Ofelia had left the council house the immediate second the meeting was adjourned, and Robyn was left to figure the semantics out herself. She tasked Deen with keeping an eye on Vera, which she begrudgingly accepted. She then took a moment to head across the street to the clinic to check on Soliz, and to get a prognosis from Mya. So long as she rested well and her bandages were clean, Mya told her that Soliz was expected to make a full recovery, save for some potential mobility issues in her right arm that could arise in the future.

Ette had also been at the clinic, though she was in significantly better shape. She’d had experience with textiles in the past, and Robyn had assigned her to shadow Mya half the week and help Ester sew up clothing repairs the rest of the time.

Eventually, Robyn made her way to the workshop. Ofelia was deep in concentration, with her welding mask pulled over her eyes as she patched up a piece of sheet metal that was intended to fill a hole in the kennel’s back door. Tilly was off in a corner with a screwdriver, working on some personal project she’d started months ago that no one could guess the use of.

As Robyn entered the open garage she announced herself to Ofelia, who paused her work and pulled her mask up.

“I’m working.” Ofelia stated, and Robyn leaned herself against the wall.

“I noticed that.” She turned to Tilly. “Take over for her, will you?”

Tilly did not respond, as she didn’t seem to hear a thing.

Robyn cleared her throat and emphasized in a much louder tone. “Till, take over.” Tilly perked up, strands of her pink hair falling into her eyes from its loose bun.

“Oh!” She responded. “Right, yes.”

Ofelia shook her head in a show of mild annoyance and placed her equipment down before pulling her gloves off and handing them over to Tilly.

“This piece needs to be six by six.” Ofelia instructed, and reached around the back of her head for the buckle of the mask, pulling it over her braids and handing it to Tilly as well.

With her job passed off, she gestured to the open woods that bordered the workshop, and began to walk down the old dirt trails with Robyn catching up behind her.

They didn’t speak until they were a good hundred feet from everything, with nothing around them but the trees and the trail.

“You knew something back there, in the meeting.” Robyn probed.

Ofelia sighed and shook her head. “I knew someone, that’s for sure.”

Robyn came to a stop, and Ofelia turned to face her. She closed her eyes for a moment, as if searching to find the memories she needed.

“Flint is… he was family.” Ofelia took a deep breath as she organized her thoughts, and began to share the history she had with him.

***

Ofelia held her mother’s hand tightly every night as she withered away, and Nathaniel watched from the doorway. He had been adopted into the LaFleur family when he was fourteen, but never felt close to their mother. Ofelia was the prize daughter, while Nathaniel had always been a runner-up.

Tonight was a night where it would be tested, and Nathaniel was eager to prove his worth. He’d broken too many bones over the years in Black Diamond, and had resolved to make his place before his mother passed.

For Ofelia, it was a night like many others they had already experienced. She kissed her mother’s hand and rose to her feet, and when she met Nathaniel in the doorway she threw her arms around him.

“Good luck tonight.” She whispered into their hug, and he squeezed her tightly.

As she left to do her warm up, Nathaniel looked over their mother’s frail body in it’s bed and felt a wave of nervousness fall over him.

In the cage, Ofelia was a natural. She’d been doing this since she was a young teenager, and knew every way to take an opponent down in as short a time as possible. Her brashness was not always a good thing, as she’d lost to a few fighters who used her predictability against her. Opposing her tonight, Nathaniel was a fighter who moved faster than any other. He was scrawny and used that to his advantage most nights, but it also meant that he was more fragile than most.

The fight had been set up months in advance, with people eager to bet on either side. Both Nathaniel and Ofelia were top winners in their own rights, and they had resolved to earn as much as they could with this fight to take care of their mother’s passing and affairs.

It was a close call. Nathaniel had managed to tire Ofelia out rather quickly, and he avoided her punches easily. He’d seen her fight for years and knew exactly how she moved, but what he didn’t know was how much anger had been building inside her.

She was angry that she was still here in this cage, and that her mother lay inches away from death. She was angry that she’d be the one to assume responsibility soon, something she was never sure she ever wanted. And Ofelia used this anger, channelling it into a swift boot straight to Nathaniel’s chest.

The move had sent him to the ground, winded and struggling to breathe as his sister was crowned the winner. She reached out a hand to him, and Nathaniel brushed it off and gripped the chainlink to pull himself to his feet. He had lost.

Their mother passed three days later in her sleep, and Nathaniel found her breathless in the late night. This was not the first parent he’d seen die with his own eyes, but it was harder than the last. He was filled with anguish and instead of informing anyone, he took off into the city streets to find the cage.

He stood over it with a gasoline canister in one hand, and a pack of matches in the other and was overcome with anger. He had gone unappreciated by their mother, he had nothing but broken bones and contempt for his sister, and he resolved to burn that cage down to the ground.

What he didn’t account for, was the many spirits behind the bar and the spilled drinks all over the wooden floors. It didn’t take long for his fire to grow bigger than he meant it to, and soon the entire building was engulfed in flames- giving him no other choice but to run and never look back.

***

“It’s been thirty years.” Ofelia finished and looked up to Robyn, listening intently. “I helped Black Diamond rebuild but… I didn’t really have any reason to stay after that.”

Robyn nodded solemnly. “So you came to us.”

Ofelia turned and resumed their pace down the trail. It was quiet out here, away from the settlement. They weren’t too far off from the mountains, and from here it was almost as if the world was still intact, and still peaceful.

“His grudge…” Robyn started. “Is it really with us? Or just with you?”

Ofelia sighed and shook her head. “I really don’t know. I never blamed him for what happened, but I never got the chance to tell him that. I never knew he was the one in charge of Claresholm, and the fact that his men have been robbing people… killing people…” She trailed off a moment. “I don’t know him anymore.”

Robyn reached out and put a gentle hand on Ofelia’s lower back. “You know we have your back, Fe.”

Ofelia let out a little chuckle. “My back isn’t the one I’m worried about.”