it whispers in the pull of the t

____

cliffs of Virelle-gentle lullabies of sal

sky stopped revolving with the hours-it had hardened into an eternal bruise of purple, iron, and thunder-ripped mena

eighed with the weight of a warning she didn't understand yet. Beneath her, the waves splashed against rocks with such ferocit

osed h

rs lowered, hackles raised. No

the elements. Instead, he stood there with that uncanny stillness he wore as a secon

ithout glancing about, "it is

The space between the

o us," he s

ned. "T

esit

alling ash. Each droplet a he

ver chose the surface. They feel the shift. The swell. The

locating the sorrow th

ve

tion," he said, his voice

d. Not in opposit

r rolling overhead, the world o

there, in opposition to the darkness. Anacobal tended the hearth. Merb

had hit the glass and was crumpled on the s

thrown by the wind," she panted, takin

Anacobal

ands, expecting a poultice or a binding

gh

cophonous magic, but unyielding. Older gentleness. The gull's bones realigned themselves under the li

ood rigid

another moment before le

s that?"

us lose it when we choose to

d on his hands.

understand. before the

intense than before. The fire howled wild

entally. "What else ar

er truths he carried were tan

nsaid moved

they were

mpossible moment. His mouth tasted of brine and longing. Her fingers brushed the ho

as suddenl

rom each other, ga

said, shudder

he said.

other. But they knew both: everyt

dreams recurred again

rom sea-serpent bones and the sheen of star-waves. Anacobal stood beside her, t

ere no

thed mouths and dirges, beasts whose scales burned with blood-moonlight. They smashed agains

e void and as timeless as ti

ne-bearer... you must choose. The se

were wet with sweat. Her hands

tanding in the doorway, his b

d it too,"

. "What do

ness, where sea and sto

rn," he declared. "And t

and. Below them, Virelle's village shone with questioningly flamin

older than legend, something immemorial