Chapter 8
In the morning, Rollan lied on his back over the hay sleeping along with Gerda, that was a bit distanced from the Spaniard. Luta lied above Gerda's lap resting, then moved up one ear hearing something, and opened her eyes to analyze the surroundings. Luta heard from the outside a melodic whistle, then looked at the peacefully sleeping blonde. Luta tapped her paws on Gerda's cheek, making her open her eyes, then she eyed the weasel and yawned.
"Luta, already awake?" Questioned Gerda, then Luta pointed with her nose at the entrance, so Gerda would listen to the whistle as well. Gerda widened her eyes believing someone might get into the stable right now, then Gerda grabbed Rollan by the lapels of his shirt.
"Rollan, wake up, I think the owner is coming," Gerda spoke seeing Rollan still snoring quietly. Gerda grabbed the man by his shoulder to shake him awake. "Come on!" Mumbled Gerda watching Rollan open his eyes and look at Gerda questioningly.
"Huh? What happened?" Questioned Rollan watching Gerda point at the door to where the sound came from and heard a voice from the outside.
"That must be the farmer," Commented Rollan, then he got up along with Gerda and heard the door squeak as the owner was about to open the door. "Oh oh," Commented Rollan grabbing Gerda by her hand, and looked around the area to see, there was no way out for them besides the main entrance.
"That's the only door," Commented Gerda making Rollan gulp waiting for the farmer on the outside to open the door back. Luta ran towards the farmer, then jumped at the shirt of the farmer to growl at the farmer, shrieking him.
"Vamos!" Announced Rollan departing along with Gerda passing by the man nudging him down on the ground, afterward, Luta left the farmer, which moved aside to see Rollan and Gerda run off together, which made the man gasp.
"Idioten!" Shouted the farmer seeing the duo ran the road down to enter the forest together, followed by the white weasel.
"Oh boy. That was a close call," Commented Gerda fleeing with the Spaniard along the alley with the blonde and got out together at its end to encounter the same path from yesterday night, but now lightened up with the sunlight. Rollan looked behind to only detect their weasel following them and he stopped to pick up the animal, then allow her to get on his shoulders.
"Gracias Luta. You saved our skin back there," Commented Rollan watching the weasel nod and Gerda chuckle as she slowed down as well.
"She's a great companion. There are things you simply adore about her. She's nearly as kind as a good human being," Stated Gerda making Rollan nod.
"How old is she, if I may ask?" Questioned Rollan watching Gerda shrug her shoulders.
"Eventually 8," Responded Gerda. "I'm not sure how she ages. She was a child when I found her,"
"Okay," Mentioned Rollan. "Don't they have a short life span in the wild or am I wrong?"
"That's a good question. I don't know, she seems medium-aged" Commented Gerda making the raven-haired.
"Alright, hey should we go to the village over there and see if we can see anything?" Questioned Rollan watching the blonde nod.
"Sure, perhaps we can ask them for directions," Suggested Gerda making Rollan nod agreeing to the point.
Inside the village, the trio found a few shops at the center of the location. Together, they had stopped by a shop selling clothing and they were looking at the hanging clothes at one stand. Rollan had taken a red and orange striped pullover to check it out over his body and admired himself on the mirror.
"Cool," Commented the Spaniard earning the attention of the vendor that stood behind the counter looking at a salesman's book.
"My mother knitted that," Mentioned the woman. "She took about five days,"
"Magnifico. It has the same colors as the flag of Spain," Explained Rollan making the woman smile as he continued to look through the men's section.
Gerda stood by the other sections looking at the available coats and took them out one by one. Luta was on Gerda's shoulder this time watching the coats as well.
"Look at this one in brown. Isn't it pretty?" Questioned Gerda watching the weasel nod. "It's just 20 Thaler and feels pretty warm," Commented Gerda, then Rolan passed by her and took a look at the jacket.
"That's a cool one," Commented Gerda, then Luta hopped at the top of the stand and watched along with Rollan the blonde try out the coat. Gerda showed herself in the coat turning around and Rollan nodded finding the coat adequate for the woman.
"Nice," Commented Rollan making Gerda smile and take a look at the large, round buttons, which are meant to close the jacket.
"You like it too?" Questioned the blonde making Rollan.
"I find it looks good on you," Commented Rollan making Gerda smile, then see Luta nod as well.
"For the price, it's actually better out of the others," Stated Gerda taking the coat off and putting it under her arm. "I could use it for the rest of the trip and the rest of the cold day up at Murmansk,"
"A good idea," Agreed the Spaniard and looked around the clothing section of the women to see, what they had to offer. "Are you going to take something more?"
"No, for now on, I will only buy this coat here and make sure to have enough coins to get home," Commented Gerda making Rollan nod.
"There I have to give you right. Otherwise, we could travel with a goods locomotive," Suggested the man. "This is how I got to Bergen first,"
"Well, we see, what we can do to get through the trip. What about we pay this and go look for something to eat,?" Questioned Gerda making Rollan shake his head.
"Actually, if you're interested, I took some corncobs from the farm in the middle of the night," Commented Rollan making Gerda look surprised at him.
"You really woke up just to do that?" Asked Gerda, then Rollan shook his head.
"Actually I got up to pee, afterward I remembered doing that," Corrected Rollan making Gerda roll her eyes with a cackle. "Hey don't worry, we're using them for a good cause….to calm down our stomach,"
"It's okay, I forgive you. I was just surprised about it," Commented Gerda. "But how are we going to do a fire? Do you have anything?"
"No. Maybe we find something around one of the stores here,"
"Sure, let's see," Commented Gerda following the Spaniard to the counter, where the vendor stood.
Kai walked along with Pastor along the sidewalk heading to the Dutch harbor to see if they could get any info about their friends.
"Where did that girl go you talked to yesterday?" Questioned Kai, making Pastor shrug his shoulders.
"I know she went to eat with her friends breakfast somewhere. Where exactly I don't know,"
"What friends?" Questioned Kai confused about the mention. "Were they sleeping in the other rooms?"
"Yes," Responded Pastor. "They're all different from each other by the looks. Like they had all different hair colors. Kind of funny,"
"In my surroundings, I know a lot of people with black or blonde hair. Mostly black,"
"Same, except many have black hair and brown eyes mostly. It's just because darker colors are usually considered more dominant toward other ones. Also, major couples, that get married share the same colors,"
"Yes," Answered the artist arriving along with the Spaniard at the harbor spotting a queue at the ticket corner to buy tickets for a flight. "Woah, it's just morning and there are already people wanting to buy tickets,"
"It doesn't look as much as it was back in Paris," Confessed Pastor making Kai nod.
"Okay, that's right. We didn't depart in the morning. Perhaps it would be the same or have fewer passengers,"
"Let's get behind the queue. I don't think we can just get to the front like that," Said Kai joining the line along with Rollan's friend. The first four people left, one of them being a mother carrying her toddler, which looked at the harbor and the mother pointed at the available airships. Kai admired the walking family, then saw the father point at the left side earning the attention of the family, that looked up in the air to see an airship arriving at the harbor. The toddler clapped making Kai smile and look up at the sky and wide his eyes as he recognized the airship with a shark-themed balloon.
"Alfida?" Spoke Kai and smiled as he saw the ship move aside towards the water. Kai looked at Pastor standing behind the queue, then Kai placed his hand behind the man's back and eyed the young man. "Will you stay here? I will see if that one airship there is the one from Alfida," Commented Kai moving away making Pastor nod, then widened his eyes as he had agreed on something without thinking.
"Wait…...who's Alfida?" Spoke Pastor watching Kai run at the harbor following the shark-themed ship, which Pastor noticed and pondered about whose behind it.
Kai ran along the area heading to the front of the harbor, while the ship had made a U-turn to be able to dock and the artist boy stopped by the staff, which watched the few ropes of the ship decline down, so they could grab it. Kai observed them tie it on the poles as the ship got down landing on the water with its body.
"Alfida!" Yelled Kai up at the ship, then a pirate looked out of the ship to see Kai and tilt his head.
"Hey boss. Some weird dude here knows your name," Stated the pirate and Kai called her by the name again.
"Alfida, it's Kai!" Shouted Kai and by the pirate, the woman appeared to look out curious spotting Kai down on the ground waving with both his arms.
"Kai? What are you doing here?" Asked Alfida amused by her boyfriend, then the pirate threw down the net ladder to the boy, which grabbed it.
"Get down here," Pleaded Kai making Alfida grin and get above the railing to slid down on the ladder, to be immediately greeted by the raven-haired. "Glad to see you here,"
"Oh darling, did something happen?" Questioned Alfida as the man embraced her and she observed the location to notice Gerda wasn't around. "Wait a second…...where's Gerda?"
"I got separated from her about two nights ago. We both had to travel in a separate ship and hers crashed somewhere in the Netherlands. What I know is, all the inmates survived and have to make their own way here, if they want to get here, inclusive Gerda,"
"Oh no and she's all alone there?" Questioned Alfida sad making Kai shake his head.
"Per coincidence Rollan and his friend were traveling along and Rollan ended up having the same faith as Gerda. On the other hand, his friend Pastor was on the same flight as me, so we're both figuring out where both are at the moment,"
"And how are you trying to figure that out?" Asked Alfida watching Kai point at the queue moving further as a duo left together with flight tickets so the next man could get one for himself. "You're flying back?"
"No I want to ask if they know anything about Gerda or even Rollan," Answered Kai making Alfida nod.
"It's a good start, but I don't they will pay attention to Gerda only. I'm sure like 50 people are out there and need to look for a different way to get here. Why where you heading to Malmö anyway? No other route?"
"No, we were suggested to come to Malmö, then look for another ship to travel back home. But now this happened with Gerda and I'm stuck here thinking about how to get to see her again,"
"I mean we could fly back together to the Netherlands, but the problem is we would miss them to 100% as we take more than 10 hours flying there, and in the meanwhile, they could have boarded another airship or anything else to figure out another way up here,"
"Yeah, that idea wouldn't work out. What are you going to do here in Malmö if I may ask?"
"We thought about robbing a bank in a few days along with my mom. For now on I have to wait until her arrival. I can stay with you for a while and wait for Gerda. We can hang out together and walk around the town?" Suggested Alfida making Kai nod, then grab her hand.
"Follow me, perhaps Pastor already got to the front," Commented Kai leading the girlfriend towards the ticket corner, where Pastor still stood behind a trio, that was buying tickets as well. Upon arriving by the queue Pastor looked at Kai and widened his eyes by looking at the woman in the red coat.
"Uh…..who's that?" Asked Pastor curious then Kai smiled at his girlfriend happy, which rolled her eyes from Kai at the Spaniard waiting for the introduction.
"This is Alfida, my girlfriend," Answered Kai making Pastor look confused at the younger man.
"You have a girlfriend?" Questioned Paster bewildered making Kai nod.
"Yes. Why not?"
"Oh, It's not that. I had imagined you were single. Nevermind the question," Responded Pastor, then noticed the trio moving further so that Pastor could attend along with the raven-haired couple. "Hello, the second ship, that was coming from Paris had crashed back in the Netherlands and my friend and his sister were in there. Are there any news about them? We currently know the entire passengers were alive,"
"I wish I could help you, but according to the harbor of Rotterdam, major of the passengers have split up to figure out an alternative route up here or somewhere else,"
"But do you at least know, which way they could have gone through?" Questioned Kai watching the man shrug his shoulders.
"I think the easiest option for them at the moment would be to take the train and head to somewhere in Denmark, then move their way up here by ship. It's at least a two-ride day if things go well and they don't have to wait longer for the next ride,"
"Two days you sure can wait, right?" Questioned Alfida making Kai nod.
"Yeah one day kind of passed already, but that doesn't matter. They could also take a third one if they would miss a train, "Commented Pastor. "We still wait for them here, but still take our time to look around the town,"
"Yes, I'm sure if Gerda gets here and she's my ship she won't just leave. In case we happen to be somewhere else, the pirates know who she is and they let her stay here until we're back. I can give my crew this order," Suggested Alfida making Kai nod.
"Thank you, Alfida," Said Kai, then waved at the ticket vendor as well. "You too, sir," Added Kai and walked off with the two friends. "You're going somewhere, Alfida?" Questioned Kai walking beside the woman, which shook her head. "You're interested in walking through town with me?" Questioned Kai watching Alfida smile and take his hand to walk along with the boyfriend, while Pastor stood back bewildered about the two being a couple.
In a coffee shop, the fiancé of Gerda, Mars sat together with his older sister at the same table drinking a cup of coffee together.
"She's taking a few days more because there were no available airships up here. Our mom even complained why Gerda and Kai went alone there, as if they were still kids," Mentioned Mars. "Mom complained to me the other day, I couldn't watch out well for her and let her go on vacation. She's allowed to do what she wants, right? Her parents allowed her. She has clearly commented, that she likes adventures. Let her have her fun,"
"Mom sort of has the feeling, since that one last time with me and Klaas, that something bad could happen with Gerda as well,"
"I don't know, why Gerda should run away, mostly with her brother. Kai is her brother, not some random affair or fling she knew from before. You just had bad luck with that jerk," Commented Mars making May nod.
"I'm not even mad at him anymore. I sort of do understand her influence on our wedding back then. Yet it's still present on you, just seems more visible, cause she knows someone like Gerda is a jackpot for the family business. If she gets out of yours hands, woah mom will not be happy about it,"
"That won't happen. I had my doubts at the start as I proposed to her, but she accepted it. I mean, it be crazy if she had accepted it, and in reality, she didn't really want to or anything,"
"I don't know. Our mother can be really straightforward towards other people, and it can make you easily take the wrong steps. I'm talking about experiences. You see how Kai feels around our mom and how similar Emily from the Svenson clan felt,"
"Yeah, Emily was visibly feeling bad around mom…...Gerda sometimes spoke to me about our mom. She seemed to be bothered as well, but it wasn't in the same way as Emily's,"
"Gerda's personality is different. Just because she's stronger than her, doesn't mean she can take the presence of someone as our mom,"
"I'm sure, that will get over. We all know our mom is the way, she is. Mom just wants everything to be perfect. She has always been a perfectionist. Your math teacher was like that as well. By the end, he only meant well,"
"She and mom are very different from what you think, little brother" Commented May, then by their table stopped two young men around their age and looked at Mars with a surprised face.
"Hey Mars! What a surprise!" Spoke one of the men making Mars smile and wave at the two. "How's your fiancé and family doing?"
"They're fine. My parents are at the work and my fiancé is on a trip with her brother,"
"Really?" Asked the man. "That's perfect! Cause you need to join our surprise party for you,"
"A surprise party?" Questioned Mars curious, then the second man placed his arm behind the Australian's back.
"It's actually some sort of bachelor party, but more people are allowed to enter, who will get married in a couple of days and weeks. You gotta tell us, which day is perfect for you, cause we need to log you in. There's a certain number, that is allowed there," Stated the man making Mars nod.
"Well, it doesn't really matter, what day it is. You can log me in on any of those days. I just need to know, when and where it is," Commented Mars making the two men smile and high-five each other.
"Great!"