The floor shuddered under their feet; the idols trembled. “If one of these falls and breaks,” Orla said, “what would you say are the chances that whatever’s trapped inside gets free?”

Cohmac shook his head slowly. “Let’s hope we don’t find out.”

No path to the Vessel was straightforward. Affie’s had been odder than most.

Affie Hollow had been fourteen years old and eager to make her mark on the Guild. Her foster mother, Scover Byne herself, had thought it a good idea to begin teaching the girl their trade. Already the Byne Guild had grown almost past Scover’s ability to personally control. A loyal, bright, capable daughter would be the ideal second-in-command—once she had experience outside piloting simulators, out in the real worlds.

So when Affie’s tour of Guild ships had begun, she’d brimmed with excitement, practically setting off sparks the first time she stepped onto a bridge without her mother by her side. Those sparks had been dampened the minute she looked at the other crew members’ faces. The kindest words she could come up with for their attitude were “not impressed.”

No reason for them to be. Affie knew she was young and untrained, more a nuisance than a help. But wasn’t that the whole point of training? To make someone useful?

For a few months she bounced from ship to ship, never rejected (she was Scover’s daughter, after all) but never accepted, either. A couple of the pilots grudgingly taught her basic skills. That was as good as it got. Once Affie had overheard a navigator grumbling, “My job’s plotting courses, not teaching little snot-nosed brats.” This was deeply unfair and gave her a complex that led to her carrying around kerchiefs for months.

Then she was sent to the smallest ship yet, the Vessel.

Geode was the first individual Affie had felt truly welcomed by in far too long; him, she trusted immediately. Leox Gyasi had been another story. He smelled like spice, and he talked about “the deeper spiritual dimensions of the cosmos,” and he wore open-necked shirts with lots of beads like he didn’t even care if that was impractical for long-haul flights. (Thanks to Scover’s influence, Affie cared a great deal about practicality.) The Vessel was tiny, and not particularly noteworthy, so she wasn’t sure how much of the goings-on would apply to other ships.

But she had to learn about the entire Guild, not just the main ships. She resigned herself to the journey.

To her surprise, her first trip on the Vessel taught her more than all her other journeys combined. Leox talked her through every step; Geode let her observe him whenever she wanted, as much as she wanted. Nobody looked down on her because of her age or inexperience. They let her learn by doing.