Sol's Arc

Chapter 5 of 5

Sol left the woods with dirt on his sandals and no plan. Juno Brass had told him to do nothing. That was the task, and it made no sense. A sculptor had broken the law about erased names, and a full god of stone had called the work good. A mortal had carved a demigod out of love, and the carver's love was what Slate had pointed at. Sol did not understand love. He needed a god who did. He went to the shore instead of the council. Tide's daughter kept a tidepool at the edge of the shallows. Sol had known Mira since they were both small. She was the sea god's eldest, and she would answer him without reporting it back. He found her sitting on a flat rock, feet in the water, blue hair loose down her back. Starfish charms clicked at her wrist. She was feeding a crab from her palm. "You look like you walked here," she said, not turning. "I did." "Then it's bad." She flicked the crab back into the pool. "Sit." He sat. The rock was warm. He told her about the statue, the carver, the demigod in the woods, and the word Slate had used. Adoration. He said it like it was a foreign coin. Mira listened. When he finished she said, "You want to know why a mortal would spend a year cutting a woman he can't have out of stone he almost died getting." "Yes." "Because he loves her." "That is not an answer." She laughed. "It is. You just don't like it." She pulled her feet from the water. "Sol. When a mortal loves something, they make a thing. A song. A bowl. A statue. It's how they hold what they can't keep. He wasn't breaking your law. He was keeping her." Sol turned the idea over. "Then the law is wrong." "The law doesn't know about him," Mira said. "That's different." A shadow moved on the sand behind them. Sol felt the temperature drop before he turned. Tide stood at the tideline in dark armor, water pooling around his feet where there had been dry sand. His green eyes went to Sol, then to his daughter. "Mira." "Father." "Inside." She stood, kissed Sol's cheek, and walked past Tide without argument. Tide did not move until she was gone. "You came to my shore," Tide said. "To ask my daughter about mortals." "Yes." "Your father knows you're here?" "No." Tide watched him a long moment. "Wren reports to me. You know that." Sol had forgotten. His stomach dropped. "She's been watching you since the council," Tide said. "She'll tell me what you do next. Choose carefully." He turned back toward the water. "And stay out of the shallows." Sol stood alone on the rock. He had his answer about the carver. He had also put himself under a second god's eye, and Wren was already the first one's. Whatever he did with Juno's task, two councils would hear about it before he got home.