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Wisdom sings beautifully. Corzin feels like he might have heard the tune before, but he can’t quite place it.
He goes to her when she is finished, curious.
‘Hey, what was that song you were singing earlier? It’s very pretty, if sad’
She smiles slightly. ‘Oh it’s called The Ballad of Barnacle Point? Apparently it got destroyed about 30 years ago, my mother-’
Corzin freezes. Her mouth is still moving, but he cannot hear any of them. He turns and walks away, striding to. Somewhere. He isn’t quite sure where he heads to, somewhere away from people, some quiet corner of the courtyard where he can be alone for a moment. Once alone, he lets go and the memories begin to flood in.
The waves crashing on the pier, the monsters, the giant eye, and always, always, the lightning. Then, in the days afterward, sitting in the empty shell that was once his home, the barest bones of buildings, the air as still and quiet as his heart, not sure he’d ever feel anything other than grief again.
He thinks he now knows where he’s heard the song before. There were a few hands on a ship he’d sailed on about 10 yrs ago who were always singing something or other, but they’d always stop singing that one when they saw him, so he only remembered the tune faintly. He’d never worked out why they always looked a little sheepish, had put it down to an officer catching them slacking at their work, but he recalls that he’d told them about his plans to kill the kraken one night, when he’d had a bit too much rum.
A few minutes later, Scamp comes to find him, and they are quite upset about him leaving Wisdom and being rude. Corzin considers trying to explain himself, but decides that, whilst he is beginning to trust these people as much as he does Molly, he can’t quite bring himself to open up that much. He follows Scamp inside, and apologises until they are satisfied, although they are still a little colder to him than usual for the rest of the night.
(A few days later, after everything, when Corzin finally tells the pair, Scamp will remember the name of the song, and put it together, and then they will apologise themself. Corzin will tell them there is nothing to forgive, of course, but Scamp will be just that bit kinder for the next day or two.)
He speaks to Wisdom again, and this time stays to listen, and she tells him about her mother singing it to her when she was too young to understand it, and Hope teaching her the words when she was a little older. He asks her to teach him the words, and it is bittersweet, but the pain brings with it happier memories, times when he would sit at the pier and fish with Wendel, and return home with the day’s bounty.
And afterwards, Corzin will stand at the edge of whatever ship he is on, on a quiet evening, when there is no storm, no fighting, just him and his memories, and he can be heard humming the tune. There is a pain in his eyes, but also a slight smile on his face, for his heart will never be alone.