I was out for a walk with Síle one evening, testing out my new skirt and top I bought a few days back. I did a quick spin, and she chuckled at me.

"Is good?" she asked.

"I like it!"

It felt liberating to be able to dress however I wanted and not have family complaining to me.

I saw a man pushing a small closed cart around the street near us. He was opening one of those yellow mailboxes that she'd told me about the other day, shuffling the envelopes from its insides into his cart. That done, he closed the hatch on the side and held his finger up to it for a moment; then he walked on, pushing his cart.

Where was the lock? I was wondering to myself when it hit me.

"Ohhh... it's magic," I said out loud. Of course it would be. In a world where many people had magic, a regular lock probably wouldn't help much.

"The mailbox?" Síle asked, turning around to face me. "Oh! I said we'd go see An Lien. Let's do that. I know a café."

"Okay!"

I hadn't been able to see from my first view, up on that hill, but the city was actually built on something of a peninsula. Bridges crossed three of the sides, across the river that looped around that peninsula. Somewhere on the southwest side, the river went cascading noisily off of a waterfall and into a gorge. The river continued on, then, perhaps 20 metres further down.

A set of brick stairs, each step with a herringbone pattern, led closer to the river on the western edge of town. At the bottom of that stair, a little plaza overlooked the gorge itself. A black, wrought-iron fence built from chains and poles ensured that no one would fall off by accident. The plaza was filled with an intricate Celtic-esque knot work design, looped lines looping around each other.

"Wow," I exclaimed, looking to the left to see the waterfall, and down over the fence to the gorge itself.

That close, I could see that another small ramp led further down, below the fence. Hanging out over the gorge, at the end of the ramp, was a simple glass tube. The tube was supported by a series of thick metal struts; each strut curved downward and around to the other side of the tube, fitting it perfectly. The tube itself looked very slightly smoked, colour-wise. Part way down the ramp, a woman in a uniform stood behind a podium.

Síle swept her arms out and twirled around once.

"An Lien!"

"What is it?" I asked her, confused.

"It's An Lien! Silly Alyx." She grinned. "The café is this way."

I followed her off to the side of the plaza, where a tiny shop just barely large enough for the counter and a couple of tables nestled in a group of hedges. Once again, I let Síle order from the aproned man, since it seemed like she knew what to get. She held out her hand with her fingers wiggling and said, "ten marque, please."

I laughed and handed her a coin.

"Here you go," the man behind the counter called to her, and we went to pick up our food.

Near as I could tell, the cone-shaped paper wrapper contained something like a crepe; it was filled with pieces of fruit, topped with something that looked like whipped cream, and a quantity of some kind of berries. The whole was finished off with a generous sprinkling of white powdered... sugar?

Whatever it was, it was utterly delicious. The fruit was clearly different than what I'd been used to on Earth. One of them tasted almost salty. Some were soft, others crunchy. The berries on top looked almost like blueberries, if blueberries were red.

I heard a quiet air rushing sound nearby, and Síle grabbed my arm, saying "mm! mm!" though a full mouth, pointing to the river gorge. We walked over quickly and looked over the fence once again.

This time, the tube was not entirely empty. A light could be seen dimly, with increasing brightness. Suddenly, something emerged from a hole next to the waterfall, which I understood belatedly was where the glass tube went.

There was really only one word for it: a train. A train with many faint tendrils of aurora weaving around it. Many cars were connected with some sort of accordion-shaped hallways. The cars were all tube-shaped, fitting perfectly into the outer glass tube. Windows ran along the sides of each car, taking up nearly half of the near side. I had to assume the other side was similarly windowed.

A short jingle played from somewhere nearby, and then an announcement called out a message I didn't catch; something about an arrival, and Shanaclair. Doors slid open in the glass outer tube that didn't seem to have been there moments before, and doors on the cars themselves opened behind them.

"It leaves in ten minutes," Síle said. "This one will go to Ard Shanaclair."

"What's Ard Shanaclair?" I asked.

"The royal city," Síle responded. "A beautiful place. You will go some day."

A few people exited the train and walked up the ramp. The uniformed woman said something to each group as they reached her. Others were headed down the ramp, and she stopped them to check their tickets, and then they proceeded down the ramp and into the cars.

"Fí-Réalta built An Lien. They are very important." She smiled at me. "Our cities are very far apart. Much wilderness, many days of dangerous travel."

"And then... An Lien," I said.

"And then, An Lien," she repeated.

After a few more minutes, another jingle played, and presumably a departure warning. The doors closed, and after a brief, strong wavering of colour around it, the train sped away with another air rushing sound.

"It's too bad we didn't come at night," I heard Síle say. "You can see the breath."

I figured that I just didn't hear a word of what she said correctly.

We stared at the waterfall a little longer, and then she turned to me.

"C'mon," she said, walking back toward the stairs. "Let's go back."