Chapter Five: The Nameless City

The woman in the red raincoat waited inside the blankness. "Stop calling me the other you," she said. "Names become locks down here." "What should I call you?" "Zero. That's what they called me." She led Shen Yao into Ebbtide Station. Travelers on the platform held glass jars. "Where are the twelve names?" Shen Yao asked. "The Shepherd doesn't keep names. It sells them to those too frightened to forget." The arriving train had no cars, only a long procession of doors. Beyond them, Lu Zhi called from the ward, his voice already as distant as someone else's dream. Zero handed her a blank nameplate. "The market accepts only exchange. Twelve names require an equal weight of belonging." "What can I trade?" "One Shen Yao."