Stacey had no idea what she'd done or why Ken would think she needed to be looked after. Either way, it was nice to have someone take care of her after all the days of rejection over the past few days. It made her feel warm and fuzzy inside and made her eyes water a little. Look. Somebody cared. He had drawn incorrect conclusions but she wasn't alone anymore. That was all that mattered.
Ken grabbed Endo by the elbow and Stacey by the wrist.
"If you're anything like Endo, if I let go of you for a moment, you'll get lost in the crowd. Endo finding me just now was a once in a hundred years fluke," Ken said, dragging the two through the crowd.
"Hey, lookit what we got here," a tough boy with a square jaw and the hint of a goatee blocked their way. "Loser One and Loser Two with a cool girl. Hey there, I'm Jeff."
"Hey yourself, Biff," greeted Stacey, deciding to meet his introduction like for like. She didn't like the look of this boy. She decided that she wouldn't like hanging around this bully and so she pulled the two boys around him instead. "You have a strong whiff. Nice to not meet you for the moment. I gotta get over there and these guys are helping me out. Smell ya later."
"What?" Jeff sniffed himself while Ken and Endo cracked up, helping Stacey push through the crowd to get away. "I don't smell. Do I?"
"Respect," Endo roared in laughter while lightly punching Stacey on the shoulder.
"Nice," Ken whooped, high giving Stacey. "Way to go, Stacey."
"Man, that put that blockhead in his place," Endo snorted. "You gotta teach us how to do that sometime, Stace. Jeff's always trying to make Ken and my life miserable."
The three pushed through the crowd until they reached the very edge where there were people with clipboards and lanyards around their necks talking to each other or on strangely shaped mobile phones. Did those mobile phones have holographic screens or something?
The people wore clothes in uniform colours, consisting of navy bottoms and white tops, although the style varied greatly from person to person. They appeared to be very busy and occupied the whole footpath, blocking the path leading into the big building.
"Excuse me," Endo caught the attention of a silver haired man who had just gotten off the phone and was making some marks on the papers in his clipboard.
"Yes?" the man queried. Glancing up and seeing they were teenagers, he held up a finger. "Oh. Give me a sec. I've gotta finish writing these down or I'll forget."
Endo and Ken nudged each other in delight as if they recognised the man.
"It's Hugh," they said to each other in low voices. "Isn't it? It's Hugh-bro."
"Who?" Stacey asked in confusion but the boys didn't hear her, being too busy fanboying about meeting someone she guessed was a celebrity to them.
A few scribbles later, Hugh gave them his full attention.
"Alright. How may I help you? They aren't ready inside, so I can't let you in just yet."
Ken did all the explaining for Stacey.
"She doesn't have an ID. She hasn't been to school for a few years. She might be a runaway."
"Oh. Another one? I see," the man nodded his understanding, looking thoughtful. "You'll need to give us your address and a number to call your parents on then," the man told Stacey kindly.
"I, uh, haven't lived with my parents for a few years. There's no address or phone number. I don't even know where to find them," Stacey took a big shuddery breath and admitted. It was the truth after all. Sort of. "I'm - I'm kind of… alone."
"I see," the man nodded as if it wasn't a big deal. "Don't stress. You aren't the only one in this situation. There are a handful of other kids like you who lost everything and everyone during the civil war a few years back. You don't have to worry or feel ashamed. You've had it tough having to live on your own. We'll do everything we can to help you be successful. This program was originally meant to be aimed at kids like yourself but then other stakeholders got involved and it turned into an all-inclusive program. Don't worry, we'll put a good spin on things for the camera when you do your interview. Do you at least know who your sponsor is? Did Marvel bring you in?"
Stacey shook her head.
"Nevermind. Come on. It's nearly time to get everyone organised anyway," the man said, beckoning the three to follow him. "I may as well get you three organised first, since this young lady looks like she's going to need a little more help. I'm Hubert Harris. You can all call me Hugh. I'll be one of your dancing, fighting and stunt teachers. You all are?"
"Kenneth Aern. Call me Ken."
"Endo Hirano."
"Anastasia Wright. Stacey for short."
"Anastasia," Hugh lifted his eyebrows. "Pretty. It's a rare name in these parts. Come this way, kids. You'll need to register first, do your audition and initial interviews, and then everyone will meet in the hall before you can go choose your bedroom in the dormitories."
"We need to audition again?" Endo asked, lowering his head and ruffling his hair nervously.
"Not if you've already done it. You boys have both done your auditions already?" Hugh asked.
"Yeah," Ken replied. "In the city — in CC, with a bunch of the others."
"Then you can come and cheer Stacey on," Hugh smiled, leading them into a building and to a wide corridor, where more uniformed people were milling around.
All the signs were in that foreign writing. There were two types of writing. One looked like stick wedge shaped characters, the other looked like rounded calligraphic pictograms that looked vaguely like tadpoles. There were no English signs anywhere, making Stacey nervous.
"Why are things written like that?" Stacey asked Ken in a low voice, feeling herself flushing with embarrassment. "With sticks and curls? What language is it?"
The boys and Hugh all stopped to stare at Stacey and she blushed even harder, feeling her face heat up.
"That - that's Tadpole," Ken said after a moment and lowered his voice. "Stacey, you can't read?"
"No," Stacey looked at the floor, wringing her fingers. "I can read English. I don't know anything about Tadpole."
No way. The language was really called Tadpole?
The boys and Hugh exchanged glances that Stacey couldn't understand. Endo patted Stacey's shoulder with a pitying look.
"Nevermind," Hugh told her in a kind voice. "Like I said, this program was originally for young people in your situation. You may have to work a little harder than everyone else, but we'll make sure to teach you everything you need to know after finding the gaps in your knowledge. Knowing English is a good start. Don't worry."
"Tadpole is the common language of the entire world. It has two types of written script," Endo told Stacey with a proud grin. "Cuneiform and cursive. Cuneiform is the more formal script. Cursive is our everyday writing and is based on an ancient calligraphic Yayi script that was modified. I don't know much, but I at least know this much. Feel free to ask me more stupid questions in the future. It'll make me feel smarter. To me, there is no question too stupid."
"He came to me yesterday asking me why underwear couldn't be worn backwards," Ken told Stacey. "The day before he asked why the night is so dark. He really comes up with stupid questions sometimes, so don't feel bad. Nobody can know everything."
"That's right," Hugh nodded, smiling at Ken and Endo appreciatively. "We are all always learning. "I recently started learning Greater Yayi and realised that what I thought I knew was all wrong. If I ever went overseas to Yayi, I'd be stumped."
"In that case," said Stacey in a trembling voice, "where are we? If it's not too stupid a question to ask, what country are we in?"
"Oh, oh, I know!" Endo raised his hand and looked at Ken who had just exchanged looks with Hugh. Ken and Hugh nodded at him although they had troubled expressions on their faces when they looked at Stacey.
Stacey shrank back and decided not to ask anymore questions. It seemed that she'd already made them aware of her weirdness and lack of knowledge. If she asked too much, they might realise she wasn't meant to be here and kick her out. She really wanted to stay right now. There were people who cared about her and there was a high chance of obtaining food.
"Go ahead, Endo," Ken encouraged his friend.
"We're in Whistledown, a major regional town in the state of Spearhedge, famous for its underground vineyard farms and produce. Their most famous fruit is the crabapple. They say the crabs hiding in the apples add a tangy sour taste to the surrounding sweet fruit when eaten together," Endo said with his chest puffed out. "If you don't shake those crabapples hard enough before taking a bite, the apple crabs might escape and attack you. I tried one yesterday. It was awesome."
"You got chased down the street by an apple crab," Ken snorted, "and got bitten all over."
"Yeah. It was super exciting," Endo laughed.
"You were screaming and crying for your Mummy," Ken retorted.
"Ke-en!" Endo complained. "Not in front of Stacey. I'm trying to build a good, manly impression here. Stop ruining things."
Stacey smiled tightly but couldn't bring herself to ask anymore questions. Now that she knew what the town and state they were in, it really didn't help her pinpoint what part of the world they were in.
"Just let me look smart for once, will you?" Endo asked grumpily and Hugh hid a smile behind his hand. "Whistledown is northeast of our capital city, CC, Centaurus City. Spearhedge is the first of the seven states of Benitas. That's why there's a seven pointed crown on the centaur on our national flag." Endo told Stacey eagerly and she listened carefully. "Benitas is the largest country in the Western Wesley Continent. We're pretty much the breadbasket of our continent."
"You guys wouldn't happen to know an island continent called Australia, would you?" Stacey ventured.
"What, you think that place is real?" Endo laughed, while Ken and Hugh exchanged troubled looks again. "Everything about Gaia is just a made-up story for little kiddies. Don't get lost in those old stories," Endo patted Stacey's shoulder. "It's best to live in reality. We're living on the planet Gaius. Gaia is just some mythical world some old sod dreamed up."
Stacey couldn't help coming to a standstill. If Earth was a myth, where had she been living all these years? She knew another name for Earth was Gaia, the ancient Greek goddess or personification of the Earth. Did that mean she was on another world altogether? Is that why the moons and stars here looked so unfamiliar?
"Stacey? Stacey, are you all right?"
It felt like she'd just downloaded too much information.
Ken took Stacey's hand and glared at Endo.
"You just gave her a shock," he scolded Endo.
"A shock? But everyone knows that place isn't real," Endo mumbled. "How could that have shocked her?"
"Come on, Stacey," Ken told her, pulling her along by the hand.
Her brain had crashed. Stacey felt like she was floating. Everything suddenly seemed unreal and dreamlike.