Aldo na-Curic’s homecoming was everything he had dreamed of. He came back to Calay with the third wave of soldiers, only to find the city abuzz with preparations for Queen Anjine’s impending marriage, due to take place on the upcoming Landing Day. Already banners and ribbons adorned the streets, and everyone seemed giddy with celebrating the end of the war.
After leaving the dusty road into Calay, Aldo crossed the bridge into the Saedran District, hurrying along familiar streets, amazed to see how much had changed. Every detail of the neighborhood was clear in his perfect memory: many of the shops and homes had a patchwork quality of newness, repaired or rebuilt after the recent hurricane; some of the damaged buildings had been torn down entirely. A bakery was gone, replaced by a clockmaker’s workshop. He smelled fresh wood and heard the rough huffing of a saw through lumber in a cabinetmaker’s shop. He saw two new apothecaries, and an open school in what had been the drafty warehouse of a grain seller.
For him, however, the most important sight was his own home. Aldo had sailed away on the Dyscovera nearly a year ago. The last time he’d been gone for so long was because the Urabans had captured him; he had only made it home again through Sen Sherufa’s help. He suspected his family would never let him go away again.
When he stood at the front door, though, his hand froze on the latch. Until now, he had thought only of coming home and seeing all the familiar faces…but a year was a long time. Children were born, couples got married, people died. The hurricane had obviously caused great damage. Mailes had reassured him, but what if something bad had happened to his family in the meantime? What if his parents were dead or—far worse—one of his children gone? The gray fever? An accident?
For an instant, Aldo clung to the idyllic reality preserved so perfectly in his head, knowing that once he opened the door it would never be the same again. But he could not avoid the truth—waiting like a fool on the doorstep changed nothing. He, Sen Aldo na-Curic had sailed to the edge of the world. He had set foot on Terravitae, spoken with Ondun himself. He could do this.
Aldo pushed open the door and stepped inside.
They were all there.
Because Queen Anjine and the first soldiers had returned weeks earlier, his family was expecting him. He felt like a man facing an unruly stampede as Lanni ran forward squealing with delight, throwing herself on him; then his son and daughter nearly tackled him. His brother, sister, and both his parents crowded around, hugging him, weeping, hurling a storm of questions. He didn’t have enough arms to embrace them all at once, but he tried. Tears streamed down his face.
Aldo blocked out the chatter for a minute just so he could hold his wife. Lanni was so beautiful. Her dark eyes sparkled, and the happiness on her face made his heart swell to the bursting point. King Sonhir’s daughters had absolutely nothing to compare with this!
Though he tried to be discreet, his arrival had not gone unnoticed in the Saedran District. Within moments, it seemed, people were pounding on the na-Curic door. Aldo wanted time alone with his family, but he had obligations to his fellow Saedrans as well. They would want to know everything. Soon the house was so crowded that there was little room to breathe or move. Neighbors brought food, and the impromptu feast expanded until they had to open the doors and set out tables in the streets.
Then, amid the joy, Aldo realized who was missing. Sen Leo na-Hadra. He looked around as person after person congratulated him. He finally asked Lanni, “Where is your father? I have so much to tell him. We’ve nearly completed the Mappa Mundi—we’ve discovered so much!”
But she fell silent and turned her head away. “He was killed, Aldo. Ra’virs murdered him and destroyed the model of the Dyscovera.”
Aldo felt as if he had received a great blow to the chest. “Oh, Lanni, I’m so sorry.” He hugged her tight.
“He tried to protect the ship model, but he couldn’t do it.”
Aldo felt cold as he thought of how the real Dyscovera had also been wrecked, nearly sunk by the Leviathan. The two events must have happened at the same time, inextricably connected.
Lanni took a long breath and clung to his arm, then she straightened. “My father was a great man, Aldo, and he will be remembered and loved. But right now, let us think of happier things. My husband is home, our children have their father again, and we all have a reason to celebrate.”
The following day, Aldo and his father entered the Saedran temple and descended to the underground vault. Sen Leo had first showed the young man this place on the day he’d been named a Saedran chartsman…so long ago.
Biento na-Curic looked both awed and pleased to hear his son’s descriptions. “This is a project that’s long needed to be done. You describe, and I will paint.”
Aldo let his eyes fall half closed. “I can tell you about the oceans and islands. Thanks to Sen Sherufa na-Oa, now I can give you the Great Desert, the Nunghal lands, the southern sea, even the Middlesea. And we have sailed across the world, seen wondrous islands, set foot on Terravitae. But given what Ondun said, that is still not all of it.”
The Map of All Things had been painted in exquisite detail on the vaulted ceiling and smooth walls of the temple chamber, but many blank spots remained on sections of wall and ceiling. And now Aldo helped fill them in—a broad and colorful panorama of the whole world, including the sunken continent of the original Saedran colony.
Over the hours, while he and his father worked, Saedran elders gathered to observe them. As Biento painted, Aldo marveled to remember all the things he had seen with his own eyes. The whole world…or just a small part of it.
He knew that even when his father finished the last brushstroke here, the Mappa Mundi was not yet complete. In a way, Aldo was glad.