“They say you can find anything that’s lost,” she said.
And if you ever walk through Driftwood End, listen closely. You might hear a soft humming from the crooked tower, and the faint, happy sound of a laugh that once fell out of the world.
One day, a girl named Lira climbed the tower stairs. She was small and serious, with dirt on her knees and a question in her eyes. sparx matys
Down in the town, Lira’s brother, sitting by a cold hearth, suddenly snorted. Then giggled. Then laughed so hard he fell off his chair.
“What do I owe you?” she asked.
He brought it back to Lira, who was waiting in the tower’s lantern light. Without a word, he pressed the orb into the bronze gear. The gear ticked once, twice—and spun.
Lira held out her hand. In her palm lay a single bronze gear, no bigger than a thumbnail. “My brother’s laugh,” she whispered. “It fell out of the world three winters ago. He hasn’t smiled since.” “They say you can find anything that’s lost,” she said
Sparx Matys smiled—a rare thing, like a sundial in the rain. “Next time you have a thought you don’t know what to do with, leave it by my door.”