One Fine Day
Chapter 12
Farewells and Beginnings
I stood on the back deck, out of everyone's way, as I gazed out over the ocean. Edmund, Lucy, and Caspian were in conference with Drinian on the best way to plot our course, while Rhince was at the helm. Eustace was in his cabin grumbling about the state of the ship. No amount of reasoning seemed to work on that boy.
We'd lost sight of the islands hours ago, and I'd been doing really well containing my grief. But as the night sky settled upon us, I found the grief much harder to contain. So I sought the solitude the back deck provided. As the fresh memory of my farewell to the girls replayed in my head, soft tears began to fall.
"It was good to have a big sister for a while," Elanor said.
I smiled. "Yes, but it is also good to be the big sister. They will look to you for guidance. Even when it is not clear, if you follow the path that Aslan has laid before you then you cannot lead them astray. And though I hope you never have need for it, I leave you this."
"Your dagger! Is it true you took out every guard in the jailhouse with this?"
I laughed lightly. "Not every guard; I did have some help." I looked over my shoulder at Edmund.
"But I… I could never use it like you. I don't know how," she said.
"Not yet, but Kohl has agreed to instruct you under the watchful eye of your mother."
"Really? Thank you, Estelle. Oops, I mean Aaralynn."
"Estelle will do just fine," I said with a smile before embracing her.
I swiped at my tears that had begun to fall more freely.
"Helene," I said. "You are the middle child, both little sister and big sister alike. As such you see things differently. Never lose that sight. And never shy from sharing that sight with others. When they do not listen, use these to show them."
"Your ink and quill set. Thank you. I will treasure them always."
"I know you will."
Saying goodbye to Elanor and Helene had been hard enough, but saying goodbye to Sol broke my heart. Reliving the memory broke it all over again.
"Pease don' go 'Stele," she pleaded with teary eyes.
I swept her into my arms one last time, wiped the tears from her eyes, and kissed her forehead through my own tears.
"Sol, my little sunshine," I said. "Do you know why I call you that?"
Sol shook her head no.
"Because that is what you are to me. When I was lost in the dark, running from the keepers, you were the light that guided me home each night. My greatest wish for you is that you never lose that light."
"I p'omise I won' but only if you stay," she bargained, making me laugh.
"My sweet girl. Do you remember the song we sang each night after they took Papa away?"
"You mean the moon song?"
"Yes the Moon Song. Every time you look to the moon sing that song and think of me. Then I will look to the same moon, sing the same song, and think of you."
"Do you p'omise?"
"I give you the sacred promise of a Queen that cannot be broken."
"But what if I forget how the song goes?"
"Then Helene and I will sing it with you," Elanor said.
"We promise," Helene added as they both stepped forward.
"You will?" Sol asked.
"Yes," Elanor Said. "Because we are sisters. All four of us."
Elanor's words had made the tears come at full force. It was such that Edmund had to step forward to help me leave. But before leaving, I removed a bracelet from my wrist and gave it to Sol to keep.
"There you are," Edmund said as he walked up behind me. I swiped quickly at my tears. Though it never did any good to try and hide my tears from Edmund; he always knew they were there. "We've been looking for you."
"Did you find her?" Lucy asked as she joined us. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine, Lu. I… I just had a promise to keep."
"What's that?" Caspian asked.
"You know, there was a time when a girl could cry in peace."
"Not when she's on a boat."
"Or when she's a Queen," Lucy added.
"And definitely not when she's my wife," Edmund said.
I laughed. "Thanks."
"So what's this promise you had to keep?" Caspian asked.
"It's not just any promise. It's the sacred promise of a Queen that cannot be broken." I looked to the night sky and they followed my gaze.
"She means the moon," Lucy said.
"Yes, what is this Moon Song you spoke of? I don't believe I've ever heard it," Edmund said.
"And you know all my songs, do you?"
"I thought I did."
There seemed to be something more to his words that he wasn't saying, but I didn't have the energy to work it out. Then again, perhaps I already knew the meaning.
"You may still," I said. "It's a cradle song from your world, or how do you say it there… A nursery rhyme? After the shock of being in a different world and of being in my younger body wore off, I told the Professor that I wanted to learn as many songs of that world as I could. He helped the only way he knew how, with books. One of the books he gave me was a collection of nursery rhymes, and the Moon Song was among them. It may be silly, but… I actually sang it for you a few times," I said to Edmund.
"Oh? Now you simply must share it," he replied.
"Oh! Yes, please, Aaralynn. Please sing for us," Lucy asked. I never could refuse her a song. So, I turned my gaze back to the moon and sang.
I see the Moon
And the Moon sees me.
The Moon sees the one
I want to see.
So God bless the Moon
And God bless me.
God bless the one
I want to see.
I finished the song and wiped the tears away.
"You're right," Edmund said solemnly. Then he added with a tease, "That is a bit silly."
"I have a right mind to push you overboard," I replied.
"That would be regicide, my dear, and Caspian would have to charge you with treason."
"Would I?" Caspian asked. "I don't know. From this angle it looks like an unfortunate but tragic accident. Queen Lucy?"
Lucy made a great show of holding back false tears. "Who… who would have thought th-that my brother, the great Just King, would be taken down by such a small wave?"
"That's just cold," Edmund said.
"It is time to face the truth, my husband," I said. "They like me more."
Caspian, Lucy, and even Edmund laughed. "Well, I can't argue with that," he said.
We were still for a moment, as we let the motion of the sea rock us, until I broke the silence. "Thank you for not leaving me alone."
"There's not much chance of that here," Caspian replied, earning more laughter.
We stayed on the back deck awhile longer talking about nothing and laughing about near everything. It was the first chance since reuniting that the four of us got to do that together. I'm not sure how long we stayed before we began to feel the effects of a long day. But when we did, Lucy and I retreated to our cabin, while Edmund and Caspian retreated to the cabin they shared with Eustace.
We awoke in the morning to a bright sun, a delicious breakfast in the galley, and a gripping Eustace.
"Are you certain you're related to him?" I whispered to Edmund during breakfast.
"I'm beginning to wonder if we should ask Mum if there's any chance she was adopted."
"Edmund!" Lucy scolded. "That's a dreadful thought."
"She's right, Edmund. You shouldn't think such thoughts about your mother," I said. "Perhaps your Aunt was the adopted one." Edmund and Caspian both laughed while Lucy pretended not to. Eustace was too busy complaining to have heard anything.
After breakfast we made our way out to the main deck, where Lucy kept eyeing me suspiciously. I knew what she was waiting for, of course, but I enjoyed pretending otherwise.
"Really, Lu, you ought to know the song as well as I do by now. "
"That might be true, if I knew ancient Avraian."
"What's that?" Caspian asked.
"It's the old language of Avra, and it was ancient in our day. I'm sure I am the only one left who knows any of it."
We'd continued to walk across the main deck while talking. Suddenly a great gust of wind caught us, and there was a chill to it. We all turned to look in the direction the wind had come from to find a looming mass of dark clouds in the distance.
"I don't like the look of those," I said.
"Captain?" Caspian asked as Drinian approached us.
"Aye," he replied. "A storm is brewing, and she's moving fast by the looks of it."
"Aaralynn, I really think you ought to ask for the sailor's blessing now," Lucy said.
"Perhaps you are right." So I continued an age old tradition and sang the Song of Blessing.
The storm was upon us by mid-morning, and she was vicious. Rain pelted the deck, and waves crashed over the side. One crewman was lost. As such, Edmund tried ordering me to stay in the cabin with Lucy. But just as I had refused the same order of my father all those years ago, I refused to listen now.
I worked alongside the rest of the crew to shovel water or secure the mast. Drinian, Rhince, and Tavros worked tirelessly at the helm to keep as straight a course as possible. During the worst of the storm, I saw four men along with Tavros at the helm together. The storm lasted for nearly two weeks, and by the end of it we'd lost half our water supply due to a leak in a few of the barrels, a third of our dry rations, all of our livestock, and the main mast. And despite their hard work, we were blown drastically off course. To top it off, for three days following the storm the air was still and the sun relentless. And land was nowhere to be seen.