Captain Vee turned without a word and began climbing back up the ladder. At the bottom rung, she paused. “The debt isn’t cleared, boy. But… you can have a week’s free berth at my dock. No clawing.”
She spat on the floor. “I hate selfless heroes.” Natra Phan 2
The descent was a nightmare.
“He’s right,” Lin said, not looking at Vee, but at the Heart glowing in Kaelen’s hands. “I’ve been charting the keel seams for three moons. The southern pontoons have compressed by two full inches. If we don’t reach the Core by the next high tide, the entire Starboard Bazaar will tip into the Abyss.” Captain Vee turned without a word and began
They found the Core exactly where the vision showed. A vast, circular chamber, silent for a century. In the center stood the Bronze Wheel, crusted with verdigris, five times as tall as a person. And next to it, a stone pedestal shaped like a cupped hand. But… you can have a week’s free berth at my dock
“You don’t understand,” Kaelen said, rain dripping from his crooked nose. “The city is sinking. Not fast. But a millimeter a day. The Heart is trying to tell us how to reset the buoyancy seals.”
Vee’s face twisted. For a long moment, greed and survival fought behind her eyes. Then she looked at Lin—at the girl’s patient, knowing expression—and at Kaelen’s rain-soaked, desperate hope.