Lore
Dawnward & Duskward
Atop A Wall · Book 1
The Wall's only two directions, named for where the sun comes up and where it goes down.
The Wall runs two ways, so its people only need two words for direction, and they take them from the sun. Dawnward is where it rises. Duskward is where it sets. Everyone uses them without a second thought: the dawnward ladder, the duskward cliff, a day’s walk dawnward.
Duskward is the busier way, with more towns and more traders. But from Briar, duskward means a sheer cliff, and almost nobody climbs it. So Briar’s way in and out is dawnward, down the ladder. That road grows harder the further you follow it, until the trees close in overhead and even the morning barely gets through.
So the road toward the dawn leads into the dark. That is the road Fen has to take.