The Place Called Villen
The voyage to the canals of Villen was smooth. The ferry arrived at the mouth of the canal leading to Villen. On both sides the canal had been reinforced with concrete. On the edges of the mouth of the canal there were boats entering alongside them. From the looks of it there were also artilleries stationed in the canal as well as a machine-gun embankment, ready to tore any ship that wanted to gain entry in the Villen Canal.
The ship raised a flag. The glint of a binoculars shone as the ferry passed the entrance without trouble. Other than those things. There were also signs of camping on both sides of the canal. The canal was 103 miles long and 200 metres wide. There were also gating that barred entry for the canal. They also use this gate bridge to transfer goods and products to the other side of the canal. The gate bridge was co-funded by the towns of Gulachtal and Ripelfach who didn’t want to go around the moraine and rippling mountains. Villen was supportive of this idea and little by little the canal was formed.
There was a good reason why. The coniferous forests. The small hills that could be seen. Mountains with their tips coated in white snow despite the season. It was far down south, but that didn’t change the fact that it was unreasonably cold. But as the ferry goes further in the canal. The coniferous forest was gone and replaced with treeless lands composed of shrubs, grasses, mosses, and lichens with a few scattered trees. There were areas filled with puddles and some even have shell-holes.
If one looked closely there were burnt signs on the concrete shores of the canal. Closer inspection would probably tell that there were former stone buildings that stood there, but were uprooted either because they were decrepit or had been removed by the air raid. Monoplanes made a serious threat to the allied forces. The Wiesenians saw the potential of the flying steel birds and mass-produced them. Though most of the air battles happened on Kofengen’s oceans where there were probably hundreds of pilots that died battling in the skies of Kofengen’s ocean. It was a necessary tactic to destroy mass-production facilities and infrastructures that could support the war. The Empire was defeated because they wouldn’t be able to produce any more weapons and vehicles because of the destruction of their factories.
Further past those burnt areas. There were small hamlets that could be seen a distance away from the shores of the canal. On the concrete slopes there were children playing in the water. They eyed the ferry with affectionate gazes. Their little arms waving, hoping that they’d caught someone’s eyes.
Green eyes reflected those little arms. Farther away from those children was a straw hat-wearing shepherd who was guiding a group of wooly sheeps to safety. When the children saw the sheeps they gathered their wooden poles and dashed towards the sheeps with the intention of mounting them or following them.
The kids were clueless. Know nothing of what happened. Their little minds probably didn’t register the very idea that they just survived one of the most troublesome years of their young lives. The kids disappeared from the concrete banks as if they were images that were conjured by the light.
Laughter resounded on the ferry as they crossed the middle of the canal. Taking his eyes away from the scenery, Karl tightened the strap on his service cape and sat on the table attached with benches where his recent companions for this trip had seated. The three of them had separated from the rabble. They were not the only ones who chose to stay away from the commotion. A day of commotion was nice, but doing it for two days straight wasn’t for some people who wanted to take a rest. Karl landed his eyes on the chess match happening on the table. Emil and Lynda had been playing on the chessboard. It was quite a match with the two being evenly matched. But Emil was winning against Lynda who sported a dissatisfied expression. She had lost to Karl, and although she won once against Emil. Emil had started to take it seriously. Karl had lost Emil while Lynda hadn't won against him. Emil’s reasoning was that he always somewhat won some gambles when playing chess before the war.
The checkmate landed. Lynda held her forehead then crossed her arms while scowling at the pieces that caught her king.
“This is garbage.”
“I won. Pay up?”
She snorted. She plucked twenty krons in the form of a banknote and handed it to Emil who was licking his lips in excitement.
“Gross.”
“Hey, don’t say that, you lost and I won. Simple as that.”
“I feel unfortunate that I met two awful men.”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Everything. Anyway, since coming to this ferry I have been meeting strange men. Sigh, at least you two are decent compared to the fools here.”
“Sometimes, I don’t know if that is a compliment or not.”
“Take it as a compliment. At least you two are not lustful unlike that sleazebag over there.”
Her eyes were on Kimball who was still persuading the others to join him. At least half of the soldiers here were considering it if the economy really does go bad. Most of these men would either go back to being a soldier or join the enterprise that Mooney had scheming for a long time now. Of course, there are probably who are hoping that it wasn't going down that route. But was life ever so easy that it would go down the way you want?
A healthy dose of pessimism was now part on any soldiers these days. Living through that hell made it part of their life. Even the songbird that was in the guise of a bluebird had that outlook. The three already had their bags ready just in case. Lynda was leaning on her trolley luggage while Emil had his backpack with him.
Slowly, the ferry arrived on Villen. Brick and mortar buildings with brown slate roofs. The entry to Villen was spread like a ‘D’ with many ferries, boats, and even yachts docked. A part of Villen was submerged and was swampy by nature. He had heard that it was because of this swampy environment that they have to make quite a choice. To solve this they drove wooden alder trees in the mud and since salt and the lack of air hardened the alder trees, it thus made for a sturdy platform and foundation. Hundreds of canals and shored up the banks with alder wood piled up to make foundations as years passed by. They also used similar wood as foundations for their buildings. The founders pounded thousands of wooden stakes into the mud that was so close together that they became platforms.
One thing about this place was there was a serious lack of cars or carriages in the town. And the streets were populated with small canals with water buses and gondolas. The place was separated with small islands occupying a small community or street. The place itself was settled between two taiga's facing one another. On each side of the canal that the ferry was entering were farmlands called Ghostrock and Appleside. Appleside was located west of the canal while Ghostrock was on the eastern side. There was a structure protruding naturally from the entrance to the city walls where two horn-like rock formations were poking out. The two horns were quite a sight and it acted as a natural stopping.
Karl had been here before. He had the pleasure of seeing this semi-floating location. If there was anything that changed was that new train station that he had not seen before. Karl found himself standing on civilized land once more. He found his legs freezing up. It was only when Emil thumped his shoulder and heard his creaking prosthetic that Karl got a move on.
The street they were in was the eastway located in the southeastern district. Most of the new arrivals were welcomed by a checkpoint with rifle-armed men occasionally gazing at civilians and soldiers. Seeing the uniforms that they have. They were settled to the side and were asked to show their service numbers and identification. After that, they were allowed out of the checkpoint and headed up the wide stone stairs leading up to a colorful building-lined street. Banners of the allied forces mixed up with the provincial flag of the Bilertalian Army was mixed on them. Crisscrossing above them were banners hanging from the ropes in the streets. After passing four blocks, the trio headed left where they found the center of Villen populated with street stalls and food vendors. Travelers from god knows where mixed with the civilian populace. Most of them were wearing three-button two-piece suits, even some of the women wore them and paired them with their long skirts and heels. The trio blended in with the plaza and browsed the stalls before leaving. Emil bought a necklace. Lynda haggled for a silver pin with engravings on it which she immediately wore. Once they were done with the plaza, the three found a taverna to take a rest. The taverna was located in the Bonespring District, overlooking the canals that were splitting in every direction to the islands. Goldenrock was quite large compared to the rest of the districts.
Karl scanned the taverna. Round tables with umbrellas and wooden chairs that were facing a scenic view. The bustle and hustle of Villen was quite something. So much that the trio found out that they were not used to this kind of scenery. It felt like they were living under rocks. This was new to them.
With three stomachs growling. Karl ordered three sets of their specialty. It was a dish with rice mixed with fresh mint and parsley pine nuts-and minced meat which is then tightly wrapped with tender grape leaves and served with a thick and creamy sauce. The dolma here was rather tasty compared to the ones found in his home.
Emil ordered a rolled pita as well. Lynda was satisfied with one dish alone. The trio talked a lot about Villen, and then which hotel that they should be staying in. But mostly they were occasionally wandering their gazes on this awful scenery of peace before them.
They were like fish out of water. And even Karl who was the most composed out of the three was much quieter. Lynda, who had wiped her red lips with a tissue, leaned on her chair. Her eyes on the canals filled with gondolas and all kinds of boats.
“It’s peaceful.”
“Yes it is. Scary that this place doesn’t look like it knew war.”
“The war being over probably lifted the spirits. When I was here there were no tourists or civilians walking as if they held no care in the world. We won the war. So in a sense we are at a point we are celebrating it.”
“Like a honeymoon period huh.”
“Get used to it. Villen never really has much action. Because of the fierce defense of the canal leading here. But if we go further then I’m sure there will be areas where it isn’t as welcoming like this.”
Lynda and Emil nodded slowly. But even if they know that well. There were still parts of them that thought it was all troublesome. Fresh out of the field. Still carrying the carefulness that they had during the war.
But for Karl Von Alden, Emil Danzer, and Lynda Magnolia this was the first step of them returning to civilian life. It made them feel awful. As if they didn’t belong. It was probably this reason that they wanted to be accompanied back home. Even if it's for a short time the three wanted to be with people who understood what they had gone through. To be alone with only their thoughts as their companion seemed hellish for them.
