He shrugged. "There are people descended from families that the crew came from. And they've been arguing ever since you reestablished contact that you guys are making things up, that there was some other disaster caused by the passengers and that you guys are blaming the crew to hide your own responsibility. I never believed that," Jason added hastily. "Not many people do. But some listen. Imagine how those families would have reacted to pure speculation that it was all the crew's fault."

"Nobody would've wanted to believe it," Kira said. "Would they? So they would have assumed a natural disaster of some kind, or a disease."

"Yeah. Something."

"Or the storm the Mages foresaw, that was going to destroy so much on our world if my mother didn't stop it from coming." Kira stared at the distant line where sky and sea merged, the light growing where the sun would soon rise, old feelings of misery rising as well in her. "And she did it. The daughter of Jules, come at last. She's not just brave, she's fearless. And she had me. I'm all she and Father have. How can people expect me to take over the daughter's job?"

Jason frowned. "What did that guy say, Kira? The one who gave us a ride to Denkerk? Didn't he say that he hoped the daughter's girl would be up to the job?"

"I can't…yeah, I think he did."

"He did," Jason said. "I don't think everyone on this world expects you to take over your mom's job. I think they're hoping you'll be able to do it."

She felt an unseen burden lifting off of her. "Do you think so? That would be rational, wouldn't it? And it means the pressure's off! No one who actually knows me is going to think…" Her momentary elation shifted to puzzlement. "Why didn't Gari tell me that? Why didn't he say, 'Don't worry, Kira, everybody who knows you knows that you couldn't ever do that.'"

"You'd want people to say that to you?" Jason asked.

"Um…maybe not, but it's the truth, so they ought to. Right?" He didn't answer, the only sounds the ship's wood creaking, the ripple of water alongside, and the wind sighing through the rigging. "Isn't that right, Jason?"

"Do you want the truth?" he said in a low voice. "Or do you want what you think you want to hear?"

"What does that mean?" Kira demanded.

He looked at her. "It means that you want me to tell you that the people who know you don't think you could do the sort of stuff your mother did. But the truth is, they think you're a whole lot more than you think you are."

She stared at him, unable to sort out the feelings clashing inside her. "Why would you say something like that?" Kira finally got out.

"Because you asked me what I thought the truth was."