(Serious) Author's Note: Thanks to krikanalo ,Theonewhoweaveswords, Don't Leave me Hanging and 08knighte (guest) for reviewing the last chapter! I appreciate the support :)

I also apologise for the lack of updates in the last week. I've been on holiday, and there's been no internet connection, so I haven't been able to update :/

However, I have still been writing this week, so I'm posting six chapters tonight (Chapters 2-7). Hopefully that'll make up for the lack of updates during this week :)

This story has a slower build-up that its predecessor, but I hope you still enjoy the opening chapters :)

Chapter Two

Klaus was tired.

The afternoon had turned to evening as the three children reached the cold, menacing waters of the Stricken Stream. At this stage of their journey, the land around the river had become to climb as the trio walked upstream through the foothills of the Mortmain Mountains. It may have been August, but there was a definite shift in climate, with the air around them feeling colder by the minute. Of course, this was partially due to the onset of night, but this was also caused by the increasing altitude as the children steadily climbed into the twilight. Even Arlo (who usually lived shirtless in the temperate climates of the Verdant Valley and the Hinterlands) had to put on a jumper as the three children finally stopped for the night in the almost complete darkness.

"We need to get our tent up," Arlo said quickly as he sat down to rest at the end of their travels for that day. They were in a small valley, with low hills rising on both sides of the river. Ahead, the towering square-topped peak of Mount Fraught - the summit of the mountain range - loomed over the horizon ominously.

However Violet had no time for the view as she started to assemble the small tent with Klaus. Unfortunately, she quickly ran into a problem.

"We haven't got any guy ropes to hold the tent down," Violet complained. "I used them earlier today when I invented that grappling hook."

"That doesn't matter too much," replied Arlo, who was rummaging through his rucksack. "We're sheltered from most of the wind by these hills, but if you want to be on the safe side, use large stones from the riverbed to weigh down the four corners of the tent."

Violet nodded, but Arlo didn't see her response (he was busy himself). Violet walked the short distance to the Stricken Stream, which was only twenty yards away due to the narrow valley that they were in. There, she collected several large stones, and called for Klaus to assist her in carrying the heavier ones back to the tent, which lay half-constructed near Arlo.

Arlo hadn't been constructing any more of the tent, as he had been busy retrieving some small, green tubes from his rucksack, which he had now lit with his matches. The tubes belched a great deal of dark green smoke into the air and gave off a terrible smell as Violet returned to the tent.

"Why have you lit the Verdant Flammable Devices?" she asked Arlo, dropping her rocks at her feet as Klaus continued to construct the tent.

"To keep away the snow gnats," he replied casually.

"Snow gnats?"

"Snow gnats," explained Klaus, who was never too tired to explain anything. "Are ill-tempered insects who enjoy stinging people for no reason whatsoever. If I remember correctly, the smell of smoke drives them away."

Arlo nodded to this, smiling.

"That's why we're using the Verdant Flammable Devices," he clarified.

"Well, now that you've sorted that, you can help us with the tent," Violet said, and Arlo had little choice but to help.

The evening passed slowly as the three children talked the night away in their tent by the river, and Violet, Klaus and Arlo felt refreshed when they rose early the next day to clear morning skies as they continued their hike into the mountains. With the Verdant Flammable Devices keeping the snow gnats away, the walk was almost pleasant as they walked along the banks of the Stricken Stream as it meandered uphill, a phrase which here means "wound through the mountains towards Mount Fraught." In the increasing altitude the temperatures became cool as the children climbed to walk a higher route by the river, on the sides of the steeper mountains that now lined the valley. It was summer, so there was still not snow, but the children found themselves reaching for their coats as they trudged round yet another bend in the river on the way to the V.F.D. Headquarters.

Eventually they decided to set up camp on the plateaued summit of one of the peaks deep in the mountain range. At this altitude, there was a light dusting of snow, and the children could look down over the steep sides of the mountain to the Stricken Stream weaving its way past them five hundred feet below. Not too far away was Mount Fraught, towering over the natural skyline. Klaus estimated that it was less than five miles away. Because he knew that the source of the Stricken Stream was on Mount Fraught and that the V.F.D. Headquarters were located by the Stricken Stream, he thought that their journey would be complete the following day. He stood alone on the summit of the mountain (Violet and Arlo had already retired to the shelter of their tent), staring out at the Mortmain Mountains, wondering what he would be greeted with when he arrived. Arlo knew what was waiting for them, as he had visited the Headquarters two years before, but neither Klaus nor Violet had ever seem the Mortmain Mountains until the previous day.

Quickly, Klaus' thoughts turned to his father, who he hadn't seen for several weeks. The last time he'd seen his father, it'd been on the day his home burned down, for reasons that he still didn't understand. Escaping the villainous Count Olaf in a car chase, his mother had tried a daring manoeuvre, resulting in the vehicle (and, unfortunately, its passengers) being dumped into the cold waters of the Stricken Stream. He hadn't seen his father since then, but he'd heard his parent's cries of pain as he had been carried downstream away from him, and knew that one of Count Olaf's harpoons had struck its target. He hoped that his father was recovering well. At least his worst fears hadn't been realised. He would be able to speak to his father again.

And with that reassuring thought, Klaus joined his sibling and her friend in the tent, welcoming the deep sleep that followed.

When the sun rose over the Mortmain Mountains the next day, the square-topped peaks had been covered in a light frost, which made the ground slippery underfoot, hindering Violet, Klaus and Arlo as they packed up their tent that morning and clambered down the mountainside towards the Stricken Stream, where their journey would continue.

The three children found the remainder of their journey to pass quickly, as before noon the narrow river valley had opened out into a larger space, that left all three children breathless. Of course, this wasn't due to the exertion that it had taken to reach the Valley of Four Draughts, but due to the picturesque landscape of their surroundings.
It was a large, wide and predominantly flat valley, with the Stricken Stream winding through dusty ground for about half a mile until reaching a lake, half-covered in a misty spray from the waterfall that fell into it. The Baudelaires' eyes worked their way up the body of water until they realised that the waterfall, which glistened elegantly in the midday sun, came directly from the snow-capped summit of Mount Fraught. Around the valley, winds whistled as they came through, almost blowing the children off of their feet. It was called the Valley of Four Draughts for a reason, after all.

Eventually, Arlo brought the Baudelaire siblings back to their senses by gesturing towards a faint black outline behind the spray of the waterfall.

"That's the Headquarters," he said, smiling. "It's obscured from view by the spray from the waterfall, so it's difficult to see from this distance."

"At least you know what you're looking for," Klaus said, copying Arlo's smile.

The walk towards the lake took less than fifteen minutes, by which point the Baudelaires could make out the building much more clearly. Most of it was only one storey high, extending to two in a few places, and in one case, three. It seemed to expand out over an endless distance, as though the Headquarters took up the whole valley, which made it seem even more important to Violet. For the first time since the fire that claimed her home, Violet felt as though this place could become a permanent home. For the first time since escaping the clutches of Count Olaf, Klaus felt as though maybe some of his questions might finally get answered, and he would understand his parents' role in this strange and secret organisation.

Once the building was clearly within sight, the three children stopped for a moment, taking in the sight of the wonderful building in front of them.

"How do we get in?" Violet asked finally, breaking the silence.

"Through the front door, of course," Arlo replied, wearing his foolish smile once more, and strode towards a pair of large wooden doors near the lakeside.

Now, dear reader, you may expect that a secret headquarters in the middle of a desolately remote, or vice versa, mountain range would have a secret, unexpected entrance, and, to a degree, this was true; the entrance to the V.F.D. Headquarters was through the front door, the last place that any villain attempting to infiltrate the building would check.

And so, as Arlo rang the doorbell at the large front door of the headquarters, Violet wondered whether the three of them were in the right place after all. However, she quickly realised that they were in the right place, as the door swing open, and a tall, skinny man with black hair peered round the door towards the three children. He seemed to recognise the Baudelaires, which surprised Violet and Klaus, as they had never seen this man before, but he raised an eyebrow when he noticed Arlo standing beside them.

"Hello, Dewey," Arlo said smiling. "The Baudelaires are here to see their father."
Despite the fact that the man behind the door, Dewey, recognised the children, he still seemed reluctant to open the door to them, so that he wasn't letting an imposter into V.F.D.'s most important safe place.

"I had heard word that Jacques was escorting you here," Dewey said, concerned and quite confused.

"He was," Arlo explained. "But Firestarters shot us down. I believe Jacques was transporting something for you, but he had to escape from the wreck with it into the Hinterlands. We haven't seen him since."

"Oh," Dewey said, giving Arlo a knowing smile, which seemed odd to the Baudelaires. "I didn't realise this was a sad occasion."

"The world is quiet here," Arlo shrugged, still smiling through his long hair that had blown over his face, and Dewey's guard suddenly seemed to drop as he opened the door more fully so that Violet and Klaus could look along the hallway that he stood in. Then the tall man turned back to call down the hallway.

"Kit!"

There was a woman's reply but it was indiscernible to the children over the sound of the waterfall behind them.

"Send word to the hospital wing," Dewey called again. "Tell Bertrand that his children are here to see him!" Then Dewey turned back to face the three children standing on the doorstep, and all of them saw that he was now smiling.

"You'd better come in, Baudelaires," he said, and he led the three children into the V.F.D. Headquarters.