Heart of the Winterland

by Kristen Kooistra

  “How’d it go?” Badger held out a hand for the documents.

  Cali handed them over and massaged her legs. “I think we got everything.”

  “You think?”

  “Well, it was hectic and I kept bumping into people.”

  Badger frowned and set the reports beside him without glancing at them. “Over the past month, I’ve come to a conclusion about you.”

  Cali stopped rubbing her legs. “I’m afraid to ask.”

  Badger removed his yellow hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “And there it is. You’re afraid. Or rather, you lack confidence in yourself. You admire everyone around you and put them on a pedestal.”

  Cali flushed. Do I really do that? Angel, Kileah, Voice, Zarna, Rose, even Brie and Tera seemed so confident. No one told them what to do. People listened to them.

  She rubbed her temples. “I guess I do. It’s hard to try and be like other people. They make it seem so natural.”

  “And you’ll fail every time you try to be like someone else. You can only be you. I think if you focus on being the best queen Cali can be and what Cali’s strengths are, you’ll be happier.”

  Badger stood, placed his hat on his head, and picked up the documents. “Now, how did the counting go?”

  Cali rose to her feet and straightened her shoulders. “Everything is accounted for.”

  “That’s what I wanted to hear.” Badger trudged back to camp and called over his shoulder, “Act with confidence and people will follow with confidence. Tomorrow, we start again.”

  Cali walked along the shoreline until the moon rose. She missed Angel and wished she was there to roll her eyes at Cali’s weak leadership skills.

  Tomorrow is a new day. My life will count for something and I will do this. But I’m going to do it my way. As Cali. Not as anyone else. It’s what Angel would’ve wanted.

  ❄❄❄

  Seven months later

  “Helen, the ship is coming in. Get the trading goods down to the shore and make sure everyone is ready to barter. I want this done quick. The sooner we trade, the sooner Galut will be off our island.” Cali never slowed her pace as she gave the woman her orders. Helen darted off as Cali lifted the flap to Badger’s tent. Voice and Zarna surrounded a table covered in parchment.

  “Voice? The ship is here. I want you and Zarna to take inventory. Make sure that old swindler doesn’t try and cheat us.” She closed the tent flap after a brief nod from Zarna.

  Seconds later, as Cali strode towards the beach, Voice caught up to her.

  “The last of the tyfaria victims was cleared today. The healer says your decision to separate the diseased from the rest of the camp probably saved us.”

  Cali didn’t stop, but allowed herself a smile. “I’m sure Badger would’ve suggested it if I hadn’t, but it was nice to know that my time reading up on illnesses all those years paid off.” She pushed a few strands of hair off her sweaty forehead. No matter how tightly she braided her hair, it managed to escape and stick to her face. “Now if I could only get Rogaar and Paradil to cease glaring at me every time I walk by.”

  Voice chuckled, flashing an even brighter yellow. “They are just sore at you because of your decision over the pearl dispute.”

  Cali harrumphed. “Utter foolishness. They know everything the band harvests from the ocean goes into the collective pot that Badger uses to trade for medicine and other camp supplies. It didn’t really matter who found the pearls.”

  “Ah, but you could have sided with one and had only one glare to deal with, instead of giving little Shala the credit.”

  Cali stopped on the bluff overlooking the ocean and shot Voice a devilish grin. “And miss out on the chance to make that child’s day? Not to mention the look on both men’s faces when an eight-year-old girl ran off shouting to her parents that she’d found a cache of pearls?”

  They laughed at the memory. A breeze cooled Cali’s face, bringing with it the smell of fresh sea air.

  “I am proud of you, Princess. You have learned much in the past months: Settling disputes, organizing hunting parties, and managing the trading between us and old Galut.” Voice hesitated. “Angel would be proud of you.”

  Cali’s throat tightened and her eyes watered. Angel’s loss still hurt. It’d probably always hurt. For that first month, she’d walked the beach . . . hoping . . . hoping.

  I can’t dwell on it. I must move on.

  “Let’s go down to the shore. I have to supervise and keep an eye on Galut as usual.” Cali picked her way down the rocky steps that were carved into the bluff. Voice followed behind.

  “I’ve been meaning to mention it, Voice, but I’ve been so busy . . .” She hesitated, not knowing how to proceed.

  “Mention what?”

  Cali stopped at the base of the stairs and turned back to look at her. “Are you . . . growing?”

  Voice froze midair. “Am I what?”

  “You know, getting bigger.” Cali waved her hand expansively.

  “Princess, in human culture, I do believe implying that a person is getting fat is an insult.”

  Cali huffed and rolled her eyes. “Not fat. You’re just . . . well, bigger. I don’t think you’d fit into a lantern anymore.”

  “Am I truly getting bigger?”

  Cali sobered at the unsure tone. “Yes. I’m not sure when it happened, but when we were in Trabor, you were no bigger than a coconut.”

  “And now?”

  They moved towards the pile of boxes sitting on the sand. A ship was anchored out past the rocks and two longboats rowed to shore where the camp folk waited.

  “Now I’d say you’re the size of a watermelon—”Cali quickened her pace“—or bigger.”

  “Or bigger!” Voice rushed to get in front of her. “How much bigger?”

  Cali stepped around her. “Not much bigger.”

  “Well, at least you decided to tell me about this. Unlike the color changes you still have not mentioned,” Voice said snappishly.

  Cali looked sheepish. “So, err . . . you did notice that.”

  “I would hope so. Now I’m a multi-colored, overweight orb.”

  Cali sighed in relief as they reached the pile of crates, ignoring Voice’s mutters about watermelons.

  Zarna had taken the shorter path and was checking things off her list, making sure everything was accounted for. Though capable of writing and reading, Zarna hadn’t used the skill to relay her past and was still very much a mystery. Cali understood and had grown to depend on the silent, but capable, woman.

  “Is everything here?”

  Zarna nodded without lifting her eyes from her list.

  “Good, I’ll greet Galut and hopefully this will be over soon.”

  A smirk touched Zarna’s lips.

  Probably because she knows how much I hate dealing with that foul man.

  On Galut’s second trip to the island, after Cali and her party had washed ashore, he’d agreed to take Captain Rebol and Kileah with him. It was that visit when Badger had decided Cali could start handling Galut directly. Cali had quickly learned that not all sea captains were as good-hearted as Captain Rebol. She’d even deal with Kileah’s brusque manner over Galut’s snakelike personality.

  Badger said it was good for her. Taught her how to deal with unpleasant characters. A lesson I hope I don’t have to apply often.

  Cali smiled wanly at Voice. “Let’s get this over with. Badger should be back with the foraging party tomorrow and I’d like to say this went off without a hitch.”

  Chapter 26

  The next morning, Cali slipped out of camp and padded down to the ocean, the dawn air cool against her skin. Mornings, before most of the camp awoke, were the only time she had to herself. It meant getting up earlier and missing out on much needed sleep, but she enjoyed the time alone.

  The soft dirt path gave way to coarse sand. Running around without shoes had toughened up her feet over the months and they loved their newfound freedom. She smelled the salt
air and began to run. Glorious colors greeted her as she burst from the trees. The tip of the sun was just breaching the waves in the distance. Radiant gold and pink laced a lavender sky. I could see this everyday and be amazed anew.

  She climbed the rock outcropping that poked out into the cove. Saltwater hit the rocks and sprayed her face as she tightened her billowy pants. Sitting on the edge of the outcropping

  , she let her feet dangle in the cool water, not yet heated by the sun. She grinned, stood, walked a few paces back, then rushed forward and plunged into the water.

  The silence of the ocean greeted her as it enveloped her. Worry, sweat, and dirt washed away as she swam under the surface.

  Swimming had been one of the first things she’d insisted Badger teach her. Not only was it a rather important skill on an island, but she had a personal reason as well.

  Never again would someone need to plunge into the water to save her. Never again would a friend risk their life because she couldn’t swim. She wasn’t the swimmer that the ocean harvesters—as those who collected the ocean’s bounty liked to call themselves—were, but she’d taken to it and Badger said he’d never had such a quick study.

  The most difficult part had been getting over her fear. Fear and anger.

  “Don’t attack the water, Cali. It is not your enemy.”

  “It’s not my friend either.”

  “The ocean gives life to many things and sometimes it takes life away. It is neither friend nor enemy. It simply is.”

  “It doesn’t have to take people.”

  “Your friend wouldn’t want this for you. She would want you to move on, to join with the sea, not fight it.”

  “How would you know? You never even met her.”

  “Because I too lost someone to the ocean and I hated it for taking her. But then I remembered how much she’d loved the water and the wonders it holds. The day I accepted that she wouldn’t have wanted all that anger for me was the day I took a step towards healing.”

  So Cali had become one with the ocean. Her trial by water, Voice called it. Unlike that stormy night, the water didn’t threaten to tear her apart, now it moved with her, allowing her to slip through it.

  The water grew deeper as she swam out of the cove, surfacing occasionally for air. The island was ringed with reefs that held pearls, sea creatures, seashells, and even the occasional wreckage from ships.

  She swam faster when she saw the reef. Pink and orange coral dazzled her eyes as bright blue and yellow fish darted among them. Red sea fans waved at her and a sea turtle glided past. Spiny purple urchins clung to the crevices. Orange and white fish peeped out at her from a blue anemone.

  A lifetime of white hadn’t prepared her for this. If someone had told her there were so many colors in so many forms, she wouldn’t have believed them.

  She surfaced and drew another breath before plunging under again. She lazily swam along the reef, hating even the few seconds it took to surface and take a breath. The sun now hung above the water. I should be heading back.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw an animal she’d never seen before. She turned to get a better look and almost gulped a mouthful of seawater. A few feet away, staring at her, was a pair of bright green eyes.

  Cali didn’t understand what she was seeing. The creature looked human from the waist up, though even that part looked decidedly inhuman somehow. A tight red top that sparkled like crystal covered her breasts. A ruby red tail the length of human legs ended in a pair of slightly lighter colored fins. And what fins they were. Twice the length of the creature herself, they waved in the water as they circled her body like spun sugar. Glowing red hair matched the tail and though it floated in the water around her, Cali guessed it to be the length of the tail.

  What is it?

  “Really, Cali, I would’ve thought you’d know better than to stare at people by now.”

  Her mouth dropped open and she went to bite out a retort. Water rushed into her mouth and she swam to the surface. Coughing, she spit out the water she had swallowed. Idiot. Trying to talk underwater.

  A bright red head broke the water in front of her. “Staring and then attempting to speak underwater. You are a guppy sometimes.”

  Cali lunged for the figure. “Angel!” The two sank below the waves. Cali released her and swam back above the water. Angel came up next to her, shooting her a half-hearted glare. “Are you trying to drown yourself?”

  Cali started to cry. The waves pushed at her as she struggled to stay afloat. The emotional toll was too much. Arms wrapped around her waist and tugged her back to shore. When they reached the outcropping, Cali managed to pull herself out of the water. She swiped at the tears and looked for Angel, wondering if she’d imagined it all.

  Suddenly, Angel leapt from the water like a dolphin and flipped before landing next to Cali on the rocks.

  “Angel!” She scrambled to her friend and grabbed her arm. “Are you alright?”

  Angel grinned. “Of course I am. My skin has to be tough to survive in the water, especially at the lower depths.” She absentmindedly rubbed at a scar on her brow. “Though I’ve discovered that my head will only take so much of a beating.”

  Cali threw her arms around her friend and again burst into tears. “You’re alive. I thought you were dead.” She drew back, holding Angel at arm’s length. “Where have you been?!”

  “Trying to find you.” Angel scooched back until her tail and ridiculously long fins were completely on the rocks. “After the water separated us, I got dashed against a bloody rock. I tried to stay conscious, but . . .” She shrugged. “Anyway, I woke up in the home of another Mazushuĭn. They’d found me knocked out on the ocean floor and took me in. I didn’t really need much tending, the ocean heals us, but predators would’ve had me for supper if they hadn’t helped.”

  “Wait! You mean Mazushuĭ is underwater?” Cali wrung the water out of her clothes.

  “Of course.” Angel gestured to her tail. “After I was better, I tried to find you. I was sure you’d drowned, but I had to look.” She shivered as a breeze blew past. “Do you know how big the ocean is?”

  “How’d you find me?” Cali gave up on her clothes.

  “Pure luck. I’d been lurking around one of the ports on Palanpas, hoping to hear word of a funny-looking girl who stares at people—”

  Cali smacked Angel’s arm and received an impish grin. “Very funny, then what?”

  “Well, I saw Kileah boarding a ship and went to investigate. Apparently, she and Captain Rebol were able to purchase a new ship and when I showed myself, I about got smothered. I’m sure Kileah still wants to kill me, but the captain was clearly overjoyed.” Angel pulled her hair—which seemed to be shrinking and fading—back from her face. “As for the rest, they shared their tale and where you were and—”She pointed to a ship on the horizon that hadn’t been there when Cali started her swim“—they showed me the way. Though they don’t know I snuck overboard and swam ahead. They’ll probably be all over the ship looking for me.” A wicked smile crossed her face.

  “You didn’t tell them about . . .” Cali went to gesture at Angel’s tail and her eyes widened. Gone, and in its place were two pale legs and a pair of formfitting red shorts. Angel followed Cali’s gaze.

  “Well, obviously I don’t always have a tail, and no, I didn’t tell them. You’re the first human I’ve shown.”

  Cali didn’t know what to address first and finally blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Is that why you were a prisoner?”

  Angel frowned and stood. “Yes, that stupid duke saw me swimming in a lake and waited for me to get out. I didn’t see them coming. He thought he could keep me as some exotic pet to show off, but he needed to figure out how to get me to change first. He seemed to think I could do it by will or by getting hit with a bucket of water.”

  “It doesn’t work that way?”

  Angel started to pick her way across the rocks towards the shore. “No, it requires almost full sub
mersion. He was too afraid of releasing me back into the water and most bathtubs aren’t big enough. In fact, when I transform I’m so much longer that I’d probably end up stuck. So I make it a point to keep one leg out of the water in a bathtub just to be safe.”

  They reached the shore and faced each other. “I missed you, guppy.” Angel leaned forward and gave Cali a quick hug. “I’m glad you learned how to swim, because I’m tired of saving your royal butt.”

  The two laughed as Cali led the way back to the camp.

  ❄❄❄

  Kota brushed aside an overhanging vine. The jungle on the island pressed heavily on her. The quietness only broken by exotic birdcalls.

  Badger had left with some of the band for one the smaller islands. He’d been gone for a few days, but was expected back today.

  Kota was impressed by the resourcefulness of the islanders. They pulled a lot of their timber and other raw materials from the other islands in the Caras archipelago. This kept their home island from being depleted. It also provided her with sufficient privacy to sneak off in the mornings and relax.

  Cali’s skill at leading had improved greatly over the past few months and Badger had given her almost complete control.

  Kota’s loose grey tunic stuck to her back in the muggy jungle air. She tucked the loose material into her waistband and began to scale one of the large trees. The going was slow, but the branches and vines provided ample hand and footholds.

  She reached the canopy and slumped down on a branch to catch her breath. Training while working for Bludgaard had kept her in shape, but now she found herself doing more bookwork than physical activities.

  Life had come full circle. She’d started out keeping records for her mother and now her she was playing bookkeeper to a princess.

  The camp will be waking soon. I should head back. She stood and strode out on the limb. Deep breath in, then out. She leapt from her perch and landed on a branch opposite. As soon as her feet touched the bark, she sprinted along the network of limbs, jumping when needed and using the vines and overhanging branches to aid her.