Waiting For Sunrise - The Books Of Beginning AU

2. The Train Ride North

They hadn't had enough. Then Kate had sold the chain of her locket, and they did. There was a bit of change leftover that Kate used to buy three apples and a loaf of bread as provisions, and then the day after being thrown out of the orphanage, they were on a train headed straight to New York City.

The loud rumble of the train, the jostling as they chugged along the tracks, the pungent smell of fuel being burned, it all filled Kate with a mix of excitement and dread. She was hoping with everything in her that New York would be a safe place for her siblings, a place where they could find help so they didn't have to sleep in back alleys, the way they had last night.

Her fingers curled around her locket, now separated from its chain and tucked inside the folds of her blouse, the cool metal raising goosebumps on her midsection when she tucked it back into the seam. It felt wrong to not feel its weight dangling from her neck, but it was a small price to be to be huddled on this train with at least some sort of future ahead of them.

Emma traced the fraying seams of their single suitcase. Michael had taken the Dwarf Omnibus from his satchel and was attempting to read through the bumpy ride. Kate thought about warning him against it, in case he begun to feel sick, but decided against it. They were moving to a whole new city, making their plans up as they went; it was no wonder Michael was trying to calm his stress in any way possible.

"Can I have one of those apples now? I'm hungry," Emma asked.

Kate nodded, "Alright, as long as you don't think you're going to get sick."

"I won't," Emma said, pulling out one of the fruits and biting into it. The juice rolled down her chin, dripping onto her skirt, and she smiled through a mouthful.

Michael closed his book with an auditable snap, "I can't take this anymore. It's impossible to read with how much we're jostling."

He slid his book into the satchel and sighed. Kate felt a pang of sympathy for him. She knew her younger brother's love of reading and learning was an important part of him, and one that people often dismissed. He was small and quiet and not a fighter by any means, and that had made him the target of many bigger brutes in almost every orphanage they went to. Unable to make friends and suffering under merciless taunts and pummeling that his sisters had to rescue him from, research and stories were his escape.

"We'll be there before sunset," Kate attempted to comfort him.

Michael just nodded, "I know. As violent as these trains can be, they'll have us there far faster than say, a wagon or a horse would. It's actually a remarkable innovation from the humans, though it has nothing to the dwarfish way of moving materials around their mines-"

Emma groaned, "please do not lecture us about dwarves again."

"Fine, as long as you stop talking with your mouth full," Michael retorted.

Kate gave them a warning look. They had been on this train since very early in the morning, and it was no wonder they were growing restless and falling back on arguing, it was what they always did. But the last thing Kate needed was the two of them getting into one of their long drawn out fights while in the middle of moving to a new city.

"Kate-" Emma whined, and Kate only glowered her 'eldest sibling glare' more. She was used to being the tough one, the one who provided discipline as well as care. It was just another role forced upon her, and as hard as filling that role could be, it had made her quite resilient in the face of everything from pouting and whining to tantrums.

"Emma, you have to chew with your mouth closed. It's the polite thing to do," Kate said levelly, "and Michael, I know you love dwarves, but I think you should pick something else to discuss."