Xochipilli took a while to wake up, so Aloe bought some pastries from a nearby bakery and asked for some directions. Especially about this 'train'.

  Unfortunately for the boy when he finally woke up, the pastries were cold. Not because he took that long to wake up, but because they were from yesterday. Even in this modern era bakeries couldn't have fresh and warm pastries as soon as they opened up.

  "They were good though," he added after he finished them.

  "I'm glad you enjoyed them," Aloe smiled at him. "But it's time we should get going."

  "Where are we going to today?" The boy asked after dusting all the crumbles from his short trousers.

  "The station," the druid answered, but her disciple expression soured. "Don't fret, child. It's not going to be like last time."

  "I know," he nodded and smiled. "You are with me now."

  Nince-damned hells, I want to eat him whole. "What a charmer you are!" She kept those thoughts to herself and just ruffled his hair.

  They left the safe house and directed themselves to the 'train station'. Apparently, the metal beams she had seen laid out on the ground leading out of the city were part of this station, so even without direction it was easy to find it. Nonetheless, she thanked her foresight for asking the baker for directions as it made her look more dependable.

  The sight of the station surprised Aloe. She certainly hadn't expected… this.

  Great pavilions of glass formed the train station of Selen as hundreds, if not thousands, of people gathered. The sheer number of people was giving her anxiety. It was one thing seeing thousands walk on the streets, another was seeing them in a semi-enclosed space.

  Fortunately, they didn't have to ask for directions now as the flow of people was enough to guide them. They stood in a queue before a massive signboard that said 'TICKETS'. Whilst the queue moved fast, it was quite long, leaving them waiting for longer than she had wanted.

  It wasn't that she was nervous because she had just killed a man in the city barely a few hours ago. Not at all. She had just delivered justice to a criminal, and that was fine. The problem was that the criminal had been an assassin, and those rats had the uncanny ability to find her. She didn't fear for her life, but Xochipilli's. She was impervious to damage, but the same couldn't be said for the kid.

  She reminisced about that interrogation and couldn't bring herself to bring a grain of shame. She had killed a man. Unlike all the other people she had killed before, this one had not threatened her or tried to sell her, and even if it would have most likely tried to do that if given the chance, she couldn't help but be uneasy about it.

  Not because she had killed him, but because she was going to kill him no matter how he would have responded.

  He could have been an innocent, honest-to-heavens worker in the warehouse, and she would have simply killed him for the sin of having seen her naked. An act she had forcefully pressed onto the man.

  And that scared her.

  She was scared at how she could have killed anyone at all, regardless of intentions or background. That wasn't very human, was it?

  Her trail of thought was stopped by a pull on her hand.

  "Is something wrong, Xochipilli?" She asked the boy after looking around, but it still wasn't their turn in the queue. She hadn't been that deep into her thoughts.

  "What has happened with the thing on your head?" He asked with innocent, childish curiosity.

  Aloe almost asked what he was talking about before she remembered that she had pulled the Aloe Veritas out of her head yesternight.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "Oh, I've stored it," she moved her parasol to the side to reveal only her ivy hair. "It would be very suspicious if a woman walked with a plant on their head, wouldn't it?"

  "I think…" The young druid responded doubtfully. "But I think it suited you."

  "Thanks for that," Aloe chuckled. "But it's better if we blend with the masses a bit."

  Xochipilli mumbled noncommittally, apparently enjoying Aloe's crown more than she herself had. As they waited, the boy swung the suitcase he was carrying in his other hand. They didn't have many possessions, so they all fit in a single suitcase they had found in the slaver's apartment.

  Truth be told, all the heavy things that didn't require to be taken out at a moment’s notice was carried by Aloe inside the Slowtide, but the boy wanted to do something, so she gave him the pleasure of carrying the suitcase around. That way both of them had their hands occupied, ones with their handhold, the others with a suitcase and a parasol.

  Soon, their turn finally arrived. Aloe had expected some fanfare on the counter, but as soon as she said "Two tickets to Sadina, please," the clerk answered with a price and as soon as she paid it, she was handed two pieces of paper that would allow her to mount the 'train'.

  "It has been quite the simple process, I expect more… nuisance," she said to Xochipilli as they walked inside the station.

  "I didn't even know you had to pay to get on the trains," the boy revealed. "They just… well, shoved me inside."

  She was a bit saddened by how casually the child shared his memories. He had been kidnapped, separated from his family, and also sold into slavery, yet he was so… nonchalant about it. He was stronger than she gave him credit for.

  Aloe wanted to talk with him about it, but those thoughts vanished from her mind as she saw it. A behemoth of black metal surrounded by hundreds of people.

  "Is that the train?" Her eyes shone with powerful emerald. Xochipilli nodded at his question. "And that chunk of metal is supposed to move?" The boy nodded again. "How is it supposed to move?"

  "Uh…" This time he remained stunned in confusion.

  "I'm jesting," she ruffled his hair. "I know you don't know the answer. Still, I would like to have the answers… Do you think if we ask the people on the train will they answer us?" The boy responded by simply shrugging. "Fair."

  Even though the place was very crowded, Aloe was able to distinguish the voices of the people shouting and the sounds of bells. As they walked around, she saw more trains that had been hidden by the one at the entrance, and as they passed the 'platforms' as the signboards hanging by the ceiling indicated, she was able to hear the voice of a man faintly mentioning their destination.

  "The express to Sadina leaves in five minutes!" He announced with all his might but the cacophony drowned most of it.

  "Come on, Xochipilli, our train will soon leave!" She excitedly pulled on his hand and the boy followed her.

  It was a bit pathetic to admit, but she was really excited to mount this train she had heard about for all these days. The child-like wonder filled her in ways she hadn't believed possible.

  Navigating through the literal sea of people was hard, harder than even the bazaar of Sadina, mostly because she was leading Xochipilli with one hand, partly because she was focused on pickpockets and such. No one had tried to pickpocket her yet, but it was inevitable.

  It wasn't paranoia speaking. She was a juicy target. Beautiful, well-dressed, and accompanied by what people would consider a servant.

  In any case, it wasn't paranoia, but her ego that was speaking. Having an inflated ego was something new to her and she still didn't know how to manage it. She suspected that it was partially the fault of the nefarious charm stance that tended to mess with the wielder's perception as well as the onlookers.

  It took a bit of finesse and a couple of very vital minutes, but they finally reached the man who was calling out their train. Most of the area surrounding their train was now devoid of people with only the man who had been shouting standing beside it with a metal device in hand chained to his blue coat.

  "Excuse me, is this the train to Sadina?" Aloe asked even if she was mostly sure of it.

  "Indeed, young lady." The man nodded and stored the metal device in the front pocket of his jacket.

  "Oh, please, I'm not that young." She said with a faux blush. Though her words were quite real. One person notwithstanding, she was the oldest person in Khaffat.

  "Nonsense!" The man protested. "Alas, this is not the moment for such discussion. Could I have your tickets?"

  "Xochipilli, if you will?" The druid pointed at his disciple with a movement of her head and the boy handed the brown papers to the man as his clothes had pockets, unlike her dress.

  I miss my satchels… The druid kept to herself. Going from tens of satchels to no pockets at all had been a hard transition.

  "Mm," he read them and took another metallic device that he used to puncture the papers. "Here you go." He gave them back to Xochipilli.

  "Why did you do that?" Aloe asked the man. "The hole thing, I mean."

  "Have you never gone on a train before, lady?" The man inquired with a soft tone, and she shook his head in negation. "This is called 'clipping' and my job as the ticket examiner is to check that the tickets are valid and mark them. Please, don't lose them as we tend to do inspections from time to time once the train is up and running."

  "I'll keep that in mind, thank you so much."

  "Likewise." Aloe gifted him a smile over the frills of her parasol. "Come on, Xochipilli. It's time to board the train~" She did her best to hide her excitement, but she utterly failed at the task.