Chapter 5

Once she was through the checks from the Naudis border guards she was officially in the country as a citizen. She told the guards the same story she did the others and they let her pass without any questions. Gwen felt slightly bad for lying but she knew it was for the greater good.

There was a bus terminal by the border that took people to multiple areas of the country and that was where all the people were headed. There were a large number of buses and

Gwen looked for the one that would take her into the main town.

Before she left she looked up how to get to the address that Mr.Rickeys gave her on the card. She would go there, just to let them know that Mr. Rickeys knew her and sent her here. Once she got into the army she would need to send letters back home. She was sure that sending letters from Estril to Paria-Drae was out of the question and so she planned to send them to Naudis first and then have them go to her house and Paria-Drae.

A phone call was also an option but her entire thing was not being associated with Paria-Drae and having an undying hatred for it. If she were to make calls from the army to Paria-Drae she was sure that would not be good for her.

Gwen found the bus and placed herself at the back.  She looked at the card again to burn the address in her mind. Hopefully, it was not filled with old sketchy people, like Mr. Rickeys. All Gwen wanted from them was a place to sleep for a day and then she would set out to Estril. Gwen carried the Geography book with her just in case she didn't remember where she needed to go.

The bus was fairly empty and it shook against the bumpy dirt road as it drove away from the border. Gwen lost track of time while she rested in her seat. Her head was on the glass and would knock against it when the bus went over a bump in the road but she didn't move. She had not gotten sleep that night and even walked to the border for multiple hours. Gwen was shocked she made it this far. And now was struggling to stay awake on the bus.

The humming of the bus was not helping her stay awake and the people on the bus didn't make any noise. She ate her small snacks to try and keep her eyes open and for the rest of the ride, she forced herself to read just so that she could not miss her stop.

The main town of Naudis was Boreon and was located close to the border of Estril. Gwen was thankful for that. She would have to use some of her money to get a ride to the border but if that didn't work out then the walk should not be too bad.

After a difficult ride, the bus finally stopped at a terminal in the main town and Gwen was more than exhausted, but she had to continue. With the book in her hand and the address in her mind, she began to find her way through the town.

Boreon was not too different from the towns in Paria-Drae, it was filled with houses and businesses, people selling their things on the side of the road, and children playing dangerously in the streets.

Paria-Drae did not have too many tall houses. The tallest the houses could be were four stories. The Royal family did not want their caste obstructed from anyone's view and so they put a law that banned the building of houses taller than four stories.

Gwen thought it was absolute nonsense how conceited the people of that family were. She often wondered how her mother turned out to be so nice.

Because of that law, Gwen was a little surprised to see buildings taller than four stories in Naudis. She had never seen anything like that before and wondered how they were able to stay standing or if they swayed in the wind. The castle was tall but it had alot of foundation on the button. But buildings were mostly just very tall rectangles. Seeing the height of the buildings in Naudis made her wonder.

"Not really what I'm supposed to be thinking about," Gwen said to herself and walked away from the building she admired.

375 Borne Avenue, Boreon, Naudis.

That was what she was looking for. Borne Avenue was a road that outstretched from the main road Lane 70. So Gwen looked for Lane 70 and from there traced her finger on the map to where Borne Avenue was.

Putting it simply, the walk was painful. Every step she took made her want to collapse at that moment. Her feet felt like lead and her head swayed from left to right causing her to almost run into numerous people. Gwen chewed through most of her food in an attempt to keep herself awake, and when she finally arrived at the house she almost fell asleep on her doorstep.

But with a couple of slaps to the face and some jumping jacks, she was able to find enough strength to knock on the door. The house was three stories high and was painted coral. There were plants on the window sill and the garden on the front looked like it was maintained daily. Everything about the property was the complete opposite of Mr. Rickeys and she was slightly confused as to what kind of people he knew that lived in a house this nice.

Gwen expected something like Mr. Rickeys' house and even checked her identification card to make sure she got the right place. But once she was sure it was right, all she had to do was wait anxiously outside until someone opened the door.

A minute passed without Gwen hearing anything and so she knocked again. And after a few seconds, she heard footsteps.

The first thing that caught her attention was the smell that escaped the house when the door opened. It was the most comforting aroma she had ever had the pleasure of smelling. Gwen almost collapsed there and then. It was like if warm muffins, gentle lavender and hugs were a smell. She was not sure if it was lack of sleep that made her think that but she was more than happy to curl up on a couch inside and fall asleep.

The next thing that caught her attention was the person that answered the door. It was a woman, looking to be in her thirties. Her brown hair was messily tied into a bun and she wore a floral dress with a white apron over it. The apron was covered in multiple splashes of paint and so were her arms and face. There were multiple paintbrushes sticking out from the apron pocket and she held one in her hand.

Gwen was definitely thinking her sleep deprivation made her read the house number wrong. How could someone so nice looking be associated with a grump like Mr. Rickeys?

"Hello," she said, looking at Gwen with a warm expression but curiosity in her eyes.

"Hi," Gwen answered. "My name is Gwendolynn Aelisia and I'm from Paria-Drae. I came here to Naudis because I have business to do in Estril but I can't get to Estril because I'm from Paria-Drae so I had to come here first. Anyway, I needed to get an identification card to get here before I go to Estril and so I got one from Mr. Rickeys and he said I could go to the address on this card." Gwen was not sure what exactly she was saying or if it made any sense but she stuck out her identification card to the surprised lady.

She didn't say anything but wiped her free hand on the apron before taking the card. After a couple of seconds of studying it, she looked back up at Gwen.

"You know Lucas?"

"Lucas? Is that Mr. Rickeys?"

The woman gave Gwen a look she could not read before stepping aside and gesturing for her to come inside. Gwen walked forward and into the house. Her boots creaked against the wooden flooring and when she turned around the woman had already closed the door. She was looking at Gwen's card with her eyebrows scrunched.

Gwen started to feel a little bad. Was there a problem between these people and Mr. Rickeys? She felt like she was intruding and suddenly felt small where she was standing.

"Come on dear," the woman said and walked down the hallway.

The hallway led into a living room. There were couches on both sides and a coffee table in the middle. There was a radio that was plying in the center and a window on the other side of the room. Next to the window was an easel with a canvas and a stool in front of it.

"Sit here for a moment please." the woman said.

Gwen just nodded and did what she was told. The woman still had her card and she continued walking forward and disappeared into another room. She guessed that there may be other people living in the house since it was so big but she could not hear because of the radio.

"With the oncoming war between Paria-Drae and Estril, there has been an influx of people trying to get away from it all and finding refuge in Nuadis. The president is welcoming anyone who wants to come from both countries and is working on organizing homes for the families who need it the most..."

Although Gwen was in a stranger's house she could not stop herself from falling sideways on the couch. The gentle aroma of the house lulling her to sleep with the noise of the radio in the background.