Chapter Eighteen
At night, they slept curled up on the marmoose’s belly, which was the softest fur that Marin had ever encountered.
They’d eaten by the hot springs—food that the marmoose had foraged for them while they dried: bright pink berries that tasted like cherries, nuts that tasted like walnuts soaked in wine, and leafy greens that were close enough to dandelions to make a reasonable salad.
Happily, it was all edible, though Marin had counseled for caution, since what was good for a marmoose could be poisonous to a person.
But it was all fine, and Marin slept heavily and dreamed of peach pie.
At dawn, the marmoose shifted beneath them, and Marin woke. She patted the gentle beast. “Thank you. Best sleep I’ve ever had.” It probably helped that she’d been exhausted, but still, it wasn’t every day you got to thank your mattress.
She slid off the round belly onto the ground. Her clothes had dried, but they were stiff with salt, and her hair felt like straw. Not much to be done about that.
Groggy, Dax raised his head. “You all right?”
For an instant, she wished she’d stayed asleep. She could have curled up against him and not thought about or worried about anything. But she was the captain. “I’m going to the beach to check if Perri found our boat.”
Ree perked up. “I’ll come too.”
“And me,” Dax said, alert now. He too patted the marmoose as he dismounted. “Thank you. You’ve been very kind.”
The marmoose chirped at them, a sweet furry sound that reminded Marin of a cat. She found herself missing home and wondered how her parents were doing and how Stowy was. Had he settled in? Had he made feline friends? Did he have a favorite patch of the roof?
She tried not to think about what would happen if she couldn’t find a way back in time to locate Rijes Velk before her parents’ debt came due.
Of course we’re going to make it back in time.
They still had time—it wasn’t the winter solstice yet.
If Perri couldn’t find her boat and if the island didn’t have any islanders who owned one, then they’d find a way to signal passing supply runners.
Just because they’d been shipwrecked didn’t mean they were stuck.
This was the Crescent Islands, not the uncharted seas.
Unless it is. Did she know for certain that Picina was in the Crescent Islands?
There were unclaimed islands beyond the edges of the empire, beyond the outer islands …
It could take weeks, and she’d already used up one week with finding and transporting the florists.
That wouldn’t leave much time for finding Rijes and returning to Flicker.
She couldn’t guarantee they’d reach the conservatory before Dax was due to perform his opus.
It would all depend on the distance. And Silver.
“Do you have any other insight into where exactly Picina is?” Marin asked Dax.
“Any other clues in the song? You said it’s northwest and very far. Anything more specific than that?”
He spread his hands. “That’s all I know. But if we sail southeast for long enough…”
She tried not to over-worry about it. One problem at a time.
Before they could sail anywhere, they needed a boat.
She wondered if the marmoose could be persuaded to forage for a boat.
She couldn’t tell how much it understood of what they were saying and how much it was merely acting on instinct, embedded by some long-ago sorcerer with maternal feelings.
Ree sighed. “I wish we could take the marmoose with us.”
“It would sink Silver,” Marin said. Or, for that matter, any boat smaller than a warship.
“And this is its home,” Dax added.
Ree sighed. “I know. It’s just so soft.”
The birds were chirping loudly and cheerfully this morning, and the breeze coming through the trees was soft and sweet. The crystal leaves tinkled like wind chimes.
They emerged out onto the beach. It was clear which way was east, which was nice. It was also clear that there wasn’t a boat in sight.
In her heart of hearts, she’d been hoping that she’d emerge to see Silver, shiny and ready to sail, just offshore, with Perri swimming proudly around it.
“Maybe we could ride turtles all the way home,” Dax said.
Marin paced along the edge of the water. She wasn’t sure if that was a serious suggestion or not, but it wasn’t a practical solution. “It’s a large ocean.” They could be days away from the next island and weeks away from Alyssium or Flicker or Belde.
“Perri could do it,” Ree said. “We could ride him.”
Okay, that wasn’t a terrible idea.
No, it is a terrible idea. But it might be a workable idea, if all they had to do was reach the closest island with a proper harbor. “We’d need a way to keep from falling off, and a way to carry fresh water and food.”
Dax didn’t look convinced. “What about sharks, krakens, or sea serpents who might want to eat us rather than befriend us?”
“Perri wouldn’t let anyone eat us,” Ree said confidently.
Marin agreed with Ree. “If he could take us to the next inhabited island … I mean, inhabited by people who have boats, not marmooses. Marmeese?”
“I think marmeese,” Dax said.
“Marmeese.” She rolled the word over her tongue. “If we’re talking about a long journey, I don’t think it’s practical, but if there’s someplace closer, that might be possible, and then we could book passage on a supply runner’s boat. Or buy our own boat.” She touched the ruby again.
Dax’s eyes flickered to her pocket. “You need that for your parents.”
“It won’t do my parents any good if we can’t get back to them.
” Perhaps she could use a fraction of it.
If they could find a jeweler who could properly appraise it, then there might still be enough left over to satisfy the debt.
She felt a lump in her throat. It was their only asset.
And it wasn’t even truly hers, since she hadn’t completed the job.
If she failed to find Rijes Velk, she’d need to return it, and if she spent it without completing the job, she’d owe both Iovar and Terlu.
I’d double the debt I have to repay. “Regardless, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
We don’t know if there’s a useful island anywhere in range of how far Perri can transport us. If he’s willing to transport us.”
She’d never heard of anyone traveling by sea serpent before.
Then again, she didn’t know of anyone except her who was best friends with a sea serpent.
I can ask. If Perri says no, then we’ll find another way.
It was a lot to ask, especially since she didn’t really understand why he kept sticking around and helping her to begin with.
Surely whatever debt he felt for her saving him had long been paid off.
Still, she hoped he didn’t say no.
Someday she might ask too much of him. She might expect too much. He could tire of his pet human and instead swim off and find other sea serpents, find a family or start a family …
Had that happened already?
No, he’ll come back. He’s still my crew.
My friend.
She trusted that. He was her friend. Like Ree. Like Dax.
None of them seemed to blame her for this mess, even though it was her fault they’d been on a boat in a storm in the first place. She supposed they were just relieved they weren’t dead. That was, of course, why she’d kissed Dax: simple relief at not being dead. It wasn’t anything more than that.
Of course it was more than that.
But she couldn’t let it be.
He was going to return to his life at the conservatory, and she was going to keep sailing the seas. She couldn’t allow it to be any more than one beautiful moment on the sands, regardless of how either of them felt about it.
Even if he had tasted like sunshine.
Marin spent the rest of the day on the beach deliberately not kissing Dax, not thinking about kissing Dax, and not imagining kissing Dax again.
Instead, she planned the logistics of their hypothetical journey by sea serpent, while sneaking glances at him across the sand.
Every once in a while, he’d glance back, and she knew he was thinking of her too.
It became an afternoon of unsaid words. She felt hyperaware of where he was at every single moment.
Her eyes kept straying to his lips, his eyes, his hands, and then she’d force herself to pay attention to the task at hand.
Getting off this island was far more important than whatever feelings she had—she knew that, felt it in her bones.
Both of them needed to get back to Alyssium.
They each had responsibilities that had nothing to do with how soft his lips were. And they had been so sweetly soft.
Midday, she started a fire with some dried clover as tinder and some branches from the crystal-leaf trees, which gave off glittery sparkles as it burned, and they cooked several blue crabs that they found in tidal pools, as well as fistfuls of mollusks.
Marin couldn’t forage in the forest as well as the marmoose could, but she did know how to find food at the edge of the sea.
Eating food that she could catch herself—or that Perri could fling up out of the sea for her—was always cheaper than buying in port; it was the reason she’d been able to pay off any of her family’s debt in the first place.
She saved her precious profit for items like bread, fruit, and vegetables, as needed.
At Marin’s suggestion, Ree searched for bamboo or coconuts or anything that could be used or shaped into a vessel to hold water.
Meanwhile, Dax found sturdy vines that would work as cordage, and he sat cross-legged on the shore braiding them to make them stronger while he watched for Perri.
By evening, there was still no sign of the sea serpent, but Dax had woven several strong-looking vine ropes.