She woke up, blinking at the rays of light that seemed stronger and yet more gentle than the light she remembered. In fact, it looked like the sun: something she'd only ever seen in dreams, dreams born from a world that had existed beyond her reach, from memories of her infancy where a warm sun had existed, along with fields and a wood much like the one she seemed to be in right now.

She blinked and sat up, staring at the spots of moisture grass and twigs left on her silk white dress. A crow cawed somewhere else: another sound she had not heard for so long outside her dreams – but never had her dreams been as vivid as this. Her eyes drank in the sight: tall slender trees with branches and leaves spraying wildly into space. Little chirping birds hopping from branch to branch, and – did she spy a little nest amongst those branches as well? She did! It took her breath away.

Somehow, she had come to that other world. The world that her father had come from, had gone toward.

The Two Bays
Chapter 2

Ushio blinked at the strange girl. While debating whether or not to approach her, she'd awoken herself, and now Ushio watched as she looked around herself in a hungry awe. The sun still passed through her as though she were from another world, but her expression glowed so fiercely that illusion was quickly dispelled. Ushio's childish mind could only cling to such a thought for a moment before it would vanish, and within seconds Ushio had decided the girl wasn't other-worldly, but simply lost.

And she looked harmless too. Almost like Fuuko had been, the first time they'd met. That made Ushio feel more confident. She was good friends with Fuuko after all. She went closer, one hand dragging little robot behind her.

'Hi,' she chirped, still keeping a safe distance as her parents had taught her, but close enough to appear friendly. The hat ribbon flittered towards her eyes in a breath of wind but she ignored it. 'What's your name?'

The girl stared at her but didn't answer. Ushio beck paddled a little. 'Do you…know your name?' A pause. 'I'm not trying to be rude or anything,' she waved her hands, along with Robot, 'but…ahh…you look lost,' she finished lamely.

The girl nodded. 'I am lost,' she said, her voice soft and almost drowning in the gentle spring wind. 'I think.'

'Oh.' Ushio cocked her head. 'Umm…where did you come from?'

The girl frowned a little in thought. 'Somewhere with lots of snow,' she said finally. 'And no sun.' She ran her fingers down her arms as though feeling for goosebumps.

The afternoon was quite warm, and the girl was wearing a thin dress. If she'd been wearing that in the snow, she must be hot now, Ushio thought. She was squinting a little with the sun; maybe it was too bright for her. Ushio fingered her hat, then took it off and skipped to the other. 'Here,' she said, offering it.

The girl stared, then reached out and accepted the hat. It was a little small on her, being a perfect fit for the younger Ushio, but it shaded her eyes from the sun and that was the important thing. It suited the girl's plain white dress as well. More than suited actually; she looked just as pretty as Ushio's mother did, dressed in her summer clothes. And she clasped her hands, along with Robot, and said so.

'Thank you.' The girl blushed transparently. It seemed she didn't often get such comments. Maybe, Ushio thought, she didn't have people to give them to her.

That was a sad thought. 'Are you going anywhere?' she asked.

The girl shook her head. 'I don't think…I have anywhere to go.'

'Then play with me!' Ushio dropped Robot carefully in the shade of the tree, and grabbed the girl's right hand with both of hers. 'Come on! It'll be fun.'

The girl smiled a little and followed. Followed as Ushio skipped as fast as her little legs could take her around trees and over stray branches and through the snaking light that passed through the trees. Ushio let go in one particular bout of shade, quickly explaining the rules of tag before running off and leaving the other girl standing there.

She tried to keep up, but Ushio was bouncing with energy and much more practised. The girl wasn't used to playing it seemed, or running. She was tired in what felt like moments, leaning against the tree with her face sweaty and flushed and her breath croaky and begging for a break. Ushio noticed and stopped dancing through the trees. 'Are you sick?' she asked, unable to understand any other reason why someone would not be able to play.

The girl didn't appear to know. 'I don't…' she began, a hand over her presumably hammering heart, before changing tracks. 'I haven't…'

'Maybe you just need some water,' Ushio decided. It was rather hot after all. 'Come with me! To my house!' The girl didn't seem like anyone dangerous; she was sure her parents – or mother really, since her father was at work – wouldn't mind.

She tried to walk slowly; she really did. Her mother was a little frail after all, so she couldn't rush ahead while holding her hand, but her father was very quick on his feet and when Ushio walked alone with him, they could walk very fast indeed. She tried to pretend this girl was like her mother, but that seemed too fast still for her and Ushio simply couldn't walk any slower. 'I'll go get Mum,' she decided, letting go of the other's hands. 'I'll be back in a sec.'

She sprinted off through the trees and the other girl watched her go and followed at her own slow pace, feeling the sun beating down more fiercely than the snow ever could. She watched Ushio vanish before her and the trees give way to a grassy backyard. She could see flowers, fresh flowers, dancing under a windowsill – flowers untouched by cold or frost, like the ones in that worn out picture book she'd found amidst scraps.

They even shimmered in the same way, sparking under the sun and framed perfectly before the soft brown of bricks. The grass shimmered as well, fully exposed now that the shade of the trees did not hide that spread, nor the snow. Though it sparked just like the snow did: a dizzying sparkle that dropped her to her knees before she realised she'd lost her balance and sunk. The grass was cool beneath the thin material of her skirt, but scratchy, digging into her legs.

She suddenly noticed Ushio had returned, holding the hand of a woman following. She looked familiar to the girl as well: another face she'd seen in her dreams. Though she didn't remember that face being filled with such concern. She didn't remember any face filled with concern, because for too long it had just been her and the garbage doll she'd made.

She realised her hands were empty. The garbage doll wasn't with her. She'd somehow managed to lose it, leave it behind.

Her eyes brimmed with tears and the woman made a noise of alarm in her throat. The next moment she was helping her – and the girl noted that the lady was far stronger than she looked, because she all but carried her inside, up the three stairs on the back porch and into a chair. The next moment she was guiding a cup to her lips, and the girl was drinking thirstily.

The water was lukewarm, warmer than anything she remembered tasting – because all too often the water she'd find would be frozen over by a winter that grew longer and longer each year, until it had become never-ending. That last winter she recalled, that had gone on until all the strength had been sapped from her bones, far beyond her stores of food and water and warmth…and even hope.

'Are you feeling better?' the woman asked her, soft and kind and with a worried smile. 'Can you tell me your name?'

'She doesn't know,' Ushio's slightly sharper voice piped up.

'Hush, Ushio. That's rude, dear.'

'I don't know,' the girl admitted, though she really did. It had occurred to her before, with the trees. But she couldn't say she was Ushio, another Ushio who had lived in a land where there had been only snow, with only her little robot with her father's soul.

Her father. Suddenly she could hear more than the quiet house, the warm voices of mother and child and the birds and wind singing outside. She could hear the sound of something heavy approaching. Something that sounded like an engine she had once found amidst junk, before it had spluttered out.

'Daddy's home!' the little Ushio squealed.

'Run along to get him then,' her mother smiled.