Molewhisker never seen such beauty as his paws crunched through the snow, Poppyfrost was excited as she began to roam around the station. Dovewing and Tigerstar stood together as Dovewing wanted to snap a few photos of this place. In the center of it all was the statue of a Baikal Seal made out of ice.
"Hey Molewhisker, I want you to take a picture of me and Tigerstar over by the statue. Then Tigerstar will take one of me and you." Dovewing made his request. Molewhisker nodded as Dovewing gave him her phone. She and Tigerstar walked up to the statue as they stood together side by side. Molewhisker prepared the phone ready for the picture.
"Okay everyone. On three. One, two three. Smile." Molewhisker instructed them as he snapped a photo of the two cats by the statue. Dovewing smiled as Tigerstar walked up to him.
"Okay my turn." Tigerstar told him as Molewhisker soon took his position next. Tigerstar grabbed the phone as Molewhisker soon got next to Dovewing by the statue. Tigerstar held the phone up ready to snap a picture.
"Okay smile." Tigerstar told them. Molewhisker and Dovewing waited for the flash as Tigerstar snapped the picture. Once done, Tigerstar soon turned to them as he was happy with what results they got. Poppyfrost soon walked up to them.
"See you're having a good time right?" Poppyfrost asked them as she was with Cherryfall.
"We certainly are. Almost if this place has some magical properties and we're enjoying ourselves." Molewhisker told her as he was going to spend some time here.
"Well enjoy yourselves, were going to search up the stone collection." Poppyfrost and Cherryfall soon began to walk off as they were going to look up the stones and jewelry on the right side of the station. Dovewing, Tigerstar and Molewhisker soon walked off as they went to go wander around the station.
The station was busy as it was made for the passengers who were disembarking for the time to wander around and see the sights. Tigerstar was leading the way through the crowd as many cats crowded the stands. Tigerstar was trying to remember what stand that was selling the travel charms. He continued to walk around as he soon remembered where the stand was. He soon gestured for the two of them to follow him.
They soon walked to the center as they soon saw an elderly She-cat as she had decks of stuffed travel charms. Tigerstar turned to Molewhisker and Dovewing as he knew that this was the one. Molewhisker and Dovewing looked at the charms as they knew that there were so many to choose from, dogs, deer, cats, moose etc.
"This was the Babushka that I was talking about. She's so nice and I promise I will get you two of them to hold on to." Tigerstar told them as he was promising that this was the one. Molewhisker and Dovewing were getting excited. The Babushka was hanging the travel charms up as she soon turned to Tigerstar.
"Hello sonny, you seem a lot bigger than you used to be." The old She-cat mewed to Tigerstar. Tigerstar was looking at the various travel charms but he was thinking, how was she able to recognize him so quickly. He soon began looking over the travel charms as he wanted to see which ones he liked the most.
"Let me see one of each." Tigerstar responded. The babushka at the stand nodded as she pulled out one of each in her inventory. Molewhisker was looking over as he was wondering on which one he could get. He soon found a fluffy white seal which looked like one of those things that Mosspelt was talking about.
"What species is this? One of the passengers on the train was talking about seals as I wanted to figure out what it was." Molewhisker asked out of curiosity. The babushka turned to him as she soon explained.
"It's a baby Baikal seal. Baikal seals are the main thing that cats of the lake come to when they want to visit the holy sea. If you come back during a warmer period of the year and take boat rides to the remote villages, you might spot some seals huddling on the rocks. I have family in one of the villages." The babushka told him. Molewhisker began feeling it around as he knew it was now his favorite. Dovewing soon got a Tiger in the name of Tigerstar. Tigerstar still had plenty of money left over as they gave the travel charms in while Tigerstar chose the dove. The cat rang it up as Tigerstar paid for them. "You need a bag?" She asked him. Tigerstar nodded as she bagged the plush animals up. "Come again." Tigerstar and the others began to walk off.
"Now we got that out of the way, what should we do next? We still got a little more than 50 minutes to go." Tigerstar told them on what they wanted to do next. Molewhisker turned to him as he didn't know what to do. Dovewing soon continued to wander.
"Hey look over there." Dovewing told them. Pulling into the station on the track next to them was another passenger train. It was clear they had stopped to refuel.
"That is a spectacular sight to behold." Tigerstar responded. He soon turned back as they kept walking. Several cats were walking around as Ivypool came up to them.
"The station is crowded tonight huh?" Ivypool asked them was there was total confusion. She was looking around for any signs of locations.
"Yeah it is, got any shopping done?" Dovewing asked her. Ivypool wasn't so sure about this as the wind began blowing on her causing her to shiver.
"No but there are cats walking around offering drinks, there are samples of Russian chocolate being served at the station right where the engine is." Ivypool told them. Dovewing was curious as she knew that is where she wanted to head to next.
"That's where we are going, come on." Dovewing tugged on them as they began heading to where the sweets were being served. Molewhisker knew where this was going.
Cherryfall was already there stuffing herself with the samples as she didn't have any sweets for the time being. Molewhisker and the others ran to her. Dovewing wanted to get some samples for them to try. Tigerstar was ready to pay for them.
"Cherryfall you know better than to keep eating sweets, mother told us about this." Molewhisker wanted to tell her about this. Cherryfall turned to her brother as she didn't really care. She soon swallowed as she wanted to speak.
"But it's so good; I just want to try them all." Cherryfall responded. Molewhisker didn't understand that the concept of rationing or sharing. The tom soon spoke.
"You three interesting in some free samples?" He asked as he was preparing small plates of various kinds for them to try out. Molewhisker knew that his dinner was good but he wanted something to go along with that but the guards took the pie meaning that he was getting a little hungry again. He soon turned back to his friends as he knew that he would want to get some for them too.
"Sure thing." Molewhisker responded. He soon took three paper plates of it as he wanted to share them.
"Any allergies to any of it?" The tom at the stand asked them. Molewhisker turned his head keeping a stern eye on Cherryfall before turning back to the tom.
"We're good but thank you for asking." Molewhisker told him. He soon carried the plates as they soon went to a bench to try out the samples.
"I got us a snack." Molewhisker told them as he distributed the plates. Tigerstar soon sniffed it as it was clear that he was able to recognize it.
"Dark. I like dark chocolate a lot. This reminds me of that time we went to that factory that made sweets and we got a paws on tour of the place. Dawnpelt is like your sister but I was moreover interested on the history of the company rather than their trade. I would say they make some good quality stuff." Tigerstar soon began tasting the samples. The samples were quite small but it was a bit of everything. Dovewing was already slowly eating the samples as she turned as she was having a good time herself.
"Molewhisker it is clear that I do think Tigerstar is right, this is better than that brand from the big pond over. This isn't as sweet." Dovewing was already eating it. Molewhisker knew some wouldn't hurt as he began trying it himself. It was pretty good.
"Hey he must be right. But I don't want to buy a whole box. This would be something to hold us over." They soon finished the samples as Dovewing took the plates and threw them in the recycle pail. They still had a lot of time so they decided to wander the station. Dovewing knew where she wanted to go as they she wandered the station. She wanted to buy some jewelry.
The Jewelry was on the station across from their train so they needed to climb over. Dovewing looked at her phone wondering about the time, there was still a good 35 minutes before they would depart so they didn't want to waste any time but they could shop around a bit more before needing to get back on. The Jewelry stand was long as Tigerstar soon found a good spot where they can wait. Luckily the line was moving but Molewhisker was growing impatient.
"Some cat is in a buying frenzy, I wonder when our next turn will be." Molewhisker asked as the time was ticking away. What seemed to be 35 minutes was now 27 minutes. He soon turned to the two of them as he knew that he seemed to be itching to get back on the train.
"I'm going to take a further look around since this line is taking forever. I wonder if I can find a map or something. Molewhisker mewed to the others as he soon left. Tigerstar nodded as he soon left the scene.
The line continued to move as Dovewing needed to use the bathroom as she forgot to do on the train.
"I'm going to look for toilets, get me something special." Dovewing told Tigerstar. Tigerstar nodded as Dovewing darted off to find bathrooms.
"Take care." Tigerstar responded as he held his spot on the line.
Molewhisker was wandering around the left platform as there was a tom selling maps of the route as Molewhisker knew just what he needed. A map to read off of and know where he was, a she-cat was working behind the stand.
"Hello and what can I do for you?" She asked Molewhisker as he knew he wanted to get back to the train and be ready when it was time to leave. Molewhisker decided to give it some thought as he soon spoke.
"I want a map of the route and if you can provide me a map along on where I need to go, I'll be grateful. Molewhisker soon slid some change to her as she handed him the map. Molewhisker nodded with thanks. Molewhisker knew he had to get back on the train.
Molewhisker walked along the other platform up and over as he soon went to the train that was there. Tawnypelt and Cinderheart were preparing to board as it was too cold to stay out for long periods of time. Molewhisker soon followed in as he soon went to a table in the Lounge car. He soon rolled out a map as he wanted to outline where they were. He knew he had to keep the map down.
"Hey Tawnypelt, Cinderheart, got anything to keep the map down?" Molewhisker asked them if they had anything to keep the map down. Cinderheart grabbed a couple of wooden plates as they put them down on the map to prevent it from rolling up.
"So we're at Irkutsk and we still got a long way to go, we're not even past the Urals." Molewhisker told them as he wanted to find out where they were. This was a long route but complaining about it wouldn't make the time go faster.
"Yes but, we're just going to have to wait on the train as we are unable to leave for now." Cinderheart soon responded. She wanted to get back to her knitting as Thornclaw came walking along.
"I hope you aren't planning to take that back to your cabin are you?" Thornclaw asked him. Molewhisker looked at him as he wanted to speak to him.
"No I am not; I just want to see where we are and where we need to go next." Molewhisker told Thornclaw on his intentions. He knew he needed something to keep himself warm despite being bundled up for outside. "I feel so cold even on the train." Molewhisker told him. Tawnypelt turned to him.
"It's just the side effect of being outside for so long. I sometimes get them myself." Tawnypelt mewed as Thornclaw looked at his watch as they showed that they didn't have much time left.
"Okay cats of Irkutsk. We got 15 minutes left, Finish what you are doing and get back on the train through the lounge car only so we can check and store your valuables." Thornclaw announced as Mosspelt soon got onto the train as she wanted to act as a barrier to keep the others from getting passed her. Molewhisker soon turned as he went to Thornclaw.
"I would like for you to get that stored." Molewhisker told him as he wanted to assist him with the storing of the valuables. Thornclaw nodded and happy for the extra help.
One by one, the passengers began to board. Molewhisker was helping them out as he was busy storing the stuff away in where their compartments were. Dovewing and Tigerstar were the last to board with a minute to spare. Tigerstar soon went to Molewhisker as he took out the travel charms.
"Like a place to store travel charms?" Tigerstar asked him if there was a place to store some memories from the station.
"Sure come with me." Molewhisker told him as he went to the velvet Siamese cat that was placed in a pocket with his luggage. He soon began taking out the travel charms and placing them together as he wanted to make sure the stuffed charms had a friend.
"Everybody needs a friend." Molewhisker mewed as the doors to the train closed and with a sudden lurch, the train began to move forward once more. The whistle blew as it was signaling the departure of the train. Thornclaw did a head count to make sure everyone was there and they were. Molewhisker soon went out with Tigerstar as Dovewing wanted to explain what Tigerstar got her.
"Hey there Dovewing, what beauty did Tigerstar get you?" Molewhisker asked her. Dovewing soon looked at the sparkly dove that was around her neck.
"It's a silver dove. A very expensive dove. I want to have it stored somewhere so it doesn't get taken." Dovewing told them as Thornclaw soon walked over to her.
"I'll be taking that to be stored with the rest of your valuables." Thornclaw told her to hand it over. Dovewing soon unclipped it from her neck as she puts it back in the box. Thornclaw took it as they were picking up speed. Molewhisker looked outside as it was going to snow again. Thank goodness they had stopped at that station before but now they were heading into a storm.
Thornclaw soon entered the rear baggage car as Brackenfur was buzzing away. He was determining where the next stop was. Thornclaw was looking at him.
"So where you think we will stop next?" Thornclaw asked him. Brackenfur was still buzzing as he turned to Thornclaw.
"We don't know for sure." Brackenfur responded as it was clear the nearby storm was beginning to mess with the signal.
The train however will never reach the next stop.
[A/N]: Had some time before leaving as I know I want to get this out before I left for the great adventure beyond. I want to get this out for you.
We hit 300 views for this story but we need more reviews. Let's hit 10 reviews before the next chapter comes out so I can continue on. I would definitely appreciate it. Well that's all for now and say hello to Boston!