Isles of the Emberdark

by Brandon Sanderson

“What is that?” Dusk asked, nodding to the thing she took from her pocket. It rested in her palm like the shell of a clam, but had a mirrorlike face on the top. “It is a machine,” she said. “Like a clock, only it never needs to be wound, and it…shows things.” “What things?” “Well, it translates languages. Ours into that of the Ones Above. It also…shows the locations of Aviar.” “What?” “It’s like a map,” she said. “It points the way to Aviar.” “That’s how you found my camp.” “Yes.” She rubbed her thumb across the machine’s surface. “We aren’t supposed to have this. One of their emissaries left it—and a few other things—behind by accident. They can make mistakes, stupid ones. He later returned, searching for his machines, and we will have to return them soon. But this device tells us what they are after: the Aviar. The Ones Above are always fascinated with them. They want to trade for the birds, in a way their laws allow. They hint that we might not be safe, that not everyone Above follows their laws, that we should accept their protections.”