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“I thought I would find you here.” Harmony stopped beside Boy and stood there for a moment before saying, “I miss her too.” She sighed before taking a step back. “We’re leaving soon, but not without you, so take your time.” Harmony patted Boy’s head before heading off to the airship.
Boy waited until Liberty’s granddaughter was on board Airus before sitting next to the tombstone. He never left on a trip without first talking to Liberty. The marker, a simple stone, sat at the head of her final resting place. Her grandson, Jonah, was handy with tools so he had carved the few words of its inscription.
Boy outlined Liberty’s name with a metal finger before gently tracing over the words ‘I will breathe’. How many years had it been since she’d made him that promise? Human lives were too fragile and their promises only lasted until their death, but it made him feel better to believe she was still somewhere out there, breathing for him.
“Harmony’s a lot like you. She’s stubborn, opinionated, and every other word out of her mouth is an expletive.” He glanced around the old homestead Mender and Liberty had built from the ground up. When Justice and Hope had been ready for a house too, they had built them one, and then with each child and grandchild the place had grown bigger. They had eventually even convinced Patch to leave his basement workshop and spend the last couple of years of his life with them on the homestead.
There were now fields of wheat as far as the eye could see. Justice and Hope had passed their knowledge on to their children, and then to their grandchildren, in the same way as Liberty and Mender had passed on their knowledge and love for flying and trading to their own family.
He patted the top of Liberty’s tombstone. “The world’s a better place now because of you. You and Mender did well. I think, if left on their own, most everyone would have given up until there was no one left. You showed them the right spirit. You showed them what could be if only they trusted each other. You let them see it was okay to love.” Boy patted his chest. “I was never able to recover the past, but maybe that’s for the best. We can never go back to that time again anyway, and would we really want to?”
It was time to go, so Boy stood. He turned to leave but stopped and knelt next to Liberty’s grave. “I’ll take good care of your family. I’ll love them enough for the both of us.” Boy closed his eyes and spoke, feeling certain she heard, “I’ll breathe for the both of us too, because I know you would have done the same for me.”
Boy finally stood and headed toward Airus. It was the only other place he truly felt close to Liberty. He was certain her spirit still walked its deck, and so he would walk it too, with her, until he could breathe and love no longer.
The End