Happy Sunday and welcome back to the next section of the Ledge Readalong! Things have really gotten interesting in these chapters, huh? It seems there’s more to the Kingdom of Terrsaw than we thought! Catch up with us and share your thoughts and comments down below. ❄️

🪓 Beware of spoilers down below if you haven’t read the section! You have been warned…🪓

!! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD !!

This section begins with Dawsyn and Ryon nearing the end of their journey down the mountain. Dawsyn is tired and weary, but she is interested in the new sights and sensations: the way the snow melts and glistens in the sun, the way the air is thicker further down the mountain and running water. She asks about the people of the Valley and learns that they know of the people on the Ledge. They leave offerings for them at various shrines around the Kingdom, which is called Terrsaw.

Ryon asks her about her life on the Ledge and she tells him about Hector and that despite being his sometime-lover, she loves him mostly platonically. Ryon fills her in on his life growing up and they find a similarity: they have never shared romantic love with another.

Dawsyn attempts to distract herself from her weariness but she succumbs to it, fainting in the middle of the conversation with Ryon. When she comes to again, she is being carried by Ryon, who then tells her that since nobody is likely to follow after them this close to the Valley, it’ll be easier for them to fly the rest of the way down. Initially, Dawsyn rejects the idea, but she realises that she will not be able to make it down the rest of the way to the Valley in the state she is in and relents.

Ryon asks for her axe and it seems that Dawsyn will hand it over to him (wiiiiith a huge amount of reluctance of course). When he goes to take it from her, she flips it so the blade is in his skin and makes him bleed. She warns him that she will not surrender to him or any of the Glacian’s.

Unperturbed by her animosity towards him, Ryon still carries Dawsyn. They shoot up into the sky, where Dawsyn is initially fearful of the height and clings onto him. Soon, she’s able to open her eyes and see the changing landscape; the trees with leaves that change colour from yellow, to red, and orange, the patches of green hidden underneath the snow. She also questions her attraction to Ryon.

When they land, the two walk through the Fallen Village, where Dawsyn considers the land of her ancestors. Here is the place the Glacian’s took them from those years ago, to drop the people on the Ledge. The land is rotten and lays in ruins of the past, and Dawsyn thinks about how life must have been before the people were taken away. There is the smell of death in the Fallen Village, and she is it’s descendant.

Dawsyn is deliriously tired for the rest of the journey, relying on Ryon to drag her to an inn. He puts her to bed and she sleeps dreamlessly. When she comes to, Ryon is there with a bowl of food and drink, which Dawsyn devours ravenously. He explains that they are at the outskirts of Terrsaw at a place called Salem’s inn, and though Salem and a few other’s know that Ryon is a Glacian, the rest do not and will not take kindly to having his secret exposed.

Dawsyn is annoyed to find that Ryon has taken care of her while she slept. He cleaned her feet, hands and face, fed her and now treats her with a sharp armed kindness. He teaches her what money is, and gives her a few coins. The attraction between the two is reaches it’s newest peak, and she does not like it.

We switch back to Ryon’s POV. He is at the bar, thinking about Dawsyn and the possibility of her leaving. For some reason, it seems to fill him with anxiety. Then we meet Salem, a man that is not much older than Ryon and seems to know him well. He asks about Dawsyn and Ryon explains that she is from the Ledge. Salem is awed by this fact and is sure that the rest of the Kingdom will treat Dawsyn like a lost princess. Ryon tells him they will not be telling anyone else.

Dawsyn wanders into the bar room, hesitant and wary. She is greeted by Salem and when she offers him the money Ryon gave her, he rejects it, instead offering her bed and board. for as long as she needs it. The components of the meal are foreign to Dawsyn, who has never seen fruit that was fresh, but she eats. Ryon watches her, noting that though she is clearly overwhelmed, she is adapting very well.

There is a slam and everyone jumps; Dawsyn stands with her hands on her thigh, poised for a fight. Into the bar walks Esra, who loudly insults her appearance but is, well, pretty much gagged when he realises she’s from the Ledge. The two are fast friends, and Esra whisks her away to the room he’s claimed for himself to dress her up in something better.

Ryon helps Salem clear the food and the table. When Dawsyn and Esra return, he is arrested by her appearance, noticing the bulge where her axe lays hidden beneath her skirts. Dawsyn thanks the three of them for their hospitality, and thanks Ryon for bringing her to the inn. She makes to go.

Ryon cannot bear to watch her leave: he stands suddenly, and chases her out of the inn.

Dawsyn is marching away, afraid and disoriented this far below the Ledge. She hears Ryon call her name and turns to him. When he proposes she stay, she is perturbed. Eventually, he offers to follow her, and they resolve that he will take her to the Mecca, which is the castle town of Terrsaw. The two continue their journey and Ryon notices her hesitancy. He asks, and she tells him that she is not used to the environment. He tells her to give it time.

During their journey, Ryon relays his plan to tear Glacia to the ground. Dawsyn admonishes his foolishness to think he can do it all alone. The two of them walk for hours, until they get to a high spot. From there, Dawsyn sees the Mecca for the first time and is shocked by how packed and large it is, the size of the buildings and the castle in the distance that seems to loom over everything.

Ryon tells her of the two Queens, Alvira and her wife Cressida, who reside in the castle and hate the Glacian’s. Dawsyn is worried that they will be able to tell she is not of the Valley but from the Ledge but he comforts her and lets her know that these are as much her people as the people on the Ledge are.

The closer they get to the Mecca, the more populated it becomes. Dawsyn drinks in the sights and differences from the Ledge: the children are well fed and playing, the cobblestones are under her feet and people are loud and grifting. Ryon hands her a coin and she buys a baked good and tastes it, the butter and sugar her grandmother told her about no longer a myth to her tastebuds.

She leads them to the palace even when Ryon protests it’s danger. Dawsyn wonders how far he will follow her and makes a break to the castle doors.

Ryon watches as she knocks on the doors and demands an audience with the Queen’s. The guard denies her, and she incapacitates him, but not before he is able to call for more. Ryon finds the two of them in a kerfuffle before he announces that Dawsyn has escaped from the Ledge. He uses her surname, Sabar, to prove it.

The guards are willing to drag Dawsyn before the Queen’s, but Dawsyn no longer wants to be held. She starts another fight in which Ryon finds himself weary, but they are stopped by the arrival of one of the Queen’s, Alvira, who is shocked to see an escapee from the Ledge. She grants an audience with her wife, Queen Cressida. The two of them are shocked when they realise how she physically and behaviourally favours her grandmother, Valma Sabar.

Ryon and the rest of the court listen as Dawsyn tells the tale of her escape, thankfully leaving his involvement out until she gets to Salem’s Inn, where she says he was kind enough to help her to the palace. The Queen’s are wary of him, aware of the differences in his stature from a human.

After hearing her tale, the Queen’s offer Dawsyn an apology and show her the monument erected to mourn the lost people taken to the Ledge. They tell her of the rescue attempts at the beginning and how they came to stop as they were too powerless against the Glacian’s; Ryon questions this as he’s never heard about the Glacian’s fighting the humans, but he quickly dismisses it. The Queen’s offer Dawsyn a room in the palace and a parade in Terrsaw, both of which she declines. She and Ryon leave the palace.

Dawsyn is once again overwhelmed by the new information she’s learned, and Ryon takes her into another, busier bar. He gets her a drink, and then another. Dawsyn quickly becomes drunk, snaking drinks from the . When Ryon frets over her, she demands he stop, and also confronts their growing attraction for one another, voicing it out loud for the first time.

The two of them bicker, with Dawsyn using his obvious attraction to her to goad Ryon into touching her. Emboldened by the drink, she falls forward and is caught by him. She leans and the two of them share their first kiss.

It is heated, passionate and also quickly over. Having had too much to drink, Dawsyn falls and loses her bearings. She comes too in Ryon’s arms and though she asks him to let her go, she is initially unable to carry her strength. He lets her go after they speak of the stars.

Ryon is furious and demands she never does what she did in the bar again. In an attempt to rile him up further, Dawsyn asks him if he’s scared of her. He tells her that if she does it again, he will bury himself in her 🤭

Whew! What a section! Dawsyn and Ryon’s attraction has come to a head and they’ve FINALLY shared a smooch. So much has happened and we’ve learned many things – but there’s still a ways to go!

1. What do you think of the relationship between Ryon and Salem, and how Salem and Esra receive Dawsyn?

2. How do you think it makes Dawsyn feel to be so revered in the valley when she suffered on the Ledge?

3. Dawsyn and Ryon have now shared their first kiss. How do you think the relationship between them will continue to change?