Chapter Sixty-Nine Finlyr
chapter sixty-nine
finlyr
We have been talking all night. More like arguing.
‘We don’t understand what any of it means. We don’t know what’s happening to you two.’ Morna says. ‘I think we need to let things blow over before we make any rash decisions.’
‘I wish I’d taken more emerald vine before all this,’ Ligaya frets. ‘I didn’t want to be greedy, but now it will all go to waste. Oh, that’s a wicked thought, isn’t it?’
‘We have to find the others,’ I insist. ‘Hanan, Biba – they all had powers too.’
‘Fuck the others,’ Isagani says suddenly.
We all turn to them, our conversation dying down. Their face is red, angry blood vessels pulsing in their forehead.
‘Why would you say that?’ I ask, trying to quell my shock.
‘We all need to look out for ourselves,’ Isagani says, jutting out their chin.
‘I know you’re angry about what happened with Ris—’
‘She said we were a family,’ they interrupt, meeting my eyes. ‘She’s a liar!’
‘What happened?’ Ligaya asks, trying to comfort Isagani. They shrug her off.
‘It’s the same with everyone. They all leave or die.’
‘Hey, don’t talk like that,’ I reprimand.
‘Why not? It’s true, isn’t it?’
‘We don’t know what happened,’ I say to Narra, Morna, and Ligaya. ‘We all got separated in the chaos.’
Isagani digs their nails into the wooden arm of the chair, scratching.
‘Hey!’
They look up at me, and I pull down my shirt, showing them the scar on my neck. ‘You saved my life, I saved yours. We’re keeping this score going, all right? We look out for each other.’
Ligaya nods, trying to smile, though her face is ashen with worry. ‘In Lassren we have this saying, though I don’t know how to say it perfectly in Nishian. But it’s basically: tie your boat to mine, and altogether we will make a dock. Does that make sense?’
I nod, the old idiom coming back to me, letting the image wash over me. Then I stare at the kitchen witch. ‘Boats.’
‘Boats?’ Ligaya asks, sipping her tea.
‘You sailed from Lassair, right?’
‘You know all this, Fin,’ Morna says, exasperated.
‘Do you still have the boat?’
‘The boat?’ Ligaya asks.
‘Your boat, the one you sailed from Lassair.’
Ligaya nods. ‘Yes. I haven’t needed it since I realised the ferries would take me between the isles. But I still have it.’
‘Where is it?’ I stand up, rubbing my hands together.
‘It’s very small, a skiff really.’
‘Yes, but where is it?’
‘What are you planning on doing, Fin?’ Narra takes me stiffly by the arm. ‘First sign of trouble and you’re making an escape plan, leaving us to pick up the pieces.’
‘I’m not abandoning you,’ I say firmly, looking Narra deep in the eyes. ‘I swear on my honour.’
She gives me a withering stare.
‘All right. I swear on the kid’s honour.’
Isagani furrows their brow.
‘The other lands don’t know what’s happening here,’ Ligaya says slowly.
‘We have to call for aid,’ Morna adds.
‘I’m asking you all to join me,’ I say. ‘No one gets left behind, not if I can help it.’
Isagani looks at me, worrying their bottom lip.
I turn to the kitchen witch and place my hands on her shoulders. ‘Would you be willing to do this, Ligaya?’
‘Do what?’ she says, looking alarmed.
‘Speak for us?’
‘What do you mean?’ she asks.
‘Advocate. Be our ambassador.’
‘Do you think they would listen to me?’ She blanches. ‘I’m nobody.’
‘You’re a witness,’ Morna says. ‘We all are.’
‘But will the queen listen to the Lassairian council?’ Narra asks, brooding. ‘If there even is a queen.’
‘I don’t know, Fin,’ Ligaya says slowly, backing away. The candlelight flickers, and the storm rages outside, threatening against the walls of the inn and Ligaya’s protective circle. ‘I’m just one person. What if they don’t listen to me?’
‘You’re our best hope. You can speak to them, one Lassairian to another.’
‘An alliance could be mutually beneficial,’ Morna muses. ‘It’s not so wild. They might consider it.’
Narra paces the parlour, the floorboards creaking under our weight as we shift in our chairs. The rain bashes against the windows, heightening my anxiety as I try to turn it over in my mind. Sinigang slinks around my legs, having awoken from his nap. I scritch his chin and sigh.
‘What do you think we should do?’ I ask him.
He makes a noise. It sounds like something between a sneeze and the word ‘leave’.
I cock my head to the side and stare at him. ‘Did you—’
Isagani looks up, as though I’ve interrupted their thoughts. ‘Are you talking to me?’
I look at Sinigang, then at the others, all embroiled in their own minds.
‘Nothing,’ I say, continuing to stroke the otter-cat.
‘I don’t want to leave Narra alone,’ Ligaya says determinedly.
‘Who said anything about leaving me alone?’ Narra smiles.
Everyone looks at each other. ‘Will you come with us?’ I ask her.
‘No such thing as a retired smuggler, right?’ Narra smiles, a glint in her eye.
‘Well, what are we waiting for?’ I ask.
‘Hold steady, Fin,’ Narra urges. ‘We have to ready ourselves and gather supplies. We’ll need to figure out what’s going on out there. Could be Seaguardians patrolling.’
‘And we have to wait for the storm to die down,’ Ligaya says. ‘The cave will be flooded right now.’
‘You’re not talking about the spit, are you?’
Ligaya looks at Morna. ‘I don’t know. What is that?’
‘There’s a desolate spit of rock along the east. One of many caves I became acquainted with around the coast through my years as a smuggler.’
Ligaya shakes her head. ‘I don’t know; it could be.’
These secret places are sheltered by rocks, reachable only by those who know where to find them.
There’s always risk of them flooding or collapsing, eroded by the waves over the years.
We have to hope the skiff was tied up with enough rope and that the sea level hasn’t risen enough to smash it to bits against the roof of the cave.
‘It feels like we’re abandoning our home,’ Morna says, glassy-eyed.
‘No,’ Isagani protests. ‘We’re not abandoning it.’
I sigh. ‘We have to hope there’s enough left of it to save when we return.’