The Illumination of the Siann Dha
Tass. Igracio. Afa. Xylo.
Four individuals that have been living on the fringes of Gannoir, a world where up is down and down is up. Eleven-year-old Tass was relinquished by her parents when it became apparent that she was one of the Mayim, the water caste. Igracio, age 15, was casted Mayim late in life and sent to the Calix against his will. Neither headstrong Tass nor gentle Igracio could have predicted the forces that would intervene to change the course of their lives.
Bitter and brittle Afa has lost her daughter, 22-year-old Mailu, just as elderly soil-miner Xylo has lost his son, Case. Case and Mailu were sent on a secret mission for the Elders two years earlier. Now word has come that a third member of their team has been killed and it's up to Xylo and Afa to find out what happened.
The two threads of the story come together in a way that could change Gannoir forever.
Justice is all Xylo craves. His enemy has escaped into the unknown, taking nearly 40 others aboard the skyboulder—among them, the grandchildren Xylo never knew he had. Determined to bring his enemy back to face the consequences of the destruction he's wrought, Xylo embarks on a mission that will lead him to the unexpected—for better or for worse.
Twelve-year-old Tass has never felt more alone. Her only friend is dead, and her sister—whether alive or lost forever, she doesn’t know—has vanished aboard the skyboulder. Desperate to find her, Tass faces a perilous journey, torn between saving her sister and losing herself along the way. Can she survive the search without sacrificing her life... or her soul?
Talag has always been an outsider. When his grandfather chose him to board the skyboulder, one of the few selected to create a new world, Talag was left confused and out of place. Now, with his unlikely companion—an elderly, intellectually disabled man named Dynny—Talag must confront his family’s dark secrets and his own role in their legacy. As dangers mount, can he and Dynny find a way to save themselves before it’s too late?
After the long-awaited yet disastrous return of the skyboulder, the Triads retreat to Cudth Deorth to recover—though Pax, Laetu, and Kari remain missing, and Tass lies insensible, her siblings desperate for her healing.
But peace is fleeting. The elders of Luca have placed Xylo at the top of their kill list, and unless the Triads act quickly, he faces capture—or the spark of a war that could consume both realms. Rumors swirl that the passageways between Luca and Garradh Gannoir will soon be sealed, shattering any hope of unity between the two civilizations.
And though the Triads manage to recover Mailu, it is only her coffin they bring back—her body lifeless inside, yet her swelling belly a haunting sign that not all life has been extinguished.