The downpour had just let up, and pools of murky water of varying depths still lingered in the lanes of the Dock District.
The narrow alleys had been soaked into a muddy mess. Water stains climbed waist-high on the stone walls on either side, while the moss at their bases, saturated with rain, glistened a damp, dark green.
The air was thick with the smell of damp and decay, mingled with a faint briny tang on the sea breeze. Occasionally, a gull flapped over the rooftops, scattering a few lingering drops of rain.
Ever since Renato returned from the banquet at the Governor's Mansion, a dense, unbroken blanket of dark clouds had shrouded the skies over White Harbor island. Amid flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, rain had fallen for two full days, its fat drops hammering the roofs and streets and throwing up a gray-white mist.
The entire island seemed submerged in a gloomy curtain of water. Even the horizon beyond the distant bay had blurred into a shapeless haze.
Even inside the sturdy, upscale inn, the howl of fierce winds driving sheets of rain against the windows had penetrated the thick stone walls and echoed endlessly in Renato's ears.
Rain blurred the glass, and the candle flames trembled in the wind, as though this unparalleled fury of nature might swallow them at any moment.
Renato remembered standing at the window himself, gazing into the boundless rain in a daze.
The sea was different from the land, after all. Its storms were like Talos's senseless rage, threatening to tear heaven and earth apart.
In weather this foul, even a Sea Elf who had spent years living beneath the waves knew better than to venture outside. For those two days, Selina had shut herself in her room, holding the