Chapter 21
There was nothing in the world as exciting as a train, Shanti thought. Nothing except getting on that train with Peter, both of them holding hands tightly like they were stepping off the edge of the world together.
The station's opening ceremony had been full of noise and joy and celebration.
She'd seen Luke and his architect girlfriend Sabrina, and had, to her surprise, been greeted by Jake and Mabs, and it felt like half the town had crowded out onto the platform to actually cheer her as she stepped onto the old-fashioned train with Pete.
In a way, the steam train made it feel as if they really were stepping off the edge of the world, too.
The whole interior was gorgeously refurbished in shining wood and velvet seats and big old-fashioned windows that, she noticed immediately, leaked cold air in ways that a modern train wouldn't. She had gotten first-class tickets that meant access to a dining car that made them both giggle as they walked through it.
"It looks like a movie," Shanti whispered to Pete, who nodded enthusiastically.
There were beautiful tables with delicate flower vases that a quick inspection showed clicked into place so they wouldn't slide around.
The attractive napkins, wrapped around silverware, were also held in place by bands that looked, at first glance, as if they were just decorative.
There were grooves for the plates and cups to sit in, and Shanti couldn't help saying, "It's all so clever!
" like she'd just made a discovery for the whole world.
"It's great," Peter whispered back.
There were people already eating—Virtue wasn't the train's first stop—and many of them grinned at Shanti and Peter like they, too, were having the time of their lives.
It all had a feeling of childish delight, in the very best way.
Peter put their luggage up when they got to their carriage, and they sat in a lush, comfortable booth that was nothing like any train Shanti had ever been on.
People on the platform waved vigorously, and Shanti, beaming, waved back as the conductor warned that the train was about to start moving, and it suddenly lurched into motion.
Overwhelming emotion rose in Shanti's chest, taking her breath away.
Peter, who always seemed sensitive to her moods, slipped an arm around her shoulders, and she buried her face against his warmth for a moment before looking up so she could watch Virtue slip away and the world begin to appear.
Snowy hills, cut by the river's dark streak, had never looked so beautiful or enticing as they did under the slowly-increasing speed of the steam train, which swayed and jostled in a way more modern trains didn't. Puffs of smoke rushed by occasionally, blurring the whiteness of the snow outside, and voices carried happiness through the carriage.
After several minutes, the conductor's voice came over what was obviously a modern intercom system, explaining that this was an old, slow train, and inviting passengers to make themselves comfortable.
Shanti and Peter, nearly giggling again with excitement, went back to the dining carriage and ate a luxurious meal that was heightened by their delight by the whole thing.
"I feel like I'm on the Orient Express or something," Peter admitted.
"I know that's supposed to be much fancier, but still! "
"Right?" Shanti beamed at him. "Thank you for coming with me."
"Hah! Thank you for getting me a ticket!
This is incredible!" Peter, like Shanti and many of the other passengers, had dressed up a little for the event, wearing a heavy silk shirt and slacks instead of his usual flannel and jeans.
His hair was back in a loose braid woven with threads that matched the shirt, and Shanti thought she could feast her eyes on him forever.
"I feel like someone else," she confessed. "All of a sudden I feel like I could be the person I wish I was. I don't think I ever could have gotten there without you."
"I think you probably don't give yourself enough credit, but I'm glad to help," Peter said, suddenly more serious.
"Don't think you're not changing my life, too, Shanti.
Not just fate, but…I'm happy working on railroads.
I'll keep doing it. But it's not a life that keeps me in one place, or gives me a reason to come home again.
I'm suddenly realizing that some part of me was hoping to find a reason to make a home somewhere.
Whether that's in Virtue or Shkalnik. Or Kathmandu! "
Shanti laughed and shook her head. "I'm glad to give you a reason to make a home, but probably not Kathmandu. I'd love to bring you to visit, but it's a big city and I like living in small towns."
"Small towns are one thing. Shkalnik might be something else. It's one thing to live in a small town you can drive out of, but if you have to fly or take a boat…" Peter shook his head, though he didn't look very worried. "We'll see what you think."
"I admit I can't actually imagine not being able to drive out. That's…" Shanti paused, looking for a suitable word, and ended up with, "…weird," which made Peter laugh.
"Yeah, it kind of is. It was normal for me growing up, but I now understand that it's weird, at least."
"Well, I can't wait to see your normal."
Shanti had looked up photographs of Shkalnik, but nothing could have prepared her for…
well, first for flying into Juneau, where the mountains came closer and closer to the plane's wings until it dropped suddenly, banked hard, and landed both abruptly and with incredible smoothness.
Shanti sat with her hands clenched around the seat's armrests, eyes wide as other, apparently regular passengers on this flight, laughed and applauded and called compliments to the pilot for the landing.
As she peeled her fingers free, Shanti said, "Is that normal? " and Peter made an airy gesture.
"No, a lot of the time there's more wind and the landing is rougher."
Shanti squeaked. "You always fly right between mountains? Is it like that everywhere in Alaska?"
"It's much worse in Kodiak," Peter said cheerfully.
"Then I'm never going to Kodiak!"
He blinked at her, then chuckled. "You get used to it. The Shkalnik airport is less scary, if that helps?"
Shanti relaxed with a long exhalation. "Okay. Good."
They disembarked into a small airport, and Peter headed for one of the windows to smile at black, snow-laden mountains backlit by twilight-blue clouds and sky. "Not as nice a morning as I'd like to show off to you, but pretty normal for winter here."
Shanti yawned violently, having slept a little on the flight between New York and Seattle, but not at all between Seattle and Juneau, and came to lean against Peter's side. "They're really right on top of us, aren't they? The mountains, I mean."
"Yeah. There's about fifty feet of shore and a boardwalk between the mountains and the water, and that's what Juneau's built on." He was exaggerating slightly, but as Shanti laughed, he added, "Don't worry, though, Shkalnik has like sixty feet of shore, it's very impressive."
"I really don't know what I'm getting myself into, do I," Shanti said happily.
It was an extraordinary feeling to not know, though.
It was as if she'd been uncaged, and if it took her a while to learn to stretch her legs, that was okay, because not only did she have Peter with her, she'd done the thing she'd felt was impossible: she'd left Virtue behind.
She couldn't get back in less than a day if she wanted to, and somehow that felt like the apron strings had been cut.
Shanti was pretty sure she could fly now.
Maybe literally, and the idea made her smile.
The plane they went to for the next flight did not make her smile, though.
In fact, she stopped so abruptly in the airport doorway that the people behind her nearly ran into her.
Peter glanced down at her in concern, and she stepped to the side so the passengers behind them could go by, but she kept staring at the plane. "We're not getting in that, are we?"
"Um?" Peter shot a look at the plane, then back at her. "Yes?"
"It's…!" Shanti made a series of frantic motions, trying to encompass the fact that the plane was…
tiny. It had a propeller on the nose, for God's sake.
It had wing struts. It had little square windows that looked like a kid's idea of airplane windows, and a chunky-looking belly that somebody was loading luggage into. "We'll die in that thing!"
Peter rolled his lips together, obviously trying not to laugh. "Probably not? It's almost the biggest plane that can land in Shkalnik. All the private planes are smaller."
"Private planes?"
"Alaska has more personal planes than anywhere else in the States, but most of them are two to four seaters. Six, maybe. This one carries twelve, plus the pilots." Peter really was trying not to laugh at her, while the airline employees were trying to get them to move along.
Shanti did, reluctantly, still staring in dismay at the airplane. She hadn't realized there were airlines that actually flew planes that small. "What have I gotten myself into?"
"An adventure?" Peter asked hopefully.
That made her laugh, some of the tension brought on by seeing the plane fading away. "Right, yes, I suppose so. I just didn't know it would involve a plane only slightly taller than I am…"
"I won't let anything happen to you," Peter murmured, and her absolute confidence that he was telling the truth calmed Shanti's erratic heartbeat.
And, a little while later when they were in the air, she discovered that a small plane flying closer to the ground was more astonishing and beautiful than she could have imagined.
They flew over silver water and snow-laden mountains to more sparkling seas with a horizon of mountains glowing with morning light, and suddenly it seemed as if the whole world was a quiet, waiting, welcoming place.
Shanti took a deep breath without meaning to, and let it out on a slow exhalation like all of her worries were fading away.
"Okay," she whispered. "Okay, yes, I see why people live here. Even if I haven't gotten there yet, I understand now."
Peter nuzzled her hair and tucked her closer, both of them leaning a little to look out the window as the plane banked and a little community came into view.
It was instantly clear that although Virtue wasn’t a big town, by comparison it was a metropolis.
Shkalnik spilled down toward the water from the narrow glacial valley it sat against, with a shallow plain stretching off one direction, and mountains soaring directly up from the water in the other.
At least a dozen massive blue and white glacier tongues poked out of the mountains which surrounded the little town, and there were more little rivers and creeks running through the tidal flats than Shanti could count at a glance.
As the plane banked, she realized the airport was miles away from the village proper, up on a valley floor nearly on the other side of a mountain.
The runway looked about twenty feet long as they came in for a landing.
All of a sudden she understood why only tiny planes could land there at all.
They were on the ground within minutes, and though it had only been a short flight, Shanti felt the need to stretch her legs and give herself a shake when they disembarked. Maybe, she thought, because she was in Alaska. And maybe it was just that it looked almost nothing like she'd expected.
The runway was more or less clear of snow, but made a startling black slash across the brightness.
From the ground, the mountains, too, seemed black: black and white, with gentle, indirect light unable to really even pick out grey.
A little airport building looked like an afterthought, poking up out of the snow like a mistake.
Despite the interior lights, it also seemed mostly black and white under the cloudy skies.
"I thought it'd be more colorful?" Shanti breathed as they headed through the airport.
Peter glanced around, curiosity in his gaze before he smiled crookedly.
"It is sort of greyscale, isn't it? I don't think I ever really noticed that.
The town is…" He paused, pursed his lips, and finally gestured at the heavy clouds.
"Well, maybe they make everything kind of black and white, now that you mention it.
I kind of think of it as…quiet, not dull, though. "
Shanti pulled in a breath of cold air as they went out to the parking lot, and held it as she watched snow fall and melt against vehicles.
There were voices, and the sounds of cars starting up, but Peter was right: it was quiet.
Virtue wasn't exactly a noisy town, but Shanti thought if they stayed there until all the cars had left, she would be in the most complete silence she'd ever experienced.
It was wonderful. She let her breath out in a soft laugh and smiled up at Peter. "Let's go see what quiet, not dull, looks like in Alaska."