Violetta Amouteru

I'm lost in my nightmares.
I search desperately for someone to pull me out of the darkness, to save me. But there is no one. I crumple on the floor, suffering.
This is what it was like for Adelina when we lived with Father.
This is it.
"Your Majesty!"
I leap up from my bed. I'm afraid to be seen like this, tired and broken. I smooth my silks and say, "Yes?"
Sergio rushes in, a letter in his hand. He waves it triumphantly. "Your Majesty, there is word of Magiano!"
My eyes widen. "And Adelina?"
"She is here." There is a specific certainty in Sergio's eyes that convinces me most of all.
"Yes!" I jump out of my chambers and follow him out of the palace.
I see a very familiar horse, the horse that Magiano had saddled on the day of our last meeting. My heart leaps.
Until now.
How well I remember it, although it was so long ago.

Magiano had been saddling his horse. He had looked up when he saw me. He bowed his head.
"Your Majesty," he had said.
I had folded my hands in front of me. "You can stay, you know. There is always a place for you in the palace, and the people love you. If there is something you want, tell me, and it will be yours."
Magiano had laughed. "Lucent has already returned to Beldain with her queen. Perhaps it is my turn now."
Silence.
"I've always been a wanderer. I grow restless here in the palace, even among such fine company. It is time for me to go. There are adventures waiting for me."
I sighed. I would miss the sound of his lute, his easy laughter. "The others - Raffaele, Sergio - they will want to see you before you leave."
Magiano nods. "Don't worry, I will say my proper farewells." He had reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder. "You are kind, Your Majesty. I imagine Adelina could have ruled like you, in a different life." He had studied my face, trying as always to find a glimpse of my sister in me. "Adelina would want to see you carry this torch. You will be a good queen."
I had lowered my head. "I'm afraid," I had admitted. "There is still so much broken, and so much to fix. I don't know if I can do this."
"You have Sergio at your side. You have Raffaele as your advisor. That's quite a formidable team."
"Where will you go?" I had asked.
At that, Magiano had put his hand down and turned his eyes up to the sky. "I'm going to follow her, of course," Magiano had said. "As the night sky turns. When she appears on the other side of the world, I will be there, and when she returns here, so will I." Magiano had smiled at me. "This farewell is not forever. I will see you again, Violetta."
I had smiled back at him, then stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. We had embraced tightly. "Until you return, then," I had whispered.
"Until I return."

"Your Majesty."
I gasp, shaken out of the depths of my memories. Magiano is kneeling before me, a gesture of respect that is alien to me. I'm still not used to my people murmuring hushed long live the queens at me, bowing at me from every direction.
For a fleeting second, I wonder who this stranger is in front of me. He is certainly not the Magiano I remember. He is leaner, more muscular. His jaw has a rigid line to it. His olive skin is burned darker due to his long hours of endless plodding under the hot sun. Before, his eyes had been filled with longing for a specific malfetto Now, his eyes shine with a satisfied light, like a starving beggar who has been finally sated with a hot meal.
"Magiano," I whisper. "You've come."
He inclines his head, a smile of amusement lifting the corners of his mouth. "And so I have."
At that moment, Raffaele and Sergio walk in, laughing and talking together. Raffaele's eyes drift away from Sergio to rest on me, then slide automatically to the boy in front of me. Magiano.
Raffaele freezes. He opens his mouth and closes it again. Then he takes a breath, a sharp inhale, and rushes forward to greet Magiano like an old friend.
"Hey," Magiano says.
"I thought you were dead," Raffaele whispers.
"Speaking of the dead," I interrupt, "why don't we see where Adelina is?"
I really hate to interrupt them in such an emotional moment, but I am dying to see my sister again. I still remember her glinting eyes, her long, silver hair, her missing eye. Somehow, all these flaws make her more endearing to me.
"Adelina?" Raffaele asks, his voice growing hoarse, as if he has seen one too many dead person for today.
"Yes, Adelina. Isn't she the person who you betrayed and made up with?" I snap, heading to the door.
Suddenly, the door to my palace creaks open. And Adelina stands there.
My jaw drops. She looks so familiar. Pale, weaker, but the same sister one year before.
Adelina's eyes widen. "Mi Violettina. Your Majesty."
Her voice is so tender, so thick with emotion, so cautious not to raise her hopes in case I was an illusion, so disbelieving yet joyful that I break down completely. "Mi Adelinetta," I say, my voice just as thick, just as cautious, just as emotional, just as tender.
It is then, I think, that we both believe each other for who we are, and we collapse into each others' embrace, sobbing.
"Your Majesty," Sergio says uncomfortably. "Should I . . ."
He gestures feebly in the direction of the corridor leading away from the main lobby.
"Yes, yes, go, go," I say, choking on tears, waving a hand at him. Sergio scurries away.
Raffaele and Magiano head to Raffaele's chambers, chortling over Magiano's adventures. But Adelina and I stand frozen in the middle of the lobby, leaning into each other's touch, and satisfied simply with being with each other.
"You're here," I whisper. "You're here."
"I'm here, Queen Violetta," Adelina says. She slides a finger down one of my dark locks. "Your Majesty," she repeats, tasting the words.
Tears spring to my eyes, no matter how many times I try and force them back. "I thought you were dead. I thought you were gone forever."
"Well, I'm not."
"Come with me to my chambers. I have so much to talk about, so much to tell you."
Adelina follows me silently to my chambers, but she stops me in the hall. She leans close and whispers, "I'm glad we're sisters."
But there is something preoccupied about Adelina, something hesitant. The instant we are inside, she leans close and whispers, "I have my powers back."
I recoil in shock. "How . . . how is that possible? We all gave up our powers! Remember?"
"I didn't choose it," Adelina snaps. "When I was with Magiano in Dumor, I held this pulsing ball of blue-green energy. It cut off my airway and, when I was able to breathe again, my powers were back, just like that."
The details spin nightmarishly through my mind. Pulsing ball of blue-green energy. Powers back. Young Elites back.
I lean very close to my sister and whisper, "Could you create something small?"
Adelina hesitates, but nods. She opens her palm and a dark red rose appears in her hands, its black stem thorny, its luscious, frothy petals a dark red, so dark that it looks black from a distance. I lift my hand and swipe through it, half expecting to feel the thorns rip my skin apart.
The beautiful dark rose dissipates in a puff of black smoke.
"You do have your powers back," I whisper in awe. "You're a Young Elite again, Adelina. White Wolf."
I almost bow respectfully. I shouldn't have chided Sergio so much. The gods are in trouble.
Suddenly, the door bursts open. Raffaele, Sergio and Magiano walk in, laughing together. They freeze when they see us. Adelina's palm up as if she is about to conjure a small illusion (which she just did), my awestruck and slightly guilty expression, us leaning together, the black smoke from the rose not yet dissipated completely.
"What is going on here?" Sergio asks sharply.
I stand up and smooth my silks. "Sergio, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have chided you so much. The gods are in trouble. Adelina has just got her power back."
"What?" Raffaele pushes to the front of the crowd. "Adelina, could you create something small, please?"
My sister swallows and nods. A small, dancing faerie bursts from her palm, smiling with silent grace. She pirouettes all over Adelina's palm.
Quite suddenly, Adelina clamps her fist shut and the faerie vanishes. When she looks up, her eyes are dark. I recognize the look. It is the look of a half-mad Queen of the Sealands, influenced by her dangerous power that is back again once more.
"I didn't want this," Adelina hisses, and her fist clenches tighter, as if the dancing faerie is still there, trapped inside her fist, and she is determined to kill it, to crush it. "Why? Why has my power found me once more? I gave it up to the gods. Are they not pleased with my gift? Are they not pleased of my sacrifice? ARE THEY NOT PLEASED?"
She screams the last four words, and I rush forward and wrap my arms around my sobbing sister, beating Magiano to it. He casts me a sour, sarcastic look as he retreats.
"It's okay, mi Adelinetta," I whisper. "It's okay."

And the merchant soon realized he had been tricked by the mysterious man, and he howled up at the sky.

The Man and the Merchant, various authors

Adelina Amouteru

I somehow fall asleep.
Don't ask me how I did it. I somehow fall asleep in my sister's arms, and everyone slowly backs out, Magiano and Violetta fighting to see who would be the first one to walk out. Magiano finally leaves first with a sulky expression on his face and my sister, Queen of the Sealands, remains with me for the length of the night. I know all this because I am in a very fitful sleep, waking and sleeping and waking and sleeping.
Violetta sings 'The River Maiden's Lullaby' and slowly she leaves too, leaving me sleeping on her bed. I know she might sleep in another's chambers or on the floor. She's never really minded where she slept.
I finally give up trying to ease myself into a good, long, steady sleep, and instead sit up in bed, causing dreamlike illusions to dance across the walls of my bedroom.
The door opens and Magiano steps in. The instant he does, he gets whacked across the face by a smiling, dancing faerie that isn't really there.
He rubs his face in surprise, then sees me, watching my illusions. He smiles. "White Wolf."
I jump in surprise. I'm so immersed in my illusions, I didn't hear or see him enter.
"Hello, Magiano," I say, my throat prickly. I cease the illusions.
He gives me a cocky smile. "Practicing, little wolf?"
I shrug. "If I'm going to have my powers back, it's best to have full control, is it not?"
He smiles again. "Always the clever one."
I blush slightly, and as he comes to sit on my bed, I stir an image of a miniature Magiano, waving a bag filled with coins on my palm. I flash it in front of his face.
"You are so cheeky," he says, and gives the illusion one tiny flick. It bursts into black smoke and out of existence.
I smile, drained. I lean back against my pillows and say, "What are we going to do, if the gods are in trouble? Will we take over as the new gods?"
Magiano's smile turns serious. "We have to discuss it tomorrow. We're all tired and in shock." He stands up, and I almost want to grab his arm to stop him going. No. Please don't go, I feel so comforted when you're here. Please don't leave me alone.
But I restrain myself, and I let Magiano step out of Violetta's bedchamber.
Once he is gone, I step out of Violetta's chambers as well. I search for my sister, the only one who had ever showed me kindness without strings attached. I find her on the royal balconies of her palace, her Sealand silks flapping in the wind. Her long, dark curls flutter like the wings of some black, bat-like butterfly.
"Your Majesty," I say with a bitter smile.
Violetta turns around and sees me. "Mi Adelinetta." And suddenly I feel so guilty of feeling jealous of her. I walk to her and join her on the balcony. The fresh, sweet night air, smelling slightly of sea, whips through my long, ever-shifting silver hair. We stand together in the night, watching the stars twinkle at us from up above, otherworldly watchers. I take a deep sniff of the air.
"It smells like home," I say simply.
Violetta does not turn, but I can sense a softness in her voice, a vulnerability. "Anywhere with you is home for me," she whispers.
We stare up at the sky. "Funny," I say softly.
"What is?" Violetta asks, wrenching her gaze from the twinkling constellations and turning to me.
I gesture up at Compasia's Swan, at all the other constellations in the sky. "Funny to think that I was once up there. That I was among the stars, another otherworldly watcher, just a pattern of stars in the sky."
"You are never just a pattern of stars in the sky, mi Adelinetta," Violetta says quietly. "To me, you are everything."
We stand together, side by side, as sisters should, and together, we watch the first rays of dawn snake across the slowly brightening sky.