Of course it would be in the middle of the desert.

She can feel the heat rising from the ground, feel the rays of the sun on her back, feel the lack of the heavy presence she is so used to in the air. Her fingers twitch and close over each other, a shudder runs down her spine. She feels the water leave her body with every breath, feels it disappear in the most disconcerting of fashions.

Jieqiong takes in a deep breath and tugs her shawl closer around her face.

She should have searched here first. She really should have, should have known that of course the universe would have landed Nayoung here, here in the one shuttle port in the middle of the desert, far away from any bodies of water, not that it matters to Nayoung who weaves air with her fingers.

Wove, the soft voice in the back of her head reminds her, wove. Past tense. Nayoung is past tense. You know it. It has been months.

No.

No matter what she said to Eunwoo, to Kyungwon, and to Yewon before she left, Jieqiong does not believe that Nayoung is dead.

Angel of Death, Junghyun had said, it’s a one way trip and no one ever comes back down.

---

Jieqiong remembers.

She remembers the day Nayoung did not come back, remembers the evening they sat on the cold concrete floor, fingers digging into the dust in the dark, waiting for signal to leave that never came, remembers the smell in the air, the lingering vapor where there had undoubtedly been a person.

She remembers being dragged away by Minkyung and now Minkyung is out on a long mission of her own and does not know that Jieqiong is here. Maybe she should have said goodbye.

(Minkyung would probably have just knocked her straight out and have Yewon tie her down until this stupid idea was gone from her head, but Jieqiong does not want to believe that Nayoung is dead, cannot believe that Nayoung is dead.)

She has to see it for herself.

Has to-

Her grey contacts itch, already slowly drying in this air - Jieqiong really should have stolen a few more from Eunwoo before she had left - but she just blinks them moist again.

Europe had been a no-go. She had not even bothered. They never take downward deliveries, and no one, no one ever leaves, everyone knows that.

The Asian landing pad, well, money always buys things there but the three weeks she spent in that one pub were enough to get her in and it turns out that way too much money is needed to buy what they would have needed to buy.

Which is why she is here in the middle of the Sahara in winter, shawl around her head, robes hiding her figure, making her way through a market where what little bit of her skin that peeks out between her eyes marks her as a stranger.

Jieqiong has never before wished she were a guy, but she might start wishing right about now as she feels the eyes rake over her form, wrapped in layers of loose robes.

Another shudder runs down her spine.

This is a terrible idea, Sungyeon would say, but Sungyeon is far away and does not know that she is here.

They all think she is in China because she told them she was going home.

Jieqiong has not lied.

---

She has spent half an hour listening to this tea merchant try to get her to do a deal with him where she sends tea from her ancestor’s gardens to this far-flung god-forsaken bit of the desert in the middle of nowhere. Except, of course, her ancestors never did have gardens and spent most of their time making money off of poor unsuspecting souls. Or something like that. Jieqiong does not know. Her parents might have told her at one point but she does not remember.

The market itself is nothing particularly impressive nor interesting. Perhaps she has made a mistake in coming here where she sticks out like a sore thumb. Perhaps the warning signals have been sounded.

Somehow she doubts it. She doubts the place has warning signals. If they did, she would have likely already been taken on the bus and not be standing here.

Perhaps this is just not the right place then?

She feels someone at her back, sees the look on the merchant’s face, turns slowly, deliberately.

A tall figure steps up to her, growls, “What brings you here?”

Jieqiong takes in the lean muscles, the dusty, ragged hems, feels her heart pound in her chest. Hope is a dastardly thing.

“I’m looking for a job.”

The man scoffs, “You must either be crazy or stupid, girl. Go home. This isn’t a place for pretty little things like you.”

Jieqiong lets the shawl fall a little from her face, bares her teeth in a grin, “I heard they’re looking for fresh blood.”

Bingo.

---

Nayoung wakes up just before dawn as the air starts to slowly stir. She used to be so attuned to the slightest of movements, now it is but a dull thrum that she can barely grasp and it has been months but people still startle her.

People had never been able to startle her.

She tugs on her overalls, stands at at