Page 41 of Measure of the Stars

“I’m afraid I have to give up the last of my vices,” he said, but he didn’t look particularly distressed.He scooted aside to make room for Delauney.“Peter says no more children, thank you, and ale reacts badly to the herbs Alain’s little colony gave me.At least I only have to take them for a few months.”

“And it’s safe?”Delauney asked.

“It worked for the colony,” Ned said.“They stopped having children forty years ago, apparently.But how are you, Laney?We’ve been on the same ship, but I feel like I haven’t seen hide nor hair of you.”

Delauney jiggled his leg nervously.“Well...I wanted to talk to you about that.”

“Oh, no,” Ned said, taking a sip of his tea with a rakish smile.“Nothing serious, I hope?”Delauney felt his face fall before he could stop it, and Ned’s smile faded.“Come now, Laney, what’s the matter?Is it something at home?”

Delauney sighed.“Can we walk, Ned?Maybe while we hike up to the throne?”

“Ah, so itisserious.”Ned gestured to a serving lad and handed off his drink.“Let’s go, then.”

Delauney hadn’t expected Ned to respond so quickly.He usually kept their conversations light, content to be the relief Ned needed after a day of wrangling the ship and a gaggle of headstrong children.But as soon as he’d shown any distress, Ned seemed willing to stop everything.

They approached the throne through a narrow set of steps leading out of the town.Madog’s Throne wasn’t actually a real seat of power—it was just a set of stones at the top of a bluff that looked vaguely like a chair.Local legend said that sitting on it would reveal your future, but Delauney had looked out over the island from the Throne a dozen times and only ever saw the sea.

Ned remained silent as they walked, waiting for Delauney to speak.Delauney took a steadying breath, thinking of Wes making him stand in boxes, reciting qualifications he didn’t fully believe.

“I’m applying to the school of astronomy in Gerakia,” Delauney said.Ned turned to look at him, brows raised.“I know it seems sudden.It doesn’t seem like something I’d be interested in, but I’vealwaysbeen interested, and I...I think I can do it, Ned.I think it’s possible.Itispossible.I know it must be a dreadful inconvenience to you.”

Ned stopped short, staring at Delauney as sharply as Wes at his most intense.“You mentioned the stars before.”

“Yes, but it isn’t a diversion,” Delauney said.“It isn’t a passing fancy.I’mthisclose to finding out what the sun is composed of, and if I had access to the Aviary in Gerakia, I’m certain that I can do more.”

“I thought the sun was stone,” Ned said.“Like a mirror.”

“That would make it reflect light, like the moon,” Delauney said.“The sunemitslight.You can even determine how fast it travels.”

“Travels?”Ned asked.“What do you mean, light travels?Light is light.It just is.”

“Oh, no.Haven’t you ever seen an eclipse?”Delauney asked.Ned shrugged.“Here, let me explain.”

They slowly continued their ascent as Delauney tried to describe how to measure eclipses to determine the speed of light.Ned looked utterly baffled, but he nodded along, his brow pinching closer and closer together as Delauney spoke.Finally, after realizing that Ned hadn’t said a word in nearly twenty minutes, Delauney’s voice faltered and broke.

After a few seconds of agonizing silence, Ned spoke up.“Delauney.I’m going to be honest with you.”Delauney’s stomach twisted in knots, turning over with every step toward the throne.

“I have no idea what you’ve been saying,” Ned continued.“I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the concept of light moving, but it won’t stick.And the sun being a big ball of gas?How would it even keep its shape?How would it burn without using up its fuel?It doesn’t make any sense to me, Laney.I know how to navigate by the stars, but that’s all.I’m not a genius by any measure of the word.But it seems like you are.”

Delauney felt his face go red.“Oh, oh no.No, I’m just interested in it, that’s all.”

“Isn’t that what genius is?”Ned asked.“Being curious about something?Asking the right questions?And you’ve felt this way for how long?”

“All my life,” Delauney said.“But you know how Mother and Father can be.”

“They’ll be devastated,” Ned said with a laugh.“Two serious-minded men in a family like yours?Your mother may never recover.”

“I’m notthatserious-minded,” Delauney muttered.“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you before, though.”

“You should be sorry,” Ned said.“What did you think I was going to do, swoon?You won’t disappear on me when you’re off in Gerakia, will you?Because I’ll need letters, even if I can’t understand them, and the girls will riot if they don’t see their Uncle Laney at least once a year.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to disappoint your girls,” Delauney said.Ned grinned.

“Yes, because then I might actually be cross with you.”He swung an arm around Delauney’s shoulders.“Now, star-man, tell me more about this college of yours.”

***

WES WOKE TO THE DOORrattling.He sat up, assuming that Delauney had indulged too much in the inn’s watery ale to remember his keys, and rolled out of bed as a shadow passed over the line of light at the bottom of the door.