In a small village in midst of a deserted wasteland was a small tower. A little girl no older than eleven was on the top of that tower, looking at the village plaza beneath. She used goggles to protect her face from the sand and dirt, with darkened glasses to protect her eyes from the bright sun. The rest of her head was covered in a white headscarf to keep her head cool, and her whole body was hidden under some sort of white poncho made out of the thinnest fabric one could find in the desert. Wide beige pants with numerous bags and belts, both overfilled with tools and other stuff, reached all the way down to her white shoes that were completely covered in mud and sand. Her long black hair was peeking through her headgear and around her neck was a small necklace with a little heart shaped rock hanging over her poncho.

What she was looking out for was her best friend Lena. That girl was preparing herself for her big day tomorrow, and Finja tried to find her among all the people being busy in the streets. It would be easy to spot her, if she was there. Lena had bright red hair, almost orange, and only ever wore a protective headscarf when heading outside of the village. She really was easy to notice. It also helped that there were only around 40 people living in the village, Finja included. She knew every single one of them for as long as she was alive. Well, the younger children only for as long as they were alive.

To make the waiting a lot less boring, Finja invented a new game. She would pair every person she saw with an animal. The animal should be somehow related to that person, for example by having similar traits or personality. The first few people were easy. But then she noticed how almost everyone was associated with some sort of dog or cat breed. So she tried to make it more exciting by not allowing herself to ever name any cat or dog again. But now the game was suddenly really hard. It's not that she didn't know many animals. She had a book depicting lots of them back in her room. It was just that she didn't really think they would match any of these people.

Already bored of that game she looked outside the village, all the way towards the horizon. The ruins of a very big city painted a sad picture of a past almost forgotten. The planet was dying, and nobody seemed to know why. Or if they knew, they wouldn't tell Finja. The grown ups tend to have secrets hiding from their children, and the grown ups in this village especially so. Every few days, some of them gathered and went out hunting for something they wouldn't tell. A few days later they always returned with a variety of stuff. Sometimes food, sometimes just random things. She once asked her dad if they were Seekers. Bandits who raided every settlement they could find. Very infamous around this area. But he swore they were not. However, when asked what they did in the desert instead, he just said that it was best for her to not know.

Finja was torn. On one hand, her father never lied to her. Not that she knew at least. On the other hand, the secrecy made her and many other children her age cautious. With so many children suspecting their parents to hide something important, they came up with a plan. One of the oldest children in the village was Lena. She told her parents that she wanted to be intiated into the hunter's circle. And as soon as she knew what was happening in the desert, she would tell the other children. They prepared a lot for this to not be caught by their parents. Their plan included a strategic way of retelling what each kid learned. Every child had another child closest to them, and if each child would only tell that one other child, all children of the village would know almost immediately without their parents having enough time to intervene. Finja came up with that plan almost alone, though her other best friend Eri helped with setting out a proper strategy for the retelling.

As it happened, tomorrow would be Lena's big day. Her first time hunting in the desert. Her final preparations included taking care of her equipment one last time before heading out tomorrow. That's what she was doing now, and that was the very thing Finja waited for her to be done with.

Soon Finja saw a familiar tint of orange moving in the small crowd. She got up and stormed down the stairs of the little tower as fast as she could. She left the tower and ran into the crowd, right into Lena's arms.

"Hey Finja!", Lena greeted her.

"I was waiting for so long", Finja said, while stretching her arms to show just how long she waited.

"Sorry!"

The two girls headed outside the village where they were supposed to meet another friend. Between the improvised walls of the village and the bordering farmlands was a small river. The river was the only thing preventing the region from completely drying out. Despite being small, the river was still going strong, even though Finja heard her parents complaining about the river drying out eventually. But for now, there was plenty enough water to keep the farmlands somewhat alive. So much even, that it was not advised to get into the river. That's what the canals are for. Some years ago, the grown ups dug up a few canals connecting the river with the farms and the village. One of these was used as the primary water source for cooling down and cleaning. Just now, multiple children were bathing in the small canal, while some of the adults were busy nearby washing sheets in the water.

There was an agreement in the village to only wash without any hard chemicals. Finja didn't really know what that was supposed to mean, but she knew she was not allowed with much stuff in the water. Her mother once told her that they want to keep the river as clean as possible. And while bathing and playing in it was allowed, using soap was not. Instead, there was a pot of ash nearby they could use to clean themselves with.

The sun was burning hot in the desert, her friend wasn't there, and the water looked inviting to both girls. So they prepared themselves to get into it. One of the children playing in the water was Finja's younger brother Kim. He invited them over and they joined him for a bit.

About half an hour later, Finja noticed a very familiar face standing at the river, waving at her. It was her other best friend Eri. The dark skinned girl was from a family that migrated from a land far south, but that land like any other was lost to the apocalypse first, and the desert second. The world was still recovering from this, that's at least what Finja's dad told her.

Eri was covered in her protective gear and had a weird little machine next to her. Finja was always amazed at Eri inventions. They were rarely practical, mostly just oversized toys, but Eri was a big physics nerd so they were always fun. It helped that Eri's grandfather was an electrician back in his homeland before the apocalypse. When the world died, he gave his everything to teach his family all he knew about building and repairing machines. Now the whole family was really invested in all kinds of inventions.

Finja got out of the water and studied the machine carefully. It had some knobs and handles, and a big wheel at the side.

"What does it do?", Finja asked, eyes fixed on the machine.

"Turn the wheel and you'll see", Eri answered.

Finja put her hands on the wheel. It was quite heavy to move but once it started to turn, it almost turned by itself. And while doing so, the machine produced a strange, deep whistling sound.

"Now turn one of these knobs", Eri said, pointing at all the knobs.

Finja played around with them and noticed how the sound of the whistling changed. Each knob changed it differently. One changed the pitch, one made it sound mushy, one even created a dampened effect. And one knob was especially interesting. By turning it to the right, it made the whistle sound gain some depth and almost sound like it was played in a big room like the council hall. Turning it left, however, made the whistle sound like someone blew into an empty bottle.

"You made an instrument!", Finja said. Her excitement barely contained as she continued playing with the knobs.

"I'm aware that sound is not very pleasant, but I like it", Eri said.

"Don't say that, I love it!", Finja almost screamed.

Finja was so busy playing with the instrument, she didn't notice Lena joining them at all. And as soon as she noticed, she almost squeaked like a mouse. The girls were playing with the instrument for a few more minutes, before getting all dressed and heading back to the village.

Later this evening all the children from the village gathered around Eri's invention. None of the grown ups liked the sound this instrument produced, but the children loved it, so they tried to not mind. It took only a few minutes before the instrument turned into a group activity. One child turned the wheel, and two children played with the knobs. It was way too early to call the sound they produced music, but they ot better at doing this every minute until the sound became almost bearable.

Lena and Finja decided to go for a small walk. As soon as they were outside again, Finja turned her head to Lena.

"Remember your promise!", she said.

"Yeah, I know", Lena answered while nodding.

"Whatever waits in the desert must really be worth a secret", Finja wondered.

"What if it's, like, super scary?", Lena said with a concerned frown.

"Hu?", Finja asked.

"What if there is something scary out there", Lena said, "Scary enough that our parents won't tell us even if it means we think bad of them? One of the hunters dropped a hint at something like this earlier."

"Oh", Finja said and paused. "Someone did?"

"Yeah, he even said he knows about our plan", Lena said, stopping in her tracks. "He said that all hunters have that plan when joining. Telling the children, I mean. But none of them ever told. Because we children might get scared."

Finja stopped walking too and turned around to face Lena.

"I won't!" she said all determined.

"Promise?"

"Promise!"

The girls continued their walk but for a while they both did not dare to say another word. Finja's thoughts were running wild. She did often suspect her parents to hide a secret about being bad people. That they were stealing, or worse, raiding. That they might be just bandits roaming the deserts. Not even once did she think about some scary thing hiding in the desert. What could be worse than Seekers? What could be scarier than the desert itself?