"The surface up there is mostly flat, slightly convex in the center and sloped. Hang gliders love it for that. People usually come here briefly and with a specific purpose—to artificially elevate themselves, to feel like a bird, but then, when the magic of flight fades, they leave as if they were never here. It’s always sad because of that, but also curious—which next city of winds will take them away?"

I stepped away from the girl who had suddenly appeared from behind the rocky ledge I was leaning against.

My company in this desolate wilderness clearly didn’t unsettle her. But her appearance left me stunned.

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

"Since birth," she shrugged. "Well, not right on this spot, of course, but in my own home. I live behind this cliff. And every time the cold evening wind blows, every time I hear the late train rushing past our outskirts—I remember the City of Winds. Oh, how often I remember it!"

The girl with asymmetrical features and wide-set eyes—large as saucers and slightly slanted—stared at me, pressing her thin lips into a friendly smile. She wasn’t a beauty, yet somehow the whole picture made her appealing, and even the natural desolation harmonized with her.

Her voice carried an excitement she was desperately trying to mask as playful cheer.

"Selena," she offered me her hand in greeting but immediately tucked it back into the pocket of her summer overalls, adorned with colorful wooden and plastic badges.

Her springy gait reminded me of either a carefree teenager or a space traveler in a bulky suit—an odd clash of hesitant nature and reckless extroversion.

As if reading my thoughts, the girl stopped pacing frantically around the motorcycle and ran a graceful finger along its seat.

"So, are you just going to stand there, rooting yourself into the ground?" she asked. "In that case, I should mention that the soil around here isn’t particularly fertile—so you’re unlikely to sprout grass, but you will get buried in fiery dust in no time. The weather here is often moody, and you’ll spend the next day shaking it out of every crevice. Honestly, it’s been ages since I’ve seen a new face—this place is remote, no matter how you spin it… So, what brings you here?"

I’d stopped listening to the girl who called herself Selena somewhere in the middle of her ceaseless monologue, so I missed the question directed at me.

"Don’t tell me you’re another investor-developer. We’ve sent plenty of those packing empty-handed. You see, the appeal of our land is its emptiness and solitude. We don’t want that changed."

"No, no," I hurried to cut off her musings. "I have no agenda, honestly. Just passing through. You could say I’m traveling."

"So… just because?" Selena arched a thin brow skeptically. "Well, if it’s just because, then let’s properly introduce ourselves."

The girl nimbly scrambled onto the lowest ledge of the cliff and sat down, tucking one leg beneath her and wrapping her arms around her knee. Taking a deep breath, as if exhausted by her own chatter, her smile faded for a second—but then, as if chastising herself, Selena grinned at me again, wider than before.

"What the hell is wrong with the people here?"

"I trust my intuition, and it tells me you’re harmless," the girl concluded with an appraising look. "You are harmless, right? Who are you here with?"

"Just me at the moment."

"Really?" Selena didn’t believe me, nodding toward the child’s footprints nearby.

"There’s a boy with me, but he wandered off somewhere."

"A child shouldn’t be left alone in such a desolate place," she said, resting her chin on her knee.