A Debt of Names

The convoy arrived on the fourth day: a chain of eleven barges, the last one trailing a broken tether. Twelve hundred passengers bound for the Verge. Their captain stood in the doorway of the lantern house, dripping, and asked for full flame for eighty hours. "You understand the price," Ilse said. "I understand the price." The captain set a sealed manifest on the table. "They are paying it. They paid for passage; the line buys their excess remembrance. Every passenger signs." Aster read the mani…