter shrugs, "How about you start – you can say how you my attention, I'll talk about what brought me to Hexside, and then Gus can talk about my big mess-up, OK?"

Willow nods, "Sure. But your big mess-up didn't really mess things up – it led to another opportunity in the end." She turns to Eda, "So we were recruiting for clubs at Hexside and I wanted to start a flier derby club. I needed players, and they needed to be able to win, because in order to keep the team, we had to play against one of our professors. I didn't have a lot of recruits, but we had enough for a team."

"And I was on a mission to find new recruits for the Emperor's Coven. I needed to find the best of the best to prove myself. Belos wasn't able to make a meeting of the coven heads, so they walked out, and I failed. Darius made a comment about me not having earned the right to wear the Golden Guard cape as he walked out. And...well, I went to Hexside to look for the best. Willow said she had them on her team, so I joined, too. I made some snap judgments and was ready to walk away, but she told me to give them a chance. I did, and it was a lot of fun. They were a great bunch and I felt like I finally was doing something right...but then I called for scouts to pick them up as new recruits and they took them to a cell until Darius came for them."

Gus picks up, "We weren't OK with this – we'd thought he was our friend, and Hunter kinda figured out this wasn't his best move. He'd seen what it was like to have a team and so he helped break us free from the airship. Darius landed, told us there were enough recruits, and let us go. Willow invited Hunter back to the team on his next day off. We'd had fun with the flier derby match – when he was just being a kid, everybody had a good time."

"Sure surprised me to hear they'd been playing with him," Luz says. "Wasn't exactly something I expected."

"But it's why I call Willow 'Captain'," Hunter says, "She's my flier derby captain and gave me a chance to be more than just the Golden Guard, even if she didn't know that's who I was when I first joined," Hunter says, "After they'd headed off, Darius gave me a scroll so I could keep in touch with them on Penstagram. He said I needed to have friends my own age and connections outside the castle. He also fixed my cape...I'd repaired it pretty badly. That's when he told me the previous Golden Guard had been his mentor. So yeah...Willow's why I have friends. Why I discovered I can make friends my own age by myself. I just...had a lot to learn."

Amity nudges his shoulder, "And now you've sewed your own shirt and some other stuff- you've found a hobby!"

"Yeah, but only in the human realm. I don't have a sewing machine here."

Eda's face brightens and she jumps to her feet, "Wait here! I might actually have one." She runs out of the room and a few minutes later they hear her call, "Can one of you with more arms than me come give me a hand?"

Willow slips from the bed, "Coming!" She skips out of the room. Not long later, Willow and Eda return with a wooden case carried on Willow's vines.

"Tada!" Eda says, spreading her arms, "Sewing machine from the human realm!"

"How did you get that?" Luz asks.

"Found it. Somebody put it out by the road one of the trips I took there to scavenge for stuff to sell. I thought it was pretty when I opened the case." Willow sets it on the end of the bed, "Check out this paint job!" Eda says, pulling off the lid to reveal a black cast iron sewing machine with red and gold filigree paint on the body and the sewing surface, a crank on the flywheel.

Hunter crawls over to it and turns the wheel, "This is really pretty."

"And it's all yours," Eda says, "I don't know how to use it."

He stares at her, "Really?"

"Absolutely. I'll find you some fabric and you can do whatever you want with it. Make shirts, make bags, make a dress, have fun."

He smiles, "Thanks, Eda. This is incredible."

Willow lifts it with the vines and places it on the desk, "Let's set it over here. That way we can't knock it off the bed."

"Now...we've got some stuff to get from the castle," Eda says, "And you're in luck that you're living with the queen off getting into places I shouldn't be and relieving others of their possessions. If you want to get some stuff, I'll get your stuff."

Hunter gapes, "Wait, what?"

"We're gonna steal whatever you want out of the castle! I don't think it'll be hard to get Darius, Eber, or Raine in on it, too. Probably shouldn't have all of us sneaking in, but...well, I figure we'll need one other set of hands, given I don't have both of mine. You coming, too? Or are we doing this by you describing what you want and we get it?"

Hunter nods, "I'll come. But I want Darius with us. We'll be able to get everything with just the three of us. Couple of boxes is all."

"You sure you don't want one of us with you?" Amity asks.

"I'll be fine. Honestly, I'm not ready to talk about that part of my life yet. Wait until I have things back here, then we'll see."

Eda whoops, "Yeah! Let's go plan a heist! I'll get some equipment around. You think about the best way to sneak in."

"What if Belos is there?" he asks.

"That's the best part of sneaking," Eda says, "If he is, he's not going to know." She hurries out the door.

Hunter looks between his friends and grins, "So...guess I'm going to go steal back my own stuff."

"Just be safe," Amity says, "we don't want to have to rescue you."

"I will be. Don't worry. I know this place like the back of my hand. And given everything I know about Eda...this'll be memorable."