"I'm not really sure. But does it matter? If I wasn't out here, I wouldn't have made a new friend. So it all works out!"

Friend. A feeling of bliss moved the nameless child's lips into an expression of happiness. The girl felt like something amazing had just fallen out of the sky and landed right in front of her. She had vague wisps of memories which told her that "friendship" was something wonderful, but something which she had never truly experienced before; she didn't fully understand it, but it was nevertheless fulfilling to become a part of it.

She was friends with Jess. Jess and she were friends. This new concept permeated her thoughts as they continued down the brightly lit streets.

A man sitting at a bench looked up from his book at the two children, then at his watch. Zero one-hundred, military time. Kids shouldn't be running around alone at this time of day. He looked at his cellphone, some part of his mind nagging at him to do something about this situation. But what? He looked blankly at the two kids for a few seconds, then shrugged. Maybe he should be doing something, but really, who cares? This was somebody else's problem, not his. He returned to his reading without a second thought.

Meanwhile, the nameless child became acutely aware of her namelessness once again. It hadn't bothered her earlier, but she didn't have a friend earlier. Do you have to have a name to be friends with other people?

Maybe.

She looked over at her newly acquired friend with the same blissful smile. "Jess," she said, "Should I have a name now?"

"Jess, should I have a name now?"

Jess cocked her head, then snapped her fingers. "Oh! Right! Thanks for reminding me!" She skipped up ahead of the other girl, then spun around to face her, beaming; her golden tresses fell about her shoulders with the movement.

"Breeze! Your name is Breeze!" The girl's eyes sparkled. "Free to go wherever you please, without a care in the world, and full of possibilities... What do you think? Do you like it?"

"It's... nice" she replied, struck by the strangeness of her new name.

Breeze. That was her name, now. "Breeze." she said to herself aloud. She was getting progressively more used to the idea as she thought about it more. The girl nodded, as if agreeing with the idea. "I like it."

Breeze smiled at Jess. It was nice to have a name, and to have a friend. Almost everything else that she recalled about her evening had been dreadful, but this somehow made it better; In fact, Breeze had almost forgotten about it all by now, anyway. She then began to yawn, not thinking to cover her mouth, as she stopped walking to lean against the wall of a nearby building. Her eyes closed, and she had difficulty opening them again. How late was it? One, two in the morning?

"...I'm tired." she said almost unwillingly, as if she was bearing terrible news. She liked being with her newly acquired friend, but most things are better enjoyed while conscious.

"It's... nice. Breeze. I like it."

"Great!" Jess beamed back at her newly-named friend, then spontaneously skipped forward and gave her a quick hug. "We'll be the bestest of friends!"

It was then that the redhead began to yawn. Jess tilted her head, a questioning look in her eyes, before understanding lit them up.

"...I'm tired."

"Let's find a place to rest then!" The blonde girl looked around as she spoke. It had only just occured to her that people were usually asleep during this time, and people usually needed a nice and warm place to sleep. But where would be a nice and warm place?

Jess had no clue. But she wasn't ready to admit it, not yet. Maybe there were some kind strangers who would know? She started to walk along, taking Breeze's hand as she did so.

Breeze followed Jess passively, enjoying every minute of it. She not only had a friend, but two were also exploring an amazing, unfamiliar land together.

Manhattan at night was so dazzling from the girl's perspective that she might as well have been in some romanticized foreign land, as opposed to several miles from where she began. Everywhere -- Lights! Sounds! And even though it was late, the streets remained thronged with people. Here and there were street performers, doing everything from making music to performing grandiose magical feats, all adding to the effect that the scenery already had on her.

Exciting though it was, the two had to be careful to avoid running into the other sidewalk dwellers, most of which fully grown and twice their size. It didn't help that these adults seemed almost entirely oblivious to the two children.

Amidst this adventure, an idea popped into Breeze's head. "You know, maybe I could sleep over where you live," she said. Everybody has to live somewhere, she thought. Jess should be no exception to this rule.

Jess hummed a cheery tune as she led Breeze through the streets and lights of Manhattan. It seemed to her that it was her first time in this part of the city... though that was not quite right. She had been here before, at a different time of day. At least, that was what her feelings were telling her. But something was not quite right with that memory.

It was probably nothing. More important was finding a nice and warm place for her new friend!

Now if only she could find it... there had to be such a place, someplace, somewhere.

"You know, maybe I could sleep over where you live."

"Eh?" The blonde girl stopped in her tracks, as her humming broke off. For some reason, that thought had never occured to her. But it led to another thought - she did not seem to recall the place that she stayed as being 'nice and warm'.

Why wouldn't it be nice and warm?

She stayed there, didn't she?

But did she belong there?

But didn't she stay there?

What was the place where she stayed?

Jess stood stock still, as if frozen; her eyes seemed locked at a faraway point. For the moment, Breeze's question - and indeed her very presense - receded into the back of her mind, though she did not let go of the other girl's hand.

Breeze thought that her question was simple enough. Why, then, was her new friend confused? Why did she stop? Why was she just staring off into the distance like that?

One second, Jess was entirely cheerful and enthusiastic; now, she was oblivious to everything. The two stood still in what seemed to be an endless river of people.

She studied the other girl worriedly, trying and failing to think up a reasonable explanation for this behavior. The better half of a minute passed before she finally thought to ask, "Jess, are you okay?"

"Jess, are you okay?"

Someone was talking to her. Who was it? It was Breeze. She had just named her. She was her new friend. But somehow that didn't feel real. Where was she? She knew this place. It was downtown Manhattan. Manhattan at night. Why was she here? She had walked out. Out of where? Out of the playground. But before that she was somewhere else. Was that right? Was she dreaming? Was this a dream?

Who was she?

She needed to respond.

"...Yeah. I'm fine."

Did her voice always sound like that? Maybe it was because this was a dream. Yes, this was a dream. She remembered having dreams like this. Then Breeze was simply part of her dream. Of course. It was too good to be true.

Where did that thought come from?

The blonde-haired girl lifted her free hand, and rubbed at her forehead. Odd. This felt real enough. Perhaps it was best not to think too much about it. What was she supposed to do again?

Oh. Right. A nice and warm place for her new friend.

"I'm fine now." She turned to smile at the redhead, though it seemed a little strained. "Let's go look for that nice cozy place."

Breeze began to walk with Jess again, but she was aware that something was not quite right with her companion.

But what? What could make somebody react so strangely in response to that sort of question? Breeze could guess that it probably had something to do with Jess's home situation. Maybe she was homeless, or maybe she just didn't want to go back home, or maybe there was something else going on that she couldn't even hope to guess at. Whatever the reason, Breeze now felt a sort of kinship with Jess; neither one had an actual home at

Breeze tried to return to the topic, "So, why isn't your home a good place to stay?" Right after asking this, she regretted it. It had just occurred to her that Jess wanted to avoid talking about it.

"So, why isn't your home a good place to stay?"

Jess stopped in her tracks once again. Why indeed? But that wasn't home. Home was someplace else. Home was no longer home. She did not have a home. Then what was the place where she stayed?

She didn't want to think about it. Something would change if she thought about it. It was a vague feeling, but somehow she felt this to be true.

And yet she needed to give her companion a response.

She was staring into the distance again. That was not good. The blonde blinked and shook her head, then turned to Breeze.

"Let's not talk about it." Jess smiled. "I'll definately find you a better place. Definately."

Another pause, and once again Jess was staring off into the distance.

Breeze's eyes widened as a fit of panic overrode her tiredness. She knew that she shouldn't have said that. Her grip tightened on Jess's hand. There was nothing more scary to the nine-year old right now than the thought of losing her newly acquired friend, and whatever was happening to Jess right now, Breeze feared that it could separate them.

She held her breath until Jess finally snapped out of it. “Let's not talk about it. I'll definitely find you a better place. Definitely.”

Breeze brought her companion into a hug as she said this. “I'm sorry,” she blurted “I won't, not ever again. I promise!”

The hug surprised Jess, but the blonde girl smiled, and brought her arms up to return the embrace.

"It's alright now. Thank you, Breeze."

The two girls locked in embrace, oblivious to the streams of people passing by either side of them. One or two passers-by spared a curious glance at the sight, but only for a moment; in the next they turned away, and moved on. Whatever they had just saw, it was none of their business.

Certainly, right now, the rest of the world was none of Jess's business. What mattered was the warmth that she was sharing with her friend. It was gentle, soothing, softly glowing. It did not matter whether or not this was a dream... right now, she wanted to savour the feeling for as long as possible.

The two girls stayed that way for quite some time.

The hug was nice... and warm...

The other sidewalk dwellers looked blurry as they whooshed before Breeze's eyes.

No, they were blurry and whooshy. The people here were too blurry and whooshy and bright to to look at. Couldn't they stop doing that? It made the girl want to just close her eyes...

Dark. That's better. Those people could just be blurry and whooshy somewhere else.

Those people were being blurry and whooshy somewhere else. They were fish in the ocean or something. Good riddance. She hoped that they'd get eaten by a giant clam and stop annoying all the other fish.

A breeze went through the air and moved everyone's clothes and hair a bit. But that can't be right. She was Breeze, and she was right there. She was on the ground, she couldn't be in the air like that. Were there two Breezes? Why is the other me moving people's hair like that? That's weird. Other me is weird. She should stop playing with people's hair because that's a stupid thing to do. She should stop being so stupid. She probably doesn't even know what a pirate is. Why is my face wet? Am I in one of the seven seas?

There was cloth on her face. It was wet. Everything is groggy and confuzzled. Where was she?

She had fallen asleep for a moment in her hug with Jess. There was drool on her face. On Jess's shoulder, too. She half-broke from the embrace and tried to use one of her overly-long jacket-sleeves to wipe it off. “S... sorry” she slurred as she did so, barely half awake.

The breeze did not go unnoticed. But it was probably just a random night breeze. At least, that was what went through the minds of those who felt it. There wasn't a need to bother with something so trivial.

Jess smiled softly, and reached up to ruffle the taller girl's hair. All things considered, she was doing a reasonable job of supporting her friend's weight, especially the drool that had made its way onto her shoulder. But they couldn't stay here forever. They needed to get back to the search.

"S... sorry."

"It's all right. Let's go." Jess shifted Breeze's arm over her shoulder, and did her best to support her, as she started to move along. They were now heading towards the vicinity of one of Manhattan's many squares.

What was all right, again? Oh, that's right, I just drooled on her. Eew. “Sorry,” Breeze repeated dumbly as they walked onwards, Jess nearly carrying her along the way.

What had earlier been wonderful about this city was now becoming annoying as Breeze gave in to her tiredness more. Those bright lights which had once been so dazzling to Breeze were now making her eyes sore; she closed them and relied on Jess for guidance.

Noises, such as those made by certain street performers, made her head hurt. If only she could close her ears, too.

On top of all of this, her legs felt extremely tired. For how long had she been standing? How far had they walked? “We should sit down for a bit,” Breeze yawned out.