The Bronze Walls

The defining feature of the floating island of Aeolia. Walls of bronze, smooth and sheer, rising directly out of the waterline with no beach beneath them and no break for a harbor. From the deck of an approaching ship they catch the sun like a single enormous shield. You cannot land unless the wind keeper lets you in. The walls are the visual signature of a place that exists half outside the rules of the ordinary world: a kingdom that floats, a king who controls the weather, an island that can choose to receive you or not. When the men come back the second time, after opening the bag, the bronze gleams the same as before. But this time the gates do not open. Aeolus will not see them. The walls become a closed face.