For Wreck and Remnant

by Kate Avery Ellison

  “Are you... rage cooking?”

  He flipped hair out of his eyes. “We came to rescue you, Aemi, not pick up three enemy soldiers and escort them straight to one of our remaining cities.”

  Remaining cities. The words slammed into me, taking my breath away, reminding me what had been lost. I sagged against the counter. “How—how is everyone? What is it like there? Is...?”

  I couldn’t ask. I couldn’t say the words.

  Lyssia sighed, understanding me. “My father is still alive, but he holds onto life by a thread. He has not woken since he slipped into a deep sleep after we fled Primus.”

  A sound escaped my lips involuntarily. Still alive. Relief flooded me from my scalp to my toes, and I choked on a laugh. But the grave expression on her face leeched the happiness away.

  “Will he live?” I asked.

  She lifted one shoulder in a shrug, staring at the starfish on the counter beside her. She picked up a second one and turned it over and over. “The physicians do not know. They say there is talk of an antidote, but the ingredients were lost long ago. For now, we are simply waiting.”

  “Lyssia,” I said. I crossed to her side and put my hand on her arm, and she crumbled beneath the touch. She slid off the counter and buried her head into my shoulder, shaking with silent sobs.

  Tob glanced at me over Lyssia’s head. “Your mother and sister made it safely to the Graywater estate in Verdus.”

  They were safe. Laimila was safe. I exhaled shakily.

  I had not realized until that moment how I’d worried that my words to her would be my last, that I’d live with that exchange for the rest of my life.

  “We’ve been staying with them,” Lyssia added.

  I was shocked my mother allowed that without me there to insist. I raised both eyebrows.

  “She was frantic,” Tob said in answer to the question I hadn’t asked. “I’ve never seen her so distressed. Tallyn immediately promised her we would rescue you, and they locked themselves in the library for hours to plan it. She insisted on contributing to every detail.”

  Frantic? My mother? I didn’t believe it. She was the epitome of calmness. Besides, she had never shown affection for me. But I pushed these questions away as more crowded to the front of my mind, claiming precedence over the puzzle of my mother and her feelings for me.

  “How is my sister?”

  “In shock, I suppose,” Tob said. “I never see her.”

  Pain splintered through me, mingled with shame.

  “And my friend Kit? The dark-haired one who carried Merelus to the Riptide.”

  Tob’s face darkened. “You seem to have a lot of friends among our enemies,” he observed.

  I flushed with shock. “And what is THAT supposed to mean?”

  He shook his head and went back to stirring.

  “Kit brought Merelus to safety after I was taken by Garren!”

  Tob didn’t reply.

  “And if you’ll recall,” I said, “I am also an ‘enemy’ since I came from the surface.”

  “That’s different. You are Itlantean. You were kidnapped. And you’ve proven loyal again and again. You’re our friend.”

  Lyssia was still holding on to me. She loosened her arms and stepped back, her eyes widening, as I tensed with anger. “Kit was kidnapped from the surface like I was.” I spit the words. “He’s the son of a fisherman, not a soldier. He was taken prisoner and forced to work for Nautilus, under what conditions I cannot fathom, and he defected as soon as he could.” My voice snapped despite my attempts to keep calm, and my hands trembled.

  “The soldier is in your grandmother’s custody,” Tob said, ignoring my words. “If his presence were known, he’d be dead. For now, he is under lock and key.”

  Lyssia looked between Tob and me. “He’s been well treated,” she ventured.

  “He shouldn’t be locked up. He’s not with Nautilus.”

  Tob didn’t reply. He had his back to me now, but he turned his head. A muscle tightened in his jaw, and I could see he disagreed with me. I sucked in a breath to keep going when a footstep behind us made me turn.

  Olis stood in the doorway, her hands clasped in front of her.

  “Excuse me,” she said. “I thought I smelled starfish and mussels.”

  Tob didn’t look at her. “It is. With my own personal twist. It’s what’s for dinner, so if you’re finicky, I’m not making anything else. Eat this or nothing.”

  She blinked. “I... No, it’s one of my favorite dishes. I was curious where you found the recipe. It’s a Dron invention. I’m sure of it.”

  “Surely the Dron aren’t the only ones in the sea who have gathered starfish,” Tob said, still without turning around.

  “Well,” she said. “No...”

  “And surely mussels exist all over the vast oceans, yes?”

  She faltered. “In many places, I suppose.”

  Tob slammed down the stirring stick and braced himself against the counter. “Then perhaps two people could have had the same idea. It doesn’t make it a Dron dish. We are not eating Dron food.”

  Olis retreated after this outburst, and Tob went back to stirring, his shoulders taut and his neck flushed with anger. He was seething. I decided to leave before we got into a shouting match.

  Neither Lyssia nor Tob followed me.

  I stopped in the corridor and caught my breath. Rage had me coiled so tightly it was as if someone had squeezed my throat.

  You seem to have a lot of friends among our enemies.

  I exhaled a furious laugh. I was trying to make the best of a shattered, fragmented situation that I had been thrown into. People I cared about existed on every side, and pushing them away out of hatred and fear would solve nothing. I’d grown up alongside Kit and Nol. Nol had saved my life. Kit had been my best friend. Now they were doing what they thought was right the best they knew how, and so was I. That didn’t make them monsters. Was that so impossible to grasp?

  This, along with guilt about my sister and the stress of the previous day, made my eyes burn with tears.

  Tallyn found me with my hands pressed to my eyes to hold them in.

  “What happened?” His gaze flicked toward the common room. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes. It’s not the Dron. I—” I stopped, unable to find the words. Laimila. My mother. Kit. Merelus.

  Everything else.

  “Come,” he said, gesturing toward the sleeping quarters. “We should talk about what has transpired in your absence, and what will happen when we return.”

  I followed him, a bit of calm seeping in through my anger. Plans. Plans were good. We would make plans, and somehow that would fix this mess. The idea chased itself in my head, and I felt dizzy.

  Once we were away from listening ears, Tallyn sank onto the bed and motioned for me to do the same. I shook my head and paced instead. Movement kept me from throwing something.

  “Tob accused me of siding with the enemy,” I snarled. “He practically threw the words in my face. He might as well have slapped me.”

  “Tob has a brain injury from a blow to his head, remember? He has made excellent progress in the last several months by way of keeping his mouth shut, but he still lacks tact,” Tallyn said. “You cannot let him affect you this way. He is frightened. The Dron have not exactly endeared themselves to any of us, and now they are on our ship, eating our food and sharing our quarters.”

  I sighed. “He called Kit one of Nautilus’s soldiers.”

  “Factually accurate,” Tallyn said.

  “Not really! Kit was forced!”

  “Aemi,” Tallyn said. “You are expecting everyone else to adapt to circumstances at the same rate and extent that you are adapting. You have a unique past, and you’ve experienced a bizarre and challenging set of events that have pushed you to challenge yourself and your beliefs. Give Tob a little time. He’s a kind person, but he’s grappling with concepts he’s been told his whole life. It isn’t easy to see things more broadly than you’
re accustomed to, Aemi.”

  “You seem remarkably even-headed about it.”

  “Yes, well, I am Tallyn, not Tob, and I have my own circumstances that have shaped me.”

  “Do you think Kit is an enemy soldier who should be imprisoned?”

  Tallyn sighed. “I think your friend has been through a difficult ordeal. I also think that it is not unwise for us to be cautious.”

  I made a sound of protest, and he held up a hand. “I know you trust him. From speaking to him, I am inclined to as well. But Primus has been taken. Celestrus destroyed. If his presence were known, it would be a witch hunt. You know this.”

  I thawed at the mention of Primus. “What is the condition of the senate? The nation?”

  “Chaotic,” Tallyn said. “Some are missing or dead. There is little consensus on how to proceed.”

  “Do you think they’ll consider an alliance with the Dron?”

  Tallyn rubbed his face with one hand. “I think they have few options. But it might be difficult. Arctus is the most staunchly opposed to the Dron, given their history of interactions, and they are more intact than most of the other cities’ representation.”

  “I heard more about that attack on the ship of doctors and scientists during my capture,” I said, remembering. “They told me that Arctusean scientists kidnapped Dron children, and they were trying to reclaim them. Do you think it could have been Azure that did it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Speaking of Azure made me remember Tempest. The memory weighed on me like a stone in my stomach. “Tallyn,” I whispered, every word burning as it crossed my lips. “Do you think it’s my mother who’s trying to kill me?”

  Tallyn’s eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. “What?”

  I began recounting my suspicions. He listened, his elbows braced against his knees, his face knit with concentration. He said nothing as I laid out the thoughts that had been brewing in my head during my capture.

  “This is not what Annah believes,” Tallyn began when I’d finished. “She—”

  A knock interrupted us. It was Tob, avoiding my eyes as he announced that dinner was ready. Tallyn gave me a significant look, and I left the rest of the discussion for another time.

  We prepared ourselves for dinner as if readying to do war.

  The cramped dining quarters afforded little room for all of us, and the hostility in the air was palpable. The Dron sat at one end, crowded together as they ate what Tob had prepared. Tob watched us as we took our first bites, noting the expressions of surprise on the faces of Olis, Nol, and even Garren with something between satisfaction and gloating.

  “Starfish and mussel soup, served with dolphin milk biscuits. I bet you’ve never had something so delicious in your life,” Tob said to them. “And that is one of my worst attempts at the soup.”

  “It’s disgusting,” Garren replied, hastily shoving more soup into his mouth. “I can barely stomach it.” He dipped his biscuit in the soup and ate it in two bites. “Absolutely revolting.” He reached for more soup.

  Olis ate carefully, as if being judged on her performance. She shot glances at all of us beneath her lashes as she took sips of the soup and small, perfect bites of biscuit. “It is good,” she admitted. “But I’ve had better.”

  Tob stiffened. She might as well have called him the bastard son of an imbecilic New Dawner.

  Keli inhaled two biscuits and slurped her soup straight from the bowl. She set the container down with a clatter and kicked back her chair. “I’m going back to the control room,” she announced. “This room is about as fun as a funeral for a murderer.”

  She swept out, her hair beads clanking. Silence filled in her wake.

  I tried to focus on my food, but I found my gaze gravitating to Nol as if invisible cords pulled me to do so. He sat with one elbow on the table, his shoulders back, comfortable but alert, calm despite the atmosphere of belligerence emanating from both Garren and Tob. My eyes traced the curve of his fingers, strong and callused. He looked up as if sensing that I watched him, and I swiftly stared back at my soup.

  “Where could you have possibly had better?” Tob demanded.

  Olis selected another biscuit. She studied it, turning it back and forth. “I’ve made better.”

  Tob choked on a chortle. “Ha. Unlikely.”

  His weak insult failed to produce any reaction other than a faint smile on Olis’s part.

  Tallyn cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should retire and get some rest. It will be another day before we reach Verdus. Let’s try to at least survive the journey, yes?”

  Garren muttered something under his breath. Tob glared daggers at Olis. Nol looked at me, and I avoided looking at him.

  No one replied, but no one argued either.

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE NIGHT PASSED fitfully for me, with what little sleep I got invaded by visions of the people I loved and might lose. Nightmares plagued me—dreams of Merelus in a bed, unresponsive even as I pleaded with him to wake, and then when he did, he was Nautilus instead, reaching for my neck to strangle me. Then I dreamed of Nol, kissing me, and I woke breathless and hot. Next, I was trying to free Kit, but the room was filling with water and the key wouldn’t fit into the lock no matter how hard I tried to insert it, and behind me, I could hear Tob insisting that I had too many enemies as friends, and I would have to sacrifice some of them. In the bunk above, Olis breathed shallowly, and I didn’t think she slept either. Lyssia made crying sounds in her sleep, and I wondered if she dreamed of her father too. I slid an arm around her and hugged her close, and she calmed, slipping into a deeper slumber.

  In the morning, I rose and washed away sleeplessness in the narrow metal shower while doing my best to keep calm as I scrubbed my hair with soap that smelled like seaweed, although my thoughts kept cycling between Nol, Kit, Merelus, and everything else that was happening.

  I finished bathing and slid into a simple bodysuit and tunic from my bag of things that Lyssia had kindly brought for me. Blue light spilled through the port in the wall, but we were too deep to see any dapples of sunlight. I plaited my dripping hair in a simple four-strand braid, one of the variations that my mother in the Village of the Rocks had taught me, and then I went into the common room. My heart beat fast with sudden nervousness.

  Nol lay stretched across one of the benches, covered in a blanket that came only to his elbows, his chest rising and falling slowly, his eyes shut, one arm flung behind his head. Relaxed in sleep, his face had none of the hardened qualities he’d acquired since joining the Dron, and it was as if I’d stumbled back in time to the Village of the Rocks, and the carefree, sarcastic, stuck-up Nol I’d once known were napping in front of me. I paused, caught off guard by the sight of him so vulnerable, so peaceful, so unguarded.

  As if he knew I was there, he opened his eyes and rolled over. We regarded each other, and I wanted to say something, but I didn’t know what. The weight of those unspoken things lay in my chest, and I searched for words—any words—to speak. The way our situation had reversed itself in a matter of days, with him now being at the mercy of my people, was not lost on me. He had been kind to me during my captivity, but so many things had still been left unsaid, unproven, undecided. The air between us was too warm, too electric. I cast about for something neutral to say.

  Nol beat me to it. He sat up and rubbed a hand through his hair, making it stand up a little. When he smiled, his mouth tugged up crookedly.

  “There wasn’t room in the tall fellow’s room,” he said by way of explanation. “I suppose Garren seemed like the greater threat, so I was given the choice of this luxurious accommodation or the galley.”

  Keli, no doubt, had the other room, and I supposed she was refusing to share it. And I also supposed nobody, even Tallyn, felt like putting her in a sour mood, as she was the one who would get us home. I couldn’t argue with that, especially since Keli seemed to run purely on her own goodwill, spotty as it was.

  “The tall one doesn’t li
ke me,” Nol said. “I remember him from your previous capture. Surly fellow. Sparked with Commander Valli.”

  “Tallyn,” I said, seizing the conversation thread and running with it gratefully. “The tall one’s name is Tallyn. He’s a good man, my bodyguard. You can trust him. Everyone on this ship can trust him. He’s just... protective. That’s all.”

  Nol nodded. “Bodyguards usually are. But he seems to have a more personal relationship with you than that. I observed the same the last time you were both captives of the Dron.”

  “He’s a friend too. It’s complicated.”

  Nol looked around him at the gleaming walls and floors, old but polished, set with filigree in the corners of the doors and around the ports that looked out on the sea. “It’s a beautiful ship,” he said.

  “She’s mine.” A swell of pride expanded in my gut at the words. “She belonged to my father before me.”

  His eyebrows rose. I was pleased that I’d impressed him, and embarrassed that I was pleased.

  “This,” Nol said, “is a great deal nicer than anything Tagatha ever owned.”

  Tagatha. I almost laughed, and then a lump rose in my throat. She was so far away, and the pettiness associated with her seemed too small now. My world had expanded and deepened like an ocean around me, and that girl who lived and dreamed in the Village of the Rocks was a stranger to me.

  “I saw her,” I volunteered before thinking.

  “What?” Nol straightened, his eyebrows drawing together sharply.

  “Tagatha. I went to an island looking for Kit and found some of our people.”

  Our people. Really, his people. My people lived beneath the waves.

  Still, it was so easy to say. The words rang true when they left my lips.

  Who were my people, really?

  I continued, “I had a man seeking information for me, and he found rumor of where our people went. Nealla, Tagatha... they are thin and ragged, but alive. Tagatha retained all of her snobbery and bad temper, I’m afraid.”