path-of-the-ocean-art (January-2024)

Power

A Luxidoorian merchant takes a walk down a street, and reflects on the nature of his work.

It is already late by the time they let me in. The low-hanging sun has dissolved its light into the obsidian sea, countless rivulets of incandescent paint. I catch a steely glare from the guard as I carefully step down from the gangplank – in the shadow of the ship it’s nearly impossible to see the inky strip of water separating jetty and vessel, and I cannot afford to stumble here. The physical injury would be simply be a massive inconvenience. But I don’t know who is watching me – and here, any sign of weakness is an invitation.

It's a short walk to the market, which has been built right next to the sea. A wise choice: the waters are the lifeblood of trade; one can move far more, far faster by ship than by horse, and at a fraction of the cost. Firelight glimmers from within the buildings, scattered and soft.

Thirty steps later and I am finally in Azan, the City of Secrets and the largest trading port in the world. Even in the gloom of evening its construction remains imposing, buildings reaching up to the dim sky like grasping fingers, and I am both proud and disturbed that we mortals could have produced something of such scale and majesty and arrogance.

Full work on https://archiveofourown.org/works/53308621 due to lack of space.