She followed the bead’s faint shimmer down a lane where luminescent vines draped between rooftops. The locket’s bead pulsed gently, and with each beat she felt the island’s heartbeat match her own. Lanterns hung from fishing boats bobbing in a hidden quay, their reflections jittering in the black water. Children chased phosphorescent fish along the quay’s edge and laughed in syllables Meguri couldn’t parse but understood as the same thing every joy translates to.