"So... explain this again?" Doux sat against the side of the boat and shook his head in confusion. The sea was still and a light breeze was pushing them away from the other ship, now invisible over the horizon.
Looking back in the direction they had come from, the woman let out a sigh. "The captain, the man you knew as Ådai, is a pyrate known to the Seaborne as Blacksmoke. He is a very dangerous pyrate and does not like being made a fool of. Something about you -" she gave a pointed look at Kasai when she said that, "- set him off and he will look for you now."
"Why us? Why me?" On the ship, Kasai had the impression that Blacksmoke was paying special attention to him. He glanced behind them for the hundredth time; despite Blacksmoke's ship being far behind them, it made him nervous.
She was quiet for a moment. "Do you know a woman named Kira?"
The brothers' heads shot up at the same time and they stared at her. Doux was the first to break out of the shock. "How...she...our mother!?"
She blinked, momentarily stunned. "Wait, your mother's name is Kira?"
Kasai nodded, feeling very uneasy. "Yes. She resembled me, but shorter." Doux looked somewhat sick.
While there were other people in the world, Kira was not a name typically heard. Who else could she have meant?
She sighed. "That's why he reacted the way he did then. He...he didn't talk around me about this sort of thing, but years ago I heard him talking to Grimshaw about a woman he was searching for."
Doux and Kasai exchanged an uneasy glance.
"I don't know why; all I knew is she had a couple of kids and her name was Kira. He wanted...I don't know, I thought maybe to talk, but sometimes I wonder if it was to kill her." She shook her head in confusion.
Doux flinched.
"He's always looking for someone else, a man, but I do not know who because he never said his name, and I know he wants to kill him. He caught me listening and punished me, so I couldn't hear anymore after that."
Kasai sat there, stunned. Blacksmoke had been looking for their mother, as who else would have that name and "a couple of kids," and a man? Too much added up; questions filled his head.
Doux shot Kasai a look, his eyes hard. "Dude, it's highly unlikely that our dad is the one he's trying to find." He turned to the woman, who was fingering her collar. "Do we need to change course soon?" His voice shook; Kasai guessed that his mother seemed to have an enemy unnerved him.
Not that Kasai blamed him. It unnerved him, too.
She nodded and pulled out a chart that had been stashed on their boat before they left. "Yes, but first I need to get this thing off. Are there any tools in the cuddy?" She didn't unroll the chart yet, just kept it in her hands.
Doux nodded and looked for them while the woman studied Kasai for a few moments.
"Your abilities are formidable, but you have no idea what they are, do you?" She said with a mix of curiosity and attentiveness.
"I don't have powers." The words were automatic; he would know if he had them. Right?
"You do, but they're extremely latent. Some people don't develop their powers until they are well into their grown years. My people...well, we are all born with our abilities, but I understand others must unlock them somehow." She shrugged and looked at the map.
"Where are you from?" Kasai asked suddenly.
She shrugged again. "No idea. I was stolen when I was little, then bought by Blacksmoke about seventeen years ago."
Doux came back with a small bucket of various tools. "What is your name? Or do you remember the one your family gave you?"
She picked through the tools for a few minutes, finally settling on a sharp tool with a hooked end. "Na'vira. I think my name was Na'vira. Doux, I need you to slip this hook into the slot at the back of my collar. There's a small keyhole there. It will click and that should deactivate it."
"If this doesn't work, what will happen?" Doux sat behind her, tool in hand, but didn't move yet.
She shrugged. "No idea. I haven't tried to take this one off. The first one...it wasn't pretty, but I forwent punishment at least."
Doux gave Kasai a nervous look but hooked the tool into the collar.
***
"Na'vira, are you sure this is the right way?" Kasai glanced up but couldn't see the sun through all the fog surrounding them; it was supposed to be noon, but the light didn't confirm it. Nothing could be seen more than a few inches outside the boat.
She nodded and turned the wheel slightly. Before the sun had set the night before, she had recovered enough from the burns from the collar to look at the map and chart their course.
Originally heading west, she had them turn south for a while and studied the map. Now they were turned Northeast; at least, he hoped they were. They had been going this way for two days now.
Doux glanced at her, the worry clear in his eyes. "Are you sure you're well enough?" She glared, and he flinched as though he had been struck.
Kasai tried not to grin; he only kept it from showing because he was concerned about her, too.
"I just...your neck is badly burned. It hurts to talk, and if you would let me steer, you could even sit next to the wheel and direct me. You really don't need to be up and about." Doux glanced at Kasai as if for help; Kasai just shook his head.
She glared at him hard and shook her head, then pointed ahead. Kasai had to admire her stubbornness and turned away.
Kasai looked in time to see the dark shape of a tree, a tall but bent palla tree, break through the mist. A moment later, there was a soft wuff as they settled onto the beach. The second they did, the mist cleared and there was a loud shout, echoing across rocks.
Doux stayed to help Na'vira out of the boat while Kasai jumped ashore, dragging the rope attached to the bow. As he looked for a place to tie up the boat, he noticed a slightly familiar stocky man walking quickly down a winding path they could see.
***
"You have no idea how glad we are to see you here." Sonus sounded ragged, his face worried. "I am so sorry. I never thought that storm would have thrown you off that bad."
He had met them at the opening to a small valley at the center of the mountain. On the way up, Arat had introduced himself as the ship's cook and told them that Sonus had been expecting them for the last three days. He also told them about what happened to their home.
Cloud Village had been razed by a maelstrom that they think was caused by another, more vicious pyrate named Razora; Arat seemed uncomfortable and wouldn't elaborate when Kasai asked, however.
A handful of people had died, mostly from smoke inhalation or burns. One villager, the carpenter Devv, had joined their crew after his entire family had been killed, but they, alongside Kira and a few other people from the innermost edge of town, were the only ones to die before being saved.
Everyone else was injured or couldn't breathe easily for a while, but at least most of the villagers were alive. The few who hadn't escaped by ship had traveled along the coastline, away from anything that could burn, and they were sure the people had reached somewhere safer within a day.
The village itself, however, was gone. Everything was destroyed or burned to the ground, nothing remained for the people to move back to, so the merchants had taken everyone to Nimbus.
After leaving the island, they had come here to wait for Kasai and Doux, but after the third day, they became worried. North had suggested sending out a small boat, but something prevented them from doing so and Arat would not elaborate on that either.
Kasai looked around the valley when they came through a narrow entrance.
Set in the center of the mountain, which had multiple small peaks instead of one large one, the valley was big enough to hold a small house, a small herd of kellits, and a sizeable garden. There was enough space for some of Sonus' crew to gather here, but most were staying on the ship. A hole leading to the path down to the grotto was visible on the far side of the valley.
Brinar, who had been treating Na'vira's burn, walked over and whispered something to Sonus, who grimaced and turned to Kasai. "You...met...Blacksmoke?" His face was carefully controlled, but rage burned in his eyes. The air crackled for a moment.
Kasai nodded. "He picked us up and tried to drug us. To'mas and Na'vira helped us escape. Doux was out cold but Na'vira carried him to our boat, then she left with us." He paused for a moment but looked at Na'vira as he spoke. "To'mas wanted to leave with us, but couldn't, and two days ago we removed her collar, which is how she got burned."
"Why didn't you wait until you were here before removing it?" Brinar's voice was brittle and Kasai suppressed a flinch. Sonus laid a hand on Brinar's shoulder and shook his head, but Brinar glared at him.
"Because it was also a tracking device. She told us that if we had moved in this direction before we took it off, Blacksmoke would track us, or guess where we were heading." Doux said. He had finally left Na'vira's side and his hands were bandaged. His voice was strained, his eyes dark.
They all looked at Na'vira, who was currently laying against a tree with bandages around her neck. A strange man had brought her water but turned to walk to them.
"So, you met Ådai and escaped?" His voice was so high it was almost squeaky. With dark skin and even darker short-cropped hair, hazel eyes, and a slim frame, he was mostly unremarkable. Only the intelligence and curiosity in his eyes set him apart from the other men here.
His voice, however, was maddeningly familiar, even with the high pitch, though Kasai wasn't sure why.
"Maybe you should explain what happened." Sonus gave Kasai and Doux a hard, though concerned, look, then turned to the man. "Mero, do you mind sharing some of your food and milk with us?"
Mero nodded. "Of course, you know I don't mind. You and your crew are really the only visitors here, so I have plenty to spare." He turned to Kasai and Doux. "But first, let me explain something.
"Ådai is my brother, but I hold no love for him. Slavery, torture, and betrayal are things he's done, and I can tell you right now that escaping from right under his nose, with his personal slave I might add, has put a mark on your backs. He will hunt you down, and if you meet him again, he will kill you, probably all three of you."
Kasai and Doux exchanged worried glances.
***
"How's your neck feel?" Kasai glanced up as Na'vira approached. The morning sunlight was weak, and Kasai had only been up for a short time. The kellits bleated to each other from across the valley, and small brown and white birds flitted over, warbling quietly.
Na'vira nodded, then sat down with a bowl of thin gruel in her hands. "Much better, thank you. Brinar is a talented healer." Her voice was very rough, but after three days of food, water, and medicine, she was sounding much better.
She slept outside, which wasn't that unusual, but declined any kind of comfort; Kasai was more than glad they had gotten her away from Blacksmoke.
Kasai smiled for a moment, but his face fell when he noticed her bowl. "Don't you want something a little...better? I don't think Mero will deny you some berries or something."
Mero had been tolerant of this many people so far, and Kasai was careful to only ask for what he absolutely needed, but he knew they must be straining the resources here. This wasn't a large place.
"Oh, um," she paused for a few minutes while she ate a few spoonfuls, "this is okay. I don't need much to eat, and the berries here aren't ripe enough to pick. And I did have a glass of milk already." She paused again and upended the rest of the bowl into her mouth. "I'm also not used to a lot of flavors."
Kasai opened his mouth to ask her something, but stopped when Sonus walked up to them. The captain was wearing his full gear, which meant he was preparing to leave. "It's been three days, have you decided what you'll do yet?"
Kasai thought for a moment. They had been given free passage to any island or village where they could be safe, except for Nimbus, or stay with him for a while. Sonus impressed upon them they were not expected to be pyrates, but staying with him would provide them the protection that could only be found with the Seaborne.
Doux hadn't hesitated. He wanted to find somewhere safe to live, possibly inland. He wasn't afraid, but he wanted to stay where Blacksmoke wouldn't easily be able to track him down.
Na'vira looked up. "I want to stay with Doux, at least for a while. I don't know where I came from or how I could find it, but I feel that staying on the sea would be the wrong choice."
Kasai wasn't surprised. The two had already become close, and Doux hardly left her side.
Sonus nodded. "Given what I know of you, which isn't much, I think I know where you came from. But unfortunately, no one can get there. If I'm correct, your native island is surrounded by whirlpools and fierce riptides, and it takes an airship to get to the island itself, but the natives are so hostile that we wouldn't be able to leave. How you were taken is a mystery, and I wish I could offer you a way back, but that is impossible."
She stared at him, then bolted to her feet. "You think you know where I came from?" Her voice rasped terribly, but Kasai understood her reaction.
Sonus nodded uneasily. "I was the one who argued against Blacksmoke about buying you. I don't agree with slavery in any form, especially for a child. But when the man who sold you said you had detection powers, well..." His voice trailed off.
Kasai glared at him. "You...knew Blacksmoke?" Heat whispered down his spine.
Sonus closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes...unfortunately. We were...close. But it was when he found a child for sale, one with genetic abilities, that I left when he refused to listen to reason. That was nearly eighteen years ago now, but I had no idea he had gone through with it." He opened his eyes and looked at Na'vira, sadness shadowed in his gaze. "I always wondered about the child he found, but I did not know he had bought you. I feel as though it is my fault for not trying to dissuade him better."
Na'vira shook her head, tears leaking down her cheeks. "You did not know, I can tell that. And you are correct, I have genetic powers, but so do the people I was born to. We can all detect other genetics. It is the only thing I can remember of them; it was the first thing they taught me." Kasai laid his hand on her arm and she leaned towards him for a moment before glaring at Sonus. "But did anyone else stand against that decision?"
"I did." Brinar had appeared, Mero at his heels. "Not only because I am against slavery as well, but you were a child. I almost bought you myself, to save you from that fate and, if not return you home, then raise you as a child should be, but he had money that I did not." He turned to Sonus. "We could take her and Doux to Veridey's Island. There's a smaller Seaborne base there, one that I know would not let Blacksmoke even set foot on their shores."
Sonus nodded thoughtfully. "There's also the Southern Bazaar there, and we need to stock up on a few things." Light flooded brightly over the peaks and Kasai noticed other people heading for the grotto's tunnel.
Mero looked at Kasai for a moment, then turned to Sonus. "If you decide to go there, I have a letter for someone in the bazaar. Some supplies I need delivered here that you did not have." He paused for a moment. "But if Kasai stays with you, he will need a weapon. Even if it's temporary, he will need a way of protecting himself while he's with you, or at least need contacts that can be found there if he goes elsewhere. He may also be able to contact–"
"Alright. Go get your letter, tell Doux to meet us at the grottos path, and round up anyone still here." Sonus cut him off, a little too quickly Kasai thought, and turned to him. "Have you decided what you will do yet? It will take a week to get to Veridey's Island from here at the longest, so you don't need to decide yet, but if you stay with us, I would prefer to know now."
Kasai thought for a moment. On one hand, he could stay with his brother and try to make a new life. On the other, he could leave his brother once Sonus and his crew were gone and find a way to Nimbus, as Sonus and his crew had not found Naomi and he was sure she had escaped with the rest of the villagers.
But on another hand, he could stay on the sea, with people who clearly knew his mother. They might also know his father, and possibly where he is.
Sonus watched him expectantly, his face unreadable. But Brinar was giving him a strange look.
Kasai met Brinar's eyes and knew immediately what he should do. "I'll stay with your crew."