They had left the Desolation behind them, her sanctuary now inhabited only by the dead, and around her there was…

  Water.

  True water. Not a bubbling surface of unreality, but blue, wet, real.

  Elemental.

  The journey across the canal had ended; they had entered the Elemental Sea, and before them there was an endless horizon of shimmering water, glittering under the rays of the sun.

  A gentle breeze welcomed them into the first of the Primeval Realms. They had passed the only way to reach it, surrounded as they were by the Desolation.

  “He made it so,” her Lady said.

  Socia remembered the classes she took, the movies she had seen. They told of how the Ambition had reshaped the cosmos, so there could be order, growth, progress.

  Control.

  Her Lady set their vessel in motion, and the salty wind struck her face, whipped her hair. What luck it was braided.

  Socia saw the other vessels as they left or entered the canal. Sleek brass prows cut the waves at great speed while angular behemoths large as skyscrapers slowly chugged along.

  Some had murals on their sides, with slogans and company names.

  Order ordained.

  Growth without end.

  Progress unending.

  In the name of the Ambition.

  The arcane engine hummed, itself an example of progress, and pushed them on at ever greater speed, deeper into this ocean.

  And Socia could feel it, the life that waited for them further off, and below.

  Below the waves there was not dissolution and change, but life.

  “Soon you will learn new things, my Socia,” her Lady said.

  But for now, she would enjoy the sun and the sea.

  And the wind in her hair.

  It had been months, and her Lady’s tour continued, and Socia followed.

  In the sea, there were islands with shores, lush and fertile. Their shapes varied and unruly, unlike the perfect one they had spent a year in.

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  But they served the same purpose: to provide goods from crops tended by workers overseen by their betters, or their servants.

  Island after island they had visited, each welcomed the Daughter of the Ambition, offered her praise and awaited her instructions. Her blessings: her power brought fertility, her wisdom — efficiency.

  Socia was welcomed now as an equal, and in many cases as more than that. Did she not have the favor of her Lady, after all?

  Hollow eyes in the fields.

  Vivid ones in the halls.

  Bent bodies under the sun.

  Poised ones in the shade.

  Toil and sweat.

  Leisure and ease.

  The first she saw, the latter she lived.

  She was better now; no longer did she avert her gaze from Scions, she could meet them, feel their power and take their measure. Some still felt dangerous, attractive, others less so, but it was a difference of measure not essence.

  She was one of them.

  Better.

  She looked out at the field outside the pavilion, the buzz of the other attendants drowning out the sound of the songs of the workers. She could only see them continue with their task, cutting the sugarcanes, gathering them, moving them, the rays of the sun on their backs, all in the name of the…

  Ambition.

  She could see their hearts, their love for the land, their connection to their fellows, and their devotion. Unbroken. Steadfast.

  She turned back to the voices and the clinking glasses. Once she had fled from those sounds that had threatened to drown her, to suffocate her. Now she swam among them, breathed with ease.

  She was among equals and those outside were not.

  Why did it feel wrong?

  She couldn’t sleep. The beating hearts in the dark had kept her awake, their passion she had felt through silk, as she had tried to sleep.

  Now she walked in the dark, with ease, the moon’s light sufficient for her eyes, and the earth she could feel even without them. No branch she touched, no twig she broke, as she moved closer to dim light in the distance, obscured by the jungle she traversed.

  A small fire, drums and strings, song and chant, that is what drew her in.

  Her feet met the beat, her body swayed with the music, and she emerged amidst them dancing.

  A goddess.

  They did not stop. Their dance continued, she among them with bare feet and a silken gown.

  Faster she danced, twirled and moved. Her braid undone, her hair free. Her fingers in the air, her wrists in motion, she was at the center of it all.

  Her heart burned with passion as her body moved with ecstasy.

  One dared to touch her. Sway with her. Skin to skin.

  She did not reject it.

  Felt his joy, his desire, his devotion.

  The beat grew, sweat on bodies, on hers, mingled with his.

  Her eyes closed, she took it in, the sensations she drank, like wine she savored it.

  All of it even the…

  Fear.

  She felt his skin, moved with him. She saw her eyes, felt her fear.

  Simple dress, common face, her body still but her eyes.

  Her eyes stared at her.

  Like her mother did.

  Don’t take him.

  From me.

  Wasn’t it her right?

  She slipped from the man, away from him, toward the dark, still she danced.

  Her body whirled as did her mind.

  Along the wet ground, she moved, she ran, she crawled on all four, like an animal. The wild offered her no resistance, her steps no sound, but in her mind, there was no silence. Past the wild, to the shore, into the seas she dove. Deep, deep into it she swam, to hide from the moon, to curl up in the dark.

  Cold. Alone. In silence.

  And there she would have stayed — if not for her arms.

  They pulled her up from the dark.

  Dragged her to the shore.

  Held her. Embraced her.

  “They cannot but love us,” her Lady said.

  Her tears fell on her Lady’s, salt like the sea.

  “We shape them whether we like it or not,” her Lady said.

  She held her in silence.

  Let her head fall on a knee, her fingers on her hair.

  Together they saw the moon, as Socia’s tears dried.

  “We must show care,” her Lady said.

  As you do with me?

  “As I try too,” her Lady said.

  She fell asleep, the stars, the moon and her Lady there to watch over her.

  To care for her.