The parchment crinkled in Yana’s hands as she finished the map of her kingdom’s coastline. She had splattered ink all over her hands and didn’t feel like washing it off just yet. Every piece of seashore she’d sailed was there on paper, drawn just as old Ilkai taught her.

 

If Adelline marries, I’ll be free to sail wherever I wish. When it’s time, my map will save me, she thought as she outlined her favorite cove with the tip of her quill.

 

As long as her sister went through with the arranged marriage this time, Yana’s father wouldn’t need her anymore. He probably wouldn’t even notice she was gone. With the dowry and new trade route access from Merchant Genese, he wouldn’t need his daughters. Of this, Yana was certain. There was no love left between the princesses and their father, not since their mother died giving birth to Yana.

 

Princess Adelline was a rare beauty, with a heart shaped face, dark brown hair and penetrating emerald eyes. The merchant’s slimy son, Jostin, would certainly be happy, despite her unruliness. 

 

In fact, both princesses were unruly in their own ways. Yana spent her days chasing the ocean, sailing as far as their father would let her, while Adelline busied herself with the men of the up-and-coming merchant class. 

 

Yana dipped her quill back into the ink pot once more. The moon was new. The only light in her room was the single candle burning next to her as she worked.

 

“There!” she exclaimed, jumping at the sound of her own voice.

 

She looked down at her handiwork. After years of sailing her kingdom’s coastline, combing the beaches, and cataloguing the tides, Yana had finally made something valuable. Someone would pay her for this skill, someone who didn’t care that she was a girl. And hopefully, who wouldn’t recognize her as a runaway princess. 

 

Her door creaked open and her sister walked in wearing only a midnight blue shift. Her usually shining porcelain skin was taunt, her eyes rubbed raw.

 

“Do you always have to yell when you’re playing with maps? I was trying to sleep,” Adelline grumbled.

 

“Stop interrupting me.” Yana grumbled with equal annoyance. 

 

Adelline inhaled as if she smelled something rotten and tossed her hair. She looked at her sister again and shook her head. Yana turned away from her and hoped that ignoring her would make her leave. She waited until she heard the click of her sister’s door on the other side of the hallway before she went back to work.

 

Her door clicked open again ten minutes later.

 

“What?!” Yana yelled towards the door.

 

Ian, her guard, a stoic middle-aged man with balding hair and knotted arms, peaked into her room. 

 

“Stay inside my lady, your father has caught Adelline’s lover Tomsin. He’ll make quick work of it.”

 

“Ian, don’t worry about me. I’m just here with my maps.” Yana said as she turned away, hoping he would do the same. Instead, he decided to linger. It made her feel safe. 

 

She closed her eyes and began to dream of her own cartography shop. It would have small windows so that the sun wouldn’t damage the parchment. Sailors would come from miles away to pay her for her accurate shipping line maps. Her days would be spent on her own private ship or nose deep in her work. It would be perfect, no sister or father to bother her.

 

Yana shook herself awake. Her back was warm. There was a fire growing from one small log in her fireplace. She looked down to empty hands. How long had I been asleep? She wondered. It can’t have been long, dawn hasn’t broken yet. 

  

Her map was gone! At first, she thought it had slipped and fallen to the floor. But it wasn't there. Jumping up from her seat, she checked the fire in case there were any pieces left. She found none.

 

A crashing sound made Yana look out her window down into the garden. There was a flash of movement; someone was running through the trees.

 

Adelline? Did she try to save Tomsin? Why would she need my map? Yana wondered. Where would she go anyway? Yana acted quickly. She grabbed her cloak and put on her boots. If it was Adelline, she’d catch up to her.

 

She heard her sisters’ voice in her head,

 

“It’s either you or me. Someone has to marry well. And you don’t like the men that come around to court you so you won't care who it is anyway. All you do is sail and walk the beach. You killed mother, so let me have this.” 

 

“And you are the eldest. It is your duty not mine. I didn’t kill her.”

 

Ever since she’d uttered those words in the same nasty tone as their governess, the ancient Rinalda who’d swaddled Yana’s father as an infant, they hadn’t spoken a word about the wedding. 

 

Earlier that morning, it seemed as if Adelline would finally take the offer of marriage she was given. Yana was determined to make sure the wedding was successful. If neither of them could be happy without cost to the other, Yana would make sure she won in the end. 

 

Yana stepped out of her room. The darkness of the hallway didn’t bother her as she silently sprinted through the corridors leading to the stairwell. She stepped in puddles along the way, stopping to shake her boots as she went. 

 

She ran down the stairs and made it to the ground floor. The breeze that swarmed around her picked up as she opened the door, leaves twirled and stuck to her underdress. She looked around to make sure the guards weren’t there; then, she ran across the courtyard though the garden. 

​

Finally, she made it to the outer wall. Yana paused briefly to unlock the servant’s door at the side gate with her skeleton key. The salty sea air summoned Yana, her feet flying in the direction of the marina as they had hundreds of times before. 

 

There was nothing to light her way. Only shadowy vague outlines to give her any indication of what lay ahead. Yana breathed heavily as she sprinted down to the marina. At this time, no one was out in this area of town. She was grateful that she could avoid the tavern district on her way. 

 

The smell of whale fat and fish mixed with gunpowder assaulted her nose. Close enough now to hear the waves lap against the sea wall, Yana slowed down. If there were men walking home, or sailors preparing to sail this morning, she wanted to avoid them. 

 

She turned a corner and saw the weather-beaten sign of “The Blasted Barnacle” looming above in the mist. She was close to her dock.

 

Up ahead, a dim light from a lonely lamp illuminated the empty docks. She could see the outline of someone’s shadow as they cut the rope that tethered her boat. 

 

“Hey!” She yelled.

 

The form shed their clothing and dove into the water. 

 

“Adelline! You don’t know how to swim!” she screamed. Yana sighed and screamed again, “You need to stop!”

 

Undressing down to her night shift, Yana stepped down four slippery stone steps to the beach. A seagull cried out as she ran past. 

 

“I’m sorry about Tomsin!” Yana whispered, hoping her sister would hear it. Then Adelline’s voice filled her mind with a piercing cry, making Yana double over. She clutched her head and covered her ears. 

 

No stranger to cold water, she leapt in, welcoming the bite. It stunned her so fast, she didn’t move for a few heartbeats. The cries stopped. Then her muscle memory kicked in. She swam with the faith that she was now far enough away from the shore to avoid knocking herself against any rocks. At least, she hoped so.

 

There were two beats pulsing ahead of her. At first, Yana thought it was her sister’s feet kicking. But one was becoming faster and louder as the other was dimming. A school of fish rubbed against her thigh, causing her to yelp and breathe in freezing water. Yana went back up to the surface, spat, took a long inhale and dove back in. 

 

Strong waves pushed her towards the smaller of the pulsing beats. This form was not completely human. Yana knew it was her sister. She tried desperately to swim with stronger strokes. Reaching and reaching. 

 

Suddenly, a warm slimy residue wrapped around her left ankle. It burned as if she stepped into a fire. She kicked it away. Then with as much speed as she could muster, she propelled herself forward. Then it was back, and this time, it gripped her so tightly she didn’t feel her foot anymore. 

 

She stretched out her hand finally hitting the leg of the form she was chasing. The sobbing noise ahead jarred her fully awake and pierced her ears. 

 

“Adelline!” she called, gurgling her sister’s name. She couldn’t see her sister’s face, but she felt it was her.

 

“Don’t follow me anymore. It must be done. I can’t stay,” her sister called back to her. 

 

The darkness drank all the light from the sunrise and swirled them into a whirlpool. Bitter and bleak. Yana couldn’t sense the ocean anymore. The amorphous form that was her sister reached out and carried her. 

 

“Go. Explore the sea. I need to be with him now,” Adelline’s voice echoed. 

 

An image of her sister’s appearance in the water, both Adelline and not Adelline, floated ahead of her. It glided deeper into the ocean away from her. Before diving to her new home, Adelline picked up Yana’s body and placed it into her boat that had been floating alongside her.

 

“This way, we both get what we want.”