Wakelight 1x01 - Find the Lost (part two)
My entry into chaos_thon . Part two!!
Part One
Starring (in order of appearance):
Gillian Anderson
Jesse L. Martin
Vin Diesel
Gates McFadden
Sir Patrick Stewart
Katie McGrath
Jasika Nicole
Anton Yelchin
Raymond Cruz
Alice Krige
Chris Pine
Lucy Lawless
Mary McDonnell
Edward James Olmos
Rose Byrne
Neil Patrick Harris
and Sigourney Weaver
the behind the scenes guide
now - Sip of Amgarna
Ankida, Almu, Badtibira
The darkness smelt of earth mixed with sunlight and the slightest touch of rain. Sabitu's wind carried the scent as she walked and Pirjo smiled to herself. Kirhargal alone felt unsullied by the presence of the other gods. Even Sabitu, the ever-smiling, avoided his fellow gods for the company of mortals. Kirshargal, on the other hand, shared herself with sun, water and air without complaint. It was her way.
Of all the gods,Pirjo often wished she'd been hers. All her life, she'd been told she belonged to Tiamat. The impetuous heart of the sea was not something she envied, nor desired, and there had been many moments where she had wished for another destiny. She could have been quite happy as a farmer or a builder.
"You would not," Kirshargal said, emerging from the darkness as a terracotta statue of a woman. The living artwork moved without dust or sound, and even the waves of her hair had been captured in earth. She always appeared the same. A small woman with eyes that held patience and wonder, Kirshargal smiled easily and angered slowly. Pirjo was frequently the other way around.
"You may wish for another life until your hair is grey and you no longer sail," the goddess said. "You will still have this one."
Pirjo nodded and her smile came a little easier. "How have you fared?"
"Warm summer, cool winter," the goddess replied, opening her hands and holding them over the earth. "All as well."
While Anshargal occasionally frightened his followers with dire predictions and Tiamat could be full of death, Kirshargal was eternally calm.
"My mother came to see you, to ask of my brother, didn't she?"
"He is not in my sight," Kirshargal answered sadly. "That does not make him dead."
"Just lost," Pirjo said bitterly. "Ummarabu is a wasteland. For all I know it's full of snakes and spitting demons."
"It could be beautiful."
"You might like it," Pirjo allowed. She sank down to the floor of the cave, curling herself into a ball, as she had as a child. "I have to take my crew."
"They will come."
"Without hesitation," Pirjo agreed, sighing. Her chest had become as stone as the walls around her. "I know he's alive."
Kirshargal touched her cheek and her hand was warm and smooth, as it always was. "Then you can find him."
"Can I?" Pirjo asked the floor more than the goddess. "Is that my special destiny? I'm the finder of lost Seekers?"
"That would hardly be special," the goddess observed mildly. "Seekers are often lost. It is part of their way of finding."
Riddles were to be expected, talking to a goddess. "How do I find them?"
"How do you find a lost archis?"
Pirjo chuckled a little. The tiny creatures kept as pets resembled Sisu-ul, but they were far from noble, even though they considered themselves to be such. "It finds you when it's hungry."
Kirshargal's smile broadened and she kissed her cheek. "Your brother will find you because you will carry his heart on your ship," she promised. "Be kind to her."
"Wait," she called as the goddess' body of earth began to dust and disappear. "My crew?"
"Be kind to them as well," Kirshargal urged as her face faded away. "They would sail to the ends of Shargal for you."
Pirjo rubbed her temples and sighed heavily in the now empty cavern. That was what she feared.
now - Sip of Amgarna
On Ummarabu
The smell of blood and viscera lingered in the air long after the Sisu-ul returned with their kill. Even though they had bathed themselves, and their fur was still damp from their tongues, Akseli of Nanshe become Almu become Nergal could smell the kill on their companions. After the past few days of rice and seabirds, the idea of fresh meat made his stomach growl.
According to Venla, who dropped from the air to the ground nearby with a thump, Antero had spotted the magnificent damqis. Running through the dense vegetation on four thin legs, the skittish plant-eaters stood little chance against two Sisu-ul. Though they loved the hunt, they'd only taken two, and Antero's proud purr insisted she had brought it down. Venla nudged him forward towards the haunch they'd returned with. Her heavy, soft head warm against his back.
"We brought it down together," she promised, passing off the credit.
Säde's shake of her head and the look she sent him across the fire suggested he was right to be suspicious of her story. Arguing with Venla never got him anywhere, so Akseli rubbed her ears instead. Her soft black fur was warm and his fingers sank deep into the velvet covering her head.
"We'd starve without you too," he teased, digging his fingers deep.
"Antero says if they didn't hunt we'd make them carry rations," Säde of Ikuda once Sharra become Nergal passed on as she bent to strip the skin from the haunch the Sisu-ul had spared for them. "He would rather bring us scraps," she lifted the meat and began removing the brown hide from the meat with her knife.
"They have to carry enough with us and our gear," Akseli said, chuckling as he wrapped his arm around Venla's great neck. "Don't you?"
"You're not heavy," she promised him with another nudge. "One of us could easily carry both of you and all your things." Her teeth showed for an instant. The fact that humans needed clothing, bed rolls and cooking pots always amused the mounts, who needed none of those things.
Antero flopped down at the edge of camp, panting contentedly in the cool air as he watched Säde cook. The larger Sisu-ul was pale gold, with a thick mane of red and tan, when the sun hit him right, he nearly glowed. The firelight cast dancing shadows across his wings. He was a steady creature with a calm heart; a good balance for Venla's more impetuous nature.
She was a protector, one of the queen's most deadly, and she'd chosen Akseli because, in her words, "you do not forget to smile." He ran his hands down her back, stopping on the bases of her wings. Rubbing the solid muscles there, he coaxed a purr into her throat and laughed as she circled him. If he had not seen her kill an azag alone, a great serpent that would have taken five men with spears and bows, he might not have believed she was so dangerous. When she was pleased, she reminded him more of the little siqtu that had caught mice and slept on his bed as a child.
When Venla finally settled, still purring, he lay with his head and shoulders on her chest, listening to the slow rhythm of her heat. The unfamiliar forest around them was full of strange sounds, and the stars overhead were wrong and distant. Where ever they were, was a land he had never been to before, even in his dreams.
"You always think of her when you look upwards," Venla gently intruded into his thoughts, feeling his mind rest on pleasant memories of his wife.
"Maybe she thinks of me," Akseli grinned, turning his gaze down to the fire. "I'll see her soon." Kerttu, his wife, would be busy in the lightbringers' temple, honing her skills and protecting ships as they ventured out on Tiamat's sea. Anshargal had given his wife a great gift, and the fire god demanded much of his chosen. She would be busy enough not to feel his absence too keenly, at least, that was his hope.
"That's the spirit," Säde agreed, tearing deep red damqis flesh into strips with her knife. She hung them over the fire and they began to sizzle. She returned to their little cook pot and stirred the rice she'd made to go with the meat. "We'll be home before the next season."
Akseli chuckled and looked back up at the unfamiliar stars. There were enough to make the heavens look like a mosiac of light, but there were no patterns he knew. "Within the week!" he joked. Of the four of them, none had any idea how far they'd travelled. Akseli had never seen a water spout as large as the one that had sent them off their course and as far as any of them knew, they were lost. Two people lost was no cause for alarm, but the Sisu-ul, who's immortal memories spanned more circles than even the castle at Almu had seen, had never been to this place.
"We're obviously very close," Säde said with a dark little smile. She looked out over the deceptively quiet water and past the deserted rocky shore where they'd washed up a few days ago. "I can see the lights of the capital from here."
She passed him a bowl of rice and sat down cross legged next to Antero. He wrapped his tail around her waist and yawned. He was an explorer, and his mate was with him. The beast had little cause for unnease and Akseli envied him.
"So, when we get home tomorrow," he asked Säde, knowing the futility of it but wanting to play the game with her anyway. "What are going to do first?"
"See if my son is taller than me yet," Säde answered, smiling over her supper.
Akseli started to chuckle again. Her son, Kalevi, grew like a weed near a spring. "I bet he's a hand or two taller by now."
"Maybe three!" She shared his amusement for a moment then let her gaze wander to the fire. "And Kerttu will be waiting for you, lighting the harbour with her excitement."
Akseli nodded, full of longing as he dwelled on thoughts of his wife. It had already been too long since he'd felt her against him, and her absence gnawed at his heart. Venla turned her head, rubbing her chin across his chest as if she could ease his suffering. "At least I never sleep cold out here."
"Where ever here is," Säde finished with a sigh.
"Somewhere," Akseli replied, reaching for a hot piece of damqis meat to see if it was done. The meat was cooked through, and the juice of it ran down his fingers as he took a bite. "Not on Kagal."
"Definitely not on Kagal," Venla added into his mind. "It doesn't smell like Kagal. Antero agrees with me."
Antero grunted, sharing Venla's part of the conversation and her opinion.
"And neither of you remembers anything?" Säde asked, even though all of them knew the answer. Their routine flight, out along the tiny islands that spanned the immense Zocarinu, had been swallowed in a waterspout, something so huge it had blotted out Anshargal's sun. Choking wet darkness had ended on this beach, and while they thanked their gods for sparing their lives, they were lost.
"There are magics greater than we know," Venla conceded. She turned large green eyes to Akseli with a trace of hope. "Maybe your gods?
"No one hears us here," Akseli told her sadly. Neither he or Säde had been able to reach Sabitu or Kirshargal, even though air and earth surrounded them. He'd never been without their guidance and their absence made this place seem even more like the ends of Sharga. No one belonged out here, for they were so far that the gods did not hear. Reaching Anshargal or Tiamat was so difficult at home that neither of them had even bothered even trying to petition the fire or water gods.
"Our gods do have limits," he said without conviction. "Perhaps they are only our gods where there are people to speak with them. If we're the only ones here, we may be too small for them to hear."
Venla wrinkled her nose and flashed her white teeth for a moment. Naturally cautious, she'd been the most uneasy since the water spout. "The land here has an odd scent."
"But here the damqis are fat, the forests are lush and there are no drunken fools to spoil the night with their revelry," Säde interjected, obviously hearing similar concerns from Antero. "We should enjoy our food." She lifted a piece of meat and smiled. "I like to imagine Kalevi trying to cook in the Mahru's tiny galley and getting more on himself than in the stew."
Thinking of Kalevi on his sister's ship gave him a moment of peace. Pirjo would look after Säde's son as if he were her own. Akseli felt Venla's comforting purr beneath him and joined his partner. "Kerttu's been wanting to redecorate our little home, up on the hillside. She's probably covered the inside in silks and painted all of the walls. There's this terrible shade of blue, like a day old bruise, she just loves..."
now - Sip of Amgarna
Laraak Harbour, near Almu, Badtibira
"Can I help you?" Eijariita asked the woman on the docks. She was the type Pirjo preferred to avoid, someone with her mind very obviously set. Her dark hair was up neatly and her purple threaded robe suggested she lived in the city.
Cityfolk were often as noisy and demanding as Almu itself, and Pirjo was happy to let her first deal with the woman. Stocking supplies for the most dangerous mission she'd ever accepted was enough of a hassle, without telling noblewomen she had no intention of ferrying back cloth from Asudar. Pirjo kept her head down, counting barrels instead of engaging.
"I need to see your captain," the woman insisted, climbing gangplank up to the ship.
Eijariita of Saharu, Pirjo's first, moved to block her way, hand resting on her dagger. The young woman with springy dark hair, deep brown eyes and warm brown skin, was a good first, always quick to defend the ship and responsible with the cargo. "She's engaged."
"Of course she is," the woman said dryly. "She's quite busy I'm sure. Certainly too busy to attend her own brother's joining."
That bitterness Pirjo could have detected from Idpa. She'd intended to make Akseli's joining. The Mahru was meant to make port a week before, giving her ample time before the ceremony. The sea had been foul, and only Jaska's skilled tongue had kept them off the reefs. Four other ships went down that winter, not that it apparently had made a difference to Akseli's wife.
His letters had always spoken so fondly of her and her temper had not been among the traits Akseli expounded in his letters. Pirjo sighed again, setting down the scroll of inventory she'd been checking. She waved off Eijariita with a quick nod of her head.
"Finish the inventory," she asked, crossing the deck to the woman she'd never had the pleasure of meeting. "Pirjo of Nanshe," she introduced herself with a slightly formal bow.
"Lightbringer Kerttu of-and-become Almu become Immaru," the string of titles had a bit of a sneer, and Kerttu kept her arms folded through the greeting. Not a good sign. "Your gift was exquisite," she said, her lips staying in a thin line. "Thank you."
Pirjo nodded her head, studying her from feet to head. Kerttu was beautiful, Akseli had always had a way with women. Pirjo met few of his girlfriends, but his letters suggested he had no trouble finding women to occupy his time. Kerttu was special to him and if she was close enough to her brother to deserve his heart, Pirjo would have adapt.
"You honour me with your light," she offered the formal greeting. Lightbringers deserved her respect, and Pirjo made a point to keep the tradition. Annoying the powerful brought little gain, and respecting Anshargal meant respecting his chosen, even if they were known for their tempers.
"Akseli thought it was kind of you to give us something to share with each other," Kerttu said, looking skyward.
Pirjo followed her gaze up towards Anshargal's sun. It was sinking low, ready to slip beneath the horizon. She remembered the childhood story, that Anshargal slept between Tiamat and Kirshargal, and Sabitu crawled in when the winds were still. Four in a bed made her laugh when she was small, and she remember telling her brother that the gods slept in a great bed and all over them could fit.
Twenty years ago, Akseli had fit in her bed. He'd crawled in when their mother was out and sea and rarely crawled out. He was young then, barely old enough to swim without supervision. She remembered watching him sleep and wondering what dreams made him sleep so soundly. He'd been so young when she'd left and he'd gone to the capital with her mother.
The red jewel catching the sun on the chain around Kerttu's neck matched an similar one Pirjo had managed to find in a gem cutters market. She'd wanted to present them at the joining ceremony, but she'd been days away, fighting an unhappy sea.
Following Pirjo's eyes, Kerttu touched the stone. "He has his," she said gently. "He said you always spoiled him, his big sister the adventurer."
Pirjo chuckled, looking around her little ship. The Mahru was the ship of a merchant, not an explorer. "He's the adventurer, ever since he became a Seeker--"
Kerttu's bright brown eyes darkened for a moment. "You're going after him."
Shrugging and heading for the bow, Pirjo let the statement float like driftwood. "I'm sailing east."
"After Akseli," Kerttu pressed, following her up the ship. "I know the Dreamer came to see Admiral Iines."
Prijo sighed, wrapping her hand around the line securing some barrels of water and checking the slack. Talking about her father, who both existed and didn't within the Dreamer of Songs, was never easy. Kerttu had to know, didn't she? She brushed her hair back from her forehead. "My mother was upset."
"And the Dreamer came to see her for that?" Kerttu shook her head and blocked her way. "You're going across the expanse and I'm coming with you."
"I'm not in the passenger business," Pirjo protested, ready to slip around her and end the conversation.
The barrels of food burned with light. The ropes, the tarps, even the oars of the Mahru exploded with light. Kerttu stood in the middle of it, glaring Pirjo down with equal force.
Putting a hand over her eyes, Pirjo wished she had Kirshargal's patience. "Blinding me won't get Akseli back."
To her surprise, the light faded and Kerttu smacked her shoulder. "I'm going to be your lightbringer. Just tell me where I sleep and that you have better food than the navy carriers."
"Yes, Lady Lightbringer," Pirjo said, smiling a little. The smack hurt and she was amused. "Welcome aboard."
now - Sip of Amgarna
Laraak Harbour, near Almu, Badtibira
Jaska was the last to board. He'd been dawdling at the end of the dock, joking with a pretty young lightbringer off on her first voyage. Pirjo couldn't begrudge him his moment, but the sun was low over the horizon and she longed to be at sea. Kerttu had emerged from her cabin, biting back a complaint or two. The fact that she'd held her tongue at all spoke volumes and Pirjo's esteem for her had risen. Eijariita was checking the deck, Carola was perched on the stern, knives in hand, and Kalevi was plotting a course to Idpa with Nils, just to prove he could.
Watching Jaska stroll aboard, Pirjo shook her head and waited for her crew to assemble before her in a loose formation. On one of her mother's ships, the assembling of the crew would be as neat as sacred stones, but she didn't run things that way. Carola was toying with a knife even as she stood and Pirjo smiled at the young woman. Perhaps she would get a good fight. She'd been longing for one since she'd signed on.
"We're sailing far," Pirjo said, searching her heart for deeper words. "Farther than I've gone. Father than Jaska has gone. Farther than the Ina Tahazi or the Sidru," she paused, watching their faces stiffen in surprise. "I know Ummarabu is a land of legends."
"With respect," Nils piped up. "Captain, Ummarabu is a legend itself. There's no land past the Zocarinu."
Eijariita and Carola both agreed with a nod. Kerttu's deep brown eyes never left Pirjo's face and she was surprised to have the ally. The lightbringer who rarely sailed out of sight of land was unafraid. It would be a saiing to remember, if they lived to have memories.
"The Queen thinks there is," she continued. "The Dreamer agrees and who are we to argue?"
Kalevi's eyes were wide. The Dreamer of Songs was a legend to him and he'd have a hundred questions over supper about what he was like.
"If there is," Jaska said, leaning against the rail with a grin. "I can sing to it."
Kerttu only nodded. She might be full of temper, but she had a gift. Pirjo would need someone of her power if they were to survive.
"I sail with you," Carola said curtly. She clearly did not mind fighting a few demons.
"Even if we're sailing to nowhere, you'll get lost and starve without me," Nils promised, patting her on the back as he headed below to his cabin. Kalevi nearly bounced after him, ready for stories of the land that might not be. Carola drifted back to the stern, watching the docks as she sharpened a blade. Seeing her without steel was like hearing Jaska's voice without song.
Eijariita remained when Kerttu went to the bow with Jaska. Her first was growing steadier every circle. Pirjo had even wondered if she'd want to strike out on her own soon. Each season Eijariita stayed, Pirjo was the gladder for her.
"I heard gossip on the docks. Kenigir--"
"We're not sailing to Kenigir," Pirjo interrupted, waving her quiet. "That's only gossip."
"I've never heard talk of war. Not even from my parents." The hard look on the young woman's face unsettled the knot Pirjo had been trying to avoid in her throat.
"My mother was in the last war, with Senukur." Finding those memories surprised her, and she stopped binding the rope in her hands. "Most of her friends died. My father-" the lump made it hard to speak and she swallowed hard against it, "My father always said it was a blessing Tiamat let her return."
"You must have been young," Eijariita replied, taking the rope from her. "I was born after that war."
"Don't remind me too often," Pirjo joked, squeezing her shoulder as she headed for the dock to sign out. "A good crew means a good sailing."
"This crew means an excellent sailing," Eijariita insisted with a wink. "All the way into the depths of unknown seas where the Kraken--"
Pirjo's heart skipped and she hurried tossed up her hand. "Don't!" The Kraken was the oldest of superstitions. Even mentioning its name was said to doom all aboard. No one believed that any more, save old captains and children swimming out too far alone. Some myths were best left alone. "We're already facing a difficult enough task. No need to make it worse."
"Yes, captain," Eijariita finished, shaking her head and grinning.
Pirjo slipped from the Mahru, gliding easily down the rope to the dock. One of the stewards would sign her out and they could be off before anyone else on her foolish crew called up the Kraken to torment them. She was just stamping her ship out in the ledger when she heard the claws behind her on the dock.
"In such a hurry," Elias mused. "Do you know something of Ummarabu I do not?
"Many things that mean nothing to you," Pirjo quipped back, turning to smile at his huge eyes and teeth. She stopped short when she saw her mother standing beside him. "Admiral," she said, bowing formally. "What can I-"
"Sometimes, Pirjo," Iines said sadly. "I am only your mother."
Hanging her stamp back around her neck, Pirjo's eyes flicked to Elias before she could keep them on her mother's face. Iines' bright blue eyes were almost damp with tears and it stung that her mother would miss her. Pirjo had spent so much time steeling herself to her feelings that she felt as if she were already on the other side of the Zocarinu. Surely her mother spared no tears for her wayward daughter.
"Come home," Iines begged and started to turn away. "Find Akseli and come home."
Elias' tail hit the back of Pirjo's thigh, out of Iines' sight. "She risks all of her children today."
How many circles had it been since she'd hugged her mother? Far more than she wanted to count. Pirjo reached for her slowly, as if she was afraid the dream would break. Iines caught her tightly, squeezing her to her chest with a strength Pirjo had forgotten her mother possessed.
"I do love you," she whispered, the words nearly choked behind hearing.
Pirjo blinked, forcing her own tears away. Elias brushed his head against her back, filling her with a warmth she didn't understand and definitely didn't deserve.
"Tiamat will protect you," Iines said, letting go but holding Pirjo's shoulders. "She always has."
"I will be careful," Pirjo said. Biting her lip to keep herself from breaking down, she added, "mother."
Elias purred, pleased with her as he bent to allowed Iines up onto his back. "Good sailing and good hunting."
Pirjo stood on the dock, forgetting the people moving around her and her ship. She watched Elias and her mother take off and fly until she couldn't see them anymore in the sky.
now - Sip of Amgarna
the ends of Shargal
Sabitu wasn't late. The ends of Shargal were easy enough to him to reach, because he was a god. The little island and its tiny temple stuffed into the rocks of a volcano represented all of their powers and was reserved for their meetings. The gods had no need for time, but he had arrived after Kirshargal and Anshargal and both of them looked up with mild disdain. All of them meeting occurred seldom enough. Anshargal very rarely bothered bring his mortal body, that which they called the Dreamer of Songs, out of the city. Moving a mortal great distances was a greater feat of magic than any of them performed every day.
Kirshargal smiled to him and nodded her head as he sat. Tiamat's seat was empty, but none of them expected her. She had stopped speaking to them many more circles ago than mortals could remember.
"You are well?" Kirshargal asked, almost as a mortal would. He had always liked her best.
"I am full of song and wonder," he answered, lifting her hand to kiss it. She tasted of earth and his lips passed through her hand. She smiled more and Anshargal watched without comment. He was so much stuffier than the two of them, even in his mortal form. This mortal was of reasonable height, well muscled and bald. Sabitu liked the feel of a bald head against the wind and approved of Anshargal's choice.
"The darkness-"
Sabitu waved his hands in slow circles, drawing winds from the air to sing across the oceans. "The darkness?" he asked. He'd never been fond of the prophecies of doom and gloom. He preferred not to feel it.
"It is here," Kirshargal agreed. If her eyes had been mortal, he would have expected tears. "It will take many before it is sated."
"I fear this time it cannot be filled with mortal lives," Anshargal said. His mortal hands lifted and the light in his eyes brightened as he called up his vision to show them. Almu, the beautiful city all of them loved like a child, lay in ruins. Mortals wept and cried in the street and smoke choked the air. "This haunts my dreams."
Kirshargal lifted her hands as well. Her vision was drawn with sand instead of fire, but it was the same. Mortals lay dead and there were no songs or dances.
Sabitu hadn't looked. He hated looking at the future because the present was full of so much more life. He closed his eyes and heard the wind whistling through empty streets and the cries of the dying.
"No," he said before opening his eyes. "How can this...?"
All three of them turned as one when they heard the sound of water. Streams of water poured from the sea around them and coalesced as if they were tentacles forming a new life. Tiamat, lady of the sea, stood before them. Her eyes were wild and her hair rippled as if it were still part of the sea. She had no greeting, or explanation of why she came now, after so long without speaking. She only looked at them, her face unreadable, and said, "It must be stopped."
thirty circles ago, Shir of Shirbetna
Nanshe, Badtibira
"Daddy, daddy!" Pirjo called, running across the beach to her father.
Risto turned slowly from Iines, releasing the grip he had on her waist to scoop up their daughter. "What is it?"
"I'm finished," she reported, holding up the crude wooden boat in her chubby hands. It was a crooked, child's toy and she'd painted it in the unlikely combination of purple stripe and re splotches that may have been circles with a steadier hand. "Can you light it?"
"Can you light it, daddy?" he repeated, chuckling as he carried her over to the edge of the sea. "Can I light it...I'll have you know daddy can light the great ship Sidru, I'm sure I can manage this little vessel."
Pirjo clung to her father's shoulder as the water reached up around her. "Light it!" she demanded again. The wind off the sea made her soft red curles dance. Her mother watched from the sand smiling softly with sorrow in her eyes.
Risto waved his hand, blessing the little boat with a burst of rich white light. Pirjo squealed in delight and shoved the boat out into the sea with a victorious grin. She stood in the surf, watching the little boat leave a trail of sacred light behind it.
Risto kissed her cheek and returned to Iines, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "How far do you think it'll go? A day or two?"
Iines lay her head on his shoulder, sighing and bringing more life into her smile. "It depends on how Tiamat favours her. Maybe she already has plans for our little girl."
His hand found hers and held them both against her stomach. Pirjo stayed in the surf, watching as the last hint of the sun set and the tiny boat sailed on, like a fairy light across the sea.
Part One
Starring (in order of appearance):
Gillian Anderson
Jesse L. Martin
Vin Diesel
Gates McFadden
Sir Patrick Stewart
Katie McGrath
Jasika Nicole
Anton Yelchin
Raymond Cruz
Alice Krige
Chris Pine
Lucy Lawless
Mary McDonnell
Edward James Olmos
Rose Byrne
Neil Patrick Harris
and Sigourney Weaver
the behind the scenes guide
now - Sip of Amgarna
Ankida, Almu, Badtibira
The darkness smelt of earth mixed with sunlight and the slightest touch of rain. Sabitu's wind carried the scent as she walked and Pirjo smiled to herself. Kirhargal alone felt unsullied by the presence of the other gods. Even Sabitu, the ever-smiling, avoided his fellow gods for the company of mortals. Kirshargal, on the other hand, shared herself with sun, water and air without complaint. It was her way.
Of all the gods,Pirjo often wished she'd been hers. All her life, she'd been told she belonged to Tiamat. The impetuous heart of the sea was not something she envied, nor desired, and there had been many moments where she had wished for another destiny. She could have been quite happy as a farmer or a builder.
"You would not," Kirshargal said, emerging from the darkness as a terracotta statue of a woman. The living artwork moved without dust or sound, and even the waves of her hair had been captured in earth. She always appeared the same. A small woman with eyes that held patience and wonder, Kirshargal smiled easily and angered slowly. Pirjo was frequently the other way around.
"You may wish for another life until your hair is grey and you no longer sail," the goddess said. "You will still have this one."
Pirjo nodded and her smile came a little easier. "How have you fared?"
"Warm summer, cool winter," the goddess replied, opening her hands and holding them over the earth. "All as well."
While Anshargal occasionally frightened his followers with dire predictions and Tiamat could be full of death, Kirshargal was eternally calm.
"My mother came to see you, to ask of my brother, didn't she?"
"He is not in my sight," Kirshargal answered sadly. "That does not make him dead."
"Just lost," Pirjo said bitterly. "Ummarabu is a wasteland. For all I know it's full of snakes and spitting demons."
"It could be beautiful."
"You might like it," Pirjo allowed. She sank down to the floor of the cave, curling herself into a ball, as she had as a child. "I have to take my crew."
"They will come."
"Without hesitation," Pirjo agreed, sighing. Her chest had become as stone as the walls around her. "I know he's alive."
Kirshargal touched her cheek and her hand was warm and smooth, as it always was. "Then you can find him."
"Can I?" Pirjo asked the floor more than the goddess. "Is that my special destiny? I'm the finder of lost Seekers?"
"That would hardly be special," the goddess observed mildly. "Seekers are often lost. It is part of their way of finding."
Riddles were to be expected, talking to a goddess. "How do I find them?"
"How do you find a lost archis?"
Pirjo chuckled a little. The tiny creatures kept as pets resembled Sisu-ul, but they were far from noble, even though they considered themselves to be such. "It finds you when it's hungry."
Kirshargal's smile broadened and she kissed her cheek. "Your brother will find you because you will carry his heart on your ship," she promised. "Be kind to her."
"Wait," she called as the goddess' body of earth began to dust and disappear. "My crew?"
"Be kind to them as well," Kirshargal urged as her face faded away. "They would sail to the ends of Shargal for you."
Pirjo rubbed her temples and sighed heavily in the now empty cavern. That was what she feared.
now - Sip of Amgarna
On Ummarabu
The smell of blood and viscera lingered in the air long after the Sisu-ul returned with their kill. Even though they had bathed themselves, and their fur was still damp from their tongues, Akseli of Nanshe become Almu become Nergal could smell the kill on their companions. After the past few days of rice and seabirds, the idea of fresh meat made his stomach growl.
According to Venla, who dropped from the air to the ground nearby with a thump, Antero had spotted the magnificent damqis. Running through the dense vegetation on four thin legs, the skittish plant-eaters stood little chance against two Sisu-ul. Though they loved the hunt, they'd only taken two, and Antero's proud purr insisted she had brought it down. Venla nudged him forward towards the haunch they'd returned with. Her heavy, soft head warm against his back.
"We brought it down together," she promised, passing off the credit.
Säde's shake of her head and the look she sent him across the fire suggested he was right to be suspicious of her story. Arguing with Venla never got him anywhere, so Akseli rubbed her ears instead. Her soft black fur was warm and his fingers sank deep into the velvet covering her head.
"We'd starve without you too," he teased, digging his fingers deep.
"Antero says if they didn't hunt we'd make them carry rations," Säde of Ikuda once Sharra become Nergal passed on as she bent to strip the skin from the haunch the Sisu-ul had spared for them. "He would rather bring us scraps," she lifted the meat and began removing the brown hide from the meat with her knife.
"They have to carry enough with us and our gear," Akseli said, chuckling as he wrapped his arm around Venla's great neck. "Don't you?"
"You're not heavy," she promised him with another nudge. "One of us could easily carry both of you and all your things." Her teeth showed for an instant. The fact that humans needed clothing, bed rolls and cooking pots always amused the mounts, who needed none of those things.
Antero flopped down at the edge of camp, panting contentedly in the cool air as he watched Säde cook. The larger Sisu-ul was pale gold, with a thick mane of red and tan, when the sun hit him right, he nearly glowed. The firelight cast dancing shadows across his wings. He was a steady creature with a calm heart; a good balance for Venla's more impetuous nature.
She was a protector, one of the queen's most deadly, and she'd chosen Akseli because, in her words, "you do not forget to smile." He ran his hands down her back, stopping on the bases of her wings. Rubbing the solid muscles there, he coaxed a purr into her throat and laughed as she circled him. If he had not seen her kill an azag alone, a great serpent that would have taken five men with spears and bows, he might not have believed she was so dangerous. When she was pleased, she reminded him more of the little siqtu that had caught mice and slept on his bed as a child.
When Venla finally settled, still purring, he lay with his head and shoulders on her chest, listening to the slow rhythm of her heat. The unfamiliar forest around them was full of strange sounds, and the stars overhead were wrong and distant. Where ever they were, was a land he had never been to before, even in his dreams.
"You always think of her when you look upwards," Venla gently intruded into his thoughts, feeling his mind rest on pleasant memories of his wife.
"Maybe she thinks of me," Akseli grinned, turning his gaze down to the fire. "I'll see her soon." Kerttu, his wife, would be busy in the lightbringers' temple, honing her skills and protecting ships as they ventured out on Tiamat's sea. Anshargal had given his wife a great gift, and the fire god demanded much of his chosen. She would be busy enough not to feel his absence too keenly, at least, that was his hope.
"That's the spirit," Säde agreed, tearing deep red damqis flesh into strips with her knife. She hung them over the fire and they began to sizzle. She returned to their little cook pot and stirred the rice she'd made to go with the meat. "We'll be home before the next season."
Akseli chuckled and looked back up at the unfamiliar stars. There were enough to make the heavens look like a mosiac of light, but there were no patterns he knew. "Within the week!" he joked. Of the four of them, none had any idea how far they'd travelled. Akseli had never seen a water spout as large as the one that had sent them off their course and as far as any of them knew, they were lost. Two people lost was no cause for alarm, but the Sisu-ul, who's immortal memories spanned more circles than even the castle at Almu had seen, had never been to this place.
"We're obviously very close," Säde said with a dark little smile. She looked out over the deceptively quiet water and past the deserted rocky shore where they'd washed up a few days ago. "I can see the lights of the capital from here."
She passed him a bowl of rice and sat down cross legged next to Antero. He wrapped his tail around her waist and yawned. He was an explorer, and his mate was with him. The beast had little cause for unnease and Akseli envied him.
"So, when we get home tomorrow," he asked Säde, knowing the futility of it but wanting to play the game with her anyway. "What are going to do first?"
"See if my son is taller than me yet," Säde answered, smiling over her supper.
Akseli started to chuckle again. Her son, Kalevi, grew like a weed near a spring. "I bet he's a hand or two taller by now."
"Maybe three!" She shared his amusement for a moment then let her gaze wander to the fire. "And Kerttu will be waiting for you, lighting the harbour with her excitement."
Akseli nodded, full of longing as he dwelled on thoughts of his wife. It had already been too long since he'd felt her against him, and her absence gnawed at his heart. Venla turned her head, rubbing her chin across his chest as if she could ease his suffering. "At least I never sleep cold out here."
"Where ever here is," Säde finished with a sigh.
"Somewhere," Akseli replied, reaching for a hot piece of damqis meat to see if it was done. The meat was cooked through, and the juice of it ran down his fingers as he took a bite. "Not on Kagal."
"Definitely not on Kagal," Venla added into his mind. "It doesn't smell like Kagal. Antero agrees with me."
Antero grunted, sharing Venla's part of the conversation and her opinion.
"And neither of you remembers anything?" Säde asked, even though all of them knew the answer. Their routine flight, out along the tiny islands that spanned the immense Zocarinu, had been swallowed in a waterspout, something so huge it had blotted out Anshargal's sun. Choking wet darkness had ended on this beach, and while they thanked their gods for sparing their lives, they were lost.
"There are magics greater than we know," Venla conceded. She turned large green eyes to Akseli with a trace of hope. "Maybe your gods?
"No one hears us here," Akseli told her sadly. Neither he or Säde had been able to reach Sabitu or Kirshargal, even though air and earth surrounded them. He'd never been without their guidance and their absence made this place seem even more like the ends of Sharga. No one belonged out here, for they were so far that the gods did not hear. Reaching Anshargal or Tiamat was so difficult at home that neither of them had even bothered even trying to petition the fire or water gods.
"Our gods do have limits," he said without conviction. "Perhaps they are only our gods where there are people to speak with them. If we're the only ones here, we may be too small for them to hear."
Venla wrinkled her nose and flashed her white teeth for a moment. Naturally cautious, she'd been the most uneasy since the water spout. "The land here has an odd scent."
"But here the damqis are fat, the forests are lush and there are no drunken fools to spoil the night with their revelry," Säde interjected, obviously hearing similar concerns from Antero. "We should enjoy our food." She lifted a piece of meat and smiled. "I like to imagine Kalevi trying to cook in the Mahru's tiny galley and getting more on himself than in the stew."
Thinking of Kalevi on his sister's ship gave him a moment of peace. Pirjo would look after Säde's son as if he were her own. Akseli felt Venla's comforting purr beneath him and joined his partner. "Kerttu's been wanting to redecorate our little home, up on the hillside. She's probably covered the inside in silks and painted all of the walls. There's this terrible shade of blue, like a day old bruise, she just loves..."
now - Sip of Amgarna
Laraak Harbour, near Almu, Badtibira
"Can I help you?" Eijariita asked the woman on the docks. She was the type Pirjo preferred to avoid, someone with her mind very obviously set. Her dark hair was up neatly and her purple threaded robe suggested she lived in the city.
Cityfolk were often as noisy and demanding as Almu itself, and Pirjo was happy to let her first deal with the woman. Stocking supplies for the most dangerous mission she'd ever accepted was enough of a hassle, without telling noblewomen she had no intention of ferrying back cloth from Asudar. Pirjo kept her head down, counting barrels instead of engaging.
"I need to see your captain," the woman insisted, climbing gangplank up to the ship.
Eijariita of Saharu, Pirjo's first, moved to block her way, hand resting on her dagger. The young woman with springy dark hair, deep brown eyes and warm brown skin, was a good first, always quick to defend the ship and responsible with the cargo. "She's engaged."
"Of course she is," the woman said dryly. "She's quite busy I'm sure. Certainly too busy to attend her own brother's joining."
That bitterness Pirjo could have detected from Idpa. She'd intended to make Akseli's joining. The Mahru was meant to make port a week before, giving her ample time before the ceremony. The sea had been foul, and only Jaska's skilled tongue had kept them off the reefs. Four other ships went down that winter, not that it apparently had made a difference to Akseli's wife.
His letters had always spoken so fondly of her and her temper had not been among the traits Akseli expounded in his letters. Pirjo sighed again, setting down the scroll of inventory she'd been checking. She waved off Eijariita with a quick nod of her head.
"Finish the inventory," she asked, crossing the deck to the woman she'd never had the pleasure of meeting. "Pirjo of Nanshe," she introduced herself with a slightly formal bow.
"Lightbringer Kerttu of-and-become Almu become Immaru," the string of titles had a bit of a sneer, and Kerttu kept her arms folded through the greeting. Not a good sign. "Your gift was exquisite," she said, her lips staying in a thin line. "Thank you."
Pirjo nodded her head, studying her from feet to head. Kerttu was beautiful, Akseli had always had a way with women. Pirjo met few of his girlfriends, but his letters suggested he had no trouble finding women to occupy his time. Kerttu was special to him and if she was close enough to her brother to deserve his heart, Pirjo would have adapt.
"You honour me with your light," she offered the formal greeting. Lightbringers deserved her respect, and Pirjo made a point to keep the tradition. Annoying the powerful brought little gain, and respecting Anshargal meant respecting his chosen, even if they were known for their tempers.
"Akseli thought it was kind of you to give us something to share with each other," Kerttu said, looking skyward.
Pirjo followed her gaze up towards Anshargal's sun. It was sinking low, ready to slip beneath the horizon. She remembered the childhood story, that Anshargal slept between Tiamat and Kirshargal, and Sabitu crawled in when the winds were still. Four in a bed made her laugh when she was small, and she remember telling her brother that the gods slept in a great bed and all over them could fit.
Twenty years ago, Akseli had fit in her bed. He'd crawled in when their mother was out and sea and rarely crawled out. He was young then, barely old enough to swim without supervision. She remembered watching him sleep and wondering what dreams made him sleep so soundly. He'd been so young when she'd left and he'd gone to the capital with her mother.
The red jewel catching the sun on the chain around Kerttu's neck matched an similar one Pirjo had managed to find in a gem cutters market. She'd wanted to present them at the joining ceremony, but she'd been days away, fighting an unhappy sea.
Following Pirjo's eyes, Kerttu touched the stone. "He has his," she said gently. "He said you always spoiled him, his big sister the adventurer."
Pirjo chuckled, looking around her little ship. The Mahru was the ship of a merchant, not an explorer. "He's the adventurer, ever since he became a Seeker--"
Kerttu's bright brown eyes darkened for a moment. "You're going after him."
Shrugging and heading for the bow, Pirjo let the statement float like driftwood. "I'm sailing east."
"After Akseli," Kerttu pressed, following her up the ship. "I know the Dreamer came to see Admiral Iines."
Prijo sighed, wrapping her hand around the line securing some barrels of water and checking the slack. Talking about her father, who both existed and didn't within the Dreamer of Songs, was never easy. Kerttu had to know, didn't she? She brushed her hair back from her forehead. "My mother was upset."
"And the Dreamer came to see her for that?" Kerttu shook her head and blocked her way. "You're going across the expanse and I'm coming with you."
"I'm not in the passenger business," Pirjo protested, ready to slip around her and end the conversation.
The barrels of food burned with light. The ropes, the tarps, even the oars of the Mahru exploded with light. Kerttu stood in the middle of it, glaring Pirjo down with equal force.
Putting a hand over her eyes, Pirjo wished she had Kirshargal's patience. "Blinding me won't get Akseli back."
To her surprise, the light faded and Kerttu smacked her shoulder. "I'm going to be your lightbringer. Just tell me where I sleep and that you have better food than the navy carriers."
"Yes, Lady Lightbringer," Pirjo said, smiling a little. The smack hurt and she was amused. "Welcome aboard."
now - Sip of Amgarna
Laraak Harbour, near Almu, Badtibira
Jaska was the last to board. He'd been dawdling at the end of the dock, joking with a pretty young lightbringer off on her first voyage. Pirjo couldn't begrudge him his moment, but the sun was low over the horizon and she longed to be at sea. Kerttu had emerged from her cabin, biting back a complaint or two. The fact that she'd held her tongue at all spoke volumes and Pirjo's esteem for her had risen. Eijariita was checking the deck, Carola was perched on the stern, knives in hand, and Kalevi was plotting a course to Idpa with Nils, just to prove he could.
Watching Jaska stroll aboard, Pirjo shook her head and waited for her crew to assemble before her in a loose formation. On one of her mother's ships, the assembling of the crew would be as neat as sacred stones, but she didn't run things that way. Carola was toying with a knife even as she stood and Pirjo smiled at the young woman. Perhaps she would get a good fight. She'd been longing for one since she'd signed on.
"We're sailing far," Pirjo said, searching her heart for deeper words. "Farther than I've gone. Father than Jaska has gone. Farther than the Ina Tahazi or the Sidru," she paused, watching their faces stiffen in surprise. "I know Ummarabu is a land of legends."
"With respect," Nils piped up. "Captain, Ummarabu is a legend itself. There's no land past the Zocarinu."
Eijariita and Carola both agreed with a nod. Kerttu's deep brown eyes never left Pirjo's face and she was surprised to have the ally. The lightbringer who rarely sailed out of sight of land was unafraid. It would be a saiing to remember, if they lived to have memories.
"The Queen thinks there is," she continued. "The Dreamer agrees and who are we to argue?"
Kalevi's eyes were wide. The Dreamer of Songs was a legend to him and he'd have a hundred questions over supper about what he was like.
"If there is," Jaska said, leaning against the rail with a grin. "I can sing to it."
Kerttu only nodded. She might be full of temper, but she had a gift. Pirjo would need someone of her power if they were to survive.
"I sail with you," Carola said curtly. She clearly did not mind fighting a few demons.
"Even if we're sailing to nowhere, you'll get lost and starve without me," Nils promised, patting her on the back as he headed below to his cabin. Kalevi nearly bounced after him, ready for stories of the land that might not be. Carola drifted back to the stern, watching the docks as she sharpened a blade. Seeing her without steel was like hearing Jaska's voice without song.
Eijariita remained when Kerttu went to the bow with Jaska. Her first was growing steadier every circle. Pirjo had even wondered if she'd want to strike out on her own soon. Each season Eijariita stayed, Pirjo was the gladder for her.
"I heard gossip on the docks. Kenigir--"
"We're not sailing to Kenigir," Pirjo interrupted, waving her quiet. "That's only gossip."
"I've never heard talk of war. Not even from my parents." The hard look on the young woman's face unsettled the knot Pirjo had been trying to avoid in her throat.
"My mother was in the last war, with Senukur." Finding those memories surprised her, and she stopped binding the rope in her hands. "Most of her friends died. My father-" the lump made it hard to speak and she swallowed hard against it, "My father always said it was a blessing Tiamat let her return."
"You must have been young," Eijariita replied, taking the rope from her. "I was born after that war."
"Don't remind me too often," Pirjo joked, squeezing her shoulder as she headed for the dock to sign out. "A good crew means a good sailing."
"This crew means an excellent sailing," Eijariita insisted with a wink. "All the way into the depths of unknown seas where the Kraken--"
Pirjo's heart skipped and she hurried tossed up her hand. "Don't!" The Kraken was the oldest of superstitions. Even mentioning its name was said to doom all aboard. No one believed that any more, save old captains and children swimming out too far alone. Some myths were best left alone. "We're already facing a difficult enough task. No need to make it worse."
"Yes, captain," Eijariita finished, shaking her head and grinning.
Pirjo slipped from the Mahru, gliding easily down the rope to the dock. One of the stewards would sign her out and they could be off before anyone else on her foolish crew called up the Kraken to torment them. She was just stamping her ship out in the ledger when she heard the claws behind her on the dock.
"In such a hurry," Elias mused. "Do you know something of Ummarabu I do not?
"Many things that mean nothing to you," Pirjo quipped back, turning to smile at his huge eyes and teeth. She stopped short when she saw her mother standing beside him. "Admiral," she said, bowing formally. "What can I-"
"Sometimes, Pirjo," Iines said sadly. "I am only your mother."
Hanging her stamp back around her neck, Pirjo's eyes flicked to Elias before she could keep them on her mother's face. Iines' bright blue eyes were almost damp with tears and it stung that her mother would miss her. Pirjo had spent so much time steeling herself to her feelings that she felt as if she were already on the other side of the Zocarinu. Surely her mother spared no tears for her wayward daughter.
"Come home," Iines begged and started to turn away. "Find Akseli and come home."
Elias' tail hit the back of Pirjo's thigh, out of Iines' sight. "She risks all of her children today."
How many circles had it been since she'd hugged her mother? Far more than she wanted to count. Pirjo reached for her slowly, as if she was afraid the dream would break. Iines caught her tightly, squeezing her to her chest with a strength Pirjo had forgotten her mother possessed.
"I do love you," she whispered, the words nearly choked behind hearing.
Pirjo blinked, forcing her own tears away. Elias brushed his head against her back, filling her with a warmth she didn't understand and definitely didn't deserve.
"Tiamat will protect you," Iines said, letting go but holding Pirjo's shoulders. "She always has."
"I will be careful," Pirjo said. Biting her lip to keep herself from breaking down, she added, "mother."
Elias purred, pleased with her as he bent to allowed Iines up onto his back. "Good sailing and good hunting."
Pirjo stood on the dock, forgetting the people moving around her and her ship. She watched Elias and her mother take off and fly until she couldn't see them anymore in the sky.
now - Sip of Amgarna
the ends of Shargal
Sabitu wasn't late. The ends of Shargal were easy enough to him to reach, because he was a god. The little island and its tiny temple stuffed into the rocks of a volcano represented all of their powers and was reserved for their meetings. The gods had no need for time, but he had arrived after Kirshargal and Anshargal and both of them looked up with mild disdain. All of them meeting occurred seldom enough. Anshargal very rarely bothered bring his mortal body, that which they called the Dreamer of Songs, out of the city. Moving a mortal great distances was a greater feat of magic than any of them performed every day.
Kirshargal smiled to him and nodded her head as he sat. Tiamat's seat was empty, but none of them expected her. She had stopped speaking to them many more circles ago than mortals could remember.
"You are well?" Kirshargal asked, almost as a mortal would. He had always liked her best.
"I am full of song and wonder," he answered, lifting her hand to kiss it. She tasted of earth and his lips passed through her hand. She smiled more and Anshargal watched without comment. He was so much stuffier than the two of them, even in his mortal form. This mortal was of reasonable height, well muscled and bald. Sabitu liked the feel of a bald head against the wind and approved of Anshargal's choice.
"The darkness-"
Sabitu waved his hands in slow circles, drawing winds from the air to sing across the oceans. "The darkness?" he asked. He'd never been fond of the prophecies of doom and gloom. He preferred not to feel it.
"It is here," Kirshargal agreed. If her eyes had been mortal, he would have expected tears. "It will take many before it is sated."
"I fear this time it cannot be filled with mortal lives," Anshargal said. His mortal hands lifted and the light in his eyes brightened as he called up his vision to show them. Almu, the beautiful city all of them loved like a child, lay in ruins. Mortals wept and cried in the street and smoke choked the air. "This haunts my dreams."
Kirshargal lifted her hands as well. Her vision was drawn with sand instead of fire, but it was the same. Mortals lay dead and there were no songs or dances.
Sabitu hadn't looked. He hated looking at the future because the present was full of so much more life. He closed his eyes and heard the wind whistling through empty streets and the cries of the dying.
"No," he said before opening his eyes. "How can this...?"
All three of them turned as one when they heard the sound of water. Streams of water poured from the sea around them and coalesced as if they were tentacles forming a new life. Tiamat, lady of the sea, stood before them. Her eyes were wild and her hair rippled as if it were still part of the sea. She had no greeting, or explanation of why she came now, after so long without speaking. She only looked at them, her face unreadable, and said, "It must be stopped."
thirty circles ago, Shir of Shirbetna
Nanshe, Badtibira
"Daddy, daddy!" Pirjo called, running across the beach to her father.
Risto turned slowly from Iines, releasing the grip he had on her waist to scoop up their daughter. "What is it?"
"I'm finished," she reported, holding up the crude wooden boat in her chubby hands. It was a crooked, child's toy and she'd painted it in the unlikely combination of purple stripe and re splotches that may have been circles with a steadier hand. "Can you light it?"
"Can you light it, daddy?" he repeated, chuckling as he carried her over to the edge of the sea. "Can I light it...I'll have you know daddy can light the great ship Sidru, I'm sure I can manage this little vessel."
Pirjo clung to her father's shoulder as the water reached up around her. "Light it!" she demanded again. The wind off the sea made her soft red curles dance. Her mother watched from the sand smiling softly with sorrow in her eyes.
Risto waved his hand, blessing the little boat with a burst of rich white light. Pirjo squealed in delight and shoved the boat out into the sea with a victorious grin. She stood in the surf, watching the little boat leave a trail of sacred light behind it.
Risto kissed her cheek and returned to Iines, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "How far do you think it'll go? A day or two?"
Iines lay her head on his shoulder, sighing and bringing more life into her smile. "It depends on how Tiamat favours her. Maybe she already has plans for our little girl."
His hand found hers and held them both against her stomach. Pirjo stayed in the surf, watching as the last hint of the sun set and the tiny boat sailed on, like a fairy light across the sea.