white-blond hair that reflects the sun.
She blinks. “No mind. It is a beautiful color. I am jealous.”
Of me? And all this time, I’d been jealous of Star’s reddish hair, like the color of the sunrise. The tops of my knees are sticking out of the water, and goose bumps begin to poke out on them. “Why are you...”
“No, I don’t normally wash my servants’ hair, if that’s what you’re thinking.” She straightens, sticks her chin out. “And don’t think I’ll ever do it for you again.... It’s just...I want us to be friendly.”
“Friendly?” I choke out. Friendly is not something we islanders do. We keep our distance. We’re wary. We do not trust.
She smiles. “Yes.” She looks around, and her face turns serious. I feel something on my head trickling over my forehead and edging toward the corner of my eye, making it twitch. “There was something I could not tell you out there. Something you are not to share with anyone.”
At that moment, the horn in the tower blares. From here, it’s such a horrible and jarring roar that my eardrums rattle. The two tower guards manage the task of sounding the horn. It’s the horn that signals low tide. It means that the tide has reversed and is now coming in, and our completely safe time is over. Usually it means there is still plenty of time remaining before formation, but one never can tell. During Hard Season or a storm, the tides come in with much more fierceness, so one always needs to be on guard once the horn blares. But instead of worrying about that, all I can do is stare at Star, knowing somehow that her next words will be ones which I will regret hearing.
“I don’t need a governess,” she says, rocking back on her knees. I know that my hair can’t possibly be fixed yet as it would take a hundred tides and a miracle to make it like Star’s, but Star sighs and begins to absently play with her long red braid. “Kirba was always checking to make sure I ate up, and washed up, and kept my posture and said ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ Those things are important to my father, because a royal needs to behave with grace and dignity. But I dare say I’m easily the most graceful and dignified being on this island. Her work is done.”
White foam drips into my eye and down my nose. I try to blink it away, but a moment later it begins to burn worse than jellyfish stings. I yelp.
She reaches for a cloth and carelessly places it in my hand. I swab desperately at my eye. How can something that smells so sweet hurt so terribly? “I don’t even really need someone to dress and converse with me.”
The stinging subsides. I open my mouth. “I thought you said...”
“Yes, I know what I said. That’s what I want the others to think. But I need to trust someone, Coe, and Tiam recommends you. And he says you are an expert at melting into the scenery, at living among the people unnoticed and learning things that may be of use to me.”
“Tiam said that?” I say, shocked. Why would he tell such an outrageous lie? He knows how little I listen to the gossip, how I avoid everyone on the island as much as possible. “You want me to be...like...a spy? For what?”
Her eyes turn cold. “Just as there have always been people who work in the royal family’s service, there have always been people among us who would like to do us harm.”
I stare at her, unsure what she means.
“Some people forget the Wallows’ gift to them so many tides ago. Of course this has happened before. Many times before. And we have to weed these people out and bring them to justice before they...poison the thinking of others.”
I lie there silently, imagining her lying in her tower day after day, fearing for her life. But if her life is in danger, I don’t know it. People respect the king. He has kept us safe.
“In the coming tides, you are going to be more important to me than you realize. But I must know I can place my trust in you.”
Me? My mouth must be hanging
She blinks. “No mind. It is a beautiful color. I am jealous.”
Of me? And all this time, I’d been jealous of Star’s reddish hair, like the color of the sunrise. The tops of my knees are sticking out of the water, and goose bumps begin to poke out on them. “Why are you...”
“No, I don’t normally wash my servants’ hair, if that’s what you’re thinking.” She straightens, sticks her chin out. “And don’t think I’ll ever do it for you again.... It’s just...I want us to be friendly.”
“Friendly?” I choke out. Friendly is not something we islanders do. We keep our distance. We’re wary. We do not trust.
She smiles. “Yes.” She looks around, and her face turns serious. I feel something on my head trickling over my forehead and edging toward the corner of my eye, making it twitch. “There was something I could not tell you out there. Something you are not to share with anyone.”
At that moment, the horn in the tower blares. From here, it’s such a horrible and jarring roar that my eardrums rattle. The two tower guards manage the task of sounding the horn. It’s the horn that signals low tide. It means that the tide has reversed and is now coming in, and our completely safe time is over. Usually it means there is still plenty of time remaining before formation, but one never can tell. During Hard Season or a storm, the tides come in with much more fierceness, so one always needs to be on guard once the horn blares. But instead of worrying about that, all I can do is stare at Star, knowing somehow that her next words will be ones which I will regret hearing.
“I don’t need a governess,” she says, rocking back on her knees. I know that my hair can’t possibly be fixed yet as it would take a hundred tides and a miracle to make it like Star’s, but Star sighs and begins to absently play with her long red braid. “Kirba was always checking to make sure I ate up, and washed up, and kept my posture and said ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ Those things are important to my father, because a royal needs to behave with grace and dignity. But I dare say I’m easily the most graceful and dignified being on this island. Her work is done.”
White foam drips into my eye and down my nose. I try to blink it away, but a moment later it begins to burn worse than jellyfish stings. I yelp.
She reaches for a cloth and carelessly places it in my hand. I swab desperately at my eye. How can something that smells so sweet hurt so terribly? “I don’t even really need someone to dress and converse with me.”
The stinging subsides. I open my mouth. “I thought you said...”
“Yes, I know what I said. That’s what I want the others to think. But I need to trust someone, Coe, and Tiam recommends you. And he says you are an expert at melting into the scenery, at living among the people unnoticed and learning things that may be of use to me.”
“Tiam said that?” I say, shocked. Why would he tell such an outrageous lie? He knows how little I listen to the gossip, how I avoid everyone on the island as much as possible. “You want me to be...like...a spy? For what?”
Her eyes turn cold. “Just as there have always been people who work in the royal family’s service, there have always been people among us who would like to do us harm.”
I stare at her, unsure what she means.
“Some people forget the Wallows’ gift to them so many tides ago. Of course this has happened before. Many times before. And we have to weed these people out and bring them to justice before they...poison the thinking of others.”
I lie there silently, imagining her lying in her tower day after day, fearing for her life. But if her life is in danger, I don’t know it. People respect the king. He has kept us safe.
“In the coming tides, you are going to be more important to me than you realize. But I must know I can place my trust in you.”
Me? My mouth must be hanging
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