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Lost And Found
"You are now a clan of three."
The story of a young girl with abandonment and control issues, a bounty hunter trying to survive in a harsh galaxy while keeping his culture alive, and a powerful green baby sought by the remnants of the Empire. The story of a found family that comes to love each other with everything they have, and protect each other as fiercely as the stars burn.
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Summary
Luz Valerian knows what it means to be unwanted. She wasn't the son her politically conniving parents had wanted to carry out their legacy of maintaining bureaucratic power on their small, traditional planet with its host of Imperial sympathizers. (It's not her fault she is who she is.) All she was good to them for was keeping up the appearance of a happy family, and eventually entering into an arranged marriage for power. (Except she's a bit too rebellious to comply with that, so that's another mark against her.) Except, when Luz was five years old, her parents experienced the miracle they never thought they would; they had a son, and suddenly Luz's already small existence became obsolete. She lived with them for three more years, ignored, unwanted, her very presence a burden they didn't want to acknowledge. Eventually, they decided caring for her just wasn't worth it, and decided to get rid of her. (Because it's not as if they have any responsibility towards the child that they chose to create. It's not like her feelings matter at all.) Luz is sent to a semi-estranged, fortune seeking cousin who has never been qualified to care for anything in his life, much less an emotionally fraught and neglected eight year old. So really, is it any surprise when he (despite not being an actual bounty hunter) tries to seek a mysterious bounty and ends up being killed by a temple of religious guardians in the process? Not to Luz. That's just how her life goes, at this point.
The temple guardians are kind enough to spare the girl (basic decency shouldn't come as a surprise, and yet, it does) and so they take Luz to live with them. It's not a very nurturing environment, but it's the best place Luz has been in her life. Sure, the guardians aren't familial, and there is a constant stream of fools wishing to take the bounty - a Child, which Luz has become protective of over the years, and which is the only friend she's ever known - but they feed her, they shelter her, and they teach her to fight so she can defend herself (with defense comes power and independence - Luz vows to never be reliant on anyone else again). They have knowledge, in which Luz finds her solace, learning everything she can about technology, space-ships, galactic history, flora, fauna, planets, geography, and weaponry. She is determined to leave Arvala-7 once she is grown, and she is going to be prepared when the day arrives. (After all, no one has ever been there to take care for her, so she knows she must have the skills to survive on her own. She can only trust herself in this life. Everyone else has let her down.)
