"You know, these records are sorted on date. Why not find the drawers that fall into your time span, and only look through those? It would be a lot quicker."
Nillian looks up and sighs.
"Why didn't suggest that sooner? You know that you are saying that we just wasted all this work, do you?"
"Well, ... you said do it this manner, this way! I am just doing what you said. Be thankful that I though about it at all."
"Alright, alright. A bit cranky are we?"
"Yes I am. I'm not a bookworm like you, I don't look through records for fun, for my enjoyment."
"Hmm, fair enough. Let me see, it's almost noon. Shall we go for some lunch? Get a bit of fresh air and all?"
"Sounds good. Lead the way!"
Nillian makes his way back upstairs, with Lyxia following him. He nods to the clerk behind the counter, and makes his way outside. There he turns to Lyxia, and asks her where she wants to go.
"There is a good-looking cafe over there" she responds, pointing to a small cafe across the street.
It is a Bagel and Tea cafe, as proclaimed in large letters on their front wall. There are no big windows, but the terrace is almost full, indicating that it is a popular establishment.
Nillian quickly takes place at an empty table, not wanting to sit inside. Lyxia joins him, and they wait a while for a waiter. After looking around they see that people get their own tea and bagels from inside, meaning that there is probably no waiters in the cafe.
"I'll get us something" Lyxia offers when she notices, and she goes inside.
Ten minutes later she reappears, with a laden tray. She puts it down on the table, and Nillian examines what she bought. There are two teapots, one with herbal tea, the other with grey tea. Next to the pots there are three plates, each with two bagels. One plate holds two standard sesame bagels, the second has bagels which have been cut in half and filled with bacon, and the third plate has two bagels with a baked apricot in the middle.
"Wow, are we supposed to eat all that?"
"Of course. Mum and dad said you had to recover, get better, so that means eating well. So eat up, and enjoy!"
They spend an hour quietly eating and drinking tea, the herbal tea by Lyxia and the grey tea by Nillian. They talk a bit about general things, not mentioning the incident in the records room. When Nillian is finished he feels stuffed, not used to eating that much for lunch. Lyxia already finished before him, and is sitting back with her eyes closed, enjoying the sun.
"Well, I think I am going back to the records room. Are you joining me, sis?"
"No, I think I will stay out here, in the sun, the warmth."
"Alright. You know where to find me."
Nillian walks off, heading back to the city hall. As he is crossing the street he sees a human-hybrid walking past. It is the first one that he has seen here in Capes, and he stops a moment to look. Something about the figure is familiar, and when he thinks about it he recognized Copper, whom he met in Kataras. Copper is walking away and enters an alleyway, moving out of sight. Nillian shakes his head and continues his way to the city hall, not sure what to think about that.
Back in the reading room he follows Lyxia's suggestion and looks for the drawer that holds the records from the time period he needs. This means that he has to look through much fewer records, and soon he finds what he is looking for. He takes out the relevant record and studies it.
The record shows that Gerardina Nott, born February 784 in Rushock, created a company called "Finding the Future" on October 26, 816. It lists the arrival of the coal and a separate transport of metal from Stokes, 'research equipment' from Räan, and 'personal equipment' from Kataras. It even lists some of the purchases they did in Capes, mainly food and furniture.
What it does not list is any reference to an address or location in Capes.
Nillian lets his head hand and sighs. He was so close ... But why was there always something missing? He spends some moments complaining to himself about how unfair it is, how it should be easier, before he shakes himself and starts pacing through the room.
"Alright, what do I know? Miss Nott went to Stokes, Räan and Capes. They bought food and furniture here, so they probably worked here in the city. But the address is missing from the records. Find other records? Hmm, no, these are probably the only records that are available. Alright, a lab or workplace somewhere in Capes. How to find it?"
"Just go round the city and ask everyone" someone says from the direction of the door.
Nillian spins around, and sees Lyxia standing there with a smile on her face. He shakes his head and resumes pacing.
"No, no, that would be far too much work. There are almost two million people living here, you realize that? No, there has to be something simpler. Something ... I can almost hear someone explaining how. A workplace. A large space, with machines and goods. Yes, a building, probably hidden. But they did not buy or rent a space, otherwise it would be in these records. So either they did so in a different name ..."
"... or they build it themselves." Lyxia adds.
"Yes! They probably needed a specific building, by their own specifications. So they build it themselves. And for all new buildings a permit from the city council is needed! Even if they did it anonymous, the building records have to be processed and archived. In those cabinet over there."
He points at the cabinets standing against the wall, which he investigated on their first search of the room.
Nillian walks over and starts looking through the drawers to find the time period that he needs. While he is doing this he suddenly looks up, and smiles.
"Thomp! Good old James Thomp, he did the same in Kataras. He went through all the building permits hoping to find a secret workplace there. That was what kept cropping up in my mind, his story about how he did that."
He continues leafing through the records and soon finds the records he needs. He takes some pen and paper, and starts listing all the addresses of buildings that were created around the time Gerardina Nott created her company, give or take a month.
That still leaves a lot of records to sort through, and after two hours he has a long list of addresses. Of course most of these buildings will be ordinary homes for people, and don't have to be checked. Nillian looks through the list, and wonders how to find all these buildings.
"They sell maps in the store here, upstairs. That way you can identify the buildings."
Nillian starts and looks up at Lyxia. He hadn't realised he was talking out loud and wasn't expecting an answer. But that was indeed exactly what he needed.
"Thanks! Well, I think I am finished here for now, so let's go upstairs. Then you can show me that shop."
And with these words they leave the records room, turning off the lights behind them.
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