Survival Guide

Taped inside her satchel lid, memorized by every runner who survives a year. The courier's rules, in her order.

Fictional field guide

1. The parcel moves

Everything else is negotiable: your route, your sleep, your pride. The parcel is the job. The job is the reason the stations feed you.

2. Never open a parcel

Not yours, not your business. Curiosity has killed more couriers than Dustjackals.

3. Water first, always

Drink at stations. Half a canteen on the road means turn back. The Cistern Keepers didn’t make the rule; the desert did.

4. Read the dust

Wind shift, ash smell, boot-print age — the ground tells you what’s coming. Goggles on when the dust rises. No debate.

5. Trust the route, not the shortcut

Shortcuts are where ambushes live. The long way is the fast way if the short way kills you.

6. Leave before the thank-yous

Gratitude is heavy and you’ve got a weight limit. Kindness accepted at a distance keeps everyone safer.

7. One fire, one question

At a shared campfire, answer one personal question per night. It keeps you human without making you readable.

8. Guarded isn’t cold

Guarded is alive. Walls keep the dust out. Doors let the right people in — Pip, Halloway, Moth. Choose the doors carefully.

World notes

This guide is fictional, set in Mia Rowan’s fictional world. All artwork is AI-generated dramatization art. See About This World.