The wind shifted.
It brushed the dampness clinging to Hannes’s neck.

Afternoon sun baked the ground of the repair yard.
Heat seeped through his boot soles, a dull, constant throb against his skin.

A gull cried in the distance.
The high note tangled with the rhythmic clang of iron on iron, stretching thin before fading into the air.

Hannes adjusted his grip on the mallet.
The worn wood settled comfortably into the thick calluses of his palm.

The metal plate before him drank the sunlight, shaking the air like a mirage.

He breathed deep.
Pungent machine oil and the heavy, familiar salt of the tide coated the back of his throat.
His lungs swelled.
His ribs groaned.

A shadow rested on a wooden crate at the edge of his vision.

Pain.
The boy leaned his weight to the right, swinging his knees idly.

His gaze drifted around the workshop, never finding a place to land.
A boy with a strangely light center of gravity, though his eyeballs moved with restless energy.

"Oi, Pain. You don't get paid for warming a seat."

Hannes didn't turn.
He squeezed the words from his throat and swung the mallet.

Clang.
The impact shot up his arm to his shoulder.

The boy’s soft laughter layered over the ringing metal.

"They say watching teaches you more than working."

"This isn't a school. If you have time to watch, hammer a nail."

The presence shifted.
The boy stood with a theatrical sigh.

Hannes heard the weight in the footsteps.
Reluctant, but his hands found the timber at the exact right moment.

Beside him, another small shadow moved.

The girl crouched by the toolbox.
Her fingers picked out nails without hesitation, lining them up by size.

Metal did not click against metal.
Her movements were quiet, sliding like water.
Only what was needed was placed into Pain’s hand.

Hannes huffed.
The mallet stilled.
His mustache twitched upward.

"You lot... got used to life in the capital yet?"

Pain shrugged.
Fabric rustled.

"Well, so-so. Jack is obsessed with that relic, as usual. Talking complicated stuff at the scholar’s place again today."

"That stone tablet?"

Hannes set down the metal scrap.
He took a half-step back and looked up.

Sunlight spilled through the gaps in the roof, cutting white lines through the dusty air.

"Don't get it. Why people are drawn to things like that."

Click.
A small sound.

The girl’s hands stilled over the nails.

"Because... it is beautiful."

The voice was unadorned.
It dropped straight into his chest.

Hannes turned.

She wasn't looking at him.
Her gaze fixed on a point in the empty air where the sunlight hit.

Her eyelids lowered slowly.
Long lashes cast shadows.

"Beautiful, huh... Maybe so."

Hannes paused.

The pad of his thumb brushed the heated repair plate.
Rough texture.

"But looks can be deceiving. It's trouble."

Pain squeezed his brows together in a mock frown.

"Precisely. It is illogical and gives me a headache."

Low pitch.
The exact cadence of a grumpy Jack.

The impression was so sharp Hannes sputtered.
His shoulders shook.
The tension in the air unspooled.

Pain winked, returning to his usual lightness.

The mallet swung again.
Rhythmic strikes rang out.

The sea breeze swept the heat from the yard.

Hannes stopped his hands and jutted his chin toward the ocean.

Countless grains of light burst on the wave crests, forging a blinding path.

The wind blew, and the road shifted shape.

"Always been my nature. Can't leave a person in a bind."

Bitterness rose in his throat as he said it.
His mouth twisted.

"But your 'bind' is on a different scale."

Pain’s voice floated from behind.

"You say that, but aren't you going to help us anyway?"

"Who knows. If the ship’s sinking, I might toss a rope."

He threw the banter back and let his gaze slide to the girl.

Her mouth had softened, but when their eyes met, she looked down as if to hide it.

Pain raised a hand.
He moved toward the back of the shadowed workshop, his joints loose, motion light.

Sunlight caught his hair—a burst of gold—before he vanished behind a pile of lumber.

The clatter of searching tools echoed, then faded downwind.

The air in the harbor seemed to shift layers.

The noisy heat thinned.
Dry wood and damp tide settled into a quiet mix.

Only the wind remained.

Pain’s presence lingered like a heat haze.

Work sounds ceased.
Silence settled at their feet.

Hannes rested the mallet on the bench.
He wiped sweat from his forehead with a rough thumb.

The girl had looked away from her hands, eyes tracing the waver of shadows on the ground.

Afternoon light turned yellow.
It cast long shapes between them.

"You like the capital?"

The question rang softer than he intended.

Hannes looked at her profile with a gaze reserved for a daughter.

The girl set the wooden box down without a sound.
Her eyes wandered, searching for an answer.

"Lively. But... a little scary."

"I bet. Takes time to get used to that noise."

She looked up at the sea.
The horizon’s glow reflected in her eyes.

"But... lots of light."

"City lights. Different from the sea."

Her fingers moved as if scooping empty air, then stopped.

"Everyone looks busy."

"Busy isn't bad. Proof they're moving."

"But... some people are alone."

Hannes swallowed his words.

He looked at the ground, bleached white by the sun.

Weeds poked through cracks in the concrete.

"Yeah. Those types exist. But usually, they're the ones watching someone else."

The girl looked up sharply.

"Hannes too?"

Caught off guard, Hannes cleared his throat.

"Maybe. I see you lot and I'm talking before I know it. No, I'm not alone, mind you. Got a wife and sons."

He added it quickly.

The girl’s mouth relaxed, a tiny, trembling movement.

"Thank you."

"Don't need thanks. ...You just have a lonely look about you."

The girl blinked.
Long lashes trembled.

"Do I have that face?"

"Yeah. But that's fine. Folk who know loneliness learn to be kind."

Wind swept through, shaking the shadows of the tools.

Hannes dropped his voice, letting it blend with the sound of the waves.

"You want to go home, don't you? Miss your ma and pa?"

The girl’s shoulders gave a small jump.
She nodded once.

"Yeah. Sometimes... in dreams."

"I see."

Heavy silence fell.
But not unpleasant.

Hannes narrowed his eyes, staring past the blinding sea to the other side of the horizon.

"Those scholars in Mu... they might figure something out."

The girl reacted.

"Mu?"

"Aye. Strange lot, but they investigate the world for real. Might find the answer to your 'place to return' someday."

A ripple crossed her expression.

A faint light lit the back of her eyes.

Wind stroked her hair, carrying the salty scent of the sea.

Hannes watched her profile.
The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepened.

Pain’s laughter drifted from the distance.
Dry sounds of tools clinking.

The wavering sunlight slowly filled the air of the harbor.