Despite all her worries from the night before, Rosario slept well. She could have slept the whole day, but soon heard Franziska’s voice and felt her small hand on her shoulder.

“You’re going to miss breakfast if you don’t get up!” she said.

“What? Did I oversleep? What happened to the alarm?”

“It hasn’t gone off yet, but they opened the breakfast table and Stefan is already stuffing himself.”

Rosario laughed, and after a moment, she made it to the dining room with Franziska. Weeks of cooking over an open fire in the woods made homemade food taste heavenly. The same woman from the night before was now in charge of the kitchen, while a younger employee assisted with both keeping the buffet table stocked and attending the welcome counter.

After eating to their hearts’ content, they returned upstairs to pack their belongings.

“I’ll be heading out soon to meet with Emilia and Noah,” announced Rosario.

“Can I go with you to see the castle?” asked Franziska.

“I don’t think it’s open for visitors, but I’ll ask if they let us visit after things calm down, okay?” the girl grumbled, but did not argue. Rosario took out her wallet and gave a stack of bills to Stefan; it was a small part of the money she had received from the smiths the day before, for the regular crystal she had sold them. “You two can visit the market again. After the smiths and I come back, we’ll be spending a considerable time at the smithy, so get whatever you need to make yourselves at home there.”

“Can I buy a typewriter?” asked Franziska, her eyes shining.

“Sure, why not? If you can find one.”

“What about a sewing machine?” adventured Stefan.

“Yes, as long as you don’t exceed the budget. And keep in mind, you may have to sell the larger items back once we leave this town in the future. Let’s meet here at ten thirty, okay?”

After some last goodbyes, Rosario left the inn and headed towards the castle.

It was still early, and her destination was only a few blocks away, up a road that led to the top of the hill over which stood the castle. In a moment’s decision, however, she went back to the docks, to the tavern she’d been to last night. She wasn’t sure what she would get from going there again; maybe she would come across more information about the three workers from the power plant, or perhaps she could ask directly about it.

Market stalls were already up and there was activity at the port, where fishing boats were pulling in, and their crews immediately began unloading crates of fish. From a distance, Rosario recognized the tavern and noticed a small crowd around it. They seemed to be looking at the door, which was closed, and then some walked away while a group of four remained there, chatting.

She walked closer, noticing the door shut and a handwritten note explaining the tavern would not be receiving customers today.

A fisherman from the group talking near the entrance quickly looked back at her. “No breakfast today, it seems,” he said to Rosario, before his attention went back to another man who was talking.

“…I mean, the burns are bad and maybe Allen will lose sight in one eye, but the worst part is how disoriented they all seem.”

“Neurological crystal poisoning is the worst, that stuff never goes away. Poor Clara, losing both her daughter and husband.”

“Don’t speak like they’re dead yet!”

Rosario stood there, listening. Allen was the other name on the clothes at the power plant, so these had to be the people they were referring to, but some parts of the conversation didn’t make sense to her. The day before, she had assumed the workers were delayed because of the damage the crystal bullet had likely inflicted on them. But her bullets were designed to cause general damage over all organic matter, and didn’t have any selective effect over organs.

“Hey, ma’am! The tavern’s closed!” another fisherman told Rosario. The group seemed to be getting tired of her presence.

“Uh, right… do you know when they’ll open?”

“They’re not opening today,” he responded, pointing at the note on the door. “But there are plenty of other places where you can go.”

Still playing the clueless visitor, she thanked them and walked away. The neurological damage the men had mentioned still bothered her. What else could have happened? Had the workers been exposed to other crystals on their way back? It could be. Crystals could be forming underground, on the long-reaching roots of behemoths at any time. But still…

Rosario walked towards the castle, realizing too late she had underestimated the distance, and ended up running the last three blocks uphill until she reached the road that led to the drawbridge in front of the castle gate. The houses in that neighborhood seemed to be occupied by stores and offices of different kinds, according to the signs hanging above the entrances; a tailor, a lawyer, and a dentist. Rosario made a mental note to look for a doctor, as she had promised Stefan she would do.

Her wristwatch showed 8:26, and she looked around for Emilia and Noah, but didn’t see them. She walked closer to the castle when the door of a small guardhouse on the side of the bridge opened.

“Excuse me? Ma’am?” said a young man with a sleepy face. “You’re with the two smiths who came a moment ago, right? I already let them in.”

“Oh, I see…” So that’s how it was. She had missed them. Not a surprise, as Noah would have been very impatient to talk with the mayor.

The guard took out a bunch of keys and walked towards the castle gate. “Please come with me.”

*****

Rosario followed the guard past the gate and under an archway that led to a courtyard with a meticulously kept garden in the center. It had been a long time since she saw this many flowering plants.

It was late summer, which meant the chrysanthemums were in full bloom, and the grapevine trellises were loaded with thick clusters of fruit. On both sides of the oval-shaped garden were narrow gravel roads, wide enough for one vehicle to pass through; occupying all the space between the roads and the castle walls, were two large greenhouses, where tropical trees could be seen growing unaware of the mountain weather outside. The glass structures contrasted starkly with the brick and rubble masonry of the other buildings and the walls. On the opposite end of the courtyard, past the greenhouses and across the garden, stood an old mansion and a chapel.

Next to the archway Rosario had just walked through stood the castle’s keep, the square tall tower she and the siblings had seen from the train station. Continuing from the other side of the keep was a long three-story manor.

“You know,” the young guard began talking as they walked towards the manor. “Before the Collapse this was a museum, and you’d come in this way to get your tickets,” he chuckled. “Or at least that’s what I’ve been told. I was only a baby back then.”

He pushed open the heavy wooden door; inside, the atrium had stone floor and walls, and a ceiling with beams of solid wood pieces. The plastered walls were decorated with medieval weapons and shields.

Behind a desk in the back of the room, a woman worked her way through a stack of papers.

“Hey! Here is the other visitor,” announced the guard.

She clearly tried not to be distracted as she punched in numbers on an old calculator and spoke without looking up. “The others are already upstairs with Bill. Just go up two floors, sweetie; you can’t get lost.”

The guard gave Rosario an apologetic look. She thanked him for the help and found her way towards a circular staircase in the back. The steps were rather narrow and made of stone, and had a slightly concave shape in the center, hinting they had been used for many years.

On her way up, Rosario caught a glimpse of the second floor, where desks were lined up against a wall near ample windows facing the courtyard; some had shelves between them as if to form cubicles. An information plaque near the doorway showed that a considerable part of the administrative work of the town was done there; finances, city planning, public works, and the safety departments had offices there. She heard people talking and going around the floor, so she continued upstairs to not interrupt their work.

On the next floor, the information plaque indicated she had reached the place where the city council met and where the mayor had his office. The door was closed, and no one answered when she knocked. Rosario thought about going back to the lobby, then tried opening the door and found it unlocked. She pushed it open, revealing a long transversal hallway, covered in a collection of oil paintings. Portraits, landscapes, and representations of historical events were displayed along the entire length of the corridor. The walls were painted in pure white, and the coffered wooden ceiling above gave a sense of elegance.

“Hello?” she called, but heard no response.

After a moment of hesitation, she went to take a closer look at the paintings. It surely wouldn’t bother anyone if she looked at them. She let her eyes go from one to the next; an elegant lady in a light blue dress holding a red rose, a serious man in black clothes with golden accents, a probably centuries old painting of the town, showing the bay covered in green fields instead of the crowded town that now sat there. Rosario was so engrossed she didn’t even notice she was now looking at a door at the end of the hallway.

Since there was still no sign of anyone else nearby, she pushed the door open and peeked inside: in front of her was a beautiful ballroom, which had been repurposed with desks and rows of chairs so it could serve as a meeting place for the city council. Large chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and a fireplace was at the opposite end. The windows on the sides had transparent glass panels except for the upper arches, which had colorful renditions of animals, plants, and other symbols, including family crests from long ago. She was still marveling at the details of the windows when the sound of a door creaking made her turn.

*****