Ash did not want to join Caspian. For one, the crow's nest loomed dozens of feet above, and the only way to reach it was a rope ladder. Even if she'd seen people scaling them, she couldn't shake the idea that she'd slip against the flexible material and plummet to her death.

The second, and more pressing, issue was that the nest had little space. She'd be up there, far too close to Caspian, unable to escape his biting banter, all while the memory of walking in on him played in her mind.

For some reason, though, giving in to the concerns felt like a loss of some kind. Perhaps because it was Caspian who had thrown her cowardice in her face. He was also the one who knew how to most unnerve her, and he relished in it. Facing him and proving his accusations wrong somehow felt like a challenge. It lit a fire in her belly, urging her onward.

If she was going to forsake any chance at returning to a normal life, it would mean she'd be even further entwined with the Nightwrath Pirates. She should get used to their biggest annoyance.

She turned to Willow to tell her so, and she found the other girl scrutinizing her. Willow was no stranger to the tense relationship between Caspian and Ash. "I can stay here. Or we could go back to sleep."

"Come on, Willow, this is something you'll want to see," Caspian said.

"It's fine. I'll come with you," Ash said. "If this something is so great, I want to see it, too."

Although Willow still seemed weary, she nodded. "Alright."

Willow started up the rope ladder first, moving with the ease of someone who had done this multiple times. Ash followed behind with much more difficulty. The rope wanted to tangle around her legs, and the sudden give of the material holding her stole her breath multiple times. Finally, she arrived at the top with the others, taking deep, shaky breaths.

Caspian beamed. "About time you made it. I thought it would pass before you arrived."

Ash was too busy realizing how poor her stamina truly was to notice Caspian's implications. Willow, thankfully, caught it. "What would pass?"

Caspian sank to the base of the crow's nest and patted the spot beside him. Willow took it. Even though Ash sat beside Willow, she was only inches away from sitting by Caspian as well. The circular structure was too small to provide much distance. A piece of parchment—which was missing a section from the bottom—and a notebook separated her from Caspian. A piece of charcoal rested upon an open page of the book. She thought the lines scrawled across the page were meant to form the base of a portrait, but she wasn't sure.

"It's the middle of the sixth lune, and we're on the southern end of the Bowman," Caspian said, as if that explained everything.

It must have for Willow because, with a gasp, she turned her eyes to the sky. "Why didn't you wake me?"

"It doesn't seem I needed to." Caspian grinned at the scowl he received before craning his own head back.

Ash shifted in her spot and looked upward. Seeing nothing, she frowned at Willow, but her friend was oblivious. She cleared her throat.

"What? Oh, right, I'm sorry," Willow said, smiling sheepishly at Ash's confusion. "The Bowman is another name for the Aratha constellation."

Aratha—the goddess of combat and the wild. The stars that people claimed formed a person with a bow had been given this name in her honor. Ash could personally never make out constellations, but she knew where she was meant to look. She'd never heard of people calling the star formations by anything but their gods-honoring names, but she supposed some places wouldn't.

Places like Caeleria.

It occurred to her that she had no idea where anyone on the ship was from.

She didn't feel it polite to suddenly ask that, so instead she focused on their current topic. "And what happens at the middle of the sixth lune?"

Willow pointed toward a star brighter than all the others: the Guide, or guiding star. Ash had been told as a child that as long as you walked toward that star, a person would always find the place they were meant to be. Many children's tales liked to focus on how where you were meant to be was rarely the place you wanted to be.

Other legends spoke of how even the gods consulted this mythical star, somehow discerning who they had to choose as Dreamwoven next.

"If you are at the right place at this time of the sol, you're guaranteed to see flying stars around the Guide," she explained. "Nobody knows why. Some think it's the greatest who passed in the last sol ascending to some higher Slumber."

Ash understood the wonder now. It was a once-a-sol event, and only people in certain areas would see it. Those in, say, Eloina wouldn't. Her own investment in the coming event spiked, and she found herself scanning the sky for a streak of light.

"When does it start?" she asked.

Willow grinned, though she didn't look at her. "It should be any minute now."

It took perhaps three before Willow's excited gasp sent Ash's wandering gaze back to the Guide. Blazing lights flickered into existence a small distance from the Guide before soaring across the sky, leaving a brilliant trail behind it. The star arced through the sky for a handful of seconds before vanishing into the night.

At least two dozen others followed, and each imbued the silvery color with a different hue. Part of her was sure the crossing light trails tried to form something, though she couldn't say what.

Ash didn't realize how silent the crow's nest had gone until the last shooting star disappeared. She continued to watch, afraid that one would appear when she wasn't looking—

"Boo!"

Ash flinched hard enough that it hurt, and Willow released a high-pitched squeak. Caspian, on the other hand, doubled over laughing.

"You should have seen your faces!" he howled.

Willow scowled and swatted at his arm. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?"

Caspian flashed her a smile. "You know you adore me, though. After all, I did make sure you saw the Mid-Sol Shower."

As Willow went on a tangent on why that did not excuse him being a 'sod-bucket', Caspian tried to pry out a thank-you from her. Ash watched the exchange, bemused and content to be forgotten about so she could observe. The two had a similar easiness that Willow had with Linden, and the fondness in Caspian's expression was that of a pestering brother.

Perhaps noticing her stare, Caspian's attention shifted to her. He raised a brow, and his teasing smile shifted into a smirk. He leaned closer, one elbow resting on each knee.

"How about you, Cinders?"

Caspian had a needling way of making every question sound like a challenge, but Ash couldn't imagine how anything here could be. Maybe he was just daring her to fight back her instinct to squirm away from him.

It was the only thing that made sense, so Ash straightened her spine and stared directly into his eyes. "It was beautiful."

Caspian's eyes glinted, almost like she'd fallen for some trap—ugh, what was wrong with him?—and he started to speak. Before a word could come out, the lightness of his demeanor faded away, a sudden seriousness replacing it. He shot to his feet and toward the other end of the crow's nest, not caring about Willow's and Ash's personal space. She got a face full of his thigh as he leaned over the edge.

"Emis is coming," Caspian said.

"Who?"

Without answering Ash's question, Caspian hopped over the edge and clambered down the rope ladder.

Unfortunately for her quest for an answer, Willow scrambled to follow him down. Sighing, Ash did the same. It would be her only way to find out what was so important about this "Emis" person.

As she climbed down, her eyes darted to the hatch. A person arriving must mean they were coming out from below, right? Except it was as still as last she had seen it, and she didn't know any crew members by the name Emis.

A hum shook the air, drawing her eyes to the opposite side of the ship. Her foot slipped off the next step, but thankfully, she was already at the bottom.

One of the light stones pulsed with a light far brighter than normal. When its light retracted, it left behind words spelled out in glowing cerulean light.

Dreamer's will be done.

What did that mean, and why was it lingering in the air?

As if reading her mind, Willow leaned over and whispered, "It's the code so that we know it's Emis coming through. That light stone is enchanted to act as a permanent gateway between two locations. Don't freak out when you see him. He's—"

Before she could finish, there was a much brighter flash than the previous pulsing light. Wincing, Ash twisted to protect her eyes.

"Ah, so you were on duty tonight, Caspian?" The deep, gravelly voice drew her attention forward once more. After blinking away the spots, she got a clear view of the speaker.

Willow had been right in her attempt to warn Ash. Panic flared before she managed to shove it back down. The bronze-skinned man before her had a familiar ethereal beauty, and deep gold marks curved down his face like gentle paint strokes.

Emis was a Scion, but he was one the others knew. He had to be like Sebile, then, except he hadn't been at the Haven.

Curiosity flared, eating away at her initial fear. She kept her questions in, though. Not only did she not want to come off as rude, but Willow had supplied her with answers any other time something strange like this occurred. If she just waited, Ash was sure the same would happen with this Scion.

"Emis." Caspian offered the man a smile. It was somewhere between the warm one he gave his friends and the mocking one he loved to fling at Ash. Civil, she decided. "It has been some time since we've seen you on our ship."

Emis nodded. "Yes, things have been quiet on my end, thank the Dreamer. How did things with my last tip go?"

To Ash's shock, Caspian swept his arm in a gesture at her. "She's right here, all safe and sound."

"What?" she asked. "What do you mean I'm his last tip?" Even as the words left her mouth, her mind churned with what she did know. The Nightwraths had been looking for her aboard Sabin's ship, and she had never found out where they got that information. She peered more closely at Emis, as if the answer would be scrawled within the golden strokes across his skin.

"Emis here, unlike Sebile, is still living in Lusabrim."

The new voice had everyone shifting their attention. Lorica leaned over the railing outside her cabin. She smiled down at them.

"Like Sebile, though, he's not loyal to them or condones the way they treat humans. As such, he's been so gracious as to provide us with tips the Scions receive about marked humans." She quirked a brow at him. "I take it you have more information?"

"Yes. It's in regards to the..." Emis glanced at the others, frowning. "The other issue. I would have been here sooner, but after your quick reaction to save this young girl, the Scions have tripled their efforts to find the leak. This was my first chance to get away."

Lorica nodded, first to herself, and then at Emis. "Come on into my office then."

"I'm glad they got you to safety," Emis said to Ash before strolling to Lorica's cabin.

"I had really hoped the latest string of tips wouldn't put Emis under suspicion," Willow said once he was gone. She sighed and leaned against the railing.

Caspian shrugged as he joined her. "He may have to let a few slip through. It's horrible, but we save far less cursed humans if he's killed."

Once Ash realized what he was saying, her stomach twisted. It was a practical, if cruel, outlook. The Scions would get their hands on innocent people and kill them. Which, if they were such a problem, the Scions should have been controlling their own people's abhorrent behavior. But Emis could be protected if he allowed it.

Willow's wrinkled expression showed she felt the same disgust at the thought.

"I don't like it, either," Caspian said, frowning at them both. "It's up to him and Captain Lorica in the end, but it is unfortunately the safest option."

While the two of them talked about potential strategies for Emis, Ash sat down on the stairs and rested her head against the side of the ship. She didn't feel like she had a right to add to their conversation, and she didn't want to return below deck without Willow. The lull of ship and crash of the waves soothed her mind as she tried to piece together information from Willow and Caspian's conversation.

The Modika worked closely with the Shades, who seemed to be a group who collected information. Her guess was that they went out to research or listen in on rumors. It explained how Emis was so well informed. Some Scion named Frayel had helped the Nightwraths at one point but retracted her support when the Scions grew too suspicious, but she still kept their secrets...

She must have dozed off at some point because the sound of footsteps on the stairs startled her awake.

"May the stars light your steps," Lorica said from above her.

"Yours as well," Emis responded, much closer. He stepped onto the stairs she sat on, and he smiled kindly when she jerked in surprise. "Sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you."

She smiled back, but in her grogginess, it felt goofy.

Emis chuckled. "I hope to see everyone safe and sound when I have a chance to return." He stepped in front of the light stone and raised a hand in farewell. Everyone gave their own goodbyes, and then they watched as the light flashed cerulean. When it faded, Emis was gone.

Lorica sighed. "Everyone, go get some sleep. Yes, Caspian, including you," she said before he could form a protest. "I'll watch for the rest of the night. I don't think I'd get any sleep, anyway."

Although he still looked unhappy, Caspian pressed his lips together and nodded. "As you say, Captain. Would you like for Garman and me to come to your quarters as soon as midday arrives?"

Ash twisted to see what may have been causing Caspian's concern. Lorica's brows nearly touched from how furrowed they were, and her dark eyes wouldn't tear from the spot Emis had stood.

"Yes, that would be wise. But as I said, go get some rest, you three—"

Another surge of cerulean light lit the night. Ash shouted, and something hard thudded near the ship's center.

"The Modika!" She recognized Emis' voice, though it was little more than a pained croak. "They're coming."

*****

More lore stuff gradually coming through!  Now the pretty stars have history around them as well.  But why stick to stargazing when we have some drama kicking in >:D Apparently being out at sea doesn't protect the Nightwraths from the Modika.  Protect your doorways better, Emis!

Let me know your thoughts on the chapter down below, and if you enjoyed it, don't forget to vote and comment! I also have a discord open to anyone who wants to join, and we have a section there to discuss the book :D Let me know if you want to join!