On any other day, the Cove of Elo could easily be mistaken for one of Heavenly Halls. The tall, lean rocks on the half-moon shaped beach would provide shelter from the shimmering white sand. Here, at the edge of the world, the only companions to break through the rustling waves would be the seagulls and their big brown brother, their shrill squawking a signal that a fresh meal was swimming close to the shore. Sadly, today the pirates chose a new Pirate Boyar, and the beach was closer to resembling all Seven Hells combined.

It was one thing to stand still for hours, soaking in sweat, but quite another to be squeezed into a crowd, unable to move, while the odours of the surrounding people ranged from musky and sour to bathed in urine for a fortnight.

In the ten feet she had moved, she had watched the sun climb high in the sky. Little fluffy clouds had come and gone, providing little to no relief from the leaden heat. So far, all she had learned was the variety with which the Jade Islanders lisped.

Except for Nagi the Scorian, the people aboard the Kraken's Kiss had an accent that reminded her most of her father's. The Damned Serpents made their sentences sound like a rapid string of s's. The all-female crew of the Jade Daughters spoke as though they were stepping on creaky stairs in the middle of the night, not wanting to wake anyone up. Their soft voice lured men into studying their mouth and tongue to pass the time. 

A sudden gap in the crowd appeared. Alex didn't get the chance to move; a broad man with a lousy black curl on his otherwise barren head bumped into her side and stepped on her toes. As the pain in her ribs intensified, the God of Wrath attempted to enter her mind, but she resisted. The pirate had knives hanging from every one of his four belts. Picking a fight with him would have grave consequences.

A hand landed on her shoulder.

The soft voice of a Jade Daughter with lips as red as the rose on her belt spoke, "Miss, in for some flipping?"

"Why not." Alex shrugged. She had seen others play the shell-throwing game. It was simple, and all she had to lose was moving a place backwards.

"Fish or tail?" the Jade Daughter asked.

"The maiden," Alex said, masking her own Greenlander tongue to avoid being called a Greenie or worse.

If the woman was in any way annoyed or surprised by Alex's answer, she did not show it. She tossed her shell up and smacked it onto the back of her hand.

"Fish," she groaned as she revealed the outcome: a maiden picking a coconut from a palm tree.

Alex smiled. "A win for me."

She hadn't counted on the crowd shifting ahead. The Jade Daughter's belt brushed against Alex's fingers as she slipped past, moving not just one but a whole two feet.

"Hey!" Alex cried out.

The woman blinked her long eyelashes, feigning innocence. "What—want a rematch?"

"Yeah, two out of three. We s..." She considered her words. "We begin anew."

"Very well. Fish or tail?"

"Tail."

Alex lost the first game, but not the second. As she was contemplating whether the shell would land on its inner, painted, side or the rough outer side, the crowd moved again. She had the opportunity to pass her competitor but resisted Greed's temptation. Though her ribs thanked her, the Jade Daughter disappeared behind pirate One-Curl.

Immediately a new player popped up. A man with an old paisley red head kerchief winked at her. He had long passed the age that walking around bare-chested would attract female attention, but it didn't stop him from showing off the long chain of triangular pointy teeth around his neck. "Wanna play?"

"Flip it, old man," Alex said without a care in the world.

"I ain't flipping no shells. Not with you, anyway." He didn't lisp, nor did he have any of the Jade Islandic facial features. His skin had an olive tone to it but seemed tanned instead of Northern Scorian. "Tell me what crew I'm from."

"Are you a Greenlander?" Alex asked.

"Wrong. There are no pirates in The Greenlands." He let out a thunderous laugh. "Except for those plundering the cities."

"Then where are you from?" she asked, ignoring the snickering and mockery around her.

"My past is not important. My present is what we're gambling about. If you're still interested—that is."

"I am."

There was a glint in the man's light blue eyes.

Alex bit her lip, studying him. He had five belts, the symbol of his crew carefully hidden behind the leather tube that once resembled a scabbard. She squinted. There was a slight discolouring on the leather, a vague outline of a fin.

General George had mentioned a crew called the Silent Sharks, but it was both too obvious and had too many s's for her to dare say it out loud.

"Well... what do you think?"

"You like hunting." She gestured at the chain. "You earned them in a fight, but you're either too poor or prideful to let go of..." The past... his history... the man he once was... all sentences she couldn't say. "Who you were. You're no Eel of Hangman—they're too wealthy." She sighed, lifting her shoulders. "I give up—a Driftwood Dog?"

"Wrong. Switch with me, Greenie."

"What!" she exclaimed as he passed her by.

"I know you're a Greenie. I was once like you, avoiding those s's. You may look the part more than I do, lassy, but even the air you breathe has a foreign accent to it."

"Aye," said One-Curl.

Several others nodded or lisped a yes through their teeth.

"I thought you didn't want to talk about your past?" she asked Strange-Tooth-Chain.

He held his hands up. "You got me there."

"I want a rematch."

"Not interested. This spot is better than yours."

The man's position didn't interest her. She wanted information. "What if you get more than my spot?"

"I'm listening."

"You'll get my shell," she offered.

"You won't be able to vote."

She kept her voice low. "I'm new to this whole pirating business. I'd give my shell to whoever has the biggest pile anyway."

"Are you that desperate to enter the cave?"

"No, I want to get to know a fellow foreigner."

One-Curl darted a look over his shoulder; other eyes burnt her back.

"How can she not know him?" an older woman said, leaning towards a bearded man.

"Girl, I enjoy a good gamble as much as every man and woman here, but the shell is sacred. It's not a prize to be won, it represents this community, the pirate identity."

One-Curl chimed in, "The kings, queens, great boyars, lords, boyars, and khans of this world are all born into power. They don't need to be capable to rule or have the people's best interest at heart. As long as their kin had the right title, they'll be the ones cracking the whips. We are different. We choose our leader. When we enter that cave our belts become meaningless. Every single one of us has one vote, and one vote alone. It's what works—it's what makes us strong."

"But I thought all a Pirate Boyar did was cast a die."

"True," Strange-Tooth-Chain said. "But the Gods recognise their power. They are the link between the realm above and the realms down here. The die decides what the Gods want us to do."

The Gods of Sin, not their virtuous siblings. She bit her tongue. The pirates would stab her where she stood if she made such a statement.

Seven prayers she prayed in name of the God of Patience, and seven more to the Goddess of Temperance for making the heat more bearable. Just as grey clouds gathered and thin drops fell from the sky, the mass thinned quickly, and Alex was able to sneak between One-Curl and Strange-Tooth-Chain, and even passed the Jade Daughter. She raised her head and looked at the ceiling in awe.

Torches on the jagged mud-brown walls bathed the cave in an orange hue. She could still feel drops, their source not the sky but the smooth icicle-like rocks on the roof. They provided a cool alternative to the otherwise hot and humid atmosphere.

She moved forward for as much as she could, her feet growing wet from stepping into unavoidable pools of water. And the place stunk, worse than a pirate's sweat, worse than stagnant water.

Tired of not being able to see anything, she climbed onto a cone-shaped rock. It was too sharp to sit on, but she placed her feet carefully on two flat stones sticking out.

The view was worth the sharp pain in her ribs. Hundreds of heads away, a platform as large as the royal table in Sunstone Castle rose above the crowd. A red veiled woman sat kneeling by a man lying motionlessly.

"Move a little, Greenie," Pan ordered her. He barely waited for her to shift her foot to a more uncomfortable spot. Nor did he seem to care that she clung to the sharp point as she nearly lost her balance. "I'm done smelling Boyar Kalin. I wanna see him too."

"That's your dead Pirate Lord?" She crinkled her nose.

"Yeah, the next Boyar has to bury him on the beach."

"The poor sod," Alex said, practically gagging.

Pan raised his almost invisible eyebrow. He laughed. "It's considered an honour, but yeah, it's gross. He has been dead for over a week. I'm surprised he hasn't liquified yet."

"There are balms that prevent decomposition." A fact Lana had told over dinner a few moons ago. She knew more details, but this was neither the time nor the place. "Who's the woman?"

"Boyarina Neja, his wife," he said. "Legend has it they were born on the same day within the hour aboard the Storm's Eye. Fate and a rough childhood brought them to the Ambrose Warriors, which they left shortly before the crew got lost in the waves. They founded the Hallowed Harpoons and sailed a million sea miles as they visited every harbour between Batharah and the Ician Everplains. Always together, never apart longer than five minutes."

"Sounds romantic."

Pan snorted. "It sounds disturbing to me. Imagine someone clinging to you, watching your every move. Yuck! I'd rather throw myself overboard. It was all her too, you know. She was his shadow, not the other way around."

"So he finally found freedom," Alex said, stifling a giggle. She cleared her throat. "Is Neja a candidate to become the new Boyar?"

Pan shook his head. "I heard the Captain of the Hallowed Harpoons says she doesn't want to, said she never wants to sail another mile. She'll stay in the cove until the end of her days."

Pity settled in Alex's stomach. Kalin had been the woman's entire life, and now that he was gone, she was reducing herself to becoming a ghost, a nobody.

"But I'm a candidate." Pan gave a sly smile.

"I'll vote for you," Alex said.

"Greenie..." Pan sighed. "You can't vote for your own crew. It would be a conflict of interest."

"You pirates are strange."

Pan bumped his side into her, which made her falter. "You're a pirate too, Greenie."

When Neja finally rose, the buzzing of a thousand moving lips halted. She removed her veil and draped it over the old Boyar's chest. Her hair was black and fell over her face like a second veil. She was younger than Alex expected her to be, closer to her mother's age than her grandmother's.

"Forty-two years." Her voice filled the cave, her words clear, as though she was standing nine feet away instead of ninety. "After a journey of forty-two years in this world, your Boyar has set sail to the Heavenly Halls. I cannot believe he's gone. It seems like yesterday that I stood in this very cave, witnessing him gather a historical seven hundred seventy-seven shells. Time slipped between our fingers like sand, briefly touching but never managing to take a hold of it.

"Oh, how I wish I would have acted differently when he spoke of heavy, tired bones. I mocked him when he pointed out later that day that the Gods were showing him his path, halo after halo marking the waves. It was already too late when he stopped eating worldly food, his heartbeat stopping for finger snaps at a time." A sob echoed through the cave. "Nine days ago, he spoke of a crowned black woman standing by our bed, reaching her hand out to him. He fell asleep, and I could not wake him up again. I tried and tried, shaking him and..."

Pan let out a soft groan. "Mum warned she would take forever, enjoy her last moment in the spotlight," he whispered. "Yeah... yeah... Kalin is dead. Sob, sob... let's move on. Elect a new Boyar. We'll drink Palm Tears in both their names."

"The God of Patience will reward you," Alex whispered back.

"Yes, mum." He rolled his red eyes.

Alex slumped next to Pan as Neja told stories about her husband burning the fleet of Queen Raja, and how they miraculously survived a maelstrom. Kalin had fought sharks, plundered every notable Greenlander coast town. Then, Neja clapped her hands and brought them to her chin. "As the sun sets for the old Boyar, the sun rises for a new one. Candidates of each crew, present yourselves."

Pan lowered himself to the ground. Pirates left and right turned to their sides to make room for him. Then they turned to their other side to let a two-belted Jade Daughter pass.

Soon a whole swarm of people joined Neja at the front, including Strange-Tooth-Chain and a three-belted Damned Serpent woman who had stood close to Alex before entering the cave.

Upon seeing Kalin's corpse, one man dived backwards to hurl. A five-belted woman with an orange drawing on her arm replaced him. They weren't the only ones who swapped crew members.

Neja embraced Strange-Tooth-Chain and a few others. Pan, she skipped.

"The Bloody Eels have brought their helmsman, Learta." She stopped by a man with such a large scar on his chest it was visible from Alex's rock. "Brave, honest, and strong-willed. A vote for Learta is a vote for tradition. I approve."

She continued with the Jade Daughter. "Kind, Passionate, and delicate. A vote for Vanda is a vote wasted. I hope you can do better, Captain Hedi. The next Pirate Boyar should not be a whore."

The vile words weren't cold yet, or the Jade Daughter rushed back into the crowd, with another woman leaping on stage and taking her place.

Neja praised the grandfather with two golden teeth who represented the Hangmen. He was the son of Diligence and would lead the Pirates to a better future. She turned down Nick's Jade Islandic twin brother, a Driftwood Dog by the name of Tjark. In fact, she dismissed his entire crew for ransacking villages they were not entitled to.

"Selachii," she said as she approached Strange-Tooth-Chain. "What could I possibly add to your widely known reputation. From the ashes of the Gannet Gang, you founded the Silent Sharks. You show mercy when you can, and be ruthless when you must. The Gods took away your right to be a Lord, but we can make you a Boyar."

Alex frowned. Lord Selachii... the name sounded familiar. She remembered Nick telling a tale about him, but couldn't remember what it was about. Nick knew so many tales.

Besides, Pan was up next.

Unlike with the other candidates, Neja refrained from touching him. "Pan," she hissed, "you son of Lust. Did your mum really think I would ever approve of you?"

"I came here to see Dad up close." Pan glanced at the corpse of the old Boyar. "He smells. But the look on your face, Neja, it's priceless."

The Boyarina smacked him in the head and drew a knife. "Get lost! I disapprove! I disapprove!" she shouted with such force the torches trembled in their brackets. "And you too!" she screamed when Nagi entered the stage. "No more candidates from the Kraken's Kiss!"

"That's not fair!" yelled Kaisa. She was standing five rows from Alex.

"We didn't violate the pirate code," added Dag. "We're allowed a candidate."

"But not him!" Neja pointed at Nagi. "Never shall a Scorian be a Pirate Boyar." She turned back to the crowd. "Bring me a candidate, pure of heart and with the right intentions. This is your final chance, Captain Ilona."

The cave was silent, save for a pair of feet moving through the pools.

Alex turned to the noise and found Captain Ilona walking towards her. This was a joke; this couldn't be real.

But the Captain of Kraken's Kiss halted by her rock. "Get up there, Greenie. Do not disappoint."

"Why me?" Alex murmured.

Captain Ilona climbed onto the rock. For the entire cave to hear, she proclaimed. "If the Silent Sharks can present a Silvermarker, I bring a Greenlander to the table. A Greenlander girl deciding the Greenlands' fate, it's so ironic we could slay a magician with it."

One by one, fists pumped into the air. Cheerful sounds turned into a chant. "Greenie, Greenie, Greenie!"

Neja looked as though she was going to plant the knife in her heart.

Alex moved to the front, with each step wondering more loudly what in the Gods' names she had gotten herself into.