“If what we're saying turns out to be true… the city will come and the horrible things my father predicted…”

Sely sighs, she doesn't understand the direction the conversation has taken. She is soaking her feet in the cold water, on the beach below Vanoge. Her boots are discarded in the sand, next to her backpack.

There are some engraved boulders here and there, some grass beds.

So, this is the Vanoge cemetery.

The salty smell, the dark sky. It's such a melancholy place…

Filo took her there to talk in peace.

There are no humans around. According to Filo, no one comes down except for a funeral.

“Well… by the way, I wanted to ask you. Why does the mayor want to send us to talk to spiders?” Filo is tinkering with an old shovel, re-leveling the ground of a grave.

Sely doesn't understand what that effort is for. Evidently, it is part of his duties.

“Because a flying city is coming.”

Filo stops leveling the ground and leans on the shovel. “What do you mean?”

“I mean the mayor and my father fear that Vanoge will be destroyed.”

“No, wait, wait. What is a flying city? Why does it have to do with spiders?”

Sely shakes her head. “I don't know much about it either. In the Silver Chronicles, there is not much talk about what happened before our descent. Before Selenia.”

“Oh, so it's something very old?”

“Yes, flying cities are the last heyday of your species.”

The boy nods. “So, it's like an impossible event? I mean, they shouldn't exist anymore but you tell us that they exist?”

“More or less, actually yes. You're right, that's how it is.”

“But I don't understand what spiders are about and keeping it hidden and…”

Sely shakes her head. “I don't know, not exactly. But dad, and I think also the mayor, fear a disproportionate reaction from the Marquise of Diamonds.”

Filo turns pale and rolls his eyes. “Oh, no… oh, of course… it's terrible. Terrible! Now everything makes sense!”

“What makes sense?”

“But don't you understand? The Marquise of Diamonds is the ruler of this land! Thanks to Toslevi, many years ago, when I was little, an agreement was made with spiders. They betrayed the marquise; they chose to help Vanoge!”

Filo approaches Sely and takes her by the shoulders.

His pungent smell disturbs the girl who tries to ignore it.

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“But I don't understand one thing.”

“Why should the city change the balance?”

“Yeah, well, if the Marquise wanted to attack… why wait for the pretext of a flying city?”

“For fear.”

Filo shakes Sely. "In what sense? She is one of the Hive Monoliths, one of the most powerful creatures in the world. She has lived for centuries, she lives… ”

It stops.

He turns pale.

You understand, right?

“Exactly. You got the point, at least in my dad's words.”

“You will fear that this is a second coming of humanity. She fought humans, she knows what my ancestors were capable of. Ganivre will destroy Vanoge to prevent it from becoming an enemy outpost!”

Sely breaks free and clasps Filo's hands between hers.

She nods.

This is the conclusion she also reached.

“But…” Sely rests her forehead on Filo's hands, “I don't understand what you concluded…”

The boy frees himself and steps back slightly. He has regained his color and seems slightly embarrassed.

“H-here… you should know that in the city not all families love the mayor.”

“Well, with her ways... I don't understand you; she treats you badly too!”

“Yes, it's true. But she does it to manage a community, she has been successful in her aim for many years, I can't blame her for her ways.”

“Okay, so there are people who would like to depose her?”

Filo nods and traces an arc in the sand with his foot.

“To tell it like it is, a lot of people hate spiders. Spiders demand heavy tributes in exchange for safety. Everyone has forgotten the Marquise's tributes... I was little, but I still remember when she took my family...”

Filo twitches his mouth.

“But never mind… what I mean is, this is the golden opportunity for these people. They kill Toslevi and prevent negotiations with the spiders. The city arrives, the attack of the marquise... perhaps they think they can escape in the chaos... I don't know anything about these political things, I'm an undertaker.”

Sely shakes her head.

“No, you are an excellent mind. If only I had told you everything right away… we wouldn't have wasted the day.”

“Yes, but now? We don't know who killed your father and...”

“…following the path prepared by Folfo's collaborators is a risk. They could ambush us.”

“So?”

Sely starts fumbling with her backpack. She takes several smooth flakes out of it.

“But-but those…?”

“Coins. Hold Filo. Buy the essentials for the trip. Do you know how to go to the Spider King?”

“Eh…?”

“Can you get there yes, or no?”

Filo holds the scales against the light, one by one. His face is incredulous at him.

“Yes. As an undertaker, My duty... Is to bring certain donations to the king.”

There is something bitter in his tone.

The king of spiders eats people… that would also explain Endya's fears towards me.

“Well. So, let's leave tonight.”

“Huh!? But tonight, there is the festival, it is a sacred moment and...”

“In the Silver Chronicles, there is no trace of these heresies. Stop. Besides, the earlier we leave, the more likely we are to avoid an ambush.”

Yep, that's how it is Filo.

I'm sorry about your festival, but I'm also doing it for your good.

I've seen how they treat you in town, maybe you don't believe it but they'll make you end up like dad.

I feel that.

Oh, Endya… I hope you…

Filo sighs.

“Okay, I'll go get what I need. It's a couple of days trip. Wait for me here, no one will come by anyway.”

“Haha, good!”

Sely greets Filo who takes the uphill road towards the city.

At that point, she turns around and takes a deep breath of salty air.

I hope everything goes well…

Dad, Mom, I'm scared.

I'm afraid I've gotten myself into something terrible.