The falls roared in the distance, a constant, soothing thunder. Nero and Khione walked toward the sound, their hands still linked, their steps unhurried. The city of Velden unfolded around them, a blend of glass and stone, of water and green.
The couple drawing all eyes, passed a small bridge arching over a canal, and Khione stopped to look down at the clear water, at the fish swimming lazily beneath the surface. Nero waited, watching her. The sun caught her hair, turning it silver.
They reached the first cascade. It was not the great falls, but a smaller one, a curtain of water falling from a garden wall into a stone basin. A sign nearby explained that this was one of many such cascades, built by the city's founders to bring the mountains into the heart of the city. Khione knelt and touched the water. It was cold, clean. She smiled, a rare, unguarded smile, and Nero felt something warm spread through his chest.
