Klaus, Sunny and Violet sit silently and awkwardly in the backseat of Mister Poe’s car as he drives through the dusty and barren hinterlands. They’re headed to VFD, to be with their seventh ‘guardians’ yet, since their parents’ passing.

Soon enough, they arrive, and the village seems just as empty at the miles of nothingness that surrounds. Mister Poe has a small coughing fit, then settles and looks to the Baudelaires as they exit the car.

“Here we are. Now be good, children, you have an appointment with the elders.” Mister Poe sends the off, then drives away, leaving them alone.

The three young Baudelaires, Violet, Klaus, and baby Sunny, hesitantly step to the town hall and step in. At the front are three elderly people sitting at a pedestal; one a sweet looking lady, a more stern looking woman with glasses, and a man, all three of them wearing black cloaks and hats with a faux crow on top. In the pews are the entire town, which isn’t much. Maybe forty people at most, and all adults but one; You, a girl who seems Klaus’s age sitting next to your mother silently, focusing down in your lap with what seems to be a crochet hook and a small skein of yarn.

“Baudelaires! Welcome!” The sweet Elder woman says, gesturing to the platform in front of the pedestal with a hand wave.

“Please, step onto the platform.”