Chapter 90

  Epelda came to the story circle that night wearing a new bracelet, made of polished blue stones and pearls. Dymion was the first to notice it, and he cooed over it and offered congratutions to her with the first smile he had shown since returning to the ship. Stories and songs that night were all romantic in nature, much to the embarrassment of the young couple. Ael watched with a little smirk that bordered on being mean when one of the crew made a “wedding night” joke just as Jules was taking a sip from his cup. Nereida hid her chuckle when the young man sprayed his drink over Carlos.

  The mood on the ship was much improved by Epelda’s good news. Ael was gone from their bed very early, to oversee the unch. Nereida stayed longer in bed, cuddled up to the boys, the egg wrapped in a bnket next to her back. Alejo held her hand tightly, a nervousness on his face.

  “What’s wrong, Little love?”

  “Is ‘Pelda going to leave us?”

  “Oh, no, sweet boy. What makes you think that?” The boy’s face crumpled and he burrowed under the bnkets.

  “People who get married don’t stay with their family. They go and make new families. I want her to stay!” Nereida wiggled lower under the covers until she could scoop her oldest boy into her arms. She kissed his head.

  “She isn’t leaving, love. Besides, they can’t live in the sea. She is of the air.” The boy accepted her words with a little nod, but he still looked sad, and so they stayed in bed a little longer and she whispered stories to them until their little bellies rumbled.

  They made it to the deck after the port had faded to the horizon. The boys, back to themselves, pyed on the ship deck, their sea legs returning with no trouble. Nereida leaned against a rail, feeling the spray of the ocean, hearing the song echoing through the waves. Ael, looking surprisingly alert and happy, came down to join her, standing close but not quite touching her.

  “The wind favours us,” Ael reported, smiling. “And we are out of the Cursed Waters and can just sail. Nothing but sea for a while.”

  “And the crew?”

  “I will give the boy this, his timing was good. They are pnning a surprise party to celebrate tonight after supper.” She grinned. There was no tension in her posture as she turned to look out to the ocean. “And everyone knows about the Dragon, so no one is going to be tricked into anything. Dymion is in his garden, the Dragon is hiding below. He doesn’t like the bright sunlight.”

  “Am I on the duty roster for today?” Nereida asked. Ael ughed.

  “No, love. Anyone who was here for the storm is on rest duty today. So rest.” Gently she tucked in a hair that had escaped Nereida’s short, loose braid. “I can see if Epelda wants to py with the boys, if you wanted to… nap.” Nereida smiled at her wife, wanting to kiss her, but knowing she was not, yet, used to public affection.

  “Your euphemisms could use work,” Nereida whispered, a mischievous smile pying on her face.

  “Maybe I just need inspiration,” Ael replied with a teasing smile of her own. “As, I am not on rest. Not until tonight.”

  The days began to blur together. Nereida woke each day to a gaggle of children in her bed, demanding her attention and her cuddles. They spent mornings running about until the high heat of the afternoon, when they retreated below deck to practice their etiquette, their history, their writing and other things little nobles should know. Jules and Epelda joined them for lessons. It was now part of the roster. Basiano occasionally came to teach instead, giving Nereida some time with her infant niece. The baby was growing splendidly, gasping at things and trying to roll over. Basiano taught the boys about their family, about his children. Listening to her brother speak about her nieces and nephews that she had yet to meet filled Nereida with longing. She had missed so much.

  And yet…

  She knew she couldn’t stay. Not for her family, who would not understand why she had chosen an Admiral, had chosen to wander, had chosen to free gods who might yet bring devastation. Would her father let her leave? She paced about on the ship as her anxieties rose and fell like the tides. Sometimes she could forget what might wait for her. She watched her sons py and ugh, and in those moments she was free. In her wife’s arms she was safe, loved and happy. Working as a deckhand she felt connected to the crew in a way she wasn’t sure she could easily expin to an outsider. Even as her arms and hands ached because of the work, even as her back and knees protested that she wasn’t young enough, wasn’t fit enough for this work, she loved the feeling of belonging.

  They took turns carrying the egg about. Nereida caught her wife crooning gentle, off-key lulbies to the egg when she thought no one could hear. Dymion occasionally asked to carry it as well, telling the egg stories of the gnomish people, children’s stories that he had not told on deck. Alejo still kept his distance from the egg, watching wearily like he expected a monster to come out of the egg.

  “She’s our sister,” Egaz would tell him. “She’ll be cute. Like the puppies were.”

  “The puppies peed in my bed, Egaz!” The younger boy giggled.

  “Oh yeah.”

  Epelda was on cloud nine. Every day that passed, her wings got stronger. She fluttered about the riggings, no longer content to climb when she could fly. She, at least, seemed to get the best of the gods’ attention. Nereida watched her adopted daughter in the air, worry in her stomach at first, until it became clear that Epelda’s wings were strong enough to carry her even when the wind was blowing. The one night they had wilder winds, Epelda stayed grounded, showing remarkable restraint for a young woman who had only just regained her flight. She ate dinners with them sometimes, but other times ate with Jules and the rest of the crew.

  It took six days before Evander and the Cloud Dragon came to an accord. Nereida sat on the deck mending uniforms when he stormed up to her.

  “He’s finally letting me at the wheel,” Evander grouched. He dropped down beside her. “But I ain’t allowed to help, to do me work, nothin’, til he goes. A man’ll go insane wit’ nothin’ to do.”

  “You can sit with me,” she offered, though he was already sitting. “I have spare needles, and mending is at least busy work.” He sighed but picked up a needle.

  “Half of ‘em are afraid of me. Like I’ll bite.” He stabbed into the fabric, jabbing himself in the process. He swore softly, wiping his hand on his pants before trying again. She grinned at him, showing her teeth.

  “I’m the one with poisonous fangs.” He stopped pulling the thread to look up at her, a question on his face that he didn’t ask. She felt heat climb into her cheeks and looked down at her own work.

  “No,” he breathed. “You?” She focused on making the stitches on the torn out pant inseam extra small, carefully avoiding his gaze. He chuckled after a moment. “Oh now everythin’ makes more sense.” He shook his head ruefully. “Poisonous creature indeed…You left that out of the stories, Touchy Feely.”

  They sat in companionable silence for a while, sewing.

  “Was it like this for you?” he asked after a long while. He balled up the shirt he had finished repairing, tossing it into the pile of completed repairs. He reached for a pair of pants without looking at her.

  “The possession? No… we… we didn’t remember it, the first time.”

  “First time?” he echoed. She flushed, looked at her toes.

  “They aren’t gone, Evander. The Moon, the Ocean. They don’t…” she trailed off, clenching the ripped shirt in her left hand tightly. Both underarms needed a new gusset. She reached for the scrap pile to start making them, her hands shaking.

  “They’re still there, ain’t they?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do they… are they…” he paused for a long moment, as if searching for something to say without outright offending his own draconic passenger. “Unpleasant?” he finished, looking frustrated. She smiled sadly.

  “They haven’t bothered me much, nor Ael. Your Admiral is fine with how things are, for the moment. And it won’t be forever.”

  The night of the new moon approached. They stopped early that night, where they could set anchor into a sandbar that was marked on their map. There was a smaller port, also Sylph controlled, off on the horizon, but off to the south-east. They could get there, but it would add a half day or more to their travels. Since they were well-stocked, the Admiral had decred they were skipping it. She called an all-hands two hours before sunset, as their ship rocked in the gentle waves.

  Ael stood on the soap box they often used to tell stories. She had a serious expression on her face.

  “Tonight, I give you all a chance at… at new knowledge.” Her voice shook, which was unusual when she adopted her Admiral persona. The quiet shuffling and murmuring ceased and she had everyone’s full attention. “Long we have believed that the new moon was a time of madness. I slept beneath the moon while she grieved. It… I… I am changed for it, but not mad. The moon-touched are not dead, and I am proof. I offer, tonight, to watch over any who wish to overcome generations of fear. Cots will be brought to the deck, or your sleeping rolls, whatever you are most comfortable with. End the lies that have been told to us. I am done with lies!”

  Now there was murmuring. Fear and excitement bubbled through the crowd in equal measure. Nereida was shocked that no gold changed hands, no bets were pced.

  “You have nothing to fear.” The voice came from Evander, but cked his usual lilt and humour. “Generations ago, perhaps, the Moon may have driven you to madness. But she is healing now, and those of you that are of her blood have been denied what is yours. It is not right. I, too, will guard you. Had I known the mortal world was this sideways, I would have tried to wake long ago.”

  Of the three hundred crew, only sixty were willing to sleep beneath the light of the moon. Still, it was something that sixty were willing to go against what they were taught because of their Admiral. Nereida tucked her boys into bed, and went to help. Egaz caught her hand, his little eyes still alert despite the yawn that overtook him before he could speak.

  “Stay mommy?” He closed his fingers around hers. “I don’t want the shadows tonight. They cry.”

  “Oh, love, shadows can’t cry.” She kissed her son on his head. “That’s the gulls you hear. We are close to nd.” She began to rub his back in zy circles with the ft of her palm until the nervous little boy finally drifted to sleep, curled up against his brother.

  The ocean was calm, the wind almost non-existent, as if the gods were helping them by giving them a perfect night. Nereida stood in the doorway, breathing deeply. She could taste the salt in the air.

  “You should sleep,” Ael said, coming up beside her. The pirate gently pulled the cabin door closed. “One of us should.” Nereida leaned into her wife, resting her head on the other woman’s shoulder as she gazed out at the men and women who were preparing to rest.

  “You shouldn’t have to do this alone.” Nereida smiled sadly.

  “I’m not… I think… I think the Moon is here.”

  “Then Moon and Ocean can oversee this together.” Nereida brought her wife’s hand to her lips and pced a soft kiss on her knuckles. There was a thin pale scar between Ael’s second and third knuckle, so faint Nereida had never noticed it before. Together they headed up a deck, so that they could see everyone from one position.

  “Love, if we invoke them… we don’t know…” Ael trailed off, looking down at the crew who were trying, and failing, to find easy sleep. Evander, or more likely the Great Dragon given how slow and graceful his movements were, wandered near the mast, a thoughtful expression on his face.

  “They may take us over, turn us to dragons again.” Nereida tightened her grip on her wife’s hand. “But maybe, just maybe, the crew needs to know that the dragons are benevolent.”

  “And if they aren’t?”

  “I have to believe they are, love. Or else why are we doing this?”

  They held each other for a long moment, before Ael chastely kissed Nereida’s forehead.

  “Alright, love, we will do this your way.” She chuckled a little. “Why must you always be right?”

  “Because I’m your wife.” Nereida cuddled into her wife’s strong, lithe body, before she took a steadying breath. No one on deck had settled yet. “Your ocean.” She closed her eyes, and felt the spray of the ocean in the air. It really was a perfect night. She looked up at the dark space where the moon usually shone from. “Moon, Ocean…. We are ready.” She kissed her wife, startling her; though in half a breath, Ael had melted into the kiss. She felt something rise up, a wave of magic about to overtake her, and instead of fighting, she let it drag her down into the depths beyond her understanding. The st thing she saw was Ael, her hand resting on Nereida’s cheek as Ael’s eyes went silver.