In the empty shapes of the wasteland shadows of the old city could be seen. Re-l took them in with empty eyes, seeing and not seeing, half-mistaking them for the old bones of her own world. It was a pattern that could only be seen from above, and as the wind picked up a little, catching her hair and spreading it thickly around her, she thought of the Cenezon. Vincent and Pino were somewhere. She had to believe that. She would fight for that.

"It's a clever trick," Re-l agreed. "Nothing keeps people off balance like a lack of surity. But it leaves them open, too. There's one thing that's obvious from the vague threats. They won't do anything permanent to us. If they were willing to kill, they would have made that explicit. It would be more effective."

She shrugged her shoulders, which were stiffening a little from the weight of the pack, and fumbled for the water on her hip. The dust was a demon here, coating her tongue and throat, and water was too precious to keep washing it away.