‘Such as?’
They indicate the hat. ‘A widow with no taste.’
I clutch the hat defensively. ‘That old lady was very fashionable.’
Isagani gives me a sour look, and I examine the pile of clothes as I rub my sore leg. I extract a forest green shirt and dark britches.
‘You’ll need to shave,’ Isagani says.
When I look up, I’m surprised to find an entirely different child in front of me. They’re wearing the purple jacket with tucked layers of skirts. They’ve discarded their hat, and their hair falls in loose curls to their shoulders. They’ve even rouged their face. Instead of the little scamp, a delicate, feminine child stands before me.
I wrinkle my nose. ‘What are you supposed to be?’
‘No one will be looking for an honest merchant and his daughter while we lay low at an inn.’ Isagani’s voice is higher, younger. ‘People underestimate teenage girls.’
I look at them askance. ‘A merchant and his daughter?’
‘I’ll go by Isa, that way you’re less likely to slip up. What about you?’
‘Fin doesn’t work?’
They shrug. ‘You’re the outlaw here.’
I had used the name at the Umasa port when I’d arrived. It comes back to me now, unbidden; perhaps because Isagani had used the word ‘honest’. When I think of aspiring to that, I think of him. A sailor, one of my old crew.
‘Call me Larkin.’
Isagani throws me a closed shaving knife. ‘Cut your hair too, while you’re at it.’
‘Does it make that much of a difference?’
‘Darling, hair is everything.’
I use a bucket of water and a candle and hack at my long hair until it’s at chin-length. I make a right mess of it, scruffier than most merchants, but it will do. With a sigh, I gaze down and take one last, long look at my luscious beard. I’ve been growing it out for years. Most people don’t realise how much work it is to maintain, especially on the high seas. There’s a beard balm I swear by, but my supplies are all onSaltswept. I’ll pop a vein if the Seaguardians threw that overboard after commandeering my ship upon my arrest.
‘Come here,’ Isagani insists, taking the razor and cleaning up my sorry job. A well-placed slash and that would be the end of me. But I don’t think they’d save me just to kill me.
‘Why did you help me?’
‘I want to get off this island. Heard you were the smuggler to do it.’
I stare at them. ‘I don’t do that anymore. Besides, didn’t you hear, ports are open to outsiders now.’
‘I’m not looking for passage,’ they clarify. ‘I want an adventure.’
I shake my head and can’t help but laugh. ‘They all say that, at first – the lost kids who think things are better out there. Trust me, they aren’t.’
‘Well, you’re a dead man walking. What else are you planning to do?’
‘Live a quiet life and die old in my bed.’
‘Well, you can’t do that in Paranish now. So how are we getting off these islands?’
‘You’re persistent – I’ll give you that. But in case you hadn’t noticed, my ship’s been commandeered by the Seaguardians, thanks to that traitor Nestor.’
‘Where are your crew?’
I focus intensely on rubbing my smooth chin as they try to read my face. Eventually, I say: ‘Back in Lassair.’What’s left of them.
