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.
Above, the clouds parted over Natra Phan. The floating city glittered, stable and true, its lanterns reflecting off a now-calm sea. And in the dry, singing Core far below, the Heart pulsed gently—not trapped, but home. Natra Phan 2
Lin touched Kaelen’s shoulder. “You did it.” Vee’s face twisted
Captain Vee’s hydraulic claw twitched. “Sentiment doesn’t move barges, girl. That Heart will buy us passage to the Upper Reaches. No more scraping barnacles. No more rain.” Above, the clouds parted over Natra Phan
Kaelen stood on the edge of District Seven, his boots skidding on the wet ironwood. He clutched a small, warm sphere to his chest—the Heart of Phan. It wasn't a real organ, but it might as well have been. It was the city’s forgotten power source, a shard of a dead star that kept the archipelago of barges and ziplines afloat. And everyone wanted it.