Chapter 52:

  They arrived in time to see Basiano, standing on a box, looming over the crowd. Basiano was naturally taller than almost all the sirens, and having him on a wooden box meant that he seemed to tower over everyone. He waved with one hand, his new daughter held tightly in the other.

  “I light this bonfire in the name of peace,” Basiano called out. “Let there be peace between our peoples, let us find a way through where we can live in harmony.” He looked at the sleeping baby in his arms, then back out to the crowd. “I light this fire in the name of new beginnings. Let us remember that now is all we have, and that while we honour the past, we must not live it in.” He kissed the little girl’s head, and then looked over the crowd. He spotted Nereida, dressed in their house’s colours. “I light this fire in the name of love,” he finished, his voice almost teary. “The loves that start tonight, the loves that are affirmed, the loves that yearn even still.” And he called on his magic, the fme he called to his hands was bright. He cast it into the logs that had been set up to burn, and stepped back quickly as the magical fire took hold, and became regur fire. The pleasant smell of burning wood filled the air. “Thank you.” And he bowed to the Council members, bobbing his head respectfully.

  The Keepers began to surround the fire, and the shortest of them began to speak from atop the same box Basiano had used. She was dwarfed in comparison to him.

  “I would offer a blessing to all of you, but the best sentiment yet has come from our lovely guest.” Her voice was soft and pleasant, but carried well. “We welcome to our shores the crew of Tooth, and the nobles who ride her to safety. We welcome, today, the new lives that have come to us since winter. We welcome the newest marriages, the newest proposals, the newest retionships. On the full moon, something started is sure to be a thing of beauty. She is in her dream, and while reality looms ever on the horizon, she has no despair tonight. Tonight, it is only joy. Line up, and ask the moon and the ocean for their blessings. May your true intentions reach them, and may they come true. May your joys outweigh your sorrows today and all days.” She stepped down. Someone began drumming, and a rge basin made of polished silver was brought to the fire. The sirens all began to sing. It was a wordless tune, haunting but beautiful. They used their magic to lift the water from the ocean, just enough to fill the silver basin. Ael shivered and stepped closer to Nereida.

  Once the basin was filled, the Keepers called for those with newborns to receive the first set of blessings. The moon had risen so that its reflection was perfectly captured in the basin. From the water came more sirens, seven families, each carrying rge buckets. It took Nereida a moment to realize what was in the long buckets. They were not buckets but bassinets! Basiano took his pce in the line to get his new child blessed, and one of the keepers moved him to the front. They had him unwrap the baby.

  “Has she a name?” the Keeper asked.

  “Not yet, she is not yet a week old,” Basiano replied. The Keeper nodded, and took the baby from Basiano.

  “She may cry.” And without further preamble, the Keeper lowered the baby into the cold water. She screamed in fright. “I bless you, small one, in the name of the moon and the ocean. May your journey be long and your blessings be many.” And the Keeper dunked the child quickly into the water. The baby sputtered and screamed, and the Keeper swiftly handed her off to Basiano, who took his newborn and tried to sooth her and warm her.

  The blessing seemed far less traumatizing to the water-breathing infants, who were plucked from their bassinets and immediately pced in the basin, the Keeper stating the blessing as the child sat at the bottom of the basin, still asleep, still wrapped in seaweed bnkets. When a child had a name already, the Keeper announced it loudly, but two of the seven were still young enough to not have names.

  “Mommy, why did they make the baby cry?” Egaz asked softly, looking frightened.

  “The water was just cold, little love.” Nereida knelt beside him, pulling him into a tight hug. “And you yelled like that when I gave you baths when you were small.”

  “That wasn’t a bath, mommy, there was no soap!” Nereida grinned at the little boy, gently messing up his hair.

  “Can’t fool you,” she said fondly. “But it was only because of the water temperature, Egaz. She is fine.”

  The next call was for new retionships, and Basiano made his way over to the group of them.

  “I’ll be taking the first boat back to the ship,” he told them. He had the newborn in one hand, and she was suckling on his pinky finger. “Her wetnurse will be meeting me there. Boys, you’ll be coming with me. It’s past your bedtime, and Epelda is going to have a sleepover with you.”

  “What about mommy and Admiral?” Alejo asked, crossing his arms.

  “They still have business with the Council. Long meetings. Did you want to talk about trade agreements until dawn, small lord?” Basiano asked. Alejo made a face that quickly expressed his ck of desire for meetings. Ael chuckled.

  “Hold down the fort, Alejo. Your mother and I will be back in the morning.”

  “Good night, mommy, goodnight, step mama,” Egaz said softly, giving them each a quick hug and kiss. He looked up at Nereida with a solemn little expression. “See you… ter.”

  “Oh little love, it’s just one night.” She kissed both the boys.

  “Yeah… if you say so,” the small one grumped, kissing her and hugging her extra tightly before he scampered toward the boats.

  Ael suddenly hissed, and Nereida looked up at her betrothed. The Admiral’s face had hardened and she stared into the lineup of new couples. Epelda and Jules were in the line.

  “Oh leave it,” Nereida said, touching her shoulder tenderly. “This isn’t a promise they are making to each other. Would you rather she ignored his culture?”

  “I’d rather not have this discussion at all!”

  “She’s nearly eighteen, love. Let her learn how to love where we can see, where we can know if things are not well. Don’t push her away because you aren’t ready.” Ael looked up at the sudden hardness in Nereida’s tone. Nereida gritted her teeth to avoid saying anything more as unwanted memories of her father refusing to allow her to be courted surfaced. She turned away from Ael to stare at the ocean, so that no one would see the tears of frustration and hurt in her eyes.

  There was a long beat of silence, before Basiano spoke up.

  “She’s not Father, Nereida.” Ael made a strangled sound as if she had just realized why Nereida might be upset. “Don’t punish your fiance for the mistakes the old man made.” He came up behind Nereida and she felt his big hand on her shoulder. “I have the children, Epelda can join me when we are done. Talk to her.” And with that, the boys, the baby and her brother headed toward the shore where the boats were being prepared to return to the ship.

  Nereida felt Ael come up behind her, the other woman not quite touching her.

  “Love?”

  “I don’t want to do to her what my father did to me, Ael.” Nereida looked up at the moon shining down on them. A thin, wispy cloud tried to block the moon’s light, but it was not thick enough. “I won’t.”

  “I…” Ael came up beside her, held out her hand, fingers spread. “She’s always been… Epelda. And now she is growing and I’m not ready.”

  “No one is.” Nereida took the offered hand, closed her fingers around Ael’s tightly. “We have to trust her.”

  “It’s him I don’t trust.” Ael heaved a heavy sigh.

  “And she is choosing him, today. And if things don’t go well, I want to be there for her, so she has somewhere safe to fall apart.” Nereida turned to face her betrothed, brought her free hand up to Ael’s cheek. Ael leaned into the touch, her anger and frustration melting away. “We can only be that safe pce if she lets us.”

  “Why are you always right?” the pirate grumbled with a teasing smile. Nereida smiled back, leaned in, and stole a sweet kiss from her lips.

  They wandered back closer to the fire and the basin, in time to hear the call for newly engaged couples. Ael squeezed her hand.

  “Do you want to?” she asked softly. “No one knows, and if you want to keep a secret.”

  “This is not the kind of thing you keep secret, my love.” Nereida stood, pulling Ael up to her feet. For a short, lithe woman, Ael was surprisingly heavy. “And… it feels right.”

  “It does to me too,” Ael admitted softly. “Even if the magic settling around us makes my skin itch.” Nereida wanted to ask her about that, but the Keepers had caught sight of them standing up, and they were pushed to the start of the line. Somewhere in the crowd, Nereida heard Evander’s whistle, and a few hearty chuckles from some of the crew. Oh, she would make him pay for that ter. Nereida looked back into the crowd, and, unsurprisingly, saw gold changing hands again between the crew.

  “I hope Evander is only running those bets,” Ael whispered, a smirk pying across her face. “Since he helped me set it up, it seems poor sportsmanship to take the bets.”

  “He what?”

  “How do you think I got the clothing? He picked it up the fifth day at the market, after our dinner with Matthias.” She ughed. “I couldn’t let you see me buy such things. The bracelets though… those I picked up the first day.” A flush had crept up her cheeks.

  They were at the front now, in front of the Keeper, who smiled at them with her feral smile. Nereida gnced back, surprised to see her brother and her children still here. He had left, why wasn’t he on a boat? But there were two unfamiliar sirens and Jules at their side, so perhaps they had been brought back to watch the blessing.

  “Princess and Admiral, welcome.” They stepped up, standing in front of the basin. The moon shone down, her reflection and their reflection caught in the clear water beneath them. The Keeper had two silver goblets, one in each hand. One was marked with waves etched along the midsection, the other with the phases of the moon. “Don’t worry,” the Keeper added in a low, conspiratorial tone. “We have, in fact, changed the water since we dipped the babies.” Ael looked suddenly concerned. She turned toward Nereida, fshing three quick signs.

  “Drink baby water?!?” Her incredulity was obvious, but Nereida just smiled.

  “Do you come here of your own will, Princess Nereida Dolphin’s Revenge?” The Keeper asked grandly.

  “I do,” Nereida replied. This was not a ceremony she knew, but the response seemed to please the Keeper, so she must have said the correct thing.

  “And you, Grand Admiral Ael Kyverna, come here of your own will?”

  “I do.”

  The Keeper dipped each goblet into the basin. She then passed the silver goblets to each woman. To Nereida, she gave the moon goblet, to Ael the ocean goblet.

  “Do you, Nereida, accept all that the moon will give you this night and all others?” The crowd had gone silent, and it almost seemed as if the ocean herself had ceased throwing waves at the shore. There was a strange energy to the crowd, as if all the sirens waited with bated breath.

  “I do.” And at the Keeper’s signal, she drank the water. It was cool, fresh and almost tasted as if it had been sweetened. She drank the whole offering.

  “Ael, do you accept all that the ocean will give you, this night and all others?” the Keeper’s voice continued. Ael scratched at her arms, but took the offered cup, her tone commanding and sure.

  “I do.” And she drank from the cup. Nereida felt something buzzing around her, a strange, almost lightheaded feeling. A worry started deep in her chest. What was in the water? But the thought was fleeting, because she felt Ael’s hand slip into hers, and all seemed right with the world at that.

  “Tonight, the Princess and the Admiral are the Blessed Ones,” decred the Keeper. She brought out two thin bands, one of silver, one of a polished blue stone. She pced the silver one on Ael, and the blue stone on Nereida. “Tonight they will lie together as the Moon and the Ocean once did.” Ael stumbled into Nereida, feeling something she could not, and her grip tightened. It was too te that Nereida understood. They had been touched by some kind of deep magic. Her heart nearly stopped in her chest, however, when the Keeper said her final words to the couple.

  “Blessed Ones, I pronounce you married.”