After that morning on the sea, Laylit felt sure that something was going to shift. She could feel it in her hands and feet, in her lungs. She woke each morning and held her hands out, asking the Shaper for strength to continue the work here, despite her longing for her family and home. She felt an urgency to make space and convinced Cora to work on the hut with her, expanding the area under the stilts, sweeping and cleaning, weaving mats for the ground. Laylit felt sure that they were going to need to host people. She couldn't say who they were supposed to welcome or where the certainty came from, but it was connected to the moment on the sea.
She and Cora planted flowers and long leafy plants along the edges of the hut, and as they worked, Cora continued to soften in Laylit's presence. Laylit grew fonder of the younger girl every day. She had never had a daughter, but she imagined having a daughter might feel like this.
Sometimes Laylit thought about Isika. Had she really missed what was right in front of her? That Isika could be hers as well, not just someone she pushed away or felt jealous of? Laylit hoped she would have the chance to make it right. She cried at night when she woke in the darkness, longing for Andar's steady breathing beside her.
In the brightness of day, she knew she was where she was meant to be. She had purpose. Her. Laylit. Not just as a wife or mother, but here among these people. She knew the work wasn't done. There was something more, something that would fix it all. And yet, in the night, she wept.
The rhythm of the mornings soothed her after bad nights. After they had hauled the boats out to sea and dropped the nets, when the water was calm, reflecting the gentle light of the sky, Laylit felt that all would be well. She would be returned, somehow, to her family once the work was done here. There were be good days ahead with Jabari and Gavi and, most of all, Andar.
He had found her all those years ago, riding on her family's farm, barefoot and brawny, with a life of hard work ahead of her. She had imagined that meeting him, being found by him, was the thing that changed her into who she needed to be. But now she knew it wasn't true. It wasn't finished, this work of growing into gifting and power. She was herself, and the Shaper had taken her away by herself to be here. Specifically her. It was a thought that warmed her heart.
One morning, Laylit woke up with a start. There was a feeling of pressure in the air, as though something was going to happen. She was sitting on the floor of the hut beside the breakfast fire, thinking about this, when Cora came close, putting a cup of coffee in her hands. Laylit looked up, surprised. Usually, Cora didn't serve her coffee; Laylit got it for herself. But Cora had a serious look on her face.
"The elders have decided to sail out at the end of the week to capture slaves for the Emperor."
A small sound escaped Laylit without her meaning to make it.
"They're still going to do it? Despite what we said?"
Cora nodded, her face miserable.
Laylit stared at Cora, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. But she had one clear thought. This was why she was here. To stop this now. The thought was like a single point of light, so bright and precise that Laylit was absolutely certain about their next steps.
"You know we need to do something," she said. Cora looked at her.
"I know," the girl said glumly. "I was waiting for you to say something like that." She took a sip of coffee and grimaced. "You make the coffee better. I'm getting spoiled, having you around to mother me."
Her face crumpled, and Laylit got up and put her arms around the girl. Cora leaned into Laylit, remaining for a few breaths before pulling away.
She blinked hard. "I should have known I wouldn't be able to avoid being village head for long. It's my destiny."
Laylit had to laugh at the contrast between the power in her words and the morose tone she used to say them.
They left for their boats, walking through the deep sand and then onto the hard-packed sand. They were the last to arrive, which wasn't uncommon for them, and they walked into the water with the other boats already off in the distance. Laylit appreciated the distraction of the strain in her arms as she rowed behind Cora.
Cora chose a spot that was far from the others, and they let down their nets, surrounded by the glimmering sea in the early morning sun.
The feeling of pressure in the air intensified as they sat there, but there were no clouds, no impending storm that Laylit could see.
"I feel as though we are at the edge of the world," Cora said. "As though we are leaning over it, and we will never be able to turn back if we jump."
Laylit heard the fear and bravery in the girl's words. Cora was right. If she rose up against the elders and claimed her place as a village head, there was no turning back. If her first act was to stop the practice of shipping humans to the Emperor, bringing danger to all of them, there was no turning back. There would be no "before," there was only forward and forward, into an unknown.
The waters around them shimmered suddenly, and there was a feeling like a clap of thunder, but without sound. Something big had shifted in the world. Laylit's had a gathering gift, which explained why she had taken to fishing so well. She put her hand in the water to see what she could sense and gasped at the awareness in the water, in the seas that covered the earth. A feeling of great change in the world, a shifting of power. Something to do with their circle of elders. Laylit could feel it, and for the first time, she knew that what had happened to her had happened to all of them. This great change, this shift had occurred to one of the other elders. Laylit didn't know which one, but she sensed the magic of the Shaper and knew that Nenyi had answered her song.
"We will have to act soon," she told Cora.
Cora nodded, gazing out toward the horizon. "I was so happy," she said, "living my hermit life and being alone. I was happy not being involved. And then you came." She shot Laylit a fake glare. "What have you done to me?"
Laylit knew that Cora was only half joking, that she was hiding her fear behind her act. She doubted that Cora had really been happy, and she knew that Cora didn't really believe it either. She smiled gently.
"It is hard to be woken up," she said. "But when you are awake to the world, you can truly feel. This is what I'm learning. I was also asleep for a long time. I thought that there was no way through but the way I was already going. My imagination wasn't strong enough to see a different way."
"We will have to convince the others that we can have dreams of a different way," Cora said.
Laylit looked at her, feeling a burst of hope and affection. "As soon as you start speaking like that," she said, "I feel it. I feel the chance of a new way of life for the sea people. And I feel that you are the one who is meant to show your people there is another way to live. You have been chosen for this. Nenyi sees you. Maybe the reason you were such a hermit was partly that you couldn't stomach the way things were done."
Tears welled in Cora's eyes, and she turned away quickly. Laylit pretended she hadn't seen as Cora wiped at her face. When she turned back, her eyes were faintly pink.
"We will call a meeting when we get back to shore," she said. "There is no use in waiting."
They pulled their nets in and then rowed back to shore, feeling like changed women. All day, they went about their work. Selling fish, cleaning, and cooking, letting the news out that there would be a village meeting that evening. Nothing would ever be the same.
As people began to drift toward the fire in front of their hut, Laylit busied herself with tea and food for the others. She was so thankful this was happening. Cora was the village chief, a queen in her own right. Once everyone had eaten, and a hush had fallen, Cora spoke.
"You have said that you will continue in the old ways of the sea people under the Desert King and collect humans as laborers. You do not want to ignite the anger of the Emperor. But I am the descendent of our village leaders, and I am using my authority now. We must stop. I'm calling us to cease this way of life and to ignite our imaginations to dream of a new way of life—one where our hands are clean of theft and blood. We do not have to traffic in humans anymore. Then we and the Maweel and the Hadem and maybe even the Gariah, we can stand against the Emperor. He should have no influence on our shores. We can do it together; we don't need to be indebted to him."
Laylit didn't know how Cora got all of the words out before the shouting began. Perhaps it was the gifting that came from her parents and grandparents. But the people argued, loudly, for many hours, once she was finished. Some sided with Cora. Mostly the young people. But many, mostly the elders, were against what Cora said. There were a few who looked undecided or in support of Cora. The argument went on and on, and Laylit realized the struggle wasn't over. They would have to block the ship physically, perhaps with their own bodies.