Hannah got three tickets for a train in the right direction the next morning, then showed Matteo and Tara around on the off chance they ever wanted to wander alone. Matteo, for his part, continued to ask tourist questions; Tara offered a word or two if it was just them.

They had to wait two days before they could leave, so the first day they walked around under Hannah’s supervision and the second day they sat around her house at Tara’s insistence. When the time came, Hannah went out just to confirm the train arrived on time, then returned to pick up Matteo and Tara. Lykke—having a job somewhere in the port, judging from her and Hannah’s few mentions to it—already left by then and Hannah had bid her farewells earlier, so they didn’t need to stop anywhere.

More people came off the train than who went on it, but you wouldn’t be able to tell just by going in; most of the seats were filled, many of the occupants sleeping or scowling or reading. Hannah took them to one of the back cars where there were less people.

Tara chose to sit closest to the wall, with Matteo across from her and Hannah to his right. Hannah put most of their stuff—three small bags of just clothes, plus Tara’s drawing supplies—on the empty seat next to the girl in question.

“It should only take six hours, eight if the rail’s snowed over somewhere,” Hannah said, leaning back in her seat. Matteo noticed that, whenever given the chance, she seemed to prefer daydreaming over reading or any hobbies. “Out of curiosity, is that better or worse than Dakari nowadays?”

“Better, when you consider train switches,” Matteo replied. “One train can take two hours, then you have to wait three just to get on for another four. Straightforward routes are rare.”

“That makes sense,” Hannah mused. “Sólstaður’s all snow and ice; trains are a heck of a lot safer and quicker than going by foot. People in Dakari have everything they’ll ever want for a lifetime just an hour or two’s walk away.”

“A lot more people are traveling out now, actually.” A weird, obviously-only-a-prince-would-know-this-off-hand topic, sure, but he would rather talk than read. Hannah’s always entertained conversation as long as he had a few prompting topics to go off of. “Especially during the fall or early spring, whenever leaves change or flowers bloom.”

Hannah glanced over at him. “Are there still sakura festivals?”

”In the big cities,” Matteo said, nodding. “And the ones with more first island history.”

“I can barely remember them,” Hannah admitted. “Eyset’s sakura were pitiful at best and nonexistent at worst; I’ve seen them from a large distance on the first island, too, but most people don’t like going near there during the season.”

“Have you been to Dakari a lot? After you first left, I mean.”

“No.” She looked ahead of her again. “Long story short, I promised Ren”—she gave up saying her full name at some point; she did the same for Lykke, shortening it to ‘Ly’—“I would come back once I could promise a good life in Sólstaður. I try to keep my word, so for a while I outright refused jobs until I figured out she was no longer in Eyset.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Matteo murmured some kind of understanding. In a way, it was actually considerate—granted, he had no reference for what Rene and Hannah’s relationship had been like, but considering that your ex might not want to see you unless you could fulfill a promise was remarkably thoughtful.

There was a brief silence, with Matteo reaching over to get a book just in case it would last, then Hannah cast him a curious look.

“Actually,” she said, a bit more cautiously, “If you don’t mind me asking, do you know how she got out of Eyset?”

Matteo started to answer, then realized he didn’t actually know the details. It wasn’t one of the things Rene openly shared—she talked about her time in Eyset sometimes, and she would undoubtedly tell a story about the years she was dating Adelinde, but not a lot of the in between.

Just as he got ready to admit that, Tara spoke up—albeit very, very quietly.

“…She got adopted.”

He barely caught it, so he was surprised that Hannah did.

“How long after I left, did she tell you?”

”It couldn’t have been a long time,” Matteo noted, glancing at Tara for confirmation. “I remember Mom mentioning that they had the chance to meet while she was dating Aurik.”

“I take it she doesn’t talk about it a lot?” Hannah guessed.

Matteo shook his head, but it was Tara who explained.

“She broke off before marrying.”

Hannah visibly grimaced. “That explains why she’s still Horize, anyway. Must not’ve been great, though.”

“For what it’s worth,” Matteo said, looking back at Hannah, “Adelinde would run the issue into the ground if it was a problem. Whatever led to it”—he had a good idea, thinking about it and recalling why they were here—“she isn’t bothered by much or at all.”

Hannah stayed silent for a second, then sighed.

“Well, at least I didn’t leave her just for her to starve to death,” she said. “Maybe when you kids are done your thing, I’ll take you back to Dakari.”

Matteo perked up. “You can probably bring Lykke too—Adelinde and Rene wouldn’t mind.”

“Rene would probably like it,” Tara muttered.

“Right.” He smiled at Hannah. “Then you and Rene can catch up and such.”

Hannah blinked for a second, then laughed. It took a few seconds before it died down.

“Hate to break it to you, kid, but relationships don’t work like that. You don’t ’catch up’ with someone you haven’t seen in two decades.”

“You could’ve fooled me back at Eyset. I’ve seen the aftermath of romances—it could’ve been a lot worse.”

She wiped a tear from her eye, whether or not she actually shed one. Still, she answered remarkably seriously.

“I’ll consider it. I won’t make it a promise unless Ly wants to, though.”

Matteo gave one last grin, taking it as an accomplishment of sorts. He took out the book he wanted earlier, letting conversation dull for now as the train continued on its way.