Long gone. In the way of Lily and Wrench and indeed so many others. Her gut twists with the urge to refute that which is irrefutable, as though she could through sheer force of will alone change the truth. It is not in her nature to be resigned, and her heart is weary of the intolerable compromises this world has forced her to make. The world that came before it, as well.

Opal, as though sensing her roiling emotions, nudges her drowsily. Like Emilia, the dragon has worried sick for that which was missing. Like Emilia, she knows what it is like to exist with a hunger so bottomless.

"No," she allows. "If they were steady, we'd have found a working beacon by now."

Among other factors, she well knows.

"You've been here from the start. How do you do it?"

How does he bear this?