Martre: You were upset when that happened?
Katrine: We were—I mean... We didn’t understand. Hester had snuck up on us. She’d definitely seen us before we saw her. If she’d wanted to hurt us, she would have. And she wasn’t a man, either. So none of Idryss’s explanations from before made any sense anymore, did they? Not even the ones she hadn’t stuck to. Nothing bad happened untilwesawHester. I asked Idryss to explain, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t explain how Hester snuck up on us. She wouldn’t look us in the eyes. She was just staring off the edge of the cliffs, into the sea.
Rowan: Bruce wouldn’t even look at me after Hester was gone. He didn’t seem to hear my voice when I tried talking to him. He just started gathering up sticks and tying them together with vines. Before too long I realized he was building a raft. I tried to tell him that he’d never make it anywhere on that thing, but by the time the sun went down, he was pushing off. Didn’t even look back at me. Didn’t say goodbye. I figured that was probably the last I’d ever see of him.
Martre: Why didn’t you go with him?
Rowan: I don’t know. Well, I do know. It’s just... I’ve just never had to explain it to anyone before.
Martre: That’s okay. Take your time.
Rowan: I’d never planned on staying forever. But the others—Now, this is not to disrespect their memories in any way; lots of them were my friends. I cared very much aboutthem and they didn’t deserve to die. Most of them didn’t deserve to die.
Martre: I understand.
Rowan: Well. With them gone, I could stop pretending that I was in some kind of battle to survive. The island was a paradise. I’d never seen anything like it. As if it were designed to sustain life. Which, I suppose it was? And what a brilliant design. Wild grapes, wild onions, fennel, ginger, sea beans. Fresh water, little pools full of tiny fish that were practically hurling themselves into the fire. Not only were there no poisonous plants—most of the foliage was edible.
Martre: I’m impressed that you noticed that detail.
Rowan: I had a lot of time to notice it. So I decided to just take some time there, enjoy the cove. Enjoy the solitude.
Katrine: I went to the cove the night after the little one left on his raft. Greta was carving more signs and Idryss was rebraiding Odette’s hair where it had come loose over the course of the week. I wasn’t sneaking, no matter what Idryss said later. It’s just that whenever there are sailors on the island, Idryss makes us all stay togetherall the time. I wanted a moment to myself, you know? So I went to the empty cove.
Only it wasn’t empty. There was someone there. Just... sitting on the sand, watching the water, humming a little song.
Of course I ran back to the siblings like I was on fire to warn them. We thought we were finished with those sailors, but this one was still there, waiting. That’s when Idryssaccused me of sneaking off. But I wasn’t. I wasn’t sneaking.
Odette started crying. She hates it when sailors are here, hates knowing there will probably be more death. I remember Idryss glaring at me while she held Odette to her chest, and I didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t my fault that someone had stayed behind.
Rowan: I spent that first night on my own just watching the water. I slept on the sand and woke up at daybreak with salt in my hair. I washed myself in the river and ate grapes for breakfast. It was really nice. It’s a really nice place, especially the cove.
Martre: Thank you for saying so.
Rowan: Well.
Katrine: Idryss made us keep a rotating watch. She said the last remaining sailor was bound to come after us. We’d never really taken up a formal watch before, because why would we? But she said we had to. She told us we’d need to report on each other later—who’d been inattentive, who fell asleep, who was gossiping. And she said we had to wake her up right away if we spotted a stranger.
Greta asked why we couldn’t just go and let the stranger see us, end it fast. But Idryss... I don’t know. She said it was too dangerous. She said we had to stay close together. In hindsight, I think she wanted us to stay scared.
Usually, we’d do as we were told. But we all felt so uneasyafter the thing with Hester. So, while Idryss was sleeping, the three of us huddled up and tried to decide what to do. Greta wanted to go to the cove that night and finish it one way or the other. But then Odette started tying knots in a piece of rope the way she does when she’s upset, and Greta let it drop, and finally we all agreed we’d leave well enough alone. No need to interfere, so long as our guest stayed in the cove.
Martre: And did you leave that guest well enough alone?
Katrine: Don’t be cute.
Martre: I just need it in your own words.
Katrine: I think we’re done for today.
Rowan: For the first few days I just stuck to the beach, and nothing bad happened to me. Then I went into the forest, draping vines between all the signs. I didn’t know if they all said the same thing, but they seemed like a decent boundary marker. I figured as long as I didn’t go past my little fence, I’d probably be safe enough. Those vines grew fast, and within a week they were clinging to the signage on their own.
Martre: That was smart.
Rowan: Well, I was the ropemaker on theGravarius. You don’t get that job by not knowing how to handle rope. That’s relevant because vines are like ropes and—
Martre: I think it’s pretty clear. So what happened after that first couple of weeks?
Rowan: I found something hanging from one of the lengths of vine that stretched between two of the farthestsigns from the beach. It was a little jar with a section of honeycomb inside. The honey was so sweet, I’d never tasted anything like it before. I mean to be honest, I’d never tasted honey before at all. The jar was wrapped in twine. I still have it, see? The one with the flowers in it? Those are... oh hell, I can never remember the name in this language. Bee balm? Barberry? Katrine would know. Ask her.
