“My home, huh?” Van said slowly. “What can I say… It’s a small town, a bit off the Great Airway, yet close enough not to be completely forgotten by the world. Its name is Turren. Rings a bell for hardly anyone, except maybe merchants and shipbuilders.”

  “Shipbuilders?” Salome asked. She had other questions as well, particularly what exactly the Great Airway was, but she held back.

  “Yes, the town is known for its shipyards. They’ve been building parts of the ships I told you about for generations. It has a harbor large enough for even the biggest cargo vessels. And… there’s a school,” he added after a brief hesitation. “For navigators. My father taught there, once. Nowadays he only works as a shipbuilder. Owns a small workshop at the edge of town. Solitude has always been important to him, you know. Not sure why. But people still come to him when they need special parts.”

  “You’re very close, aren’t you? You and your father,” Salome asked, looking up at the stone ceiling and pulling her legs up so her knees poked above the water.

  “Of course,” Van replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

  “And your mother?” Salome wanted to know. “What about her?” She thought of her own mother, someone she’d never felt particularly close to. Her parents had never truly been there for her, and now they felt distant and meaningless, merely memories that maybe one day she might forget entirely, now that she was in Firmament.

  Van was silent for a moment, flicking water absent-mindedly. “You know, sometimes I think I have two mothers. One’s a great, famous woman, an incredible navigator constantly sailing off on adventurous voyages into the unknown world, returning with treasures and mysterious artifacts.” Then, remembering Salome's considerable gaps in her understanding of Firmament, he hastily added, “The unknown world is the part of Firmament that’s difficult to map.”

  Unaware – of course – that this explained nothing and was only provoking further questions, he continued: “The other one is an ordinary, loving mother, awkwardly caring for her only child in her own way.” He laughed softly. “She was never really home. Always traveling. Always chasing new expeditions, new horizons. I grew up more with stories about her than with her herself. But I never resented her for it! In fact, I was always proud of her. The whole time. Loved her like you could only love your mother. And I always wanted to become just like her someday.”

  He paused, and Salome heard his fingers playing in the water. “But then something happened, and she... disappeared. My father never talks about it, and nobody else could tell me anything useful.”

  “And then?” asked Salome.

  “So, naturally, I set out myself to find out what happened,” Van said. “And as I told you before, I believe she found a way to Fundament.”

  “And you followed her,” Salome concluded.

  “Something like that,” Van replied evasively. Before she could ask more, he said, “What about you? Your family must be terribly worried. You know, because I kidnapped you and all that.”

  “I already told you, you don’t need to worry about that,” said Salome.

  “But it’s true! Well, sort of, anyway.”

  “It’s not like you intentionally brought me to Firmament. We have no idea how it even happened, remember?” Maybe she should explain how grateful she actually felt for being kidnapped by him? She giggled softly.

  “Maybe so. But still, someone’s got to be missing you,” Van insisted. “And there’s no way to send a message back to Fundament. Makes me a bit sad.”

  Salome rested her head on the edge of the tub, gazing at tiny water droplets hanging from the ceiling like strands of pearls.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” she said. “My father, as village head, is so busy he’s rarely home. He never really took much interest in me, and sometimes I feel like he hardly even knows me. Same with my mother. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if they haven’t even noticed I’m gone yet. And my sister...” She thought of Semira, feeling a sudden pang in her heart. Her sister had always been their parents’ favorite, she was everything Salome would never be. But Salome had never resented her for that—Semira had always treated her fairly. The thought of never seeing her sister again...

  “What about your sister?” Van asked gently.

  “Oh… never mind,” Salome said quietly.

  Since Semira had started working for the Ministry, she’d rarely come home, always occupied in the city with something terribly important. Salome had never understood why her sister had been so determined to become an enforcer. But there were other things she hadn’t understood about Semira, who’d changed greatly since childhood. The distance between them had grown over recent years. Salome didn’t know what drove her sister, only that the result had been less time spent with her younger sibling. That, Salome had always resented.

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  “What about friends? Won’t they miss you?” Van pressed further.

  Salome almost laughed out loud. She stared at the ceiling. “Did you know I stopped going to school a while ago?”

  “Um, is that unusual?” Van asked. “Does everyone go to school in Fundament?”

  “Of course. Everyone must be educated, as they call it, until they turn sixteen. Girls even until they’re eighteen. Isn’t it like that here in Firmament?”

  Van grunted negatively. “So, why’d you stop going?”

  Salome opened her mouth. Drew a breath. But no words came out.

  No, that wasn't quite right.

  The words were already there, waiting to be screamed out, yet she'd held them back for so long, collected them deep in her throat, squeezing them into a dark, solid knot. Now, every time her lips tried to form them, she felt like choking.

  “I never want to go back there again,” she finally said, her voice dripping with disgust.

  At that moment, the bathroom door opened. A cool draft swept inside, swirling the steam and sending chills over Salome’s bare shoulders. She sank lower into the water, up to her chin, watching Erin stand in the doorway, waving away the mist with her hand. When the girl’s eyes fell on Van, her cheeks flushed, and she quickly looked away. She held a neatly folded shirt, hurried over to Salome’s side of the brick wall, and said softly, “Alin said I should give this to you. She thought it would suit you.” She placed the clothing next to the tub, flashed Salome a brief smile, and hurried quietly from the room, carefully avoiding looking in Van’s direction. Salome found the girl’s shyness rather adorable—until she realized she had behaved exactly the same way not too long ago. She frowned.

  “You know what,” Van said after Erin had shut the door behind her, “one day you should tell me more about all this. But for now, I’ve heard enough. I think I understand you.”

  Salome heard the splashing of water and the wet slap of feet against stone as he rose and climbed out of the tub. He dried himself, dressed quickly, and wished Salome goodnight before leaving the room.

  Salome stayed in the bath a while longer, thinking over his words.

  Eventually, when the water had become merely lukewarm, she stepped out. She scrubbed herself dry with the soft towel, slipped into her clothes, and pulled on the fresh shirt Erin had brought her. It had an unusual cut, with very wide sleeves, unlike anything worn in Fundament. Yet it fit perfectly. She folded her old shirt neatly, placing it beside the bathtub before leaving the room.

  Shortly afterward, she dropped onto the soft bed where she had woken up that morning, cuddled into the cool sheets, and fell asleep instantly.

  Salome awoke the next day rested and in a good mood. Lost in thought, she dressed slowly, trying to recall the names of the friendly old folks who had listened to her stories the day before.

  When she slipped on her boots, she noticed her foot no longer hurt at all. Maybe the injury hadn’t been as serious as Alin thought? She stepped thoughtfully into the pleasantly cool, dimly lit hallway and immediately ran into Van.

  “Oh, you’re finally awake! I was just about to come wake you myself. By the pillars, how can you sleep so long? It’s practically evening already!” he exclaimed. “Come on, something's happening downstairs.”

  Salome stared at him, confused. Had she really slept that long again?

  The common room hadn’t changed much, but a sense of excitement hung in the air. Alin was talking to the children, who stood in a serious, determined line—the way children looked when entrusted with something important. Frey, the tallest among them, listened stiffly, staring straight ahead like a soldier receiving orders.

  “—and if she's hurt, run back as quickly as possible and let us know immediately, alright?” Alin was saying. The little ones nodded before darting out of the building one by one.

  “What’s going on?” Van asked as he and Salome entered the room.

  Alin straightened and approached them. “It’s Sori. She’s disappeared.” She gazed anxiously out the window. “As you know, the girl is quite… something. And though there’s nothing truly dangerous in this town, there are still plenty of small dangers lurking about that you might never expect. Sori isn't fully recovered yet, so I want to find her as soon as possible.”

  Van took a step forward. “Maybe we could—” he began, but at that moment, the door flew open and Master Lom entered.

  Salome’s heart nearly stopped at the sight of him. She hadn't expected to see him again so soon.

  The long sleeves of his robe fluttered, and his forehead wrinkled slightly when he noticed Alin’s worried expression, but nothing about him suggested he was anything more than a tall, elderly man with a round belly and a pointed beard. Nothing, that is, except his eyes. Those were the very same eyes the dragon had used to... examine her. How had she failed to notice those slit-like pupils before?

  “What’s all the commotion?” Master Lom asked, pausing as the door closed behind him.

  “Oh, Master! Thank goodness you're here,” Alin exclaimed, relieved. “Sori—the girl you examined yesterday—she’s gone missing! No one saw her leave the house. I've sent some people to look for her, and the children are searching nearby, but it’s as if she simply vanished into thin air!”

  Suddenly, a knowing smile flickered across Lom’s lips, and simultaneously, his concerned expression dissolved. “Don’t worry,” he said cheerfully. “The girl is fine.” He winked at Salome and Van, who until now had been staring at him with awe.

  Just then, the door opened again, and Sori entered, looking as though she had seen a ghost. The girl was deathly pale, eyes fixed firmly on the floor, nervously fiddling with the corner of her white woolen vest. Her normally carefree, cheerful smile had completely vanished.

  “She sought me out on her own,” Master Lom explained, holding the door open. “I just accompanied her back.”

  Salome felt a sudden jolt of worry—did Sori now know Lom’s true identity? She watched as the girl gave the master a brief glance, then quickly slipped past him into the common room. At that moment, Sileil emerged from the kitchen, offering Sori a glass of water, which she gratefully took and drained in one gulp.

  “It was inevitable, I suppose,” chuckled Master Lom. “Well then, since I'm already here, I might as well check on the sick. Sori, would you kindly accompany me? I'd like to talk with you a little more.”

  The girl didn’t dare look directly at him, but she bravely nodded before hurrying up the stairs after him.

  Salome had no chance to dwell on any of this further, as Sileil suddenly pulled her aside. She gestured like she had to show her something.

  Salome followed her.