For most homeless people on Sodor, the railways were both a free range market and a minefield. The shunting yards could hold practically anything you could need and if you got lucky you could even catch a ride in one of the boxcabs. A driver or fireman's open lunch box were easy pickings. But the workers know this to. Though as long as they didn't happen to have a gun you could get away easily. Most of the time.

The sounds of rolling stock, cargo being transferred and workmen shouting almost drowned out the sounds of two pairs of feet hitting the gravel ballast. A burly fireman chased after a younger and more inexperienced Shale who clutched the stolen lunch bag as she tried to lose him in through the shunting yards. It was her first time trying to pickpocket something as big as this and she could have planned this out better but now she just had to get away. Judging by what he was yelling at her, he wouldn't leave her in good condition if he caught her. So just keep running.

Running through the gap between two oil tankers, under the wheels of a empty car and hiding inside a open boxcar. She managed to lose him for a few precious seconds. Taking this time to catch her breath and plan her escape. While she had managed to lose him, she was sure he had seen the direction she ran and would be on top of her if she didn't move soon.

'Way, way to close, now what? Need to get out of the yard, back to town, forest is safety. Try to make a run for it? To far, tired. Maybe I co-'

Whatever her thought were they broke as she heard the same voice calling out to her. Her time was up and he was alarmingly close. She needed somewhere to hide until he went away for good. But she'd only have a few seconds to hide once she ran. But outside the boxcar there weren't any good hiding places, just open track. Except a blue tender engine sitting on a nearby siding.

"Wait, that could work. Sprint and hide somewhere." She was about to make an immediate run for it but she took a second glance and hesitated. "Damm, it's a living machine." Shale didn't have much experience with living machines but they couldn't be that bad compared to the guy stalking her now. "So I guess I'll just take my chance. I could hide in the tender. But would he feel that? Whatever, just run."

With that, she made a beeline for the blue tender engine. Thankfully, the fireman was checking the previous boxcar and didn't notice her immediately. So while she had her chance she ran across and jumped inside the tender. It was full of coal, obviously, but Shale just buried deeper inside while trying to keep some kind of window open.

Pulling up her shirt to try and filter out the dust she stilled to try and keep andy coal from shaking of and waited for time to pass. It felt like hours but she knew she had to be patient. The fireman would eventually lose interest and probably buy more food at a pub or something.

Oddly, what signaled to Shale that it was safe wasn't any kind of instinct or indicator that the man had left, it was the engine itself calling out to her. Though she didn't realize it at the immediately.

"Umm, hello? I know your scared but it's alright now, Eric's gone."

With a new voice, Shale panicked, expecting the driver or fireman of the engine to yank her out of her hiding spot and kick her of. But when she didn't see anyone walking up to her or feel someone try and pull her out she remembered that the engine she was hiding in was living.

'He knew I was hiding here? Well that makes sense since I'm technically hiding in him. Why would he help me? Said Eric was gone, Eric was the name of the guy chasing me. Must be nice then. Should I just run? Eric might come back.' But Shale never had the chance to talk to a living machine before. Her curiosity won over and she crawled out of the tender and made her way over to the front of the engine.

When she saw the engines face properly for the first time they were both surprised by each other. Shale tried to pick up a conversation. "Umm, hi, engine. Thanks for not calling me out to that guy."

The engines gray face looked down, shocked to see someone so young. "Oh, that was you? What are you doing here? Where are your parents?"

That struck a nerve in Shale, even if the engine didn't mean it. Her response had more venom than they both expected.

Shale rolled her eyes and made a bitter laugh. "Ha, parents. If I had that luxury, do you think I'd be here or are of your kind this ignorant."

The engine was surprised and saddened by her response. From what he knew about people, children were usually very joyful, if a bit cheeky. But this child seemed to be the complete opposite.

"I- I'm sorry but I don't understand. Did something happen to your parents? Are you lost?"

At this point she was just confused. Did he really not understand that she never knew her parents, that she lived on the street? Well that made sense, being a steam engine he probably wasn't the most informed about the darker things humans did that they never saw.

She sighed and looked up with a self-deprecated smile. "You really don't get it do you."

"Umm, no?" The engine really didn't understand this child. She was much more different than other children. And why was she playing in the shunting yards? "But you shouldn't be here. It's to dangerous to play here. I could ask my driver if we could drop you off near a station."

That caught Shale's attention. 'Free transportation, but riding with strangers. Bad, strangers ask questions. Could always lie, no, don't want to do that. Stretch the truth? Better. Wait-'

She crossed her arms. "What's the catch?"

The engine raised an eyebrow. "I promise you'll be alright. My driver and fireman are nice people. They wouldn't hurt you. Maybe we could take you to the orphanage."

"Okay, that is an instant no." She knew the engine had the best of intentions, but she'd already tried to stay there. It was almost worse than the streets. The place was owned by some politician and thus, only meant to boost his popularity.

It looked pretty enough, with rose bushes outlining brick walls covered with ivy vines. Inside was there was a simple cream wallpaper with a hardwood floor. However the children's room was much different.

There were a total of 400 wards but only eight total rooms so living arrangements were cramped. There were enough beds for all of them but not all of them were equal in quality. That coupled with the fact that there were no actual sleeping arrangements meant survival of the fittest.

The food was also just as sparse. They were served the bare minimum and what was given was bland and sometimes even rotten. Clothes were also a issue, they weren't much more then sackcloths. If there was ever any social gatherings then they'd use the state of the children to ask for more funds when in reality the owners took them all for them self.

She explained all of this to him and when she was done he looked beyond shocked.

"I, I can't believe that they treat children like that."

"Yea, well believe it. People suck, adult suck even more. I'm surprised most of you engines are so chipper all the time. Given that your seen as no more than property." She shifted on her seat on his buffer beam and leaned up to face him.

The engines face was somber but still smiling. "Well, we live and make due. I can't fight them, none of us can. But the least I can do is make it easier for the others."

This time it was Shales turn to be stunned. "Wow that's, really selfless of you. Uh-" She had just released that she didn't even ask for his name.

He smiled, this time without the shadow. "It's fine, I'm Edward."

"Cool, I'm-" he get to hear she'd say. She glanced backwards and saw something that made her jump of his buffer beam and bolt in the opposite direction.

"Wait! Come back!" Edward called out, but the girl didn't turn around. He saw her disappear behind a line of trucks but when they were moved, she was gone.

"Whatcha see, Edward? Nother' squirrel wandering onto the tracks?" The engine turned to see his driver standing on the rails beside him.

"Oh, uh. Nothing, its fine." He didn't know what to say and he knew he wasn't a good liar. And even if he did know the girls name he didn't thing that they would find her.

His driver was suspicious but didn't press the issue. Instead he simply climbed back into the cab and set of with the train. As they left the yard, Edward kept an eye on for any sign of the red-head girl. But he didn't find any trace of her.

As for Shale herself, she was already on the outskirts of the yard. Steam from the other engines obscured part of the yard but she could still see parts of his chipped blue paint job and the number '2' on his tender.

Edward was a lot nicer then she expected for a living machine. Defiantly better company them most humans, and a whole lot smarter. Though that could be cause he's lives longer then most humans in general. Still, if she had to deal with people like the ones Edward deals with on a daily bases then she'd probably be scrapped in a matter of days.

"Who knew I'd find better advice from a old kettle then my own kind."

:===========:

Shale smiled to herself at the memories. She made her decision, she'd go back to the town and try to find Edward again. If she was lucky he might find him just wandering the alleys, but it was probably more likely that he was taken into police custody if not for indecency they because they were bribed by whoever wanted Edward back. She started to mentally go over the most likely places he might be at when she heard voices ahead.

"Feet are killing me. This is even worse than having wheels. Maybe that place will have shoes?"

"Guys! It's-"

Startled, she dove into the nearest bush, not wanting any attention. Unfortunately what the bush hid was a drop into a small valley and Shale ended up rolling down the side. She ended up at the bottom with at least a dozen new bruises and cuts, covered in dust and stars in her vision. She pulled herself up and leaned against the side of the valley wall while rubbing her eyes and trying to shake the dust of.

Once her vision focused she realized she was in the middle of some part of a railway. She faced a old shed that was in surprisingly good condition and could see the outline of tracks covered in leaves and gravel. Behind the shed was a small river and to the left was a large mountain. All in all it would have made for a great hideout if it wasn't so close to the ground and Shale was rather attached to her tree. That, and she couldn't be bothered to try and bring all that stuff down from there again.

"Ow, that might have been a slight overreaction. Okay, major overreaction" Shale turned around to see that her entrance made a small hole in the foliage. It wasn't large but it was noticeable. "How'm I supposed to get to the town from here?"

Shale started looking and listen for any kind of sound that would indicate she was close to the town. Cars running, people chatting, dogs, anything. Eventually she looked up to see the tip of a street light over the trees. Shale started to shove the bushes out of the way, determined to try and find Edward again. She cringed whenever a stray branch scraped over an open wound but it wasn't the worst pain she experienced.

"C'mon, c'mon, yes!" Her head broke through the leaves and she was able to see the small town. There were a few cars parked on the road side and some shops were just beginning to open. It would have been the perfect time for her to do some raids but that wasn't what she came here for. She broke of from her bush and ran towards the nearest alleyway. There were a few dumpsters but most of them were already cleared out.

Shale pulled out her knife from her belt buckle and slid it into her sleeve to make sure it was hidden. She practised this so if she was snuck up on she could slide out and suprise her attacker and wouldn't end up slitting her wrist. Then she started walking, trying to spot some trace of Edward. She'd planned of sweeping through the outmost parts of the town and gradually circling inwards towards the more dangerous places like the Police Station or the Farmers Market.

"Edward, hey, Eddy! You here?" She whisper-yelled. "Edward, it's Shale! Where the heck are you?" She began to worry, the longer she and Edward stayed out like this the higher the chances of either of them being found by someone they didn't want the attention of. For Shale that meant any street gangs she may have had a run in or for Edward, whoever made him.