The same night that Nyrielle gently tended to her exhausted and battered lover's needs, the crescent moon danced on the waters of the deep harbor in Blackwell City. Gulls squawked in the night, fighting over scraps of fish that slipped from nets or were discarded by fishmongers for being too foul to sell.
Bells rang across the harbor on different ships, signaling the changes in watch or releasing gleeful sailors from their duties aboard the ship, freeing them to enjoy the delights of the bustling city beyond the harbor district.
In one towering building that occupied half a block, a constant stream of people from ship's masters to traders, pilots, and navigators, and even a small number of wealthy merchants, jostled against each other as they tried to complete their business before the various clerks closed for the day.
