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The look on Quade's face is pure confusion. "Of course I would. A human who is a God is going to do the best she can to take care of us, I think." He scratches his beard. "Plus,your people have good things to say. Figure it's the least I can do."
I smile, nodding my head. "Thank you for your support."
"Oh, shit, Mace," Quade says, abruptly changing the emotional conversation and turning to my partner. "I got those beans for you."
"Beans?" I ask, raising my eyebrows. Mace waves my question away, accepting a tightly packaged brick of burlap from the proprietor.
"I took the liberty of grinding 'em down for you. Wrap a bit in cloth, tie it off, and soak in hot water," the man says as Mace catalogs his instructions. I look between the two with confusion but Quade just smiles at me. "Don't worry about it, Shadowweaver."
Rolling my eyes, I give Mace my back and face Tulip. She grabs my hand. "Lola, I'm still a little pissed."
"I know," I say softly.
"And I know what we're about to do is very dangerous," she continues.
Morrow grumbles, draining his glass. "You can say that again."
"And I know what we're about to do is very dangerous."
I groan as Morrow drops his head on the bar top. "Cheeky creature, aren't you?" he says, slightly muffled.
Tulip bites her lip, fighting really hard not to burst out laughing at her own joke. "As I was saying, I'm still pissed, I know this is going to be dangerous, but I am so glad you're back, Lola. And I'm very glad I'm on thisjourney with you."
Pulling my friend to my chest, I wrap my arms around her, memories of almost losing her floating to the surface. "I couldn't do this without you, Tulip."
"You could," she says softly. "But I'm glad you don't have to."
Chapter 19
Zeph
We walk up the ramp to the ship, all of us loaded down with supplies. Yesterday, before dinner, we went to the market and traded for fresh clothing for everyone and weapons for Viola and myself.
Viola has the blade the Frostweaver gave her, but she picked up another, a set of thigh holsters and a whip. Despite the training my father insisted on, I've never been one for weapons, so I let Viola pick out mine. I have no real preference – a tool is a tool. She gave me a broad sword that has been strapped to my back and a dagger of my own. I spin it in my fingers as we wait for Jaz to meet us up top.
They come up a set of stairs with a small bottle in their hand. "Hey, Plume," they say, stepping towards her. "I had this made up for you. It should help with that seasickness you had last time."
Plume blinks, momentarily shocked, and then a smile creeps up her face. "Jaz, thank you so much. How kind of you."
Jaz ruffles their hair, which is now noticeably dyed bright red from some of the herbs we gave them, and ducks their chin to their chest. "It's nothing, just wanted to make you comfortableon my ship."
Flush creeps up the back of Plume's neck, and I can't help but laugh at it. I've never seen Plume have this reaction to someone before. Jaz motions for us to follow them below deck, and we head down the stairs into a narrow corridor that smells like brine and wet wood. They point to two doors on opposite sides of the hall. "Triangle and circle room again. Square room, too, this time," they say, pointing a little further down the hall.
Plume and Tulip push into the triangle room and close the door behind them, thoroughly cutting Morrow and me off. "I was planning on offering to sleep with Plume," I say to him under my breath. "We've shared beds a lot over our lives."
"Tulip is trying to put some distance between me and her, it seems." His words are hollow and betray the hurt he feels, but Morrow pushes them down. As we head to the square room, Viola and Mace push into the circle room, closing the room and giggling. I'm not sure if I've heard either Mace or Viola giggle before.
Before we entered our room, I could have sworn I heard Mace say, "Do you remember your word?"
Morrow and I dump our packs and weapons onto our respective beds. They're small, and I know both of us are going to struggle a bit to keep our feet on the beds while we sleep. I untie the front of my high-collared shirt, my chest and neck itching a bit. When I turn to Morrow, about to tell him I was going to go above deck and I'd see him later, his eyes widen.
"Does she know?" he says with a grin.
"No," I say,shaking my head. "I was going to wait to see if she noticed."
He laughs and flops down on the bed. "Make sure I'm there, please."
I spent most of the day just staring at the water as we carved our way through it. Viola and Mace did not surface until dinner time when we all gathered in the ship's mess hall.
