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Lost at Sea

Hey, kid—stop hanging off that rail!” A sailor, one of the wo at me “We’ve only told you a dozen times! If you fall overboard, we’ll not turn back!”

“Can ya swim all the way to the Battle Islands?” another sailor called “If ya can’t, ya’d best keep alla yerself on th’ ship!”

“If I fall in, will I sink all the way to the bottom?” I yelled back I didn’t pullstones again I would be a my own kind, with no fathoms of nasty water between me and solid earth

The sailors laughed

“The salt water holds ya up, wench! You’ll float whilst the fishies pick at ya!”

“But my bones will sink That’s what matters,” I replied And I muttered, so I wouldn’t be scolded for rudeness, “I can take care of myself”

I dropped until I hung froainst the ship’s hull Then I stretched out my hands The choppy water was still dozens of feet beyond ers into the sea It plunged through water and salt I strained and strained, but the sea has its own ic, a power that hates mine I couldn’t feel the earth anywhere below me

I hate traveling by ship Hate it As soon as I can’t feel the stone of the ocean floor with my power, I’m lost It’s like the day my mother sold me She left n owner Aboard a ship, when I wasn’t trying to feel the approach of land, I huddled in a corner There I placed my own stones around me and held my friend Luvo in my lap

Luvo helps hteen inches tall He has the shape of a bear reen, and purple crystal that’s been rounded and sentle point, not a ic of a thousand stones He is the heart of acreature with power for blood So even though Luvo is a good friend, and company as I travel, he can’t make up for the feel of rock under me

I shouldn’t have been on that ship Dedicate Rosethorn—uardian—was the one who had been called to Starns, one of the Battle Islands They needed her to see why their trees were dying She was packing to go when I had a proble Circle te some of my friends I said I would hit them with ers on me It wasn’t as if I actually broke any of their bones They were disobeying teot what they deserved, and their parents could put their complaints someplace tender But I also heard her tell Dedicate Lark, uardian, that she would take me to Starns, so the wealthy parents would have time to calm down

“I won’t have anything to do!” I cried, when Lark and Rosethorn gave me the news officially “These island people want Rosethorn because their plants are dying That’s no bread and salt of mine And I hate ship travel”

“Then you e,” Rosethorn told me “That’s the punishment the council wants for you, since you pounded those boys after you disar their trees, or stay inside this lovely, tiny home of ours Your choice”

So now I hung froo and feeling lost

“Do you know, Evumeimei, that ocean rocks do not swim to the surface?”

Luvo always said that when he foundfor the sea’s floor The hearts ofthe same jokes

They also never get tired of hearing the same answers, so I told him what I often did, “There’s always a first time”

I think the reason Luvo came out of his mountain to meet me, and the reason he’s stayed with h I don’t actually hear hih, I know he does

“The sailors have told Dedicate Rosethorn that we should see the island of dying trees tomorrow, if not today,” Luvo said “You will be able to sense the ocean floor soon, I promise you”

“I know,” I replied “You never lost touch with it I’m sorry I’reat e I bet you Rosethorn knows each and every plant below us, however ht now But I’ve only been at thisup to do—”

The hairs on my arms stirred, then stood up My belly rolled, like that first craic flexed Far under the sea I felt power move The Pebbled Sea had earth tremors and earthquakes, plenty of them, but this one was different It was thick and heavy, likehum It swamped my teeth and made them itch

I began to slide off the rail I swung, twisted, and grabbed I clung tight to the rail with both hands and one leg My hold was strong—I was used to cli ic Right then it was still bouncing up and down,my bones rumble

“Did you feel that?” I called to Luvo I thought I ht pop out ofto happen again?”

“It is a waking tre beside ain You should climb back on board, Evumeimei”

“Evvy! There, you see? I warn and warn you, and now it’s happened You never listen”

That was Dedicate Fusspot calling out from the deck His real naood reasons

“You went over the rail You nearly dropped straight into the ocean just no ood way to drown You never knohen a swell like that one will overtake us!” Myrrhtide was coed myself back on deck and faced him Myrrhtide annoyed me He wasn’t old He wasn’t in his forties, like Rosethorn—ray hairs I couldn’t even see any a old, when he hadn’t earned the right to do so

He also couldn’t learn that I don’t like to be touched The first tirabbed me by my sash I for

got that I was supposed to behave I drew a knife on hiry Since Lark and my first teacher, Briar, had ordered me never to upset Rosethorn, I was careful not to let Myrrhtide grab me after that

I got on deck just in ti out to take hold ofer “What swell? Luvo says it was a waking tremor”

“Myrrhtide sensed the sa in water that you felt in stone, Evvy” Rosethorn came forward to join us She had to talk extra-carefully because she was dead once Briar and his sisters uards the dead, has to be paid so for his trouble For Rosethorn, he didn’t take the sharpness fro “Evvy, I thought you couldn’t feel the stone at the bottom of the ocean”

“This was too big for me not to feel It was like the whole bottom rose up, only it was underneath”

Myrrhtide sniffed “It was power transferred through the water, not under it”

“And I knohen stone’s ” I hate it when he corrects me

“Don’t start, either one of you” Rosethorn glared at us so hard I felt crisp around the edges “The world’s strength was on the move Leave it at that”

“I don’t knohy you support her” Myrrhtide could never let anything be “She is only a child I a Circle I ae the movement and manner of power below us”

Rosethorn’s eyes sparked She was going to say so dreadful, I knew it Then the breeze puffed and blew her wide-briht and beetles Myrrhtide, Evvy has had specialized education Noould you th of the ship

Myrrhtide stared at her Then he walked off, his Water-blue habit fluttering behind him I heard him mutter, “Specialized education, indeed!”

Rosethorn ran her fingers through her hair She kept it cropped short like a man’s, which I didn’t understand It was a beautiful dark carnelian red I’d have let it grow even longer than my own black hair, which came down to my waist when I let it out of its braid Not Rosethorn Except for keeping her skin white and soft with crea hats, Rosethorn didn’t care about her looks, and she had looks She didn’t have a long, flat-ended nose, like mine Hers was nice and small Her lips were even a natural reddish color Mine were just wide My skin is Yanjing gold brown, so I don’t have to worry about the sun as et interested in romance, I’ll have to pay attention to my looks

“You could try harder to get along with hie You could borrow patience from your rocks”

“I’rumbled “He doesn’t have to try and churn me all the time Don’t worry about Myrrhtide and me, Rosethorn”