Her Royal Right

Karval, Colorado

After everyone was up and feed, we broke down camp and started to walk. Isaiah made sure to have apples for Lilly to snack on while we figured out where we were. I had begun to think that we would never find a town, but after two days of wandering, we came to a road that led to a small village called Karval. 

“Karval? What a strange name for a city,” Ezekiel said. “I wonder what country we find ourselves?

“I do not know,” Elijah told him. “But we will find out soon now.” As we walked into town, there was a faint scent of wolfs, but they could not find where the scent was coming from. The townspeople looked at us with suspicion. I saw a man in a uniform and approached him.

“Zdravo policajče, možeš li me reći gdje smo?” (Hello officer, can you tell me where we are at?) Elijah asked. The officer looked at him like he was crazy. 

“Um… Do you speak English? I do not understand whatever language that is,” the officer said.

“Yes, I… can… a… little,” Elijah said. “Uh... Where… are… this… place… be?” Elijah said. The officer looked at him and then to everyone. When he saw Lilly looking at him, he asked, “Are you guys in any trouble?” 

“No… we… fine…need to… know…were we… at?” Elijah said to the officer. The language difference was going to be a significant barrier. Elijah mind linked everyone, “We need to learn English quickly.” 

The officer looked at them and said, “Well, this is Karval, Colorado. Where are you all from?”

“We… from… Poligus, Russia,” Ezekiel said. The officer looked at them perplexed. Ezekiel could see that the officer was confused. He decided to look into his mind to see what he was thinking. When Ezekiel did this, he read that the officer thoughts that they had kidnapped his sister, and they were running way. He mind linked the other to let him know what he found out. They were all concerned for Lilly. 

“Dominic, želim jesti. Zašto smo zaustavlijeni?” (Dominic, I want to eat. Why are we stopped?) Lilly asked, tugging Dominic’s pant leg. He looked down at her. 

“Mena, (Lilly) razgovaramo s policajcem da vidimo gdje smo. Onda ćemo jesti,” (we are talking to the officer to see where we are at. Then we will eat.) Dominic said. The officer looked at the two of them and asked, “What are they talking about?” 

“Lilly….is… need… eat. We… look… food… to… eat.” Ezekiel informed the officer, who looked like he did not believe him. 

“Where… go… to… money… change?” Ezekiel asked the officer. The officer looked at him, trying to understand what he was asking. All of a sudden, he realized that Ezekiel asked to exchange money. 

“You need to exchange money? You have currency from Russia that you need to exchange to the dollar?” The officer asked as he pulled out some U.S. currency.  Ezekiel looked at the officer and pulled out some of the gold and paper money that he had to show the officer. The officer looked at Ezekiel with wide eyes as he looked at the gold coins and Russian currency. When the officer saw that, he looked more closely at Lilly and saw the similarities between her and her two older brothers. He was more relaxed with them as he realized that they might be possibly running away, but they had money and gold.

“Well, sir, follow me. I will take you to the bank so you can trade your Russian currency for the American dollar. You may be able to sell some of the gold, too, at the bank if you need to. My name is Officers Daniels, by the way.” He tells us.

“I Ezekiel, Dominic, Guardian Isaiah, and Guardian Elijah. This be Lilly.” Ezekiel told him.  The officer walks down Main Street. The streets were lined with trees and many different stores. One side of the road held the government official buildings like the police station, jail, the courthouse, utility buildings, as well as the mayor’s office and all the elected official’s offices. On the other side of the street was the bank, a general store, a sewing retail store, an ice cream parlor, and more. The bank was at the end of the street next to the family diner. Ezekiel went in and was able to exchange some of the money when he came out of the bank. 

“Čovječe, naš novac ovdje ne ide daleko. Ušao sam tamo I dao im 15,000 a oni meni 2,375.15 dolara (man, our money does not go far here. I walked in there and gave them $15,000 and they gave me $2,375.15 dollars),” Ezekiel mind linked the others. “We will have to get jobs, so we do not run out of money, but we will be good for tonight.” 

Elijah looked at the family diner, he pointed and asked Officer Daniels, “What is that place?” 

Officer Daniels looked shocked that he knew English. He exclaimed, “You knew English. Why did you leave Ezekiel to try to speak for?”

“How else does one learn a language if one does not use it in real life. He needs to learn the language so he can excel in living here,” Elijah calmly told him.

“I can respect that. That is the town’s family diner called Sally’s Sweet House. They have an amazing pie. The cherry pie in the summer is amazing, but right now, it is the apple pie, and it is amazing as well.” Officer Daniels exclaimed excitedly. 

Everyone sat down and had a wonderful dinner. The dinner was a small place with 4 table 6 booths and counter with 8 chairs. The walls were covered with pictures of the towns people, from some going to the military, some graduating university, and other getting married or dieing. It was what most people would have thought that a warm loving grandma's house would be like. While sitting waiting for the food to arrive Officer Daniels talked about his wife and children. How he had grown up here, but when he was 18 he joined the military and was sent over seas. That is were he met his wife. They had been married for 25 years now; and Officer Daniels was going to be retiring at the end of this year. Elijah and the others sat and listen to the mans stories about his life and love. They did not know what it was like to have that kind of love that Officer Daniels and his wife did. He was a very pleasant man to listen to. When they were finishing up their food, the waitress came by and brought them all some Dutch apple pie a la mode. Lilly was the first to dig in she like apples and pie. Her brothers ate some with her and they all agreed that Officer Daniles was right this place had some of the best pie around. Officer Daniels then showed them were they could stay for the night at the local bed and breakfast. The guardians thanked him for his generosity and that they were in his debt for helping them. Then they said goodbye and goodnigh.