Sael's maps of the inner storm bands proved accurate to the meter.
With her knowledge added to Thalia's continuous reading of the currents, Isolde guided the living ships through passages that would have broken any fleet moving blind. The floating stone platforms fell behind. The dark walls of the structural storm pressed closer on every side, then slowly began to thin. On the second day the last curtain of violent water and wind parted, and the alliance force entered a space that should not have existed inside any storm.
A vast suspended ocean of liquid light opened around us.
There was no visible bottom and no true sky, only an endless volume of slow-moving radiance the colour of pale gold and white. The light had weight. It held the ships the way ordinary water held hulls, yet it was not water. It did not wet the decks. It did not reflect faces or banners. It simply existed, dense and silent, stretching farther than any lookout could see.
