Work Text:
Day 5
Legacy
Found
Henry had not been expecting a visitor. People who weren't North Western Railway employees, were not allowed in the shed area except by express permission, which was rarely given.
So when the young woman strode into the sheds as if she belonged, he and the other engines raised a collective eyebrow.
If she noticed the looks, they didn't phase her, as she placed herself in front of him.
“Hello Henry, I have something to discuss with you, if it's not an issue.”
The No.3 shared a glance with 4 and 5.
“I suppose it's not, if the shed crew allowed you back here. How may I help you?”
The woman pulled a folder from under her arm, "If this photo is of you…”
She opened the folder and laid on his bufferbeam, turned so Henry could see it.
The photo was black and white, and aged, clearly some untold decades old. It showed an unsteamed steam locomotive stood outside a shed. It was a Pacific, with six large elegant driving wheels, a curved running board and an older style cab.
One could have been forgiven for mistaking this engine for a picture of Gordon in his earliest days, but Henry knew even before his eyes swept over it that the firebox was too small, to have ever been the number 4…or to have produced enough steam on anything but welsh coal.
His eyes swung to meet the woman's, the exact same shade of brown as his.
The North Western had precious few photos of him before his rebuild, and none so clear as this. But that shed was nowhere on Sodor, nor anywhere near he would wager.
The two stared at each other, both with impassive expressions.
“I have a question for you.” He finally said.
A small sad smile played on her lips, “I think you already know the answer.”
“Tell me Sister,” he said, “was he as poor a father as an engine builder?”
***
“I spent the last five years tracking him down,” Mara said, sat crosslegged on his bufferbeam. “Trying to find any lead I could.”
She shook her head, “it was like trying to catch the shadow of a light. Name after name, town after town, all abandoned at a whim, just like us.”
She looked down, “I never found him, the trail went cold after the police broke up a bar fight in Avondale… I had almost given up when our grandparents found me.”
She fidgeted with the edges of the folder, wrinkling it, “They hadn't been told about me, they'd been looking for their son, when they heard about a young woman looking for him, and out two and two together.”
She looked up at her locomotive sibling.
“They wanted to come see you, but I asked to come first to make sure we were welcome… that you wanted anything to do with us.”
“I'll have the day set aside for them,” Henry promised.
She smiled up at him, “they didn't have much from him. He apparently didn't like being tied down to any one place would you believe it?”
Henry wasn't the only engine that snorted.
“But they had this picture,” She continued, “he'd left it in a trunk at their house, with a journal he'd kept while building you... They only opened it when it became clear he wasn't coming back. They tried finding you after but…”
“Truing to find a one off failed locomotive thirty years after the fact would have been nearly impossible even before rebuild.” Henry guessed.
Mara nodded, “I couldn't shake the feeling I recognized you though. I finally remembered the books Mam used to read me as a kid…”
“Of course,” Edward realized, “they have your old shape in them.”
“The stories lined up, I managed to contact the Reverend, who put me in contact with the North Western. They were able to match the journal to the little documentation they had for your sale.”
Henry was quiet for a moment, "do you think he knew about you?”
Mara crossed her arms, a frustrated expression on her face, “I have no idea, he left the day after Mam found out, so she never got the chance to tell him. Maybe he figured it out and left, or he just had the worst timing of his life…I guess it doesn't matter,” she scoffed, “best anyone can figure he was dead face down in a ditch seven years ago.”
“It matters,” Henry rumbled gently, “because it hurts you. That's reason enough for it to matter.”
She wiped her face with her sleeve, “it's not we can ask him Henry. He's long gone, and the knowledge with him.”
He smiled gently at her, “you're on Sodor now little sis. The rules aren't the same here.”
He looked up to the turntable, “Thomas, can you…”
“I'll ask,” Thomas nodded, “if anyone can find the answer it's the Lady.”
“The Lady?” Mara asked, “surely a Deity has more important…”
“You’re his family.” Gordon interrupted firmly, but kindly.
“Which means you're ours as well.” James agreed.
“You may not have found your father,” Edward said soothingly.
“But you found our family all the same.” Henry finished.
“Welcome home little sister.”