Perhaps, if I married Sami, I could sneak away with him and see those things for myself one day. Surely the governor’s wife would have more freedom than a villager’s daughter.

I pulled a blanket over my sister, my eyes filling with tears at the thought that we had so little time left. It was a crueler twist of fate than Alys’s mother realized, that Zadie would leave Varenia and see the world, while I stayed behind and married the boy she loved. I scrubbed angrily at my tears, accidentally brushing the scar on my cheek. Without it, I might have been chosen, and Zadie could marry Sami. I didn’t resent my sister in the slightest, but I muttered a curse to Thalos that would have made even Sami blush. None of this was fair.

I lay down on the straw-filled mattress next to my sister and carefully removed her seaflower crown, then began to release the braids in her hair. I’d thought she was asleep, but then I heard her breathe a sigh so weary, she sounded as old as Elder Nemea.

“What is it?” I whispered. Mother and Father were asleep in their own bed across the house, but we only had curtains to separate our rooms.

“It just all came back to me.”

“What?”

“What tonight meant. For a little while, I allowed myself to forget. I was just a girl celebrating with her friends.” She rolled over so I could work on the braids on the other side of her head. “I can’t believe I have to leave in a week. I’ll never see you again. It doesn’t seem possible.”

“Then let’s pretend it’s not,” I said, fighting back fresh tears. “Let’s spend this week doing all our favorite things. We won’t mention anything beyond these seven days.”

“It won’t change anything.”

“No. But neither will spending the next seven days crying. And I doubt the prince wants to find his new bride as swollen as a puffer fish.”

She released her breath through her nose. I had finished with her hair and it was fanned all around her now, a mass of brown waves identical to my own. “Fine,” she said. “What do you want to do tomorrow, then?”

“I want to watch the sunrise with you.”

“That’s in about two hours. Would you settle for the sunset tomorrow?”

“I suppose. Then I want to go out to the reef and swim with the turtles. I want to find the fattest oyster we’ve ever found, one with four or five pearls inside, and have Sami trade it for fresh fruit. And then I want to—”

“I think that’s enough for one day, Nor.”

I yawned and pulled my hair out of the way before settling onto my side. We often slept like this, facing each other. We had since we were babies, Mother said. “Should we invite Sami?” I asked.

“Not tomorrow.”

I smiled, relieved. I wanted a day alone with my sister. I didn’t want to think about Ilara or about marrying Sami. Tomorrow would be about us.

* * *

Father agreed to let us take the boat for the day if we promised to bring back some pearls. There was never any guarantee we’d find even one, but I had a good feeling about today. As soon as we were out of sight of the house, I removed my hat and tied my skirts up between my legs. We were the only boat on the water—most people, like Mother, were sleeping off the festival and wine. Zadie looked a bit green herself, but I’d forced a ladle of fresh water and some porridge into her before dragging her into the boat.

She sat across from me now, her face shaded beneath the wide brim of her hat. Just because the ceremony was over didn’t mean she could fall into her sister’s slovenly ways, Mother had grumbled as we made our way out the door.

“You can remove your hat, Zadie. Mother can’t see you out here.”

She kept her gaze on the water. “I will, once we get to the reef. There’s no point in taking risks now.”

And when you get to Ilara? I wanted to ask. Will you take risks then? We had promised not to talk about Ilara this week, but our lives had revolved around the ceremony for as long as I could remember. Now that it was over, what else was there to talk about but Zadie leaving?

The sun was fierce today, without even the occasional cloud to provide relief. I leaned over backward, wetting my hair to cool off my head, and sighed as the water dripped down my neck. From now on, I would wear my hair loose and let my skin tan as much as a man’s. We were all destined to look like Elder Nemea anyway, with her white hair and skin like a pelican’s wattle. What was so wonderful about being beautiful, if all it meant was being sent away from the people you loved at best, and at worst, spending the rest of your life feeling inadequate?

I usually did the rowing, to spare Zadie’s hands from becoming hard and callused, but we weren’t in a hurry today, so I allowed my fingers to trail in the water and let the waves carry us toward the reef. Our oars were wrapped in fabric to prevent as much chafing as possible, but even when the occasional blister formed on my palms, it healed quickly. So quickly that I’d never earned another scar since the incident, despite my carelessness. The doctor believed my miraculous healing ability had something to do with the blood coral, but he couldn’t explain it any further than that.

“So,” Zadie said, “who would you consider marrying?”

A chill ran over my scalp despite the heat. “What?”

“I find Eyo to be quite handsome. And he always seems to find the pinkest pearls. His family is better fed than most.”

Zadie had never asked me about marriage before. She knew I wasn’t interested in any of the village boys, that when I did daydream about the future, I always imagined a life on land, not here in Varenia. And I couldn’t bring up Sami, knowing what I did. It would be better if Zadie went to Ilara without ever hearing of it. The truth would only hurt her.

I decided to play along. What harm could it do now? “Eyo is handsome, and he does find a lot of pearls. But have you ever gotten close enough to smell his breath?”

She laughed. “No. Why?”

“It smells like rotten fish. I couldn’t marry a young man who smelled like that, not for all the pearls in the Alathian Sea.”

“Tell me, then. Who is good enough for my dear sister? Iano?”

I shook my head. “Too short.”

“Jovani, then. He’s the tallest boy in the village and still growing.”

I considered for a moment, fanning myself with my hat. Jovani was tall, and his breath didn’t smell. He was fiercely protective of his little sister, who was the same age as Zadie and me. We didn’t know each other well, but in the meetinghouse before the ceremony, I’d heard several girls talking about him. From what I’d gathered, he was very respectful of his parents and a hard worker.