In the darkness, the mountain looked like one endless shadow through which she moved, a shadow herself. A shade. A ghost. She didn't doubt she was climbing to her death. Koel had been confident: he was special, an exception, a hero, a superior person. The normal arrogance of a smart and talented young man, a man whose engineering had created a new system of supply lifts between ledge towns. He’d made them all better, more comfortable. A hero.