Date: 2-6-165

  I was woken rather abruptly this morning when Olrick burst into my room. His red face made redder by exertion, he opened the shutter on my ceiling lamp, flooding the space with light.

  “Get your things together.” His words came shuddering out between gasps. “We’re— The order’s been given, and— Can’t keep her waiting—”

  Half in a daze, I clamored to my feet, standing atop my bed and struggling through my language spell. “What is it?” I asked. I’d never seen him so manic before. Flustered, yes. Nervous, certainly. But even commanding his crew in the middle of that terrible storm a season ago, he never seemed frightened before. It was an unsettling thing to behold.

  He waved his hands about, as though that might convey the message he had failed to deliver with his words. Taking a deep, steadying breath, he tried again:

  “Pack your things, then come to the docks right away. We’re going to get your husband.”

  And with that, he was off. I heard Nadine’s sleepy voice call out to him from the other room, and they shared a brief exchange before the main entry to the suite slammed closed.

  It took a few moments, but Olrick’s message finally registered. We were leaving that very morning. Straight away. Just yesterday, Lady Kailenne had told me to pack my bags. I had imagined it would take time to actually prepare, that there would be paperwork to sign and bureaucracy to muddle through. Nadine had helped me procure a travel case for the journey, but that was all I’d had time to do.

  When Nadine poked her head into my room, I was halfway through tossing whatever clean clothes I could find into the case. She asked me a question, and I halted in my packing to resume my language spell.

  She repeated, “Did I hear that right? You’re leaving?”

  I nodded, wrapping my arm around a stack of gowns and awkwardly dumping them into the case. It was a task that really required two hands, but I still needed one hand to cast my spell just to understand the people around me.

  “And Olrick is leaving, too…” She looked back into the common room behind her, her voice trailing off as she struggled to wake to this sudden change. Nadine shook it off, much in the same way that Olrick had, then moved to join me. “It’s what you’ve worked for this whole time, right? Congratulations.”

  She helped me pick out some warm coats—an obvious item that had completely slipped my mind—while I directed. It seemed at first that she didn’t have much more to say, but I kept my language spell up, just in case.

  “You won’t need any medical reference, will you?” she asked. A testing question, perhaps? Had she discerned my weakness, that I couldn’t use Theramancy without her? Or perhaps she simply recognized that I could commit to memory any book I had previously read. That was more likely, I think.

  “I will not,” I said. “Will you be all right while I am away?”

  She made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a mutter. “Will I be able to manage without my apprentice? I think so.” I let out a soft hum at that. “I’ll be fine. Believe it or not, I had been practicing a long time before you came into the picture, and it’s not as if they ever ask me to do real medicine here, anyway.”

  We had finished packing by this point: a week’s worth of warm clothes, something formal just in case, an assortment of toiletries, and my journals. Standing by the case, I then turned to face Nadine and gave her a deep bow.

  “Thank you for taking me into your care,” I said. I daresay I meant it.

  Her hand tapped against my shoulder. “Stop that!” She then pulled me into a tight embrace. “Working with you has been a real nightmare, you know that? But I’m still glad I had the chance.” She stepped back, holding me at arm’s length. “Now you go do whatever it is you’re really doing, and come back safe.”

  All I could manage was a small sound of affirmation.

  She called upon a servant to take my travel case and summoned a carriage to transport me from the palace. We parted at the hallway just outside the suite, and then I was on my way.

  I never feel comfortable around Nadine. Honestly, I don’t feel comfortable with anyone in Panzea. But we did help each other, and we did see good in each other. I could do worse than to call her a friend.

  ***

  I hadn’t returned to the docks since my first arrival in Valia’s Watch, but the place was just as I remembered it. It was less crowded than before, as the only people out were loading or unloading in preparation for their departures. The sun wasn’t yet half-full, bathing the docks in the orange light of early morning. Olrick stood near one of the dock offices, holding himself at attention as Lady Kailenne shouted at him.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Finally seeing them side-by-side like this, I realized that Lady Kailenne was only a little taller than Olrick. Even though he had broader shoulders and more muscle, the way she radiated power made him seem smaller. She wore a naval uniform like his, but it was slightly better in just about every way: where his overcoat had a dull sheen, hers shimmered like jade. All of the hems of her uniform were lined with golden filigree in a familiar wave motif. Even the buttons of her tunic were like diamonds glittering in the low light. With her unruly hair tamed into a high bun, she looked like a respectable naval officer rather than the foul-mouthed persona that she usually projected.

  “…run off again instead of sending a damned messenger and I’ll bust you down so far you’ll wear your asshole for a hat.” The illusion, naturally, was shattered the moment one heard her actual words.

  Olrick stole a glance at me, and Lady Kailenne turned on her heels to follow his look. “Miss Why! You’re late! Don’t tell me you changed your mind about all this!”

  I jogged over to meet them. (My travel case bore some manner of locomotive enchantment, and it trundled after me of its own volition.) “There is no excuse for my late coming here. Please forgive me,” I said, remembering to curtsy this time.

  “Feh.” She turned away from me again, this time gesturing to the ship with a sweep of her arm. It was the same towering vessel that had rescued me a lifetime ago, high iron walls looming over us even from the height of the docks. “You remember Eye of Gorden, don’t you?”

  Eye of Gorden must have been the name of Olrick’s ship. I’d never bothered to learn it.

  “Are we riding in the same one?” I asked.

  “Of course. I thought this would make you feel right at home, since you’ve been on her before.” As usual, Lady Kailenne’s voice lacked any note of concern for my wellbeing, regardless of what she actually said. “It helps that Captain Shithead here already knows where we’re going.”

  Olrick laughed nervously at that, and Lady Kailenne snapped her head back. “Did I say something funny?”

  “No ma’am!” Olrick said, squaring his shoulders and growing very, very quiet.

  Lady Kailenne draped an arm over my shoulder and ushered me to the gangplank, my luggage following obediently behind. “I’d like to congratulate you, girl. All of your wishes are finally coming true…”

  I waited for her to continue, but by the time we reached the deck, she had yet to say anything more.

  “Are you forgetting something?” she asked, a note of genuine amusement in her voice. “No thank you? They don’t teach manners where you’re from?”

  “Thank you,” I quickly said, giving her a deep bow. She regarded me for a long moment—this time it really was too late to change my bow into a curtsy—then headed back down to the dock, shaking her head as she went.

  A man cleared his voice, and I raised my head to see a pair of brilliant blue eyes. It was the crewman who’d escorted me that first evening, when I had regained my senses enough to leave the cabin… When I thought I would never see you again, and so had busied myself with problems and puzzles.

  He gestured for me to follow, then headed towards the stairs.

  “It is good to see you again!” I called after him, hastening to his side.

  This gave him pause. “Wow. The captain said you were talking now, but I didn’t believe it.” He stopped to look me up and down properly. “Your memories finally came back, eh?”

  “Memories…?” Olrick must have told him that I’d had amnesia. I doubted anyone actually believed my cover story. Had Olrick? Or was it simply a convenient lie to pass along to his subordinates? “Yes, I am feeling much better. Thank you.”

  He turned and led me down the stairs, and my luggage continued to trail behind, doing an admirable job of hopping down the steps without tipping over.

  “We’ve got you in the same room.” He paused at the door and gave me an apologetic smile. “The lady is in the cabin across from you. The captain tried to give her his quarters, and she just yelled at him for it. Something about keeping him in top condition, not having her officers distracted. I’ve seen horrors out here, ma’am, but that woman scares me.”

  I decided to try out a Panzean idiom. “There is no pleasing with some people.”

  “You, uh, said it.” He held the door open as my luggage sidled past us. “You make yourself comfortable, ma’am. I’ll come get you at lunch, if you want to join us in the mess again.”

  I thanked him, and then he left me to my thoughts. The room was practically untouched from when I last used it, which made sense, considering that the ship hadn’t set out to sea since then.

  As large as the ship was, I worried that it would feel awfully small with Lady Kailenne on board.

  ***

  Within the hour, we had embarked. I went up to the deck and watched as we pulled away from the city. Valia’s Watch wasn’t home—it could never be home—but I had lived there for roughly a season. Compared to the colorful walls and shimmering illusions of the palace, the gemstones that adorned the walls of Eye of Gorden were muted and drab.

  But I was that much closer to seeing you again, and for that, I would trade every precious jewel in Panzea.

  I shared a noon meal with the same crew from before, though now we could actually understand each other. What was once an undifferentiated mass of strange, foreign faces were now individuals with names and personalities for me to learn. I doubted any of these people would become lifelong friends of mine, though they were happy to share their frustration at having been on land for so long, as well as their eagerness to be out on the open ocean—even if the nature of their mission was somewhat dubious.

  After I excused myself, I returned to my room. Standing in the doorway, I allowed myself a moment to feel a wave of nostalgia. Everything had felt so strange back then, every angle and every object utterly alien.

  How peculiar, then, to feel so at ease in this place now.

  I pushed these thoughts aside and set to work. I may have lacked your training in the Soulcaller’s arts, but I still had reference material that you’d asked me to include in my mental library, and there were several volumes on corpse preparation contained within.

  I have a great deal of studying to do before we pull your body from the ocean. I will see you again very soon, my love.