The Monolith, Ordis Bastion

The carriage lurches over the cobblestones. Across from me, Mother is busy reading a letter and trying to make sense of it. I'm sitting up straight like she taught me, and even though my jacket and ruff are a bit too tight, I'm trying to look happy. But boredom eventually gets the better of me. I decide to lift the curtain and look out of the window to watch the streets of Arkaster pass slowly by. On the other side of the glass, I see a maze of unfamiliar canals and streets, and faces of strangers who are free to come and go as they please, unlike me. What would Mother say if I opened the door and quietly slipped out when the carriage next slowed down? She would worry, of course. And Father would confine me to my bedroom for at least a week...

I suddenly look up as we cross a busy square. Above the city looms the Monolith, a diamond of alabaster, gold and glass. That's where Father was supposed to be right now. He had promised to take me there one day to see the world from up high: the islets of the lakeside districts, the tiny pedestrians, the endless horizon... But the Sanctum library was what interested me the most. He could spend all day in his offices, but I don't think I could ever feel lonely with thousands of books around me. But each time he was ready to do it, Mother had convinced him to postpone it for another time, probably a result of her usual overprotective instincts. But I was sure I had nothing to fear in this temple of justice and knowledge, far from the messy unpredictability of the outside world, with books and collections as my only friends.