Hana's father was an astronomer.

  She’d always loved peering through his telescopes and flipping to large, hardcover books with big beautiful pictures of planets in them. She recognized some of those books on the street, still smoldering while small bits of prized telescopes were scattered about..

  The entrance to the small apartment building had collapsed. Just a few days ago, Hana had come home from school and walked through the sliding doors and up to the second floor as if nothing.

  She walked around the side and found a collapsed side of the structure which left a small ramp of rubble leading up to the second floor. Carefully, she climbed hand over hand and made her way up.

  She didn't realize it at first, but she was standing in her father's home office. His desk was a mess, but Hana wasn't sure if that was because of the destruction or if it was like that beforehand. A book on blackholes was open with an array of sticky notes, almost as if they’d been attracted to the book. As she walked by, she reached out and touched a sweater her dad always left on his chair.

  Carefully, Hana picked a path through the debris and found herself in the living room. Her mother's piano was still there as if at any moment she would walk in the door and start playing. The door to her parents' room was untouched, but behind the door was... nothing. The floor below had fallen in on itself and the entire room was open air. She had hoped to find a photo or something, but it was all gone.

  A breeze blew through the apartment and Hana smelled smoke.

  Without anywhere else to go, she turned around and walked back to her own bedroom. Her mother had hung up clothes for tomorrow and placed her school bag on a chair. Hana had forgotten her books last week so her father made sure she was packed every night before they went to bed.

  She gathered what little she could and put it in her school bag. Some clothes, a pin her mother bought her last week and one of her father's pens from his office.

  "Hana?" Youngho spoke her name gingerly. She had cried for the past week and begged to come here. He finally relented, but upon seeing the state of things, he wondered if it was the right decision.

  "Hana?" he repeated.

  The girl appeared on the second floor and slowly made her way back down.

  "You get what you needed?"

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  She nodded. Her eyes were downcast, downright solemn in fact. It saddened Youngho to see a child like that, but he could see he'd made the right decision. If nothing else, Hana had closure.

  She stumbled a bit and fell on her knees at the bottom of the rubble. But when Youngho offered a hand, she opted to stand up on her own and brush herself off.

  She walked past Youngho and went straight to Jinyoung. He watched as she rummaged through her bag and retrieved a sweater. It was bright blue and grey, sort of like a school sweater. She held it out to him and he took it gratefully.

  "You need to stay warm," she said.

  The boy didn’t speak. He just slipped on the jacket and took his sister’s hand in his own before looking up at Youngho.

  “Where do we go now?”

  ***

  The air was cold, not that Seah could tell. Her body had long since adjusted to all manner of climates.

  [Warmth] was one of the first skills that players unlocked when they reached the rogue class. It was, undoubtedly, the most useful skill out of the many available to players across the world. But Seah almost wished it could be turned off. There was something about being comfortable in the sub zero wastes of the north that made her feel less than human.

  Ironically, feeling warm at all times made Seah numb to the world. And, after a while, numb to the needs of others.

  Even out here, Seah could feel the cold wind tugging at her coat and running through her hair. She may as well have been on the beach enjoying a warm sea breeze. But Hana stood just as still in this cold. She didn’t shiver, she just stood there. To Seah, Hana looked as numb as she felt.

  “Hana?” Seah’s voice was soft. Softer than she’d spoken in years, but Hana twitched. “He’s awake inside. The medic says he should be fine, a little mana sickness but no permanent damage.”

  The wind whistled through the rocks below them before carrying cold air into the facility behind them. It wasn’t well-maintained, but it would serve its purpose until Willow and Jinyoung were ready to travel in two days’ time.

  “I…” Seah hesitated. “Our scouts found the laboratory under the silo. It looks like-”

  Hana turned to face Seah and looked her hard in the eye.

  “Are you here for the Cradle, Seah?”

  Her voice was cold, but there was the unmistakable hint of anger there. Maybe just the ashes of emotion, but enough to give Seah pause.

  “We found Seunghyo’s body.”

  There was no response. There were no tears, there was no crying, there was nothing. Seah waited patiently and let the cold wind blow through the trails of her coat.

  When it was obvious that there was no response coming, Seah broke the silence herself. “The cemetery. The one where we buried Johann. The Society has a few plots on retainer. I can make sure one is made available for Seunghyo.”

  Hana nodded in response.

  Seah’s brow furrowed in concern. It had been years since she’d allowed herself to show concern, but she was worried.

  “Jinyoung’ll be awake soon. You should go in and-”

  “Do you still love him?”

  The silence that followed was deafening. Hana hated herself for asking, but she needed to know. Now, more than ever.

  It was Hana’s turn to soften her voice. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay.”