Trade Winds


Chapter Twenty-Five


"Welcome to ?sir's Base," Wanthope intoned, expressionless. "So good of you to come. I am sorry that our Captain is unable to greet you, but he has business to attend to."

I was growling, the feral sound rumbling up from deep within my chest.

"Lawrence." Vyse's voice cut through my blind fury. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. He was looking uncharacteristically solemn. "We will take care of this one. You go ahead and find Twyblade."

"No," I snarled, "I want to kill them all."

"Lawrence," Fina spoke up next. She laid a gentle hand on my arm. "Listen to Vyse."

I glared at them both for a moment before my senses returned, and I realized how foolish I was being. I swallowed my protests, and agreed grudgingly: "Alright. Fine. Syf, come with me."

The Glacian came to my side, and reached up to touch my face lightly with her fingertips; her touch cool on my forehead, my cheeks. I could feel her trying to sooth me, to lessen my anger.

"I'm okay," I told her. "Truly."

"Better get going, Lawrence. It's about to get messy in here," Vyse said flippantly, drawing his dual cutlasses as he stepped forward toward Wanthope. Fina, Aika, and Enrique followed at his back, each preparing themselves for battle. Syf slipped her hand into mine, and then we were off, running across the room to the door that was set into the opposing wall. Wanthope made a move as if to block us, but Vyse demanded his attention with a swift slash of a cutlass. The First Mate had to let us go, and without pausing to see how he was reacting to Vyse's attack, I shouldered the door open and went through.

Syf and I pounded down another hallway, this one lit by electric lights. We turned one corner at full-tilt and found ourselves suddenly surrounded by three Greylings. Fortunately, they were more surprised than we were, and fumbled for their weapons. I cut one down before one of his comrades got his blade in my shoulder. Or rather, across my shoulder, for Syf shoved me to the side just in time. But the blade still drew a line of pain across my skin, and blood spread from the wound. I hissed, spinning away. He took a swipe at my face, as the other remaining Greyling tried to get around to my back. I sidestepped to keep them both in front of me, and Syf at my back.

But Syf darted forward, quick as a flash, and swept her hands up and down once, as if directing a piece of music. Indeed, the chiming sound as the ice spears coalesced in the middle of the hall was almost musical… but their noise was overlaid by another: a shriek of pain. I tried not to notice how the clear facets of ice quickly became muddied with scarlet blood, and instead took a cursory glance at my shoulder. Pronouncing it fine almost immediately, I edged around the results of Syf's Crystalen spell, gesturing for her to follow.

Beyond the dead Greylings was a door. I took a deep breath, sensing somehow that it would open onto the end; be it either mine or Twyblade's. I reached for the handle, but Syf seized my hand.

"Wait," she said, her attention focused on my shoulder. She drew a finger across the wound, leaving behind unbroken skin and the tingle of healing. I could feel her fear in the back of my head.

"You don't have to come with me," I told her. "I understand how much you hate to fight, and I will not force you to do so."

"I know," she said. Her eyes were sad, her gaze suddenly much more worldly. "But I wish you did not have to, either."

'But I can't allow Twyblade to live. He would destroy so many lives…' I thought, wondering how to respond to her statement. It turned out I didn't have to, for Syf caught on to my thoughts.

'I know,' she told me again, and I knew she meant it. I reached for the door again, opening it and throwing it wide. The room was mostly empty, but for a high-backed chair and a couple radio consoles. Twyblade looked up from where he sat languidly in the chair. His face lit up when he saw me.

"Ah, Lawrence! At last, you came," he said. He stood up and spread his arms, and bowed, "Welcome! Welcome to ?sir's Base!"

"You know," I drawled, keeping a rein on my temper, "I would not have expected you to suddenly turn coward and hide behind your fleet and subordinates…"

He blinked, looking momentarily confused, "How do you mean 'hide'? I ordered specifically that you were to be allowed through the defenses."

'Ah,' I thought, enlightened. 'His underlings were lying when they said he was too busy to face me…'

"Then I'm afraid your subordinates are dreadfully disobedient," I informed him. I gestured for Syf to back away. She obeyed, shrinking against the wall, hands fisted and pressed to her face. Twyblade frowned.

"Are they now…" he murmured, he stepped forward, away from the chair. Dual short swords hung from his waist, and he put a hand on each hilt. "I suppose I shall have to discipline them after all this is over, then."

I shifted as he did, keeping an eye on his movements, one hand on the hilt of my own cutlass. "You assume that you will be alive to see the end?"

Twyblade grinned fiercely. "Yes, I do. I see you've brought the Gigas with you. I suppose I should thank you; it'll save me the time of coming and reclaiming her."

"Bastard," I said mildly. Where before fury had burned, an icy hatred now slid through me.

The sound of three blades being drawn rang through the room. I broke to my right, running in a large arc, coming around behind Twyblade as he lunged forward. He spun before I could close the distance between us, parrying my cutlass with his crossed short swords. I disengaged, retreating and bringing my cutlass up into a defensive position. Twyblade accepted the unspoken invitation, and came at me in a flurry of spinning blades. I couldn't block both, so I evaded instead. I circled around him, occasionally darting in to cut at him.

Because of the nature of my job, I had come to learn many different styles of fighting, and I used them now. The linear retreat-and-advance, parry-and-riposte of the Valuan Empire; the swift and graceful dance of Yafutoma; the economy of movement typical of Nasr… I pulled every trick I knew. But Twyblade had a small advantage in his dual blades; he could defend with one and attack with another. I had to move faster, use the greater length of my blade to its advantage.

I came at him low, swinging my cutlass down and in. As he swept a sword down to counter, I changed my grip, swung my cutlass around, switched it to my other hand, and curved it into his side. This motion was smooth and quick, tracing a figure-eight into the air and a thin line of crimson into Twyblade's skin. He jumped back, scowling.

"First blood, Twyblade," I informed him coolly. He lunged, catching my cutlass in the crux of his two blades. He pushed down with all his strength, trying to force me to my knees.

"Do you know how many died for this cause, Lawrence? You would not have their lives to have been in vain, would you?"

I broke from him, slashing a quick 'X' in the air to prevent him from attacking me again right away as I shifted my stance. He still smirked at me, several paces away, the small wound I'd scored across his ribs had already clotted, but it didn't bother me. I knew I would get him again, but that the next time it would not be so slight a wound.

"It is for the people you murdered that I am stopping you now. They did not give their lives willingly for this insane plan," I told him. Ankle-slash, turn. He mock sighed.

"Must I explain it to you again? The Blue Rogues who died were going to ruin the plan. This is for the good of all Air Pirates."

"And what about the librarians?" I questioned. Side-cut, parry, retreat. "Surely a bunch of dusty old men weren't a threat!"

"Certainly. You are aware that most of them were sympathetic to either Captain Vyse or Emperor Enrique? They were a threat to the secrecy of the operation." High block, low block, catch his hilt…

We both shoved, trying to disarm the other, but we both also sprang back, diffusing the force of the push and keeping a grip on our weapons. As he retreated, however, he lashed out with his other short sword, and the point sunk into my thigh. I winced.

"Lawrence!" Syf cried. I held up a hand when she tried to rush forward, and she backed down.

"You say that you do this for the Air Pirates, but did you even stop to consider the people of Valua?" I demanded. Twyblade shrugged, a smirk playing at his lips.

"What of them?"

"How much would they suffer at the hands of the corrupt government you'd install in Valua?" I swung my blade in a crescent, trying to protect my injured leg as he stabbed at it again.

"They survived Teodora," he replied, unconcerned.

"You've lost all sense of who the Blue Rogue are!" I shouted at him. "We steal from the corrupt, stand up for the oppressed…"

"My dear friend… We're pirates," Twyblade laughed at me. "We are ever and always motivated by greed!"

"But we still work within our set of morals," I insisted. I slashed his shins, drawing blood. "That is why we are not called Black Pirates. Our manner of piracy defines us. By doing what you are doing, you are going against everything we stand for! You say you are doing it for the good of the Blue Rogues, but that is a bald-faced lie. The true Blue Rogues are the ones opposing you!"

I thought I saw something in his gaze change, but his eyes were quickly shuttered and the emotion behind them hidden. He came at me spinning his blades again, forcing me to circle around to evade. We were so evenly matched… the fight was likely to drag on for quite awhile, at least until one of us tired.

"This is a new era; one of peace. We have no right to take that away from people simply because we want to steal from Valua again. Times have changed, Twyblade, and it's up to us to try change with them, not try to change them!"

Now I could definitely tell; Twyblade's eyes had darkened with anger. I was getting to him. He stalked to the left, and I moved with him.

"You fool," he growled, and lunged. He'd maneuvered himself so that he had his back against one of the radio consoles, and now he used it to push off of, increasing the power behind his charge. I crouched and brought my cutlass up, but just as he reached me, he sprang into the air and sailed over me, slashing as he went. I parried one… two… of his strikes, but the third slipped past my guard and I felt the steel of the blade split the skin of my back. I dropped away from the blow, rolling to the side before the sword-stroke could sever my spine or cause other significant damage. As it was, the wound across my shoulder blades burned, and moving my arms tore opened it more. I felt warm blood drip down my back as I straightened to face Twyblade again. I turned my stance sideways; cutlass held at waist-level, the tip pointed at Twyblade's face.

'Now…' my brain told me, and I charged, light on my feet. The Yafutoman sword-style I'd been taught had valued speed and skill, and the names of the target body-parts flashed through my head almost as quickly as my cutlass through the air. 'Kote. Tsuki. Hidari-do.'

Twyblade retreated under my attack, barely able to keep up with his blocks. But he did, though just as I was about to break through he resorted to striking out with a booted foot. I avoided it easily, of course, but it had the desired effect of causing a pause in my assault. Twyblade danced back, out from under my blade.

As I brought my cutlass back into position, he attacked for the third time with the spinning swords. This time as I circled him, I caught a glint in his eye as he watched me from the edge of his vision. That was all the warning I had.

"Moons! Obey me!" he shouted, summoning the spell quickly.

I didn't scream. But I can't really take pride in saying that, because I wouldn't have been able to, had I wanted to. The Electres spell coursed through me, locking my muscles so that I toppled to the floor, twitching horribly. I did hear a shriek, however, as Syf was in no way incapacitated as I was. The spell wore off and I lay panting on the ground for heartbeat or two—which really was no time at all, since my heart was racing so quick I could barely count the individual beats. I felt the hilt of my cutlass be torn from my clenched fist. I blinked and my eyes refocused.

"Syf!" I said, or tried to. My body would not respond. So I watched, mute, as she charged Twyblade, holding aloft my cutlass. With a cry of anger- but sane anger, not the terrible madness that gripped her as the Gigas within her manifested itself- she slashed at him. He fell back, surprised by the attack.

"Syf!" I croaked. I managed to lever myself up and climb weakly to my feet. She opened a wound on Twyblade's wrist, and that was when he caught up. He locked blades with her and drove her down. The cutlass clattered to the floor.

"No!" I shouted as he raised his hand again, and called down another Electres spell. Syf's body jerked and bucked with the flow of the lightning through her. Shouting something inarticulate, I threw myself across the room, snatching up my discarded blade. I kicked at Twyblade's ankles and he dodged back.

"Why Lawrence, have I made you mad?" he questioned mockingly. I shot a glance toward Syf, but she was lying unmoving on the floor. She'd curled into a fetal position.

"What did you do to her?" I snarled, entirely prepared to spear the man through his withered heart, or if that failed, to tear his throat out with my bare hands.

"You didn't really think the Glacians would create such a powerful weapon without installing some… safety switches, did you?" He smiled and gave his swords a tiny, contemptuous flick. "Electres works so wonderfully well against Purple creatures…"

At once, Syf's memories of being tortured with the Yellow spell came back to me. I flushed with anger. I snarled wordlessly at him and lunged.

'Hidari-men! Raven's Sweep! El Viento! Raven's Sweep Reversed! Kote! Hidari-kote! La Corazón!' I was furiously lashing out with blow after blow, all of the techniques I knew flowing into one mass of knowledge that I drew from. A move from one flowed smoothly into a move from another, the change in styles somehow not unbalancing me. 'Wolf's Claw!'

I bound one of Twyblade's short swords, and gave a jerk. It flew out of his hand. His movements now flavored with desperation, he tried to shatter my string of attacks with his one remaining sword. He turned to the side, to present as small a target as possible. He blocked my next three attacks successfully, but the fourth drove him back a step.

Quite suddenly, the expression on his face changed from desperate to malevolent, and I noticed too late that he'd shifted to a sideways stance to mask his movements as he pulled some small object from his coat. He threw the Noxi crystal at my face before I could defend myself. It exploded on me.

I cried out, trying not to breathe in, but the poison gas made my eyes water and my throat burn. I leapt back, and shook my head, trying to wipe my streaming eyes on the sleeve of my greatcoat. I couldn't see Twyblade as he attacked, but instinctively threw myself to the side. It was a close thing. His blade bit into my side, and blood poured from the deep wound. But, had it been a fraction of a second later, he would have buried his sword in my stomach, and I would have been dead.

Curling around that side a bit, I tried to follow Twyblade as he circled me. He was down a sword, but I was down my agility.

'Evarisch…' whispered Syf's mind tremulously. I saw, over Twyblade's shoulder, her head rise. Quickly, I focused on Twyblade and only Twyblade.

A small flamelet flared in front of his nose, and he flinched back. I lunged, grimacing as my wounds protested furiously. He parried my first attack, but could quite get his sword back for the second.

"Los Colmillos!" I said icily as my cutlass slid into his chest. He gasped, eyes going wide.


Chapter Twenty-Six


Twyblade looked surprised as he died. Truly, it was rather anticlimactic. He gasped, looked at me, and shed his mortal coil. He fell slowly and slid off the end of my cutlass. I stood over his body a moment, a little shocked that it was the end.

I looked up from his crumpled form, blinking. 'What now? Oh, right… Stop the battle outside…'

But I just kind of stood there, running over the whole fight again in my mind. My whole body ached, from the Electres spell, and the numerous wounds inflicted by Twyblade's dual short swords. Absently, I wiped my cutlass clean on his body and sheathed it.

Turning, I looked at Syf. She was on her feet, her shoulders slightly slumped. There were dark bruises on her face, and I wondered if they were from when Twyblade cast Electres on her. She'd fallen so heavily… Then I wondered if there were similar marks on my face. She met my gaze, and I gave her a small smile, turning painfully to face her. She smiled back.

Then the smile faded and her gaze refocused on something over my shoulder, her expression morphing into one of terror.

I jerked in response to the gunshot, more startled by the noise than the pain that accompanied it. I looked down at my chest, and watched, bemused, as a red stain spread from the ragged hole in my shoulder. It had missed hitting anything vital, but the bullets path had been unobstructed and it had gone straight through. Straight through…

Filled with dread, I lifted my eyes, just in time to see Syf fall.

"NO!" I roared, and ran to her. Sliding to my knees, I turned her over, pushing the hair out of her face. Her eyes were wide, glistening silver. She stared up at me, but her eyes were not focused on me. "Syf!"

I stared in horror at the quickly growing splotch of blood that dyed her shirt a garish vermilion. I hadn't expected Meshin to shoot her. I'd thought he would simply kill me, and take up the mastership. Perhaps I had underestimated his hatred of me, of us. Syf was lying limply in my arms, not moving. I took her hand. "Syf!"

She stared up at something I could not see, the look in her eyes one of wonder. There was a small, happy smile lingering on her lips. A tear slipped from the corner of her eye, sliding into the hair at her temple. There was a dark knot of dread choking me. Meshin had aimed the shot to tear through my shoulder and into Syf's chest. But at that moment, all my wounds were forgotten, my attention focused narrowly on Syf's face, and the gentle look of joyous wonder there-upon.

"So… warm…" she whispered. The life left her eyes.

"No," I said. "No, Syf!"

I'd never wept for anybody before in my life, but as I held the lifeless body of the slight, purple-haired girl, I found the tears streaming easily from my eyes. I pressed my forehead to hers, and wept.

"Get up," said a disgusted voice. Slowly I raised my head to meet the sulphur-yellow eyes of Meshin. He glared down at me, his lip curling in disdain. He held a pistol aimed at my heart. He must have come in as I killed Twyblade, or shortly there-after. "You pathetic slop; stand up."

I looked back down at Syf's peaceful face, and gently laid her down on the floor. Then I stood, unmindful of the drops of blood that dripped from the gunshot wound in my shoulder to the floor. I looked levelly at Meshin, expressionless, but with tear-tracks on my face.

"Well?" he sneered. "Is that it? Is that all it takes to kill a Gigas and its keeper? Well, no matter. Better make peace with your gods, Lawrence."

"Hm," I said, as if I were thinking. "Well, I've always been partial to the Nasrean God of Fury."

"Witty," he said dryly.

"Thank you," I replied. "Isn't a gun versus a sword a little unfair?"

"Oh, I don't play fair," Meshin admitted easily. Truthfully, I wasn't surprised by this answer.

"Very well," I replied, and drew my cutlass. Meshin smirked, and drew a knife from a sheath at his waist.

'I'll need to get that gun away from him, first,' I told myself. I tucked my chin and murmured, under my breath:

"Moons, grant me strength…" I released the Wevli spell at the same time as I sprinted forward, so I was following behind the wave of water. I didn't really expect it to work, but there wasn't much else to do, and if I had just outright attacked him, he would have shot me. Simple as that.

He shot into the wave that bore down on him, three times, but missed me each time. The wave died down, and I slashed at the gun in his hand. He pulled the hand away, and the shot he was about to fire at me hit the ceiling. I kicked at him, aiming for his side. He blocked with the arm holding the knife, and slashed at my ankle after deflecting my blow. But I was already spinning away. He brought his pistol to bear, but missed as I threw myself flat on the floor. I sprang up almost right away, with one of Twyblade's forgotten short swords in my free hand. I flung the weapon at Meshin's gun arm—well, whipped it at him was more like. It whirred across the room like an oversized shuriken, and Meshin bent backwards to keep it from taking off his head.

There was a clang and a clatter as it took the pistol from his hand, however. It was luck, pure luck, that as he ducked, Meshin had thrown out his arm to keep his balance. The gun and the sword landed at the far wall.

Meshin swore, dropping into a crouch with his knife held in front of him. It was apparent that he knew how to fight with it. We both charged at the same time. He was good, very good. He knew how to take my sword stokes on that little blade of his and not have it break in his hand, though my cutlass should have been able to shear through the narrow knife easily. He knew how to use his weight and agility to even the fight. I tried to keep him at length, knowing that if he closed in I would be doomed. In a close fight, my cutlass would be next to useless, while Meshin's knife would be deadly.

"Were you even ever a Blue Rogue?" I wanted to know; it didn't seem like he could have ever held to the moral code. He laughed.

"No. I'm an assassin. Twyblade hired me because of my Glacian descent, before he realized he needed you. But he promised me I could kill you when we were done with you."

"I knew there was something about you I didn't like," I told him brusquely. He merely smirked, and closed. I slashed at him, but he ducked and weaved to the side. I brought my hand back swiftly, smashing my fist and cutlass hilt into his face before he had a chance to knife me. He turned his head with the blow to absorb some of the power, and brought his free hand up to strike a swift blow to my injured shoulder. I gave an agonized cry, dropping halfway to one knee, and he kicked my cutlass out of my hand. I took a blind swing at him with my fist, but he dodged it. I was panting from the pain.

'I can't keep this up…' I thought dizzily. I dodged… stumbled, really… away from Meshin's knife-slash. My hands came up to grip his wrist and twist back his thumb from the knife-hilt. The weapon dropped to the floor, and Meshin tore away, going for the blade. I lunged at him, and knocked us both to the floor. We grappled. For a moment, Meshin had a choke hold on my throat, then I had my hands wrapped around his neck. His fist glanced off my cheekbone. Then I had him pinned to the floor, an arm across his throat, using every ounce of strength I had to keep him there as one of my hands searched around for something—anything—to use as a weapon. My fingers closed on the hilt of the knife, and without hesitating, I raised it over him. His hands left off scrabbling at my face, and halted the downward descent of the blade. I shifted so that I pinned him in place with a sharp elbow in his ribs, and employed both hands in the effort to push the knife down. Gravity was on my side, and I used my weight to force it down.

Meshin made a strangled noise as the point touched his chest. The noise that he made as the blade sunk deeper is one that will haunt me forever. Even though I hated the man, and wanted him dead, I was profoundly disturbed as I stabbed him through the heart.

He made choking sounds, his body jerking, until every movement ceased and the force he'd been exerting on the dagger fell away and it became appallingly easy to plunge the knife the rest of the way in. I removed the blade and slit his throat from ear-to-ear, just to be sure.

Then I rolled off of his corpse, throwing the knife as far from me as possible. I was so very weak… I did not think I had the power to stand. I looked over to Syf's body and the distance between us seemed too great. But I determinedly shifted onto my stomach and began to drag myself toward her.

'Moons, but it is hard to breathe…' I thought. I tried to lift my hands to reach forward and pull bring myself across the floor, my vision blurring as I watched my fingers only twitch in response. 'No…'

But contrary to my thoughts, I heard my breath sigh out, and my eyes closed to darkness.


Epilogue


I woke to a hospital room in Valua, to the relieved faces of Enrique, Moegi, Ilchymis, Vyse, Fina, and Aika.

"A bit crowded in here, isn't it?" I asked drowsily. Fina started to cry, and turned her face into Vyse's shoulder. Enrique put a gentle hand on my shoulder, the one that wasn't bandaged, his face a riot of many different emotions.

"Lawrence, we are so glad you have awakened at last."

"How long has it been?" It was, of course, the requisite question in such situations.

"A week," Ilchymis replied. "I trust you will at least try to avoid these near-death situations in the future? I don't know how many more times you can be patched up."

I gave him a weak smirk. Even for having been unconscious for a week, I was still exhaustedly tired. The half-smile fell from my face, and I said: "Twyblade and Meshin are dead."

"Yes. Wanthope died as well," Vyse replied. I stared at the ceiling.

"And Syf…" I already knew the answer, but I couldn't help but say her name. The others looked away, not answering. I sighed. "Syf is dead."

"Yes. We… we took care of her body."

I was silent. She was dead, but… I recalled the dream I'd had just before waking… she was not gone.

"What happened to the remaining Greylings?" I asked then. I saw Fina and Vyse trade glances, the looks on their faces nearly shouting their concern at my having so easily dismissed the mention of Syf.

"They surrendered after Vyse sent a message that Twyblade was dead," Fina offered tentatively.

"They'll be sentenced by the Valuan High Court," Moegi said.

"Right..."I replied. I closed my eyes.

"Lawrence, we owe you such a great debt. Not only for our own lives, but for the lives of our subjects," Enrique said solemnly. I could feel the fatigue that had taken root in my bones start to seep into the rest of my body.

"I'll accept… gold…" I murmured, but I don't think he heard me.


A couple days later, when I was allowed to leave my bed, I was standing rather unsteadily on my crutches on a balcony of Enrique's Palace in Valua and looking out over the city. As true night fell the lights of the city seemed to shine more brightly.

The day before I had gone to the Puerto de los Muertos, where the people of Valua commended their dead to the eternal embrace of the sky, and where they had given Syf the proper sending off. I had needed to say my own good-byes, but now I felt a little melancholy looking at the lights that had once enthralled the girl.

My head turned almost imperceptibly as I heard somebody walk up behind me. A moment later, Vyse leaned his elbows on the railing. I waited for him to speak.

"I just came from the sentencing," he said.

'Ah, that was right… the Greylings stood before the High Court today,' I thought.

"Did you hear the verdict yet?" Vyse asked me. I shook my head; I hadn't gone to the trial. Truthfully, I didn't care what happened to them; the crew of the Windsoul was dead, that's all I cared about. Kender, Galen, and Landric died with Tresa when the ship went down, Vyse killed Wanthope, and I accounted for Twyblade and Meshin. Let Enrique do as he wished with the others.

"Enrique sentenced the captains of the ships to death. The crews were given lifetime with hard labor," Vyse told me.

"Good," I replied. And I meant it in both ways; good that the Greylings were being punished, and good for Enrique for not being too lenient. He was an excellent Emperor; he knew when to show might and when to show mercy.

Vyse and I stood on the balcony a while longer in silence. I waited for him to speak again, as he so obviously had something else to say.

"What is it you want to ask me?" I finally inquired. He looked down off the end of the balcony, kicking the railing lightly with one booted foot.

"Did you love her?"

I blinked. Oh, I knew immediately who he was referring to, but it wasn't the question I was expecting.

"Love her? No…" I answered soberly. "At least, not the way you mean it."

Vyse looked at me from the corner of his eye.

"We were close, but not in that way. I mean… I shared my mind with her. She was like a part of me. Falling in love with her would have been like falling in love with myself. No. Our relationship was not one of lovers. It was closer to brother and sister, but even that isn't exactly right," I said. It was hard to explain how I'd felt about Syf.

"But you miss her," Vyse prodded. Briefly, I wondered if Fina had begged him into talking with me about this. It seemed like something she would do. And I realized that I didn't mind.

"She's not entirely gone," I said quietly, almost as if I were speaking to myself. Vyse looked at me sharply. I gave him an amused glance. "No, I've not gone insane."

Vyse flushed, and tried to protest that he hadn't been thinking that. I cut off his stammering. "You know that Syf and I were connected mind-to-mind?"

"I…Well, yes," he replied. I stretched my head back and watched the lightning spider-web through the ever-present clouds of Valua.

"There's a part of her still in my mind, and while it's there, she's not completely dead." As I said this, I fancied that I could feel that corner of my mind stir, as someone deep asleep might shift comfortably. But I knew that it was only an idle fantasy. That shard of Syf's mind contained within my own would not rouse ever again. But its presence was comforting. "Don't misunderstand me; she is not alive either. It is merely a small fraction of her that sleeps in me."

"I am sorry," Vyse said sincerely.

"It is over now. And I am not one to dwell on the past."

"Hm." Vyse fiddled with the hilt of one of his cutlasses. "Have you thought about what you'll do? Now, I mean."

"Enrique offered me a title," I divulge this little bit of information with a certain measure of tolerant amusement. "To honor me for my service to the Empire. I said no."

"Yeah, I don't think 'Lord Lawrence' quite has the right sound…" Vyse deadpanned.

"No. And I want to keep sailing, anyway."

"Do you? You know…" Vyse hesitated "…that position I offered you a year ago is still open…"

"I think I'll take you up on it," I said earnestly.

"Really?" He looked surprised. The little fool seriously thought I wasn't going to accept! I was an idiot the first time, and I like to think I never make the same mistakes twice. The time I'd spent back on board had shown me something, as well.

"There's no better ship than the Delphinus," I said. The other part of my sentence was unsaid, but understood: I wouldn't sail with any other crew.

"No better ship…" Vyse agreed, smiling.