Adelgis waited at the top of the stairs, his long hair tied back in a secure ponytail to prevent it from fluttering everywhere. His robes, on the other hand, twisted and tossed around, tangling around his legs and arms. He looked like an out-of-place scholar, though our blustery environment didn’t seem to trouble him.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Adelgis said.
I crossed my arms and scanned the deck. A couple of airship workers scrubbed the railings and checked the rigging, avoiding the side of the ship with Adelgis and me.
“Next time, warn me before you use your magic to induce sleep,” I said.
“If that’s what you want.”
“Where is Fain? And Luthair?”
“In the galley, getting food.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Luthair is a knightmare. He doesn’t need to eat.”
“I asked him to leave so that the odd crewmember skulking around our room would have a chance to speak with you.” Adelgis tilted his head to the side, his gaze unfocused as he stared at the moon. “She was upset that you were allowed onboard, and I figured she would change her tone after meeting you, but perhaps this wasn’t the best moment…” He kept his attention skyward, not even bothering to finish his thought.
I glanced up, surprised by the amount of color swirling through the darkness of night. The sky, speckled with a thousand stars, glittered like a horde of fireflies. A purple, blue, and indigo halo adorned the full moon, providing light enough for everyone to continue their on-deck duties without a lantern.
It felt like we were so close that, if I lifted my hand, the ink of the sky would stain my fingertips. The world seemed more mystical above the clouds. For a moment, I wondered if I were still dreaming.
“Um, hello,” a child said, her voice so clear and sweet, it demanded attention.
I pulled my sights off the transfixing sky and found a little girl standing in front of me. She held a pouch of jerky and bread, but I barely took note of it. Her face—she wore an eyepatch over her left eye—had knife scars from the hairline down to her jaw. Despite the gnarled marks, she smiled from ear to ear and held out the pouch of food.
“This is for you,” she said. “Oh! My name is Biyu. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She bowed her head as she offered the pouch again.
If I had to guess, I’d say Biyu was eight or nine. Her shoulder-length brown hair, silky and straight, tossed in the breeze. She wore rough trousers and a coat secured shut in the front, but the most amusing piece of her outfit was the leather strap attached to a large book. It hung at her hip, the tome nearly as thick as her arm.
But her scars…
They reminded me of Illia. She had lost her right eye to pirates. Had Biyu lost her left eye for the same reason? I couldn’t bring myself to ask. I didn’t even take her pouch of bread and jerky. I just stared, momentarily forgetting myself while I thought back to my childhood—the many days with Illia when we were children.
Biyu furrowed her brow. “Um. Aren’t you… hungry?”
Adelgis reached for the food. “It’s okay. Volke’s a little dazed. I’ll take it.”
“Absolutely not,” Biyu said as she pulled the pouch close to her chest. “I said I’d give it to him, so that’s what I’ve got to do.” She offered it to me a third time, her one eye bright as she smiled again. “This is for you. Don’t worry. It’s good. Try some.”
I took the food, my hand unsteady. “Thank you.”
She waited, the wind tangling her hair. When I didn’t say anything else, she gestured to me. “This is when you introduce yourself.”
I almost laughed. I hadn’t realized how rude I had been—just staring at her for a solid thirty seconds—and I took a deep breath to regain my bearings.
“My name is Volke Savan,” I said. “I’m a knightmare arcanist. It’s nice to meet you.” I bowed my head. “Thank you for the food.”
But my introduction didn’t seem to please Biyu. She stepped back, her eyebrows knit as she gripped the leather strap that held her thick book. “Your surname isn’t Savan.”
The statement caught me off guard. “Yes, it is. Ever since I was adopted.”
Biyu’s expression snapped right back into a jovial smile. “Oh! Of course. That makes sense.”
She grabbed her giant book, struggled to hold it in one arm, and then withdrew a quill from her coat pocket. The feather of her quill—both black and white—shimmered with a glint of magic. Biyu didn’t need to dip it into ink. She just started writing on one of the pages in the middle, and the black spots on the feather shrank, as though disappearing to create the ink.
“There,” she said once she was done. “I’ve made a note about your new name.” Biyu slammed the book shut and carefully tucked the quill back into her pocket. “It’s my job, as the world’s best cabin girl, to keep perfect records.” She had said the last two words with oomph and gusto, obviously excited to have the task, even though it was usually considered to be the least exciting on a ship.
“You know my previous last name?” I asked.
Biyu nodded. “It’s Blackwater.”
I caught my breath. Who had told her? Had it been Karna? No. I had never told Karna. Perhaps Adelgis, since he could hear thoughts? But I didn’t think of it often. Perhaps Fain? I had told him. Once.
Biyu clapped her hands once. “I have to go now! I’ll speak with you again, okay?” Then she dashed across the deck of the Sun Chaser.
I wanted to chase after and question her, but I also didn’t want to interrupt her schedule. She entered a door that led below deck and disappeared from sight in a quick blur of energy and excitement.
The other crew members of the Sun Chaser picked up their work. Had they stopped to watch the interaction between Biyu and me? As I stared, I noticed they avoided making eye contact with me.
“They’re skittish around arcanists,” Adelgis said. “Both of them used to work for an arcanist who was driven mad by the plague. He tortured the staff of his estate and then later killed his family because he thought they were plotting to murder him.”
“Have you been listening to the thoughts of everyone aboard the Sun Chaser?” I asked. “That seems… inappropriate.”
“I told you. I can’t stop anymore. I just hear everyone’s thoughts. All the time.”
I rubbed at my upper arm, more aware than ever of the disease coursing through my veins. “Did you hear what happened to Biyu? Was it… pirates… who took her eye?”
“Yes.”
I gritted my teeth, but a realization settled over my thoughts a moment later. “The crew of the Sun Chaser,” I muttered. “They all have questionable or painful backgrounds, don’t they?”
Adelgis nodded.
The wind swept between us.
Karna said she had been in charge of the recruiting, and now I understood. She was trying to save people by giving them new lives after losing their old one. Her offer to have me stay aboard the ship made more sense, and while I still didn’t want to, it made me appreciate the Sun Chaser more than before.
“We should get below deck,” Adelgis said, his teeth on the verge of chattering. “I have a few ideas about where my father might be heading.”