After midday, the terrain became flatter and, if Lana’s feeling was right, they were going down.
By the end of the afternoon, Lana caught some glimpses of something she had only seen a few times in her life: blue water stretching to the horizon.
The ocean.
Nashi had been right: they were going to Kadrish, which lay on the western coast.
Sure enough, by the time the light was turning golden, the train turned a wide bend, and brought the city into view.
Lana had heard about Kadrish, mainly from her uncle Milleus and her father: that it was a cruel place, that the people were barbaric.
She had not expected it to be pretty.
The soft yellow light hit the gently undulating land that surrounded the city. The ocean was deep grey with two islands offshore in the distance. A huge bank of clou
