Gwen gave him her best smile. Mr. Rickeys looked at her suspiciously as he smoked his cigar. He was leaning back into his old couch and was giving Gwen a look that made her think it would be harder than she imagined.
The interior of his house was how anyone would expect. Everything looked old and worn down. The grey paint on the walls was peeling off and what remained was cement and grime. There was always a draft that Gwen had to get used to because he never cleaned any of the fireplaces in his house. And there was no way she was willing to do it. Although he lives in such conditions he never complained or seemed like he was struggling. He was content with how he lives, even if it was not up the standard of other people.
"Why?" he asked and tapped the cigar over a tray.
"I want to go to Naudis and I'm sure that they won't let me in if they know where I'm from."
"Why do you want to go to Naudis?"
Gwen gave him a look of desperation. She was sure he would not do her the favor if she told him her plan. He may even tell her mother, and that was the last thing she wanted.
"There's just things I need to do there. Private things."
He did not seem moved one bit. "And does your mother know of these things?"
"She knows I want to go... just not the things I'm willing to do to get there."
Mr. Rickeys hummed and rubbed his stubble. "And what do you want to do in Naudis?"
Gwen groaned. "Important things. Come one, I don't need to tell you. You trust me right? You taught me how to fight so I should be fine if anyone tried to do anything to me. I'm not going to cause trouble or anything I swear."
Three years ago she had approached Mr. Rickeys in a fit of confidence and asked him if he knew how to fight. Right off the bat she could see that he found her amusing. And so when he said that he could, Gwen was determined to get him to teach her. Gwen knew that if she wanted to be successful she must know how to fight and defend herself. So after hearing the rumours about Mr. Rickeys, she went to ask him. At first he said no and ignored her but she persisted more.
Gwen knew that there were other people that could teach her but she did not want word of it reaching her mother. Mr. Rickeys was a cool person and she admired how he cared for so little and just lived his life simply. She was glad that he turned out to be the person who taught her. They spent a lot of time together in the past three years and learned quite a bit about him. He never spoke of his past or how he got to live in the house but he would teach her life lessons and listen to her problems. She hoped their teacher-student relationship would be enough to move him to help her.
"If you aren't going to cause trouble then why are you refusing to tell me?"
"Because it's something personal."
"Personal..." he grunted and rested down his cigar.
Gwen was used to his smoking and over time became immune to the smell of tobacco. There was a time when the smell settled on her and her mother nearly had a heart attack thinking she was smoking but she had to say she was in the market and the smell caught onto her.
"Personal and for a good cause. I promise it isn't anything bad."
"Does it have something to do with why you wanted me to teach you how to fight? Or is that something else?"
"Partially," she held up her index finger and thumb showing how small it was.
It definitely was not small but the more he told him the more he was likely to deny her.
Mr. Rickeys sighed deeply and then let out a cough. "What exactly do you want to change on the identification card?"
An identification card was the size of a standard book. It had the information of a person's birth, family, address and so on. It acted as a birth certificate, ID and passport in one. Some other countries had all separated but Paria-Drae was simple and put it all ona card.
"I want to have my name shortened to Gwen and a different last name. I want different names for my parents and to be born and have an address in Naudis."
When Gwen was born, she was only registered to have one parent, which was Bruce. It took no genius to figure out why her mother was not on the card.
Mr. Rickeys gave her another suspicious look. "Sounds like you need a lot changed."
"Just the standard things in my opinion."
In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to get one because there are only a handful of people with the stamps to approve any certificates. Meaning that you need to have connections with these people to get what you want.
"And what makes you think that I know how to get you one?"
"Because you're totally suspicious and probably do. I know you know people or people of people or of people or something like that."
Mr. Rickeys cracked a small smile and sat up on the couch. "I may or may not. But what's stopping me from reporting you?"
"Because you like me." she gave him her best innocent gaze and batted her eyelashes.
Mr. Rickeys laughed. "You're right I do like you kid. But I don't trust what you're going to do."
"When have I ever done something reckless? I've spent my entire life being careful not to draw attention to myself and live like a hermit most of the time. I know what I'm doing."
It took a couple more minutes of perusation before he finally agreed.
"I can get it to you, but it will take some time. Maybe a few days to a week or two."
Gwen beamed at him. "As long as I can get it before the fighting starts I will be fine."
"And you'll be back before the fighting starts right?"
Gwen stuttered a bit before she caught herself. "I should be fine when the fighting starts."
"What are you planning, kid?" his tone was serious.
"Something good." she stood her ground, assurance in her voice.
"Something stupid."
'Probably.' she thought. 'Stupid but worth a try.'
"Not stupid. Important. I'm an adult, you know. I can make my own choices and think things through."
After her conversation with him, she went home. Her mind trying to come up with a plan that would not get her killed. Once she was in Naudis, she would go to Estril from there. The border there should not be as strict as that in Paria-Drae. Once she got into Estril then hopefully she would look like any other person who was looking to get into the army.
Gwen could have requested an identification card that said she was born in Estril but she would not have been able to get past the border and may have even been detained. Both in Naudis and Paria-Drae it could potentially stop her from getting where she wanted. She was surely going to get some questions as to why she was trying to go to Estril but she was willing to answer and make up a bunch of things to get past the border guards. Declaring her hate for everything Paria-Drae and wanting to do a service to their neighbor and make a statement that someone from Nauids was willing to join the army to stop the Queen was something she would say.
And then once she got to the army base she would say the same thing over again and see if they would let her in. Estril should be willing to take anyone who wanted to join the army since theirs was significantly smaller than Paria-Drae's. And then once she was in the army she would help stop the Queen's plan and everything will be as it should be.
Four days after her conversation with Mr. Rickeys was when he gave her the identification card. It looked perfectly authentic and even a little bit worn. Like she had had it her entire life. Her name was Gwen Chester and her parents were Elize and Bryan Chester. She was born and had an address in Naudis.
"I don't know what you're planning to do but be careful." Mr. Rickeys said.
"I will." she held the card excitedly.
"And if you need any help you can go to the address on the card and the people there will help you."
Gwen was impressed. "Who exactly are you Mr. Rickeys? Don't you think it's about time you tell me?"
He gave her a small smile. "Just someone who knows a little of everything and some more."
That was all he said before he turned and walked away.
Gwen sat on her bed looking out of her window. It was around midnight and she had an oil lamp burning on her nightstand. She was stuck in a problem. The problem was preventing her from doing what she needed to do. And the problem had to do with her mother. If she were to suddenly leave in the middle of the night then it would be problematic and would cause her mother great pain. But if she were to tell her mother that she was planning to leave then she would be prevented from going.Gwen did not want anything to get in her way and she would be locked in the house if she told her mother. But if she didn't tell her then it would cause her mother to be upset.She sighed as she looked out of the window. Gwen got up and tapped her fingers against the cool glass as she looked at all the lights. She could see people walking down on the street.
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 andGwen 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
When Gwen woke up there were several people looking at her. It took her several seconds to process what was going on but when she did she shot up from her position. There were a couple of seconds of confusion before her thoughts were in order. She had left Paria-Drae and was now in Naudis in some stranger's house.There were four people looking at her. The woman she saw earlier. Two men, who looked to be in their thirties as well, and a woman who looked to be in her twenties.Gwen rubbed her face in embarrassment and offered them a small smile. "Sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep here."She gathered up her things which got messy while she slept and made sure everything was as it should be. The four didn't say anything and just kept looking at her. Gwen felt even more shame than before
Sasha's expression died a little bit. She looked at her siblings before looking back at Gwen. Jonah looked like he was ready to pounce on her. "What is it?" her voice shook slightly. "Oh, it's nothing hard. I just need you to send letters for me." "Letters?" "You see, I'm on my way to Estril and I can't send letters from there to Paria-Drae. So I want to send them to Naudis first and then have them go home. My mother is not the biggest fan of what I am doing and she worries a lot. So I want to send letters back home to her. I'll send them here and you can mail them to Paria-Drae." "What exactly are you going to do in Estril?" Keith asked.
Once again Gwen was at the border of Naudis. There was almost no one there. She stood up in line for at most five minutes before she got to the front. To say she was nervous was an understatement. She did not hear anything about people being banned from going to Estril and hoped that they would not question her too much.Before she got to the border, she had to go and exchange most of her money for Estrillian money. Hoping that it would not be wasted. The money for Estril, Paria-Drae, and Naudis was not that far off when it came to conversions. It made no sense for the values to be different when they were so close together and had trade between each other. Gwen was sure the trade would be affected because of everything going on now but there hasn't been anything said yet.Because the border was so close to Boreon it did not take her too long to get there by bus. The sky was still dark and the air was chilly. She had some food from Sasha tucked away in her bag and she
Fort Brimburg was located near the border of Paria-Drae. That was a good thing because they were close to the action. It seemed like it was planned that way just so that civilians were away from the mess that could come in the future. It took them a couple of hours to get there and when they arrived the sun was already past the horizon and breaking into the early morning.It was like any other military camp. It had multiple buildings for the multiple divisions that made up any camp. Gwen could not see the training grounds from where she was but she assumed that it was large. She wondered how far the property stretched.Captain Marcus drove them past the barrier at the front of the camp and to the first building that was seen. There were people walking around in camouflage uniforms, looking busy. No one stopped to even look at them
Gwen and the Captain walked through the camp side by side. There were a couple of glances cast at them but no one stopped to talk or stare at them. Everyone seemed to be in their own word with their own business to do. Gwen saw multitudes of cars parked outside many of the bunkers. She wondered if they were used to carry the soldiers to the front lines or if they were just cars that were used on a daily. "So where exactly is our destination?" Gwen asked as she narrowly dodged someone who was practically running with a stack of papers in their hands. Gwen would have gotten annoyed but she understood that everyone was flustered. "The training grounds." Captain Marcus said. "That should also be where the other soldiers are right at this moment. They're training more than ever. Longer hours, tougher situations."
Gwen was taken to a bunker a little ways away from the training grounds. The entire time she was scolded by the Captain."You really should not have said anything to him," he said. "I understand that you are frustrated because of our lack of faith but you have to understand that w are just trying to do what is best for you. Save you from meaningless death. And no, we would not have used you as cannon fodder. We would not even fight back if we just considered our soldiers so useless and expendable.""I am more upset that he called me short than anything else."The Captain rolled his eyes. The bunker they entered looked similar to where she went to the doctor. The obvious difference was that it was a bunker and had done something completely different from the first building. There, she w