9 July, 1886 CE

Abyssinian Lowlands

Artemis lay her head on the heaving side of the elephant. The animal was a large female, eighteen or nineteen years old. The small watery eye searched frantically for the calf that had never been far from her side. The calf and the rest of the herd had fled.

Muck-North

They lay askew there in the muck—a stillness so complete you would think them dead. Silt billows up in dark, languid puffs. The body has settled on its back, not quite flat. Arms splayed, outstretched, palms to the sky; back arched, as are the feet, curling into the seabed as if grasping for purchase.