Page 113 of Salt in the Seas
Aeliana smiled. “Of course. Why couldn’t it?”
Nori bit her lip and looked away, indecision making her hesitate. But then her face hardened with a serious resolve. “It’s important that you make a good impression tonight. This is a test as much as it is an invitation, just like yesterday. They won’t give you back the starbridges unless you pass.”
Aeliana felt the warning in Nori’s words deep within her soul. Still, Nori wanted her to succeed. She was on their side.
“I will do my best, not just for my own future, but for yours as well,” she promised.
Nori smiled and stood, holding out a hand to pull Aeliana up. “Compliment Elder Mishkel on his fin.” She rolled her eyes. “He keeps it visible even outside the waves because the rainbow scales are coveted by everyone. He’s an obnoxious show-off, but he’ll be the easiest to win over because of it.”
“Elder Mishkel, beautiful rainbow scales. Got it,” Aeliana recited.
“Elder Perla’s wife just had a baby even though Gellen, their oldest son, is in line to take his place once he marries.”
Aeliana couldn’t help her eyebrows rising. “Is he the one interested in being close to your father’s power?”
A few of Nori’s scales surfaced on her face, as if her embarrassment made her lose control of her transitions. “He’s offered more than once. I’m not sure how much longer I can convince Father to say no.”
“All the more reason to bring you to Vendaras as an explorer?”
Nori bit her lip and nodded. “We would be miserable together. Always fighting.”
This time Aeliana hesitated, catching uncertainty in Nori’s tone. “Sometimes we fight the most with the people we love the most. Usually it’s because we’re afraid for them.”
Nori sighed, then shook away whatever else she might have said. “When his mother brings her baby over, don’t ask to hold him until she offers, but then immediately say yes. He loves being rubbed under his chin, and then you’ll win over their whole family, including Elder Gerot, whose wife is sister to Elder Perla’s wife.”
“Elder Perla, baby’s chin. All right.” Aeliana’s words were less certain this time as the extra names fought for a place in her memory.
“Elder Kraken already likes you. He likes anything that stirs up drama. But don’t make fun of his name, or you’ll lose his support. Elder Corantun may never be swayed. He’s very set in his ways. But if you can win the other four, you’ll have the majority.” She turned to leave, clearly expecting Aeliana to follow.
“What about your father?”
“Oh, don’t expect to win him over.” Nori winced an apology. “Mymother likes you, but he never will. That’s why it’s so important you win the others over.”
Aeliana followed her down the hall, and the moment they stepped outside where Velden, Gaeren, and their soldiers waited, Nori became silent and submissive once more.
The crowd gathering in the village square felt overwhelming to Aeliana. She’d never be able to meet everyone, and she worried she wouldn’t even be able to put Nori’s advice into practice. But the hundreds gathered also felt small when she thought of Vendaras and Lorvandas. Had the Sayhleens’ population been limited by their small island? Or did the majority of them live deep in the water?
Velden was the quickest to relax, settling in among the people to answer their questions and ask his own. Many of them wanted to know about his mother’s life among the Vendarans. Some of the questions felt stilted, like they’d been planted by the elders for a specific purpose, but Velden answered them all with ease.
Gaeren seemed in better spirits after his own bath and clean clothes, giving Aeliana a sense of the side of him that had grown up a pampered prince. But now he was on full alert, watching everyone who approached them with the caution of a hardened soldier, his hand often straying to his hip where his hilt should have been.
“We’ll get nowhere with these people if you keep glaring at them,” she whispered.
His face softened a fraction. “More than half of them are remembering the sight of our arrival with a severed Sayhleen tail. It’s hard not to be on edge when there’s an underlying hostility in their approach.”
“They don’t sense you pulling out the memories, do they?”
He shook his head. “Some of the elders or those with more established magic might. They might even attempt to block it. But otherwise, no.”
“You need to search their memories,” she whispered. “Maybe even the elders’ memories. I can try, but I suspect it won’t be possible with Durriken so far away. Either way, you’ll be much faster at it.”
He frowned, glancing around as if worried people might haveheard her. “I’m tryingnotto search their memories. It’s a defensive reaction because I feel threatened, but I don’t like it.”
“What if one of them remembers how to find Lady Merinnia?” She leaned closer. “What if one of the elders remembers where the starbridges are kept? Hopefully they’ll tell us these things, even help us. But if they don’t…”
An elderly woman approached before Gaeren could respond. She reached out to touch Aeliana’s hair. “It used to be long, like the Stars’,” she murmured.
Aeliana’s face heated with the realization that this woman was searching through her past. “It was the Lorvandans’ way. I cut it after traveling to Vendaras.” It felt silly explaining it when the Sayhleens had varying lengths of hair, but theirs held a texture unlike Aeliana’s, more suited to the water.
