Drifting across the perfectly still surface of the water, the battered ketch slowly gained distance from the swirling wall of the dark mist. The raging winds died down, then disappeared altogether. A strange silence settled upon the world, as if they were caught in a gap between two moments.
Only the subtle ripples that spread through the radiant mirror of the frozen river's surface by the bow of the ketch showed that this hidden sanctuary was not entirely, and eternally, unchanging.
Sunny fell back and leaned tiredly on the side of the wooden boat. Breathing heavily, he looked at Nephis, then at Ananke. The silence was too sweet to break it with the sound of human voices. He was too exhausted to speak, as well… for a while, all three of them remained motionless, trying to recover from the torturous fury of the howling storm.
'We'll have to dive back into that hell, eventually.'
