Helping in the kitchen became one of the few things that Kaye could bring herself to almost enjoy; it meant that there was going to be a special meal that day. As she had found out, the fat man whose stories she had heard in the tavern in Kakinse was one of the ship’s cooks, named Brun.

  “Sailors are an odd bunch, ss,” he was saying. “We all know the food is going to get progressively worse the longer we’re at sea, we all understand that the good-tasting meals are served sparingly to keep us satisfied and looking forward to the next ones, but I ain’t ever seen no sailor that doesn’t work harder after hearing he’s getting to eat salted pork after a week of hardtack stew and half the peas in the world just because a storm is on the way.”

  Kaye handed another sailor his bowl of potato and pork stew. “How long have you been at sea?”

  “Twenty-eight years, or was it twenty-nine? No, I think it will be twenty-nine when this winter passes.”

  And I will be sixteen for the first time, and the one who was left behind for once.

  Seeing Hogog on the line, Kaye pretended to have run out of bowls and walked to the back to grab more. By the time she returned, Brun had served Hogog and he was walking back through the crowd, looking for a pce to sit.

  Her uncle was among the st, which meant it was time for her and Brun to eat. He served both of them, making a gesture for her to stay quiet as he deliberately put more pork than potato in both of their bowls. Kaye smiled, but it was forced. Make-pretend.

  Brun talked about himself all the time, offered to tell her stories whenever she helped out at the kitchen, but never asked about her. She wasn’t sure if the whole crew knew that she and Hogog had arrived te into the night and hurt, but at least some of them had to. Whatever the case, most of them knew about her crying in the middle of the night, even if there was more than one sleeping room in the ship and some had their own quarters. The crew talked about it, and so she suspected Brun was trying to give her some distraction.

  She supposed she was thankful, but didn’t really feel like it. Listening to his stories and the desire to ask about the world felt like a child’s delight now, and she was no child. The food was a better distraction, and the little ale she was given even more.

  Kaye ate quietly, talking only when Brun prompted her, nodding along to his story about the maze of streets and bridges that was Erash, to the northwest of the peninsu where Kakinse and the Nagra tribes were, being the closest Odane city to the nds that now belonged to the Toronan Empire.

  Brun suddenly shifted in his chair, and Kaye was a moment ter in following. The Sea Spear creaked, leaning to the side before sliding back in pce. Sitting that close to the window at the back of the kitchen, she could hear the muffled downpour outside.

  “Winter storms are rare here,” Brun said as he stood up with his empty bowl. “Thank you for the help again.”

  The mess room was still filled with loud sailors when Kaye strode her way through it.

  Someone leaned over from the bench they were sitting at, legs half-blocking the exit.

  “I have something to tell you,” Hogog said, loud so as to be heard above the crowd.

  Kaye made to step around him but he reached for her, throwing his bowl and mug to the ground, a tight grip on her shoulder.

  “You’ve been asking about the price of return trips.”

  “I told you we have nothing to talk about.”

  “ ‘How close to Kakinse can you leave me?’ You think they’re going to do it?”

  Kaye reached for his arm, fighting the urge to show in her face the pain she was in. The room had gone silent.

  “I’m going to make something clear to you, Kaye. If knocking you out is what it takes to keep you from doing something stupid every time, then I will—”

  A series of loud bangs brought Kaye’s attention to the back of the room. A woman was smming her mug on a table and soon everyone went quiet. She turned around, shoulders leaning against the table, straight bck hair with bangs falling beyond her shoulders, a thin-bded saber strapped to each side of her waist.

  “You’re bothering the crew.”

  “Apologies, Captain,” Hogog said.

  Kaye took the opportunity to snap his hand away.

  Mavis stood up, picking her captain’s hat from the table.

  “Ji!”

  “Yes, cap’n?” the old sailor answered.

  “Send a barrel my way, and another to our illustrious guest.” A low ughter rumbled through the room. “The stuff he likes. No need to sour the man’s mood in a storm.”

  With that, Captain Mavis left. Hogog moved out of the way long before she reached the exit.

  “Take this one to the captain,” Ji said, pointing at a small barrel, “and this to Ozan, one door to the right of the captain’s room.”

  “Why am I being punished?” Kaye asked.

  “Oh, don’t you worry ss, your uncle is going to have work piled on him tomorrow.”

  “Is this common?”

  “Them drinking in their rooms?”

  “The punishment.”

  “Happens sometimes, and I’d hardly call this punishment, Not really, but what use is a captain if we always know what they’re thinking? Go now girl, the st boy would have delivered it already. And remember what I said: Ozan’s first.”

  Kaye reached down to grab the barrels and realized there was no easy way to hold them. She stood up with one barrel held awkwardly held under each arm and went up the stairs. Thankfully, they were small barrels. It was an awfully easy punishment, and there was no way worse sentences hadn’t been given to keep the crew in line.

  She stumbled her way through the corridors, dizzy from her own drinking and fighting against the rocking ship. A few times Kaye had to slide a barrel to the ground, kicking it forward in order to keep a free hand to support herself.

  Two sets of stairs and a guard inspection ter, Kaye reached the corridor of the Captain’s Room. She knocked on the door to the right first.

  It creaked open soon enough, and a tall, nky and long bck-haired man stared at her.

  “Ah, yes, over here.”

  He guided her to a side table, made some room on it where Kaye pced the barrel, making sure to check if it was the correct one.

  “Endre Ozan,” he introduced himself. “I’ve heard about you, you are…”

  “Kaye Nanur.”

  Endre turned and rummaged through his main table, filled with books, documents and maps.

  A “guest”, the captain had called him. Certainly not a passenger, not in the way that Aien was, considering his room was next doors to the captain’s. It had probably been repurposed for this use, and he wasn’t crew either. Too clean for that.

  When he turned again, he had two goblets on hand. The ship rolled over a rge wave, and they were both shaken to the side.

  “Terrible storm this is, but it will pass soon,” Endre cracked open the barrel and filled a goblet, handed it to Kaye before starting to fill his own. “First time at sea?”

  She sipped the dark purple drink — which smelled sweet but tasted bitter —, nodding.

  “You’re doing well for a first-time sailor, Kaye. I’ve heard you draw?”

  “I’m a beginner, barely a few sketches in.” She hadn’t drawn since the second day of voyage, when she ruined two pages with tears while trying to sketch her parents.

  Endre sipped his drink, rolled it around in his mouth for a good moment before swallowing. “That is fine. If you ever find yourself in want of more intellectual company than… well, them, you know where to find me.”

  More like suspicious company. She kept that to herself, and quickly finished her goblet.

  “I shouldn’t leave the captain waiting,” Kaye said as she left the room.

  Kaye scowled as soon as the door was closed. Whatever it was that they had shared, the bitter drink left an even bitterer aftertaste. She’d need to wash it down with ale.

  She knocked on the captain’s door.

  “Enter,” the answer came almost instantly.

  The Captain’s room was as big as Endre’s, but it was far busier. The main table was a chunky thing that occupied a third of the space, the walls were decorated with banners, framed metal pieces that looked like medals, and even a few swords. The captain herself was sitting on an armchair, legs stretched over the table.

  “Pour each of us a mug, will you? And close the door.”

  Kaye did so, found the mugs and brought Captain Mavis her drink.

  “Wait,” the captain stopped Kaye from raising the mug to her lips. “A toast?”

  “To what?” Kaye asked, stressed, but they toasted. Standing that close, she could see that the captain’s eyes were gray-blue, hawk-like, and that her nose had a convex shape to it.

  Captain Mavis gulped down half her mug before answering, letting out a satisfied groan. “To whatever it is the gods are allowing us to do. Doesn’t really matter.” Another gulp. “Did Ozan bother you?”

  “The drink he likes is bothersome. Is he an Acolyte?”

  “Ozan? Not unless there is a High God of Inconveniences.”

  You all seem to dislike him. Kaye was curious, but perhaps there was some conflict there, and she’d rather avoid it. She hated to admit it, but the Sea Spear wasn’t going to bring her anywhere near Kakinse on the way back, Hogog was right. It was best she avoided whatever squabbling they had going on.

  “What about you, Kaye Nanur?”

  “Me? An Acolyte?”

  The captain wheezed a ugh. “No, not that. What I meant is: what are you? Ji said you have been asking about the way back, and one of my passengers brought you and your uncle hurt. I’ve kept my eyes on you, asked Abal Tom and Normus to do the same. So far, I am inclined to believe you aren’t trouble.” Mavis stood up after that, walked to the barrel to refill her mug. A heavy drinker. “You can sit.”

  Kaye sat on a smaller chair, shifting uncomfortably. She wasn’t going to talk about the attack to this stranger.

  “We… we just needed to leave the city.”

  “Are you important enough for a ship to be coming after us?”

  What? “No. Does Kakinse even have a navy?”

  “It doesn’t, but neither do I. Drink. So you’re victims, I can believe that, but hopefully you understand my worry.”

  “I do… captain.”

  Mavis waved a hand in the air. “You can ditch the title when we’re alone.”

  They stared at each other for a moment. Something in Mavis’ gaze changed, becoming more intense.

  “I might not know what happened with you, but I can make a few guesses—”

  “Don’t,” Kaye interrupted her. “Please.”

  “Apologies, girl, I wasn’t about to. I won’t pry if you won’t, but you’re not doing well, are you?”

  Kaye barely had a moment to think before Mavis continued, “Some of the crew have compined about you crying during the night.”

  “So what? You said you won’t pry—“

  “Feisty,” Mavis cut in, a half-smile on her face, “or troubled and shing out, which I understand. I’m not asking you to stop, and it doesn’t seem like you’re willing to talk it over. Here’s what I can do for you.”

  Reaching under her shirt, the captain pulled out a neckce, removed something and tossed it onto the table. Kaye reached for it. A key.

  “Sleep in my room tonight. And on the other nights. The gods know it isn’t worth anything when I sleep in that chair over there almost every day.”

  “Why?”

  “Easier to stand up when you’re sitting, and a view of the door which is the only way inside the room.”

  “I meant the key. Is this a way to make me indebted to you?”

  Mavis ughed. “You’re already indebted to me. No, it’s just that you remind me of myself. If I do this for you, you might do it for someone else, and so it goes on and on and on…” she stopped herself by raising the mug to her lips.

  Kaye drank what was left of her beer. “What about me reminds you of yourself, if I may ask?”

  “Fleeing.”

  Kaye nodded, realizing she had been expecting more. A pirate captain, a woman at that, and one that seemed comfortable… somewhat comfortable, from what she had just said. Cautious.

  What had she fled from? Was sailing what she had always wanted to do? Kaye could find all of that, sooner or ter, if she stayed with them…

  …no, that’s not it. Make your own travels Kaye. This is the alcohol talking, and some part of you still believing that would take you right back to Kakinse.

  She stood up. “Thank you… I… Just that. Thank you.”

  “Left turn before the passengers, you’ll know the door when you see it. And try to cut your uncle some sck, will you?”

  “I’ll try,” saying that, Kaye left the room.

  The ratcatcher of the ship was looking up at her in the corridor, bright yellow irises in the night. Bck and nky, the cat followed Kaye to the sleeping room where she grabbed her things, all the way to the captain’s quarters, and darted inside when she unlocked the door.

  It took two months for the Sea Spear to anchor again — two months and plenty of compint about bad winds as the vessel sailed its way northeast —, and seeing the chaos of sailors on the deck made Kaye feel gd that she wasn’t one of them. She had helped in the kitchen again yesterday, and no one gave her new orders since waking up.

  The city of Riin didn’t look any rger than Kakinse did, but it was different. Buildings were made out of some yellowed cy that had the color of dust, and here and there rose taller, rounded tops of whiter stone from what she guessed were richer estates.

  When the ship was moored and pnks were id down, people started leaving. Captain Mavis was the first to go with some of her trusted men, no doubt to treat with whoever ran the harbor. The passengers were next, and Kaye followed them.

  “Kaye!”

  She turned to see Hogog above her, still in the ship, hands on the rails, shirtless and drenched in sweat.

  “I’m not leaving,” she shouted back.

  For a moment, her uncle simply stared at her, perhaps disbelieving. He sighed, and his arms trembled on the handrail, as if something he was carrying inside him was suddenly removed and he now struggled with the loss of weight.

  Kaye had to force herself to move away, gesturing for the docks. Stupid, pin stupid. It ashamed her to admit it, but it had been a good thing that they brought her to the ship that night.

  She found herself a pce to sit, trying to stay within sight of the Sea Spear, pulled out her notebook and charcoal, and began mindlessly sketching what was around herself to kill time. While they had been sailing, she managed to fill a couple pages with scribbles and notes, but the drawings were still too formless, too branchy, often left unfinished.

  When Hogog appeared by Kaye’s side, he was carrying his bag and wiping the sweat from his face. Both his hair and beard were greasy and dripping.

  Something about his expression told her he was still worried, so she smiled.

  “Shall we go?” Hogog asked.

  Kaye nodded, storing her notebook. They turned to the city.

  “We should get a pce to stay in,” Hogog said after a while, “the cheapest we can find. Then… then we can think about what to do.”

  She nodded, despite staring at the street ahead.

  “It will take a while, but I need a new bow. I didn’t have time to get it, back then. I’m sorry that I didn’t remember to find the coin you had saved, I know you worked hard for that.”

  You wouldn’t have found it.

  He tapped her on the shoulder, but said nothing more on the subject. They continued on an awkward, silent walk through a city they didn’t know.