We watched the ship sail away, the Twins waving goodbye from the stern. Toci cried and waved back until their figures were so small, we could no longer make them out. I looked at the necklace Nkiri had given me before their departure.
“To remind you of Yemaya and Her great goodness shown to us on our journey,” she said to me as she closed my hand around the beaded work. I dropped the necklace over my head, feeling the carved figure of the goddess resting on my chest, next to my heart.
“I will remember Yemaya,” I said to her, “but I will also remember you, Nkiri. I hope that after all we’ve been through, you will allow me to call you friend. Maybe even sister?” She smiled, but didn’t affirm my request to be friends. Instead, she turned to the ship that was now hers and called out orders to her crew. She would not look back, for her way was forward, her mind on going home.
Now I needed to turn my attention to our ship, to our opportunity and our challenge.
“Isobeau, do we have any idea where we are?” I called out to her.
“The Warriors drew us a star map. We must wait for dark to set our course,” she said holding the rolled map in her hand.
“Ok, everyone. We’ve got time. I want us to get this ship in, uh, ship-shape. I’m sure the storm probably made all the stores shift and maybe broke some things. Plus, we’ve got to get these lines and sails untangled and ready for any winds. We’ve got plenty to do, so let’s get to it.”
Standing very close to me, Isobeau whispered, “You know, even with the barrels of fresh water Nkiri moved to our ship, we will still need to go to shore fairly soon. We cannot run out of water. We would do well to find land, regardless of how close we are to the Inquisito.”
Nodding, I told her to do the best she could in getting us there. No time to panic yet.
“Ursel is awake,” Toci said coming up from below deck, “she wants to know what happened.”
“What a story you have to tell her.”
“One other thing. Her leg.”
“What about her leg?”
“It. It is bad, I think. It is purple and swollen where the Shadow slashed her.”
I went to see Ursel. Artio was sitting beside her and they were talking in gentle voices with each other. I didn’t have to come close to see that Ursel’s leg was bad. We’d have to get her to a healer, which meant getting her to shore. With this situation and the fresh water issue, I felt we’d weathered one storm only to find ourselves in another and this one had nothing to do with a goddess.