My body young with fresh vigor.
Mother moon, take my pain,
Let it be a drop of rain.
Upon the shore where I shall live,
With each wave, let me forgive.
Mother moon, take my soul,
Lay my body in a hole.
Let not my loved ones cry for me.
Tell them I wait by the sea.
I stared up at the sky, eyes shifting over the frozen stars. The wind kissed moisture from my cheeks.
The Calderian version of Perpetuum sounded like Leihani. It gave me an odd sense of comfort, imagining Naheso walking a beach like that of his island home. From the corner of my eyes, Kye gazed at me, jaw hard and eyes burning.
“Don’t mourn a man who tried to kill you,” he finally said, a stillness in his body.
“When and how should I mourn him, then?”
Golden eyes churned in the dark, but he didn’t answer.
I couldn’t quite name the energy that came from him. Pity, maybe. Judgement. Scrutiny. Curiosity.
But Naheso was my uncle. My second father. Didn’t I at least have the right to grieve the man I thought he was?
Despite whatever reasoning Kye thought was superior to mine, I couldn’t deny that having him nearby gave me some semblance of peace. Swallowing, I sank to my side, laying my cheek into the cool sand, where I watched him for no reason other than something about his quiet presence soothed the aching pressure in my bones.
I took my time drinking him in. The dark roots of his hair. The faint freckles planted by the sun. The crescent-shaped scar,pale over his lower lip. His island tattoo, lines and arrows and triangles, peeking out from his open shirt, both at his rolled-up sleeve and under the collar at his neck.
I wasn’t sure if he’d stay. It seemed a risk to his reputation, to have left and returned in the middle of the night on the day an islander had gone missing. But I supposed my people were so intent on my guilt, he had little to fear.
We sat in silence until the quiet whoosh of waves lulled my eyes closed. The sea broke over the beach like a beating heart, and I followed its rhythm to the boundaries of consciousness, finally letting myself step off the edge.
17
“So, this is Neris Island.”
Kye stood at the base of the cliffs, gazing across the narrow beach.
I brushed hair from my face, coming to stand beside him in the morning sun. “Do you remember it?”
He turned a shell over with the edge of his toe. “Bits and pieces. Is this where I fell in?”
I pointed at the rocks where our boats were tethered. He grunted softly in reply.
“Did you find what you came to Leihani searching for?” I asked, hoping my words would prompt him to share whatever it was.
His eyes darkened, the corner of his mouth curling into the smallest hint of a smile. Lacing his arms behind his back, he didn’t answer. Winds changed, and the scent of mint and rainwater drifted over me. I tilted my head, wondering if it came from him.
Mint. The sweet herb wasn’t native to Leihani; the island sun was too intense. I’d only smelled it a few times, walking pastAkamai’s home late in the dry season. The healer purchased the herbs in thick bundles from sailors and hung them to dry for the year ahead.
Once, the smell had been so alluring, I’d stolen a single leaf from the suspended cuttings. Had snapped it between my teeth out of curiosity, unprepared for the taste that swept across my palate. Like sweet, cool pools of water, new and young and bracing.
