Lira

Lira does not walk into a room. She arrives, already talking, usually before her eyes are properly open. She hops where she could walk and perches where she could sit. Her antennae tell everyone exactly what she feels, because it has never occurred to her to hide it.

She is twelve, and a good deal sharper than twelve. She notices everything, asks about all of it, and looks straight at whatever has caught her interest, people included. Every evening she hauls Fen out to her ledge on the duskward cliff to watch the sun go down, and she has sworn to solve the purple flash that sometimes comes with it.

When her hands are idle, her fingers wind something invisible between them. Fen has always taken it for a fidget. One morning, to help a friend, she uses her gift out in the open. It does not go unseen.