" If he didn’t know better, he would speculate that he’d walked into a mirage, except that mirages receded upon one’s approach. They did not manifest themselves into tangible atmospheres. He lacked nourishment and energy, and therefore lacked sense. That was the problem. That was why he came here after waking with eminent symptoms: a stomach recently depleted of seawater (he’d expelled the contents upon consciousness), a physical constitution that left him sodden on the outside and dry on the inside, and a ghastly scratch down to his larynx. "

― Natalia Jaster ,