“Do you have the flask?” she said. “I think it’s time.”

“Yes,” he said, then softly called to the group to wait. “Bitterblue’s drinking her tea.” For Bitterblue was going to drink some rauha, carefully brewed and flasked by Saiet, in preparation for a boat trip north that would otherwise make her sick. The right amount, Saiet had said, to help someone of her size just enough, then wear off in time in case she had to play a role in the sleuthing operation. He’d included enough for the trip back as well.

The group waited in darkness while Bitterblue drank. Nearby, a sharp crack, followed by a rumble, broke the silence: the glacier calving an iceberg into the sea.

“Did you hear it?” Giddon whispered, not wanting Bitterblue to miss anything beautiful.

Her hand found him again. “Yes.” Then she turned him around, felt for the pack he was wearing, and slipped the flask back into it.

“Here’s Saba,” Nev called out quietly. “Is everyone ready?”

—

It was a frigid trip north through a relentless wind, made somewhat warmer by the need to enclose Bitterblue in his arms to keep her from standing up in the boat and making announcements. They were very unpredictable announcements. One was about wanting to split her Ministry of Education into two parts, half for the education of children and half for adults. Another was a general inquiry about whether anyone had brought any pie. One time she just stood up and yelled, “Kittens!”

It wasn’t the announcements that needed to stop, but the standing, because of the very real danger that in her rauha-induced state of silliness, she would fall out. It was intensely comforting, actually, to be in a boat with her, holding her tight in his arms so she wouldn’t fall out. It felt like a redo from the last time. And she seemed to like it too, nestling against him, certainly the warmest person in the boat. He missed the announcements, though.

“Can I eat your nose?” she asked him, which would certainly have given their secret away if she hadn’t already asked Hava, Lovisa, and Davvi if she could eat their noses.

“What’s wrong with my nose?” Nev asked, a joke that sent Bitterblue into a peal of giggles that kept quieting, then resurfacing again.

Sometime later, they made land.

“Do you think you can walk?” Giddon asked Bitterblue as he and Hava helped her onto a pebbly beach. The stars were so thick and low here that he wanted to reach up and brush his fingers against them, then touch his starry hand to Bitterblue’s face.

“She fell when we landed in the airship,” Lovisa said, in her dull, faraway voice that made Giddon worry about the wisdom of including her in this mission.

“It’s my land legs,” Bitterblue said, then clung to Hava. “You remind me of Katsa.”