—Notes from Jovis’s translation of Dione’s journal

Lin’s maidservant died two days later, in spite of my mother’s soup, in spite of the physician’s care, in spite of all the witstone we burned to get the ship to move faster. Lin ordered the ship put to port at the next island so we could give the girl a proper funeral.

And I did my best to keep my mother in check, unobtrusive. It was not a task I was very successful at.

“She’s the Emperor,” I said to her for the thousandth time, watching her roll out dumpling wrappers in the mess hall. She was always moving, rarely still.

“An Emperor can’t enjoy my dumplings?”

It wasn’t that – she knew it wasn’t that. It was the way she insisted on telling Lin what to do, ask when she’d last eaten, point out that the dark circles beneath Lin’s eyes indicated not enough rest. It simply wasn’t done. I stared at her until she felt my gaze, and she set down the rolling pin to stare right back.

“Jovis, she has no family except people she’s never met. Her father is dead. Her mother is dead. She seems lonely.”

I remembered when I’d spoken to Lin in the streets of Imperial City, when she’d seemed more like a person and less like an Emperor. And then there was that time we’d fought side by side against the assassins. There had been a moment… But that was foolish of me. “I don’t think she wants your pity,” I said. Why were we talking about Lin? I hadn’t come here to talk about Lin.

She frowned at me. “Is this just the way young people are? I don’t pity her. I see someone who is sad and I want her to be less sad. What’s so wrong about that?” She waved her hands at me. “Bah! Get out. I’m busy and you’re bothering me.”

I found myself walking out of the kitchen before I could stop myself. Habit. I glanced to the side and found the mess hall cook, forlornly playing a game of cards against himself. Ah, so I wasn’t the only person to be successfully banished. Somehow that made me feel better.

Mephi greeted me when I went above deck, rising from the measly patch of sunshine he’d found.

“You’re worried,” he said as he joined me by the railing.

I stared out at the Endless Sea, unable to put aside what Philine had said to me back on Imperial. We were arriving at a port soon, just to stock up on supplies and send Lin’s letters.