After days of surviving through the fields by living off the land like her father had taught her and sleeping under any tree she could find, Yua finally saw a city in the distance.
"Finally, some civilization at last!" she told herself. She calculated that, given the pace she was going, it would take anywhere from one to two hours to reach the city, assuming no delays. "Right… First thing I need to do when I get to the city is find out where I am and gather as much information about Rhodes Island." Yua paused for a moment, feeling her stomach rumble. "I'll do that right after I've had a good meal."
With renewed vigor, she carried on to the city in hopes of achieving her goal. When she arrived at one of the entrances to the city, she was halted by two Kuranta guards. "Halt! Who are you and what is your business here?" the guard asked. Yua replied to him, "My name is Yua; I have been traveling on the road for the past few days… Could you please tell me where I am?"
"You are in Kawalerielski, the capital city of Kazimierz," the guard responded to her question. "Kazimierz! That's where the Great Nearl the Radiant Knight is from…what luck!" Yua had many fond memories of Nearl from when she was younger; she saw her win a major tournament when she was younger, during a family vacation her father and mother took her on. It was one of the most mesmerizing experiences of her life.
After reminiscing about happier times, she then asked the guard, "Would I be able to enter the city, please?" The guard replied, "I'm sorry, miss, but nobody is currently allowed to enter. A Kazimierz Major has just finished, and Rhodes Island is currently conducting a relief mission for the infected. Our orders are to not let anybody inside the city."
Rhodes Island! She really couldn't believe her luck; she thought it would take weeks, if not months, to find them. Yua then pleaded with the guard "Please sir, I really need to see them. It's important." The guard then replied much more firmly "I'm sorry miss, but orders are orders; I can't let you in."
Just as Yua thought her hopes were dashed, the other guard spoke up and said, "Wait, Johnny. Look at her uniform." The guard who had denied Yua entry gave her a look up and down, then said, "Wait… You are a Rhodes Island operator, aren't you?" For a second, Yua didn't understand what he meant, and then it clicked… She was still wearing her uniform from the future.
She had her ticket to get in the city! She then spoke up to the guard and told him in a very confident voice, "Yes, I am a Rhodes Island operator, and I have come to deliver a very important message." The guard replied, "Well, you should have said you were with Rhodes Island in the first place; you will find them near the arena – that's where they are conducting the relief operation." Yu nodded and thanked the guards before heading into the city.
Forgetting about her hunger from earlier, Yua made her way through the city towards the arena and looked for Rhodes Island. As she got closer to the arena, she could see a large congregation of many different races near the arena. "They must be there." she told herself. Slowly, she crept forward to try and get a better look, but she couldn't make it through the massive amount of people.
This amount of people in one area reminded Yua of times in the future when many refugees came to Rhodes Island seeking shelter from the seaborn after their homes had been destroyed. She remembered different people of different races, both infected and uninfected.
At first Rhodes Island took as many refugees as it could but eventually they had to turn people away because they could no longer shelter them. Being in this crowd Yua was starting to remember those horrible times and decided to return at another time "It's probably best to come back when nobody is around."
As she backed away from the crowd, she bumped into someone. Turning around to apologize, she lost her voice. Standing before her was a massive man of the Forte race, one she recognized. The man was looking down at her, his expression unreadable, and Yua felt incredibly intimidated. This man was Operator Matterhorn—a man she had felt intimidated by when she was younger and still felt the same way about him now.
Matterhorn simply asked Yua "What are you doing here, young miss?". Yua simply could not get her words out to speak and could only simply continue to stare at Matterhorn. He then asked another question "Why are you wearing a Rhodes Island uniform?". Yua again couldn't respond…Deciding that his questions were getting him nowhere, Matterhorn told Yua "It seems you do not feel like talking to me, so I will take you to Doctor Kal'tsit and she will decide what to do...Come with me."
"Doctor Kal'tsit! I have to see her now?" Yua felt a sense of dread as she was being led away. She realized that this could be too soon for her, and she wasn't prepared. She thought all sorts of negative scenarios about what Doctor Kal'tsit could decide to do with her; Yua realized that she might not be able to help Rhodes Island at all if things went wrong. As she was heading to her destination, the only thought in her mind was, "Father...Mother, please help me."