Chapter 1
L’ira was five when she found the real difference between land and water. The Bearer made port at Jerge and the wind was blowing hard. She felt it as she jumped off the rail and fell, giggling, into Danic’s waiting arms. He felt strangely solid, his boots planted firmly in the dirt instead of the deck of the ship. Alrein leapt down after her and the two boys turned to wave to Lord Captain Ryden. With a grin, they headed into town on shore leave, Danic bouncing L’ira lightly on his shoulders.
A few weeks later, when she jumped over open water, no one caught her. The water hit her with a shocking firmness before passing into an even more threatening flexibility. Her feet found nothing to rest on and she screamed. The ship was getting further away.
Danic appeared and his eyes went wide. She screamed again. He left and Alrein appeared over the rail, his face already set in a grim line. More of the crew joined him and there was a flurry of motion behind them. The water splashed across her face and into her mouth. She flailed and the salt water stung her eyes. She cried.
There was another splash and Danic was in the water with her, stripped to the waist with a rope tied around his middle. He pulled her against his chest and lay back to keep her head out of the water.
“Shh,” he whispered. He stroked her hair with one hand, the other treading water. “Just hold still.” She clung to him, tiny hands locked around his neck. When the crew hauled the two of them back on deck, she wouldn’t let go. It wasn’t until she heard Danic say, “look at me” in a tone that commanded there was no option, that she moved at all.
“Don’t do that again,” he told her.
“Never,” Toar, the ship’s keimon told her. The rest of the crew was gathered around and the Lord Captain was right in front. He looked at her, angry, but something else as well. She hid her face against Danic’s chest again.
It was another year before she started to learn the difference between the peoples that lived on land and those that lived on water. Toar, Ryden and Danic took her to a meeting with them, just as they usually did. Ryden’s wife, Camrin insisted that it wasn’t good for a child to spend so much time on the water, so they took her on land as much as possible.
They walked to the merchant district and then to the top floor of a square, white building. When Toar and Ryden disappeared inside a large room with one long wooden table, Danic went with them. Toar had told her that since Danic was nineteen now, he might stop staying outside with her soon. Danic was training to be an officer. One day he might even be a lieutenant. L’ira wrinkled her nose and tried to think of Danic being like the stuffy Lieutenant Lainan or frilly, young Netant.
The hall where they left her was wide. Dark red carpet spread from wall to wall and here and there wooden benches were set so that people could sit while they waited. More doors were spaced down the hall and between them hung massive tapestries. Two doors down from where they left her, the hall ended in a great window, draped in thin white curtains. Everything dwarfed her.
L’ira sat for a long while, her feet dangling over the edge of the bench and hands tucked under her thighs. She looked up at the ceiling counting the chandeliers that glittered down the hall, then the tapestries, then the doors. Twisting around in her seat, she watched the door to the room where her friends were. It didn’t move.
She sighed and swung her legs back and forth.
Two men came up the stairs, their footsteps sounding noisily until they reached the carpeted hallway. One’s shoes were scuffed and broken and the other’s jacket was just a little too long. The one with the jacket sat down across the hall from her and rested his elbows on his knees, dark hair falling into his eyes. The other stood next to him. They both watched her.
L’ira looked back to the door for a long time, but when she looked at them again, they were still watching her. She pursed her lips and watched her shoes. Scuffed Shoes moved just at the corner of her eyes. She turned all the way around and looked at the tapestry behind her.
Two men stood in the foreground, their ships bobbing in the bay behind them and she checked hurriedly to make sure neither of them had scuffed shoes. One was dressed in a long red coat edged in white, with piles of lace around his neck, like Ryden wore when he was at his palace. The other was in a simple gray jacket over brown trousers and both were wearing Lord Captain’s hats.
The ships behind them looked like her Bearer. Each had three masts with great white sails hung off each. Tiny figures were crowded around the forecastle and one little man sat in each crow’s nest.
L’ira sat for a long moment before she realized what was wrong with the tapestry. Neither man wore a wristband. She reached up to touch the fabric, as if she could pull their sleeves up and find that their wristbands had only been hidden.
“Is something the matter?” Scuffed Shoes had come up behind her and she looked up at him warily.
“No wristbands,” she told him. She held up her arm to show him the wide strip of leather wrapped around her wrist.
“That’s because they’re not Sea Clan,” he told her. “Only Sea Clan get wristbands.”
She looked back at the men in the tapestry accusingly. “Land-dwellers.” She paused and looked confused. “But why do they have ships?”
The man laughed harshly. “We have ships too. You all don’t own the water.”
She sat back on her heels. “Yes we do.”
He looked taken aback. “Well, yes. Some of it.”
Satisfied, she turned back to the tapestries, but still wasn’t convinced that he was telling her the truth.
“If they’re Land-dwellers, why do they have Lord Captains’ hats?” she asked him. She’d met some sailors that weren’t Sea Clan, but never any Lord Captains.
“Not Lord Captains. Just Captains.” She looked at him doubtfully. “They’re not Clansmen, remember?” She didn’t say a word and he sighed. “Every Clan has one Lord Captain, but many Captains, right? Well, they’re just Captains.” L’ira wasn’t sure about that either.
He tucked his hands into his pockets. “You’re lucky to have a Lord Captain.”
“Do you like him?” the man with the long jacket asked. L’ira looked at him. His voice was quieter. “Do you like your Lord Captain? And your ship?”
Scuffed Shoes glared at him. “Stop it, Lorcan.”
“What are we doing here? If we go now no one will ever have to know and—”
Scuffed shoes cut Lorcan off quickly: “No.”
L’ira looked back and forth between the two of them and sat down heavily on the bench, forehead crinkling. She shot a look up at Scuffed Shoes while he glared at Lorcan and waited for him to look at her again.
“Are you waiting for someone?” she asked when he turned toward her.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Ryden Visade.”
She tilted her head and pursed her lips. One dark lock of her hair fell across her forehead. “Why?”
“Because we want to talk to him.” Scuffed Shoes crouched down beside her and his knees creaked. “What’s your name?”
Lorcan made a little noise from the other side of the hall and L’ira hesitated. Scuffed Shoes smiled disarmingly.
“Why don’t I go first?” he asked. “My name’s Geore. What’s yours?”
“L’ira.”
“It’s nice to meet you, L’ira.” He held out a hand for her to shake and she didn’t take it, shoving her hands under her thighs. Scuffed Shoes looked down for a moment, his smile faltering and L’ira thought she saw something behind it. She didn’t like it and shifted a little further from him. His eyes snapped back up and the smile returned, sharper than before. “You’re a magician, aren’t you?”
“Keimon,” she corrected. Magicians were what the Land-dwellers called them. She thought there might have been more of a difference than that, but she didn’t know. Either way, keimon were better.
“Can you show me?” Scuffed Shoes asked.
Lorcan looked up at her then and she felt it. His eyes said that he was hoping for something, but she wasn’t sure exactly what. Scuffed Shoes leaned in closer and asked again, sweetly. She took another long look at Lorcan and pulled her hand out from under her.
Blue sparks splashed from her palm and licked up her fingers. It felt like ice, sliding under her skin. She had to think – hard – to keep the sparks from darting up into the air. Toar had already begun to talk to her about controlling the energy that she used. She had a lot of it. Everyone said that and that she’d only get more as she grew up.
Lorcan lowered his head into his hands and ran his fingers through his hair roughly. Scuffed Shoes grinned. He scooted closer again, so that he was between her and Lorcan, his face on the same level as hers.
“You don’t have a symbol on your wristband,” he murmured.
She looked down at it. Danic had a hawk stamped into his and so did the rest of the crew. It said that they were Visaden. Ryden had a special hawk, made with gold and tiny green and white jewels for feathers. It said that he was a noble. Lainan talked a lot about how her wristband didn’t have anything on it. She didn’t like the way the Stuffy Lieutenant talked about it and she didn’t like this man talking about it either. She pulled her sleeve down to cover her wristband.
“It means you’re Clanless,” he went on. “Ouk-onoma.”
She pulled back. Alrein had punched Sevari once for saying that word.
“They won’t want you forever,” Scuffed Shoes went on. “The Sea Clans only take care of their own. They only like people who are like them. One day they’ll decide that you’re not good enough any more. You don’t want that.”
She swallowed.
“You don’t really want to wait for that to happen. Why don’t you come away with us? Lorcan has a nice house. You can stay there with him and his wife. You don’t have a mommy right now, do you? Wouldn’t you like to have one?”
“No,” she said flatly.
He laughed. “Sure you would.”
“No. Go away.” L’ira pulled away from him until her back was against the wall.
“Stop it,” Lorcan said suddenly. Scuffed Shoes looked back at him. Lorcan ran his fingers all the way to the nape of his neck, roughly, and looked up at his friend. “Can’t we just take her and run?”
“This is Ryden’s pet,” Scuffed Shoes snapped. “Half the point of this is getting a Clan Lord in the bargain. If we run with her, I think he’s a bit more likely to kill us than to deal with us.”
“I don’t want to do this,” Lorcan began. “Look at her…” L’ira pulled her knees up her chest as both of them turned her way.
Scuffed Shoes groaned and grabbed her wrist. “Fine.”
A hand appeared on his shoulder with a gold edged wristband. “Can I help you, sir?”
L’ira looked up at Ryden. Toar and Danic stood on either side of him. She jumped up off the bench and ran around to Danic, who caught her up and took one step back, putting Toar and Ryden between them and the other man.
Scuffed Shoes stood, sinking back into a smile. “Lord Captain Visade, I assume? I’m Geore Venrich.”
He held out a hand to Ryden and the Lord took it – firmly. Geore swallowed and laughed nervously. He gestured for Lorcan to come forward. “This is my friend Lorcan Farr. We were just talking to her. Weren’t we, L’ira?” She leaned her head against Danic’s shoulder and held onto him tightly. Lorcan shuffled forward and met her gaze uncertainly, but she looked away quickly.
“Well,” Ryden tried to return Geore’s smile. “It’s been a pleasure, but if you’ll excuse us, we have other business.” The Visaden started to brush past him.
Geore grabbed hold of Ryden’s arm. A quick look at Toar, and the way the keimon’s fingers had begun to tense, and he released him. “Wait just a moment… sir.” Ryden turned to face him expectantly. “We have some business of our own with you. Uh…”
“She’s my daughter,” Lorcan said quietly. Danic’s grip tightened around L’ira.
Ryden paused. “I beg your pardon?” His voice was taut.
“She’s my daughter.” Lorcan met his eyes blankly and L’ira thought he might cry. “She was with her mama on her way to meet me in Haii when their ship sank. I’ve been looking for her for four years. Thanks for finding her for me. Thanks for keeping her safe. But, I’d like to take her home now.”
Ryden twisted around to look at L’ira and then at the man. Lorcan hardly moved. “Tell me,” he said after a moment. “Was her mother Sea Clan?”
Lorcan just shook his head. “No.”
“Then how exactly did your little girl end up Sea Clan?”
“She didn’t. We’ve all heard the story. You were floating in the middle of a storm, just waiting it out and suddenly your cabin boy hears somethin’.” He waved toward Danic “So, you let him go out into the water and he finds a longboat, all burnt and ready to sink and then he sees her inside. He brings her back onboard the ship and she’s got a Sea Clan wristband with no symbol and only part of a name. So you kept her.”
Ryden looked at him a moment. “That’s right.” Lorcan looked uncertain and Scuffed Shoes hurried to step in.
“Well,” he said. “We believe the boat part. It sounds just like his wife to make sure her little girl was safe, but she didn’t have a wristband.” Scuffed Shoes squared his shoulders, the corners of his mouth tilting up like he knew something. “I think you gave her the wristband. I’ve heard what else happened when you brought her onboard. She sparked at one of your lieutenants when he tried to take her from your cabin boy. You took her ‘cause you wanted another magician. Especially one that’s powerful enough to start Showing at age one.”
“That’s funny,” Toar muttered. “That sounds more like what you’re doing.” Lorcan blinked – once, twice – then looked away.
“Just give my friend his girl,” Scuffed Shoes demanded. He took one step toward Ryden and Toar stopped him with a look. His arms had been crossed but now he let his hands fall to his sides, ready.
Ryden watched Lorcan for a moment. “Is she really yours?” The other man looked up, didn’t say a word. Carefully, he looked at L’ira and the way Danic held her to his side, one arm wrapped protectively around her waist. Slowly, he shook his head.
Toar brushed past the two of them and Danic followed with L’ira.
“Of course she’s his,” Scuffed Shoes yelled as Ryden took up the rear. “Just give him his girl.” Lorcan put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. Scuffed Shoes didn’t follow, but he still called after them. “She’s his! Give him his daughter!”
L’ira hid her face in Danic’s shoulder.
“I know it’s a great story, but I think we should tell the men not to tell anyone else about how we found her,” Ryden murmured to Toar. “And it might be time that we gave her a Keimon Name, too.”
***
This is the first chapter of a novel that I am planning on getting published somewhere within the near future. For obvious reasons, I am hesitant to put much of it online. I am having problems with the opening chapters though, and would love comments. If anyone is interested in helping me out by reading more, please let me know, either in this thread or by PM. Thank you so much!
I'll be waiting for more!
