Blurs of green, mostly. Vast green fields, sometimes complete with giant rolls of hay. A few farmers. Sporadic. Most of the trip was empty green fields, only wildlife.
It was beautiful.
Kora enjoyed it more than she thought she would.
Before this, she thought she'd seen everything.
Being a smuggler, she'd been on plenty of trips, visited many regions.
There was something about traveling on this train, in peace, the gas engine rumbling away consistently at the front of the train. The slight vibrations in the floor. The way the train sometimes hit bumpy track and caused ripples in her coffee. The way she could just stare out the window endlessly, thinking nothing, enjoying. The way she could open the window in her cabin and take in the fresh air.
It wasn't until halfway through the second day that she noticed how much she was enjoying the trip. When she realized it, everything came crashing down on her.
Her mind wouldn't let her have peace.
Instead, Alex came to mind.
She pictured Alex squaring up against Theresa and CREW. Alex, who was new to the prison, whose only friend was Kora. How would she face them? If they cornered her, Kora knew what they would do. They would hurt her, bad. They would possibly kill her, or leave her for dead. They would break her back or her neck to make a point. They might derive some sort of perverted pleasure before leaving her in agony.
Guy came to mind. The man she owed money to. She figured this job would pay for it, so she wasn't worried.
She thought about her life. She liked the life of a smuggler. She enjoyed the adventure.
Still, the ultimate adventure would be to get out of the Realm, to a better place, without all the worry. No worry—that was the final dream.
Kora took a sip of coffee. She was in a reading room. Basically a room with a shelf of books, a few couches. Only one other person was in here, reading an old newspaper.
Kora was standing by one of the windows in the room, watching everything go by. It kept coming to her mind—her family. She had many great memories with them. Though they only lived until she was seven years old. She remembered her mom doing her hair every morning, telling her how beautiful she was. She recalled her father's strong arms, always lifting her to his shoulders. She held onto him by the hair on his head.
He was an explorer.
An adventurer.
Until he was murdered, and the rest of her family with them. Not a day went by when she didn't think about it. Well, not exactly true. She'd learned early on that if she kept a busy schedule, she would have no time to think of them.
It usually entered her mind in those moments before falling asleep. She often dreamed about it. It replayed in her mind, but it was always fuzzy. She couldn't remember the details. Her memories of her parents and her brothers were scattered.
She was afraid that one day she'd forget them altogether.
Though she knew that would never happen.
Because at the same time that she wanted to retain the memory, she wanted to forget it. What was the point of having a family if they were all going to be taken from you, right away, in the beginning of your life?
That's why Alex was wrong. Alex wasn't her friend for a reason. Alex didn't become her cellmate for any reason higher than they each could recognize. It happened because it happened. Because life happens and shit happens and the world just keeps spinning before the suns. And there is nothing new under the suns.
Her father was murdered because the Authority didn't like whatever it was he'd been exploring. She wasn't sure the objective of his explorations. She'd been too young to understand.
She'd never investigated further.
She'd stayed far away from the province where he'd been murdered.
Hell, she'd stayed out of that entire region of the Authority.
She would never, ever go back.