EPISODE 2: PIPER HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON

"Fifteen bottles of green tea??” Piper cried. After a hectic morning, she had finally made it onto the ferry, only to find that she had elected to pack fifteen bottles of green tea instead of luxuries like food.

Oh, well. I mean, what’s a three day ferry trip with no food? It’ll be fine. No problem. I could always just eat the free peanut butter out of the cafeteria. . . Right? Her mind spun wildly. She had about thirteen dollars in ones that she could use on vending machines. . .

Marching down the hallway and towards the glorious snack-giving machines, she pondered just exactly what she would do when she reached Washington. Visit her uncle, she supposed. Then, perhaps she could visit her friends?

"Darn thing. . .” She heard an elderly man say. He was frowning at the vending machine, grumbling about how it ‘ate his money’. Biting back a snarky quip, she smiled at him.

"What happened?” She asked, even though it seemed obvious. She had learned that asking stupid and obvious questions sometimes gives time for someone smarter to show up and fix the issue.

"It ate my money!” He muttered.

"Oh. . . well. . .” She looked him up and down. He was wearing a plaid shirt and suspenders. He doesn’t look like he’s a criminal. . . or a kidnapper. . . “I can go ask the purser. . ."

He nodded. “Only if it's not too much trouble. . ."

"Nope, it's not.” She set off.

About five minutes later, she was down on a lower deck of the boat, talking to the purser, who is an older lady with a white pixie cut. After a brief conversation, they headed up to assess the issue.

When the purser lady saw Suspender Guy (as Piper dubbed him), she let out a muffled squeak of surprise.  “Fenric? Fenric Denner??” She asked, tears springing to her eyes.

Piper frowned slightly. Wait, what? The lady is crying. Why is the lady crying? This makes no sense. . .

"Bella?” A look of astonishment crossed his face.

Instead of saying anything, he wrapped his arms around the lady. She returned his hug, sobbing slightly.

Piper had absolutely no idea what’s going on, so she backed away slowly, then hurried out to the deck of the ship.

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