After a slow, deep breath, he met her unblinking gaze and spoke. "You know the Aj is real from living through the Kiss. The Mon as well from the endless, small incursions of their spawn The Book has endured since the dawn of time. Why no concerns?"

  Despite his best efforts to keeps his eyes open to match her, Ghulen was still mostly human and had to blink first. He couldn't smell her at all and never had been able to, the Dynast's self-control so absolute she'd somehow mastered even her scent. It terrified and awed him.

  "We've had no hint of Inro since those last dispatches he sent us. If the Aj has truly awakened as he warned, he's probably long dead. We've split the Mon Legions among Ancient verses ready to deal with any monsters or demons that arrive in greater strength in case those rumors are also true."

  A question died on his lips. Rega despised servants who couldn't think for themselves. Uncomfortable silence hung in the air, but Rega peferred empty air to empty words.

  "This whole meeting was a farce. All for show and to give any Rag spies or secret Mother worshipers misinformation."

  "I knew there was a reason I claimed you when I did," Rega said. From her, that counted as a massive compliment.

  He allowed himself a slight, congratulatory smile. "You all already met and hashed everything out previously, then rehearsed this for the public."

  Rega's eyes flicked to Jaxe's empty seat. "Though one kept extemporizing on his part."

  "So the Vale Legions are probably already on their way to attack, you've abandoned fortifying so the Main Legions can follow, the Wretches have already been exterminated, the First Disciple is already dead, and Tyrs' extra weapons were completed weeks ago?"

  One of her lips quirked momentarily. Equivalent to a grin and laugh from anyone else. "At or near-enough the mark on almost every particular. The Legions strike key Rag verses as we speak. A trap is set for the First Disciple that he won't slip out from this time, at least not the way he thinks. Three Legions worth of Tyrs' weapons were forged nearly a year ago, used to arm the Legions and prevent the Rag's coup on Ziggurat. The Wretches have been rounded up into holding camps in every Ancient verse."

  Ghulen nodded, reflecting on how wise his youthful decision had been as a fresh Inviolate to align himself with Rega instead of against her. There were no alignment options in the mind of this Dynast. "So Tyrs' labors at a different task and the Wretches can be wiped out at leisure. Jaxe then has some secret plan in motion for the Mother of Exiles?"

  "Tyrs mints increasingly-debased brass Jars as fast as his forges can turn the coins out. We've Legions to pay and recruit, mercs and freemancers to hire, Dynasts to bribe to our side, and a hundred other expenses to pay to keep The Book functional now that the Donative is shrunken from a mighty river to a trickling stream."

  "People already complain about how little value currency holds, won't debasing and stamping out more make matters worse?" Ghulen reached into his waist pouch and produced a thin, slightly bent and worn brass coin.

  "Matters are worse than anyone expects." Her eyes shifted to the coin then off into the void of Monopolis' sky. "And no, the Wretches aren't meant for extermination, but slave instead as we speak to finish Baka's fortifications. The Thorn Bulwarks will be completed soon enough, that much was true at least. In many verses, the Wretches have already been annihilated and their Plague still spreads; whatever hand they had in starting it, it clearly moves without them now. It seemed more effecient to put them to work alongside the rotters they've made rather than joining them. The rotter pens overflow and Crowmen roll in riches already without adding the Wretches to their number."

  "No fortifications around the Thorn I came in. A purposeful oversight?"

  Rega nodded. "As soon as those who assembled here finish departing, the work begins immediately. Stockpiles lie in place in all the buildings adjacent to them with Wretches and rotters packed in nearby to build them."

  "So that leaves Jaxe who fears dispatching his Versal troops and so will doubtless wait until a Legion can be freed up. The Mother of Exiles is left unmolested."

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  "The first part, yes. Hence his meager jabs during the meeting we presented. As for the Mother of Exiles, we let her collect the useless and rebellious from across the Book. We even secretly supply 'nails and allow most of those who wish to join her in exile free passage. Free passage, that is, so long as they are useless mouths, criminals, or malcontents. Artisans, Masters, and Mancers seeking her we capture instead, granting them the choice of service, slavery, or damning to Ferals." She glanced at him in a way that made him wonder if she thought of him as a servant or a slave. Did she consider him to be he under her employ or ownership?

  "We've spies and insurrectionists scattered among her followers to alert us should she become a real threat. Until then, we bog her down with the most useless, needy, and insubordinate of our menials, wait, and watch. All the Imminent's long-laid threads pass through the eye of her needle, so we focus on watching how she pulls on which threads."

  In the stillness that followed, Ghulen wondered if she really kept him around for his status and talents as a mancer and Inviolate as he'd always assumed or simply to use as a mirror to reflect on her own genius. He knew of no other servant/slave of hers with whom she confided such, though if anyone could keep anything confidential from him or anyone it would be her. He wondered idly who'd filled this strange role before he was born, assuming she'd always needed a trusted confidant and it was not a relatively recent position.

  Pocketing the coin and shaking his head to clear such idle thoughts, he cleared his throat. "Now that I grasp the lay of things, what might be my role in all this?"

  "Hassani." She watched. Waited.

  "The newest Inviolate," he said without hesitation as he rolled his head back to remember. "From Stacks. Jaxekin. The one you sent Ado after."

  "Yes. And he failed."

  "Ado finally failed?" Ghulen whistled, then grinned. "He'll have no end of hell from Kass about that. Was beginning to think the lad was the perfect Pharo."

  "Hassani said he was dead. She said it was Wretch Plague, but the exact how is irrelevant. And Ado's mercenary doesn't matter except for what she might know. Assuming she didn't also succumb to the Plague."

  Vengeance was not in Rega's repertoire, at least not on such quick time frames as mere months. His mind churned to glean why the errant Inviolate might be important to Rega now. "If she's important enough to send Ado, resilient enough to resist both him and that woman-loving, violent foul-mouth who tags... er, tagged along after him, I agree she's worth pursuing. Not that you need my agreement, of course. Where was she seen last?"

  "Ziggurat. She escaped from Eonora and cut her way through the Bulwarks around the Thorn."

  He whistled. "Impressive. On her own?"

  "She possesses an Aze Blade. Perhaps the last of them."

  An involuntary cough caught him up for a few seconds. "I didn't think they still existed. Where did she acquire it?"

  Her silent stare cut into him. He spoke quickly to shift the subject. "When was this? Wait, Eonora? The rebel commander? So Hassani is also probably responsible for sparking her rebellion..."

  Ghulen's life and eventually career formed an endless chain of discovering how weak, selfish, short-sighted, and stupid people were. Finding people who broke the mold proved an exciting rarity and even more so if they were his marks. This Hassani might prove to be just such a target. He straightened in his chair, trying to stay calm when his instincts urged him to sprint to the nearest Thorn after her.

  "I'm sure you'll give me all the details you have on why you want me to find her, but it may be important if I'm going to carry this out if I know why."

  The question bordered on impertinence but he bore a burning curiosity married to a passion for tracking people down. Once detained, could take them apart under extreme pressure and thus learn how they worked. The intense curiosity kept him awake at night sometimes and if he hadn't been aimed at an official target for too long, he'd tide himself over with an unofficial one. This challenge, this person who'd defied the undefiable Adonissian intrigued him more than anything he'd found in years. Far more interesting than his last task obscuring and falsifying Tyrs' three Legions worth of weapon transfers or, before that, tracking down an expensive escaped slave who knew too much.

  Rega regarded him for an uncomfortable amount of time, but he had borne and would bear any amount of discomfort to assuage his need to know once kindled.

  "Because the day of the Ziggurat purge, Das told me to put her in confinement."

  The thought of anyone telling Rega what to do astounded him almost as much as the thought of her listening. "Das had to know she'd turn Eodora against the Ancients and then escape. I can't imagine why he'd do that, especially after what he said at the assembly."

  "Gather your pick of freemancers, find her and anyone who knows her, and bring Hassani back to me. Alive. You can peel her apart when I'm here to witness. I must learn why the Imminent would chose her and chose now to directly mislead me for the first time." Rega leaned forward in her chair, the largest movement she'd made the entire time they'd been sitting.

  Ghulen nodded and turned to leave, but Rega caught his eye. "And one more thing. She also seeks a Forbidden Verse called 'Earth'. I've reason to believe it's also where our barbarian Mother of Exiles originated. No Valeer I've found knows it. No 'nail library holds it. Find what you can about it and her. The fate and future of the Ancients, the Book, maybe the All itself may depend on the answer to Earth's 'what' and 'where' combined and Das' 'who' and 'why'."

  Next chapter: Aida faces a couple extreme experiences back-to-back.

  Adonissian: a Phero who poses as a traveling musician. Died of the Wretch Plague in Heaven's Tread.

  Aida: MC. Mother of Exiles. "Ender of Verses?" "Savior of Dynasties?"

  Aj: a long-slumbering, powerful being which annihilated Inro's Sunset Legions. Also "almost destroyed the Dynasty single-handedly six-and-some centuries ago"

  Alerestro: a handsome, multi-talented man from Azure. Partner of Viviana

  Aliasara: servant at Ocyl's villa who befriends Aida

  Anticores: a pair of Sect representatives, off-putting and strange

  Arca: chief of the tribe that "adopted" Inro

  Asta: Tertius Dynast of Silk.

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

  Baka: Dynast of Ziggurat. Huge, massively strong. Tertius.

  "Braid"; a thug who accosted Aida in Jadeye. His face gifted to Aida by Ocyl.

  Broadaxe: large, axe-and-shield-wielding Feral protecting Aida. Killed by Jaxe in Jadeye

  Cairin: Arca's sister, slinger

  Das: Rega's Immanent

  Deai: Hassani's swordmaster, renowned for killing a Paragon

  Denault: Hassani's husband. Shipwright, Kin.

  Eonora: a Legion officer in Ziggurat

  Eth: a young Imminent

  Ghillie: a 3rd Feral who wears a primitive Ghillie suit. Carries cross between kunai and acupuncture needles

  Ghulen: Rega's "pet monster", an Inviolate

  Goboro: a fat, amiable scribe friend of Hassani's in Libriam

  Fallon: Aida's Seneschal. Died killing the Inviolate Rasofi in Jadeye

  Fatma: slaver?

  Feral: a bone-masked woman of violence (Feral) in Aida's service. Knife wielder. Killed by Ghillie in Jadeye.

  Fetriene: Ocyl's soresearer

  Goldilocks: twitchy, spear-and-javelin carrying Feral guarding Aida. Died burning a Wicker Way in Jadeye.

  Hassani: Inviolate agent of the Black Court, sent by Fractious Fraction

  Hue: Vibrant accompanying Simon

  Huspara: minor bureaucrat in Libriam

  Inro: Dynast formerly ruling Sunset

  Izbali: a silent tribal shaman

  Janali: Ocyl's elegant Seneschal

  Jaxe: Dynast of Stacks. "Young" (Secounds), wealthy. Also has "the Pale" (an Albino). Ancient.

  Johine: crude slave

  Kass/Kassenia: mercenary attached to Adonissian. Died of Wretch Plague?

  Maxem: High Parser from Ink, ambassador to Jadeye

  Ocyl: Dynast of Heaven's Tread, powerful and unpredictable

  Parathas: Aida's skinscribe. Also a mountaineer.

  "Professor, The": leader of Aida's Wretches

  Rasofi: Inviolate killed by Fallon in Jadeye

  Reck: Dynast of Chalk, "not witty enough to be clever and takes himself too seriously to be ironic". Paranoid, Fractious Fraction. Tertius. Died to a mob of menials in Jadeye.

  Rega: Inro's sister, Dynast of Monopolis. Septemius

  Riccaro: majordomo of Ocyl's estate. Hung by a looting mob in Heaven's Tread.

  Rustrovan/"Rusty": Eth's old, gap-toothed skinscribe

  Ryk: "the most beautiful man Aida had ever seen", a Paragon

  Sava: Dynast of Libriam

  Savalius: Grand Quartermaster of the Legions

  Semon "Goldtongue": white-haired, one-eyed master of cults. First Disciple of the Mother.

  Stiller: serving boy at Ocyl's estate. Rendered mute by psychological or head-trauma

  Taesal: one of Rega's other Inviolates, axe scar to face

  "Toothy": leader of a group of thugs who accosted Aida in Heaven's Tread. Killed by Feral in Jadeye

  Tyrs: many-pierced Secundus Dynast of Forge

  Valeer: a mentally challenged, unkempt individual able to manipulate Thorns. Died in Jadeye to "Braid".

  Vanyen: A crippled young woman who created the Cult of the Mother. Martyred Prophet of the Mother. Murdered by Semon Dynastic Assassins.

  Venner: Grandmaster of Optimimes in Jadeye, "best in the entire Book"

  Viviana: gorgeous, multi-talented ex-slave from Berujat. Partner of Alerestro.

  Wake: Dynast of Graves, marries even though they all die. Quintus. Isolate.

  White Spiral: an older Feral in Aida's service. Archer. Died protecting Aida in Jadeye

  Adventures of Bubo, The: popular kids story

  All, The: All the verses, even those beyond The Book.

  Ancients: a major Dynastic Chapter, an "elite number", "own Ziggurat" and "run the great bank that is Monopolis"

  Anchorites: individuals capable of creating anchor points affixed to nothing.

  Annalis compound: sprawling complex in Libriam, heart of The Book's bureaucracy. Arrivals 'Dirt' home to new dispatches, Archives 'Dust' storage for old material. Paths and Ways storage for 'nails.

  Anticore: Sect creature which "wears convincing human skins" with "swarming insects... beneath the skin"

  Arborian: gardeners from Groves?

  Ascen, The/The Ascendant: divinities "watching over every verse"?

  Assessor: census-taker

  Audits/"Diggers": Libriam internal affairs

  Autumn: verse rich in gold?

  Aze: swordmaker?

  Azure: A verse?

  Berujat: "fleshmarkets"; primary seat of slave trade and home of most Lineage Masters, owned by Fraction.

  Black Court: a realm of pure darkness. Also, those who rule there. Where Partaking happens.

  Black Court Tribunal: localized Black Court authority?

  Blood, The: imbibed at Partaking, transforms one into a Dynast if they survive

  Book of Verses, The: the 1,000 verses ruled by the Dynasty. "The Kiloverse"

  Broadcliff, Tallmarket: cities in Stacks

  Calms: periods when ever-blowing winds die down in Berujat

  Canyon of Cages: cliff where slaves are held in Berujat

  Cave Dwellers: tribes that live in the underground in Origin, keep others out until "the Return"

  Century Thread: additional threads appearing elsewhere on the body every century a Dynast lives

  Cerebrist: creator of slavants

  Chalk/"Vistas": verse entirely made of chalky cliff, belongs to Reck

  Chant, The/Sacrosanct Chant: some sort of law in the Dynasty?

  Chant of Inoculation: chant supposed to protect against disease, "Mudra of Cleansing"

  Chapters: power groupings among the Dynasts of the Book: predominantly The Ancients, the Fractious Fraction, and Isolates.

  Circular Sea: an ocean abutting the Jadeye segment of Heaven's Tread

  Clock Priest: priests from Gears who track and tell time religiously

  Commu: chewed drug/herb?

  ConMach: convoy? courier? "ConMach drains the very life from the Directory's verses". Supply "ConMach machines"

  Crowmen: buy corpses to return them to life and service as rotters

  Cupola Thorn: the main Thorn in the city Jadeye in Heaven's Tread, a stone dome built over it

  Currence: something valuable inside old coins? "harder than currence"? "Solid current forms currence." Currence melts to watter.

  Currency: money, gold coins once held currence inside to give value, now debased

  Current: some form of energy that powers "artifices"? "Solid current forms currence."

  Directory: "the Directory to Ink is like the Dynasty to the Book", dominating rulers of Ink

  Donative, The: Black Court taxes, taken by Legion if not offered. Don't pay, no Partaking every century.

  Dusa: people with manipulable hair of silver wire, from Gears

  Dynast: individual given rule of a verse if they survive Partaking. Ageless and hard to kill. Regenerative. Sustained by "the Blood"; no food or water necessary.

  Dynast's Tower: a massive tower at the peak of Ziggurat.

  Dynasty: the Dynasts who rule the Book

  Ebon: founder of the Dynasty and Black Court

  Ebon Saga: the tale of Ebon's foundation of The Book and Dynasty

  Ebonese: the language of the Book

  Echoseer shells: devices to allow one to "see" in the Black Court

  El: semi-insubstantial snake/remora-like creatures that follow gods (and sometimes Dynasts) around

  "Emperor of Everything": popular kids story about Inro turning down becoming emperor, then crushing those who elevated a different Dynast

  Feral: bone-masked bodyguards who require the essence of their master to survive. "Damned to Ferals" as a form of capital punishment. "the damned", "damned to a Feral"

  Fetalist: Imminent faction who believe the future is unchangeable

  First Thread/Primus: a fresh Dynast/the first luminescent silver thread etched into their foreheads.

  Forge: verse ruled by Tyrs with much metalworking

  Fractious Fraction/"DissatisFaction"/"The Renewal": a major Dynastic Chapter who "hate everyone including each other", "entice every freemancer and Lineage Master" ... "to Berujat". For those with "verses deficient in maor ways."

  Gates, The: Inter-verse travel method created by Ebon. Opened with Limn

  God, A: unique, "undying" creatures of immense size, The First Ones

  God's Rote: child's first memorization, what gods are

  God-dwellers: "monks" who live on a god

  God-touched: those who have physically touched a god (and lived)

  Gonist: organ dealers and traders

  Gons: self-sustaining organs capable of living outside a host

  Graves: a verse "Made of the dead by the dead for the dead".

  Groves: a forest verse

  Heaven's Tread: a verse "inside a hollow rolling pin", host to Jadeye, the largest city in the Book

  High Parser: officials from Ink

  Imminent: seers advising Dynasts and shaping course of The Book

  Imminent Prophecy: something about a barbarian Dynast, Ender of Verses and/or Savior of Dynasties?

  Inevitables; faction of Imminent who believe it is their sacred duty to ensure the future comes to pass as seen

  Ink: home verse of the Skeinry, Keens, Directory, and "the Faded People"

  Innoculist: doctors who teach chants "brought from Logos" to cure disease

  Inviolate: agents of the black court who "serve the Black Court, protect the Dynasty, uphold the Chant, root out corruption" with "unlimited, undisclosed, and untraceable budgets"

  Inviolate Vial: carried by Inviolates as badge of office

  Iode: substance that ignites when crushed

  Iris: the giant portals leading between one cylinder of Heaven's Tread to the next

  Isolates: a major Dynastic Chapter with a "unified stand for independence", "cheat the Donative, stockpil[e] currence and watter" "hire Keen mercenaries" "raise own private Legions in secret"

  Jade Eye, The: the "giant emerald" at the middle of Ocyl's Spire in Jadeye

  Jadeye: the largest city in the Book and major trade hub, in Heaven's Trade

  Jar: Name of a "gold" coin now made of brass. Once held currence within.

  Jaxeday: holiday in Stacks with boat carvings, feasts, games of Fishhead, dances, and storytelling

  Jaxestack: a whitewashed stack on Stacks home to Jaxekin

  Jutland Reach: a verse with guns?

  Green People: tribes that live in the jungles of Origin

  Keen: Ink warriors wearing impossibly-heavy iron armor whose power source drains color from the area about it. "Tank knights"

  Kin: descendants of a Dynast, most desperately trying to reach 100 so they can Partake

  Kiss, The: disease that wiped out "hundreds of verses", also name for the time period when Aj became active last and destroyed 100s of verses before halting in Sunset

  Lambent ram: animal whose wool glows?

  Letch: sect bred leech-like creature designed to stop bleeding on wounds

  Libriam: a swampy verse home to the Annalis, heart of The Book's bureaucracy

  Libwe: tribe possessing the "holy" Limn clay bed.

  Limn: "infused clay" bearing some sort of internal power, used by Ebon to found the Dynasty

  Lineage: a line of mancers taught by a Master

  Linemen: workers on the Stacks trolleys who pull the cars along the lines

  Lizard Hunters: Arca's people, walkers of the wastes of Origin

  Logos: "the thought realm"

  Machine Curse: something that stops machines from working between verses?

  Mancers: "no mancers arc (could) affect it", people with abilities beyond human normal, usually trained/implanted by a Master.

  Master's Markets: primary slave market in the Book in Berujat

  Menial: common folk

  Molt: person able to shed skins (see skins)

  Mon, The: "the Outsiders". "exist only to destroy the Book" with their "demonic and monstrous children" from "the Hells beyond"

  Monopolis: the "City of Currency", bank verse ruled by Rega

  Mourne, The: something dangerous that lurks in the Vale, "the why we do not tarry"

  Mune: someone from the Collective on Dost?

  Nameday: when children are named

  Ocyl's Preserve: a garden "beyond the Circular Sea" in Heaven's Tread?

  Ocyl's Spire: the tower home to the court of Ocyl, Dyanst of Heaven's Tread

  One Tribe, The: Arca's new tribe incorporating the Libwe and whomever else is conquered or enticed to join.

  One-Eighth Shithole: Aida's verse. Unfortunately. A desolate place home to volcanoes and a giant dead turtle

  Optomime: gadgeteer

  Origin: the First Verse, from which Ebon originated, containing the "Cities Below". The "first page of The Book"

  Pale, The: light-skinned people, conquered by Ebon during the founding of the Dynasty. Alternately, albinism

  Paragon: warrior who can see the future

  Partaking: the ritual that creates Dynasts (or kills those who try). Performed by some unknown, large creature in the Black Court.

  Phero: Lineage whose scent creates overwhelming attraction

  'pillar: fuzzy Sect-bred giant caterpillar pet

  Porcelain Guard: Ocyl's white-masked Ferals

  Pure Priest of the Ascen/Blind Priests: priests praising the Ascen and back the Black Court

  Rags: derogatory name for alliance of Isolates and Fractious Fraction. Call themselves "Resistance Against the Grevious Ancient Coup."

  Reachers: massive, Sect-bred creatures that direct traffic and rescue unfortunates in the Sighted Path in Jadeye

  Reconquest: time four-hundred years ago when Inro "drove [tribals] back into civilization's fold at spear point"

  Rotters: sack-clothed, crudely-masked 'zombies' uses as pack-beasts and simple laborers. Created/sold by Crowmen.

  Royal Strider: giant striders which carry carriages of the wealthy slung underneath them

  Sect, The: breeders of useful insectoid- and/or sauroid-like creatures

  Seericide: seers capable of Knowing everything as they die

  Seneschal: chief servant of a Dynast, bear permanent strings allowing them to speak and understand any language

  Shale: a verse famous for its expensive stone

  Shore Striders: tribes that live along the oceans of Caves

  Shackle Pens: slave pens near Master's Market in Berujat?

  Shrineway: religious section of Jadeye "brailled prayers along the walls ... [and] cobblestones"

  Sighted Path: the zero-g road down the center of Heaven's Tread

  Silk: verse owned by Asta where all of verse's silk originates

  Sixth Tier Rebellion: last major uprising, in Ziggurat a century ago when "half the legions rose up". Put down by Baka

  Skeinry: iron-plated communication centers where Skeiners translate vibrations sent by wyre from other verses

  Skin/Hollow: animate skin of a molt able to move, talk, and share snatches of its experience with its molt

  Skinlife: living tattoos

  Skinscribe: individuals brailled with lore, walking libraries

  Slavant: an individual who "loses much" to be implanted with an ability

  Soresearer: individuals capable of "healing" by cauterizing wounds with their hands

  Stacks: An ocean verse comprised of tall pillars jutting up from the seas. Trolleys run on long ropes between them "affixed by Anchorites to airy nothing"

  Striders: "stilt-legged gray-skinned insect-lizard"s used as fast mounts, large enough to carry several riders

  Strings: worn or implanted wire devices that translate speech

  Stone Walkers: tribes that live in the cold of Origin

  Subterrane, The: inter-verse travel route accessed by Ebon via Limn

  Sunset: the verse where Aj was 'contained', formerly protected by Dynast Inro. The "Prison of Prisons" holds mad Dynasts, monsters and demons... vaults of dangerous relics.

  Sunset Legions/Vault Legions: Inro's Legions, wiped out by Aj in Sunset

  Surgon: person able to remove organs

  Swirl: A verse. "The pleasure barges of Swirl"

  Syphon: machine ConMach uses to "drain the very life" and color from a verse to "fuel... machinery"

  Tangle, The: the jungles of the One-Eighth

  Terminus: "Gates End", a verse?

  Thorn: huge, curling thorns which Valeers can use as gateways to the Vale, doorways between verses. Grow into verses over centuries

  Thrum: guide in the Black Court

  Tribunal: group of three Dynasts coming together to make ruling or pass judgment

  Twine: "one soul threaded through two bodies"

  Unkillable Swordsman: a Paragon killed by Deia long ago

  Vale: "The Place Between". A realm of high-contrast black and white full of thorns and Thorns.

  Vale Walkers: discoverers of verses

  Valeer: people capable of activating Thorns, barely functional of anything else

  Valeer's 'nail: crystals containing wafers that allow travel within the Vale to specific verses without a Valeer

  Venger: muscle man?

  Verse: a pocket universe or world

  Verser Lord/Lady: agents of an individual Dynast who rule part of a verse at the whim of their Dynast

  Vibrant: color-changing individuals from Ink?

  Watter: an energetic liquid. "Currence melts to watter. Watter's current dissipates over time, leaving water."

  Weeping Falls: Jadeye Iris flowing with waterfalls

  Wicker Way: towers of stone, wood, and rope that connect opposite far sides of Jadeye

  Wiz of Berujat: multi-minded?

  World Spear: an immense stack on Stacks

  Wretch: untouchables forced to walk on all fours, "the human refuse that cleans up the literal waste piles"

  Wretch Plague/Dynast's Plague: the flu. A horrific disease spread by Wretches.

  Wyres: lines run through the Vale between verses that allow communication between. A giant Ziggurat