Prelude to Crystal Cove Chronicles

Chapter 8: Marielle

By the time the train pulled into the station at Taridia, Zenya was about ready for something to eat. And possibly a stiff drink, something she only rarely indulged in. Like in Karancia, when she had been attempting to excise an awful image from her mind...

Glancing out of the window, she took in the station. It hadn't changed at all in the last three years, it was still just as big and echoing as always. What had started out as a single platform had morphed over the last few decades into a gargantuan multi-platform station where passenger trains arrived and left on the hour, most hours of the day, and heavy goods trains came and went nearly as often.

Unlike Tantagal, which handled most of its major trade via the sea, Taridia was completely landlocked and therefore needed an efficient overland solution. The advent of railroads had helped build this city up into a powerful trading hub and military outpost combined. Without the rail connection, Taridia would have been so underdeveloped that the first Musean attack likely would have succeeded with almost no effort.

It also helped that they were right next door to the mountains which separated the Tri-Cities from the Southern Steppe region, except for a number of narrow passes that were treacherous and difficult even for military vehicles designed with them in mind.

The mountains themselves, tall and grand and as old as the world, held untold riches in the form of iron and copper and coal, plus gold and silver and other precious minerals, all of which contributed to the city's wealth, and its ability to fuel and reinforce its defensive war machine.

There was a difference in the air here. It was clearer somehow, crisp and sharp at this time of year, but lacking the salt Zenya was used to in Tantagal. It was strange how she had grown up here, yet it seemed like a foreign city to her now.

She supposed it was some sort of self-defence mechanism, her mind attempting to distance itself from the memory of this place, and what had happened three years ago. Zenya still hadn't been able to face visiting the location of her old home or the south gate.

Tugging her bag down from the luggage rack, she stepped off the train and made her way outside to the city proper. While Tantagal's houses were primarily constructed from the blue-tinted stone common in that region, around Taridia it was almost exclusively fired bricks in a dusty off-red colour.

There was a great amount of clay in the mountains and around the nearby lakes, and it made for a fine building material when fired in large, industrial-grade kilns. But more importantly, it was easy to replace and rebuild compared to the heavy stone used in Tantagal, a necessity when dealing with regular attacks.

While the buildings were mostly red rather than blue-grey here, metal still dominated, as it did in Tantagal. Support struts, beams, gantries between taller buildings, the metals were nearly as common here as they were at home.

The one exception to this was Leth's Sanctuary, a combined church to Her glory, orphanage, and medical centre. The church itself was constructed from the heavy blue stone rather than brick, and lacked much in the way of metals, but the orphanage and medical centre next door used the familiar red bricks.

Located right slap-bang in the centre of the city (even the ruling council's offices didn't enjoy that privilege), Leth's Sanctuary was home to Marielle, where she was regularly poked and prodded by men and women in white coats, hoping to learn something new about Tragost's Syndrome.

The boxy building next to the church was two storeys in height, with both internal and external staircases in case of emergency (thankfully the Museans had never managed to reach this far into the city, but fires were still a danger), and a flat roof where the children and patients could sit and enjoy the sun without being in the way of passersby outside or at risk of worsening their own conditions.