Good can win, even against strength and power.
“You’re crying,” Ree said softly.
“Just sharing a little of the sea,” Marin whispered. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “I’m a halophyte, remember? Salt-resistant. But are you sad?”
Was she? “I don’t know.”
He patted her arm with a leafy branch.
She began to think that her resolution to never care about anyone again beyond a superficial level, besides her parents, was not going well at all.
After Dax’s performance, the singer-server ushered him to a table. Dax waved over Marin and Ree, and they were all served a heaping platter of savory pastry rolls (half with marinated beef from the island of Blaye, they were told, and half with spiced vegetables, their house specialty), as well as a lemonade with some kind of honeyed spice in it.
“You were great,” Marin told him.
Dax beamed at her. “That was fun. I haven’t just… played for an audience like that. I mean, one that wasn’t judging whether I was worthy enough by the complexities of my melodies or how the composition continued the argument begun by… Anyway, just to play songs that people like because they like them… Oh, and they’re paying us with food and a room, so long as I perform for a few hours tonight.”
A room at the Kraken’s Nest? Wow. She let out a whistle.
Ree hopped up onto the table. “Where’s Stowy?”
He waved a fork toward the doorway to the kitchen, beyond the collection of tables. “He’s being admired by the staff.”
The server carried out a glazed pot and placed it on the table. “Is this what you need?”
“Ree?” Dax said.
Ree gasped. “For me?”
“Yes,” Dax said. “I thought you might like some nutrients and such. The kitchen was happy to oblige, once I explained it was for my friend, not myself.”
The pot, Marin saw, was filled with rich black soil, damp with water. Letting out a squeal, Ree scrambled over the side of the pot and sunk his roots deep with a sigh.
“That was thoughtful of you,” Marin told him. She hadn’t thought that Ree might need fresh soil. He carried around his own soil ball wrapped in his roots. She reflected that some of it had washed away during his plunges into the sea and especially during his swimming lesson, and she felt a stab of guilt for not asking Ree if there was anything he needed that she didn’t have on board. She wasn’t used to having a crew to take care of.I’ll do better.“Found some jobs for us.”
“Excellent,” Dax said. “Lots of jobs to lots of different places?” He sounded eager. “I want…” He trailed off as if he didn’t know how to finish that sentence, as if what he wanted was larger than words could describe. He extended his arms wide, fingers spread. “I want to seeeverything.”
She bit into one of the pastries. She didn’t know if she could show himeverything, but there were several islands they could visit after the End-of-Harvest Festival on their way back to…Oh, wow, that’s good.The filling was some kind of onion and nut mixture that tasted like spiced caramel with oniony chocolate and maybe a vegetable? Some kind of tuber. It was hot, the kind of steamy/spicy hot that warmed both her tongue and her throat as she chewed and swallowed. It wasnotterrible to eat something other than fish.
She wondered how it would feel to sleep in a bed on land again. It had been… well, two years since she had. Even on her rare visits home, she always slept on her boat—if it were raining or cold, she’d sleep belowdecks, but whenever it was the slightest bit nice, she’dprefer to sleep under the stars. Iovar had always thought that was ridiculous. He’d never want to sleep on a boat. It was only after they’d been together for a while that his opinion that she shouldn’t want to either slipped through.Unhealthy,he tried at first. Then:Unsafe.And then the one that worked:I’d worry.She hadn’t wanted to worry him. It was only that he loved her so much that he worried, and if she loved him too, how could she make him worry about her unnecessarily? It wasn’t so difficult to pull into port or return home between runs on one of her parents’ boats. He preferred her to return home, but that was only because he missed her, wasn’t it?
Marin shook herself. There were the thoughts of him, popping up again. She didn’t want to think about him at all, ever. And especially not now, while the pastries were so delicious.
After they ate, Dax played again while, outside, the sun sank and night crept over the island. Several rounds of diners came, and many of them lingered to listen and sing until the whole restaurant was packed. Eventually, the server who’d sung earlier was called back onstage for one final song.
“What shall I play?” Dax asked the audience.
Lots of suggestions were shouted.
Ree piped up. “Sing about the sea, the blue beautiful seeeeeeea!”
“All right, then,” Dax said with a smile. “How about you sing with me?”
The shrub bounded across the floor to his side, and the server produced a stool. Ree climbed up onto the seat, while Dax’s fingers roved across the strings. Loud and clear, Ree sang:
“The sea, the beautiful sea,
