Cairnspire leaned far enough for the fish dish to slide across the shelf.
Aylin caught it with her boot. The warm shells beside Jiang shifted next, scraping over the cloth until she trapped them against the wall with one hand.
Outside, the command ship's chain drew straight through the black water.
Its hooked head had buried itself inside Cairnspire's lowest dead star. Each pull turned the pale core in its cradle and dragged every bridge above it toward the outer dark.
Vessa climbed onto the broken rune-mast base with the borrowed hammer between her teeth.
Above her hung Cairnspire's neutral beacon, a white shell cage that had faced every passing guild with its doors open. The chain passed beneath its mooring ropes.
Vessa took the hammer in both hands.
"Close your own doors if you want them," she shouted toward the upper banners. "This one is finished."
She struck the beacon's main pin.
