FionaRobinsong

  Chapter 15:

  Nereida’s limbs were heavy. The ship seemed louder than usual, the buzz of conversation enough to drown out the ocean’s song, which had muted itself when she had finally stopped channeling her power. She was grateful that it had worked, that Epelda had been willing to go along with her pn.

  Her brother was waiting for her when she stumbled into their cabin. She nearly fell, but he was ready for her. The world tilted at odd angles and spots floated in front of her vision.

  “You are not allowed to pass out,” Basiano grumbled, as he id her on her bed.

  “Get me a piece of fruit?”

  “Evander’s husband Dymion and the boys are on their way back, with fruit.” He pulled the bnket over her as she began to shiver. Too much. She had done too much.

  “We need to dye their hair.”

  Her eldest brother, usually able to follow her mind to the point she thought he might mindread, blinked at her in confusion. She touched his hand gently, and he put his hand over hers.

  “I don’t know if we made enough distance,” she whispered. “If we are boarded… if they are found and thought to be sirens…” she couldn’t finish the thought. A sob escaped her and suddenly she was overtaken by tears, her emotions rubbed raw by her huge expenditure of power. Her brother scooped her up in his arms and held her tight as she sobbed into his chest. His warmth was soothing, and it took all her strength to not sob herself to sleep.

  The door jiggled and Nereida bolted upright, wiping furiously at her eyes. The boys had seen her cry before but she did not want anyone else to see. She couldn’t be weak before the Seliniaks. The door eased open, and two little bundles of energy jumped into the room, crashing into her and knocking her back into the bed. Nereida looked up to thank Evander’s husband and was surprised by what she saw. The man was heavy set, short, with dark skin and a shock of green hair. She blinked at the gnome in surprise. The Earth-Blooded were known to be homebodies, where they could cultivate and grow all sorts of things. You couldn’t grow things on a ship!

  Could you?

  “Thank you,” she managed after a moment. Her voice was still rough from her tears. He tossed her an apple that looked as if it were freshly picked. She stared at the apple, wonder creeping into her face. It still smelled fresh.

  “Eat,” he grumbled, a pleasant smile on his face. “Ya have some good ds.” He bowed his head, too low a bow to be one of simple respect. She felt her breath catch. How long until everyone on this ship knew all her secrets?

  Nereida ate the apple in bed, her boys cuddled up around her as they described being hidden with the cooks, given treats when they helped the cooks pick up the stores that had fallen everywhere. The cooks had not received the baton down order in time, and a few bags of beans had been spilled.

  “We were good helpers,” Egaz decred proudly. “We washed the spilled beans to make soup!”

  “How did you wash the beans?” Basiano rubbed his head.

  “I used the bowl with all the holes.. the col-col… something.” Alejo replied.

  “Conder.”

  “Yeah! That! And Egaz sprayed them with water!”

  Nereida felt a wave of nausea hit her and she looked up at Basiano. From the way his mouth had drawn into a tight line, he was having the same fear.

  “With a spraying device?” She kept her tone light, trying to drown out the fear.

  “No, like this!” And the little boy held out his hands and called the water out of the air. The water dropped to the ground, making a puddle at the foot of her bed. “But I ‘membered that you said not to let anyone see, so I didn’t!” Nereida stared at the chubby face of her four year old son. She took a deep breath, trying to stop the tears from bursting forth again. Basiano pulled his obsidian bracelet off and slipped it over Egaz’s shoe. The boy’s eyes went wide and he cwed at his throat for a moment before tears began to pour down his little, innocent face.

  “This makes it so you don’t feel it all the time,” Nereida expined, her heart breaking at the betrayed look on Egaz’s face.

  Basiano pced his hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

  “You may have to tell the Grand Admiral,” he whispered. “It’s not a secret that can be kept much longer.” She closed her eyes.

  “We can swim to the isnd if they turn on us,” she suggested softly, her lip trembling.

  “I’m too valuable to throw into the sea,” her brother reassured her. “If you want to flee, you should.” She looked at her boys and shook her head. She didn’t yet know if they could breathe the water like she could. It wasn’t a risk she could take yet.

  “I will talk to Ael.” She felt like she was signing her own death warrant.

  Nereida kissed her boys on their heads.

  “Mommy will be back soon,” she told them. She got to her feet, still feeling unsteady with weakness. Each boy hugged her legs tightly before they toddled to their bed to py their dice game. She gave Basiano a grim little smile, and marched up to her doom.

  But to her surprise, the Admiral was still in meetings with the officers. Ael waves briefly to her, motioning for her to go into the cabin to wait. So, feeling awkward, Nereida went inside the cabin. Epelda was already there, sitting on the Admiral’s bed and looking like she was going to fall over at any moment.

  “Tired?” Nereida signed. The other girl just nodded.

  “Sleep,” the mother suggested, seeing an exhausted child, not a Sylph. But the girl shook her head.

  “Too loud,” she signed, looking resigned. Nereida sat down next to the girl, hoping that Ael would not mind the intrusion.

  “Can I sing to you? No magic, just a lulby?” The adolescent girl nodded, stifling a yawn.

  Motherly instincts took over, and Nereida tucked the young girl into the bed. She y down beside her, so that she could whisper-sing a song or two. She sang a soft lulby that her mother sang to her when she was young, about the ocean and the moon coming together and healing their past.

  “I know you now as I knew you then

  My love, my heart, my mind

  We will join again you’ll see

  For our fate is yet kind.”

  She repeated the chorus as the sounds of Epelda’s breathing grew steady. She didn’t want to move and disturb the sleeping child. The rhythm of breathing and the rhythm of the ocean soon lulled Nereida to sleep, her arm cast protectively around Epelda.