When Irisa Nirya was young, feeling like the kiddo Nolan still called her, he asked her when she was born, what date. She didn't know. He ruffled and kissed her hair, took her hand and said, "Let's make it the date I found you," and she'd tilted her head and smiled just a little, because she didn't understand but it seemed to make him happy.

The anniversary of the day he found her rolled around and he stuck a twig in a tasty sweet treat he'd found from who knows where, and he lit it on fire, the heat reflecting off her face and the smoke coiling up into the sky.

"Make a wish, kiddo," he said and she flicked her green eyes up to meet his.

"Why?"

"It's what you do on your birthday," he said, still holding the bottom of the cup cake between his fingers and thumb. "You make a wish as you blow out the candle."

She scowled at the tiny little flame. "What's the point? It's not even my birthday."

"Birthdays are what you make them, Irisa," he'd said gently. "If you don't know when you were born you choose a date and mark it on the calender so your family and friends can celebrate the fact you exist."

"I don't have family and friends," she'd said, watching the stick moodily. "Just you."

"Lucky for you I don't offend easy," he'd replied. "Just blow it out, make a wish."

She didn't take her eyes off the stick, then she sucked in a breath and blew it out, immediately averting her eyes and looking away, down at the floor.

"Did you make a wish?" he asked as he took the stick out to cut the cake in two, a little half for him and a big one for her.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Wishes are stupid."

She wished now. She closed her eyes for a moment and she wished, a single word, a single thought, a simple wish that no one could misunderstand, Irzu or Nolan's gods or simply the universe itself. Whatever had lead her to stand on the edge of this cliff, to look down into the bright light of her own destiny, it had to listen to her wish now.

She drew in a breath, puffed it out, and then launched forwards, and jumped.

Nolan.