"Ten," you say. "What are you going to do during the dry season?" 

Ten barely reacts to the question, save for one of her slender ear slowly pivoting towards you. She probably doesn’t have an answer.

"Ten, you know that you can't just wander around the land forever," you add. "Last time, you almost died. If I hadn't found you, you would be dead." 

"Hmm, I wouldn't have died," says Ten. 

"That story about floating away again?" you say, frustrated. But you don’t let your anger show any more than that, and you reel yourself in for the next words out of your mouth. “Whatever would have happened, it almost did. You got to think about how it won't happen again." 

Ten shrugs. 

"You have no idea, do you?" you ask. 

"Yes." 

You sigh. It is hard to put an age on the nomad, but she has to be quite young; how would one explain her foolishness? You are getting getting to know her, since she had dropped by all rainy seasons at your home to spin wild tales and speak nonsense; the only knowledge that seems in order in that little head of hers would be anything pertaining to food. 

She turns her head to you, but only holds your gaze for a fraction of a second before looking away. 

"You should go back to Oscar and Jael," you say. "They always need the help with their field, and they seemed to like you. They told me about you last time, especially Jael. She even seems to believe that you have some sort of... I don't know. Magical power." 

Ten glances at you once more. She's giving the impression that she's not listening, but she is, very intensely. She's not the sort that shows it. 

"If you go there now, you can help them build more storage for the dry season, and then you can live there for now. You just have to explain your situation and I'm sure they will understand. Or say that I sent you." 

"Why didn't you tell them that you saved me?" 

You shrug. "Listen, I don't know how you would feel about that. I know some people that are embarassed that they have to be saved and helped." 

"You make no senses," says Ten as she turns away once more. 

She is looking at the smog in the distance; sometimes, it encroaches on the Range so that it can be seen from your home. It is a sobbering sight, its expanse vast and menacing and dark. Hopefully, tomorrow the wind will be blowing from the direction of the ocean and push it away. 

"You say that I would be embarassed, but it happened, so why should I feel embarassed?" says Ten. "And then you say I need to stay at their place, at Oscar and Jael. But you know that I cannot stay anywhere, because I told you. That's why I can't stay here either." 

"You're being unreasonable." 

"I am being very reasonable, I have many reasons," said Ten. "But no one wants to listen to them. They all say, you need to stay, you need to be safe, but I have two feet and I need to use them, and ten finger that can help me, and maybe I only have a year before me, maybe ten, or maybe I will live forever." 

"Who is 'they', Ten?" you ask. "Did your family tell you that?" 

She doesn't answer.

"Ten, if there is somewhere you can go, you should go home. Stop this travelling cook nonesense." 

"My home is up there." 

She points to the sky.

"And the day I have to return home," she added, "you will never seen me again. Ever." 

"Just because you are born from a meteorite..." 

"No one believes me," said Ten. "You too. But that's all right, because I know that it's true, and that's what matters." 

She turns to you once more. 

"And we're friends, so if you need me, I'll help you like I can." 

"You are very helpful," you admit.

"See? That's another reason." 

You don't really know what to tell her. It's not that you are lacking words, or reasons, or that she even outsmarted you. The reasons you don't know what to tell her is that you had this conversation already, a thousand times even, and every time you feel as if nothing can reason with her. There is only so much you can do to save someone from themselves, and Ten just seems determined to keep travelling no matter the cost, even if it takes her life. You even wonder if the fact that you are so insistent only makes her more determined. 

She seems to sense your discomfort; she pats the ground next to where she is sitting to have you sit there. You do exactly that, and for a while you both look at the smog in the distance.

And suddenly she speaks up again. 

"It's so sad, what happened here," she said. "Ever since the Great Fires, it's been... lost." 

"Lost?" 

"I don't know what else to call it. I just know that I got to help in my own way, but I'm so small. Even if I had children, I couldn't teach them the solution to it all, so I got to continue looking for it. And if I fail, well, someone else will find out, not me, but someone else, eventually. But I got to try, you know?" 

"Ten..." 

You ruffle her wild, coarse hair. 

"If that is the reason why you don't want to settle during dry season, then you worry too much," you tell her. "You need rest sometimes, even when things seem urgent." 

"I do rest," she says. 

"Sleeping at night doesn't count. I'm talking about waiting out the deadliest season of the year, Ten, and be some place where you are safe." 

"Johnno... It doesn't work like that. The rainy season is rest. During the dry season, I need to face it, so that I know how to fight it. Last time,I almost died and you saved me. This time, I know so much more about it, and everything you explained to me. If I know even more, I can fight it even better. I need to find a way. I cannot find it if I stay somewhere safe." 

You sigh. It seems that you have reached the last of her reasoning. You've had a long life, and you learned that you cannot save someone from themselves. 

"Well then," you say. "Go, if that's what you want to do. But do come back here from time to time, just to let me know that you are safe, all right?" 

"I will," says Ten. And she turned to you and offered one of her rare smiles, the ones that looked like she is cringing hard; but that is her way of letting you know that she truly means what she says.