Sunset of the Wandering Souls
Chapter 19

Under the desert sun, it seemed as if Pili was leading us in circles. The dessert seemed to roll in an endless cycle of similarity. But each town we came upon to refill our water and rations, to check our maps and continue charting our way south gave every indication we were on the right route. To the Iakena Mountains he had declared, only to be met by confusion from Innin. He had pulled out our map, eyes scanning for any mention of the Iakena Mountains. Innin pointed to a small mountain range on the southern coast, the name Appanayya Mountain Range appearing above them. After Pili’s confirmation that those were the correct mountains, we trekked on, hitting every town we could.

It was to take us weeks to reach the Appanayya, more to get to Port after. Our chances on replaceing the Jakeki noble before he departed were lowering each day we spent in the sand. There was a small bit of hope, though, that his acquisition of crow’s tears was immensely important to him, he wouldn’t leave without them. I still hadn’t a clue on what crow’s tears were; Pili had told me he couldn’t describe their beauty. How he even knew what they were and how to get them was beyond me. I picked at my fingers as I thought, the reigns hanging loose against my palms. It could be old knowledge, perhaps, from when the Aeces had colonies. Stories passed down twisting into folktales with little bits of truth here and there.

The closer to the coast we became, the cooler the air felt. Days stopped being stifling, urging us to use up our water before we arrived at a town or village. Our horses seemed to walk with swifter steps, no longer dragging their hooves in the sand dusted paths. We took less rest the nearer we were to the Appanayya, only taking as much time as the horses needed. We didn’t wish to waste more time now that we were so close to our goal. Though, there was still my looming fate of returning to the Interior eating away at me, not being helped every time I glimpsed Innin making a mark in a small notebook.

We split up at the mountain pass, Innin unfurling his large wings to replace the flowers Pili tried his best to describe at the peaks. Pili and I continued through the pass, heading to the ocean on the other side. We needed water from the ocean to complete our little concoction. The sea breeze whipped through my hair, and I was reminded of Ukicho. Of the children playing in the waves, of the smell of fish and fruit in the air, of all the colors the Aeces wore. It was peaceful. There was nothing I could worry about under that warm sun. I had no duties, nothing binding me to my status of prince there. I wanted to sit in the sand there once more.

“Ezollen?” Pili brought me out of my reminiscing, his feet covered up to his ankles in the water. “Would you mind holding this?” He extended the filled jar towards me. I let go of the horses’ reigns to take it from him. “I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” I asked.

He waded deeper into the water, facing me as he spoke. “To grab a few more things.” He threw his shirt at sand, then turned, dove in, a glittery purple, blue and silver fin splashed at the surface before he disappeared under the waves.

I sat in the sand by the horses, my face feeling warm. I swam to the deepest depths of Ahe, the words he spoke at my Blue Moon Beautillion came back to me, armed with only a fisherman’s knife to retrieve a pearl from Arike. He must have trained—no, he certainly trained to take on Arike. He was a fighter, that was evident from the muscles carved into him. If he could hold his own against Arike and steal a pearl that still pressed into my wrist, he could survive a war. He didn’t deserve a prince who’d never picked up a sword, who was defeated by seeing him without his shirt. I wondered how firm it would feel under my fingers, I doubted he’d let me touch his chest, though. I could have a little hope, a little something to take my mind off marrying Lady Oglin. I didn’t need permission in my mind.

Pili surfaced some time during my slow attempt at biting through my thumb’s nail. My thoughts had turned into things I would never have the courage of attempting outside of fantasy. He messed with his wet hair, a small bag looped around one wrist. As he plodded back to shore I caught site of a fish he had by the tail, and his gills sliced into his sides. He tied his bag to the belt around his waist; with sand caking to his feet he made his way to Innin’s horse to dig around the saddle bag with one hand.

I had to hold the fish still on its back, feeling it take wheezing breath after wheezing breath. I held it firm over an empty jar screwed into a hole in the beach, Pili sat in front of me, knife in hand. The fish took in one last gasp of air, then it was cut open by Pili, blood trickling over my hands. I swallowed the urge to vomit as Pili dug around the insides of the fish, making cuts here and there before taking it out of my hands. I couldn’t bring myself to turn away. I watched as he filled the jar with little black beads, wiping blood on his face as he wiped away water droplets.

He started to descale the fish, collecting each and everyone in the small pouch he had tied to his belt. “Are…Are the scales part of it?” I asked, unsure of what else to say.

“No,” he said, glancing up at me. “These are for something else. Once Innin gets here, we’ll have everything we need.” He cut the fish open further. “Do you want any?” He held the fish up slightly. “I’m sure I can get a fire going.” I shook my head and looked at the sand. I couldn’t stare at him, at his chest and gills forever.