Gods are not good at being subtle. A chariot designed to pull the sun through the sky, or rather, be the sun being pulled through the sky is hardly going to be the way to sneak up on Tanuk, especially in the middle of the alleged night.
I have an idea.
“You should let me go.”
“Yes, let Tanuk get his hands on both of my teenage daughters,” Helios growls. “That is not going to happen. You stay here. I will have Ragnar guard you.”
“If he is as much of a trickster as you say, he won't be on his island. And if he is, he’s going to see you from a mile away. Your chariot is literally the sun. And if you go, my mother and Ragnar will likely follow, and…” I don’t finish the sentence, but it is obvious Helios is trying to keep this all on the down low. If he goes, everybody will know what has happened.
“Tanuk cannot get away with this. Lucy is my most precious…” He looks at me and corrects himself far too late for it to matter. “One of my most precious possessions.”
I know who his favorite is. He doesn't hide it. But it is sort of sweet for him to try, I suppose. What’s not sweet is the way he thinks of us much like his prized horses.
"She's not your possession. She's a person, or a part person with her own thoughts, feelings, and…”
“Alright, you can go,” Helios says, choosing to sacrifice me over hearing my thoughts about personhood. “You can ride my mare.”
“Actually, I can’t. Only Lucy was ever allowed to ride your winged steeds. I’ll have go in the boat.”
“Triton will see you.”
“Then distract him. He’s still at the party, isn’t he?”
“I will distract him,” Helios nods. He rummages in his pocket and pulls out a small shining stone. “Take this. It is a beacon. When you activate it, I will come to you instantly wherever you are and bring Lucy home.”
“Bring both of us home, you mean.”
“Exactly,” he says. “And don’t worry. I will cover for you with your mother and Ragnar.”
I don’t think that is going to be a significant issue. Nobody notices when I go missing. I once ran away from the golden palace and lived in the roots of Yggdrasil for a week and when I came back, Lucy was delighting everybody with her newfound juggling skill.
I could be bitter about my role in the family, but over the years I’ve found ways to make it work for me. I know I’m loved. Ragnar adores me even if he’s not the most attentive father. My mother loves me and Lucy just the same, and even Helios cares in his own self-absorbed sort of way. I noticed long ago that his preference for Lucy was really nothing more than a thinly-veiled preference for the younger, female version of himself.
We go down to the shore where the boats are docked. There are many tonight, all here for the party. I doubt any of the gods actually needed these vessels. It is a strange truth about gods that when given the option, they will often behave as if they are mortal. I wonder if perhaps they are in some way jealous of the human condition, limited as it is.
“Take this,” Helios adds just before I get into our little boat, giving me a package. “There’s a map and a compass, and a homing needle. All you need do is sail where it points.”
Easy enough. I board the small vessel, throw the mooring line, and unfurl the sails. This, I know how to do, thanks to the one god we were allowed to interact with from time to time. Triton taught both Lucy and me to sail when we were small. We have not seen as much of him of late, but the skills stay with me as I set my little vessel out toward the great dark sea.
This is an errand of mercy, a true adventure. I do not know if I will find Tanuk and Lucy at the end of this, but I know I am free for the first time in my life. The homing needle points the way to Tanuk’s island unerringly, but the vessel itself bends to my will. I could go anywhere. I could find my way to a new world. I could be what some people might call free.
But I don’t do that, of course. I send the skiff sailing directly where the needle tells me to. Lucy needs me, and as spoiled as she is, she is still my sister.
3
Raine
I make land on an island a few hours later. I cannot tell if it is shaped like a leaf by the shape of the shoreline, but I can tell instantly that it is not an island like the one I have come from. As I step off the boat and pull it up onto the shore, I have the strangest sense of nostalgia for places I have never been.
Of course, there is nobody there waiting for me. It would be outlandish if there was. But that means now I am here, I am left with the task of finding Tanuk and Lucy. How hard could that be? I start to walk amid the dawning of a new day, peach sunrise making itself felt over the island’s horizon.
I appear to be alone at first as I head inland, following a stream. This way, I can’t get lost. If I don’t find what I’m looking for, I can just turn back. That’s smart thinking, I compliment myself internally.
Footsteps nearby make me dive for a bush. My first impulse is to hide. I don’t know why. It’s not like I am doing anything wrong. I am a heroine on a rescue mission. I should be bold, and brave, and…
“Come out, come out, wherever you are…” a masculine voice sings the song with more than a little menace.
It’s Tanuk.
I’ve found him.
I kind of wish I hadn’t.
I do not come out. I stay where I am. Suddenly, I am remembering how strong Tanuk was when he took me over his thighs, and how much he made me ache before he gave me that illicit pleasure. What if he is angry that I am here? What if he does worse to me?
“Helios!” Tanuk shouts. “I know you’re here. I have been expecting you.”
He thinks it is Helios who came? Not even Tanuk believes that I might be capable of anything?
“It’s not Helios. It’s me.” I am indignant, but still hidden. I can see Tanuk now, standing just a few feet away from the bush, looking directly at it. He knows I am in here. I am fooling nobody.
He folds his arms over his chest and cocks his head to the side. “Me sounds very female and quite small. Hardly the cavalry.”
I step out of the bushes, trying to look impressive. It’s hard when you’re only 5’6 and on the heavier side. I bet Lucy would put on some sort of armor and appear like a slender Amazonian warrior.
I’m still wearing the dress I was wearing at the party. It provides almost no protection, and even less intimidation. But that’s not my job. I am just supposed to press the button on the beacon, drawing Helios here in an instant and then let him take over. I don’t know why I’m not pushing it. Ending this. I’ve done everything I was supposed to do. Except the very last thing.
“Ah, the bad twin,” Tanuk greets me with that wicked smile. “Have you come back for another spanking?”
“I have not,” I growl. “I’ve come to rescue Lucy.”
“She hardly needs rescuing. But where are your fathers? I expected an army to descend on my little home.”
“I have descended instead.”
“And what are you going to do, daughter of Ragnar?”
What am I going to do? That is a good question. I had a lot of time to think about it while I was sailing over the ocean. I thought about how I was alone on open water, how even Triton didn’t know I was there and how if I sank into the black waves nobody would know anything.