It was years before Raidne came to the small, uninhabited islet. Her pain kept her from returning to that area, where she had once lived with and then lost Parthenope. Despite her injuries being the worst of all of them, she had gone to find the spirit of some sailor who was chained beneath the waves. Raidne was still bitter about that, though her anger had lessened with time. Now, she just missed her sister. Leucosia wasn’t long for this world herself, having endured a serious injury that refused to heal completely, but she desperately wanted to see what had happened to Parthenope. So they searched and searched, until they came upon the islet.

When they arrived, there were two skeletons, the bones bleached by the sun. One skeleton had chains around its wrists and ankles, which were attached to a rock; it wore moldy clothing that had been eaten away by the salty waves. The other skeleton was lying on its side; it had no hands, but it seemed to be reaching towards the chained skeleton nonetheless.

Raidne and Leucosia stared silently at the remains of their sister and the sailor she’d gone back for. “Why?” Leucosia said weakly. 

“I wish I knew,” Raidne said. Then, without another word, she picked up one of Parthenope’s bones and flung it into the ocean. Leucosia stared in shock, but didn’t try to fight her sister. She attempted to pick up one of the bones herself, but she was too weak. So she lay down on the sand and watched as Raidne slowly and methodically disassembled Parthenope’s skeleton and threw it into the ocean.

The sun was low in the sky when Raidne finished her task. She turned back to the sailor’s skeleton. Here was the reason she’d never seen her sister again. She wanted to scream at it, to hate it, to bring it to life and make it take the blame for Parthenope’s death. And yet… 

She allowed herself one half-audible, furious curse and some tears before she began to beat at the sand with her wings, trying to cover the bones. It was the least she could do.