"Look!"
The ketch was flying across the water, its sails full of wind. Sunny was standing at the bow, staring into the distance curiously. Nephis was a few steps back, sitting on the deck with her eyes closed.
Hearing his voice, she opened them and looked ahead.
There, a floating city was slowly appearing from beyond the horizon.
Weave.
It was much larger than Sunny had imagined, with countless artificial islands connected together to form a single whole. There was a network of canals between the various districts that served as roads, and a forest of narrow towers rising into the sky. Most of them were windcatchers, just like the tower of the House of Parting was - some blades still rotated, some were broken and still.
Torn scarlet fabric fluttered in the wind.
The architecture of Weave was varied, airy, and beautiful. Some buildings were constructed out of stone, some seemed to be carved of ivory, some were pavilions of sun-bleached, bright silk. There were districts with homes and houses, groves of fruit trees, and even entire city-ships taken entirely by a single elegant palace or a solemn temple.
Some distance away from the residential districts, separated from them by a wide stretch of water, were vast floating fields and gardens.
Bathed in the light of the seven suns, the floating city was strange and fantastical.
However, neither Sunny nor Nephis were enchanted by its dreamlike beauty. Because, above all else, Weave seemed... eerie and forlorn.
The tall windcatchers were still or broken. The streets and canals were empty, with no soul in sight. The groves were overgrown and wild, while the fields were desolate and empty. Some city-ships were drifting apart, their mechanisms broken, while others were tilted and partially submerged in water.
It was a ghost town.
Strangely, though, while some buildings bore scars or had collapsed, most were intact. This was not the picture of destruction and devastation that they had imagined.
"Welcome to Weave, my Lord and Lady."
Ananke's voice sounded slightly mournful.
...It also sounded very different from before. There had been a time when her voice was weak and creaky, like dry wood. Now, it was bright and melodious like a clear stream.
'Right.'
Sunny still felt rather strange when talking to the current Ananke.
The old priestess... no, he couldn't even call her that anymore, because Ananke wasn't old anymore.
Turning around, he looked at the young woman steering the ketch. She seemed only a few years older than Sunny and Nephis, if any...
More than that, she was exquisitely beautiful. With her small stature and glistening ebony hair, dusky skin and piercing blue eyes, Ananke looked like an enchanting river spirit. Her lovely face was lively and captivating, and her disarming smile was bright enough to illuminate the world.
'...Weird! It's weird!'
Sunny was deeply uncomfortable for the last couple of days because of how young Ananke had become. On top of that... despite being ten times his age, she seemed too earnest and even slightly naive.
That was the person he had been calling Grandmother!
With a sigh, Sunny tried to shake off the feeling of incongruity and asked in a strange tone:
"Haven't you told us that Weave was destroyed, Ananke? It... doesn't seem damaged that terribly."
The young priestess remained silent for a while, then answered with a sad smile:
"There is more than one way to destroy a city, my Lord."
With that, she moved the steering oar and sent the ketch flying toward the central district of the eerie city of Weave, where only the wind disrupted the ghostly silence and emptiness permeated desolate streets.