Once.
Linn turned to watch the ocean. She had spent countless nights in the past eight years fervently wishing, praying, that she could erase the course of events, the turn that her life had taken when she’d set foot on that trafficker’s ship. She would have cut off a part of her heart to have had things go back to the way they were.
But the past moons…fighting by Ana’s side and teasing Ramson and laughing at Daya’s jokes and getting to know Kaïs…day by day, with the spin of stars over her head, everything had changed.
She’d survived, and she’d learned to fight back. She’d understood so much more of the sinister network that sought to exploit her people and other vulnerable groups around the world, condemning them to servitude in a foreign land under terms they could not understand. There were so many in this world trying to merely survive, living without the privilege of choices.
Linn had a choice now.
And she knew, in her heart of hearts, that she was making the right one.
“Fong shi’sen,” she said, and she found her tone steady, her heart calm and sure as she spoke. “Please accept my gratitude—the offer is more than I deserve.” A spray of waves splashed against the hull of the ship, and when the mist settled, a port appeared in the distance, sampans and junk ships dotting the bay. “For the past eight years, I have been searching for my purpose, my path. I cannot erase what happened to me, and I no longer wish to. The people who took me—who took my brother—continue to exist in this world, between the shadows of the laws, in the darkness of when society turns away from them.
“I will not.” Linn touched the daggers at her hips. “I know my purpose now, shi’sen. It is to hunt the traffickers and traders to the ends of the world, until the day no child must go through what I have gone through. I will fight for those who cannot.”
They spoke so often of the gods, of the powers they had left behind. Yet it was humans, Linn thought, touching a hand to the daggers that hung from her hips, who would need to continue to fight for the slivers of goodness in this world.
Her master was silent for several moments. When she dared to turn to face him, she found that he was looking at her with a strange expression.
Then he pressed his palms together and inclined his head to her in a salute. Linn’s lips parted in shock. “Ko Linnet,” her master said. “You continue to surprise me at every turn. I once taught you to recognize your place in this world…but now, I think that I have much to learn from you.” He turned back to the railing. “We will need to let the Temple Masters know of yourdecision…and I do wonder if they would be inclined to offer support. Our land has long been in a state of dormancy. Perhaps it is time we, too, fought back.”
The crew and soldiers had awoken; they lined the deck of the ship, watching their approach to the harbor. The docks were in sight now, wooden jetties stretching into the sea. A procession of people had gathered, all liveried in pale shifts and colored sashes to indicate their wielder status.
Linn glanced at Fong shi’sen. “You did not mention a welcome party.”
His eyes sparkled. “Look closer.”
Dawn was imminent, the sky streaked through with corals and reds and fuchsias that set the clouds and mountains and oceans afire. Light swept over the people gathered at the docks, illuminating their faces. Linn found her mouth curving in a smile as she found several Temple Masters, Ruu’ma shi’sen at the very front.
And then her eyes landed on a face—one that had been a ghost, a memory, a slip of her dreams for so, so long. Her heart stopped.
On the shores of her home, her mother was waving at her.
“Ama-ka,” Linn whispered.
At long, long last, the sun had risen.
The sky stretched beautiful and bright and blue—a perfect day to set sail.
Ramson leaned against the railing of the bridge, watching the supply wagons roll to the small ship bobbing gently in the Tiger’s Tail. It was a cutter, large enough to fit only the several people aboard. The late-afternoon sun lanced across the river like broken glass, warming the pale stone walls of the new Salskoff Collegium.
The crowd from the ceremony had dispersed, but the streets were filled with people walking by to take a look, peering into the now-open gates and even wandering inside. The entire afternoon had seen a steady flow of visitors on foot or arriving in carriages—parents with children, older and younger siblings, and spouses—all registering for enrollment at the Collegium.
A world,Ana had told him once,where Affinites and non-Affinites can exist in peace.
“I’ll be damned, Witch,” Ramson muttered, sweeping his hair from his face. “You’ve done it.”
He checked his silver pocketwatch. He was to sail down the Tiger’s Tail all the way to port, where the barge he’d commissionedawaited him. His squad had left earlier in the day, along with the rest of the Bregonian battalion. Ramson had carefully detailed a list of those killed in battle—including First Officer Narron. He’d asked for their families to receive the highest honors in Bregon and enough compensation so that they would have no uncertainty as to their livelihoods again. His squad had also taken Ardonn back with them, along with a letter from Ramson detailing the role the former scholar had played in helping with the research of the Heart. As to Ardonn’s fate, the Three Courts would have to decide.
Ramson’s fate, though, had arrived in the form of a gray Bregonian seadove.
He’d come up with the idea late one night, upon reviewing the crates of records left over from Kerlan’s network: an independent task force created in partnership with multiple kingdoms, dedicated to hunting down traffickers and traders across the world. The Republic of Cyrilia would sponsor them; he’d sent funding requests to Bregon and Kemeira and the Southern Crowns, including Nandji.
King Darias had responded.
The letter rested in Ramson’s pocket now, stamped with the official sigil of the Three Courts of Bregon: five thousand Bregonian coronnes and a Navy squad on loan from the Kingdom of Bregon.
“You know once we get to my ship, I’ll be captain?” came a gruff voice from behind him.
