1.1. A Clover and a Bee

“Wow,” Luna exhales as she squints through the binoculars, “Just…wow.”

“Beautiful, right?” Quentin whispers in her ear. Luna can barely hear him over the crash of the waterfalls. “I knew you would love it here.”

“I do,” her words are tinged with child-like wonder.

Quentin Parker and Luna Bee had landed in Aurora Skies just a few hours before, with only a few possessions in tow and hope for a good future. Their first stop, though, wasn’t to their new home – a small cottage that Quentin had mercilessly negotiated for via many aggressive phone calls to the seller – instead, they took the first cab they could get to the waterfalls.

“So I guess this won’t be such a terrible place to live?” Quentin had to use all of his charm to convince Luna to move to Aurora Skies. She initially balked at how small and isolated it was, until Quentin pointed out that “small and isolated” is the perfect combination to escape their respective dysfunctional families.

“I can forgive you for making me move to this godforsaken place,” Luna didn’t break her gaze from the waterfalls. Even though her back is turned to him, Quentin can tell she is smiling.

Luna finally stops taking in the scenery, and turns to look at her boyfriend.  “We can live a normal life here?” It’s not a statement, but a question.

“Of course,” Quentin smiles, “we’ll have a house and 2.5 kids.” He grabs her by the hand and twirls her around.

“Where will the half child come from?” She laughs as she stumbles a little off balance. Quentin catches her before she falls.

“We’ll have a very small third child.”

“I was expected something a little more nefarious.”

“Well get used to the idea of a boring life, Luna Bee, because that’s what’s coming.”

Quentin leans in for a kiss, their first kiss in their new home.

As Quentin promised, their rather boring life begins. Although he was able to secure a house for cheap, starting a new life in a new land is surprisingly expensive. At least one of them needs a job, and quick, so they head to the library for free wifi.

“This looks promising,” Quentin furrows his brow as he scrolls through job postings on the dusty old library computer, “A local theatre is looking for house musicians.”

“That sounds great,” Luna mumbles. She’s absorbed in a Microsim Word document in which she’s been freewriting.

“The pay’s not great….”

“Awesome.”

Quentin raises an eyebrow, “and unfortunately it’s on the moon.”

“You should go for it, hon.”

“…you’re not paying attention.”

“Huh?” Luna looks up from her computer, her jaw slack. She winces at Quentin’s annoyed face, “Sorry, hon. I was…ensorcelled.” She looks back at the word document. Her freewriting exercise had quickly become a rant about her mom:

My mom was charming, funny, and smart, but she was also incredibly irresponsible. She didn’t laugh in the face of danger; instead, she turned her back to it, plugged her ears, and allowed danger to sneak up behind her and sucker punch her. My mom is the reason by dad left, my step-dad was almost killed, my sister and me kidnapped–

A thought occurs to her.

“Hey,” she calls to Quentin, “do you think I could make a living writing about my family? They’re pretty bonkers.”

“This link said it would take me to a video of Kim Kardashiasim…“ Quentin trails off, having become distracted from his job search.

“It could be like a sci-fi novel. No one has to know it’s non-fiction,” Luna mutters to herself.

“Why won’t the pop-ups stop!?” Quentin’s voice is hushed but panicked, “Oh god!” He recoils at the sight of one particularly sordid image.

Luna quickly emails the file to herself. She’s unsure of how to approach writing a novel, much less how to publish one, but it’s worth a try.

***

Finally ready to settle in, Quentin and Luna take a cab from the library to their new cottage. Luna oohs and aahs the whole ride as she watches the rural scenery zip by. Quentin, on the other hand, stares at Luna. I’m so lucky, he thinks, so incredibly lucky. A pang of guilt overtakes him, but is quickly replaced by a strong desire, a desire to make Luna as happy as possible. That way, he can atone for the sins of his father.

That night, Quentin and Luna strip off their dirty travel clothes, rinse off the grime, and snuggle in their comfy PJs.

“I just thought of something,” Quentin says as he intertwines his fingers with Luna’s.
“What’s that?”

“We need to break in this bed…”

Luna grins in return.

It doesn’t take them long to break it in, but it isn’t disappointing – it’s a small comfort, like a reminder of the routine they had in Sunset Valley.

Sleepily, they look into each other’s eyes. Luna has removed her gray contacts, an artifice that makes her appear more human.

“I like your natural eyes better,” Quentin yawns, trying to keep his eyes open.

“I like the contacts more,” the sentence is punctuated by another yawn, “I like the gray…” The conversation dies as the couple slips into peaceful slumber.

***

Author’s notes: So I’m starting a new legacy, ya’ll. I tried writing this on Tumblr, but don't think Tumblr is the ideal medium for my writing ('cause I'm wordy as fuck). A lot of this chapter appeared on my Tumblr already, but I hope to have new material very soon. This legacy will DEFINITELY be more relaxed than my last one because I ain't got time for the sort of process I used before I had a needy baby.

If you didn’t read my old legacy or you don’t remember it, Luna Bee was one of the spares. I felt bad for her because she was probably the most mistreated: she was bullied in school; Elysia (another spare) was kind of awful to her; she was kidnapped and almost killed by one of the villains of that generation (the Commander); and she took Crux’s “death” very hard. Quentin Parker is her high school sweetheart. They met in Lucky Palms. He was supposed to be a throwaway character, but I moved him to Sunset Valley with the Bees. His dad was another baddie in generation one (his dad runs a secretive government agency that’s generically evil).

The title of this chapter and the legacy itself is from an Emily Dickinson poem. She really liked bees.

next chapter