Chapter 77:

  The ship was whole again, and so the Grand Admiral, too, felt whole again. She had regained most of her strength over the week. Likely, she could have fully recovered if she was willing to y on the litter for two or three days but she had no time. Not if she wanted to be back home in all the ways that mattered. Now, with the crew aboard, things should have been perfect. The sea was fine, the ship was finally off her sandy prison, courtesy of the sirens. But a pair of sirens, along with a Great Dragon trapped in the body of her friend, were currently giving her the most tremendous headache.

  “This is the nearest mountain at which I can build a body,” the Great Dragon rumbled, his tones so different from Dymion’s that the Admiral wondered how no one else had noticed. Or perhaps they had, but had learned to look the other way.

  “That will add almost a week to our journey,” the Admiral grumbled, but no one seemed to pay her any mind.

  “That is in the middle of the cursed ocean,” Jules added, his voice rising over the Admiral’s. She looked at her wife in concern, but Nereida mouthed “ter”. At least her wife still cared for her opinion!

  “The next nearest mountains are here,” the Great Dragon continued as if none of them had spoken. “But that is even farther from your path, and will mean I continue in this body longer.”

  “Great One,” Nereida began tentatively. “Will the longer period of time in a mortal body… change it?”

  “Likely.” The Great Dragon shrugged, so human a motion that it threw Ael. “Even the slightest touch from one of us changes you.” Ael felt her stomach clench at the way the Earth Dragon stressed the st word. Dragon’s wilted ballsacks. That wasn’t a hypothetical, or a warning about Dymion. It was directed at Nereida. At her. She pushed the thought down and away. Jules was here, and could not know what she suspected. But the boy had picked up on the wording as well as she had.

  “Changed how, Great One?” he asked, his words tentative as he stepped closer to Nereida. His sudden protective streak might have been endearing if it hadn’t come now.

  There was a moment of silence where the Admiral began to believe the Great Dragon would not answer. She looked down at the map on the desk between them, looking at their intended original course that was still lightly inked on the map. They were so far from their original path. And though, even with the stopover, this shortened the journey, she did not know these waters, the dangers or the safe havens. Even the map was completely changed, Jules’ notations on what was within the siren’s borders had taken over, with new isnds drawn in, dangers sketched, even areas of strong current and their flow marked. It was the most complete map of their world she had ever seen… and if it fell into the wrong hands she had to destroy it. The thought was sobering.

  “If a god takes the body of a mortal, any mortal, they become our Scions. It is how the first human Scions were made by some of us. Others preferred to shapeshift and copute.” He wrinkled his nose in disgust. Ael let out the breath she was holding. That did not seem so terrible for Dymion. But why had he directed it at Nereida? The siren princess nodded and asked something for crification on the kinds of mountains needed, her curiosity sated. But as Ael tuned them out, not particurly caring one way or another the “why” of what mountains were needed, she happened to gnce at her egg. Her blood ran cold as realization hit her.

  Dymion was not the only one in the room who had been a vessel for a god. She felt her fist clench, and she had to force herself to breath as she drowned in the realization. She and Nereida were Scions. That was why the moon spoke to her with complex visions, why her visions nearly killed her after that first new moon. That was why Nereida’s magic seemed stronger or more versatile than the other sirens. Because it was. She forced herself to look up at Nereida, to admire her vibrant blue hair, the shape of her curves, the way she always rocked as if she held an infant, even when her arms were empty of the egg. To focus on anything else.

  At some point during her internal struggle, Jules and Nereida had begun to argue. Ael smmed her open hand down on the heavy oak desk. The sound made both sirens jump, though the Great Dragon’s expression remained serene.

  “Enough,” she said. “We go to the first mountain.” Jules opened his mouth to speak but she gred at the boy and he wilted. “You, Jules, will teach Nereida and Evander anything they need to know about these so-called cursed waters. We call your waters cursed.” The boy flushed purple at that, but nodded. “That will take us to the edge of siren waters. There is a chance that we are seen, though most ships don’t come this way… except Sylph ones. We are far from the front, so Demons should not be an issue. We fly the siren fg at all times. Double watches at night starting tomorrow. Any other concerns?” The two sirens shook their heads. “Good. Now, Jules, fetch me the helmsman and my officers so that I can go over this little side mission. You know enough now to keep us on course, yes?”

  “Yes ma’am!” he bounced onto the tips of his toes, a grin breaking across his face. Clearly he understood the honour she offered him.

  “Good. Officers, helmsman, you at the helm. Go.”

  The young man practically skipped out of the cabin, giddy with excitement. Nereida smiled a soft smile at her. She grimaced back at her wife. She wasn’t being soft on the boy. He just had good, strong arms. Yes, good arms for holding steady. That was it. Not because he'd need to be good for the ship if he was going to be good for her daughter...

  “Well, then, Moonlet, Droplet,” the Dragon said with a zy yawn, interrupting her thoughts again. “I am going to go sun myself for an hour before I give control back to the host. It is such a lovely day.” He ambled out, looking pleased. She supposed he was. He got everything he wanted.

  “Love,” Ael began. Nereida looked at her, catching the hesitance in her tone. The princess wiped her hands on her simple dress, leaving ink-stains on the light blue fabric, before she pulled Ael into a tight embrace. “After my meeting, love, I want to talk to you about something he said. Alright?”

  “Of course.” Nereida pced a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Do you want me to stay for the officers’ meeting, or go?”

  “It’s best you go, love. I may tell you everything, but it’s not done to have your spouse stay. You have no official rank, and even if we are operating on new rules, the old ones, the familiar ones, are sacrosanct.” Nereida kissed her again, squeezing her hand, before she wordlessly headed onto the deck.

  They argued surprisingly little during the meeting, the only argument rising around which side of the mountainous isnd to approach. Knowing that the waters were supposed to be devoid of sirens made her crew feel more at ease. They had grown to trust Nereida and Jules, but the idea that someone could be in the water, could attack them from beneath, still made them nervous. They knew Nereida could do it, and she seemed tame to them. They were wrong, her wife was as tame as any drop in the ocean.

  Evander remained behind when the rest of the officers left. Gregors was the st to leave, and he closed the door without comment.

  “Thank you,” he began, shifting awkwardly, his cap in his hands. He twisted the blue cap. “For makin’ sure we get Dym freed. I can’t… I can’t look at him right now. I just see the god’s eyes. I hate it, Admiral.” He frowned.

  “I understand.” She offered him an apple from the small store of food she kept in the trunk at the foot of her bed. A few apples, some hard tack, a bottle of small beer, all kept in case of illness. He took the apple with a grateful half-smile that did not quite reach his eyes. She hadn’t heard Evander tease or crack a joke since the Dragon arrived. “Have you been taking care of yourself, Evander?” He opened his mouth to answer, but when she fixed a gre on him, he simply wilted.

  “Not really, sir.”

  “We are on our way to save him. Now you need to rest. In case the god asks more.”

  “He’s taken enough,” Evander grumbled.

  “That’s what gods do,” she sighed.

  “Then why’d ye wake ‘em?” Evander demanded. His eyes went wide and he grimaced. “I’m sorry, Admiral, I forgot my pce.” He tried to back up, but between the children’s beds and the desk, there was nowhere to go. He stepped on a toy, and nded hard on Alejo’s cot.

  “Your pce, Evander, is beside me.” Ael sighed heavily, and walked over to sit beside him. He did not move away, but did not look at her either, preferring to look at his hands. “In here, you can question me, so long as it's not an officer’s meeting. We’re friends, you and I.” She sighed, and pced her hand on his. “You’re basically my brother. I don’t want to see you, or Dymion, caught up in our fates. If you want off, forever, I can ask Basiano to set you both up with a cushy commission. But… I have to do this.”

  “By your own choice, Admiral? Or… did they take that from you?” His voice was quiet, full of fear. He kicked at one of the boys’ blocks, sending it tumbling across the floor like a brightly coloured dice.

  “If I do this… we can end the war. Put the demons in their pce. Save so, so many more.” She cracked her knuckles as she spoke, old injuries aching in a way that demanded attention. The sound was satisfying, though Evander shuddered at it. “It isn’t easy, this path… and some days I wish I hadn’t stepped foot on it. But… Nereida makes it worth it. Our children too.”

  “Then I’ll survive this, Admiral.” He patted her hand. A slow smile budded on his face. “And I won’t even tell the others that yer going’ soft.” She ughed.

  “You better not. Or I’ll tie you to the mast and make you listen to me practicing bedtime stories for the kids.”

  The rest of the day passed smoothly. It would only take them four or five days to reach the isnd, depending on the weather. Epelda kept the wind favourable, so that they would not need to lose time. The Sylph wanted Dymion back to normal as well. No one had told her, but she was bright, and knew something was off with the gnome.

  The earlier revetion of their status as Scions had slipped from her mind as the Grand Admiral reacquainted herself with her ship. She moved about, helping as she could, organizing, simply being in a way that she could not on nd, could not when her ship had been broken, wounded. She stopped at the mast, quietly thanking the old girl for her service, for her bravery. She knew it was foolish, but to her the ship was alive. She kept the Admiral and her crew safe, healthy.

  “Into the unknown again,” she whispered to the wood, touching the familiar pock marks. “Keep us safe, yeah? I appreciate you not killing Jules… or any of us.” She smiled to herself.

  The first three days of travel passed with no issues, aside from Jules and Epelda sneaking into her cabin once while she and Nereida were elsewhere on the second day of travel. She was saved from having to discipline either by Nereida, who went in to speak to them wielding her disappointment as a warrior wields a sword. Ael was grateful that her wife wanted to handle it, but she felt a touch sorry for the two young adults, who up until now had viewed Nereida as their ally and as the more x of the two parents. She did not find out what was said, but both Epelda and Jules spent the next day avoiding Nereida’s gaze, ducking their heads and going red.

  On the fourth morning, just after she had set foot on the deck, the children still half-asleep, curled up with their mother, a wave crashed into the boat. The wind was calm, and the ocean had not seemed agitated, but the wave that crashed into the boat was vicious. Ael blew the whistle, calling All Hands, and the ship roared to life. The Admiral, fearing she knew what was happening, raced to the second fg they had been given. This one, made of a very heavy canvas with little iron weights sewn to it, was meant to be unfurled beneath the waves. She called out for help, got Epelda, Evander and Gregors. They deployed the fg, but not before another wave, stronger than the st, struck their ship. The fg went over as it was supposed to, though Ael had to scramble to grab the railing so she did not go with it. She heard a terrible spsh, and a scream ripped itself from her throat. Epelda had gone overboard.