Thanavar is a man running out of time…
Sometimes I run.
That makes him desperate.
But I wasn’t running now.
He released a breath and looked away. Suns, I couldn’t read this man.
“Rest,” he said finally. “I dearly wish to rest. Rest from my wretched life of service to both ungrateful helms. I wish to discharge my commission rightly, release this magnificent ship from the curse she has endured, and right the wrongs that I have committed over the years. My time is running out, and I fear I will not succeed in any of these…”
He shrugged.
“So, I drink.”
I felt that. I’d lived that.
“YourAuctorus Circulaiawas like nothing I’ve ever seen.” He deftly changed the subject. They were skilled at that.
“Leaning into the wylde, like you said.” I shrugged. “And learning to wield chimeric like aRhi’Ahr.”
“You are,” he said. “It is unfathomable.”
“It really is,” I said, lifting my chin. “So, let me help you more. TheTouchstonewants me to help. You’d be a fool to waste this resource.”
“Resource?” He grunted again. “Moons, you do soundRhi’Ahr.”
“I have to find my place in the Worldrune,” I said. “Maybe it’s here, seeing what it means to serve the Ship of Spells.”
“The course I have charted does not end in life.” His words rolled through the stillness like distant thunder.
“You’re the captain of a living ship,” I said. “Chart a new course.”
He steeled his jaw and turned his head swiftly back to the sea.
“You will hate me by the end.”
“Well, I hated you in the beginning,” I said.
His lips twitched, but I got the feeling that he wasn’t hearing me. I could almost see the runes spinning behind his eyes. Thoughts and plans, history and politics, weaving the tides and pulling the strings.
“Resource?” he said again, arching a brow as he looked back at me.
“You’re no fool,” I said. “In fact, you may be the shrewdest man I’ve ever known.”
He blinked slowly.
“Thank you, Aro’el,” he said. “I will think on it.”
Aro’el. I felt the warmth rush through my body. Aro’el.
My new, true name.
“Dream sweet,” he said.
“When the moons meet,” I said.
And he turned away, disappearing down the steps to the quarterdeck below. I stood on the pup a while longer, arms wrapped around my ribs, wishing for a glimpse of the stars. Ahead of us was black clouds, rough seas, and lightning. Behind us was sickly fog, a vengeful ship, and an enemy bent on sinking us hard.
