OoOoO

            Vinie was home. The realization didn't strike Vinie until she found herself standing, panting with exhaustion and adrenaline, out on the docks which she had grown up diving from. She was not that carefree girl though, running and laughing with sand between her toes and sunlight in her eyes. The crystal clear blue of Utunma's harbor had changed too. Tendrils of red seeped into the azure waters, staining them wherever the king's men had fallen in.

All of the fish which usually schooled beneath the wharf had fled, as well as the gulls. There was only the lapping of the waves and the distant howl of wind, fading along with the sail of hers and Zaneo's dhow as the poor little boat was unwillingly made to bear Mahir away. Some of the Factionists had tried to jump into the remaining canoes to give chase. An unnatural gale carried Mahir away like an arrow shot from a bow; straight and fast out past the rip tide into the arms of the northward current.

            So let him go...Vinie was done with fighting for today. She was among the first to turn her back on Mahir's vanishing sail, back toward Utunma. For the first time in two years she looked full upon her hometown in the light of day.

            As ragged and worn out as Utunma looked to her, with fishmonger's stalls overturned all along the wharf, their wares left out in the sun to rot for days and the chaotic mess of fighting scattered all about, the sea folk looked just as rough. They were a motley crew, her people. Blood-spattered, bruised and in some cases, broken, Factionists and Moaanese Guards alike gathered around the docks. Many still clutched their weapons with white knuckles, not quite certain if the battle was really over.

            A stab of terror lanced through Vinie, threatening to break what remained of her heart and her mind. Where was Gideo? She didn't see him, so distinctive with his halo of curls towering head and shoulders above everyone else. If retaking Utunma had come at the cost of losing Gideo...

            "Vinie?"

            A hand on her shoulder just about made Vinie leap right out of her skin. Gideo was there, at her side, just as he'd always been. Even through the worst kind of chaos, even when she didn't always realize it, he'd been there. Completely beyond caring, in front of the eyes of all, Vinie walked straight into Gideo and laid her brow, now bare without the black pearl, on his chest.

            Gideo's hand held the back of her head, resting comfortingly in her frizzy hair. All Vinie wanted from life right now was to stand there between the sun and the sea and listen to Gideo's heart beat. They were home, after so long, with no need to hide anymore. Gideo murmured into the top of her head, reminding her of their audience.

            "We did it Vinie; we won. They're waiting for you to tell them it's over...for now."

            Reluctantly Vinie parted from Gideo. Hundreds of sea folk watched and waited. With Lord Xolani and Lady Oesu nowhere to be seen, the responsibility of claiming victory fell upon the Factionists' BlackPearl. Was this the moment Vinie had dreamed of, a lifetime ago in her little cell? Sahar was dead, among so many others. Somehow Vinie didn't feel the elation and pride she had been imaging. The people of the south were waiting for her to speak though.

            "You can be sad and happy at the same time, my pearl," whispered Zaneo's voice in her inner ear. "Grief is not incompatible with joy."

              Sahar affirmed as much. "There'll be more than enough sadness to go around. Today is worth celebrating, for everyone and for the days ahead."

            "Will you stay with me now, Sahar, Zaneo? Are you not at rest among the waves, or the stars, or whichever place it is that the dead go?"

            "There can be no rest for any of us...not until the old magic is remembered and restored."

            "The old magic?" asked Vinie wordlessly.

            "The world must break before it can be whole once again," said Zaneo, sounding very much the way Vinie remembered him after a lesson down by the beach with Wasani. "Just as you have broken and been remade." Vinie could almost see the smile in Zaneo's voice smooth, mellow voice. "Embrace life, BlackPearl. Although I will be with you until the healing of the world, you are no longer mine. Let our memory be the white gull's wings which lift you up...not the anchor that pulls you down."

            "Zaneo..."     

"We're going to need your help before the end, Vinie. You can't free all of us alone though. Find the all-seeing blind woman...listen to the old stories...they will guide you when the time comes. Until then, tell our story and find a new way."

Sahar's voice trailed off into silence, leaving Vinie, confused and exhausted, to face the crowd on Utunma's wharf. They all looked to Vinie, expectant. Vinie took a deep breath. Gideo's hand was a warm, grounding weight on her shoulder. She didn't understand all of Sahar and Zaneo's words, but she knew what had to be done in this moment.

"Some of you know the story of the Factionists' dream for freedom; how it began here in Utunma, with a blue-eyed SeaSon and the girl who loved him. Others here might know another story, the story of a brave CoinDancer who stood up for her family, friends, and home against the impossible until her last breath."

Her voice faltered, thick with emotion, and she had to pause before speaking again. "The dream of a south free to make its own way began small, but since then it has grown. Now the stories of each and every one of you are the story of our people; a homeland in the making. Every last one of you, who have shed blood, lost friends, lost family, and refused to accept capital rule simply because it's 'the way things have always been'. You are part of the history of this bold, brave new world which we are building day by day, minute by minute."

Every time Vinie had addressed a gathering of people before, at rallies in Moaan or secret Factionist meetings in the Drunken SkinPainter at Falerik, her speech had always kept returning to the past; to the wrongs done by the heirs of Amenthis, and the stifling of the sea folk. Now, for the first time, she looked to the future and believed it could be a dream realized. Despite all that they had lost and suffered that day, a newfound hope suffused Vinie's words as well as her spirit.

"Today, so much has been lost...but so much has been won, too. Grief is not incompatible with joy. We can both mourn our dead and celebrate that the south belongs to the people of the sea at last. Tonight we'll give the fallen to the waves, honored by our customs as they should be. Tomorrow though, we'll rebuild Utunma anew, and prepare to both champion and defend our place in the wider world as a proud and free people, ready to live our own story!" Her speech rising to a final crescendo, Vinie raised her belawa's blade to the sky. "Proud and free!"

"Proud and free!" the sea people roared back at her.

"Proud and free!" Gideo shouted next to her, likewise raising his sword in the air. Together, the BlackPearl and the StarGazer led their people in the cry of a newborn nation.

OoOoO

            The rest of the day was hard, but the people of the south were now strong. The first thing Vinie did after addressing the crowd was to look for Sahar's sons. She and Gideo met up with Kiiss, Reyson, Oesu, Xolani, Lhara and Yidu at the entrance to Utunma. The loss of Xolani's arm dismayed everyone, but the regent of Moaan seemed to be out of immediate danger. Oesu took him to rest in a room at the Skinny Dipper almost as soon as they set foot in town. They also learned from Yidu that Dhalad had fallen in battle. Vinie was dreading having to deliver similar news to Sahar and Jaafi's boys. 

            A spot of cheer arrived unexpectedly though when a pair of Moaanese Guards appeared with Jath still bound between them. They had removed their charge into the cover of the jungle immediately after fighting broke out, not wanting the regents' 'insurance' to be seized by the royal army. Lhara was obviously delighted to see Jath unharmed, and Jath's delight at her delight just about pulled a smile from Vinie despite everything. Lhara wasn't happy about Jath's continued status as prisoner of the regents, but all things considered it wasn't the most unbearable of outcomes for the day.

             They found Sahar's sons closed up alone in their home, hiding beneath their parents' bed. Zaneo, the older of the two at nine, was the first to come out when he recognized Gideo's voice calling for them. Seven year old Tani lingered slightly back, eyeing Vinie and the other strangers suspiciously even as Zaneo ran into Gideo's arms.

            Breaking the news of Sahar and Jaafi's deaths to their boys was awful. Zaneo immediately broke down in hiccupping sobs. He clung to 'Uncle Gideo', thin fingers bunched in Gideo's blood-stained shirt. Tani's little face screwed up indignantly in refusal; he would not believe that his parents were dead, even when Gideo repeated it. To Vinie's surprise, it was Kiiss to whom Tani eventually gave in.

            "You're the one who protects your elder brother, aren't you?" Kiiss asked, speaking to Tani as one would a much older youth. "Your parents rely on you to be the strong, brave one I think. That must be hard."

            Chin trembling, Tani did not answer. He continued to glare up at everyone even while rapidly blinking away the moisture that threatened to gather at the corners of his eyes.

            "It's been a long day...for all of us. The king and his men are gone; none of us have to be brave anymore today if we don't want to," said Kiiss. She sat down with overemphasized weariness on a nearby stool in Sahar's house. Then she held out one arm in an invitation to the little boy.

            Even then, Tani didn't fall to open grieving like Zaneo had. He did however slowly approach Kiiss' side, letting her wrap an arm around him and draw him in against her soft figure. Vinie was unexpectedly reminded of the wish for something which she had not known in almost twenty years; the comfort of a mother's arms, something which she and now these boys would never again have.

Gideo met her eye over Zaneo's shaking shoulder. Cautiously, Vinie went to kneel down next to Gideo and cradle the back of Zaneo's head as Gideo had done for her earlier out on the docks. Tani watched her with a wary eye as she tried to comfort his brother. Vinie did not know these children, and they did not know her, but they were Sahar's, and that made them family. Family was something all of them could sorely use right about now. 

OoOoO

            As preparations for that evening's funerals were made, Vinie met with Xolani and Oesu at the Skinny Dipper. Xolani reclined on the inn room's bed while they spoke, his bandaged stump held to his chest in a sling. He and Oesu had both shed the colorful wraps, sashes and golden jewelry of a regent. In plain clothes and clearly exhausted, they were not very different from Vinie and any other southerner in Utunma that day.

            "Mahir will muster the other companies of the Gorian army, and he will return," said Oesu, blotting her hands and arms dry with a cloth after having finally washed away the proof of her work in Lhara's infirmary. "And if what your informant told you was correct, he may even return with Obads at his side."

            "I think we've already seen the Obads at work in his favor today. That was no natural wind that took Mahir out from harbor," said Vinie.

               Oesu frowned. "Between the magic of the Obads and the bulk of the royal army yet to be deployed, we'll likely find ourselves under terrible strain to hold the south sooner rather than later. We need allies, badly."

            "What of the east?" Xolani's voice was hoarse, and Oesu went to pour him a cup of water from the mug at the bedside. Xolani moved as though to reach for the cup with his right hand, but finding it lacking had to instead switch to his left.

            "The last I heard of Sula and Nadathan, their Factionists were routed at Trosk by the Fourth Company. They did have some material support from the N'Shar clan, but it sounds like the eimirs are all focused on their own internal politics. Trying to set themselves up to take the title of Wal while the east still remains under capital rule..." Vinie snorted. "Power hungry baboons."

            "We may yet find ourselves looking to the clans for help if they can organize together in a cohesive move for independence," replied Oesu. "Has anyone spoken to the north? What is their position in all of this?"

            That brought Vinie up short. It hadn't actually occurred to her to think of the north. The Black Forest, not unlike the south's vast jungles, spanned all the way from the western sea to The Teeth, essentially swallowing all civilization north of Vaelona and Blue Stone. Northerners were not often seen further south than those cities, according to Kiiss. By all accounts the north had been quiet since the Factionist uprising had begun, sequestered at the top of the world and paying its taxes to the capital like clockwork.

            "We haven't had any communication with the north yet. Meeting Nadathan and Sula in Moaan was my primary contact with the east, but I don't have any contacts past Amenthere."

            Having taken a few sips of water, Xolani's voice was stronger and clearer when he spoke again. "Perhaps we could motivate our captive Vaelonese nobleman to find us contacts in the north. A pity he's unlikely to be well disposed toward us at this point."

            Vinie couldn't help but chuckle. It was time to let the fish out of the net and tell the truth. "Well...to be honest Lord Xolani, I think he might be more willing to help than you think. You see, Jath was one of ours before we turned him over to you. I recruited him to the Factionists about a year ago near Falerik. Actually, the whole idea of using him as a hostage was his own. He was a free man right up until the minute Gideo walked him into the State Hall."

            Xolani and Oesu's eyebrows had shot straight up at Vinie's admission. Oesu didn't seem to know whether she was offended or just plain impressed. Xolani settled back against the pillows with a huff of amusement.

            "Yet again, I am proven wrong in my initial assessment of you, BlackPearl. Let me commend you, and your man Jath, on having successfully fooled these regents of Moaan. I suppose, seeing as Mahir has decided he has no use for the 'White Saurivic' that Lord Jatheryn may as well be set free. Clearly he makes a far better Factionist than he does a noble hostage."

            Vinie smirked. "I'll go and tell him so. I'm sure he's looking forward to stretching his arms and losing his two Moaanese shadows."

            Just as Vinie was turning to go, Oesu called her back. "There is one more thing; a bit of a trivial matter given our situation, but still important to a would-be country."

            "Yas?"

            "Our people should have a name for their homeland, and a flag to rally around. With your permission, we were thinking to incorporate the Factionists' black circle into possible designs?"

            Vinie wasn't sure how she felt about that, especially since she had thrown away Zaneo's black pearl upon finding Sahar. It was only ever just a stone, after all. Zaneo was with her always, she knew that now. By that line of thought, a black circle was just a black circle. If that was what the sea people wanted to use for their symbol though, then Vinie supposed it was hardly her right to refuse.

            "I'll leave a flag and a name up to you and the people, Lord and Lady Regent."

            Oesu colored, looking abashed as if about to admit something embarrassing. "Well...on that note, there's something else to discuss...something that may perhaps be a delicate topic; the order of authority in our new nation."

            "Oh?" Oesu was right; that was a delicate surface to be treading on, especially now with the ousted king of Goran only a matter of hours out of Utunma's harbor.

            "That was why we wanted to speak to you in private, to ask you what your aspirations are regarding a position of leadership in the south?"

            Vinie saw how this conversation could go one of two ways very quickly. Even as badly injured as he was, Xolani was still watching her with the same careful, guarded look that was on Oesu's stately face. The regents wanted to know if they faced a potential challenger from Vinie for the title, whatever it would come to be, of ruler in the south. Considering that she was the face, name, and apparently symbol at the heart of the Factionist movement that had begun all this, Vinie realized that she could be a very potent competitor to Xolani and Oesu, if she so chose. Or they could continue to work together. As far as Vinie saw, there was really only one smart choice. Conveniently, it was also the choice she preferred.

            "I have no wish, nor training to govern anyone or anything," she told them. "All I know about leading people, I've had to learn for the sake of surviving as a rebel. My only ambition is to see the sea folk safe, happy, and free to live by their own laws."

            The change in Xolani and Oesu was instant. The pair relaxed visibly, and Oesu smiled warmly at Vinie.

            "I think you know more about leading than you admit, BlackPearl. That is why Xolani and I would like to ask you to take up the official title of General, in command of the army of Undor."

            Several thoughts ran through Vinie's mind at once, each one less coherent than the last. Her hand found the wall, and she took a moment to lean against it, recovering. When her voice returned, the first question that got out was the easiest.

            "U...Undor?"

            Xolani shifted on the bed, wincing as he positioned himself more upright. "It's an old name; our secretary found it in the State Hall archives in a record of correspondences between Amenthis' followers. Apparently, in the days before Goran, everything south of the cliffs at Syrion was referred to as 'The Under'. We thought the name 'Undor' might be a good way to reclaim our history before Amenthis' rule."

            "Undor." Vinie tried the name out again on her tongue, properly this time. It wasn't the first thing she would have thought up, but knowing it came from a time when the south was free and wild and not simply a Gorian province endeared it to her. "It'll do. Will that make you the Lord and Lady of Undor, then?"

            "Yas, if there are no strong objections. Besides yourself, there are no other prominent political figures in the south. Mahir begrudged even our influence; he would have preferred to have the royal magistrates be the only source of authority," said Oesu.

            "Well then, there are no objections from me...on one condition."

            "What condition is that?" asked Oesu, once again cautious despite Vinie's assurance that she had no interest in power.

            Vinie's fingers reflexively went to where the black pearl had once sat on her brow. Even with it gone, she could still feel the ghost of its weight against her skin.

            "Undor must have its own Magicol. No more sea-born children are to be sent away or have to hide what they are. If we're going to be a true nation, then we have to take care of our Obads from now on."

            "Done," Xolani said without hesitation, and Oesu nodded her agreement. "We'll find a place suitable for a Magicol in Moaan, and if none can be found then we'll build one. You have our word."

            Vinie nodded, satisfied. "Then in that case..." she tucked a hand to her stomach, holding the other out to one side as she dipped forward in a highly formalized bow. "...I am at your service, my Lord and Lady of Undor."

             "Rise, General of Undor."

OoOoO

            Come nightfall, the people of Undor gathered on the beaches a short ways out of town; the same beaches upon which Vinie and Zaneo had been married The natural jetty of grey stone loomed out from the jungle to cross the sand into the sea, right where it always had in Vinie's memories.

It was a beautiful evening. The sun hung low on the horizon, smooth and golden as a coin tossed into the air. Its glow painted the sky with fiery pinks, warm violets and dreamy indigo. Just beyond the fading sun's reach, the first stars were beginning to wink into sight. With the coming of the winter months they would grow brighter and clearer every night, Vinie knew. The fishermen would dare to venture further from the shore as autumn unfolded, counting on the stars to guide them home at night. There were some things about life on the sea that a PearlDiver's daughter would never forget.

The bodies of the dead, and there were many, had all been brought down to the beach and sewn into shrouds. Not enough boats remained to set each of the fallen adrift in one, as was southern tradition. Instead another alternative had presented itself. Rangi, one of Utunma's richest merchants, had been among those killed when the Third invaded. His boat, a large mtepe with a birdlike shape to the prow, would bear not only Rangi but the three hundred and fifty other Undorians killed at Utunma out to sea. Extra parting gifts of fruit and flowers were piled into the mtepe in hopes of convincing Rangi not to mind sharing his vessel with so many additional passengers on their final voyage. From what Vinie remembered of Rangi, he would have minded if so much as a barnacle had tried to hitch a ride. He hadn't become the richest man in Utunma by being easily appeased. Just this once though, Vinie figured he could share.

As final preparations were being made and the last of the people were coming down from town to join the crowd on the beach, Vinie found Gideo. He stood not far from where the new Lord and Lady of Undor were settling themselves on the jetty. Zaneo and Tani were with him, although Zaneo now clung to his brother instead of Gideo. Kiiss also remained close to the boys, two small jackets draped over one arm ready for later when the night air grew cool. Gideo saw Vinie approaching and broke away from the others to meet her halfway.

"How did the meeting with Xolani and Oesu go?"

He had washed and changed out of his battle-stained clothes, and although Gideo's hair and beard were still unkempt he at least looked more like himself. Vinie thought she caught that old and eternally familiar scent of strawberry candles on him.

"We have a name now," Vinie told him. "Undorians. Apparently it's a call-back to when these lands were called 'The Under' by Amenthis' folk. What do you think?"

Gideo shrugged. "I'm happy to call us anything the regents like, so long as we aren't Gorians anymore."

"There's more...Xolani and Oesu aren't regents anymore either. Now they're the 'Lord and Lady of Undor' and...and I'm their General."

Vinie hadn't even realized that she'd been worried about Gideo's reaction to her new military title. She watched Gideo's face anxiously, waiting.

When Gideo let out a long, low whistle, Vinie couldn't tell if that was good or bad. Then he raised an eyebrow at her, an unreadable expression in his dark eyes.

"And what does that make me then...General?"

Vinie had never been especially gifted when it came to picking up on word games, not Gideo when it came to playing them. She knew him well enough to hear the question within a question though. After everything that they'd been through together, it was time to move forward and, as Sahar had said, live.

"To the world, you'll be my Lieutenant," she said. "But to me...you'll be Gideo SkinPainter, the man I love more than Undor itself." 

Gideo inhaled sharply as the word 'love' fell from Vinie's lips. His eyes grew bright with moisture, but something seemed to hold him back. Then he reached into the pocket of his vest and produced something small that gleamed like the moon on the sea at night on a broken leather cord.

"Zaneo's black pearl..." Vinie breathed.

"I thought you might want it back, so I kept it." Gideo held out the magical sea stone, offering it to Vinie. "It's a part of you...a part of both of us."

The setting sun fell upon the surface of the pearl, making it shine almost as brightly as Gideo's eyes, filled with unshed tears. Zaneo's eyes had been blue...what color of blue though, Vinie wasn't quite certain anymore.

Stepping closer, Vinie closed Gideo's hand around the black pearl. "It is a part of us, just as Zaneo will always be a part of us, and Sahar too." She turned her hand palm-up, showing the marriage knot tattoo, a small white circle at the base of her thumb that marked her union to Zaneo. "This is also a part of me. Now, if you want it, you should have one too."

"Vinie..." Gideo's voice wavered, in true danger of breaking as he captured her hand, pressing a kiss to the white tattoo on her palm. "Truly?"

"Truly, but you have time to do your own knot, you keep the pearl. White for me..." Vinie flexed her hand before closing it once more around Gideo's "...and black for you. There are other things I need to tell you as well; things that I don't even understand. For now though, I'll just tell you I love you."

A single tear tracked salty-sweet down Gideo's cheek.

"I love you too."

Hands clasped, Vinie and Gideo rejoined Kiiss and the boys. Zaneo was quick to lean into Gideo's side seeking comfort, while Tani continued to hold himself slightly apart. Vinie told herself to write to Bakko later and tell him to join them here in Utunma. Then they could all be together, and home.

As the last of the bodies were placed on board the ship and the sails unfurled, Vinie caught sight of other familiar faces in the crowd. Reyson was up in the rigging of Rangi's mtepe, helping to prepare the ship for her final voyage. Jath was easily spotted by his white hair amongst the gathered Undorians, opposite Yidu with Lhara tucked between them.

Utunma had not had a shaman since Wasani died along with his apprentice beneath the executioner's axe. Lord Xolani and Lady Oesu stood atop the rocky jetty and made a short speech in lieu of a shaman's blessings. Vinie did not hear much of it. She watched the sun set as people tied smaller boats to the prow of the mtepe and pushed off from the beach into the surf. Slowly, rowing against the waves, they towed the funeral vessel out past the breakers toward the rip tide. Deep and strong, the current would catch the hull and pull the ship out to sea. The last person to leave the mtepe set a torch to the tree-sap soaked main mast. By the time the ship reached the horizon, it would go up in flames before it carried the dead down to their watery tomb beneath the waves.

As the small boats rowed and the sun set, each boat lit a torch of its own by which to see. From the beach they looked like fireflies guiding a silent shadow across the water. Then the mast caught the fire, and the shadow became a shooting star, set straight and true for the setting sun in the arms of the current.

"Goodbye," Vinie whispered, to Sahar, to Zaneo, and to the days of peace...for now.

They watched the burning ship sail until it was a pinprick of light; an earthly star. Only a fading glow remained on the horizon. Some were just about to start leaving for home and bed when a child cried out.

"What's that!? There, in the waves!"

A dark shape rose from the sea, but it was not Rangi's mtepe. Silhouetted against the sunset and the burning ship, a long, serpentine head stretched up out of the water toward the sky. Blue-green scales glittering, the first sea serpent to be seen in the world for over a thousand years opened its jaws and filled the night air with a piercingly beautiful cry. 

OoOoO

End of Volume 2

Volume 3 of The Book of Terrus - 'A Land of Sunlight' coming soon!