Chapter 10

On Sunday evening Kai entered the living room of Hendrick along with Alfida coming back from the hospital. In the kitchen, Orm sat in front of the oven looking at the meal he was making for the group and looked back to see the three.

„Hey guys, guess who I unfroze this morning," Orm announced, then from under the table appeared a white weasel racing towards Kai, climbing up on his arms, making him smile and hug her.

„What? Luta's alive?" Asked Kai surprised, then allowed the weasel to sniff on his cheek. „I missed you too," Commented Kai, then Alfida caressed the pet on the back.

„I still can't believe, what happened to us," Lamented Alfida. „I know, that with the years passing by I wouldn't see my mother many times, but I never thought as soon as I would board on holidays I wouldn't see her anymore,"

Kai sank his head tragic at being unable to give her comfort, then Orm showed the senior the toasts he had in the oven covered with cheese and bacon.

„I didn't know how long you would take so I made these, cause it was the only recipe I could find with the present ingredients…...and the oven was the easiest thing for me to use right now," Commented Orm showing the man the toasts.

„Good and how long has it been in there?" Asked the senior making Orm ponder about it and groan.

„I forgot it,"

„Alright, we can check it out," Hendrick responded, then walked to the young lovebirds and accompanied them into the living room. „If you want, you can sit down here and look TV," Suggested the man picking up the TV remote controller to turn the TV on showing an anthropomorphic cat wearing a skull glancing at a teenager, which was talking.

„This looks like drawings, that are moving," Kai commented curiously sitting down on the couch followed by Alfida, which was admiring the anthropomorphic character.

„In case you'd like to change channel, press this button here," Instructed the senior making Kai nod and grab the remote to show it to Alfida.

„What's a channel?" Asked Alfida making Kai shrug his shoulders and press the button to show a music channel, where a woman stood dancing and began to twerk making Kai drop his mouth in shock while Alfida just stared at it not believing the odd scene she was seeing on TV. Kai quickly switched the channel in fear it would get worse to see a live-action TV show with a group of friends sitting at a bar talking, then sighed.

„That's better," Kai replied seeing the TV end and switch to a commercial about food, causing his stomach to growl. „Oh boy,"

Alfida looked back to see Orm set the table, while Hendrick checked out the toasts inside the oven, then Alifida got on her knees to observe them.

„How long do we have to wait here?" Asked Alfida earning Orm's attention.

„Probably five minutes," Responded Orm looking at the senior, which shook his head.

„If they want, they can sit down. It's actually done," Mentioned the senior, then picked up the kitchen towel and took out the baking sheet.

„Good, I don't think this box doesn't entertain very well," Alfida said getting up along with Kai to sit down at the dinner table.

„There are many channels available to check it out. If I would pay for other abonnements I would have lots of channels to see, but for now, one the ones I have are enough for me," Explained Hendrick. „My son's family has more, because of my grandchildren. They like to see lots of cartoons,"

„And what are cartoons?" Asked Alfida.

„That's what your boyfriend commented to be handmade," Responded Hendrick using a spatula to put the toast on the plates and handed them out to the guests. „About this sort of channels, I'm not very good at explaining it. But I believe you two will find people around your age, which are most likely to explain to you that better….or in a way, two people from another time understand," The man pointed watching the guests begin to eat.

Luta got on the table and looked at Orm, which cut off a piece of his toast and gave it to Luta to eat.

„You know what? I'll get you one as well," Orm said picking up the plate and placed it on the ground, then took from the sheet for himself a slice.

During dinner, the guests had taken a second portion and the weasel, which had eaten her portion was exploring the living room and approached the TV, then got up on her hind legs to scent it and moved away from there and jumped at the couch, then tried to make herself comfy on it. Luta spotted the remote controller and grabbed it to analyze it, afterward she spotted the cover of the battery and removed it finding them in it, getting curious, therefore she checked it with the nose. Luta began to lick on it, enjoying its flavor, then from holding the remote controller she marked with her paw a number, switching into a news channel.

„Again for the 73rd time, Ladybug saved Xavier Ramier from Hawk Moth's hands again…." Announced a purple-haired woman on TV.

Luta had her paws around the remote and pressed the mute button to turn the sound off, then noticed the TV had gone silent and stared at the screen to see the superhero Cat Noir talk, then Luta tilted her head as she couldn't hear anything. Luta dropped the remote and pressed on the 7 button to change the channel, then shook her head noticing the sound didn't return, then pressed the information button to show the details to the channel she was in and she pressed on the 6 button to change the channel again, landing on a Norwegian news channel, afterward she pressed the Ch button to move a few channels forward landing on another music channel, which showed men dresses as foxes singing an English song. Luta pressed the vol button to remove the mute sign and raise the volume to 13, catching the surprise of Alfida and Kai as they listened to the music.

„Is it just this music or are they from today all fucked up?" Asked Alfida the senior, which got a little surprised at Alfida's word use.

„Well….in my opinion the 90s and 80s had better music if you want my honest opinion," Commented Hendrick looking at the channel being switched to another news channel.

Luta dropped the remote controller and noticed on the coffee table a newspaper and jumped on it, then began to sniff on it and spread her legs to pee on it. Luta then rolled her eyes at the TV and recognized there the troll kingdom as a man stood in front of it being interviewed.

„I can't explain it myself. According to my father, there wasn't anything in there besides that giant stone statue. Nothing else was seen in there, at least they haven't seen anything in there. The lake is deep and it was frozen,"

The screen switched to a woman inside the studio holding the report of the news, after the screening behind her had ended, then it showed a picture of a hospital.

„According to the two tourists, that found them one of them being the famous fashion designer Gabriel Agreste the ice had already been broken and they've spotted their frozen bodies on the outside of the water and brought them to the nearest hospital together with his private pilot," Spoke the woman, then behind her it switched to Gabriel Agreste, which sat inside a room being recorded.

„My assistant spotted the two and mentioned, that we should bring them to the hospital to at least see if they would at least have someone trying to give them medical attention. I'm quite surprised to know, both made it through this and have woken up from their sleep," Gabriel commented.

„The two found teenagers were removed from the intensive unit as soon they were stable and out of danger. The one good thing is with the DNA sample of the two a laboratory could identify their origins and it turns out one of them to be native while the second person has Spanish origins. The chance of two human beings coming back to life after many years of being frozen is really low. This was a spectacular day for the hospital and as well for our two tourists, that found their bodies. Mr. Agreste after another interview confessed he would pay for their recuperation in a private clinic of his choice and offered an air rescue escort back to France so the two teenagers would be supervised in the other clinic until they're able to speak,"

Behind the woman was shown a picture of the two teenagers Rollan and Gerda lying in the care bed attached with the serum to nourish them.

Luta widened her eyes as she recognized Gerda, then got up on the couch and squeaked trying to obtain the attention of anyone. The group, that was talking didn't hear the weasel, then she tried to squeak louder and Alfida looked back at the weasel, which pointed at the TV and the former pirate squinted her eyes, recognizing the two teenagers on the screen.

„Gerda?" Asked Alfida getting up from the chair making it screech, shrieking Kai, which looked back to see Alfida bow over the couch to see the pictures and shrieked as she saw it really was the two friends. „Kai! Look it's Gerda!" Called Alfida making Kai jump off his chair to get to Alfida looking around the living room.

„Where?!" Asked the boy, then Alfida placed her hands on Kai's head to turn it to the TV, where he saw Gerda and Rollan's picture shortly before it was blended out. „Where are they?"

„Henry!" Shouted Alfida earning the senior's attention, then she pointed at the news, which the man came to check out. „Where are they?"

„At the moment the two teens have woken up and were able to tell their origins, the only thing we'll never know according to both not being able to know as well as how they got into the ice, " Said the second moderator earning a nod from the first person.

„According to Gabriel Agreste, both were taken by the social worker to be inserted into a specific place for both to try to move on in this new world for them. He wasn't able due to his work schedule to give them a visit but assures they would at least see him once due to their high interest in wanting to meet the man, who helped them. For now, they will remain in Paris for a while until they're used into anything new to their eyes,"

„Paris, France," Mentioned Hendrick. „With the airplane, it's about 2-3 hours flight," Explained the man watching Alfida and Kai switch looks.

„Is that something like a zeppelin?" Asked Alfida making the senior shake his head.

„Sadly since in 1937 the famous zeppelin crashed, zeppelin rides have been reduced with passengers until it got cut off. Airplanes came at another point around the 20th century I believe, I'm not sure, but this is the new way to fly from a country to another one. And since they exist, they've gotten better and better. It's even considered as the safest way to travel,"

„Cool and where do we get one?" Questioned Alfida making the man chuckle.

„Oh, you don't need to drive them. You'll need a license for that and you're too young for it at the moment," Responded Hendrick making Alfida frown.

„Then how are we supposed to get there?" Asked Kai crossing his arms.

„Well, you can buy flight tickets and fly there," Responded Hendrick.

„Do you know the prices?"

„It variates on the months, the airlines, the connections, if it is low cost or not,"

„Okay and what's the cheapest one?" Questioned Alfida making the man shrug his shoulders.

„I don't know," Responded Hendrick. „Low cost usually tend to be the cheapest ones,"

„And is there a way to check it out?" Questioned Alfida making the man nod.

„I don't have the internet to see it, but down the street is a library and it has internet. We could ask them there to help, that's how my old classmate organized for himself flight tickets, when he flew to Denmark," Explained the senior.

„Great, then let's go there!" Said Alfida grabbing Kai by his hand pulling him to the exit, then the senior walked beside the couch to stop them.

„The library is closed on Sundays at 6," Warned the senior making Alfida groan.

„Are you kidding me?" Asked Alfida serious followed by the man shaking his head and sit on the couch.

„Tomorrow it opens at 9 am. If you can, while I'm at the work you can go there together and get help from them," Declared the gray-haired man reaching his hand to the weasel, which sniffed on it and jumped down at the ground. Afterward the senior spotted Urine on the newspaper and looked down at the weasel, which tilted her head, then bowed down noticing she did bad.

„Okay and…..Orm…..what should we do with him?" Questioned Kai. „We can't leave him back and at the same time the people don't seem to tolerate his species,"

„Tolerating species," Puffed Orm. „We were the noblest creatures in our time before Gerda fell into the arms of Rollan and got us all doomed,"

„Don't put the blame on her, it's also your fault this all had happened. If you didn't tell Rollan about all these incredible legends, he wouldn't have gone out with her to search for that miracle stone,"

„Wishing stone," Corrected the troll. „Look I know half of the legends I told him were a little….exaggerated, but I never told him anything about the wishing stone. I only heard about that after Gerda came with Rollan to speak about what they've done. Just later on in the library, we figured out, what it was and how to stop,"

„Then where did Rollan or Gerda get that?….Or better, where did Rollan get that idea?" Questioned the younger brother of the girl. Alfida remembered the last dinner they had all together and recalled Rollan mentioning her mother.

„This one pirate lady gave me a book, which changed my life,"

„Pirate lady? Oh, that is my mom. She has told me a lot about you – The legend fanatic," Alfida empathized it differently.

„Orm one question….have you ever heard or read the book of the troll legends?" Questioned the raven-haired girl.

„I heard about the book, but I have never read it. So far I know, they are legends in it about our troll ancestors, myths, and events, that occurred a long time ago," Responded Orm. „Why do you ask?"

„Rollan spoke about having read a book, that changed his life and my mother was the one giving him the book. She mentioned, that this was the book she gave him. Could this with the wishing stone probably be written in it? Or something at least?"

„Maybe. It's possible," Responded Orm. „We can get that answer if we question him,"

„I believe it's true. I'm 90% certain about it," Mentioned Alfida.

„And while we're on it. I want to punch him on his face if he convinced Gerda to join his ideas," Kai announced. „I will make sure he regrets having spoken to Gerda at all,"

„Kai, you talk as if he's taking her away from you," Commented the girl, making the senior chuckle.

„She's my sister, I worry about her too!" Kai chanted, making the girl laugh.

„You're so adorable," Complimented Alfida enchanted with Kai's comment, which made him blush embarrassed.

On Monday Rollan arrived at the lockerroom meeting a few other students and got to the last row of the room to see two foreign students, then he looked through all the closed doors checking the owner's names, and spotted Gerda's, which was nearly at the end, about six lockers away from the wall. Rollan opened his sports bag and removed the wreath, that resembled Gerda's, then placed it on the handle of the locker. Rollan moved above the bench in the middle of the corridor to get to the side, where he had his locker and he opened it to get out the books he needed for the next lessons.

Into the other side of the locker room entered Marinette along with her best friend Alya, which was listening to the blue-haired girl complaining.

„Everything was fine until Gigantitan dropped in and pushed me away. At that moment I got distracted with helping out four citizens and returned to the fight. Soon as Cat Noir mentioned the miraculouses I remembered I left them back and they had disappeared,"

„Do you think they could have been restored or brought back somewhere as you activated your miraculous ladybug?" Suggested Alya making Marinette shake her head.

„No, they should have remained there, even when broken,"

„Alright, look after school we both go out together to look for them. If more eyes look for them, the better,"

„Maybe that will work," Responded the blue-haired girl. „The only worse thing, that could be is them landing on the hands of the wrong person,"

„Indeed and so far the worst person here in Paris is Hawk Moth," Added the brunette girl. „From now on, we gotta focus on protecting Paris from akumas and eventually work on our investigation about Hawk Moth's identity. If most of the clues lead to Gabriel, we'll need to have someone investigate around his house,"

„Just imagine if this really leads to Gabriel. Adrien would be so devastated,"

„I know….and I think if he was aware of Gabriel's deeds, he would help us for sure. If not we can give it a try on Nino or Kagami. Kagami will be tolerated by Gabriel for sure, Nino…..in very rare occasions,"

„We will see that later," Promised Marinette opening her locker, followed by Alya moving further to her own locker to obtain her materials.

Into the lockerroom Gerda entered along with Rose, which accompanied the taller girl to the back of the room, where they encountered Rollan taking out from his sports bag a red jersey of the Spanish national team to look at it, then Gerda smiled and glanced from over it to check the friend out.

„Buenos Dias," Greeted Gerda surprising the boy at her greeting him in his native language.

„Hey," Replied Rollan chuckling. „Wasn't expecting you to greet me like that," Confessed the raven-haired folding the shirt back to put it in his bag.

„I had seen your shirt and thought about greeting you that way," Said Gerda sitting down on the bench looking at him.

„Hehe…..Gracias," Replied Rollan, then he looked behind him at Gerda's locker and pointed at the wreath. „Hey, wasn't that yours?" Asked Rollan watching Gerda look at the wreath and smile glad at recognizing it.

„Where did you find it?" Asked Gerda getting up to retrieve it and showed it to Rose, which smiled and came to look at it.

„It was near Mr. Hemmings car. I don't know if he had them with him or not…..or if that's actually yours,"

„At least it looks quite similar" Admitted Gerda. „Thank you," Gerda said giving Rollan a short hug making him smile.

„No problemo," Responded the Spaniard and packed his bag, to put it over his bag. „I gotta go, I have to switch clothing,"

„Sure," Replied Gerda waving at the friend, which made his way out of the locker room leaving the blonde's back. Rose watched Gerda put her wreath into the locker, then take out her books while the short girl sat there watching her.

„How is your relationship with him?" Asked Rose interested.

„Uh we're friends," Gerda pointed out making Rose nod.

„And how close are you, if I may ask?"

„Hmm…..normal?"

„He's only a friend? Not a best friend or anything like that?"

„The first option I would say. We don't know each other for so long, We just get along very good and at the moment in this world, we're the only ones coming from a world we used to live 120 years before,"

„Oh I thought you both liked each other," Rose commented sad, making Gerda puff.

„I don't think I'm the sort of girl he's looking for. If he is I mean,"

„That's sad. You both would make a cute couple," Commented Rose making Gerda turn pink from embarrassment.

„Probably, but…..now we've got other things to do," Responded Gerda closing her locker. „What's our next lesson? Math?"

„No, it's History…..and you took out the physics books," Mentioned Rose seeing Gerda with a book about physics, then she rolled her eyes and opened the locker again to get out another book, she needed for history.

„Alright, are we going to wait for your friend Juleka or is she here already?"

„She hasn't texted me yet, maybe she hasn't arrived yet," Noticed Rose making Gerda nod.

„Then let's go out and wait for her," Offered the dark-blonde girl and both left the locker room together to see if they would find their friend.