Driftwood’s tavern was among the new buildings, a lurking slanted mess of old planks and half-eaten draperies. An ancient shark’s jaws hung above the bar, so large that they’d started collapsing the small bowsprit from which they hung. Oily lanterns cast sickly light through the interior, where many an unsavory type waited. Cadence made their […]

Cadence worked their lips to one side, loosed an ambivalent smack, and then brightened up. Sure, they thought, it might be that Our Lady’s just sent me here to work out some petty trade dispute before it turns bloody. Or… or, it might be a chance for some real work. “Appy,” they said aloud, “would you […]

Three figures trod across a soggy plain, disparate feet displacing pale bluish sand. On every side they faced tidal pools filled by iridescent fish and crustaceans–often nestled in crevices and bowls formed by the lowest spurs of peculiar half-circle rock formations in dark reds and oranges. Fewer but much larger formations created ridges and causeways […]