The bridge had stood for a thousand years, Pere Aule taught in Remembrance. Shuri believed it, but cared little. The gorge, carved deeply into the mountain that towered over Vale, called to her with the voice of the Elementals.
Pera Leilin urged in Admonitions that the gorge was forbidden, that the wars that destroyed the Elementals had left it tainted and unsafe for mere Souls. Shuri chanted the Admonitions with due solemnity, but when she stood on the bridge and heard the song whispering in the wind the water, she did not believe it. Taint was not beautiful, she was sure.
The golden sky behind her lit the stone far into the gorge, setting a flame to the darkness, revealing a point of profound shade untouched by the brightest sunset. It frightened her, yet summoned her. Without thought she grasped the branch of the twisted and ancient trunk supporting the weight of the bridge and carefully followed it to the black sand below. In a moment she stood breathless before the chasm, a portal to what world she hardly dared guess. The earth trembled beneath her feet, the still river surged to meet her, and a sigh tickled the hair at her ear. She shivered and stepped forward, unaware of all but one astounding thought. The Elementals remained.
The Word Worker 