The next morning, we went to the inn’s cafeteria and claimed our free breakfast of toast with some kind of jam. Since we were worried about how long it’d take to get onboard, we decided to leave earlier. Anortha asked the receptionist for directions while I wrote them down, and then we headed off to the train station.

The station was located outside the city walls, which meant it took quite a while to leave since we had to queue in line for the inspection. Mirefa was becoming increasingly restless as we waited. When it was finally our turn, we were asked if there were any items sensitive to magic in our cart. Anortha said no, and after the inspector did something with magic, we were let through.

We only had to walk a short distance before we arrived at the station. We headed towards the ticket counter, where there was a short line of people waiting.

After a few minutes, it was our turn, so Anortha asked, “How much would it cost for us to go to Lengmun?”

The ticketmaster looked at her for a bit and said, “Us? How many are in your party?”

“Three. And can’t you see them over here?” Anortha asked as she pointed at Mirefa and me.

The ticketmaster leaned over the counter and said, “Oh, they’re too short so the counter was blocking my view. So are you going for the luxurious option or not?”

“The cheaper one, please.”

“Okay, that’d be eighteen gold and nine silver in total.”

“That much?!” Anortha yelled. “I thought I asked for the cheaper option.”

“This is the cheaper option. The luxurious one would cost you twice as much.”

Anortha handed over the money while grumbling and got three tickets labeled with “X—||| - A”. We left the ticket counter only to realize we had no idea how to get to the train, so Anortha had to ask for directions.

After finally arriving at the designated area, we saw nothing but train tracks because we were too early and the train hadn’t arrived yet. Mirefa was disappointed since she wanted to see the thing that could move fast.

After about an hour, the train finally entered the station. I wasn’t quite sure what I expected, but it was not a wooden steam locomotive belching out white vapor while pulling wooden boxes. I did wonder if having steam and wood would become a fire hazard, but surely they knew what they were doing, right?

Mirefa didn’t care much about the design of the train and only complained, “What do you mean that’s fast? It’s so slow.”

“That’s because it can’t move too fast in the station since I assume there’s safety issues. It’s faster out in the open,” I replied.

A few elves got out of the train while Anortha tried to figure out where “nineteen - A” was referring to on the train, which turned out to be the nineteenth box, first compartment. I was a lot more impressed with the interior, since it turns out we had a mini-hotel room, complete with beds and bathroom. That did make me wonder what the luxurious option was like, assuming we weren’t scammed by the ticket seller.

Having our own private space instead of sitting out in the public meant that I wouldn’t have to worry too much about being stared at or Mirefa getting in trouble, as long as she stayed inside. Unfortunately, I have no confidence that she could stay inside for that long. At least the windows are not openable so I don’t have to worry about her jumping out mid ride.

“Mirefa,” I said.

“Yes?”

“We’re going to be on this train for three days. Unlike on the caravan, do not try to get off and run alongside it. You must stay in this room unless Anortha or I accompany you, and even then, I’m not actually sure if we can wander around.”

“Can I at least run around when it stops for the night?”

“It doesn’t. Unlike the birds pulling the caravan, it doesn’t need to rest because it runs on magic,” I said, although does it actually if it seems to be running on steam?

“Wait,” Mirefa said, horrified. “That means I’m stuck inside this small room for three whole days?!”

“Probably? Even if you could leave the room, you wouldn’t be able to run around for sure.”

My sister was dejected and flopped onto the bed, and then commented, “Oh this bed is nice and bouncy.” She proceeded to jump up and down on the bed. Normally I would have stopped her since her head looked dangerously close to the ceiling, but if this can act as a way to burn off her excess energy, I’ll just let her bounce around.

The room we were in looked so much like an inn that I forgot that we were still on the train, so when the train finally departed, my sister was still bouncing on the bed. The acceleration caused her to get thrown off balance and she landed on the floor instead of the bed. I thought she was injured, especially since somewhere in the middle, she did somersaults, but she managed to land on her feet. I now have to wonder how much of my human assumptions of safety are irrelevant.

I headed to the window to see how fast it actually does go, but it’s rather hard to judge just by looking at the ground or trees moving by.

Mirefa and Anortha joined me at the window as we saw the scenery blur even more as the train picked up speed.

My sister turned her attention away from the scenery outside the window to the window itself and eventually asked, “How do you open this thing?”

“You can’t. Also, I told you not to jump out.”

“I, I wasn’t planning to. I was just, uh, wanting to know how fast we’re going by feeling the breeze.”

There was only so much to look at outside, so we eventually stopped. When we were discussing what to do, someone knocked on the door.

We just looked at each other for a while, until the person said, “I’m here to deliver lunch. May I come in?”

“Oh, of course,” Anortha replied.

We were served a bowl of salad and a small chunk of meat, which tasted rather well.

When the serving lady came to clean up the bowls and plates an hour later, I asked her, “Is it okay to walk or run around the train?”

She was rather confused why I was holding a board up to her all of a sudden, but then she read what I wrote and replied, “Running will be a problem, but for walking, as long as you don’t bother other passengers, you may. But there isn’t anything to really see or do, and you would only be able to walk inside car nineteen since there are no passages across the connections between the cars.”

Hopefully that’s enough for Mirefa.

It turns out it wasn’t. I took her out for a walk while reminding her that running was strictly prohibited. Even then, it took us around a minute before we reached the end of the compartment.

Naturally, this wasn’t looked upon favorably by my sister, who complained, “That’s it? It’s the same as being stuck inside that small room, especially since I can’t even run around or make noise out here.”

“You’re going to have to get used to it, since at the capital, there you won’t be able to run around that often either. The room we will be living in is probably going to be quite small too, and for safety reasons, we won’t be leaving it too often. Especially since you need supervision.”

“Don’t worry about the safety part then. I’m pretty sure I can beat up anything that threatens me.”

“And this is precisely the reason why you need supervision, since you aren’t supposed to go around beating up other people. Well, at least until you grow up a bit and learn the common sense for the elves. And that includes knowing the language.”

“Oh.”

My sister preferred jumping on the bed instead of walking around the train, so we headed back. She began jumping on the bed and requested that I teach her the language, which made for an interesting teaching experience since she never stopped jumping on the bed. I suppose the portions where Anortha was speaking was fine, but I wondered how could my sister look at my writing while constantly bouncing without having a headache.

Night time eventually arrived, and we all went to take a bath. As usual with the elves, there was only a place for the water to drain, so Anortha was busy filling up the tub.

I asked, “Given that there are other non-elves, although sort of rare, that are passengers, what do they do when they need to take a bath? Or even wash their hands? Or even just flushing the toilet?”

“I have no idea. Although it’s not like other races are incapable of using water magic, so I’m sure they will manage just fine.”

This question bugged me for the entire night, so when morning came and the serving lady delivered our breakfast, I asked, “What do you do if you can’t use water magic and need to use the restroom?”

“Can’t you just ask her to make the water for you?” she replied while gesturing toward Anortha.

“Oh, I was just asking that out of curiosity. What do the other passengers do if they aren’t accompanied by someone who can?”

“That very rarely happens but in that case, I suppose I could just fill a bucket or something with water for a silver or something.”

That’s not actually that cheap for something that should be a basic amenity, but I guess the train ticket itself was expensive.

There really wasn’t anything noteworthy that happened on the train. All we did was simply chat, read, and teach Mirefa while she bounced around the bed. A few days passed and we finally arrived at the capital, Lengmun.

binarysoap

The story isn't dead! It's... just in a severe coma, and will intermittently wake up, only to slip back as I get busy again. My (rather feeble) excuse is that my laptop died, although as you can imagine, that itself wouldn't cause a half a year delay.