The minecart train slows to a halt beside a small rudimentary train station made of wooden planks and the sweat of a dozen workers. The bandit's cart is hastily stowed away inside a voluminous dark pocket, and the holder slips behind the train.

Inside the bounds of the train station are several mules and one cargo carrier. They look quite miserable, for there is a two-inch deep layer of snow on the brick floor. The cargo carrier's feet are submerged inside the white fluff. He looks at Derek impatiently.

"Well, get a move-on," he barks, moving from chilled foot to chilled foot at a rapid pace. "Don't have all day here, now do we?"

"Wait a min," says Derek, vaulting over the side of the minecart engine and walking all the way over to the chests. He picks one up and places it in the saddlebag of a mule. It snorts at Derek as another is placed on the opposite side. Derek then waves his hand, and some helpers dismount the passenger minecarts and begin to load the goods as well.

The cargo carrier stares at the mules. The hooves seem to be... sinking into the soft white carpet. Derek looks over at the mules approvingly.

"We'll be taking it all to Obsidian falls," he says.

There is a sigh beside him.

"No, no, no," says the cargo carrier. Derek tilts his head to one side.

"Why not?" he says.

"Well, for a start, the weight's too much for the mules," says the cargo carrier. He gestures wordlessly over his shoulder to where, a few meters off, some hands are loading the chests out of the minecarts and onto the saddlebags of the donkeys. "They won't hold all the way to Obsidian Falls! Their backs are fragile, Derek, we can't just snap them in half all the time!"

"They seem to be doing well at the moment," muses Derek. He looks at the closest mule, which coincidentally has most of the baggage heaped on its back. It flicks its tail contentedly and passes an uncaring brown eye over the cargo carrier. It's as if the mule is saying, "Hey, how about you carry it, see how strong your back is, huh?"

The cargo carrier flinches at having been proven wrong, by a mere minecart operator no-less.

"F-fine," he concedes. "The mules take the baggage. We ride to Obsidian Falls in an hour?"

"An hour," Derek agrees. The cargo carrier goes off to tend to the mules, and Derek walks over to the new passenger. Kaylee is sitting on a bench near the minecart train, hands folded in front of her. She is wearing a ridiculously large teal shirt, and the soft snow is piling up in the creases. But she seems warm enough. Derek sits beside her.

"New here, are you?" he asks.

Kaylee nods.

"Shy?"

Kaylee nods again, and looks at Derek with massive puppy-dog eyes. Derek recoils. Holy Notch, he thinks, those eyes are enormous!

"Well," he says, trying to push those eyes out of his memory, "we're going to Obsidian Falls in an hour. You're going, right?"

"Where's Obsidian Falls?" says Kaylee, confused.

"Just over the mountains here," replied Derek, pointing eastward.

"Okay," says Kaylee, wrinkling her nose against a sudden gust of biting wind.

"I never did catch your name, by the way," Derek says offhandedly.

"Kaylee," the girl replies. She tosses her head back to get some of her hair behind her and not blowing all into her face.

"That's a pretty name," remarks Derek.

"It's my mom's," says Kaylee. A tear glistens in the corner of her eye. She blinks and it's gone.

Many people sucked into Minecraft from the other side of the screen have unusual and sometimes tragic backstories. Kaylee is no different. Her mother... well, I'll let her tell the avid reader what happened to her mother before she was sucked in. I'd be spoiling it if I were to tell you right at this moment.

"Well," says Derek, patting her on the shoulder, "you're lucky to have such a name. It is truly unique, in a strange sort of way."

He stands up from the bench and walks back to the mules. They are now carrying all the goods on their strong and sturdy backs. The cargo carrier immediately runs up to Derek.

"We're ready to go," he informs the blacksmith.

"But we need at least an hour for provisions and food," Derek protests.

"We've packed all that as well," says the cargo carrier. "And," he adds in a whisper, "quite frankly I'll be glad to be rid of you." He darts away before Derek can clout him alongside the head.

Kaylee walks up to a mule and pats it on the muzzle.

"It's a wonderful animal," she says. The brown eyes look at her, and then roll up in an "oh, brother" sort of way. Derek nods and swings himself up onto the back of the mule nearest to him. He takes Kaylee by the hand and lifts her into the saddle, so she is sitting behind him.

"Right," says Derek, turning the mule eastward. "Off we go."

He waves to the cargo carrier as the mules begin moving, mounted by other hands. They disappear over the gravel road.

The cargo carrier sighs in relief.

"Thank Notch they're gone," he says.

It is then that the bandit beheads him, steals a mule and urges it after the fleeing party. Criminals sometimes don't need standards.