“I will start with the first thing,” Ilia sipped her coffee and looked deep into my eyes. “Your father’s name wasn’t Lee. It was Alvar.”

  I was not really that shocked to find out that my father’s name wasn’t his original one. He had always been a mysterious figure my whole life. Silent and shifty when it came to any details of his past before he arrived at Coconut Isnd. The grey eyed woman scanned my face for a reaction before she continued.

  “I had another name, too. But I will keep that name to myself for now.”

  I nodded and sipped my coffee. It was the most delicious drink I had ever had in my life.

  “I met your father when I was working as an apprentice for a dressmaker –”

  “I think we can trust the girl to tell her what you were really learning,” Ana Abya’s voice interrupted softly.

  Ilia looked lovingly at the beautiful woman at her side who kept her gaze on the kernels she was grinding, working the pestle deftly with her long graceful fingers.

  “We can talk about that ter,” Ilia replied. “I don’t really think it’s that relevant to this story anyway.”

  She focused back on me and then she spoke:

  “I was working for this woman. Here on the isnd she was known as Alina, she died a few years ago. She had gotten herself mixed into something terrible involving the crown princess and your father.”

  “How did my dad know the crown princess?” I interrupted.

  “He was part of her royal guard that brought her from Havermark,” Ilia said patiently. “She is the queen now.”

  “He was a soldier?”

  I could not imagine my calm, kind father fighting with a sword and shield. The image cshed in my head.

  “Yes, a high ranking one,” Ilia continued. “One night they were all doing something downstairs in the dressmaker’s shop where they worked. I was woken up from my sleep by someone pounding on the door. I looked down through and saw a man with bandages all around his head. He used a knife to slit open the throat of a horse, then he screamed a terrible scream, like something was wrong with his throat. Through some of the bandages I could see that he had red hair. Through the bottom part of the bandages I could see that he was bleeding. I went and hid in the closet. There was a terrible fight downstairs, and suddenly the whole house was on fire. Alina came up to save me and soon after that night we travelled away from Medora, never to return.”

  “Do you think that red headed man is the same one that killed my dad yesterday?” I asked.

  “Yes, I think so.”

  “Do you know his name?”

  “I think it was Sir Titian, or Sir Titius,” she sighed. “I forget which. I have tried not to think about it much in the st years.”

  “Why do you think he did it?”

  She slowly blew air out of her mouth.

  “I don’t know.”

  I could tell she was lying.

  “Please tell me,” I begged.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You have to tell me!” I started to tear up. “Please!”

  Ilia closed her eyes and furrowed her brow. Ana Abya looked at me kindly.

  “I will talk to her,” she told me kindly. “My son goes to sea tomorrow. Come back tomorrow evening and we will tell you everything.”

  “I can’t wait that long!”

  Now her gaze was more stern.

  “It is either then or never at all,” she said.

  Her voice was soft, but firm. I knew she was serious.

  ***

  I walked around the harbour, looking around at the busy people. Life had gone back to normal. The sailors from foreign nds didn’t think much to look at me, but the people of the vilge gave me strange looks. Some of them stared, but even more refused to look at me at all. I was no longer Talia, their friend. I was the girl whose father was murdered.

  I wanted to shout at them:

  What are you looking at!? Stop staring and help me find the man who did this to me!

  I knew it wouldn’t do any good. In stead I just looked around fruitlessly. There were no red-heads in the harbour at all.

  As evening fell I started to walk home.

  I hated the path from the harbour to my house now. I had walked it my whole life, and objectively it was a lovely little path. There were broad leafed trees to keep you cool, and the breeze from the sea was always lovely there. Many beautiful birds lived along the path, and many colourful flowers grew along it.

  Now every time I walked it, it felt like I was walking to see my father die again.

  I opened the door to find my sister sitting on the living room bench, as she had been doing almost the whole time since our father had been killed. Now a handsome dark-skinned man sat at her side. It was Timo, Ana Abya’s son.He was holding her hands gently between his and she was smiling softly. Her skin was ashen and her lips were dry, her eyes were downcast and red. The smile was small, but it seemed genuine.

  “Timo, hi,” I said, sounding as cheerful as I could.

  “Talia, hi. I’m just saying goodbye to your sister before I leave tomorrow,” Timo said in gentle tones.

  “That’s nice.”

  I pulled up a chair and saw that my mum had left coffee on the table. I poured some into a cup for me. It was only slightly warmer than room temperature, but the familiar fvour calmed me.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “Medolina,” he said, almost apologetically.

  I nodded. I did feel almost hurt that he was going there. It was stupid.

  “I was hired on a Medoran ship. We are going to go all the way up the North coast with wares from the Southern continent. I’ll be gone for a couple of months.”

  “I’ll miss you very much,” Elina said softly.

  He smiled.

  “I’ll miss you too Elina. I have to go now.”

  He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. She gave his hand an extra squeeze. When he walked out of the door she softly said.

  “This is what I wanted to tell you about the dad died. That I’ve fallen in love with Timo, Ana Abya’s son.”

  “I’m happy for you, Elina. I muttered. Where is mum?”

  “She’s in the bedroom with dad’s body. People have been coming all day to see him. They’ve been very kind.”

  “That’s good to hear.”

  “They brought a lot of flowers, they are lying by dad’s side. You should see it. It looks beautiful.”

  “I’ll look at it ter.”

  I didn’t want to see him at all.

  ***

  I walked over to Ana Abya’s house with a determined stride. Finally it was time to find out all the secrets that had they had been unwilling to tell me. As I arrived Ilia immediately opened the door.

  “Come in, and sit down,” she said softly and gestured to a chair in the main room.

  I sat.

  “Before we talk, there is something we need to do,” she told me.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Close your eyes and lean your head back,” Ana Abya’s soft voice came from my side.

  It was night and there was only a few small oil mps in the hut. She almost blended in with the darkness, but I could see her beautiful, kind eyes. I did as I was told.

  Ana Abya’s soft hands enveloped my head holding it in pce. I felt something cold and pointy press against my chin. I wanted to open my mouth to ask what it was, but Ana Abya’s hands held me more firmly than I first thought. I was unable to move. Then the thing pushed in. It hurt, but only about as much as pricking your finger on a needle hurts. They held it in me for a bit. It almost felt like they were pushing a very long needle into the back of my skull, but that couldn't be it, could it?

  Finally it was done. Ana Abya let go. My head snapped back up to look at the women.

  “What did you do to me!?” I asked.

  “A little spell to make you unable to repeat some of the things you hear here tonight,” Ana Abya said softly.

  “Like the fact that magic is real,” Ilia continued.

  I stared stunned at the two of them.

  Magic is real!?

  That is I wanted to say, but the words couldn't exit my mouth.

  “What do you mean by that?” I was able to say.

  “There are various people across the world that follow the teachings of a goddess called the Mother of Magic,” Ana Abya said softly. “We have not had much need for it in the Midway Isles, but in both the North and the South there are a lot of practitioners. In the South they often call her the snake woman. In these pces the practice is also heavily stigmatized. It is illegal in most pces and often punishable by death. You remember those potions I secretly sold you against pregnancy? Those are magic.”

  “We are practitioners of magic,” Ilia told me. “I learned it back in Medolina with my old mistress Adora. She called herself Alina when she came here. My name back then was Izzy. Adora was a friend of the old queen, whose husband had her beheaded. When that happened she became enraged and swore to kill the king. The crown princess agreed, and together we all killed him with magic.”

  “These are the three things you cannot mention,” Ana Abya said helpfully. “The existence of magic, and any facts reted to the old king’s murder. As far as anyone was concerned in Medora, he died of a disease. The third thing is that in the Midway Isles you cannot say Izzy and Adora’s original names, but in Medolina you cannot say their names here in the Midway Isles, Ilia and Alina. You can share your father’s name as you wish, but I recommend against it.”

  “Then after the king had died, the younger prince, Prince Plinius, was murdered and thrown in the harbour,” Ilia continued. “He was in the army, as was Sir Titian. Then that terrible night happened, and our house burned down. Adora never told me much about it, and I didn’t want to know. Now I wish I had been more nosy so I could help you. I think they were pnning for Alvar and the princess to escape to the Midway Isles, because of the murder.”

  “Alvar?” I asked.

  “Your father’s name back then.”

  “Of course, yes, sorry.”

  “Then that horrible man Titius came. I think he had been fighting with Alvar before, and that is how his throat got so damaged. He set fire to mine and Adora’s home, and Alvar ran after him. We spent the day rebuilding, but then Alvar returned. He was in a terrible hurry, and told us he had messed up and the people of Medolina were about to find out there was still magic in the city. We escaped on a ship that night, secretly hidden in the Captain’s Quarters. They had already set up two beds inside the closet. That is why I don’t think Alvar was going alone. Then we arrived here, and well, we haven’t really remained close.”

  “What happened then?” I asked.

  “Just what you already know. I lived with Adora for a while, learning magic. Your father met your mother and I met Ana Abya.”

  The usually serious woman gave a sparkling smile. Ana Abya stood behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

  “You mean?”

  I had heard some of the girls in the vilge tittering about the idea that two women or two men could be together like a woman and a man. I had always thought it was just young girls imagination.

  “We decided to spend our life together,” Ana Abya said, with her usual grace. “Timo knows, and I think many of the older people in the vilge suspect it. Ilia’s cloaking magic helps keep most of the focus off us though.”

  Cloaking magic. That is why it had been so hard for me to remember Ilia.

  “I want to learn this thing,” I told them.

  My mind whispered magic, but my mouth could not say the word.

  “Will you teach me?”

  Ana Abya smiled knowingly.

  “See, I told you she would ask.”