Four-year-old Eld leaned into Perilla-28's side, a half-eaten cracker forgotten and crumbling in his small hands.

"Did you know I was in the City for Six Fronts? I was already here, though I wouldn't meet your great-great-grandma for a long time yet."

"There wasn't a City then," Eld said confidently. "It was all mud."

Perilla-28 laughed. "No, it was a true city by the time I got here. When the walls were finished, we threw the biggest party I'd ever seen. We thought we were finally safe…"

She paused, a hand on Eld's fine hair, lost in her memories. Eld tugged at her sleeve. "And then what?"

"And then the Guardians protected us. Better than any wall could."

The Traveler's departure had left a hole in the City sky. Perilla gazed up at it.

"That's what they do. That's what they always do."

Eld had stopped listening. He was shaking the cracker crumbs off his hands onto Perilla's dress. "Auntie," he said very seriously, "I need some juice."