Another week has passed. Ann and Jamie were doing much better than before. The unlikely scenario which Ann hadn't anticipated had happened.
A nice couple had adopted them. The husband was a sailor, and the wife was a seamstress. They lived in the Harbor District, far away from the Dirt District, so they didn't suffer any damage from the disaster.
They lived in a large housing complex with multiple sailor families. It was a pleasant community, and a lot of newly adopted children were running around.
Ann was grateful for her newly adopted parents. With their help, Jamie could continue to attend school. She had already decided to stay at home and work as a seamstress with her new mother.
A lot has changed in the Hammon's and the Free Cities. The Senate had voted on a new Bill, which brought a minimal wage for any corporate jobs. This prevented factory owners from undercutting factory workers, at least legally.
It also became required for jobs to provide the workers with minimal healthcare and biyearly checkups.
The working conditions had also seen some improvement, but those changes the factory owners are still fighting against.
Because of the enormous loss of life in the Hammon Disaster, there is a lot less competition in lower-class jobs. This caused the wages to rise even further, since the factory owners want to get back into production.
Ann read all about these in the newspaper, and she felt strange. She didn't fully understand how could a horrible event have so many good outcomes.
Currently, she was sitting on a pier, watching the waves. Loads of ships were leaving and arriving, either bringing supplies and goods, or taking away people.
The wealthier part of the city had either already left, or was planning to. This caused an emptiness in the city's class structure, which caused investors to funnel in.
Many of them believed that rebuilding the city is a great opportunity to make money.
Ann watched as the waves moved in and out with a hollow expression. After these two weeks, she felt lost.
Her life was upended. She always wanted to continue her studies and even attend university. She wanted to become an engineer, architect, chemist, or something along those lines.
She had great plans for her own future, which got thrown out of the window. Now she had no ambition, and she only wanted to live comfortably with Jamie.
There was nothing more important for her than her brother's wellbeing. He was finally getting better. It was still a little annoying that he couldn't sleep alone, but he was making new friends with the other orphaned children.
Ann continued to watch the waves when a loud ship horn sounded from her left. She jumped a bit from surprise and turned her head towards the large dreadnaught arriving to port.
She watched the ship for a few seconds, then sighed sadly and turned back towards the waves. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed another person sitting next to her.
The woman wore a black dress, which didn't show any skin. Her face was hidden behind a dark veil, so no matter how hard Ann tried, she couldn't see the woman's face.
"You know, it's rude to stare at a mourning person," said the woman. Her voice wasn't angry or annoyed, just sad. It was also familiar to Ann, but she didn't know why.
"Sorry," she said, then turned back towards the waves.
They sat there at the edge of a pier in silence. Neither seemed to be in the mood to talk, but the woman in black spoke, anyway.
"Who did you lose?"
Ann didn't answer for a few minutes. It was still painful to speak about her family, and even just saying their names caused her eyes to become watery.
"My parents and sisters," she said in a meek voice, then turned towards the woman, "What about you?"
Under the veil, the woman smiled sadly...
"I have lost nothing and everything at the same time. I had been given the most precious thing in the world, a family, but yet again, they were taken away from me..."
The woman turned towards her as well, but even then Ann couldn't see under her veil.
"You know... Before everything happened, I planned to live in peace, in hiding, but these past events had opened my eyes in more ways than one... This world is fundamentally wrong. It's built upon the principles of fairness, but it is not..."
"People said I was a kind and loving person, but after everything that happened, I only feel hatred and want vengeance. If these forces didn't want to leave me alone, then I guess I need to find another way to peace... No matter how hard or painful it will be!"
Ann stared at the woman in confusion and decided that she was crazy. With a shake of her head, she turned away from the woman and sighed towards the sea.
"Anyway. I just came her to say goodbye... Good luck, Ann..." her voice sounded far away, and by the time Ann's head snapped towards the woman, she was gone.
Ann looked around the pier, but she wasn't there either. She even looked into the sea to see if she jumped down, but the waves were calm.
After this interaction ended, she grabbed her bag and hurried back to her home.
...
A day later, she was looking for something in her bag when she found a piece of torn paper. It had a series of numbers and letters, which Ann had recognized as a bank account number.
At first she thought it was a prank, but she had nothing else to do, so she went to check it out, anyway.
The paper also had the password and the bank's name on it, so after getting ready, Ann went there.
The place was mostly empty when she arrived, and after a few minutes of waiting, her name was called. She went to a private room, where she began talking with the bank clerk.
When she asked about the account, the female clerk went away and came back with a folder.
"Ah, yes. That account got created recently, and a large sum of money got placed into it immediately," she said, while readying a paper in the folder.
Ann's ears perked up at that. All the families at the community complex could use a bit more money, so she became interested instantly.
"How much?" she asked, but the clerk didn't answer. Her eyes seemed to widen as she read more. She then stared at Ann before continuing to read.
After a few minutes of looking at Ann and reading, the clerk finally put the folder down. She looked at Ann with an uncomfortable smile.
"Well... There is 15.748 gelt in the account..."
Ann's eyes widened upon hearing the number, and she nearly fell out of her chair. It took her a few seconds to regain composure, and for the clerk to continue.
"But... The owner of the account left a stipulation... The account can only be accessed by one individual. The owner provided an exact description of this person, and also their name... Ann Miles..."
It wasn't easy for the clerk to say all this. The whole account smelt of fraud, but she had no basis to make a complaint. She also noticed that the girl in front of her seemed genuinely surprised by this information, so she wasn't part of money laundering.
For Ann, it took minutes to stop staring at the clerk with a dumbfound expression.
"Does... Does that mean... The money is mine?" she asked in a small, shaky voice.
Only now did the clerk realize the girl was poor. Her clothes were nice, but not at all expensive. Her hair had no ornamentation, and her make-up was basically nonexistent.
She was also very young, and the clerk doubted she had any experience with banks.
She spent a few minutes explaining everything to the girl, and at some point she began taking literal notes, which the clerk approved of.
After talking for a long time, there was one more stipulation the clerk had to bring up. It was a short message, written by the maker of the account. It was only a few sentences, but only Ann was allowed to read them.
With a curious expression, Ann opened the paper, and read the few lines...
'Hello sister! If you are reading this, then you think I'm dead. Be assured, me and my husband are alive. After the events in Hammon, we had decided to leave and hunt down everyone responsible for the disaster. I hope you and Jamie are doing well...'
There were a few tear stains on the paper, which made it harder to read, but Ann figured out the blurred words.
'The money is a gift. It wasn't legally acquired, but only bad people suffered for it. I gave it to you, and I hope you use it wisely. I'm sorry to part ways like this, but it's better for everyone...'
'I'm sorry for your loss, and I hope to meet you again some day...'
'Love you, V. N.'
Ann read the message a dozen times, and after each read, more and more tears flowed down her face. The clerk didn't say a word, she just waited for Ann patiently.
Her tears were both full of sadness and full of joy. She was sad, because this reminded her about the family she lost, but she was happy too. She knew that out there somewhere, her sister was alive, and she was sure that the culprits would die!
Shortly after that, she got a hundred gelt out of the account, and she spent the rest of the day shopping. She bought gifts for each of the orphaned children, and a lot of food for all the families.
A day or two after Ann had got the account, a new tread popped up at the front of the newspaper. The Vile Quarter was no more.
Nobody knows what happened, but all the criminals had been killed, and all the establishments had been looted.
The police had no idea where the money had disappeared to. They estimated that its value should be around 15.000 gelt.
When Ann read this, she began to laugh hysterically. At first she was afraid to use the money, since she did not know where it came from, but now she didn't care.
She decided to use the money of criminals to make society better. Those people will literally pay to make other people's lives good!