The days passed. Every day I knew that the trail of my father’s murderer was getting colder. I often wondered if I should just go to Medolina immediately to try to find him, since that is where he had come from, but I decided against it. I couldn't be sure.

  We held my father’s funeral in a haze. I could barely remember any of it except for how strangely people treated my mother. The people of the vilge were growing cold towards her. They said words like “cursed” and “payback”, but they always cmmed up as soon as I actually got close enough to hear anything.

  I started to learn magic from Ilia and Ana Abya. It was fascinating, and it kept my mind busy. Elina would come over to Ana Abya’s house too, sometimes. I could tell she was very serious about Timo, the way this outgoing and confident girl would turn shy and deferential in Ana Abya’s presence.

  Once we were walking home from her house when we heard an old woman shouting outside our home.

  “That’s right you bitch! You finally got what was coming to you! Now your big pale man is not here to protect you any more, soon we will come and burn your house down!”

  We ran to see what was happening.

  Aunt Nana stood patiently over an old woman with light brown skin. She was shouting and pointing at our mother who stood in the doorway of our home. Her expression was bnk.

  “Madam Lona, let me walk you home,” Aunt Nana said calmly.

  The woman continued to scream. It was Lona, a cranky old woman from the vilge. She had only one son for family, and was only really tolerated by most people. She had always seemed to have a particur disdain for me and Elina, but it had never bothered us much. She had never shown us so much outright vitriol before.

  We walked past her and to our mother. She shouted and screamed for a while about revenge against my mother, and finally she defted like all the air was gone out of her body. Aunt Nana helped her walk back into the vilge.

  “Mum, what was that about?” Elina asked.

  “She thinks I killed her son,” my mother said bluntly. “She’s a crazy old dy.”

  ***

  I tumbled the blue ring between my fingers. It was the shiniest, most beautiful thing I had ever seen. My father had given it to me when I got my first blood and became a woman.

  “You’re growing up now, Talia,” his voice was calm as always, but den with emotion. “There is something I want you to have.”

  I was excited. I thought perhaps it would be a new cotton dress, since mine was starting to cut into my armpits and rise above my knees.

  “This thing is very precious, and I want you to keep it, and never wear it around people.”

  I was confused. Then he pulled out the ring. It had a golden band and a big blue rectangur jewel in the centre of it.

  As soon as I saw it I knew that it was not like the gss rings some of the merchant’s daughters would wear down at the harbour. It was something much more precious. I guessed that it was worth more than our whole hut and everything else in it. I wondered where he had gotten it, if he had stolen it from someone.

  “This ring is very important to me, Talia. In case something ever happens to me, I want you to have it.”

  He handed it to me and I held it between my fingers. The cool metal felt smooth and polished. It was the most carefully crafted and symmetrical piece of jewellery I had ever seen.

  “I know it’s worth a lot, but I never want you to sell it. Keep it for yourself and your children, it will never go down in value. Only sell it if you or your sister are in danger.”

  I nodded. I put it on slowly and it fell down loosely around my bony child’s finger.

  “Where did you get it, dad?” I had asked with an awed voice.

  “It was given to me by someone… Someone very important.”

  There was a heavy pause as my father stared into the distance. Then he continued:

  “I’ve built a special floorboard for you to hide it inside. Try not to take it out too often to look at it. This ring is insurance, above all.”

  I nodded. This responsibility felt tremendous on my small child’s shoulders.

  ***

  Twenty-six days after my father died there was a frantic knock on our door. I went to open it, and Timo stood outside. He was out of breath.

  “I saw him! He’s in Medolina!”

  I immediately knew who he was referring to. The red-headed man.

  “Timo!” Elina called from the inside. “I’m so happy you’re back, but were you not supposed to be away for months?”

  “I had to come back to tell you! I saw your father’s murderer in Medolina.”

  “Come in!” My mum called from inside.

  We all sat at the table, cups of coffee in our hands. Timo told us what he had seen.

  “I had been out drinking with the sailors from the Medoran ship. Some of them were Medoran, but others were Isnders. I got tired early, and I wanted to go home to bed. As I was approaching the ship, I saw the boatswain standing with a shady figure and an old dy with light orange hair on the gangway to the ship. As they walk past me I see an oil mp light up the man’s face. His hair was red and his lower face was scarred just like the man you had described. I tried to grab him, but he ran away. I followed him down some streets, shouting for people to help me catch him, but no-one did. Finally he disappeared into the night and when I returned the old dy was gone too.”

  He sighed into his coffee and continued.

  “Me and the other Isnders tried to get more information out of the boatswain, but it was no use, all the Medorans stood with him. It was only with the help of the other Isnders that I was even able to break my work contract to come here and tell you about this.”

  We all sat in silence for a moment, then I simply said:

  “Then I have to go to Medolina.”

  ***

  “In spite of everything, I’m happy you’re going,” Ilia said. “I’ve always wanted to tell my big sister that I’m alive, but she can’t read. I was worried if I would send her a letter she would get the wrong person to read it and the Medoran guard would come find me. She must have been worried to death about me.”

  I held the letter in my hands. It was written in the Northern script, which my father had taught me to read as a child.

  I was fascinated by the practice. I used to spend hours spelling out words and numbers in the sand. I had even gone to the mayor’s house and asked to read the books they had in the Northern script. They had three: the ws of the Midway Isnds, a devotional book to the Fathers and Mothers, the gods of the North, and a small book of the history of Coconut Isnd. They were all very dry and boring, but I visited the house many times just to read these books again and again. Now it was convenient, since me reading this letter would hopefully get me a pce to stay in Medolina.

  “Now remember, no-one can ever see the contents of this satchel,” Ana Abya said, as she packed herbs and other magic components into a neat leather bag filled with small pockets. “Many witch hunters know what to look for to persecute us, even if they don’t know the purpose of the things they see.”

  I nodded.

  “Thank you for everything,” I told the two women.

  “Oh, and there is one more thing,” Ilia suddenly said.

  “Yes, what is it?”

  “When you get to Medolina, don’t tell people your name is Talia. Pick something else.”

  “Why not?”

  “That was the princess’s name.”

  ***

  It was the night before I was supposed to go. Timo had guaranteed us passage on a merchant ship from Moon Isnd leaving for the North the early morning. He was coming with me to Medolina.

  “I have heard how some sailors speak,” he had told me. “I don’t want to imagine what they do if there is an unaccompanied woman on the ship. I will go with you to Medolina, and then I will work off our fares during the rest of the voyage. Once you are there, Ilia’s sister will help you.”

  “You’re so kind,” Elina said, beaming.

  I wanted to tell him that I could take care of myself, but I knew that against a ship full of men there was a very good chance that I could not. I thanked him deeply for the offer.

  “Talia, can I talk to you outside,” my mother said in a strained voice.

  I nodded and followed her outside.

  The night was cool and silent. The only sound was that of a few bugs and frogs, and from a distance, you could hear the crashing of ocean waves. We walked together a little while away from the cottage.

  “I don’t want you to go to Medora.”

  The moon was new that night. I could not read my mother’s face well. I stayed silent.

  “Nothing good can come of it. We are not in danger here. That man only wanted to hurt your father, not us. We are safe.”

  “But mum, we have to get justice!”

  “Justice or revenge?” she asked straight-forwardly.

  “Both!”

  “Listen, my heart, revenge will get you nowhere. I know it.”

  “How would you know?”

  “Remember how I told you that old Lona said that I killed her son.”

  “Yes.”

  “Well I did.”

  I stopped in my tracks. Mum stopped too.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I killed him.”

  “Why?”

  “He had killed the man I loved. Before your father there was a man on the isnd. His name was Aboye. We grew up together, and we fell in love when we were only thirteen years old. We were inseparable, from thirteen until the day that he died at nineteen.”

  I balked to think of my mother ever loving anyone but my dad.

  “One day this other man, Oso, Lona’s son. He was a terrible and huge man. He got it into his head that Aboye had slighted him in some way. Something about a game of chance. He was a real bully, but Aboye would not be intimidated and kept standing up to Oso. One morning my love Aboye was found beaten to death at the edge of the vilge. Everyone knew it was Oso who did it, but no-one could prove it and no-one stood up to him.”

  She paused for a brief moment. The silence was deafening.

  “So one day, I knew Oso would go fishing alone. I hid under his nets in his boat and waited for him to be far out at sea, where no-one else could see him. Then I sprang out from behind him and jabbed a knife into his throat. I thought he would die immediately, but there was a great scuffle, and he tipped the boat over and pulled us both into the water. Finally he died and I was able to swim back to the shore.”

  I took a deep breath. Neither of my parents were the people I had thought they were.

  “Then the same thing happened as it had with Aboye. Everyone suspected me of killing Oso, but no-one could prove I had done it. No-one had seen me swim back to the isnd. Some people said I had done it with magic.”

  She ughed.

  “As if such a thing exists. People avoided me, for a while. Eventually there was no-one left on the isnd who missed Oso at all, except for his old mother. I suspect even his brother was sort of gd that he was gone. Still, no man on the isnd would have me and I was fine with that. I only wanted Aboye anyway.”

  I was confused. I always thought my parents were made for each other.

  “Then years ter your father arrived, with those other pale people, and well, he was very handsome. Soon we had you and people started to forget about the whole Oso thing. After he died, I suspect some people have brought it back to the front of their mind, but since no-one cared enough about the old bully then, I don’t think they will care very much now either.”

  “But mum, what does that have to do with me now?”

  She sighed.

  “I am gd that Oso is dead, so that he is no longer here to bother us and hurt us. But Talia, I have to tell you, his death did nothing to help me. My revenge, my justice, it never gave me any peace of mind. Every day I still wake up thinking about my Aboye.”

  The cool silence sat between us a little longer, then I said:

  “I’m still going.”