sakon76

Got three ideas in my head while driving home. The other two will probably be incorporated into something else, but this one, turning out as it did, I think doesn't quite fit with them.

Whatever else Gold Krone was, it was a village that had stood outside of time.

After the walls of Drosselmeyer's story were shattered, it took some time before anyone began to notice; perhaps it was the effect of having a writer still present in the town, spinning stories dedicated to the happiness and well-being of its citizens. Nonetheless, eventually word began to seep in that the world outside the town was vastly different from the world within.

Fakir read some of the new books that came into the town with horror. They left him with nightmares for weeks.

The village had been sealed away in the nineteenth century, only the most marginal of influences allowed to enter or leave. It had been viewed by outsiders as an old-fashioned place, quaint, and of little significance. This view, spun by Drosselmeyer's enchantment, had protected it from numerous wars and weapons.

Fakir read about economic devastation, democracy, the rise to power of tyrants and their downfall, the attempt to exterminate entire peoples, and what horrors science had wrought in the way of weapons.

People in the village talked, disinterestedly, of things called "telephones." What use were they, it was generally concluded, when a few minutes' walk would bring you to the other person, with no need for unsightly wire towers or electricity (dangerous stuff, that). They scoffed at the idea of "televisions"--what finer entertainment could be had than a game of checkers, or seeing a performance from the Academy, if one was high-minded?

Fakir read of machine guns, stealth technology, and bombs that could destroy entire cities without ever touching them.

Aotoa theorized that Drosselmeyer's walls had protected his story for a century and a half when the rest of the world had been undergoing drastic social and political change. There were entire /countries/ out there, he said, his voice quavering with excitement, that hadn't existed before. Men had walked on the moon! Medical science had made so much progress that more diseases were being eliminated from the world each year. People were living longer, and healthier, with more leisure than had ever been considered.

Fakir looked at him and tried not to wonder what it would take to seal the village away again.