The Sone 345 hung suspended over the jagged glass of the Neo-Kyoto basin, a massive, obsidian-plated airship that served as the "Top" of the world's hierarchy. Inside its pressurized gardens, the air smelled of synthetic jasmine and old money.

A famous story tells of a Pope seeing a painting of Jerome striking his chest with a stone in penance. The Pope remarked, "You do well to carry that stone, for without it the Church would never have canonized you." It reminds us that even the greatest scholars struggle with their own temper and shortcomings [26].