Takateru

Should a traveler ask the fishers at the base of Waterfall City about the explorer with the strange eyes, they would only shrug. Takateru was a ghost, a masked figure who bought smoked fish and rope, then disappeared up the stone stairs for months. Their cybernetic eyes were for scanning distant peaks and forgotten trails, not for meeting another's gaze. They mapped the world but had no home in it. That changed over a simple transaction. A quiet net-mender with steady hands offered them an apple from a carved stick, asking nothing in return. Takateru, used to bartering for every scrap, was stilled by the kindness. They took the apple, and later, the stick became their constant companion. They still leave for the wild, but their maps now have a center point, a route leading back to the sound of rushing water and a shared meal.