Tears of a Dove

III: From Frozen Land

December 21, 1882

Kobe paced around the room for an hour until the person finally woke up. When they did, Kobe's eyes lit up with relief. "Oh... you're okay!" he shouted in excitement.

"Where am I?" The small voice that was spoken is clear that the person was a girl.

"You're in Valé's general inn. I rented you a room."

"Valé..." She gasped. "Valé? I'm in Tochinokori?" She shouted in excitement, looking down and moving her hands along with what she was saying.

"Y-Yes. Where... what... who... are you?" Kobe stuttered.

"Who are you?" She asked, pointing at the wall.

"I'm, uh, over here."

She sighed. "Tell me your real name."

"No, I meant... you pointed at the wall."

"What?" She stopped. "Wait..."

"Is... there something wrong?"

Putting her hands out in front of her, she looked like she was going to cry. "No..."

"What--"

"No! This can't be happening right now!"

"What can't be... what?" Kobe was very confused.

"Who are you?" She asked forcefully.

"I'm Kobe Okilo. I live here in Valé."

A tear ran down her face. "I'm..."

Kobe shuffled over to her. "Hey, what's wrong?"

She looked at Kobe. Kobe could see her eyes, which were a very light color of gray. Her hair was long and black, and it was turning gray at the ends.

"Oh... are you...?"

"I lost my vision..."

Kobe pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down. "Do you mind... telling me what happened?"

She sighed. "As long as you don't tell anyone else, I don't mind."

"It stays between us."

"Very well then," she continued, "My name is Ingrid Leino. I'm from Kinji."

"Isn't it really cold there?"

"Yeah. Very." Ingrid continued. "I'm going to be blunt with you. I hate it there. Everyone runs in the streets robbing and killing others all day. We don't have any leaders there. My parents, they... They kicked me out of our house, telling me that 'it's for my own safety.' Ever since then, I've lost everything that's important to me... all my gifts from my parents and friends were stolen, my friends were murdered, and my parents disappeared. The evil people tried to take me with them... I wouldn't let them. I simply couldn't. I'm just a kid."

Kobe looked at her in awe, having no words whatsoever.

Ingrid resumed talking. "So then, I walked all the way here."