The Last Mapmaker

For three days, Sai and Bo survive on the tiny island by drinking rainwater and eating tiny clams that Sai collects on the beach. Bo cannot seem to get rid of the chills, leaving him weak and making Sai fear for his health. Their fourth day on the island is Sai’s 13th birthday. She opens the gold case with Paiyoon’s eyeglass for the first time since he gave it to her. Tucked inside, she finds the fishermen’s map with the dragon snaking through the island chain. She views it through the eyeglass and finds words that were not visible before. However, she cannot discern their meaning. Then, she notices that one side of the map is torn, just like Rian’s map of the Sunderlands. It occurs to her that the two maps might actually be two halves of the same map.

Sai recognizes one of the words on the map: Alang. Bo is able to translate the word, which means a sign from the gods, an omen. The islands in the chain on the map go from large to small in one direction, with the smallest being the northernmost. Sai believes that she and Bo are on the smallest island. By seeing how the two halves of the map fit together, they can tell in which direction the Sunderlands lie. They also realize that the Prosperity went the wrong way. Bo then reveals that he stole Rian’s half of the map during the storm. He still has it, and Sai calculates that the Sunderlands are only about 20 miles from them. She knows that sailing to the region will be extremely dangerous, but she is determined to find a way.

Concerned for Bo’s health, Sai insists on doing all the work of rowing and bailing water from the lifeboat. Meanwhile, Bo asks Sai to tell a story about An Lung, so she tells one about her sixth birthday. At that time, she and Mud had been living in abject poverty, but Mud found work and moved them into a decent apartment. He worked long hours and then surprised her on her birthday with heaps of gifts, including a golden link for a future lineal. Then the police stormed in, arrested Mud, took away all the gifts, and put Sai in a girls’ home. She learned that Mud had been pretending to shine shoes as a cover for pickpocketing, which was how he afforded the gifts. Sai realizes now that Mud never mentioned what happened afterward because he was too ashamed. He wanted to give her a better life and failed.

Sai falls asleep. When she wakes up, she has no idea where they are. They are adrift and are likely far off-course. A pod of whales appears near the boat, and then suddenly, a dragon-like creature that can only be the Slake lifts its head from the water. It regards Sai through its inner eyelid before swimming away. Sai rows in the direction that the Slake went, hoping that it is heading toward the Sunderlands. Soon, she and Bo reach the Great Southern Continent.

Five days later, Sai and Bo have erected a shelter on the beach of the Sunderlands and have built a shrine to the local spirits. Food and fresh water are plentiful, and Bo’s health has recovered. Though Sai can’t imagine anyone finding such a beautiful place and then leaving it, they have not encountered any other people. The two split up to search the island for a more permanent shelter. Sai finds a cave that seems perfect, at first. Then she discovers that the Slake is living there, guarding four eggs. The dragon’s body is coiled around her nest, forming a circle that resembles Mangkon’s emblem. This reminder of Mangkon makes Sai imagine what people will do to the Slake for profit if she leads them to this place.

When Sai tells Bo about the Slake and the eggs that she is protecting, he asks why the Slake didn’t sink their rowboat when it was adrift. Sai senses that whatever the Slake saw when it looked at her made her decide to let them be. Sai and Bo know that it is not safe to stay near the dragon’s nest, so they hike across the island to look for another cove where they can make a shelter. While Bo takes a bathroom break, Sai scouts ahead. Suddenly, she runs into Rian, who says that the Prosperity turned back after realizing they had gone the wrong way. However, just as the ship’s crew spotted the Sunderlands, something jammed the rudder again, and the ship ran aground on the reef.

Rian claims to be relieved to find Sai alive. When Sai asks Rian if she pushed the captain overboard, Rian denies it, but Sai declares that she doesn’t believe Rian. Sai tries to walk away, but Rian grabs her and tries to throw her over a cliff. Sai breaks free using the same defensive move that she learned from Mud. The ground crumbles out from under her and she nearly falls, but she clings to the edge of the cliff. Rian sees Sai dangling helplessly and approaches, but Bo tackles her and holds her at spear point.

While Bo stands sentry over Rian, Sai finds the rest of the Prosperity crew. She convinces them of the truth about Rian, and they lock Rian in the brig. It takes three weeks to repair the damages to the Prosperity’s hull. When they finally set sail to return to Mangkon, a steady wind pushes them away from the Sunderlands so fast that it seems the island’s spirits are eager to be rid of them. When they arrive in An Lung, they discover that Captain Sangra is still alive.

Sai is now back with Paiyoon in his shop. After disembarking from the Prosperity on Avens Island, Paiyoon chartered a little whaling boat to follow them, just in case they needed help. At the edge of the Harbinger Sea, he found debris tossed from the Prosperity during the storm; he also found Captain Sangra clinging to life in a small drifting rowboat. She told him that a great beast with a hide of glittering armor had pushed the rowboat to her. Concluding that everyone else on the Prosperity must have perished, Paiyoon abandoned the search and took the captain home.

An Lung is now abuzz with talk of Sai’s discovery of the Sunderlands, which the newspapers have reported. A delivery boy asks her if the stories are true, and she tells him, “Every word” (347). After the delivery boy confirms that he is a hard worker, Sai offers him a job as her Assistant and promises to teach him to read. Meanwhile, Bo writes letters to Sai regularly. He is being educated by a private tutor and is living happily with his mother, Captain Sangra. She no longer hides the truth about Bo, even though her family has cut her off. In fact, she melts down her lineal and donates most of her Expedition Prize money to a scholarship fund for children in need. Bo’s latest letter mentions his excitement about a sailing trip that he and Captain Sangra will soon take through the Nine Islands to promote social reform.

Meanwhile, Rian awaits trial for mutiny and attempted murder. Sai has learned from Catfish that Mud disappeared about a week after the Prosperity first set sail. Mud left Sai’s money tin for her, and she is pleasantly surprised to find that Catfish has only spent half of it. Sai is still looking for Mud, for she does not want to lose the only link to her past. Sai chooses to take the Queen’s cash prize rather than a Lineal of Honor. She buys Paiyoon a pocket watch, which replaces the eyeglass as his favorite possession. She also makes a map of the Sunderlands, choosing names meant to imbue every beach, harbor, and cove with horrifying attributes. She portrays the Sunderlands to newspaper reporters as being a barren and unforgiving place. Sai’s name now adorns the shop’s banner, below Paiyoon’s, with the title “Mapmaker-in-Training” (356).