Among the lively crowd attending and watching the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Shade and Cook TaiTai seemed utterly out of place. Standing still as the crowd flowed around them, Shade held his breath and distinguished the sounds by his ears. Not only did he need to separate them from the background noise of over ten minutes ago, he even had to separate them from the background noise of the present.
After all, listening to sounds from the past did not completely block out the sounds of the present.
"This way."
He barely caught the timid voice of a boy ahead asking whether he could leave, followed by a woman's gentle reassurance. Shade beckoned sternly to Cook TaiTai, and the middle-aged woman, who was nearly numb with shock, instinctively followed him.
The two then squeezed through the crowd and headed east along the Tree-lined Avenue on the East Side of Tobesk Station.
After passing through the avenue, they headed north again. This was the slums beside the station, which also supplied the station with a vast pool of cheap labor such as porters.
There were far fewer pedestrians nearby, and Shade was glad he had not lost the trail. But as he continued forward, he unexpectedly heard someone call his name. He froze for a moment before realizing that it was not a voice from over ten minutes ago. It was a voice from the present.
Looking across the street, he saw Captain Rades walking over and waving. After a week apart, the man looked much better. He wore proper clothes, and the slovenly air peculiar to a drunkard was gone.
"That's my friend. Explain the situation to him."
He spoke rapidly to Cook TaiTai, then continued listening to the sounds around him as he walked forward.
Earlier, to explain how he was