Chapter 65:

  The waters and the wind were agreeable, and so the ship clipped along at a good pace. Ael slipped into an easy routine, bancing her new little family alongside her crew. Mornings were still hard, as Alejo’s nightmares had grown worse with his mother’s extended absence. By the third night, Nereida and Ael gave up on having any time alone together, and brought the boy into their bed after a particurly bad nightmare. Ael remembered sleep being hard after her parents were killed, and so she was sympathetic to the little one. Basiano was not able to help any longer, with his own little one not yet sleeping more than three hours at a time.

  It was on the fourth day of their renewed journey that Ael realized that with Basiano busy with the baby, that it was unlikely that he helped with the children much in their absence. Then who had taken responsibility for the boys? She tracked down Epelda on deck, pulling her to the side where they would not be watched.

  “Who cared for the boys when we were gone?” she went straight to the point, signing slowly and gently. “Who took care of you?”

  “I did.” Epelda shrugged. She did not seem upset. “I’m of age now, and you have trained me well. They listened well enough. And I wasn’t going to shirk my responsibilities. They are my brothers now.”

  “You could have asked for help,” Ael signed, her guilt rising.

  “I did. Dymion helped when he could. They trust him. But the others aren’t quite sure of what to make of the boys. Sirens are dangerous. Even ones who are young. Even ones on the crew.” She shrugged again,putting on a disarming smile. “Water-mama is terribly dangerous, but she is ours.”

  “What of Jules?” Ael asked, scowling as she finger-spelled the boy’s name. Epelda chuckled softly, a blush rising up her face.

  “He is dangerous too, but not as much as Water-mama.” She looked strangely proud of that. Ael snickered.

  “Daughter, I don’t think anyone is as frightening as your water-mother when she is angry.”

  “Not even you?” Epelda challenged with a teasing smirk, her motions light and teasing. Ael ughed.

  “Not even me.”

  Epelda grinned, a confident smile, and asked to return to her duties. Ael allowed it, watching her daughter leave. Epelda still wore the complex braids even after their return, and had figured out a way to weave the hair over the coronet she had inherited from Nereida. She dressed down most of the time, wearing her usual clothing, but had been showing up to stories wearing one of Nereida’s overdresses, wearing the colours of her family. No one had commented on it, and Ael wondered about what had occurred while they were gone. Evander teasingly called Epelda “Countess” and despite her being just a deckhand, the older crew were actively deferring to her. The dynamic on the ship had shifted in her absence.

  She hated it.

  Jules was often found on deck, not officially on the roster most of the time, but as he was necessary for navigation, he was often up with the helmsman, learning how to steer the ship, learning his ropes, learning the whistles. He was studious, and invested. Ael stayed away as much as she could, not wanting the boy to become familiar with her, not wanting to encourage her daughter’s crush. She was just eighteen, she did not need to marry right away. She was barely an adult!

  Unfortunately, her daughter had other ideas.

  And at family dinner, just five nights after they returned to the ship, Epelda ambushed them both with a simple question.

  “Can I invite Jules to dinner tomorrow?” Ael felt an instant instinct to tell her daughter no, that the boy was not welcome. But she forced it down, forced it away, because of Nereida’s story. She would not be the parent that pushed their child away.

  “That depends,” came Nereida’s even tone. Epelda started to scowl, but Nereida held up her hand. “I don’t know how your culture handles such a meeting, nor his.”

  “Mine?” Epelda signed, confusion on her face.

  “Do you have any Sylph traditions that you want to follow, darling? You were old enough to know some of them.” Nereida’s expression was calm, her tone gentle. She was signing the words she knew, but simply abandoning words or phrases she didn’t.

  “I thought I would do what you and mom wanted…. Like a good daughter.” Nereida flinched at the phrase “good daughter” when Epelda signed it.

  “No, darling. Your job isn’t to be “good”. Obedient in a crisis, yes. But… in this, in this YOU need to be comfortable. And I won’t force anything on you, but I will warn you what it looks like to my people, so that you are not blind-sided.” The calm demeanor had leaked away, and Ael could read some of Nereida’s own pain on her face.

  There was a tense moment as Epelda stared at her mothers, as if expecting a trick or trap. But Nereida was sincere.

  “I don’t remember anything,” Epelda admitted, her shoulders dropping. “Except the rules you had me study.”

  “Do you want to follow them?” Nereida asked. “I would not bme you if you said no, though I would warn you away from his colours, from jewelry, and make sure you know what his rites and rituals of courtship look like. Have you asked him what a family dinner means to him?” The girl shook her head.

  “Talk to him,” Nereida urged. “There are so many little unwritten rules in a society. And you don’t want to make a small error that sends him home because he thinks you are rejecting him. Talk to him. Then, when the expectations are clearly id out, we will set a date when he can dine with us, or not.” She smiled a little, reaching out and taking Epelda’s hand. “If it is culturally significant to dine with the other’s family, we should do it on the full moon. Good luck, or so I’m told.” Nereida offered a pyful wink to her wife. Ael smiled softly back. “And if it's not, or if he does not want to do it that night, we will make another pn.”

  Once dinner was done, after the boys asked a million questions about stars, and Epelda had returned to her bunk to change for the evening, Ael took her wife’s hand. Nereida smiled at the gentle touch.

  “Thank you,” Ael said, her voice more raw than she would have liked. “I almost bungled it again.”

  “You want her safe. That’s admirable.” Nereida leaned in, rubbing her nose against Ael’s nose. Ael felt her heart flutter. Not in need, or want, but just with love for this amazing woman who was her wife. She gently moved a stray hair off Nereida’s face. “If we can navigate the waters of cross-cultural love, we can guide them forward too.”

  “What if he… what if he has some awful courtship ritual like… they have to eat raw fish eggs together or something?” Ael asked, flushing in embarrassment the moment the words were out of her mouth. Nereida snickered.

  “That seems unlikely, love, but you have to let Epelda decide what she is comfortable with. Otherwise it will be much easier for others to manipute her.” Her mirth faded and her mouth pressed into a thin line as old memories washed over her. Ael leaned in, holding her wife tightly.

  “You are a good mother,” Ael told her wife softly. “And I, I will teach her to stab unwanted or abusive suitors in a way that will leave them alive but permanently in pain.” She gave Nereida a cheeky grin, an attempt to dispel the heaviness of her wife’s thoughts. Nereida chuckled again.

  “Menace,” she whispered fondly.

  That night, Nereida managed to get Alejo to sleep in his brother’s bed, the two boys holding tightly to each other in their sleep. She wore the egg in their make-shift carrier, and was stroking the egg absently as they sat beside each other to listen to the stories. The usual folks told stories or sang songs that tended toward the dirtier end. Nereida jokingly pced her hands over the edges of the egg as if blocking a child’s ears. Dymion let out a deep belly ugh at her antics.

  Nereida’s story that night was a happier one, about a Queen who had fallen in love with a gss-blower. He was renowned for his artistic gss. He made her a piece with gss twisted into roses on a wine gss. Once a month for a year, the gss-blower would arrive at the castle with whatever order they had pced and a custom piece for the Queen as a gift. The st gift he gave was a simple gss circle, a ring, etched with roses inside. She asked him to marry her then and there.

  “The Queen and her new King lived happily ever after,” Nereida finished with a smile. “They loved each other long and well, and had seven beautiful children, including my father.” This was met with cheers… and a few coins exchanging hands as some crew had bet about whether her story was based on her or not. Ael saw her wife’s brow twitch in frustration, but otherwise the princess remained poised as she sat down. The Admiral took her hand, entwining their fingers. Nereida smiled at her, the frustration dropping from her posture as she sat and leaned into her wife.

  Jules stood next, and Ael felt her hackles rise immediately.

  “Once, within a single generation of the Great Shattering, a young man left his pod to seek his fortune. He was unhappy with his lot, a simple Hunter, and wanted more. He dreamed of the world beyond the ocean. He dreamed of fire and music. He dreamed of forests. And so he left behind all he had known.

  He worked on a fishing vessel,among people who would not ask too many questions. He learned to live among the nd-walkers. He learned to be like them. He learned how hard life was, when resources were scarce. The humans there had served no dragons, were “free” of overlords. That did not save them when the shattering had happened.

  But there was still beauty to behold. He found a young woman, who sold neckces made of seashells, and fell in love with her enchanting voice. For she sang to draw in customers. From her he learned the power of song, even when it was not full of magic.

  And so he worked on a song of his own, one that he pnned to sing to her and her alone. He worked tirelessly, and courted her when he could. She was fttered by his attention.

  And on the first full moon of summer, he appeared to her, and sang his love to her. She accepted his offer of marriage.

  They were married the next year on the first full moon of summer. And so, when a young man or woman seeks the hand of their beloved, we sing.” He looked up at the moon, a smile on his face. It was a soft, dreamy expression. “I dream I will sing like that one day.” And he stepped down. Epelda smiled at him, her eyes wide with adoration. She took his hand when he stepped down, y her head on his shoulder.

  Ael felt Nereida’s grip tighten in warning. The Admiral turned toward the princess, her attention pulled from the affectionate couple. Her wife was gring at her with a face that seemed to mean “if you start something here, you will regret it.” Ael took her beloved’s warning to heart, and instead concentrated on her breathing to control the feeling of certainty in her heart. The boy would sing to her daughter before the year was up.

  And she was NOT READY.