Written at the end of my sophomore year for a speculative fiction course. The world came first — floating islands, a society below the sea, a small team of pseudo-guardians called Keepers — and the story followed. I've included my original author's note at the end, which explains the structural choices more honestly than I could now. I'll only add this: "Cobalt and calm, it resumed its activities with no second thought" remains one of my favorite sentences. It's perfectly tee
