Promise the Sky

Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Melissa

 

 

 

It had upset Ben that I did not stay on deck to watch the Mirror City come in.

"I told you." He grumbles as a deckhand throws a line over the ruined railings to an immaculately trimmed dock worker. "What does an outfit matter? You missed it."

"Mhm." I rearrange the silken waves of my skirt with a single delicate movement and lean on the railings at his side.

He hasn't even turned. He isn't looking.

 I wait. Patiently.

Allowing my eyes to tilt upwards, I take in the glory of the city spread before me. The Mirror City is... everything they said it would be.

I cannot stop the low whistle as it escapes my lips and Ben nods absently. His eyes continue to rove the spotless streets that await us, and I should expect to feel bitter, I should demand his attention. But, frankly, I cannot blame him.

"Where are all the..."

"...Bad bits?" He shrugs. "Never seen anything so perfect in my entire life."

The Mirror City is pristine perfect. Flawless. These are the docks, I think. Docks are meant to be busy, messy, dirty... and yet this place looks as though it has been lifted straight from some child's  storybook. The whole city curves away up a gentle slope, and from what I can see nothing knows how to be out of place, nothing knows how to break. This is the largest settlement on the planet, or so they say, and the place is no more than a single, continuous swathe of cream limestone icing.

I could not have imagined a place so beautiful, I could not have imagined a place more perfectly designed for me.

"The dragon scale...?" I breathe, and it becomes the second sentence I do not need to finish.

Ben shrugs as he answers.

"They said it was heaven on earth. They said the dust knew not to fall, that the very seasons treated these streets with a gentle hand, and they said that time itself was loath even to touch the people."

"I could believe all those things..."

"So the streets will be paved in dragon scale, because they said that too; I'd bet my last penny on it."

"They said a lot of things."

"And I'm beginning to believe they knew what they were talking about."

Late sun sweeps across peaceful streets, adding warm caramel to cold stone, and even the shadows seem cool and friendly. It hardly surprises me; they said that in the Mirror City, the rain never falls.

With a clatter, the gangplank falls onto one of the many floating piers of the city's dock. The water sparkles in the sunset, aquamarine and so inviting. Even the pier's wood appears untouched by decay.

Perfect.

"Come on." I slip my fingers into Ben's hand. He hardly seems to notice.

He stoops to draw the saddlebags from the floor and slips them, one handed, over his shoulder. And awed puppy only follows as I guide him to the gang plank, eyes dazed and distant, lost to the city of wonder, even as I must release his hand to allow the whole crew to rush forward and shake it in final farewell.