S. Welles - To Ocean's End

Two inflatable crafts called kernels were blown up and fitted with motors that ran on corn biofuel, then lowered into the water behind the stern. Ed, Ted, and Cancer boarded one. Dyne, Jessie, and Mido boarded the other. Cancer tagged along in case anyone ashore needed his medical attention. No one had spotted any locals, nor did they expect any, but there was always that possibility. Even though Jessie was still mildly intimidated by him, she welcomed his aid.

They rode the small swells in subdued silence as they made their way to land, then disembarked and dragged the kernels onto the sandy shore. Jessie watched the men secure the crafts, then led the way through the once-familiar town, stopping to pluck two white lilies from a large patch on the edge of tangled brush. How fitting for her culture that white lilies had managed to regrow first… Jessie held the flowers to her aching chest and redirected her route to the cemetery on the other side of the main road. Once again, it felt like her feet had minds their own as they slipped into automatic pilot, heading down a too-familiar path.

The cemetery was covered in simple tombstones and wild grass. Ironically, this place was the greenest part of Paphos. She navigated the rows of wind-worn stones. Most of them were in good shape; just a little mossy, but very few were broken or crumbled. She stopped by a pair of gravestones placed close together. The one on the left read, “Zoe Adamou 2364-2408.” The one on the right read, “Meles Adamou 2359-2410.”

Jessie brushed moss off the top of their stones and pulled a few weeds, then lay a lily on each grave. She knelt between them and her heart suddenly felt heavier, almost heavy enough to lie down and never get up again. But she resisted. The grass was cool and it wreathed her legs up to her thighs. “Geia mamá kai ton bampá. I miss you both.” Tears were far off. She felt too empty for them. She was still in shock from Paphos’ current state. On top of that, she’d had two years to come to terms with her father’s sudden death, and four for her mother’s. She and her father used to visit her mother’s grave once a month. They’d grieved but they’d made an effort to get back to life as usual as soon as possible. A friend of the family helped fill the void of mother figure, and other villagers helped pick up where she left off when it came to maintaining the orchard. The memories hurt but they were sweet, too. No one in Paphos suffered loss alone. They’d been there for Jessie when MS finally claimed her mother, and when the quasi-children had killed her father. The villagers had asked her to stay after his funeral but no one got in her way when she decided to leave. She looked around the ruined town. How differently things would’ve turned out if she’d stayed…

Mido said, “Do you need us to give you some privacy?”

“No. You’re all fine. I just need a few minutes.”

Mido and the others politely waited in silence while she talked to her parents. She was grateful for living company. It probably would’ve been too much if she’d come this far inland alone. She used English so the crew could understand her.

“I hope you two are together and happy again, wherever you are. I miss you and I’m doing my best to honor your lives. It hasn’t been easy but it’s worth the effort.” She took a deep breath. “I have something important to do now.” She faced her father’s stone. “Bampá, I wonder if it really was you who named me, or if Amphitrite had any say in it. I also wonder if you ever thought if the thing between me and sea creatures was because of her. You always smiled real big when they swam up to me. I guess I’ll never know, but that’s okay. It’s not important.”

She fell silent, lost in thought. Her father had never given her curious looks when fish flocked to her; just found it fitting. However, he’d never made a big deal of it, so neither had she, until now. How could he have foreseen that she was an avatar of a goddess, and that she’d be asked to help lift a curse. “I wish you could tell me what happened here. Did anyone we know survive?” She took in the burnt, charred land again. “I was hoping to revive the orchard but that looks impossible now.” She just stared at the land, at a loss for what to say. She’d intended to visit her parents’ graves, but she’d been expecting to have local friends with her. “God, I wish you could tell me what happened. I don’t know where I’ll go anymore. I have no home to go to. I feel so lost and stranded.” Her plans to live out her days with Mido in Paphos were no longer an option. Sure, the land would regrow in time, but she didn’t want to live in a husk of a village with a population of two. That would be too lonely.

Jessie took a fistful of grass and pulled on it without uprooting anything. She sighed. “I love you both and miss you very much. I’ll come back to visit you again one day. For now, may you both rest in peace.” She pushed to her feet and just stood there, her aching heart rooting her in place.

Ed came over and gave her a fatherly hug the same way her father used to. She hugged him tight and rode out the waves of pain. So many memories she thought she’d lost cycled through her consciousness. She latched onto each one and embraced the emotions each one had to offer. Once she felt strong enough, she let go and whispered her thanks.

“No problem, hun. Ready to go?”

Jessie nodded. Mido took one of her hands and kissed her temple. She stood before Dyne and met his serious gaze. “I’m ready as I’ll ever be to help you. I’ll do whatever it is I can to the best of my ability and see if I can help you finally lift your curse. After that? I don’t know.”

“Then let’s just take this one day at a time,” he said. “Worry about what happens after when we get there. No matter what, you’re welcome to a permanent spot on the Pertinacious if you want it.”

“Thanks. We’ll see. It’s too early to make such decisions.”

“I know. Just making you aware of your options. Ready to go back to the ship?”

“I wanna go back to town and see if I can figure out what happened. I’d like some closure if I can find it.”

“Fair enough. We’ll stay no later than sundown.”

The six of them returned to the heart of town and fanned out to gather clues. Mido stayed near Jessie as they investigated burnt homes and shops. Skeletons lay among the debris, dragging everyone’s mood down all the more. The only solace was that Jessie couldn’t identify any of them. She dared not put names to them, even when she knew who worked or lived where.

“Captain!”

Someone came running up to them from the direction of the kernels. For a second, Jessie’s heart leapt at the sight of a survivor coming to meet them, despite what he’d shouted, but then she recognized Sauna bolting towards them and her heart sank right back down.

“We all need to get back to the ship. We’ve got bad company!”

“Pirates?” Dyne said.

“Worse. Tethys.”

I led us back to the kernels and we fought the tide all the way back to the Pertinacious, then ordered Scully to the Harpy, and for everyone else to arm themselves and get below deck for now. I took back over for Rammus at the wheel. He grabbed his own sword and joined the rest below. I switched on the sound system and glared at the cargo ship headed straight for us. It had that distinctive blue hull with a gold stripe that everyone knew was part of Tethys’s ship.

“Everyone get nice and loose. That goes for you techies, Cancer, and Jessie, too. Today’s the day we put an end to this rivalry gone deadly. And Jessie, I believe you have first dibs on a dick that needs ripping off.” My crew let out a hearty cheer loud enough to make me lean away from the receiver. I checked Tethys’s location again. “We’re gonna let him come to us and invite him to die on our ship. And fair warning: they’re getting their own water show.”