Princess Elodi's Arc

Chapter 49 of 55

The ship sailed at dawn, and by day the voyage looked easy. Emmy ran the deck with the otter at her heels. Damon showed her how to coil rope and how to spot a gull. They played until the sun dropped. But each night, when the dark closed over the water, Emmy fell apart. She had never slept anywhere but that stone castle on the shore. Now there was only black sea on every side. On the third night, Elodi heard her crying below deck. She found Emmy curled on a bunk, knees to her chest, the stuffed griffin soaked with tears. "I want to go home," Emmy said. "I don't like it out here." Her whole body shook. Damon crouched in the doorway. "She's ten," he said quietly. "She's only ever known land. All this water scares her." He was right. The sea had no walls, no floor, no edge a child could hold onto. Elodi sat on the bunk and pulled Emmy against her chest. The girl's braid was damp. Elodi remembered her own first nights beyond the castle, how the open dark had frightened her too. She held Emmy tighter and began to sing. It was a song her father had sung to her when she was small, before he sailed away. "When the night feels dark and far, just look up and find a guiding star." Elodi's voice was low and clear. Emmy went still to listen. Elodi hummed the rest of the tune, the words gone but the melody sure. Then she stood and carried Emmy up the ladder to the open deck. The sky spread wide above the black rig. Stars covered it, thick and bright, more than Emmy had ever seen through castle windows. "The stars are always there," Elodi said. "On the water. On the land. When you're scared, you just need to look up." She pointed. "That one is the star my father followed. It brought me all the way to you." Emmy stared up, her mouth open. She stopped shaking. "It followed you the whole time?" "The whole time," Elodi said. "It never left." Emmy leaned her head on Elodi's shoulder and watched the sky. Her breathing slowed. Soon she slept. Elodi carried her below and tucked the griffin under her arm. The nights changed after that. Emmy still asked for the deck, but not from fear. She learned the star's name and looked for it before bed. She slept through until morning. Blackwell found Elodi at the rail the next dawn. "The girl's quiet now," the captain said. "Good. Because we've a harder night coming." She nodded toward the horizon, where dark clouds stacked low over the water. "Storm by nightfall. A bad one. Get your family below and lash down everything that moves." Elodi looked at the clouds, then back at the sleeping ship. She had calmed one small fear. Now the sea meant to test them all.