Here There be Dragons: Testing the Waters

The first day had been the worst. Nereida leaving stung more than Aella was willing to admit out loud. She held Damara, chased the boys through the gardens, and tried to pretend she was cut out for this life. She took tea with the other spouses, listening to their gripes about prices of goods, farms that had flooded last spring, or their self-depreciating remarks about their embroidery. It was awful. She had nothing to contribute, knowing nothing of the way their farms worked, knowing little of their trades and even less about embroidery. As a child, she’d had a tutor that had tried to teach her, but the only knots she had been interested in were suitable for heavy rope, not delicate string. Only when they bragged about their children was Aella able to participate in a meaningful way.

Masilee did not join them even once that week. On the fourth day, when she happened to pass by, Elam called out an invitation for Masilee to join. The barely-pregnant woman hissed “traitor” at Basiano’s other wives. Aella watched as Priscilla, one of Basiano’s wives, flinched away from Masilee, hurt deep in her expression. She started to move as if to reach out toward Masilee, but the woman spat on the ground at Priscilla’s feet before storming away. Aella had no comfort to offer the other woman, except tea and banal conversations about their children. But she did not miss the tears that prickled at the other’s eyes, the tears everyone ignored to give her dignity. Were the wives lovers too? There was so much Aella found she did not know about Basiano, even after spending months with the man on the cramped ship.

By the fifth day, Damara was inconsolable. The nurse fed her, but the child still screamed. Aella held her and she screamed harder. Her little face was purple, she was screaming so much. Egaz hid away, the noise too much for him. Aella walked the halls, walked beneath the moonlight, swaddled the baby, let her be naked, changed her, sang to her, shushed her and patted her gently. Nothing worked. Did the baby miss her mother? Was she not enough?

A servant arrived, heralding Priscilla and Orelia. The shorter of the two, Orelia, came in like a storm, immediately and energetically setting about setting up for tea even as Damara screamed. Ever calm, Priscilla asked if the baby was hungry.

“She just nursed half an hour ago,” Aella replied desperately.

“Iria has been like that since her father….” Orelia trailed off helplessly. Aella offered the other woman a sympathetic smile. She was about to ask them if they thought the child needed a physician, when a terrible thought hit her. What if Damara was hungry?

“Give me a moment?” Aella asked. Priscilla waved her away, pouring her own tea.

Aella found Alejo first. He was studying from a history book, his face twisted in concentration. He looked up at her, a worried expression washing over him.

“Still?” he asked, setting his quill down. “Babies cry… Mom said so. But this is so too much!”

“She’s hungry,” Aella replied. An uncomfortable feeling rose in her stomach, nausea and shame. “I need your help, Alejo. I… I can’t tell anyone else.”

“Me?” he squeaked.

“She needs magic, crewman,” Aella managed. Nereida would hate that she asked him. Children were not supposed to solve adult’s problems. But she couldn’t trust anyone else. “Can you feed her?” Alejo nodded seriously, taking his little sister from her. He put his finger in her little hand, and she immediately grasped it. He gasped a little, and then smiled down at her.

“I have you, Eggy,” he promised softly. “It's okay.” He began to sing, his little voice high and soft as he sang a lullaby to his baby sister. The baby’s cries petered off, and she curled into him, her eyes drooping sleepily. Aella watched, her heart breaking, as her young son cradled her daughter, singing to her and giving his magic to her so that she would feel better. She sat with them until Damara drifted into sleep. Aella returned the baby to her bassinet, waking the nurse so that she knew the infant was there, before she went back to her sitting room. She expressed that her daughter was overtired and finally caved, suggesting that Orelia hold her daughter’s hand and sing. Perhaps that would soothe the child. The wives chatted with her about nothing for an hour before they, too, retreated to their own homes.

Aella wondered why the wives were showing interest in her now. When Nereida had been here, they had barely even acknowledged that she existed. But now things were different, and they were taking time to visit with her, chat with her. Was this a peace offering? Were they trying to bridge the gap? Or was there something sinister at play here? How could they no know that Iria needed magic? Did the dragon not tell them? Did Basiano? Her thoughts swirled about, eating at her. She tried to busy herself, but besides the children, who were all sleeping or busy with their own affairs, she had little here that brought her joy. She hated embroidery, was not in the right mind to read, and she itched to be doing something real. Eventually, she tracked down a servant, who offered to get her a whittling knife, and to teach her, if she wanted something to do. That, at least, was working with her hands. Perhaps she’d manage to make a flute for Egaz. It couldn’t be that hard, could it?

It was. Before the first lesson was out, she had cut herself once, and barely managed to carve the bark from the small branch that the servant had brought her. Still, she kept at it, wanting to show Nereida she’d done something while her wife was out on a magical quest.

Without her magic, Aella slept and did not dream. It took forever to fall asleep every night, her bed empty and cold. But on the seventh night after Nereida left, little Egaz crawled into her bed well after midnight. She woke to his warmth, to his tears on her shoulder. She adjusted, pulling him into a tight hug. Neither boy had come to her with nightmares before. It had always been Nereida. She did not tell the boy there was nothing to fear, but she did rub his back as he cried quiet tears into her shoulder.

“Do you want to talk about it, little crewman, or did you want me to tell you a funny story to make you forget your fears?” She kept her voice low, calm, adopting a tone she’d heard Nereida use. She hoped she was doing it justice. Egaz’s little fingers dug into her arm.

“Mommy’s in trouble,” he whispered. “I saw… I saw that she stood with a big, scary fire in front of her. She was trying to calm it. And… and then, from the shadows made by the fire, there was a big, big knife, and it was coming for her and… and…” he started to sob again, his whole body shaking and snot pouring down his face. Aella wiped his face and pulled him in tighter again. She whispered soft nonsense to him. He sobbed hard until he had no tears left, and then he just leaned into her, holding her night shirt tightly in his hands, as if he was afraid that she would go. Aella helped him lie down in her bed. He was getting too old to sleep with a parent, but she’d ignore that tonight. He needed rest and comfort more than either of them needed to worry about society nonsense.

But the little boy fought sleep, even as she hummed an admittedly off-key lullaby to him. He wiggled, rolled and fidgetted. His little legs kicked any time his eyes started to droop.

“You need sleep,” Aella said softly but firmly.

“No! I don’t wanna see it again!” He turned away from her abruptly. “It was too scary. Too real.” Aella placed her hand on his shoulder.

“It was only a dream.”

“No.” The boy’s voice came out flat, and he hiccupped a little, likely from suppressing more tears. “No. It was magic.” He shrank in on himself. “Promise you won’t be mad, Stepmiral? I… I… I just wanted to know if mommy was okay, and I know I’m not supposed to do magic, but it was only a little, tiny bit and no one can see when I do it.”

“Oh, Egaz,” she whispered, her throat tightening. She wanted to say something profound, something soothing, but all she could manage was “I’m glad you told me.” She tried to keep her voice steady. He couldn’t know how afraid she was.

“Can you go find mommy?” he asked.

“Not tonight,” she replied, though her heart was pounding uncomfortably in her chest.

Aella gathered the two boys into the living room the next morning. The nurse was feeding Damara, and it was close to lunch, so the other servants would be busy preparing meals.

“Egaz had a vision,” Aella began, cutting to the heart of the matter. Alejo moved to his brother’s side and took his hand. “Your mom is in danger. No one… no one here can know. But I can’t leave her in danger.”

“You’re leaving too.” Alejo’s voice was flat, and he looked at the floor, kicking his feet that did not quite reach the ground when he sat on the couch.

“I’ll be back,” she promised. “Once your mom is safe.”

“You can’t know that,” Alejo hissed. “I don’t want to be an orphan!” He pulled his younger brother in tightly, protectively, and had switched to glaring daggers at Aella. “You have no magic! How are you going to find her? You don’t know the mountains or anything!”

“I’ll hire a tracker. I may not have magic, Alejo, but I have my sword, I will have coin and my words. It will be alright.” She knelt on the carpet in front of the boys. “But… I will have to ask you to look out for Damara. She needs to eat magic, at least once every couple of days. The milk isn’t enough.”

“I won’t let my sister starve, I’m not an idiot,” Alejo snapped. She felt heat crawl up her neck, but instead of lashing out at the boy, she fixed him with a cool stare.

“Watch your tone, young man. You can be upset, but that does not mean you can rail against me. I’m still your mom.”

“Stepmom.” The young boy snorted indelicately, even as little Egaz started shaking in his arms. He looked down, though, his anger and frustration ebbing. “What if you don’t come back?”

“I will,” she promised. “But… if you are afraid… you can talk to Priscilla. I trust her to watch you and… and you might need an adult. But…. once you know I’m gone, wait at least two hours. I don’t… I don’t want to risk getting caught.”

“Like… a super secret spy mission from one of our stories?” Egaz asked hopefully. Aella chuckled.

“Yes. Just like that. But I am not leaving this minute. So let’s get you two up and moving, yeah? Some practice with the training batons, so that Epelda won’t think you’ve been slacking?” This was met with great excitement, and the two of the boys hurried off.

Spending the day with the boys lifted the growing worry from Aella’s heart. She played with them, took tea with the wives again, ignoring Masilee who insisted on passing by the drawing room they were in. She’d had to go out of her way, to whisper angry things about “wait until my husband gets back.” The other two women tensed at this, but neither rose to the obvious bait. Aella redirected them, back to talking about their children, about the perils of raising children who could call fire to their hands during a tantrum.

“Deigo was two the first time he called fire,” Orelia revealed with pride. She then grimaced. “We had to replace the front carpet. Thankfully, he did not show any more bursts like that until he was a little older.”

Super was an exhausting time, as Aella ate with the whole family, except Masilee, who claimed she was “too nauseous” to sit with the other wives. The boys chatted, happy as clams, to their cousins. Aella mostly sat quietly, watching, listening. She learned the name of the village where Nereida and the others were headed, when she asked what Caleb’s parents, nobles in their own right, exported from their community. There was a silver mine there, among other metals, and Caleb’s parents were rather wealthy nobles. Mining towns usually had folks going to market semi-regularly.

After dinner, Aella went to the library, finding old maps by lamp-light. She poured over them until she found the name of Caleb’s home town, until she found a port just a few days away by boat. She smiled to herself. If the weather held, she could beat Nereida and her family there. It would just take coin, which she had plenty of. They’d been given a generous stipend, and Nereida had hoarded most of it, except what she had spent on toys and clothing for the ever growing children.

“You are not a subtle creature, are you?” came a voice from the door. Aella looked up, and saw Priscilla in the doorway, holding a candle.

“I’m not sure what you mean?” Aella tried to sound dumb. If Matthias could fake his way through life, surely she could! But Priscilla snorted indelicately.

“My eldest is a teenager, and she is a more convincing liar. You plan to leave.” She took a step into the library, letting the heavy oak door close. “I’d appreciate it if you didn't lie.”

“Nereida’s bitten off more than she can chew,” Aella replied softly. “Vision.”

“I thought you didn’t have magic.” Priscilla’s delicate eyebrow rose, and she helped herself to a chair beside Aella.

“Not my vision. Still one I trust.” Aella began returning the maps, her heart racing. How would she get out of this without Priscilla alerting the guards?

“I won’t pry,” Priscilla said softly. “I won’t alert anyone either. This is your choice to make, for you and your family. But what would you have me tell your sons?”

“That I will be back. They know enough. I… I asked them to find you, when the time came.”

Priscilla’s mouth fell open just a little, enough for Aella to realize that she had surprised the other woman.

“You love your kids,” Aella said quietly. “And you know they are not Sal- they are not fire-casters. You won’t judge them for it.” She hesitated, and then added, quietly, “I know why Iria cries. She’s hungry.”

“We feed her.” The matronly princess sounded completely scandalized.

“For magic,” Aella qualified. “A deal done with Stars means she and Damara both hunger for it.” She prayed she was trusting the right sister-in-law, but she needed to make sure that her daughter was fed. “You call the magic, but don’t use it, and she can… she can pull it out. She has the instincts.”

“Stars above,” the princess whispered faintly.

“Indeed,” Aella replied, her tone deadpan.

“I… thank you. How did I not know?”

“Basiano would have been feeding her. That’s why… that’s why she cried.” Aella made a face. “Took me a moment to realize what to do, and I knew my daughter needed the magic.”

There was a long moment before Priscilla stood and reached into her nightgown. She pulled out a sack of coins, and placed it in Aella’s lap.

“Get them all back safely, Grand Admiral,” she commanded. She smiled a little, pushing her bright red hair off her face. “If memory serves, the White Wave is headed in that direction and leaves tomorrow with the tide. Go.”

“By your leave,” Aella said with a teasing grin. The princess smiled at her, and turned to leave.

“Don’t forget a good wool cloak. The mountains are brutally cold.”