“It’s only three years, Uncle,” Storm said, when Lake paused to draw breath. “It will pass quickly enough.” The three years stretched out before her like a lifetime. She wouldn’t see Minnow, or Auntie Briathe, or Teanu. She wouldn’t be able to set foot on Yanlin. Or visit her mother’s grave. And at the thought of Dain, Storm’s resolve broke, and she hid her face in her hands.

Someone shuffled near and a hand patted her awkwardly on the shoulders. “There, there, Storm. Don’t cry, child. Please.” Uncle Lake sounded so miserable that Storm found the strength to stifle her tears. She took a deep gulping breath.

“I am sorry, Uncle. I do not mean to distress you.”

“I’m not going.” Cloud, who had been standing silently all this time, spoke at last.

“What do you mean, boy?” Lake frowned at his apprentice. “Of course you’re sailing with the fleet.”

“I’m going to stay here with Storm.”

“You’re my apprentice. Your time is mine! Besides, what use would you be?” Lake’s words were scathing. “You’ve no magic. No skills at all, except eating and sleeping and getting into trouble!”

“Perhaps.” Cloud’s face was red with embarrassment. “But I can be company, if nothing else. Someone from home. A friend.”

“And who’s going to feed you?” asked Foam. “Don’t expect the Pact to pay for your keep, for they won’t.”

“And nor will I!” growled Lake.

“I’ll work for my food!” Cloud said. “I can carry and tote as well as anyone else.”

“Well…” Uncle Lake turned to Storm. “I’m properly confounded. It’s up to you, Storm. Do you want the boy? If he’ll be a bother, I’ll take him with me, willing or no! Just say what you want.”

What she wanted. The idea made her feel like laughing … or crying. Everything she’d ever treasured or yearned for, everything she had ever needed – her father, her mother, Thorn, to be normal – she had lost all of them, one by one.

She gazed at Cloud, feeling as confounded as her uncle. This was the act of a true friend. He must have forgiven her for being, in his eyes, weak and cowardly. Part of her rejoiced. She was weak. The frightened part of her wanted his company, to keep away loneliness and fear of what the future held. But too many of her friends and loved ones had died already.

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell Lake to take Cloud with him when she saw unshed tears shining in her shipmate’s eyes. And suddenly she was imagining herself as Cloud – a boy desperate to do this one thing: this simple, ordinary thing that would make him, for a brief time, extraordinary – more than just a cabin boy from a tiny island few had ever heard of.