Owen BieselThe Herders join the Caravan as they arc around Rutile, but the group stops short when they come to the river Vein. The river's wide, marshy banks host mossy willows standing guard and cat-tails buzzing with dragonflies — or did, the last time the Herders' orbit around the city crossed the river here. Now, the banks are scorched and lifeless, and the slow-moving water flashes with an angry iridescence. A few spry teenagers from the Caravan climb a blackened willow and call out that the flashing seems to come from a long pipe that runs down the center of the riverbed, stretching as far as they can see in both directions. Perhaps the soil contamination from the Aerogel wasn't discovered, but planned and expanded.
Not wanting to risk any people or animals, the Caravan is faced with a choice: do they head upstream back toward Rutile and the source of the Aerogel, or turn downstream into the unknown and hope for safe crossing?