As Katara finds the central square, she finds herself crossing a hanging bridge, below which the entire sky hangs like an endless ocean (http://z-e-r-o.up.seesaa.net/image/Hubble_Ultra_Deep_Field_Black_point_edit.jpg). It's simply beautiful, as bizarre as it is, and the starlight casts low shadows upwards.

And waiting for her is Roxie—sort of. Her hewn out of star-stuff, again, with the shining discs of her eyes. But she's taller—taller than Katara, even, and shapely. Adult, definitely. And solid, it seems, with the way she leans against an elegant fountain large enough to swallow up a whole city block.

"How have you liked it so far?" she asks, and there's a warm two-tone echo to her voice, chill and friendly all at once.