For a second all his worries were gone. There was only her, young and beautiful, like a jewel under the crown of the ballroom. She stood in front of him in a red sequin gown. Caermirella shone like a star. Everyone's eyes were on her, and for a good reason.

She reached for his hand. Lusstoni eagerly tried to grab it. He knew this day could be his last chance to make things right. Their fingers almost touched when an ear-piercing noise abruptly shattered the illusion.

The man woke up, and he had made some mistakes. Not now necessarily, but in his entire life in general.

"What do you want?" he growled with a raspy voice, still dizzy from his sleep.

"Toni, I am hungry!" Omikraya squeaked as she jumped on his bed.

"I didn't let you give me a moniker," he mumbled as he wiped his eyes. "Why didn't you just grab something from my stash rather than further destroying my good time on this godforsaken planet?"

"I want you to make me a breakfast because I don't want to mess with your things!" the girl said with a tone that probably was supposed to sound all grown up.

"Why are you so respectful all of a sudden?" The man knew something was amiss when he heard it.

Omikraya smiled widely, revealing a missing upper tooth.

"I've always been that!" she lied.

Lusstoni dragged himself out of the bed and went into his kitchen corner. He rummaged through his things for a moment for a portable burner.

The man walked out of his airship and placed the item outside. He then went back in and shortly returned with a frying pan.

"You will have eggs," he announced.

"But I want—"

"That wasn't a question," he interrupted her.

"Eggs are boring," she said and crossed her arms.

"I don't care," he responded as he heated the pan. "I am doing you a favor; if you don't like it, you can just leave me alone. I would greatly appreciate that."

"I will have eggs," she said.

"Didn't you just say they were boring?" he asked, raising his eyebrows up.

"I will eat them to stay with you!"

Lusstoni sighed heavily. He felt like he was making her feel welcome, which wasn't his intention.

Omikraya's stomach rumbled.

The man put one fried egg on an old-looking plate and handed it to the girl along with a fork that was, simply put, clean enough.

She sat on the ground and began eating.

"Toni, have you got something to write?" she asked.

"Huh? No, why?"

Omikraya looked at him with a funny expression.

"I could draw a line between the two dots on your cheek and make it look like a smile!" she exclaimed happily.

"There will be no smile on my face; now eat up and don't annoy me!" he burst out.

Omikraya resumed her breakfast.

Lusstoni walked away from her to smoke in peace. The man took a drag on his cigarette and put his right hand on his cheek. He had always been conscious about his beauty marks. The child didn't seem to judge his appearance, but it still stung him when someone brought it up.

He stayed there for several minutes until he finally extinguished his cigarette and returned to the burner.

"You stink now," Omikraya commented.

"I know," he responded in a soulless manner. He heard that line too many times in his life, but he never had the will to do anything about his habits.

Lusstoni sat on a boulder next to her and looked ahead with a blank stare. He still couldn't believe what he got himself into.

He finally got up, collected his things, and put them on the deck of his airship.

Omikraya followed him happily, bringing her plate with her.

The man sat in the cockpit and looked at the map. In his head he was already brewing a plan.

There was a small town nearby. He could start his search there. Somebody must have known the girl. Perhaps her parents were looking for her, and they would reward him handsomely for bringing her back.

Lusstoni got up and walked towards the map, making circles around the locations with the mechanical fingers of his prosthetic hand.

He nodded to himself and left the cockpit to look for the girl.

Omikraya was sitting down on the floor and polishing her plate with a piece of cloth.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Cleaning!" she said excitedly.

"You should have just put it on the pile," he told her. "I would have gotten to it eventually."

"The... pile?"

"Nevermind," he said under his breath. "Listen, we will now go to the nearest town. I want to ask around if anyone knows your parents."

"They are not there," she exclaimed.

"So where are they according to you?"

"On the island," she insisted, "and my father is scary, so everyone left."

Lusstoni didn't believe her. He was sure she was just messing with him so that she could stay.

"What are their names?" he finally asked.

"My father is named Callum," she responded.

He nodded.

"That sounds plausible..." he said. "What about your mother?"

"Her name is Ashidrella, and she isn't scary!"

"That's not even a human name!" he exclaimed.

"She isn't human," she said. "She's a nymph! I am half-nymph!"

Lusstoni raised his face into the sky and growled.

"Again with your fantasy?! Just tell me where your parents are."

"On Crescent Moon Isle," she responded as if it were obvious.

"How would they even get there?" Lusstoni asked with frustration in his voice.

"My father was a knight, and he got the island from the Star Goddess."

"Huh?" he couldn't believe his ears. "But that would make your dad about five hundred years old. There are no knights anymore."

Lusstoni shook his head and returned to his cockpit. He then set the course toward the town he had picked. Omikraya followed him joyfully, utterly ignoring his outbursts.

Lusstoni was sitting on his pilot chair and holding the steering wheel firmly. His eyes were dead set on the horizon.

"Toni, how does it fly?" she finally asked.

"Gas," he forced himself to answer her question.

"Oh, like the one that comes out of—"

"No," he interrupted her.

"Why are you wearing goggles?"

"So that the sun won't burn my eyes out," he responded.

"What is this thing?" she pointed at the object with buttons next to him.

"That's a radio," he explained. "It plays music."

"Oooh, like a bard?"

Lusstoni just quietly turned it on. The music filled the entire cockpit. He hoped that now she would leave him be.

It worked for a moment. Omikraya tried to ask him more questions, but he was pretending not to hear her over the sounds of the radio, so she finally gave up and left the cockpit. He was finally alone, but for the first time in eight years he didn't actually feel at home in the silence.

The airship hovered silently above the green hills. The area below wasn't a wasteland, but to Lusstoni it almost looked like one. However, any land not covered with tall golden buildings would make a Norathian feel this way.

They approached the nearest town. It was the kind of settlement that made the visitors wonder whether they would lose their money or body parts, but Lusstoni was desperate enough to find Omikraya's parents that he decided to go there one way or another.

The man landed his airship on the rocks near the entrance and walked out of the vehicle. They stood in front of a crude wooden arch with the Town of Perkahn engraved on top. The place didn't seem welcoming in the slightest.

They walked down the road leading into the center of the town. The stone that paved it was corroded, almost as if nobody cared to make it functional. Omikraya observed the dirty walls of the buildings they passed and grabbed Lusstoni's hand out of fear. The gesture frustrated him, but he said nothing. He had to figure out the way, and it was better for her to stick close until he found a good opportunity to drop her somewhere safe.

Truth be told, it probably wouldn't be here, but he had to make sure.

Lusstoni stopped to look around. This town was built in a strange and chaotic way. He realized that he would need to ask somebody to find his way around the city. But what was he looking for? An orphanage? The town's leader? Maybe their sheriff or whoever was responsible for maintaining order in that hole? The man wasn't sure, and he couldn't focus because his bloodstream had dangerously low alcohol content. He was not used to thinking in such circumstances.

A bar caught his attention. It's the kind of place where people trade their secrets like they're a commodity; perhaps he could find someone who knew Omikraya. That, and he could finally get something to drink. Staying dry for so long should be a crime.

They walked through the filthy door into a room that didn't look much better than the rest of the town.

There was a rusted jukebox playing strangely sorrowful music in the corner. It wasn't possible to change it, however, because it was surrounded by thugs who side-eyed the man as he entered.

Lusstoni approached the bartender. The man behind the counter had the posture of a large sack of potatoes if one could also put a scar on it. His oily black hair was tied on the back of his head with a piece of gray linen string.