Kapitel 4: Promises
Promises
In a moment, without notice, a huge black coach pulled by six large black steeds came rolling into the yard affront the house. They came from the woods, which were even blacker, except for the snow covering the ground. For a while Shayna could only make out the hooves of the horses and the wheels on the coach. She knew what it all was though, recognizing it from another one of her father's books, one she'd looked at a lot in the past. The book was a How-To book titled in Norticine, Montohna, or Riding. It was a fairly simple book and Shayna mostly liked it for the many pictures of horses. She'd seen a coach in it too, though the coach had been much smaller, brown, and had no roof, unlike the monstrous box of metal in front of her. She wondered why it was so different, but then realized ecstatically that there must be other people inside who were probably trying to stay warm. Why were they here? Shayna grew a bit excited at the thought, but was still very edgy. Her father had seemed rather distraught.
Momentarily, as if on cue, her father walked out of the house, carrying with him what looked to Shayna like a huge piece of metal or wood. It was just barely visible in the darkness, but still seemed oddly shaped to Shayna. He carried it with one arm by its end, leaning it against his shoulder. A pointed part at the end stuck out by the side of her father's head. She'd never read about whatever it was, or seen it, and she wondered about it. Her father approached the coach.
For a while he just stood in front of it, waiting with the long piece of metal in his hand, letting the snow and wind whip his face. His cheeks began to turn red, but he stood and waited nonetheless, not moving, not shivering. He was being patient.
The coach door on the left side swung open on three golden hinges, revealing a bright white light. Two men walked out and down the small silvery steps in front of the door. Shayna saw their black boots first, shiny and leathery, and eventually their pants, then their faces. They were about the same height, one being just taller than the other, and they both appeared almost identical to one another. They had well groomed, curly mustaches above plump pink lips and under pairs of spectacles. They were wearing suits too, and were the first of any other people Shayna had ever seen her entire life. Thoughts were racing through her head and her heart was beating a million times per second. She was still excited, but was beginning to have a somewhat ominous feeling about them. They seemed… Shayna didn't know how to put it.
The storm had begun to die down again, leaving only a small gust of wind now and again, along with a small amount of snowfall. Shayna could see and hear them well and, noticing the suits, pondered where they'd been since then. She wasn't familiar with suits, but she knew they were out of place in the middle of the snowy tundra where she lived. She concentrated on their faces, trying to see what they might be thinking about. She soon began to concentrate on what they were saying, though, as they'd begun speaking and hearing in the dark was much easy than seeing.
"Hello," said the taller, eyeing the gun over the shoulder of Shayna's father.
"Hello," said the shorter, doing the same.
"Hello," replied Shayna's father calmly.
Silence proceeded, but ended eventually as the taller man began to speak again.
"My name is Normandt Smichd and this is my partner Mitchelt Transtend. We're both from Hemisturn. We have a certain business we would like to discuss with you."
Shayna's father answered them in the same fashion they had, telling his name and explaining to them about his home. He stayed reserved and simple. He wanted to judge the quality of the men who stood before his home.
"Oh, so you live out here?" asked Mitchelt Transtend, as if he hadn't noticed the cabin.
"Yes, I do." replied Shayna's father.
"Well," chimed in Normandt Smichd, "may I ask you what it was you were doing out here a few minutes past?"
There was something uncomfortable about Normandt Smichd. He wasn't himself uneasy, but the air in which he spoke seemed to curl in an insecure way. He was intruding, and it was easy to tell that he didn't care at all about Shayna's father's living there.
Shayna's father paused for a moment to think and answered as if it were obvious. "Living."
"Come again?" asked Normandt Smichd.
"Just living. You surely know what that is, don't you?"
"I do," replied Normandt Smichd, stepping closer, "and if you want to continue to do so any longer, you will tell me what you know about that explosion that occurred just minutes ago. You're the only one out here, so you must know about it."
That was enough for Shayna's father. He was ready for them to leave and would make them if they would not. "No. I cannot say I do, gentlemen, but I advise that you go. Now."
Shayna listened in closely and could just make out what they said. She'd heard why the men were at their cabin, and she knew that her father didn't care and was telling them to leave. She was terrified. She hoped that her father wouldn't get hurt and that they would just leave and never come back.
The storm began brewing again and grew larger, but despite it the three men stood still. Even the horses began to stir, wind-whipped and frozen by the new onslaught of cold the storm threw at them. They wanted to go and made noises in displeasure, attempting to draw their drivers back into the coach. But the two men remained unaffected. They hardly had room to care about the feelings of a few horses.
Shayna felt sorry for all six of the horses. They had to carry around a big metal carriage in the middle of a blizzard and couldn't move unless ordered to by the men who were standing in front of her father. The men who were threatening her father. She was scared one moment, but then grew angry. She wanted the men to leave and hoped her father would just hurry up and make them go. She just wanted to get back to reading and couldn't stand to stay outside in the storm any longer. She nearly cried out to her father to make them leave, but stopped herself as soon as Smichd, the taller one, began shouting.
"Well, sir! It's your lose! This is your final chance before we call in our men, of which we have many, and take you down by force. That explosion was out of the ordinary and, know about it or not, you will help us to decipher what it was."
"Ha!" said her father. "You must know something about it! You're willing to come to my home, in a matter of moments, without warning or invitation, and interrogate me. About something neither of us really knows about!"
"He will do it, sir!" interrupted Transtend, the shorter one. "Listen to him the first time."
Shayna's father thought for a moment. He anticipated that Transtend and Smichd, by the looks of themselves, probably had many hired persons for jobs such as they described. They had the resources; it was obvious. He stopped wondering how they'd arrived to his front door so quickly. He assumed the worst, and figured that they'd probably been close all along. Perhaps it was inevitable. All else aside, he thought of his daughter, the only important thing in his life. He thought of her face, of her when she was a baby. He thought of her mother. He thought of himself being with his daughter, as he had been every day since she was born. He thought of her face, her skin, her hair, and her eyes. He thought about what he loved about her. Her curiosity, her bravery, and her intellect. He loved her in every way, as only he could. She was special, and not just because he thought so, though he did think so. He knew it more and more every day.
He knew what must be done.
He looked to Smichd, but then to Transtend. "Mitchelt, sir. Understand something. I want no harm and I wish to bring you no harm. I know you will not leave, but allow me a moment. I have a child, and I wish to comfort her before you, and whoever else you may have with you, come to… take me, or whatever you plan to do. And hear me… I am not asking. You will allow me to do so and you will give me time, or I will kill you both where you stand. Do you understand me?"
The two men looked at the gun and then each other.
Transtend spoke first, sighing in aggravation. "Of course. Be with her."
"You have two minutes," added Smichd, clearly unused to being threatened.
"Good." He turned and walked in Shayna's direction.
Shayna couldn't wait any longer. She ran out to him and embraced him right in front of the house, not far from the two other men. The storm whipped around snow and ice, so that they needed to nearly yell to hear one another.
"Papa! What's happening?!"
"Shayna, you need to do as I said before," he whispered in her ear, hugging her tightly. "Go to the tracks, follow them till you find the train and take it south. Do you understand?"
"Papa, no!" she was crying now. She couldn't imagine leaving him.
"Shayna, there's no time. These men have come to take me somewhere, but I promise I will come find you! Here," he pulled a folded slip of paper he'd been saving for the right moment out of his pocket. He put it in Shayna's pocket. The time had come much sooner than he'd anticipated, but come nonetheless. It was saddening for him, but he didn't cry. He had to get his daughter out before the two men brought however many others with them. It was all happening so unexpectedly; he could hardly believe it. Hardly think. Whatever happened, he was determined to find his daughter again, and continued to speak with her, giving her further instruction.
"Find your way to that address, little one. The one on the note. You can, you're more than smart enough for it, and I've already explained to you what the numbers mean. I know you can find your way, but you must leave now."
Shayna started crying, the tears nearly freezing as soon as they were formed. Her face was pale and her eyes gleamed bright blue, despite the dark. Her blonde hair was sticking messily and was hanging down her shoulders and back in a sort of frenzy. She was terrified, but still tried to listen to her father, as she always had. Still, she couldn't help but to protest.
"Papa, no! Don't leave!" Shayna wrapped herself around him.
"Shayna!" said her father, pushing her away. "Listen to me! Go! I will meet you there, trust me! I promise you. Now go!" He shouted in her ear, kissed her on her forehead, and pushed her away.
Shayna began to back away. She took one last look at her father.
"Go, Shayna! Remember what I promised you! GOOOOO!!!"
Shayna turned around and ran, sprinting past the side of the cabin she'd been hiding at. Smichd and Transtend saw this and began to call for their men furiously. They hadn't said that she could leave.
"COME ON!" Normandt Smichd yelled. "ALL OF YOU!! SEIZE THIS MAN HERE AND FOLLOW HIS DAUGHTER! SHE'S JUST RAN PAST THE CABIN, TO THE EAST! GO!"
Shayna looked back, hearing the strange man's voice. She couldn't hear what he said, but could see some kind of movement. It was dark and she couldn't tell what it was. She worried about her father. She could hardly see anything anymore and the storm raged onward, pounding her with snow and hail. She turned around and ran faster in the opposite direction of the cabin, leaving her father like he'd said to. She kept going, blind and scared. She cried more and more heavily and began to trip over herself in the snow, which had piled up to the height of her shins. She picked herself up every time and kept going, holding on to the last words her father had said to her. He would meet up with her, he'd promised. She had to get through the storm and on the train. All she had to do was to listen to her father and it would all be fine, and she'd see him soon. She held onto the idea that what was happening was only temporary, that she and her father could see each other if she just listened. She ran faster and faster and stopped tripping, gaining her step back again. There would be no obstacles in her way. In the direction she was going the forest ended quickly and what remained was nothing more than a huge snow-filled wasteland. She kept going, without pause, her mind set on what she had to do.
"Find the train, find the address, find Papa, she thought. Find the train, find the address, find Papa." She repeated it to herself in her mind, attempting to rid herself of any doubt of his promise. She had to trust him, had to listen. It was vital, the most important thing in the world, the only thing that would matter. She had to remember his promise. She had to push on, even through the harshness of the storm before her. She couldn't think any differently; she couldn't handle it. And she feared that if she did, she wouldn't be able to make it.
All at once, there was a loud bang from behind her. One huge popping sound resembling nothing she'd ever heard before…and then nothing. Shayna slowed down and turned around. She couldn't see anything but the gusting snow directly in front of her face. The wind howled, uncaringly. An eerie feeling crept inside her and it seemed like a huge omen had just begun to hang itself around her neck, like her body weighed twice what it had a moment earlier. The dome of the sky above her remained invisible in the night, hidden behind storm clouds and blackness. She let out one single tear. She felt lost. She felt… she knew what had happened. She knew, but she couldn't embrace it. She couldn't think about it. Slowly, she turned herself around, and continued running east, towards the train.
"Find the train, find the address, find—." She stopped thinking. She just started running again, faster than ever. She maintained running at the pace she was going for a long time. The rest of the way to the train, which was kilometers away, she let the hail scrape at her face. She let her tears freeze up and fall to the snow, she let the wind push against her and slow her down. She didn't care, she didn't think about it anymore. She didn't worry about it. She worried about one thing: reaching the train. That was the only objective. Her endgame. After that it couldn't even possibly matter what happened anymore. Surely it would all just end. For the time between where she was and the train, that was the sum of her existing. Run to the train, and that was it. She saw and felt everything else, but it wasn't real. It couldn't be real, because it couldn't stop her. She ran faster and faster through darkness. She still couldn't see anything, but knew she'd find the train eventually. It was the right direction, her father had said so, and she trusted him. Blindly, she pressed on, no longer fearful or sad or angry, only determined. There was no longer room for anything else within her, not until she reached the train. That was what mattered, that was what existed.
Hours passed and Shayna kept running. It was freezing cold, but it didn't faze her, didn't make her pause. Eventually, out of the blacknes, there came a light. Shayna didn't notice it at first, but soon its presence was made obvious. She looked up from where she'd been looking the entire time, on the ground in front of her feet. It was white and illuminated what appeared to be several windows made of glass. Shayna recognized it as the train, the side of it at least. She ran faster, hoping it wouldn't leave before she could reach it.
As she approached it, it began moving. Shayna's heart was pounding fast and she was breathing heavily. She was exhausted, but surged forth enough energy to run closely to the train. She was right next to it and it was moving slowly. She decreased her speed to a steady jog and began looking around for a door or something to enter into it from, but couldn't find anything. The train was heading south, towards Shayna's right, and so she began to run that way to see if she could find an entrance. There were lights that lit up the train its entire length and she could see fairly well. The train's side was flat and there was nothing but metal and windows. She still could see no entrance and the train was speeding up. A panic overcame her. She had to get on the train. She looked into the windows as they passed by, faster and faster. She could see people inside, wearing clothing she'd only seen in pictures in her father's books. She saw many different kinds of people as the train sped up and she shouted to them, strange as they were.
Nobody moved. Nobody could hear her through the glass. Shayna was terrified. "What if I can't get on? What if it leaves me?" She thought. She ran hurriedly to the right, still keeping up with the train for the time being, though she knew that would change very quickly. She jumped up and tried hitting the windows, but they were too high.
"Hey! HEEEEEY!" she shouted loudly, though nobody could see or hear her. "Hey!"
She stopped jumping and kept running along the train. She was panicking and knew soon she wouldn't be able to keep up with the train. It would leave her and she would be left for the storm in the dark. She ran back away from the train and began jumping and yelling. She hoped somebody would see her. The storm was still present and thousands of tiny snowflakes and pieces of hail obscured her from sight. She yelled loudly.
"HEEEEY! Out here! Look at me!" She stopped running and dropped on her knees. "Come back, don't leave!" It was hopeless. There was no way they would see her. She sunk down to her knees, looking down. She held out her hands, which were freezing cold. Snow sprinkled on top of her palms, though she couldn't feel it. Her hands were so cold, her body numb. She was on the verge of crying, but was overcome with a sudden idea. It was so simple; why hadn't she thought of it a moment earlier?
Hurriedly, she grabbed some snow from the ground and began to pack it in between her hands. She formed it into a ball quickly and tightly. Raising her arm above her head and gently gripping the snowball, she threw it as hard as she could at the train. It sailed through the air, the wind pushing it back and to the right slightly, smashing it right into one of the windows. A perfect hit, right where she'd wanted it, just like her father had taught her. The two people inside jumped when it hit. There was an old man in a black robe-like suit, who had a kind looking face and a small white curly mustache. Across from him sat an elderly woman, the back of whose hair faced Shayna. They both looked outside, the elderly lady turning her head to see. Shayna began jumping up and down again and shouting to them. For a moment they didn't see her, the train moving as fast as it was, but then they both stood up abruptly, obviously noticing Shayna. They saw a little girl dressed in deer fur waving her hands above her head. The old man walked towards the front of the train and appeared to be shouting.
Shayna dropped back down to her knees, bleeding and exhausted. Her face was smudged with red from the scratches the hail had made on her face and she was pale white. She began to shiver and lied down on her left side, watching the train pass by. She hoped the man who'd been shouting could stop the train and would let her on, but she was beyond wondering. She was too tired to think about it and began drifting in and out of consciousness.
The train was moving, making noises that sounded unlike anything Shayna had ever imagined. It slid along, almost silent except for the hum it created against the tracks. There was some kind of bright red glow that was pressed in the middle between the bottom of the train and the tracks, making a sort of sandwich of itself. Shayna looked to the red force, which she'd never been able to see ever before from her viewings afar, between and thought about the stone her father and she had discovered. She pulled it from her pocket, looking at it and back to the train. They were identical in color. She held it there for minutes, comparing the two in a daze. "Is this a dream?"
She could feel herself falling back to sleep and was nearly gone when she heard the sound of a soft voice calling out from afar.
"Hey," it seemed to say. "Little girl, where are you?"
Shayna closed and opened her eyes. The train had stopped moving, she could tell, though she couldn't concentrate on what it meant.
"Hey!" came the voice louder. "Hey! She's over here, come on!"
Shayna lied there, peacefully drifting for one moment, and in the next violently shaken by a large old man in a black suit.
"Hey!"
Shayna's eyes grew wide, unable to understand what was happening to her.
"She's fading," said the old man to somebody Shayna couldn't see. "Get her inside!"
She was lifted from the ground and, being as disoriented as she was, hadn't been able to concentrate on anything, though the last thing she remembered seeing was the old man holding a door as she was being carried into a wide light. The final thought she had was about the stone. She wanted to know what it was, why she ended up having it and why it had destroyed her life. She knew the train had something to do with it. The light between it and the tracks was no coincidence. She needed to know, had to find out what it was for. If she found that out, maybe she could find out what happened to her father and what might become of both of them. She muttered out the word "stone" and then drifted off into oblivion, leaving behind the snowy, icy tundra of Nortisha, the land she'd loved and grew up in, the land that had cradled her and casted her out. Shayna didn't want to return without her father. Her fate now lied elsewhere. It had called her as she'd ran through the storm, when she'd surged forward and not quit, and when she'd been picked up from the snow. She was off to somewhere new, somewhere modern. A place she'd only dreamt and read about. A place that was new and full of things she'd never seen or done. It was a beautiful place with many different things to experience. An urban place, away from the countryside.
It was a city. A city called Hemisturn.
The Center of The World
When Shayna awoke it was daylight. The sun filtered in through a window that she slept on, her cheek smooshed against it. She noticed the warmth of the light and then realized, with a small startle, that she had no idea where she was. She jumped back in the red seat she sat in and looked around quickly, darting her eyes from corner to corner. She saw nobody, only three empty seats. There was one next to her and two against another window on the other side of the train, each red with fat green stripes running down their arm rests. The seats across from her were too high to see over and she didn't know what might be ahead of them. She was startled and breathing heavily, trying to get a grip on herself. Sitting up on her knees, she looked over the back of her seat. There were about twenty empty seats, though nobody sat in them. She turned back around and slumped down in her seat, looking at the seat in front of her. She stared at it for a moment, trying to remember what'd happened the previous night.
"Okay," she said speaking aloud to herself. "I was running… from something… and I was going to the train, so right now I must be…"
"On the train!" said a man, popping his head out from a seat in front of the one in front of Shayna. It was an older man, probably in his late fifties, who spoke Norticine. He was wearing a top hat and had one spectacle hanging over his left eye with a chain attaching it to the front pocket of his topcoat. His face was wrinkly around his mouth as if he smiled a lot, and around the corners of his eyes. He had a long white beard too, which extended to his mid-torso.
Shayna let out a small scream. "Wh-who are you?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, little girl. I should've introduced myself first. My name is Olivert Ganzstone." Olivert extended his lanky arm and bony hand out to Shayna.
Shayna looked at him and didn't say a word. She didn't know what he expected her to do and peeped out quietly. "Um, I'm Shayna."
"Not much of a hand-shaker, are ya Shayna?" he laughed. "Didn't your father ever show you how to shake hands?"
"You know my father?" asked Shayna bewildered.
"Your father? Well, I don't rightly know now, little girl! By chance, did he go by the name of Everburnz?"
Shayna continued to stare at him, her eyes wide open in shock and confusion. "Um… no."
"Blast! I thought you looked like an Everburnz!"
Shayna replied, "I don't know who you're talking about, Olivert… and what did you mean by shaking hands?"
"You know," he extended his right hand out to his left arm. "Just taking your hand and grabbing another's hand, then" he made the motion for shaking a hand, "shaking it!"
Shayna looked at him strangely. "Well, that's just weird."
Olivert put one of his hands to his chin, making a face as if he were concentrating hard on something. "You know, I've never down right thought about it, little girl, but you're right. Shaking hands is quite a strange practice."
"Do a lot of people do it?"
"Uh, well, yeah… just about everybody, matter-of-fact!"
"Everybody does that? Even if they don't know the other person?"
"Yeah! It's common courtesy, little lady! Just something everybody does."
"Huh… well, okay," Shayna said extending her left hand out. "I'm Shayna, Olivert. How do you do?"
Olivert laughed. "Yes, just like that, little Shayna! Yes, my name is Olivert, as you know." He extended out his right hand. "Oh, but you're using the wrong hand!"
Shayna looked at him and squinted her eyes. "Well, what makes it the wrong hand?"
Olivert scratched his head. "Huh, you know, I've never really thought about that either! I don't know, it's just that everybody uses their right hand I guess!"
"Oh… okay," said Shayna extending her right hand.
Olivert took her hand in his, smiled back and said, "Whereabouts are you coming from now? Nortisha, like the rest of us?" He shook and let go of her hand.
"Yeah! But what do you mean by us?"
"Everybody else in the train! Didn't you see 'em all when you came aboard?"
"Uh, not exactly," said Shayna. "I'm not completely sure where I am…"
"Ha, you are a strange one, little Shayna of Nortisha! You're on the Hemisturn Central Express! Now, surely you remember what that is!"
"No, I haven't a clue."
"What? Surely you do! You're on it, now, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I guess," said Shayna.
"I sure hope so; otherwise I'm afraid I may have forgotten to take my medication the s'morning."
"Are you sick?"
"What? No, no, no! Just helps me get going in the early morn."
"Oh, um… okay," replied Shayna awkwardly.
Olivert was scratching his head again, trying to think, while Shayna began remembering how she'd gotten on the train. She could recall there'd been people who'd picked her up and carried her on. She wondered where they might be, and then thought to herself, "Wait… where am I going?"
She asked Olivert, "Hey. What did you say this train was called again?"
"Why, it's no other than the Hemisturn Central Express, of course! What else is there around these parts?"
"Hemisturn Central Express? So, this train is going to Hemisturn? The center of the world?"
"It sure is—thus the name! You're a bit slow, aren't you, little Shayna?"
Shayna looked at him with annoyed eyes. "No. I just don't know where I'm going, Olivert."
"Right, right, sorry!" retorted Olivert, noticing her glare. "I was just making a simple observation…"
Shayna ignored him as he kept talking. She stood up on her chair to look around in front of her, peering around Olivert and his extended mouth. There were only four other seats ahead, which put her near the front of the compartment she was in. She wondered where all the people had gone.
Shayna interrupted Olivert's babbling. "Where is everybody?"
Olivert stopped talking for a moment and then answered, "Hmmmm. Well, I imagine they are in the compartments ahead of us, seeing as we're in the very back of the train."
"Why are we in the very back?"
"Well, I dunno why you are," said Olivert. "But for me, it's what my ticket said. It has some numbers on it and it said to sit in this seat, so here I am. Why are you back here?" He squinted at her inquisitively.
Shayna sighed and put her hands up to her temples, rubbing her forehead like a stressed adult. "Olivert, I don't know where I am! How should I know how I got here?"
"Oh, right," he replied, once again scratching his head. "That's a good reason to not know, I s'pose."
Shayna was growing impatient with Olivert. "Look… can you help me find the people who brought me in here? I can't remember a thing; maybe they can help me figure out how I wound up here."
Olivert responded a little uncertainly. "Well, I s'pose so. I think I remember what they look like, so it shouldn't be too difficult. Then again, there are twenty different compartments like this one, 'cept most are full."
"Twenty?!" said Shayna surprised. "Well, how much time 'til we get to Hemisturn?"
"Oh, I'd say we'll be there in about…" he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a large golden clock that was attached to the pocket by a lengthy gold chain. "Two minutes."
Shayna stared at the clock for a moment, the likes of which she had never seen before. It was spherical and shining brightly, which distracted her for a moment, though she managed to concentrate on what she'd been asking him before.
"Two minutes?! Olivert, that's not enough time! We need to go now or I'll never figure out what's going on!"
"Well, we can't go while the train is moving, little Shayna! That would be impractical."
"Impractical… what are you talking about?"
"What are you talking about?" pointed Olivert accusingly. "We can't leave the train while it's moving! We'd be splattered!"
"The train?" questioned Shayna. "No, we're not leaving the train, Olivert! I mean you need to help me find whoever brought me here before the train stops moving."
"Ooooooh!" said Olivert, finally understanding. "I was beginning to wonder about you! You are a strange child, you are!" he said nodding his head up and down as if confirming it to himself.
Even without having met any others in her life, she was baffled by how bizarre she knew Olivert was. "I'm strange?!" she started. "What about… you're being… nevermind! Can you please just show me who brought me here?"
"Why, yes I can, little Shayna of Nortisha! Why didn't you just ask? We've only got a couple minutes before we reach the station! Come on, we best be going quickly now!"
Shayna stared at him, mouth gapping as he stood up. She couldn't believe him.
"Come on, get up! No time to waste!" He beckoned to her, holding a brown cane with a white handle in his hand, which she hadn't noticed before. "Time is short!" He hit a button on the side of a metal door with the handle of his cane, which caused the door to open.
Shayna was amazed by it. "How did you do that?"
"Come on, Shayna!" said Olivert, moving faster than what Shayna would have guessed he could have. "We haven't time to waste!"
Shayna passed quickly through the opening where the metal door had been, looking back to keep her eye on it until the door finally filled the space it had occupied before.
"Wow…" Shayna looked to Olivert, who was already half way through the new compartment and who'd passed a dozen or so people who were seated within it.
"Nope, not here! Shayna, hurry up!" he yelled back to her.
Shayna ran closer to him and watched him open the next door in the same fashion. They entered through again and let the door shut itself automatically. Shayna watched Olivert as he scanned the seats ahead for the people who'd brought Shayna into the train, leaning on his cane all the while.
Shayna noticed the red strip of carpet that lied between the aisles and extended straight to the next compartment and further. There were lights hanging on the ceilings too, glowing green, red, and white. Shayna was amazed at how many there were and at how beautifully they were lighting up the train. She stopped following Olivert and looked up and around the entire compartment. She was compelled and found herself wondering about how the lights could operate and shine so brightly. They looked just like the lights that covered The Viendas in her father's book.
Then it hit her. "Papa! She thought. Find train, find address, find Papa!" She remembered what she was supposed to do.
"Olivert," Shayna yelled. "Olivert, nevermind! I remember! Slow down!"
It was no use. Olivert kept going, mumbling to himself about something. "Shayna, come on! We're nearly there!"
"Olivert, wait—"
It was too late, though. Olivert was already on his way through the next door, having already pressed the button to open it. Shayna ran faster, reaching the door just before it closed. She continued to chase and yell after Olivert.
"Olivert, we don't have to find them! I remember!"
Olivert was already passing through the compartment, excusing himself past two people who'd been out of their seats. Shayna, nearly running into them, passed them too and kept following Olivert. She looked at the two persons as she walked by, one being a man and one a woman. She saw they were both wearing colorful clothing of blue and green, with the lady also wearing a white skirt and black heels. Shayna had never seen such pieces of clothing before. She stared at the two people for a moment as both went back to their seats, but eventually looked away and began running towards Olivert again.
"Olivert!" she yelled, attracting the attention of the people who filled the seats in the compartment she was in. "Olivert, wait!"
Olivert was nearly gone and charging forward unthinkingly. Shayna thought he might've forgotten about her. She stopped running after him and stood in the aisle, right in the middle of the red carpet. "Maybe he has forgotten his meds," thought Shayna.
Shayna looked up to the lights that were hanging overhead like they'd been in the other compartments. Averting her gaze, she looked around the train and began to really notice the people around her. They all looked very different. Some wore suits and nice coats and some wore casual-looking sweatshirts and light-fitting jackets. Many wore some kind of bluish pants that Shayna had never seen before, and many were carrying backpacks and totting around large pieces of, what appeared to Shayna to be, glass, each square having around it a red line, identical in color to the light that was between the train and the tracks. They'd tap the glass with their fingers and then lights on the glass would flash and change form and color. She was amazed by how many people had them, and she wondered what they were.
A few people around Shayna began looking at her, either averting their eyes from what they'd been reading in a book or glass square, or just glancing over from where they'd been doing nothing. She didn't know why, but more and more people started looking at her, some even giving her odd and eccentric looks, curling their lips and lowering their eyebrows. She didn't know what they meant by it, but started walking again, a little scared by the amount of people she didn't know. She thought quickly, nearly panicking, and started looking for the only person she did know on the train.
"Olivert!" she yelled. "Olivert!" She began running again quickly. The door ahead of her was closing. She ran to reach it before it did. She was nearly there when it shut on her, causing her to stumble back a little and stop.
"Oh, no…" She looked for the button that Olivert had pressed. It wasn't obviously visible at first to Shayna and it took her a moment to locate it. Eventually, when she finally had found it, somebody else had already opened the door. It slid to the left, revealing the one who'd opened it from the other side. Shayna looked from the ground up to the man's face.
"Olivert!"
"Hello, little Shayna! I think I've found who you've been lookin' for!" He slid to the side to allow Shayna a better look at the two men who stood behind him.
The man in front, who was younger, looked down at Shayna, neither smiling nor frowning, but just looking. He had slicked back blonde hair, cold blue eyes, and a sharp smile. He looked professional, especially because he wore a large blue wool coat covered with golden buttons from top to bottom down the middle. Shayna stared at them, able to see her reflection. She seemed… red.
"Hello, little girl," he said, his blue hat bobbing up and down as he spoke. "I'm Stonstid, conductor of this train!" He reached out his right hand, which was covered by a white glove.
This time, Shayna knew what to do. She only hesitated for a moment, but then grabbed his hand firmly, shaking it vivaciously.
"Hello, Stonstid! I'm Shayna… from Nortisha."
Olivert interrupted. "I taught her that, I did! Maybe you're not so slow after all, little Shayna…"
Stonstid ignored Olivert. "Nice to meet you, Shayna. Had a rough night last night, didn't you? It was a pretty bad storm and you're still a little cut up. Good thing the doc here saw you and fixed you up!" He leaned in and whispered to her, "And don't mind Olivert. He's nice enough—crazy enough too." He smirked at her, leaning out and speaking normally again. "Rides the train a lot too!" He gave Olivert a good-hearted nod, though Olivert was obviously not the most pleasant person to be around. Olivert just gave Stonstid a weird look. Shayna didn't know what it was meant for, but quickly forgot about it, thinking of other things.
"The doc?" asked Shayna confusedly. "Who's the doc?"
"Well… I have been wrong before," said Olivert in his rambling.
"Wrong?" asked Shayna.
"Nevermind him," said Stonstid. "This is the doc!"
Stonstid stood aside, allowing Shayna to see a very tall old man, probably around Olivert's age, but who had a mustache and was more serious-looking, though not in an uncomfortable way. He had a tuft of white hair atop his head, which became visible to Shayna when he removed his top hat in greeting. He seemed kind.
"Well, I was hoping you would wake up before we were so close to the station, but I guess not!" the doc began. "Was hoping to find out a little about you. I'm Symond Vert!" He put out his hand, which Shayna shook in the same previous manner. "Quite a peculiar situation you've found yourself in, isn't it, Shayna? I cleaned up your face and gave you a coagulant, which stopped the bleeding. Mind telling me how you ended up where you were last night?"
Shayna let go of his hand. "Honestly, I don't remember exactly," lied Shayna, whose memory was coming back rapidly. She was unsure of what to think of Stonstid and the doctor. "I was supposed to get on this train and take it here. I need to find this address." Shayna took out the paper her father had given to her from her pocket and looked at it. It read:
Shayna,
In case of emergency, go to 7676 Knuem Drop Corner, on the corner of Iceberg St. and Antarctico St. Wait for me there. I'll see you soon.
Love,
Papa
It was short and to the point.
"Oh…" said the doc, outreaching his hand. "Do you mind if I read it? Maybe I can help you find it."
"Yes." said Shayna abruptly, pulling the paper away.
"I'm sorry?" said the doc.
"I just don't know you and… I wanna keep the letter. The address is 7676 Knuem Drop Corner, do you know where that is?"
"Oh, oh, oh! I do, little girl!" Olivert interjected. "Eh… it's on the corner of Iceberg and Antartico, right?"
"Yes!" said the doc, surprised Olivert knew. "I believe it is!"
Shayna looked up to Olivert. "Could you take me there?"
"Well, I don't see why not! Here, it looks like we're about to get off, I'll take you there right away!"
The train was beginning to slow down. They were arriving.
"Now, wait just a minute!" said Stonstid, who'd decided that Olivert was too eccentric to leave a little girl with. "I don't want her going just about anywhere with you, old man. Take the doc with you; I have to be here for the next boarding. Doc, would you mind escorting them? I'd feel better about letting her off if you went with."
"Uh, sure. I can do that before I head home. I'll make sure she gets there in one piece, if she doesn't mind me tagging along that is!" He looked down to Shayna in a questioning way. "Do you think I could come with you, Shayna? I can help explain how I found you last night on the way, since you say you can't really remember very well."
Shayna could remember most of what happened, but decided it would be a good idea to have somebody who'd been there, just in case. "Yeah," she said. "I think that's a good idea! Olivert will show us the way and you can tell me how you found me. Were you the one who picked me up?"
"No, that was Stonstid here."
Stonstid nodded.
"He helped you up after I spotted you. Did you throw a snowball?"
"Yeah!" said Shayna. "I couldn't get anyone's attention any other way!"
"Ha! That's resourceful of you, Shayna. Good throw… oh, look here!" he pointed towards the window on Shayna's right. "We're here!"
Shayna looked out the window. What she saw blew her mind. Standing outside, ten times larger than what they had seemed in her pictures, were huge buildings. They were made of granite, brick, and other materials unknown to Shayna. Huge strings of lights covered every single building. Shayna thought they were magnificent and beyond real. She'd never seen anything so big. The city awaited her and she grew excited looking at it.
She could point out multiple tannish and chalky red buildings in the distance a ways away, along with a variety of others. One building seemed to stand out against them all. There, in the distance, stood a large black building, covered in slightly tinted glass, each pane ringed with a yellow string of lights, which went around every rectangle of glass separately. It gave the building a cold and professional look, which Shayna thought was scary, but also interesting.
Shayna liked the black building's look well enough, but she liked the look of one of its neighboring buildings much more. It was a large white granite building and was also covered in strings of light like the other visible buildings, except that it had a large picture on top of it. It was that of a reindeer exactly like the one Shayna had seen, except for one thing. There was no red nose.
"That's Hemisturn?" asked Shayna, her jaw dropping. "See that reindeer?"
"Yes, that's Hemisturn and yes, that's a reindeer there! Beautiful this time of year," commented Stonstid.
"Yeah," said Shayna gazing. "It's great! Except… reindeer have red noses."
Stonstid sort of snorted. "No they don't, little girl! What gives you that idea?"
"Yes they do!" retorted Shayna. "I've seen one!"
"Oh, okay!" said Stonstid, clearly not believing Shayna.
Shayna was beginning to become frustrated. After all, what did Stonstid know about reindeer? "Have you even ever seen one?"
Stonstid just nodded and said, "Yeah, there's one right there." He pointed at the reindeer at the top of the building.
"No! I mean a real reindeer"
Stonstid shook his head. "Little girl, I can't say I have. But neither have you."
"Why don't you believe me?" asked Shayna.
"They're not real," he replied.
Shayna squinted at him. "Yes, they are."
Stonstid laughed a little, smirking. "Okay, little girl."
"Please, Mr. Stonstid," interjected the doc. "Give her a break. Who knows, maybe she actually did see one."
Stonstid scoffed at the doc's attempt to humor Shayna, though both Stonstid and Shayna knew that was all he was doing. He didn't actually believe Shayna.
"It's okay, Mr. Doctor," said Shayna. "It doesn't matter if you believe me. I know what I saw." And with that none of them had another word to say, until Shayna began asking more questions.
Shayna thought a moment more about Hemisturn and then asked, "Are the lights for…?
"—Nothing other than Et Fenisted Patrinnot!" answered the doc. "Surely you've heard about that from wherever you come from, Shayna?"
"Yeah…" said Shayna, distracted. "I have actually. Is The Holy Week this week?"
"Oh, no, no!" said the doctor, furrowing his brows, finally understanding just how little Shayna really knew of Hemisturn. "That'll be next month around this time. It begins the end of the month and lasts seven days. December 21st to 28th. You haven't celebrated it, have you?"
Shayna shook her head. She had never really questioned why her father and she didn't celebrate the holiday. There was never anybody around to celebrate it, so Shayna never really thought about doing it herself. In fact, the holiday had always seemed to her like more of a history lesson whenever she was told about it. It was never a part of her life; never real. Her father had seemed fond of the holiday, though, so she couldn't see why he wouldn't celebrate it with her.
Puzzled by the thought, Shayna decided she'd ask her father more once she got to the address she needed to go to, which she'd forgotten about while gazing up at all the buildings. She made a note to herself to not get too distracted. She needed to get to the address. Her father had promised to meet her there and so as long as she got there she'd be okay. She was sure of it.
"Find the address, find papa," she thought.
They approached the city more closely, allowing Shayna to see much more of the buildings. A few words created by some standing lights on top of the large building they were approaching had become readable. They spelled out:
Hemisturn Central Station.
Shayna stared at the large building the lights hung on. It was a large greyish granite building, like many of the rest in the distance, and was shaped almost square-like. The first thing she noticed after the lights was the huge arched, wooden doors, which stood closed shut before the train, covering whatever was within the walls of Hemisturn Central Station. They must've been ten meters high, both the left and right door. To Shayna, they seemed kilometers up, and inexplicably large. They were magnificent and awe-inspiring, just like the rest of the city.
The train had slowed down and stopped. A voice spoke from two large speakers in the front of the compartment: "We have arrived to Hemisturn Central Station. Please grab your possessions and exit to the right of the tracks." The doors opened as he spoke. "Thank you for riding. Have a happy holiday!" The speaker stopped talking.
Shayna didn't know where the voice had come from, but was too preoccupied with all of the moving around to be concerned with it. Everybody was securing their possessions and getting up to leave, which startled Shayna quite a bit.
"Uh, doc!" she said, grabbing on to his sleeve. "Are we all getting off?"
The doc, startled by Shayna's sudden unease, responded uncomfortably, "uh, y-yeah. We'll be off in a moment, Shayna. Olivert and I will get you to your father and it'll be fine. Just let me grab my things here…" The doc reached up to a small shelf above his head and pulled out a black suit case with wheels and a handle, trying to do it successfully with one hand, as Shayna was preoccupying his other one.
When they finally got off the train, Shayna approached the large doors of Hemisturn Central Station, looking at them from bottom to top and back down. She stood right in the center of a large plaza, which was between the station and the train. Above the large doors in front of her stood a large letter "H", which Shayna could only guess stood for Hemisturn. It was strange looking, though. The top and bottom parts of it were scribbled looking and a bit slanted, making it look irregular.
"Hey, doc?" yelled Shayna back to the doc who was approaching behind her.
"Yes, Shayna?" said the doc, putting on a jacket he was carrying and fumbling with his luggage.
"Why's that H up there like that?"
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"It's all… slanty."
"Slanty?... you must mean it's in cursive!"
"Cursive?" asked Shayna, looking to the doc? "What's that?"
"It's a different way of writing, actually. It's the same as normal writing, except… well, slanty, I suppose. A lot of people think it looks nicer than normal writing. Do you know how to write, Shayna?"
Shayna looked up at the doc and squinted. "Well, of course I know how to write! I've been writing for years now!" She threw up her arms, as if saying: "How could you think I can't?"
The doc laughed a little. "Well, good! Good… your father must have taught you well."
"Yes, he did!" said Shayna proudly. "I wonder why he never showed me cursive, though. It does look really nice…"
"Well, we'll ask him when we see him, won't we now?"
Shayna looked down to the brick she was standing on, a kind of sad uneasiness passing over her momentarily, which the doctor didn't notice in his haste.
"Let's get going then," said the doc looking around. "Olivert! Come on, Olivert… that man is ridiculous," muttered the doc.
Olivert was walking around busily, greeting people he saw left and right with "How do you do?" and "Top of the morning!"
Shayna was now nearly completely positive that he had forgotten to take his medication.
"Olivert!" yelled Shayna, probably more loudly than what was normal for the place she was. A few heads turned to look at her strangely, Olivert being one of them.
"Right!" said the doc. "Olivert, show us where to go, please!"
"Sure thing," said Olivert. "It's this a-way!" Olivert pointed his cane to the left of the train station in front of them. "Not far at all!"
Shayna was disappointed that they didn't have to go through the station to get to where they were going, but knew that it was more important to get to the address her father had given her. 7676 Knum Drop corner, on the corner of Iceberg Street and Antarctico Street, not far from the Hemisturn Central Station, according to Olivert, who despite being a little out of his mind, seemed to handle directions well. At least, he'd found the doc and co-conductor well enough.
Olivert pushed on left, fast as ever, with the doc scurrying along with his luggage, and Shayna nearly jogging to keep up.
"Olivert," asked Shayna. "Why do you walk so quickly?"
"Why do you walk so slowly?!" asked Olivert.
"Because I'm short!" said Shayna.
"Well, then I walk quickly because I'm tall!"
Shayna just shook her head and concentrated on keeping up with him, as did the doctor, who wasn't in the greatest of shape. He was big, but a little bit fatter than he probably would like. Still, he kept up well enough and soon they were right in the middle of downtown Hemisturn, which was busy because of the upcoming holiday. People walked around everywhere from store to store. They were wearing all sorts of different looking clothing, which Shayna hadn't really seen much of before, except in books. It was very strange, but exciting to her.
Shayna looked around even more, all the while walking alongside Olivert. She was mesmerized and gave little thought to all of the people around them, who gave them all peculiar looks. To the average person, they were quite a site. Their party was an overweight doctor fumbling with his baggage, an overly-eccentric old man with a can, walking much too fast for comfort, and a little girl who was covered in fur and whose face was covered in small red scratches. Had anyone noticed them, they would have wondered as to what had brought them all together. The doc, who noticed the glances and looks more than anyone else in the group, made a comment about them.
"Lots of people looking around here…," he chuckled nervously. "How much further, Olivert?
"Not far!" replied Olivert. "Not far—we're really close!"
Shayna ignored both of them and kept looking around. The stores were just like The Viendas, thought she didn't recognize any of them. She supposed The Viendas were probably somewhere else downtown and made a note to go look for them once she established what it was she was doing in Hemisturn in the first place.
In the meantime, Shayna kept gazing at all of the lights hanging overhead, which were in place to celebrate Et Fenisted Patrinnot. They were of all colors, but were more so comprised of red, green, and white lights, which gave downtown Hemisturn a certain warm and hearty feeling. It was fantastic, and to Shayna, it was purely magical. Despite the horror she'd faced last night, which she was largely neglecting to think of, Shayna couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder and hope as she made her way along with the doc and Olivert. Everything could work out. Maybe she would even see her father that very day.
It was all so weird to her. She was in a kind of silent shock and couldn't quite wrap her mind around everything happening around her and wanted very much to see something familiar. She hoped that maybe there would be something at the place they were going. Knuem Drop Corner—what could that be like?
They kept walking and soon the faces of curious bystanders and pedestrians disappeared along with the rest of downtown. They weren't far from it, but soon approached a small suburb with houses lining the street they were on, which had other streets that interjected between it, leading to even more streets with even more houses. Each house was decorated colorfully in lights, with few which were not. Shayna wondered how all of it was possible—all of the lights. Where she'd lived the only thing she'd ever seen like them was the light given off by the seeds of The Acrynn in The Gleam before winter. Like usual, when she had a question, she began asking.
"Hey, doc. How do these lights work?"
"What do you mean, Shayna?"
"I mean… how are they lit up like this? I've never really seen anything like them before…"
"Never?" asked the doc in surprise.
"Nope. So how do they work?"
"Well…," said the doctor between breaths. "You plug them into a certain thing we call an inlet, which is a big metal circle that is in the wall of a house. After that you simply push a button and then relectricity flows through certain cables—the ones that the lights hang on there—," pointed the doc to the lights hanging on a house nearby, "and then it goes through the bulbs, which are what contain the lights, and they light up!"
After all of this was said the doc was in quite an upheaval for breath, but eventually quieted down enough for Shayna to ask him another question.
"So… if relectricity does all of this… then what's relectricity?"
"It's a kind of energy," he began again tiredly, but robustly. "It's a current that runs through certain metals. We use it to make lights and work machinery so that life is easier for us."
"Oh… an energy? That's just weird," said Shayna, who'd never imagined such a thing, but who was also mesmerized by this possibility of energy being harnessed in such a way. Shayna thought that maybe, if the doc hadn't become a doctor, then maybe he could have been a teacher. One of those non-parent ones, like her father had told her about, because it seemed like he really liked to explain things, which Shayna didn't mind at all.
The doc laughed a little. "Yes, but very useful! Olivert, how much longer now?"
"Not much!" said Olivert, still powering along as quickly as ever. "Nearly there!"
"Okay…" said the doc, nearly winded from talking.
Shayna decided to let him catch his breath and continued scanning around the neighborhood she was in. She quickly found something she recognized, surprisingly enough.
"Hey, look! A snowman!" she cried out. "My papa and I make those!"
"Do you, now?" said the doc, indulging Shayna and trying not to talk too much for fear of losing his breath entirely. "Do you do it very often?"
"No, just sometimes," replied Shayna, who was looking at the snowman.
It had a long carrot nose and buttons going down its torso. A top-hat finished it off and made it a very impressive snowman.
"It's a good snowman," remarked Olivert. "I've made some good snowmen in my days!" Olivert continued to talk, which quickly made Shayna not want to think of snowmen anymore. She decided to just concentrate on keeping up with him instead of listening to him, though it was difficult since he wouldn't stop talking.
Minutes passed and eventually they were at a corner. Olivert stopped abruptly.
"All aboard!" he exclaimed. "We've reached our destination, folks."
"It's not all aboard, when you've arri—," started the doctor.
"That was a long walk, wasn't it?" asked Olivert to nobody in particular, completely ignoring what the doc was about to say.
"So," asked Shayna. "Which house is it?"
Shayna surveyed the area around her. They were in the middle of a four-way intersection, which appeared very strange to Shayna. There were signs with triangles on each corner, each one with the word "Parta" written on them, which was Norticine for stop. Shayna thought it would be odd for a sign to tell them exactly where and when to stop, but then again she'd never even seen a sign before! She supposed it might not actually be telling them to stop, but then again she didn't really know. She would've asked the doctor about it if she wouldn't have seen a sign right next to one of the signs, the one across from them on the other side of the street, which read: Antarctico Street.
"Hey! There's Antarctico Street! That must mean that this other street is Iceberg Street! Olivert, you got us here!" exclaimed Shayna.
The doc commented, "Well, Shayna, looks like you're quite the reader! You're right. Good job, Olivert."
"Yup, no problem. Told ya I knew where it was, didn't I?"
Shayna and the doc gave Olivert a look, but didn't answer him.
"What—you didn't believe me?"
"Oh, no, Olivert," said Shayna innocently. "We believed you."
The doc nodded with an "Oh, yes. Completely," though he'd doubted that Olivert had actually known the way and was relieved that they'd actually made it to the correct place.
"Oh," said Olivert. "Good! Never doubted that you did! Anyways… Um, it's… that building!" Olivert pointed in the direction of a large, dark brick building in the distance, which was old with many windows. It also had a lot of yard space between itself and the rest of the neighborhood surrounding it. No lights hung from its roof.
"You're sure, Olivert?" asked the doc. "You'd have an awfully good memory to remember it just by the numbers, my friend!"
"Well, I don't just remember it for the numbers, doc! I grew up there!"
"You grew up… in there?" asked Shayna. It didn't look like any of the other homes around her and it seemed strange to her that anybody would have grown up there.
"Of course! It's the Northern Orphanage of Hemisturn! A lot of people grow up there."
The doc looked down to his feet, taking off his glasses and rubbing his temple with one hand. "Oh, my…" He had a saddened expression on his face.
"What is it, what's the big deal?" Shayna asked the doctor.
The doctor looked at her sully, grieved that he'd have to be the one to tell her what had happened.
"What?" asked Shayna, looking up to the doc?"
"Shayna… do you know what an orphanage is?"
"Kind of… I've read about them. I know there are kids there! What's so bad about that? I've never seen another kid before. It's always just been my papa and I!"
"Yes, there are kids there," said the doc. "But do you know why they're there?"
Shayna looked at him for a moment, thinking. She shook her head a little. "No."
The doc sighed. "They're there because they don't have a family—well, parents. They have a family, but at the orphanage. Right, Olivert?"
"Yeah, I had a great family!" said Olivert, unreassuringly.
"Right, but I think, Shayna… your father may have wanted you to go here…"
"Well… why? Isn't he going to come and get me?"
The doc sighed again and shook his head. "It doesn't look like he will be, Shayna."
"But he promised. He told me he'd come and get me!" Shayna was beginning to become upset.
"I know, Shayna! Here, maybe he will. I could be wrong," said the doctor sensing she may be growing sad. "But there's only one way to find out. We should get over there," he nodded to the orphanage. "We'll have Olivert take us, come on." The doc extended out his hand to Shayna.
Shayna looked at him and eventually held his hand.
"Alright!" said Olivert. "Let's get over there." He chugged on, but the doc and Shayna held back a little, taking their time. Shayna was too afraid to discover what truth could lie within the orphanage. She just wanted to go back to her little cabin in the woods and see her father, but she knew she couldn't. Those two men—Transtend and Smichd—she didn't dare to think about them anymore. She didn't want to cry. She just walked alongside the doc, holding his hand, slowly making herself towards the orphanage.
Her icy blue eyes had, for the moment, lost their frost and become darker and duller. She stared blankly in front of herself, waiting to reach her destination: the orphanage. What could await her there? Her father? Nobody? She didn't know, but she was afraid she did.
She stopped thinking and shut herself down, giving up the thought of reunion with her father. Walking idly with the doctor alongside, she made her way to the orphanage. She stared at the large doors at the front of the building and ignored the sign above, which read out, as Olivert had said: The Northern Orphanage of Hemisturn.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein