Anna stood stock still, staring into the girl’s face. It was beyond an uncanny resemblance. The same dark hair, the same flushed cheeks, the same wide blue-gray eyes. Clutching her locket, Anna stepped back nervously.

“I…I really don’t understand how this is possible…”

“Please, it’s alright. I won’t hurt you. I promise. Look, I have no weapons.”

Anna shifted her gaze to the armored man. The girl laughed. “Orris, there is no need to look so terrifying! Wait for me in the hall, and bar the door. None may enter.” Orris nodded gravely, and shut the door behind him. “Quickly,” said the mysterious girl. “Pull those curtains shut. Otherwise they will see the light, and Orris will have to knock a few heads.”

“I really have no idea what’s happening—”

“Quickly!”

Dumbfounded, Anna crossed the room somewhat stiffly and pulled the curtains to a close. The room was enveloped in darkness, save for the tiny guttering light of a candle Anna had forgotten to blow out. The girl stood in the shadows, waiting.

“I apologize for introducing myself so abruptly. I am Marisa Selfaro, Leiden’s ambassador to the throne of Gareth…and I am your identical twin.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. If we truly are twins, then how were we separated? Where have you been all these years? Why did you only seek me out now? Why—”

“Calm down…! I will explain! Look, there is no reason to doubt me,” said Marisa, reaching into the folds of her hooded robe. “The locket you wear, you have had it for as long as you can remember, am I right? Well. I have had mine for just as long.” In the faint candlelight, Marisa held out her locket for Anna to see. It was almost exactly the same, except that it was the inverted version of Anna’s: the shape of a shield. The pattern of intertwining vines and the unfamiliar lettering were exact matches. “And if you still don’t believe me…move to the other side of the room. I’ll stand directly across from you. Just do it, nothing bad will happen. Promise.”

Anna numbly did as she was told. When they were standing opposite each other, Marisa blew out the candle. “Alright. Now, open your locket.”

“But the light will come out!”

“Exactly!”

“But…!”

“Come on, trust me! Open your locket!”

With trembling fingers, Anna opened the locket and the beam of light leaped out…to meet another beam of light, from the other side of the dark room. Marisa laughed. “See? I told you to trust me. My locket is the match to yours. You’ve seen that beam of light before, haven’t you? Every time you opened your locket, mine would react, even from miles and miles away. It’s how I finally found you. The compass needle inside doesn’t point north, if you haven’t noticed. It points to wherever I am, or in my case, wherever you are. To help us find each other.”

“To help us find each other? Why were we even separated in the first place? Ugh, this is so confusing! I don’t understand how you know all this and I don’t.”

“Because they never told you.” Marisa shut her locket, and Anna did the same. “You can open the curtains now. We need some light in here. But yes, the reason why I know all of this and you don’t is because the people you were sent to never told you what was supposed to happen. It’s all a big mess, really.”

Marisa sat at the foot of the four-poster bed, as Anna stood warily beside the window. Moonlight leaked back into the room, and just outside the door the faint creak of armor could be heard. Anna stared silently at her twin, her mind still reeling from the shock of their first meeting.

“Is this…about the war, long ago? Between Guillare and Barinesh?” The bitter tang of gunpowder, her father’s calloused hands, an empty gray sky. Thirteen years ago…the greatest treasure…

“Right. So they didn’t leave you completely in the dark. Well, I guess that will make this a bit easier to understand. Our parents sent us away, to hide us. We are the heirs to the throne of Guillare. If we had been captured by the enemy, our kingdom would have fallen to ruin. To prevent this, an elaborate plan was made to keep the enemy from ever finding us, and to protect us until we turned sixteen and could claim the throne with full rights. In sixteen years, these lockets were supposed to be opened and we were supposed to find each other again. Together, we were to travel to Guillare and accept our crowns. Our guardians, the families who adopted us, were entrusted with this information and had sworn to give it to us when we turned sixteen. However…your family never told you. And the sixteenth year came and went.”

“But it doesn’t even matter, does it? Guillare doesn’t have a throne for us to claim. It’s been a puppet nation for over a decade. Is it even considered a kingdom anymore?”

“It’s true that Guillare is only a puppet state now. The Trade Delegation is in charge of it. Our parents never suspected that the kingdom and its Royal family would be taken over and supervised by others. I think their plan was to wait until the war ended and to find us again then. The lockets were probably only a back-up plan, in case they couldn’t come for us.”

Anna was quiet, reflecting on everything she had just been told. Her history, the vague outlines of her past, were slowly filling in as if given color by a paintbrush. It was disconcerting, and yet it was also a better feeling than she had known in months. This girl sitting on the bed just a few feet away from her, this girl was her sister! And a sister by blood! After losing what seemed to be everything…every scrap of certainty and direction in her life…there was this, a surprising fragment of hope; a tide, gently turning.

“Where have you been, all this time…?” Anna asked, after a while. Marisa, dark hair mingling with the dark folds of the velvet hood, raised her head with a start, as though she too had been deep in thought.

“I was sent to the country of Leiden, in the south…to the Selfaro family. They are prominent traders, owners of several caravans that cross the desert and deal in the merchant’s ways. No doubt they were chosen for their proximity to Guillare and their constant transactions with the merchants of Quinn, for you were meant to have lived not far from there. I suppose our parents hoped this would increase our chances of finding one another without mishap.”

“You know where I was supposed to have gone…? But why did I never end up there…?”

“I only know because my family spent years tracking your whereabouts. They never found you, never knew for sure where you had gone…they didn’t even know if you were alive or not. My mother told me, the year we turned sixteen, that you were to be brought to a city in Gareth even as I was smuggled away to Leiden. I believe it was either Jalrich or Lenbarr, and most likely to the home of someone powerful enough to conceal you. They placed no faith in those who might easily be bribed for knowledge of our whereabouts or those who could not take care of our needs, no matter how much easier it might be to place us in the most unlikely hands. Our families had been given precise instructions—they were to contact our parents immediately when we arrived in their care, and then they were to contact each other as well. Do you see the trust with which we were placed in these families’ homes? It is a web of secrets, and bonds of an unimaginable complexity…an unimaginable strength.”

“And yet…something went wrong.”

Marisa nodded, a somber expression on her face in the pale moonlight. “When my family received no messages concerning you, they sent a message to our parents. No reply was sent back, no news was received. Realizing that the plans had fallen through somehow, they chose to keep their silence and wait. There would be nothing more dangerous than to cause alarm, and draw attention to the new child they had welcomed into their home. Things were chaotic enough as it was, with everything happening in Guillare at the time and fear everywhere that the war in the north would spread to us in the south. Barinesh does not have a reputation for a good temper.”

A thought flitted through Anna’s consciousness then, and she remembered what Lee had told her…Sarah, stolen from Arholt in the dead of night…of course! Any ship from Guillare, concealed or not, would have had to pass through the jurisdiction of Port Arholt. It must have been there that the plan failed—something must have happened that kept her from ever reaching her destination.

“Has your family ever mentioned terrible storms, in that year?”

“Actually…yes. But why do you ask?”

“Because I think I know what happened. But tell me first, what did your family find out, from their search?”

“Not much. The ones who carried you from Guillare to Gareth, they were scattered far and wide. Well, those who survived, that is. One of these men joined a caravan belonging to my family, and there met one of my uncles. It was discovered from him that certain events made it impossible for your ship to reach Arholt…a raging storm, towering waves and rain that fell as thick as arrows on a battlefield. So you see, we truly knew nothing about where you were. And I would not even find out how to locate you until many, many years later. What did happen, Anna?” For a moment, Anna was mildly surprised to hear Marisa call her by name. But she chose not to ask how her newly found sister had learned that name, and related her theory instead. “I think the storm must have prevented the ship from landing at Arholt. These men entrusted with taking me to my family, they must have tried to row through the storm rather than risk us all dying on the capsizing ship. You said that several of them died…it must have been a terrible storm, enough to drown nearly all of them. They gave their lives to set me on shore…” Anna tilted her head back, letting it rest on the cold window glass behind her. How many had died to free her? How many had risked their lives and vowed their loyalty to the crown she was expected to wear?

“They were good men. Their deaths were not in vain. For you are alive now, aren’t you? Alive and well. And I have found you. After so many years…after so many plans gone wrong…we are together.” Marisa smiled, and despite her sadness, Anna smiled back. “But wait…what happened, then? After that?”

Lee’s face, Lee’s eyes, flashed through Anna’s mind. He had been telling the truth. She asked herself, as gently as possible, if she had been denying that truth…but her heart could not settle on an answer. She had been Sarah, she had been a normal child living in a normal town, for a few blissful months. She had gone from being the twin heir to a mighty kingdom to being the daughter of a simple baker, who in time could have grown and loved and married and lived as any normal woman might. But that little girl had been stolen from that comfortable future, ripped from yet another home, to become royalty once more. The daughter of the Pirate King.

“Anna…? What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Rising, Marisa crossed the room quickly. Her face was concerned, her features drawn into worried lines. Little Annie, ye’ve got yer mother’s eyes, ye know that? Yer mother’s eyes! Ah. Tell me, love, can ye fight with the best of ‘em?

“I’m fine…really, it’s nothing…I just…” Anna rubbed the tears away fiercely, ashamed that she had begun to cry. He was dead. There was nothing more she could do, nothing more to be done about the good dreams and the bad dreams and the memories that assailed her often, whether her eyes were wide open or stubbornly shut. “I was kidnapped from Arholt that same year…by the Pirate King. He took me in…as his own daughter…and I lived among the pirates until he was killed…just…just months ago…”

“Anna…so it was true…that was why the locket led me to that island…Lyon Island. The realm of the Pirate King…” Marisa’s fingers fretted at the golden strand of her necklace, even as Anna did the same. “Was it…terrible?”

A smile slowly flowered on Anna’s tear-streaked face.

“No…no! It was…the happiest time of my life.”

Another morning dawned in the skies stretching clear and cloudless over the royal city. Sails were slack and the bay was still, as the fishermen rose from their beds and soldiers dropped down from their bunks in expectation of a scorching day. The heat they anticipated was nothing compared to what it heralded: another storm. It was the only sign of an impending weather change, but all were wary. There had been far too many storms, each more devastating than the last, and none were willing to dismiss the heat as part of another summer day. Before long, hammer-falls and the thud of planks being nailed over windows would provide a strange rhythm for the hours that went by.

Anna woke with a crease on her cheek from the folds of her rumpled sleeve; she had fallen asleep with her knees tucked up to her chin and her head resting on her arms. The wall behind her was still the same cold stone, despite the increasing heat outdoors, and its chill eventually drove her from sleep. She blinked, feeling sore from the position she had been in, and shakily stood up. She nearly gasped to find Marisa curled up at the foot of the bed, lost in the seemingly voluminous cloak of deep green velvet that had obscured her identity for so long. The emerald ring on her finger glinted slightly in the morning light that streamed from the window. Anna stepped closer, the sluggish feeling in her joints still barely burning away, drawn to the quality and delicate detail of the ring.

The emerald was set in a silver band, and the band itself was wrought with a design of curving lines that resembled the dunes of a desert. If Anna had not been so consumed by the beauty of the etchings in the band, she would have concentrated on the obviously priceless gem that had been chosen for it. The emerald’s light leapt with a life of its own. It was undoubtedly rare, and incredibly priceless. Her father had brought back many treasures, had heaped gold bars on the table before her, draped her in necklaces of pearl and turquoise and fragile golden wire…but never had he brought anything even close to the ring Marisa wore. Anna’s eye for treasure, trained by thirteen years living among treasure mongers and thieving rogues, did not question its perfection even once.

As Anna leaned near to study the ring, Marisa opened her eyes and yawned. “Anna…?”

“Oh…good morning. I was just looking at your ring. It’s unbelievably beautiful.”

“This ring?” Marisa held up her hand. Anna nodded, and reached out to touch the ring almost cautiously. “It is the Ambassador’s Ring. Passed down from ambassador to ambassador in my country, for as long as Gareth and Leiden maintain friendly relations.”

“I almost forgot…you have a very important job. I have such a smart sister.” Anna smiled, feeling proud. Her heart fell for just a moment, when she realized that her sister was a dignified ambassador and she herself was…well, what was she? Pirate or commoner? Fugitive or queen?

“I hardly think I’m smart! But I did work hard, for this office. It helped that my family was known for being on good terms with Gareth merchants and was in good standing with the Trade Delegation. Of course, my true reason for wanting it in the first place…was to find you.”

“To find me?”

“Well, yes! You were supposedly in Gareth. If I could become the ambassador to Gareth, I would be here frequently. I would be able to look for you during my trips, and have access to the resources I required to search for you. So I did everything I could, to be voted Ambassador. The Sage Elders were skeptical, considering me too young for the job, but I convinced them.”

“You are…more than I could ever be…” Anna murmured, amazed. Her twin possessed so much resolve, so much diligence and perseverance. And here she was, the complete opposite. It was humbling. Marisa seemed to sense Anna’s unease, and reached out with the ringed hand to rest it on her sister’s shoulder.

“That isn’t possible. We have led different lives and walked different paths, but we are still the same. The same face, the same heart, the same roots. Whatever you are, I hold it in me. Whatever I am, you hold it in yourself as well. Besides, I envy you. I know only the desert, the sand and the dry wind. But you…you know the sea! And you are brave, and kind, and thoughtful…your life, it must have been so exciting! Really, Anna. I am so proud to be your sister. I am so happy to have found you.”

The girls smiled at one another, mirror images standing face to face. The rising sun caused the necklaces they wore to sparkle sharply. Anna reached out to look at Marisa’s locket, carefully springing the tiny clasp.

“It says ‘Sophia’,” Marisa said, anticipating what Anna was looking for.

“Mine says ‘Sarah’….” Anna replied, watching the compass needle spin several times and come to a crisp halt. The arrow pointed directly at Marisa. “Who gave you the name you use now?”

“My family. It was…the name of their little girl. The one who was always so sickly…she died a few months before I was brought to them. That was one reason why they were chosen. Not many had seen the real Marisa, since she was always ill and never went outdoors. People only remembered her as a baby. She spent most of the seven years of her life inside her room, with doctors and Mother Selfaro and servants who had no orders but to see that she was comfortable. Everyone…knew that she would die…”

“That’s so sad…” To have grown up filling the shadow of another, being a girl long dead…Anna wondered how it had been. How it still was. “But wait…if she was seven years old when she died…”

“Yes. They believe me to be three years older than I am now. I am small for my size, which is usually attributed to my sickly nature as a child. And I am…paler…than the rest of my family. The people of Leiden are golden from the sun, and it is good luck that dark hair at least is not uncommon among them. My paleness often shocks people, but I was not allowed to be out in the sun much in order to continue the façade of my fragility and tendency to grow faint easily. But being thought three years older was a blessing in the end, because one must be twenty years old to serve the Sages as an Ambassador.” Marisa winked, grinning. “You won’t tell, will you?” Anna laughed, shaking her head no.

“You have done a good job hiding, all these years.”

“No better than yourself. Among the pirates! Truly, none would ever have thought to look there. I myself did not believe it. None of us could fathom you being with the pirates and still being alive.”

“They aren’t such a bad bunch,” Anna said, turning to the window to look out over the castle grounds at the distant sails in the harbor. “Perhaps you would like to meet my brothers?”