A/N: Thank you all for supporting this story! I really appreciate your comments. :)

Guest 4: A joy to see that you like this fic.

Firereads: Edward will fall in love with Molly. Lady is referring to Molly as "sunshine" due to her yellow livery.

CHAPTER II

EXOTIC BEAUTY

"I'm glad to hear that she had been long awaited by you all." -Sir Topham Hatt

Doncaster, England. Many years ago.

It was all dark and silent.

There was nothing to see, nothing to hear.

But, although it sounds strange, it was a nice atmosphere. It was a pleasure to be there. Or better said; it was a pleasure to be like that, since it was not a place but a state; the state of a soul that begins to live...

This state did not last long. At one point, the soul could see a golden light in the darkness, and could hear a soft voice coming from there.

"You'll have a maternal heart," said the voice, "a sweet heart that will feel compassion for those who suffer and need help... and all they will love you for that reason... But there will be times when your great motherly love will make you want to be a queen to which all obey... and your attitude would be able to hurt the feelings of those who love you... Then you'll have to struggle to keep a balance between giving advice as a friend and giving orders like a mother... But don't worry... Struggling for virtues is part of life, especially, struggling to obtain the virtue of patience..."

The voice belonged to Lady; the Angel of the Engines.

One steam engine had just had its smoke-box rebuilt, and Lady was there placing the soul inside the machine while its boiler began to heat up. Lady was very excited, because, for the first time, the engineers gave a steam engine a female face.

This engine was a GNR Stirling class 4-2-2, characterised by a single pair of large driving wheels. She had been built many years before at Doncaster Works and was the first of 53 examples. All of the examples had been removed from service and scrapped, except this first machine, for the engineers wanted to preserve her. But they did not want to leave her only as a museum object, but to continue working, and this time as a living engine. So they redesigned her smoke-box and decided to give her a female face, as the engine had many curves and her cylinders were placed in such a way on her sides that the smoke-box resembled a woman's long hair. The engine was in very good condition and looked beautiful with her newly polished emerald-green paint.

As the boiler began to bubble, the soul could feel the machine and was invaded by a pleasant sensation of warmth. It was the exciting beginning of an engine's life.

"Human love is filling your being right now," Lady said to the soul. "All the comfort and joy you're feeling at this moment is thanks to love, for love is the most beautiful thing in life... But you must know, daughter of mine, that love can sometimes cause pain... For that reason, your awakening will be a bit uncomfortable... But don't be afraid... I'm here with you… I'll tell you what to do."

In a short time, the heart of the engine began to work, and soon, the heat inside her was increasing until giving way to a great need of fresh air.

Engines have not a heart like that of humans, but a kind of vibration in the form of beats which indicate that they are alive.

As the heat was already uncomfortable, the engine got worried.

"Breathe, daughter," soothed Lady. "Breathe... Let the air enter."

The engine trembled and, suddenly, she opened her mouth letting the air enter with a long, soft sigh. Relief was immediate. The engine felt that something was caressing her and she continued to breathe between soft sighs until the heat inside her returned to a pleasant level. The caresses helped her relax, and she could breathe normally. At this time she began to be aware of the parts of her machine. So, while she kept with her eyes closed, she focused on feeling her boiler, cab, tender, wheels... And she realised that the caresses that helped her relax were located near her smoke-box, over her running-plate.

Having finished her work, Lady gave an angelic embrace to this new life and returned to heaven. "Be happy, daughter of mine," were her last words.

Now the engine began to hear the sounds from the outside. They were human voices, mixed with machine noises. Some voices in particular could be clearly heard.

"Did you want to show off with this, gentlemen?" asked a calm manly voice. "She's an exotic beauty. My brother would have been very proud of her."

"Thank you, sir Stirling," responded another voice. "I'm sure that the Angel of the Engines will speak to your brother about her there in heaven."

"I agree with you. By the way, has this beauty a name already?"

"Not really, sir. We have decided to grant you the honour of giving this beauty a name."

"Oh... well. Let me think a little."

The engine was eager to see what there was out there, so she slowly opened her eyes. At first she saw everything a little blurry, but in a few seconds she could focus well and was able to clearly distinguish the people who were right in front of her.

The people stared at her in astonishment. Then the engine saw the one who was caressing her running-plate: it was a respectable man of a very advanced age.

"Hello, beautiful," greeted the man with a smile. "You took your time."

The engine looked at him for a while and sweetly pronounced her first word. "H-hello."

As was the case every time an engine was born; people burst into applause. Some shed tears; others exclaimed 'We did it!'; others embraced each other.

The new-born was a little frightened by the fuss. "Easy," said the man who was caressing her. "They're simply showing their joy at seeing the first female steam engine." As the fuss ended, the man introduced himself. "I'm James Stirling. My brother Patrick was your father."

The engine smiled. "Pleased to meet you, James."

One worker approached quickly. "You must call him 'sir'," he whispered.

"Oh…" The engine felt ashamed. "Pleased to meet you, sir."

"Don't be ashamed, sweetie," soothed sir Stirling. "Well, it's time to give you a name. Mmm… I'm sure that you'll be a hard-working girl, so... how about 'Emily'?"

"Emily…," whispered the engine. Then she smiled again. "It sounds nice… I like it!"

Sir Stirling smiled back. "Glad to hear that," he said. "So you already have a name. Now, would you like to ride out there, Emily?"

"Yes, sir!" exclaimed Emily. "I would like to see the world."

Sir Stirling was enchanted with Emily. "And the world will be happy to see you. You're the most beautiful engine ever, Emily. I'm sure there will be no one quite like you."

Emily blushed. "Thank you, sir," she responded. Then, she went out of the works for her first ride as a living engine.

Percy was right; it was not so difficult to design a female machine. And Edward was right too; female steam engines already existed, it's just that they had not gone to Sodor yet.

Just like humans, engines do not remember the moment when their soul was created. Even so, everything that Lady had said was engraved in Emily's subconscious mind. But there were three words that she remembered consciously: 'love', 'struggle' and 'mother'...

Back in the present, it was a summer night on Sodor and a few months had passed since Thomas made his beautiful prayer to Lady.

Sir Topham Hatt was pacing back and forth at Knapford Station. This night was very special for him. He had made the purchase of a tender engine in the morning and was told that it would arrive the next day. But at the last minute there was a change of plans and, in the afternoon, the engine was already on the way to the island.

This engine was not like any other. Sir Topham Hatt had almost spilled his cup of coffee in the morning when he asked for the engine's name and received "Emily" in response. "Do you mean a… female steam engine?!" he had exclaimed. It is not that he did not know about the existence of these machines, but given that they were quite scarce, he never thought he would see one of them in Sodor. In fact, it was almost a privilege to see a female steam engine…

So Sir Topham Hatt was very excited now while waiting for her. "I hope she arrives soon," he said, looking at his pocket watch. "My wife already called me twice to tell me that dinner is getting cold..."

Meanwhile, not far from Knapford, Emily had just crossed Gordon's Hill. She had seen very few engines during her journey because the main line was almost empty at this time of night. But as she was approaching Suddery Junction, she saw that an engine was coming towards her from the next-door track and she was eager to greet him with her whistle. Then Emily heard that the engine sneeze again and again. "Oh... bless him," she thought. "His boiler shall be full of sediments..." Unfortunately, the engine moved to a branch line and Emily could not greet him. But at least she could see that it was a big green engine with a number 3 on his tender. "Tomorrow I'll look for him to know if he's okay."

Emily continued on her way to Knapford and a little later she arrived at the big station.

Sir Topham Hatt stared at her for a moment, surprised by her beauty. Then he greeted her with a sweet smile. "Good evening, Emily. Welcome to Sodor."

"Good evening, sir," replied Emily returning the smile. "It's a pleasure for me to be here. I always wanted to know this island."

"Glad to hear that. I'm Sir Topham Hatt, your new controller."

"Pleased to meet you, sir. I'm at your disposal for whatever you may need."

"Oh… That's a good engine. Well, a workman will show you the shed where you'll spend the night. And tomorrow morning I'll tell you what to do."

"Yes, sir." Emily found that her new controller was a quite kind man, so she encouraged herself to talk to him about what she had seen some minutes ago. "By the way, sir, if you allow me say it, I've seen one big Nº 3 green engine a short while ago, and I got worried about him because he was… sneezing a lot."

"Oh… yes. It's Henry. He's prone to get sick. But don't worry; he'll go to the Steamworks early in the morning. Anyway thanks for telling me. I see you're very attentive."

Emily blushed. "You're welcome, sir."

At this moment, a worker climbed into Emily's cab to take her to her shed. So Emily said good night to Sir Topham Hatt and went off to rest.

Sir Topham Hatt was impressed by how Emily was so polite and attentive. "What an engine," he thought satisfied. "I think this is my best purchase in a long time. I wonder how others will react- oh, no... the telephone again... I bet my wife is already angry!" Poor Sir Topham Hatt ran to his office.

Close to there, at Knapford Sheds, Emily relaxed in her berth. "My new home...," she thought happily. "I hope I'll be really useful here... and to be friend of everyone... Oh, and I also hope that Henry will spend well this night."

Emily soon fell asleep, floating on a light steam cloud that made her look even more beautiful.

Emily had no idea that her coming to Sodor was not pure chance but the answer to a prayer. She did not imagine that she was a dream come true. And she still did not know how much affection she would feel for those who had dreamed of her...

At dawn, the engines at Tidmouth Sheds were getting ready to start their day jobs, and as their boilers heated up, everyone listened attentively to the conversation between the two largest engines.

"I'm sure he's Sir Topham Hatt's new engine. And I tell you that he had giant wheels, much larger than yours."

"First you said that you couldn't see him well because you were sneezing like crazy, and now you say that he had giant wheels..."

"But I did get to see his wheels when I moved to Edward's branch line. They seemed to have the same height as his boiler."

"AAAA-HA-HA-HA! Oh, Henry! Sneezing made you hallucinate!"

"Laugh if you want, Gordon! When you see him you'll realise that I'm not lying."

"Excuse-me for interrupting… We all know that Sir Topham Hatt was in need of another passenger train, so maybe he has bought an express engine."

"Nonsense, Edward! No one is better than me to take the Express."

"Gordon... I've not said he's better than-"

"Besides, big wheels don't make a big engine!"

"Okay. But anyway, it would be better to meet him before you get nervous."

"I'm not nervous!"

"If you say so…"

Everyone laughed.

Gordon was nervous indeed. He felt that his title of "The fastest train on Sodor" was being threatened by the giant wheels of this mysterious engine…

Henry had gone early in the night to take the Flying Kipper because he did not feel well and wanted to be back home as soon as possible. At Suddery Junction he realised that an engine was approaching in the opposite direction, but because of his sneezing he could not see it well. However, as he moved to Edward's branch line he could see the engine's big wheels out of the corner of his eye. And now Gordon was trembling by the news.

As they were ready, all the engines left to start their jobs.

Henry went to the Steamworks and Thomas took his loyal coaches for his first journey of the day. Annie and Clarabel had spent the night right there in Tidmouth, so Thomas did not need to go to Knapford Sheds and therefore he did not see Emily.

At mid-morning, when Thomas returned from his journey and was taking Annie and Clarabel back to Knapford Yards, he saw an unknown engine at the big station. "Oh... It shall be the engine that Henry saw last night," he thought. "I want to meet him!" So Thomas came in to the station and slowly approached the engine.

Thomas saw that the engine was beautiful. "Oh, my... He's more splendid than James... and he really has big wheels... And what a fabulous funnel with that gold ring... and those cylinders... and-"

"Thomas," Sir Topham Hatt interrupted Thomas' thoughts, "meet Emily."

"What!? EMILY?!" Thomas' heart pounded. "But... that's a woman's name!" He stared at the engine's face and noticed that it really looked like a female face. "Oh, my Gosh… Can this be possible?!" The engine smiled at him sweetly. "H-hello, Emily," Thomas greeted.

"Hello, Thomas." Emily's voice was clearly feminine.

Thomas was close to fainting with excitement. "Yes! It's HER! It's a female steam engine!"

"Emily, collect your coaches," said Sir Topham Hatt immediately. "You and your driver must learn the line."

"Yes, sir," replied Emily. Then she blew her high whistle and, before leaving, she smiled at Thomas again.

Thomas smiled back, barely believing what his eyes were seeing. "She's an exotic beauty!" he thought as Emily puffed away. Then he looked at Sir Topham Hatt. "Thanks for bringing a female steam engine, sir!" he exclaimed. "We all had been dreaming of having one on the island."

"Oh…" Sir Topham Hatt chuckled. "Actually, I didn't know it was a female engine until the purchase was made. But I'm glad to hear that she had been long awaited by you all. She's a polite, attentive girl. I hope all of you'll be kind to her."

Thomas was impressed. In addition to being an exotic beauty, Emily was also polite and attentive. That was more than the Steam Team was waiting for. "Of course we'll be kind to her, sir!" he responded. "She'll be our queen!"

"Ha! Ha! Ha! I see, Thomas!" laughed Sir Topham Hatt. "Well, don't stay there. You've work to do."

"Yes, sir!"

And Thomas set off for Knapford Yards.

"This is wonderful, Thomas!" said one of Thomas' coaches. "We've a female steam engine at last."

"You don't imagine how happy I am, Clarabel!"

"I'm Annie..."

"Oh... Ha! Ha!" Thomas laughed with his coaches happily. Then he left them at Knapford Yards and went out to do his following work. He was eager to know his friends' reaction on seeing Emily.

For her part, Emily was also eager to meet her new friends. But, unluckily, she was not going to get such a kind treatment from them on this first ride of hers... Not even from Thomas...