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Author's Note:

WARNING! This is mostly a first draft (for NaNoWriMo), so please set your expectations accordingly.

I will try to update this daily, and my goal is maybe a short chapter per day.

Finally, Please Note that most of the names will be placeholders that are easy to type at 3am in the dark (for example Sara, Tess, Rax, Reza, Fraw, Zets, etc. can all be typed with one hand!). In addition to some concepts peculiar to this world (makers, movers, pushers, etc.) these will eventually be replaced with super duper fancy conlang words that I will totally make. One day. Honest.

Thanks for taking the time to check the story out!

EDIT (11/11): I got sick one day and for a break started drawing a map of the docks. Still in progress, but you get the idea. Based on a map of Liverpool from the 1890s.

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Sara stood on the overlapping edges of two worlds. In front of her stretched the Bay of Minserta. Light sailing crafts skittered aimlessly across the Bay between her and the Southern seawall, barely visible above the waves. Beyond the seawall was the Great Ocean, a world with few inhabitants. A world Sara slowly realized she would probably be happier in. In the other direction was the Great City of Minserta, Western Capital of the Koss Empire, nestled in a Valley between two large peaks. Sara already knew, the Empire was not a world she was interested in being a part of.

The weathered planks of the Salthouse Docks actually reached out over the waters of the Bay, offering a briny aroma from the sea mixing with the stench of rotting seaweed. Square holes in the dock called 'Pits' marked regular intervals along the waterfront. The pits had stone walls with channels near their base to allow the waters of the Bay to infiltrate. The pits were used to temporarily freeze and store different catches being brought into the harbor.

A pit was typically filled with fish up to the Bay's water level before the fish and seawater were frozen, using magik. Then the pit was filled again with fish, this time to the brim. A spigot located next to the pit would be opened, allowing more water to fill the pit completely. The top half of fish would then be frozen. Depending on which pits and which fish, wood spacers could be inserted into the pit, seperating the pit into smaller roughly equal sized squares. Each square would also have a chain hung into it from pulleys fastened overhead. When the fish were ready to be moved, the chains would pull up the long rectangular blocks of ice and fish.

The irregular rhythm of waves slapping against the under-structure of the Docks mixed with the cries of the gulls overhead as Sara approached one of thepits she had been assigned to keep frozen. She lifted up the soiled and weathered tarp to reveal a solid block of fish-filled ice underneath. Yup, still frozen. Sara cooled the pit a little more, to ensure it stayed solid until her next round. The Autumn sun was finally burning off the morning fog still lingering around the Southern Docks, and Sara preferred to take a relaxed pace on her rounds.

Sara was halfway through her shift when she noticed Lama approaching. What does she want this time?

"Sara!" She called as she approached.

"Lama! What are you doing here?" I thought you were in charge of the Salthouse." Sara was the only Mover assigned to to the pits in the area, but there were two other Movers at the Salthouse Docks, Lama and Rosk.

"I am, but there we had an unscheduled drop-off, we need you back at the Salthouse."

Sara frowned. I don't remember seeing a ship come in. "What kind of drop-off?"

"Fish! What else would it be?"

Sara sighed. "Right. But I only have half a charge left on this rod. Is this coming from Derret?"

"Derret's busy with a bottle. It's just me and Rosk, and we're both low on charge." If Derret really was gone then Lama was technically in charge. "Your holes feel pretty solid to me, so let's go!" Lama said.

This is why I hate having people around. Sara knew Lama was right about her pools, they would probably stay frozen the rest of the day, but Sara was not eager to leave her pits unattended. "I don't know Lama-"

"Here." Lama unhosltered her rod and held it out to Sara. "We can trade if you'd rather stay here."

Sara shied away from the rod, knowing it was dangerous to touch while Lama still held it. Movers and Makers naturally 'link' when they are in contact with one another, and Sara was a rare combination of Mover and Maker. Lama would very quickly know what she is, and Sara was not sure she trusted Lama. There is just something off about her. Lama reached out and poked her ribs with rod. "Hey!" Sara said, knocking away the rod before a link could form.

"Whoa. Come on, Sara, fish are rotting as we speak."

Sara seached Lama's face to see if she had noticed anything during the brief contact, but to Sara she just looked impatient. "Fine." Sara said, eyeing the rod warily. "I'll check the new catch."

Sara consoled herself as she tried to keep up with Lama. Only a few more days of dealing with Lama, before I can afford a new rod, and try for better jobs in the city. Movers were not high in demand at the moment, especially lower level Movers like Sara, since it took a Mover and a Maker to make magik work. With the army having forcibly recruited so many Makers in the empire, there was a larger imbalance than normal, which meant many Movers turned to Rods instead. Rods still needed to be charged though, and having a Maker around was still the easiest way to charge rods. Rods could also be charged a few other ways, which is why Sara had taken the job at the docks. The companies at the docks occasionally commissioned boats to drag rods through the ocean, which slowly recharged them. It typically took a few days of dragging to get a reasonable charge, but it was much cheaper than the prices Makers were charging in the city.

Large flies buzzed an angy warning at Sara as she peeled back the tarp and looked at the pit Lama indicated, filled with fish. The wood spacers were not in, and a few suffocating fish flopped and gasped at the top of the heap. I know exactly how you feel little fish. Trapped. In a Box. Sara knelt down and touched the stones at the rim, ignoring the plight of the fish. "No spacer boards, and looks like the top level of water has not been added. And the bottom isn't even frozen Lama! Who was here when this was filled?"

"Ugh, just get it frozen Sara." Lama turned and walked away.

Sara gripped her rod, debating blasting Lama in the back as she walked back to the office, but instead rechanneled her fury to solving the problem. She turned the spigot with a little too much force, jamming it as far open as it would go. Sara knew she did not have enough magik to freeze even half the pit using standard cooling techniques. There were other ways to cool, but they took much longer. She looked around and sat down next to the pit. This will take a while.

She leaned on one hand while she took her magik rod out of its holster on her thigh with the other hand. The feel of the wood under her hand reminded Sara of the Box. I will not go back! It was not a pleasant memory, but it distracted her from Lama long enough to refocus her mind on the problem.

Sara's strength was shields. There was quite a bit that could be done with different types of shields, but her secret was the lace shield. She was not sure if it had a technical name, but that is what it looked like to her, a delicate latticework of interconnected nodes of energy. If she made it fine enough, it almost appeared as a normal shield. The shield itself gained different properties based on what type of lattice she set up, and she focused to create the finest latticework she could. She was not a strong magiker not since the army had burned her out and left her for dead, so she worked the shield one strand at a time, slowly weaving them like a complex weave.

The tarp twitched suddenly, breaking Sara's concentration, and she lost the shield before it could be stabilized. "Smelly fish." Sara assumed it was just another fish making a last attempt at escape but then the tarp moved again, and Sara could definitely see something moving towards the edge. Sara cautiously lifted the corner of the tarp to reveal a turtle that had crawled out of the pile of fish, and had worked itself up onto the rim of the pit. Sara reached under and picked the turtle up, who promptly took shelter inside its shell. "What do we have here?" Sara looked for its head, but it had retreated too far into itself. Turtles were good luck for some gods, so Sara gently moved the turtle to the edge of the dock, assuming it could find its way home from there, and went back to the pit. She removed the tarp so there would be no more surprises, and started working on her shield again.

The shield quickly took shape as the gulls circled overhead, looking for an opening to swooping down and steal a lunch. Sara kept compressing the shield tighter and tighter. She had found that once the lattice shield got dense enough, odd things happened with heat. She kept weaving her shield until the pit had filled with water, keeping the shield between the gulls and the fish. As she jammed the spigot back off she lowered the shield onto the pile. She could feel the lattice sucking the heat out of the pit as soon as it touched. Steam quickly began rising from the top, an anemic imitation of the fog that had covered the Docks that morning. It is working! She checked her magik levels, and found it was not consuming much magik at all.

Sara's pride in her accomplishment did not last long however, as she noticed the top of the pit was getting colder much faster than the rest. She pushed some magik under the shield, trying to stir the heat up from lower in the fish pile to stop an ice barrier from forming over the top. She checked her magik levels again. It might just be enough to get it solid.

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The light was fading fast over the timberyards when Sara saw Lama approaching again. Sara could feel the cracks in her rod worsening as she pulled the last scraps of magik from it to keep the shield up. "Did you get it frozen?" Lama asked when she was near.

Sara looked down proudly at the pit. The top was frozen solid, but she could feel that the lower portion was definitely still slushy. "Close enough." Very close, considering how much charge I started with!

Lama knelt down and put a hand on the stones. "Hm. Not quite a full freeze. How much charge do you have left?"

"Crakin' dry." Sara said, not even bothering to check the rod she had already reholstered.

"Well, good job finishing then. Since Derret is still gone, I think I can authorize a...small bonus. Meet me in the office." Lama said. Lama wants to give me a bonus?

Sara struggled standing up. She realized the shadows were long across the Docks, sky already starting to turn orange. That took half the day! Lama was already heading back to the office by the time Sara got to her feet and she had to shuffle to catch up.