“Hey there. What brings you out here?” The voice. This figure was the one she had heard before. The figure is tall, around a foot taller than the girl. The figure wears a plaid shirt with its sleeves rolled up, tucked into a pair of jeans, all covered by one worn brown apron and a hefty utility belt. The figure was slim, but by the looks of their arm muscles you could tell they were strong. The figure stands confidently in front of the girl, and the figure’s face bears a friendly grin.

“Um… I saw the light… the one on the ground.” The girl replies.

“So you saw my lantern and got curious. That’s fair. I know I’d go investigate a suspicious lantern if I saw one,” The figure laughs, “So, tell me… What’s your name?”

“My name is Val.”

“Val, huh? That’s a lovely name! I love the ring it has. Fun to say, too. Val, Val, Val, Val. Some people call me the Waterfall Worker, but my name is actually Yuri.” Yuri spins around and grabs the rope she had used to swing over here. She reaches her hand out towards Val, “Here, grab my hand.” Val grabs it. Yuri tugs Val closer and holds onto her tightly. “Here we go!” Yuri leaps off the platform and swings with the rope, soaring past the roaring waterfall. The crashing water splashes up into Val’s face, catching her by surprise. 

Yuri and Val land gracefully on another platform. Val--who’s trying to hide how nauseous the swing made her--looks around this platform. It’s much more populated than the first. There are desks and chairs, trunks and shelves, and some ladders to other, higher platforms. The desks and shelves are all littered with books and papers in a disorderly mess. Val wishes it were more organized. She walks over to one of the desks and picks up a paper. It talks about rocks and the waterfall, or at least that’s what Val has gathered. She didn’t read the whole thing, it was too long.

“They call me the Waterfall Worker,” Yuri says, “Because I do research on this waterfall. I study how it flows and how it affects the terrain around it. Like the rocks for example. I love seeing how over time the waterfall breaks down rocks and helps make new ones. I remember one rock I saw--” Yuri rambles on about her discoveries. She uses a variety of hand gestures while talking. Val notices that just about every word and phrase has a gesture paired with it. Yuri won’t stand still either. She paces about the platform, going on and on about sedimentary rocks. Val isn’t all that interested. It’s still late, and she still wants to get to bed. She thinks about interrupting Yuri, though she wonders if Yuri would even notice if she said something.Val decides to go up one of the ladders on this platform and see how Yuri would respond. “You should have seen it, really, it was like-- Oh, do you want to check out upstairs?”

“Yeah.” Val responds. Yuri follows Val up the ladder. This platform has couches and coffee tables on it. It’s a lounge area.

“This is the lounge. Why don’t you sit down? I can get you some tea or a coffee--whatever you like!”

Val thinks about what drink to ask for. She hasn’t had tea or coffee in a while. She wonders exactly how long it's been since she has. Val used to have tea almost every morning, but that was a while ago. Has she had any tea or coffee since that time? She can’t recall, but doesn’t rule out the possibility she had some while stopping at an inn or cafe. “Tea,” she said. She prefers it to the more bitter coffee.