#bsruth

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When Miranda reaches Nassau, she hasn’t fully developed her powers yet. It's strange to be in such a foreign place after years in England. She knows no one here, and James is gone for long stretches at a time. She never told him about these abilities as they began to grow, never knew when or how she'd begin to explain it to him. It's lonely without him, even worse to think about being without Thomas, so Miranda turns inward to this magic she has inside her.

She learns how to bring down the rain and make plants grow and even to heal the bird she finds with a broken wing or the stray cat with a sore above its eye.

She becomes stronger. She protects herself from a highwayman who tries to rob her, and begins to set protections on James from afar. If he is thrown overboard he will be carried by friendly currents. If a sword stroke pierces him it will miss the major arteries. It's not enough to make him impervious, but it's something.

Now, she’s strong enough that she can sense there is another witch on the island.

It still feels strange to reach out with this other sense that makes her whole body come alive with power. She reaches into the darkness on this other plane of reality. This other power is stronger than her, but she doesn't feel afraid. Somehow, she knows this person doesn't mean her any harm, unless she had come with the intention of harm.

She doesn't know why but she knows this other presence is that of a woman. She feels this woman's anger, pain and despair and defiant hope like a blinding ray of sunlight lancing through the darkness.

Who are you? -- I'm Miranda. -- I’m Ruth. -- I want to meet you. -- You can't. -- Why not? -- I am not free.

Miranda understands now why Ruth feels so much endless anger and pain. Or even if she doesn't understand, she sees more now and wants to listen. She asks Ruth why she doesn't use her powers to free herself, and Ruth laughs and says she knows Miranda must be a white woman--otherwise she would know that the way they keep slaves on this island means they will be punished if any of them escape, and it means none can be free until all are free.

I want to help, Miranda says. But I don't know how.

I will teach you how.

The first time Ruth borrows her power, it drains Miranda. She feels how much more control Ruth has over her abilities. She has spent a lifetime working magic, when Miranda has only spent years without any proper instruction. Ruth’s magic is like lightning dancing and bending and then being funneled into a river of energy. Miranda feels their combined power stitching the skin and bones back together of the man Ruth is using their power to heal.

Do you only use your power to heal? Miranda asks.

No, I will use my power to fight when the time comes.

Ruth continues to draw upon their combined powers and as she does so, Miranda begins to learn from her. She becomes stronger and wiser with Ruth's help. They work together like this for years. They never meet, and Miranda doesn’t know her face, but she feels she would recognize her instantly if she ever saw her.

It is years later--after Charlestown, after Miranda's brush with death, when Nassau is overthrown by the alliance between pirates and slaves, and placed under Max’s control, when she has found James and Thomas again--that Miranda reaches out to Ruth once more.

What's next? Miranda asks.

It feels like Ruth is smiling when she replies, Come meet me at the west side of the island and I will show you. We’ve just begun.