The afternoon sun waned over the outskirts of the Eliksni Quarter as Rem lay beneath the Sparrow, a veneer of grease coating her palms. The Titan rubbed the sweat from her brow and watched the young Eliksni beside her place the final piece.

The pair stood and surveyed their handiwork: a gleaming Sparrow, built from the ground up.

"I can't believe it's done," Itzelas breathed, her shoulders puffed with pride as she started the engine. "Do you think my sister will be pleased?"

"A master mechanic like her?" Rem asked. "I don't know what she'll be more impressed by—the engine, or the amazing kid who built it. So… ready for a test run?"

Itzelas practically pounced on the vehicle's seat and listened intently as the Titan explained the basics of steering and acceleration. "…And then, if you ease into it with the hand grips, you can coast for—"

Itzelas clasped the grips. Hard.

"—ward."

The Sparrow sped full blast into the Eliksni Quarter, Itzelas hanging on for dear life.

"Should've started with explaining the brakes," Rem sighed before chasing after her.

Itzelas regained her footing and banked left past an open-air market, past the blurred figures of shoppers and merchants alike, only to skid wildly and splash into a fountain, sending a plume of water flying high. She caught a glimpse of embroidered feathers on a Hunter's cloak as he dodged the wall of water; his Ghost, however, was not so lucky. "You left me!" the Ghost shrieked, shell dripping, as Itzelas raced on and over the remains of a crumbled building, her apology lost to the wind.

The Sparrow launched forward, and as it caught air, Itzelas felt it: Exhilaration. Weightlessness. Calm. She finally felt the Sparrow as an extension of her body, the contrails floating behind her in the breeze.

Then she saw the massive Ether tanks looming on the ground below. She tried to trigger the boost.

Nothing.

Grimacing, she thruster-strafed moments before gravity took control, and fishtailed past the tanks—where a Titan, bent low, was feeding a flock of the City's birds. She drifted around him and a flurry of pigeon wings. As the dust settled and her Sparrow came to a halt, the hulking Titan stood bewildered, encircled by dark-green splatter art newly bestowed by his birds.

He laughed heartily as a breathless Rem approached. "Did you see that? Such skill and reflex. And so young! We must introduce her to Marcus. She is… extraordinary," he exclaimed.

Itzelas sat gleefully, and Rem's eyes shined with pride. "She sure is."