Mister Quaid: 1800s: I Will Always Find You... (WLW)

Part One, 1873: Chapter One

August 24th, 1873, Madison County, Montana

Peter Quaid dismounted her horse and made her way to Hany's side to help her off of her own. It had been an exhausting expedition. Their last undertaking had been arduous, but a spark burned within her to continue bolstering her growing reputation as one of the best bounty hunters in the northern hemisphere of the country. Having actual identification of her US Marshall achievement was something that filled Peter with pride, not only in herself, but in Hany for always being right in the thick of it with her. It had been a long and hard journey getting from her original image to the idea people had in mind of her now, but taking certain precautions had solidified their status in their world and others.

Peter was a man. Well, she was biologically a woman underneath her disguise which her best friend Hany helped project. However, to the world and to herself more often than not, she was a man and a damn good bounty hunter at that. Just as she saw herself, so did the world and she felt whole in the matter.

Their last bounty had hauled in a surprisingly high amount of earnings and Peter was ready to get another load of criminals out of people's hair. That being said, she had never attempted to take in so many men at once, not that she ever really brought them in alive anymore. Eight in all was the number of the members making up the Frederick Brother's Gang and the highest Peter had ever aspired to capture at once, dead mind you, were three. Transporting bodies when necessary was hard enough, but if the man hiring her was smart, he wouldn't demand transportation like the last and taking them to the local sheriff of a nearby town would suffice.

With Hany at her side, however, anything was possible. Since the moment Peter had taken her along with her on her travels she'd run into several predicaments, the biggest of which being those who treated Hany like the slave she may have been and not the free woman she had truly become. Slavery may have been over, but the mindset, the ideology that it was the only just, dignified way of labor was still a common belief in many parts of the country and Black Americans were still treated poorly within those territories as well as some others. Still, amidst it all, Peter felt blessed. She couldn't begin to imagine her life without Hany in it and while her deafness did cause the occasional problem, they had bigger fish to fry.

Hany was from a southern plantation just outside of Texas and wore the scars on her backside to prove it, but she also exuded pride in herself and in Peter. That was what Peter needed most to get along in the world. Her friendship with Hany was her rock and it also helped that she was a hell of a shot and the perfect partner for Peter to have at her side.

As a white man, so to speak, Peter ran into very few problems when it came to social status, especially after the reputation she now held. That didn't mean that there weren't problems along the way that both Peter and Hany ran into, however, they were always there for one another. They handled those matters together. Peter protected Hany from men or women who may attack her simply for the color of her skin and Hany helped prove to the world that Peter was the young man of twenty-seven that she wholeheartedly felt was her identity no matter her anatomy.

It also helped that Peter had taken the time to do all of that physical training in Longs Peak and now filled out her men's clothing almost as well as other men of her height. Her muscles weren't quite as turgid as most of the men Peter came across over the years, but they still held their own tone and she could hold her own in a fight with any man who dared to try.

Peter held out her hands and waited as Hany turned and reached out for her to pull her free from the horse's saddle. With a small nicker, Jasmine moved closer to her longtime companion Nickolas and they trotted side-by-side. Peter led them alongside herself and gazed down at Hany. She seemed in good spirits despite the less than exemplary encounter they just had the day prior with the man at that horrid establishment in town.