The Confining Heart

After washing up on the island, I was at first comforted by the friendliness of the woman who came to help me. My sailboat had been damaged in the squall that had sent me off course but I was mostly unhurt. The woman did not speak to me, and she didn't seem to understand me when I spoke to her, but we were able to communicate well enough.

She led me up the beach to her small home and gave me food and water. By this time, however, I was beginning to see other people. Though nobody approached us, my sense of being welcome was rapidly evaporating. The woman providing me aid didn't look in the direction of where the others were gathering, yet I could tell she was aware of them. As more of her island neighbors appeared at the edge of the tree line across from where we sat on her porch, she hunched her shoulders further up and grew pale.

I didn't know how to ask what was wrong, and I didn't think she'd be able to tell me in a way I could understand, so I just watched as the others convened while also keeping an eye on the lady who'd helped me. After a few moments, I could tell that something was about to happen. Those assembled by the trees started looking behind them expectantly and the lady with me closed her eyes in what appeared to be resignation.

The crowd across the beach parted and each person sank to one knee as a tall, imperious woman appeared behind them. The crown on her head was superfluous, she was obviously a monarch.

My companion seemed to shrink as the queen approached. I would have thought her claret robe too hot for the temperate climate of her kingdom but I was soon distracted by the pendant that glowed between the folds of her mantle. As she came nearer, I saw that she wore an ornate heart-shaped locket. The jewelry was large and golden, and would have seemed a tacky bauble if it were not luminescent.

Though the woman who'd helped me did not move, I arose from my chair and performed a semblance of a bow. I had never met royalty before, and I was not a subject of this sovereign ruler, but a show of respect seemed in order.

She spoke to me in a commanding voice but I could not understand her words. When I only looked at her in confusion, her eyes darkened in anger. She said a few more words but they were still incomprehensible to me. Her hand moved as if to grip the locket she wore, which had been getting brighter as her temper seemed to flare, but then stopped herself before actually touching the pendant. She said one final word, her tone clearly one of issuing an order.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what language you're speaking," I babbled. "My boat got caught in a storm and I don't even know where I am now."

I would have continued speaking but the queen turned her head and uttered a single word. Men in uniform marched toward us and grasped my arms. Before they took me away, I was able to glance back and see that the woman who had first found me on the island had slipped away unnoticed in all the confusion.

I was led along behind the queen who stopped in the midst of the still-assembled islanders. All eyes focused on their ruler, no one so much as sneaking a peek at me. She addressed them as she had first spoken to me, her tone commanding but no longer enraged. When she stopped speaking, the people all chorused something back to her with a monotonous voice of worship and then lowered their heads once more as their queen, her soldiers, and I passed by. Though I watched them imploringly, not one of them moved.