Rite of Passage - trial of the swan-maiden

[Anna]

She considered lying, but since she really had no idea where she was she decided the truth was much less likely to get her into further trouble.

"Berlin," she said, watching the two of them curiously. She wasn't reallly sizing them up. A fight was the furthest thing from her mind right now. "Yes, it's just me. What is this place?"

She stole a glance inside the car, trying to gather something useful.

[Shehrazad]

"It's the Elbetal park."
Unsuprisingly that question caused a certain amount of confusion, which was the only thing that it got a straight answer before he continued his questioning.
"You're a long way from home, girl. What are you doing out here? How did you even get here?"
In the back of the car were a couple of rucksacks, but they weren't open so Anna could only guess at what was inside.

[Anna]

Anna's tired brain searched furiously for a convincing lie that didn't conflict with what she'd already said. Finally, she just settled on being as unhelpful as possible.
"I don't know," she said. "I got lost."

Why did I have to go and get myself caught...
Anna's exhaustion was only getting her more frustrated. She wasn't being very convincing and she knew it.

"If this is a nature park what are you doing here?" she countered. "Are you supposed to be driving that thing up here?"

[Shehrazad]

"Why not? It's a free country."
His companion laughed bitterly at that, but he continued regardless.
"We're just taking in the sights. It's good to get out in the country from time to time, you look like you could do with getting out more yourself. Maybe then you wouldn't be lost."
He looks around for a moment, though Anna couldn't tell what he was looking for.
"You're a really long way from anywhere, especially Berlin, how could you of possibly got lost and made your way here?"

[Anna]

"I was with friends. We stopped in Plattenburg," Anna lied, realising they weren't going to relent until she gave them some sort of answer. "I went out alone to take a look around and got lost. I think they left without me."

She stared at them, trying to look as innocently lost as possible.
"We were just taking in the sights too," she said. If they were so reluctant to tell her what they were doing then it couldn't be very legal.
"Maybe you can give me a lift?" she asked.

[Shehrazad]

The man looked at her for a long time, as though trying to see into her mind, and eventually nodded and looked back at his friend for a moment before finally replying.
"Sure, we can take you as far as Plattenburg. Just a second."
He looked back at his friend.
"Chuck the bags in the boot will you? To make room for our friend."
His friend nodded after a moment's hesitation and gets the rucksacks, which be places in the boot out of sight. Once they were out of the way the speaker opened one of the rear side doors and continued.
"Alright, get in. What's your name, kid?"

[Anna]

Every warning she had heard in her life about getting in cars with strangers passed through Anna's head as she got into the back seat and shut the door. She looked around, trying to get an idea of what might have been in the bags. She glanced forward to the front seats, looking for any useful information, and then back at the floor of the car.

Then she seemed to remember they had asked her a question.
"Janne," she said, deciding there was no point giving them her real name. "So where are you from?"

[Shehrazad]

"We're from Hamburg, Janne. Nice and close to the park, so we come out here some weekends, taking a look at the wildlife."
Beyond that he wasn't very conversational as he pulls away and starts on the drive to Plattenburg.

[Anna]

"Not really," Anna said bluntly. "If we're near Plattenburg then we're about halfway between Berlin and Hamburg. That's a long drive for just a bit of a walk, isn't it?"

[Shehrazad]

He gives her an odd look in the rear-view mirror and is about to reply when his slightly shorter companion does instead.
"We normally stay in Bad Wilsnack for the weekend, so it's not a long trip to get to somewhere nice in the park."
The first speaker looks across at his companion then back at Anna in the rear-view mirror.
"Close enough and it's the closest national park to home, so I call that pretty close. I said we do it to come and look at the wildlife, you can't see that sort of thing in Hamburg. So what did you and your friends come to Plattenburg for?"

[Anna]

"Owls," Anna said, leaning back in her seat. Anna wasn't a very talkative person, but apparently Janne was, so Anna had to keep up appearances. "We heard we could find eggs here in the woods. One of my friends was a little obsessed with he idea, so we went along with it."

Anna had no idea what she was saying. It was like Janne was doing the talking and she was just watching everything from outside the car.
Because Anna would never get into a car with strangers.

[Shehrazad]

The shorter man looked back at her a little too quickly, but didn't say anything before his companion did.
"Owl eggs? Why would you want to look at owl eggs? I would of thought the owls would be more interesting to look at. We've seen a few."

[Anna]

"Beats me, I just came along to look at wolves," Anna said with a shrug. "Why would anyone want to steal owl eggs to begin with? I think he said he was going to sell them to someone. Besides, it's probably illegal, isn't it?"

[Shehrazad]

This time, the taller one stopped his companion saying anything with a look before answering Anna himself.
"If they're rare they're probably worth money. But if they're rare they're endangered, and that makes it illegal. You want to look at wolves? Not much chance of that, they don't go near people. You'd be better off staying away, they don't normally attack humans but if they did I doubt or your friends could do anything about it."

[Anna]

Anna considered calling Edward and have him shut down the entire operation. If they were doing something illegal, it certainly wouldn't be that hard for Edward to have them all locked away.
But then she decided this was her trial, and if she wasn't going to do it herself then it would defy the point. Besides, who knew how long it would take to collect enough dirt to get them arrested.

So she decided to gamble.
"Oh," she said. "In that case I should probably warn them, if they're doing something illegal. Why would anyone offer to buy them? Are they useful?"

She paused and glanced out the window, checking how far they had gone, before adding:
"And wolves aren't so bad. I saw an entire pack, and they seemed very friendly."