Glossary

Trail terms, fictional places, and journal vocabulary — everything defined in one place.

Fictional entries are marked (fiction). Real-world terms are general knowledge.

Balloonist’s knot

The knot Sarella taught on the Dandelion — practiced forty times, tied in the dark. (fiction)

Cairn

A stacked-stone marker. On Little Quill, one held a forty-year-old surveyor’s tin box. Real trail cairns mark routes; don’t build new ones where they confuse navigation.

The Dimming

The Lantern Deep’s periodic event in which lanterns burn but give no light. Cause unknown, even in-story. Correct procedure: sit down, stay put, wait. (fiction)

Dandelion, the

Sarella’s balloon — “honest advertising.” Carried the Sky Islands expedition. (fiction)

Echo moss

Fictional moss of the Valley of Echoes; allegedly eats footsteps and feeds echoes. (fiction)

Field journal

The leather book with the broken clasp. Rule: write it down tonight. (fiction, but the habit is real advice)

Greytooth Hills

The hills above the Lantern Deep; site of the survey camp and the switchback descent. (fiction)

Lantern Deep, the

Crystal cavern system under the Greytooth Hills; hums in E. (fiction)

Lantern lichen

Fictional glow-lichen of the Lantern Deep; glows even during the Dimming. (fiction)

Leave no trace

Real-world outdoor ethic: pack out everything you pack in, stay on durable surfaces, leave what you find. The journals practice it; so should you.

Little Quill

Smallest of the Sky Islands; spiral grass, a cairn, a tin box. (fiction)

Marker stones

Red-painted stones at the mouth of the Valley of Echoes — the locals’ boundary, and hers. (fiction)

Mockup stream

A clearly labeled placeholder video standing in for a not-yet-connected live channel. Not a broadcast. See the stream page.

Red bandana, the

Bandage, flag, sling, sunshade, signal — and, once, her grandmother’s. The hardest-working item in the pack. (fiction)

Sky Islands, the

A chain of drifting floating islands above the clouds, reached by balloon. Mapped as a sequence, not a picture. (fiction)

Spiral grass

Fictional grass of Little Quill; every blade curls the same way. (fiction)

Surveyor, the

Unnamed predecessor; left the tin-box note: “The islands drift. Do not trust the distances, only the order.” (fiction)

Tin cup, the

For drinking, measuring, bailing (once), and as a bell (never again). (fiction)

Tuesday circuit

The Sky Islands’ slow weekly drift pattern. Order stays; distances breathe. “It’s Tuesday” explains everything, per Sarella. (fiction)

Valley of Echoes, the

A canyon that repeats your words back — late. She left a blue stone: “I listened.” (fiction)

Verdant Ledger

The fourth Sky Island; terraced cliff gardens, seed traders, Peto. (fiction)

Source notes

Fictional entries describe invented locations, items, and organisms from the original expedition journals. Real-world entries (cairn, leave no trace) are general knowledge.