He finished the piece and waited for the last traces of the echo to fade away before lowering the flute and opening his eyes. It was one of his favorites, something he’d written himself a few years earlier and continued to refine. He referred to it as his Ode to Ifdawn Marest. He looked out […]

“Tomorrow we’re going to ride down to Cappadarnia, now that the temple to Agdistis is done. Karadi and Atisha are coming with us. Would you like to come, too?” “Cappadarnia, Mama!? Yeah, let’s go!” nodded Arun enthusiastically. The nine-year old boy loved the sea and leapt at the chance to escape his tutors and ride […]

Sixteen-year-old Kostubh jerked the rod again, making the float bounce and (he hoped) wiggling the worm enticingly. Gitanshu, three years his elder, stoically watched his own float as if willing it to move. Nothing moved but the waves, the buzzing insects, and the distant bustle of the harbor. The two boys had snuck out in […]

Dhruv stared at the distant coastline blankly, seeing but not really noticing the tiny villages and fields as they swept past. He was still trying to figure out just how his life had changed. He understood all the reasons why his twin sister Atisha married Prixadius, the brand new Lord of Adelma. Adelma had been […]

It hurt no matter which way she turned. She sighed; Karadi snored beside her. She thought she’d be used to it by now. After all, this would be her eleventh child. According to the other Lajita, her last child. One every year or two, and as much as she loved them all, she still hated […]

It had been two years since they’d entered into a pact with Ukos, now Lord of Astarma and effective commander of the combined fleets of Shiroora Shan and Astarma. Piracy was almost unheard of in the western arm of the Night Ocean, and trade was flourishing through all three key routes: Shiroora Shan, which controlled […]

She was beginning to show a few grey hairs here and there, he thought to himself. After Arun was born, two years ago, she really looked her age. Thirty-three isn’t very old compared to some people—I’m forty-one, after all—but she’s got a pretty heavy load to pull here while I’m off running around Eudoxia or […]

“Mama! Dhruv and Varun won’t let me play!” She looked up from her writing desk, bamboo pen in hand, where she had been writing down more of the prophecies, along with her own comments and observations. She’d tried bird quills, but over the years had come to prefer the feel of bamboo on paper, even […]

Lajita listened to the birdsong for a moment before she opened her eyes, luxuriating in the gentle melody, the sighing of the pre-dawn breeze in the trees, the coolth of the linen. And the quiet breathing of her Karadi next to her on the bed. She rolled over to look at Karadi’s bearded face, handsome […]

I was born here, and yet I was not. I know the streets of Shiroora Shan, the aromas and alleys of the Market, the sandalwood groves of Mount Krilara, the hidden passageways and chambers of the Great House of Chabra… I know them all, and yet they are not. I know my name, Lajita, and […]