Three generations had come and gone among the People since they departed their beloved homeland and set out on their voyage across the uncharted waters of the Great Western Sea. Still, after all their wandering upon the mighty waves for so many years, there were precious few who truly loved the sea. For the majority, their hearts would always belong to the solid, dry land where their ancestors had once prospered.

Evidence of their homesick detachment from their present environment could be seen in the design of their strange, ingenious sea craft, which floated on the surface of the water like small orphan islands. The smaller isles of the handmade archipelago were occupied by large single families and extended clans. However, on hundreds of superior atolls, the People had built up entire villages. Careful landscaping had perfectly reproduced the exact look of the old lands in almost every detail. The People lived in distinct dwellings made of white stone bricks and large Y-shaped arches, topped by rounded, brown tiled roofs. The style was an exact recreation of the homes of their land-loving forbearers.

The dwellings stood on earth and the cherished bluegrass that had been transplanted directly from the ground of the ancient homeland. A wide assortment of standing timber, fruit trees, shrubs, bramble, and, of course, the beautiful, fragrant blossoms and flowers that the People adored so much had been imported as well.

The master architects and gardeners of the People had designed and built an impressive series of rolling foothills, small forests, gentle streams, and peaceful meadows on the floating islands that approximated the familiar and comforting pastoral beauty of the lost land. In the center of the largest isle, which was called "Ramalou," a miniature version of Augusta, the sacred mountain peak of the People, had even been marvelously recreated.

Adding to the deception was the immense bulk of the floating islands, which made buffeting and movement underfoot by the surging waves, even in a heavy storm, almost minimal. In fact, if one stayed in the center of the largest isles, it was actually very easy to forget one was at sea at all; such was the great art of the illusion.

 

Prologue:Of the People and How the Great Voyage Began