Chapter 16 #4
He reached out to squeeze my hand. “Not at all. If this isn’t a magical island, it can be escaped. And on that, I have good news.”
“Did you manage to get everything we need?”
“Yes and no. There are some supplies and tools they simply do not have, but Arno helped me scrounge for canvas and scavenged metal, and the carpenter says he can be creative. For all that sailing is supposedly forbidden, they were incredibly enthusiastic. The queen herself accompanied the delivery.”
“Lab visited the Marawati?” I asked, the question coming out more sharply than I intended, banishing thoughts of both visions and the peris from my mind.
“She did. She seemed very impressed.”
Perhaps I should have taken that sign of support as a positive one, but something about the queen visiting my ship while I was not there grated on me. “So you have everything you need?”
“For now. And Tinbu seems more optimistic than he did yesterday.”
“Ay, but he often does.” The memory of my first mate running into the jungle after his cat returned to me. “Watch over him in my stead, yes? He stumbles into danger more readily than the rest of us and if something happens to him, we are never fixing that ship.”
“I will fret over him like his own mother.” Majed grimaced. “Though he did warn that it would be at least six months of work.”
Six months. It was a brutal punch. I had prepared myself for worse but still . . .
At this rate, it will be nearly a year before I see Marjana again.
The prospect made me want to weep. Those who hail from sailing families know how long the journeys can take, especially when things go awry, but there comes a point when waiting for your sailor edges into waiting for that most terrible of news.
I tried to push that aside; such grief would only distract me.
“All while Dalila and I must impress the queen and the locals try to lure my crew away. Perhaps if the peris didn’t lie to me, and the spindle does exist, we can use it to rewrite a voyage where the Marawati doesn’t break apart in a storm.
” My voice softened. “And the sea doesn’t take six of our own. ”
Majed gave me a wary look. “That is a dangerous path of thinking, Amina. You were warned not to use any of the Transgressions. And God is the only One who should be permitted such power.”
He was correct, of course, but it didn’t lift my spirits. “How did you find the city?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Small but charming. Provincial and na?ve in a slightly unreal way.” He shook his head. “You will find me ridiculous, but . . .”
“But what?”
He ran his hands over the soft fabric of his tunic.
“This place feels like a dream. And not just because the accommodations are fit for royalty and parts of it look like a vision out of Paradise, but because there are aspects that are so real while others are barely formed. Many of the locals we encountered today . . . It was as if they were in a stupor, half asleep until we spoke to them. There are no children shouting, no dogs barking, no cooking smells. There is heavy stillness, a silence that makes me recall the hottest days of the year, when it is too hot to breathe, to do anything more than close your eyes in the shade, but I have felt that way since we arrived.”
“Maybe they are being controlled by a magical spindle.”
“God alone knows. No one even offered a name, Amina, until I asked more than once. It was as though they had forgotten themselves.” Majed shuddered.
“I would not overly worry about losing much of the crew. Those who willingly follow an infamous pirate queen are looking for adventure, not whatever life this is.”
“Says the man who would explore until he was older than Adam,” I teased.
“Eh, after this, even I might prefer being a landlubber for a while.” Sorrow lit his face. “I miss my family. Quite terribly. The first two quests were thrilling, and it had been so long since I’d been to sea, but . . .” He trailed off.
“I know how you feel. When first I told you all about my deal with the peris, part of me was thrilled to find a way to explore and have adventures again, convinced I could make it work while also caring for Marjana.” My face fell. “I am feeling much less confident of that.”
“We’re going to get home,” Majed said firmly, which heartened me just a bit. “To both our families. I am already working on some theories of how to deal with that accursed, shifting sky.”
If there was anyone who could navigate such a journey, it was Majed. “I pray you are correct. But once we do leave . . .” I stumbled over my words. “You are my oldest friend, Majed. These are dangerous quests. If you no longer wish to—”
Majed hushed me. “If this spindle exists and we succeed in retrieving it, there are only two more Transgressions. God willing, the peris grant us more time before the next one, but after that—retirement. We shall drag Jamal to a sailor’s tavern and make him record all our long-winded stories.
And that shall be the end to our life at sea. ”
I grinned. “Do you think retirement will stick a second time? What if someone offers China?”
“Well, then, I suppose my family will just have to come along. But speaking of joining others, let us go feast with our crew.”
“And hear what this queen thinks of my ship,” I groused, still feeling territorial. “If suddenly a shorter version of me appears veiled on the beach, claiming she is ready to depart, you best ascertain my identity.”
“She could not possibly feign your ludicrous height. She would have to be walking on stilts.”
“And to think I was worried I would miss your witticisms once you departed for the Marawati.” I clapped him on the back. “Let me find my garments. If I am to be kept as a representative of our people here, it might be a few days before I see the crew again and I wish to look like myself.”