“There is bait everywhere,â€? Gereon replied in a booming voice, stirring his dog from its afternoon nap. Without saying more, he reached into the bank near her feet, plucked a small twig from the shore, and handed it to her. The dog sniffed at the twig and licked her hand. “That is your bait,â€? he said to her as she gave him a puzzled look. He snatched the stick away from her with a smile and began to peel the bark away from the twig, revealing a fat grub with a shiny black head that he placed on the end of the hook.

Within a few hours, they caught several sheatfish and an eel. Moondust enjoyed fishing with Gereon and remembered feeling as if she were once again a child, talking with her grandfather in the land of Lortai near the Omir mountains. They talked more about her Grandfather, her homeland, and her trips to the Perimeter to find the rare mandrake root. As the sun began to set, Moondust and Gereon made way to Gereon’s cabin at the foot of mount Namine.