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always been a feature of the land – but the university had performed studies on its composition, finding it similar to the concrete and mortar used by some of the larger buildings in Centara.  At the length and width of a field, however, it seemed a perfect anchor-point for another aerock but due to its location on the leading end, any aerock attached to the Ledge would crash into Centara.
    Rika and Tayu joined Devan, heading directly to the Ledge.
    “What did you bring?” Rika asked as Tayu unshouldered his rucksack.
    “Rug.”
    “Naturally.”
    “Mugs.”
    “To drink?”
    “A cask of wine.  Boar’s Head, bin fifteen.”
    “Oh, lovely.”
    “Bread, veined cheese.”
    “Delicious.”
    “That’s it.”  Tayu laid out the food on the rug, which Rika had thoughtfully placed some ways from the actual edge of the aerock.
    “What about you, Devan?” Rika said.
    He smiled and produced four bricks.  Devan knelt and placed them at each corner of the rug.  With the constant headwind that arose from sitting at the leading end of the aerock, the weighted rug was a necessity.
    “Someone’s thinking,” Rika said.
    “Hey!”  Tayu frowned.
    Devan laughed.  “Also, smoked lamprey, fried yam biscuits and shredded beef cheek.”
    “How did you score all that?” Tayu asked.
    “I pulled in some favours at the barracks.”
    Devan laid out the food in the wooden bowls as his friends settled in.  Tayu poured the wine as Rika produced a fresh vegetable mix and a tapioca teacake.
    They held up their ceramic mugs.  “What are we drinking to?”
    “To discoveries!” Tayu said.
    “The starfall knight,” Rika said.
    “To discoveries.”  Devan clanked his mug against the others.
    They drank and started on the food.  Rika broke off some bread and meat, saying, “So, tell us more.  What did the professors say?”
    “Don’t bother,” Tayu said.  “I’ve already tried.  It’s secret ranger business.”
    “How dull.”  Rika gesticulated with a shard of crust.  “If Tayu weren’t here, you’d tell me, right?”
    “Of course.”  Devan shrugged.  “Then again, we all have secrets, don’t we, Tayu?”
    “What?”  Tayu gaped with a mouth full of cheese.
    “I don’t think I’ve ever seen an andonite vein or a working transfer system.”
    “But it’s dangerous!”  Tayu chewed and swallowed his food.  With a clearer voice, he continued, “Hardly anyone outside the miners or venting teams are allowed in.  Moons above, most miners don’t hang around them if they don’t have to.”
    “What’s it like?” Rika asked.
    Tayu shrugged.  “Just imagine the Rose of Andon.  The andonite veins are exposed, cleared of rock and other debris.  The hammer systems are laid over the top with the water or air pipes.  It’s boring.”
    “Unless something goes wrong,” Devan said.
    “Well, sure.  If something goes wrong, it’s not boring, it’s life-threatening.”
    Devan munched on a lamprey and washed it down with a gulp of the wine.  The constant headwind didn’t seem as strong; perhaps Centara had hit a flow of air pushing in the same direction.  A pair of hawks circled overhead, likely hunting for prey in the wooded foothills around them.
    “Do you wonder what they see?” Rika said.
    “Birds?” Devan asked.  “Probably not much more than we do.”
    “But they can fly.”
    “So are we, in a way.”
    “Between aerocks?”
    “Only longwings can do that,” Tayu said.
    “So,” Rika said, “a longwing might’ve seen the knight fall from the sky.”  She drank some wine and lay back on an elbow.  “If it hadn’t struck Saruwa, we’d never have found it.”
    “Perhaps a skyfisher might’ve caught it,” Tayu said.
    Devan snorted.  “I doubt it.  The area of a net compared to the area of Centara is tiny.  And remember when the eastern nets broke?”
    “What a mess.”  Tayu nodded, swirling his mug around.  “The booms slammed into the under-earth, dislodged the