The Westwind was far out to sea by the time Sophie regained consciousness. She found herself alone in a dark cabin. As she tried to sit up to get her bearings, she knocked something off the bedside table and sent it clattering to the floor. Moments later, the door flew open and Eolisti rushed in, asking where it hurt and how she could help.
Sophie realized it hurt just to move. Her entire body was sore, and she felt ravenous. The Anai told her that she had been asleep for two full days. They had been afraid that she might never wake up.
Eolisti helped her get out of bed and dress, gave her some fruit to eat, then took her out onto the deck. Sophie found it difficult to walk by herself at first, but it seemed to get easier the longer she was on her feet. While they walked, Eolisti filled her in on what had happened in the aftermath of the attack on the ship.
Her gamble had worked. Once the wave hit the docks, the sky had begun to clear, and they were able to put enough distance between the ship and the shore with the two remaining sails to be safely out of range by the time Iseul recovered. They’d found Sophie lying by the taffrail, and Captain Alvar had ordered that a cabin be set aside for her so that she could recover. Someone, usually Eolisti or Khalil, had kept a constant vigil in case she woke. They hadn’t been able to get very far very fast with the ship as damaged as it was, so they’d sailed along the coast to the next port town north of Nobarum and brought on supplies to fix the ship. After some hasty repairs were done, they set sail again the following day and were already well into the Silver Sea. The men worked around the clock fixing the Westwind, and there was still a lot to do, but nothing that couldn’t be done while they were moving.
The sun was high when they emerged on deck. The Westwind was surrounded by water as far as the eye could see, reflecting the shimmering sunlight in its gentle waves. Some of the sailors that Sophie recognized were setting planks and hammering nails into the damaged ship.
Overall, they were lucky. While the main mast had taken the lion’s share of the damage, it hadn’t broken completely or fallen, and the men had managed to save the sail. The wood was charred and black where the lightning and subsequent fire had struck, but with some quick thinking, they’d wrapped most of it with rope to secure it. It wouldn’t hold forever, and that sail couldn’t be unfurled, but they were still able to traverse the sea with the other two sails until the main mast could be replaced.
Sophie spotted Khalil helping with the repairs, nimbly climbing up and down the rigging and securing damaged ropes and tying down damaged parts. The sun gleamed off shining gold hair, and Sophie recognized the Anai that she and Eolisti had been talking to back in town—the one that Eolisti had disappeared with for a night—talking with some of the sailors. Her eyes slid over to Eolisti beside her, who was grinning shamelessly.
“His name is Elindiir. He’s an envoy from Nemethy who was in Omer for business.” She held up her hands and shrugged. “He told me he was sailing west the same day we were leaving, but I didn’t know he’d be on this ship until we were already here.” Her eyes sparkled. “He promised to tell me all about the Anaiian courts of the west. Maybe I’ll even get to go to Nemethy.”
Sophie covered her smile with her hand. It sounded like Eolisti had no intention of going back to Elasariin anytime soon.
When the men noticed Sophie was up and walking around, many of them put down what they were doing and approached her. They thanked her for saving the ship and their lives, and she felt a stab of guilt. If she hadn’t been on the Westwind in the first place, they wouldn’t have been in danger, but she accepted their gratitude as gracefully as she could. Two men had died during the attack and had been laid to rest out at sea before she’d awoken. Sophie didn’t even know their names or what they looked like, and it was difficult for her to accept that two more people had died because of her.
“How are you feeling?” Khalil asked, having made his way to her after the small crowd of sailors around her had dissipated. His hood was down, and he was wiping the sweat off his brow with a towel. His eyes were the same cloudy white gold that she had seen before, but out in the sun, they looked less menacing and more… him.
“Fine,” Sophie said, smiling up at him. It might be selfish to think it, but she was relieved that he and Eolisti were safe. “Just a little weak.”
Eolisti put a hand on her shoulder. “I have something to show you later.” She grinned at Sophie’s look of confusion and winked. Then Eolisti turned in Elindiir’s direction and sauntered toward him.
Later, when Sophie was alone in her cabin and the sun had set, there was a knock at her door. She opened it to find Eolisti holding a small drawstring bag and bouncing on the balls of her feet. Sophie stepped aside to let her in, and the Anai sat on her bed, immediately opening the bag and digging around in it.
“What is that?” Sophie asked, closing the door and joining her on the bed.
“Just what I took from that Spider guy.”
It took Sophie a moment to process what Eolisti had said. “You stole his money?”
Eolisti scoffed. “He deserved it. Bastard,” she growled. “Anyway, there was something with his stuff that looked odd.” She pulled a large green emerald out of the bag. “It looks like a normal gem, but I don’t think it is. There’s something off about it.”
Sophie felt her breath catch in her throat. “That’s a communication gem.”
Eolisti flipped it up into the air and caught it nonchalantly. “A what?”
“A communication gem. It’s a gem that is enchanted to correspond to one similar to it. Gems are typically paired, so that information put in one gem is sent to the other. There are tablets that they fit into, and when you carve your message in the wax, the other paired gem stores the information and your message will show up once the receiver puts their own gem into a tablet,” Sophie explained.
“That sounds like a lot of work,” Eolisti said, flipping it up again and snatching it out of the air.
“Well, you can also use it to send a message that’s purely sound, but it doesn’t retain the information once the receiver listens to it.”
Eolisti looked at her. “So, this gem…”
“Is probably paired to one the Vizier owns, since you got it off of the Spider,” Sophie finished.
The Anai looked down at the emerald in her palm. “Do you have to have magic to use it?” She looked up sharply. “Could he have been spying on us the entire time?”
“That’s not really how they work,” Sophie assured her. “The sender has to consciously relay information, and the receiver can’t activate the gem that’s not in their possession. And no, you don’t have to have magical ability to use the gems. It just takes focus and knowing how to activate it.” She shivered. “Like when Khalil activated the slave anklet to remove it. There was no magic involved on his part, but he’d obviously dealt with them before.”
Eolisti nodded. “So, you can tell this guy to go roll around naked in a hill of fire ants?”
“I… don’t think that’s a good idea.”
The Anai shrugged and tossed her the gem. Sophie caught it and peered down at it. “Well, that’s up to you, I guess,” Eolisti sighed and stood. “Being on a boat is boring.” And with that, she strode to the door and left, leaving Sophie to contemplate the gleaming, green emerald on her own.
Sophie found it difficult to sleep. She lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling for most of the night, alone with her thoughts. She held the emerald up in front of her face, feeling its edges in the near-complete darkness. What should she do with it? Should she send a message back? A final goodbye? The Vizier would be angry, whatever she did. It would be dangerous to communicate with him. After all they had been through, it wasn’t worth it.
She sat up. “I need some air,” she muttered to herself and pulled a light, airy dress over her head. With the emerald still in hand, she left her cabin and made her way up the stairs into the night.
When Sophie emerged on the deck, neither moon was out, but the stars shone brightly in the night sky. A few of the sailors were on deck, but the ship seemed mostly still and quiet. The rest of the men must have been asleep. Captain Alvar was nowhere to be seen, and a man that Sophie was pretty sure was the first mate stood at the helm. He nodded to her, and she waved back to him.
Khalil leaned against the taffrail to her left, and Sophie approached quietly so as not to disturb him. The breeze ruffled his dark hair.
“Can’t sleep?” he asked without turning toward her.
Of course he knew she was there. He really was something else. “No.” She smiled to herself. “I guess I’ve slept enough.” She looked down at the gem in her hand and then out at the ocean again.
Sophie made her decision. She leaned over the rail and let the emerald slip out of her hand, dropping it into the dark water below. She felt an overwhelming sense of relief, but also of sadness. The last tie to her old home had been severed.
“What was that?” Khalil asked, face still turned out toward the sea.
Sophie shook her head. “Nothing. Just a relic from my past. I think it’s time I moved on for good.”
He nodded, and she could see a smile tugging at the sides of his lips. Sophie leaned on the taffrail with him and looked out to the sea, the stars sparkling like diamonds on the black water. Somewhere across that endless expanse, she would be able to build a new life for herself, with the help of her friends. They had all sacrificed so much for her. She would do all that she could to make sure that their suffering was not in vain. There was much to do once they landed in the west, but getting across the Silver Sea could take weeks. There was plenty of time to plan her next steps later.
There was still a long journey ahead of her, but for now, they were safe, and that was all that mattered.