Meb sat in her usual spot on the deck of the Asperta. She missed her knife. It was a fine knife and she’d bought it with the black pearl, which represented good fortune. Captain Kasaika had given her another knife, but it wasn’t the same. She still wanted her old knife back. If she ever saw Nicodemus again, she’d make him give it to her.
The crew of the Asperta was preparing to depart, unfurling the square sails and casting off mooring ropes. Across the harbor, every Marakai ship followed suit. They would provide an honor guard all the way back to the Isles, where Meb would be hauled in front of the Five.
She scowled. They’d argued over her. The mortals wanted to take her somewhere on the Cimmerian Sea, but Captain Kasaika and Captain Mafuone wouldn’t hear of it. The woman named Nazafareen had gotten quite angry, which made Meb smile a little remembering. She’d never heard anyone talk that way to the captains. Finally, Nazafareen had squatted down in front of Meb and asked what she wanted to do.
Mostly, Meb just wanted them to stop fighting over her. She hated it. She hated the way they looked at her, like they were all a little scared, except for Nazafareen, who didn’t seem scared, just pitying.
Meb didn’t want to go to the Five, but she wanted less to go with mortals, so she chose Captain Kasaika, who nodded approvingly. It was all a whirlwind from there. Nazafareen had hugged her and said goodbye, and now they were leaving.
Meb told Captain Kasaika she just wanted to get her tattoo and be crew like everyone else.
“We’ll see,” the captain said, which Meb knew meant no.
What the Five would do with her, she had no idea.
She poked the empty buckets with a toe. Captain Kasaika said Meb didn’t have to clean fish anymore if she didn’t want to, but it was all so strange and overwhelming that for once, Meb actually looked forward to getting some fish to gut, even if her new knife wasn’t half as good as the old one.
The emperor’s youngest daughter was traveling with them too, a girl about Meb’s age. Captain Kasaika said Princess Pingyang was to be Meb’s companion, but the girl had barely glanced at Meb before retiring to her cabin. She was either snooty or scared or both. This came as a relief since Meb hadn’t a clue what to say to a princess. With any luck, she could be avoided during the journey—another reason Meb intended to stick to her old job. No princess worth her salt would be caught dead gutting fish, or talking to someone covered in blood and guts. Plus the princess already had her own attendant, named Feng Mian. They’d arrived with a spectacular amount of baggage, including colorful birds in cages that Meb was already scheming to set free. If there’s one thing she hated, it was seeing a bird in a cage.
But now everyone had finally settled in and she was eager to leave. At least the sea no longer frightened her—not the way it used to. It flowed in her blood now. She thought briefly of the Drowned Lady.
Go back up there and give ‘em a show.
Well, I guess I did that, she thought.
Meb squinted down the pier as six Marakai approached, bearing a velvet cushion. She groaned inwardly. Riding on the cushion was a small gray cat with stripes and slitted green eyes. No one told Meb they had to carry Anuketmatma.
Again.
The sailors boarded, but they didn’t take the cat below, as was customary. They set the cushion on the deck and stepped back, studiously ignoring Meb. The Mother of Storms gave a languid stretch and yawn, baring her sharp incisors for all to admire. Then she slunk across the deck, making straight for Meb. She halted a few paces away and sat with her tail curled around her paws. They stared at each other for a long moment.
“You just try me, cat,” Meb muttered.
She opened herself to the sea, just a teensy bit, to give herself the courage not to blink, which was fatal with cats.
Finally, Anuketmatma gave another ostentatious yawn. Then she padded over and rubbed against Meb’s leg. Meb scratched her behind the ears.
“All right then,” she said.
A breeze came, bellying the sails, and the Asperta raced for the harbor mouth, a dozen Marakai escort ships fanning out in her wake and the Mother of Storms settling peacefully in Meb’s lap.