Aislinn stood on the cliff at the edge of her continent. Her gown flapped in the gentle breeze, air brushing her feet and legs. The Niharan sun hung low on the waterline, a rim of churning water, against a darkening blue sky.

She inhaled the salty air through her nose, filling her lungs. Every synapse and neuron fired excitedly. She felt surprise upon touching her cheek, and felt her face unprotected. She wasn’t wearing a mask and couldn’t remember a time before they were mandatory.

Under the over crop, surging waves roiled. Peaked white caps of the Suhalian sea crested and crashed onto costal rocks. A waterworm rode with an undulating motion, as a giant seafaring ship approached the dock below her. A flock of dragonflies buzzed past skimming the water.

Movement across the sea caught her eye. It shocked her at first to see the floating ship, as the obsolete design had become prohibited long ago. She’d read about them, and seen the clips, but never so close. Hundreds of her race used to live on floating cities, free of rules, hidden from prying eyes.

She discerned greater detail the closer they drew up to the coast. Housing goods and services, all in one place. The artificial island was arranged around a temple, with roads which radiated from a central square. Conversations overlapped with faint music and laughter. The spire of the Contemplum, with its smooth white walls decorated with rosette windows, glittered in the sundogs which danced across the sea.

She examined the opening, where she stood, which emerged from a crack in the rocks. A serpentine path wound upon itself, but seemed level and wide, other than a succession of hairpin turns. It lolled, from the overhang to the beach, far below her. She’d be exposed on the sheer cliffside. What if wind shear caught her at just the right angle, and she lost her balance? To go down there, it meant bracing herself against the swift breeze, which could gust sharply sometimes. But she’d dreamed of walking the decks of a sea cruiser forever.

As her gown whipped around her, she stuck her toe outside the opening, and took her first step down the path to the dock below.