Traveler of the Void - Part 2 Chapter 5 - The Wheel of Fate

  Traveler of the Void

(Book 4 of the Guardian of the Spirit Series)

Author: Uehashi Nahoko

Translator: Ainikki the Archivist

 

Part 2 - The Curse

Chapter 5 - The Wheel of Fate

 

    Surina summoned all her strength and dragged her ship bodily up the beach. She avoided the main harbor where many other ships were clustered together, choosing to come to shore along the mouth of the Rogo river. Compared to the harbor, her landing site was completely deserted. She wiped away sweat and took in the sight of colorful cargo barges lining the river on each side.

    She'd finally completed her solitary voyage to the capital, but that didn’ t mean her promise was fulfilled. She still had to find Prince Tarsan--and she feared the remaining obstacles in her way.

    She knew that some of Prince Tarsan’ s personal guards originally came from Kalsh. Three, or maybe even four would know her by sight, and most of those should know her name. This was a tenuous connection at best, but she had little else to go on. This was the first time she ’d ever been to the capital.

    After thinking things over, Surina decided that she should probably try to find the market first. Every inhabited island she ’ d ever been to had an open market that traded in goods and supplies as well as news and gossip. She might be able to find someone who knew where Prince Tarsan ’s guards were. She could at least ask around.

    She walked along a strip of colorful makeshift buildings that certainly looked like a market some time in the late afternoon. The sun beat down on her shoulders, hot, and for a moment she thought she was walking in a fever dream. Impossibly high white walls of houses and other structures surrounded the enormous market district. Shops clustered together, sometimes right on top of each other; each shop ’s roof or awning seemed to be a different bright color. She’ d never seen some of the colors before. When the sunlight reflected off the white walls and kaleidoscopic roofs, the contrast was so overwhelming that it make Surina dizzy. Her legs shook like jelly, as if she ’ d just come off her ship and was trying to find her land legs again. The world shook around her as if she were experiencing her own personal earthquake.

    And then there were the people! They were everywhere, pushing past her, moving around her in a whirl. Her heart beat faster in anxiety at being so thoroughly surrounded. The air carried the scent of powerful spices as well as body odors like sweat and excrement. She found it hard to breathe and wished for some sort of breeze, or a wind strong enough to banish the heat entirely.

    Suddenly, she entered a comparatively clear space in the market and felt a cool breeze on her skin. The capital’ s market was about ten times the size of the island markets that she was familiar with. Surina stood still in the shade of one wall and caught her breath.

    The size of the market was gargantuan compared to what she was used to, but many of the sights and smells around her were familiar; she let those similarities ground her in her surroundings. She clutched her money pouch close to her chest so that it wouldn't be stolen, then approached a market stand that sold sweets.

    “Do you know where Prince Tarsan’ s personal guards are?”  she asked the kindly-looking middle-aged woman behind the shop counter. She was frying sweets in oil. Her hands were coated in brown sugar.

    “All the soldiers live in the barracks along the eastern end of the palace, near the cliffs, ” the woman said. “But why would you need to go there? ”

    “An acquaintance gave me a message to deliver if I passed by the capital, ” Surina said.

    After she gave the woman her fabricated reason, the woman’ s shoulders collapsed. “I’ m afraid that’s impossible. You won’ t be able to deliver your message.”

    “Huh? Why?”

    “No one is permitted to leave or enter the barracks right now,”  the woman said.

    Surina caught most of the woman’ s reply, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of children’ s voices approaching the sweets stand. Surina found herself ignored in favor of paying customers. Someone tugged at her sleeve; she turned to see a beggar standing behind her, smiling. His skin was dark with soot and filth and most of his teeth were missing.

    “Do you have anything to spare? If you do, I’ ll tell you why no one can go in or out of the barracks right now.”

    Surina hesitated, then placed the money that she’ d intended to use to buy candy into the beggar’s hand. His nails were curved in and grotesquely long.

    The beggar relaxed his shoulders and said, “ Entry is forbidden to the barracks because Prince Tarsan has run away from the palace.”  He extended his hand with a grin.

    Prince Tarsan had run away? Of course she desperately wanted to know what had happened, but she didn’ t need to learn that from this beggar. She shook her head at his outstretched hand. “I ’m sure I can find other people to talk to. My father always told me that information bought for coin is always embellished with lies. I ’d rather learn the truth from someone else. Goodbye.”

    She turned her back on him, but the beggar followed, flapping his hands in haste. “ Wait! I’ll tell everything I know for five chal!”

    Surina walked faster.

    “Wait! If you give me five chal, I won’ t just tell you what I know, I’ll lead you to someone that can get in and out the palace still. He ’s from Kalsh; knows all the soldiers.”

    Surina stopped and turned around. “Who is he? ”

    The beggar fixed her with a hungry stare, as if she were a fish that that just taken the bait. “ Man by the name of Rakora. He’s got just the one arm.”

    Uncle Rakora!

    Rakora was not really her uncle, but a close friend of her father’ s. Surina looked at the beggar, trying to determine if he was telling the truth. She knew Rakora well; he and her father had often played together as children and she ’d often visited his home on Kalsh. When he’ d first settled on Kalsh, her father had brought him rich gifts of expensive wine. He’ d also stopped by his home often to trade news of the world.

    Surina had not seen Rakora on Kalsh for a long time, but she did remember her father telling her that he’ d retired from military service and become a merchant after the loss of his arm. Surina removed five chal from her money pouch. The beggar tried to snatch it from her, but she closed her hand quickly, protecting the coins.

    “You’re a wary one, missy. But I ’ll keep my word. Follow me to Rakora’s store. He ’s good to people. When he hears your story, I’m sure he ’ll help you.”

    Surina followed the beggar into an alley that intersected a huge main street. They crossed it, then entered another alley, narrower than the first; Surina suudenly feared that the beggar was leading her into danger. They stopped at a place selling drinks at the end of another alley near an outer wall of the market, and the quality of the light overhead told Surina that the sun was beginning to set.

    The beggar stopped outside a gaudy-looking wine shop and beckoned to Surina. “ This one’s Rakora’ s. Pay up.”

    The shop didn’ t appear to be open. The wooden door was stuck shut and would not open when she pushed it. Surina said nothing to the beggar and searched for a back entrance. She found a window and peered into the gloomy interior of the store. She saw people moving inside and heard low voices.

    “Uncle Rakora?”  she called out.

    There was a muffled response. A few moments later, a large man in a loincloth emerged from the shop. His hair was much thinner than she remembered and he had gained a little weight, but he was undoubtedly Rakora, her father ’ s friend. Surina was so relieved that she nearly cried. She gritted her teeth to control her feelings, returned to the front of the building, and paid the beggar five chal. The beggar accepted the money quickly and withdrew.

    “Now then... Who are you?”  Rakora’s expression was puzzled, as if he didn’ t recognize her but felt that he should. Surina understood why: she hadn’ t seen him since she was ten years old, when she’d visited him with her whole family.

    “Uncle Rakora. I’ m Surina--a Rassharou.”

    “Huh? Oh, Surina! Rana’ s daughter, right?”

    Surina nodded.

    “What are you doing out here all alone? Your dad’ s nearby, right? Probably came to ask me about something or other...”

    “My father is...”  Surina began, but couldn’t finish; she couldn’ t talk about that right now. “Well, I have something important to tell you. ” Her voice shook. When she’ d first caught sight of her father’s old friend, something within her had snapped.

    “Oi, you all right? You look like you’ re about to fall over.”

    Rakora hurriedly gripped Surina’ s elbow and guided her into a house next to the wine shop. His house in the capital was much grander than the house he kept on Kalsh. It s style was like that of the other homes she had seen, with bright white walls and an expansive view of a magnificent garden through the rear windows. A cool breeze blew in from the garden. The floor beneath her feet was soft and sweet-smelling; it had been woven of dried palm leaves. She shifted her gaze to an interior room, which she and Rakora entered. He encouraged her to lie down for a while.

    “ You should stay here tonight. Wait here for a little while, and when I come home after work we can eat and talk together. You should rest until I return. If I don ’t get back to the shop soon, the others will close it up on me.”

    Surina still felt anxious, but she was too exhausted to reply. The moment she laid down and closed her eyes, the sounds of the outside world instantly receded. She fell into a deep sleep.

    Rakora’ s shop was thriving. Nights were the time when he made the most profit. His wife came home before he did, as well as several other workers from the store, and started making dinner. Rakora ’s wife called out to Surina when dinner was ready; she woke up and emerged from her guest room to eat.

    Surina greeted Rakora’ s wife politely and took a seat on the floor. Lined up all along the floor of the room were dishes of baked fish and fresh tropical fruit. When Rakora finally returned from work, everyone settled down to eat. Rakora ate rapidly and without pause as he listened to Surina ’s story. He encouraged her to keep speaking until the movement of his hand slowed and he’ d finally eaten his fill. 

    Even after eating, Rakora remained sitting and listening. He asked his wife to take care of things at the store for him, then fixed his full attention on Surina. “What on earth are you saying, girl?”  he asked, bringing his left hand up to his chin to support it. “It ’s unbelievable! It’s impossible! You couldn ’t have come at a worse time.”

    Surina cringed, but then she remembered something. “ Uncle Rakora. I heard in the market that Prince Tarsan ran away from the palace. Is that true?”

    Rakora told her that Prince Tarsan had attacked Crown Prince Karnan and that he’ d been sentenced to the Three-Day Judgment. Before his sentence could be carried out, he’ d managed to escape the palace with Princess Saluna.

    “Of course, there’ s still a lot we don’t know,”  Rakora said. “It’ s true enough that not many know the palace as well as Princess Saluna. I heard everything from my daughter, Tsura.”  

    Tsura worked as one of Princess Saluna’s attendants in the palace. Rakora ’s younger sister also served Saluna. When Saluna had heard from his sister about the loss of his arm and that he ’ d been forced to retire, she had offered Tsura a position. Tsura was a bright and observant girl; Princess Saluna had taken a liking to her right away. When Rakora had first opened his wine shop, Princess Saluna had been the first to patronize it. She frequently sent attendants to buy wine for the royal palace. Much of his success as a wine merchant was thanks to her.

    “Tsura still works in the palace. She’ s been transferred to the kitchen, along with Princess Saluna’s other attendants and maids. ” He shook his head. “ Something truly terrible must have happened.”

    Surina’ s vision dimmed around the edges. The exhaustion of her long journey and relief at having finally arrived left her completely wiped out. And Prince Tarsan--who she ’d been depending on to keep her promise--was entirely out of reach.

    “What should I do?”  Rakora asked. “None of this would ever have happened if General Yunan were still alive. I ’ve received your report, but I don’ t know what the proper Rassharou response to it would be. I used to trust the island guardians, but that Adol fellow ain’ t trustworthy. If we tell the wrong people about this, it might get us killed,”  Rakora grumbled, sticking out his chin in a pose of dissatisfaction. “All right. Let ’s think things over tonight. I’ m making a delivery to the palace tomorrow; I’ll run it all past Tsura then. We ’ll see what she thinks.”

    Rakora sighed heavily, placed his hand on his knee and stood up. “ It seems that a huge wave is about to engulf Kalsh. An ill wind blows from that direction. It may be that Prince Tarsan and Princess Saluna reacted out of grief over what happened to Eshana...but it ’s no use speculating. It is what it is.”

    Surina lifted her head quickly. “Uncle Rakora? Do you know what happened to Eshana? Where is she?”

    “Ah...it’s sad, it is, but she ’s to be given to the sea at the Soul Return ceremony at the night of the full moon. Just a few days from now. ”

    “What? But if her soul returns, don’ t they have to cancel the ceremony?”

    Rakora looked at her strangely. Surina got the feeling that he believed she was talking nonsense. “ I think that’s true...but I’ ve heard no word that her soul has returned.”

    Surina opened her mouth, then closed it. She had seen Eshana dancing under the sea. She had seen her soul rise to the north toward the capital like a shooting star. Why hadn't her soul returned? Had all of what Surina had seen been a dream?

     Surina felt a pang of deep inconsolable grief. What should she do now? She felt even smaller and more insignificant now than she had as a solitary voyager across the sea. She wiped tears out of the corners of her eyes. She kept her gaze on Rakora's retreating back as he prepared to return to his store.

The King of Sangal informed his guests of Princess Saluna and Prince Tarsan’ s flight the morning after their disappearance. Being betrayed by two children at once weighed heavily on him; his tone was touched with hints of bitterness and regret.

“Please excuse me,” a woman said quietly to Chagum.

Chagum looked up at her. She greatly resembled Saluna, but she was older. She met his eyes and bowed deeply.

“Princess Karina.” Chagum stood and returned the bow.

“ Crown Prince Chagum, I must apologize. Princess Saluna, who has served you until now, has shamefully fled. I make no excuses for her, but I beg your forgiveness. ”  Her tone was sincerely apologetic, but Chagum felt her eyes piercing him, looking for some tell-tale sign. She clearly had not come to apologize, but to determine Saluna ’s current whereabouts.

“I accept your apology and thank you for your consideration,”  Chagum said with perfect calm. “It is my sincerest wish that Crown Prince Karnan ’s health continues to improve.”

     "Thank you. His condition remains stable. I also thank you for the precious gift of medicine from your own nation. The women of Sangal’s royal family are indebted to Your Highness and lord Shuga. You are wise beyond your years, as the saying goes. Everyone is saying how envious they are of New Yogo." Karina smiled ruefully at him.

    “The Sangal kingdom has never experienced such shameful behavior in all of its history. I had thought Saluna a more prudent person, but...”

    Chagum shook his head. “I understand that Princess Sauna's behavior cannot be forgiven, but I believe she was motivated to act out of a sincere love for her brother. I also envy those who live in the Sangal kingdom. This is the first time I've ever seen such deep love expressed between members of a family. Such bonds are to be treasured, even if...”

    Karina stared at Chagum. “I am sure Saluna would be pleased that you think of her that way.” Her expression softened as she considered what Chagum had said, transforming her entire demeanor. It was as if she had set aside her dignified mask to talk to him as a person.

    But Chagum was wary. This could be a practiced tactic that Princess Karina used to draw people in.

    Breakfast had just started; loud conversations surrounded them. Karina whispered so that she wouldn't be overheard. “Crown Prince Chagum, you may have guessed that I am seeking to discover my sister's whereabouts. If you should catch sight of her, give her a message. Tell her that if she’s had a change of heart, she should come to the Flower Pavillion. I can do nothing for Tarsan now, but I want Saluna’s life to be spared, at least.”

    Chagum looked at Karina and nodded.

    “I pray that you will have the opportunity to deliver my message very soon.”

 

    Tarsan and Saluna passed much of the day hiding inside Chagum’s walk-in closet. When laundresses and maids entered to tidy things up, they pressed their backs to the wall and hid in the corner with the largest amount of clothes. They stood there stock still, holding their breaths and waiting for the closet door to close again. 

    A bit of light filtered in through a crack in the door, shining along the narrow pathway along the edges of the rows of clothes. Something shiny glinted in the shaft of light. When Saluna leaned forward to look closer, she saw a golden brooch inlaid with pearls just outside the closet door.

    Her eyes opened wide. She was rooted to the spot. That brooch belonged to Karina. Saluna knew immediately what her seeing the brooch meant: Karina knew that she and Tarsan were in Chagum’s rooms. Saluna didn’t think she’d left a trail to follow, so she wondered how Karina had found her.

    Judging by the position of the brooch, Karina had probably entered Chagum’s rooms sometime in the early morning and left it where it would be easy to discover. Perhaps she’d noticed the dust disturbed outside the closet door and made a guess.

    Karina’s message was clear: I, and all the other royal women in the palace, know that you are here.

    Saluna made no move to take the brooch. Karina must not have told anyone where she was yet. If she had, Saluna would already be in the dungeon with Tarsan, or led before her father to be sentenced. Perhaps the brooch was a sign that Karina wanted to help her in some way? She could sell the brooch and get a decent amount of money to start a new life elsewhere.

    Saluna was one of the king’s daughters: she had been raised to examine a situation from every possible angle before she acted. She couldn’t ignore the possibility that the brooch was a trap. It wouldn’t be easy to sell, in any case; she couldn’t leave the palace and the craftsmanship would be easily recognized by merchants. Selling it would betray her location to Karina for certain, with only the faint hope of gaining enough money to survive in return.

    After the maids finished cleaning, Saluna and Tarsan concealed themselves inside the dusty secret passage in Chagum’s room and discussed Saluna’s discovery of the brooch.

    Tarsan said nothing for a while. He stared down at his clenched fists. “I still feel like all of this is a dream. I always thought I’d be able to face down any enemy, no matter how strong they were. But my own strength has been used against me, to hurt Karnan.” Suddenly, Tarsan was overwhelmed by the devotion that he felt for his family. “I have his blood on my hands.” He gritted his teeth, unable to hold his emotions in any longer. Tears fell from the corners of his eyes down his cheeks. “I’m not the sort of person that runs away like a dog with its tail between its legs. And if I were the sort of person that would kill my own brother in cold blood, I would kill myself with my own hands.”

    Saluna had been lost in thought, but she returned her full focus to Tarsan. “I’ve been thinking about your curse all this time, too. Who is this magic weaver? Who has the most to gain by killing you and Tarsan?”

    She was looking at Tarsan, but her gaze was distant and unfocused, as if she was staring at something that was very far away. “The people of Sangal don’t have much use for magic," she said. “Certainly, curses are uncommon. If they were commonly employed as a tactic, I would have learned about them as part of my education.”

    “Chagum told us that the curse uses dolga root and comes from Yogo,” Tarsan said. “I don’t want to doubt him, I really don’t, but is it possible that this plot could have originated in New Yogo instead? Maybe everything he’s done has been to lure us into a trap.”

    Saluna shook her head. “I don’t believe that. He didn’t have to even tell us about the curse in the first place. It was obvious that we didn’t know about it. And besides, Sangal is the shield that defends New Yogo from invasion from the south. New Yogo has no reason to threaten us.”

    Suddenly, Saluna’s line of sight wavered. She stared into space, her expression transforming slowly into one of shock.

    “Saluna?” Tarsan asked.

    Saluna rapidly scanned through her memories, looking for connections and ideas and adding them to her mental map of the situation. She remembered what Karina had told her in the Flower Pavilion about the spy from Yogo on the Talsh ship concealing his message in an anchor chain. She knew that the spy had connections to at least some of the island guardians. The encoded message had been from the spy to Lord Adol.  And the magic weaver was using a curse that came from Yogo. Whoever had cursed Eshana’s ring was...

    Saluna shook her head. “It could still be someone else from Yogo.” She looked at Tarsan. “New Yogo was settled by colonizers from Yogo, two hundred and fifty years ago. The people of New Yogo originally came from the southern continent.

    “But Yogo,” she said, “was conquered by the Talsh empire, much more recently. Yogo wouldn’t think of taking over Sangal now; they don’t have the power or the resources. But Talsh does. Just because Yogo was conquered by them doesn’t mean all the Yogo people were exterminated. The Talsh aren’t stupid. I’ve heard they make effective use of the people they conquer.”

    Tarsan’s eyes contained a glimmer of comprehension, but it was clear that he still didn’t completely understand her. “So...Talsh conquered Yogo, then sent a magic weaver here to make me kill Karnan? But how would someone from Yogo know about me and Eshana? That’s what bothers me the most about all this. When the magic weaver used the ring I gave her, did he know about the connection between us? How?”

    “Lord Adol must have mentioned it.”

    “Adol?” Tarsan asked, sounding surprised. He and Adol didn’t really get along, for all that Adol was an Island Guardian and his oldest sister’s husband. But he didn’t think their relationship was so poor that Adol would involve himself in a plot to kill him and Karnan.

    Saluna told Tarsan about the suspicions Karina had relayed to the other royal women in the Flower Pavilion. She now had no more doubts involving Adol’s involvement in this plot. Adol was an intelligent man, but proud and arrogant, and his pride had clearly led him down a self-serving road that he’d determined to be the most advantageous to himself. She could easily imagine how that might have happened.

    If Adol stood to make a profit, he’d definitely sell out the royal family. That’s just the kind of man he was. Saluna shivered with fear. Right now, all of the Island Guardians were here in the palace. If the Island Guardians were conspiring with the Talsh to overthrow the royal family, Sangal was as good as conquered. It would be easy to ensure that Karnan died of his wounds. With Tarsan disgraced, the royal family had no other heirs of proper age to inherit. If the Talsh had orchestrated all this, they had planned well.

 

Unburdening herself to Rakora relieved Surina so much that she felt like a new person, but it also left her exhausted and hopeless. She had no idea what she should do next. She caught a fever in the night after having dinner. When Rakora came to see her before making his delivery to the palace, she was sound asleep and burning up.

Think of the wheel of fate as a set of interlocking gears that revolve around a common axis. Once in a great while, a larger gear will cross teeth with a much smaller one, giving the smaller gear a strong, if brief, influence over future events. Surina, the poor Rassharou girl that had traveled to the capital of Sangal all alone to deliver a message of great importance, was a small gear, and she was about to set the wheel of fate into motion.

While Surina slept, Rakora delivered her message to his daughter Tsura, who in turn delivered it to reliable friends inside the palace, including one of Princess Karina’s attendants. By the end of the day, Princess Karina herself had heard Surina’s message. Karina went immediately to the King, who immediately informed his generals of an impending attack by the Talsh navy. They used no palace carrier pigeons to convey messages to the generals, for Karina was certain their communications were being monitored. Instead, Karina mobilized the secret communication network of the royal women of Sangal--a watchful set of elite and utterly loyal men scattered on uninhabited islands throughout the kingdom, each equipped with carrier pigeons of their own.

The message that Surina had carried at so much personal cost was indeed worth a barrel of gold to the King of Sangal, just as Dogol had said. It included details of Talsh’s numbers and deployment, as well as what kind of routes they preferred when instigating attacks. In short order, all the generals of Sangal were called together in closed conference, along with all the Island Guardians. Their meeting sought to determine whether or not Surina’s information was trustworthy. The generals doubted that one of the Rassharou would bring them such a report--and a Rassharou girl, at that, with no real knowledge or experience of war. What reason would she have to warn them? How had she come to learn of the Talsh battle plan? They felt certain that her information must be some kind of trap. There were too many unanswered questions. The generals decided unanimously that they would have to bring Surina to the palace and pose their questions directly to her.

And so, on her second night in the capital, Surina was led secretly to the palace to meet with Sangal’s generals. She still had a fever, so from her perspective the palace, the generals, and everything surrounding her seemed like a vividly intense dream brought on by her sickness.

When she took her first step into the open hall where the generals awaited her, she felt crushed by the oppressive hugeness of the space. The hall reminded her of the endless caves  she'd wandered through on on Zuai island.

The smooth white walls were polished to a shine like the inside of a seashell. Rich tapestries made with gold and silver thread hung from the walls. Intricate carvings decorated huge columns that reached the ceiling. Lamps hung from each column, bathing the entire space in a soft light.

When she’d been summoned to the palace, Rakora’s wife had given Surina a set of splendid new clothes to wear. She’d been overjoyed to receive such a gift, but she still felt like she was clad in her old rags. The space was too grand and majestic for her.

A female attendant took her arm and led her to the center of the space, where a desk was set up. The attendant pulled out a chair for her; she sat down. She wanted to bow in thanks, but that was impossible while she was sitting; the desk was directly in front of her. With all eyes in the room turning toward her, Surina felt like she was floating above her body, viewing everything from the outside.

A tall and very beautiful woman approached Surina and smiled. “Are you Surina?”

“Yes, lady,” she said. Her voice echoed in her ears.

The woman nodded. “I am Princess Karina. Behind me, in this room, you see the assembled generals of Sangal.” The three men behind her nodded to Surina. Karina bowed to her and thanked her for bringing her message to the capital, at which point Surina became absolutely convinced that this whole experience was a dream and froze in her seat.

Princess Karina asked her questions in a kind and encouraging tone. Surina did her best to answer the questions calmly, with all the details she knew. The generals spread a wide length of cloth on the floor that contained a detailed map of the Yaltash ocean as Surina spoke, but Surina did not know what it was. She had never read a map before, and it all looked like strange and foreign symbols to her.

When the generals asked her to trace the route that the Talsh empire intended to take to the capital, she was at a loss. She had never used maps to navigate, instead relying on her knowledge of currents and the placement of the islands she knew, as well as the directional bearings provided by the sun and stars. She couldn’t translate all that knowledge to a two-dimensional piece of cloth.

Unsure of what to do, Surina began drawing a map on her hand, in the style of the Rassharou people. She called out the placement of the currents and the names of islands as if she was reciting a poem. The generals hurriedly marked the locations that Surina indicated on their own map, but there were several currents and constellations that she mentioned that they’d never heard of before. “At the start of the Afalo current, the wind generally blows from the north during this season. The Rassharou and all the fishermen ride this current, and wind up here,” she said, pointing to a place on her hand and pausing before providing more clarification.

The generals took Surina’s precise directions and locations and applied them painstakingly to their own map. As the picture of the invasion plan emerged, the generals became convinced that Surina wasn’t lying. The route made too much sense. They could see how an enemy could exploit it.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen one of the Rassharou share what they know of the ocean,” one of the generals said, clearly impressed.

Princess Karina took Surina’s hand and squeezed it. “You have done the kingdom of Sangal a great service, and you will always be welcome here among us. Is there anything that you desire as a reward?”

Karina’s hand was cold where it clasped hers. Surina looked up at her and swallowed. “I...can’t really think of anything right now. I’d love to see my family again, but...”

Princess Karina nodded. “I understand. I shall consider what can be done for your family.”

Surina was given a large sum of money. After that, an attendant and a guard guided her through the labyrinthine halls of the palace to the back gate. A hall lined with columns opened out into a wide courtyard garden. The moon had risen. Surina looked up at it and inhaled the night air, sweet with the scent of blooming white sala flowers. The flowers were bright white; they shone like a sheet of twinkling stars in the light of the moon.

The sound of musicians playing flutes and string instruments carried on the evening breeze passed over Surina like a wave. Singing voices and laughter commingled with the music. She heard people clapping and stomping with the beat of the music, exactly as they would at a festival on one of the islands. It was a rich tapestry of sound, reminding her of the wall hangings that she’d seen in the huge hall with the generals that had been fringed with silver and gold.

The moon rose directly overhead as she walked. She heard birds flapping their wings; when she looked up, goosebumps rose along her spine. She blinked and was suddenly surrounded by the bright blue waves of the Other Sea. A shadow floated across her face. When Surina tracked it, she saw a human figure floating on the surface of the bright blue water above her.

It was Eshana.

“Eshana!”

She was crying. She either couldn't or didn't hear Surina call out to her. She seemed not to hear anything at all. Surina wanted to reach out and hug her as she had so many times before. The desire made Eshana’s feelings flow into her as if they were carried by the water: she could feel Eshana’s sadness and pain as sharply as if it were her own.

I want to go home... I can’t go home... Save me!

Surina felt exactly as if she were Eshana for a moment, but then she lost the feeling. Eshana’s soul withdrew as if it was attached to a string reeling her in--toward the palace. Surina lost sight of her.

Eshana’s soul had gone to the palace, in the same direction that the music was coming from. She had been drawn there like a moth to a flame.

Surina felt Eshana’s thoughts echo in her mind. Her heart hurt. She wanted to save her.

“Are you all right, miss?” the attendant guiding her asked.

Surina pointed in the direction of the music. The woman smiled at her.

“Ah, that’s the music that opens a feast for our foreign guests that are visiting the capital. Isn’t it lovely?” she said with a dreamy smile.

Surina took in the woman’s explanation, then asked, “Is the Eyes of the Nayugul Raita there, too?”

The woman’s smile vanished. “Yes. Though if I’m honest, that particular guest frightens me a little.”

“Frightens you how?”

The attendant and guard accompanying Surina looked at one another at the same time. “There’s a rumor in the palace,” the attendant said. “I heard it from a girl named Riona, but she claims that it’s the same for everyone that serves the Eyes of the Nayugul Raita. They’ll be standing right next to her and suddenly fall asleep. When they wake up, they’re in an entirely different room, with no memory of how they got there.”

“I heard the same thing from my friend Talon,” the guard said. “He’s one of her guards. Sometimes he completely forgets what he did all day. I laughed and teased him for sleeping all day, but maybe he was serious.”

Surina walked between them, listening to their conversation. She never took her eyes off the banquet hall, where the music was coming from. Eshana was there. So was her soul. But then why...

She remembered Eshana’s soul dancing among the lights of the Other Sea. There must be a reason why she couldn’t become whole. She remembered Eshana’s soul being yanked back and away from her in the garden, her movements unnatural and stilted, and she grieved.

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