The door to Fallon's room hung half-open, a vase shattered across the white tiles in the doorway. While the shouts and crashes of looting echoed through the rest of the villa, this section lay deathly silent.

  "Fallon!" Aida shouted, following Broadaxe in as the woman stormed in with axe ready. Ghillie, as always, followed in Aida's shadow while Goldilocks stood guard in the hallway.

  Fallon lay belly-down on the floor, his waist wrapped in a short sarong and torso in a dirty bandage. His head rested in a dry pool of vomit. Aida rushed to him, rolled him over, and bent to listen to his lips as she felt for a pulse at his neck.

  Alive.

  His eyes fluttered open.

  "They burst in, saw me lying in my own filth, screamed something about a Wretch Plague, and ran off," he croaked. "Apparently illness failed to kill me and saved my life instead. What did I miss?"

  "Nothing important. How do you feel?" Aida helped him to sitting position, smiling.

  "Not dead." Fallon groaned as Aida and Broadaxe helped him to his feet. "Not the bed! I have had enough of lying in it. I would rather lay on the floor."

  "They kept you hydrated and clean?" Aida looked him over. He'd lost weight in the last couple days, but some of his color returned. "You look well. Well as can be expected anyway."

  "I performed every Inoculation Chant I have ever heard. In my head even when I became too weak to say them aloud." Fallon swayed slightly. "Knowing you were out there alone with that pack of wolves was worse than the sickness."

  Aida gave him a mock-surprised look. "Why Fallon, my cynical Seneschal! It almost sounds like you care what happens to me. Weren't you begging me to order you away earlier?"

  "Spent too much time trying to civilize you to throw it all away now." Fallon grunted. He wobbled as he took a few careful steps towards the bathroom. "You seem to be also not dead."

  "Barely." Aida hovered a step behind, ready to catch him should he fall.

  "I heard only a few snatches from the servants tending me and cannot be sure what was dream. Tell me everything, whatever happened since I was laid low."

  "Better take a seat first." Aida leaned against wall outside the bathroom while he did his business. "I'll stick to the short version. Or however short I can make it."

  "Anything," he said from inside. "I went half-mad here not knowing."

  "Let's see. You know about the orgy and firsthand about the failed assassin. How's the wound?"

  Rustling fabric. A moment's pause. "I am a scabbed, ugly mass of scar and blister. I have been partially slavanted, completely stabbed, and struck halfway dead by the White Kiss returned. In spite of all that, I remain at your service."

  "You're a tough man to kill." Aida smiled at Broadaxe. "I order you to keep it that way."

  "I will do what I can, Dynast. Speak on. What after?"

  "In no particular order, I dispersed a mob by offering them all forty acres and a mule-"

  His voice was alarmed. "What is an acre? Offered it to everyone?"

  "Shh, let me finish. The common folk apparently worship me 'cause some prophetess said I'm a goddess or something but I still almost had to fight my faithful over a handful of Wretches. Mobs are fickle beasts, I'm learning. When you send them to scare some Dynasts and one gets torn to pieces, for example."

  His eyes boggled as he stumbled out and sagged against the door frame. "They killed a Dynast? Who?"

  "No one super-important or slightly pleasant even." She waved her hand. "Oh, I may or may not have broken a deal with the Directory over a Syphon by turning down a loan of tank knights due to the unknown quantity of strings attached. Jury's still out on that one."

  "Strings? Tank Knights?" It delighted her to see him overwhelmed and struggling for once.

  "Yes, Aliasara seems to think I shouldn't have even let them put in one Syphon, but I figure-"

  "You made a deal with the Directory?"

  "And maybe broke it too. C'mon, keep up." She punched him lightly in the arm. "I also maybe pissed off a few major Dynastic Chapters by blasting them across a courtyard and burying them in a heap of million-dollar gravel."

  Fallon looked ready to throw up. Given what he just recovered from, Aida took a precautionary step back. "You okay?"

  "Which Chapters?"

  Aida rubbed her cheek and looked up in thought. "Um... all of them, I think. Maybe with Reck dead the Fraction won't get the memo though."

  "Reck? The Dynast of Chalk?"

  "Not anymore. And call it 'Vistas.' He gets... er, got really prickly about that."

  Closing his eyes, Fallon took a minute of slow, deep breaths. He managed to keep his voice calm. "I hope that is all. I do not know if I can handle any more."

  She threw her hands up. "See how it feels on the other side? I think that's everything though. Current situation: the mob is off looting all the villas nearby which works for me since it's keeping them from killing Wretches-"

  "Wretches?"

  "They think Wretches started the pandemic, er, the Plague for... reasons. Speaking of, the flu you survived is probably starting to kill off its first wave of victims here and Ocyl actively spread it as far as possible. Oh, and apparently Eth decided she was bored of being snarky and superior around Ocyl and so instead is being snarky and superior around us. She filled in for you for a bit."

  Fallon sighed and buried his face in his hands.

  "Cheer up." Aida bumped him with her elbow. "We all survived it."

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  "I am so thrilled for us," he grunted. "Now we need to-"

  "Aida!" Aliasara cried, stumbling through the door. Tears streamed down her face.

  "What? What is it?" Aida caught her friend as the woman collapsed into her.

  "He's dead. They killed him!"

  Aida's heart skipped a beat. "Who's dead? Which 'him'?"

  "Come, see for yourself. It's horrible." Aliasara clasped Aida's hand and pulled her from the room, flanked by Ferals. They left Fallon behind on a search for his sandals.

  The suspense didn't last long; a rush through the debris-strewn, shout-echoed halls and they stood in the central courtyard half-wrecked by Aida's audience. A body dangled from the sprawling tree in the corner. The vines were apparently sturdy enough to make a noose.

  Aida felt ashamed at her relief. Still, even nursing home life never fully purged the surprise, sadness, and fear that shook her when someone she knew died. "Riccaro."

  "We should cut him down." Aida walked over to place a hand on Riccaro's foot. "Whatever his faults, he didn't deserve this."

  Aliasara shook her head as she wiped away tears, looking aghast at Aida's hand. "You shouldn't do that! Everyone knows bodies are unclean and dangerous if handled incorrectly."

  Aida shrugged and looked up. "Just meat now."

  "No, their spirits lodge within the unclean flesh. Only the Wretches handle them as they cannot get any more dirtied."

  The look Aida sent her way made Aliasara swallow. "It's true, Aida, everyone knows this."

  "Everyone's going to get over it pretty quick. There'll be bodies heaped in the streets soon and they're busy killing everyone willing to haul them off." She glanced at the Wretches padding curiously into the courtyard. "I thought you were above such things."

  "You don't understand, Aida. Touching the bodies risks-"

  "Yes, uncleanliness, got it," Aida said shortly, turning to Broadaxe. "You going to help?"

  Even the usually boisterous Feral took a step back as did Goldilocks when Aida's gaze fell on her. When Ghillie stepped up beside her, Aida smiled at her and touched her shoulder. "I appreciated it, but you can't even reach his feet."

  "We'll deal with him, Mother," a sonorous voice said. The leader of the Wretches squatted a short distance away. Aida mentally labeled him the Professor for his surprisingly-refined speech.

  "You don't have to do that anymore."

  "Please." He shuffled closer, craning his neck to look up at her. "It is what we know. It would be our honor to take the body of your friend."

  "I don't know if I'd go as far as 'friend'," Aida muttered to herself, then looked back up at Riccaro. "What will you do with him? I don't remember seeing any graveyards."

  "Normally we would take him to the nearest gonist or, if not fresh or whole enough, to the Crowmen." The Wretched looked away as a looter rushed past a doorway lugging a fine vase. "Leave it to us."

  "I trust you completely." Aida squatting down beside the Wretch as his people moved towards the tree. "I don't want to call you Wretches, but don't know what else to call you."

  He smiled, eyes glowing with warmth. "Wretches."

  "They use it like a curse word." Aida shook her head. "Labels like that beat you down into a box somewhere outside humanity and then keep you there at arm's length."

  "We've seen the depthless cruelty with which you Walkers treat each other, the suffering and pain inflicted unthinking." The Professor paused, sadness clear on his features despite their deformity. "We don't mind being held apart and left to our own. It is our pride to serve even those who would beat us, to help those who spit on us. We may be forced to crawl, but they can't take our dignity. No Walker family could ever imagine our people's closeness."

  Aida stared at him in wonder. He smiled back. "There's a saying us Wretches hold dear. 'Loss grows gratitude for what remains. Suffering releases blooms of compassion. Service plants seeds of salvation.' Now if you will, Mother, let us serve."

  With a squatting bow, he padded off to oversee Riccaro's disposal.

  Leaving the Wretches to their work, Aida walked over to Aliasara for a hug. "Why did you care about Riccaro so much? He looked down on you and the other servants."

  Aliasara smiled sadly as their hug released. "Because of him, I had work and my family food. Without him I'd be painting my lips and nipples."

  Aida stared blankly for a moment before remembering the alleyway near the Cupola back when she'd first arrived at Heaven's Tread. "Prostitution?"

  "My husband couldn't find work. If men putting their bit in me put a bit of food in my family's bellies-"

  Movement drew their attention; Fallon walking in one door, Eth and Rusty another. Only when Ryk failed to materialize did Aida realize how much she hoped to see him.

  "Time to leave," Eth said in curt way, stopping so close Aida could smell alcohol on her breath.

  "Bit early for drinking, isn't it? Hour and age both. Leave for where?" Aida gestured towards the city arcing overhead. "It's all riots and Wretches and plagues, oh my."

  "The One-Eighth. Ryk is bringing her."

  "Bringing who?" Aida looked around. "We can't go to the One-Eighth. Ocyl never got my Valeer."

  The Imminent stared at Aida, then rolled her eyes, pointing to a random door until Ryk walked through it leading a woman by the arm.

  Matted, snarled brown hair. Filthy clothes. A glassy-eyed, unseeing look. A shambling stagger; the already-gorgeous Ryk looked a Greek God in comparison to the woman.

  "Who is that?" Aida immediately answered herself. "My Valeer."

  "Shat herself," Ryk said, matter-of-factly. "For the best probably. Kept them from raping her."

  Her Ferals argued silently before Goldilocks grudgingly took charge of the Valeer.

  Aida looked back to Eth. "Is this the best time to go? It seems pretty bad out there."

  "It is bad. And every hour will grow worse."

  "I told everyone to join us in a week."

  "Most of them will be dead in a week."

  "How do we know she knows the way to the One-Eighth?" Aida gestured at the catatonic Valeer. A breeze proved Ryk's statement about her continence.

  Aida caught Ryk's eye and had to wrench herself back to Eth.

  "Almost forgot what it feels like," Aida muttered, heart fluttering.

  "We knew this would happen so we got a Valeer who knows the way.” Eth tapped her foot impatiently. “It took Ocyl forever to find us one even with advance notice, but here she is such as she is. Gather your things and let's be on our way. If we wait too long we don't get there before the Thorn closes for good. We do make it, though, since you shut your mouth right now, do as I say, then do as Ryk says, then as he does. We leave right before a new group floods the place looking for a certain Dynast instead of food, coin, rape, and rapine."

  Aida blinked a few times, then turned and walked towards her quarters, unable to find anything to say. On the way, she granted Aliasara leave to inform Riccaro's family of his death and gather her own family.

  Once in her room, Aida repacked her toiletry kit, wrapped a few dresses in a bundled blanket, and then took an extra-long time to brush her teeth just to spite Eth.

  "Minty-fresh breath." She tucked her toothbrush into the kit and turned, bouncing off a solid mass of Ryk. Aida dropped her toiletry bag in startlement, but Ryk caught it and handed it back to her. He smiled impishly.

  "I've longed for the scent of you since I departed boyhood."

  "That early? How'd you get in here?" Aida said, flustered at his proximity.

  "Your Ferals know that if I wanted you dead, you would be. And they know you like me."

  She leaned past him to see the room empty. The first time she could remember since her near-assassination in the Spire that she could take a step without bumping into a Feral.

  "Do you want me dead?"

  "I want you alive as can be." He leaned his spear against the wall.

  "How do you know I want you back?" She put a finger to his lips. "Stupid question, forget I said anything."

  "More easily done than you imagine." His strong, calloused hand rose to brush her cheek as he looked deep into her eyes. He smelled of oil, metal, sweat. "Do I make you nervous? You're sweating."

  "Pretty damp elsewhere too." The richness of his laugh surprised and delighted her.

  "I've waited to hear you say that for nearly two decades," he said, still grinning. "You're already even better than I knew."

  "This is hot and really damn strange at the same time." Her breath came in short gasps as he pressed into her. Her fingers curled into his long tunic as he began to kiss her neck. "Do we have time?"

  "That's all we ever have." Ryk undid her sword belt, began to unlace her dress as she worked to unfasten the gleaming metal strapped to his arm. "Not enough time to undo the bracer, though. Try down here."

  He guided her hands to the thick, brass-studded leather slats of his skirts.

  They fell onto the bed, but he leaned back for a moment with a grin. His eyes twinkled. "This is technically my first time, but don't worry, I know how you like it."

  As he kissed his way down from breasts to navel, she arched back. Moments later he lifted her dress. She soon discovered that he did indeed know exactly how she liked it.

  Next chapter: A karma delivery as Hassani catches up to Adonissian

  Characters and terms

  Characters (alphabetical)

  Adonissian: a Phero who poses as a traveling musician

  Aida: MC. Mother of Exiles. "Ender of Verses?" "Savior of Dynasties?"

  Aj: a long-slumbering, powerful being which annihilated Inro's Sunset Legions. Also "almost destroyed the Dynasty single-handedly six-and-some centuries ago"

  Aliasara: servant at Ocyl's villa who befriends Aida

  Arca: chief of the tribe that "adopted" Inro

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

  Broadaxe: large, axe-and-shield-wielding Feral protecting Aida

  Cairin: Arca's sister

  Deai: Hassani's swordmaster, renowned for killing a Paragon

  Denault: Hassani's husband. Shipwright, Kin.

  Eth: a young Imminent

  Ghillie: a 3rd Feral who wears a primitive Ghillie suit. Carries cross between kunai and acupuncture needles

  Ghulen: Rega's "pet monster"

  Goboro: a fat, amiable scribe friend of Hassani's in Libriam

  Goldilocks: twitchy, spear-and-javelin carrying Feral guarding Aida

  Fallon: Aida's Seneschal

  Fetriene: Ocyl's soresearer

  Hassani: Inviolate agent of the Black Court, sent by Fractious Fraction

  Huspara: minor bureaucrat in Libriam

  Inro: Dynast formerly ruling Sunset

  Izbali: a silent tribal shaman

  Janali: Ocyl's elegant Seneschal

  Jaxe: Dynast of Stacks. "Young" (Secounds), wealthy. Also has "the Pale" (an Albino). Ancient.

  Kass/Kassenia: mercenary attached to Adonissian

  Maxem: High Parser from Ink, ambassador to Jadeye

  Ocyl: Dynast of Heaven's Tread, powerful and unpredictable

  Parathas: Aida's skinscribe. Also a mountaineer.

  "Professor, The": leader of Aida's Wretches

  Rega: Inro's sister, Dynast of Monopolis

  Rustrovan/"Rusty": Eth's old, gap-toothed skinscribe

  Ryk: "the most beautiful man Aida had ever seen", a Paragon

  Sava: Dynast of Libriam

  Semon "Goldtongue": white-haired, one-eyed master of cults. First Disciple of the Mother.

  Stiller: serving boy at Ocyl's estate

  Venner: Grandmaster of Optimimes in Jadeye, "best in the entire Book"

  Wake: Dynast of Graves, marries even though they all die. Quintus. Isolate.

  The Fallen

  "Braid"; a thug who accosted Aida in Jadeye. His face gifted to Aida by Ocyl.

  Feral: a bone-masked woman of violence (Feral) in Aida's service. Knife wielder. Killed by Ghillie in Jadeye.

  Reck: Dynast of Chalk, "not witty enough to be clever and takes himself too seriously to be ironic". Paranoid, Fractious Fraction. Tertius. Died to a mob of menials in Jadeye.

  Riccaro: majordomo of Ocyl's estate. Hung by a looting mob in Heaven's Tread.

  "Toothy": leader of a group of thugs who accosted Aida in Heaven's Tread. Killed by Feral in Jadeye

  Valeer: a mentally challenged, unkempt individual able to manipulate Thorns. Died in Jadeye to "Braid".

  Vanyen: A crippled young woman who created the Cult of the Mother. Martyred Prophet of the Mother. Murdered by Semon Dynastic Assassins.

  White Spiral: an older Feral in Aida's service. Archer. Died protecting Aida in Jadeye

  Terms (alphabetical)

  Adventures of Bubo, The: popular kids story

  All, The: ?

  Ancients: a major Dynastic Chapter, an "elite number", "own Ziggurat" and "run the great bank that is Monopolis"

  Anchorites: individuals capable of creating anchor points affixed to nothing.

  Annalis compound: sprawling complex in Libriam, heart of The Book's bureaucracy. Arrivals 'Dirt' home to new dispatches, Archives 'Dust' storage for old material. Paths and Ways storage for 'nails.

  Anticore: Sect creature which "wears convincing human skins" with "swarming insects... beneath the skin"

  Arborian: gardeners from Groves?

  Ascen, The/The Ascendant: divinities "watching over every verse"?

  Assessor: census-taker

  Audits/"Diggers": Libriam internal affairs

  Aze: swordmaker?

  Black Court: a realm of pure darkness. Also, those who rule there. Where Partaking happens.

  Black Court Tribunal: localized Black Court authority?

  Blood, The: imbibed at Partaking, transforms one into a Dynast if they survive

  Book of Verses, The: the 1,000 verses ruled by the Dynasty. "The Kiloverse"

  Broadcliff, Tallmarket: cities in Stacks

  Century Thread: additional threads appearing elsewhere on the body every century a Dynast lives

  Cerebrist: creator of slavants

  Chalk/"Vistas": verse entirely made of chalky cliff, belongs to Reck

  Chant, The/Sacrosanct Chant: some sort of law in the Dynasty?

  Chant of Inoculation: chant supposed to protect against disease, "Mudra of Cleansing"

  Chapters: power groupings among the Dynasts of the Book: predominantly The Ancients, the Fractious Fraction, and Isolates.

  Circular Sea: an ocean abutting the Jadeye segment of Heaven's Tread

  Clock Priest: priests from Gears who track and tell time religiously

  ConMach: convoy? courier? "ConMach drains the very life from the Directory's verses". Supply "ConMach machines"

  Crowmen: buy corpses to return them to life and service as rotters

  Cupola Thorn: the main Thorn in the city Jadeye in Heaven's Tread, a stone dome built over it

  Currence: something valuable inside old coins? "harder than currence"? "Solid current forms currence." Currence melts to watter.

  Currency: money, gold coins once held currence inside to give value, now debased

  Current: some form of energy that powers "artifices"? "Solid current forms currence."

  Donative, The: Black Court taxes, taken by Legion if not offered. Don't pay, no Partaking every century.

  Dusa: people with manipulable hair of silver wire, from Gears

  Dynast: individual given rule of a verse if they survive Partaking. Ageless and hard to kill. Regenerative. Sustained by "the Blood"; no food or water necessary.

  Dynasty: the Dynasts who rule the Book

  Ebon: founder of the Dynasty and Black Court

  Ebonese: the language of the Book

  Echoseer shells: devices to allow one to "see" in the Black Court

  El: semi-insubstantial snake/remora-like creatures that follow gods (and sometimes Dynasts) around

  "Emperor of Everything": popular kids story about Inro turning down becoming emperor, then crushing those who elevated a different Dynast

  Feral: bone-masked bodyguards who require the essence of their master to survive. "Damned to Ferals" as a form of capital punishment. "the damned", "damned to a Feral"

  Fetalist: Imminent faction who believe the future is unchangeable

  First Thread/Primus: a fresh Dynast/the first luminescent silver thread etched into their foreheads.

  Fractious Fraction/"DissatisFaction"/"The Renewal": a major Dynastic Chapter who "hate everyone including each other", "entice every freemancer and Lineage Master" ... "to Berujat". For those with "verses deficient in maor ways."

  Gates, The: ?

  God, A: unique, "undying" creatures of immense size, The First Ones

  God's Rote: child's first memorization, what gods are

  God-dwellers: "monks" who live on a god

  God-touched: those who have physically touched a god (and lived)

  Gonist: organ dealers and traders

  Gons: self-sustaining organs capable of living outside a host

  Graves: a verse "Made of the dead by the dead for the dead".

  Groves: a forest verse

  Heaven's Tread: a verse "inside a hollow rolling pin", host to Jadeye, the largest city in the Book

  High Parser: officials from Ink

  Imminent: seers?

  Imminent Prophecy: something about a barbarian Dynast, Ender of Verses and/or Savior of Dynasties?

  Inevitables; faction of Imminent who believe it is their sacred duty to ensure the future comes to pass as seen

  Ink: home verse of the Skeinry, Keens, Directory, and "the Faded People"

  Innoculist: doctors who teach chants "brought from Logos" to cure disease

  Inviolate: agents of the black court who "serve the Black Court, protect the Dynasty, uphold the Chant, root out corruption" with "unlimited, undisclosed, and untraceable budgets"

  Inviolate Vial: carried by Inviolates as badge of office

  Iode: substance that ignites when crushed

  Iris: the giant portals leading between one cylinder of Heaven's Tread to the next

  Isolates: a major Dynastic Chapter with a "unified stand for independence", "cheat the Donative, stockpil[e] currence and watter" "hire Keen mercenaries" "raise own private Legions in secret"

  Jade Eye, The: the "giant emerald" at the middle of Ocyl's Spire in Jadeye

  Jadeye: the largest city in the Book and major trade hub, in Heaven's Trade

  Jaxeday: holiday in Stacks with boat carvings, feasts, games of Fishhead, dances, and storytelling

  Jaxestack: a whitewashed stack on Stacks home to Jaxekin

  Jutland Reach: a verse with guns?

  Keen: Ink warriors wearing impossibly-heavy iron armor whose power source drains color from the area about it. "Tank knights"

  Kin: descendants of a Dynast, most desperately trying to reach 100 so they can Partake

  Kiss, The: disease that wiped out "hundreds of verses", also name for the time period when Aj became active last and destroyed 100s of verses before halting in Sunset

  Lambent ram: animal whose wool glows?

  Letch: sect bred leech-like creature designed to stop bleeding on wounds

  Libriam: a swampy verse home to the Annalis, heart of The Book's bureaucracy

  Libwe: tribe possessing the "holy" Limn clay bed.

  Limn: "infused clay" bearing some sort of internal power, used by Ebon to found the Dynasty

  Lineage: ?

  Linemen: workers on the Stacks trolleys who pull the cars along the lines

  Logos: "the thought realm"

  Machine Curse: ?

  Mancers: "no mancers arc (could) affect it"

  Menial: common folk

  Molt: person able to shed skins (see skins)

  Mon, The: "the Outsiders". "exist only to destroy the Book" with their "demonic and monstrous children" from "the Hells beyond"

  Monopolis: the "City of Currency", bank verse ruled by Rega

  Mourne, The: something dangerous that lurks in the Vale, "the why we do not tarry"

  Mune: someone from the Collective on Dost?

  Nameday: when children are named

  Ocyl's Preserve: a garden "beyond the Circular Sea" in Heaven's Tread?

  Ocyl's Spire: the tower home to the court of Ocyl, Dyanst of Heaven's Tread

  One-Eighth Shithole: Aida's verse. Unfortunately. A desolate place home to volcanoes and a giant dead turtle

  Optomime: gadgeteer

  Pale, The: light-skinned people, conquered by Ebon during the founding of the Dynasty. Alternately, albinism

  Paragon: warrior who can see the future

  Partaking: the ritual that creates Dynasts (or kills those who try). Performed by some unknown, large creature in the Black Court.

  Phero: Lineage whose scent creates overwhelming attraction

  'pillar: fuzzy Sect-bred giant caterpillar pet

  Porcelain Guard: Ocyl's white-masked Ferals

  Pure Priest of the Ascen/Blind Priests: priests praising the Ascen and back the Black Court

  Reachers: massive, Sect-bred creatures that direct traffic and rescue unfortunates in the Sighted Path in Jadeye

  Reconquest: time four-hundred years ago when Inro "drove [tribals] back into civilization's fold at spear point"

  Rotters: sack-clothed, crudely-masked 'zombies' uses as pack-beasts and simple laborers. Created/sold by Crowmen.

  Royal Strider: giant striders which carry carriages of the wealthy slung underneath them

  Sect, The: breeders of useful insectoid- and/or sauroid-like creatures

  Seericide: seers capable of Knowing everything as they die

  Seneschal: chief servant of a Dynast, bear permanent strings allowing them to speak and understand any language

  Shale: a verse famous for its expensive stone

  Shrineway: religious section of Jadeye "brailled prayers along the walls ... [and] cobblestones"

  Sighted Path: the zero-g road down the center of Heaven's Tread

  Sixth Tier Rebellion: last major uprising, in Ziggurat a century ago when "half the legions rose up"

  Skeinry: iron-plated communication centers where Skeiners translate vibrations sent by wyre from other verses

  Skin/Hollow: animate skin of a molt able to move, talk, and share snatches of its experience with its molt

  Skinlife: living tattoos

  Skinscribe: individuals brailled with lore, walking libraries

  Slavant: an individual who "loses much" to be implanted with an ability

  Soresearer: individuals capable of "healing" by cauterizing wounds with their hands

  Stacks: An ocean verse comprised of tall pillars jutting up from the seas. Trolleys run on long ropes between them "affixed by Anchorites to airy nothing"

  Striders: "stilt-legged gray-skinned insect-lizard"s used as fast mounts, large enough to carry several riders

  Strings: worn or implanted wire devices that translate speech

  Subterrane, The: travel route accessed by Ebon via Limn?

  Sunset: the verse where Aj was 'contained', formerly protected by Dynast Inro. The "Prison of Prisons" holds mad Dynasts, monsters and demons... vaults of dangerous relics.

  Sunset Legions/Vault Legions: Inro's Legions, wiped out by Aj in Sunset

  Surgon: person able to remove organs

  Syphon: machine ConMach uses to "drain the very life" and color from a verse to "fuel... machinery"

  Terminus:a verse?

  Thorn: huge, curling thorns which Valeers can use as gateways to the Vale, doorways between verses. Grow into verses over centuries

  Thrum: guide in the Black Court

  Twine: "one soul threaded through two bodies"

  Unkillable Swordsman: a Paragon killed by Deia long ago

  Vale: "The Place Between". A realm of high-contrast black and white full of thorns and Thorns.

  Vale Walkers: discoverers of verses

  Valeer: people capable of activating Thorns, barely functional of anything else

  Valeer's 'nail: crystals containing wafers that allow travel within the Vale to specific verses without a Valeer

  Venger: muscle man?

  Verse: a pocket universe or world

  Verser Lord/Lady: agents of an individual Dynast who rule part of a verse at the whim of their Dynast

  Vibrant: color-changing individuals from Ink?

  Watter: an energetic liquid. "Currence melts to watter. Watter's current dissipates over time, leaving water."

  Weeping Falls: Jadeye Iris flowing with waterfalls

  Wicker Way: towers of stone, wood, and rope that connect opposite far sides of Jadeye

  Wiz of Berujat: multi-minded?

  World Spear: an immense stack on Stacks

  Wretch: untouchables forced to walk on all fours, "the human refuse that cleans up the literal waste piles"

  Wretch Plague: the flu. A horrific disease spread by Wretches.

  Wyres: lines run through the Vale between verses that allow communication between

  Ziggurat: the verse basing the Legions