Flux

with a few of the implements they’d used to survive their travels.
    The gull was still there as well. Or perhaps it was another gull; Miner certainly couldn’t tell. It had a white chest and gray wings and a thick yellow beak with a red spot on it. The gull perched on the sand and tilted its head at them, giving them a quizzical look. At least it didn’t try to speak. Maybe that took too much effort on Akilina’s part. They were quite sure she could hear them, though, so Ennek scowled at the bird. “We’re clearly not trying to run away from you or we’d have sailed anywhere but here. Leave us alone! We’re on our way.”
    The bird didn’t answer him.
    “You know,” Miner said, settling the bag on his back in such a way that it didn’t chafe against the brand, “in my day they’d have locked you in the asylum for having conversations with animals.”
    “I’m just talking to it. You’re the one who had the whole back and forth chat with it.”
    “I saw a sailor once who had a white bird that could speak.”
    “What did it have to say?”
    “Curses, mostly,” Miner grinned.
    Miner wasn’t exactly certain of the route to Luli and Hai-Shui’s home. He hadn’t been in good enough shape to pay much attention last time, and of course Ennek had been unconscious. But they peered about carefully, until Miner thought he could distinguish a very faint pathway, which they followed. The bird, which for once could have been helpful, just stared at them from one of the scrubby trees.
    Soon the hint of a trail became a true path and they walked along, chatting quietly to each other about nothing in particular. As Ennek reminisced about an incident in which he’d fooled a man cheating at cards out of his fine clothes, Miner laughed—then thought to himself how strange it was that he felt so happy. Their troubles were far from over. They still had to face Akilina, and even in the unlikely event that they could persuade her to be reasonable and let them go on their way, it still left Miner collared and both of them homeless. Not to mention that it left a ruthless wizard in charge of this land.
    But still Miner’s step was light and his heartbeat felt strong and steady. It was because he’d finally acted, he realized. He’d faced his fears and leapt into the sea, and then he’d stopped Ennek from another bout of destruction. He, Miner, had finally been something apart from a hapless fool or a damsel in distress. He’d done something. In fact, if you looked at it right, you could conclude that he’d saved the lives of, potentially, thousands of people.
    That was a bloody good feeling.
    It didn’t take long before they were walking past fields where people stopped and gaped at them. A few of the people were familiar—Miner hadn’t caught their names, but they were there at Luli’s house the night before Miner and Ennek had left for Donghe. Ennek and Miner waved at them and they waved back, clearly astounded to see the strangers again but not, apparently, displeased.
    Someone must have run ahead to warn of their coming, because Hai-Shui was waiting for them outside the house with a warm smile on his face. He said something to them—an invitation, Miner supposed—and they followed him into the courtyard. Yuening’s two children took one look at them and shrieked with delight before rushing headlong across the courtyard and throwing themselves on Miner. He didn’t understand why they seemed so taken with him; he’d been unable to say a single comprehensible word. Maybe that’s why they fancied him: because the strange sounds that came from his mouth were amusing. In any case, as he sat on a bench the little girl climbed onto his lap and wrapped her chubby arms around his neck, not caring about the collar, and the boy latched onto to Miner’s leg like some sort of exotic leech.
    “You have admirers,” Ennek laughed.
    “It looks that way.”
    The girl, who was a year or so the elder of the two, chirped something that made both Ennek and Hai-Shui laugh.
    “What?” Miner asked, suspecting the laugh was at his expense but not really minding.
    “They think you’re the star god.”
    “The what?”
    “The star god. It’s one of their stories. I heard it from a sailor once, because the sailors especially revere him. It’s said he guides those who are lost.”
    Miner snorted. “I can’t even guide myself. Why on earth do they think I’m him?”
    Ennek reached over and ruffled Miner’s nearly