The sea rocked in the night, and I rocked with it, closing my eyes tightly and willing my stomach to dream of land. It was there, on the heaving deck of that cursed ship that I first heard him singing to me. At first I thought the words were murmurs of the sea, the waves slapping the side of the small ship that was supposed to be carrying me to my new life. A wave of heat shuddered over me, sweat breaking on my brow. I shrugged my shoulders, letting my outer robe fall from my shoulders. The song continued, beginning to sound more and more human. The wind slid across my collarbone, dried my brow, and brought me a few muddled words. All I thought I could hear were the words “leaving the night,” but I was unsure of even that.

“Lyra, come in!” I turned my head at the words and saw Aben, the Duke of Cecillior standing at the cabin door. He was acting as my chaperone on the journey, and would stay and help me assimilate in my new home; my last vestige of my homeland.

“I still feel sick, Aben!” I called to him.

“It’s going to storm, the first mate says he can feel it coming!” I shuddered a bit at the thought of the first mate—Jennen, I think his name was. His mother had been part witch, or so he claimed. I could abide by his intuitions, but not the milky eyes that could still somehow see.

“What does he know? The sky is clear enough!” I lied, knowing that if Jennen thought it was going to rain and the sky was clear, I’d be wise to head to cover. I could feel Aben sigh even though I wasn’t watching him.

“Just come inside, your majesty. Please! What difference does it make if you’re sick in here or sick out there?”

“The difference is, I feel sicker in there than I do out here!” I replied even as I gathered up my robe and trudged toward the cabin, fighting the tilting deck.

“Gods in the heavens, I’d give my right hand if this damn sea would calm down,” Aben swore as soon as he had gotten me inside.

“Just two more days,” I muttered. “One and a half, if we can get the wind on our side.”

“If anyone could, it would be you, your highness.”

“Oh, you flatter me.” I said with a smile, sinking into the seat I had dropped my shaky body into. My thoughts turned to the song.

“You know, the strangest thing happened when I was above deck… I thought I heard someone singing. In the wind...” Aben laughed out loud until his nose had turned red.

“You can’t be serious, Lyra! Singing? In the middle of the ocean? We’re at least a day from any land, it was the wind.”

“Yeah, the wind.” I looked away, cradling my chin in my hand as we sat in silence. I was thinking about what Aben reminded me of. If he had been a few years younger, a brother; a few years older, perhaps a father. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but he had a familiar feeling about him, and not just because he had been at court almost as long as I could remember. I felt safe with him, which was only a small comfort in my position. I knew Aben was thinking of it too.

“Imagining what life will be like with a husband?”

I flashed him a cockeyed smile before I replied. “Its not so much the husband I’m worried about… I’m more concerned about living in Serrayna . It just sounds so different… And I’ve never even left Territrea before now.”

“Serrayna is very different… Everything about it. The people, the language, the customs… But just because they have their own ways doesn’t mean you won’t learn to like them.”

“I don’t want new customs. I love my father’s people, Aben, you know that! Nothing would have made me happier than to stay with them.”

“The people of Serrayna will become your people. They’ll love you, your majesty. You’re beautiful, you’re smart, what isn’t there to like about you? Besides, they know they’ll have to live with you for a very long time,” He told me, a laugh in his voice but not in his eyes. I wasn’t in the mood.

“I doubt my adopted people will be as kind as you suggest, but thank you for doing your job. Though I don’t think you’re nearly as good as it as you think you might be. Please, Aben, I’m just looking for sympathy. You can’t make it right so don’t try.” He watched me from the corner of his eye before standing and walking to his hammock.

“I’m going to sleep now. Based on your mood, I think it would be a good idea for you to do the same.” My stomach flipped as I walked past him to my quarters, where I knew I would dream of unending waves.

I woke up in a cold sweat. I knew I must have woken up Aben as I hurtled past him; even so, I barely made it out of the cabin in time to empty my stomach into the sea. I propped myself up on the railing, waiting for my knees to stop trembling. I turned back to the cabin and saw Aben rubbing dreams from his eyes, watching my in my helpless state. It was only then, as I wondered why he didn’t come and help me, that I finally noticed it was storming. I guess my own eyes were begging, saying what I was too proud to ask, because Aben sighed heavily and trudged out into the wind and rain and thunder, and pulled me back below deck.

“Seasickness getting the best of you?” He asked, rolling my wet, shaking body back into my bed. I sneered and pushed my face into my pillow, willing away the most recent wave of nausea.

“Were you dreaming of the waves?” His words echoed my own earlier thoughts. I met Aben’s eyes, searching for some recognition, but there was no special knowledge behind them, no glimmer of wit. He noticed me staring at him aggressively and began nervously explaining himself.

“The waves… were you dreaming of them, too? Usually you sleep like a baby.” My expression softened as I realized it had been an innocent coincidence, but after my unsettling dreams, I was still on edge.

“I dreamt of the song.” It was Aben’s turn for a darker expression. I started talking faster, trying to explain that I wasn’t insane. “I heard something, Aben. Maybe it was the wind, but it did sound just like a man’s singing voice…” My dreams tumbled back over me as I almost remembered the song that had haunted me all night long. The song htat had narrated some strange, dark landscape of emotion. I had felt fear and uncertainty in that place, and as comforting as Aben’s presence had been just a few hours earlier, his face only made me feel more foreign. I felt like he was looking at someone who was no longer there. The dream had put me in a strange state of mind. I knew that if I did fall back asleep, all that would wait for me were more nightmares.

“What did he sound like?” Aben broke me from my reverie by humoring my delusion.

“He sounded like…” I found I couldn’t quite hear his voice, it had been transformed from sound to emotion in my dream. “Like beauty, like the touch of truth in a lie, like the safe spot within a mystery…” The words tumbled from my mouth, flowed from the sleepy recesses of my subconscious. If by some miracle I braved my dreams and fell back asleep, I knew I wouldn’t remember any of what I had just said.

“I think its time for you to get back to sleep, before your philosophizing gets out of hand.”

“Stay with me,” I begged impulsively. I could see Aben’s mouth set in distaste, even in the faint light of my cabin. His brow knit in uncertainty. “Just until I fall asleep. I’m afraid of my dreams.” He waited a few moments, reading my face and my desperation.

“Alright then. But when you wake up, I’ll be gone, and I was never here, you understand? I know you’re scared, but you know its not right for me to spend the night in a Princess’ quarters. Much less my unmarried royal charge’s quarters…”

“I know,” I mumbled, burying my face in my pillows again, trying to convince my stomach we were on firm land.

When I was on the brink of sleep, he ventured to lay his trembling hand on the small of my back. What I felt in his touch told me that though I may have considered him a friend, to him I would always be, first and foremost, a princess. I think it may have been then, when I could see my dreams on the horizon, and had all but forgotten the waking world behind me, that I first suspected he was in love with me.