The sun rose up and poured into Rose and Parsley’s barely standing shack, and Basil woke with it instantly, without taking even a moment to stretch or yawn. He walked over to me to wake me, but I was already up, my eyes heavy with the burden of my mind. Shaking me, I got up and met his eyes, which flicked to the door, indicating I should follow him. Everyone else was still asleep, and Sage still hadn’t returned, which at least made sense this time; there was a lot to repair, and more to mull over.

Once we were outside, Basil led the way with the posture of a wraith. If he wanted to scare everyone into staying out of our way it worked very well, to the point where I barely wanted to be with him. Whatever had happened on his journey to Persea, it had left him a husk of the man I barely knew.

Or maybe this was how he normally was. I had spent only a short time with him prior to this, after all.

“You look tired,” he finally croaked out, his voice hoarse.

I nodded as we turned the corner, trying to stay with him. The clean up crew was holding my interest better.

“I didn’t get much sleep,” I replied, watching people pile debris into one of the large wagons we’d use to hold the bell peppers for harvest. Many homes were so far gone that the streets were not so cramped, and half of Kiyomi seemed to be entirely gone.

All because they wanted to get to me.

“You had a rough night,” he said, placing a hand on my head. There was warmth to his touch, and he cracked a smile with busted, leaking lips.

“Where are you taking me, Basil?” I asked, yawning.

“Over to the shoreline. I need to see to Hammy for a while, then Sage will meet us there,” he said, his voice giving out here and there. He almost sounded sick, but he looked more like he was just exhausted.

“Alright,” I nodded. “Will you tell me what happened then?”

He shook his head. “When Sage returns I’ll fill you both in.”

That surprised me. “He doesn’t know what happened yet?”

“No, I was too incapacitated to relay anything I learned in Persea,” he croaked, coughing this time.

“That makes se—” I started, then I blinked. I almost missed that. “Wait a minute, Hammy is here?”

Basil smirked, splitting his lip a bit. He swore, licked the wound, then said, “Yes. I assume you met her at Durian?”

I nodded. “But why’s she here?”

“Well, we needed something faster to get here,” he scratched his head, ruffling his hair into something resembling a shrub. Green hair doesn’t go well with bed head. “Hammy heard Sage’s call, and we were off. She came in handy, too. Without her massive tail, we couldn’t have stopped the fires here so quickly.”

That answered one of the questions I had. “It had been bothering me—trying to figure out the whole sudden tsunami thing, I mean. In what I’ve seen, Vastmire doesn’t give you power like that.”

Basil shrugged, “Yes, well, that’s not entirely true. Sage probably could have done it himself, but it wouldn’t have been so effective and it would have been much more difficult for him to do well. So it made more sense to have Hammy do it. Besides,” he said, baring his teeth in an attempt to smile without breaking his lips, “without her help it would have taken longer to get to you, and you were in a heap of trouble.”

I frowned at the thought of that huge man who almost killed Conifer and stole me. “Sage called that man Bitter. How does he know him?”

Sighing quickly turned into a feverish coughing fit, and we had to stop a moment while Basil caught his breath. “Sorry,” he said, a barely audible wheeze. “My throat is still pretty raw.”

“You going to be alright?” I met his eyes, and he nodded at me.

“Should be, yeah. Might just take a few more days and a lot of water.” Grimacing, he returned to walking down the hill we were on. We still had a ways to go to get to the shore, and it was only then that I realized how bad Basil’s shape was. If he were healthy, he’d have just hoisted me onto his back and leapt over everything in no time.

What did Cashew do to him?

“Anyway, Bitter. He’s one of the five big warriors, each of which represent their country. Think of them as generals, but more heroic and less tactical. Bitter is the knight of Lychee, the mountain land to the far southeast. He’s got a history with Sage, but I don’t know too much about it other than that they’ve fought a few times and fought together some as well.”

“They’ve fought together?” I sputtered, almost laughing. It seemed strange to me that Sage would fight with someone like him. They seemed so opposite.

“That’s what war is, especially in Tamarind,” Basil said, both palms held up. “Most of the time, countries band together for a coalition army against one or two particular nations. It usually starts as one against one, but turns into two against two or three relatively quickly. Just depends on how things are going, who’s in charge, and who owes who.”

“Still,” I pondered, staring at the clouds. “When was Lychee allied with Avocado?”

“My prince, I know I am technically a servant,” Basil chided, coughing lightly. “But please allow me to rest my voice. It’s aching from all this talking.”

Sighing, I kicked the dirt and nodded. “Sorry, Basil. I’ve just got so many questions, and I feel like I’m just being dragged everywhere without knowing why.”

“You are,” he croaked. “You’ll know more soon, just let me rest.”

We made our way to the shore, and sure enough we met Hammy there, circling in the deeper waters idly as if it were guarding the islands. I had forgotten just how large she was, and seeing her was impressive. It was nice that Sage was taking his time, as this meant I could relax for a while and study Hammy from afar, seeing what she was like. Basil spent the time resting in the sand, nearly dozing off from the nice, breezy weather we had despite the intense summer sun.

Sage showed up maybe an hour later, looking ragged and in desperate need of sleep. His face made it apparent that he hadn’t slept soundly in a long time. Staggering over to me, he tapped my shoulder and called out, “Well, I’m just about finished up with organizing everything here, Basil. You mind explaining to us what you found out while you were in Persea now that we’re all together?”

Basil nodded and got up, coughing as he did. “Right,” he wheezed, trying to catch his breath. He held up a hand and bent over in a fit.

“Take your time,” Sage muttered, squeezing my shoulder.

Nodding, he stood up and gave himself a second to catch his breath, then he nodded again and said, “Right. Well, Queen Juniper is a traitor sums things up pretty neatly.”

I felt Sage tense up, his fingernails digging into my shoulder. I turned and looked up at him, his emerald eyes smoky and intense. He was gauging my reaction to the situation. To his surprise, I wasn’t freaking out or denying it. Maybe I knew deep down that this would be the outcome all along.

So instead of doing something drastic, I just looked back at Basil and said, “What’s the whole situation? Is she just letting Cashew work or is she actively helping them out?”

Basil scratched the back of his hand, “Well, for the most part she seems to be allowing Cashew to do as they please. They’ve taken over Persea and seem ready to spread their sphere of influence across the country until all of Avocado is under Cashew rule. However, while Cashew seems ready to rule the world, I have a feeling Juniper isn’t revealing all that is in her hand.”

Sage nodded. “She is most at home when she is undermining someone. I wouldn’t be surprised if she were allowing Cashew to take over everything so she could take over Cashew instead of many countries.”

None of this sounded like the woman I knew as my mother, but before I said anything I thought about just how little I really knew about her. I didn’t know anything regarding her dealings as a politician, as a ruler. And ever since I left home, what little I knew of her as a mother had been under question. Whatever I knew of Juniper was tainted. She was as much an enigma to me as she was to everyone else.

Noting my change in expression, Sage smiled at me. “Don’t worry, boy. She will not succeed.”

That wasn’t what I was worried about, but I smiled anyway to be polite.

Basil coughed a few times then said, “Well, before I was found out I did find out one thing regarding everything that didn’t make much sense to me.”

We turned our attention back to him.

“Sumac, the prince of Cashew, is masquerading as Peppermint Avocado, your replacement. I’m entirely unsure why. At first I felt like it was some sort of joke being played by the young prince, but the more I saw him interacting with everyone the more I found not only himself to be too into the experience, but everyone else as well. No one missed a step in treating him as Juniper’s child. It was strange, and I see no real tactical reasoning behind it other than giving me the creeps.”

“That’s weird, yeah,” I mumbled, confused. Why would Sumac do that? Why would mother want that?

“Is that everything then, Basil?” Sage asked him.

“That’s a rough overview yeah,” he nodded. “All we really know now is that we must drive Cashew away from Avocado before they’re able to move in on the rest of Tamarind uncontested.”

“Shit,” I yelled, suddenly realizing there was even more to it. “If Bitter is from Lychee, and he was after me, doesn’t that mean that Lychee is a part of their coalition as well?”

Sage and Basil’s eyes widened. “Shit,” the said in unison.

“I didn’t even think about that,” Basil muttered, scratching his hand.

“Well, in any case, our plan remains unchanged,” Sage said. “Come on, we’ve got work to do,” he grabbed me by the shoulder and lead me down to the water.

“Wait, where are you taking me? Basil didn’t say anything about this,” I babbled, struggling as he walked me to the beach.

“I’ll fill you in after we get there,” he said, then he whistled and Hammy was nearly on the beach in the span of a few seconds. “Just hop on her and we’ll get going.”

My eyes bugged out of my head. “What do we need to ride Hammy for?”

“We’re going to Clementine to get started on your training,” he said, slapping my back so I fell into the water. “With the amount of danger you’re about to be in, and the fact that you can wield a small amount of Vastmire, you need to figure out how to defend yourself. Bitter and the other Flavors will be after you, and in your current state you won’t be able to survive without any help. Understand?”

Sputtering up water, I nodded and said, “Alright.” Then I got on Hammy’s head and held tight to her wavy opal fur, alongside Sage.

Saying yes and diving in had slowly become the norm.

♣ ♣ ♣

The island of Clementine is not very far from Mango, and the ride on Hammy’s head made the trip even shorter. Before I could even come up with a point of conversation—like why we had to go to an island in the first place, or why Sage was so tired looking, or if he knew exactly what had happened to Basil—we were already on the shores of that horrible place. It was beautiful at a glance; the shore was untouched, perfect sand the sort that would be better suited in a bottle than a beach; the way the shore transformed into hills, into forests, was equally stunning; the birds were vibrant and exotic, the likes of which I’d never seen, and were only an appetizer for the wildlife I would meet upon entering that cove of danger.

Sage smacked my back and sent me hurtling to the sandy beach, leaving me sprawled out in that warm blanket. He hopped down after me, landing on his feet as he had no doubt done many times.

“Stop pushing me,” I tried to growl out, but yawned instead, the sand more comfortable than it should have been.

He smirked. “The fact that you get pushed at all is the reason we’re here, boy. You need to become your own defense. I think a month on this island ought to do you some good.”

That statement was more than enough to bring me away from any ensuing nap. “A month? You can’t train me for a month, that’s way too long! Sage, there’s got to be a faster way, my mother needs he—” I stopped myself, remembering the situation. “My kingdom needs help, and if my parents aren’t going to fix it then it has to be me.”

Sage nodded and sat next to me in the sand, while Hammy returned to the sea, content to circle and do whatever it was she did out there. Perhaps she was eating the wildlife, or playing with them for all I knew.

“I’m well aware of the situation. I know that even as we speak, Avocado is falling deeper and deeper into that spiderweb your mother is weaving. Conversely, the citizens are under all sorts of new social and political pressures that can’t be easy for them to understand. A civil war could easily break out soon if things don’t get resolved,” his voice grew harder, more cold with each word spoken, “and I understand all of this more than you possibly could, boy.”

I winced; those words cut me.

“It’s not your fault,” he consoled me. “You are young, you see things from the view of a boy, not a man nor a prince. But that will change, you just need two things.”

“Yeah? What are those?” I asked, watching the waves.

“Time and hardship,” he declared, patting my back. “We grow the longer we live, it’s as simple as that.

“Now then,” he continued, “Before I go, I need to ask you something.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. Sage wasn’t one to ask me questions, usually he just came to me with all the answers instead. “Sure, go ahead.”

“When did you notice the Vastmire first come out?”

I shrugged, doodling a few birds in the sand with my good hand. “I’m pretty sure yesterday was the very first time. I can’t remember any other instance where it ever seemed like it came out before.”

“Not even a little?” he asked, his voice quickening. “No other times where you were like that? Give it some thought.”

To me it seemed silly, but I nodded and thought about it for a moment. No other times came to mind, however, so I told him, “No, it was just yesterday.”

He nodded, then he said, “Take off your shirt and stand up.”

Once again, this seemed weird but I obliged him, throwing my shirt and cloak into the sand.

Then he knocked me twenty feet into the air.

With nothing but his index finger, no less.

The strength and speed of the attack was so incredible and out of nowhere that I had no time to think, only time to react, and my body did what it had to do to keep itself alive. For a normal person, this would probably result in flailing about and trying to find a way to land safely despite the futility of the situation. However, I am of Avocado, of the Vastmire, so what happened to me was different.

My body covered itself in those deep, black tattoo marks, which went all over my chest and arms, and the air a finger length away from my body became an iridescent green. When I splashed into the water, I felt nothing. The green material that held me was a blanket, keeping me safe as one does a baby. I stood up with no trouble, and walked over to Sage, the air around me still glowing, ready for anything.

He glared at my chest like it had disrespected him, huffing all the while. Pointing an accusing finger, he barked out, “That is an abomination, and anyone wishing to call themselves mother should be ashamed for putting that on their son.”

Staring down at my chest, I mumbled, “Before, you said this was a seal, right?”

Sage breathed out a yes. “It’s a seal with many names, coming from a land far away from the Tamarind Sea. Your mother must have put it on you long ago, before you could even remember. I would guess you were but a newborn baby.”

As he spoke, the tattoos faded, starting from the tips of my fingers and fading slowly up my arms, over my shoulders, and into my chest, all the way back to the origin point in my stomach. Sage spat on the ground.

“What’s the point of it?” I asked, confused. “Does it just stop the Vastmire from coming out? If so, it’s doing a pretty bad job don’t you think?”

He shook his head. “It was doing a fine job before. But your mother hasn’t been able to keep up the ritual.”

“Ritual? She never did any sort of black magic to me, not in my presence.”

“Yes she did,” he enunciated each word with venom. Then he took a deep breath and held a hand to his forehead. He looked very old then, very tired. “Here, I’ll show you,” he sighed, then grabbed my hands and said, “Look into my eyes and don’t look away. Ring any bells?”

They did.

They rang loud and clear.

When he saw my reaction he shut his eyes, lip quivering slightly.

Gulping, I asked, “So what will happen when the seal fades? I get the use of Vastmire like you?”

Sage stood still for a moment, holding my hands, eyes shut, like a statue a millennia old, filled with ancient mystery. “Not exactly,” he eventually said, the sun basking him in a light more dubious than holy. Opening his eyes, he explained, “Vastmire is unlike anything you can imagine. It’s a power that is more or less trying constantly to overtake you as the master, every waking second you are subject to a mental and physical assault by it. If you aren’t prepared for it, you will be consumed by it, eroded by it, until you are unrecognizable, a narrow vision of who you once were. You will be hit by endless waves of corruption the likes of which you’ve only heard of in fairy tales about evil.”

Frowning, I asked, “You’re being a little overdramatic, don’t you think?”

Sage gripped my hands and shook his head. “I wish.”

Pulling my hands away, I walked further inland, submerging my feet deeper into the sand as I did. “So I’m a lost cause then.”

He came over to me swiftly and made a noise in his throat. “If you were, I wouldn’t be trying to teach you all of this. I’d be trying to continue the ritual instead, and lock away that power within you so that you may never be destroyed by it. Vastmire isn’t pretty, trust me as a man who has lived with it for longer than you’ve walked this planet.”

Staring down at the sand, I smirked, and understood nothing. “It might be dangerous, like you say. But you’re also saying that I’ll be strong, yes?”

The wind blew, sands drifting gracefully across the beach.

“If you can learn to control it, then yes. You will be strong enough to accomplish whatever you must, so long as you only accomplish what you need and not what you desire.”

“I’m not sure I get what you mean by that,” I said, staring at my hands with machinations of destruction planting in my minds soil.

Huffing, Sage looked at the sun and said, “I must get going, unfortunately. While you’re out here surviving, I’m going to be rallying the troops.”

“Troops?” I turned, confused. “Are we going to war?”

Baring his teeth, he said, “Boy, we already are. They attacked my islands indiscriminately searching for you, and they will be back here sooner than you think, maybe even sooner than that. So I’ve got to organize a way to gather some troops for leaving these islands and figure out how to defend them at the same time. It’s a lot of work, you know, king stuff and all that. Pay it no mind.”

Reaching behind him, he pulled out a long dagger, still in its sheath. It had a hilt that was just as long as the blade, making it closer to a sword in length, and in the pommel was an emerald stone the size of my thumb nail. “Here,” he said, lobbing it to me slowly. I caught it and immediately took it out.

“Wow,” was all I could say. The blade was stunning, bright enough to blind you if the sun caught it right, and sharp enough to cut the air in half. Lightly holding it in my palm sliced the first layer of skin cleanly.

“That dagger was a gift to me a long time ago from a friend in Lychee,” Sage said with pride. “It was forged in the fires of Star Mountain, and should be strong enough to ebb any of the skill you lack. So long as you hold onto that blade, your survival here should be simple enough.” He saw the eager look on my face and frowned, looking nervous. “Just keep track of it, if I ever meet that friend again and they find I’ve lost their blade, they’ll kill me, alright?”

I nodded. “I’ll cherish it. Thank you, Sage.”

“Right,” he said, still looking nervous, regretful even. His lack of confidence in me was palpable. “Well, I’ll see you in thirty days. Stay alive, boy.”

Remembering he hadn’t answered my question before, I sheathed the blade and slung it through my belt. “Wait a second, Sage. What did you mean by the wants and needs stuff you were saying earlier?”

But Sage just kept walking, right over the water like it was solid earth. He leapt up to Hammy’s head, then pointed to the south and off they went, presumably back to Mango island. And as I watched them leave me there, alone on that beach with nothing to my name but a dagger worth more than my life, the realization of my loneliness grew slowly like a cancer in my head.

I was alone.

No one to take care of me.

No one to keep me safe.

No one to cook for me.

No roof over my head.

I was alone.

Squeezing the hilt at my hip, I began my trek inland, unsure of the dangers that awaited me. Thirty days was a long time, after all.