Some of you ask me why I don't write many Toby songs. It's because they are, innately, rife with spoilers. This is a song I wrote about certain events in One Salt Sea.
***
Not Our Own..
Come sit with me daughter,
Here down by the water,
Come sit, and I'll tell you the tale.
It's a story of thieving,
Of greed and of grieving,
Against which our tragedies pale.
For we'll each pay the penance for how we were made,
For the bright copper blood on the sharp silver blade,
Guilt is more than skin-deep; it's the blood, and the bone,
And the price we must pay for a crime not our own.
Come sit with me daughter,
Come down to the water,
Come quick, for my time is not long.
There is much that's been hidden,
Now do as you're bidden,
My daughter, my dearest, be strong.
For you soon will be gowned in the skin that was mine,
And you'll dart through the waves like an arrow so fine,
But the cost of this grace is far more than you've known;
It's the price we must pay for a crime not our own.
Come sit with me daughter,
We're sworn to the water,
Come now, where the bitter waves sigh.
Have you never once wondered
How we could be sundered
Immortal, yet destined to die?
For we once made a bargain, we once made a plea,
And what's sworn to the waves is both captive and free,
But the bargain was made, and all chances have flown,
There's a price we must pay for a crime not our own.
Come sit with me daughter,
The child of the slaughter,
My sins on your shoulders will fall.
I am sorry, my dear one,
This choice was a clear one,
Each child bears the guilt for us all...
Still, you may yet be spared from the penance we'll pay;
Have a child of your own, bring her down to the bay.
Guilt is passed hand to hand, though each bears it alone...
Please forgive me the price for a crime not your own.