Dale's sad story is likely told best by Orville, who knew Dale before. Orville has many collections of stories, but Dale's has always been his favorite.

"No one knows where Dale came from for sure," he said to me one long and rainy night years ago. "But many people say he came from Lorrana, the planet of strife. Lorrana was a barren, dry planet that was destroyed years ago. My grandfather, who was from there, even saw him when he first came, but before I wanted to find out where Dale was from, my grandfather was gone.

He told of how Dale made a sword from the ground, just like that," he said, snapping his fingers. "And from that day on, he never let go of it.

Dale was never very happy anyway. After all, he never had time for anything except literally trying not to die." Then he promptly asked for a glass of water, which I gave to him.

He took one look at it, and said:

"It reminds me of the tar that day."

I admitted I didn't know what he meant.