After hours of travel, Kurt and Blaine arrive at the most northern town of Daltonia. They’re close to the border with Stantonius.

“We can’t go any further, unless you believe the books might be hidden in another kingdom,” Blaine says.

“We can’t rule it out, but the books all take place in Daltonia, so I expect them to be here.”

Blaine agrees.

He parks their carriage in a secluded area and the two of them go into the town. It’s bigger than the previous one, and Kurt looks around in amazement.

“Enjoying your time?” Blaine asks.

Kurt nods eagerly.

“I said it before and I’ll say it again, a part of me loves being here!” he sounds exuberant, “I wish it had been under different circumstances, but I am in Daltonia. I have eaten real fondlate!”

He’s already eaten a bunch of it. Blaine bought some for on the road.

“Maybe I can give you a care package, for when you go back to your own world?” Blaine suggests.

“That might be possible. My stuff got transferred to Daltonia as well, although I lost my bag during my time in the liar.”

And the weird clothes he wore are at the castle. They were made of interesting fabrics, so hopefully the royal laundry workers and tailors can fix them up.

Blaine tells Kurt that.

“They better. It was Marc Jacobs!”

“Then we must fix it, or else Marc will get mad.”

Kurt snorts.

“Sure. I’ll let Marc know once I am home.”

They actually pass a tailor and Kurt decides to have a look. Meanwhile, Blaine asks around if anyone’s knows about the mystical cave. No one seems to have seen anything. No one also seems to recognise Blaine, and he’s glad, especially when some people start to gush about Cooper’s current quest about the nearby cave.

That’s the cave he and Kurt are looking for, after all!

“Have you recently seen my, uh, Cooper?” Blaine fumbles over his words, but saying ‘my brother’ would definitely give it away. Luckily, a lot of Daltonials seem to see Cooper as ‘theirs’, so it works.

Maybe Cooper can help him and Kurt after all.

“Cooper and his lovely wife actually stopped by. It was an honour!”

“And?”

“Unfortunately, he has gone back to Castle Town. Arasha is still somewhere in the north.”

“She is?”

Can Arasha help them by herself? She presumably went to visit this cave with Cooper.

She’s also very capable and maybe her knowledge can give them more insight. The Oriental kingdom has its own legends and folktales. How do orientals think about other worlds?

But why is Arasha here on her own?

Blaine asks around some more and someone mentions that Arasha was last seen in the wheatfields just west outside town.

“Ready?” Kurt’s voice rings from behind.

“Yes,” Blaine says and he thanks the other person for the information.

Kurt wants to buy a satchel at the tailor’s shop so that he can carry the books with him, if they find them. (Or better yet, Kurt wants Blaine to buy it for him, since Blaine’s the one with the credits.)

Kurt would prefer to keep the books close to him, since they presumably are his ticket home, and Blaine is still a bit too uncomfortable to carry them himself.

They stop at the carriage to retrieve the first book and then they’re off to the wheatfields. Kurt is ecstatic.

“I am meeting Arasha Pandaman. The Arasha Pandaman.”

“Didn’t she already visit you in the infirmary with Cooper?”

“Yes, but back then I didn’t realise it was the actual Arasha and Cooper. Where did Mel and Javier go?”

“I… don’t know. I can send a bird to my friend Wes. He might know.”

“Are the members of the Chronicles Club still friends?”

“Probably,” Blaine answers truthfully. He does see Mel and Javier visit Cooper when Cooper’s at home. And sometimes they still join him on quests. Same goes for Eileen and Mo.

Kurt looks relieved to hear so. He must really care about Cooper and his posse.

They find the wheatfields and a good thing about the fields is that everything is on ground level, so Arasha walking around is noticeable. She towers over the wheat.

“Arasha!” Blaine calls out.

She must’ve recognised his voice, because she immediately turns around.

“Blaine?” she yells back, and she runs towards them.

“Arasha! Good to see you!” Kurt says once she’s in earshot. Arasha looks at Kurt and she recognises him.

“Hold on, you’re the lunatic from the infirmary. Good to see you’re well!” she says warmly, but obviously, Kurt looks very jarred at the ‘lunatic’ part. Blaine did tell him that his parents were considering locking him up, but it must still be weird to hear it.

“Thank you?” he says.

“Arasha, Kurt and I are looking for the mystical cave that you and Cooper are looking into. Can you take us there?”

“What for?” Arasha asks, which is fair.

“We’re trying to find a way for me to go home,” Kurt answers and Blaine’s head jerks towards him. He didn’t expect Kurt to answer truthfully. “We have reasons to believe that we can find something in that cave.”

“Like?” Arasha prompts.

“A book or two,” is all that Kurt says.

“Cooper and I haven’t found a book, or two, and we’ve been researching that cave for days now,” Arasha says with an apologetic smile.

Blaine sighs and Kurt’s shoulders drop. Of course, if there were something to be found, then Cooper and Arasha should’ve found it indeed.

“But,” Arasha adds, and both Kurt and Blaine perk up, “Are you perhaps mister Hummel?”

“Yes,” Kurt says, sounding flabbergasted, “Yes, that is me.”

“Cooper and I found a note in the cave, addressed to mister Hummel. Cooper’s gone back to Castle Town to deliver the note to his parents, since we didn’t know what it meant, but it was odd.”

“Why didn’t he copy it to digital paper and send it by bird?” Blaine wonders.

Arasha’s face falls.

“I… don’t know,” she says, but Blaine thinks she does. It might have something to do with the fact that Cooper went home on his own, and Arasha is walking aimlessly through wheatfields in the other part of the kingdom.

But that’s between them.

Kurt lets out a long sigh.

“So we need to go back to Castle Town, really?”

They’ve come so far!

Arasha sees how disappointed and defeated they are.

“This is really important to you, isn’t it?”

“Of course, Arasha!” Kurt says.

“What if I tell you that Cooper did copy it to digital paper and gave that copy to me as a back-up?” Arasha says with a grin. She reaches for something in her skirt pocket and indeed it’s a note on digital paper. She hands it to Kurt.

“I knew it!” Kurt exclaims, “You are always the one with the back-up. This is why your pockets are bigger on the inside!”

“How do you…” Arasha looks taken aback. Her bigger pockets must be a secret. Cooper must’ve used his magic to alter the clothes, because from the outside it indeed looks like a regular skirt.

“Never mind that,” Blaine quickly says, “Thank you, Arasha!”

“But…” Arasha trails off again. Then she shakes her head and asks Kurt if any of the words on the note make sense to him. Blaine stands next to Kurt to read along.

Dear mister Hummel,

Well-done again! Do you like this cave?

“Not really,” Kurt jokes, “Too much wheat for my liking.”

I have hidden the next two books in a special trap door. Take them with you and go west. Number 4 and 5 will be found there. In order to access the books, you need to enter a code using magic. Good thing you have a Royal by your side.

“How does he know that?” Blaine ponders out loud.

The number is the year of the Declaration of Independence. I thought that was fitting, since you’re from New York an all that. AMURICAH! You’re doing great!

Greetings,

Sergeant Gorgeous (sounds better, right?)