Deepwater's Daughter

Epilogue

"You're sure?" Geffen asked, looking a bit uncertain as he helped Ysara straighten her satchel strap across the lapel of her crisp new jacket of white silk. The worn leather bag was a parting gift from the grenadiers and still smelled of gunpowder, though its contents had been replaced with all the medical supplies the sick bay could spare, and the weight cut into Ysara's slender shoulder as she shrugged it back into place.

"I want to learn more," Ysara sighed as she looked across the gangplank toward the waiting naga that stood on the cliff to which the Black Rose was moored. She stepped aside to make way as a pair of sailors crossed the gangplank, carrying another crate of honeycomb stone between them.

That had been part of the treaty hammered out between Captain Okasie and the winged naga, her word as a representative of the satyr nation that the Children of the Sky would have no further fear of attack from a satyr fleet, in exchange for a chance to study the remarkable properties of the floating island and the source of its power. The Crooked Tooth had been in no position to argue against the agreement.

"Put it on the scale!" Lieutenant Mangle growled at the boarding sailors, and Ysara smiled.

"I'll be back in four months," Geffen said, forcing a smile.

"And I'll have so much to tell you when I see you again!" Ysara said.

"Me too!" Plec said, taking her place at Ysara's side.

Ysara looked down at Plec's bulging rucksack with a frown. "You haven't got anything too dangerous in there, I hope," she sighed.

Plec frowned and glanced away. "Nothing too dangerous," she mumbled.

Ysara decided to let it drop.

"It's going to be a while before we come back, Plec," Geffen cautioned her, "Are you sure you want to be stuck here that long?" He cast a worried look toward the crowd of feathered snake people lining the cliff's edge.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" the mouse girl asked.

Geffen shrugged. "It's your choice," he admitted.

"You can still come too, Rasha!" Plec greeted the fox woman as she emerged from the nearby hatchway. The breeze ruffled her pale fur and sky-blue silks as she strolled across the deck toward them.

"There's nothing to spend my money on here," Rasha laughed. The magus's mood had improved substantially since the effects of the toad venom had worn off and Captain Okasie had fulfilled her promise of payment, apparently more than adequately so.

"Where will you go?" Ysara asked.

"Zhad is a lovely place to spend money!" Rasha chuckled, "Think you can drop me off on the way, Geffy?"

Geffen frowned and shook his head. "We won't be going anywhere near that place!" he answered curtly.

"You disapprove?" Rasha asked.

The satyr ignored her, turning to Ysara again. "What can I say to convince you to come with us?" he asked.

"I'll see you when you get back," Ysara said, kissing him softly.

Geffen sighed in defeat and nodded.

"It won't be long," Ysara assured him, "and I need some time to think things over."

"About what?" he asked, looking slightly afraid.

"About who I am," Ysara said, "and where I'm going to go from here."

He did not look as reassured as she would have hoped.

"So long, Geffen!" Plec said, lifting her puckered lips.

The satyr rolled his eyes and stooped to kiss Plec on the forehead.

The mouse girl giggled and hugged him around the middle.

"Time to cast off!" Captain Okasie boomed as she clopped down from the upper deck.

"Aye, Captain," a score of sailors, Geffen included, answered at once.

"Time to go, Plec," Ysara sighed as she turned to Rasha and shared a tight hug with her friend.

"Thank you for jumping in after me," Rasha whispered.

"Please come back and visit, Rasha," Ysara whispered back.

"We'll see," the fox woman laughed, "we'll see." She turned to Plec and scruffed the mouse girl's hair.

"We'll see you in a few months, Rasha," Plec insisted as she jumped into Rasha's arms and squeezed her.

"I never promised that!" Rasha scoffed.

"But I did for you," Plec sniffed, "It still counts!"

"That's not..." Rasha gave up and returned Plec's hug.

Five minutes later, Ysara stood with her new family on the cliffs overlooking the sky, watching the Black Rose turn its prow toward the southwest. To her left, Plec waved a frantic Goodbye, and to her right, Xsatca leaned close, putting her arm around Ysara's shoulder.

"I'm glad you stayed," the silver naga whispered.

"Yeah," Ysara answered, her voice too thick to be heard above the evening breeze as she watched the black ship sail away into the sky.

Where do I belong? Ysara asked in the silence of her troubled thoughts.

Right where you are, my sweet child, the silence answered back, right where you are.