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It is time to see what has been kept hidden.
The desire to understand the unknown
She looks back toward the train, seeing it fully for the first time; wild and overgrown, part forest, part mountain, part machine. Full of the crossings it has made. Full of the crossings yet to come. She hears its engine roar into life.
The train
We leave new life in our wake; young vines curling around ancient houses; new shoots stirring in the soil; flora and fauna not found in any of the natural histories so far written. We leave you to find ways to live alongside it, to make the choice that faces us all—whether to turn away from the changes, to fight, to flee; or whether to welcome them in.
The desire to understand the unknown
But it is true that many remained, and that more come, every year. Some ride for days, weeks. Some never leave. We grow and change, as everything must.
The desire to understand the unknown
Beside me as I write is Valentin Rostov’s famous guide. I keep it open at the author’s portrait, so that he might see the world he once described now loosened from its bindings. It seems only right that he travels with us, and I believe he understood that it is no longer possible for us to be cautious travellers, only curious ones. I like to think that he would be proud.
Rostov’s Guide
