My head hurts. I've overused it again.

In the end, our flight should only cover roughly a quarter of Valley's length. From here sides of the canyon floor appear dark purple to black and are dense with mostly Violet Breaker-made trees and shrubs. Some trees within the city, or edging the outskirts, don't discard their leaves even now during the days of late autumn.

The snake slows down our flight, for a few breaths at least, and I smell the wispy hints of dry crispy spicy aroma coming from the soil far below.

I've never ridden a Winged before and my heart, naturally, wishes to leap out of its cage. A little smile sneaks up on me, and immediately I feel guilty for some reason. The view offers a welcome distraction as I glance at scores of scarcely noticed bridleways. They remain mostly unused, but for a crystalborn rider or two—throwing dirt and dust far ahead of us.

Below and to my left, one of the four tentacular waterways converges with the outskirts of the city. Starting high at the sides of the cliffs and then feather-gently descending, the four large waterways diagonally converge towards Lodestar with each ending its long journey at the tallest four mosses in the outskirts. Extensive waterways provide water for most of the mosses, baths, fountains, senatorial villas, and for a decent chunk of well-off people while wells and sprawling underground cisterns, with creamy lime-plastered stone vaulting, provide the drinking water for the majority of city folk. I've read too much useless nonsense.

The plentiful water never stops flowing.

This waterway to my left is the southeastern one and is quite pleasing to the eye. A nimble succession of continuous arches forms the white arcade with the channel crowning the top.

The Valley is no different from Lodestar when it comes to thirst. An extensive network of irrigation canals—sometimes hugged by hamlets—carries the lifeblood needed to feed its purple heart. The biggest ones are used for coal transport from further south, the ocean's bounty from the north, and carrying supplies. The largest and strongest Gray-made water familiars sometimes pull narrow transport ships and boats.

All the canals in the Valley completely rely on the only two rivers in it. At least I think they are rivers, they might be giant channels or something. Anyway, these two river-channels are at the bottom of the cliffs, basically marking the eastern and western border of the long valley.

My mom once said the water in the Valley is so plentiful that some farmers living in one of the small settlements scarcely doting the canyon floor use it to wash their cattle with buckets.

''Hold on girl.'' Aleera's voice is half-diminished by the wind hitting my ears. She gently pulls on the reins for a few breaths. The winged snake lowers our height for just a fraction of its body length, and, as my grip on the saddle horn increases, I question my earlier confidence.