She leans on the rail and watches his ascent, fingers of one hand looser than the others to guide the lights as necessary. The way her heart hammers is unsettling, prompting her anxious looks about for signs of a threat - loose floorboards or pillars, some sort of imminent calamity...

It's not why her heart is so anxious, but it seems sensible to her.


"It's the town. Up here, up top...it's the town again. The desert.

"These might be the remains of calamaties past."