Come all you starry-eyed boys, listen to me

I'll sing you a song of wishes grant at sea

and it's...

Windy weather boys, stormy weather, boys

When the waves rises we're all together, boys

She rises from the depth, rises, rises

Behold Xelisa and pray it's you she blesses

- A Yichan rowing song

They followed Olkvardr's seer deeper into the village and as they passed by the cobwebbed houses Jori could see no sign of life. At this time in autumn the Viribyr would be harvesting, or returning from their trips abroad. Two years could not have changed Viribyr that much, Jori thought. How was Olkvardr still the ruler? As far as he understood of Viribyr and their rulers, if you could not sail a ship, you were gone and so were your holdings. Why did the vessels they saw sailing just outside Viribyr's borders not taken claim of Olkvardr and his lands?

He opened his mouth to ask how on earth the holding had not changed hands but was interrupted by Ellis. The boy had kept a polite distance so far, he had been walking with Giersa and Ralphye, but Jori saw from the corner of his eye Ellis edge closer and closer to where Aly walked with him and the seer as they passed by more houses.

"Where are all the people, sir?"

This question was greeted with a confused look from the seer. No doubt at the address of sir, everyone in Viribyr addressed the man as seer. But he recovered quickly enough to say, "They're all asleep." Then he glanced at Aly and Jori, gave a half-shrug and walked on.

Ellis gave Aly and Jori disbelieving looks, then came to Aly and whispered something in his ear, no doubt to ask again if the seer was lying. The man didn't lie, Jori knew, he just told the truth differently. That was the problem with seers in general. But he was not here to ask for a prophecy or a palm reading. "Who sailed the ships we saw outside your borders? Are they friendly?"

"You needn't worry. There are no men on them," said the seer. "Like there was no one on your Plucky when it sailed into your harbor."

At that a shudder ran through him, and he recalled the stormy night and the sunny morning after. There had been that look on his mother's face when they both waited and no one came down to see them. Jori had been the first to try to board it, none of the men in their village dared to and when his feet touched the ship he swore he heard voices whispering. Not human voices, he knew the sounds of people. These were pitches not possible by any man, woman or child.

"But who is sailing them?" Ellis said, glancing from Jori to the seer and then back again.

Usually Jori would tell him off for asking a seer questions, you never get any good responses, but it was a learning experience for Ellis. So he held his tongue and waited to see what the seer would say.

"The same force that allowed your ship to sail here."

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Getting answers out of this man was like straining for gold in the sea. This one was particularly irritating, how could the man have any influence on the Plucky's ability to go pass those rocks? Before he could say or ask any more Aly spoke up from where he walked between the two men.

"If there is no one here, then surely we can call you by your name?" said Aly. "It seems like it's been awhile since you've had company." He gestured towards the empty houses.

He wondered why Aly bothered to ask, it wasn't as if the seer would answer. The seer had always been elusive and upon his first introduction to the man, the seer had not offered a name. So Jori had never bothered to ask. Sometimes he thought the man was made out of carved marble, excepting for maybe the glances he would share with Olkvardr.

But at Aly's question a smile came to his mouth, "If you insist, you can call me Llynne."

At that, an amused look crossed Aly's face, "Llynne then."

So the Viribyr had their own song about the Burning Sun as well, how universal, Jori thought. Ellis made to ask another question, something about the ships and how many men it would take to row such a thing and Jori's mind returned to what the seer— Llynne— had told him earlier. Llynne had told him that Olysa's magic did not affect selkies, her creation, as some songs say. But they were just stories, he did not know of any selkie children. He clenched his feet and willed the nagging voice in his head to calm. His mother had jumped into the sea, she had no selkie skin, and she did not turn into a selkie. The old woman had simply wanted to spare his feelings. Besides, his father and mother loved each other. He would not steal her selkie skin and force her to live on land. If she was a selkie, then he would have forced her, and... Amard would never do such at thing.

"Jori?" Aly gripped his arm, and there was a note of concern in his voice. "Are you well?

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His father was a good man and would never do such a thing. He would have told Jori of his family secret before going off to Olysa knows where. His mother would have told him. The thoughts ran amok in Jori's mind, why had his parents not told him anything?

"I am." He didn't jerk his hand away, and distracted himself by beholding the sight of Olkvardr's house.

The man always had a thing for theater. If Olkvardr had not been born a Viribyr in the North and to a court noble in Mainvoie, then Olkvardr would no doubt have spent his entire life being the patron of many an artist, songwriter and acting troupe. His door reflected what he thought the theaters looked like in the cities of Mainvoie, with its flowing curtains and carved flowers. Except Olkvardr had added his own touches, little fire drakes and sirens instead of women. Few could appreciate it, as Olkvardr would not be welcomed on any civilized city, and negated to an island where, in Jori's opinion, few could appreciate his vision. They were the very same words Jori spoke to the man, which was how they both came to an understanding when Jori did not have the brawn and muscle of the Viribyr man. So when Llynne opened the door and he and Aly followed the man up the staircase the sight of the man on the bed shocked him.

The room was kept clean, with a chair by the bedside table. There was an open book upon it and Jori could recognize the illustrations of the two birds as the same one he saw on the plates in Marget's sitting room. Llynne lit the candles and the light illuminated the figure. If anything, being able to see Olkvardr made it worst. He had always remembered Olkvardr as a mountain of a man, but the figure that laid there was nothing like the captain who had lifted Jori off his feet two years before. Perhaps Olkvardr was one of the few captains Jori did not had a bad thing to say about, maybe even considered a friend. It was hard to recognize the man now. There was grey in Olkvardr's beard, and the left side of his eye was sunken in. Like someone hollowed it out with a spoon, Jori thought before the sickening conclusion came to him. Olkvardr looked like a shriveled husk of himself.

"What happened?" Jori exclaimed before he could stop himself. "They took an eye?"

He had never seen Llynne angry until the man next spoke, every word spat out like a curse. "One of King Hamund's man crept in the house. In the middle of night, like a rat," said Llynne. "And when I gave chase they ran away like the cowards they are."

"You?" Aly said, surprised. "But you said everyone fell asleep after they came back. How did you row the ship by yourself?"

"I don't need a ship to give chase," said Llynne.

Jori scowled, now was not the time to be shy and elusive, and he opened his mouth to say so. Before he could, Aly placed a steadying hand on his arm, and motioned for Jori that he wanted to speak.

Aly glanced between the two of them, shaking his head in bafflement, "But how did you do it? You're only one man."

This look was evenly matched by Llynne, "You look like you've never met a selkie before." He gave Jori a look from the corner of his eye which Jori refused to acknowledge.

His mother threw herself off the cliff, he knew this for certain, he did not like to think about it, but this must be the truth. She was not a selkie.

"But I haven't!" Aly insisted, "Unless you mean the figurehead on the Plucky? That's made of wood." He pointed in the general direction where their ship was docked, as if by pointing it would make clear what Llynne was implying.

"Did you not tell him? It is quite a big secret to keep away from your partner."

Partner? Jori and Aly exchanged confused looks at that. "What are you implying, Llynne?" Aly said, and he had watched Aly do his little mathematical calculations first under Hari's tutelage and then by himself to recognize that expression. A minute frown, a flex of his fingers, and wrinkling of his brow. "Are you saying... are you saying that Captain Amard is a selkie?"

"You two compliment each other very—," Llynne said.

"Selkies are women!"

"Are there any odd bits of your childhood that didn't make sense to you? Did it not puzzle you how fast your father can sail his ship? How often he was home?"

He refused to acknowledge that Llynne made a point. Captain Amard had somehow sailed all the way to Yichan and back, because Madam Zhao had said that she'd met him. Jori refused to believe it, Madam Zhao had met Captain Amard through stories, nothing more.

"He never sailed far," Jori said flatly.

"The little songs he sang, how people stopped and listened—"

His father had a lovely voice and he had never sung in any fancy concert hall or palaces instead regaling the crowds that gathered to hear him in the streets. They had not paid him in gold or silver coins but in open doors and warm hearths.

"He was a good singer."

"How the Plucky returned to you and how your mother—"

Llynne had to remind him of that day, how the Plucky sailed into the harbor without any sailors and swept away his dreams. But he could not forgive Llynne for bringing up how Mina had died.

"She threw herself off a cliff!" Jori shouted, "She died! You are no seer, to be rubbing salt into—"

"A selkie skin can be freely shared. Is that a hard thing to believe, after all you've seen, Jori? Your mother took your father's selkie skin and went to search for him."

He refused to believe Llynne, it was ridiculous. If this was so then his father would have told Jori of his heritage. But the man had not, not even once, encouraged Jori to take to the sea. He scowled, and snapped, "Then where is my selkie skin? Do the children of such unions not have such a thing except for some sailing prowess? Selkies do not sail. You cannot tell me lies to my face and expect me to stand peacefully. I came to get answers from you Llynne, and I don't appreciate being dragged along."

"You don't have a selkie skin yet."

"And when do you expect such a thing to appear?"

"Your father did not tell you because he was like any other man in this situation. It is not a pleasant topic, to tell one's child that they may never truly feel at home on land or on sea."

He had a tavern he loved and he was willing to spend his entire life there. Llynne was a liar. Before he could say anything Aly spoke up from where he stood silent, "Did Captain Amard take Jori's selkie skin with him?"

This smile he did not like at all, it was a seer smile, and came with its price. "You ask an interesting question Aly. Jori's selkie skin is not with Captain Amard."

"Where is it?"

"Aly stop entertaining his madness."

"The land children of the selkies gain their skin opposite to how their parents shed theirs."

This sentence somehow made sense to Aly, because his eyes widened minutely and he took several steps backward before sitting down on the floor with a thud. Jori eyed him, then the knowing look on Llynne's face and decided he had enough of riddles and answers that only brought on headaches. He pulled the horn out from under his coat and held it out to Llynne. "Do you know anything about this?"

This shook Aly out of whatever stupor he was under, "Captain Amard wrote about a moot—" Aly began.

Then they all jumped as the figure in the bed stirred and cracked open one blue eye. "Not just any moot, this is the world ending moot, the one before the great Ragnarök of all sailors."

Llynne looked as if he was about to burst into tears, Aly simply looked bemused, and Jori. Well, he hated ruining the theatrics but the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, "You've got to tell me what a Ragnarök is before I take this seriously."