“The envoys reached the Coastal Ridge at sunset. Old Drongo made a semicircle over a rock that looked like a curved beak and landed smoothly on a ledge. Peregrine Falcon and Kingfisher landed on the rocks at a distance. From the sea side, the ridge was steep, and therefore impregnable. However, on the landward side, the mountain slopes gently descended into the lowlands. This meant that the Celestials were not allowed to live on the Coastal Ridge: it would not have been difficult for the Celestials to take the nesting sites by storm. Sapsan, squinting, peered at the village of the plainsmen clinging to the foot of the cliff. Ugly, cramped dwellings to match the inhabitants. There are crooked passages between them, slush and dirt. Several larger buildings are where the plainsmen gather together if an important decision needs to be made - for example, when to harvest in order to pay tribute to the watermen, and how much to save so as not to die of hunger...”