Summary: The trio has arrived in Czechoslovakia and fortunately Eisenstein's Hotel Belveder is looking employees willing to work over Christmas. Meanwhile Karl Harrer has also crossed the border, but he has done it in style thanks to his generous benefactors.
FFNET Notes: This and the next chapter orginally went up in early December and two days apart. I didn't plan for it to be put here on Christmas proper, but sometimes you just have good timing.
Notes: Yesterday's update has only been delayed. I had driver's ed today, so normally I would have skipped an update today. Instead I have moved yesterday's ahead after I did not manage to get the chapter together in time. The final part of this chapter describes some Christmas traditions in Bohemia and they are indeed authentic ones. I also mention something about visas in another part, but I cannot guarantee this was true. I have found it basically impossible to look up how Czechoslovakia did visas in the Interbellum Epoch and so I preemptively claim authorial fiat. Also I realised something during writing that has to do with that subject - Edward must be a British Citizen with a residence visa for Germany. Hohenheim travelled from Britain to Germany and I doubt whatever documents he and Ed used (I decided to make them fakes from Haushofer) would not mark them as family and thus both British Citizens. I found out that according to the Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz neither could have been naturalised unless Haushofer faked more stuff for them. Oddly this does not appear to cause a problem for Edward possessing a German ID in Chapter 6 of the Failed Putsch. The orginal version of the law implies you could have an ID, but not citizenship.
"Honestly, this feels much less exciting than I expected," Noah said as they approached the first crossroad after they entered Czechoslovakia. "I keep expecting something," she continued, but both boys promptly put their free hands over her mouth. "No jinxing it," they both told her. She giggled and they removed their hands. "We are not yet done. Now I need to do a little circle backwards into Germany and then enter legally to get a border control stamp into my passport."
"Why would you do that," Alphonse promptly asked, and Ed pulled out a bunch of Paper Mark. "Ah, true, Czechoslovakia has its own currency," Noah pointed out. "Yes, and I better have valid documents if I want to exchange our cash for theirs at any official places. At least Haushofer's fake passport will be good for something again." They stopped under two signs that announced the destination of two routes that led away from this crossroads. The right one was marked with the words 'Deffernik (Debrník)' and the other with 'Elisenthal (Alžbětín)'.
Edward pulled out a map of Bavaria and pointed at the little bit of Czechoslovakia drawn on its very edge. "The road to Elisenthal actually meets the main road at a guest house on the main road that's a kilometre from the border. Go west slowly and everything should work out. We will be able to meet up there, when I reach you from the crossing itself." "Are you sure this is a good idea," his brother asked. "I think this is the only good solution to our problems. The alternative would be us working from zero," Noah pointed out, and Ed sighed before nodding.
"Be safe guys, and I'll meet you again soon," he added as he took his suitcase. "We'll be counting on you," Alphonse told him firmly. "I keep my oaths," Edward reminded him, and took off back towards the south. "You better keep them," Noah muttered after he was too far to hear her. Al laughed. "It is good to see you have now also learned enough about my brother to be able to call him out on his nonsense."
"Someone has to help you and, perhaps unfortunately, he has made me care for him, so I must now share your dedication with you. He is liable to hurt himself without friends to forcefully drag him out of trouble, by his ass, if necessary." Alphonse raised an arm for her, and she high-fived him back. Internally, he wished to know how his brother always managed to find himself in the company of girls, which perfectly matched the gaps in his personality.
I swear if you two don't end up as romantic partners, I give up on figuring out how heterosexual romance works, he thought. It still stung a bit that at least they had their own chance at happiness. Meanwhile, he was considered a deviant by society on both sides of the gate. Enough! His brother would have sworn at him for thinking like that. "I could use any help with my dear brother, so thank you for enduring his stick."
Noah smirked and gave him a shrug. "What can I say? Seeing the memories of you two has taught me things that Edward would not like me knowing. I have figured out he is a darn dork, and he cannot convince me otherwise." Al gave her a suspicious look. "How much did you learn from our dreams?" The smirk vanished from her face and she seemed to be thinking for a moment. "There is nothing I can do to control them," she said quietly. "Sometimes when I am close to you, while either of you sleep, I will just get randomly dragged into them without any warning."
"Can't you just leave," he said in a neutral questioning tone rather than one of accusation, but it still stung like a slap across her face. "I perceive them and on rare occasions your raw memories as a series of fleeting images, sounds and other confusing sense data. It is hard to untangle from it until it abates. I can almost never keep up with the constantly changing views and, when you are dreaming, can't really guess whether your minds show me truth or made up nonsense."
Alphonse got up and patted her on the back. "I am not going to lie and say it doesn't feel like an invasion of privacy." She winced. "But I know you enough to understand you are definitely not doing it on purpose." "How I wish I was doing it on purpose," she said and then frowned, "Wait, that... Never mind..." "Yeah, that does sound bad, but I get what you were going for," Al agreed. "Did Ed's diary help with anything?"
She wagged her head. "Not really. There have been no visions since I got it, and only fleeting hints from either one of you. It has been a nice change of pace – not having to deal with at least one drug trip every week." "You are not letting my exclamation go, are you?" "Absolutely not. It is only too accurate to what my visions look like." "Are there any private secrets you know about me because of it? I am not concerned about you telling people," he explained. "But I want to know who has that information."
"I don't know if it is true knowledge or just the result of your dreams spinning together random pieces, but there is a hint of one possible secret besides the whole 'being from another world' thing," she answered after a second of thinking. "I have seen first-hand that dreams regarding relationships, if I use the least offensive word to describe them, are common occurrences for all of us," she diplomatically said and noticed Al froze up. "Do you want me to stop talking?"
There was silence for several seconds. "No. I brought that up for that exact reason," Alphonse eventually replied. He was trying not to panic, since people like him were considered abominations by society on both sides of the gate. "Am I correct in guessing you are attracted to men?" "You are," he said with little emotion. "I have thus far not figure out if that statement is missing the word 'only,' but given the way you appear to be looking for an escape path..." She left that sentence unfinished.
"I am not concerned about who you are attracted to," she told him after a little while and saw him slightly sag. "As a Romani and a young girl, I have enough on my plate regardless, thank you very much. Besides, I wonder how exactly gay people are supposed to be weird. In the entire time we have known each other, you have done nothing to indicate you are gay. If I didn't have access to your brain at random, I wouldn't have thought of it." She turned to him and pulled him into a hug.
"What's this about," he quietly asked after he got over the shock. "This is me showing that I value this friendship as much as the one with your brother." She was also glad that Al had been so concerned with being out as homosexual to someone else that he had not asked what she saw from snippets of Ed's dreams. She was still unsure whether her appearance among the females that appeared in that brother's dreams had significance, beyond the brain and libido choosing literally any female they could find.
While the trio dragged their heavy suitcases through dense woodland covered in snow and committed the crime of illegally crossing the national border four times within the space of a single hour, Mr. Karl Harrer was approaching a different border crossing in opulence and with his documents in perfect order. The Thule Society was currently in legal trouble for that weapons stockpile in München, but nobody important in the group paid it any mind.
The groups had its run-ins with the government in Berlin in general and the Socialist in particular often enough in the last half of a decade. The moment Eckhart's death was made public, the society withdrew into the shadows. The most important echelons of the party that did not make the mistake of associating with the Hitler-Ludendorff coup decided to chose Dietlinde's old rival Walter Neuhaus as the new chairman.
Neuhaus and Harrer both had reasons to hate that failed Austrian artist for different reasons. To Harrer he had couped him from his position in the German Workers' Party before introducing foreign – mainly Italian elements – and taking over from Drexler. Neuhaus hated Hitler for subverting their society, with no little help from Eckhart, from their original purpose of studying Ariosophy. For that reason, they got back in contact with the original founder of the Study Group for Germanic Antiquity, Adam Glauer.
In 1919 Glauer had been kicked out of the group after the Bavarian Soviet Republic, which was led by the Russian Jew named Eugen Leviné, managed to locate his list of Thule Society members. The result was seven dead people in the abandoned building of the Luitpold High School. Neuhaus finally tracked down Glauer travelling around North America. They met in Passau, since the man did not wish to enter Germany at such a dangerous time for the members of the far-right.
They spent days discussing various subjects like Freemasonry, Hermeticism, Thelema and Rosicrucianism. Eventually, discussion turned towards Eckhart's favourite subjects – mysticism and alchemy. Glauer showed Neuhaus various notes he had made after becoming interested in the stories regarding Prague's association with the Occult during the reign of Emperor Rudolf II. Although some of those stories were associated with Jews and a wise man named Rabbi Loew, Neuhaus decided that it would be interesting to investigate them.
Glauer was interested in the stories of Edward Kelly and his abilities to communicate with supernatural beings. Neuhaus was honestly more interested in the golem stories. Both agreed that Harrer would be a good proxy for their research. Karl had been a journalist before entering politics after all, so he could justify making a request for a long-term residence visa, which was specifically disguising his interest as historical research, much more easily. Technically, it was not an ordinary lie, but one of omission.
Fortunately for this other trio, Glauer managed to have himself adopted into a noble family and was also known as Rudolf Freiherr von Sebottendorff, so he could provide Harrer with as much money as necessary. The three men both had personal reason to hate Hitler and Eckhart, and it quickly made them close friends. Karl was enjoying riding in a first class train carriage on the direct express from München to Prague.
Using the fact that his 'research trip' was much closer to an all expenses paid holiday, he ordered a massive piece of Leberkäse with potato and cucumber salad and a pint glass of beer. The Elric brothers and Noah would have been jealous of this. This lunch cost as much as they collectively made in two days. After he finished eating, he sighed in content and for a moment looked outside to see Furth im Wald station approaching.
On the platform stood several men in green uniforms with brown briefcases and countless fancy buttons in two lines along the sides. They were accompanied by men in more civilian clothing, and a one pair made up of members from both groups boarded each passenger carriage of the express train. Another group of their colleague went to the postal wagon at the front. The uniformed men were the Czechoslovak Financial Guard, which insured tolls were paid properly.
Their colleagues in civilian clothes acted as the border check clerks, and they checked passports and visas of the passengers, while the Financial Guard checked their suitcases for items subject to tolls and demanded payments as necessary. The idea was that in the time it took the train to leave Furth in Wald Station, cross the border with Czechoslovakia and arrive at the Böhmisch Kubitzen Station – the Czechoslovaks called it Česká Kubice – they would check the entire consist and if necessary take care of tolls and find those without valid documents, which would be forced to return into Germany on the next train back the other way.
After paying, Harrer returned to his compartment and prepared his papers for the clerks. Since he was sitting in a nearly empty first-class coach, it did not take long for them to come to him. "Finanční stráž Československé republiky," one of the uniformed man declared as he opened the compartment door before adding the German translation of "Zollwache der Tschechoslowakischen Republik," which was not exactly right since their Czech name referred to finance and not tolls, but the point got across.
"I only have this suitcase with me," Harrer told them, and offered it for inspection. The other man in the pair also entered the compartment. "Your passport and visa please," he asked in German and Harrer happily complied. The Financial Guard member took out his clothes and notebooks and after about a minute was satisfied that no items that were subject to toll payments were present. "Všechno má pán v pořádku," he declared, and given the tone it was clear it meant Harrer was cleared.
The border control official had meanwhile flipped through the visa pages to check all the text and seals were proper and then went through the passport to look for any obvious errors or inconsistencies before adding that "Vízum i pas má taky v pořádku" and pulling out his stamp, which he put in the latter after making sure he had turned the little knobs to mark the correct date. "Thank you, sir, all is fine. You can take your suitcase and documents back," he then added in German, and handed the passport and visa back to Harrer.
Unlike Harrer with his long-term residence visa, Edward intended to claim temporary passage into Czechoslovakia, which was allowed without needing a visa. There were many families living near the border that had familial connections in Germany, so it was easier to permit short-term crossing without visas, then make it necessary to constantly check visa requests. Of course, Ed was blatantly lying and just needed that border control stamp with today's date.
He wanted no one at places like the post office to wonder why he lacked one, when he was a British citizen. That one was still an odd thing to think about. His passport did technically have a visa – yet another fake from Haushofer – but it was a long-term residence visa for Germany given to the 'British citizen Edward Elric' two years ago. He could not become a naturalised citizen of Germany even if he tried, since according to the 1913 Nationality Act that required a twelve year long residence. Fortunately, as far as he knew, the long-term visa allowed him to be subject to the same provisions for visiting Czechoslovakia.
He emerged out of the forest west of Elisenthal station itself. This area legally belonged to the nearby settlement named Bayerisch Eisenstein, and after he walked crossed over the railway line, he found himself on the main road through the valley. Despite being a kilometre from the actual borderline, the crossing point was here. Two buildings stood on the left side of the road for those coming from Germany.
Between them was a crossbar across the road, and on each side there were large polls with the respective national flag placed atop and fluttering in the wind. One was the German tricolour – black, red and yellow from top to bottom – and the other was the Czechoslovak one – white and red splitting the field in half with a blue triangle inserted on the left side to separate them apart in that portion of the flag.
The German clerk looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and then so did his Czechoslovak counterpart. Apparently they were not used to people just walking along the road. Edward offered the latter man his passport and residence visa. "Do you not have a visa to enter Czechoslovakia as well," the man asked after seeing the long-residence one. "I am only visiting briefly. You do not require a visa for that, do you?" "You can enter by virtue of your German residence. But only for twenty-four hours, sir.
Are you sure you can return into Germany before tomorrow evening? Otherwise, you will be illegally residing within Czechoslovakia and thus subject to criminal prosecution and possibly permanent banishment from the country," the man continued as he went through the pages of his passport as his railway colleague did with Harrer's. "I can ensure that," Ed lied with a straight face. "Very well, but I did warn you and my colleagues may not be so kind" the clerk said with a hint of suspicion, but stamped his passport anyway. "Welcome to Czechoslovakia, sir." "Thank you."
If the clerk noticed that Edward walked rather swiftly in the direction of Elisenthal, he did not outwardly show it. Alphonse and Noah had slowly walked down the little valley along the tiny stream that flowed from Deffernik to Elisenthal. After they crossed under a railway span bridge, they arrived at a crossroads with the main road next to the inn and waited for Ed to arrive. They were visibly relieved when they saw him coming close.
Finally, they could enter Eisenstein properly, and Edward went straight into the post office to have all their money exchanged. Indeed, they demanded his passport as a proof of his identity. "You know, it's been so long that I almost forgot there is such a thing as an economy not undergoing massive inflation," he said as he showed them a 100 crown note. He had it back to front, so it showed two images of women in traditional countryside clothing, with a detailed image of Prague between them.
"Yeah, that does feel like not enough zeroes," Noah agreed. "How much did we get for all our money," Alphonse asked. "I bet it is less than 1000," Noah suggested and Edward nodded with a grin and showed four other identical notes. "They gave me 523 of their crowns, exactly, in return for several Paper Marks with nominal values in the milliards." Noah and Al both winced with a slight inhale. "Yeah," Ed agreed with a sour expression of his own.
"Now the question is: what are we going to do about work," Noah pointed out. "Actually," Edward said, "I noticed a little flier inside about offers for a job at a place called Hotel Belveder. I asked them where it is with a slight fib about potentially spending the night there, and they told me it's on top of the hill behind the township," he finished and pointed out behind them past the post office. "Well, it's worth a try," Alphonse told them with a shrug.
"Mr. Harrer arrived in Prague yesterday," Udržal whispered into Beneš's ear as they walked into another cabinet meeting the next day and the Minister of Foreign Affairs suddenly turned around. "He arrived in a direct express train from Germany and rode first class the entire time. According to my men's latest messages, he immediately moved into his room at the Golden Goose Hotel and had the most expensive fine stake for dinner," the Minister of National Defence added.
"That is suspicious behaviour for a foreign journalist, but it is not exactly illegal," Beneš noted, and Udržal gave a slight nod. "That is indeed true, Mr. Beneš, but we must remember that it is the weekend. I did however receive a very interesting message from Mr. Karel Baxa." "What does the Chairman of the Supreme Court have to do with Mr. Karl Harrer," asked Malypetr as they entered the room, since he heard the phrase 'foreign journalist'.
"It is not his office as Chairman of the Constitutional Court that concerns is this time," Udržal explained. "Mr. Malypetr have you forgotten that Doctor Baxa is still also the Prime Mayor of Prague," pointed out Josef Dolanský, the Minister of Justice. "Mr. Dolanský is correct. Karl Harrer has contacted his office and asked what would be required to get permission to potentially conduct an archaeological dig somewhere in Prague."
Concerned mutterings filled the room. "That is much more suspicious, gentlemen, I admit," Švehla loudly says to get the others to quiet down. "But this still is not an illegal action. If anything, asking the office of Doctor Baxa is the legal way to go about this, if they wish to make exploratory digs as part of their research. Or am I wrong," he added as he looked to Dolanský for an answer. The man wagged his head.
"No, you are correct. If the man was not suspected of subversive activities, this would not be anywhere near enough to justify an investigation by the gendarmerie. Of course the things, which this man is suspected of doing, put him under the purview of Mr. Udržal and are a concern of national security," the moustached minister answered and nodded towards his mentioned colleague. "I will continue to inform you as necessary," the man promised. "For now, this is all that has been reported to me."
On the Fourth Advent Saturday of 1923 snowfall once again came to Eisenstein. This pleased both the people of the city itself as it assured that the next three days will be a White Christmas and also the various sky goers as the precipitation restored the snow cover on Panzerberg and Spitzberg and once again made those slopes excellent for the lover of winter sports. Groups of kids swarmed the smaller Hüttenberg just outside the city and started sledging on either side of the way of the cross that led atop it.
Some went all the way to the Belveder Hotel on the very top and then tried to sledge all the way to the edge of the township, which was marked by the main train line. "They look so happy," Noah noted as she looked at of the window, while the trio cooked Christmas Eve dinner the next day. It turned out that offering their services during the Christmas period, when many wanted to go on a holiday for at least part of the day, would ensure you would be accepted with little complaint.
The head chef cared for the ability to cook good food to ensure that the hotel would keep its good reputation. Edward and Alphonse were only too happy to switch to a job that did not require shovelling. Ed took out a mallet and started tenderizing a piece of pork that was intended to be made into a pork schnitzel that would be offered as one choice of dinner for the guests. The idea was they would make about ten raw servings and make them as they were asked for.
"Children always have the ability to extract happiness from anything," Alphonse replied and got a snickering response from his brother. "You are the youngest of us three, and you already consider yourself separate from the group of 'children?' Darn, you really want to hit all of those puberty tropes, don't you?" He got a firm slap on his right arm for that sass. "Do you think after all the stuff we've been involved over the years I can keep up," he asked with an annoyed frown.
"Speaking of this season of joy," Noah continued. "Edward, didn't you say the head chef gave us an invitation to some sort of group event for the employees?" "Yes he did, we're all invited to take part in the Christmas Eve celebrations and traditions. Even you, Mr. Waiter." "Quit the sass, brother," Al told him in a firm tone, but with a slight smile. "Do you want to attend," he asked with a pointed look at Noah. She gave a weak shrug.
"I fell like the people here have been accepting enough," she told him as she started peeling cooked potatoes to prepare a traditional Christmas salad. "We offered to work on one of the main holidays, so I reckon they were only all too happy to find such employees," Alphonse argued with a slight frown. "The head chef has not really showed he doesn't like us. I expect that as long as we make good cooks, he doesn't care," Edward offered instead as he started to cut up a carp.
"I would like to join," Noah told Alphonse, and he gave a small breath. "Fine, if you want to go, I'll join you. Maybe I will feel better if I go out and meet the others," Al conceded. "What's with you today, anyway," his brother asked. "You've looked tired the entire day." "I'm just a bit tired and honestly the weather is not doing me any favours," he muttered. They both wanted to question him further, but for now left it at that.
Later that day, the trio entered the backroom and promptly noticed there were several large baskets filled with apples. "Ah, Edward, Alphonse and Noah, did you decide you will join us for this evening," said Mr. Acker, the head chef of Hotel Belveder. They gave cautious nods, and he pulled them into the room. "Excellent, the employees always have their own little bit of fun on Christmas Eve for those that sacrifice their holidays to serve our guests. Both Germanic and Slavic cultures have some of their own fun traditions we can do," he added.
"Is that what the apples are for," Ed asked, and he nodded. "The hotel serves apple strudel for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so we have a lot of apples we can cut without worrying about ruining them," Acker explained. "Why are we cutting into apples," Al asked as they approached a group of their co-workers that were doing that horizontally and looking at the resulting halves. "Every culture has its own way they try to predict the future," the head chef, and the trio's minds briefly stuttered.
"It's actually rather simple," he ploughed on, since he didn't notice the suddenly blank faces of his subordinates and instead took an apple and a knife for himself. "You take an apple and cut it in half perpendicular to the core," he showed them, and kept the now divided half together by his hands. "Now you have a look at whether there are five seeds or four seeds." He split it apart and showed that his apple had five seeds.
"According to tradition, I will have more good luck than bad luck next year, because I got a five pointed star arrangement. The reverse would apply for four seeds. Of course, you are not allowed to repeatedly cut apples until you get five seeds," he concluded with a smile. The trio tried to give back smiles that did not look too forced. "Do you want to try it out?" After a moment, Edward took an apple and Acker smiled as he handed him a knife. He also got a star.
"You know, after the last months and a half, I would really like if that apple was right," Al said, and he noticed that fact. "Want to see for yourself," his brother offered. "I would rather not." "It's just a peculiar tradition, Alphonse. You don't have to be afraid of getting a cross shape," Acker tried to convince him otherwise, but he just wagged his head. Noah passed her hands over the apples for a bit before also wagging her head. "Maybe something else for me tonight," she suggested
"Well, there are a few other predictions that people do around Christmas or during the general Advent Season," he said and gestured for them to follow him. "What's with the molten lead," Alphonse asked as he saw the large spoon filled with a greyish metallic liquid that one of the other cooks was melting over a candle. "I heard, from one of the elder women that I met, that the Slavs use lead casting for fortune-telling," Noah told him, and he gave her a raised eyebrow.
"How on Earth do you tell someone's fortune from cast lead," he asked and instead of Noah the other cook answered. "Like this," he told him, and threw the liquid into a little ceramic vessel filled with water. There was a slight sizzling and then Acker took a pair of forceps and pulled out a splatter of metal. "Now you try to guess the future based on the shape," he added and started turning the weird piece of lead through space.
Noah tried it out next. "That's supposed to look like something," Al asked with a slight giggle. "It looks more like a really weird bird," Ed suggested as she turned it around and the two side parts appeared kind of like flapping wings. "Actually, I think a bird is probably the closest this is to anything," Acker agreed as Noah continued to look at it in a possibly vain hope it would reveal its secrets. Suddenly something hit her and she rotated it upward. "I think it looks like a person in a cloak."
The three guys looked at it for a moment. "Actually, I can see it," Alphonse agreed after a bit. "Yeah, if you look at it for I bit, it looks pretty close," Acker agreed. "Really? If that is a person, he is either wearing the weirdest cloak I have ever seen or there is something very wrong with his body," Edward argued. "It's cast lead," Noah reminded him. "I doubt it could make a perfect face even if we were absolutely certain this works. Now come on, try it out," she offered.
Edward took the spoon and another large lead piece to melt. When he poured it into the water, he simply turned it to the side and let it gather. Acker pulled out a vaguely cylindrical shape. "Well... That is certain an interesting shape," the head chef noted as he rotated it. "It looks a bit like another figure, but this time it's definitely not human," Noah offered, and they saw Al briefly freeze up before coughing.
"Are you okay," she looked at him, and he gave her a wave. "Fine, I just... It sneaked up on me. Keep guess, I'll get melt my own bit in the meantime," he quickly said and took the spoon and lead piece for himself. "I don't think we'll be able to guess much else," Ed admitted as he continued to look around it. Instead, they waited for Alphonse to melt his lead and cast his own fortune. "Well, that seems a lot more obvious," he noted as Acker pulled what looked like a hand. "It really does," Noah agreed. "That is near perfect."
"Yeah, but what does the hand mean," Acker pointed out. "Maybe it means a romantic partner," Edward offered, and his brother smacked his back for that suggestion, while looking really annoyed. "It's possible," the head chef admitted with a laugh, since he considered Alphonse's reaction to be embarrassment and not the reaction of a concealed homosexual to his brother casually, though indirectly, referencing that fact. "Speaking of which, Noah," he continued, and she looked at him.
"Do you want to try out some of the specifically female fortunes?" "Female fortunes," she asked, and the boy also gave their superior confused looks. "Girls take their shoes, walk in front of the door and turn their back to it. They then throw one of the shoes behind them. If it lands pointing to the door, they will find a partner within a year, and otherwise they will not." "Seriously," Edward said with a frown. "That's a thing," Alphonse agreed. "There are much weirder traditions, guys."
