The cave settlement

I'm still lying in my wagon.
I'm not sleeping anymore, but also not really awake, when I suddenly hear a voice.
Is it just a delusion, or is it real?

The voice is pretty high pitched, but it's also slightly rough.

He, you hear me? Who are you?

I open my eyes and see a dark figure looking into the wagon.
My eyes didn't sharpen yet.
I get up and look out of the wagon.

It's a greenish humanoid creature, a bit smaller than me, having a few small horns in the face.
It must be a girl of another race, probably even younger than me.
Her rough but still female sounding voice and her rather wide body make her seem a bit older though.

She only wears a few scraps of cloth. Her hair is completely red.
In total she has six horns. Two at her chin, two at her cheeks and two at her forehead.
And she doesn't have nails. Instead spikes come out of the tips of her fingers and toes.

You awake?

I nod.

Can you help me? I want get out of this cave again.

She keeps looking at me for a while and then just turns around and walks away.

Wait!

She looks back. Does she want me to follow her?

I immediately jump out of the wagon and go after her.
But I have problems following her. It's difficult to traverse this bumpy landscape full of rocks and puddles.
At least she stops regularly and keeps waiting until I start to keep up with her again.

After a while we reach a settlement.
The houses there look more like I know them.

And even some people are living there. More of these green creatures.
They all have differently sized horns in their faces at the same places as her.
And most of them have a wide body, especially wide hips.

The girl already disappeared. I have no idea where she went.
But she brought me here. That's helpful enough.

It seems I have no other chance but to ask them for help.
I'm scared, but what else can I do?
So I always keep some distance when I speak to one, so I won't get hurt.
I try to talk to some of these creatures, but they don't seem to be very talkative, sometimes even a bit agressive.

After a few short conversations, I find out who their leader is.
He's called Kalman and his proportions are closer to ones of a normal human.
I and approach and explain my situation to him.
He seems very supportive.

Yeah, I think I can do something about your wagon.
I just need to have a look.

We keep talking for a while.
He seems very interested in my journey.
And when I mention the girl, he immediately reacts to it.

The girl? That must be my niece Morina.
She's the only kid around right now.
Most people want to see their children grow up at better places.

What's wrong with this place?

It really is a nice cave.
But when the water levels started to raise, most people left.
I liked it here, so I stayed with some others to rebuild the settlement at a higher level.
It will still take a while until it's in its former glory.
At least if the water levels don't continue raising.
Then it might take even longer.

Oh, sounds pretty bad.
And she's probably lonely, too.

Yeah, she can't really help us.
So she explore the caves alone most of the time.
At least she seems to like it.
But I'd still prefer to let her grow up at a better place.
She's still too young to live completely alone, though, and I don't know anyone I trust enough who would also care for her.
I think she's still pretty happy here.

You really seem to care for her.

Sorry for talking so much.
Most of us aren't very talkative.
Plate humans are doers, not thinkers.

No problem.

You probably want to leave this place.
Let me have a look at your wagon.

Thank you very much.

I'm sure it's just a small issue. And it has to be done anyway.
It's also important for us to keep the rail system intact.
But if you want to do me a favor, take care of Morina.
You're probably not too much older, so I'm sure she'll like you.

I don't know where she is.
But I'll do my best to find her.

Thanks.

As soon as Kalman is out o sight, the girl appears again.
She grabs my arm and shows me around.
I try to talk to her and ask her questions about her and this place, but she doesn't seem to listen.
I wonder if she can even speak or at least understand me.
Maybe she doesn't know many words, since nobody has time to care for her properly.

I just start to tell her about myself.
Just a few random stories about Bernd, Lena and the others.
And about my journey to this place.
She seems to like it.

Since she doesn't say anything, it feels like I can talk about anything.
I even get a bit emotional.
I almost have to cry when talking about how much I miss Bernd already, and how I start to regret my decision to leave Lena alone, just after we started to get closer.
The girl notices and gives me a hug, which makes me feel much better again.

After walking around for a while, she leads me to one of the houses, and we enter a bedroom.
It must be her room.

Even from the inside it looks more like a traditional house, but also has influences of these round houses I saw before.

In her room, she shows me some self made figures from stone and other artworks.
And we start to play with them as if they are talking and, more important, fighting with each other.
She still doesn't talk. Sometimes she makes a few voices or says single words, though.

I didn't expect girls could be like that. She plays more like I would expect it from a young boy.
And her rough and deep voice also reinforces the impression of her being a boy.
But playing like this is fun. It's a throwback to my own childhood.

After a while her uncle Kalman comes back.

Oh nice, looks like you get along very well.

The girl startles.

Yeah, she's pretty cool for such a young girl.
I would even stay longer if necessary.
But what about the wagon. Did you get it running again?

Yeah, it was just a...
You probaly don't care. It works now.
When you are ready, I'll just show you what you have to pay attention to when using it.

I'm ready. You can show me just now.

Yeah, no problem.
We can also leave now.
I was just thinking you were having fun with my cute girl.

Yeah, but I'd still prefer to get to the castle.

I give the girl a hug. She almost doesn't want to let me go again.
I stroke her head and gently push her away.
Then I follow Kalman to go back to the wagon.

When I look back, the girl looks pretty sad.
I start to feel sorry for her. She doesn't seem to have a single person to spend time with.
But I know it's time to go. I shouldn't get distracted from my goals.
So I keep walking and soon she's out of sight.

You told me you were heading toward the castle.
In case you'll meet my brother Nandor, just tell him, you know me.
I'm sure he will be interested to hear about his daughter.

And if I meet him, how do I know it's him?

I'm sure you'll know. At least I hope, you'll know.

Okay...

I don't know, what he means, but it probably isn't too important anyway.
But just in case, I try to remember his name. He's called Nandor.
Nandor, Nandor, Nandor.

After a while we reach the rails and the wagon.

Just get in. It's fixed now.
I hope you already know the basic controls. Right?

No, it just moved by itself the last time.

I already expected something like that.
You must have had a fast ride.
You might be lucky that the engine just broke completely.
Who knows what could have happened?

Yeah it was pretty scary.

When you get in, you just need to open the hatch and you'll see a few buttons.

I get in and look for a hatch.
It's in the corner on the bottom.
When I open it, I see a bunch of buttons.

Kalman explains them to me and I'm ready to go.

But never turn on maximum speed mode. Else the wagon might derail.

Okay! Thank you very much, Kalman. You might have saved my life.

No problem. I'm happy you cared so much for my niece.

I press the start button and slowly ride away from him.
It shouldn't be too long until I reach the end of the cave.