There were only three days before the expedition was over; Theonis was that much closer to returning home. He was doing his best to keep his mind off of that fact. Today, Kosgoris was telling Theonis how to identify edible plants that could be used in cooking, as well as poisonous plants to avoid picking.

“Summershade dies out in the winter and returns once it’s over. It has edible roots that will provide a lot of energy,” Kosgoris said, holding up the small plant. “The petals on the flower can be boiled for a tea that helps fight headaches. The leaves and stem are poisonous. You should be able to recognize it because of the way the leaves grow in this wavy pattern.”

Theonis nodded along. He suspected that this was helping Kosgoris too. Satiria had felt good enough to go back into the field today and Kosgoris was probably worried about her. This would keep his mind off of her.

“Thank you for this,” Theonis said. “Although, to be honest, I’m not sure when I’ll ever have the opportunity to use any of this. Once I’m back on Stemini, I don’t plan on going on any more adventures. I’m definitely not becoming a pirate after the things that Satiria said.”

“That’s unfortunate. But you never know where your life will lead. This might be useful to you sooner than you expect.”

“Perhaps. I wish I could stay, though.”

“Why don’t you stay? Dimileios would allow it. Satiria has softened on the idea of you being here.”

“I belong on the island,” Theonis said. “That’s where my friends and mother are. That’s where I grew up. I owe it to my community to give back to them somehow. And it’ll be hard if I don’t become a pirate, but I’ll figure it out.”

“Do you like it there?”

“Not particularly. It’s not the most appealing life.”

Kosgoris sat the summershade down.

“If you want to,” he said, “you can learn to belong to somewhere new. It’s not easy. You do have to be willing to change a little bit in order to fit into the culture you’re entering; you can’t rightly ask the culture to change to fit yourself.”

Theonis smirked.

“That’s funny,” he said. “Yesterday, Myrova told me the exact opposite: I shouldn’t have to change who I am in order to belong to somewhere new.”

“Oh? But you’ve already changed, haven’t you?” Theonis blinked in confusion. “When you joined, you weren’t willing to put in any effort at all. And you’ve learned a few new skills on this trip. You’ve definitely changed, and you fit in better as a result, but you didn’t have to compromise your identity in the process.”

Theonis nodded along.

Kosgoris leaned in and said, “Ask Dimileios to make you a permanent member of the team. You’re happier here, and you’re learning skills that are useful to the rest of the team. You’ll get to see more of the islands and meet new people. You might even find a niche to fill that none of us can. And—this is important—most of us want you here, Theonis.”

Theonis bit his lip and bowed his head to think.

“I don’t think I can,” he finally said, not looking up at Kosgoris. “I don’t think that I have enough to offer the team. Simply doing odd jobs isn’t going to be enough. I don’t belong here.”

“Do you really need to prove yourself like that?” Kosgoris asked.

“I think that I do, to prove to myself that I matter, that I’m not small enough to be easily replaced.”

Kosgoris nodded.

“Very well.”

After lunch, Theonis washed the dishes and put them away. Kateni was already patrolling the camp again. Theonis finished drying off and ran up to her.

“Do we have time to spar today?” he asked her.

Kateni broke out into a grin and started walking to her tent. She returned with the wooden practice swords and tossed one to Theonis. Together, they walked over to the empty patch of land that they were using as their practice field.

“How are you feeling?” Kateni asked. “Going into that rubble to pull Satiria out must have been frightening for you. Any nightmares?”

“No, I feel fine,” Theonis said. “A little sad that this is about to end, but overall I’m feeling pretty good.”

They took their stances and Theonis rushed forward. Kateni blocked, but Theonis was getting faster. They blocked and parried each other for a bit. Theonis was breathing heavily, but Kateni was fine. Theonis was getting weaker. His arms were a little more toned than they used to be, but he didn’t have the strength that he used to.

“Theonis,” Kateni finally said, lowering her weapon, “what’s going on? You’re struggling more and more every time that we spar. Are you ill?”

“I’m fine,” Theonis insisted, keeping his sword raised. “Let’s keep going.”

“Something is definitely wrong,” Kateni said, stepping forward. “What aren’t you telling me, Theonis?”

“I’m just not used to fighting,” Theonis said. It was the truth. “I’ll get better with practice.”

“You’ve been getting better, but you’re struggling in new ways too.”

“I… I just want to keep going.”

Kateni sighed and raised her weapon, swinging at Theonis. He blocked her blade and took a step back, the shock traveling up his arm. As Kateni was recovering, Theonis lunged at her, but she dodged.

He was never going to be as good as her, but Theonis was improving.

“It’s a shame that you never learned how to fight like pirates do,” Kateni said suddenly, locking blades with Theonis. “It would be a joy to get to test my skills against one of their own.”

As he was being pushed back, Theonis replied, “I don’t think that pirates are ever really trained like this. They just pick up a sword and attack, as far as I know. I’ve only heard stories, but I think that they just overwhelm their enemies with numbers instead of using any kind of strategy.”

“Truly a shame.”

They stopped to share a drink from Kateni’s water skin. As Theonis was handing it back, though, Kateni surprised him by getting really close. She put her hands on his cheeks and started rubbing Theonis’ face.

“You almost seem younger than you did before,” she said.

Theonis’ heart sank. Is that what was happening? Was the pendant making him younger than he was? No… that wouldn’t explain why his hair was growing or why his skin was so soft.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Kateni asked. “We’re worried about you, Theonis.”

“It’s nothing, really,” Theonis insisted, pulling away.

Kateni glared at him.

He asked, “Can’t we just continue sparring?”

“Very well, but I’m not satisfied with your answers.”

They continued. Theonis was struggling more, though. He couldn’t focus. Kateni knew that something was wrong. And the others did, too. He couldn’t hide this forever. And Kateni would be so upset with him if she learned what the pendant was doing to him; she placed so much priority on physical strength.

Before long, Kateni lowered her weapon and said, “Let’s call it a day. You look troubled. Try to focus better tomorrow.”

Theonis nodded and handed over his practice sword. He couldn’t bear to look at Kateni as he walked away. But he could still feel her gaze boring into him.

Kosgoris was kneeling over the fire, boiling water in a small pot. As Theonis approached, Kosgoris looked up and smiled softly at him. Theonis sat down and Kosgoris poured the hot water into a small cup wrapped in a towel.

“Satiria was in pain, so she came back to camp early,” he explained. “This is a pain killing tea I made for her, made from Agaria powder and Vissarias leaves. Since I need to get started on lunch, will you deliver this to her? Leave the rest on the fire in case it’s not enough.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Theonis said, taking the small cup. He could feel the heat of the drink even through the towel.

Satiria was in her work tent, comparing notes and writing in a small journal. As Theonis approached, he saw her wince in pain and shift her legs. She noticed him approaching and sat her papers to the side.

“Kosgoris made this for you,” Theonis said, placing it on the table.

“Thank you,” Satiria said quietly, looking away.

She was still a little awkward around him.

“What are you doing?” Theonis asked.

“I’m compiling all of my notes and getting them ready to turn over to the capital,” she explained, finally looking Theonis in the eye. “It hurts too much to walk at the moment, so that's all that I can do.”

There was a warmth in her voice that hadn’t been there before. Theonis suspected that he’d earned a bit of trust in her eyes for saving her from the rubble. Finally, it seemed like everyone on the team liked him at least a little bit.

“Can I ask you something?” he asked.

“Go ahead.

“Who are the Ancient Apositans? And why are we stealing their stuff?”

Satiria cocked her head to the side, then a look of comprehension dawned on her.

“You don’t know our history,” she said.

“No?”

“Alright. The Ancient Apositans settled these islands before anyone else and created a seafaring civilization, believed to be one of the first in the world. That lasted for thousands and thousands of years—people debate exactly how long, but over ten thousand—until the rise of the Ancient Miravian Empire. Apositus and Miravia were at war until Miravia conquered the islands. A lot of the old Apositan settlements were lost, many of them just starving to death because they were cut off from supply lines, others abandoned as people settled the new Miravian settlements that were built in the rubble of conquered cities.”

“What does that have to do with us?”

“I’m getting there. Miravia imposed a lot of restrictive rules, getting rid of almost all the native culture and effectively banning all magic. When the empire fell, the islanders created a series of small independent countries that eventually became one nation: Pelakevi. The vast majority of Pelakevians, including all of us but Kateni, are descendants of the native Apositans. By recovering their settlements and artifacts, we’re also recovering our own lost history and culture.”

Theonis nodded slowly.

“You’re recovering your own culture,” he realized. “Recovering our culture…”

That was so weird to think about. The Apositans were his ancestors too. He was part of this larger world. If he hadn’t grown up isolated on Stemini, Theonis would have grown up knowing that.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you for explaining that to me.”

“Of course.”

Theonis stepped away, letting her know, “If you need more tea, just call out and I’ll bring you some.”

“I will.”

That evening, everyone gathered around the fire to eat dinner. Theonis occasionally opened his mouth to say something, but for the most part stayed quiet. His mind was on the pendant again. In a way, it actually belonged to him; it was part of his inheritance. Theonis wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to wrap his head around that.

It would still be nice to talk to someone about what was happening to him. Who, though? Myrova would know the most, but she’d be upset that he’d taken the amulet in the first place. Satiria was pretty smart, but his relationship with her was still fragile. Who could he trust? Kateni, maybe, but she’d hate the effects it was having on him. What about Lias? Lias was kind to Theonis from the beginning. He seemed trustworthy enough.

Theonis finished eating and waited. When Lias stood up to leave the fire, Theonis got up as well. He waited until they were a little ways away, then stepped closer.

“Hey, can I talk to you alone?” he asked quietly.

“Oh? Sure. No problem. What about?”

“Let’s just find a quiet spot.”

They sat down on the edge of camp. Theonis took a deep breath to try and steady his nerves. Lias waited patiently for him to begin. It took a while for Theonis’ hand to stop shaking, but he finally pulled the pendant out from underneath his shirt.

“On the first night here, I went out and started exploring the ruins. I found this in one of the buildings and took it for myself. Since then, it’s been slowly altering my body. That’s why my hair is growing so fast, among other things.”

“So that’s what’s been going on,” Lias said. “You really have been changing; it’s not just been in our heads.”

“Yeah, but I really don’t mind—”

“I can’t believe you did that,” Lias interrupted. “You were told explicitly not to wander off that first night. Why did you even take the damn thing?”

“Because I was jealous!” Theonis replied. “It was so pretty and I’ve never gotten to wear jewelry before and I wanted it, okay?”

“But why not turn it over when you found out that it was magical?”

“Because I was afraid you’d all take it away from me.”

Lias sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“This is a lot to take in,” he muttered. “I guess I understand why you didn’t want anyone to find out, but I really don’t like what you did. Why even tell me now?”

“I just wanted someone I’d be able to confide in,” Theonis admitted. “This was a lot to carry by myself and I wanted someone to help shoulder the weight.”

Lias grunted in reply.

“You’re not too mad, are you?” Theonis asked softly.

“No, I guess not. But you understand that this is a big deal, right?”

“Yeah, I know. I just needed to tell someone.”

Neither of them said anything more. Eventually, Lias stood up and muttered something about going to bed. Theonis sat there for a bit longer before getting up and heading to his tent. He took off his clothes and curled up on the bedroll, rubbing the soft skin on his arms. He did feel a little better, even if that hadn’t gone incredibly well.

“Only two more days,” Theonis muttered. “Two more days and I have to leave.”