Chapter 2
Note I don't know, where the SQ characters canonically live. The only thing I remember hearing was something with the Lappland regions. I picked a city near the Lappland.
Two weeks later Rollan had packed along with Pastor to board on a connection flight with an airship of a French fleet. Pastor's friend he told Rollan about couldn't manage to get the two friends a flight to Murmansk, so they had picked a flight to Paris, so the duo could with luck find another flight to their original destination.
The duo stood behind a man, that was buying for himself a ticket to go on vacation as well, then sighed as there were no tickets available.
"Really? There are no tickets to London?" Questioned the man making the vendor nod.
"I'm sorry sir. I suggest you to take the boat or try again next week," Commented the vendor making the man nod and move away so that Rollan and Pastor could attend the ticket cabin.
"Good day, we'd like two tickets to Murmansk, is that possible?" Questioned Pastor watching the man shake his head.
"Nope, but we have an airship departing to Malmö," Suggested the vendor. The only places we have to offer close to Murmansk are Malmö and Bergen," Commented the vendor, then Pastor exchanged looks with Rollan.
"What one do you prefer? Malmö is the closest one," Commented Pastor making Rollan nod.
"I used to know somebody from the regions of Bergen, but I'm not sure If I could convince them to help me," Commented Rollan.
"Who's the guy?" Questioned Pastor curious.
"Oh it's Orm, the…..you know,"
"Oh okay, but…..I thought you two would get along?"
"Yeah I don't remember well, to be honest," Commented Rollan making Pastor nod.
"Come, let's take Malmö. We're at least closer to the destination," Offered Pastor making Rollan nod, then Pastor showed up his two finger. "Malmö, please,"
"Very well," Said the vendor handing out the two cards to the man. "That'll be 15 Thaler per person," Asked the vendor watching both men take out their coin pocket to take out the needed coins. Upon handing the money out to the vendor, they received the ticket and left together the area to make their way towards a large parking lot, where several airships were parked and small crowds in front of the vehicle were waiting for their time to board. The area was separated from the rest of the area with a high fence and at the entrance, another crowd of humans was in queue waiting to be called.
"Wow, this port has more space than the one from Alicante," Commented Rollan making Pastor nod.
"Yeah, I didn't expect it to be so big," Commented Pastor. "Look at the available people going on a ride as well," Pointed the man out making Rollan nod and get into the crowd as well, then looked around himself to see more people appear to join.
"People can buy their tickets earlier, right?" Questioned Rollan making Pastor nod.
"Yes, I think a few days in advance," Commented Pastor. "At least in our hometown. I'm not sure about Paris,"
Rollan heard the whistle of one of the controllers at the entrance, then on a blackboard, that stood on an easel the controller erased the place Rome and wrote on it Malmö making Rollan widen his eyes and nudge his friend on the shoulder.
"Next ship to Malmö! Airship number 7 and 21!" Warned the controller, then the second controller moved his arm to call the passengers for the said location and observed the people come out of the crowd along with Pastor and Rollan.
"Are we really going to leave right now?" Questioned Rollan making Pastor shrug his shoulders.
"I don't know. I think they just need to have time for us all to board the ship and as far as I know, our ship is somewhere down there in the middle," Commented Pastor showing the number 21 on the middle of the plot.
"Do we actually know, what ship we have to board? I didn't find the number yet," Stated Rollan walking and looking at the ticket, then Pastor beside him looked as well at the sheet. Rollan moved his head up and shrieked as two people from the crowd got in their way, then Pastor crashed against the two falling on the ground along with a shorter man.
"Whoa! I'm sorry!" Apologized Pastor spotting on the ground three tickets and one of them was looking up with the Swedish location on it and Pastor took it up, then looked at the man in front of him, which wore a white shirt with a red jacket above his back. His pants were light blue and paired with a pair of brown boots.
"It's okay. I think it was my fault," Commented the raven-haired boy , then looked aside to the blonde woman beside him, which was about to take the tickets from the ground and observed Rollan being the one to take them.
"I'll help you, ma'am," Offered Rollan, then held out his other hand to help her up, afterward Rollan heard someone whisper his name and glimpsed aside to recognize the young man between him and Pastor. "Kai?" Questioned Rollan surprised.
"Rollan?" Spoke the female voice, the Spaniard had helped up and he returned his eyes to the blonde to lose himself immediately in the blue eyes of the woman. "Is that you?"
"Gerda?" The raven-haired Spaniard spoke up surprised to see Gerda dressed slightly differently than usual. She now wore colder colors. A dodger blue skirt and a sleeveless vest, that the woman had above a white long-sleeve blouse. Fitting to the golden ornamentation she had on the vest, she had a darker blue pair of boots with the same décor and her legs were covered with white stockings. The hair she wore it different from what Rollan had been used to seeing. Her hair instead of two braided pigtails now was a single plait passing above her back down with its point reaching the middle of the back.
"It really is you!" Gerda commented embracing the Spaniard tightly leaning her chin over his red shirt smiling glad about the surprising reencounter. "What a coincidence. I wasn't expecting to see you so soon," Commented Gerda, while Rollan was distracted by the woman in his arms, then he shook his head to get back to real life.
"What do you mean, expecting soon?" Questioned Rollan making Gerda giggle and get down from Rollan's arms.
"You know the wedding," Commented Gerda. "You're coming to the wedding or were you planning to…..,"
"Oh the wedding, right. I thought about coming earlier. Maybe I would have the chance to see you and the others again," Responded Rollan. "And….you look wonderful. I like the blue color on you," Complimented Rollan making Gerda smile.
"Thank you," Responded Gerda. "And that's the outfit you usually wear in Spain as yourself?" Questioned Gerda checking Rollan's outfit, which consisted of a pair of black pants and a red shirt with short sleeves and the front part of his neck had the upper button opened up.
"Si," Responded Rollan holding his arms up to show himself to Gerda, which admired him.
"The red color is totally yours. Are you really going to the cold like that?" Questioned Gerda curious making Rollan shake his head.
"No, I have packed a few warm things in my bag, don't worry," Commented Rollan making Gerda nod. Rollan looked at Kai and Pastor, then he had an idea and turned around to the Spaniard.
"This is Gerda. Gerda, this is my friend Pastor," Introduced Rollan making Gerda smile and reach her hand out at Pastor, which shook her hand with a smile.
"Great to meet you," Said Pastor, then Kai held out his hand to shake as well. "You must be her fiancè?"
"Her brother," Corrected Kai making Pastor wide his eyes confused, then Rollan cleared the confusion for his friend.
"Kai is the younger brother of Gerda. Perhaps you haven't heard of him yet," Stated Rollan making Pastor nod.
"I did, I just thought about the fact we spoke about wedding, that it could have been the fiancé. Mars, was it?" Questioned Pastor making Gerda nod and Kai roll his eyes, which Rollan noticed.
"Is something wrong, Kai?" Asked Rollan curious, then Gerda placed her hand on Rollan's shoulder.
"Kai doesn't really appreciate Mars," Responded Gerda making Rollan look a bit worried with the woman.
"Did he do something bad?" Questioned Rollan watching Gerda shake her head.
"You know both Kai and Mars are artists in their own way…...Actually I haven't understood yet, why this issue exists," Questioned Gerda herself looking at the brother.
"I simply don't like him. I can't help myself," Responded Kai while Rollan listened to the younger man.
"Perhaps it's a siblings' thing. Didn't Kai hate me before?" Questioned Rollan making Gerda nod.
"Passengers to Malmö! Line 7 and 21!" Yelled the controller, then Kai waved at his older sister to warn about the call out.
"Gerda, come on, they're calling on us. We still have to look, which our ship is," Warned Kai making Gerda nod and look at the two Spaniards.
"We will see us in the ship, right?" Questioned Gerda watching Pastor nod and Rollan shrug his shoulder, making Gerda chuckle and clap gently on Rollan's cheek. "See you later," Said Gerda following her brother, which moved along with the crowd leaving Rollan back with Pastor.
"One thing about this girl there I gotta admit. She's beautiful," Commented Pastor with a grin looking at the Spaniard, which sighed making the short-haired man look confused at the friend. "Que pasa?"
"I wasn't expecting to meet her here right now," Commented Rollan making Pastor nod and place his hand behind Rollan's back.
"Just act normal. Talk to her as you used to do before. Weren't you able to do that?"
"Yes, of course," Responded Rollan.
"Good. Don't worry, you can do it," Assured Pastor making Rollan nod.
Later by the front the two ships with the destination of Malmö were parked vice versa from each other and Kai together with Gerda looked at their tickets to see both were sent into two different ships.
"Are we both going into different ships?" Questioned Kai looking at the ticket of his sister, which shrugged her shoulders.
"Maybe?" Responded Gerda. "What I noticed is, that we don't have seat numbers like on the last flight. Only in what sector we're meant to be,"
"Boomer, we're both in Sector B, just on a different ship," Commented Kai making Gerda nod. "But at least both ships are going in the same direction,"
"You're right," Commented Gerda, then watched Kai glimpse at the seventh park lot and looked back at his older sister.
"Do you feel safe enough to be alone there with strangers?" Questioned Kai making Gerda nod.
"I'm able to defend myself, when needed. I've got the dragon power in me," Responded Gerda making Kai smile a little and move further to the ship, while Gerda got to the queue of her ship to wait for the guests to board.
Rollan and Pastor arrived together at the area among a few other passengers and looked for their ship, then gazed at each other again.
"So, what shall we do, when one of us arrives first?" Questioned Pastor making Rollan shrug his shoulders.
"Maybe wait until the other arrives?" Suggested Rollan. "I don't think one of us will take longer than an hour or anything,"
"I believe you're right. We both have the same hour to take off," Commented Pastor making Rollan nod. "We just wait there and meet either by the ticket corner or near the landing zone. You think that's good?"
"Si," Responded Rollan, then Pastor held his hand out for the friend to clap with his hand on it, afterward both went into separate ways and Pastor got immediately onto the stairs leading into the cabin of the airship and Rollan got in queue watching the passengers board one by one. The line began to move quicker, as the first passengers had found themselves a seat and Rollan moved on and got to enter into the airship, then looked inside the cabin, which had several seats facing forwards and half of them were occupied. Rollan got to move forward, watching the several foreign passengers take down a place with the Spaniard still looking for one. During the walk Rollan spotted Gerda taking a seat by the window leaving the chair beside her free. Rollan smiled enamored with seeing his old crush sitting there, then he shook his head to maintain himself decently.
"Stupido. You're an adult, not a baby," Rollan told himself annoyed, then moved towards the woman and knocked on the wooden part of the chair's back to call the attention of the blonde. "Hola,"
"Oh you're on this ride too," Spoke Gerda making Rollan nod. "You know Kai the number of the other ship,"
"Really?" Questioned Rollan. "Pastor had also the number for the other ship. Kind of weird, 'cause we bought the tickets at the same time," Mentioned Rollan, then Gerda held her hand out to offer Rollan to sit next to her. Rollan sat down on the thin pillow attached to the wooden chair and Rollan looked at Gerda, which smiled at him.
"Kai was kind of worried, that I got here on this ship alone, but if he finds your friend there I'm sure he will be glad to know you're here with me," Commented Gerda.
"It is weird to be separated from your own family for a trip. There I have to give you two right. I believe, even if no one here in the ship you would know, you would still be able to survive. You have always been a tough girl. If all those people knew you were the one to have defeated the Snow Queen,"
"Oh if you knew how many people have thrown themselves at me from knowing I was that Gerda from the legends. You'd be crazy,"
"A lot I assume," Guessed Rollan. "But that happened as well after you got your family back?"
"Yes…..well things have changed after the Snow Queen came out of the mirrorlands to have her life among us. Occasionally a few times per month I would happen to met a random fan, that would want to listen to my stories,"
"Alright," Rollan responded, then he shrieked as he felt something land on his head and he looked up to see a white weasel sitting on his head. The weasel squeaked at seeing Gerda, which looked up at Rollan's head to recognize her pet companion.
"Luta! I thought you stood back with Kai," Commented Gerda catching the weasel, which jumped into her arms, then relaxed on Gerda's arms. "Luta was actually hiding in Kai's backpack, but turns out, that she has escaped him," Spoke Gerda patting the weasel on the back, which got up and pointed at the other ship, afterward back at herself and up at the blonde.
"What is she saying?" Asked Rollan curious, while Gerda tried to puzzle out, what the weasel meant,
"Kai sent you here to me?" Questioned Gerda watching the weasel nod. "Oh alright,"
"Well, now you have two friends on board with you," Commented Rollan making Gerda nod.
"That's even better," Confessed Gerda. "I'm sure both of us got a lot to tell to each other," The blonde said making Rollan smile and notice Gerda look at him politely waiting for him to say anything. "Shall I go on?" Questioned Gerda, making Rollan from his mouth into a circle, realizing she wanted to listen to him.
"Oh uh I don't really have a lot to talk about, to be honest," Rollan commented. "I have finished as you know the guard academy. In the future, I can begin to work around Alicante as a real guard,"
"That's amazing. I'm sure your mother is proud,"
"Si. It's not the dream job for me in her eyes, but it's one of the things I like to do," Stated Rollan making Gerda nod. "What about you? You're happy about your engagement?"
"A little nervous. It's all normal though. All the preparations and conversations for the big day, they sometimes throw you off the path,"
"Does Mars feel the same about it?" Questioned Rollan. "I don't know how I would feel on his place or yours. I had always imagined, that I would be excited, besides reality and imagination is different,"
"He is often talking with his mother about the preparations or well, she is the one. She wants to make sure everything is perfect,"
"Is he a lonely child as well."
"Actually he has an older sister," Commented Gerda. "Only by a year, unlike me and Kai,"
"Okay,"
"She's about your age so far I know," Commented Gerda. "She's able to control the earth of the ground as a magician. Mars has the control of lightning,"
"Sounds amazing,"
"Yes, and their mother is able to create fire. The father is a simple human like you, but he's an excellent craftsman. Both of them are really invested in our future ceremony," Commented Gerda making Rollan nod.
"I'm sure, the fact you get to marry a magician as well is the best option for the future. You've told me about the past issues, that happened between people like King Harald and the Snow Queen?"
"Love is love by the end of the day. That's what my parents used to tell me before,"
"My mother said she would accept anyone as long as she would know I'm in good hands and the other way around,"
"That's good," Commented Gerda, then felt Luta adjust herself on the blonde's arm to take a nap making Gerda smile and caress the weasel on the back.
"How long do you think does out ride take to Malmö?" Questioned Rollan making Gerda shrug her shoulders.
"Perhaps 12 hours?" Guessed Gerda. "From Bergen, we took around 9 hours. We're heading to Sweden this time. Kai had a good way to entertain himself. He painted and he wasn't a single minute bored," Mentioned Gerda making Rollan chuckle
"If I was as good as him at painting I would be the same. I could have brought a book to read, but I didn't think about it,"
"I just have my diary, but it's not meant for anyone else to read it," Commented Gerda making Rollan chuckle.
"You wrote one? That's cute," Confessed Rollan making Gerda giggle.
"What? There are certain things I'd like to keep it for myself," Gerda commented making Rollan chuckle, then look above the guests sitting on their seats and watched one of the members of the airship walk across the corridor to see the available guests of their ride, then moved to the other side of the ship to assist other passengers storing their luggage.