Aaru raised an eyebrow at me, but I shook my head and lifted my hand. Immediately, the port went quiet again.

“I know what you’ve heard,” I said. “You’ve been told that I was killed, and that the Mira Treaty has been repealed. But that isn’t true. The Mira Treaty isn’t a person, and it isn’t repealed until we say it is. The ideals put forward in the treaty—equality, unity, and conservation—are still ideals I believe in, and we can decide that those are the qualities we want moving forward.” Again, I lifted my hand as murmurs rose up. “I can’t tell you everything right now. I wish I could. What I want you to understand is this:

“In spite of High Magistrate Paorah’s claims that only he can protect the people of the Fallen Isles, his actions have hastened the Great Abandonment. Nor did he plan to protect everyone; he built a fleet of ships, allowed only his chosen on board, and sent them to the Algotti Empire, where the empress had agreed to take refugees. But even in that, he proved a traitor. He left orders to attack her city, but he was not there to face the consequences when they were stopped. He stayed behind in the Fallen Isles, with another ship to take him to the empire after everything was finished.”

Grumbling filled the port.

“I’m sure you’re asking yourselves how you can trust that I’m telling the truth. You can’t. That’s fair. For years, I spoke everyone else’s words, and not my own, but after everything I’ve experienced in the last few months, that’s changed. I know better now. I know the truth. And I hope you’ll believe me when I say that Paorah has never been on your side. If he’s promised you salvation, he will not deliver.”

“What can you promise us?” someone called, and a few people shouted in agreement.

LaLa chirped at them, scolding.

“I won’t promise anything I’m not certain I can deliver,” I said, touching LaLa’s shoulder; it was sweet that she wanted to defend me, but unnecessary this time. “However, I have come to help. The ships sent to the Algotti Empire are waiting in the harbor, and we’ve been rescuing people from the ocean since we returned to Fallen Isles’ waters. They will come into the port one at a time and take as many people as will fit. I urge you to consider leaving the island if possible. If you have boats or ships of your own, I hope you’ll make room for others.”

People stared, confused. All the speeches I’d ever made during a crisis included a promise and vague description of what was being done to solve the problem, but this wasn’t any normal crisis. This was the end of our world.

And I’d just told all these people to prepare for the worst.

It wasn’t very Hopebearer-like.

I took a deep breath, trying to find a balance between baseless optimism and honesty. “I can promise you this: I will do everything in my power to save what’s left of the Fallen Isles. Everything. I will do anything.” I swallowed hard, ignoring the crawling sensation of my friends’ curious stares. “I won’t claim to have miracles at my disposal, but I do have her.”