Shadow Slave

"This... is the House of Parting. It is the furthest point of Weave as one travels upstream."

Ananke's voice sounded uncharacteristically dispirited.

'House of Parting...'

Sunny studied the artificial island and the solemn structure built upon it, then turned to the old woman and asked:

"It's... a windmill?"

She nodded.

"Yes, my Lord. The tower harvests the wind to maintain the island."

Ananke lingered for a second, and then added:

"The cities of the Great River are actually more akin to flotillas, each consisting of many city-ships - some small like this one, some spanning dozens of kilometers across. They migrate sometimes, but mostly they have to stay in place. There is nothing to anchor a ship to on the Great River, though."

Nephis raised an eyebrow.

"Is the Great River so deep that no anchor can reach its bottom?"

Ananke shook her head.

"It is not that the floor of the Great River is too deep, it's that it doesn't exist. No one has ever managed to reach it, at least... so, we had to find other ways."

She pointed to the rotating blades of the towering windmill.

"There are various ways to make a city-ship resist the current, from mundane ones to magical. The House of Parting... you can't see it from here, but there is a great water wheel at the back of the island, constantly propelling it forward at the same speed as the River pushes it back. Its mechanism is mostly powered by the current itself, but the windmill lightens the burden significantly."

She sighed.

tried to repair it as well as I could, but my knowledge is insufficient to keep an entire city from breaking apart. There's little point to,

at the dark windmill, feeling a sense of awe. The island in front of them was actually the creation of incredible human ingenuity - a floating city district that used the wind and the power of the Great River itself to fight

were gone, it was still pushing forward, refusing to become a thing of the

silence. As it drew close, Ananke released the wind filling the sails,

for the first time in a

fact that the ground was not swaying and took a few steps. He was swaying like a drunk himself for the first couple,

he stretched his limbs, Nephis looked around

why was this place

toward the stone hall, and

that is the furthest upstream. You know that the bodies of Riverborn like me don't age... however, humans are not created to be immortal. If one

old woman turned around and looked at her ketch, tied to

prepare a feast and celebrate. When all is said and done, the weary Riverborn sets sail to go on their last journey. They sail

for a while, and

a dream of your arrival. Ah... ironically, I ended up repeating all the same steps, stopping just shy of the last one.

chuckled and shook her

truth, there are two of these Houses. The other one is situated at the furthest point of Weave downstream... all other human cities on the Great River are the same, I'd imagine. The Lower House is meant for those who were not

were sent downstream, and the Estuary was the source of the Defilement... was that how Dusk of Fallen Grace had ended up becoming a Nightmare Creature? Or had she succumbed to Corruption

friend

Ananke sighed.

will spend the night here. I will retrieve some of the supplies I stored on this island, and in the morning, we will continue on the way to Weave

Parting was a bit ominous, but he was not going to refuse a night

of rest on the way, Ananke had mostly stayed awake,

He nodded.

Guide the

continued

steps were light

were inside the House of Parting. The interior of the grand hall was beautiful and solemn, but at the

of the stone hall, Sunny could clearly see which ornaments and decorations had been inherited

Riverborn were clearly much less sophisticated than their

he had seen already... the wood that Ananke's ketch and the pier of the House of Parting were built of, for example. Where had it come from? The