Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric “Erico” Lawson

Chapter One: She’s Not That Pretty

There are constants in the world of Arcadia. Constants such as, never sail into a storm or else you might find the Arcwhale Rhaknam. Constants like, the Valuan Empire was made up of a bunch of asshats who believed they could take whatever they wanted. Constants such as the six Moons of Arcadia, who occasionally gouged out Moonstones that rained down onto the floating islands, or dove down through the clouds into the Lower and Deep Skies.

Aika, a young but aspiring Blue Rogue, had another constant she lived by. She could always count on Vyse, son of Dyne, to be there for her. He’d been there seven years ago on a burning Valuan ship to save her from a dagger thrown at her heart. That act of self-sacrifice had given Vyse his now characteristic scar and cemented her bond with the young man as being something more than simple friendship.

Not that she had ever admitted it to him. She still had her standards, and swooning over Vyse? Please.

“Aika, behind you!” Vyse shouted out. He was stuck in a duel with another Valuan trooper, and he still managed to stay aware enough of his surroundings to call out a warning. The pig-tailed redhead whirled about and brought her boomerang up just in time to block a downwards slash from another Valuan who had thought to sneak in an attack while she was distracted.

“Nice try.” Aika smirked, and snapped her foot up and out, gouging the miserable Valuan in the soft spot of his gut that his armor didn’t cover completely. The fellow let out an urp and stumbled backwards, hunched over with his knife dropped on the deck without a care. Aika let out a yell and snapped her boomerang up into the side of his helmet, blunt side leading, and bashed him to the side where he lay in a crumpled heap. “Thanks for the heads up, Vyse!”

Vyses’ own foe was dispatched far more quickly, as the Blue Rogue’s dual cutlass dueling style allowed him to deflect, disarm, and then gut-slash his own foe in record time. Aika didn’t spare a moments’ worth of squeamishness. The Valuans did far worse.

“Come on.” Vyse said, slashing his blade in a wide arc away from Aika to clear the edge of blood. When he grinned at her, it sent a surge of electricity through her body she refused to give a name to. “We’ve still got an admiral to take down.”

***

Aika stared down at the strange girl in the silver headdress and gown, and wondered just who the blonde was. Where she’d come from. Vyse was in the room also, but his mind was elsewhere.

“That Admiral was a right jackass.” Vyse growled, using a word that he would have never dared to utter in his father’s company, much less his mother’s. Aika looked up at him storming around by the door in a tight circle, wondering whether or not to call him on it. It wasn’t like he was wrong. Alfonso, as the cowardly fop had identified himself, had hurled his own vice captain off the end of the ship to his death just so he’d have a scapegoat to blame on his own incompetence.

Really, though. Where the hell had the Valuan ship’s sentries been? Any half-competent crew could have seen the Blue Rogues coming, even with Captain Dyne’s penchant for drifting behind the clouds to hide their approach from far off. Had they been that distracted? No, it had to be Alfonso.

“I’m pretty sure that it’ll be a while before you see him in command of another ship.” Aika said, trying to calm him down. “If all the Valuans were as incompetent as he was, we wouldn’t have to work as hard at keeping ahead of them.”

Vyse finally stopped pacing, breathed out hard, and let his usual smirk return as he looked over at her. “Yeah. And the Nasrians would have kicked their asses two decades ago.”

Aika waggled her eyebrows and stifled a giggle. Her best friend in the world rolled his shoulders and walked over, standing opposite of her at the girl’s bedside. His impish grin faded a little as he looked down at her, and tenderness filled his eyes.

It made Aika’s stomach lurch a little, watching him watch her. “I wonder who she is.” Vyse mused, and his hand went to trace an edge of the veiled headdress she wore. “I’ve never seen clothes like hers before.”

“Yeah?” Aika said, muting herself after she heard the bite in the word. If Vyse noticed, he didn’t seem to care. “I mean, she’s probably Nasrian.”

“Oh? You’ve seen Nasrian women before?”

“Geez, Vyse, she’s a girl .” Aika ground out, reaching across the bed and punching him in the shoulder. Hard . He stumbled back and rubbed at what would likely be a light bruise. “But I thought I’d heard one of the traders mention something about how the women of Nasrad liked to go around in veils one of the times they stopped in to port.”

“Okay, okay. It’s just, you’re always telling these crazy stories about the other lands in Mid-Ocean, you know?” Vyse protested. “Hard to tell what you’re making up and what’s real.”

“Hey!” Aika fumed to hide her blush of embarrassment. “I can’t help what I hear. It’s not like I’ve ever been there myself.”

“Yeah.” And then Vyse got that determined look on his face, and Aika bit her lip. Of course she’d triggered that particular driving force of his...the desire to see everything. “But some day, I will. Some day, I’ll sail out and go everywhere.”

Aika sighed and reached over, this time nudging him in the other shoulder gently with just a few fingers. “And you know I’ll be right there with you, don’t you?”

Vyse smiled and nodded. “Uh-huh. Of course you will. Why would I go anywhere without my best friend?”

Aika smiled back. “Yeah. Blue Rogues and best friends forever, right?”

“Right!”

And then the blond girl lying in the bed between them groaned and started to wake up.

***

Her name was Fina...and that was about all that anybody could get out of her. She flatly refused on telling anyone about where she came from, or why the Valuans were so interested in her. Even her gratitude at being rescued by Captain Dyne and his crew (And Aika and Vyse especially) didn’t provide any leverage in that regard. Still, she was a nice enough girl and they made a habit of being welcoming to strangers on Pirate Isle. Especially strangers who had a beef with the tyrannical Valuan Empire.

What Aika didn’t get was why Vyse’s mother was doting on the girl. Inviting her to dinner? Sure. It was a great place to pump her for more information she’d been less willing to share during Dyne’s version of an interrogation. But the girl was so hopeless. It was like she’d never seen a roasted animal before, or fresh fruit, or vegetables. She’d been wide-eyed through all of dinner, constantly bubbling over with questions about ‘This is so good! How did you make it?’, or  ‘Oh, that’s so tart! What flavoring is this?’

Ungh, and she was so damn polite . The entire time they were eating, she dabbed at her mouth with her napkin with smooth and controlled movements that caused even Vyse, a famously messy eater, to slow down and try to emulate her. All the while, Aika picked at her own food, finding she had less and less of an appetite.

“Oh, you are such a delight, Miss Fina!” Vyse’s mother laughed. “And so pretty as well, don’t you think so, Vyse?”

She’s not that pretty , Aika wanted to snarl. Instead she jammed her fork into the piece of meat she’d just carved off of the slab on her plate and shoved it into her mouth. Across the table, Fina blushed a little and hid her face behind a hand, while Vyse went red from his brow to his collar and squeaked out his reply. “Mom!”

He squeaked. Aika couldn’t remember the last time Vyse had ever been anything but in control or ambitious with a side of youthful bravado. He hadn’t even squeaked when she caught him peeking into her bedroom while she was brushing out her hair! Ugh, she wanted to reach across the table and slap the stupid out of him. Relax , she tried to tell herself. Vyse’s mom was just that warm and welcoming to everyone. She was just being nice to Fina, and doing what all parents did; try to embarrass the hell out of their kids.

“Mother, stop giving them such a hard time.” Dyne sighed, although his smile showed how he really felt about it. “Vyse, why don’t you take the girls out for a walk? I need to talk to your mother about where Fina’s going to be sleeping tonight.”

Aika’s grip on her fork was so tight that she felt it start to bend a little, and she put it down before putting on her brightest smile. “Yeah, that sounds great, captain! Great dinner, Missus D!” She whirled around the table and hoisted Vyse up by his arm, pulling him close to her side before looking over to Fina. “There’s a great view of the sunset on lookout point! Come on, Fina, we’ll show you around!”

“Hey, Aika, take it easy…” Vyse muttered. Moons, he could be so dense. Didn’t he know why she was so on edge? No. Chances were he was just that clueless. Anything that didn’t involve his dream of traveling the world, or putting the hurt on the Valuans, or upholding his reputation as an up and coming Blue Rogue tended to fly right over his head.

Fina seemed just as obtuse to the friction as Vyse had been. She’d set her napkin on her plate, stood, and bowed formally to both the captain and his wife, that strange lacy veil around her hair bobbing by her shoulders. “Thank you for the meal. It was very delicious.” Then she turned to Aika and Vyse, and her smile only deepened. “I would love to see more of your home, if you are willing to guide me.”

Aika felt something twist in her stomach as Fina’s attention turned to them. Not a thread or a hair out of place, not a blemish or a wobble in her stance.

“It’s no problem.” Vyse quickly answered, tugging his arm free of Aika with a small grunt of effort. He shot her a small glower that sunk the redhead’s spirits further, then turned the smile back on and went to the door to open it for the girls. “Blue Rogues always help out those in need. Right, Aika?”

Aika paused for a moment as Fina gracefully walked ahead of her for the opened doorway, and pulled back into her head enough to seriously think on the question.

She remembered how they’d found Fina; unconscious, slung over the shoulder of a Valuan guard, being carted off by that cowardly pig Alfonso like some trophy of conquest. Whatever that jackass had planned for her…

Nobody deserved that.

Aika suppressed her shiver, and allowed a glimmer of guilt to slice through her rising jealousy. “You bet we do.” She conceded, following after them. She caught Fina’s gaze turning on her briefly as they emerged outside and walked shoulder to shoulder, and the slight nod of thanks made Aika’s own smile far less forced than it had been before.

She was just a strange girl from who knew where. Just another charity case for Mr. Blue Rogue incarnate. Just a soft, curvy girl with a guy-killing smile and perfect hair and…

Aika resolved then and there to stay closer to Vyse. As long as Fina was still around.

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Two: He’s Just That Nice

It had been a simple question, really. She hadn’t expected it to be such a big deal. ‘Are you a princess?’

Sitting up on lookout point, Vyse had gone on and on about his dream of traveling the world of Arcadia, seeing everything, going everywhere. It was inevitable, really; any excuse and he’d fly off on a tangent about it. Aika loved the stuffing out of her scarred friend, but there were times it even grated on her nerves. At least until his infectious optimism ground into her and made her forgive him. Fina had smiled, but her attention had clearly been elsewhere. Vyse fell into awkward silence, waiting for Fina to say something, but the girl was as tight-lipped as she’d been in Dyne’s office. Aika had considered it an icebreaker.

“Um, what?” Fina had jerked her head around, and her veil had bounced around her hair in the evening breeze. “What makes you think that?”

“Well, I mean, your outfit.” Aika went on. “I’ve never seen a dress like it before, but it’s plenty fancy. And how you eat, how you walk…”

Fina blushed, quickly shaking her head. “No. No, I’m not a princess. We don’t even have a monarchy, it’s more of a counc…” And then she’d widened her eyes and shut herself up with a squeak. “Um, so. No. Not a princess.”

“Well, you’re not like any other girl I’ve ever met.” Aika grumbled.

“It doesn’t matter who her people are.” Vyse insisted, glancing past Aika’s head to smile at Fina. “She was in trouble, and we helped her, and she’s here now.” The blond gave Vyse a grateful nod, and Aika looked off to the side so she could roll her eyes unnoticed. “Besides, she mentioned that she was on a quest-”

“Mission,” Aika muttered, correcting him.

“-Well, mission. Whatever it is has to be important.” Vyse amended. “And even if you won’t tell us what it is, Fina, we’ll help you however we can.”

“I’m not sure what you can do, really.” Fina explained sadly. “Those...Valuans, as you called them, they shot down my ship and pulled me off of it. It’s lost somewhere in the Deep Sky now.”

“Well, you’ve got some time to figure it out.” Aika said, changing gears. “We usually get a merchant ship who passes by here about every three or four days. If nothing else, we could help you buy passage to Sailor’s Isle. It’s kind of the crossroads of the trade lanes.”

Fina swallowed and smiled, though it seemed forced. “That is very kind of you.” Aika looked a little closer and wondered just how much weight she was carrying. She was smaller, daintier than Aika, didn’t look anywhere near as confident as she probably needed to be. She almost reached out to console her.

Almost. Thankfully, something stopped her, an burst of shooting stars that streaked down from the silver moon.

“Woah! That’s a big one!” Vyse called out, dialing in his zooming lens for a closer look at the storm. To Aika’s surprise, one of them actually managed to hit an island instead of just burying into the Deep Sky; there were few patches of land, in this part of the world.

“Hey, one hit the ground. Isn’t that Shrine Island?” Aika pointed out. Vyse quickly zoomed in on it and nodded once with a wide grin.

“Yeah, it is. Oh, wow. We’re in luck. You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Treasure hunt?” Aika grinned.

Vyse cackled back. “Treasure hunt!” They flew into their practiced and familiar ‘secret’ handshake, finishing with their side by side triumphant pose. “I’ll borrow my dad’s skiff. We can leave tomorrow at first light. Man, I wonder how huge that moonstone’s going to be? It sounded like a whopper!”

“The bigger the better, right?” Aika declared. “Imagine how much we should be able to get for it!”

“Absolutely.” Vyse looked down to Fina. “And with that much extra money, we should have no trouble at all helping you get started on this mission of yours.” And there was that sting in Aika’s chest again. “I don’t suppose you’d want to come along?”

“Um.” Fina hesitated, and Aika quickly jumped in.

“Oh, come on Vyse. Just look at her. Does she look like the kind of girl who goes diving into ruins? Have some class.” It was a deflection, one of her better ones, but Vyse looked chastened. Worse, Fina looked at Aika with gratitude in her eyes.

“Um, Miss Aika is right. If there is trouble, it would be better if...if you didn’t have to look out for me.” Fina apologized to Vyse.

The young Blue Rogue shrugged it off with his usual spark. “Well, I guess it’s just you and me then, Aika.”

“Just like always.” Aika said cheerfully, and met Fina’s eyes for a little longer before glancing away towards the horizon, tempering her smile.

This is one thing you don’t get to take away from me, Princess.

***

The Next Morning

Vyse caught Aika staring at him mid-morning, right as they could see the swirling abyss of the Vortex come into focus beneath the still distant Shrine Island, and cocked his head to the side in confusion. “Something on my face?”

Aika pushed off of the railing of the small skiff that Dyne loaned out to his son when it wasn’t being used to catch Sky Sardis. “No, no.” It wasn’t like she could come out and tell him just how good, how natural he looked at the helm of a ship. The times that the helmsman of his father’s ship had let him take the wheel had been paying off handsomely. She rolled her eyes and skipped over to his side, pressing her hands behind her back. “It’s just been a while since you and I were able to get out here on our own.”

“Yeah, we have been pretty busy, what with all the raids on the Valuans.” Vyse admitted. “And that last one? I didn’t think we’d ever be able to go up against an admiral.”

“If that even counts. As I recall, he wasn’t exactly keen on a fight.” Aika snorted. “But don’t you think you’re getting a little too friendly with the new girl?”

It was a question that had to be asked, but she didn’t like the frown that Vyse gave her any less. “What do you mean, Aika?”

“I mean , we know next to nothing about Fina, and you’re falling all over yourself trying to help her. Which is funny, considering that she doesn’t want our help enough to be straight with us.” Aika crossed her arms over her yellow leather tunic. “I’d swear it’s like you’ve never seen a girl before or something.”

“What?” Vyse blinked at her assertion, and took one hand off the wheel so he could turn to get a better look at her. “Aika, Blue Rogues help anyone in need.”

“Really? That’s your only reason?”

He blinked, then smirked. “Are you jealous?”

“ What? Me? Jealous? Of her?” She punched him in the arm again to hide her blush. “I’m not jealous, I’m suspicious. Just because she’s pretty, you automatically think I’m jeal…”

“So, you admit she’s beautiful.”

“Hey! I said pretty! Beautiful is another category altogether, you...you…” She puffed her cheeks out and pouted as he slipped into another one of his ‘I got you’ grins. “I’m just looking out for you, buster. You can’t afford to mess up just because some woman gives you the doe eyes.”

“Aika, relax.” Vyse laughed. “You’re getting way too worked up. Don’t worry. My head’s in the right place.”

“I’ll believe that when we reach Shrine Island and you show me you haven’t been slacking off.” She sniffed, and turned her head up and away.

Aika heard the sound of Vyse sliding a piece of wood through the pilot’s wheel, and had only a little bit to wonder on it before he leaned in and whispered at her, “Besides, if I really wanted to stare at a girl, all I have to do is move that little handkerchief over the hole in your wall…”

Maybe it was how close he was, maybe it was the purr in his whisper, or maybe Aika was just really good at lying to herself. Whatever the cause, she was red as her hair from her forehead to her toes before she blinked and processed what he’d said.

Then she wheeled about with a screech, ready to deck him flat. Vyse was already backing away and running with a laugh as she gave chase, and she caught sight of the broom handle shoved through the wheel, keeping them on course.

“Vyse, you utter pervert , I knew you were lying! Didn’t mean to peek, my ass!”

It was a good three minutes before Vyse finally slowed down enough for her to catch up and take the bruises he had coming.

Aika blushed all the more when she heard him utter one last quip as she stormed off to go belowdecks.

“...worth it…”

***

In battle, Vyse was a completely different man. Had he been training, she might have taken the time to admire his form, the lines of his arm and how he deftly curved his swords around him in an alternating style of offense and defense that favored neither arm entirely. It was what made him so devastating to their foes; no matter which hand they favored, he could overwhelm them.

His crosshand style was slightly less effective against the monsters who had made the ruins on Shrine Island their home, but what moonstone-infused steel couldn’t handle, their magic and her own attacks made up for. It was a slog, moving through the ruins and slowly draining the water out of it, but the end result had been worth it. The raw moonstone lying at the bottom of the shrine had been massive , and would sell well. Processed, it could power an entire ship on its own for months. Maybe even a year or more.

It was too bad there was an enormous metal automaton with some kind of an energy cannon for an arm standing between them and the prize. Its normal attacks were bad enough, but the beam it fired had knocked Vyse off of his feet, even when he’d been guarding. After that first hit, the tactics changed quickly. Run and slash, and avoid the targeting rays at all costs.

“He’s got a lock! He’s got a lock!” Aika shrieked, moving in a flat out run around the metal humanoid, panicking as every one of the red beams around its single eye found a spot on her body to shine on.

“Hang on, Aika!” Vyse was there for the save, lunging up into the air and jamming one cutlass into a worn spot of the thing’s shoulder armor. The automaton twitched under the strike as sparks flew, and the arm cannon that had been coming up to fire on Aika instead unleashed a punishing beam behind her, leaving heavy scouring along the far wall that burned away the green overgrowth and algae and blackened the stone underneath. “Damn, this thing’s tough! We need a better strategy, and fast!” He pulled away from it before it could level him with a backhand, but it still managed to smash him with a smaller beam of light from its single eye. He grunted and fell back, panting a little before Aika threw a healing spell at him. He gave her a grateful nod.

“If we could get the thing to slow down , we might be able to do some damage.” Aika grumbled. “And right now, you’re hurting it more than I am.”

“Think you could stun it?” Vyse called out, ducking a wild haymaker swing as the robot kept pursuing him. He’d gotten its attention, it seemed.

“Maybe, if I could catch it right in the face?” Aika twirled her boomerang in a tight circle, building up her energy. “I need to charge up a little first. Buy me some time!”

“I’ll do what I can. Don’t leave me hanging!” Vyse took off like a shot, burning up his adrenaline and keeping the robot’s focus on him. It tailed him with another blast from his arm cannon, and thankfully could only get one off. The shot missed Vyse, but he still ended up popping a Sacri crystal, clearly worn out.

Aika grit her teeth. He was giving it his all, and she could do no less. The leading edge of her boomerang began to flare with red light, her spirit channeled into the Moonstone reservoir along her weapon. “Almost, Vyse! When I signal you, line it up facing me!”

“Got it!” He panted, lurching a bit as another small laser caught him in the back of the leg. Aika almost shouted out for him, but held back. She had to hold on to her attack. Just a little more.

And there . Her entire boomerang blazed to life. “Now, Vyse!”

He skidded around to her feet, and the robot turned its head around to track in on him with its red targeting rays. Aika unloaded her charged up Alpha Storm head-on into its face, overwhelming it with heat and blinding light.

It did the trick. The thing recoiled and began to make odd beeping noises, flailing its arms around. Vyse lunged up off of the ground with a roar, jumping into the air and bringing both of his cutlasses to bear. To her immense satisfaction, he managed to jam both of his blades into the thing’s eye with a sound like breaking glass...and then the glowing lines along its body went dark. The thing collapsed to the ground with Vyse on top of it, breaking apart into the myriad parts it had been before they stumbled across it.

Aika stood there as Vyse slowly lurched up to his feet, panting for air, then busted out laughing. Vyse looked back at her like she’d lost her mind, which, Aika reflected, she may well have. He didn’t demand an answer though, he just kept looking at her and waiting for one.

She finally wiped away some of the grime on her face and looked at him. “Which joke do you want to hear?” Aika teased him.

“I swear, if you make some crack about it falling to pieces over me…”

“You gave him an eyeful.” Aika cut in, winking at him. Vyse blinked twice, groaned, and retrieved his swords. Aika went over to the raw chunk of unrefined moonstone lying on the shrine’s floor and rocked back and forth on her heels as she waited for Vyse to join her. He stopped beside her, and the two spent some time to admire their hard-won prize.

“Not bad for a morning’s work.” Vyse finally said. Aika harrumphed a little.

“More like a morning and a good chunk of the afternoon. Now, before we haul this thing up, set sail for home and dig into your mom’s picnic basket, there’s one last thing we need to do, Vyse.”

“Yeah, what’s that?” Vyse asked.

Aika stepped back away from him and extended her hand. “Don’t leave me hanging.” She teased him.

Vyse didn’t. Another secret Blue Rogue handshake later, they laughed and got to work pulling the moonstone up. Today had been just what she needed. Just her, her best friend, an entire day of fighting, relaxing, and being the best damn air pirates in all of Arcadia, and no Fina to get in the way of it.

***

Pirate Isle

Evening

Their home had been burning.

By the time they got back, the Valuan armada had come and gone and left destruction behind them. Their victory the day before had really pissed them off but good, and staring at all the wrecked houses...the Albatross turned into a pile of burning wood and charred metal inside of the underground hangar…

Every elated feeling of sweet satisfaction had turned to ash and dust in her mouth, and on her hands.

The women and children had been spared, but every member of the Albatross’s crew, Captain Dyne included, had been arrested and hauled off. And Fina? Fina was gone too.

Captain Dyne was right. She was more important than she wanted us to know.

She’d been strong while she’d been beside Vyse at the start, and when they’d raced to help the survivors finish putting out the fires and taking stock of the island. She’d put on a brave face when Vyse swore in front of the families of their captured friends and shipmates that it wouldn’t stand, that he would bring them all back home. But it had forced up old traumas, and after the worst things had been dealt with, she’d retired to what was left of her family’s old and empty home and cried. For the loss of her parents back when she’d been a little girl. For the losses they’d taken now.

Aika couldn’t sleep after. There was still too much nervous energy buzzing around her. She made her way over to Vyse’s house, to talk with him…

But on the way over, she saw that he wasn’t there at all. He was up on the upper docks, loading supplies into the skiff. His shoulders were slumped and he didn’t hear her coming, something that would have never happened if he was paying attention. It pricked the alarm bells in the back of her mind.

Around everyone else, Vyse never faltered. He never showed weakness. But here, in the dark, by himself…Aika saw just how badly he had crumbled. Just how difficult it had been for him to hold himself together.

She had cried it out, wiped her tears away, and kept moving. He was refusing to face it, just going through the motions. Aika couldn’t let him do that to himself.

“You know, you should be in bed.” Aika called up to him in a relaxed voice.

“I’ll get there soon enough.” Vyse responded, not even looking over his shoulder as she hopped up onto the deck of the skiff. “Once I get all these supplies loaded up.”

Aika sized up the work he’d already done. “By the look of it, you’ve already stowed away most of our provisions. You should stop, get to bed.”

“I can’t stop.” Vyse snarled. “If I do, if I slow down, then my mind…”

“Races.” Aika finished his sentence, and that finally snapped him out of his funk. He turned around and gaped at her, and she shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep either. I was going to come talk to you. I didn’t expect to find you out here wearing yourself out, though I guess I should have expected it.”

Vyse swallowed. “We should have been here. We could have…”

“We could have what , Vyse? We could have done what, exactly?” Aika snapped back harshly. She’d had plenty of time to reflect on it after she’d run out of tears. She wondered if he saw just how red her eyes were, how puffy the skin under them was. She could feel it. “They threw the entire Armada at them. If we’d been here, we would have either ended up dead, or captured. And then who would be left to save anyone?!”

Vyse ground his molars together and looked down and away from her seething stare. “I...I just...What if we fail?”

“We’re going to get them back, Vyse.” Aika stepped over to him, set a hand on his shoulder. She forced him to look at her. She needed him to see the steel in her eyes. “All of them.”

He swallowed thickly. “There are so many things that could go wrong with this plan.”

“We had a plan?” Aika countered, laughing softly. “I thought we were making this up as we went along.”

“Don’t joke about this, Aika. Not now.” There was no heat in the rebuke, and she shrugged it off.

“You made a promise, Vyse. A promise to their wives, to their kids. And Blue Rogues keep their promises. Always.”

There came a glimmer of his old, familiar, unassailable confidence at that, but it fizzled quickly. “What if I’m not strong enough, Aika?” He whispered. Ashamed.

“That’s why you have me.” Aika persisted, trading out for tough love with a love tap to his shoulder. “Those are our friends, our people out there. I’m not giving them up. Are you?”

“No.” Vyse exhaled, finally accepting mother wit.

“Then get to bed.”

“You first.”

“I will drag you back and have your mother tear you a new one…”

“Fine, fine . I’ll go.” He set a hand to his head and rolled his eyes. “When did you get so bossy?”

“When did you get so mopey?” They glared at one another, and Vyse finally broke the stalemate with an exhausted grin. “Just...one last thing first.”

She set her hands at her waist and gave a long-suffering sigh. “What, Vyse?”

He gestured with a tip of his head to the small grassy knoll beside the walking path. “I’m still too wound up. Want to moongaze with me? One last time, before we sail off tomorrow?”

Aika should have refused, gone back to her empty house with a bed that hadn’t been touched since her parents were killed, to her small little room with a small little bed that was part of her small little world.

She held out her hand, and Vyse took it, and led them down the walkway until their feet were on damp grass. They lay side by side, staring up at the silver moon and the sea of stars all around it. If she tried, she could almost feel the back of his gloved hand touching hers.

“You’re not doing this to say goodbye, are you?” She asked, when the silence and the smell of extinguished fires made the air too heavy to contemplate in silence any further. “Because I’m not planning on dying in Valua.”

“And you thought I was?” He asked her with a chuckle. “Come on, Aika. You know me.”

I do know you , she wanted to say, but didn’t. Only Aika ever saw this side of him. Only Aika knew how to put him back together again. So instead, she inched in closer to his side and leaned her head onto his shoulder.

“Don’t you dare go dying on me, Vyse.” She repeated the sentiment, letting the gentle inhale and exhale of his breathing finally start to lull her away. “You’re the only family I have left.”

“I know.” His hand came up and brushed along the side of her face, and she shivered. “Sorry. Was aiming for your hair.”

“Leave my hair out of this.” She complained halfheartedly. It was all an act, but it was an old, familiar dance, and they kept to their conventions. “We’re getting them back. All of them.” She promised him, and put enough force behind the pledge as if to make it a binding contract with the moons. That they weren’t going to be beaten by the Valuans. That they were going to survive.

They had too much to live for, too much left to see. To do. Maybe, Aika told herself, with a little more time, she’d be able to figure out the jumbled mess of butterflies in her chest.

“Even Fina.” Vyse said, adding to her vow.

Aika closed her eyes. The jealousy seemed so far away now, so shallow in the wake of the tragedy they’d come home to.

“Even Fina.” She repeated.

They should have gotten up, dragged themselves back to their houses, slept in their own beds. Instead, they spent the night out in their battle gear under the stars. It was as appropriate a farewell to home as anything else might have been. And nobody else on the island said a word about it.

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Three: Old Folks Are Jerks

Vyse was beginning to think that the moons hated him. They hadn’t gone very far beyond Shrine Island when the skies began to cloud over with thick fog. It made sailing a more treacherous proposition, and he’d slowed...And then the keening cry of an Arcwhale had chilled his blood cold. He had tried to get clear of it, but the thing’s wake, its very breathing was intense enough that there was no way for their tiny ship to get clear of it. The skiff had been tossed like a kite in a tornado…

And the next time he came to, he and Aika were lying on the foredeck of an old ship with a green and yellow hull, captained and crewed by just one man.

One very old, very cranky, very violent man, with a mechanical arm, an eyepatch, and enough salt and vinegar to open his own pickling cannery. The very first thing he’d done after yelling at them for ruining his hunt for the Arcwhale called Rhaknam was to punch Vyse flat on his back. The second was to put them to work.

His back was already strained after hauling up the first box of supplies to the bridge, and the old man had wasted no time, after listening to a little of his tale, in ordering him to get the second. Vyse wagered he had a little time to recover before he was expected back up there, and went over to where a fuming Aika was mopping belowdecks.

“If he hadn’t taken our gear and stowed it, I swear I’d knock him around.” Aika grumbled, her anger clear and visibly on display.

“I’m working on it.” Vyse tried to soothe her nerves. That was forever Aika. Quick to joy, quick to anger, a firebird in her own right. “He finally asked me who we were after I got that first crate up.”

“So is he going to help us?”

Vyse made a face. “I don’t think so. But he’s not going to maroon us, either. He said he’s headed for Sailor’s Island to resupply before heading out. We’re good for that far, at least. And I did get him to promise that he’d return our stuff before he left us.”

“Well, he’d better! The old jerk.” Aika snorted. “So what’s his deal, anyways? Because I’ve been down here a while, and even though this is an old ship, he’s got some serious hardware.”

“Oh?” That piqued the Blue Rogue’s interest.

Aika’s pout went away for the thoughtful expression she wore when she got more technically minded. “Yeah. Cannons. They’re definitely not top of the line, but from what I could tell, he’s maintained them pretty well. And he’s got them rigged up so that he can fire them from the bridge, if my guess is right.”

“I guess he was serious about hunting Rhaknam.” Vyse conceded. “But...how does he reload them?”

“He doesn’t. Not from up there, anyways.” Aika shrugged. “This is an old fishing ship. Converted. He can sail it by himself, but he’d need a crew to fight effectively.”

“Maybe that’s our way into his good graces.” Vyse mused aloud. “We’ll play it safe for now, but...we’re going to need help if we’re going to get into Valua and save our family and friends.”

“You think that he’d help us? Willingly?” Aika stared at him as if he’d grown a second head.

Vyse exhaled. “I don’t know. Maybe. Dad always taught me to look for the angles. The solution nobody expects. There’s a way to get him on board, Aika, there has to be. I just haven’t figured it out yet.”

“Well, when you do, Vyse, let me know.” Aika got back to swabbing the decks at an angrier pace. “In the meantime, it’s back to the salt mines for us. We wouldn’t want His Wrinkliness getting angry enough to throw us overboard.”

Vyse chuckled uneasily and headed for the second crate. He’d almost said that he didn’t think the old man would actually go through with that threat, but stopped himself short.

The fact was, he didn’t know enough about the old guy to promise anything.

***

Sailor’s Island

As it turned out, his name was Drachma, and the gruff sailor knew quite a bit. Vyse kept managing the chores Drachma gave him to do, and then suddenly the old man gave him a turn at the helm. Vyse did his best to impress their grumpy rescuer, and while Drachma didn’t laugh or crack a smile, his scowl went down by a few degrees. It was a start, at least. And it promised to be an ending as well, especially since as soon as they made port, Drachma all but threw their belongings at them, told them to get off the Little Jack , and made for the pub to get himself a drink.

“Supplies first.” Vyse resolved wearily, and they made their way to replenish their travel rations and to see about upgrading their kit a little more. They had the money after turning in the spoils from their successful expedition on Shrine Island, and Vyse did like how his new underlayer of armor felt. A little extra reassurance against being too badly wounded in combat went a long way to improving his mood. Neither of them was in any great hurry to move to the pub and get something to eat in spite of their grumbling stomachs, because that would mean having to deal with Drachma...or worse, watching him leave with their fractional hopes.

“Come on.” Aika finally said, when they’d packed away as much as they could in their bags for a rainy day. “There’s a Sailor’s Guild office here. At the very least, we could see if anyone’s booking passage to Valua anytime soon.”

“And I could tell them about the Pirate’s Grave.” Vyse suggested. “I hear they pay well for Discoveries too.”

“The more money the better, right?” Aika grinned at him. It was something to do, and Vyse hated waiting around and doing nothing when there was work to be done. They were just about at the doors when they heard the whispers from a pair of merchants next to the building, something about ‘a new Valuan weapon…’

Vyse went still, turned around, and walked over to them. “Excuse me.” He said to them politely. “I’m new in these skies. What was that about Valua, and a secret weapon?”

“Oh, it’s no secret.” One of the merchants glanced up at him and smiled. “The Valuans recently authorized the sale of a new bow-mounted weapon that fires a harpoon on a rope for later retrieval. It was originally meant for hunting, but it can do some damage in its own right.”

“Wow.” Vyse raised his eyebrows. “Hunting what? Arcwhales?”

“You could, I suppose.” The other merchant shrugged. “But I think they wanted to give merchant ships something that could help them fight back against sky pirates, while not creating a new arms race. After all, what good would a harpoon gun be against a Valuan warship?”

Vyse was enough of a tactician to see the possibility, and he ended up smiling about it. “Not much, I’d think.” He lied, thanking the two and stepping back away.

Aika must have caught him smiling, because she nudged his shoulder while he lingered outside the door to the Sailor’s Guild, glancing once at the bounty posters, including a new one for a Black Pirate who’d been causing some new trouble for the Nasrians.

“I know that look, Vyse. What are you thinking?” She demanded.

Vyse reached for the dial on his goggle and adjusted the focus a bit.

“I’ve got our angle.”

***

Vyse could have played it straight with the old man, but after the abuse that Drachma had been giving them all day, a little payback was way overdue. After all, he was a Blue Rogue, not a saint. Aika, ever willing to hop into a scheme with him, had been just as playful, dancing around the topic and making snarky side comments until finally, Drachma had slammed down his tankard, swore loudly enough to make the conversation in the pub come to a standstill, and glare at the two of them with a gimlet eye.

“The point, boy. Get to it.” Drachma finally snapped.

“You’re trying to hunt down Rhaknam. I know where you can get a weapon that will give your ship the edge in hunting down Arcwhales.” Vyse folded his arms.

“For a price.” Drachma droned. Vyse smirked and nodded.

“You’re not shoving us off, Drachma. You’re taking us with you.”

Drachma blinked, then put a hand to his forehead. “This weapon’s in Valua, isn’t it.” All Vyse had to do was laugh after that.

Behind the bar, a middle-aged redhead with rubenesque curves laughed into her hand. “Face it, Drachma. I think the kids have your number.”

“You stay out of this, Polly.” Drachma growled, though without any real heat. He picked up the rest of his drink and downed it in a few swallows. “Fine, boy. Let’s shove off, then. The Valuans have been tightening security, so we’ll need to see about gettin’ a passport first.”

“Not so fast.” Vyse held up a hand, stopping Drachma just as he was about to hop off of his chair. “Aika and I still haven’t eaten. And a good captain wouldn’t let his crew starve, would he?”

Polly’s laughter was louder than Drachma’s suffering groan, but only just.

***

South Danel Strait

There was bad news, and a solution for it. They needed a passport to enter Valuan airspace. The bad news: It took forever to apply for one, and nobody in the Sailor’s Guild wanted to risk arrest to forge them one. The solution? A Nasrian merchant who was headed home was more than happy to give them his own.

The catch, however, was sizable. Baltor the Black-Bearded had been attacking traffic in the South Danel Strait, and the Little Jack would have to provide escort. With luck, Baltor wouldn’t catch sight of their ships, and they could pass through unmolested.

Vyse didn’t have that kind of luck, at least lately.

The door to the bridge swung open, and Aika stuck her head in, her face grim. “I’ve got a positive identification, Captain Drachma. It’s the Blackbeard .”

“Air pirates.” Drachma growled angrily.

“Black Pirates.” Vyse corrected the old man, his hands tight on the wheel. “They’re different from the Blue Rogues. Black Pirates attack anyone, but they especially like going after helpless targets.”

Drachma breathed in and out a few times, and Vyse hesitated. He knew what he wanted to do, and after spending a while handling the Little Jack as its Helmsman, he knew what they could do. But it was still Drachma’s ship.

“Orders, captain?”

“Bring us about to intercept.” Drachma finally ordered. He shook his head. “This could go down poorly. How many guns did they have, girl?”

“At least thirty.” Aika said, already running the numbers. “And you only have six.”

“Aye.” Drachma droned.

Vyse considered the fight. On the surface, the Little Jack was sorely outclassed. They were on a converted fishing vessel, for crying out loud. But then, he pushed down the voice of doubt. He thought of his father, and the rest of the Albatross crew, somewhere in Valua, either rotting in jail or waiting for execution.

He thought of Fina, a girl that the Valuans had been willing to use their entire Mid-Ocean Armada to capture.

And he remembered who he was, and the Code of the Blue Rogues.

“They may be bigger, and have more guns, but we’ve got advantages too.” Vyse announced confidently. “This ship is lighter, faster, and more maneuverable.” He looked to Drachma, all grins. If you want to inspire confidence, display it. “You took a fishing vessel and turned it into a ship of war to hunt down a legendary Arcwhale. Baltor’s expecting an easy fight, but I’ve seen the armor plating beneath the outer wooden hull, the extra structural reinforcements you’ve put in. And Aika told me about your engine; it’s rated for a vessel twice the size of this one. If we fight smart, we can win this, Cap’n Drachma.”

He waited for the old man to balk, or to take command himself and order them to fight his way. Instead, Drachma’s single eye met both of his, and the crusty monster hunting fisherman...smirked.

“Ye may be right. You two know how to handle yourselves, at least. Fine. If we’re taking on a pirate, we may as well be led by one.”

“Blue Rogue!” Aika snapped. Drachma waved a hand, clearly uninterested in the debate.

“Vyse. Take the helm, lad. I’ll be belowdecks, managing the cannons. Your lass here...well. You figure out what to do with her.”

“Hey!”

Vyse nodded. “Aye-aye, captain.”

Drachma sized up the two one more time, coming to a moment of peace. “And lad?”

“Yes, captain?”

“You force us to abandon ship, and I’ll make sure you’re the first one to be thrown to the abyss.” Drachma’s smile was less pleasant after that, and he turned for the stairs, heading down below.

Vyse fought off his shiver, and lined up the Little Jack ’s prow with the Blackbeard , still a small dot in the distance, but one fast growing in size and definition. “Aika. You mind being our runner?”

“Put out the fires as they happen, act as your spotter?” Aika mused. “Sure. You know how crazy this is, don’t you?”

“Crazier than sneaking into Valua to rescue everyone?” Vyse countered, raising an eyebrow. Aika laughed at his bravado and headed out for the deck.

“Right. We’re Blue Rogues. We never do things the easy way.”

Vyse nodded to himself, gripped the wheel even harder, and let the call of battle flow through him.

Blue Rogues never back down from a greater danger.

***

Like most ships, the cannons of the Blackbeard were meant to be fired as broadsides. So were the Little Jack’s cannons, but Vyse knew better than to get into a slugging match with the larger and more formidable ship.

He was never so glad for how well maintained Drachma kept the old girl as when the pirate ship, sensing that he meant to close the gap, began to wheel around to fire a broadside.

“Hang on to something!” Vyse shouted into the communication tubes, warning the old man and Aika before he toggled a lever and fed additional power from the moonstone engine to the atmospheric condensors. The small ship gained additional buoyancy, and rose up, keeping nose-first towards the larger ship. He caught sight of the puffs of smoke from the enemy cannons, and felt intense relief as every warshot screamed harmlessly beneath the keel.

“Cannons loaded, boy.” Drachma’s surly voice shot up from the gundeck. “Don’t be bouncin’ me ship all over, the girl’s tough, but she’s not as young as she used to be!”

Aika came running back onto the bridge. “Hey Vyse, I’ve got an idea. Lemme talk to the captain quick!” Vyse spared her only a glance before nodding tightly, turning his attention ahead. The Blackbeard was beginning to turn around, likely to bring its other broadside full of cannons to bear. Aika darted past him and went to the brass communication tubes. “Captain, are your cannons rated for magical augments?”

“No, it’s not.” Aika scowled, and kicked at the floor.

“So much for my idea.”

“Maybe not.” Vyse said, his mind spinning fast for ideas. “Captain, do you have any cannonballs with a moonstone inlay?”

“Ah...one, I think. It’s old, though.”

Vyse chuckled. “I’m sending Aika down there. And strap those cannons down.”

“Boy, I just told you …”

“I know, I know! But I’ve got an idea, and it involves us getting right on their stern .” He glanced over to Aika, hoping that she could tell just how serious he was about it.

His oldest friend threw him a salute and then dropped her goggles down over her eyes. “Let me guess. Charge that ball with red magic?”

“You know me so well.” Vyse praised her. She was flushed to begin with from the adrenaline of combat, so he wasn’t sure, but for a bit as she dashed off, Vyse thought her face had gone a few shades redder.

He put it out of his mind and reached for the altitude lever, throwing it in reverse and diving down under the Blackbeard’s firing arc right as it finished its slow turn and leveled the second set of cannons. This time he wasn’t quite as lucky, and two cannonballs smashed through the sails and splintered one of the smaller masts. At least, Vyse hoped it was the smaller mast, because the ship didn’t immediately start handling poorly.

Its powder spent, the Blackbeard could do little but start to dive and to try and circle the smaller vessel. But Vyse’s estimation of Drachma’s ship, and the Black pirate vessel, had been dead on. It turned like a drunken grouper. Vyse easily swept beneath it and then turned the Little Jack around, coming up on its hindquarters.

He toggled the communication tube to the gundeck. “Aika? Tell me you’re ready down there!”

“I’m charging it now, Vyse! I have to go slow, or else the thing will explode before we fire it!”

“Okay, but hurry. Captain Drachma, which side of the ship’s cannons are loaded with normal shot already?”

“We’re loading your girl’s magic cannonball on the starboard side. Port side’s toggled and ready to fire.”

Vyse nodded to himself, already running the numbers. He doubted the Black Pirates would give them a second chance at this tactic. “On my command, fire everything on the port side. Then I’m going to go into a flat skid and wheel us sidewards so we can launch the starboard cannons at the same target area. Get ready!”

The Blackbeard was spinning around, but it was easy enough for Vyse to get on the ship’s tail. He cut into their lumbering turn, his goggle zooming in on the starboard cannons. Much further and he’d sail right into their firing arc. Still, he needed the angle. Almost...almost…

“Fire port cannons!” Vyse shouted, and was immediately drowned out by the noise of thunderous explosions. He pushed the ship into full reverse, which lowered the mainsail and threw the smaller maneuvering fins into a backwards wheeling motion. The Little Jack lurched as it fought against its forward momentum, and Vyse kept his eyes on the stern of the menacing pirate ship. He exulted when all three of the smaller cannonballs smashed into the wooden hull, which was relatively unarmored.

Tactics. Pirate ships like theirs kept their cannons along the sides. To save money, Black Pirates left sections like the keel, and the stern , unarmored. And today it was costing them.

He spun the wheel hard as they kept on braking, and the Little Jack skidded sideways, bringing its starboard cannons to bear.

“Fire starboard!”

Two normal shots, and a brilliantly glowing star of light, sped off away from the Little Jack and burrowed into the back end of the Blackbeard . More damage...and then the lone magical cannonball exploded, destroying the ship’s rudder completely and exposing entire decks to open air.

Vyse screamed in triumph as the Blackbeard , now burning and broken, turned away from the duel and lowered its standard of a white skull and crossbones on a black background. They were giving up the fight...and going home.

Aika came running up the steps two at a time as Vyse slowly brought the Little Jack away from their duel and turned back for the merchant vessel they were escorting. She whooped like a maniac, soot covering her face and goggles as she tore them off so her brown eyes could shine brilliantly.

“We did it! We did it, Vyse!” She was so excited and caught up in the moment that Vyse couldn’t help but join her in their usual celebratory Blue Rogues victory handshake and pose. They’d barely finished it when Captain Drachma came up behind him and cuffed him hard on the back of the head (with his normal hand, thankfully), all scowls.

“Never take your hand off the wheel, boy!” Drachma snapped at him. “And don’t be blubbering, either. You got lucky, and they were careless.”

Vyse hissed out between his teeth as he rubbed at the bruise. “Fought a lot of pirates yourself, old man?” He demanded, tired of being pushed around.

Drachma’s anger dissipated into irritation at that, and he shook his head. “We survived, but the ship’s damaged. I’ve got the wheel, lad.” He took up station at the helm and looked over his shoulder to Vyse and Aika, all business once again. “Go see what the damage is, and then get busy repairing it. I’ve got lumber supplies and iron plating belowdecks.”

“Aye...captain.” Vyse muttered, taking hold of Aika’s hand before the fuming girl could pop off and say something worse to the old man, dragging her out onto the foredeck.

“And boy?” Drachma called out, stopping them at the door. Vyse froze up, but didn’t look back. He was too mad to school his face. Drachma’s next words took the heat right out of him.

“You did good, boy. But try to do better next time, eh? You’ve got more lives than your own to worry about now.”

The reminder of what was at stake caused Vyse to swallow down his angry retort and nod. Aika didn’t bother shutting up.

“Next time, captain?” She teased Drachma. “Not so eager to get rid of us now, are you?”

“You two have your uses.” Drachma admitted. It wasn’t a full on glowing letter of praise...but Vyse took what he could get, and dragged Aika away with him.

***

Sailor’s Island

That Evening

It had been early evening by the time that they’d finally made the guarded border to Nasrad, and true to his word, the merchant had passed them his Valuan passport. Then came the long voyage back out of the South Danel Strait and back to Mid-Ocean...where they could then turn northwest into Valuan airspace. By the time that they made Sailor’s Island, it was just past midnight, and none of them were all that perky. Drachma had paid for their rooms after cashing in the bounty for defeating Baltor back at the Sailor’s Guild...and paid for it out of his half of the bounty, having unceremoniously shoved the rest of the coinpurse into Vyse’s hands for ‘sailor’s wages.’

Vyse had managed all of about an hour of staring up at the ceiling on the soft bed at the inn before his mind got the better of him. It had started out too quiet, and then the buzzsaw of Drachma’s loud snoring next door had made things worse. He’d grimaced and rolled onto his side, looking over to where Aika slept on the room’s second bed. Of course she was out like a light. With her hair freed from its upright pigtails, it swirled around her as a sea of red.

She could go an entire day with Vyse just seeing her as his best friend, his closest ally in a fight. He almost never got to see her like this. Peaceful. Looking like an actual girl.

His gut twisted up as he once again realized just what he was dragging her into.

With sleep eluding him, Vyse tossed his blanket back and swung over to the side of his bed, reaching for his boots. He had the second one laced up almost all the way when Aika let out a muffled groan, stirred, and cracked an eye open.

She caught him standing in the light of the silver moon darting down through the window. Confusion led to halfhearted concern, assuaged slightly by the fact he wasn’t reaching for his swords. “What’s wrong?” He heard her mutter.

“Nothing.” Vyse told her quietly. “Just can’t sleep. Go back to bed.”

“Mmmmph. No.” Aika started to push herself up, and Vyse lurched the few steps to the side of her bed and brought a hand down to her forehead. She went still immediately, and cracked both eyes to look up at him in surprise.

“Vyse?” She breathed.

He thought he was smiling, and on impulse, traced his fingers through her hair. She shivered as he did, and frowning at how cold it had gotten, he reached for her blanket and pulled it up further over her, covering her shoulders. “Don’t worry about me, Aika. I’ll be fine. Just still a little worked up over that battle earlier today.”

“Heh.” She sighed and rolled her eyes before smiling at him, openly and honestly. Moons, it was amazing how many facets there were to her. She snuggled into the bed a little more and closed her eyes. “You were amazing. Just like...I always knew you could be.”

Vyse stroked a thumb over her forehead. “So were you. I couldn’t have pulled off the win without you.”

“S’because of you.” She muttered with another sigh.

“What is?” Vyse whispered. But this time, she didn’t answer. “Aika?” When she didn’t even respond to her name, Vyse knew she was lost to sleep again.

He leaned over and kissed her forehead lightly, then stepped away and walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.

With nothing but time, sleeplessness, and nervous energy on his hands, Vyse wandered the entire stretch of the island before climbing up into the lighthouse. He leaned out of one of the windows, his back to the rotating glass and torchlight behind him, and stared out to the north. There in the north, the darkness of the night sky became blotted out by dark and angry permanent thunderclouds.

Out there, beyond dark skies, was Valua. It was a land he had only ever heard of, a people he’d never encountered beyond the soldiers and warships they sent to enforce their tyrannical control of the skies. It was the home of the Yellow Moon, whose moonstones carried the power of electricity.

It was where his people, where Fina, had been taken. He had vowed to bring them back, and only in audacity did he have a chance of pulling off that victory. But the risks...the risks kept his mind racing.

Would he die on this quest? Was he condemning Aika to death as well? Would the last thing he ever saw be her face, tracked with tears, as he lay with his head on the block and an axe racing for his neck?

A flutter of movement in the night sky, a tiny bit of reflection caught his attention, and he jerked a hand up right before he was smacked in the face with a wind-tattered kite that carried an unusual string...a string with a small glass bottle at the end of it.

“What’s this?” He muttered, raising the bottle up to the rotating searchlight behind him. Laid bare, he could see the bottle had a rolled up scrap of paper inside, and he quickly uncorked it and tapped it out.

It was written in barely legible tradespeak, the author was unknown, but the message chilled his blood. Whoever had written it, they pleaded for help from someone called ‘Quetya’, to save them from the Valuans.

He nearly crumpled the letter in his anger, but thought better of it and tucked it away for safekeeping. Familiar anger bubbled away in him, and it burned away the doubt and weakness he had felt only seconds before.

There were risks, but he had accepted them. And so had Aika. For years, the Valuans had taken, and taken, and swallowed up the skies in their empire. The Blue Rogues, his father, their friends and neighbors, had been born out of the pressure of that oppression. He had almost forgotten some of the most important lessons in the Code of the Blue Rogues.

“Blue Rogues leave nobody behind.” Vyse vowed, and glared into the dark stormclouds to the north. “And Blue Rogues fly free .”

Come tomorrow morning, Captain Drachma and Aika would find Vyse waiting down in the lounge of the inn, drinking tea and looking refreshed and determined. He would be ready to take on the world.

The Valuans would never see them coming.

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Four: What Hope Looked Like

Valuan Capital

Lower City

Ships came and went from Valua like clockwork, timed to the turning of the distant edifice of the Grand Fortress. The well-maintained ships bearing opulent and exotic cargoes sailed for the port in the Upper City, or so the stories went. After far too long of a childhood spent rummaging through garbage bins for scraps to calm the gnawing hunger in his belly, Marco had little time for stories. Stories were what parents told their children when the clothes went threadbare, the food went rotten, and their shack either fell apart from a heavy rainstorm or was repossessed. Stories were empty, meaningless, and cruel. They taunted and teased what the poor and destitute of the mighty Valuan Empire would never possess. Down in the Lower City, the port docking fee was far less, and fewer questions were asked. The only ships he ever saw were ones bearing cargo for the black market, or poor sailors with nothing of real value worth taking.

Every part of his outfit was covered in the grime and filth of the Lower City, and his eyes had long ago lost their brightness. Only the unruly mop of red hair on top of his head had any real color, and even then, only when he got caught in the rains. He had never been truly healthy, but stubbornness and ingenuity had kept him from being a walking bag of bones, like the worst wretches down here. Marco knew the patterns of life in the Lower City. He knew when ships came in, he knew where food scraps could be found. It was all hard-won experience, a lifetime’s worth of exploration and observation...and so far as he could remember, he was only ten years old.

Following the patterns of the Lower City had brought him to the edge of the docks, in search of errant valuables he could pawn off, or actual food he could steal and run off with. Sometimes he got lucky, other times he went hungry. He was getting better at it, though. It was only surviving, but down here, survival was all that mattered.

He reminded himself of that as he came up empty-handed from his third trash bin, wearing a scowl and doing his best to ignore the eternal ache in his gut. And then he caught sight of an unfamiliar flash of vibrant color approaching the docks. It was a ship quite unlike anything he’d ever seen before. At first glance, it seemed to be just another fishing vessel, gaudily painted up in green and yellow. But then he caught sight of the covered openings along its side; gunports.

This ship was something new.

It pulled into the docks at an empty berth, and the dockmaster’s assistant ran out to meet it. A young man in blue and a girl his age in yellow came out onto the deck and prepared a gangplank. They were joined not long after by an older man who could have been their grandfather, and the old fellow spoke to the assistant for a long while. They eventually shook hands, money was passed over, and the ship and the dockmaster’s assistant pulled away, heading for the nearby shipyards, leaving the boy and the girl alone on the docks.

They carried weapons and looked seasoned, but Marco didn’t get the same sense of immediate danger off of them as he usually did with the black marketeers. He smirked a little as another thought came to mind; that they were marks. He knew the game well. Introduce himself, offer to show them around...then grab their cash and dash.

So he went on ahead of them, stopped at an intersection that they would have to pass, and waited.

***

Marco would have just tried to steal their money and make a break for it, but the girl had to open her big mouth and start insulting him, and the boy had been unusually canny, keeping him at a distance even while being slightly more polite than she had been. Had the goggle-wearing fellow sensed Marco wanted to pick their pockets? He had been expecting them to be complete rubes, fresh off the boat. Easy pickings for a kid who’d taken on life the hard way. It had all made him so angry and frustrated that he’d run off fuming, swearing revenge on them. He turned a corner, doubled back around, and followed them.

To his confusion, the two didn’t pass through the Lower City with scorn or apathy. They didn’t steer away from the inconvenient sight of a sick huskra, but petted it and gave it a bit of their own food before walking on. A young girl Marco only knew in passing who still had a parent spoke of her dream of someday eating white bread, instead of the hard black bread that cracked teeth. For her came a small bit of green healing magic that put color in her cheeks, and a walk to the grocer’s, where they bought her a loaf of bread, a bit of cheese, and some meat...then sat her down and waited as she ate it, so that nobody else could take it from her. She cried almost the entire time, and they had to coax her not to eat too fast so she wouldn’t get sick.

His stomach growled all the harder at that, and Marco almost walked out there to beg for some himself. Only the thought that he had stolen from the grocer’s in the past and would be chased away on sight stopped him.

Nobody cared about others down here. You fought for yourself because nobody else would, and if you had to push someone else down to survive, it was what you did .

Who were these two? Why did the young man look like he wanted to burn down the castle and all of the Upper City, as he stared across the skyline to the opposite side of the capital, blazing with light? Why did the redhead in yellow who had been so churlish and dismissive before with him pull that girl in close for a hug and whisper words of encouragement before she smiled and ran off?

Nothing they did added up to Marco’s understanding of how the world worked. He kept following them, chasing at a distance they couldn’t detect as they made their way to the singular inn, a worn and rusting metal building whose corrugated roof, he guessed from observation, likely made it impossible to sleep at night during a heavy downpour. He clambered up a downspout and hunkered down opposite of a window as they made their way inside. It took them a few minutes to finagle with the lady inside, and then they finally made their way upstairs. Marco shimmied around on the rooftop and made a long jump across the gap, landing safely on the walkout balcony by their room and then pressing himself flat against the wall to listen in.

“...been forever since I could sleep on an actual bed. A real mattress, a pillow…”

“Heh, you still have it better than me, Aika.”

“I take it that hammock down in the Little Jack’s engine room isn’t all that comfortable?”

“Hardly.” The young man grumbled in reply. Marco kept silent, soaking it all in. So. Her name was Aika...and he was Vyse. And then a short while later, the old man who’d come with them came storming in, quickly passing on more information that set Marco’s heart racing.

They’d come here looking for...their family? Their friends? Who were going to be executed in the Coliseum tomorrow morning?! Marco almost gasped. He’d heard enough rumors to know that the Armada had captured an entire crew’s worth of Air Pirates not long ago. If these people were here for them, that meant…

It meant a reward. It meant money. It meant, for Marco, a chance at security.

The scarred young man declared they would sneak into the Coliseum early tomorrow morning, and break them out. Marco shook his head. It was foolhardy. Not impossible, if you knew your way around, but...Well. They wouldn’t get the chance.

He turned to leave, and promptly slipped on a puddle hidden in the shadows. It caused him to tip over and he caught himself on the railing, but it made enough noise that the conversation inside came to a grinding halt.

Marco swore under his breath and took off like a shot along the rooftops just as they burst outside and saw him. He ran for his life, but it wasn’t enough. All his quick moves, his knowledge of the Lower City failed. The young air pirate Vyse was healthier, faster, and stronger than he was. The blue-coated rogue caught up to him right as he had finished shoving the manhole cover over the sewer entrance to the side, and lifted him up by the scruff of his collar effortlessly.

“Put me down, you glass-eyed freak!” Marco howled, flailing around. Vyse gave him a hard shake that left him dizzy, and he slumped in defeat.

“What the...you’re that kid from this afternoon! Marco!” Vyse exclaimed, and dropped him on the ground. Hard. Marco groaned and rubbed at his sore bottom as he pulled himself back up to his feet, not missing how Vyse maneuvered around to block his escape into the sewers.

“Vyse! Did you get him?” The shrill voice of the red-headed girl came from above, and then she poked her head over the side of the ledge overhead. Her face dropped. “Oh, great. It’s that annoying kid from earlier today!”

“So what’s it to you?” Marco snapped, as the old man sedately appeared by Aika’s side. “I heard what you were talking about, you pirates. I bet the guard would pay well if I told them all about you and your plans!”

The old man didn’t mince words, raising his metal arm and pointing his fist down at the boy. Marco’s eyes went wide, seeing his death in that pose. “No reason to keep you alive then, brat.” The old man harrumphed. The girl beside him seemed horrified, flailing back and protesting.

Marco just ducked his head and chuckled in defeat. “Go ahead. Do it.” Only silence answered him, and he looked up to see the old man just staring at him. “Do it!” Marco repeated, angrily. “It’s not like anybody’s going to miss me, not even the rats! At least if I’m dead, I won’t have to dig through the garbage for scraps anymore!”

“No regrets, lad?” Drachma’s mouth quirked into a little grin. “Good.”

“Cap’n, you can’t!” Aika exclaimed. “He’s just a kid!”

Marco was surprised again when Vyse stepped around him and then stood between him and the old man protectively.

“Nobody’s dying here, not today.” Vyse vowed. “You got that, Captain Drachma?”

The old man growled, swore, and spun around in a huff. Vyse turned and looked down to Marco.

All Marco could do was stare back incredulously. “Wuh…”

Vyse looked past him, to the open manhole cover. “Hey, kid. What’s down there?”

Marco rubbed at his face. “The old Catacombs. Or they used to be. Now they’re just used as the sewers. I live down there.”

Vyse got a strange look on his face. “Do the sewers go under the Coliseum?”

“Yeah...why?” Marco blinked.

“If we use them to sneak in tomorrow morning, we can get past the guards.” Vyse declared, grinning like a madman. Marco stared at him some more, then busted out laughing.

“You’re crazy! You think you can get past all the guards inside the Coliseum and free your friends? You’d be signing your own death warrants! Just give up and go home!”

Vyse took the insult and let it roll off his back without a care. “Can’t do that, kid. Blue Rogues never give up. Especially when their friends are counting on them.” Vyse set his hands at his waist. “Marco, if you ever went sailing with that attitude, you’d probably give up the first time you went into a squall. That’s a poor attitude for a sailor, much less a man, to take.”

“Shut up.” Marco looked away and sniffled.

Vyse exhaled. “No matter how bad the storm is, kid, there’s always a way out of it. I’ve been in bad situations before and always gotten out, and I’m not giving up now.” He turned and looked up the stairs. “Aika, Captain, we’re using the Catacombs tomorrow to get under the Coliseum.”

Marco stood back up, picked his nose, and flicked away the dusty booger he found. “Aren’t you supposed to kill me?” He mumbled. “What if I told on you?”

“You won’t.” Vyse replied.

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“Yes, I do.” Vyse snorted. “You’ve given up on life, Marco? Then you’ll be at the Coliseum tomorrow. I want you to see something interesting before you die.”

“What?” Marco blinked, not sure what the older boy was thinking. Vyse just grinned at him, tossed him a bit of dried meat from his pocket, and climbed up the ladder after his friends.

Marco watched them leave, stared at the jerky in his hand, and found himself unsure of what to do next.

For the first time in his life, he didn’t know what to do next. Something unusual had come to Valua.

***

He hardly slept at all that night, and earlier than most people did, Marco shoved his feet into his shoes and made his way to the Coliseum. Even here, there was separated seating between the upper and lower classes, a divided partition that kept those from the Lower City with interacting with the elites at all.

He got there early, but the lines were still long. An entire crew of Air Pirates? This was the kind of show that Valua loved to put on, and the people ate it up. He’d been to plenty of these. The Queen’s soldiers kept guard, a lucky few were given bread that was usually fought over while the upper crusts laughed about it, and somebody, or a lot of somebodies, ended up dead while the crowd roared. Sometimes they were allowed to fight for a chance at their lives, but today, there would be no fight.

Nobody ever said it in earshot of the guards, but Marco knew that a lot of the crowd in his section of the Coliseum liked to imagine that the people being executed were the ones in charge. They talked about it after, when they spent what little money they did have on cheap alcohol.

The Coliseum orator whipped them all up into a frenzy, screaming about the crimes of the air pirates, and especially of their leader, Captain Dyne of the ‘Bloodthirsty Blue Rogues.’ There was no way of knowing just how much was truth and how much was fiction made up in the heat of the moment, but it didn’t matter to the crowd. It was part of the show, and the show was distraction from everything in their lives that was rotten and wrong.

Only when the orator at last seemed satisfied with the howls and the boos pouring down into the bowl of the arena did he gesture to the guards at the gates underneath the arena’s seating. They slowly raised up, and a line of chained men in worn and soiled sailor’s clothing were marched out, their hands bound behind their backs. At the forefront was a tall and proud man in black leather trousers and a blue vest that still gleamed under the harsh yellow electric lights with its natural color. He stood erect and unflinching as the people around Marco hurled insults, epithets, and rotten produce down at him. By the color of his hair, Marco at last realized who Dyne was. This was Vyse’s father, weathered by hard years, but unflinching in the face of his death.

They were stopped before the wooden platform erected near the center of the arena, where the helmeted executioner waited beside the chopping block with his wicked, long-handled axe. The boos were deafening as Captain Dyne was leg up onto the platform and forced to his knees.

The orator gestured to the crowd for silence as Dyne stared at the grooved wooden block where his neck would soon lay. It took some time before the noise dwindled enough for anything to be heard.

“Does the condemned have anything to say in his final moments?” The orator bellowed, using the echo of the arena to be heard by all. “Beg for forgiveness and you shall receive the mercy of Valua, and have your life spared and spent in servitude working in the moonstone processing plants.”

Marco shook his head. The processing plants were as good as a death sentence anyways; they had nothing in the way of safety, and the harsh chemicals the Valuans used were poisonous. There were plenty of people in the Lower City who had once worked in those factories. None of them had come out of it without scarred lungs or blinded eyes or terrible burns...and the unluckiest ones were the workers whose minds had been taken from them. “Moonstone madness”, they called it.

This was it then. He chuffed once and smiled grimly. For all of his talk about saving his friends, his father, Vyse was nowhere to be seen. Marco looked to the large sewer grate at the center of the arena, set there so blood could be washed away. The older boy had been all talk after all.

Marco blinked, and looked again.

The sewer grate had moved...just a little bit. If he hadn’t been staring right at it, he would have missed it completely. Marco opened his mouth and a strangled noise got caught in his throat.

Unaware of the events playing out behind him, Captain Dyne lifted his head up from the block and glowered at the audience. “BLUE ROGUES FLY FREE!” He yelled in defiance.

As though it were a signal, a figure in gleaming blue came running out into the arena, swords drawn. Before anyone could react, he had gutted the guard over Captain Dyne and kicked him away…

The audience, already quiet, fell into stunned silence…

And the world snapped back into movement as the rest of the captive Blue Rogues quickly kicked out at the rest of the guards, then ran back towards a screaming girl with red hair by the sewer grate, urging them forward. An old man lurched up out of the sewers at last, and as each of the air pirates reached the girl, her bladed boomerang sliced out, cutting away their bonds. Captain Dyne was the last to reach Aika, and with a grin and a wink once his hands were free, he descended down below.

The executioner sliced out with his weapon, throwing a sickle of pure energy out that cut off Vyse’s retreat below. Within seconds, the Blue Rogue was joined by his comrade and the old man, and the rest of the guards formed up around the executioner.

The crowd roared, but this time…

They were cheering for Vyse. Urging him to kick the Valuan’s asses, to cut that bloody executioner’s head clean off his shoulders. The arena orator let out an undignified squeal of panic and went running for safety, and the battle was joined.

Marco stared at the fight for only a few seconds, long enough to see that Vyse was grinning like a man possessed. Like he already knew the outcome.

Which, Marco supposed, Vyse did. Because Marco knew what would happen as well.

He turned and went racing through the crowds, searching his mind-map for the nearest sewer entrance.

Vyse had told him he was going to see something interesting, and he’d delivered. Marco didn’t like being in anybody’s debt. Luckily, he knew how to clear this one.

***

By the time that the other Blue Rogues made their way to a familiar bend in the catacombs, Marco was already waiting for them, opening up a secret passage and urging them through. He lingered by the open stone doorway for Vyse, Aika, and the grumpy old man who had gone with them, and shouted for them to hurry up when they finally appeared above, running down the slope of the storm drain.

“Come on, this way!” Marco hissed, already hearing the shouts of Valuan guards from behind them. Not one to pass up an escape, the two Blue Rogues and the grumpy prosthetic-wearing captain turned towards him, though Vyse still had his eyes narrowed. Marco looked up at the ceiling. “Relax, your dad and his crew are waiting for us. Now come on, we’ve got to close this passage up! Get inside already!”

They dashed through, and Vyse and Drachma quickly worked the mechanism, sliding the stone wall back into place, making the secret passage vanish from sight. They lingered in the darkness, breathing as shallowly as they could while the noise of the pursuing guards increased to a fever pitch...and then faded away, as they turned the corner along their supposed route, further into the depths of the sewers.

“How did you…” Vyse finally started, when it was safe to talk again. Marco just grinned at him.

“I told you. I live down here. I know these old catacombs better than anyone alive. From where I’ve got your people waiting, you could make it back to the docks easy.”

“What about the palace? Upper Valua?”

“What?” Marco frowned. “Why would you want to do that? You need to get back to your ship and make a break for it while you can!”

Vyse shared a look with Fina and shook his head. “Later. Come on, we’ve kept my dad waiting long enough.”

There were laughs, hugs, and backslaps all around the Blue Rogues as they reunited, and after that was done, Captain Dyne just stood there and smiled at his son. “You had me worried for a bit there, Vyse. I was beginning to think you wouldn’t make it.”

“Well, you know me, captain. I had to make a dramatic entrance.” Vyse chuckled, rubbing at the back of his head awkwardly. Marco looked between the two of them, amazed that the bold young man who’d stormed the Valuan Coliseum and fought against impossible odds could even be embarrassed.

“I’m proud of you, boy.” Dyne said, setting a hand on Vyse’s shoulder. He looked around. “And you’ve made some interesting friends.” He held out a hand towards the old man. “Dyne, former captain of the Albatross .”

After a slight delay, the old man returned the left-handed handshake. “Drachma. Captain of the Little Jack . Your boy and his girlfriend here were pretty damn insistent on making it here to save your asses.”

“Girlfriend?” Dyne questioned, glancing towards Aika with a raised eyebrow. Marco looked between them, because that had been his guess as well, but he was startled to see Vyse looking like an animal caught in a spotlight, while Aika went red from her knees to her forehead, sputtering.

“I am not his girlfriend!”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” They stammered, mirroring each other. Dyne just ended up laughing his head off even more, and looked back to Drachma.

“Well. Captain Drachma, do you think we could impose on your good will a little further, and charter a return voyage to our home?”

“Aye, I s’pose.” Drachma drawled, uncaring as Vyse and Aika struggled to get themselves back under control. “I came here to get a new harpoon cannon installed on the ship. They should be done by now, but if we’re going to get you all out of here, we need to hurry.”

“Where’s Fina?” Vyse suddenly cut in with a frown. “They captured her the same time as you, dad.”

Dyne shook his head. “They took her to the Upper City, to the palace. The Admiralty and the queen wanted her for their own reasons.”

“Then that’s where we’re going.” Vyse declared, looking over to Aika with his familiar, determined glare back in place. “Blue Rogues leave nobody behind. Right, dad?”

“When we’re on board a ship or on a mission, boy, it’s captain! I’ve told you that!” Dyne tried to correct him, but sighed and let it go. “I liked her, too, Vyse, but…”

“Captain.” Vyse stared at his father, and the tension between them made everyone in the dimly lit catacomb alcove go still. “Either the Code applies, no matter what, or we throw it all away. What’s it going to be?”

Marco knew that there was something important about that moment, but he was too young to know what it was exactly. He just knew that whatever it was, Vyse ended up winning it. His father looked away with a bittersweet smile.

“The unwritten rule.” Dyne said quietly. “We never do things the easy way.”

“No.” Vyse agreed. “But we do them anyways.” He looked over to Drachma. “Captain Drachma. Take my father and the rest of the Albatross crew to the Little Jack and get yourself launched. Once you’re airborne, come looking for us in the Upper City. Aika and I will have Marco show us how to get there, and then we’ll rescue Fina, one way or another. We’ll need you to pull our fat from the fire afterwards.”

“It’s a poorly planned escape, boy.” Drachma complained. “Who’s to say that you won’t end up captured and killed yourselves?”

Vyse chuckled, and a shadow of something grim passed over his face for just an instant before he shrugged it off. “We’ve gotten this far, haven’t we?” He extended a hand out to Captain Dyne. “Good luck. Give Drachma all the help you can. Aika and I will see you on the other side.”

Dyne pushed his son’s hand away and pulled him in for a tight hug. “You come back alive, son, and bring the girls back with you.”

“You’ve got it.” Vyse said, hugging him back. They held it for a while longer, then Vyse turned to Marco. “Okay, kid. Directions. Where are they going, and where are we going?”

Marco did his best to not lose it in front of them all, but the sight of such warmth and familial love was chipping away at the hardened wall he’d built up over the years.

“I...Yes. This way.” He settled for numb words and a blank expression, doing his best not to look at them.

They were full of hope, and life, and courage, all the things that had been ground out and stampeded over in Valua. It hurt to think he’d forgotten what that was like.

***

He shouldn’t have followed Vyse. He should have just sent them all on their way, then put them out of his mind. But there was a lingering ache in his chest, a bitter taste in his mouth, and salty water tracking through the grime on his face.

Marco’s feet moved on their own after his tears broke him, and it took him almost no time at all to catch up to the brown-haired pirate and his red-headed accomplice. He was breathing hard at the end, and caught them right at the bottom of a ladder that led up to the streets of Upper Valua. Panic had driven him the last hundred yards, because he knew better than most what was waiting for them up there.

Vyse stared back at him, waiting expectantly as Marco panted for air. “You...you can’t go up there.” He begged Vyse. “Please.”

“I have to, Marco.”

“No, you can’t!” Marco yelled at him. “That’s what my parents did, you idiot! They tried to escape Valua, and they were killed . I can’t stand to watch you go like they did! Nobody can get past the Grand Fortress. It’s impossible!”

There was shock on Vyse’s face as he at last learned why Marco was so hard-hearted, but it faded quickly. The Blue Rogue shook his head, determination taking hold once more.

“Impossible is just a word to make people feel better about themselves when they quit.” He told Marco. “When somebody tells me something’s impossible, it makes me want to prove them wrong. What would have happened if the first sailors had listened to the people who said they were crazy for sailing away from the safe shores of their floating islands? If they’d listened to the people who said it was impossible? They would have never sailed off to other lands, and the world would be so much smaller.”

Marco snuffled a bit. “Are all sailors as crazy as you, or is it just an air pirate thing?”

“We’re Blue Rogues, Marco.” Vyse corrected him warmly. “Being crazy helps.”

Marco laughed a little at that, and wiped his nose. “You’d better not die then.”

“I’m not planning on it. There’s too much of a world for me left to see yet.”

“Good.” Marco bit his lip. “Vyse? Do...do you think I could be a sailor?”

Vyse grinned at him, threw him a thumbs up. “Absolutely. And when you do, Marco, I’ll be waiting out there for you...in those wide open skies.” Marco returned the gesture, thought about saying something else, but decided he didn’t need to. Everything important had been said already, and he was smiling.

“Vyse, come on!” Aika hissed, already halfway up the ladder. “We’ve got to move!”

Vyse nodded, and started up after her, sparing Marco one last glance at the top of the shaft before stepping out into the world above. The manhole cover slid into place soon after, leaving Marco alone in the solitude of the sewers and catacombs once more.

He turned around and headed back the way he’d come wearing an unbreakable smile. He’d have to spend more time hanging around the docks after this, just to keep tabs on the rumors.

He had a name to listen for now...And something to be hopeful for.

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Five: I Never Expected to Have Friends

Her name was Fina. She was a descendant of the Silver Civilization, and she had come to the skies of Arcadia to locate all the Moon Crystals.

The Valuans had somehow known all of this. They had known where she would be, what her mission was, and had decided to suborn her mission to their own ends...which, to her grief, was the very thing she had been sent to prevent in the first place. The power of the Moon Crystals had led to the Rains of Destruction thousands of years before, a planet-wide cataclysm.

Standing there in the throne room of Empress Teodora, a smug and vain woman who understood nothing of the responsibility of such terrifying power, Fina could have crumpled in despair.

Do you primitive idiots even care about the danger you’re threatening to unleash?! She so desperately wanted to scream at them. She didn’t, if only because she had seen the evil in their hearts, the ease by which they fell into the old and dangerous philosophy of ‘might makes right’. They might torture her just for the sick pleasure of it. So she tried a more diplomatic tack...and was immediately disgusted with the result of it. How easily this old woman brushed aside the very real dangers. Who better to wield such power than the most powerful empire in the world, she boasted. Only the Empress’s son tried to argue against it, but the youth who was older than her, but younger than every other authority in the room, was quickly shut down. The one voice of moderation, of tolerance, of anything less than outright aggression, had been silenced.

And that was when something inside of Fina finally snapped .

“I will never help you!” She glared up at the pompous woman in purple up on her meaningless throne, letting her grief and her helplessness fuel her anger. “I would sooner die than help you to ruin this world!”

The Empress, predictably, lost her shit at that, and one of the guards in the throne room moved behind Fina and used the pole end of his weapon to knock her in the back of the head. She let out a cry and crumpled to the floor, dark spots lingering in her vision, groaning.

She thought she heard the stiff and ominous looking Admiral Galcian say something more, and the Silvite struggled to listen in.

He was going to take her to the Grand Fortress, that towering wall of reinforced stone and cannonworks which stood at the gates to the Valuan capital, where he would... gain her assistance. Fina shivered at that. She had been in this man’s presence ever since she and the crew of the Albatross had been pulled away from the burning ruins of Pirate’s Isle. In that time, she had learned everything she needed to about Galcian. He was cold, he was ruthless, and he let nothing stand between him and his objectives. If the Blue Rogues hadn’t surrendered, he would have destroyed the entire island to get to her.

She knew that worse awaited her after the transfer. Once she was beyond all help. Once she was completely in his power.

It was far too easy to dwell on that. Too easy to realize that she was beyond anybody’s reach even now. Who could save her? Who could help her? Her coming to Arcadia had been a last, desperate act taken by the Elders, after their last agent had disappeared.

If only they had known just how unprepared she was for this. For the Valuans. If only Ramirez…

“There is one thing, Empress. My Vice Admiral, Ramirez, has…”

The pain and the bruise on the back of Fina’s skull was forgotten in a moment. Her eyes went wide, the gasp was unconsciously given. Ramirez? No. No, it couldn’t be...not my Ramirez!

A promotion, it seemed, was coming for Galcian’s right-hand man. The troopers in the throne room hauled her up to her feet and forced her forwards, to a rapidly bitter future.

As she passed Galcian, Fina couldn’t help but look up at him, searching the pepper-gray haired man in his wide cloak for something more. His Vice Admiral....it couldn’t really be…

Galcian met her gaze, and the cold, implacably emotionless mask he had worn for the duration of the voyage to Valua slipped for just a few instants.

He smiled , smiled as if sensing her wonder, and when it became more and more predatory as the moments ticked by, he slightly inclined his head.

As if nodding at her.

The sob Fina unleashed should have broken every heart in the room with its anguish…

But the hearts of the Valuans were empty, and hard as stone.

***

They had dragged her away from the palace and to a train station close by, then loaded her on with an armed escort at the forward-most cabin. Everyone else on board had been gruffly told to get off, as the train was being redirected to the Grand Fortress without any stops. Aside from making sure she didn’t do anything to make the rude soldiers nudge her along any faster, she let it all slide by.

Ramirez.

She couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want to believe it. A part of her just wanted to dismiss Galcian’s smirk and nod as just a military officer grandstanding in his success. It was what she preferred, given the choice.

But...nothing else made as much sense, on thinking it all through. Who else could have told the Valuans how to find her? What she was, where she came from? Who else could have told them about the Moon Crystals?

And then, there came a noise in the cabin behind hers. Shouting. The explosion of a wild spell, screams of battle and of the pain it caused. The guards in her boxcar turned at the noise, one moved to investigate…

He got to within a foot of the door before it suddenly slammed inwards, smashing him in his helmeted face and knocking him to the floor. Fina gasped as two people she thought she would never see again came racing in, swords and bladed boomerang drawn.

“Hands off the girl, Valuan scum!” Vyse shouted. The guards shoved Fina back and charged for them, but Aika and Vyse were running strong on adrenaline, and tackled into them with practiced moves. Aika darted in first, sweeping their legs, then Vyse came in, slashing at them.

“Fina, duck!” Aika shouted, reaching into her belt pouch and pulling out a glowing stone. She hurled it at the Valuans they had dashed around, and the crystal exploded into brilliant light, filling the cabin with heat and noise that blew out every window. Vyse came down, leaping onto both of them and crushing them to the floor of the cabin, and when they pulled themselves out of the heap, Fina could only stare at the devastation of the magical grenade. The Valuans who had been her guards were all dead, sporting terrible burns on the visible parts of their body.

“Pyri crystals. Throw in case of emergencies.” Aika snorted, pulling Fina back up to her feet. The Silvite girl yelped a bit at the rough handling, still in shock at the violence she’d witnessed. “You all right, Fina?”

“I...you...but how… ” Fina stammered, her eyes darting between the two. And why? Why would you come here, inside the stronghold of your enemy?

“Long story.” Vyse dismissed her questions, looking fatigued, but flushed with color and very alive. “Short version? Blue Rogues leave nobody behind. Not our families, and not you.”

“But…” She swallowed.

“Later!” Aika said, already reaching for the door to the next cabin ahead of them. “We need to move, before…”

The door that they’d smashed open swung in a second time, and the ominous presence of Galcian, now bearing a thick wedged sword, walked into the train’s compartment.

“Before I appear, pirate wench?” Galcian proposed, his words disdainful, but his face calm as a still pond. “You two certainly are a handful, but the chase is over.” He pointed with his sword at them. “Surrender the girl, and I will spare your lives.”

Fina bit her lip, and looked between Aika and Vyse’s back. The Blue Rogue brandishing the twin cutlasses didn’t look back at her, even when a pair of Valuan soldiers came into the cabin, standing behind Galcian to reinforce him. Aika bit her lip and reached into her pouch, pulling out another crystal containing explosive red magic. Galcian just raised an eyebrow and smirked.

“Really? A Pyri grenade? That’s your best move?” Galcian’s grip on the hilt of his blade tightened enough to make the metal groan. “Put it away, or I kill you where you stand.”

Aika looked ready to snap something back at him, but Vyse cut her off.

“Aika.” The Blue Rogue said, his voice suddenly calm and steady. “Throw it out the window. That won’t work with this one.”

“But, Vyse!”

“Aika.” Vyse repeated. “Enough. Throw it. Out. The. Window.”

“...Aye-aye.” The fiery redhead finally conceded, doing as she was ordered. The crystal, already glowing in her hand after being fed a charge, gleamed brighter as she chucked it out the broken out window next to her. It detonated outside, in a loud and brilliant burst that harmed nothing.

“So you do have some brains, boy.” Galcian said. “Now be reasonable. She’s just one girl. What value is that, compared to your life? Your freedom?”

“I am never handing Fina over to you.” Vyse countered, his voice heated and passionate. “I don’t care who you are, or how powerful you are. You aren’t taking her, you aren’t taking us, and you’re Not. Winning. Not today!”

Fina felt her heart stutter at the power of his words. They knew nothing about her. Nothing .

Who was this man, to race into certain death for her sake? Who was the wild woman who was forever at his side? She wanted to collapse for the relief of it. But then, the weight of their situation took hold. They were trapped, and Galcian...Galcian was a monster. Vyse couldn’t hope to best him in combat.

And Galcian knew it, because that barely interested smirk he wore only deepened, his blade lowered from a point to a low ready position.

“You are brave, air pirate.” Galcian said to Vyse, adopting a pose for a quick strike meant to end a battle. “Brave, but ultimately foolish. Do you really think you could defeat me?”

“Honestly?” Vyse said, taking a few steps back and rolling his head around on his shoulders. He wiggled his arms and his swords out, loosening his limbs. “Not a chance in hell.”

“And yet you insist on this act of suicide.”

“Suicide?” Vyse exclaimed, sounding surprised. He looked back over his shoulder to Aika, and then to Fina, giving them each a smile and a wink.

Then Fina heard something else, fast covering up the noise of the train as it rattled along the electrified rail. She looked out the broken windows to the source, and there, saw an unfamiliar ship painted green and yellow...and its open gunports, where the cannons were rolled into position.

“No, this isn’t an act of suicide.” Vyse went on nonchalantly, causing Galcian to blink. “I’m just buying some time.”

Galcian’s mouth opened to voice his next question, but that was when he finally heard the noise from outside the train as well. And for the first time since she had met the man, Fina saw Galcian gawk in surprise.

“Get DOWN!” Vyse yelled, stowing his blades and leaping for the girls again.

The airship outside of the train fired at the cabin, blasting a massive hole dead center in its side. The shots, solid balls not meant to explode and fragment, severed the compartment clean in half from ceiling to the floorboards.

The engine, the two cabins, and the front half of the broken compartment that Vyse, Aika, and Fina were on roared on down the tracks. The rear half of the shattered cabin, including Galcian, his soldiers, and the rest of the train, slowly lost speed and fell behind.

Vyse pulled himself back up, hissing a little. “Damn, think I took some shrapnel there…”

“Gee, you think?” Aika snarked at him. “Vyse, how the hell did…” She stopped talking as she pulled herself up, blinking a few times. “The Pyri Crystal. You told me…”

“To throw it out.” Vyse chuckled, reaching a hand down towards Fina. “Where it exploded...and signaled the Little Jack. ”

“Vyse, anyone ever tell you just how crazy you are?” Aika asked him despairingly.

“Only you. Every day.” He grinned, not the least bit apologetic for it. “You okay, Fina?”

“I’m unharmed.” Fina swallowed, staring up into his eyes as he tugged her off of the floor again. “Why did you come back for me? You know nothing about me.”

“I know that I wouldn’t leave anybody to the Valuan’s tender mercies if I could help it.” Vyse replied. He looked back over his shoulder to the fading train section behind them, where Galcian stared at them with the promise of death in his eyes. “I know there’s more about you than you were willing to tell us, and I know it’s dangerous. Dangerous enough the Valuans would send Galcian after you.” He looked back at her, and shrugged. “But that can wait. We still have to get out of here in one piece.”

“Which isn’t going to be easy, you know.” Aika reminded him, glancing over to Fina with a hint of reproachment. The Little Jack pulled in close, and a rope ladder was thrown over the side down towards them. “Escaping the Grand Fortress? It’s never been done. Marco had that much right.”

“We never do things the easy way.” Vyse laughed, unmoved in the face of certain death. He took hold of the ladder and gestured for the two girls to go up first. “Come on, Fina. I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of these black, cloudy skies.”

So was she, Fina decided. In that moment, his invitation to run away meant more to her than he could have known. Maybe she’d be able to show him some day, if they did get away from Valua.

Fina climbed the ladder, and changed her destiny.

***

The Grand Fortress

Inner Gates

Of course, there was still the small matter of getting past the rest of the Valuan defenses. The speed of their escape and the chaos left in their wake had given them some advantages, but there was still one Valuan warship sitting at station by the massive gateway...and the Grand Fortress was already turning to close them in.

“They sent word on ahead.” Dyne said, after a moment to reflect on it.

“Aye, did you think they wouldn’t?” Drachma asked him.

“We’ll have to disable them first, or else we’ll never reach the door.” Vyse declared, having taken position at the ship’s wheel. The vessel was primitive, but Fina could tell that its original construction had been improved on. “Captain Dyne, we could use your men down below manning the cannons. I think it’s time to see if this tough little ship has what it takes to be a blockade runner.”

“We’re on it!” Dyne wasted no time in shouting out orders to the rescued crewmembers of the Albatross , waiting at the stairs that led belowdecks. “You heard my son, boys! Ready the cannons and prepare for combat!”

“You’ve got the helm, boy.” Drachma rumbled. “Now seems as good a time as any to test out the new Harpoon Cannon.”

Fina reacted the same as Vyse and Aika did, looking out to the nose of the Little Jack where a monstrously sized extension of shaped and tempered steel plated with brass had been placed. In spite of its size, it didn’t seem to unbalance or make the small ship look garish. In fact, it was more like the ship had been waiting all of its life for the add-on.

Fina narrowed her eyes as she evaluated the construction. “Wait…” She leaned forward, sizing up just how unusual the construction actually was. The Harpoon Cannon wasn’t just reinforced metal, no. In fact, it seemed as though the outer surface was interlaced with…

“Your Harpoon has a sequential Moonstone energy lattice built into it.” Fina declared, looking at Captain Drachma. “And it was not part of the original construction.”

The old man turned to look at her and raised his left eyebrow. “You noticed. Know a thing or two about weapons design, do ye, girl?”

Fina blinked and looked away, blushing a bit. “Some.” She conceded.

“A Moonstone what? ” Vyse repeated. He spun the wheel and narrowed their silhouette as the Valuan frigate readied its cannons and tool aim. “Captain, mind telling me what that means?”

“Oh, I think your blonde friend can do a better job of it than I can.” Drachma drawled, cocking his human hand at his waist and giving Fina the floor.

The Silvite swallowed once, keenly aware of the interested eyes on her and shook her head. “It… the Harpoon can be charged with spiritual energy. Just like when you cast a spell. It reinforces the harpoon for added durability, and should also create an aura around the whole of the projectile that will increase the effectiveness of any attack by a factor of...around ten?” Fina looked to Drachma for clarification, and received an unusually warm smile from the gruff old fellow and a single, sharp nod of his head.

“How did you know that it wasn’t standard issue?” Drachma pressed her gently. Fina looked away, and Drachma chuffed. “Lass, you’re not in trouble. I’m just curious.”

“I…” Fina exhaled. “The Valuan ships I saw had nothing like this. They wouldn’t have to. They build their ships with so many guns, it’s unnecessary.” She looked up at the captain. “You modified the Harpoon Cannon for something else, though. If my guess is right...it will tear through the hull of that warship like tissue paper.”

Drachma chuckled darkly. “Well, Vyse, seems you’re not as useless as I thought. You went and rescued a girl with brains. Unlike the other one.”

“HEY!” Aika shouted, stomping her boot into the deck. “I’m getting sick and tired of being dumped on!”

“You’re angry? Good.” Drachma grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her off to the side of the room. “Then you can help me charge the cannon. It collects a charge naturally, but there’s a moonstone access line to the capacitor that you and I have business with. We need to get it ready to fire as soon as possible.” He looked back to Vyse and Fina. “As for you, girl, stay with the ‘hero’ there, keep him from doing anything completely irresponsible with my ship.”

Still blushing from all the attention that had been directed towards her, Fina nodded mutely and stayed close to Vyse.

The fight was quick, brutal, and over incredibly fast. Against a ship with vastly more cannons, Vyse sailed the Little Jack’s heart out, wielding its speed and smaller size to great effect. The tight flying kept the Valuan ship from wielding its full broadsides, and the crew of the Albatross fired back and dealt with the damage and repairs when they happened. All the while, Drachma and Aika channeled their own power through the ship’s moonstone feeder line, sacrificing their own spellcasting potential to build up the main cannon’s power. When Drachma shouted out that the charge was ready, Vyse pulled in tight behind the unaware Valuan frigate and punched the firing toggle set up beside the helm.

The Harpoon Cannon began to glow with wild orange light as the projectile began to rotate, slowly at first, and then as quickly as any drill. The Little Jack shuddered as the shot finally launched, a rocket on a long, reinforced steel and moonstone tether…

And the glowing harpoon passed through the frigate from stem to stern, rocking it with explosions and tearing it apart. Still glowing, the harpoon retracted back on its rope, dealing even more damage.

The Little Jack , the harpoon reset back on the bow, turned and screamed towards the closing doors of the Grand Fortress while the destroyed Valuan warship collapsed down towards the floor of the long tunnel through the rock.

Fina held her breath the same as everyone else, and found herself clutching onto Vyse’s shoulder. She didn’t dare touch his arms, as rigid as they were guiding the vessel towards the still narrowing gap. He clenched his teeth, not looking anywhere else but to their escape, whatever remark he made under his breath drowned out by the shouts of the other Blue Rogues as they cheered him and the Little Jack forwards.

By the narrowest of margins, scraping paint off the side of the hull as they cleared it, Vyse sailed the Little Jack out past the gates of the Grand Fortress. Chants for success became cheers of victory, with Aika racing over and glomping onto Vyse’s other side hard, almost jostling him clear of the wheel.

“We made it! We made it, Vyse!” The redhead cheered.

Dyne came up from belowdecks, sweaty but beaming with pride. “You realize son, you’re the first person to ever escape from the Grand Fortress now? That’s going to be a hard act for the rest of us to follow.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Vyse chuckled, freeing his arm and shoulder from both Aika and Fina before giving each of them his best grin. “For right now, though, we’d better get the heck out of here. Captain Dyne, where are we headed?”

“Home.” Captain Dyne ordered, giving Captain Drachma just enough of a questioning look to get a nod in reply. “Just long enough to let everyone know we’re alive...and to take what we’ll need before we head out. The Valuans will be looking for us after this mess, and we can’t expose our families to them a second time. But we’ve got places to hide where they won’t be looking.”

Fina wanted to reach for Vyse again, but the words of the young man’s father were terrible things, plucking away at her. Even in victory, they were fearful...they had a reason to be.

But she could give them relief and resolution. It would just mean doing the unthinkable...trusting them with the truth.

The words of the Elders rang in her head, to trust no one, to tell no one. Their pride and joy, the most promising of the pair of their generation, had gone down and failed, and they could not risk failing again.

But the Valuans already knew why she had come. They knew more than anybody should have...and though Fina refused to give voice to the only logical reason why…

She searched the confident face of Vyse, the protective posture of his father, the vivacious and ebullient nature of Aika.

These Blue Rogues had come into hell, had stayed there longer...for her.

If she could not trust Vyse and Aika, then her quest was doomed to fail. She could not do it alone. Would they say yes, if they knew?

They’ll never get the chance if you hold to this useless silence.

So Fina coughed, raised a hand for their attention, and looked to Captain Dyne, leader of the Blue Rogues. “They won’t come for you.” She told him, and as the older man’s gaze sharpened, she looked away, seeking comfort in the warmer, though no less puzzled eyes of Vyse instead. “They were after me. Because of what I know, and what I came here to do.”

“And what would that be?” Dyne asked, softly and carefully.

Fina closed her eyes. “I will tell you the truth...once we reach your home. Because once I do, I will then ask for your help. And then, regardless of your answer, I’ll have to leave. The only way your families will be safe is when the Valuans know I am no longer in your company. And the only way the world will be safe is if the Valuans never get their hands on me, and I complete my mission.”

“Then I’m in.” Vyse said. The suddenness of it made Fina snap her head up in disbelief.

“Wuh...what? But I...I haven’t even…”

“You’re going to tell us what’s going on? Great.” Vyse reassured her. “But I don’t need to know anything else to know that you’re going to need help with whatever’s going on. And anything that pisses the Valuans off? I’m always up for it.” Without looking, he grabbed hold of Aika’s arm and pulled his friend and shipmate in next to him. Aika let out a squeak of protest at first, but fell into a blushing silence as his arm came around her midsection to hold her close. “And so is Aika. We’re your friends, and we don’t leave friends hanging.”

Fina could feel her eyes burn as they started to mist up, and she wiped at them even as she let out a sobbing laugh. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” Vyse said, grabbing hold of her sleeve and pulling her arm in. “Right, Aika? Friends?”

“Uh...oh, fine, Vyse.” The redhead finally got out with another grumble, mustering an uneasy grin as she clasped Fina’s hand in her own. “Friends.”

“I never expected to have friends.” Fina confessed. “I had thought I was all alone in this.”

“You’re never alone, Fina.” Aika said, finally saying something comforting as she composed herself.

“Not anymore.” Vyse added.

“No.” Fina smiled at them, the tears fast fading and her heart swelling with joy, that out of such despair, she could find such happiness and triumph. “Not anymore.”

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Six: Don’t Call Me Useless

Mid-Ocean

Pirate Isle

Of course, there was one thing that both Vyse and Dyne insisted on doing before the Little Jack departed Pirate Isle. Given the gravity of the news Fina had dropped on them, about Moon Crystals and the ancient super weapons, or ‘Gigas’ that they could control, it was more appropriate than ever. That was how they found themselves in the underground base of the island, with the Little Jack floating at anchor in a docking port meant for a ship easily twice its size, with Vyse kneeling in front of his father and the rest of his father’s crew, while Aika and Fina stood back beside his mother, watching silently.

“From this day forth, I acknowledge my son, Vyse the Determined, as a man.” Dyne intoned, steady and solemn. “He has beaten challenges that any other man would have balked at, and emerged victorious, and through his actions, has saved my life and the lives of my crew in the face of a superior enemy. Now he sails towards a new horizon, and seeks the blessings of the Moons as he takes the Oath of the Blue Rogues. Are there any here who would speak against him receiving it?”

Vyse kept his head bowed, not because he had to, but because it felt right. All of his life he had worked towards this moment, and now it had come. He was a man in his father’s eyes at last...and if nobody spoke against it, he would be a fully-fledged Blue Rogue Captain in his own right.

Nobody spoke against it. Nobody could, not here, and not after what he had done to prove himself worthy of the honor. The responsibility.

Dyne let out a soft grunt. “Hearing no voice of dissent, let us continue. Who would stand by this man, and support him as a Captain of the Blue Rogues?”

“I do.” Aika answered his father, and he heard the gentle tapping of her boots against the wooden planks of the docks. There was no hesitation in her voice, and Vyse found himself smiling in spite of himself.

Forever by his side, forever his friend and closest ally. Forever bright and cheerful in public, a fiery aggressor to her enemies, and rarely soft and demure.

“Aika of the Blue Rogues. You will vouch for his character?” Dyne continued. “You will stand by his side, supporting your Captain, regardless of the storms of life that he will weather?”

“I will.” Aika replied, and set a hand down on Vyse’s shoulder. He felt his back go a little straighter at it.

“Then Vyse, son of Dyne, speak the Oath of The Blue Rogues, and assume the mantle.”

Vyse drew in a breath, holding it close as the words buzzed in his brain. He knew them as well as any other Blue Rogue. Better, even, for he was a captain’s son, and had spent his life in that shadow, forever trying to reach outside of it.

They had never meant as much as they did now, and they had never been so hard to say.

“Blue Rogues leave nobody behind.” He began, giving each word the weight it deserved. “Blue Rogues never back down from a greater danger. Blue Rogues always help out those in need. Blue Rogues never give up.”

Vyse lifted his head up, and met his father’s eyes. In that moment, he felt stronger than he ever had, and he wondered if his father could sense the steel in his gaze. “And Blue Rogues Fly Free.”

He expected the response, but the shout from every other crew member in the open space, breaking the silence completely, still made him jump. “Blue Rogues Fly FREE!”

Dyne finally smiled. “Stand, Vyse...a Captain of the Blue Rogues.” The cheers after that were deafening, and Vyse allowed himself to be pulled into a strangling pile of a hug between Aika and his mother. His dad just stood back with his arms folded, and Fina…

Vyse blinked, catching her fiddling with her sleeve a little bit and looking away as she bit her lip. Still adjusting to everything.

“So!” Drachma shouted from the deck of the Little Jack , pulling his attention away from the Silvite girl. “Now that your little ceremony’s done, we’d best be shoving off. Staying put is bad for our health right now, boy, and I’m still captain of the Little Jack , so don’t be getting a swelled head.” Vyse rolled his eyes and nodded, but was reassured a little bit when his father pulled him from the swarm of women.

“You don’t need a ship to be a captain, son.” Dyne told him. “You just have to lead . Understand?”

Vyse thought about that for a while, then chuckled. “Seems I’ve been ready for a while, then.”

Dyne smirked. “I suppose you have.” He stepped away and raised his voice. “Now, then. You’re provisioned?”

“Yes, Captain Dyne!” Aika snapped to. “We finished loading up our supplies right before you showed up for the ceremony!”

“At ease, Aika.” Dyne chuckled. “I’m not your captain anymore, remember?” Vyse looked over to his friend and grinned, and Aika’s cheeks pinked before she looked away and nodded once. Vyse’s mother hugged her son one last time and kissed his cheek.

“You look after those girls now, you hear me?” She told her only child.

“Of course I will.” Vyse agreed happily.

“And don’t string them along.” She went on, frowning just a little. “All right?”

Vyse, confused as to her meaning, blinked. She must have seen his confusion, because she smiled sadly and shrugged. “It’s just something to think about, all right? A woman’s heart is more fragile than you know.”

“Um. Okay?” Vyse said uneasily. What was she trying to say? There were times his mother flat-out confused him, and this was apparently one of them.

“BOY!” Drachma bellowed again. “We’re casting off! Heave to and get on board if you’re coming!”

“Sure, Drachma!” Vyse shouted back. He turned back to look at Aika and Fina. “Get on board, girls. I’ll be with you in a minute.”

He hugged his mother one last time, shook his father’s hand, and nodded to the rest of the crew who waved them off. He ran up the gangplank to the Little Jack and pulled it up and away. As soon as Aika retrieved the mooring lines, the Little Jack started to reverse itself.

The massive chains that controlled the hidden doorway to the underground base creaked as they were unwound, and the way out revealed itself. Sunlight streamed into the base, casting everything into sharp relief as they turned around and pulled away.

Vyse tried to memorize how it all looked, both the hidden base and the island itself as they soared off. He stood alone at the rail while Drachma managed the helm, and was there in silence for what seemed like forever before Fina and Aika joined him.

Fina’s strange companion, the Cupil, pulled away from her wrist and resumed its normal shape, hovering around her head without a care. The blond-haired Silvite ran a hand through her hair, sweeping back a small bit that had escaped her headdress and was blowing wild in the wind.

“It’s strange.” She finally said, her voice so soft that he was left wondering if she’d meant to say it aloud at all.

Aika, of course, dove right into it. “What is? Leaving home? A bit, I’ll admit.” The red-headed Blue Rogue looked over at Vyse and smiled at him for a moment before returning her attention to Fina. “But you did it too, right? To try and save the world?”

“That’s not what’s strange.” Fina said, her face screwed up in concentration. “Dyne, and your mother. I never had that.”

“You weren’t close to your parents?” Vyse asked, sensing how sensitive the topic was.

He wanted to kick himself after her response.

“I never knew my parents.” The Silvite said, her mind somewhere distant.

Vyse was glad that Aika took the initiative again, siding up beside the blonde and wrapping an arm around her side, hugging her gently. What could they say to that, a man whose parents still lived and a girl who had lost her own, but had been fortunate enough to have shared his after?

Vyse turned his gaze away from the receding shape of his home and looked out to the horizon. More and more, he realized just how fortunate he was. His life was proving to be the exception, and not the norm.

Foolish as it was, he made a promise to himself that he would find a way to change that.

***

There was a minor roadblock in the path of their success, but Vyse was grateful that they had discovered it early on. It seemed that the Silvites Fina hailed from were a wildly different people compared to the rest of Arcadia. Concepts such as cannonballs were foreign to her, and learning that she had never had to deal with money or trade before... Those had all been eye-openers.

That all paled when lined up with the one small, major, mission-threatening problem of Fina’s experience. Or lack of, more appropriately. Her people had sent her on a quest to retrieve the Moon Crystals and save the world…

And she didn’t have the damndest clue how to defend herself. Apparently, her companion Cupil was supposed to do all of the fighting for her. Vyse was the first to point out how ludicrous that idea was...and Aika was quick to suggest some more serious training was due. Fina had winced, but agreed when the facts were laid out in front of her.

Drachma grumbled and said he’d manage the helm while the two Blue Rogues started to work her up to snuff, so while the old man kept the ship steady, Vyse, Aika, and Fina ran wind sprints across the deck, as well as other basic exercises. The blonde was graceful, attractive, a princess plucked from her strange little world, and had next to nothing in terms of endurance. Vyse was only sweating. Her entire body was shaking by the tenth set, barely able to hold her up.

“You really ought to think about changing your clothes, princess .” Aika pointed out, hopping up onto a crate tied down on the deck and kicking her feet lazily. The exercise had brightened the color in the redhead’s face, and she seemed entirely too pleased at Fina’s discomfort. “Fighting in a dress? That can’t be too comfortable. I’m barely able to put up with watching you try to run in that thing.”

“This dress...is the last piece...of my people.” Fina panted, bent over slightly with her hands on her knees. “I am not giving it up.”

“I’m just saying, you nearly tripped about four times so far. And something like that can’t be too comfortable with all of the flop sweat you’ve got going on.”

“This is Silvite nanomesh fabric...with adaptive moisture-wicking layers.” Fina added, affixing Aika with a glare. “Unlike your clothes, it’s odor and stain resistant.”

Vyse raised an eyebrow at that, while Aika suddenly looked just like a cat whose tail and hair was pointed upright in a show of dominance. She all but snarled in reply. “Are you saying I smell bad?”

“I’m saying that I could wear this dress and the bodysuit underneath it every day and still smell like silverlilies.”

“Why, you…!”

“All right, that’s enough.” Vyse finally stepped in, his hands held up and out when he moved between them. “Aika, you smell fine. But you look like you could use a drink. Why don’t you run down to the galley and get yourself one? And bring us back up some water as well? I’m going to spar with Fina for a bit.”

Hair still on end and her cheeks just a few shades lighter than her pigtails, Aika let out an angry huff and stormed past them, jostling Fina with her shoulder as she passed by. The exhausted Silvite almost fell down, but Vyse moved quickly, bracing her body with his arm. It didn’t escape his notice how soft and pleasant she felt as his forearm wrapped around her waist, and his fingers came to a stop over her stomach.

He almost missed the soft gasping meep she let out, because it was nearly lost in the sound of Cupil detaching from her wrist again. She was still for about half a second before she quickly scooted away from him, and Vyse held his hands up in a peaceful gesture.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault she’s so abrasive.” Fina said, grabbing one side of the veil of her headdress and pulling it around to partially cover her face.

“She means well, believe me.” Vyse went on. “You have to understand. Your way of speaking, of acting...it’s like the sort of thing they teach nobles. It’s nothing we ever had to learn ourselves. And the things we did learn are strange to you. It’s an adjustment for us as much as it is for you.”

“Is that why she keeps on calling me princess ?” Fina asked carefully. She had her wind back in her. Good.

“A little.” Vyse conceded. “But it’s also...um. Aika has this thing about nicknames. She gives them to the people she’s close to. My old man, for example, is the cap’n. And the huskra back at our village, the purple one? His name’s Pow, but she just calls him furball.”

“So, it’s a term of endearment, instead of an insult?”

“I...think so?” Vyse shrugged. “If she meant it as an insult, she’d come off snotty.”

Fina harrumphed, and wiped her forehead with her sleeve. “So what’s her nickname for you?”

Vyse opened his mouth to answer, paused. Frowned. Really thought about it. “I actually don’t think she ever gave me one.”

Fina blinked her soft green eyes at that. “Hm. Isn’t that interesting.” She mused, and a corner of her mouth quirked up.

Feeling distinctly uneasy at the direction of the conversation, Vyse coughed. “But she isn’t wrong. That dress of yours is very pretty, but the hem severely limits your mobility. Your legs need to have more freedom of movement for you to be able to run well. And you will have to run for your life at some point. Something as big as what we’re trying to do? I’d guarantee it.”

Fina cocked her head to side, considering Aika’s suggestion, now tempered with the wisdom and explanation of Vyse. “You’re certain?”

“This is coming from someone who’s spent most of his life running. At things, or away from them.” Vyse reassured her.

Fina deliberated a few more seconds, then held out her hand. “Give me one of your blades.”

“What?” Vyse blinked. Fina just stared at him, hand still outstretched. With some trepidation, Vyse unsheathed his secondary cutlass, gleaming with red light along the whole of its expanded moonstone edge, and placed it hilt-first into her grip.

She took the blade down to the side of her left hip, grabbing hold of the fabric and pulling it away from her waist.

“What are you…?!”

“This fabric is meant to self-repair.” Fina told him calmly. “If I’m to free up the hem, I need a moonstone-sourced weapon to effect the cut.”

As Vyse stared on, caught between trying to stop her or whether to avert his eyes, Fina powered up the blade with her own spiritual energy, then cut a long gash down the side of the dress. To the relief of his sensibilities, she wore form-hugging underleggings, like a thin set of pants, beneath the long skirt.

Underleggings that did nothing to hide her shapely legs. Feeling his face warming up instantly, Vyse quickly glanced skyward as she finished the cut. Fina sighed and handed him the blade back. “There, finished.”

“And...won’t it fray?” Vyse asked, taking the blade back and mustering only furtive glances until he was sure her leggings were out of immediate view. “A cut that rough?”

Fina laughed a bit at that and shook her head. “No, silly. The frayed edges will re-hem themselves in a bit. I just have to keep the edges apart while it’s effecting repairs.”

Which she did, Vyse noted, watching in amazement as the ragged ends of the now cut skirt seemed to...to glow and heal after a few seconds. In less than half a minute’s time, they finished their work, and Fina released the first flap of her side-slit skirt, nodding in satisfaction.

“Wow.” Vyse finally said, amazed at how good her dress still looked after the change. “You could make a killing selling that fabric. Especially in Nasrad. They love their fabrics there. It’s one of their most popular exports.”

“Let’s save the world first, why don’t we?” Fina responded, nodding to Cupil, who chirped once and then floated down beside her hand.

Vyse drew out his other cutlass, chuckled, and beckoned for her to attack him.

***

They stopped for the night on the other side of a stone reef, making landfall next to another profitable Discovery; an enormous Silver Moonstone pit, a rich cache of undiscovered treasure which could be refined into power stones for ship power generators, or weapons augment crystals, or a hundred different other things. Drachma had taken some of the most choice pieces they could lift out by hand for himself, which would mean a detour to Sailor’s Island both for Vyse to turn in the Discovery and for Drachma to sell off the haul. Vyse wondered for a moment why nobody had ever found this place before, though on reflection, the answer was clear enough. Only the Harpoon Cannon’s ability to blast through the floating barrier of stones had allowed them access. Other ships which lacked sufficient firepower would have never even tried for it.

While Vyse and Drachma set about preparing a dinner of fire-roasted Sky Sardis and canned vegetables, Aika opted to use the downtime in a more productive manner to train their newest party member. Vyse caught the old man staring at the three of them more often, and the length of his looks indicated more than a passing interest in whether or not they were injured. He was trying to figure them out, Vyse realized after a time. Which he was fine with. He was still trying to figure out Drachma himself.

Under the barest glow of sunset remaining, and the silver moon shining high above them, Aika let out another angry grunt as she batted away Cupil, disarming Fina of both her only means of offense and defense.

“Come on!” Aika snarled, swiping her boomerang just off to the side of Fina and sending the girl sprawling backwards in a heap from the lazy slash. “Don’t just lie there, get up and fight! ” Fina did, in her own fashion. She rolled over to her hands and knees, and used the position to lurch to her feet and run away from Aika. The fiery redhead chased after her, screaming like a banshee and swinging her boomerang in wide arcs that Vyse knew were meant to frighten more than cause actual injury. “What’ll you do when your little pet isn’t there to help you, huh?! You just gonna curl up and die?”

Fina yelped again as the edge of Aika’s boomerang whistled past her elbow, and brought a hand up, pointing it behind her blindly as she ran on. “Moons, give me strength!” She gasped, and fired off a tiny bolt of magical fire. Aika saw it coming and scowled, not even bothering to try and nullify it. Instead, she took it along the front edge of her boomerang, setting off a small explosion...and then charged through the smoke.

“Aika, take it easy on her!” Vyse shouted over at them, stoking the fire again. “She’s not used to this!”

“You think the Valuans are going to take it easy on her? On us?!” Aika shouted back, and Vyse recoiled from the heat of it.

“Something’s got her dander up.” Drachma observed in a low drawl. Vyse looked over to the old man, slowly turning the fish on their spit, and Drachma just stared back at him from his one good eye. “D’ye suppose you can figure it out... captain ?”

Vyse struggled to suss it out, but didn’t reach an answer quickly enough. Instead, Fina’s foot got caught on a bit of exposed rock jutting up from the ground, and she went tumbling to her hands and knees again. Aika was on her in an instant, turning her over and pinning her to the grass with her legs holding Fina’s down, her free arm pressed to the blonde’s shoulder, and her boomerang raised high for a killing blow that never came.

The two girls lay there, heaving for air, Fina terrified and Aika as mad as Vyse had ever seen her.

Aika buried her boomerang halfway into the ground beside Fina’s head and swore. “Moons! Have you ever had to do anything except stand there and look pretty?! I swear, you’re more useless than I was when I was seven! ”

Something in Fina seemed to snap at the insult, and her green eyes flashed with an angry, silver glow as she roared and shoved Aika off of her. The air around her seemed to shimmer, and Vyse was stuck halfway between a crouch and a full stand, frozen in place as his body and mind argued whether to intervene or stay put.

Glowing with intense silver light, Fina shoved herself up into a sitting position. “Don’t! Don’t call me useless !” There was killing intent in that aura, and Vyse could see Aika struggling to swallow. To breathe .

At the last moment, as the tension hung between them, Aika conjured up her newest skill, a short burst of reflective aura that could prevent any magic, fair or foul, from reaching her. It fought off Fina’s power long enough for the blonde girl to come back to herself, and she shoved the half-summoned spell away with a shake of her head. Cupil bobbed over next to her, having finally recovered from the abuse he’d taken.

“Don’t call me useless.” Fina repeated, though there was a tinge of sorrow there as well now. “Why, Aika? Why are you doing this?”

“You want to know why I’m so tough on you?” Aika growled out, calmer than before, but no less livid on the inside. “It’s because we’re sailing into the unknown! Because it’s us against the Valuans for the sake of the world! Because we will end up getting into a fight, and I need to know that when we do, that you’ll have my back.” She jabbed a finger towards Vyse without ever looking at him. “That you’ll have his. Because if you can’t fight, if you don’t, then we all end up dead, and they win. You get me now, Princess?”

Fina sat there, gaping up at Aika, the both of them still breathing hard. Aika fumed for a little longer, then pulled her boomerang up out of the ground in one smooth jerk. She spun around and stormed past the men, grabbing a plate that Drachma had just finished preparing and ignoring his cry of protest.

“I’ll eat on the ship.” She growled, and stormed away.

Vyse finally remembered how to move, and went over to Fina, helping her up as she sniffled and wiped at her eyes. “You all right?” He asked carefully.

“She hates me.”

“No.” Vyse quickly, and forcefully, dismissed that notion. “She doesn’t hate you. She just thinks you’re…” And there, he stopped, stammered, and bit down on his tongue, cursing at himself.

The smile Fina gave him was bittersweet. “You can say it. She thinks I’m weak.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Vyse tried to backpedal. Tried, and failed. The sick look on her face didn’t go away. “Aika’s a handful. She takes a while to warm up to someone. Don’t worry. She has your back. And once you two finally do hit it off, she’ll go to hell and back for you.”

“She has a right to be frustrated. I’m frustrated, too.” Fina admitted. “Nothing I ever learned, or trained for, or studied, prepared me to do this. To be here.” The Silvite swallowed and looked down. “I want to be better. I’m trying . I know I’m not what she wants me to be.”

“But to do something like this...I mean, your people asked you to save the world. Why wouldn’t they prepare you for that?”

She laughed once, a sharp and sick noise. “Because I wasn’t the one who was supposed to do this. That’s what they had him for, and they trained him to be a warrior. They sent him, and then...then, when we didn’t hear from him for years, they sent me, because there was no other choice.”

Vyse nodded slowly, and a sick little thought came into his mind. “Who is he?”

“He’s…” Fina started, and went a shade paler still, closing her eyes. Unseen pain was felt and filtered away behind her eyelids, and when she opened them, there was calm. “It doesn’t matter. We lost him. He’s dead by now. He’d...he’d have to be.” She seemed uncertain of that, but Vyse had something else to prod at.

“At the end there...you had a lot of power you were calling up. It looked like one hell of a spell you were conjuring.” He pointed out. “Aika hit a nerve when she said that, didn’t she?”

Fina nodded, swallowing down the words hard.

Vyse put a hand on her shoulder. “Did...did he call you useless?” The Blue Rogue asked her gently. Her head jerked up as if he’d shot her, eyes wide, and Vyse quickly shook his head. “I’m sorry, I...I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer that.” Because she already had.

Vyse stepped away from her and motioned to Drachma. “Dinner’s ready. Why don’t you get a bite to eat? You’ll feel better afterwards.” He waited for her to nod again, then walked back to the campfire, where Drachma handed him a skewer of roasted fish and vegetables.

“Ye’d best go see to your other girl there, lad.” Drachma uttered quietly, motioning back to the ship with his head ever so briefly. “I’ll keep an eye on the wallflower here.”

Aika was right where Vyse expected her to be, sitting up on the roof of the Little Jack’s pilot house, her legs dangling, and muttering under her breath between mouthfuls. She wasn’t paying any attention to him, but Vyse could tell by the angle of her head that she knew he was there. He had never been able to sneak up on her.

Vyse sighed and ran a hand over the back of his scalp. “Well. That could have gone better.”

“She’s not ready for this.” Aika said, swallowing down a mouthful of food.

“Were we ever ready?” Vyse countered. “I seem to recall our first mission involving a crazy girl with a knife, and me getting a scar out of it.”

“Yeah, and then we had the crew of the Albatross to back us up. Your father, even. He nearly grounded us for a month after that. This? Now? There’s nobody who will rescue us if things go sideways.”

“I know that. And so does Fina.” Vyse placated her. “But you can’t go after her like a psychotic drill sergeant. She’ll get to our level, but it’ll take time. Remember, we’ve had years of training. She’s brand new to this life. She actually started to improve a little when I was sparring with her. You can’t tell me you didn’t notice a little bit of improvement when you fought her tonight. That is, before you went full on lunatic and tried to cave her head in.”

“She did have a good pattern of blocking and attacking with her little pet there for a while.” Aika muttered. She looked down at him for a moment, then rolled her eyes and looked away.

Vyse harrumphed and smiled. It was a win and he’d take it. “Hey, scoot over.”

Aika picked up her plate and set it in her lap. “You sure this roof can handle your weight?”

“If it hasn’t caved in yet from you sitting on it…”

“Hey! You jerk!” She kicked out at him, and Vyse laughed and dodged away from the half-hearted swing of her boot. He hopped up onto the roof beside her, taking the punch to the shoulder he had coming. Vyse took a hefty bite of his skewer, chewing on it as the two stared up at the silver moon. He enjoyed the food and waited, knowing the pattern. She’d talk, once the silence and her own nerves finally got to her.

And she did, setting her plate behind her before bringing her knees up to her chest and leaning her head over them. “I’m scared, Vyse.”

He swallowed, glad that he’d been given enough time to chew it thoroughly. “You don’t think I am?” They met each other’s eyes with their peripheral vision only briefly before she looked away again. “Fina will get stronger, but you need to back off. Try wearing the kid gloves for a change.”

That might have been the wrong thing to say, as she puffed her cheeks out and soured quickly. “What’s wrong, Vyse? Angry that I’m picking on your girlfriend?”

He groaned at that, throwing his hands into the air. “Why is this so important to everyone?! Drachma thinks you and I are together, you think I’m dating Fina, and my mom…”

Aika twisted her neck around, scrutinizing him. “What about your mom?”

Vyse sighed, and took another bite off of the skewer, using the time to calm himself down. “It doesn’t matter. Right now, Fina needs us to be there for her. Right now, she’s all alone. You heard her; she didn’t really have a family growing up. That’s what we have to be.”

“Where do I come into this? I thought she had you for the touchy feely stuff.” Aika said sarcastically.

“She has nobody else right now, Aika.” Vyse met her gaze with the sternest look he’d ever turned on her. “She needs us. Both of us. We promised her we were her friends.”

Aika’s face softened a bit. “Yeah. I know, but…”

“Why do you hate her so much anyways?” Vyse pressed her, tired of the dithering. He went straight for the heart of it.

Aika blinked rapidly at that, and Vyse polished off his kebab, chewing noisily while he waited for her to put together an answer.

She slumped her head back against her legs and looked out over the horizon again.

“I don’t hate her.” She finally confessed. “But she’s so weak , and I’m worried, and...I don’t know. I’m jealous, okay? It feels like she’s taking you away from me.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Vyse said, relieved. This, he understood. He tossed the now empty stick onto her plate behind them, then reached out and squeezed her hand. “You’re still my best friend, you know that, right?”

For once, she didn’t freeze up when he touched her. She did the opposite, visibly relaxing and setting her legs down before leaning sideways. Her head came to rest against his shoulder, and she squeezed his hand back.

“Who else would be?” She qualified, offering a weak laugh. She wasn’t entirely at peace, he could tell, there was still something eating at her. She must have sensed it, because she punched him in the leg.

“Ow.”

“Stop thinking so hard, you dummy. We can’t afford to replace your brain.”

“True. We could afford to replace yours, though.” He stuck his tongue out and made a raspberry, and she laughed.

“You’re such an ass.”

“You still like me?”

Her breathing slowed, and he could feel that she was settling more of her weight against his side. “Yeah.”

***

Sailor’s Island

The Next Day

“...all I’m saying is, it’s kind of creepy that some dumb bird still wearing a piece of its eggshell coughs up hairballs that have prizes inside of them.” Aika complained, giving the Riselem crystal that Fina held a wary glance as she kept her distance from the Silvite.

“Riselem is one of the most powerful spells which comes from the silver moon.” Fina argued, unswayed by the ick factor of the bauble’s creation. “It can fully heal and revive a person or creature who is on the verge of expiring. Besides, as long as we’re out and about, the least we could do is help that little girl by feeding her bird. It won’t distract us all that much. And relax. I’ll hold it.”

“Great. Keep the bird spit-ups away from me and we’ll do fine.”

“Girls, come on.” Vyse sighed. Aika had mellowed out a bit after their talk, but the two were still harping on one another for reasons he couldn’t fathom. But then, girls were complicated, or so he’d always been told. Waging a secret war against an evil empire while going on a world-spanning treasure hunt was so much easier to wrap his head around. He looked to Drachma for support, but the old man merely rolled his eye and turned in for the pub. Vyse settled for crossing his arms and tapping his foot on the ground a few times to indicate his disappointment. “Can I trust you two to not get into a fight while I’m checking in with the Sailor’s Guild?”

“Yeah, fine.” Aika rolled her eyes. “I just hope you don’t meet that Domingo guy again. He had a lead on the old crossroads signpost before we even knew about it. Getting paid full money for your Discoveries is way more satisfying.”

“I think he’s pushed on.” Vyse said dryly. “Fina, what do you want to do?”

“I thought I’d walk around the island, see if I could find another Cham to feed Cupil with.” The Silvite smiled at him. “I got lucky finding one in your father’s...place.” She qualified, glancing around the crowded pavilion.

“Hm. Suppose I could go looking for Moonfish while we’re here as well.” Vyse shrugged. Sailor’s Island wasn’t terribly big, as most of its space was taken up by docking ports rather than actual floating landmass. He turned for the doors of the Sailor’s Guild and had almost made it before an excited squeal from Aika derailed his train of thought.

“Vyse, look! The bounty board’s updated!”

He frowned and went over, peering in at the newest list. Up at the top with three stars of notoriety was Dyne, the “Blue Storm” as he was known by the Valuan Empire. His escape from his execution no doubt played a part in that ranking.

Not that they’d have much luck finding him. Vyse knew his father. The man could go to ground better than anyone.

“Wow. One-Armed Drachma?” Vyse found the old man’s name much further down the list, with a single star next to his name. “I wonder what he did to piss the Valuans off.”

“It was his ship we used, remember?” Aika pointed out. “But I’m talking about this .”

Vyse stared, and there, at the bottom of the list, was a single star and his own name.

Vyse the Blue Rogue.

“Wow.” He muttered, and slowly looked around himself. It was true that here, on Sailor’s Island which was an independent freehold, that didn’t mean much of anything. Bounty Hunters were few and far between, but he’d have to be careful. Sometimes, the Valuans paid well even for low-ranked piracy bounties. “I guess I’m moving up in the world.”

“I think I liked your dad’s name better.” Aika preened. “Vyse the Determined.”

“Fathers usually think more highly of their sons than other people do.” Vyse easily dismissed the notion. “Besides. This could work in our favor. Only the most callous bastards would go after a Blue Rogue. This could keep our sails clear of trouble for a while.”

“I suppose…”

“Just be glad they didn’t give me a different nickname.” Vyse smirked.

“Like Vyse the Unimpressive? No, wait! Vyse the Competent. Sort of a backhanded compliment there.”

“Still.” Vyse sighed, tracing the paper with his fingertips. “I bust an entire pirate crew out of their execution, escape the Grand Fortress, and make off with Fina to boot, and all I’m worth is one measly star?”

“Next time, we’ll take down one of their admirals.” Aika promised him with a chuckle. “That would make them think twice.”

“It would at that.” He nodded, smiling all the more when he caught Fina giggling behind her hand. “All right, everyone. Meet up at the pub in an hour. With any luck, we can get Drachma to foot the bill for lunch, since we helped haul his moonstone ore onto the docks.”

They parted ways and Vyse walked into the Sailor’s Guild. The man behind the counter was the same fellow who’d recorded his Discovery of the Pirate’s Grave, and paid off the bounty for Baltor the Black-Bearded as well. He raised an eyebrow as Vyse approached. “Welcome back, Vyse. Or should I say, Vyse the Blue Rogue?”

“Saw the new Valuan piracy board, did you?”

“Sort of.” The man adjusted his glasses. “I was told to deliver something to you if you came by this way again.” Vyse raised an eyebrow as the fellow slid a card across the counter towards him. It was blank, save for a large black spot situated in the center of it.

Vyse picked it up and examined it. “What’s this?”

“A black spot.” The Guild officer answered, quieter than before. “It means that the Angel of Death has singled you out as her next target.”

“Who?”

“The Angel of Death.” The man shivered. “She’s a bounty hunter that goes after pirates. The Valuan most-wanted list gives her every target she could ever want to chase. But nobody knows what she looks like. The only times I’ve seen her in here, she was in a full-on black cloak, with a hood, and she carried around a wicked looking scythe.”

“A scythe.” Vyse repeated dubiously. He pocketed the card, tried to fight the rising sense of panic in the back of his mind, and shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. “Well. The next time I see some crazy woman with a farm implement chasing after me, I’ll be sure to run the other way then. In the meantime, I’ve got a new Discovery to report.”

The Guild officer leaned forward, immediately excited about the news. “What did you find this time?” It was easy for Vyse to return to his usual cadence and focus on the thrill of things found while sailing to new places.

It beat thinking about the looming death sentence over his head.

***

Early Evening

They had sold off their supplies, picked up a few more items (Drachma thankfully, finally upgraded his old cannons to something with a little more punch with the money he got from the silver moonstone ore), and then after a small resupply, had sailed due east for the floating barrier of the brown rock reefs. It separated Nasrian held territory from Mid-Ocean, and had long kept the Valuan Armada from making a move into the territory of the Red Moon that did not involve the Danel Straits, the narrow passages between rock and rifts the Nasrian fleet rigorously patrolled. There had been no sign of any Valuan patrols, and Vyse had thought they were clear of the danger.

That had lasted up until they had reached the stone reef and found that there was a ship with blue and white sails standing in their path...and after blocking them once, it then moved to intercept.

Drachma stared at the vessel through an old spyglass, while Vyse gripped the spokes of the pilot wheel. “No cannons on it. Looks like a skiff. Friends of yours, boy?”

“I don’t think so.” Vyse muttered. He chewed on his lower lip. “I saw your name on the Valuan bounty board at Sailor’s Island. Did you have the Valuans after you before you helped us break the Blue Rogues out of prison?”

“Not to your level of notoriety, no.” Drachma harrumphed. “But I did spend a lot of time dealing in the black market in West Ocean before. Was the only way to get the weapons I needed to hunt Rhaknam.”

“I got a Black Spot today.” Vyse cut in, and that made Drachma turn to look at him.

“You’ve got the Angel of Death after ye, boy?” The old man rumbled. Vyse shrugged. “You’re bound and determined to drag me into every bit of trouble you possibly can.”

“I didn’t ask for a bounty hunter who uses a scythe to chase after me.” Vyse slowed the engine to a crawl, then to a full stop once their momentum had slowed. “Come on. If it’s really her...We’ll need you to back us up.”

“You and your girls can’t fight her on your own?” Drachma wagered, falling in step behind Vyse as he marched out onto the deck. Aika was already there, confused as the other ship drew near, and Fina had been jogging around the deck before dinner. The both of them saw Vyse and tensed up.

“Trouble?” Aika asked, as Vyse fell in step with them.

Vyse stared up at the blue and white-sailed schooner as it pulled up just above the Little Jack , crossing his arms. A rope was thrown over the side, and a young woman in unusual black leggings and a midriff-baring top slid down. A green Ferlith merely hopped over the side and came down for a hard landing beside her. Most telling was the long-handled scythe strapped behind her back, which dangled close to her feathered white and blue hair.

Vyse stared. “You’re in our way.” He said.

The woman, his age or only a touch older, unstrapped her scythe and stared him down. “You are Vyse, the Blue Rogue?” She questioned.

“Yes.” Vyse nodded. He wouldn’t lie, even if he could pull it off successfully. “And you are?”

“My name is Piastol. I am a bounty hunter, and I hunt air pirates exclusively.” She pointed at him, her face as solemn as a tomb. “The Angel of Death has come for you, Vyse.”

Vyse unstrapped his cutlasses, Aika freed her boomerang. Drachma merely took another step forward and adjusted a small toggle on the side of his mechanical arm, which now sported a different and more menacing attachment after their resupply. Fina, the least battle-hardened of them all, whispered to Cupil and brought her small hovering friend into being next to her.

“Sorry. But I’ve got too much left to do to die here.” Vyse replied. The Ferlith beside Piastol growled loudly, and it acted as the signal. They charged at each other, and the battle was joined.

***

Piastol proved to be a deadly foe, as versatile with her magic as she was with her unusual blade. Vyse did his best to manage her attention, which wasn’t that hard, as he was her target. What aggravated him the most was that both times he managed to get in a good hit, the Ferlith she had brought with her conjured up a healing spell and made the injuries disappear.

“Get the dog!” Vyse snapped, wincing as the leading edge of her scythe sliced through his shirt and scraped along the armored undershirt he’d picked up some time back. Given the sound, she’d thoroughly torn through it.

“Useless.” Piastol chuffed, allowing him to backpedal before raising a hand up towards him. “Time to perish.” Vyse’s eyes went wide as she summoned up her silver magic, trying for a spell meant to incapacitate someone entirely in one blow. At the last moment, it bounced off of him, deflected by a timely throw of Aika’s potent Delta Shield. It never lasted for long, but it saved him from being struck dead where he stood.

He glanced over to her, and the redhead gave him the barest nod before turning her attention to the Ferlith. Drachma and Fina had moved their focus to the canine and were steadily wearing it down, with Fina blasting it with one charge after another of Pyri. Now Aika added her own skill to the attack, leaving Vyse alone with Piastol.

“Your pet isn’t looking so good.” Vyse taunted her. Angered at having her spells constantly thwarted, Piastol took a step back and started to build up a charge in the moonstone core of her scythe. Vyse raised up his swords, preparing to block another one of her furious assaults. As long as he braced for it, he would be hurt, but not down, and the girls could put him back to rights. He was ready for her...

“Neither is yours.” Piastol growled, and exploded in movement and light right as his eyes went wide. She wasn’t aiming for him.

Aika, distracted by the fight with the Ferlith, only had enough time to turn around before Piastol was on her, slashing like a hurricane. She let out a shriek that was ended far too soon, carried on by Vyse’s roar when he closed in on her.

Piastol pulled clear of Aika, who lay slumped on the deck, marred in deep cuts across the whole of her body and too blinded by pain to move. Vyse felt his heart stop as he knelt down beside her, and paid no attention to the final yelp of the bounty hunter’s death hound when Drachma finally managed to hit the thing in the skull hard enough to end its life.

Blood poured out of a mortal gash through her throat, leaving Aika gagging on her own blood, unable to breathe, her life fast dwindling.

Vyse gripped her hand, squeezed. “Aika. Aika, come on. Hold on, we’ll heal you!” He begged, stumbling in his pocket for a Sacri crystal.

Her eyes turned to glass, her choking stopped, and the rest of her followed. “No!” He howled. “NO!”

In the background, Piastol snarled in triumph. “You take my dog, I take your friend, pirate.” Vyse whirled around, his anger at a full boil.

But then Fina stepped in front of him, her eyes hard and glimmering with silver around the edges of her green irises. “Don’t fight angry.” She warned him. “Aika taught me that.”

“But she killed her!”

Fina shook her head, pulled her other hand from a small pocket of her dress, and opened it up to reveal a crystal.

The Riselem Crystal that the tiny bird owned by the girl Maria had coughed up earlier that same day. With a shout, she broke it in her hand and then hurled its power towards Aika’s body. Brilliant, blinding light made everyone on the deck flinch including Piastol, and when the light cleared, Aika was groaning and pulling herself up in disbelief.

“Impossible.” Piastol stared between Fina and Aika. “You just...but she was…”

Fina whirled around on Piastol, and Vyse quickly fell in step beside her, while Drachma helped Aika up to her feet. The Silvite’s eyes only glowed brighter.

“You are a dilettante, using magic you barely comprehend. ” Fina hissed, raising a hand above her head. “Your heart only has room for death. But mine?” She let out a sibilant chant in a tongue Vyse couldn’t fathom, and every one of them, Aika, Vyse, Drachma, and Fina herself became enfolded by an aura of warm, silvery light.

The fatigue, the aches, the minor injuries he had taken all began to fade away. Vyse looked to Fina, and realized in that moment just how little they knew of this foreign girl, and how terribly they had underestimated her potential. It was not to be found in martial combat, but in magic.

“No!” Piastol shrieked, and rushed towards Fina, intent on the kill.

This time, Vyse met her head-on, bellowing as scythe and swords dueled for supremacy.

She had power, more than Vyse did. But he was revived, constantly renewed so that every blow never had a chance to linger, and she was exhausted after a hard fight. The cuts he took vanished, while more and more piled up along her legs, her arms, her waist, and even her scalp. And finally, it came to an end when Vyse over-channelled his spiritual power through his blades, and sliced clean through the haft of her scythe, leaving a light gash across her ribs before he kicked her away.

Piastol came to a stop ten feet away, breathing shallowly and bleeding onto the deck with her hands wrapped around the broken pieces of her weapon. Vyse stood back, guarding the others as the bounty hunter lurched up to one knee, grimacing.

“How could I lose...to a lowly air pirate?” Piastol demanded between gulps of air.

“We’re done.” Vyse snapped at her.

“Kill me, then.” Piastol rasped back.

“No.” Vyse shook his head, stowing his blades. The silvery glow around him finally faded, leaving him unblemished as he folded his arms. “I’m not going to kill you. And like I said, I’m too busy to be dying off yet. Come back in 50 or 60 years, and we’ll talk.” He brought a hand up and scratched at the scar under his left eye as he looked back to Fina and Aika, smiling in relief. “For now, though, get off my ship.”

“This be my ship, boy!” Drachma thundered, pausing after throwing the corpse of the dog off of the deck. “I just let you fly the damn thing!” Vyse shrugged good-naturedly and looked back to Piastol, half-expecting the beaten girl to come charging at him. Instead, she was staring at him in surprise...then slowly dawning rage.

“That scar.” She uttered.

“Um. Yes, I have a scar.”

“I would know that scar anywhere.” She rose to her feet and pointed at him with the broken head of her scythe. “And I know you , Vyse.” Vyse, of course, wondered what she was driving at and cocked his head to the side. “Hear me, air pirate. From now on, I hunt for your head alone . The next time we meet…”

“The next time we meet, we’re going to kick your ass twice as hard!” Aika shouted from behind Vyse, cutting off the rant. Piastol hissed through her pain again, now dripping with blood from all of the nicks and cuts across her body, and stumbled for the rope.

Vyse watched her climb back up the rope, one painful pull at a time, and couldn’t help himself. “You need a hand there?”

Her angry scream as she hauled herself over the railing of her ship was the last thing she uttered before her ship slowly pulled away from them. With the danger passed, the Blue Rogue turned and ran back to Aika and Fina.

The redhead was still in a state of shock, running her hands over her body in disbelief. She looked between her hands and Fina.

“You saved me.” Aika finally said. Fina smiled.

“I told you that crystal would come in handy.”

Aika looked down at the deck. “We...we’re feeding that bird more moonfish.”

“I think that’s a good idea.” Vyse agreed, before turning to Fina. “Where the heck did that come from?”

“Silvites have a unique connection to silver moon magic.” Fina explained, with some reluctance. “It commands the power of life and death. I’m not a warrior, but…”

“You were raised to be a priestess.” Vyse realized.

Fina blinked. “What’s that?”

Aika cut off Vyse by grabbing hold of Fina and pulling her into a tight hug that made the blonde girl squeak from the crushing force. “It means I’m sorry for...for picking on you.” The redhead said, agitated and apologetic. “You’re not weak. You’re stronger than you know.”

They all stumbled as the Little Jack lurched into motion, and Drachma stuck his head out of the wheelhouse. “You all might want to get inside. We’re blasting our way through that stone reef, and there’s likely to be plenty of debris that’ll strike the deck!”

“Oh, joy. Which means more cleaning and repairs for us.” Aika made a face, and Fina giggled at it. Vyse stopped the two girls before they could walk too far ahead of them, grabbing their hands and making them turn in surprise. He could have let things stand, but he was a captain of the Blue Rogues, and he needed to clear the air.

“From now on, we don’t fight with each other. We protect each other, because we’re family. All right?” He watched Aika carefully after he finished, waiting for some flash of resentment or jealousy to manifest.

But it never did. Instead, she reached out and gently punched Fina in the side of the arm, barely hard enough to muss up the fabric. “Works for me. Fina?”

The blonde nodded, visibly relieved. “I’d like that too.”

Vyse grinned, squeezed their hands, and then walked between them, pulling them along behind him.

He missed seeing how both of them blushed as he did.

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Seven: Bait and Snitch

Admiral Belleza was unlike any of the others in the Admiralty of Valua, and they had Galcian to thank for that. She had been given command of the Fourth Fleet, but spent little time with it. No, her true power and skill lay in the art of spycraft, espionage, and deception. It was why Galcian had given her the posting; he’d seen her potential, as he had with all of them.

Well, almost all of them. That churlish milksop Alfonso had been a political appointment, and his failures earlier on...and his willingness to lie about it and kill his own vice admiral had led to him finally being demoted and shoved off to Ixa’taka. Perhaps in time, Galcian would find a more suitable replacement for the First Admiral’s chair.

For the moment, though, Galcian and the Armada had other concerns; namely, the Silvite girl Fina who had gotten away...and the Blue Rogue named Vyse responsible for the daring rescue. The fact was, aside from the knowledge that Vyse was the son of Dyne, who had since gone to ground, they knew nothing about him, or his accomplices.

But then, that was why Galcian had Belleza. Nobody was better at information gathering and sussing out leads than she was. Galcian had merely pointed her in a good direction to start; if Fina were to inform the pirate about Valua’s intentions of claiming the Moon Crystals, it would stand to reason that they would begin the hunt close to home. And since the Yellow Moon Crystal lay beneath the Maw of Tartas, and therefore out of reach…

She’d pointed her ship in the direction of Maramba with a pile of documents and incident reports, and begun the slow, methodical work of learning more about their enemies…

And hatching a plan to crush them, not with a fusillade of cannonfire or the heavy mallet of a military skirmish, but with whispers, shadows, red herrings...And a killing stroke in the night.

***

Admiral Belleza’s Flagship

Valuan Warship Lynx

1 Day After the Grand Fortress Escape

There came a knock at the door of Belleza’s stateroom, and she glanced up away from the intelligence reports, wincing as she felt the start of a lingering pain in her neck. “Enter.” She rolled her head around to try and smooth it out as the door opened, and a sailor assigned to the Lynx’s galley backed into her quarters with a rolling cart and a tea service.

“Coming up on three bells, Admiral.” The sailor said cheerfully. “Lieutenant Alvarez thought you could do with a bit of tea and something to nibble.”

Belleza raised an eyebrow, catching sight of some of the galley’s fine artisanal biscuits...glazed with chocolate. She didn’t bother trying to hide the smile. Of all the exports from Ixa’taka, the cacao bean was her favorite, even though raw moonstones were what the Armada mainly concerned itself with. They had a voracious appetite for the precious energy sources, especially since they had exhausted the bulk of their own. Belleza wondered briefly if the Upper City’s obsession with chocolate matched it.

“Did she really say that, sailor?” Belleza pressed, and the young man blushed a little under her praise. Belleza could drip with charm when she felt like it, and while she could play the hard-ass as much as anyone, she much preferred the honey over vinegar approach for the day-to-day tasks of running a ship.

“I believe her exact words, ma’am, were, ‘She’s probably worked through lunch again without realizing it, so take her an afternoon snack before she passes out on us.’ Ma’am.” The sailor said, going for a touch of formality at the end of the gossip.

Belleza smirked and shook her head. “I see. Well, thank her for me after you leave. I was getting a touch peckish.” She rose from her desk, set a paperweight on the stack of documents to hold them down, and then went over. “How is my Vice Admiral doing on the bridge?”

“No problems to report, ma’am. We should reach the stone reef in about an hour, and he is conferring with all stations to prepare for the crossing.”

“Good.” Belleza turned over the teacup on the service and reached for the teapot. “Have the Vice Admiral inform me when we begin crossing procedures, and tell him I’m not to be disturbed until then. Dismissed.”

“Yes, admiral.” The sailor came to attention, saluted, and then let himself back out.

Belleza lifted the teacup up and breathed in the faint scent of the spiced orange blend before taking a sip. Hot without being scalding, meant to be enjoyed. Perfect. She raised a hand to her long reddish-brown hair and stroked it back while she stared out of her stateroom’s window.

It was coming up on sunset, and the sky was going from blue to a picturesque shade of orange and pinks. Once they crossed the stone reef, they would be fully under the light of the Red Moon. She could already feel how the air was warmer than before.

Having gone over the reports, Belleza had a fairly good idea of the sequence of events leading up to the Blue Rogue Vyse’s infiltration of Valua. Accompanied by his fellow Blue Rogue, a red-haired girl of some skill, they had made their way to Sailor’s Island and somehow conned a ride on the Little Jack , captained by an old sailor named Drachma. He was on Valua’s piracy board, but his crimes had been mainly for his dealings in the black market, and only in the North Ocean, so there hadn’t been any recent dispatches or notices for his capture.

She owed her spy in that independent port city a bottle or two for that little detail, as it laid bare a glaring oversight in their security apparatus. She’d already made a note to pass that on to Galcian the next time they dispatched a messenger bag.

Thus, when Drachma, Vyse, and his female associate Aika had arrived at the southern border of Valuan airspace with a valid merchant’s passport (although one doctored to match their own ship’s registry, and that was another security concern to bring up), the border patrol had let them pass through without incident. From there, the ship had docked in the Lower City for ‘repairs.’ They were likely repairs of a questionable nature, and given Drachma’s previous dealings, she would bet good money that the black market was responsible for the Harpoon Cannon which had been installed. She hated how De Loco kept funnelling out his experiments through all channels instead of doing a better job of managing them. It was a dangerous tactic which had finally bitten them in the ass, because the Harpoon Cannon used by the Little Jack was anything but the standard model authorized for general production. Her own investigation had been pushed aside so De Loco’s men could ‘look into it’, which was another point of contention between her and the short-statured, short-sighted, short-witted psychopath. He didn’t give a damn about the illegality of black market operations, they lined the Armada’s pockets. All he cared about was that someone had figured out how to make a better weapon than he had.

Some day, De Loco was going to get himself killed with that attitude. Belleza had a bottle of single-malt Yellowrye in her locked safe for when that day came.

The alliance between Vyse and Drachma was...tenuous, at best. Her agent on Sailor’s Island, from what he’d overheard, reported that Vyse had basically blackmailed Drachma into providing transportation to Valua for information on the Harpoon Cannon.

Vyse was powerful, but he was also young. With the aid of Drachma and the Little Jack , he’d been able to not only free the other Blue Rogues scheduled for execution, but reclaim Fina right from under Galcian’s nose...and then out-fight a standard Valuan frigate, and out-fly the closing gates of the Grand Fortress itself. He was audacity given form, and Belleza had a strong suspicion he relied too heavily on good fortune, surprise, and being underestimated. Those were aggravating qualities, but with enough planning, there were ways to neutralize them.

No, the problem came that Vyse, the Silvite girl, and the female Blue Rogue were not alone in their quest to out-treasure hunt the Valuan armada.

She drained the rest of her teacup, walked back over to the tea service, and set it down before picking up one of the chocolate-coated biscuits. The first bite was sinful rapture, and she chewed slowly, relishing in the flavor.

If she could somehow pull Drachma and his, for its size, impressive little ship away from Vyse and the two girls who were now accompanying him, she could limit his mobility, narrow his opportunities...control his movements. But how to do it?

There were the usual and expected avenues, of course. Brute strength and open shows of force were the trademarks of others in the Armada; Vigoro, for example, the chauvinist pig, always believed in charging in head-on, guns blazing. De Loco would try to make some over-the-top weapon to solve the problem for him. Gregorio…

Well, actually Gregorio, as the most senior (By age) of the Admiralty would likely go for a more balanced approach. But Belleza had her tactics. How best could she divide and conquer?

Her hand was halfway down towards the next biscuit when her devious mind slipped a gear towards a brilliant idea. Belleza lunged for her desk, bringing up the scattered reports on Captain ‘One-Armed’ Drachma that she had painstakingly collated.

...Independent agent....Valuan background...former sailor...Motivated by an irrational hatred…

Rhaknam…

Belleza didn’t bother muffling the sharp little laugh that escaped her lungs. There. There was her opening.

Drachma had no loyalty to Vyse, no particular enmity to the Empire. The Blue Rogue had merely used Drachma, and in turn, been used by him for a period of mutual benefit. There appeared to be only one motivating factor in Drachma’s life, and it was potent enough that he’d converted a fishing ship into a vessel built to hunt sky monsters.

Revenge makes a person do crazy things. Of course, Belleza also knew that revenge and singular hatred was like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die, but…

If Drachma was that far-gone into his suicidal quest? She would gladly make use of it to separate him and his dangerous little ship from Vyse.

Belleza returned to her desk, now all smiles, and started to plan it all out.

***

Maramba

Nasrian Territory

2 Days Later

The plan was not entirely to her Vice Admiral’s satisfaction, but he knew well enough to merely grumble about the plot, nod, and take orders. It was by her mind, genius in its simplicity. With enough of a head start on the Blue Rogues, the Lynx had crossed into Nasrian airspace by clearing the brown stone reef, using its impressive magical cannonfire to blow a hole through it long enough to pass through. While the ship coasted at anchor on the other side of the reef, she had her crew finish outrigging a small, Nasrian-styled ‘pleasure ship’ that they had confiscated from a wealthy merchant some four years ago when they’d arrested him for arms smuggling. The thing wasn’t built to handle rough storms, but it had plush accommodations and a sinfully large bed, and could be handled by a single helmsman...or woman. It came complete with plenty of garments for the various women in his harem back home, not that he’d ever been able to see them again. Afterwards, it was a simple enough matter to darken her skin to a tanned state with an application of magic-activated tanning cream, and Belleza, the dark red-haired, pale-skinned Admiral of Valua disappeared. Dressed in silk leggings and a top that left her midriff bare, with a smile hidden behind a sheer silk veil…

Bellena, the mysterious exotic dancer of Nasrad took her place.

With the rest of her crew waiting back on the Lynx , save for a small contingent who had dressed as merchants and come in on a different ship and would work as her ears on the ground, she pulled the small pleasure craft into port and made arrangements with the harbormaster for a two-week docking fee. A few quick movements, some coquettish winks and flirtations, and she had him all but turned into a drooling mess who reduced the price to that of a one-week fee for the promise of sharing a drink with him later. Almost every man she’d ever come across was just like him, and she had learned the game well. Only one man (Who didn’t go after other men, she qualified) had ever not been drawn in, and to her frustration, it had to be her superior, the one man she wanted more than anything.

Her very next stop after that was the Sailor’s Guild, which shared space with the ship’s supply store. Stepping inside, she watched as both the guildmaster behind the counter and the salesman stood up a little straighter, puffed themselves out a bit more, sucked in their guts.

Under the veil, Belleza smirked and put a little extra sway into her hips as she approached the salesman. “Good afternoon.” She said, following it with a traditional Nasrian hand gesture of goodwill and blessing between strangers. In her line of work as a spymaster, she knew all too well it was the little details that counted. After one of her underlings had been exposed for making a Valuan hand gesture for ordering drinks in a Nasrad saloon...Well. She had drilled the importance into the rest of her undercover agents rather forcefully.

The salesman’s smile was positively blinding. “Welcome, a thousand welcomes, my beautiful dove of the oasis!” He exulted. “What can your humble servant do for you this wonderful day? I have a fine blend of tea in the back, if you would care to quench your thirst? Nasrad Galas, the best under any of the Moons!”

“Perhaps later.” Belleza said. “I am Bellena, an exotic dancer from Nasrad here on vacation. However, I require refined moonstone ore for my ship’s engine, as I exhausted more than I thought I would in outrunning Rhaknam.”

The name of the most feared Arcwhale across the skies chilled the air around them all.

“You saw Rhaknam? Where?” The guildmaster uttered, fearful.

“In a storm that developed along the stone reef, southwest of here.” She said, twisting a half-truth into a plausible lie. There had been a significant storm just before their crossing at the stone reef, but Rhaknam hadn’t been flying through it. Still, every other ship she’d seen had steered clear of it, so who would be able to call her on the deception? Nobody.

“We’ll have to put out warnings.” The guildmaster stroked his chin. “My thanks, Lady Bellena.” He gave her a short bow, and the musical sound of her laugh broke the somber mood. Let them think she was flattered.

“Do not worry. I can send a man to your ship with the moonstones you require.” The salesman said cheerfully, back on his game. “It is a shame you must leave so soon, though. There is a fine tavern which has been looking for new entertainment for its guests, and if you were in need of money to continue your vacation…”

Give them an excuse to be helpful, and watch them fall over themselves doing it.  Works every time.

‘Bellena’ smiled under her veil and brought a hand up to stroke her ponytail back over her shoulder. “Well. A little extra money would certainly be welcome...but who would come to see a strange dancer in this quaint little town?”

Both of the men in the room raised their hands, bouncing eagerly on the balls of their feet.

She smiled even wider.

Bait. Laid.

***

6 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Outer Maramba

“The Oasis” Tavern

When establishing a double identity and settling in to a new place while waiting for a target, patience was not just a virtue, but an absolute necessity. Vyse and his merry band of interlopers seemed to be keeping to their own schedule, and to make inquiries or let her impatience show would have been unseemly. It would have also spoiled the whole point of the charade. And the charade itself? She would be glad when she was finally done with Maramba. She loved dancing, but she could do without the leering stares from drunken men...and their wandering hands. At least there she could fight back long enough for the bouncers to deal with them, but a hard life on the streets of Valua kept her wary when she left after her shifts.

Doubt slowly began to creep in as the days kept on. Had her wager been wrong? Had the rumors about Rhaknam not been prominent enough? She was used to her plans not ever going off the way she intended them to, but outright failures were another matter entirely. While she had been cooling her heels under a false identity, had Vyse and his partners skipped Maramba entirely?

The sight of him wandering into the tavern with a frustrated grimace on his face was sweet redemption for her nerves and her plans. The redhead and the blond-haired Silvite that followed him was pure gravy…

And no Drachma to be seen.

They plopped down at the one open table in the tavern, resting on cushions set on the carpeted floor for their use. The three were close enough that Belleza could size them up properly, and even overhear snippets of their conversation. Easy enough to do and still manage some semblance of her routine, even if it did become a little formulaic.

Fina, as the Silvite girl was called, she had only heard of, as she hadn’t been brought before the entire Admiralty. The reports listed her as someone weak, but with a thin vein of stubborn loyalty that had enraged the Empress. She still wore the same outfit she had when she’d first been captured, despite how easily identifiable it made her. Sentiment? There was a newness in her gaze as she looked around the tavern, soaking it all in. It made sense; to Fina, the rest of the world was something she was experiencing for the first time. Driven by sentiment. Terribly naive.

The redhead Blue Rogue had her back to Belleza, but there was no mistaking the depression evident in her slouched shoulders. “What the hell do we do now? Why would Drachma just... maroon us here like he did?” Inside her mind, Belleza crowed triumphantly. So the false rumors of Rhaknam she had planted had done their work after all. The despondency the girl was putting off was at odds with the description of a fiery, no-holds-barred she-demon that had stormed through Valua alongside Vyse. To Belleza, that was confirmation of what she suspected. Wears her emotions on her sleeve. Absolutely no filter. Easy to read.

And then, there was the infamous Blue Rogue himself. The redhead had been directing her questions to Vyse himself, and Belleza was struck at just how young the air pirate actually was. The Blue Rogue known as Dyne had long been a thorn in the side of the Empire; he was one of the founding members of the Blue Rogue faction, after all. Vyse’s parentage explained much of his initial accomplishments. Dyne was widely known as a very capable sailor and officer, a stern but fair leader of men. He had apparently drilled all of his hard-earned lessons into his son.

Vyse sat unbowed by the weight of the world and its problems, but he shouldered them nonetheless. As he’d come in, Belleza had focused on him the longest. He wore his blue coat proudly and made no attempt to hide his identity. He favored short blades, if the scabbards at his waist were any indication, and there was a level of grace and dexterity in his step that betrayed just how steady his balance was. That and his build, toned and muscular without any unnecessary bulk spoke to a duelist’s expertise. It was his eyes, however, that were his most striking feature. Even with one kept behind a telescopic goggle lens, he seemed to be perfectly aware of his surroundings, in spite of the troubles that were likely running through his head.

And he was watching her , Belleza realized. It caused her a moment of panic before she remembered that she was there to be seen, and she smirked and threw him a wink before diving into her routine with additional fervor. It had the desired effect of drawing his attention in.

She could confirm that Vyse was indeed attracted to the fairer sex, at least. Although, his stare didn’t make her skin crawl like the leers of the other patrons had. He seemed more in awe, almost reverent in his regard for the dancer. Belleza had known enough men to tell the difference between a lustful look and a glassy-eyed stare of wonder.

Apparently his partner didn’t, because when the redhead caught him staring at her, she all but punched him in the face to get him to stop. And did Vyse sputter and deny it? No. He merely laughed, rubbed the back of the head, and owned up to it, claiming a respect for the customs of foreign lands. The redhead seemed to puff up even more indignantly, and all but turned into a beet when Fina added innocently that there was nothing wrong with the dancer paying more attention to Vyse, because he was rather handsome…

Well. Belleza almost laughed at that, but hid her widening grin behind her veil. So. There was something of a romantic rivalry between the two girls for Vyse’s affections? That was something she would have to remember for later.

For now, though, they were here…

Belleza finished her routine as ‘Bellena’, and sauntered down towards their table while Aika continued to argue about it all and throw shade and insults. She really didn’t like Vyse looking at other women, apparently.

Belleza decided she would up her feminine wiles a few more degrees.

A girl that bratty needed to be screwed with.

***

The Great Desert

West of Maramba

Evening

‘Bellena’ was more than happy to let Vyse pilot the small pleasure craft out over the desert; there were reports of Black Pirates around, and even the Blue Rogue knew better than to go up against them in a ship without any defenses. Fina had indeed known more about the locations of the Moon Crystals than she had been willing to share with the Valuan authorities, although that knowledge appeared to be horribly outdated. Apologizing and saying that the world looked different than the maps she’d studied...How inaccurate were the maps of the Silvites?

Their best guess for the Temple of Pyrynn, which supposedly housed the Red Moon Crystal, was somewhere deep in the heart of the desert, in the shadow of the high mountain range above. Between that, dodging Black Pirates by staying low enough to the ground to avoid being easily spotted, and not being wiped out by sandstorms...Well.

Belleza’s estimate of Vyse increased several notches after his piloting performance that day. Still, it had been taxing, so they found themselves dropping anchor behind a small outcropping in the lower part of the ridge, shielding them from immediate view, and also from the more serious gusts of wind.

Belleza had been down in the galley making herself some tea while the three made ready to bed down for the night, and she was glad for once of the small ship’s amenities. It was useless in a fight, but given that it had been built for a wealthy (Though corrupt) merchant and his harem, there were plenty of places to sleep. Or not sleep, although she doubted that Vyse was that far along with either of them, given their body language. Aika (She’d finally gotten the name down) and Fina were both ‘friendly’ and kept their distance, and Aika outright blushed whenever Vyse innocently touched her. Shoulder nudges didn’t set her off, at least.  Belleza’s take on Vyse was someone who outright refused to act on his feelings, putting the mission first. Or maybe she was wrong, and he didn’t look at either of them like that. He would hardly be the first man who was blind to the subtle cues that a woman could put off.

It was something that Vyse and Galcian had in common.

When she emerged into the living quarters from the galley belowdecks, she was surprised to see Aika and Fina curled up on opposite sides of a bed large enough to fit six people...and no sign of Vyse. She frowned, took a sip of her tea, and walked over to the door that separated the living quarters from the wheelhouse.

He wasn’t there, either, and her concern rose. She’d dispatched a message to her ship through her messengers before they’d set off to have the Lynx stay in the stone reef, close to the desert to await her signal. If Vyse suspected anything, they weren’t close enough to be of any help, and they hadn’t found the Temple yet. She stormed out onto the foredeck…

And found him kneeling beside a small, formerly locked storage box, now open with its contents of fireworks revealed. Her heart stopped as she drew near and Vyse looked up at her, and her eyes went to the fireworks box. Had he seen the signal flares buried underneath the cache of party supplies?

No. The top layer was undisturbed; he hadn’t been rooting through them.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be carrying fireworks.” Vyse said, slowly rising back up to his feet.

“Couldn’t get away without them, I’m afraid.” She responded, an easy smile coming to her face. Don’t show any alarm. Keep it casual. Keep it light. “An exotic dancer in Nasrad must be able to entertain her...guests.”

The corner of Vyse’s mouth quirked up at that. “I’ll take your word for it, Bellena.” He closed the box, then snapped the lock shut. “Sorry for the intrusion. It pays to be a little cautious, though. I like you, but…”

“You don’t fully trust me.” Belleza finished. Her smile was a little more genuine as she crossed her arms. “Given who you are and what you’re trying to do, I can’t exactly blame you. I still have trouble believing that you were abandoned at port, though.”

“Drachma.” Vyse said, and his face darkened. Belleza hastily corrected her mental file on the Blue Rogue at that. He was all smiles and cheer most of the time, but there was a depth of fire and rage to him after all. One that only a fool would tap into, at their own peril. “We heard a rumor about Rhaknam when we were in the Sailor’s Guild. I knew he could be a gruff bastard, but as soon as he heard that, he walked out while I was concluding my business. When we got out, Aika was screaming at him over the wind as he pulled away. He just left us there.”

“Mm.” Belleza took another sip of her tea. “He hates that arcwhale more than you hate the Valuans.”

“Shouldn’t you hate them, too?” Vyse countered, lifting an eyebrow. “After what you told us about losing your father in the war 20 years ago?”

Bellena mustered a weak, uneasy laugh. “I...I suppose that time healed that wound.”

“Then you’re doing better than Drachma.” Vyse muttered. “It feels like he’s after revenge, but he never talked about himself. Ah, well. He’s not my problem anymore. The fate of the world at stake, and he wants to keep after a living myth. I have bigger things to worry about.”

“You should be in bed.” Belleza pointed out. She finished off her tea and set the cup down on the lid of the fireworks box. “I mean, your two little friends are. And there’s nothing out here to attack us, I’ve got the repellent incense burning to keep the wild monsters away.”

“I’ll get there eventually. I put up a hammock down in the engine room.”

“The engine room is so small, though!” Belleza protested. “Why not share the bed with Aika and Fina? It’s big enough for all four of us, really.”

His cheeks pinked at the innocent suggestion, and Belleza pumped her fist at his discomfort. “They’re girls.” He finally replied, looking off to the side. “It’s not...not appropriate. Besides, I’ve been sleeping in a hammock for a long time. I’ve kind of gotten used to it.”

“Well. If you say so.” She sighed, feigning disappointment. “Still, you know you’re missing out.”

That made him go stiff from head to toe. “What do you mean.” He said, his head grinding on his neck as he turned back towards her.

Belleza just looked back at him, trying to fill her expression with as much exasperation and incredulity as she could. “You don’t see it, do you? How they look at you? Both of them?”

Vyse shut his eyes, sighed loudly. “I try not to.” He admitted. “I won’t choose. I won’t hurt them, either of them, by choosing.”

She felt a hitch in her chest at that admission. “And is it better to say nothing? To just...have the ache and the longing?”

“You tell me, Bellena.” Vyse said, turning the conversation on her. “What about the man you love, but who doesn’t notice you? Have you ever confessed to him?”

The shot struck harder than it should have, but hurts of the heart always did. “No.” She whispered, feeling her eyes burning a bit. Damn this boy. Who was he to bring up these feelings in her?

“Why not?”

“Because, if he…” Her voice caught in her throat and she swallowed it back down.

“If he said no, it would break you.” Vyse finished, slowly nodding. “Just thinking about it hurts, doesn’t it. So that’s why I don’t say anything.” He pointed a finger at her. “And you aren’t going to say anything to them, either.”

“I...I swear.” She promised, restoring herself. She pushed the hurt and the ache back down, buried it, poured concrete over the tomb of it. “But loneliness isn’t a solution.”

He laughed a little. “I’m not alone. I have my friends with me.”

She stepped towards him, took hold of his hand while she stroked the side of his face. There was still a way to assert authority. It means nothing. It’s just a honey trap. An empty seduction to pump him for information.

Belleza brought the hand of the boy ten years her junior up to her bare stomach, scant inches below her covered breasts. She placed it against her skin, cold and goosepimpled in the night air. His fingers twitched, and the rough calluses of his fingertips just barely stroked her skin.

“You don’t have to be alone tonight, Vyse.” She breathily sighed, and the burning haze clouded her mind. It...it means nothing. You don’t want this boy. He’s not Galcian, he’s…

He wasn’t Galcian. Galcian would have taken what she offered with a smirk and no real gratitude or committment. A part of her knew it, but she was attracted to his power, and his unwavering vision of a world at peace under the heel of Valuan authority.

Vyse’s neck was like a taut rope as he swallowed, looking into her eyes. The dark and primal lusts finally came to the surface, shading his brown eyes. He almost fell into her embrace. Lesser men always had.

But he closed his eyes, pulled his face away from her hand. Clenched his hand into a fist and withdrew it away from her body, away from the offer of a night’s pleasure between a lonely man and woman.

“No.” He refused, with no hatred or disgust. “Thank you, but, no. I won’t. I won’t do that to them.”

Belleza tried not to let the disappointment and the lingering ache of her core get the better of her. “You really do care for them, don’t you.”

“Enough to never betray them.” He said, and his eyes burned away the lustful haze for resolute fire. “I hope someday, your man accepts you for the treasure you are, Bellena.”

He was ten years younger and more inexperienced, a virgin if his responses were any indication, and completely naive about how the world’s injustices actually worked. Yet Belleza still felt shame as she stood there, illogical as it was.

Vyse settled for giving her hand a squeeze and smiling as he brushed past her. “Tomorrow’s a big day. You’d better get some shut eye.”

Belleza swallowed. “You’re going to have trouble getting to sleep tonight. I tend to haunt men’s dreams.”

“Maybe.” Vyse conceded, his voice fading as he kept on walking. “But at least I’ll be able to look at myself in the morning.” And then he was gone, leaving her alone in the dark.

Admiral Belleza, leader of the 4th Fleet, stood there under the stars and the light of the Red Moon and finished compiling her mental report on Vyse.

Young. Bold. Aware of the weight of authority. Trusting. Beholden to a moral code he claimed was the heart of the Blue Rogues, but seemed to hold additional oaths beyond its simple phrases. Highly observant of the world around him, cautious. Perceptive. A tactical genius at the helm of a ship. Audacious in combat, nearly shy around those he was close to.

No. Vyse was not Galcian, Admiral Belleza decided.

She tried not to dwell on the question that statement engendered...that he might be better than the man she loved.

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Eight: How Can I Trust You

The Central Desert

9 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

The Lynx lay on the desert sands, a smoking hulk with a massive hole bored through its port side and out through its starboard. Two whole decks were visible through the gash in the superstructure, and Vyse looked at it just to give himself a chance to not stare at Admiral Belleza. His blood was still running hot after that fight, and from the one before it, when they had tried to face down Recumen.

He had stared into the four faces of death that belonged to the Red Gigas, Recumen, and somehow, he was still alive. They all were, in spite of Belleza’s master scheme. Their final victory didn’t make the sting of betrayal hurt any less.

If he’d lined up the Harpoon Cannon’s shot any differently, he could have broken the Lynx to the keel and turned the Valuan warship into two pieces of flaming death and scrap metal. Ordinarily, he would have said that mercy stayed his hand.

Today, though, necessity had spared the life of Belleza and her crew. He felt soft hands slip into both of his as both Aika and Fina hung by his side and squeezed supportively. It calmed him down. They were still alive.

It occurred to him that he might need to add to the Code of the Blue Rogues, for situations like this.

“You’re...taking my engine.” Belleza said, stunned, a little put out as Drachma walked by them, a massive crate of moonstone fuel slung up onto the shoulder of his prosthetic arm.

“It’s only fair.” Aika rebuked the older woman. Her red hair was still a little singed from where the blistering heat of Recumen’s red ray attack had scorched the side of the Little Jack and burned away the paint. She tossed the Red Moon Crystal that they’d reclaimed from the admiral from hand to hand and shot her a withering look before glancing towards the now offline and immobile form of Recumen, half-buried in the sands already and soon to be gone by tomorrow. “I mean, you did lie to us. Ambush us. Steal the Crystal you were too lazy to go after yourself. Oh...and then using it to summon a Gigas to attack us with? ” Her eyes were burning at the end, and Vyse allowed himself a small chuckle.

Okay, that cooled his own fire. He had no problems with Aika giving her a lot of flak. Thankfully, she’d stopped short of trying to claw the woman’s eyes out. He glanced over to Fina, and was only marginally surprised to see her glaring at Belleza with almost equal fury. The blond-haired Silvite balanced it with exasperation for Aika, though, as she reached out and plucked the pyramid-shaped piece of worked, ultra-refined Moonstone out of the redhead’s hands.

“Would you stop playing with that? It’s not a toy!” Fina criticized Aika, turning her gaze on Belleza. “And its power is not to be abused. People playing at being gods caused the Rains of Destruction thousands of years ago, and sundered the old world to ruin.” She opened her mouth a few more times as if to add to it, but settled for a shake of her head and went back to silence, hugging the Moon Crystal tightly to her stomach.

Vyse allowed his familiar smirk to surface as he addressed Belleza. “Only those who have walked through the desert can truly know its size.” He intoned. “Besides, we need that engine more than you do.”

“I imagine I know why.” Belleza said drily. “I overheard Fina there talking about the ‘Green Lands’ before you went into the Temple. You’re going to try and cross the Southern Ocean.” She looked past the three of them to Drachma, giving the old man’s back a dirty glare. “Which is why you’re also stealing all our fuel stores.”

“Stealing?” Vyse raised his eyebrows. “Well, I wouldn’t call it that . And you need to stop calling us air pirates. We’re Blue Rogues.”

“Why does that matter so much to you?” Belleza asked, exhausted after their fight, but curious.

Aika answered for Vyse, forever his trusted second-in-command. “Because Black Pirates would have killed you all and taken everything .” She growled out, finally giving full force to the outright murderous anger that she felt for Belleza, and the Valuans.

That he felt.

Belleza mustered a weak, conciliatory smile and nodded once. “I see. Very well. I will not make that mistake again.”

“And because we’re such nice people, us Blue Rogues, you get to keep all of your food and water from your ship.” Vyse told her with forced cheer. “You’ll need it to make the trip back to Maramba, whereas we will be well on our voyage by the time you’re able to send for help and get a message back to your people. Keeps you out of our hair.”

“Fair enough.” Belleza conceded, throwing her hands up in surrender. “Just keep something in mind, Vyse. For one, nobody has ever crossed the Southern Ocean before. And two? The land you’re hoping to reach is called Ixa’taka. The Valuans know about it, and are already there. You’re coming in second in a one-man race.”

She was trying to get his dander up, Vyse knew. Trying to get him to blurt out something that she could use against them. She was a witch , and had been spying on them, using them. Lies and half-truths were her weapons, and they cut deep.

So he took a long moment to compose himself. Scratched at his chin. Yawned to hide a deep breath he took. “Don’t tell me that something’s impossible.” He countered. “It just makes me want to try for it even more. It’s a part of being a Blue Rogue, Belleza; Blue Rogues never give up.”

“I’ll remember that, handsome.” She smiled at him, still using the same pet word that she always had, regardless of persona.

Vyse nodded, looked to Aika and Fina. “Keep an eye on them, make sure they leave all their weapons behind when they get their rations out of their hold.” He set a hand on Fina’s shoulder. “If they try anything, don’t hesitate. Stop the threat. All right?”

The Silvite blinked twice, swallowed. Looked at the Moon Crystal in her arms. He could see when she was remembering just how close to death they had come less than an hour ago. Her face darkened, and filled with dreadful determination. And her eyes flashed silver, ever so briefly.

“I will.” Fina vowed. Vyse nodded, let them be as he went after Drachma to finish packing up the new and powerful engine that would get them across the Southern Ocean.

That, and that magic cannon the Lynx had used on them. It gave Vyse ideas.

***

Maramba

The Following Evening

With Admiral Belleza and her crew forced to wander out of the desert via the long and painful way of trudging through the shifting sands, the crew of the Little Jack had plenty of time to sail for Maramba, where they could make drydock and see to the business of shoving a warship-rated engine into the back end of a heavily modified fishing boat. There were complications, of course, but after tussling through the traps, monsters, and mechanisms of the Temple of Pyrynn, Vyse and the girls were itching for another fight. Drachma was less so, but his presence and iron tenacity kept them covered when they ended up being cornered by the Larso Gang...which consisted of one tough as nails musclehead and the young son of the former gang leader.

They were still chuckling about it while Aika and Vyse tweaked with their newest piece of gear down in the engine room.

“I still can’t believe that all that kid wanted to do was make carpets with his mom.” Aika snorted loudly, taking the wrench from Fina, who had elected to be an assistant, as she knew little about current engine design. In fact, she had made several faces already, and once muttered about their engines being ‘wasteful’ and ‘inefficient’. Not that she had any suggestions on how to make them any better; whatever the Silvites used was just too different.

“I thought it was adorable.” Fina offered hesitantly. “It was his father who enjoyed that lifestyle. Not everyone has the same goals, after all. Rupee seemed like a very sweet boy. I was glad that you encouraged him, Vyse. He should be able to make some wonderful tapestries when he gets older.”

“He even offered us a discount.” Vyse finally said, grunting as he finished ratcheting the vibration dampening coils into place around the engine. They’d had to refabricate the entire housing, and the sale of the Little Jack’s old engine had just barely covered the sale of the additional parts they had required. Aika had done her best to take every piece of gear she could think of to make the reinstallation easier, but the fact of the matter was they were doing a ship modification that nobody in their right mind would have ever tried.

But then, what was life without a challenge?

“Great.” Aika rolled her eyes. “We’ll come back in three years and get a discount, if Valua hasn’t taken over everything by then.”

“People will always need carpets.” Vyse suggested with a chuckle. “No matter what flag their ships fly.” He stood up and stretched out with a long groan, then cracked his back. “Damn.”

Aika looked over at him sympathetically. “With the size of this thing, it’s going to be a lot harder for you to stretch out in your hammock. It was crowded in here to begin with, and once we bring back in the moonstone stores…”

“I’ll figure something out.” Vyse said with a shrug. “Worst case scenario, I’ll hang up my hammock in the storeroom.”

“Maybe we should spend a little money while we’re still here in port. Get you something to make it more comfortable.” Aika mused. “A better blanket? An actual pillow, maybe?”

“Ah, I’ll be fine.” He tried to wave off the suggestion, but Aika got that stubborn, pouty look on her face.

“Look here, mister.” She shoved the wrench back into Fina’s hands before stabbing him in the chest with her finger as hard as she could. “There’s only one reason we got through any of the last few days alive, and it’s you. So when I tell you that you need to take better care of yourself, I expect you to listen!” The glare came on full force as she leaned in, forcing him to back up until his already abused spine had curved against the inactive moonstone engine. “You got it?!”

“Okay, okay!” He held up his hands in front of him in surrender. “Fine, I’ll go buy a damn pillow. Now, could you please check the pressure fittings that connect to the turbine shafts? Before we power this thing on, I want to be damn sure that we’re not going to over-torque and cause a blowout. An engine this size, if it lost compression, would blast the ship apart.”

“No doi, genius.” Aika rolled her eyes. “It’s why we had to spend so much on the refit. What, you thought I was going to re-use the old pipe fittings?” She gave him another shove for good measure, then checked the schematic charts they’d lifted from the Lynx’s engine room. “2500 Lunnabars, maximum output pressure for these engines. With something that powerful, you need at minimum 1.5 inch pipe rated at B1 Grade, or above.” She reached over and tapped the welds and pressure fittings she’d spent the morning working on. “These are Grade-A3. That’s Nasrian Fleet grade. And yes, I checked the stock before installing it. No warps, no obvious imperfections. We paid for quality, and that’s what we got.”

“And the Condensor?”

“Drachma said he got it overhauled in Valua during the Harpoon Cannon installation, so we’re good for another six months.” Aika paused. “Five months and three weeks. Give or take. Although, depending on how much hard sailing we’re looking at getting across the Southern Ocean? Might want to halve that and err on the side of caution.”

“Um. So, you’ve...done a lot of engine repairs, then?” Fina asked cautiously.

Vyse chuckled and decided to give Fina a bit of slack. He slung an arm over Aika’s shoulders and turned them to look at Fina.

“Well, being Blue Rogues, we can’t exactly dock at most places in Mid-Ocean to make repairs, so we learned to be a little more self-sufficient. Aika here was helping out with repairing the Albatross back when we were 12. She learned how to repurpose a lot of Valuan tech as well, which is why after we get done with this, she’s also going to be installing that magic cannon we swiped as well.”

“And that, Fina, I expect you to help out with.” Aika said. “I...I can do a lot, but you need to make yourself useful around here as well.” Vyse caught a little bit of a hitch in her voice and looked over at her. Was she blushing? Sometimes she ran hot and cold, but Aika really needed to learn how to take a compliment.

Fina wasn’t discouraged in the least, she just smiled and bowed slightly. “Of course. After everything that’s happened, I have accepted that trouble will follow us. I don’t think I would be able to learn about your engines, but...I am happy to gain some understanding with your weapons.”

“Aika, if you need any more help, let me know.” Vyse said, wiping his hands off onto a grease towel. “I need to finish going over our provisions.”

“You worried about what that crazy fortune teller lady said?” Aika asked. “I’ll admit, she was super cryptic. Mind the currents, you cannot fight them forever? The hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means whatever you want it to.” Vyse shrugged, giving the two women a wink. “That’s the trick to fortune telling.”

***

The Southern Edge (Just off the Star Sand Discovery)

11 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Evening

The Valuan engine was eventually installed. The trick was tuning its powerful cycles to match up with the Little Jack’s maneuvering fins and driveshaft, so that the ship wouldn’t shake itself to pieces or shear off. Aika, long a student of converting Valuan ship parts into a workable hash, thrived under the assignment, even earning a bit of rare praise from Drachma and a giggling smile from Fina that made her blush shyly.

She practically glowed when Vyse said she was the best mechanic he knew of, and he didn’t miss that, even though he didn’t comment on it. He couldn’t.

His own head and heart were still too jumbled up to be of any use to anyone beyond the mission. So that was what he did; he stuck to the mission.

They were anchored onto the last solid piece of land that was visible. To the east was a massive sky rift that seemed to stretch on for forever, where it was said that a ghost town called Esparanza resided. Another place he had never been, a place he couldn’t go to yet. Behind them to the north lay the mountain ridge that separated the lands of the Red Moon, and to the south…

To the south lay the Southern Ocean, a swath of sky filled with storms and cyclones that seemed to stretch on to eternity. And tomorrow morning, they were sailing into it, with no real idea of how long it would take them to cross it.

Vyse refused to air the notion that they couldn’t, that the Southern Ocean of storms was impassable. It went against everything he believed in. But he had one last thing to do before they departed.

The long-simmering font of his anger could not be held back any longer, and there was one member of his team that he hadn’t yet decided the fate of.

The fact that they were on his ship? Didn’t even factor in.

***

There were two cabins on the Little Jack , and Drachma, naturally, used the largest one for himself. Aika and Fina had been assigned the other one, each splitting the bunk bed. It meant that in the dead of night, Drachma could be assured of some peace and quiet, and he was dead to the world when Vyse picked the lock on his door and snuck inside. The old man was dead to the world...right up until Vyse scraped the edge of his first cutlass across his whetstone.

The old sailor’s eye shot open and he lurched to a half sitting position, his arm coming up to wallop the intruder. He stilled when he caught sight of Vyse, lounging on the locked sea chest and bathed in a moonbeam that shone through the cabin’s porthole.

“Boy.” Drachma tried to growl out. “What in blazes are ye’ doing in…”

“You and I need to talk .” Vyse snapped back, low enough that his voice wouldn’t carry, heated enough that the interruption stopped Drachma’s drowsy protests dead in its tracks. He scraped his cutlass across the whetstone again, with practiced movements he’d spent years perfecting. “Now sit up, captain .”

Vyse could have sworn he saw Drachma shiver for a bit before he did so.

“You left us.” Vyse said. He was in no mood to dance around the issue. Drachma, to his credit, kept silent. “You. Left . Us. One rumor, one , about Rhaknam, and you abandoned me and the girls in a distant port to fend for ourselves. With the Valuans at our backs and out for our blood, and the three of us without any means of securing a ship of our own. You could argue that leaving us in a port city is different than a deserted island, but that’s just sugarcoating what you did. You marooned us.”

“I came back.” Drachma muttered, though he couldn’t meet Vyse’s eyes as he said it. Vyse snarled through his nostrils. The old man couldn’t hide his guilt, even from himself.

“You should never have left in the first place.” Vyse went on, somehow finding the will to keep his tone of voice even. He wanted to scream and yell, but he didn’t. Because his father never had.

Because Blue Rogues didn’t.

“Because you marooned us in Maramba, we were forced to rely on the help of a stranger . A woman that suckered us in with kind words, the offer of a free ship ride, and who turned out to be the most poisonous viper in that nest of snakes. Because you abandoned us , Aika, Fina, and myself had to take on the Temple of Pyrynn on our own. The traps? The monsters? Even a freaking treasure hunter who loved explosives? By the time we got out of there, we were exhausted . Because we were exhausted, Admiral Belleza and her forces were able to overpower us. Take the Moon Crystal. Summon that Moons-damned Gigas to kill us before using it to try and take over the world.”

“But we stopped it. I saved you all, we stopped it, and we won.”

Vyse stopped sharpening his cutlass and hurled it across the room at Drachma’s head. The old man yelped and ducked to the side as the blade embedded into the wall with a hard thwack , and stared at it. He was worried. Good. Not like Vyse had actually planned on killing him; if he hadn’t moved, it would have just come within a few inches of his ear. Vyse lunged forward, and by the time Drachma had recovered, he found Vyse shoving him back against the headboard with his second cutlass wedged uncomfortably into the shoulder joint of his mechanical arm.

The threat was there; move, and Drachma lost the arm he fought with. Drachma didn’t move.

“It shouldn’t have come to that!” Vyse hissed, and let the thin veil of control slip free. He was angry, and he finally let Drachma see it. The sight of the old man’s face going pale was prettier than a portrait. “You should have been there with us. We should have been able to just fly and search for the Temple ourselves . If you had been there, if you hadn’t left us , Belleza, at best , would have only been able to try and follow us at a distance! But because of your stupid vendetta for Rhaknam, they almost won today. We were almost killed .” He bared his teeth. “I. Almost. Lost them. ”

It was the unsteady breathing that must have signaled to Drachma that he could finally speak up. “No apology I give is going to be good enough for you, lad.”

“How can I trust you?” Vyse countered heatedly. “You need to give me an answer, Drachma, because right now, I can’t . Right now, we’re in a race to stop Valua from getting the tools they need to take over the world. To stop the end of the world. And there’s nobody else helping us. It’s me, and Aika, and Fina, and that’s it. I thought I could count on you too, until you pulled this bullshit stunt. So give me a reason why I can still trust you, and it had better be the best damn answer you’ve ever given in your long, miserable life. Because if it isn’t good enough, if you can’t get me to take you out of the ‘liability’ category you’re currently marked in my mind as, then I swear by the Moons, I will do to you what you did to us .”

Vyse flicked his head towards the porthole. “We found Maroon Isle before we laid anchor. Easiest thing in the world to dump you there with water, bread, and a pistol with a single bullet to shoot yourself in the head with when you decide to end it.”

Drachma cocked his head to the side, considering Vyse. There something in how the old man looked at him that seemed to measure him up.

“You would actually do that.” Drachma rumbled softly. “And you wouldn’t do it because you’re angry, no. You wouldn’t do it because you’re afraid. You’d do it because of them.”

“My crew always, always comes first.” Vyse said. “When I took the captain’s oath before my father, I swore on the Code of the Blue Rogues to look after them. Protect them.”

Drachma shut his eye. “You make a better captain than I did then, lad.”

“Why? Because of the Code?”

“No. Because your crew’s still alive.” Drachma muttered, and Vyse blinked. When Drachma opened his eyes again, there was resolution there, a fatigued acceptance.

The fires of vengeance had been banked, in Drachma’s eyes, and also in Vyse’s heart.

“You’ve been sailing my ship for days now.” Drachma sighed. “You want a reason to keep me around? Here it is. Starting tomorrow...I’ll take orders from you . You want to lead? I won’t stop you. This is your quest, I’m just along for the ride. Where we’re headed, we all need to be on the same page. No apology I give will make up for what I did to you three. All I can do is try to never do it again.”

“...You actually do regret it.” Vyse realized.

“A minute after I left port.” Drachma admitted. “I was too much of a coward to come back and apologize, though. Kept arguing with myself the rest of the day and all night, when I saw the Lynx prowling around in the stone reef.” The old man pointedly glanced over to the sword pressed up against his shoulder joint. “You mind?”

Vyse finally pulled the cutlass back and yanked his first one out of the wall, backing away from Drachma fast afterwards as the old man rolled his shoulder to test it out. Drachma gave him a look after. “You scurried fast, lad. Forgot you had it there?”

“No.” Vyse said. “I just figured you might try to punch me again.”

“It’s bad form to go punching your captain.” Drachma harrumphed, cracking a wry grin. “Just don’t be threatening me again, boy.”

“Don’t give me a reason to.”

“Heh. Fine.” Drachma rolled his eye. “Just don’t be expecting me to give up me bunk. You may be leading, but it’s still my ship.”

“An old man like you needs all the sleep he can get just to keep up with us.” Vyse snorted, as they fell back into taunting banter. “Keep the damn bed.” He tucked his cutlasses back into their scabbards and retrieved his whetstone from the floor.

“So. Can you trust me, lad?”

“Depends.” Vyse said. “Do you trust me enough to care more about the crew you have now, than the crew you lost to Rhaknam before?”

“Aye.” Drachma said, after a pause. “And if we get the chance, if it doesn’t interfere with your mission…”

Vyse exhaled, nodded once. “Yes. We’d help you.”

Drachma nodded, and slumped back into his bed. “Get some sleep, boy. Tomorrow comes early.”

Vyse left Drachma’s quarters behind, heading for the storeroom where he’d rehung his hammock. The new engine was loud enough he could hear it through the wall at the same volume the old one had run at.

Tomorrow, they faced the Southern Ocean.

His crew was ready for it.

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Nine: Sea of Storms

The Southern Ocean

14 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Sailors who have only patrolled the shipping lanes between Valua, Nasr, and the rest of Mid-Ocean have no idea just how different the Southern Ocean can be. By the third day into their voyage, sailing against strong headwinds, Fina looked absolutely terrible. Not that Aika didn’t sympathize; the ongoing storms kept them from going out on the deck most of the time.

We’re only three days sailing into the Southern Ocean. Have we made any headway at all?

Vyse and Drachma took turns at the helm, and Aika realized that the old man and her partner were actually getting along. When did they work that out? Whatever they said to each other while she wasn’t looking, it really wasn’t any of her business. She was just glad that Drachma wasn’t backhanding Vyse like the crazy one-eyed geezer had when they first met up.

There were no landmarks for them to go off of. Once the coastline of the Nasrian lands had faded into the clouds, there was only the sky rift to their starboard and their compass for orientation.

And the winds. The moaning, howling winds. Vyse wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, he was stubborn even beyond what the Code called for, but she could tell that he was more than a little cowed by what they were going up against. It was like the entire world was pushing back against them, as the blowing gale from the swirling typhoons they could just make out ahead threw off such strong headwinds that their airspeed was cut in half. Today, though, was especially bad. They were moving at about a quarter of their normal airspeed.

The conditions were bad enough that she moved down to the engine room, investigated the moonstone furnace, then the impellers and the driveshafts. They were all running hot, and she slathered them with extra grease so the metal didn’t overheat and cause the engine to seize up and turn itself into slag. She could say one thing about the Valuans; they knew how to make a decent engine. With the rattling and shaking that the Little Jack ’s suffering, she tried to do most of the maintenance at arm’s length, even using a wooden mixing stick to put on the grease. There was a reason she never wore loose clothing. If Fina had come down in that stupid loose dress of hers while she was working on the active engine , she would have yelled at the Silvite and forced her to clear out.

Fina never did come down into the engine room, though.

***

16 Days After The Grand Fortress Escape

In the morning, Aika groaned and rolled out of her bunk, only half-expecting to see Fina still up in the top bed. That had been the pattern when they’d been sailing through Mid-Ocean towards Maramba; Fina slept in, Aika woke with the sun.

Now, though, Fina was like a bundle of nervous energy. Or just nerves. The second morning in their voyage, she’d found the girl running wind sprints up and down the steps at the ungodly hour of five bells. The fourth morning, Fina had been peeling potatoes for a breakfast that never quite got eaten, thanks to a sudden squall that took all of them to ride out safely.

Aika sighed when she found the bunk empty and the bed made. Discipline was good to have on a ship, but Fina took neatness to an almost compulsive level. Like it would kill the blonde to leave her bed unmade one stinking time.

“All right, Princess, what are you doing this morning?” Aika muttered balefully. She took care of her chamber pot, splashed some water in her face, brushed her hair out and tied it back into her usual pigtails, and got dressed for the day. In all, it only took her about five minutes.

The winds were still blowing away, but there was actual sunlight for once. After a perfunctory search of the lower decks and the wheelhouse, where a less-than-perky Drachma gave her a grunt and reminded her to kick Vyse out of bed if he didn’t report for helmsman duty at seven bells, Aika found the only other girl on their tiny little ship out on the foredeck, her pet Cupil slowly hovering around her. The thing was shimmering blue, but Fina wasn’t paying it any attention. She just kept staring to the south, to the distant cyclones that spun on in the distance without a care for the four souls trying to sail around them.

“You’re up early.” Aika ventured carefully. “Again.”

“I’ve slept enough.” Fina said, soft as ever. She didn’t look back at Aika, and the sense of alarm built up a little higher in the redhead’s mind. “How is the engine doing?”

“Holding up, but we’ll need to find some place to anchor. In a few days, if we can.”

“I’m not sure there’s a place like that out here.” Fina sighed. “But we’ll keep our eyes open.”

“Hey.” Aika walked up next to her, put a hand on the other girl’s shoulder. “Are you all right?”

Fina flinched at her touch, and when she looked over to Aika, the Blue Rogue could see the heavy bags under her eyes, and a twitchiness that Fina had never shown before.

Fina stiffly stepped away from Aika. “I’m fine.”

“But…”

“I’m fine. ” Fina repeated, with a touch of heat in her voice.

“Okay. Okay.” Aika said, going for a reassuring tone. Something was eating at Fina, she knew that much. But if the girl wanted to keep it to herself, that was her business. Aika hated the people who kept prying at things that they had no right to get involved in. Still, she had to do something to get Fina’s mind off of whatever was chewing at her. “So, tell me more about the Green Lands. What did that bitch of an admiral call them? Ixa’taka?”

“The Green Civilization.” Fina nodded, and her face seemed a little less gaunt as she drew in a breath and went into ‘teaching mode’, as Aika liked to think of it. “The Green Moon is associated with growth, renewal, vitality, and healing. The lands beneath it…”

Aika leaned on the railing, giving Fina half of her attention while she considered what challenges they might have to prepare for over the rest of the day.

She’d have to come up with something for the four of them to do that didn’t involve maintenance and sailing to improve the morale.

***

Mid-Afternoon

Aika’s first idea was to play games. For lack of a more open spot to play in, and due to always needing someone at the wheel to drive the Little Jack while they continued south, they sat down around the stairs in an odd L formation, with Drachma tending the helm while Vyse sprawled out at an angle to Fina, and Aika sitting on the stairs sidewards in case she needed to run down towards the engine room suddenly. Drachma and Vyse switched off every hand, while Aika and Fina were permanent players in the three-man game of ‘Sailor’s Hand’.

Fina glanced over the top of her cards, glancing between Vyse and Aika with a scrutinizing stare. She tried to be surreptitious, but Aika still caught her tells. The Silvite was still too distracted and unfocused to manage her nonverbal cues, and she was trying to be sneaky, when she had no reason to be.

“I...I’ll take two.” Fina finally said, placing two cards facedown and sliding them over towards Aika and the deck. Aika hrrmed and drew two cards off of the deck, tossing them over to her. Vyse sat on his hand, his mouth giving away nothing. His habit of constantly wearing his telescopic goggle, however, allowed Aika to catch the small twitch in his eyebrow.

“I’ll keep what I’ve got.” Vyse said. Aika smiled. Yeah, try and bluff me.

“In that case, I’ll take...three.” Aika said, and Vyse glanced up to her once.   That’s right, I have a pair. Or that’s what I want you to think. She didn’t, though; she held onto an ace and a king. And the three she got from the deck…

Two pairs, deuces and kings.

They weren’t playing for stakes, mostly because Fina had nothing to bet with, although Aika wouldn’t be surprised if Vyse wasn’t also afraid of losing his shirt. This was her preferred game, after all.

“I call.” Aika said, glancing to the other two. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Vyse led off. “One pair.” He grunted.

Aika grinned and laid down her own hand. “Two pair. Can you beat that, Fina?”

The Silvite made a face and laid her own cards down. “No.” Aika was about to crow in victory until she caught sight of the blonde’s hand. No face cards, not a straight…

But they were all cups.

“...You’ve got a flush, Fina.” Aika ground her teeth together.

“What’s that?”

Vyse laughed and slapped his knee. “It’s when all of your cards are in the same suit. And yes, it’s good. It means you win.”

“Beginner’s luck.” Aika muttered, picking up the cards and shuffling them all back together again.

“Boy, get up here.” Drachma snapped out, and the moment of levity was snapped in a heartbeat. “I need another set of eyes, and it’s gettin’ dark.” In a flash, Vyse was up on his feet and racing to the front of the wheelhouse, hissing as he stared out of the window.

“Damn. Another cyclone?”

“Aye. We’ll have the devil’s time gettin’ around this one.”

“Yeah. I’m seeing its rotation.” Vyse tapped his boot on the decking, then glanced back to Aika. “How’s the engine? And our fuel supply?”

“Running warm, and we’re burning through our moonstone fuel faster than I thought we were going to.” Aika said, already not liking how he phrased the question. When Vyse started asking for details, it meant he was coming up with a crazy idea. The look he sent her made her swear and go running for the engine room to coax it through the ordeal.

His solution was certifiably crazy. Nobody else would have thought to fly into the outer layer of a cyclone and ride it to squeeze off extra momentum before bursting free and coasting further on to the south. They actually made good time for a few hours after that.

Aika was too tired afterwards to do more than bring Vyse a cold sandwich and a drink while the sharp-eyed Blue Rogue kept them flying through the night shift. Fina was already up in her own bunk when she shuffled into their quarters, a lump buried under the blankets.

She was too tired to give more than a moment’s notice to her friend.

Too tired to recognize the girl’s sniffling for what it actually was.

***

The Southern Ocean

19 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

They had pushed the Little Jack hard and fast, but after a week of rotating shifts, harrowing escapes through a field of never-ending cyclones, and constant gale-force winds, they finally sighted a small patch of barren, rocky land at the lower edge of middle sky. It was barely four times as large as their ship itself, but somehow it stubbornly held position in spite of the buffeting winds. With the ship’s standard anchors of no real use in the high winds, the Harpoon Cannon was given new purpose; charged only to an eighth of its usual strength, the shot burrowed the spiraling prong far enough into the rock to act as an effective cam anchor without destroying the rocky island outright. They’d eased off on the throttle until the rope’s slack was gone and waited for an agonizing five minutes before determining that neither they, nor the stubborn little rock, was going anywhere. Only then, much to Aika’s relief, did Drachma and Vyse finally kill the power to the engines, allowing the Little Jack to rest. They all slept like the dead, and it was ten bells the next morning before Aika finally dragged herself out from underneath the covers and mustered to the galley.

Drachma was still sleeping, but Vyse was there, peeling loqua fruit and downing brewed tea as fast as he could make it. He seemed barely awake, in spite of the caffeine.

“You look like hell, Vyse.” Aika observed, grabbing a mug and stealing his next brewed cup for herself.

“Why, thank you.” He said, rolling his eyes at her as she sat down across from him. He was still tired, but a full night’s rest, with the relief of knowing that the ship was moored properly had drained a lot of tension out of him. “Got any plans today?”

“Just making sure we didn’t burn the engine or the driveshafts out. You know. The usual, making sure we don’t die out here.” Aika snarked back at him. “You?”

“While we’re anchored, I thought I’d go make an examination of the foredeck and the outer parts of the ship. It’s a miracle we haven’t been blasted by debris, but with as much hidden armor plating as this ship has, I wouldn’t put it past this stupid permanent weather pattern to blast us with a lightning bolt or two.” He rubbed at his chin. “Not every shudder we felt over the last few days was just from gusting winds, I imagine.”

“Oh, joy. Just what I wanted to hear.” Aika groaned. “Should I get Fina to check around inside of the Little Jack , make sure we haven’t picked up any holes?”

“If she’s up.” Vyse shrugged. The way he nonchalantly shrugged off giving Fina mandatory work rankled Aika.

“If she’s up? If she’s up? ” She pushed away from the table and glared at him. “What, like she’s special? That she doesn’t have to chip in if she doesn’t feel like it? ”

Vyse just stared back at her, not shocked, not really surprised at all. Just chewing away at his breakfast. She opened her mouth to start another rant, but stuttered to a stop when he raised a hand, took a long drink of his tea, and cleared his throat.

“Did you know Fina hasn’t been sleeping that much?” Vyse asked her. “I get the feeling that where she comes from, her people don’t deal with a lot of storms. So far, the Southern Ocean has been just...one, giant, unending typhoon, with the rain being optional. I hear her at night sometimes. Pacing. Checking on things. Sometimes, I’ve even gone out and stayed up with her for a bit to try and tire her out enough to sleep after.”

Aika gripped the edge of the table hard. Oh, she was fuming. Trying to tire her out? What the hell was Vyse doing to tire her out ? That...that hussy , hiding behind that sweet face of hers, charming Vyse with her act, making him feel like some kind of heroic knight saving the damsel?

“Aika.” Vyse sighed. Aika came back to herself, growled.

“What?” She snapped at him. He gave her another one of his patented ‘don’t look at me like that, you’re getting angry for no good reason’ expressions. “What , Vyse?”

He reached across the table, grabbed hold of her wrist. Surprise made her relax enough for him to tug her around the galley’s small table and then pull her fist open, resting his hand in hers.

Vyse squeezed her hand gently. “Something is wrong with her, I can feel it. But she never gives me a straight answer.”

“And what, you think she’ll tell me?” Aika rolled her eyes.

“Maybe. You’ve got a lot of heart, Aika. And you wear it out on your sleeve for everyone to see.” He stood up, swallowed the last of his breakfast. Before she could react, he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ve got to get to work. Do what you can for her. Maybe show her how to do some other things around the ship so she can stay busy.”

Her face bright red as her forehead tingled, Aika nodded mutely. Vyse smiled at her one last time, then took off to manage his chores.

Aika rubbed at her lips with her fingertips, trying to mirror the warm tingling she felt above her eyes.

You missed.

***

The Little Jack ’s new engine had been run hard, and it turned out to need a reprieve just as badly as its crew had. Aika had been forced to take some of it apart so she could clean out and re-lubricate the interior components. The driveshafts, thankfully, just took a little more grease before they were back in shape. The issue of Fina, she ignored at the start, and by the time she got through her work, it was completely forgotten. Until she found the Silvite girl working in the lower decks, hanging up wet laundry on a clothesline strung along the hallway. Aika went facefirst into one of Drachma’s shirts and squawked in protest.

“Oh, sorry!” Fina’s footsteps shuffled over to her, and the garment was pulled away to show the blonde’s worried face. “This seemed like the best place to do this. You were down in the engine room, and Captain Drachma would never have allowed it up in the wheelhouse, and the storage…”

“I get it.” Aika grumbled, rubbing at her head and ducking under the clothesline. Staring at all the clean laundry just reinforced how grubby her own clothes had gotten, which made her scowl all the more. “I just wasn’t expecting it.”

Fina fidgeted at that. “I have to do something. I figured that doing laundry was...something useful.”

“It never hurts.” Aika admitted, letting her scowl slip away. She wanted to stay angry, but right then she was just too tired to build up a full head of steam. And she remembered what Vyse had tried to drive into her head when she’d stolen his tea in the morning. To try and take a chance.

So she quieted her own thoughts and looked at Fina. Really looked at her.

The girl looked so tired , for one thing. And she was fidgety, shifting her weight back and forth while her eyes danced around. Looking for... looking for what?

“Fina.” Aika said, watching and taking notice when the girl nearly jumped out of her skin. The howling of the winds outside was strong and omnipresent, the Little Jack rocked unsteadily in the gale.

And then Aika understood, and felt guilty. She reached a hand out to Fina’s elbow. Smiled. She couldn’t come at the Silvite directly. “I need to get changed into some clothes that aren’t coated in sweat and engine oil. Afterwards, though, do you think you could help me out with something?”

Fina brightened up instantly. “Certainly!” And she actually seemed pleased about it. Pleased to be useful.

Or distracted.

***

Much to Aika’s relief, a thorough examination of the ship’s interior revealed no blast-through damage from the Southern Sea. Given how many repairs they’d had to do after the fight with Admiral Belleza’s ship, it was a welcome victory. There was one blown-out porthole in Drachma’s cabin, but they had the supplies to board it up on hand, and Fina’s pet Cupil showed just how versatile it actually was; the small creature took on the form of a hammer.

It could have done the work itself, but after a bit of teasing from Aika, Fina had knuckled down and started on the hammering herself. Between the two, they had started a steady rhythm of companionable silence.

“This happens often then?” Fina asked, when they were both stopped and going for more nails. “Ship repairs?”

“More than you’d think.” Aika admitted with a weak laugh. “There’s more to being a Blue Rogue than sticking it to Valua. We do rescues, help out folks who can’t help themselves, and you’d be hard pressed to find a Blue Rogue who wasn’t a trader or merchant in their off time. So Dyne taught me, and Vyse to a lesser extent, the basics. Survival skills, how to handle minor repairs, search and rescue. Fighting was actually the last thing we ended up learning.”

“Really?” Fina was surprised by that, and paused with the next nail pressed up on the boarded window to look at Aika. “But you two are so good at it.”

Aika breathed and started pounding on her next nail. We weren’t always , she thought.

Fina fidgeted for a bit, then started hammering herself, mirroring the redhead’s pattern.

“You wanted to ask something.” Aika surmised, after their second nails of the round were driven in.

“I wasn’t sure if I should. It might not be polite.”

And there’s your opening , Aika told herself. She turned to face the blonde-haired girl.

“Tell you what, Princess.” She said to Fina. “You ask me a question, I ask you a question. Fair?”

She could tell that Fina was hesitant about it; the girl still loved to keep her secrets. But the time for secrets was done. They were in the crucible, Man Vs. Nature as the storytellers liked to put it, and there was no time for the distractions of half-truths and doubt.

The Silvite seemed to gird herself up, stood a little straighter, and nodded. “I go first?”

“If you want.”

“That...bounty hunter we ran into before we crossed the stone reef into Nasrian airspace. Piastol? The moment she saw the scar on Vyse’s face, she seemed to…” Her voice fell off, but came back stronger as Fina’s piercing blue eyes met Aika’s again. “How did Vyse get that scar?”

Aika laughed softly. An easy question. “He got it saving my life.” Fina raised both eyebrows, as if asking for an elaboration. “You want more than that, it’s another question.”

“I’ll risk it.”

“In that case...we were ten years old. It was our first real mission with Captain Dyne on the Albatross . We’d been sailing, carrying a load of goods to one of the smaller settlements in Mid-Ocean who didn’t feel like paying the Valuan import fees for what they needed to survive.” Aika set her hammer down and leaned back against the now repaired wall, folding her arms thoughtfully. “The charge we had them pay was less than the Valuan export tax, still a hefty amount, but still affordable.”

“I’m still new to money, but it seems ridiculous for Valua to put such a high tax on goods they would ship out.”

“Oh, that’s easy.” Fina snorted. “Before they went full-on mad power grab, they were still expanding their empire, they were just a touch more subtle about it. Why bother sending an armed fleet to demand that an island swear fealty to Valua and join the empire when you can just tax them to death for being a ‘foreigner’, and get them to beg to join just so they can be free of the export surtax?”

Fina’s face darkened as she realized another facet in the depth of Valua’s ambitions. “Join us or starve. Was that it?”

“Pretty much.” Aika shrugged. “It gets you the weak people...but the strong ones found other ways to get by. So there we were, sailing out, when we came across a Valuan warship that was burning to the keel along our shipping lane, listing heavily and ready to sink into the Deep Sky. Code of the Blue Rogues said we rendered assistance to those who needed it, so...we went. Full mobilization. Which included me and Vyse. When we got on board, though, we didn’t see any signs of air combat. No cannonfire damage at all. The decks and the halls were filled with corpses of Valuan soldiers, and we were just about to declare it a lost cause and get off the ship ourselves before we went down with it. Then out of nowhere, this girl in a dress came screaming at us and hurled a dagger right for me. Her aim was scary good. I would have ended up dead if Vyse hadn’t reacted, shoved me out of the way at the last second. A fatal blow for me became a glancing blow along the side of his face. She ran off before we could do anything else, and I figure that she died on that ship. My focus was in getting Vyse to our ship’s medic.”

Fina dug her toe into the decking. “Was the damage that bad?”

“No, not really.” Aika admitted. “The medic started to patch it up so it would be a lot thinner, but the stupid idiot got it into his head that he wanted to keep a scar out of the experience. Boys, right?” She rolled her eyes, and Fina giggled. “The jerk was insufferable for a month afterwards. He didn’t hold it over my head, no, but he strutted around, proud as a peacock. Kept saying he was a blooded Blue Rogue after that, until he finally worked on his father’s last nerve and Dyne threw him into combat training so that would never happen again. We were always friends, his family raised me until I was old enough to take care of myself, but after that, we were inseparable.”

Fina smiled as the story came to an end. “He’s very brave, isn’t he?”

“Brave? Yeah, although there are some days I think he’s more crazy than anything else. Still.” Aika chuffed. “Now, then. I believe I get two questions out of you , Princess.”

Fina sucked in a deep breath, preparing herself. “Okay.”

She must have thought she was ready. Aika went straight for the incendiary round. “Why can’t you sleep?” Fina flinched at it, and Aika knew she’d landed a bullseye.

“I...I don’t...I don’t want to answer that one.”

“We made a deal.” Aika growled out. Fina backed away from her, but Aika pushed off the wall and matched her step for step until Fina had backed up against the cabin door, unable to go further. She wasn’t going to let Fina worm her way out of this one. “You have to answer it.”

Fina shut her eyes, shook her head wildly. Cupil, who had been hovering by the plank in hammer form, changed back to his usual pudgy shape and skimmed over, wrapping himself around her wrist. Fina stroked her transformed pet several times...a nervous habit, Aika realized. She’d caught the girl doing it before.

“I know about bad weather.” Fina admitted. “We...I studied it, when I was growing up. But the Silver Civilization didn’t have to deal with storms like this. Like the thunderclouds over Valua. It’s just so much noise, and shaking, and movement. You’re used to it, you and Vyse and Captain Drachma. And I know that as long as you’re not worried, I shouldn’t be. But I can’t help how I feel about it. And at night, when you’re all quiet, and it’s just me and that terrible whistling and moaning , all the time, rattling the Little Jack ...”

Aika nodded once, stepped back. Gave her room to breathe, because Fina’s already pale skin was going paler as she kept talking about it.

“Okay.” Aika said, bringing her out of it. “Okay, that, I can work with. Second question. Why? Why are you trying to deal with this yourself?”

“Because it’s my problem.” Fina said stubbornly. “I promised myself I wouldn’t be weak. That I wouldn’t be useless. ”

Aika blinked. There was that word again. Useless. She had thought Fina was over it by now, but that wasn’t the case. There went her jealousy, flying out the window again to be replaced by shame. Moons, what was it about this girl that made her such a mess? She kept trying to hate her for being there, getting in the way of Aika’s attempts to win over Vyse, but then Fina would do something or say something that just...cleaned the board off.

“Which is why you keep running around, trying to do things. Because you’re trying to distract yourself.” Fina flinched at that remark, and Aika gave herself another mental fist-pump. Two for two. “But you’re not helping yourself, and you’re not helping us when you’re like this. Okay? You don’t have to deal with it on your own. We’re your friends. Your shipmates. And you’re not useless.” She held out a hand to the blonde. “Okay? You have a problem, don’t just sit on it. You come to us.” Aika paused, then shook her head as her envy flared up again. “No, scratch that. You come to me. ”

Fina’s sparkling blue eyes glistened from her earlier outburst. “Why?”

Aika paused for just half a second at that, long enough to keep from snapping out her flip response. Because I don’t trust you around Vyse. “Vyse and Drachma are plenty busy piloting the ship and keeping us from being blown off course. And besides, it’ll save me having to wake up and hearing you whimpering and keeping it all to yourself, Princess. ” She reached over and gently rubbed the top of the girl’s head through her silvery headdress.

Fina giggled and pushed her hand off. “Okay, okay. Next time.”

“Good.” Aika breathed out. Feeling time was over with. She was a lot better at good-natured ribbing.

“Why do you keep calling me Princess, anyways?” Fina pressed on. Aika groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Really? A third question? I don’t have another one prepared for you, Fina.”

“Then you could...hold onto it, I suppose. For when you do come up with one.” The Silvite pressed. “But I’m curious. I told you and Vyse that we don’t have nobility, we don’t have royalty. But you still keep referring to me by that title. Is it a term of endearment? Are you making fun of me?”

Aika sighed, walked back to the far wall with the boarded up window, and started picking up the ship repair supplies lying by it. “To be honest...probably a little of both.” She admitted, wondering right after why she was opening herself up this much. “I mean, there are times that I either want to yell at you or shake you around a little, but then I remember that you saved my life. I was dying, and...and you brought me back. ” She bit her lip at that. Damnit. “I told you before that you weren’t weak, that you weren’t useless. But then you go and do something like this, and I just want to scream because it never seems to stick in that big fact-filled brain of yours. So. No, I don’t hate you. You’re my friend.”

Aika finished packing up the supplies and hoisted them up, tucking the other board they hadn’t ended up using under her arm. She turned and looked back at Fina. “But even friends can get irritated with one another.”She let off a predatory smile. “Just ask Vyse how many times I’ve kicked his ass.”

Fina giggled again at that, the tense moment passed. They both started to breathe again. “Okay.” The Silvite bowed slightly. “Apology accepted.”

Aika’s cheeks puffed out indignantly. “I didn’t...Hey, that wasn’t an apology!” Fina just laughed, and Aika groaned as the other girl opened up the cabin door for her.

“Come on.” Aika said to her friend. “Let’s put this stuff away, and then how about I show you how to cook a proper meal?”

***

The Southern Ocean

31 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

In all, it took them nearly three weeks to brave the first leg of the voyage to Ixa’taka. Eventually, though, the stormclouds faded. The sea of typhoons slipped behind them, and with cold air coming off of the sky rift to their south, the Little Jack turned east into an entirely different ordeal. If they had thought the winds had been terrible before, they had sorely misjudged the strength of them. The typhoons had been fed by the powerful currents flowing from the west, and had actually worked as a buffer. Now, though, they were screaming down the length of a natural wind tunnel, and the ship struggled for every nautical mile. At least they could see where they were going; the moons battled for supremacy at night, with the purple moon, the silver moon, and the green moon all standing at various azimuths, but never with one of them dominant over the other. To the relief of Aika, who had continued to maintain the engine, this stretch of the Southern Ocean was dotted with far more floating patches of land, all of them worn down by the wind, sharpened and jagged with little natural growth. There were places to fire the Harpoon Cannon and anchor for much needed rest and repairs, but the leeward side of the stones were also home to some very disobliging creatures as well. Green Loopers and worse things besides became a perennial pain, and the four of them found themselves doing battle on the foredeck to protect their ship from the patches of monsters that came after the new presence. But after they were scared off and away, it became safe enough for them to try for some shut eye and take a tally of their progress.

The four of them stood around the charting wall in the wheelhouse, with Vyse sticking up a map he had been meticulously filling in over the whole of their voyage, including landmarks, distance, and dangers.

“We’ve turned a corner. Figuratively and literally.” Vyse started out. “I think we’ve entered into an entirely different zone of the Southern Ocean, although we have no idea how far it goes on for. Still, monster battles aside, the greater density of floating rock formations means that we can make more frequent stops...and there’s more wind and fewer tempests.” He glanced over to Aika. “How’s our fuel supply looking?”

“Not as good as I’d like.” Aika muttered, pulling up her own notebook. “We’ve been sailing for three weeks and so far we’ve gone through about 45 percent of our moonstone stores...that includes what we took off of Belleza’s ship as well. The fact is, based on yesterday and today’s readings, we’ll be consuming our fuel at one and a half times the rate we were before. The winds here are just too intense. With no idea of just how far this stretch of the journey is going to take, we’re going to need to figure out a way to sail smarter and reduce the load on the engine.”

“I know what’s causing it, at least.” Fina suggested. She was as pale as ever, though she was holding up. “The Lands of Ice are likely south of us, and the cold air is racing out and joining up with the warmer tropical currents coming off of the Green Lands. It’s the combination of the two that’s been making the weather this terrible.” She ducked her head. “Although I had no idea it would be this bad.”

Drachma stroked at his chin thoughtfully, the more seasoned sailor quickly searching for a solution. “Drafting.” He finally announced.

“Come again?” Aika blinked at his suggestion, caught off guard by the unfamiliar word.

“It’s something that birds and schools of skyfish do.” Drachma explained. “They fall in line behind a leader; the foremost creature takes on the brunt of the wind resistance, and partially shields those behind it. When it tires, it falls back and another one in the flight moves forward to take the lead position. It’s how they conserve energy when flying into headwinds. I think we could manage something similar ourselves.”

Aika watched as the gears in Vyse’s head began spinning, and he fell upon Drachma’s meaning with his usual flash of intuitive genius. The Blue Rogue laughed and slapped his knee. “Right! We’ll just draft behind all the islands in the current! We’ll island hop our way to Ixa’taka! Brilliant idea, Drachma.”

Aika leaned over and nudged Fina in her side. “See? Old people can have good ideas every now and then.”

“Oi!” Drachma barked out, as the two girls laughed at him. “All right, fine. Meeting’s adjourned with that, I’m thinking.” The old sailor patted Vyse on the shoulder and headed down the steps. “Fina! I could be usin’ a hand with the cooking.” Fina meeped in surprise and quickly started following his footsteps.

That left Aika alone with Vyse for a rare opportunity when there was nothing going on, and she ended up smirking a little. Of course Vyse went and ruined the chance by being all noble. He sighed loudly and looked at her. “How’s Fina doing?”

“Hanging in there.” The redhead told him. “I’m hoping that she’ll be able to turn it around some, now that we’re out of Typhoon Alley.”

“Typhoon Alley?” His eyebrow quirked up a little. “Is that what we’re calling it?”

“What, you had a better name for it?” She challenged him, cocking a fist at her waist.

“Maybe!” He said, but wilted when she kept staring at him. “Okay,  no, I didn’t have a better name for it.”

Aika let out a little noise of victory and leaned in towards him. The hell with it, she was going to go for it. Going for her most sultry expression, she reached a hand up and ran her fingers through his hair above his right ear. “See? You really ought to listen to me more. I’m just full of... good ideas.” The last part she whispered into his ear as she came in even closer, catching the smell of the hard soap he used to wash with.

Vyse shivered at her proximity, and stepped back away from her. “And terrible ones.” He deflected with a nervous laugh, rubbing a hand through his hair to muss it up the way he liked it. “You thought that we would burn to death out on the open desert by Maramba, but that didn’t happen.”

Disappointed, Aika lowered her arm and turned around, not really staring at the chart hanging there. “Vyse, you’re such an idiot sometimes.” She whispered.

“Eh? Did you say something, Aika?” Vyse quickly asked, confused.

She brushed a fingertip over her eyes once, then shook her head. “Nothing, Vyse. Just...talking to myself.”

“Well, enough woolgathering. I think we’ve got enough time before dinner to get some combat practice in.” Vyse happily changed the subject. “Want to duel with me, for old time’s sake?”

She did, of course, though not without some regrets. He really was clueless.

***

35 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

It was the dead of night, the Little Jack was clamped down two islands past the Sky Anenome they’d discovered, and the winds continued to howl away. It made getting to sleep an interesting proposition, but Aika had enough practice by now to gut through it.

At least, she would have, if it hadn’t been for another noise.

Fina was whimpering again. Aika put up with it for about two minutes, then groaned and kicked her foot into the bottom of the upper bunk, jarring her roommate.

“Fina. You okay?” She got no response from the other girl, and so she flung the blanket back and pushed herself up and out of bed. Aika stood up and looked at Fina, curled in around herself with Cupil wrapped around her head in the form of a pair of earmuffs. It had been an idea Aika had come up with a few nights back, when Fina said that the noises were still getting to her.

As Aika’s hand gently rocked her shoulder, Fina’s eyes snapped open. The Cupil earmuffs pulled back a little ways.

“They’re not helping?” Aika asked wearily. Fina’s eyes misted up as she shook her head.

“I can still feel it.” The blonde-haired girl whispered. “The ship, shaking. The wind, blowing us around. Like we’re going to be torn apart.” The tears came faster now. “I’m going mad, Aika. I just...I want it to be over. Please.”

“You know that’s impossible.” Aika pointed out. “We’ve probably got weeks ahead of us yet.”

Fina clamped her eyes shut at that. “Then...you have medicines, right? Could you just, give me something? Something so that I could sleep through all of this?”

Aika drew in a breath at that. They had painkillers, of course, but her training only allowed for their use in critical situations. Using them to put someone into a dreamless sleep…

“I can’t do that, Fina.” She told the Silvite carefully. “I won’t do that to you, I’m not going to turn you into an addict.”

“And this is better? ” Fina sobbed, dragging her fingernails across her face. Aika hissed in shock; she was digging into her skin hard enough to leave trails of red. Maybe even draw blood if she kept it up.

Aika’s resolve crumbled at that. She let out a sigh and climbed up the side of the bunk. “Scoot over.”

“Wuh...what?”

“Scoot. Over.” Aika repeated, making it an order. She was tired, and cranky, and just wanted to sleep . And Fina needed rest just as badly. So, there was only one way she could make it work.

Fina made room in the small bunk, and Aika slipped in behind her, pulling the blanket over them. She pulled the girl back against her chest, and Fina squeaked from the pressure of Aika’s hand against her stomach.

“Don’t think about the ship’s vibrations.” Aika yawned. “Can you feel my heart beating? Against your back?”

“Um...yes.” Fina whispered. She had been shaking at first but was now as stiff as a rail, while Aika’s toned frame and arms fairly melted around the curvier girl.

“Put your Cupil earmuffs back on, close your eyes, and just feel my heartbeat.” Aika said, already dozing off again. The bed was warm from Fina’s body heat, and with her nose pressed up against the back of Fina’s head, she could pick up the faintest scent of some flower; a remnant of the headdress she wore during the day. “And get some sleep already. I’m tired.”

“I’ll try.” Fina stammered out, and Cupil slipped back over her head again. She must have been more panicked than Aika had originally thought, because Aika could feel her thundering heartbeat through her hand, resting against Fina’s soft stomach.

Eventually, though, Fina finally did calm down. What little shaking she had left stopped. Her pulse evened out. Her breathing deepened.

Half asleep herself, Aika quirked her mouth up into a smile. Thank the Moons.

For a change, they both slept without incident. And Fina’s smile seemed a little brighter and a little less forced the next day.

***

40 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

“It seems like Fina’s doing a lot better.” Vyse said, one day while he and Aika were getting lunch ready. “She doesn’t seem as tired as she used to be, and she’s really picking up the slack around here.”

“Laundry is important.” Aika chuckled. “If she keeps it up, she might actually turn out to be a better crewmate than you , Vyse.”

“Ow. I might need some ointment after that burn.” The Blue Rogue said, wincing with a wink. “But seriously. What changed? What did you end up doing to help her?”

“Well…” Aika started, making a face. “You were right. About the weather. She’s never had to deal with storms like this. And if you and I find this whole trip daunting, it’s been a nightmare for her. But we figured out a way to help her get through the night.”

“Oh? What’s what?”

Aika paused, considering how best to phrase her answer. “Did you know Cupil can transform into things besides weapons? He’s been turning into earmuffs for her.”

“Wow.”

“I know, right? And when that isn’t enough, I just stay up and talk with her until she wears herself out.”

“Incredible.” Vyse chuckled. “Who knew you could be such a good caretaker?”

She shoved him in the shoulder. “Better me handling it than you.”

“What, you don’t think I could help her out with her problem?”

“You asked me to do it.” Aika pointed out sharply. “And if anything, I’m afraid that you’d help her out too much.”

He blinked a few times at that, leaned back away from her. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Her face burning, Aika looked away from him. “Nothing.”

She felt his hand come to rest on her shoulder. “Sure didn’t sound like nothing.” He muttered.

Aika pulled away from him, moved over to the stove and started a pot of water boiling. “It’s my problem. I’ll deal with it.”

***

45 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

It reached a point that Fina no longer needed to use Cupil to dampen the sound of the howling winds outside of the Little Jack , but that didn’t mean she was any calmer about it. She just took to other methods of distracting herself, and for a spell, she tried inane chatter.

“Aika?” Came her trembling voice, early one evening.

From the bunk below Fina’s, Aika let out a sigh and rolled onto her back, staring up at the wood of the top bunk. “What, Fina?”

“Um.” Shuffling noises. “Are you awake?”

“For Moon’s sake.” Aika grunted. She didn’t move, though. “I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”

A weak giggle. “I suppose.”

“What do you want , Princess?”

“I was...wondering about you. And Vyse. Um. That is.” Aika’s hands clenched around her blanket. “He...he looks at you. A lot. Especially when you’re distracted.”

Aika shut her eyes. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

“I know, I know it’s probably uncomfortable. It’s just…” A pause, then Fina sighed. A heavier fwump from above, like she was punching a pillow. Or squeezing Cupil. One sounded pretty much like the other. “The other day, he was smiling at me. He watches you, and he smiles at me.”

“Terrific.” Aika bit the word out. “Send me a wedding invitation.”

“A what?” The blonde’s puzzled voice floated down to her.

Aika groaned and rolled onto her side, facing the wall. “I really don’t want to talk about this.”

“But I can’t sleep.”

So Aika, her heart rattled, threw off the covers from her bunk and climbed up into Fina’s small bed. It was a sign of just how familiar the practice had become that Fina didn’t argue, or blush. She just scooted over and made room as Aika lay down behind her, and then pulled her in tightly.

“Just...shut up.” Aika mumbled. She knew she was crying. She figured if she didn’t say anything, that Fina wouldn’t be able to notice.

And yet, a minute later, the girl still reached a hand back over her shoulder, tracing the side of Aika’s cheek where her tears had been slipping down and soaking into the fabric of Fina’s gown.

“I’m sorry.” Fina whispered. “I didn’t...”

Aika sniffed once. “Go to sleep, Fina.”

“But…”

Aika pressed her head into the back of the other girl’s neck. “ Enough.”

And this time, Fina finally took the hint.

***

48 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Even though Vyse and Drachma had made drafting behind the various islands in the Southern Ocean an art form, it didn’t mean that there weren’t close calls. They had come to build up an assumption that every island that they came across stayed put , had enough mass and raw moonstone ore buried deep inside of it to keep it locked in the current like an anchor, even as they were weathered away.

One close encounter with a rotating, diamond-shaped remnant of an island that they had named ‘Comma Rock’ sobered them up in a hurry, and re-established an old paradigm that Drachma voiced after they’d fired the Harpoon Cannon to anchor to another island for the night.

“And that , lad, is why you never take anything for granted when you’re sailing.” The old man chuffed, throwing back his third shot of Valuan rye whiskey.

“Yeah, yeah.” Vyse stayed away from the harder stuff, sticking to the watered down ale that Aika had poured for him. Aika lifted up her own mug of the diluted alcohol and glanced over to Fina, who was delicately sipping at her own, but making faces every time she did so. “We’ll make a heck of a lot of money once we’re able to tell folks about it, though.”

“Ha!” Drachma poured himself another shot. Aika raised an eyebrow; the old man really was rattled, the way he was drinking like a fish. “And you say you’re not a Pirate.”

“We’re not!” Vyse said. “Blue Rogues are...we’re different!”

“Aye, your Code.” Drachma chuckled. “Relax, boy. You’ll be gettin’ no grief about it from me. I’ve known about Blue Rogues since they first got started up. I’m just obliged to give you a little grief every now and then, is all.”

“So you say.” Vyse muttered. “Aika said the engine was still holding up all right. The drafting seems to be working.” He glanced out the doorway of the galley, towards the stairs that went up. “The maps I’ve been charting will be worth a lot more, I’m thinking.”

“They may just be. Although, lad, you’ll have to ask yourself if it’s worth anybody’s time to come at the Green Lands the long way around, especially if Belleza wasn’t feedin’ us a pack of lies about Valua already bein’ there.” Drachma capped off the bottle of rye and set it back behind the serving counter, locking it into place. “Well. That’ll do it for me. You three finish cleaning up. I’ll fly the first shift tomorrow. Aika, I’ll come help ye look the engine over in the morning before we head out.”

“All right, captain.” Aika waved him off. “See you then.”

In the absence of the old man, the small talk gravitated towards the usual safe topics between the three. Aika put out her wild guesses about what Ixa’taka might be like, Fina asked about details of the world which still confused her, and Vyse got that starry-eyed look of his, dreaming about seeing things that nobody else had.  Then they played an old board game that Drachma somehow had stashed aboard. It was a children’s game, but Fina got a lot of enjoyment out of it. Aika wondered briefly why Drachma would keep something so silly and frivolous around when so much of his ship was based solely on utility and little in the way of creature comforts, but she kept forgetting to bring it up with him. Somehow, it was never important enough to remember.

They said their good nights, and Aika and Fina trudged into their room, starting the process of changing for a night’s rest.

That was when things got awkward. Aika could tell that Fina hadn’t forgotten their abruptly ended talk some nights prior, but the other girl had, to her credit, never started it up again. Of course, that might have had something to do with Aika threatening to just let the girl suffer through sleepless nights alone again. It still was a little irritating that she could be so hopelessly dependent.

“I can’t believe that you don’t know anything about what we’re flying into.” Aika pointed out. “Just what rock have your people been hiding under for so long?”

Fina removed her headdress, and her shoes. It gave her time to think, Aika realized. “The leaders of our people, the Council of Elders? I learned during my education that they chose to live separate from the rest of the world.”

Aika finished unlacing her boots and kicked them off. They flopped to the ground with much less grace than Fina had used. She reached for her hair ties next. “Why?”

“The Silver Civilization got tired of all the warfare between the other civilizations, back when the Gigas roamed Arcadia. So, we left them all behind, and hid away.” Fina gave Aika a sad smile at that. “It was that decision which probably saved my people when the Rains of Destruction came down. After that, there wasn’t enough of the Old World left behind, so the Silvite people just stayed away.”

“And watched.” Aika pointed out, undoing the last hair tie. The tangled mass of her shoulder length red hair came down in a bunched up mess. She made a face and reached for a comb. “What caused the Rains of Destruction anyways?”

“Legend says that it was a divine punishment from the Moons.” Fina intoned solemnly. “That humanity was judged and found wanting, and that the Moons sent down a torrent to wash it all away. One thing that we did know for certain was that the Moon Crystals were developed, and used, by every Civilization to power their ancient war beasts, the Gigas. The rise of the Gigas immediately preceded the Rains of Destruction. Thus, if we can retrieve the Moon Crystals and lock them away where the Valuans can never reach them? Then we will be able to prevent the Rains from happening a second time.”

“And that’s exactly what we’re going to do, Fina.” Aika said, sitting down on the edge of her bunk and starting the process of brushing it out.

Fina came over and sat beside her. “Let me help you with that.”

“You’d brush out my hair?” Aika blinked in surprise.

“You’ve been holding me every night so I can sleep through this terrible voyage.” Fina pointed out, extending her hand. “I feel like I should do something to make it up to you.”

Aika gave it about two seconds’ worth of consideration before she nodded and handed the brush over, then turned and sat on the bed so Fina could get at it more fully.

The Silvite combed slowly at first, cautiously, then over time gained speed and confidence in her brush strokes. Aika found her eyelids fluttering shut.

“This is nice.” She yawned, a minute later. “Nobody’s brushed my hair out for me since I was a little girl.”

“Your mother?”

“No. Vyse’s mother.” Aika murmured. “I don’t remember my mother ever brushing my hair out much. I don’t remember her all that well. I guess we have that in common.”

“It always felt wonderful when my hair was brushed.” Fina said.

“Who brushed your hair out, if you didn’t know your parents?”

There was a momentary pause in the brush strokes. “A friend of mine. But he’s gone now.”

Aside from a soft goodnight as the two separated and got into their own bunks, those were the last words they said to each other that night. But something kept Aika from slipping into sleep completely.

Two hours later, when Aika heard Fina begin to whimper as the winds picked up, she crawled up into the blonde’s bed and held her close, like she always did. And then they both slept.

***

61 Days after the Grand Fortress Escape

They noticed a change in the current of the Southern Ocean during the seventh week of their voyage. The air became less chilly and more humid, and the intensity started to die down a little. After clearing Beak Rock, as Vyse named one decorously shaped island formation, the islands dissipated as well. It meant less overall wind resistance for them to fly against, but without the aid of the drafting techniques that they had been using for weeks, the beginning of more solid days and nights of sailing. This time, they were ready for it though. Drachma took the night shift, Vyse flew in the day, and Aika and Fina managed the maintenance of the Little Jack , making the meals, cleaning clothes and everything else that had to be done.

Aika felt like her unspoken bond of deeper friendship with Vyse had hit a wall. She kept hinting at wanting something more, and he either acted clueless, or pulled away from her. In everything else, he was flawless. Direct and confident at the helm of the ship, or in charting their course, and in combat. Drachma...well. The old man never changed. Maybe that was why she liked him so much. When he wasn’t offering suggestions couched as orders, or hoisting up sailing advice for how to endure long voyages, he pretty much kept to himself.

Fina, on the other hand…

“Aika?” The Silvite said from behind Aika, as she and the redhead were tallying their moonstone fuel supply one afternoon.

“Hm? What is it, Fina?” Aika asked, her mind more focused on the tallies. She was frowning at the numbers. “We’d better find land soon. At our current rate of consumption, we’ve got about another week and a half...two weeks at the most, before we exhaust our moonstone fuel supply.”

“We will.” Fina said confidently. “The winds have changed. You’ve felt how humid it’s become? And how the skies are grayer, more full of rain?”

“Um. Sure?” Aika finally glanced up from her clipboard and frowned. “Is that a good sign?”

“It means we’re coming under the control of the lands of the Green Moon, which is governed by growth and healing. The lands here have always been fertile. The cold winds from the south are gone.”

“Something you should tell Vyse tomorrow then. I don’t suppose you have a more accurate prediction for our arrival?”

Fina shook her head. “Sorry, but no. What I studied is…”

“Out of date.” Aika waved off the apology. “Yeah, I know.”

Fina nodded once, and bit her lip. “Um. There was something else, too.”

“What?”

“With the winds dying down...I think I’m beginning to relax a little bit more.”

“Oh?” Aika tilted her head a little. “That’s a good thing, right? I mean, you’ve pretty much been a nervous wreck. Now things can get back to normal!”

“Normal?” Fina brushed a hand along the side of her head, pushing the edge of her veiled headdress back. “Right. Normal.” She frowned a bit. “I...I wanted to thank you.” Aika blinked, and Fina eventually elaborated. “For weeks now, you’ve been...keeping an eye on me. Helping me through this. It might have been an irrational fear, but you got me through it.”

“Oh.” Aika blinked several times more. “Well. You’re welcome. I mean, what was I going to do? Not help you? You’re a member of this crew.”

“So, crewmembers sleep next to other crewmembers and let them focus on their heartbeat so they’ll stop thinking about how the winds are threatening to tear their ship apart?” Fina asked with wide eyes.

Aika blushed a little. “No, a cremember wouldn’t. But a friend would.”

And Fina smiled. “I’m glad that we’re friends.”

Aika snorted a little, a little awkward at the strange situation. She bumped Fina’s hip with her own and smirked. “Maybe not as good a friend as Cupil, though. I’ve seen how you squeeze him half to death sometimes.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Fina pouted a bit as she righted herself. “Cupil can be a very cuddly pet.”

“And a sword. And a cone projectile. And earmuffs, and apparently a body pillow…” Aika pointed out, ticking off her fingers. They stared at one another and then fell into laughter.

Fina wiped at her eyes when she was done. “Still. Thank you. You’re a very warm person, Aika.”

“I’m going to remember you said that, the next time you complain about me training you too hard.” Aika chuckled.

The next day, there were leaves in the wind. They slapped against the wheelhouse windows, a promise of land beyond the haze of rainclouds.

***

The Green Lands of Ixa’taka

66 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Nearly two months of hard sailing had left the Little Jack in desperate need of a complete drydock and servicing overhaul. Their moonstone stores were down to the dregs, and their food supply was...well. Questionable. Vyse had made a joke as they fixed a meal of old and wormy bread about ‘the lesser of two weevils’, which Aika had promptly smacked him upside the head for.

To their relief, Ixa’taka was less of what Aika had fever-dreamed, and more what Fina had portrayed; a land of endless forests and peerless bounty. They had anchored the Little Jack next to a floating island...staying well clear of a Valuan patrol ship that lingered around a tall, dome-like mountain in the southern portion of the landscape. Hiding on the other side of that land, they waited for daylight to continue exploring the unfamiliar landscape, and feasted on the hanging fresh fruits of the island they were docked with.

And at night, when everyone finally settled into bed? There was no bucking and rattling of the hull, no whistling, piercing moaning of the wind. Just a gentle rain. Aika hit her pillow with a full stomach of sweet, ripe melonfruits, relieved that for once, she wouldn’t have to wake up halfway through the night to crawl into bed with Fina to keep the other girl from going into a nervous breakdown. She could just sleep.

But she didn’t. The bed didn’t feel right, so she shifted around a little. It was too quiet, so she cracked the window open to hear the sound of the raindrops falling against the side of the hull. She fluffed her pillow, tried sleeping on her other side.

Nothing she did felt right, and over an exhausting, frustrating hour of it, Aika finally realized what was wrong.

She was sleeping alone . When she’d been sleeping next to Fina, holding Fina, for weeks.

The realization made her groan.

And then she felt movement above her. The bunk rattled, and Aika turned to look in at the cabin in time to see Fina climbing down.

“Fina, what…?” Aika started, struck by how the green moonlight wafting through the sporadic stormclouds caught the other girl’s soft blue eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Scoot over.” Fina whispered back to her. Aika blinked twice, and her arm moved on its own, pulling her blanket back. Without ceremony, Fina crawled into the small bunk next to her, and lay there facing Aika, their faces inches apart as the two girls breathed in and out. Aika wondered, and Fina just stared at her. Then she finally leaned over and kissed Aika’s forehead. “Turn around.”

Aika swallowed hard, felt her heart beating wildly for a reason she couldn’t put words to. But she did as she was told.

Fina pulled the blanket back over them, then scooted in until Aika felt the other girl’s more rounded, curvier breasts press in against her back. The redhead’s breathing hitched when Fina’s arms wrapped around her stomach, mirroring the pose that Aika had always used to hold her during the long nights in the Southern Ocean.

“My bed didn’t feel right.” Fina mumbled, her face wafting through Aika’s tresses.

Aika swallowed again, tried to speak. Coughed. Felt her face burn as bright as her hair. “This doesn’t mean anything, Princess. I just couldn’t sleep.”

Fina, once again revealing another facet of her puzzling personality and education, chuckled throatily as her face pressed in against the back of Aika’s neck and hair. “Good night, Aika.”

It was too much to think about, to much to feel. And she really was tired, Aika remembered with a suffering yawn as her eyes closed, and her hand closed over Fina’s, pressed flush to her stomach.

In the silence of the rain, she felt the pulse of Fina’s heart beating against her skin, and finally slept.

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Ten: It’s Hard Making Friends

67 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Central Ixa’taka

The next morning, they left behind the tall and circular mountain teeming with Valuan patrol ships and headed north. The green lands hung ahead of them, with the skies full of rain and the warmth so vastly different than it had been in Maramba and the desert around the Temple of Pyrynn. There, it had been dry, unceasing, something to be feared.

But here in Ixa’taka, Vyse realized, it wasn’t hot , it was warm. Warm, and wet, oppressively so. Even with the windows cracked open in the wheelhouse to let in the breeze, his hair was plastered to his forehead, and he was certain he was leaking sweat into his boots. Drachma seemed remarkably unaffected by it, merely tying a wet bandana around his neck and then slipping a dry one above his eyes. Fina’s silvery dress did a fantastic job of staying dry, regardless of how flushed her face was. But the thing Vyse noticed the most was Aika, who was baking under the humidity and had unlaced the top of her leather bustier to ‘let the girls breathe’ as she put it, and he couldn’t help but notice just how perfectly her undershirt clung to her body, revealing the outline of her…

Vyse shut his eyes and forced his head to look straight on as they continued to sail. No. Not going to think about that.

He cleared his throat. “Aika? What’s our fuel status?”

“We’ve got about four hours of propulsion left. After that...say, another day before the Little Jack loses lift and we either land it on solid ground or sink to the Deep Sky.” Aika responded, dabbing at her face.

“And no moonstone refueling station around here to be had.” Vyse said, going for a weak joke. “I haven’t exactly seen a lot of ships or settlements around here either. Nowhere to go for directions.”

“If the Valuans acted like their usual, dumb, oppressive selves, I’d bet you anything that anyone who lives here would go to ground and hide.” Aika snarked back.

Fina hummed thoughtfully. “You mean, like Vyse’s father and the Albatross crew were going to after we rescued them?”

“Exactly like it.” Vyse said with a chuckle. “Of course, since we don’t know how exactly any of the Ixa’takans...should we call them that?...might camouflage their settlements, we could still use a bit of direction and advice.

Drachma stepped out past the wheel and parked himself in front of the forward window, leaning until his forehead was almost touching the reinforced glass.

Then he grunted, stepped back, and pointed a finger. “There, boy.” Ahead of them, and down below tree level beside a lake was parked a vessel maybe one and a half times the size of the Little Jack , which would have gone unnoticed save for a sudden breeze from a different direction tossing a green canopy...and the black sails revealed underneath, perfectly visible even when furled. “Put ‘er down next to that ship.”

“Is that a pirate ship?” Aika got out the ship’s telescope and extended the tube to get a closer look. Drachma shook his head and chuckled.

“No. That, lass, be a ship of the Black Market.”

***

The ship looked to have about fifteen to twenty years of patina, and whoever the owner was spent enough money to keep it running well enough by a quick exterior glance, but didn’t give two figs for how it looked. The Little Jack settled down onto the ground next to it, and Vyse and Aika quickly threw all the levers to completely disengage the engines and cut the levitation drive. From there, it was just a quick stroll to get on board the other vessel and go looking for the crew…

Though there didn’t appear to be one on board.

“Captain Drachma, I’m not sure anyone’s home.” Aika mused, digging into a crate packed with straw and coming up with nothing but a cracked, empty bottle of rum and a disgusted look on her face. “Ugh. Smells awful. I think a bird’s been using this for a nest.”

Vyse stayed on high alert, strolling ahead with swords drawn while the girls and Drachma lingered near the back. He listened for the shuffle of footsteps or the creaking of a floorboard. But there was nothing.

“Let me see that bottle, Aika.” Drachma suddenly said, and Vyse glanced back as Drachma took the broken bottle in his mechanical hand and turned it over slowly. The old man sniffed at it, made a face, then turned it around and examined the bottom of the container.

Then, strangely, he smiled and threw it over his shoulder, letting it break into a thousand tiny shards across the deck behind them. “I know who’s here. You can relax, boy. We won’t be needing those swords on this ship.”

“You know who the captain is, Drachma?” Vyse asked, sheathing his cutlasses and doing his best not to look too relieved. Drachma might be at ease, but he was still in unfamiliar territory.

“Aye.” Drachma drawled, looking up at the sky. “And this time of day, he’ll still be wallowing in bed.” He looked over to Aika and Fina. “Girls, the galley’s down the stairs two flights and then halfway to the stern, port side. You’ll be wanting to brew up some tea. Some strong tea. Boy, you’re coming with me.”

Aika and Fina looked over to Vyse for confirmation, and Vyse caught the twitch in the corner of Drachma’s eye that they treated him as the leader. Vyse just smirked, patted Drachma on the shoulder, and headed for the stairs. “You heard him, ladies. Hup hup.”

“Insufferable pup.” Drachma grumbled lowly, trudging after him.

“So, strong tea.” Vyse said, when they were a floor down and he let the old man take point in their search for the ship’s owner. “Mind if I ask why?”

“For the hangover he’s going to have.” Drachma answered coolly. “And the headache I’m about to give him.” They stopped in front of a closed door, and Drachma put a finger to his lips to keep Vyse from asking any more questions. Then he nudged the door open, the thing creaking on rusty hinges, revealing a pitted out mess of a bedroom littered with wrappers, bottles, and clay jugs. The entire room smelled of stale sweat, spilled beer, and soiled clothes, and Vyse leaned out of the room to suck in a breath before diving back inside.

The smells didn’t seem to affect Drachma in the slightest, who strolled up towards the bed and the snoring lump buried underneath a patchworn blanket on top of it. He reached over with his mechanical arm, grabbed hold of the far edge of the mattress, and then turned it completely over . The lump of sleeping inebriate came to right after impact with the floor, groaning in pain.

“Up and at ‘em, ye drunken reprobate!” Drachma bellowed, his voice thundering in the small cabin. The groaning intensified, and the lump slowly stretched out, a scrawny leg emerging from the cocoon. “Sun’s up and it’s time to move yer’ sorry ass in gear, you’ve got customers!”

“Moons, Drachma, not so loud… ” The ship’s owner groaned. The lump stopped moving after a few seconds, and Drachma looked back to Vyse, holding up his left arm and counting down his fingers as they waited for the fellow to come to his senses.

“Wait. Drachma? The fu…” The fellow’s head finally emerged from the pile, with blurry brown eyes blinking wildly under a ragged and thinning mop of graying brown hair. He blinked a few more times after shooting a quick look to Vyse. Outside, the chirp of insects and the screeching of wild birds accented the odd moment. “Um, am I still drunk, or are you actually here, Drachma?”

In response, Drachma reached down with his left arm and flicked the man’s forehead, making him hiss in pain and clutch at it. “Finish taking your morning piss, Lorenzo, and then meet me in the galley.” He turned and gestured at Vyse, then walked out of the door.

“Hey, the hell do you mean, finish my mor…” Lorenzo started angrily, then paused and looked down at his blanket, and to the wet spot on the front of it. “Oh. Bugger me.” Vyse wrinkled his nose again and quickly chased after Drachma.

“Interesting friend.” He finally said out in the hallway, coughing away the smell.

Drachma snorted at that. “How many friends do you think that drunk actually has, Vyse?”

***

His name was Lorenzo, and as Drachma explained while giving the alcoholic a hangover cure of strong tea mixed with other things that the old man outright refused to detail, he was a black marketeer that he’d had dealings with up in North Ocean some time ago. On first evaluation, Vyse had found very little about the man worthy of notice, and his opinion hadn’t required much adjustment. Lorenzo looked to be a man in his early to mid forties, with his hair going gray and falling out at the same time. There were holes in his teeth, and the trousers and striped shirt he’d thrown on were marginally clean, but still carried some of the same stink as the rest of his room had. His brown eyes were bloodshot, but he was quickly perking up. Whatever Drachma had given him was doing the trick.

“Long time ago.” Lorenzo muttered, shaking his head. “One-Armed Drachma, as I live and breathe. The hell are you doing in Ixa’taka? How the hell did you get here? And for that matter, who the hell are these kids? ” He gestured wildly at Aika, Fina, and Vyse, who stayed clustered by the doorway and as far away from the terrible smelling man as they possibly could. Only Drachma seemed immune to the marketeer’s foul odor.

“They’re a...temporary crew.” Drachma muttered. “Vyse, Aika, and Fina. I could hardly go sailing across the Southern Ocean on my own now, could I?”

The black marketeer snorted, then did a double take. “Wait. What? Vyse? As in, two-stars on the Valuan piracy board, Vyse the Determined?”

“Oh, joy. I’m determined now.” Vyse sighed, looking to Aika and Fina, who both didn’t bother hiding the giggles. “Would have thought I’d get a better name after squashing Admiral Belleza.”

Lorenzo harrumphed and took another swig of the tea, making a face. “Your hangover cure is still terrible, Drachma.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver flask, then poured out a few liberal swigs into the cup. “There. Hair of the dog. You want some?”

“Is it that same rotgut we found an empty bottle of out on your deck?”

“No. That’s just what I drink when I’m bored. This is the good rum.”

“Hand it over then.” Drachma groused, and took a hearty chug from the flask, exhaling loudly after. “Sweet as ever. And illegal in Valua.”

“Like that ever concerned us.” Lorenzo smirked, raising his glass. The two old men clinked flask and metal mug together in a makeshift toast. “So. The Southern Ocean? You really crossed it?”

“Aye. That’s one of the reasons I’m glad we found you.” Drachma capped the flask after another swig and handed it back.

Hung over as he was, Lorenzo’s brain had finally caught up, and he glanced at them under couched eyebrows with unusual acuity. “Running low on fuel?”

“Aye.”

“Figured. You still using those same piss-poor cannons?”

“Added a new one.”

“Harpoon Cannon. After-market modifications, which definitely made it illegal. I heard about it. Story goes you took down Belleza with it. So. You need some more fuel, and maybe I can convince you to buy some better armament.”

“Eager to make a sale, are we? Must have pissed it all away on the booze again.” Drachma folded his arms. Lorenzo chuckled a bit at that.

“Hardly. Getting past the iron netting the Valuans put up to keep anyone else from getting into Ixa’taka takes bribes. Some serious ones. I’ll need something substantial for my trouble.”

“Oh, sure. Like you ever threw money at the border guards when you could pawn off whatever crap you had down in the hold instead.”

“No, you’re thinking of yourself, you one-eyed hack. Like that time you tried to pay me for that new engine mount with a pile of dried fish, like we were still using the barter system!”

For his part, Vyse watched the exchange with the curiosity only an outsider to the game of black market buying and selling could possess. It was obvious that there was an easy back and forth between the two, and they hadn’t gotten serious about the sale yet. There weren’t any numbers being spoken, or even the indirect phrasing that he’d heard some of the Nasrian merchants bandying about while they’d been in Maramba.

It was more like they were old friends hedging around the issue, using the opportunity to catch up on old times and throw insults at someone who wouldn’t mind them.

“Seriously, though. For a while there, the Valuan patrols around here were thick . After you lot had your dustup with Belleza, the Valuans had an entire battle group waiting for you all to show up.” Lorenzo waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “You never did do things by half-measures, Drachma. You and your new friends pissed them off but good . I had to put down and hide the ship to keep them from impounding it and throwing me in the brig.”

“Aye.” Drachma stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Good thing that the trip took us a while longer than we thought. But I see you made good use of the time. Haven’t seen you this ruddy in the face in a decade.”

“Seemed as good a time for a bender as any.” Lorenzo shrugged. “Wasn’t anything going on, after all. They finally thinned out and sent most of the group back home just a week ago, though. Guess they thought you’d up and gotten lost at sea.”

“Almost were.” Drachma said laconically. “So. We’re in the market for three things. Fuel, maybe better guns...and information.”

“I could spare a few days’ worth of fuel for the right price, but I’ll be heading back home myself soon now that things have quieted down some.” Lorenzo cocked his head to the side. “And guns...Actually I’ve got in some Valuan-issued ‘Shock’ class torpedoes.”

That got Vyse’s attention. “Shock Torpedoes? And the launchers?”

Lorenzo grinned, and Vyse realized he’d made a mistake in the bargaining. Drachma turned and glowered at him for it as well.

“That I do, Mr. Vyse the Determined. Fire and track them in for maximum impact on target with your normal shots. They’ll do a number on arcwhales, I figure...and they’ll ruin a Valuan warship’s day as well.” He looked back at Drachma. “I figure you could even rig ‘em up to fire out of those old side cannonholes on your gun deck, if you didn’t want to mess up your foredeck too badly.. There’s just the matter of paying for it.”

“Aye. Well. We’re not flush with money at the moment.” Drachma explained, which made Lorenzo’s face fall. He turned to Vyse, quirked the eyebrow over his left eye, then turned back to the black marketeer. “You still have your Guild accreditation?”

“For Discoveries and the like? Yeah. There’s this one explorer fella named Domingo I was expecting, but this whole blowup with the Armada waiting for you must have put a damper on his plans to go looking for new things out here.”

Vyse filed that tidbit about Domingo away; he’d met the man briefly on Sailor’s Island, and every time Domingo got a whiff of something before Vyse did, the price on what he did find dropped sharply. Here, he had an opportunity to make some coin before Domingo ever knew about a rumor.

Still. More pressing needs first.

“How’d the Guild like to hear about a few things we stumbled across during our grand ocean voyage?” Vyse inquired, getting into the spin of the haggle. “That sort of Discovery information worth anything to you?”

Lorenzo tapped the side of his nose with a finger. “Might be. Okay. Third thing. Information from me. What about, exactly?”

Drachma gestured to Vyse, indicating for him to keep plowing along. Vyse breathed in and out.

“We’re looking for the native Ixa’takans. We figure they’ve gone into hiding because of the Valuans.”

“For the most part, yes.” Lorenzo suddenly looked like he was constipated, and it took Vyse a moment to catch on that he was thinking very hard. “But. I think there’s one settlement close by that’s a little more exposed. Supposedly, there’s a crew of pirates that crashed there. Had some dealings with them, but the natives pretty much shun them.”

“Pirates?” Aika made a face. “Black Pirates?”

“Oh, no. The Blue ones.”

Vyse blinked at the news, and didn’t even think to correct the man that they were Blue Rogues , and not Blue Pirates.

“Blue Rogues? Here? In Ixa’taka?” He said, surprised and hopeful. “Where? Where’s this village?”

“It’s called Horteka.” Lorenzo replied. “On an island floating in the upper range of the flyable sky to the southeast of us. A couple of hours.”

“Shoot, we flew right by that island and missed it!” Aika muttered, kicking her boot into the decking.

“I guess we’re going back then.” Vyse grinned.

“As soon as we finish our transactions.” Lorenzo corrected him. “A man’s gotta eat.”

“Lorenzo, you drink your dinners.” Drachma scoffed.

Lorenzo laughed and patted his, by comparison to the white-haired sailor, flatter torso. “It may be hell on my liver, but at least I look good! Now spill it, Vyse. What did you find out there in that swirling mess of wind, rain, and tempests?”

Vyse, his head thrumming with excitement at finding other Blue Rogues in the world, did his best to keep it on the back burner and stick to the sale. “So, there we were, just turning the corner from Typhoon Alley to the corridor of windswept islands…”

***

Horteka Village

Aside from one momentary stir at the gates as they arrived, when the natives had questioned Fina in halting Mid-Ocean tradespeak if she was ‘Quetya’, the Hortekans had more or less ignored them when they laid anchor and strolled into what passed for civilization. Many wore wooden masks with fearsome faces carved into them. The villagers inside of their residences, however, went without. Perhaps the masks had been something worn only by those out in the open, like the Nasrian women did with their veils and shawls.

Indifference, Vyse realized, was likely the preferred means of the Ixa’takans dealing with them. Worse were the ones who glared at them hotly, openly. As soon as the news had passed around that they were not Quetya, or servants of Quetya, that they were just more foreigners come to Ixa’taka like the Valuans, the change was immediate.

Vyse preferred them hiding and staring at them from the shadows, as opposed to any of the more direct means of voicing their displeasure. They’d already been turned away from Horteka’s supplies merchant and weapons smith, a father and daughter pair who looked at Vyse like he was some kind of poisonous frog to be killed on the spot, if they could manage it without being attacked.

“Not our biggest fan club.” Aika muttered lowly. Neither she nor Vyse had felt the need to draw their weapons, and Cupil was still in bracelet form around Fina’s wrist, but the feeling of so many hostile eyes on them had her jumpy as the cats she liked to collect stuffed animals of in her youth. “Who’s Quetya, anyways?”

The name picked at the back of Vyse’s brain. He’d heard it somewhere before, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember where. “Someone important, I guess. Someone they look up to.”

“The way they used it in conversation implies some sort of...guardian, or a patron god or goddess, perhaps.” Fina suggested. She shifted the fabric of her sleeve a little. “Though, it doesn’t explain why they all looked at me like I was a goddess.”

It’s not that hard to think , Vyse thought to himself, and then quickly shook his head before Aika could catch his gaze and make a guess at what he’d been thinking. Stubborn girl had eyes like a hawk for some things, and she was always watching him now when she wasn’t preoccupied. “Well, put a pin in that for now. Since the Hortekans aren’t inclined to be all that helpful, maybe we can find these rumored Blue Rogues Drachma’s friend Lorenzo told us about.”

“I told you boy, he’s not my friend.” Drachma groused.

“Oh, right. My mistake. I forgot you didn’t have any friends.” Vyse snarked back at him with a wink, getting a frustrated glower from the old man, and a hearty laugh from Aika. “Okay. So. If I were a Blue Rogue living here in Horteka...around a bunch of people who rarely gave me the time of day…”

“You’d want to be living as far away from them as you possibly could, aye?” Drachma surmised.

Aika, walking ahead of them as they meandered the wooden walkways through the treetop dwellings, came to a stop and tilted her head to the side. “Like on the other side of the island, maybe?” She said, pointing down and to their right, and to a tunnel burrowed through the foliage overgrown with lichens.

***

The settlement where there was any sign of Blue Rogue activity was clear of any of the dwellings inhabited by the Ixa’takan natives. A rusted-out, moss-covered airship with flywheel propulsion was half buried in the ground and perched precariously close to the edge of the village with a picturesque view of the distant green islands through the haze of a constant foggy drizzle.

Children, all of them younger than ten, were running around in the open ground, laughing and yelling and screaming through some bizarre game of tag that Vyse couldn’t quite place. To his surprise, there was even an Ixa’takan girl with them, though in comparison to their striped sailor’s shirts and rough and patched trousers, her own clothes made her stick out even more than the darker color of her skin.

They all stopped playing and stared at the four pale-skinned strangers that strolled by them, past the outdoor tents and tarps covering up old crates of supplies and piles of drying sardis and fruit. One of the boys finally got tired of just staring at them and came up, standing in Vyse’s path and crossing his arms like a stubborn doorman.

“Who are you?” He demanded.

“We’re Blue Rogues.” Vyse said. The boy frowned and squinted his eyes.

“Nuh-uh! My daddy’s a Blue Rogue and he doesn’t look anything like you all. You’re all weird!” He pointed at Drachma and made a face. “Especially him!”

“Hey, now.” Drachma complained with a snort.

“Well, he’s not wrong. You are weird looking.” Aika smirked, before looking back to the boy. “Listen, do you know where the adults are? We really are Blue Rogues, sport. We came a long way to get here, and we need to talk to them.”

“That’s enough, Clarence!” A harried-looking woman with graying brown hair came racing out of the grounded ship, her hands on the skirt of her dress so she wouldn’t trip over the hem. A young man in a red shirt and brandishing an overly long wrench was hot on her heels, and they came to a stop in front of Vyse and the others.

The older woman scrutinized him, and Vyse squirmed under the stare so much like his own mother’s before he gave her a respectful nod. “Ma’am. Are you...Are you the Blue Rogues we’ve heard about?”

“That would depend on who is asking.” She said primly, and the youth on her left slung the wrench over his shoulder. “Or did your parents not teach you to make introductions?”

Vyse chuckled and rubbed at the back of his head. “I’m sorry. My name is Vyse, son of Dyne.”

“Dyne of the Blue Storm?” The woman said incredulously, cutting him off.

Vyse had to blink at that. “...You know my father?”

“He’s a legend among the Blue Rogues. My husband often spoke of him. Never had an unkind word to say.” She smiled and bowed her head slightly. “My name is Caroline. My husband is Centime, the Tinker...another Blue Rogue.” As the children started to gather around them, Danielle expanded her arms out. “And these are our children.”

Aika made a choking noise at that. “A...all of them?”

The older boy standing by Caroline, now at ease, gave her a smile. “You can relax. We’re all adopted. I’m Hans, by the way.”

Vyse nodded back. “And these are my friends, Aika and Fina...and this is Drachma.”

While the old man grunted and crossed his arms at being so singled out, Caroline bowed to each of them in turn. “I’m happy to have so many fellow Blue Rogues here, but I have to ask...how did you end up here? Were you taken by a hurricane as well and blown off course like we were?”

“Afraid not.” Vyse said. “We took the long way around, crossed the Southern Ocean to get here. When we heard that there might be Blue Rogues here, we had to come investigate.”

“That must be some story.” Caroline mused, shaking her head. “But something tells me you didn’t come here for us.”

“No.” Vyse admitted. “Happy surprise, though. And we could use a friendly face to fill us in on the situation here.”

Carolina beamed at them. “Of course. We were just about to have lunch. Are you hungry?”

“I could eat.” Drachma said agreeably, and that opinion was one that they all shared.

***

After the first introductions, the woman who oversaw the encampment insisted on Vyse and the girls calling her ‘Carol’, as she was always ‘mom’ to the children and had long been denied the pleasure of having friends she could use her favorite nickname with. A bit of back and forth proceeded over a lunch of roasted squab with a pan full of roasted fruits and vegetables that was sweet to the taste. Hortekan aila loqua , a lightly fermented cider, capped off the meal and made the tough game birds slide down more easily. Simple topics came first; a hurricane had thrown their tiny ship across the South Ocean and had left them stranded on the shores of Horteka. They had quickly established an uneasy relationship with the natives, who were gunshy after Valuan aggression in the region, making trades of Mid-Ocean goods for food and supplies for repairs, but even that much had been slow going at first. When a Valuan patrol had stumbled across their camp, Centime had surrendered himself, with the stipulation that the children and his wife would be left alone. For their part, Vyse explained how they’d made the crossing over the Southern Ocean, and how they’d just barely cleared it before their fuel supply went critical. Carol was surprised to hear that there was a black marketeer in the area, and asked Vyse to have the fellow sail by if they saw Lorenzo again; Centime’s ship, the Iron Clad , was in desperate need of parts that Hans struggled to repair or fabricate without his father’s assistance.

It was Fina who led off into the more nebulous realm of personal questions. “So...all of the children here, they’re adopted?” She asked. “And adoption means that they are not yours biologically, but that you have assumed responsibility for them?”

“Exactly so.” Carol smiled at her sadly. “Centime and I...we tried, when we were younger, but I wasn’t...well. We just reached a point where we realized that if we could not have children of our own, we still owed it to the world to be parents. So, we started adopting.”

“And never stopped.” Hans, the oldest of the children in the Blue Rogue camp, cut in. “Mom even has an Ixa’takan girl now. Well, sort of. Her name is Ba’zili, and her parents were killed in a bad Valuan raid. The rest of the village looks out for her too, but she drifted in with the rest of us. There are others her age here.”

“Anybody can make a child.” Aika argued. “It takes a real parent to raise one. At least, that’s what Vyse’s mom likes to say.”

“Okay, so here’s one for you all.” Carol said, setting her plate aside. “You didn’t just cross the Southern Ocean for the heck of it. The world at large doesn’t know about Ixa’taka; Valua’s been keeping news of this place suppressed. What made you try the journey that we made on accident?”

Vyse chuckled. “You wouldn’t believe us.”

“Try me, young man.”

“All right. We’re saving the world.” Vyse gestured to Fina. “And helping her to do it. Fina is from a hidden civilization who saw that the Valuans would bring the world to ruin if they got their hands on these ancient, powerful moonstone energy sources called the Moon Crystals. With them, Valua could wake up some terrifying creatures called Gigas.”

Carol blinked at the confession. “My. And there’s...one of these Moon Crystals, here?”

“Somewhere.” Fina confirmed. “I only know about the old world, the ancient civilizations. But in the Green Lands, there’s supposed to be the Green Crystal.”

Carol’s face went hard. “The Valuans have taken enough from these poor people.”

“Agreed.” Vyse nodded. “They’ve taken enough from everyone. But getting the Ixa’takans to help us has been difficult. You didn’t exactly get a warm welcome yourself, right Carol? What changed?”

“The day Centime was taken, that’s what happened.” Carol shut her eyes. “They came and took him, and left the village alone. After that, the people of Horteka all realized we were like them. Lighter skin, different clothes...but all of us, oppressed by Valua. If you want to change their minds about you, and get some help, then you need to speak to the village elder. I wouldn’t have the foggiest clue where to start with helping you with your search. But he would.”

“Where does he live?” Vyse asked, feeling at last like progress was being made.

“Back into the village. Go down to the lowest level, cross a few bridges, use the underground passage to the far side. Just short of the lookout’s cliff, you’ll find a few huts. His is the largest over there.”

“Terrific.” Vyse stacked up his dishes and stood up, giving Carol a grateful nod. “Thank you, ma’am. For the food, and the advice. Aika, Fina, Drachma. Come on. Let’s hustle it up.”

“Actually, Vyse?” Aika said suddenly. She bit her lip and looked back towards the ship. “If it’s all right with you, mind if I stay here until we’re ready to head out? Hans said he’d be willing to lend us some more moonstone fuel, but I’d like to do something to make up for it. I can help him fix up the Iron Clad while you’re off playing diplomat.”

Vyse blinked once, saw the logic in it, and gave his oldest friend a thumbs up. “Sounds good to me. Don’t work her too hard, Hans! I need her able to fight if we bump into the Valuans out there!”

The red-shirted engineer and adopted son of Centime and Carol chuckled. “No promises, Mr. Vyse.”

I’m going to choke on this much formality , Vyse mused, and headed out with the Blue Rogue children shouting goodbyes after him.

***

The village elder of Horteka was an old, stern man, whose wrinkles were forged more out of stress and suffering than laughter. When Vyse, Fina, and Drachma had appeared, he had startled once at the Silvite’s form, but quickly returned to himself, scowling as he looked down at them.

“You come seeking our help. You claim to be different. But all I see are more travelers from the east, come to take and give nothing back.”

“What can we do to prove to you that we are not like the Valuans?” Vyse finally asked, having exhausted every explanation. That they were Blue Rogues meant nothing to the village chief. That they were enemies of Valua, also meant nothing. The old Hortekan was unsatisfied with words. Something stronger was needed as the burden of proof.

He wavered, leaning on his walking stick, judging Vyse. “I give my permission for you to speak to the villagers.” He gestured once to a messenger who had been standing by the door, and the masked fellow took off like a shot, likely to pass the news on. “If you are here to help, as you claim to be, then you must first learn of our suffering. See what the men from the east have done, feel the pain they have caused. Then, come back to me. We shall see if your conviction is equal to the burden you claim.”

Vyse exhaled, nodded. Stood up, went for the door.

Drachma leaned in once they were well clear. “Not exactly rolling out the welcome mat, are they, boy?”

“Scars run deep.” Vyse mused. “And I get the feeling that theirs have been growing for years.”

***

The people of Horteka, forewarned that the elder wanted them to share their stories, wasted no time when Vyse, Fina, and Drachma came to visit them. The shopkeeper and his daughter that had turned them away explained, with no small amount of venom, that the mother of their family had been ripped away from them to work in the ‘sacred mountain’, to mine moonstones for the invaders. They met the sharp-eyed hunter Tikatika, who was so distraught over his inattentiveness to see the Valuans coming before the first raids that he now stayed up on the cliff beyond the elder’s hut, keeping constant vigil for trouble. His already keen eyes had been sharpened, through guilt and sheer determination, to mythical levels of ability; he even pointed out some landmarks for Vyse to look for later on. He would have made the best ship’s lookout in the world, Vyse thought to himself.

But of all the people in the village who shared their stories with them, none made quite the impact as a woman perhaps a year or two older than Vyse and Fina, who lived and once worked in the Hortekan great hut. Giant vats of loqua simmered away, filling the upper floors of the building with a sweet and cloying scent, but down below, all was quiet. Her name was Merida, and she served them all a wooden cup of Horteka’s prized alcoholic beverage, made out of the garpa fruits which grew in abundance on, and underneath , the island.

Vyse did his best not to stare too openly, but Fina must have been taking lessons from Aika. She caught him several times...but instead of the admonishments or punches to the shoulder that Aika would have given him, Fina just smiled, occasionally smirked, and looked between the silver-haired dancer and Vyse.

“She is quite beautiful.” Fina observed.

“I suppose.” Vyse conceded, gritting the words out. “You can tell she’s a dancer. Her body’s built for it.”

“Oh? How can you tell?”

“Well, her build.” Vyse said, happy for a slightly safer topic. “A warrior skilled with a bow will have strong arms and shoulders, a powerful back to support the weapon and allow him to draw it back as far as possible. Like Tikatika. He wears that mask all the time, but his back and shoulders were very well defined. A person who runs for a living will have a slender build, but powerful legs to fuel their strides. And with Merida...well. She has a build close to a runner, but the tone and definition in her calves and ankles are much more prominent.”

“I didn’t know you paid such close attention to people’s bodies.” Fina teased him. “Should I be worried?”

Vyse snorted and took advantage of the cup of loqua, drinking to buy himself time to think. “Why would you worry about where I’m looking?”

“No reason.” Fina said, far too innocently. There were still things about the world she was oblivious to, but attraction and looks were not a part of that list. And she was a terrible liar.

Vyse looked to Merida, drained the rest of his glass, gestured towards her. The liquid didn’t have much of a burn, and retained the bulk of its sweetness. He doubted any Mid-Ocean cider was its equal. “Merida, could I trouble you for another glass?” The silver-haired woman came over, her long and tanned legs moving gracefully beneath her grass skirt, giving a hint of the treasure her undergarments concealed. Vyse looked away to Drachma, and his face burned when he realized the old man was smirking just as hard, and with far less disguised innocence than Fina had at catching him in the act.

Merida poured him a second cup, her eyes narrowed and her jaw set. She didn’t trust him. She didn’t like him.

So Vyse opened his mouth and just dove into it.

“Merida, are you a dancer?”

Her eyes shot wide, and Vyse knew he’d gotten her attention.

“I was.” She said, and the scowl returned. “But I have nothing to dance for now.”

“Because of the Valuans.” Vyse wagered. “They...they hurt you. Took people from you.”

“Yes.” The young woman said curtly. “My parents. I danced to bring joy to my people, to honor Quetya and the gods. But then the men from the east came, bringing fire and death and ruin.”

“I know.” Vyse said sympathetically, and felt the prick of some familiar thought he couldn’t entirely place zipping around just out of reach. “The Valuans hurt everyone. My people, the Blue Rogues, have been fighting against them for years. But we could fight back. Here? In Ixa’taka? There was nobody able to fight them.”

Merida’s anger crumbled into sorrow, and she looked away, tucking the serving platter under her arm. “I even wrote a letter to Quetya, sent it on the winds...asking for her help. But Quetya did not come. So we suffer, and we die, and the men from the east...they keep on taking what they want.”

Vyse blinked rapidly. She wrote a letter? A letter to Quetya? It dug harder in his mind, forcing him to think about it, to consider it.

“This letter...how did you send it?”

“I put it in a bottle left by the easterners. Tied it to a balloon. Sent it into the skies.”

Like a thunderbolt, Vyse placed it. He knew that letter. He had carried it with him ever since finding it on Sailor’s Island. That letter, a plea for help in the face of Valuan aggression, had given him the resolve to go on right before he and Aika and Drachma had left to infiltrate Valua.

He pulled out the carefully folded letter from his pocket, and held it out to her. “I found your letter.” Vyse told Merida solemnly. The girl dropped the platter, reached to the folded up note with a shaky hand, unfolded it and gasped when she saw her own handwriting.

Her eyes, misting up, went to his face. Vyse mustered a smile. “Quetya did not come, Merida...but maybe, she sent us instead.”

Merida’s lip quivered. “You...You will help?”

“I swear by the Moons, we will try.” Vyse promised her. “Blue Rogues always help out those in need.”

“It’s his code.” Fina added helpfully, putting her hand on the side of his arm. “His oath.”

Merida wiped her eyes, chuckled a little, and actually smiled. It filled the room, and she stood a little straighter after it. “Then I will dance again, to give you the strength to fight the Valuans.” And she skipped back away from them and headed for the stage.

And by the Moons, could she dance. She held nothing back, there was nothing refined. Just raw, explosive power in controlled movements to a drumbeat only she could hear, a dance meant to awaken the gods.

It awakened Vyse, because there was no mistaking the sensual pull it caused. He drank his loqua and sat transfixed, in awe of Merida, and of her people.

These were the victims of Valuan expansion and oppression. Bitter, withdrawn, jaded. But for those few minutes, he saw a glimpse of who they had been, who they really were. Joyful. Exultant. Uninhibited, full of life. Fina had said that the Green Moon brought the powers of renewal and restoration, of newness. Healing magic, vitality, was the domain of the emerald moonstones.

“She’s amazing.” Fina marveled, in a breathy whisper. Vyse swallowed back another sip of his drink, his throat still dry.

“She is.” He agreed hoarsely.

“Is she the kind of girl you’re looking for?” Fina asked, so innocently that Vyse, still entranced by Merida’s erotic display, had to blink before he caught the hitch in her voice. Without turning his head, he bent his eyes sidewards to glance at the Silvite.

She had one hand up to the side of her head, brushing back her headdress to curl a finger in her blond tresses. Like she was worried. Or lost in contemplation.

“No. Not really.” Vyse managed to answer.

“What kind of girl are you looking for?” Fina asked, and turned her head slightly to meet his eyes straight on.

Vyse didn’t dare blink. He knew what this was now. In her own way, Fina was doing exactly what Aika had tried days before when they were alone.

And Drachma, able to read the room better than any of them, stood up from his chair as the wood groaned, glass in hand, and walked by them. “I need some air.” He muttered gruffly, leaving Vyse alone with Fina and the Hortekan woman dancing up on stage to inspire them.

Trapping Vyse with Fina, really. The bastard.

What did Vyse want? Well, that was easy. Or it had been, up until Fina stumbled into his life, into their lives, and suddenly Aika went from aggressively playful and friendly to...grabby and jealous. And just aggressive. It didn’t matter what he wanted, Vyse told himself. Because they were both…

Aika, always at his side. The first to step into danger with him. The one who knew how, even when he stood bold and proud in the face of danger, he still carried worries and doubts. A girl who was strong in her own right, proud...Always proving herself.

Fina. Demure. Naive in most things, yet profoundly wise in others. Her smile could light up the room with warmth, and to make her laugh was an untold joy. She commanded a mastery of magic that left even Aika’s considerable skill in the dust, and her mind was a steel trap of forgotten lore. She had fallen into their lives like a meteor, changed everything, and somehow, still found her place.

How could he choose either of them without hurting the other? Why did it just feel right to have them both around?

Moons, his mother had known before he had. ‘ Don’t string them along. A woman’s heart is more fragile than you know.’

What did he want? What kind of girl was he looking for?

I’m not looking. They found me. And he couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Not when choosing one would hurt the other.

Not with the fate of the world riding on their shoulders.

“I want…” Vyse said, closing his eyes. “Someone strong enough to be themselves. Someone who wants to be in my life...and still have one of their own.”

Fina hmmed thoughtfully. “I see. If I understand you...you don’t want them just becoming a part of you and losing who they are. Or were.”

“Yes, exactly!” Vyse insisted. “Not like my mo…” And his eyes snapped open as his mouth clamped shut.

Fina just smiled at him. “Like your mother.” She finished.

“...Yeah.” He mumbled, and looked back to Merida as the girl, now sweating lightly along her forehead, came to the conclusion of her dance.

Fina leaned into him, and her head fell against his shoulder. His traitorous hand came up and pulled her closer on reaction alone.

“I would think that any girl you liked enough to be in a relationship with would be strong enough to remember who she was.” Fina sighed. “It’s not about giving up who you are, you know. Or it shouldn’t be.”

“What is it, then?” Vyse rasped.

“It’s caring enough about someone to want to be in their life...and still allowing them to have their own.” She said, and sighed again when his hand rubbed up and down the side of her arm.

“Sounds hard.” Vyse admitted.

“Harder than going up against an empire trying to rule the world?” Fina suggested playfully, and Vyse chuckled.

“Hell. Sounds almost easy by comparison.”

“It depends on how much room you have in your heart.” The Silvite nuzzled his shoulder, and that was just enough to make him freeze. She went still, and Vyse pulled his arm away from her, scooted away from her side. “I’m sorry, I…”

“It’s all right.” Vyse waved off her shaky apology, breathing deep. It had gotten...too real, too quickly. He turned and looked to Merida, who stood there, panting and flushed as she looked to Vyse and Fina. “I think I know why the village elder asked us to visit with everyone, Merida. I understand your pain now.”

“And I will go with you when you tell him you are ready to help us.” The dancer promised. “Quetya has sent us a warrior, and now you carry our strength. Are you ready for what is to come?”

This, Vyse knew. Relationships? Hard. But living up to the Code of the Blue Rogues? Fighting Valua? Saving the world?

“Born ready.” He promised Merida. Fina, looking a little disappointed, rallied well enough to smile at him and Merida, and give them both her usual respectful nod.

She was hurt a little, but nothing compared to how hurt she would be if he gave in. Or how hurt Aika would be. If he chose.

He would stick to keeping them both as friends.

That was hard enough.

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Eleven: Burn It All Down

67 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Late Afternoon

Central Ixa’taka

Aika didn’t know how Vyse had managed it. Somehow, in the space of the few hours between when the rest of the crew went off and left her alone with Hans, his adopted mother Carol, and the rusted out Iron Clad , the youngest Blue Rogue captain had managed to not only get the Hortekans to cooperate with them, but also to be more sympathetic towards them. When she tried asking him straight out, he just shrugged with an idle smile and said that ‘you had to be there for it.’ Drachma was next to useless, as he claimed whatever had happened, he wasn’t around for it.

And Fina...Moons, she was back to wanting to strangle the girl. Fina beamed as if she’d stumbled across buried treasure, and said the absolute worst thing she could have.

“All anyone has to do is see his heart and they know that he is a good man worth putting their faith in.”

Wasted time. Hurt feelings. A lingering bitterness.

Carol, of course, had seen right through her. Only a woman could. She and Hans had worked up a storm in the ship’s engine room, piecing it back to rights. They hadn’t been able to take care of it completely, but Aika had been able to help Hans draw up a list of parts he would need, and write down the exact sequence of repairs. The ship would sail again in time…

But then Carol had come in, asked Hans if she could ‘borrow’ Aika for some help with the chores...and grilled her to within an inch of her life while they were out hanging clothes to dry. It was funny how quickly the older woman, mother to an extended family of orphans, could see to the heart of her troubles. And how easy she made the solution sound.

“My husband Centime was just as clueless back when we were younger. Every hint I dropped just flat out escaped his notice. So, if you want Vyse to see you as more than just his childhood friend, my dear...you’re going to have to beat him over the head with it. It worked for me.”

Her face had stopped being colored completely red by the time that Vyse, Fina, and Drachma had returned, but it didn’t make it any less aggravating. She needed time to get him by himself if she was going to follow through on Carol’s advice. But time was something they didn’t have. They loaded up the moonstone fuel Hans provided them for the cause, fired up the Little Jack’s engines, and set sail for the north, to the hidden encampment where the king of the Ixa’takan people lay in hiding.

Then they’d smelled the sting of ash and saw billowing clouds of smoke in the distance…

And she was denied another chance at getting Vyse alone. The Valuans were out in force, and burning the forest down.

That, they could not let stand.

***

The ship, according to the intelligence that Lorenzo had given them, was called the Chameleon . It was the flagship of Admiral De Loco, who was in charge of the 5th Fleet. The name was not unknown to them; De Loco’s research laboratories were always churning out something, and some of his magical developments, augment glyphs that mimicked the enhancing magics of the red and blue moons, were down in storage for the next time they went racing into a fight. It was said that De Loco was an unparalleled genius. What was left out was that De Loco was, in fact, a crazed lunatic as well.

He was willing to burn down an entire jungle rainforest just to locate the ancient city of Rixis, after all.

Aika grimly went racing from one spot-fire to the next with a portable fire suppression system, doing her best alongside Fina to undo the damage from the last blaze that raked the ship. “Vyse, I hope you’ve got a plan to deal with that flamethrower cannon of his!” She shouted. “Or did it escape your notice that we’re flying in a wooden airship ?!”

The door to the wheelhouse was still open, swinging wildly as Vyse banked them around. Not for the first time, Aika was glad for the carabiner line and harness she’d attached inside of the wheelhouse’s door before stepping out; doubly glad that she’d fitted Fina for one as well. She was buckling a little meandering around on the foredeck of a ship in active combat, but Fina resembled a spinning drunk. In time, she’d become a seasoned crewmember…

Aika only had a moment to regret the world they lived in, that she had to learn how to maneuver aboard a ship locked in active combat. Then the fires beckoned.

“Oh, I’ve got a plan!” Vyse growled. “This guy’s pissed me off enough to try something stupid! ”

“Boy, is this the kind of stupid that gets my ship even more banged up, or the kind of stupid that prevents it?” Drachma’s voice growled up from the speaking tube out of the gundeck.

Aika strained to hear Vyse over the sound of compressed aera dioxin blowing out of her extinguisher’s nozzle. “The kind that screws De Loco over and sends him limping back home with his face blown off!”

Her tank ran dry right as Aika finished with the last of the spot fires on the deck, and she charged back into the wheelhouse. “Whatever you’re going to do, Vyse, I suggest you get to it, because we’re fresh out of flame retardant!” She jangled the empty canister for emphasis, and Vyse got that fierce look in his eye that made her heart skip a beat and make her grin uncontrollably. It was his look that refused to accept anything as impossible . The look that screamed, The more you throw at me, the harder I keep swinging. Because Vyse was, at his core a Blue Rogue, and Blue Rogues Never Gave Up.

It took her breath away as some final piece of herself finally slipped into place, nudged and jostled by Fina, and their quest, and this whole whirlwind mess to save the world. Just how beautiful he was when he was like this.

Oh, Moons.

Oblivious to her dumbfounded realization, Vyse was locked into the moment. “Fina! Aika! Get on the Harpoon Cannon, and try and speed up the charge sequence!” Aika sucked in a deep breath and looked over to her shipmate, and the two shared a nod that was all purpose and intent. They raced for the moonstone access line, a rigged up panel along the side of the wheelhouse with two impressions where hands could go. Ordinarily, just one person would stand there, one hand to each.

But now, Aika stood beside Fina, and each took a feeder line. Aika shut her eyes, breathed in and out to center herself, and pushed .

The Harpoon Cannon had never charged so fast.

“Holy…!” Vyse yelped as the gauge of the Harpoon Cannon’s charge peaked with a beep. “Whatever you two are doing, keep it up! I’m bringing us into position!”

With her eyes closed and focused on the task of keeping the Little Jack’s main weapon ready, Aika couldn’t see Vyse make the ship dance around the distant Chameleon , but she could certainly feel it. There was nothing unplanned in how Vyse steered the ship, no unnecessary jinks. After two passes of dealing with that ship, its subcannons, and that monstrous flamethrower off of its nose, he’d figured out how De Loco’s crew flew it.

He’d figured out how to get into position.

“Get ready, Drachma!” Vyse shouted out, and then there was the familiar whine as the Harpoon Cannon powered up and began to spin on its launcher. Aika cracked her eyes open just in time to see them racing right for the Chameleon in a head-on pass, and the flamethrower was getting ready to spew gouts of burning liquid all over them.

Vyse punched the firing toggle for the Harpoon Cannon, the spiraling barb flew off...and the Chameleon never got the chance. The hit impacted on the canister of fuel beneath the nozzle, and once depressurized, the contents spewed out in all directions, ignited, and exploded in a terrifying backblast that shredded the bow of the Valuan warship.

Down on the gundeck, Drachma immediately started reeling the harpoon’s line back in. The Chameleon , or what was left of the charred, burning hulk that was now more black than green, turned around and started limping north.

Vyse allowed himself a dark chuckle. “That’s right, De Loco. You had to go and mess with someone who had a bigger cannon than you did.” He leaned the ship over slightly to get a better look at the burning forest below and frowned. “Damn. How much did he just put to the torch?”

“Less than he could have.” Aika pointed out, sliding in beside him and pressing her hands to his shoulder. A rumble from the skies outside caught their attention, and they saw the low-hanging stormclouds, gentle things full of rain and no real lightning, sweeping in towards them. A curtain of moisture hung beneath them. “And it looks like the forest isn’t going to be burning for very long after all.”

Fina hmmed in satisfaction, taking up position on Vyse’s other side. “The Green Civilization used to have a saying...the forest provides.” She said cheerfully. “It’s nice to see that it’s still true.”

***

The King’s Hideout

Guided by the information provided by Horteka’s chieftain, Vyse had guided the Little Jack to a nondescript floating island covered in trees up in the northern portion of the Ixa’takan lands, on the eastern side of the divide. Underneath the cover of a thick canopy of trees was a log hut guarded by no less than four armed guards who brandished their spears as they walked along a barely visible path. Once they’d identified themselves, things became far more civil.

The reason quickly became apparent once they were in the presence of King Ixa’taka himself. “I would greet you with more fanfare, heroes who stand against the invaders, but...alas, this retreat has little of the creature comforts that my palace did.”

Aika instantly thought back to a grand square pyramid that they had flown over on the trip after the showdown, riddled with holes and crumbling walls that were clearly the work of Valuan cannonfire. Vyse must have had the same thought, because his eyes dimmed a little before he nodded. “We passed by it on our journey, your majesty. We are sorry for its loss. The Valuans have a habit of doing things like that.”

The king was in his late 20’s or early 30’s, with a slim build and a hat that was too ridiculous for words.It might have been ceremonial. No, scratch that. Ugly as it was, it had to be ceremonial. But then there were those wooden masks that the Hortekans liked to wear…

“Messengers from Horteka came in advance of you.” The king informed them, and Aika caught Drachma crossing his arms and huffing a little. “They said that you were not our enemies, and after what you did to send their ship running away, I believe it. So, what brought you here to Ixa’taka?”

Vyse took a step forward away from the rest of them and got down on one knee, genuflecting a little. The king seemed to like that, and Aika had to admit, Vyse was getting pretty good at making friends wherever he went. He’d made friends in Maramba pretty easily as well.

Then he laid it all out for the king, matter of fact. The king leaned on his arm, going deep into thought.

“A Moon Crystal. And Rixis.” He mused. “The Valuans are intent on finding Rixis as well, though you seem to have a better motivation for it. Still, I am afraid that much has been lost to legend, and if Rixis exists…”

“It exists.” Fina declared, with the absolute certainty she had in matters her unique education had covered. “Or, it did exist, in ancient times.”

The king blinked at the assertion, then nodded once. “Unfortunately, finding Rixis would mean studying the myths and legends of our people, and to our shame, only my chief priest, Isapa, would know of these in enough detail to be of help to you.”

“So, we need to meet with this Isapa then?” Vyse asked.

“That would be difficult.” The king said sadly. “Being as Isapa is currently being held prisoner in the sacred mountain by the Valuans. Like so many of my people.”

Aika couldn’t help the scowl. “That mountain is heavily patrolled. We saw it off in the distance when we first got here.”

“Seein’ as the Valuans are likely using it as a source of raw moonstones for their war machine, the military presence is expected.” Drachma pointed out. “They’d look at it as protectin’ their investment.”

Vyse exhaled. “An investment. Enslaving the locals to work in an illegal mine as slave labor is an investment. ” He was quiet, and his voice was even, and Aika shivered at it. He was angry. No, he was livid. “We heard stories in Horteka that were much the same. The Valuans either trampled over them roughshod or clapped their families in irons and dragged them off to work in the mine. It’s as effective a prison as there can be, and the Valuans were good at killing prisoners in unsafe working conditions long before they came here. They were doing it to their own people, and to their enemies in Mid-Ocean.”

The king’s face paled. “The Valuans are monsters.”

“Their leadership and their military is, aye.” Drachma conceded. “So. To find Rixis, we’d need this priest of yours. Isapa.”

“Who’s being held inside of the Moonstone Mountain. Along with a great many of your people.” Aika added.

“Only one thing for it, really.” Vyse concluded, and the smile returned to his voice. “We’ll just sneak in and bust him out.”

Somebody should have laughed at that; they really needed to. Vyse was in the habit of doing crazy things and making outlandish promises, but really, Aika wasn’t all that surprised. She looked over to see that Fina was just smiling with the sort of knowing expression that came with exposure, while Drachma merely looked up at the ceiling with a heavy sigh.

Only the king seemed taken aback at Vyse’s plan, or lack of one. “But, how?”

Vyse chuckled at that. “Sneaking past patrols? Used to it. Busting out of heavily defended Valuan facilities? We’ve done that, too. Rescue missions?” And here, he looked over at Fina, who blushed a little and averted her gaze. “We could probably give lessons on it.” Vyse looked back at the king and allowed himself to become serious again. “If Isapa is who we need to talk to to find Rixis and the Green Moon Crystal, then we’ll bring him back to you in one piece. We’re Blue Rogues, your majesty. We always help those in need.” He yawned. “But, we’d be better off tackling it tomorrow.”

“Of course.” The king said good-naturedly. “You are welcome to stay aboard your ship, but I would be happy to let you stay in a longhouse we have available. It is normally used for the wounded, but it is empty right now.”

“I’ll stay with the ship.” Drachma said. “Got to keep an eye on it.”

Vyse looked over to Aika and Fina, hesitating. “I wouldn’t mind sleeping in an actual bed for a change, but...it wouldn’t exactly be proper for me to share quarters with the girls.”

“Not a problem.” The king smiled. “Your female companions can make use of the longhouse. You, my Blue Rogue, I invite to stay here in my guard quarters this evening, so that you will be well-rested for your journey tomorrow.”

“Now that, your majesty, seems like a good idea.” Vyse chuckled.

Aika closed her eyes, strongly disagreeing with it herself.

***

The Guest Longhouse

As strung out as they all were, Aika had to admit that the offer of lodging was greatly appreciated. So was the bath. An actual tub with actual water was a blissful change of pace from a bucket and a grimy towel. Over the duration of their eight weeks sailing the Southern Ocean, water preservation had been key, especially in the last leg when there was nothing but constant and unceasing wind. They hadn’t had time for a proper bath. Fina had taken hers first while Aika had worked on dinner. Afterwards, the Silvite girl had come back out not in her usual outfit, but in a soft homespun robe provided by the king, dyed a gentle green. Freed from its usual veil and out of her dress and the white and silver leggings she always wore beneath them, Fina looked less regal, less Princess-y...stepping gently around on bare feet with bare calves that poked out from the hem of the soft robe, her blonde hair still wet trailing down her neck and stopping short of her shoulders? She was positively domestic.

Those soft blue eyes of hers, piercingly bright, traced over Aika’s weary body as she stirred at the pot. The Silvite sidled in beside her, pulled her robe’s sleeve back to expose pale skin that never quite tanned, and reached for the spoon of the pot.

“Stew?” Fina asked.

“I borrowed one of the pots from the galley on the ship.” Aika replied. “Figured Drachma wouldn’t be missing it. You know how he prefers his food.”

“Overcooked or roasted on a spit?” Fina said, and smiled again. She had so many smiles. The I’m-trying-to-be-polite-but-you’re-getting-on-my-nerves smile, her I’m-not-really-happy-but-I-can-fake-it smile, and her I’m-glad-to-be-here-with-all-of-you-general-happiness smile. But the one she gave Aika then made the redhead’s breathing hitch a little, because it was the rarest smile Fina had that she was getting from her now.

The smile where she was actually relaxed enough to just let down all of her walls and show a glimmer of actual personality. Aika mustered a weak chuckle and nudged the other girl’s shoulder with her own. “You don’t mind? Stew?”

“I could eat anything.” Fina said honestly, sighing a little at the end. She sniffed the air with a touch of theatricality. “But maybe not when it smells like a burning ship.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know I don’t burn my…” Aika started, but paused when Fina just stared at her and raised an eyebrow. “Oh. You’re talking about me.”

Fina giggled a little, and used her free hand to gently push Aika away from the wood-burning cookstove. “Go on. It’s your turn for the bath, and Moons know you probably need one as bad as I did. I’ll keep an eye on dinner.” Fina hadn’t tied the belt of her borrowed green robe tight enough, and it fell away from her shoulder, revealing pale, unmarred skin.

Unblemished, not a freckle to be seen, and the line of it dipping towards her chest…

“Whatever you say, Princess.” Aika snorted, and turned towards the bathroom before Fina could catch her staring.

The water in the tub was tepid, but still carried the strong floral scent of…

Well. Aika snorted a little as she stuck her hand in the water and used a bit of magic to reheat the water to a proper steaming temperature. She was going to smell like Fina after this, but she was too tired to care. She’d just have to put up with smelling like a flower garden.

She peeled her smoky, sweaty, and oil-stained clothes off, leaving them piled in a heap on the floor, then started to undo the knots in her hair. The twin tails that always jutted up were perfect for the kind of work she dealt with; elbows-deep in machinery or diving into combat. But the gnarled mess that her hair turned into was the problem. Baked in the smoke of their last ship engagement, weathered by the voyage, and tucked up in the twin tails for longer than they should have been, it was tangled, it was coarse, and probably full of split ends.

Aika let out an irritated huff and sank into the water, reveling in the feel of it soaking into her skin.

“Hell of a day.” She said to herself with a twinge of sarcasm. Lying in the tub, Aika looked down at herself. Athletic. Toned. Perky.

Not like Fina. She was soft, and curvy, and…

Okay, damn it, fine. Hers were bigger, and that ate at Aika’s self-confidence. She sank into the water all the way, letting water flood into her ears.

But with her eyes closed, she could see the way Vyse looked at the Silvite. The way his eyes liked to trace the shape of her body, the line of her upper back that her dress always exposed. Aika burst up out of the water and scowled, reaching for a washcloth and starting the process of scrubbing her skin clean. She was rougher than she needed to be, but she welcomed the pain.

“So. I need to make a move?” She asked herself, thinking back to the conversation she’d had with Carol. “Fine. Blue Rogues never give up, right?”

***

“Are you all right?” Fina asked, after Aika had dressed in a similar robe and came out for dinner. “You seem a little out of sorts.”

“Just thinking about things.” Aika told her, accepting the bowl of stew that the other girl dished out without any fanfare. She took a spoonful of it to taste, and blinked in surprise. “Wow. This is good.”

“Over a month of helping out with the cooking, and you thought I would be bad at this?” Fina asked, giving that tender and unguarded smile of hers again. “Besides. You gave it a good start. And the Ixa’takans have a lot of wonderful herbs that grow around here.”

“We’ll have to take some with us when we get done here then.” Aika chuckled, sitting down at the small table. She poured herself and Fina a glass of low-alcoholic loqua and waited for the other girl to sit down across from her. “Although we should probably ask for the dried varieties. They would store better.”

The two ate in companionable silence for several minutes before Fina decided to speak up again. “We’ll be fine tomorrow, you know that, right? We’re going to save them.”

Aika swallowed down the bite she’d been savoring and blinked over at the other girl. “Hm? What do you mean?”

Fina frowned. “The people in the mines.”

“Oh.” Aika considered that. “Maybe not all at once.” Fina seemed ready to argue, but Aika stopped her by holding up her hand. “I want to save them, too. But you saw what kind of defenses they have in place around that mine. We can only guess at the forces they have inside of it. And there’s only four of us, and a ship that was not designed for extended engagements. Not the kind of knockdown, ship-of-the-line fight we’d be dealing with if we faced them head-on.”

“Strange, that you would suddenly caution restraint.” Fina mused, poking at the dregs of her bowl. Like she was deciding to go back for a second helping or not. “Isn’t Vyse usually the one who holds you back from crazy ideas?”

Aika stared at her. “Maybe we take turns.” She suggested. “I can’t always be the crazy one.”

Fina laughed at that. “True. Whose idea was it to storm a moving train to save me again?”

“Vyse’s. Come to think of it, that entire mess of a rescue was his idea.” Aika mumbled petulantly. “But I doubt anything else would have worked. He can be a real genius when he has to be.”

“He wears the burden of command well.” Fina agreed, and the admiration in her voice was absolute. “He is strong and confident when he needs to be. But I imagine there are times he has to balance that with moments of weakness.”

“Vyse? Weak?” Aika scoffed at that. “He’s never weak.”

“He never doubts? Or worries?” Fina asked unsurely. “Even for a moment?”

That made Aika flinch, and she reached for her Loqua, draining the rest in one go. “He...once. Once, he did. Right before we left to rescue you, and our Blue Rogue family.”

Fina looked at her, measuring her somehow. “And you saved him.”

“Of course I did.” The redhead declared haughtily. “I’m his best friend. I’m his First Mate. I’m…” And there, she stuttered on the last part. I’m his. And he’s mine.

Fina misread the silence. “He’s lucky to have you as a friend.” The Silvite complimented her. “I know I’m glad to have you as one.”

“Thanks.” Aika shifted. “And thank you for finishing the cooking.”

“It was my pleasure.” Fina collected up the dishes and took them over to the kitchen washtub to be cleaned. “You’re looking much better. I like it when you leave your hair down like that.”

“Well, it’s hard to fight with it when it’s not tied up.” Aika joked. “Truth be told, I’ve had half a mind to cut it short.”

“No!” Fina all but shouted, whirling around with wide eyes. “You shouldn’t do that. Your hair is lovely when it’s like this. It would take forever to grow it back out again.”

Aika blinked at the startling rebuke. “Well, your hair is long, and you manage.”

Fina pouted a little and went for another bowl, dipping up a third helping of stew. “Yours is longer.”

She’s jealous , Aika realized, and her hand went to her hair, running through the long red tresses. “Well...I guess I won’t cut it then.” She resolved.

“Good.” Fina smiled. “Would you mind cleaning up the dishes? I was going to take Vyse a bowl of stew and say goodnight.”

“Oh, I can do that.” Aika suddenly cut in. Fina blinked.

“Are you sure?”

“Oh, yeah.” Aika gave her a smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes. “Been a long day. I’ll take care of the dishes when I get back, get ‘em all done at once.”

“But, your clothes…”

“We’ll wash ‘em tomorrow before we take off. We’ll have time.” Aika said confidently, taking the bowl from Fina and heading for the door. “It’s okay to take a night off every once in a while.”

“Well, all right.” Fina still seemed a little unsure, but she conceded the lead to Aika. “See you when you get back?”

“You don’t have to wait up for me.” Aika told Fina, feeling a pulse of warmth run through her. If this goes right, you won’t be seeing me again tonight at all.

Fina nodded again, and Aika left. She was done meandering. It was time to make a move.

***

Vyse had been assigned a bunk in the soldier’s lodge, but he came out quickly when Aika knocked on the door and called inside with a hushed whisper. She slid the bowl of stew into his hands and thrilled to see the grateful smile he gave her in return. A bit of loud laughter from inside made him wince and shut the door behind him, leaving them out in the night air. It was cooler than it had been with the sun up, but the moisture in the air and the clouds had trapped much of the heat of the day. It was warm enough that Aika didn’t shiver in her robe, and Vyse still had a faint sheen of sweat clinging just beneath his hairline.

“Too noisy in there.” He decided.

“So, why don’t we go for a walk?” Aika asked innocently, pulling her arms behind her back and rocking back and forth on her bare feet. The movement drew his eyes down, and there was a momentary thrill when she felt the heat of his gaze run across her throat before settling on her ankles. “I think I saw a good place to sit a ways off over there.” She gestured.

“By all means, lead on.” He said, already digging into the stew with vigor. Well. There was a compliment to her cooking skills...as well as Fina’s.

Meandering through the jungle of the small island, they reached the small clearing with a few medium-sized boulders strewn about. A break in the tree cover revealed a night sky blemished by only faint traces of clouds, and the faint gleam of the green moon with the points of starlight shining through the soft emerald haze.

“This is good stew.”

“Glad you think so. Fina and I made it together.”

“Really?” He raised an eyebrow at that, and she blushed a little before reaching over and shoving him lightly in the arm, not hard enough to make him spill any.

“I’ll have you know we get along fine now. I started it, and she finished it.”

“My compliments to both of you then.” Vyse chuckled.

Aika guided them over to one of the boulders which was at just the right height to lean against, and also hop up on if the need to sit became too great. Vyse kept shoveling his dinner away, which gave Aika plenty of time to consider her options. She wanted to approach this right.

She wanted to leave no room for misinterpretation. He’d always been clueless before, after all. And finally, finally , she was alone with him. She’d tricked Fina into giving her this chance.

Moons, had the other girl been planning to do the same thing?

“You’re thinking too hard.” Vyse said, snapping her out of the wild spin her thoughts were in. “I can see the smoke coming out of your ears.”

“Well.” Aika puffed her cheeks out, blushing a bit at the gentle barb. “I’ve had a lot to think about. We all have a lot to think about.”

“Tomorrow, you mean.” Vyse murmured.

“It’s not going to be easy, you know.” Aika pointed out, folding her arms over her chest, reveling in the feel of her robe’s long green sleeves against her bare arms. She was all too conscious of how she had just the simplest of undergarments on underneath it. It made her feel...braver. “I can only imagine the kind of defenses they’d have to keep the workers trapped inside.”

“Well, something else to consider.” Vyse mused. “I’ve been thinking about it myself. Down here, in Ixa’taka, have the Valuans really had anyone that could stand up to them? Give them a decent fight?”

Aika thought about for a bit. “No.” She decided. “They haven’t.”

“Exactly.” Vyse went on, a little sad at that fact. “But that means, they’ve gotten lazy. And lazy Valuans…”

“...are easy pickings for Blue Rogues.” Aika finished, grinning as she caught on. “Damn. They won’t be expecting it. Just so long as we can get past their patrols.”

“Refuge in audacity.” Vyse looked as though he would be strutting, were he not leaned up against a rock. He spooned up the last of the stew, swallowed it back with a satisfied hum, and then set the bowl aside. “Moons. You know, there are times I have to pinch myself?”

“Why?”

“Because of where we are. Of what we’re doing. And who we’re with.” He laughed heartily at that. “Three months ago, Aika, we were still just crewmembers on the Albatross . And now?” He shook his head. “It’s a whole new world.”

“Hm.” Aika took a step closer to him, drew in a breath, and leaned against him. It felt natural, and he didn’t resist. They’d always had this closeness. “You did say you wanted to see the world.”

“Yeah, but like this?” Vyse waved an arm out in front of him. “It’s crazy.”

“You have to be a little crazy to be a Blue Rogue.” Aika reminded him. “Or at least, you always said that.”

“Just to drive my dad nuts.” He sighed. “But. I’m beginning to think that there’s truth in it.”

Her head against his arm, Aika realized that he was tense. Far too tense, because he usually relaxed when she leaned into him.

“You’re worried, though.” She murmured.

“Of course I’m worried. It’s still a gamble. It’s always a gamble. Risking my life? Fine. But I’m risking yours, and Fina’s. And even Drachma’s, come to think of it. So, yeah. Refuge in audacity? Sure. But beyond that, we have to be careful. I have to be careful.”

Aika felt a hitch of something catch in her chest. It was all suddenly too real. What Fina had asked her, just minutes before. And her answer, and Fina’s response.

He’s lucky to have you as his friend.

But it wasn’t enough anymore.

“A night like this, Vyse...worrying about tomorrow, you worry about regrets at all?” She inquired, voice softer than she’d been all day.

“Some.” He admitted. “It’s why I try to live every day to the fullest.”

“Because it might be your last.” She licked her lips, felt her heart thrum.

“Blue Rogues fly free.” He tilted his head up towards the heavens, staring at the stars.

He wasn’t paying attention to her. It was all the opportunity she needed. She spun around, pressed against him. Wrapped her arms around his head and pulled it to her. He froze solid, his eyes went wide.

“Aika, what the hell....” He started to rasp.

Aika smirked at him, leaned her face in closer, and watched the flecks in his irises reflect the green moonlight. “I don’t want any regrets either.”

Before he could stutter a refusal, she pulled his face to hers and kissed him hard. Unpracticed, inexperienced, she worked her lips against his until he finally gave in, groaned, and parted his lips.

The feel of his tongue darting into her mouth made her blood burn, and for a need of something to grab on to, her fingers clawed at his back. He wrapped her body in his arms and spun them around, smashing her into the rock that he had been leaning against only moments before. When he pulled away from her mouth and took his lips and his teeth to her neck, Aika’s brain melted to mush. She heard herself moan as she clutched a hand to the back of his head, pulling him closer.

“Yes...Moons, Vyse, yes …”

He pressed his thighs against hers, pinning her to the rock, and instinct made her bring up a long and shapely leg, rubbing it frantically against his. His hands sought the collar of her robe, pulling the edges away to expose more of her shoulders, and the freckled skin above her breasts. His hot mouth went from her neck, tracing a line of kisses along her clavicle to the curve of her right shoulder.

It was everything she thought she had wanted. She was a fool. She wanted more . An ache that had never felt so pure, so right , burned in her center, and gasping for air, his name on her lips, she ground her hips into his.

The kisses stopped, and Vyse, marvelous, wonderful man that he was, went as stiff as the hardness in his trousers she had been grinding against.

He pulled away from her, fast, too fast for her to react, and she fell to the ground in a heap with a cry, disheveled, flushed, her lips bruised.

“Ow.” She moaned, and from pain this time. She rubbed at the back of her head with her eyes shut, where the rock had struck it during her collapse. “Vyse, what the hell was that for? Why did you stop?!”

He didn’t say anything, but she could hear the hard panting coming from him. She finally rubbed enough of the pain away that she could crack her eyes open.

He stood there, pale as a sheet and mortified. Ashamed.

“This...I shouldn’t have...we…” He said hoarsely, and she realized that he was not looking at her face, but down at her body. She looked down and realized that he could see the top of one breast, just covered enough by her robe to hide its peak.

It should have felt wonderful to have his eyes roaming her body. It was what she had wanted. His eyes, his hands, his wonderful mouth…

But the haunted look on his face tainted it all, and she felt nothing but embarrassment, slowly slipping the collar of her robe back into place. She looked up at him.

Vyse had closed his eyes, and now he ran a hand through his messy brown hair. “This was a mistake.” He muttered. “I can’t do this. We shouldn’t do this.”

It hurt more than she could put words to.

“I’m a mistake ?” She echoed hollowly.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you.” He muttered. He was looking anywhere but her now, his eyes both exhausted and wildly dancing about.

Aika pulled herself up to her feet, trying not to cry. She wouldn’t cry. “No regrets, Vyse. And I lo…”

“ Stop .” He cut her off, hissing the word. “Stop . Don’t...don’t say that.”

She wouldn’t cry. “But I do.”

He looked miserable. Good. Served the bastard right. “I know you do.” He admitted to her, sounding even worse. “I’ve known for a while.”

“All this time, you...you knew ?” She demanded, and the world went blurry. “But why did you never…”

“Because it wouldn’t be fair!”

She should have just run off. Moons, she really was a masochist, because she stayed. Lead in her feet, a stone in her chest, her blood frozen, she stayed. Her vision got even blurrier. “Fair to who , Vyse?” Aika choked out. “Fair. To. Who? ”

She refused to bring a hand to her eyes, blurry as they were. She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t.

Vyse sucked in air with a shaky, ragged inhale, worked up enough strength to stand tall. And he finally met her eyes.

“You know who, Aika.” He said, without any quaver whatsoever.

The rest of the world slipped away from Aika. The bottom dropped out of her stomach, and she chuffed softly. She might have smiled, she thought. It didn’t feel like a smile, though.

“You really are a pirate .” She hissed, and ran from the clearing as fast as she could in a robe not meant for running.

He didn’t even call out after her.

***

She pulled the door to the guest longhouse open so fast that it slammed into the outer wall with a bang, and inside, Fina let out a cry of dismay. Aika couldn’t work up the nerve to give a damn. One look at the blonde-haired girl instantly had her running from grief to rage.

Fina, sitting up in her bed, had a hand pressed over her heart. “Moons, Aika, you scared…What happened?” She threw the covers back and stood up.

Blind fury, burning jealousy. Aika clenched her jaw. “Nothing happened.” She walked on, storming for the bathroom.

Fina scowled and came after her. “Something happened. You’re crying, your hair is a mess, there are grass stains on your robe.”

“Leave it alone, Princess .” Aika snarled.

Not that Fina ever did. She reached her hands out, and grabbed hold of Aika’s arm before she could cross into the threshold of the bathroom. “Aika, please! Tell me what’s wrong, let me help…”

Aika heard a scream, and when she came to a second later, she realized it was her own. Lying on the floor beneath her with wide eyes and a hurt expression, Fina had a hand pressed to her cheek, and underneath it, the skin was quickly turning a bright red. Aika couldn’t place the cause until she felt her palm throbbing.

She had hit her. She had hit Fina, and she didn’t know whether to feel guilty or fulfilled.

“Just leave me alone! ” Aika shrieked, and dove into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. Chest heaving, she crumpled on the floor next to her soiled clothes and finally stopped lying to herself.

She was crying. After she’d gotten enough out that she just felt empty and raw instead of agonized, Aika wiped her tears away and reached for her clothes. The bathwater was still there, and with another low-grade Pyri spell, she heated the water enough to start cleaning them.

Thirty minutes later, her clothes and the stupid green robe hanging up to dry, Aika finally cracked the door to the rest of the longhouse open and looked around. It was completely dark, and Fina had retreated to her bed.

No movement, and no noise. Stuck with nothing but her panties and her chest wrap, Aika mutely went to her own bed, slipped under the covers, and tried to think about anything else except Vyse, or the ache that would never go away.

Twenty minutes of sleepless tossing and turning later, she heard the creak of footsteps in the longhouse, and felt the presence of Fina come up behind her. The covers were lifted, and the Silvite slipped in behind her.

Aika felt her eyes tear up all over again, and wondered how she still had them to spare. She was shaking too, until Fina’s arms wrapped around her body, and the girl’s forehead rested against her naked back.

Vyse had chosen Fina, and Aika had made an utter fool of herself.

You were wrong, Carol. I shouldn’t have tried at all.

“What happened?” Fina’s breathy voice, concerned, worried, asked from behind her.

She had stolen Aika’s best friend away from her. She shouldn’t have cared what happened to Aika. But Fina did, and it broke Aika’s heart clean through.

Aika couldn’t hate Fina, much as she wanted to. Because she still needed this.

“Aika.” Fina’s hands came to rest over her bare stomach, pulling her close. Unconsciously, one of the girl’s fingers sought out her navel, as if to anchor her in place. “Please. Please tell me.”

A single sob broke the silence as Aika shivered in Fina’s arms, cradled from behind.

“He didn’t want me.” Aika mourned, too tired to hide. Too tired to care just how pathetic she sounded. “He didn’t want me.”

Fina’s arms tightened around her, and though the Silvite never said another word, Aika could feel her voice all the same through her body language.

She was sorry.

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Twelve: Sailor’s Liberty

68 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Moonstone Mine, Southern Ixa’taka

Centime wasn’t really a fan of nicknames, but at least the Valuan Admiralty had seen fit to give him one that wasn’t too outlandish. ‘The Tinker’ didn’t inspire fear and he preferred it that way. It was likely the main reason that his family had been spared when the Valuans stormed Horteka’s outskirts and found him; he was an engineer and former machinist’s mate first, and a captain a distant second. A captain third if he included being a foster father on the list. De Loco had no need of his talents; the unhinged inventor was notorious for designing and planning alone, relying on journals and second-hand accounts when his own genius didn’t suffice.

On the plus side, it meant that Centime wasn’t being hounded to design and manufacture anything that would help solidify the Valuan’s control over the local population. Boredom was a cheap price to pay for not being used as a weapon for the enemy.

Reclining on the lone cot in his room and doing his level best to ignore the chain around his ankle, Centime ran through the machinist’s tables for the fourth time and planned out fixes to his storm-beaten ship back in Horteka. Even if he never got the chance to manage it, he could at least hope that Hans would figure out a way to make the necessary repairs and give the rest of his family a fighting chance at escaping the Valuans. Maybe they’d even take some of the Ixa’takans with them, get the natives clear of the empire’s unceasing expansion.

He paused in his mental mapping of the Iron Side ’s engine when he heard footsteps outside of his door. Centime glanced at his mechanical chronometer, one of the few things that the Valuans had allowed him to keep, and frowned. It wasn’t time for a shift change, and lunch had been two hours ago; far too soon for dinner. Some kind of trouble, then, something that they were coming to drag him off for interrogation again. With luck, they’d be a little gentler on his poor bruised stomach.

When the door flung open, though, it wasn’t Valuan guards who came wandering in. Instead, a boy on the cusp of adulthood with a wild mop of brown hair, a scar on his left cheek and a telescopic goggle lens over his right eye stepped inside with cutlasses raised. A half second behind him, a girl who kept her red hair bound in a pair of high pigtails followed in step with a leather glove clutching a moonstone-cored boomerang, its edge honed to worrying sharpness.

“You two seem a little young to be guards.” Centime ventured cautiously, not sure if they were here to free him or kill him.

The young man looked around the small prison cell for another half second before meeting Centime’s eyes, and his warlike posture relaxed. “We’re not guards, we’re Blue Rogues.” Centime blinked in surprise as the youth stowed his sabers. “The name’s Vyse. This is Aika, my First Mate.”

“A...well. I didn’t expect to meet Blue Rogues here.” Centime recovered after a pause. “Did my wife send you?”

“That would depend on who your wife is.” Aika said, coming over and examining the chain around his ankle.

Centime sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the chain taut. “Carol.” He smiled. “Who I hope is doing well in my absence.”

A flash of recognition passed over Aika’s eyes, and she glanced back to Vyse, who nodded.

“You’d be Centime, then.” Vyse declared, looking to the door as a heavyset older man with a thick shoulder-mounted prosthetic poked his head in.

“Time’s wasting, boy. We need to move.”

“On it, Drachma. You and Fina keep an eye on the other prisoners we freed.” Vyse gestured to Aika, who brought her boomerang down and sliced clean through the thick iron chain with its burning edge. Vyse came over and extended a hand, helping Centime stand. “We don’t have a lot of time, and a good portion of this escape we’re making up as we go along. We’re looking for the high priest of Ixa’taka, a man named Isapa.”

Centime stretched out his legs for a bit before adjusting his glasses. “I’ve heard of him.” The middle-aged Blue Rogue said. “But I haven’t seen him. I think the Valuans are keeping him on a different level of this facility.”

Vyse winced. “Not good. Sticking to the indirect routes has led us into way too many of De Loco’s traps.”

“If I had my tools, I could probably jury-rig the elevator to take you wherever you wanted to go, and gremlin up their traps a bit. But they confiscated my toolbelt when I was arrested.”

Aika let out a low chuckle, and produced a small multitool from her own sack. “What can you do with this?”

Centime took it from the redhead, examined all of its bobs and pieces, and felt a particularly wicked smile come to his face.

“I can cause more damage than a battleship.”

***

Step one, of course, was jiggering up the elevator to work without the mechanical passkeys that the Valuan guards were issued. To Centime’s tremendous joy, the electronic locking mechanism may have been complex on the surface if he had tried to lockpick it normally, but was rudimentary and simple underneath. He listened to Vyse explain their overall mission and reason for braving the Southern Ocean crossing, and tried not to panic too much. Focusing on the job helped to keep him calm when the young man started talking about Moon Crystals, Gigas, and the new and unsettling phase of Valua’s expansion. Four screws was all it took to get underneath the panel and start crossing the wires underneath.

“I get the feeling that De Loco is more of an idiot savant than a true genius.” Centime wagered aloud for the benefit of the Blue Rogues escorting the rescued Ixa’takans, all of who stood back a respectful distance while he worked. “This passkey system? It would require an entirely new generation of lockpicking tools to muster appropriately. But peel off the cover, and a first year Valuan mechanic can break this.”

“This is nothing. You should have seen how we got past his traps earlier.” Aika smirked.

“Oh? Just as easily broken?”

“No, even worse.” Fina, the blonde-haired girl in their company, piped up. “Trap doors, sure, but he used wire grating with them. You looked through, and you could see which paths had mine carts underneath them and which one didn’t.”

Centime snorted at that and stripped a few wires, using his gloved fingertips to twist them together to short-circuit the system. “One of these things is not like the other, indeed.” A green light flickered on, and he got to work on another set of wires. “So, Vyse. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of you before.”

“You might have heard of my father.” Vyse explained. “I’m the son of Dyne, ‘The Blue Storm’ as the piracy board calls him.”

Centime’s steady work stuttered out for a half second, and he got back to work with a cough. “Yes, I’ve heard of him. I’d heard he had a son, but we ran in very different circles. I think it’s been about 15 or 16 years since I last had the pleasure of Dyne’s company.”

“Wow, that means you knew the captain back when he was young!” Aika said excitedly. Centime chuckled at her eagerness. “What was he like back then?”

“Full of fire and anger, but always directed towards the Valuan leadership.” Centime said. “To those who flew under him, to the innocents, he was respectful and a model officer.”

One last twist of wires, and the elevator sprang to life, the passkey system now thoroughly bypassed. Centime stood back up with a sigh of satisfaction and pocketed the multitool. “There we go. My thanks for the use of your gear, First Mate Aika. Mind if I hang on to this?”

“You have plans for it?” Aika asked. Centime nodded, and motioned for the interior of the elevator.

“There’s a map of the mine’s interior inside the lift. You should be able to use that to figure out where this priest of yours is being held. As for me, I’ll get these Ixa’takans clear of the mine, then I’m going to take a little detour and mess up as much of De Loco’s traps as I possibly can.” Aika looked ready to argue the point, but Centime cut her off with a shake of his head. “Look, this is one time it’s better to split up. Like Vyse said, we’re on a clock here, and if this priest of yours is as important to finding Rixis so you can keep the next crystal out of the Admiralty’s hands, divide and conquer is our best bet.” He stepped clear and smiled at them. “Don’t worry about us. I have a feeling that the guards will be too busy chasing after you to pay much attention to what me and the Ixa’takans are doing.”

“Sound enough logic. Let’s go, then.” The older Drachma huffed, moving past the children. Fina followed him right after, and Aika joined them on the lift next. Vyse lingered in the corridor however, sizing up Centime. The older Blue Rogue raised an eyebrow over the rim of his glasses.

“Did you need something else, Vyse?”

“Just...something you said.” Vyse ventured cautiously. “You called my father an officer. But Blue Rogues really don’t use ranks.”

“Blue Rogues don’t have ranks, true, just positions.” Centime said, wondering what was concerning to Dyne’s son.

“So what did you mean?”

“I said what I meant. Dyne was one of the most respectable officers in the Armada before he, myself, and several others left.” Centime explained. And then he noticed just how pale Vyse’s face got when that tidbit was revealed. “You mean...your father never told you? ”

“My father is a Blue Rogue.” Vyse ground out. “He can’t be Valuan.”

Centime exhaled. “Not as they are now, no.” Vyse looked ready to keep arguing, so Centime forestalled it by raising his hand. “Time, Vyse. We’re running out of time. We’ll talk more later, so get going.”

Vyse shook his head, but had enough sense to keep to the mission, regardless of the trouble brewing in his heart. And Centime, with years of experience in reading young men, couldn’t help but think that Vyse had more on his mind than just his father’s previously unknown past. Vyse got onto the lift, the shutters closed, and he and his friends disappeared.

Centime turned back to the other Ixa’takans, and caught sight of a few familiar faces from Horteka. They looked to him with hope and trust, and Centime smiled back at them, brandishing Aika’s multitool. “Come on.” He told them all. “We’re busting out of here.”

***

Moonstone Mine Rear Entrance

It hadn’t really been all of that close a thing; Centime had been paraded around the halls enough that he deduced a safe route out for himself and the other prisoners. He didn’t even have to tell them to stay quiet more than once. The Valuans had taught them the value of going unseen and unnoticed, and the lesson had clearly been a painful one. Centime had guided them to the path and told them to look for the Little Jack that Drachma had told him about, then gone back inside to mess up as many of the mechanisms as he could possibly get away with.

The result, to his satisfaction, included disabling several lesser traps, but also a major one in a room designed as little more than a deathtrap. When Vyse and the others appeared, they were looking particularly smug...and a rotund Ixa’takan in priestly garb was in their company.

“I’d say you succeeded.” Centime ventured with a chuckle. “This must be the Isapa you came to find.”

“Unfortunately.” Aika grumbled, stomping by and looking ready to kill something. Centime froze up a bit as Fina passed by with an apologetic bow, dragging Isapa behind her. He then looked to Vyse, who sighed and shrugged. “Isapa is...rather forward.”

“The man’s a lech.” Drachma clarified, strolling past. “And he’d better be worth the trouble, boy.”

“He will be.” Vyse said firmly, then looked to Centime once they were alone. “Sorry. It’s been...interesting. Had to deal with Admiral Alfonso again. The man’s still a twat, and he still doesn’t fight his own battles.”

Centime chuckled, and started down the winding path around the back of the mountain, Vyse staying close to his side. “I hate to say it, but his father wasn’t much better. So, aside from dealing with the most useless member of the Admiralty, smooth or rough going in there?”

“Smoother than I thought, rougher than I hoped.” Vyse explained. “And I could have sworn that there was one trap that should have killed us. It was right after we fought Alfonso’s ‘pet’, it seemed like the ceiling lurched a little.”

“It was a drop ceiling. A deathtrap.” Centime explained, pulling out Aika’s multitool and handing it back to Vyse. “I’m glad to hear that my disrepairs worked out.” Vyse accepted the tool with a grin and a chuckle, and pocketed it.

“I guess we owe you one.”

“Get me home to my family in Horteka and we’ll call it even. Moons only knows what Hans has been doing to my poor ship in my absence.”

“Actually, Aika helped him a little bit with repairs...and gave him a list of instructions so he wouldn’t goof anything up.” Vyse glanced past Drachma and Fina and Isapa, further down the slope, before settling his eyes on Aika at the front. Something close to mixed pride and regret took hold there. “She’s something special.”

Centime nodded slowly, following his gaze. “I get the feeling that both of them are.” He wagered, and felt a slight bit of satisfaction when Vyse flinched a little. “Come on. We shouldn’t fall behind.” Centime stepped ahead of Vyse, picking up the pace.

“You still haven’t explained how you and my father served with the Valuan Armada.” Vyse reminded him, trailing behind.

“It’s a story that will keep until tonight.” Centime said. “Besides, I’ll need a few stiff glasses of loqua before I get started.”

***

Hortekan Outskirts, Ixa’taka

Evening

The celebration that was spurred on by the return of so many of their friends and family was one that the villagers of Horteka would have a difficult time ever beating out. Maybe when they finally drove the Valuans completely out of their homeland, they’d manage a bigger one. As for Centime, the moment that the Little Jack had moored next to his old ship, he had been the first one off of the modified fishing boat, racing for his beloved Carol’s arms. As bonfires went up and music was played in tandem with wild dances, ‘The Tinker’ settled onto a blanket and caught up with all of his adopted children, while Carol refused to be anywhere else but right by his side. Food was eventually brought out for all to enjoy, and when the sun finally lowered, Centime took on the responsibility of putting their children to bed for the night. Carol was glad for the reprieve, but more importantly, his kids wouldn’t have been able to sleep without their recently returned father tucking them in.

The noise from the village was more muffled due to the Iron Side being parked well clear of it, which was good, given how late it was, and how many little ones they needed to keep from waking up again. Centime and Carol had returned to their blanket next to the campfire away from the ship, cuddling while his oldest adopted son Hans smiled at the display and savored his loqua. He was old enough that Carol had finally agreed to Centime’s request to let him try the high-alcohol variety that Horteka made.

“It’s...different.” Hans observed, finishing the glass off and setting it aside. “Though, I’m not sure why everyone makes such a big deal out of it.”

Centime chuckled a little, taking note of the redness in his son’s cheeks. “It grows on you. Enjoy the evening while you can. Tomorrow, you and I have a lot of work to do on this old ship.” Hans grinned in thanks, stood up with a slight wobble, and then took off for Horteka proper to celebrate some more.

The heavy footsteps of Drachma approached them from the village, and the towering form of the old man walked into the glow of the campfire with a small wooden cask of loqua hoisted over his mechanical shoulder. He nodded at them, and Centime waved back. “I thought you would be back at Horteka, celebrating.”

“I’m not one for celebrations.” Drachma explained gruffly, shifting his head a little to motion at the cask. “This’ll be enough for me. And the kids don’t need me playin’ grandpa.”

Centime chuckled at that. “You know, Drachma, I get the feeling that you care more than you like to let on.”

The old man’s face got redder, and then he snorted and kept on walking. Carol leaned into his side a little more before whispering, “He’s nothing but a giant teddy bear, I think.”

Centime brought his wife’s hand up to his lips and kissed it gently. “I think you’re right. But he doesn’t like to admit it, either.”

She hummed a bit and squeezed his hand again. “So, tell me. What did you think of Vyse and the girls?”

“Capable. Very capable. Although, given that Dyne’s his father, I shouldn’t be that surprised.” Centime looked up at the green moon hanging high in the night sky. “Aika’s a bit of a marvel, but she seemed...irritated. At Vyse, specifically. And the other girl, Fina? I’ve never seen anyone who dressed like she did. They said she was a Silvite. You ever hear of Silvites?”

“No, but then, you knew that.” Carol reminded him. “But the silver moon is in Mid-Ocean, right? So she must be from somewhere around there.”

“Not too far from Dyne’s stomping grounds.” Centime mused. “Did they have a fight recently?”

“Who?”

“Vyse and Aika? And maybe Fina, although she seemed to be trying to act as a buffer between them when I was with them in the Moonstone Mine.”

Carol thought about it, and then winced. “Oh, no.”

“You know something?”

“That girl Aika, she’s in love with Vyse.”

“Oh? Then why is she suddenly giving him the cold shoulder? And why does he always look so apologetic?”

Carol breathed out slowly, and slumped her head against the side of his neck. “I told her to make her feelings a little more clear to him. He’s almost as helplessly obtuse in matters of the heart as you were, love.”

“Oh.” Centime’s face fell. “Oh, no. So she...and he…”

Carol murmured down against his throat. “He must have refused her. Although...”

“For the life of me, I can’t understand why.” Centime complained. “Aika’s good in a fight, she’s got enough engineering sense to help our son Hans get his head put on right for engine repairs, and she’s rather pretty.”

“Hey, now!”

Centime laughed and tilted his head to kiss the top of hers. “You can relax, dear. I’m a taken man. Taken by you.”

“And don’t you go forgetting it.” His wife mumbled, appeased. There was companionable silence for a bit before she spoke up again. “Fina isn’t a bad match for him either, though. Vyse is young and bold and full of confidence, but his edges could use smoothing. And she’s softspoken, but there’s a different kind of strength in her.”

“I still think he’s wasting his time on her. He should stay with Aika.”

“Ultimately, dear, it’s none of our business.” Carol pointed out.

“But it is theirs.” Centime said. “And I hope that, for their sake, and the sake of the world, they find a way to remain friends.” His heart sank a little as he dug through old memories. “Because not everyone does.”

Carol pulled away from him and examined him with a pained gaze. “They are not like you and the others you knew back then.”

“They’re close enough.” Centime resolved, and his memory traced back to a time when he and Dyne flew under a different banner altogether.

***

69 Days after the Grand Fortress Escape

The Little Jack had quickly been loaded up and resupplied by the Hortekans, whose gratitude for the actions of their rescuers had led to a completely replenished larder with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables along with the local variety of dried sky sardis, and even a cask of partially fermented loqua that would keep for a few weeks before it went bad. More importantly, their moonstone fuel stores were now fully topped off.

While Aika and Fina worked with Drachma to get the Little Jack ready to cast off, Vyse stayed down at the makeshift dock, bothering Centime one last time before they headed out. Of course, The Tinker had known this talk was coming. It was in fact, overdue.

“So, Isapa. Did he tell you what you needed to know to find Rixis?” Centime asked, weaving around the topic that he knew was eating at Vyse.

“Directions hidden in vague terms and prophecy, but I’m pretty sure that they refer to landmarks. There’s a ‘golden man’ statue up on a cliff we passed by on our way to King Ixa’taka’s sanctuary, we just need to find the great bird. Both of them supposedly point towards Rixis, so if you take the two, draw lines out from them, then…”

“Where they cross, you’ll find the Gates of Rixis.” Centime finished, pleased with his deduction. “You’re one hell of an explorer, Vyse.”

“Heh. I’ve always wanted to see what’s out there. I’m just taking an unusual method of making it happen.” Vyse tapped his foot on the dock, and his smile dropped away. “Now. You have information I want, and there’s no better time for it.”

Centime sighed. “Very well. Yes. Your father and I served with the Valuan Armada. Of course, this was around 20 years ago. Shortly before the Valuan-Nasrian War. I was an engineer, and Dyne was a second lieutenant. That put him two steps below the captain on his ship, there wasn’t a Vice Admiral. There were others, of course, on different ships, but we were all young. We believed in what we were doing.”

“How could you believe that serving with Valua was a good idea?” Vyse asked flatly. “What the hell was my father thinking?”

“It was a different time, Vyse.” Centime cut him off gently. “Before the Emperor died, Teodora was...happier. More content. She had the Prince to take care of, and there was peace. But there were those within Valua who believed that the only means of securing peace and prosperity for the empire was further expansion. Expansion into the rest of Mid-Ocean, and beyond. It was an opinion we didn’t agree with. After her husband died, Teodora changed. I’ve always wondered if the strain of leading the empire was too much for her. Her heart became hard, and Galcian of all people...Galcian became her trusted confidante within the Admiralty. Not Gregorio, who had been her husband’s closest friend and ally.”

“So Galcian...what? Changed her mind?”

“Hardened her heart, at the very least.” Centime shook his head sadly. “After that, Dyne, myself, and the others who found Valua’s new expansionist policies and brutal militarism unpalatable left. We mutinied, took over our ships, marooned the Valuan loyalists, and then formed the Blue Rogues. It wasn’t easy, there were friends that we had to leave behind...but our honor, our consciences demanded no less.”

Vyse stood there, slowly shaking his head, and Centime bit his lip. “Are you all right?”

“It’s...a lot to take in.” Vyse admitted weakly. “Does that mean that I’m Valuan? That Aika is?”

“No. It means you’re a Blue Rogue, son of Dyne.” Centime quickly corrected him. “The Blue Rogues are what Valua’s navy was supposed to be. Before they got greedy, before they stopped caring.” He set a hand on Vyse’s shoulder. “Don’t feel ashamed of your father. Don’t feel guilty about your heritage. The best parts of what Valua once was, we took with us. Strength in the face of adversity. Mercy to the weak. Aid to the needy. Courage under fire.”

“Funny.” Vyse chuckled. “That sounds an awful lot like the Code of the Blue Rogues.”

“As taught by your father, I take it.” Centime chuckled. “Let me let you in on a little secret, young Vyse; The Code is important, but it’s more of a basic guideline. We all add a little something more to it. As will you. Once you decide what being a Blue Rogue means to you.”

“What did it mean to you?” Vyse asked honestly.

Centime gestured his hands around him, and both he and Vyse watched as children, Ixa’takan and Mid-Ocean heritage alike, ran around and played with scattered laughter.

“Giving those who didn’t have a family a chance at one. And for your father, it meant standing up to the worst of Valua’s aggression regardless of the risk.” Behind his glasses, Centime’s eyes beamed. “I hope I’m there to see it when you decide what being a Blue Rogue is to you. Because it’s going to be something special.”

“Why?”

“You were born a Blue Rogue, raised as one.” Centime prodded the boy in the chest. “Your generation, you and Aika and even my Hans, will show if our decision from 20 years ago was right. We tried to change Valua. You, though? You’re going to change the world.”

Vyse stepped back, laughed, and rubbed at the back of his head. “No pressure or anything, right?”

Centime grinned. “After everything else you’ve done so far, now you’re worried?”

“I’m cautious.” Vyse said. “Luck runs out eventually.”

“You didn’t make it this far on luck.” Centime said. “Blue Rogues Never Give Up. Remember that.”

“Hey, Vyse! Get a move on already, we’re wasting daylight!” Aika shouted from the deck of the Little Jack. Vyse and Centime glanced up at her, and the older Blue Rogue shrugged.

“You’d better not keep your girl waiting, Vyse.”

“She’s not my girl.” Vyse protested softly.

“Oh, but she is.” Centime rebuked him. Vyse snapped his eyes up to him in surprise, and Centime smiled. “No matter what happens, she really is.”

“VYSE!”

Caught gobsmacked, Vyse was slow to put himself back together. “I’m coming, geez Aika!” Vyse snapped back at her, groaning afterwards. “She’s in a mood today. But she’s right. We need to get out to the north end of Ixa’taka and find Rixis before the Valuans do.” He shook Centime’s hand. “Fair skies, captain.”

“And the same to you...Captain Vyse.” Centime reciprocated. There was another meaningful nod between them, and then Vyse went running up the dock, leaping onto the deck of the Little Jack right as Aika finished pulling in the mooring lines. Carol came out and joined Centime, and the two waved as a ship holding the cause of freedom against oppression slowly shrank into the horizon.

“Those three are going to be something special.” Carol wagered.

“I think you mean, do something special.”

“Yes, that too.” Carol smiled, and didn’t say another word on the subject, regardless of how many looks Centime gave her. It passed quickly, though, as there was suddenly lots to do.

Horteka was alive again.

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Thirteen: The Ghosts of Rixis

The Gates of Rixis

North Ixa’taka, Misty Mountains

Rixis

70 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

As soon as Vyse had fitted the gold and cyan gemstones from the Golden Man and Great Bird Discoveries into the appropriate sockets of the gateway’s guardian headstones, the entire clearing started to shudder and shake. It didn’t unsettle Fina, because she knew what it was; the central totem rotating on a mechanism that had been sitting dormant for thousands of years in a high humidity environment filled with overgrowth, with absolutely no maintenance. It was a miracle the thing even turned at all after all this time, but the Green Civilization had known their lands well, and knew how to adapt their technology to suit it. A reliance on stone architecture, for one; metal rusted. Glass became brittle over time. But stone, carved with careful respect for the fault lines and treated with impermeability agents, was perfect for the lands under the green moon.

While Vyse took several steps back to get next to Aika and Drachma, the Silvite approached the still turning edifice, and she narrowed her eyes. Rusty at first, but...smoother now. Which was odd. If Rixis hadn’t been accessed in a long time, the turntable should have been squealing. It still made plenty of noise, but…

“Fina, get back! It might fall on you!” Vyse shouted out in warning, startling the Silvite and making her lose her train of thought. She scowled and shook her head, whirling about to face him.

“If it hasn’t collapsed yet, it’s not going to.” She pointed out. Damn, and now she couldn’t remember what she’d been thinking about. It would probably come back to her later, when she was thinking about something else. Multitasking, after all, was something she’d learned females had more readily than the male gender, and her Silvite education in its complexity had taken that skill steps farther. So long as she wasn’t distracted, and unfortunately, Vyse was a particularly impressive distraction.

The central totem finished its rotation, and now a doorway shaped like an open mouth stood where the closed mouth had been before. On the other side, as Fina stepped closer to it, she could make out the beginnings of a long shaft built into the side of the mountain, and at her feet…

Moons, how I’ve missed this. She cracked a wide smile as an antigrav platform lift, ancient in manufacture, caught her attention. The bottom of it glowed a faint blue, one delicate glassteel resonator several iterations less complex than the ones she was used to spinning delicately beneath another carefully bolted into the stone platform.

The others crept up behind her, and Aika tucked her chin onto Fina’s shoulder, nervously putting the blonde between herself and the strange mechanism. “What...what is that?” The redhead asked worriedly.

Fina laughed in spite of herself, her relief at seeing familiar, if still horribly outdated technology, grounding her in the midst of their wonder. “Antigrav lift. Don’t worry, it’s harmless. And remarkably well-preserved, but then the Green Civilization built things to last.” She nudged Aika off of her shoulder and stepped onto the platform. “It’s also our ride.” She said, turning around and facing them.

Aika seemed dubious about it, but Fina did her best to stay encouraging, and she finally got on. Vyse did as well, after tapping the toe of his boot against the platform as if half-expecting it to drop away underneath him.

“The Temple of Pyrynn didn’t have anything like this.” He muttered.

“Witchcraft.” Drachma spat on the ground before joining them on the platform. “I don’t trust it.”

Fina sighed and rolled her eyes. “It’s not witchcraft. It’s just technology you don’t understand, Drachma. And you’ve seen actual magic before. Used it. ”

“Still don’t trust this.” The old man grumbled, and Fina shook her head. A pair of glowing holographic lights appeared in front of them, a down arrow that was dimmed and an up arrow which glowed brighter. She tapped the up arrow, and the images disappeared.

The antigrav lift took them up the side of the mountain, with only a pale sliver of light from below illuminating them.

“I can’t see!” Aika cried out, grabbing Fina’s arm. She was close to panicking.

“The interior lights didn’t survive.” Fina sighed, and conjured up a glowing white orb that got Aika to calm down. The smooth, damp-weathered walls of the mountain’s interior passed by them, the lift whisper-silent as it took them up high into the air. Beyond, what Fina knew, was the altitude of what the ships of Valua and anything in the Mid-Ocean were capable of reaching. “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. The lift is working exactly as intended.”

“It’s so quiet.” Vyse said, almost reverent as his voice echoed in the long, hollow cylinder they were ascending through. “This is weird.”

“I’ve had to rewrite the definition of ‘weird’ for all the shenanigans you damned kids get me involved in.” Drachma grumbled. “You get used to it, boy.”

***

Fina had studied Rixis when she had been a little girl. She had seen the ‘City of Mists’ as it had been called in its glory, thanks to old photographs and video clips. A city built on the top of the mountains, above the clouds. Here, the air was thin and cold, and Aika shivered from the altitude. Or she was shivering because of what she’d claimed to see; a ghost. Some kind of spirit from a person who had lived, then died and refused to pass on. Fina had wanted to call her on it, but Aika was already too much of a wreck, still hurting from Vyse’s refusal. So Fina played along and kept her silence, mostly because she was reeling herself.

When the mists died down enough for them to see a little further, the rest of the ruins of Rixis had come into focus. It was all moon-blasted, torn apart. Tall stone buildings of two stories or more had been turned into rubble, with maybe three standing walls and the occasional ruined stairway. Enormous craters furrowed the ground, the walls were soot-stained from a hundred ancient fires that must have gone up in the wake of calamity. A calamity that had a name.

“The Rains of Destruction.” Vyse said aloud, solemn as they walked through ruins that were silent as a tomb. Ruins that were a tomb. Cloth, bodies, bones were all gone, but Fina could still see the signs of where they had been. Pale outlines around darker scorched stone, rust-red stains that could have only been blood, never to disappear. Rixis was a city above the clouds, after all. There was no rain to wash it away.

“The Rains of Destruction destroyed everything.” Fina said with a cold numbness crawling through her body. “At lower altitudes, the forests grew back. Life found a way, it’s all covered up. But Rixis, they built above the clouds. They lived here above the rain, above fertile soil, using their technology to sustain life where it shouldn’t have been able to flourish. The damage here…” And she swallowed hard as they walked around the edge of another crater that had taken out an entire building, by the debris field blasted away from it. “...It stayed the same. Unchanging, for thousands of years.” Cupil shifted out of his wristband form and hovered up next to her, chirping worriedly before she stroked it under the chin.

“Are you going to be okay?” Vyse asked her, his concern apparent. “I...have you been here before?”

“No. But I studied it.” She said. Vyse didn’t seem convinced, and Fina could almost picture the questions building up in his head. She had to laugh. “Vyse, how old do you think I am?”

“Well, not that old!” The Blue Rogue sputtered, his face going red as he realized that he’d stumbled into a major ‘girl mistake.’ “I don’t think, I mean, but...you know things. Things that we don’t.”

“Things that the rest of the world forgot. My people didn’t.” Fina explained. “And how many things about how the world is now do you all have to teach me about?” She looked over to Aika, who was watching her as well. “Things that you were confused about at first, but now, just teach me as a matter of course? Without teasing me, or making fun of me?”

“Well, you’re our friend.” Vyse explained, a little stiffly. “Why wouldn’t we help you?”

Bless him. He said real things, weighted, true things without ever considering them. She smiled even more, went over to his side, and kissed him softly on the cheek. “Thank you. So, yes, I’m going to be all right.” She pulled back away from him and looked to the closest crater, letting her smile fade. “But I’m allowed to mourn a little for what Rixis was, and what it is now. This place was supposed to be wonderful at the height of the Green Civilization. Full of people, and laughter, and observatories. They charted the stars from Rixis, and scientists came from all over the world to learn, to teach, to help. And it’s all gone now.”

She exhaled and looked over to Drachma, who pointedly grunted, said nothing, and kept on trudging through the ruins. Of course he didn’t care. What did a bunch of old, dead ruins mean to him, except more trouble, and maybe a payday?

Fina’s breath caught when she met Aika’s face, the redhead lingering at the back of the procession. Aika’s eyes were watering, and her lower lip was quivering. There was pain there...But something else.

Resignation, maybe. Aika wiped at her eyes, looked to Fina, and nodded once before following after Vyse and Drachma.  Fina hugged her arms around herself, as an unfamiliar twisting settled into her gut. Guilt?

But then the noises of her comrades began to get quieter as they drifted further ahead of her, and Fina shivered from the weight of the stillness around her. She took one last look around the section of ruins they were in, shook her head, and took off running after the others.

Maybe Aika had been right about there being ghosts here.

***

There were other things besides ghosts, though. While the ruins were devoid of everything but the most hardy creatures and decaying totem-shaped sentries, there was one familiar and unwelcome presence which made itself known to them. Drachma hadn’t seen the figure before, but then, he hadn’t been present when they’d taken on the deadly trap-filled interior of the Temple of Pyrynn. As they scattered after Zivilyn Bane hurled out another sachet of explosive powder towards them, Fina scowled and thought that Drachma would have a tough time ever not remembering the thief afterwards.

“What is he doing here?!” Aika snapped, after the noise and smoke died down. “Didn’t we take him down in Pyrynn once already? What’s he doing here ?!” Vyse only waited for the initial blast to clear before he charged back through the cracked doorway of the dilapidated two-story building, cutlasses drawn. Swords met long daggers with broad hilts, and Vyse snarled as his face drew in closer to the mask, goggles, and hood that the thief always wore.

“Zivilyn Bane is everywhere there are riches to be found.” The master thief hissed, his voice harsh and full of sibillance. He twisted oddly to throw off Vyse’s balance, then snapped out a dagger and scored a light gash across Vyse’s ribs, tearing the fabric of his favorite coat in the process. Thankfully, Aika was there in a flash to keep Zivilyn from pressing his advantage.

“Guess that means we get to stop you a second time.” Vyse snapped, grimacing a little but not reaching for his injury. “But there’s something different from the last time we tangled.”

“And what is different from the last time you fought Zivilyn Bane, pirate?” The interloper hissed. He was blindsided by the long-distance punch that plowed into his arm and torso from Drachma, who’d faked going into the shadows and let the kids take the brunt of the attention. He started to come up to his feet when an enormous icicle shot up out of the dilapidated floor and nearly skewered him, courtesy of Fina lingering at the rear, conjuring up magic from the purple moon. The treasure hunter flailed back towards a broken wall close to the cliff drop-off, and Vyse finished the job with an angry shout and a sickle of moonstone energy, hurled off of his primary cutlass. The blow, more concussive than cutting, sent the thief flying off the edge and into the mists of oblivion.

“We have more help.” Vyse panted, pulling himself back up to standing and wincing as his wound finally spoke to him. He looked over to Drachma. “You all right, old man?”

“So that’s Zivilyn Bane.” Drachma grunted, moving to the treasure chest that they’d stumbled onto Bane getting ready to pilfer. “Piece of work, that one.”

“Having a fourth person does help.” Fina pointed out, and went over to Vyse to examine his wound. Her fingers parted the gashed fabric and she hissed a little at the damage, calling on the green moon to impart a small healing glow to her fingers as she ran them over the small cut. “You got lucky. He could have injured you a lot worse.”

“If you can’t help getting hit, learn how to roll with the attack.” Vyse chuckled. “One of dad’s combat lessons.”

“Dyne uses pistols for a reason, Vyse.” Aika pointed out, but her voice didn’t have its usual teasing tone, or her combative aggression. She just seemed tired to Fina’s ears. “Learning how to take a hit was always a last desperate measure .” The redhead watched Fina heal Vyse’s wound, shook her head, and turned to the chest. A few seconds later, she came up with an ornate golden mask, encrusted with gems. “At least we know why Zivilyn Bane was here. This’ll sell for a lot.”

“Or, we could give it back to the Ixa’takans.” Fina suggested. “Seeing as it is a part of their cultural heritage.”

“They might give us a decent reward for it.” Vyse said, a half a heartbeat later. “And I’d feel a little bit better afterwards, as opposed to selling it to the sailor’s guild.” Fina stepped back away from him and smiled warmly at his thinly veiled charity, and started to turn back around.

She froze as her gaze skipped into the distance, deeper into the ruins of Rixis. For a moment, it looked like there was a figure standing amidst the stones, watching them from afar.

Vyse grabbed her shoulder, and shook her gently, breaking her focus. “Fina? Are you all right?”

“I thought I saw…” Fina said, turning to look again and cutting herself off when she saw nothing but empty stone and mists.

“What did you see?” Vyse asked her. Fina looked over to Aika, and the redhead seemed confused for a bit.

“I think Aika was right.” The Silvite said slowly. “There’s something else here. I thought I saw someone watching us.” Vyse’s oldest friend perked up at that and shivered a bit. Vyse didn’t look entirely convinced, and Drachma was as hard to read as ever, but Fina knew that Aika at least believed her. For a little bit anyways, but then the light faded from Aika’s eyes and she pocketed the golden mask, trudging past them all.

“Come on. Let’s see if we can’t catch up to our spook.” The redhead said. Vyse and Drachma were quick to stay on her trail.

Fina was slower to do so.

***

One final anti-grav platform lift, one of a working pair, had taken them up even higher. Fina’s knowledge of Rixis wasn’t thorough, it wasn’t like her people had the original blueprints and designs to rely on, but they had been chasing their ‘ghost’ through a maze at a lower level, splitting up to cut off its retreat until it was finally forced to flee to what they thought was a dead end...at least, up until it had stood on the first of the lifts and soared up into the sky.

Between that and the sound of its footsteps, Fina had confirmed one fact, at least. They weren’t dealing with a departed spirit. No, this was a person.

There was someone living in Rixis, and who knew its layout very well.

The lift that they had used came up and actually cleared the low-hanging mists and clouds that were constantly fed by the rainforest. For the first time since they’d wandered into the ruins of the Green Civilization’s former capital, they could see the sun, watch the clouds roll below them…

Even wheeze a little bit because of the altitude’s thinner air.

“Where is he?” Drachma snarled, hopping off of the lift and reasserting himself on solid ground. “Where’s that little pissant what’s been giving us the spook treatment?!”

Vyse had his swords drawn, and was breathing slowly and shallowly. “Hard to say.” He got out. “Moons, just...how high up are we?”

“Higher than...I think we’ve ever flown before.” Aika qualified, and reached into her pouch to dig out a pressure gauge. She flinched at the reading. “Moonstone engines...can’t operate at this altitude.”

“So...only one way back down.” Vyse put it together, glancing at the other lift floating beside theirs. “And our ‘spirit’ is up here somewhere.”

Fina’s eyes were drawn to the only structure of note on the clifftop, a square stone pyramid whose interior was hidden by the height of the steps leading up to it. Unlike the rest of Rixis, though, it seemed relatively untouched.

Like it had been built after the Rains of Destruction had come.

With nowhere else to go, they went up the stairs with slow and steady steps to conserve their air. On reaching the top, though, they came to a dead stop. Or rather, Fina came to a dead stop and the rest found themselves staring in wonder at a mural with a very familiar figure.

Familiar in that it wore the same Silvite veil and ceremonial garb that she wore.

“Fina,” Aika said with remarkable calm, “Why is there a person who looks like you on the wall?”

“I don’t know.” Fina replied, and it took her a moment to catch that there was fear in her voice. But then a horrible screech tore through the thin air, and they all whirled about just in time to see a terrifying bird three times the size of Drachma diving down on them.

They flung themselves to the ground, just avoiding its outstretched talons, but then the thing veered up and began to circle up and around them, too high to be reached by their weapons.

“What the hell is that?!” Aika shrieked, and threw her boomerang in a wide arc at it. The bird merely beat its wings and veered off enough to make the boomerang miss, then spun around and buffeted them with a blast of wind from its powerful wings...followed immediately after by a hail of razor-sharp feathers, as deadly as any storm of arrows.

“Cover!” Vyse shouted, and they all did their best to get behind something before they were pincushioned. Fina stumbled, but Cupil, ever-loyal Cupil manifested off of her wrist and took the form of a circular shield in front of her, absorbing the physical blows of half a dozen razor feathers that would have harmed her severely.

“What are they...feeding these things?!” Vyse hissed, getting back on his feet and staring at the bird, still hovering with impunity well clear of their attacks. Most of them, anyhow. The thing squawked in pain as an explosion of Pyres magic went off right next to it, the flash of fire and the concussion both rattling its feathers. Drachma kept his arm pointed up, and his scowl was on full blast.

“Less talk, more shooting!” The old man ordered, and they all quickly took the cue, conjuring up their own matching blasts. The enormous bird, its head perched off of a long neck, squawked in protest as one Pyres explosion knocked it into a stronger Pyrum thrown by Aika and Fina. The blasts did seem to be having an effect on it, but not enough. Not quickly enough. The thing finally had enough and screamed again, then came down after them in another dive. They dove for cover, but Fina realized too late that it didn’t have a direct attack planned. Instead, the thing pulled up short and then screamed at them all in an entirely different way. A way that wasn’t just noise, but resonance from within the complex baffles of its lungs and along its extended throat.

A throat that, while ugly from an aerodynamic perspective, did apparently serve a purpose. It was deafening in a way that made Fina’s head spin and sent her thoughts reeling…

At least until the enchantments woven into her veiled headdress glimmered to life, and negated the mind-altering effect.

Which is more important to protect? The body? The mind? Or the soul? An old lesson from her childhood, spoken in a rusty and digitized voice sprang to the forefront. The soul was forever the Silvite answer she had been taught, and their magics reflected that.

But Fina, whose talents in magic were also forever tied to the mind , had disagreed in silence. So she had trained both, to her tutor’s displeasure. It was unseemly for a Silvite priestess, as they had wanted her to be, to spend so much time focusing on the more warlike magics of the other Civilizations. That was what the First was for, what he had trained for. It was what was expected. She trained as a priestess, but in secret? She had learned the art of enchantments, just enough to alter her own headdress.

Just enough to protect her mind, the most precious thing she had. The soul was worthy to protect, but the mind...She needed that to even have a hope of protecting either of the others. A minor, miniscule bit of resistance to the planned course of her life, something none of the Elders had ever known about.

It was what saved her. She lurched to her feet in time to see another salvo of feathers raining down on them, and she dodged behind a pillar. Too late, she realized that her friends, still writhing under the confusion of the bird’s unorthodox attack, had not been so lucky. Now they bled from countless small slices and nicks that had gashed limbs and burrowed into the underarmor they all favored. Only Fina, by virtue of her act of rebellion, was free to make a move. And she was angry enough to do so.

“Cupil. Shield.” She snapped, and her engineered pet and companion leapt out in front of her, assuming the shape of a round disc again. Cupil wiggled every so often, adjusting his angle to block the errant inbound projectile when the long-necked bird tried to take a potshot at her.

It just made her angrier.

“You have no idea who you’re up against.” Fina said, using the time Cupil was giving her to focus her spirit energy for what she planned to do. The bird gleamed with the glow of the green moon; life, abundant, ever flourishing, wild. A creature whose bounty and blessing was tied into its physical strength, its resilience, an unbending body.

But a thing that could not bend…

Could break .

She reached to the heavens, hand raised to the green moon, and through it, the other five that hovered in orbit above Arcadia. She called on their strength as a priestess of the silver moon, called for the power to petrify her enemies.

Perhaps the bird could sense what was coming. In a panic, it rumbled along its throat and shrieked down another blistering mass of confusing noise. But it was not enough, not now.

Against Fina, not ever.

The air around her seemed to darken slightly, and she found herself illuminated by the glow of a single moonbeam. She gathered that light into her hands, changed it into an ominous black and silver aura, and hurled it towards the massive bird. It screamed under the new attack, but Fina’s wager was proven correct. The thing froze up even as it turned and beat its wings to flee, and slowly and steadily, the color drained out of it. The thing ossified in seconds. With no wings beating to sustain its lift, the statue succumbed to gravity and fell back towards the ground. It hit the edge of the steps that had been beneath it and crumbled into loose pieces and a cloud of dust. Fina quickly turned her attention to her friends, dosing each of them with a Curia spell to eliminate the lingering traces of the mind-paralyzing confusion they had been hit with.

“Moons, let’s not ever do that again.” Aika groaned, rubbing at her forehead. She was thinking clearly again, but there was nothing for the headache but time and rest. She looked ready to say something else, but she went still when she caught sight of the remains of the fell beast. “Fina? Did you do that?”

“I was defending my friends.” Fina told her resolutely, offering the redhead a hand to pull her back up. “Now come on. We have a Moon Crystal to find...and I have questions.”

***

The answers to Fina’s questions were more troubling than the questions themselves. She left the search for the Moon Crystal to Vyse and Drachma, while she read the weathered script etched into the stone edifice.

“It’s ancient Silvian.” She said, dizzy on the truth of it. “Roughly translated... We, who have come from the temple of the Silver Moon have sealed within the forests after the Rains of Destruction washed away the lands, the unsleeping giant Grendel...And upon his sealing, the Green Crystal was kept within these walls.”

“Wait. So...your people were here?”

“I didn’t know they were.” Fina told Aika. “There was nothing in the histories I studied that said that my ancestors did anything after the Rains of Destruction but sequester themselves and leave the rest of Arcadia to its fate.” And wasn’t that an entirely different can of worms? There were Silvites here. Of course there would be. Who else would have had the ability to quell a Gigas when even the Moon-sent Rains of Destruction, a divine judgment against the hubris and greed of the ancient world, had failed in destroying them? And Grendel, for she had studied all of the Gigas prior to her mission, was one of the most erratic and uncontrollable of the mythical engineered war-beasts. But why was their mission of mercy not recorded?

Why was she as surprised learning about it now as all of her Arcadian friends were?

“But that person in the middle there, that has to be a Silvite, Fina. It looks just like your outfit!”

“In the rough details.” Fina sighed. “It’s a priestess vestment, though, that is clear enough.” She brought a hand up and touched her veil. “All the other civilizations were destroyed . My people’s survived only because we retreated away from Arcadia before the Rains of Destruction fell. That was what spared us from the Moons’ divine judgment.” But now something was picking at the back of her brain. Something about all of this, about their time in Ixa’taka…

“Your people saved them.” Aika pointed out. “From the green Gigas?”

“Grendel.” Fina couldn’t help the shiver, and she lost what she had been thinking about. “One of the worst of the Gigas, but like Recumen, it was bound to the land. After the Rains came, they would have lost control of it. It would have rampaged and ruined and slaughtered until the Silver Temple priestesses finally showed up to neutralize it.”

“It explains why they were so shocked to see you when we got here.” Aika said, with a lilt in her voice like she’d finally hit on an explanation. “They asked if you were Quetya when we got here.”

And then Fina finally realized what had been dancing in the back of her mind for days. Quetya wasn’t a word in Silvian, modern or ancient. But it was a word from the language of the Green Civilization, prior to the rains.

It meant Silver Angel.

The short, barking laugh Fina let out made Aika jump a little bit, and the Silvite couldn’t help but shake her head. “I suppose, to them, my people would have been Quetya .”

“We’ve got a problem.” Vyse said, speaking up loudly as he and Drachma ambled over to the girls. “We found a recess where the Green Moon Crystal should have been placed, but it wasn’t there.”

“Recently disturbed, though.” Drachma added. “Dust patterns around it says it was there for a long time until...maybe a week at most, ago.”

Fina frowned at the news, and then groaned aloud. In the chaos of Quetya, the discovery that her people rendered assistance to the Green Civilization’s survivors after the Rains and didn’t keep a record of it , and fighting off a gigantic bird capable of confusing her friends, she’d temporarily forgotten something very crucial. She looked over her shoulder, staring down the steps towards the platform. Platforms. Both were still there.

And a figure, hiding in the ruins closer to the steps, was bolting right for them.

“Vyse!” She shouted, and the Blue Rogue leapt into action. The ‘ghost’ took the steps, Vyse slid down the bannister and caught up to him at the bottom, leaping onto the figure in a tackle that stopped the fellow’s escape. When the others joined Vyse and the captured ghost at the bottom, the truth of it became all too apparent.

Not a ghost. A priest, going by his ceremonial robes and his totem mask, and the staff he was carrying.

“Where’s the Green Moon Crystal?” Vyse demanded, shaking the man. “Damn you, where did you take it?!”

“To...to the king.” The priest got out in a strangled, winded voice. “Isapa...Isapa told him of the Moon Crystal. He will...summon the Gigas of legend. The Gigas will drive out the invaders.”

“All this time?!” Aika screamed, as red in the face as her hair was. She was good and pissed, but so was Fina. For a different reason. “All this time, you bastards knew where Rixis was? You knew how to get into it?! You knew where the Green Moon Crystal was, and you lied to us about it ?!”

“We have suffered under the Valuan invaders for years!” The priest protested, whimpering as Drachma leveled his mechanical arm down on the fellow like anyone else would point a gun or an offensive spell. “Isapa learned of the truth of the legends and guided us here, but only he knew the incantation to awaken the great giant of the forest! When he was taken, our hope was lost...”

“Until we showed up.” Vyse said, catching on to the reality of their arrival in Ixa’taka. The reality of how they had been used to give the natives a chance at vengeance. “Then we freed Isapa, and he sent us on this...this wild goose chase while…”

And then the cliff, the lands around it, the entire continent began to shake violently. Fina and the others turned around and looked out to the south, where the clouds themselves were swirling around a blinding beam of green light that shot up into the heavens.

Fina’s blood went cold. “No. Moons, no .” And then that light died down, and a gargantuan , forest green misshapen figure of a man, twisted and bent with a hollow torso and a head like an automaton’s rose up in that light pillar’s fading place.

Grendel. And Fina lost her unflappable composure at last.

“You idiots! ” She heard her voice break over the distant roar of the Gigas, saw every heard turn back towards her in shock. At a different time, in a different place, she would have been ashamed of it. But here, in this moment? She had nothing but endless fury, disappointment, and rage for their shortsightedness.

“Grendel survived the Rains of Destruction!” Fina howled at the still supine priest, who now scooted back away from her as she marched on him. “Your ancestors were left in the smouldering ruins of their empire, a rainforest cratered by the Moons’ divine judgment, and Grendel lived ! He lived, and he rampaged, and he slaughtered them ! By the time my people, your precious Quetya realized what had happened and came to put him back to sleep, there was nothing left! There was almost nobody left alive who remembered what had been before! Didn’t you ever wonder why your people live in huts, with only bare scraps of the technology that the rest of Arcadia takes for granted?”

“We live simple lives! We live in tune with the natural world!”

Fina’s arm jerked towards the ruins of Rixis around them, beneath them. “So did they! But Grendel was a mistake! All of the Gigas were! In their haste to gain parity with the other Civilizations, your ancestors forgot what the source of their magic was...Life! Raw, endless, ever-expanding and wild life! You can’t control life, it grows wherever it can, and it refuses to bend to any laws or restrictions but its own. The moment they activated Grendel, they were doomed. It was never a guardian, it was a raging child in the body of a giant in a form that brought nothing but pain !”

Then Grendel screamed, mindless, full of pain and unintelligible rage. And the priest lying on the ground seemed to finally get it. The man shivered.

“We...we didn’t know .” The man croaked out. “Moons help us, we didn’t know .”

Fina wiped away her angry tears and looked to Vyse, whose face was firmed into a grim line. To Aika, who had pushed away her hurt and her doubt because there were people in trouble and that’s what Blue Rogues did. To Drachma, who never said a word that wasn’t a complaint, but stayed regardless, the protective grandfather that none of them had ever had, stayed because they wouldn’t have been able to do half of the things they did without his support.

“Come on.” Fina urged the others, Cupil moving to wrap back around her wrist as she stormed for the anti-grav lifts. “We have a monster to put down before it turns all of Ixa’taka into a field of ash and cinders.” And in the distance, the monster called Grendel screamed again.

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Fourteen: Things You Just Can’t Hide

Northern Ixa’takan Airspace

72 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

There were always things to do, but a lack of energy tended to slow down everything. Stopping Grendel had been…Moons, even the Red Gigas Recumen had been easier than what they’d gone through. There was no killing Grendel. Hearing Fina declare that even the mythical Rains of Destruction hadn’t been able to put the beast down had chilled his blood cold. By the time they left Rixis, got to the Little Jack and took to the air, Grendel had wrecked a fair chunk of the Valuan Armada in the green lands, true...But they’d gotten close enough to see De Loco’s flagship, The Chameleon , unload a powerful energy beam that almost destroyed the small ship that the King had to have been on.

Fina had grown so pale after that, and it wasn’t until last night that he’d gotten out the reason why from her. De Loco had fired some prototype of a ‘Moonstone Cannon’, a technology that Fina’s people possessed and that she had been sure was beyond the reach of the Empire. But even that powerful weapon hadn’t been enough to stop Grendel, who quickly began to rampage indiscriminately once the Green Moon Crystal’s control over it went silent.

They almost hadn’t survived. If they had been in any other ship aside from the Little Jack , a speedy vessel that had been retrofitted to hunt the mother of all Arcwhales, they would have gone down in flames. And even that miracle took Aika and Fina feeding Quika and Increm spells into the ship’s moonstone lines without reprieve. In the end, nothing they’d thrown at the green giant had worked. In the end, they had only been able to gash it with the Harpoon Cannon while it was clutching at its head beside a deep crevasse, and trap it in the ground so deeply and so tightly that it had been unable to pull itself back out again.

Silencing it with the Green Moon Crystal in hand had been the easy part after that, and they had kept it afterwards. Isapa had protested, up until Fina slapped the womanizing bastard.

The King, at least, had more sense than to argue with the people who had saved their lives from their own idiocy.

***

The King’s Hideout

Mid-Morning

“We owe you a great debt.” The king said, as they met in his lodge for the last time. The 20-something man bowed his head a little, clearly humbled after the debacle with Grendel. It mollified Vyse a little, as he was still seething. Both of the girls were glaring daggers at Isapa, who did his best to mask his discomfort under a nervous smile and a jolly laugh. “I had believed that what we did was in the best actions of my people, and my kingdom. But I see now I was wrong. The great giant Grendel should have never been awakened.”

“He won’t be waking up again.” Vyse said, gesturing to Aika, who tapped the octahedral lump of refined Moonstone Crystal in her satchel. Over her back was a brand new boomerang, its spine carved from a splinter of Grendel’s flesh that had embedded itself in the Little Jack’s decking during the fight’s conclusion. “Without the Moon Crystal, he’s no different than a lump of misshapen stone.”

The king nodded gravely. “I am still somewhat reluctant to let you keep the Moon Crystal. Even if it is not used to unleash Grendel ever again, it is still a treasure of my people, and we have lost too much already.”

Fina took a step forward, pulling the attention of the room to her. Even Isapa’s smile went somber as he turned to regard her in a new, almost reverent light. Vyse resisted the urge to bite his lip. It seemed that rumors of her people being the ‘Quetya’ from their ancient myths had spread after the priest they encountered in Rixis had returned. “You have lost much.” Fina agreed in a comforting voice. “But the Valuans came for this. They plan to use this Moon Crystal, and all the others scattered around Arcadia, to expand their empire and rule for a thousand years or more. Their ships have fled, for now, in the face of Grendel’s rampage, but so long as the Crystal remains in your lands, they will have a reason to return. If you are truly concerned for your people and not just objects , then you will let us take this.”

“And what will you do with it, young Quetya ?” Isapa asked, joining the conversation.

“Take it, and all the others, somewhere that the Valuans will never be able to find them.” Fina promised. “To my people.”

The king nodded slowly at that. “Then that is what shall be.” He acknowledged, closing the subject. “I wish we could offer more assistance to you in regards to your ship. I understand that you took some damage.”

“Aye.” Drachma said. “But we’ve got contacts around here. There’s a Black Marketeer I know not far from your old palace, and there’s Centime and his lot back in Horteka if we need an extra set of hands. I don’t think that you’d be much help in patching up our battle wounds, and we’ve got plenty of moonstone fuel. Wouldn’t mind a bag of gold, though.”

The king smirked. “Our Moon Crystal is not reward enough? It is the most valuable thing in my possession.”

Vyse blinked, and looked over to Aika, clearing his throat to get her attention. When she looked at him, Vyse motioned with his head towards her satchel, then to the king. She caught on quick, grinned, and started digging around in it.

“Then maybe, king, we could get a reward for finding a different treasure.” Aika said, and produced the golden mask they’d found in the Rixis ruins. And Vyse saw the young king’s eyes croggle.

“Is that...Isapa, that…”

“It is, my king.” Isapa answered, worn to shock. He took a step forward and accepted the mask with shaky hands, turning it over in his hands. “I have only ever heard of this in our oral legends...the great golden mask, worn by the king during the ceremony of the solar eclipse to beg the Moon to return the sun. But it was lost after the Rains...I had thought it lost forever.”

The king stroked his chin thoughtfully. “You found this in Rixis?”

“Had to fight off a treasure hunter for it.” Vyse confirmed. “Miserable bastard doesn’t know when to stay down.”

The king chuckled. “Then how about I reward you with two bags of gold, for returning another treasure of Ixa’taka long thought lost?”

Vyse nodded, feeling triumphant as one of the king’s servants opened up a chest behind the throne and produced two heavy sacks from it, which Drachma accepted. “I wouldn’t turn it down.” The yawn after broke the solemnity, and he rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry. Didn’t get much sleep last night. Or the night before.”

Isapa blinked. “I might be able to help with that, young Vyse.” He motioned to one of the lesser priests, who cocked his head behind his mask in a questioning way. Only when Isapa scowled at him did the man scurry off to a backroom, and the sounds of objects being moved about became background noise. “Among our people, there is a plant which produces unique gourds. The seeds within them, when dried and roasted, are used to produce a unique brew we use in ceremonies to gain the strength of the gods.”

“Like Paranta Seeds?” Aika asked curiously.

“No, not quite. They do not bestow any lasting effects. But the drink we make by running hot water over the grounds can help us to stay awake through the long rituals and ceremonies we practice.” The other priest from the backroom returned with a burlap sack slung over his shoulder, and hoisted it off to Vyse as Isapa handed the mask to the king. “We call it kafa. And on behalf of the priests of the green lands, as thanks for the mask and apology for Grendel, I grant you and your friends special dispensation.”

“Well, thank you.” Vyse said, his nose stinging from the pungent smell of the beans within the sack. “But if this is so special, why didn’t Valua steal this as well?”

Isapa shrugged. “I believe that they considered it primitive and barbaric, beneath their refinement. I do not think you would carry the same prejudice as them in this regard.”

Drachma snorted once and turned for the door, money in hand. “Aye, he wouldn’t. Come on, kids. We’ve got a man to see about some spare ship parts.”

***

Lorenzo’s Black Market Ship

“It’s a nice change of pace that you all actually have money to pay me with, instead of bartering with Discovery information.” Lorenzo praised them all. “Was a hell of a blowup the other day. The Valuans all pulled up stakes, turned tail, and ran . They didn’t even bother taking down the Iron Net, they just blew a hole clean through it and went as fast as they could. Not that I blame them; that massive green monster didn’t notice me, but if he had, there would have been shit-all I could have done about it.”

Drachma savored his glass of rum as they strolled around the ship and Aika put colored markers on the parts that they needed, leaving Vyse to do the talking.

“Not that we don’t also have Discovery information, though. So, will we be getting a discount or will you be paying us first before we hand the dough back to you?”

The Valuan black marketeer sniffed once. “Once your mechanic finishes tallying up all the parts and stores you’re taking with you, we’ll talk shop. In the meantime, what’s next for you all?”

“We’re headed north.” Vyse said. “Fina’s got a lead on...something to help us piss off the Valuans even more.”

“Most people would give up their right arm to keep from getting their attention, kid.” Lorenzo said to Vyse, chuckling loudly. He still smelled like a flophouse, and Vyse instinctively took a step back as his wheezing laugh passed between them. “You’re a different sort, though. Must be a Blue Rogue thing. But hey, more power to you, and anything that keeps them on their toes is fine in my book.” He tapped his moneypurse hanging off of his belt, right next to an old pistol. “I get more money that way. You must have found that bunch in Horteka, though, since you’re not hurting for moonstone fuel anymore.”

“We did. Your information panned out.” Vyse grinned at him. “So, what’s next for Lorenzo then? You going to stick around Ixa’taka for a while? The folks here could probably use the help picking themselves up again after the occupation.”

“Do I look like a charity?” Lorenzo deadpanned. “Nah, soon as our business is done, I’m putting this bird in the air and headed for the North Ocean myself. There’ll actually be paying customers waiting for me, and I’ll have to head off Domingo and let him know that you’ve exhausted his opportunities here.” The black marketeer grinned. “It’ll drive him straight up the wall.”

“You could go and help out Centime before you take off, at least.” Vyse suggested. “He’s in need of ship parts too, and it wouldn’t do you any good to drag your inventory all the way back to Valuan airspace. At least, not when you couldn’t load it up with Ixa’takan goods for trade. Supply and demand, right?”

Lorenzo stared hard at the boy, then offered a single, short nod. “You’re going to be one hell of a pirate captain in short order, kid.”

“If we don’t all get killed first.” Drachma saluted him, raising his glass towards Lorenzo.

Lorenzo refilled their glasses, and the old salts clinked cups.

***

Centime’s Campground

Hortekan Outskirts

72 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Evening

“As often as you stop by, Vyse, I may have to start charging a docking fee.” Centime joked, as he, Hans, Vyse, and Aika all kept working hard on repairing the Little Jack with the supplies they’d purchased from Lorenzo. “But repairs are free. Still, I am glad you had the parts for this. We’re a little short ourselves, and getting the Iron Clad up and running is going to be hard enough without lending you anything.”

“Well, you’re in luck.” Vyse said, grunting as he clamped a section of worn piping down so Aika and Hans could work on sealing it to the next portion with gaskets and solder. “The black marketeer we bumped into, I think I’ve convinced him to stop by Horteka and sell off what’s left of his stock before he sails for the North Ocean.”

“We’re not exactly flush with gold, you know.” Hans pointed out, joining the conversation. “Not like you are, Mr. Vyse.”

“You’d be surprised.” Vyse replied wryly, managing not to laugh at the formality Hans still had. “Running a long-term resistance effort against the Valuan Empire does tend to lead to empty wallets. I’ve got it on good authority that he’s willing to barter any parts and supplies you might need for Ixa’takan trade goods.”

Centime and Hans looked at one another, and then Centime hummed thoughtfully. “Like Loqua, perhaps?”

“Some of the Garpa fruits that grow under the island could work.” Hans added.

“For that matter, this could be an opportunity to get the Hortekans to become more independent.” Centime went on, now well into a line of thinking. “If we could set it up so that they wouldn’t be taken advantage of, and if we could open up a good trade route...Although there’s still the problem of getting across the North Ocean. It’s Valuan territory, has been for a very long time. It’s no wonder that they moved on the Ixa’takans first; with only two ways of getting to the green lands, either through their backyard or across the Southern Ocean, and a population unable to put up a fight?”

Vyse laughed. “It sounds like you’re wanting to set yourself up as their defender, Centime.”

“I’d settle for being a teacher.” Centime said. “They don’t need a father, they need a friend, an ally. A mentor.”

“Then you’d better make sure that you get your ship up and running as soon as you can.” Vyse concluded. “Eventually, we’re going to need help in shutting them down.”

“Shutting them down?” Centime blinked in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“If what you told me about yourself and...and my father...was accurate, you’ve been running a guerilla war against the Empire for 20 years.” Vyse said determinedly, and the rightness of the words burning in his heart kept him going. He believed in this enough to talk back to a man who might have been an uncle to him, had things been different. “It hasn’t worked. Chipping around the edges? It bought you time, but Valua kept on marching along. They invaded Ixa’taka. They hurt these people. There is a generation of children and young adults who don’t know anything but warfare and suffering.” Vyse jerked his head towards the door. “The Hortekans. The other Ixa’takans. Even Aika and myself; we were born into this war. You couldn’t finish it.”

He stepped back away from the pipe as Aika shuffled around to handle the soldering where he’d been standing. “So. We have to. And we will. The first step? Denying Valua the Moon Crystals. That’s our mission, not raiding supply convoys or hitting outposts or spying on ship movements.”

“We’ll do it, Vyse.” Aika said, coming up and looking at the solder through her goggles with a keen eye. “We’ve got two now. Three more, and Fina will be able to take them back to her people and hide them away.” She looked over to Hans. “Okay, cool that off and then let’s try a pressure test, make sure we don’t have a leak.” The redhead smiled as Hans got to work, spraying the weld down with water. “You’re a pretty decent mechanic, Hans.”

“Well, Centime is my dad, and I’ve been paying attention to what you’ve been teaching me, Miss Aika.” Hans explained, blushing a little.

“We’d love for you to come with us, you know.” Vyse said to the boy a year younger than he was. “It might be a bit crowded for sleeping quarters, but we could use a reliable set of extra hands.”

“I...I’d love to.” Hans said, flashing a glance to Centime, who looked pained, but understanding. “But I can’t leave. Not yet. There’s still too many repairs here to do with the Iron Clad , and...I’d like to stay and help dad out a little as well with the Ixa’takans first.”

“Well.” Vyse said, impressed with the boy’s motives. “It’s an open offer. I mean it. From one Blue Rogue’s son to another.” He held out his hand. “You’ll always have a place with me.”

Hans met his hand and shook it firmly. “It’ll be a while before you’re back this way, I’d imagine. By then? I may be ready to join you.” Hans and Vyse smiled at one another for a few seconds, and then the young mechanic turned back to his work. “Now, then. Let’s hurry on these repairs so you can be on your way. You’ve got places to be yet.”

***

The Iron Net (Remains Of), Northern Ixa’taka

73 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Mid-Afternoon

The air was thick with moisture and the hazy beginnings of rainclouds, but there was no mistaking the enormous ridgeline that served as the northern border for Ixa’taka, or the break that had once been covered up by an enormous Iron Net, stretched a mile across and five miles high from the ground to highest elevation that airships could reach. The peaks of the mountain ridge, shrouded by the mists, seemed to rise up to eternity.

The air still stank from the exhaust of an unimaginable amount of cannonfire, and the edges of the opening through them were blackened and scattered with bits of netting that had melted into the craters.

Vyse flexed his fingers on the wheel, able to see the damage clearly even inside of the wheelhouse. “The Valuan ships got out of here in a hurry.”

Fina was off-duty and Drachma was sleeping until it was his shift at the helm later tonight, so the only company he had in the wheelhouse was Aika. His first mate glanced up from the maps of the North Ocean that Drachma had dug up out of storage and blanched as she saw what had gotten his attention. “Woah. That’s...Grendel scared them off, all right. They didn’t even bother taking down the net the normal way. They just...blasted it down.”

“Considering I had a nightmare last night about that Gigas destroying us, I can’t say that I blame them.” Vyse grumbled. “Although I would have liked it if they’d stuck around long enough to get beaten up a little bit more first.”

“Less of them for us to fight later?” Aika guessed with a smirk. Vyse just smiled in return, and started the Little Jack forward into the gap that would take them from the green lands, and closer to the ominous thundercloud-filled skies of Valua.

“I think we could manage with a little less fighting.” Vyse said, once the ship was inside of the long passage along the crevasse. “At least when it comes to the Gigas. Nothing ever good comes from us fighting them.”

“I’m not sure we can fight them.” Aika admitted. She set the maps down and walked over to stand by the windows next to Vyse, and leaned against the reinforced glass. “I mean, we nailed Recumen with the Harpoon Cannon and the thing just kept on coming. And Grendel barely...We almost…” Vyse looked over to her in concern, wincing as her eyes glazed over.

“Aika.” He said, jarring her out of the memory. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just...bad dreams.” she muttered, rubbing at her eyes. “I’m half tempted to try some of that kafa that we got from Isapa. Though I’m a little bit wary.”

“Because of the smell, or because it came from Isapa?” Vyse asked, and got an honest laugh out of her.

“Honestly? A bit of both.” She said, watching as the canyon walls passed by them. They were flying at a slower speed to conserve fuel, and it was almost scenic. “How about you? Any bad dreams?”

Vyse locked his jaw as he heard Grendel’s roar pass through him, and shivered a bit when he looked to the new boomerang strapped to Aika’s back. Then he shook his head and let it drift away from him. “One or two. I forget about them, though.”

“Lucky you.” She mumbled. “I’m a little bit nervous about this next leg, though. We’re going to be in Valua’s backyard , if what Drachma said about the North Ocean is true. And it probably is; his maps for the North Ocean are very accurate. At least for the parts closer to Valua. We’re going to be in uncharted territory for a while here.”

“There’s probably a reason for that.” Vyse wagered. He’d thought a lot about it for a while, actually. “Think about it. There was an entire continent south of the skies that were uncontested Valuan airspace. They probably put up some kind of military blockade to keep out merchant vessels and curious travelers to make sure Ixa’taka stayed their dirty little secret. Then they put up their Iron Net to make sure of it.” A gust of wind caught the side of the ship, and Vyse hitched the wheel a point over to compensate and keep it from drifting. “But that’s going to change now.”

Aika pulled away from the windows and thought about it. “Lorenzo.”

Vyse smiled. “Lorenzo. He got in before they put up the net, and they never caught him. And because he handles Discovery information...the Sailor’s Guild is going to know about Ixa’taka.”

“Which means everyone’s going to know about Ixa’taka.” Aika kept the logic running. “And what Valua’s been doing to the people here.”

“Yeah.” Vyse dragged the word out, and he tamped down on the flare of anger that he felt about it all. “And hopefully, they don’t decide to try and repeat their mistakes. I think that’s why Centime is staying here, more than anything else.”

“To protect the Valuans.” Aika said. “Code of the Blue Rogues.”

“We always help out those in need.” Vyse agreed. “But it’s more than that.”

“Huh?” Aika tilted her head a little. “What then?”

“He said he preferred to be a mentor .” Vyse said. “What do you think that means?”

Aika thought about that again. “I hate it when you do this.” She mumbled. “Answering a question with another question. You’re too much like your dad sometimes.”

“I never served under a Valuan flag.” Vyse growled out, instantly angry, and she took a step back away from him. He masked his face and sighed. “Sorry. It’s not...It’s something for me and my dad to figure out. Right now, I’m struggling with the dad I knew, and the Dyne that Centime told me about. You don’t deserve me taking it out on you.” Eyes on the sky ahead of them, Vyse coughed once. “Still. Think we could change the subject to something a little less sore?”

“What else would you want to talk about, Vyse?” Aika asked, folding her arms behind her back and kicking at the deck. He shivered a little at the soft tone she used, and when he looked at her, her eyes were down on the deck.

The conversation could steer so easily into dangerous territory. Neither of them had spoken at all about...Well. When she’d kissed him stupid and he almost…

Almost …

Vyse blinked. “Nothing.” He got out, in a rough whisper. “Nothing, I guess.”

The smile she put on after that shouldn’t have looked so wrong . It stung at him, and he didn’t know why. “I suppose not.” She went back to her maps, made a few marks based on their course and airspeed, and rolled them up again. “I’m headed to the lookout’s mast. If I see anything weird, I’ll signal you.”

“Yeah. Thanks, Aika.” He muttered, for lack of anything better to say. There was no pat on the shoulder, no Blue Rogue secret handshake, no flirtatious wink.

Something had broken in their relationship, and he wasn’t sure how to fix it. He wanted to keep her as a friend, but more and more…

It seemed like they’d tumbled off of a mountain there was no climbing back on.

***

The North Ocean

74 Days after the Grand Fortress Escape

Morning

Sleep didn’t come easy, but he didn’t dream of Grendel again, at least. Still, when he dragged himself down to the galley and saw Fina working on breakfast, he was only half-awake.

“You look terrible.” The Silvite said as a greeting, setting a plate of cut up fruit and two fried eggs in front of him, along with a mug of low-alcoholic loqua. “Rough night?”

“I’ve had better.” Vyse mumbled, and started in on breakfast. Fina thankfully let him eat in silence, working on the meals for Drachma and Aika. When Vyse finished, he still didn’t feel at all functional. His lidded eyes drifted over to the sack of kafa beans, left undisturbed on a shelf which had had a bit of extra room on it. Isapa had said that they could help keep the priests awake during sacred ceremonies.

What the hell , he said to himself, and lurched up to retrieve them. “Fina? Could you boil some water for me?”

“What for, Vyse? Did you want some oatmeal, or some tea?”

“Nah, just the water. Thanks.” He got down the bag, then reached for a mortar and pestle. Using a pocketknife to open one of the bag’s seams a little bit, he poured out a small amount of the kafa beans into the mortar, set the bag aside, and got to work grinding them. The pungent aroma of the ground beans filled the room, and Fina inhaled a deep breath before whirling on him looking almost…

Predatory .

“You need to grind more of those.” She growled out, and a ripple of something passed from his head to his toes.

“I...what?” Vyse stammered faintly. Fina leaned in and sucked in a long, deep breath of air closer to the mortar and to his chest, then reached for the bag and dumped more kafa beans into his bowl.

“Grind. More.” She repeated in a curt voice, and added more water to the teakettle.

She confused Vyse most days, but he knew better than to argue with her when she was using her ‘I am a powerful and terrible font of endless divine power and wisdom and you will listen to me when I am talking to you’ voice. It had the effect of making him shiver as well as sit up a little straighter.

About five minutes later, the teakettle whistled and she pulled it off the heater, grabbing two large tea mugs as well.

“Tea filter.” She snapped, and Vyse raced to oblige her, getting down a hole-filled metal ball with a handle. She stared at it as he handed it to her and scowled. “Cheesecloth.” That he found after a bit of digging while she sat down and pulled the mortar over to her, examining his work. “We need a better grinder.” She said, more to herself than to him, and Cupil transformed into a pair of scissors that she used to cut a section of cheesecloth just large enough to fit the strainer. Once that was done, she used a spoon to ladle the grounds into the tea filter and then snapped it shut.

She poured hot water into the first mug, then unceremoniously dunked the tea ball into it. And waited.

Tea needed time to steep, so Vyse wasn’t too put off as she sat, tapping her foot on the floor and staring at the slowly darkening water. But when she hadn’t removed it in four minutes, according to the clock on the galley wall, he coughed to get her attention. “Fina, how long…”

“If we had a proper press, it wouldn’t be long at all.” She snapped back. “But this is your first cup of coffee, and the first one I’ve had since I left my home, so you will sit there, wait patiently, and let me make this as correctly as I possibly can with this horribly primitive equipment that’s not designed for this task. ”

“Ah.” He rubbed the back of his head. “So...coffee? But Isapa called it kafa. ”

“Language drift.” Fina waved off the question, and started muttering softly. “I should have remembered. Should have. Native plant to the Green Civilization. Of course it would survive the Rains of Destruction. Of course it would. Didn’t catch it until I smelled it. Stupid. Stupid, stupid .”

She was talking to herself now, never a good sign. When Aika started acting like this, Vyse always started looking for the nearest exit for when something inevitably blew up. Considering that Fina could do about the same thing with her mind when something got her dander up? He kept himself from running.

There wasn’t a safe place on board the Little Jack if Fina went crazy. Besides. She was just making a drink.

Finally, she pulled the tea filter out of the steeped water, still steaming, and poured off half of the brimming mug into the other, sliding it over to him. He reached for it tentatively while she brought her own up to her face, closed her eyes, and breathed it in again. Then she took a drink, and let out a lusty sigh of appreciation that sent another ripple down his spine.

“Oh, hello . I missed you, old friend.” She smiled, her eyes still closed.

Vyse stared at the liquid in his own mug, not sure if he should drink it or stab it with a sword. “So...I Just...drink it.”

“You can add milk or sugar if you like. But your first sip? Take it straight.” She directed him, looking much more mellow than she had when he came in.

He took a sip and winced. “Ugh, that’s bitter.” She smiled at him as he set the mug down. “Why would you drink this?”

“Finish that mug off and then ask me that question again in ten minutes.” The Silvite said smugly, standing back up with a stretch before she grabbed her mug and went back to the stove, drinking her coffee the entire time. Vyse made another face, but did as she ordered him to, slugging it back quickly to not suffer the taste any longer than he had to.

Five minutes later, when Aika came trudging in, he wasn’t sleepy at all. In fact, he was brimming with energy.

“Well, aren’t you two chipper today.” Aika complained, yawning as she sat down.

Fina set another mug of coffee down in front of the girl along with her breakfast and patted the redhead’s arm. “Drink this, Aika. You’ll feel better in no time.”

Aika took a sip of the coffee without questioning it, and immediately winced and pulled back. “Ugh, that tastes awful!”

“Yeah, but it woke me up.” Vyse said with a snort. “It seems Fina’s been holding out on us. As soon as she smelled the beans Isapa gave us, she knew exactly what to do with them.”

“The name has changed, but they’re pretty much the same to the freeze dried grounds we used back home.” Fina explained. “I was...very happy to find out I could have more of them again. Apparently they’re used in sacred rituals now, but before the Rains, they were one of the Green Civilization’s major exports.”

“And they could be again.” Vyse realized, looking to Fina. “We might be sitting on a good thing, and right now, nobody else knows about it.”

“Then keep it that way for as long as you can.” Aika mumbled, taking another drink. It perked her up as quickly as it had Fina and Vyse. “Although it’s definitely an acquired taste. And you made this, Fina?” When the Silvite nodded, Aika smiled thinly. “So. A priestess and a homemaker. No wonder…” She trailed off after that, and something in her slouched posture made Vyse flinch. Something was wrong, and he couldn’t place it. But it was definitely connected to what had happened the day before.

“Are you all right, Aika?” Fina asked, nearly as on the ball as Vyse was in reading Aika’s moods.

His most trusted companion, who had stayed by his side through the worst days of his life and the best as well, rocked back and forth a little on her chair a few times before finally nodding to herself.

“I’m fine. Just a lot to do today, is all. Mind’s...wandering.” She picked up her plate of food and the rest of her coffee, then gave the two a broad smile that never quite reached her eyes. “I’ve got a bunch of maintenance to do on the moonstone engine, so I’ll just eat downstairs.”

“But we always eat breakfast together.” Fina argued, sounding the worry that got choked in Vyse’s throat.

“Well, needs must.” Aika laughed weakly. “Besides, it’ll give you two a chance to catch up.” She gave them a nod, then turned around and walked out of the room.

Fina made a face and looked to Vyse, once she was gone and out of earshot. “Did something happen?” She asked him, and there was a coolness in her gaze that made him hold back the snap answer. The silence gave her enough room to add on to the sentence. “Because you two haven’t been yourselves since we left for the Moonstone Mines. You kept looking guilty, like you wanted to apologize for something. And Aika, she’s not ignoring you any more, but…”

The Silvite set her mug down, peering at him even harder. “What. Happened ?”

“We...had a disagreement.” He finally said.

Fina kept staring, and he braced for the inevitable question of ‘about what?’ But it never came. Instead, some of the ice in her blue eyes fell away, and then she picked up her mug for another sip. “You should apologize then.” She told him, and he knew it wasn’t a suggestion, but a command.

***

74 Days after the Grand Fortress Escape

Evening

The Little Jack had made good time when they left Ixa’taka, as the engine that they’d taken from Admiral Belleza, no longer needing to fight against the Southern Ocean’s indomitable currents, made the ship fly when the throttle was opened up. Now it was moored to a larger island in the wilderness of the North Ocean, and a few miles away over their heads, swirling lights danced in the sky as the crew, minus Drachma, sat out on the foredeck and worked at dinner.

Well, Vyse and Fina did. Aika’s was largely untouched, while she finished transcribing the three new Discoveries they’d stumbled across.

“The Tricyclone, the Roc’s Nest...and now, these Will o’ Wisps.” She hummed, pulling the quill back and blowing over the paper in the ship’s journal. She had left room for the drawings in small boxes, and handed it over to Fina, who summoned up Cupil for the task of making an imprint of what they’d seen. Among the creature’s many talents was an ability to become a makeshift rubber stamp, with eerie artistic accuracy. “Arcadia really is a strange place. The next Sailor’s Guild we hit is going to love us.”

“What was it you said back in Ixa’taka, Vyse?” Fina went on, letting Cupil finish up the work of documenting their Discoveries. “Running a resistance leads to empty wallets?”

“Usually.” Vyse agreed, biting off another piece of roasted meat from his third skewer. They’d gotten a fair amount of seasonings from the Hortekans before they left, and it made a definite difference in their usual fare of skyfish caught while sailing about. “Did Drachma get anything to eat?”

“He came up for a little bit while you were marking our position on your maps.” Fina said. “Took a few skewers and headed back to his room.” She paused for a bit. “I got the feeling he wanted to be alone.”

“There’s probably some history here.” Vyse said. And how could there not be? Lorenzo, a black marketeer who knew ‘One-Armed Drachma’ from his time flying in the North Ocean? The much more accurate maps closer to the Valuan mainland than Vyse had ever seen before?

But if he’d learned one thing about Drachma in the two and a half months that they’d been flying together, it was that the old man didn’t like to talk about himself, and he could get really bent out of shape if someone tried to force him into something. So he shrugged and reached for the low-alcoholic loqua. “But it’s his business. He’s still with us, he just likes his space.”

“Well, I can understand that.” Aika chuckled some. She finally reached for her own dinner and tore into it. “Remember how happy I was when I was old enough to move back into my parent’s house? It’s probably the same for him. The Little Jack was his ship for who knows how long, he’d rigged it up so he was the only sailor needed to crew it. Then we show up. He probably misses the quiet.”

It was actually a decent observation, and for a bit, she was smiling and looking at him like she used to. And then, like somebody snapped their fingers, Aika looked away and her face dimmed.

Vyse moved his eyes and found himself frozen to the spot, because Fina was staring at him again. Just like she had in the morning. The lump in his throat came back, because she had told him exactly what he needed to do, and he hadn’t yet.

Blue Rogues never give up.

“Aika.” Vyse said, finally clearing his throat. “I need to talk to you.”

She snapped her head back up and stared at him like a Ferlith in the torchlights. It made him lean back away from her, because it was startling. Aika had never looked at him like that. She’d been angry, or playful, or vibrant. She would yell his head off, or punch him in the shoulder, or sidle in close and tease him. But that was a new one for her.

She was afraid of him. Or afraid of what he was going to say. Both were miserable options.

Fina stood up and smoothed out her Silvite skirt, bowing to them. “In that case, I will leave you two be.” She smiled at them, and Vyse gave her a grateful nod. Aika looked like she wanted to grab Fina and hide behind her. But when Fina deftly glided away from her, there was nothing for it.

He sat and watched her as she shifted on the crate she’d been using as a seat, and waited until she didn’t look ready to bolt at the next sound.

“So.” Aika finally said, mustering a weak smile. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I’m sorry.” Vyse said, opening up with what she absolutely needed to hear. She tightened up on hearing it, and there was a moment when he thought she might bolt.

But she just collapsed afterwards, and the tension went with it. Most of the tension, anyways. “For what, Vyse?”

“For...for screwing up.” He admitted. And he had. “I should have handled it better. You didn’t deserve...what I did to you.”

“Oh.” She said, and looked away. “You’re talking about…”

“I like you.” Vyse said. “But...I can’t…” He struggled with the words, and she wilted even more under them.

“It’s okay, Vyse. I know.” Aika replied, finally looking up. She was smiling at him.

“...You know?” Vyse exclaimed, and couldn’t help blushing a little. He’d been so careful.

“Of course I do.” She said, nodding once. “How long have I known you? You don’t think I can see right through you?”

Now it was his turn to let the air out of his lungs. “So you understand.”

“The heart wants what the heart wants.” She lifted a hand up, waved it around a little bit, and let it drop back to her leg. “It’s all right.”

“It’s just easier, you know, if nothing changes.” He went on, rushing a bit. He had to get it all out. “With the mission. Stopping Valua, helping Fina get the Moon Crystals.”

“And then after, you’ll…”

“I didn’t want to hurt you.” Vyse said. He met her eyes. “You need to know that. Okay? I screwed up. There are feelings I have that...I just can’t act on. Because it isn’t fair.”

“To her.” Aika finished, in a soft, soft voice. She looked away again, and folded her hands together in her lap.

“Exactly.” He sighed. He’d finally said it, gotten it out there. It was a weight off of his shoulders. “And...I’ve missed being able to talk to you. Things have just been wrong between us.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Are we still friends?”

Aika still didn’t look at him, but she did nod slowly. “Yes, Vyse. We’re still friends.”

“Good.” He got out. “Good.”

She finally stood up. “Tomorrow comes early. We’re anchored, the engine’s running fine, and whatever that coffee did to me this morning has finally worn off. I’m hitting the sack.”

“Okay. I’ll clean up out here. Night, Aika.” He smiled, but she still refused to look at him, and walked by with her head pointed down. It was a little disconcerting, but she’d told him that things were okay. That she was still his friend.

He dismissed the bits of unease still left in him, and cleaned up the remains of dinner with a more relaxed smile. Tomorrow was going to be better. Things were finally going to get back to normal.

***

76 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

His name, as Drachma had explained, was Gordo The Round. He was listed on Valua’s bounty board, but he was different from other Black Pirates. Mainly, while his ship had cannons, he never used them. Gordo, and his crew of chef-pirates, always flew alongside their targets for boarding actions.

After all, valuable foodstuffs and drinks could be ruined from ship warfare. It made him the most unusual opponent that Vyse had ever gone up against. The crew in their toques, wielding cast iron skillets, only added to the absurdity.

Not that it made them any less dangerous; ten pounds of cold iron to the face would ruin anyone’s day, and they were a bitch to parry. They were more like a hammer than a proper sword the way that they chucked them around, and the best tactic for that was to freaking dodge.

“Surrender now!” Gordo bellowed, pulling back a heavy chug from the bottle of firewater he was carrying around with him, then spewing it back out over an open flame to send flammable liquid across the foredeck, as well as Drachma and Fina. The Silvite shouted a word to Cupil, who transformed from sword to a broad but thin rectangular shape, blocking the burning liquid from touching either of them. Gordo coughed once, tears in his eyes from the exertion, and shook it off. “Honestly, this is just so wasteful. Just surrender, we’re not after your lives! Just your foodstores and whatever money you have. Be reasonable!”

“Reasonable stopped the minute you boarded this ship and declared war on us.” Vyse growled out, finally getting past the chef henchman’s defenses and grazing a sharp gash across his coat before punching the man square in the jaw with the pommel of his sword. Aika still had her hands busy with her own opponent, as did Drachma and Fina, but they all seemed reasonably able to handle the challenge. He needed to keep Gordo off of them.

Strangely enough, Gordo wasn’t completely useless in a fight. His weapon was as unique as those of his underlings, a long, reinforced barbecue fork with a thin moonstone core, but it would have hurt as much as any spear if he nailed Vyse with it. And he moved his bulk fairly well for someone fat enough to get the nickname of ‘The Round.’

“If you had been reasonable , you would have asked if we had any exotic foods to trade!” Vyse snarled, catching the fork by the tines with his off-hand cutlass and twisting it sharply, almost disarming the man. Instead, Gordo kept his grip on it and danced around with the pull, yanking the fork back and shaking his arm out. “But you didn’t, you’re just another stinking Black Pirate . And you made a mistake today, Gordo...you attacked Blue Rogues.” Gordo’s eyes went wide, and Vyse allowed himself a grim reaper’s smile as he finished charging spirit energy into his blades, and they blazed with blue fire. “You know how Blue Rogues feel about your kind.”

“Wuh...wait!” Gordo stammered, backpedaling, but Vyse was on him in a flash, blades slashing away in the flurry of blows that was his patented ‘Cutlass Fury’ attack. “Wait, please!” He put up his fork, tried to parry the blows, and managed three of them before the fourth, from an odd angle, severed the neck of the barbecue fork just above the handle. “Wait!” Gordo squeaked, and brought up his bottle of liquor to defend himself. It was shorn in half, the rest of the high proof alcohol splashing across the deck at his feet along with the glass while he was left holding the bottle’s neck. The next swipe tickled Gordo’s jacket and napkin, far too close to his neck for comfort, and Gordo slipped and fell against the deck, his exposed belly jiggling. Vyse was on him in second, one sword pinning his body down by the collar of his jacket, and the other raised high for the mortal strike, and then…

“I surrender!” The black pirate howled, holding his arms up to shield his face. And Vyse stopped his stab as the sounds of battle fell silent around them. Gordo shivered a bit and finally uncovered his eyes once he realized he wasn’t going to be run through, though Vyse kept up his glare.

“Tell your men to drop their frying pans.” Vyse growled out.

“Do as he says!” Gordo said in a high voice, and the sound of three heavy cast iron skillets hitting the deck made Vyse blink. Knowing Drachma, he’d make Vyse holystone the entire deck again to work out the dents. Vyse spared a glance behind him to make sure that they were well and truly subdued (Aika had the trio of henchmen under boomerang point while Drachma got out a length of rope and began to the process of tying them all up) before he finally pulled his swords away and stood back up to give Gordo some space.

The Black Pirate was still terribly pale, but he rolled over and lurched to his feet with a slow shake of his head. “Unbelievable.” He muttered. “Just our luck. We’ve been getting lazy off of Valuan merchant vessels and fishing boats out here. And I end up attacking a ship full of Blue Rogues ?”

“Take it as a sign to quit while you’re behind.” Vyse told him sternly, stowing his blades.

“Seriously, what kind of pirates are you, anyways?” Aika snapped, pulling back once Drachma had Gordo’s men trussed up like a harvest roast.

“The odd kind.” Drachma spoke up, seeming more like himself now that the threat was dealt with. “Gordo’s been a right pain in the ass in these parts for years. O’ course, he usually just tied the hooks on and sent one sailor aboard to inquire about foodstuffs.” The old man narrowed his one eye at the fat pirate. “He’s gotten a little livelier.”

“Why.” Vyse said, keeping his voice flat. He didn’t trust himself to not go after the guy a second time if Gordo twitched wrong, so trying to keep his voice calm was a must. “Why are you doing this?”

“I wish to experience the best cuisine from all over Arcadia. What better way to do that...and get around those pesky import and export fees...than to raid vessels sailing into Valuan skies, and relieve them of their wares?” Gordo declared sheepishly. “It was a sound theory, up until…”

“Until you met someone who could put up a proper challenge.” Vyse stared at him for a bit longer, then turned his eyes to Drachma. “You know him pretty well?”

“Well enough.” Drachma conceded.

“Has he ever killed anyone?”

“...Not to my knowledge.” The old man replied, after thinking about it for a time. “Roughed up some folks, but the bounty’s that high because of what he takes, not because o’ his methods of doing it.”

Vyse nodded once, then whirled on Gordo. “Here’s the deal I’m offering you. We turn you loose, you give up piracy. Full stop. Non-negotiable. The only reason I’m making you that offer is because your hands are, comparatively speaking, clean. I hear one word about you causing trouble and stealing stuff again, though, I’m coming back for you, and I’ll finish the job.” Gordo swallowed and nodded rapidly. “Good.”

“Rather agreeable terms.” Gordo said, mustering a shaky smile. “Still, I am loathe to discontinue my journey to gastronomic bliss.” At Vyse’s blank stare, he simplified it. “Better and more delicious food.”

“So? Open up a restaurant.” Aika cut in brusquely. “Hell, you can still be a pirate about it, but asking people to bring you new and exotic foods so you can buy it from them, cook it, and then sell it back to them at a higher price has got to be easier than racing out and doing boarding actions.”

Gordo blinked.

“You never thought of that before, did you?” Vyse uttered, his flat tone failing for one of utter exhaustion. Gordo smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Right. Well, in that case, the next time we check in at the Sailor’s Guild, I’m collecting the bounty for kicking your ass. And I might use it to buy a meal off of you. Maybe.”

“Something to look forward to, I suppose. It would be good to meet you under more favorable circumstances, Mr…”

“Vyse, captain of the Blue Rogues.” Vyse gestured to his companions. “My first mate, Aika, our friend Fina, and owner of the ship you’re standing on, Drachma.”

Gordo nodded respectfully at each name, but froze up a bit when Drachma’s name was dropped. “Wait. Drachma? As in, One-Armed Drachma?”

Vyse’s eyes flitted back over to the old man, who drew himself up a little taller and looked to Gordo with flint in his eye. “Aye, that’s my nickname. And what of it?”

“Have you been in the North Ocean before?” Gordo went on. Drachma just nodded, and then Gordo exploded. “I knew it! I’ve heard of you before! You’re that sailor who’s been chasing after the arcwhale Rhaknam to avenge your son!”

Drachma had been surly and crusty and cautious before, but the mention of that made rage flare over his slowly purpling features. Aika and Fina gasped, and Vyse flinched a little as the old man roared and slammed his mechanical arm into the foremast before he raced to Gordo and picked up the fat fellow by the throat. He effortlessly held Gordo up in the air, snarling at him.

“I don’t know what stories you’ve been hearin’, pirate , but you’ll be keeping them to yourself if you don’t want me throwin’ you off of my ship and into the abyss.” He pulled Gordo’s face down closer to his own. “We clear?”

“C..c..crystal.” Gordo stammered. Drachma dropped him on the foredeck and took exactly one step back.

“Take your men and get off my ship.” Gordo did so as quickly as he could manage, and then Drachma whirled about and glowered at the girls and Vyse. Vyse held off his imminent wrath by holding up a hand.

“Get back belowdecks and prepare to sail, sir?”

It was an unusual way of phrasing it, given that Drachma had been taking orders from Vyse during the entire crossing over the Southern Ocean and in Ixa’taka, but Vyse wasn’t willing to poke that bear at the moment.

Drachma had a son .

No. Drachma had had a son.

Suddenly, Drachma’s obsession with Rhaknam made a hell of a lot more sense, and he knew that Aika would have pestered him to death about it, given half an opportunity. Fina too, probably, although she might be a little more tactful. Right now, Drachma wasn’t going to hear a damn word about it, from any of them.

He’d been ready to yell his head off at them, but those calm words, the question of an order that hadn’t even been given, cooled him off a bit. Drachma nodded once, growled, and turned to supervise Gordo and his pirates as they scampered for the safety of their own vessel.

Vyse went over to the girls, put a hand on each of their arms, and pulled them behind him.

“Come on.” He told them softly.

“But Vyse, he…” Aika started.

“Not now.” Vyse cut the redhead off, shaking his head.

***

78 Days after the Grand Fortress Escape

North Ocean, Valuan Continental Coastline (Just off of the Lighthouse Ruins Discovery)

Evening

The sailor’s journal that Vyse had been keeping was starting to get full; pages dedicated to the Giant’s Hammer, the Giant’s Throne, and the Lighthouse Ruins had whittled the blank space to less than a dozen free sheets of parchment. Fina sat close to him, enjoying a cup of tea as the sun faded away and left them with the constant dark and lightning-filled stormclouds that Valua was famous for. Their low rumble, far off in the distance, still carried to them.

They were parked on the edge of the enemy’s back porch, had avoided two checkpoints with heavily armed warships, and were sitting in the shadow of ruins from a time before the expansion of the Empire. Back before Valua even had an Emperor or Empress, and they’d only had a king.

“O’ course, that was a long time ago.” Drachma rumbled next to the campfire. He was the closest to the anchored Little Jack , but tended the small blaze with practiced ease. “And no jokes about how old I am, boy, I’m in no mood for it. Even an old sailor like me can be bothered to pick up a history book every now and then.”

Aika had mellowed out a great deal after the showdown with Gordo and his flunkies, and returned to what was her new baseline. She made conversation with all of them, smiled at the right times, did her duties without complaint.

But the fire he always had associated with her was... missing.

Vyse watched her for a bit longer as she leaned forward over her legs, staring into the embers, then closed his journal and looked to Drachma. “So. You’ve flown these skies before, Drachma, you’re our best source for intelligence. How much trouble are we in here?”

“Depends on where you’re going.”

“The Maw of Tartas.” Fina said, speaking up after Drachma tilted his head at her. “There weren’t any records of my ancestors intervening in the Green Civilization with Grendel, not until we found that shrine above Rixis, but we did have records of what the Silver Civilization did in the lands of the yellow moon. The Gigas was too powerful for them to subdue without the Yellow Moon Crystal, and the Yellow Civilization had foolishly allowed the creature to gain possession of it. In the end, all they could do was place it in a kind of prison, lock it into the caverns deep beneath the surface...and seal it.” Fina drew in a deep breath. “I’m not certain how, but if we could find a way to get through the seal my ancestors put over the Maw’s entrance, we might be able to take back the Yellow Moon Crystal. And with luck, leave before that Valuans realize we’re there.”

“There’s a lot of wiggle room for things to go wrong in that plan.” Drachma pointed out, a doleful and grumpy voice of caution and reason.

“Yes.” Vyse conceded. “But, no more than when we snuck into Valua to rescue my father and his crew and Fina. And we managed then. Refuge in audacity, right?”

“So. We sneak around like usual and hope that our luck holds out.” Aika summarized.

“Aye. Seems so.” Drachma drawled, and stood up from his perch. “I’ll be back in a bit. Need some more ale.” He grabbed his old tankard and plodded away for the ship’s gangplank, leaving Vyse, Fina, and Aika alone.

Vyse chuckled and watched him walk away. “He’s something else, our Drachma. I’m glad he’s here with us.”

“You’re glad he let us use his ship , is what you mean.” Aika pointed out dryly. She got up as well and stretched. “I’m going to turn in, leave you two to it.”

The remark made Vyse frown, and while he’d let her slip away in the past, tonight, it chewed at him. “Aika, why don’t you stay for a while? Talk with us some more?”

Fina must have picked up on his concern, because she nodded her head. “I would welcome the opportunity to spend a little more time with you outside of ship’s duties, Aika.”

The redhead smiled again (And he shivered because it just looked wrong ), then shook her head. “No, that’s okay. Tomorrow, maybe. Besides, I’d just be in the way.”

“Be in the way of what?” Vyse asked, confused. And Aika stopped walking. “Aika, what would you be in the way of exactly?”

Her face twisted strangely after that. “You know what, Vyse.” She eked out, and it was like she was drowning in something.

“I really don’t.” He said, wondering just what had happened to make her like this.

She turned, faced him squarely. Darkness glimmered in her brown eyes. “I’m your friend.” Aika said slowly.

“Yes.” Vyse agreed readily, latching onto that truth like a lifeline. “You’ve been my friend for forever. Since we were little.”

“And as your friend, you know I want what’s best for you.” Aika went on, barely waiting for him to finish. That realization made him panic a little bit more. Whatever she was building up to was something rehearsed. She’d been working on this for a while.

For days.

“So. As your friend , as someone who wants you to be happy, I’m making myself scarce. Okay?”

“But why?” Fina asked, just as lost as Vyse was, but clearly not as afraid of this moment. She hadn’t known Aika as long, she didn’t know how out of the norm this was. “You don’t need to leave, Aika. You’re our friend. You belong here with us. You don’t have to…”

“Princess? Shut. Up.” Aika snapped, and there at last, was the heat and fire under the thin veneer she had tried to erect. Her hands clenched and unclenched, and Vyse could have sworn the very air around them warmed up. All of her offensive spiritual powers were fire-based, and they were flexing right now. Not a good sign. “For once, just once , drop the innocent act, say thank you, and let it be.”

“Aika, please, calm down…!” Vyse started out, but then she whirled on him, and in the light of the campfire, he could see tears forming in her eyes as she snarled at him.

“You want me to calm down?! After everything we’ve been through, after you...after you took my heart, and...And threw it in my face?! And you want me to calm down!?” She shrieked at the end of it, not caring that it was loud enough for the Moons themselves to hear.

She gasped for air as Vyse stared at her in horror.

He choked on the words. “I...we talked about this. I told you…”

She laughed again, the heat gone out of her, and there was nothing left in her but pain, pain and hurt.

“It wouldn’t be fair to her. I know. I know, Vyse. I’m your friend, but Fina’s something more. I was trying to be supportive about it, you know? Like a good friend would be.”

“Aika, that’s not…!” Fina started again, coming up to her feet, but Aika whirled on her, full of rage all over again.

“Princess, I swear to the Moons I will pull your hair out if you don’t shut up and let me get through this!” The redhead pressed her hands to her head, completely lost in the maelstrom of her mind, and Fina swallowed and kept silent. “Just...It’s how it is, all right? I offered myself to you, Vyse, and you didn’t want me. And I’m a big enough girl to accept it, okay? Because I’m not...I’m not like she is. I’m not exotic, or delicate, and your mother never praised me like she praised Princess here. My hair’s always coarse, it gets split ends from the heat of the engine room, and my face is always smudged with grease and moonstone dust, and I’m not…”

She swallowed the last of the sentence, but Vyse heard it all the same.

I’m not her.

“You love Fina. It’s okay. She’s a good match for you.” Aika smiled again, and this time it wasn’t fake. It showed every crack in her heart, but it was honest, because it said that even though this is hurting me so much, I’m letting you be happy. “So that’s why I’m leaving, all right? You win, Fina. I’m still his friend. I’m still yours. I’ll fight beside you, because I’m a Blue Rogue, and because we can’t let Valua win. But you two need time alone to...to be with each other. And to be honest, I can’t...I don’t want to watch it. It’s stupid, and petty, but I’m jealous and I’m hurt and it’s taking everything I have to not cry my eyes out and curl up into a ball . So let me have a little pride. Don’t make me watch you have what I can’t have.”

Oh. Vyse blinked. And blinked again. He’d gotten it wrong.

He’d gotten it so very wrong, and so had Aika. And Fina, in her own way, had gotten it wrong as well. Aika was rubbed raw, every tattered nerve of her had been exposed. And maybe it would be better to leave it at that. To just...move on. To let her work under that delusion.

But she was Aika, his brave, brave Aika, who had just thrown herself into the fires for his sake, and for Fina’s. He was her oldest friend, her captain, her battlemate.

He was a captain, and a Captain of the Blue Rogues did not let his crew suffer. No. The pain was his to bear. She sniffled, wiped at her eyes, and started for the ship’s gangplank. Vyse looked up, saw Drachma standing at the top with a fresh tankard of ale in his normal hand, and the eyebrow over his good eye raised high. The expression on the face was the same as always.

Because really, what did Drachma care about who loved who? What did he care about anything that wasn’t Rhaknam, and his revenge quest for the death of a son he’d never bothered to tell them about?

Fina was crying now too, her mouth opening and closing like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t. Like she was searching for the words that could fix this, but nothing she could say could fix this.

So Vyse did what he should have done weeks ago. What he should have done at the start, after they escaped Valua and started out. He ran ahead of Aika, stood in her path, and gripped her shoulders, holding her as she stammered and yelled at him with her raw voice.

“You’re wrong, Aika!” He yelled, needing to get over her volume. She needed to hear this, it couldn’t go on.

“Damn it, you stupid bastard, let me go! Let me Go! ”

“No!” He shook her hard to get her attention. “Damnit, shut up and listen to me! I love you! Okay?! I love you! ”

She did finally stop wriggling at that. She stared at him with those pain-filled brown eyes of hers, fresh tears down her face. “No, you don’t.” She said hoarsely. She’d been yelling for too long, and her natural resonance was just gone .

“I do.” He kept her at arm’s length, but he poured his need, the feelings he’d squared away for too long, into his voice. “I love you, Aika.”

“You can’t love me.” She choked out. “You love Fina.”

“Yes. I do love Fina.” Vyse agreed, because that was true as well. Aika slumped at that, until he shook her to make her look up again. “I love Fina. And I love you.”

Aika blinked wildly at that. “But...what?”

“I love both of you.” Vyse said, meeting Aika’s eyes for a few seconds more before he looked past his oldest friend to the blond girl they’d sailed off the map with, a girl who had her hands pressed to her mouth and was crying in turn.

Vyse shut his eyes after his confession, and felt the weight of a condemned man settle over his shoulders. “That’s the problem.”

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Fifteen: The Sailor, The Whale, and the Spear at Hell’s Heart

78 Days after the Grand Fortress Escape

North Ocean, Valuan Continental Coastline

Evening

They weren’t bad kids, Drachma had to admit. They were just kids , technically adults as they’d passed their 16th year and were in their 17th now, but still kids in his eyes. They brought constant headaches, and occasionally there was something interesting that happened which didn’t involve life-threatening danger. Traveling all over Arcadia, seeing strange new things, some of which were known and some that weren’t, was a unique experience. Being with them had not been a part of his plans, or his routine, or his life, which up until they had stumbled into it, had been an alcohol-fueled vendetta quest.

But mostly, they were Blue Rogues (And a tag-along with some kind of transforming pufferfish) and Blue Rogues breathed trouble.

Not that he cared.

He had to admit, though, that the boy was changing after he rescued them from Recumen and Admiral Belleza. That night, Vyse had all but threatened to cut his balls off and leave him on a deserted island with just enough bread and water to go through the opening stages of delirium tremens before shooting himself in the head. Drachma realized then that while he would never admit that he cared about the kids, he would gladly admit, privately, to himself, in a dark room, that Vyse was turning into a decent man. And a better captain.

During the long voyage across the Southern Ocean, that thought was reaffirmed ten times over.

By the time they reached Ixa’taka, and found a crop of Blue Rogues and orphans already there and surprised to see them, Drachma had finally come to a realization:

Blue Rogues didn’t start trouble, it just always found them.

In so many ways, the three of them were unique and complementary. Vyse only ever lost his swagger and composure in the face of true brutality or when his crew or innocents were in peril. Aika was a hot-blooded spitfire through and through, and shared a bond with Vyse that only time and the fires of combat and mutual triumph could forge. And Fina, the girl that Vyse and Aika had risked certain capture and death to save from the heart of Valua’s power, was a living contrast, a blend of them both, a balancing presence. She only fought when she absolutely had to, commanded magics more powerful than even Aika, and when she got mad , could pull off workings that would enervate her comrades or leave their enemies withering, depending on what felt more appropriate.

They were a good crew when they were in synch, in spite of the rough patches they’d had early on. But about the time they set out for the Moonstone Mountain to sneak in and retrieve a high priest who could lead them to Rixis for the Green Moon Crystal, something changed.

Something broke . Aika went from bouncing between bright and ferocious and shifted straight into a quiet, sullen state that Drachma would have preferred from anyone else as chattery as she was. But on her, knowing her as well as he did? It just didn’t fit. Vyse kept looking like he wanted to apologize for something, and Fina, who had forever been at ease around the both of them, looked like she wasn’t sure what to do, or what to say to fix it, which was something else that was wrong.

Not that Drachma cared.

Drachma figured there was something screwy going on with the three of them, some kind of fight about who got to be with Vyse. He could see either of the girls going for him, and it looked like Aika had lost out. Given their history, it was a little understandable; she’d been his friend for a long time. Not every man was able to look past friendship to see the potential of something more.

But...whatever was going on with them, it wasn’t his business. They were fighting with each other, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t affecting their performance as a team in the face of the Valuans or the monsters they stumbled across, so really, what did Drachma care?

He didn’t care, he reminded himself as the constant ache in his shoulder joint where his artificial arm was slotted in got worse in the humidity. He hated clouds, and he hated the rain; pressure always made it hurt worse.

The ache always got worse when he got close to Rhaknam.

They got out of the mines, they freed not only the high priest, but Centime the Blue Rogue, and a good many of the Ixa’takan slaves as well, and got clear of the mine before the Valuan patrols around it were any the wiser.

Rixis was a bloody mess, and then finding out that the Ixa’takans had played them for chumps and summoned up a monster that made Recumen look like an innocent was aggravating as hell. Fina took it even harder than he had, but...given what she shared about her people, and what the script in the stone of the ancient shrine atop the cliff said, she had reason to be pissed off.

Through it all, the three kept on fighting. Kept on working. Aika seemed to be returning to her old self; perhaps a little more muted than usual, but she wasn’t ignoring Vyse, or glaring at him. So, there was that, at least.

Not that he cared. He didn’t care .

Up until they got out of Ixa’taka, their course set for the North Ocean, and beyond it, Valua and what fina called the ‘Maw of Tartas’, where the Yellow Gigas slept...with the Yellow Moon Crystal kept close to it.

Vyse spared Gordo The Round. Gordo realized who Drachma was.

Drachma wished that Vyse had just killed the fat bastard, because the last thing he wanted to be reminded of was why he was out here in the first place.

His shoulder ached, and he drank more than usual that night. And Vyse proved that he was fast growing into a decent man and a better captain, because he didn’t force the issue. Kept the girls from forcing it as well. Vyse left it up to Drachma to decide what he would share about his life, and what he wouldn’t. Vyse wasn’t a bad lad.

Not that he cared .

Drachma kept on not caring about the kids and their problems, up until the night that they finally reached the coastline of Valua and made camp in the shadow of an old, abandoned lighthouse. Then, while he was getting back aboard his ship to refill his ale, the kids started arguing.

Well, mostly it was Aika finally losing it and flying off the rail, screaming about how she got it , that Vyse didn’t love her , that he loved Fina , and that was fine , but he needed to give her space because she couldn’t handle watching Vyse and Fina getting cuddly together.

Drachma lingered aboard the Little Jack at the rail beside the gangplank, watching with that mix of amusement and exhaustion and irritation that the three kids seemed to constantly inspire in him. She tried to storm off. Vyse grabbed her by the shoulders. They fought some more.

Then Vyse explained that he loved both of them. And that was the problem.

Drachma immediately took a long pull from his mug of ale, groaning inside of his head.

He didn’t care, he didn’t care, he didn’t care…

***

Vyse let go of Aika’s shoulders. She was shaking, Fina was crying, and Vyse, by the hunch of his shoulders, would have much preferred to claw off his own face than keep talking. But something kept the young man going, and Drachma knew what it was.

The burden of leadership.

“I love the both of you. You are the two most important people in my life. But I can’t choose .” Vyse pressed on, and every word came out rough and coarse. “If I picked you, and left Fina out in the cold, how would that be fair to her, when I know how she feels?” Then he looked past Aika to Fina, and Drachma kept on drinking, watching from above. “And if I picked you, Fina, like Aika wants me to, how would that be fair to her?” Fina said nothing, and when Aika started to stammer, Vyse brought his hands back up and cupped her face, pulling it close to his own. Aika shivered, wide-eyed, and if not for the silence of their camp, Drachma might have missed the next line. “And don’t you dare tell me you’d be fine with it if I chose Fina and left you to pine over what you couldn’t have. You’re barely holding yourself together.”

He let go of her face, and she stumbled a little before she caught herself, the wind knocked out of her.

“This can’t...It can’t go on.” Vyse breathed, looking at the ground. “What I feel for you two...what you two feel for me, it...it would tear us apart. Slowly, but surely. Picking one of you means losing the other. And I can’t do that. I won’t do that.”

Drachma swallowed down another mouthful of ale. This was better than any book he’d ever read, any play he’d seen. Though he didn’t imagine the ending would be a happy one, for any of them. Least of all Vyse, which seemed to be what the Blue Rogue was aiming for.

He was putting his crew and the mission ahead of his own happiness. An admirable trait. Stupid, but admirable.

“So, what are you saying, Vyse?” Aika finally got out. She was still a mess, but she trusted her voice more than Fina did.

The boy had never looked so miserable as he did then, running a hand through his hair.

“I’m saying...what we have now...is all we can have.” He concluded. “Three friends, taking a stand against Valua. If I were to try for anything more with either of you , it’d be nothing but pain. For all of us.”

Aika was finally crying herself, and Drachma exhaled and walked away from the foredeck, stepping into the wheelhouse. He waited in the shadows of it for about thirty seconds before the sound of Vyses’ footsteps made him tense up.

Vyse walked past him, a glaze over his face. Drachma spoke up right before he reached the stairs going down belowdecks.

“You look like hell, boy.”

Vyse froze, his shoulders rose up. And then he sighed and slumped in on himself. He didn’t look back.

“Did I do the right thing, Drachma?” He asked, sounding particularly miserable.

“Ye’ll have to be more specific.” Drachma said. He wanted Vyse to tear the wound open enough to really scab over.

“Was I going to hurt them no matter what I did?”

“You fell in love with the both of them, boy.” Drachma grunted. “Did ye think it would be easy to walk away without breaking their hearts? Or your own?”

The young Blue Rogue, afforded the rank of Captain by his father after the raid on Valua’s capital, laughed a little and shook his head.

“No.” He admitted. “I was tearing my own heart out, no matter what happened. But I thought...Maybe they could…”

Drachma took another sip of ale, waiting. That was one thing that age, along with his former career as a fisherman, had afforded him; The strength of patience.

Vyse laughed again, sorrowfully. “I asked her if we were still friends. Moons. Aika must hate me now.”

Drachma sighed, lifted his mug to his lips and drained the rest in a single go. He walked over and clasped a hand to the boy’s shoulder. “You’ll all get over it. There’s time to patch things up. Now come on. Let’s get you a drink. A decent drink.”

Vyse reacted, but he was still numb. “I don’t drink.”

“Tonight, ye do.” Drachma groused. “Or at least, ye’ll do it if you want a proper night’s sleep. You’re driving tomorrow, lad. And we need you, and them, alert for tomorrow.”

Vyse didn’t have enough heart to argue the point, and Drachma guided him down belowdecks with ease. He wasn’t the first sailor he’d nursed through heartbreak, after all.

Though, for most of the past fifteen years or so, the only sailor he’d been prescribing alcohol to had been himself.

***

Valuan Mainland

79 Days after the Grand Fortress Escape

Drachma was Valuan, by birth. That didn’t mean he considered the capital city home. Valua was a strange beast; there were enormous tracts of the mainland that were absolutely uninhabitable, ruined by pollution from runaway strip mining for the precious metals and moonstones that the land once provided. What arable farmland had once existed when Drachma had been a child was just blasted wasteland now; long, miserable stretches of terrain blasted by storms that the poor air quality had made worse, with the occasional open pit seeped with rusty water or a refinery spitting out smoke in the distance.

Vyse, naturally, was horrified at the sight. Drachma could understand why. Even the girls, who were still shaken and withdrawn themselves after the fight from the night before, looked out of the wheelhouse windows. Fina looked ready to cry all over again.

“I never imagined it could be this bad.” The Silvite whispered.

“Why?” Vyse demanded. “Why would the Valuans do this, to their own country ? To their own people? ”

Drachma had long ago resigned himself to the realities of an empire spun so far out of control. But then, he had lived a long life, even if it hadn’t been a full one. What did he care about the environmental devastation brought on by the recklessness of the Empress and the Admiralty?

“Valua takes what she wants, boy.” He said in answer. “And the first people she trampled over were her own.”

The thunderclouds cracking above them gave weight to the sting of those words, and Drachma saw Vyse shiver a little. The old sailor chose to ignore it and stared out of the forward windows, frowning a little. “Something’s wrong.”

“What, Drachma?”

“It shouldn’t be this easy.” Drachma explained, feeling an itch at the base of his skull that didn’t go away when he scratched at it. “There should be more patrols. Even out here in the wastes.”

“Why would they patrol out here?” Aika asked, her eyes slipping past Vyse with no hate, but a touch of regret before she settled on Drachma. “You can’t get to the capital, those mountains over there are too high. You can’t get to the shipyards for the same reason.”

“Aye. But there are tunnels through the mountains that run trains. They keep all the refineries out here, especially the forced labor ones.” Drachma smirked darkly at that. “If they escape, there’s naught out here to keep them alive but poisoned water leeched with metals and grass tainted by corrosive rain.” His smile dropped away. “Still. They keep some frigates about regardless, mostly to watch for smugglers.”

“So, what do you think it means that they’re not around?” Vyse asked after a small pause.

“Nothing good.” Drachma concluded, shaking his head. “But for now...it means we’ll be able to make good time. Where’s this Maw of Tartas anyways, lass?”

“Further east.” Fina supplied helpfully. “According to the Silvite records, a great Moonsteel barrier was erected over the entrance after the yellow Gigas was sealed up, to keep anyone still alive on the surface from gaining access to it. After the Rains of Destruction came, it would have been impervious to any attempt of access still available to the survivors on the continent.”

Drachma jerked at that, feeling old memories rise to the surface at her words.

“This...Seal…” He muttered. “Shaped like a Pentagram? Yellow? Impervious to the elements?”

Fina swiveled her head towards him. “You’ve seen it.”

“Aye.” Drachma muttered. “It’s called the Great Seal by the Valuans. And now I know where we’re headed.” He walked over to the chart table and consulted their course. “Change bearing to course 070, Captain Vyse.”

“Aye, sir.” Vyse turned the wheel ever so slightly, and the Little Jack turned fast to the new heading.

***

The Great Seal

80 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Mid-Morning

It truly was an impressive structure; As they strolled across its surface, the Little Jack parked a mile away and hidden behind a rock formation, Drachma was struck by it. He’d never been this close to it in person, had never had a reason to even before the Valuan authorities marked it as a national security site and began restricting access. If it had been opened, it would have been possible to fly a ship twice the size of a normal Valuan ship-of-the-line through it.

Big enough to stuff a Gigas down inside of it, as well, since Fina’s claims had been accurate so far, and he wasn’t about to demean her by doubting it now. Especially since she was over at one corner of it, cooing softly as her little floating puffball of a pufferfish pet let out a particularly pitiable squeal and vomited up another pile of moonstone flakes.

“Well, now we know you shouldn’t eat the discolored ones, don’t we?” She consoled the small creature, dutifully picking through the mess it had coughed up with a handkerchief, and retrieving the still-bright moonstone ‘Chams’ that she’d been finding and feeding the little thing throughout the voyage. “Why don’t we call these nasty ones Choms? Okay, Cupil? No more Choms for you.”

Cupil, to the creature’s credit, recovered fast, although he seemed to be a touch weaker and less resilient than he’d been earlier in the day. Drachma considered the Chams Fina was resecuring, then shook his head and trudged on towards Aika, who was (Perhaps a little stupidly) tapping at the Great Seal with the tip of her ‘Grendel Wing’ as she’d taken to calling her newest boomerang.

“Fina wasn’t joking about how tough this Seal is.” Aika remarked. Drachma harrumphed, stifling his laughter.

“The Valuans set off about two tons of gunpowder one time about fifteen years back, as the stories go.”

“Really?” Aika looked around the seal. “I don’t see any scorch marks.”

“Exactly.”

Aika blinked, then did a double take. “Oh.”

“Aye, exactly.” Drachma rolled his eye. “So, perhaps, ye’ can hold off on poking at it.” Which she eventually did, albeit grudgingly.

“What else have they tried to get through this seal, Captain Drachma?”

“A team of prisoners with pickaxes one time...and then they once aimed an entire fleet’s worth of cannonfire down on it.”

Vyse joined them after that, his head still swiveling about in search of trouble. “It seems like Valua has thrown everything they possibly could at trying to crack the seal open, then. But...why wouldn’t they just try to dig away from the seal, and then come at it underneath from the side?”

Drachma shrugged at that. It seemed like a perfectly good idea, really. Maybe there was something about the bedrock composition which made excavation impossible, or…

Or maybe the Valuans just weren’t all that serious about putting the work into it.

Any such thoughts or musings were immediately driven away when a shout from up above caused them all to look towards the source; a Valuan sentry, whose cry of alarm caused a small company of troopers to come racing down towards them with swords and stun batons.

Aika growled. “Drachma, you said they threw a couple of tons of gunpowder at this thing and couldn’t crack it, right?”

“Aye?” He said, curious.

“Good.” Fina nodded, channeling spirit fire into her boomerang. “Then this shouldn’t hurt it, either.”

***

It didn’t end up being much of a fight, but really, it had been six guards against four battle-hardened warriors who had cut their teeth fighting monsters and temple guardians and worse things besides. With the amount of battle magic that Aika and Fina brought at the start (Fire and ice and so much wind ), the Valuans were only able to get off a few glancing blows before Vyse and Drachma fell on them with thundering fury and force.

One of them at least surrendered before he was left as a smoking husk or a pincushioned, broken corpse. That was the one who, trembling in a puddle of his own piss, decided it would be a good idea to answer every single one of their questions. Including the most important one to Drachma’s mind; The distinct lack of patrol sentries, and the relative ease of their incursion.

“They were retasked. Scuttlebutt is that they’re joining up with the Sixth Fleet under a new Admiral, that hotshot protege of Galcian’s...Ramirez, I think. We’re gearing up for an assault on Nasrad.” Fina gasped while he was talking. Drachma looked at her for a bit, noticing how pale she looked. Like she’d seen a ghost.

Not that he cared.

“Impossible.” Drachma rumbled. “The South Danel Strait is too well fortified. The Valuans didn’t make it through two decades ago during the war, they won’t make it through now.”

“They might...if they used the North Danel Strait.” Fina pointed out, haunted and looking like she wanted to curl into a ball.

“Impossible.” Vyse snapped. “Not through that Sky Rift.” Fina looked ready to argue the point further, though. And why? What did she know about the Valuan’s capacity that none of the rest of them did? Drachma saw the soldier twitch a little, and he adjusted his aim so that the metal knuckles of his false hand were once again pointed directly at the bastard’s helmeted skull. The soldier froze up like a good boy and kept talking.

“Though, that’s not for a while.” The Valuan hastily amended. “Right now, I think that there’s a task force chasing down reports of Rhaknam being spotted out here.”

The answer had the opposite effect that the soldier likely intended; namely, instead of mellowing his bloodlust, Drachma started seeing red. His shoulder ached.

“Rhaknam.”

“Drachma.” Vyse began, cautiously. Carefully. “Drachma, you need to focus. Okay?” He spoke like Drachma was a ticking bomb.

Which, he supposed, he rather was. And there was something about the delicacy Vyse was using in his voice that touched an old, worn nerve.

Drachma breathed, slowly . Then he turns and looks to Vyse. “Boy. I’ve been helping you and your girls out with your whole ‘save the world’ quest for two months now. But I’m not losing this opportunity.”

Vyse thought about it for about two, perhaps three seconds. Then he smiled and nodded.

“No, you’re not. But if you’re hunting Rhaknam, you’re not doing it alone. Not this time. We’re staying with you, captain.”

The weight of his vengeance eased at those words. The red in his vision faded enough that he could see the other colors again. And he felt a swell of emotion that might be something beyond just relief, that they were staying. That he had a crew, that he wasn’t alone in this anymore.

Not that he cared.

His shoulder still aching, Drachma choked on his words, swallowed, and nodded.

***

80 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Evening

Drachma had parked the ship and told the kids to sleep, taking the long watch that night. He might have slept himself, but there was too much of a chance for Rhaknam to appear...or for the Valuans to catch wind of them properly. In either situation, it was his ship, and he’d be the one to stay awake and looking for trouble.

The fact that being this close to Rhaknam made his memories too vivid for alcohol to numb away had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all. But because there would be no escaping the past tonight, he’d taken a small box usually locked away safely in his cabin up to the deck with him.

In the stillness, footsteps were all too evident, and he knew these too well. The girls were softer, and nowhere near as determined.

“Couldn’t sleep, boy?” Drachma asked softly, only turning when the footsteps went still and their owner was caught out.

“Not really.” Vyse admitted, and finished trudging out onto the foredeck to stand close to Drachma. He hadn’t even changed out of his usual uniform. “A lot to think about.”

“...Ye haven’t figured out how to move forward yet with those lasses of yours, have ye?”

“If you know a good way forward after everything’s been overturned, I’m all ears.”

“Can’t do anything if ye don’t take that first step, boy.”

Vyse chuckled uneasily at that and leaned against the rail. “There’s a lot more to you than you let on, old man. Though I’m surprised to find you not drinking.”

“Need to stay sharp tonight.” Drachma said, his hand squeezing around the box a bit. He should have hid it away when he heard Vyse coming. He hadn’t.

And then Vyse asked what was in the box. Drachma could have refused him. Snapped at him. Told him it was none of his business. He did none of those things, and instead, just handed it over.

Vyse took it, opened it up, looked inside…

And pulled out a brightly colored feather. “Feathers?” He asked.

Drachma nodded. It was his burden, the source of his pain and his vendetta, but it was one he kept to himself. Or he had, anyways. Now, though? Something about the night felt...tilted. Unbalanced. Like things could tip either direction. “Aye. They...belonged to my son.”

He could stop talking. Leave it at that. Vyse would have respected the silence, he respected Drachma enough days ago to keep the girls from peppering him with questions when Gordo the Round blabbed the secret he’d tried to bury from public scrutiny, but which was still known somehow within the bounds of the North Ocean.

But there was something broken in Drachma, something that had been broken for more than fifteen years. It was what made him want to not bottle it up for once.

There was no ale, no rum. He was clear-headed for once.

Vyse looked at him and waited. He could still not say a damned thing more, and Vyse wouldn’t judge.

Not that he cared what Vyse thought about him.

“He was my precious boy.” Drachma forced the words out, and like a dam that had been clogged, removing the first impediment caused it all to tumble free. “He collected feathers from every bird he could.” He chuckled a little, feeling his eye sting. “Some of them he caught on the wind when we were out fishing. Some of them must have been blown in from Ixa’taka...such pretty colors. And I never knew where they were from.”

Vyse came a little closer to him, handed the box of feathers back, sat down on the deck and pulled his knees up to his chest. In the faint glow of the oil lamp Drachma was using, there was open curiosity in his eyes.

“What was his name?” The boy asked.

And Drachma chuffed. He didn’t laugh. He never laughs, he told himself, and knew immediately it was a comfortable lie.

“Jack.” The name he hadn’t uttered for 15 years passed his lips. “His name was Jack.”

There might have been tears in Vyse’s eyes at that as he caught the significance of the name, and the ship’s name , but Drachma figured he was just seeing things. At least, until he said his next sentence, and Vyse broke just as Drachma did. “You remind me of him some days.”

By mutual agreement, neither of them said anything else until they wiped away the moisture (Not tears, just irritation from a harsh night wind). Drachma spoke a little more, about how he lost his son and his crew and nearly his ship, because the Little Jack had always been a fishing vessel first. He wanted to say more, but by then, something in the air had changed.

A sudden fog rolled in, confusing Vyse. But Drachma knew what it was. He jerked up to his feet and glared, the touch of rimefrost in his lungs from the suddenly cool air and the ache in his shoulder worsening by the second.

“Wake the others. It’s time.”

***

This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen, Drachma raged into the night, screaming inside of his head and out of it. They had found Rhaknam. They had found Rhaknam . Why were  a trio of Valuan ships chasing after the fell beast and firing on it? He wasn’t about to let them claim the kill! He had hunted this damn whale almost longer than Vyse and the girls had been alive . Nobody was taking this from him!

Dropping one of the ships in a surprise attack had been necessary to line up for a shot with the Little Jack’s Harpoon Cannon. And the Harpoon Cannon had worked , the moonstone-powered barb plowing into Rhaknam’s side and hurting it like no cannon shell Drachma had ever fired had been able to. He was reminded of a line from some old tragedy he’d watched by a traveling drama troupe when he had been a boy, and Valua had not been so dark, so polluted, so ruined as it was now.

From Hell’s Heart, I stab at thee...

But then the damn Valuans decided that it would be better to fire on the Little Jack instead of the giant arcwhale that had ruined so many lives. And the Little Jack , bound to Rhaknam by the weight of the Harpoon Cannon’s line, had no room to avoid. No room to counter. Had nothing it could do, really, except sit there and endure the punishment of broadsides and incendiary Pyri shells that left the ship broken, burning. Dying.

“Captain Drachma! Sir!” Vyse yelled, getting his attention. “Sir, the ship is critically damaged!”

“We can’t put out all these fires!” Aika screamed up the stairs. “We have to abandon ship!” She and Fina had raced to get their extinguishers working, once it was clear that the Valuans truly meant to end them.

“NO!” Drachma howled, because it was all in his grasp. His vengeance, the terrible and inutterable wrong of his life, the pain and the agony and fury that had fueled him for years had been pooled into that one shot of the Harpoon Cannon, and he had struck at Rhaknam, but the Arcwhale was not dead . Not yet. “I’ve not come this far to be denied my revenge! After all that this beast has taken, all the lives he’s ruined, I will see him breathe his last!”

And then Vyse was abandoning the wheel, something Drachma had told him time and time again to never do, and instead he grabbed at Drachma’s chest, shaking him, and his brown eyes burned.

“You can’t avenge your son if you’re dead!” Vyse screamed, and between that and the forceful shaking, Drachma’s head cleared a little. “Is Rhaknam’s death worth your life? Is it worth Aika’s, or Fina’s? Is it worth mine ?!”

That broke the last vestiges of his bloodlust, and for once, Drachma realized his mantra had fallen woefully short.

There was something he cared about. Something more important than fifteen years of bitterness and a chase with nothing but death at its end.

So he swallowed, nodded, and with a voice bled raw from screaming at a creature who was a living curse on his life , answered the boy.

“All hands to the lifeboats. Prepare to abandon ship.”

He moved after that, he knew, but somehow, minutes went by before he blinked and came back to himself again. And when he did, it was to see Aika and Fina crowded into one lifeboat with Aika’s satchel with the Red and Green Moon Crystals held tightly in Fina’s arms, and Vyse looking at them as the ship burned around them.

“This isn’t the end.” Vyse promised them both, though he didn’t reach for their hands, or kiss their foreheads, or stroke their faces like he probably wanted to. His hands flexed on the edge of the lifeboat, and Drachma knew just how much he was holding himself back. “We’ll find each other. We’ll keep going. We’ll find a way.”

“Forget the second lifeboat, Vyse! Just get in here! Drachma can take the second one himself!” Aika snapped, panicking a bit. Maybe she picked up on something in the boy’s voice that set off her warning signals. Vyse shook his head. Maybe he was smiling. “Damnit, Vyse, we’re not leaving you! ”

It ate at Drachma, just how impassioned that spitfire of a redhead could still be after all the pain and misunderstandings. And what Fina couldn’t say with her mouth, she expressed with her eyes.

Vyse, noble to the last. Women and children first. “I love you both.” He said to them, and pushed . The girl’s lifeboat slid away from the foundering Little Jack and was swept into the gale.

The boy moved fast after that. One lifeboat to go, and the two of them as passengers. But while Vyse hopped into it in a hurry, Drachma lingered.

“What are you waiting for, old man? Come on!” Vyse urged him, fretfully looking out the back hatch of the burning ship, out to where he’d last seen the girls...no, the women that he loved more than anything else. The women he’d do anything to keep safe, and alive, and on speaking terms. Even sacrifice his own heart for.

Drachma tried to remember the last time he’d cared that much.

He couldn’t. So, Drachma made a decision.

The lifeboat lurched forward towards the hatch and Vyse stared at him like he’d gone mad. “Drachma! What are you doing?! Get in here!”

But Drachma didn’t. His mind was swirling with what had to be done. If he could get Vyse off, he could make it up to the bridge. Fire the cannons. Keep the Valuans thinking that they were all still aboard. He could give the kids a chance to get away.

He should have said something to Vyse, Drachma knew. Something to inspire the lad, or to keep him focused. He wanted to tell Vyse to look after his girls, because time, Drachma understood, would let them figure themselves out.

But he didn’t say anything. He’d spent all his time with them trying to get them to believe that he didn’t care , and he’d done the job too well.

So he smiled, winked, and shoved Vyse and the last lifeboat out of the stern of the Little Jack , and watched the boy that he considered a son in all but name disappear into the maelstrom, screaming his name.

Not that he cared . But if he did, Drachma mused as he stood sweating in the bowels of his burning ship, the legacy of half a lifetime’s vendetta come to collect its due…

There were worse ways to go than saving his kid’s lives.

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Sixteen: What Am I To You

82 Days after the Grand Fortress Escape

Location Unknown

There had been the pain of watching Vyse, still aboard the burning ship, slipping away from them as their lifeboat’s small engines kicked in and were promptly overwhelmed by the wild storm kicked up by Rhaknam’s wake. There had been the fear and confusion as she and Fina hung on for dear life, clutching to the tiny skiff and the Moon Crystals and each other with all the strength they had, and the sensation of being lost to the storm.

At the end, when the squall that had dragged them Moons knew where and left their boat fluttering and drifting aimlessly in unfamiliar skies was over, there was a bone-deep weariness and the darkness of full exhaustion, and Aika, strung out and with nothing left to give, let it claim her. When she came to again, her body ached, her head was swimming, and she could hear voices burbling around her. Trying to open her eyes just brought her pain, but she flailed out anyways.

Where was Vyse?! She needed Vyse! Where was Fina?!

“Easy, girl! Easy! You’re all right!” There were soft hands, warm hands, holding her down. She was struggling. She needed Vyse. She needed Fina , and...and…

“You’re okay. You’re both okay.” A woman’s voice. Several women’s voices. Her throat hurt. Why did her throat hurt?

Oh. Oh, she’d been screaming .

Something cool and moist pressed to her forehead, and behind it there was a tingle of magic. Healing magic.

She felt very tired all of a sudden.

“Rest. Just rest. You’re going to be all right. You both are.” That woman’s voice, warm and reassuring, said again. And Aika really was tired. But she had to know. She had to…

Then someone grabbed her arm just above the wrist, moved it to the side, and she felt smooth skin underneath her fingers. Smooth skin, and soft hair, and a circlet with a veil…

“Fina…” Aika wheezed. Fina was here.

“Sleep. You’re both safe.” The woman repeated.

Finally believing it, Aika gave up and let the spell of healing sleep take her.

***

The next time she woke up, she was surrounded by warmth, and softness, and the smell of flowers. Where was the hard bunk? Where was the smell of engine oil and…

Fina…

She inhaled sharply, and froze. She could still smell Fina, but everything else was different, and wrong. When she opened her eyes, the familiar lines of the Little Jack were missing. She was in an enormous bed with sheets that felt so smooth around her, and when she looked down the length of her body, she was covered by an enormous comforter, brighter and warmer than anything else she’d ever seen in her life. The room was shaded in paints and fabrics of pinks, reds, and yellows, warm colors and furniture and decorations that reminded Fina of a honeymoon suite at the fancier places they’d stayed in various ports.

And Fina was sleeping in the bed right next to her. Some of the tension bled out of her. Relief took its place.

I have lost my...lost Vyse. I have lost my ship. I have lost almost everything, but I still have you. I still have my friend.

And then right after she felt that bit of reassurance, after the most pressing needs and losses were addressed, her brilliant mechanic’s mind spun to the other things that she had to worry about.

The Moon Crystals. The Moon Crystals!

She jerked upright with a gasp and immediately regretted it, her head swimming with fresh pain and a bump she couldn’t remember getting pulsing on the back of her skull. For a moment, her blurry vision saw double.

But even with that, she saw the two bags on the two...the one satchel on the one table next to the bed, she corrected herself. The flap was strapped down tight, but the geometric shapes of an octahedron and a pyramid bulged the sides out.

They were safe. They were not taken.

Valua hadn’t won.

Not yet. And for a moment, Aika was plagued with a sudden thought. If Valua was really after the Moon Crystals, and Fina’s plan to stop them was to round them all up and take them back to her people to hide them…

Wouldn’t it just be easier to throw them overboard and let the abyss of the Deep Sky claim them, where nobody could ever find them? Where nobody would ever think to look to retrieve them?

The sound of the door opening shattered that logical, dark, dark thought and blasted her back to the warm room and the warm bed and a warm, sleeping Fina...who was finally stirring at the sound of the door being accessed.

A woman with perfectly styled red hair and a frilly pink dress fancier than anything Aika had seen in her life came into the room, concern in her eyes until she saw that Aika was up and alert, and Fina was slowly doing the same.

“Hello, girls!” The woman said brightly. “Oh, I’m glad that you’re finally awake. You two were like death warmed over when we found you.”

Fina groaned and rubbed at her eyes, and Aika stilled her questions long enough to reach over and rub the other girl’s back to comfort her. Then she looked back to their rescuer. “And...we’re glad for the rescue. But who are you? Where are we? And why does this room look like a honeymoon suite?”

The perfectly pressed red-haired woman twirled into the room with a broad smile, and behind her came a pair of female sailors bearing trays with drinks and cut fruit.

“Answers, in order? My name is Clara, also known as ‘Calamity Clara’, of the Blue Rogues. You’re on board my ship, the Primrose , currently headed for the city of Nasrad where we were on our way for resupply when we stumbled across you.” She gestured with a hand around the room. “And really, dear, it’s bad form to go besmirching the decor of your rescuer.”

Clara. Another Blue Rogue that Aika had never heard of. Still, it was heartening, and she sighed in relief. “Sorry. It’s...We’ve been through a lot. My name is Aika, and this is Fina. We’re Blue Rogues as well.”

“Really?” Clara’s amused smile faltered for genuine astonishment, shot through with joy. “Oh, fantastic! Who are you with?”

And the moment of happiness broke.

I’m not with anyone.

Fina spoke up for her. “We were sailing with Captain Vyse of the Blue Rogues, when...we were separated.”

“I haven’t heard of him.”

“...He is the son of Captain Dyne.” Fina added, and Aika chanced a look up to Clara.

The red-haired woman sucked in a sharp breath, and went pale for a moment.

“You’ve heard of him.” Fina went on, and though she was as tired, as sore, as hurting as Aika was, the wounds to her heart and her mind weren’t as terrible. So she spoke for them both.

Clara slowly started to breathe again, and managed to reach a chair before she fell down. As it was, she fairly collapsed into it. “Not a one of us hasn’t. Dyne was the First.”

“The first what ?” Aika asked. “Centime said something about him being Valuan. It shocked us, Vyse worst of all.”

Clara shook her head. “Dyne was the First Blue Rogue. The First to raise our banner. The First to break away from tyranny, and imagine a better way.”

“Were you Valuan?” Fina asked quietly. “Like Dyne and Centime?”

“No.” Clara answered, and a faint smile returned to her face. “No, I’m not. And do I look that old? No, I joined after. Much later after. You would have been young girls then, seven or eight years old, I think.” She looked between Aika and Fina and came to some quiet decision. “There’s a lot I think we should talk about, but it can wait. We’ve not reached Nasrad yet, won’t for a few hours. And you two are still shaken up, and you need more rest.” Clara gestured to the two members of her crew who’d come in, and they set the drinks and plates of food down beside Aika’s satchel on the little table. “So, take your time. And when you feel up to it, you can come out and join us on the bridge, though if it’s not for a few hours, I won’t be mad about it. Moons know I know how comfortable my bed can be.”

The female Blue Rogue spun around with another flourish, following her crew out of the borrowed bedroom and leaving Aika and Fina alone. Aika stared down at her hands, resting in her lap, and felt the weight of her red hair freed from their braids, left hanging down behind her head in wild, staticky clumps. She tried to think of something to say, and couldn’t. It was left to Fina to break the silence, who did so after having Cupil manifest off of her wrist so she could hug it close like a plush doll.

“Aika? What is a honeymoon suite?”

Aika lost it, slipping into wild, gasping laughter.

No ship. No Vyse. The Moon Crystals still intact. His last words, before he pushed them out into the storm, away from death.

“I love you both.”

Somewhere in those lost seconds, she had begun crying, because she could feel Fina behind her, holding her close. Holding her tightly, holding her together, because she was breaking all over again.

“We’ll find him.” Fina promised, her arms iron wrapped in velvet around Aika’s waist as she buried her face into Aika’s hair. “I swear to you, Aika, we will find him.”

Aika didn’t know where to start, but she slumped against her friend like the lifeline she was.

***

The Primrose

Bridge

Calamity Clara was as different from Captain Dyne as Centime was, Aika decided after ten solid minutes in her company. While she and Fina regaled the Blue Rogue about their exploits since they rescued Fina from “Admiral Fop” in Mid-Ocean, Clara listened intently, but with an openness to her emotions that Dyne utterly lacked, and which Centime hid behind a placid, child-friendly mask of constant calm and warmth. The food and drink that they’d been given was gone by the time they joined her on the bridge, but Clara still plied them with a warm mug of tea as she listened to their stories of fighting and fleeing from the Valuans, of treachery and a long suicidal voyage, of terrifying giants and crimes against humanity. Her eyes sparkled at the tales of ancient ruins and lost secrets...and when the truth of what Aika held in her satchel was known, it was fair to say the woman blanched.

“Powerful enough…”

“Powerful enough to sustain the Valuan war machine for years. Individually.” Fina repeated. “Or awaken and control its linked Gigas. We saw the devastation Valua inflicted on its own land, its own people to feed the war machine of expansion.” The Silvite shook her head. “We cannot allow Valua the opportunity to continue that rampage with exponential growth. But...Priorities. We need to find Vyse. We have to know, if...if he didn’t…”

Clara tut-tutted and gave them a gentle smile. “You girls need to have a little more faith in your man. If he’s anything like my Gilder, he’ll show up again and surprise the heck out of you.”

Aika chuffed once, trying for a laugh and failing to make it sing the way it deserved to. “He would know what to do.” She said, and winced when it sounded more like an admission than an observation.

She wasn’t surprised, though, not really. She was lost, and shaken, and couldn’t see a way out of it.

She wanted Vyse, and he wasn’t here. She felt Fina’s hand slide against hers, the girl’s fingers parting her own, sliding between them, squeezing hard.

She still had Fina. She still had her friend.

“We need a ship.” Fina declared, somehow unbroken in spite of their mutual loss. “We might be able to find one in Nasrad, yes?”

“Yes, but it won’t be cheap. And I don’t know how much money you girls have on you, but it likely isn’t enough.”

Aika shook her head. Clara was right, they had almost nothing for funds. Vyse had been holding on to most of their money, since Aika and Fina had been put in charge of the Moon Crystals and their other valuables. Not that they’d had much for money even before; they spent it almost as fast as they made it. They hadn’t had that much when they got to the Maw of Tartas, and…

Aika stopped, going wide-eyed. “Nasrad is in danger.” She breathed out, her own sadness blown away on the winds of trouble.

“What do you mean?” Clara asked, confused. “In danger from what?”

“Valua.” Fina explained, grabbing onto Aika’s thought and expanding it. “While we were sailing through Valua’s skies, before we were separated, we interrogated a Valuan soldier. From him we learned that a substantial fleet is being put together with the sole purpose of leading an attack on Nasrad. And we suspect that they mean to use the North Danel Strait to do it.”

Clara shook her head. “Impossible. The sky rifts around the North Danel Strait are too powerful. Sky rifts in general are too powerful for most ships to survive.”

And Fina smiled with a certainty that had been growing since De Loco had fired that ‘moonstone cannon’ of his in the battle against Grendel and King Ixa’taka. “We’ve spent a lot of time fighting the Valuans lately. Relying on old assumptions about their technological prowess would not be a wise decision.”

“The Nasultan isn’t known for his...openness to new ideas.” Clara cautioned them. “And in truth, you would be better off if you stayed clear of the palace.”

Fina’s smile thinned, but stayed. “Failing to try and warn them of Valua’s plans would make us no better than collaborators. We must try.”

Clara sighed. “I was afraid you would say that.” She looked to another member of her crew and made a small gesture, and for a moment, Aika braced herself for an act of treachery. A second passed before her stance melted away for shame; Blue Rogues didn’t do that to one another. A bag of money was produced, and handed over to them. “I can’t spare much, but what I can give, I gladly do. And the advice is free. Stay in the public spaces. Avoid dark alleys. When you try to speak to the Nasultan, dress plainly, and mar your features. Do not carry your money openly; hide some in your clothes. As much as possible, stay together. Drink nothing you have not poured yourself, and if you wander away from a glass, stay clear of it after.”

Fina went pale, as did Aika, but at least Aika had a clue for Clara’s caution. The redhead nodded slowly. “We’ll be careful, Clara.”

“See that you do.” The Blue Rogue nodded once. “And there is an inn that is known to the Blue Rogues; It is called The Calm Sands . Ask for a woman named Fatima, and then mention my name. She will not offer a discount, but she will keep you safe during your stay. For as long as it is. Just be sure to pay your bill. She is friendly to Blue Rogues, but we are still on the less reputable side of the law.”

“We will.” Aika promised, memorizing the information. “And thank you, Clara.”

It wasn’t much. A small bit of coin, not enough for a ship of their own, a port of possible danger, and a lone contact friendly to them.

Aika shrugged off the worry. She was a Blue Rogue.

They’d done more with less.

***

Nasrad, The Calm Sands Inn

83 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Midday

Fatima was an older woman with a face burnished by the harsh sun that gleamed bright in the lands of the Red Moon. Yes, she knew of Clara, and no, that didn’t mean that these two girls fresh off the boat were getting a discount, she warned them. Being forewarned, Aika managed a mute nod, managing to remember to ask for their stay to be kept on a tab, at least while they’re looking for additional work. Aika had Fatima pegged as a tough as nails sort of lady with a no-nonsense attitude, someone who’d lived a hard life and wore the scowls it caused like a shield.

But she didn’t give them any flak, either. She scowled, and glared, but all the same, she handed them a key and packed them up the stairs, and had only one last thing to say; “Be sure you get back here before it gets dark.” Then she’d paused, and almost after-the-fact, added, “If you miss the evening meal, it’s on your heads.”

Their room was small, with spartan decorations and the mattress was lumpy underneath her as Aika sank down into it. She leaned back on her arms and looked up at the ceiling.

The plan. Remember the plan. The room would be on a tab. They were going to find Vyse.

They had to find Vyse.

“It’s...very homey here.” Fina ventured carefully, bouncing a little on the worn-out mattress of her own bed. “So...what do we do now?”

“Jobs.” Aika said, and she opened and closed her mouth a few times. “We need...we need jobs. We need money.”

“For a ship.” Fina added. “What Clara gave us is a start, right?”

Aika nodded, and bit her lip. Then Fina got up off of her bed and came over to sit beside her. She reached for Aika’s hand, placed her own over it.

“Breathe, Aika.” Fina said, some heat in her voice. Which was confusing. Aika was breathing.

Oh. Wait. Why was everything so dark?

Aika breathed, and the darkness faded.

“Better.” Fina hummed, and pulled Aika’s arm out away from her. Aika flopped sideways onto the bed after that. She flopped down beside Aika as well, and blue eyes met brown. She never let go of Aika’s hand. “You froze up there.”

Aika kept breathing. She had to keep breathing.

Remember the plan.

She needed Vyse.

“Are we in danger?” Fina asked her.

“Always.” Aika knew that to her bones. “This is Nasrad . It’s not like Sailor’s Isle. It’s not like my home. Things are wilder here. More free. But for every two people who would treat you decent or would ignore you if you weren’t buying anything from them, there will be one who will try and hurt us. Because it will profit them.”

“But you know what to look out for.” Fina argued. “And Clara...she warned us. About what to watch out for.”

“I...I know.” Aika shook her head. Fina squeezed her hand again, and Aika remembered to breathe again. “I just...I need…”

Fina kept staring into Aika’s eyes, not blinking. Like she was pinning Aika down.

“Tell me what you need.” Fina whispered.

Aika shut her eyes. She needed Vyse.

“I need to know that we’re going to be okay. I need Vyse.”

She felt Fina move. She felt the Silvite’s lips press against her forehead, felt her pull back afterwards.

“We’re going to be fine. And we’re going to find Vyse. We’re going to save him. And then we’re going to keep on stopping Valua from ruining the world. Okay?”

Fina sounded so sure of that. “Okay.” Aika whispered.

“First, you’re going to take a nap. And then we’re going to go look for jobs, before we come back here so you can sleep.”

“Okay.” Aika repeated. Fina squeezed her hand.

She kept breathing, and did it without the reminder.

***

The Cactus Barrel Tavern, Nasrad

84 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

They did find work, and in relatively short order; They had gone off to whet their whistles at a more upscale tavern along the main road leading up into the Nasultan’s palace, and after seeing just how harried the shortstaffed workers were, had inquired about working there. They’d been hired on the spot and told to report back the next day.

Today.

They were a couple of hours into their shift, and the lunch crowd was slowly filtering out, leaving only the older folks who no longer had to work to wile away inside away from the midday heat, playing their board games. Aika was waiting tables, and at her insistence, Fina stayed behind the bar, pouring out ales and wines.

Aika put down her tray and slid the empty mugs over to her friend. “Another pair of Firejuice ales for the gamblers.” She said, tilting her head back to where two old men were stubbornly working over a backgammon set. “How are you holding up, Fina?”

“I’m gaining a newfound respect for the loqua tavern owner we met in Horteka.” Fina said, sweating a bit from the work and the heat inside of the stone building. She slid the mugs under the taps and got to work, tilting them in the way that the owner had demonstrated to reduce the head of foam. “And Merida.”

“Moons only knows what she had to put up with, working there.” Aika murmured. She leaned in as she reclaimed the now full cups. “Anyone try to get fresh with you?”

Fina’s blue eyes glimmered darkly. “Not yet.” She whispered back, and Cupil, sitting on her wrist as a silver bracelet, moved slightly. “But I’m ready if they do. You?”

Aika smirked, touching her top. “One knife in my right boot. The obvious one at my waist, the boomerang on my back...and one tucked in between the girls. Just in case.”

Fina whistled lowly. “You are prepared. I almost feel sorry for anyone who tries something stupid with you.”

“Blue Rogue.” Aika smirked. Not that she really needed the knives for drunken idiots; that, she had her hand to hand training for, as one man who’d almost gotten his wrist broken for slapping her ass earlier had learned. It was more for the morons that might try something outside of the saloon. “And I’m reasonably sure, Fina, that you count as one by now.”

Fina shook her head. “I have taken no vow of loyalty. I remain a priestess of the Silver Moon.”

“Honorary Blue Rogue, then.” Aika scooped up the mugs, left the tray behind, and sauntered over to the two game-playing men. “Two ales, as requested. Ten gold, please.” The money was handed over, with a few extra coins for a tip, and Aika smiled and winked as she stepped away.

She could feel their eyes on her backside, but they had more sense than to reach for the goods. The coins she set into the till, and the tip went to Fina, who quietly tucked them away in a pouch that went into a formerly invisible pocket on the side of her skirt.

“A little bit at a time.” Aika advised the other girl. “We’ll get there.”

***

The Calm Sands Inn

Evening

They kept to the main roads on the walk home, but even with that, there was a spot of trouble from a group of drunk young men who didn’t know how to take no for an answer. They got put down hard, and were left as a groaning pile of limbs while the girls returned back to the inn. Fatima gave them a gimlet eye, but didn’t ask anything. She just grunted and shoved them towards the communal dining hall, where they ate their fill of a spicy meat and vegetable stew, fluffy long-grain rice, and bread meant to be dipped in the main course. Their mouths were fairly on fire afterwards, and the cold milk that came with it was welcome relief.

Afterwards, as they were settling up in their room, they took turns washing out the sweat of the day from their clothes and their bodies. Aika went first at Fina’s suggestion, and came out wearing a long shift that dragged down to her calves and left her feet and ankles bare. While Fina bathed and hung her clothes to dry for tomorrow, Aika brushed out all of her hair...and there was a lot of it.

She was still working on it when Fina came out, rubbing at her own hair while Cupil, who had regained his size and strength after the unfortunate Chom incident thanks to Fina’s quick work in recovering and feeding him his lost Chams, took on the form of a comb and brushed through her shoulder-length blonde hair with practiced strokes.

“Has he always been able to do that?” Aika asked. Fina shook her head as she sat down beside Aika.

“He learned to do it after I fed him all of the Chams he coughed up. They’re all a little bit different from each other...something about the sequence gave him flexibility. He got back his shield, but he lost his cone projectile form. Non-combat shapes are easier for him to adopt. I think that he learns and tries to adapt to what I need. And after...after Valua...We lost all our combs.”

And everything else, Aika said to herself. “That must come in handy. You’ve had him for a while, you said. That he was your pet?”

“For a long time, Cupil was...was really, my only friend.” Fina said, and plucked Cupil out of the air still shaped like a comb. “Here, let me help you with that.” And she started in on Aika’s hair without waiting for permission. Aika froze up for a moment, but relaxed after the third brushstroke, letting Fina take the lead.

“Your hair really is very pretty.” Fina said, after a minute of working through the tangles and knots that Aika hadn’t gotten to yet. “I enjoy doing this. As I recall, you enjoy it as well.”

Aika mumbled an affirmative, closing her eyes. It was something that Fina had started doing back when they had been crossing the Southern Ocean, back when the Silvite had needed something, anything , to take her mind off of the constant torrential winds and storms that plagued it. It allowed them a chance to relax, and to learn about each other. Aika told Fina about how it had been Vyses’ mother who brushed her hair out as a little girl. Fina told Aika about how she’d never had parents, and how it had been a long-forgotten friend who did it for her.

“You did good today, Princess.” Aika sighed. “We actually did okay with our tips. Tomorrow, we should do even better.”

“How much will it cost us, Aika? To buy a ship and look for Vyse?”

“A ship big enough for three of us, but able to be piloted by one?” Aika sighed. “Our next day off, we’ll have to go down to the docks and ask around. A skiff would be our best bet, but finding a decent one that’s less than 3,000 gold pieces will be tough. Then you figure on all the supplies to provision it? Add another 600 or so. Although that’s Mid-Ocean prices. I’m not sure what a boat or the supplies will go for here.”

Fina made a small noise of agreement. “So, how much do we have now?”

Aika shrugged. “About half, most of that’s from what Clara gave us. If we can manage what we earned today...I figure about a week and a half should put us over what we need.”

“And this is on top of trying to warn the Nasultan. And finding time to ask down at the docks about finding a ship.”

Aika laughed a little. “You make it sound hard , Princess.”

“Right. I forgot. Blue Rogue. You live for the impossible.”

“And you’re an Honorary Blue Rogue.”

Fina finished brushing out her hair, and started grabbing at it. Aika jolted and turned her head around. “What are you doing, Fina?”

“Braiding your hair so you can sleep.”

“I braid my hair in the morning when I wake up.” Aika protested. “I sleep with it down.”

“You don’t want me to braid it? I mean, it gets everywhere.”

Aika bit the inside of her cheek. “If it gets staticky, then it has all day in my pigtails to balance out.”

“I’m just saying…”

“What?” Aika snapped, glaring at her. “ What are you saying, exactly?”

“I…” Fina stammered, shaken but still going. “The way you wear it, it’s like you’re always trying to keep it out of the way. But then you sleep with it down. I’m just wondering why you don’t wear it short.”

Aika shut her eyes. “Forget it. You’re right. I should just cut it off. Didn’t do me any good anyways.” She reached for one of her sharper knives, but Fina made a strangled noise of protest, and shot her hand out to intercept her wrist.

“Don’t.” Fina pleaded with her. “Please don’t.”

“I should. It’s useless.”

“No, it’s not. It’s very pretty. It’s longer than mine, and…” Fina went on. Aika looked back at her, and there was surprise on the girl’s face, then understanding. “Oh. You kept it long for Vyse...didn’t you?”

Aika twitched at that, then slumped.

“Aika?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Aika finally said, and laughed bitterly. “I was an idiot. He loves both of us? How...what kind of an answer was that?”

Fina didn’t move, but she didn’t let go of Aika’s wrist either. “Maybe his heart is big enough to make room for more than one person.” She ventured carefully.

“I’ve never heard of something like that before.” Aika muttered. “It’s ridiculous. You get married, you have one person in your life. What would that make the other person? Who would be his wife, and who would be his mistress ?” Her voice thickened up, and she let out a watery snort. “He was right. He couldn’t do that to us.”

“But you still love him.” Fina said.

Aika closed her eyes. “Moons save me, yes.” And it hurt. It hurt to think it. It hurt more to say it.

Fina reached around and hugged her gently. “There’s no wrong way to love, if they love you back.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you. I’m not going to love him and let him treat you like...like a mistress .” Aika argued. “If he’s even...if he’s still…”

“He’s alive.” Fina promised her, burying her face into the back of Aika’s shoulder. “If you believe nothing else, Aika, please. Believe that. He’s alive.”

“How do you know?” Aika croaked, pulling away enough to turn and look at her friend.

“I believe in him.” Fina said, smiling gently. “He makes the impossible happen. He survived Rhaknam once with you. He’ll survive that Arcwhale again. We will get a ship. We will find him. All will be well, dear heart.”

Aika wanted to argue the point more, but she couldn’t. She didn’t have enough energy left to do so. So she just mutely nodded her head, then stood up.

“Let’s get some sleep.” Fina got up off of her bed as well, and Aika pulled back the covers. She climbed in, expecting Fina to go over to her bed and do the same.

Aika didn’t expect what she actually did; Fina climbed into Aika’s bed behind her, and spooned in closely until she could feel the Silvite’s soft breasts pressing into her back.

“...Fina?” Aika breathed. “What are you doing?”

“Sleeping.” Fina mumbled.

“But...but you have your own bed.”

“Don’t care.”

“It’s not proper!” Aika finally found the strength to argue, even as her head grew heavy on the pillow. “Fina, Vyse said…”

“What Vyse said , what Vyse feels , doesn’t change anything about how we feel.” Fina contradicted her firmly. “We were friends before. We’re friends now. And you’re a wreck.” Aika opened her mouth to speak, but could only squeak as Fina’s fingertips came up and brushed over them, pulling them shut.

Fina’s thumb traced a gentle line over the side of her cheek afterwards. “If I left my own bed, would you be able to sleep tonight? At all? Would you feel safe ?”

Aika didn’t say anything. Fina brushed her hair aside and left a kiss, soft and gentle, but lasting for three seconds, against the back of her neck.

“Let me be here for you.” Fina asked her, and there was a bit of shuffling before she settled into place and let one arm rest over Aika’s side, the hand pooled up just beneath her ribs.

Aika swallowed, closed her eyes, and tried to ignore the pounding of her heart, the rush of heat between her tingling lips and her core.

“Okay.” Aika whispered. Fina didn’t stir.

“Okay, what?” The Silvite yawned.

“I’ll...keep my hair long.”

Fina’s exhaled breath danced among the wild strands that fell to cover her neck again. “Good.”

And they slept.

***

86 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

The Nasrad Docks

With so many things to do, Aika took charge of the errands on a day that she wasn’t scheduled, but Fina was. After walking Fina to work, she’d taken Clara’s advice to heart, dirtied up her face, and then traded a vagrant their rattiest bit of homespun robe for a meal.

The Nasultan’s guards absolutely refused to let a vagrant pass by; the man apparently lived very separate from his people, and even Aika’s pleas that she carried a warning about Valuan aggression didn’t get a sympathetic response. She was turned away, and even as angry as that made her, it beat the alternative; being welcomed into the palace and then taken as one of the Nasultan’s ‘entertainments.’

She hoped for better luck down at the docks, and stowed away the homespun robe for later in a different satchel that resembled her old one well enough to fool most people. For the time being, the Moon Crystals (And their cache of gold) were kept locked away in their room, stowed beneath a loose floorboard that she had found on their first night, and then promptly sealed up with nails afterwards. When it came time to leave, it would be easy enough to retrieve them.

Nasrad was as different a port as Sailor’s Island or the Valuan capital had been; Long, branching docks jutted out from the southern part of Nasrad’s massive island, filled with ships of every make and model. It didn’t have the cozy feel of Sailor’s Island, which was busy but casual, nor did it feel ominous and oppressive as Valua. If there was a word that summed up Nasrad’s port, it was loud .

She flinched at the sound of a massive mounted cannon being fired at the perimeter, which made the merchants and dock workers only look up for half a second before resuming their duties. So, an expected event.

Ah. Midday cannon. It made sense.

“You can set your clock by Captain Khazim!” One dock worker laughed nearby. “The fool gunner drives his crews mad with his need for precision!”

“Ah, it makes me glad that I took a job here, even if it did make my cousin angry at me.” A second said, grunting slightly as the pair lifted up a crate and moved it from one section of a covered storehouse to another. “Here, we don’t have to worry about being blown apart from stray gunpowder.”

“Aye, just breaking your foot if you drop a crate wrong!” Their supervisor shouted out, breaking the revelry. “Be quick about it, lads, we’ve another shipment of dried Red Sardis coming in from Maramba today and we need the space to store it all!”

She shook her head and went over to one of the dock supervisors, easily identifiable by his finer clothes and the clipboard and miniature abacus hanging from his belt. “Good afternoon.”

The middle-aged fellow did a double take and then smiled. “A thousand welcomes, young desert flower! What might we do for you?”

“I’m looking to buy a skyworthy vessel of smaller size. Where would I go, and who would I need to talk to?”

“To find a ship to purchase, you would be best served in visiting the Sailor’s Guild, daughter of the red moon.” It was an obvious reference to her red hair, and one she’d heard before in Maramba, and Aika let it slide. “You could, of course, wander the docks and make inquiries, but reputable sellers post the availability of smaller vessels on the Guild Registry.” What went unsaid, Aika could suss out, was that less reputable sellers didn’t .

But Clara’s warning hung heavy in the air of Nasrad. So Aika smiled, thanked the man, turned, and wandered back into Nasrad proper to consult with the Guildmaster.

***

Sailor’s Guild, Nasrad Branch

The guildmaster listened to Aika’s plight with far more sympathy than she would have expected. He also seemed eerily similar in appearance to the guildmaster from Maramba.

“Large family.” The fellow in the green and yellow guild vestments explained with a small smile. “But, there are differences. For example, see my scar here?” He motioned over one eye, and Aika realized after the fact that it was made of glass, a clear deep gash visible over its surface. “Cannon explosion. I look like my brother and father and cousins on casual inspection, but we do our best to distinguish ourselves somehow. This one just was a bit more voluntary, and our mothers are careful to never reuse names. Can you imagine how much of a headache it would be if we all had the same damn name, seeing as so many of us work in the Guild?” After they both laughed, he sobered up. “I am sorry to hear of your misfortunes. However, there are not that many advertisements for a ship of your size; Here in Nasrad, smaller vessels are typically crafted as pleasure craft. I think I have two listings that are close to a skiff in type; One is for 10,000 and the other for eleven.”

Aika winced. “So expensive?”

“Nasrad is a booming trade city.” The guildmaster shrugged. “It tends to drive prices up, I am afraid. I take it you do not carry that amount?”

“No.” Aika frowned. “I don’t suppose you would buy Discovery information?”

“Oh, certainly. Do you have your ship’s journal with coordinates and other details?” He said cheerfully. But Aika’s face fell further. No, she didn’t.

Vyse was the one who always kept the logbook.

“No.” She sighed. “My friend and I are currently working to save up enough money, but at these prices, we’ll be at it for a while longer.”

“Hm. There is one other option, my dear.” The guildmaster said thoughtfully. “There is a merchant whose establishment is rather close. Her name is Osman, of Osman’s shop. She specializes in rare valuables and also works as a moneylender and notary public. You might be able to convince her to sponsor you.”

Aika listened carefully. “You don’t seem sure of that.”

“She is a merchant.” The guildmaster said with a shrug, as if that explained everything.

***

1 Hour Later

After being kept waiting, belittled, and then insulted for being poor, Aika had been forced to suffer the indignity of being kicked out of Osman’s with nothing to show for her efforts but bruises, scraped legs, and dusty clothes. She returned to the tavern where Fina was still working, and found it rowdier than usual, with an entire ship’s crew having come in during her morning off. They were more raucous than usual, and Fina looked fairly on edge. The shimmer at her wrist immediately set off alarm bells in Aika’s mind as the Silvite backed away from a table of inebriated patrons who were reaching for her. She was almost about to summon Cupil. And the manager? The manager had been dragged half over the bar by his shirt, and the man holding him was cocking a fist back to lay him out flat. If Fina looked concerned, the manager was well and truly terrified .

Aika could have shouted out a warning, given the tavern goers a chance to snap out of whatever drunken haze they were in. But she didn’t. She was a Blue Rogue, and she’d seen this look in men’s eyes a dozen times over sailing with Vyse and Captain Dyne; a ship’s crew on liberty after a long voyage, hellbent on imbibing as much wine, women, and revelry as they could cram in at once. And when they acted like this bunch was now, things got broken, and people got hurt.

Aika wasn’t going to let them hurt Fina. She snapped her boomerang out and hurled it full force across the room, watching with satisfaction as the blunt end of it smashed into the back of the skull of the man closest to Fina. He let out a single pained grunt and then collapsed, and the noise in the tavern came to a halt.

Aika calmly waited as her boomerang swerved back to her, then caught it in her gloved hand. She raised an eyebrow as all of the men in the tavern stared at her.

“You’re causing a disturbance. Either get back to your chairs and settle down, or get out.” She growled out.

And if that polite suggestion didn’t just go ignored. Still, as the first of the rowdy bar clowns came rearing at her, it bought Fina enough time to manifest Cupil into the shape of a broad cutlass that she slashed at her attacker, carving a gouge along his arm that made him reel back in shock. Fina smirked as one guy came at her with a chair, and cracked her knuckles.

I needed a good fight anyways.

Five minutes later, Aika and Fina stood victorious over a pile of groaning and sometimes unconscious men. There had been a lot of them, sure, but Aika and Fina had carved their teeth in fighting together on much stronger, much more sober enemies.

“Maybe that will teach you to respect a woman’s boundaries!” Fina declared hotly. Aika laughed and wiped a thin line of sweat off of her forehead.

“Good work, Fina. You okay, boss?” She asked, looking to the manager who was back on his feet, but stared between the girls and the pile of broken up rabble rousers.

“They...they were, and you…”

Aika rolled her eyes, and turned briefly towards the door as she overheard the sound of footsteps running for the tavern. “The Nasrad watch is coming.” She sauntered over to the pile of incapacitated men and leaned down, nudging him with her boot. “This just wasn’t a good day for you to be stupid, was it?” The man rolled over slightly, and his shirt shifted enough to expose a tattoo under the sleeve of his shirt. Aika’s eyes sharpened, and she leaned in, lifting his shirt up for a closer look at his arm.

A Black Pirates’ mark...and one bearing a familiar personalized crest.

“You fly with Baltor the Black-Bearded.” Aika said aloud, and then she moved to a second man, checking him as well. He also had a tattoo, but on his forearm, hidden underneath a bracer. “You’re all Black Pirates.” And then she smiled and looked over to Fina. “I think our luck just improved.”

Fina blinked, not entirely sure what she meant. Aika calmly stood back up, stowed her boomerang, and turned to the door, looking presentable when the Nasrian town guard came storming in.

“These men are Black Pirates, serving under the authority of Baltor the Black-Bearded!” She declared. “They were accosting us and making unwanted advances, and we fought them off. The bounty for their capture is due to myself and my friend here!”

The lead guard looked dubiously at her, even more dubiously at Fina, and then looked to the tavern manager. “Is this true?” Aika turned and glared at the manager, who went a shade paler.

“They...they stopped them.” The man quickly agreed. “I didn’t know women could fight like that.”

“We can take care of ourselves.” Aika explained coldly. “Now, about our reward…?”

***

The Calm Sands Inn

86 Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Evening

News had spread fast about a group of Black Pirate ruffians laid low by a pair of serving girls at the local pub, and by the time that they finished their shift and made their way back to their temporary home, Fatima was waiting outside the front door of the inn with something less than a full scowl. She’d yelled at the both of them about the need to be more careful, then scooted them inside and fed them a meal of succulents and a cooling yogurt-based lamb dish and oven-baked flatbread. She didn’t praise them, or ask what they were thinking taking on a group of Baltor’s men on shore leave. Mentioning Clara’s name had apparently convinced the older woman that Aika and Fina could take care of themselves well enough in a pinch.

Heading back into the cool darkness of their room after the mess of the day was a welcome relief to Aika. The sack of money that they had been given as a reward for the capture of Baltor’s crew had been expelled by Cupil onto Fina’s mostly unused bed, and she counted it up for a second time just to confirm the amount.

“Twelve hundred gold.” She said, satisfied with the tally. The coins were slid back into the purse and then slid underneath the floorboards, next to the Moon Crystals. Fina made a happy noise as she wandered in from the bathroom, her damp hair hanging around her head like a halo.

“You fought him before, right?”

“In a ship battle. We never met face to face.” Aika agreed. “He must be causing trouble again, if his crew is worth this much.”

“So where are we now, then?”

“With the reward money...Around 4200 gold pieces.” Aika hummed.

“...We still have more to earn.” Fina murmured, not quite wincing. She tried to sound cheerful, though. Optimist that she was. “But the manager at the tavern is raising our salaries. That will help.”

“He didn’t know he was paying for a couple of waitresses who could also work as bouncers.” Aika chuckled. “If we keep at it, we might just be able to get the money we need in two weeks. Maybe less, if we get really good tips. That doesn’t cover the money for the supplies we’d need to outfit our ship.”

“It’s going to happen, Aika.” Fina promised. “We’re going to buy a new ship. We’re going to find Vyse.”

Aika felt a lump rise up and stick in her throat, and set the floorboard back into position, resecuring it. And what do we do when we find him? What do I even say to him?

“I...I’m going to wash up.” Aika said faintly, standing back up and retrieving her nightgown. Leaving her boots and satchel underneath the bed, she checked their door and made sure it was locked before moving to the bathroom.

She could feel Fina’s eyes on her the entire time she was moving around, but the Silvite never said anything. Fina was like that. She spoke up when she had a question, or something to contribute, but usually, she kept her opinions to herself. She was never not thinking, though. There had to be a lot that Fina wasn’t saying.

Aika washed her clothes out and scrubbed her body with a soapy washtowel and did her best to think about the task, and about work, rather than whatever unspoken words were running through her friend’s mind. If it was disappointment…If she was…

She had heated the water for her clothes and to get cleaned up, but Aika let it run cold as she soaked in the tub, letting the water leech the heat of the day out of her.

What could she say to Vyse if they were lucky enough to actually find him, like Fina kept promising they would? And Fina...Fina, who had suggested that maybe Vyse had a heart big enough for both of them, did she actually understand what she was saying? Vyse loved them both? Wanted to be with them both? How could it ever be fair? Could a life spent holding only half of his heart, with the other half in Fina’s warm arms, mean anything? How would it ever work , when Aika knew that there would always be a doubt lingering in her mind about who he loved more? And if Vyse decided to make Fina his wife...Could she stand just being his mistress ? The woman he fucked on the side when he got bored?

It hurt to think about, but what hurt her more was that she would probably go along with it. She had said she worried about making Fina the mistress in whatever screwed up relationship Vyse had in mind, but she knew otherwise. Fina was everything that Vyse would ever want in a proper wife. Beautiful, demure, strong when she had to be, emotionally stable.

Not like she was. Athletic, a tomboy with ratty red hair, an emotional wreck that bounced between anger and joy and sadness on a copper, and a bust that didn’t stack up to Fina’s.

She cried silently in the cold water of the tub, pulling her knees up to her chest and rocking back and forth.

Vyse would marry Fina, and make her the mistress, and she would let him. She was lost. She couldn’t hate Fina, and she loved Vyse beyond reason. She loved him enough that she knew she would accept that miserable state of reality, because having even a little bit of him would be better than nothing. It would kill her a little bit every day, a knife slowly being dug into her heart as Fina had his children and she was left with his bastards , but she would do it with a smile, cling to him like she almost had in Ixa’taka, whisper his name in his ear while he groaned Fina into hers.

The sound of Fina knocking on the bedroom door made her jerk up and splash the water loudly, and afraid that the other girl might walk in, she turned her head away from the door and quickly splashed water in her face to hide her tears.

“Aika?” Fina’s voice came through worriedly. “Are you okay? You’ve been in there an awfully long time.”

“Yeah. Sorry, I...I nodded off for a bit.” Aika coughed to hide the rasp in her voice. “I guess I’m more tired than I thought.” She forced her legs to work again and stood up, water running off of her body as she reached for a towel. “I’ll be out in a bit. Okay, Fina?”

“...okay.” The Silvite retreated, and Aika quickly finished up.

When she walked out of the bathroom, the sun had gone down completely, and only the light from the partially opened wooden shutters from the stars and the glowing red moon overhead gave any illumination to the room’s interior. The candle at their desk was down to a stub of tallow, exhausted.

“We need to buy a new candle tomorrow, I take it.” Aika said into the dark of the room. She could see the outline of Fina, sitting on the edge of her bed in the nightdress that Clara had given to her, a sheer garment of white satin that was perfect for the heat of the lands under the red moon. She must have been leaning back away from the light, because the Silvite’s face and hair were hidden.

Fina didn’t respond to the question, but she wasn’t quiet, either.

“Are you okay, Aika?” Fina asked her, and there was that thin line of strength in her voice.

Aika mustered up a weak laugh. “Yeah, I’m fine, Fina, I’m just…”

“No, you’re not fine.” Fina cut her off, and she moved slightly in the dim light, turning just a bit towards her. “I’m tired of you lying to yourself. You don’t think I don’t see how all of this is eating you from the inside out?”

“We’ll be okay, Fina.” Aika said, stumbling a bit as she tried to regain her footing. “We’re earning good money now. A few weeks, we’ll have our ship and the supplies for it, and...and we can...We’ll find him .”

“And then after that?” Fina demanded crisply. “ When we find him, what happens then? Because you’re not okay with what he said. You cried after we woke up on Clara’s ship. I had thought it was just that you missed him, but it’s more than that. You haven’t dealt with what’s really bothering you.”

“Yes, I have.” Aika insisted, and stepped into the space between their beds, where the moonlight from the window shone on her, and left Fina still in the shadows. “However Vyse feels, it doesn’t change us. We’re still friends, you told me that. Okay?”

“You don’t think I know what a woman crying when she’s alone and then hiding it looks like?” Fina countered quietly. She stood up and stepped into the faint moonlight as well, with just a little bit of space between them.

Aika’s breath caught when she realized that Fina had been crying as well. The tracks down her cheeks couldn’t be anything else.

“You were probably sitting in that tub, spiraling into depression. Thinking that you were worth less than I was. That he would choose me above you. And I’m not going to let you do that to yourself. I can’t. I did it to myself enough when I was a girl, and I won’t have you falling into the same trap. Not here. Not because of this.”

Aika swallowed, and felt her own tears coming up again. “How did you know? Why were you crying?”

“This wasn’t supposed to be my mission.” Fina chewed on her lip and smiled sadly. “Me being here was nothing but a desperate measure. All my life, I was told that I wasn’t good enough. That I wasn’t like him , that nothing I did would matter. All my life I choked on it , crying in the dark, until you and Vyse stumbled into my life. The two of you made me start to believe that I mattered. That I was stronger than I knew. You two gave me something to fight for, and helped me find my strength.” She reached a hand out and cupped Aika’s cheek. “So believe me, Aika. When I say that you are good enough? That Vyse won’t pick either of us over the other? I mean it. And whatever he does decide, it doesn’t change us.”

Aika shut her eyes and stifled a sob as the girl’s thumb came up and brushed her tears away. She stood there for a few seconds, then pulled away from her hand and turned around.

“I can’t be weak like this. I have to be strong . That’s who I am, right? The strong girl, the reliable one, the dependable one? I have to be the leader because he’s not here. I have to make the plans, keep up a brave face.”

“Nobody can be that strong. Not all the time.” Fina reassured her, and her bare feet creaked on the wooden floor a little as she stepped behind Aika and wrapped her arms loosely around her midsection. Aika felt her lean her head against her upper back and neck. “But you don’t have to be. Out there? Around everyone else? Be who you need to be. But at night, when it’s just us? You can let go of it. You can let me pick up the burden, Aika. Let me be the one to save you .”

Maybe she had been just waiting for permission all of this time, Aika thought. Because at those pleading words from her dearest friend after Vyse, she felt herself collapse . The tears came faster than she could stop them, and she cried out almost silently, only the occasional gasp piercing the silence. She felt herself sink back against Fina, and cried all the more, grateful that the girl was there to hold her up.

“I’m so afraid .” Aika managed, when she could speak again. “I’m afraid that we won’t find him. I’m afraid that we will find him, and that he’ll end up despising me, that he’ll marry you and screw me on the side, that when he does take me, he’ll whisper your name instead of mine…”

“We will find him.” Fina promised, kissing the back of her neck. “And he won’t . His heart is big enough for two people, Aika, big enough for the both of us equally. I know that everything will be all right.”

“How?” Aika cried weakly. “How do you know?”

“He’s a Blue Rogue. And so are you.” Came the Silvite’s warm response. “When have either of you ever given up?”

They hadn’t, Aika knew. Because Blue Rogues didn’t give up. Ever.

Grounded in the code, Aika’s crying jags finally began to ease off. She calmed down, worn out and empty.

“Hell of a low point.” She mused into the dark.

“Nowhere to go but back up, then.” Fina suggested warmly. It made Aika laugh.

Bless the girl.

“I am so glad that you’re here.” Aika confessed, and brought a hand up, covering Fina’s as it sat on her stomach. “If I didn’t have you here, Fina, if I was all alone, I don’t know what I would do.”

“I don’t know what I would do either.” Fina replied, and kissed her neck again.

But this time, Fina didn’t pull away. Her lips lingered against Aika’s skin. She didn’t kiss her forehead or the back of her neck quickly like she would do before they went to bed. In a steady progression that left Aika shivering, the Silvite standing behind her started at the back of her neck, then moved to kiss the base of it, then went down to where her neck met her left shoulder...and while Aika trembled from the frission of those building sensations, Fina gently pulled on the sleeve of her nightdress, tugging the garment down enough to expose her shoulder, where she kissed the curve of her deltoid as well.

It was enough to make Aika draw in a ragged, shaking breath. Enough to make Fina’s lips go still at last, even as her arms already around Aika’s waist dipped down a bit, and the Silvite’s hands palmed her abdomen and rubbed over her navel gently, silk over skin.

“...Fina?” She heard herself say.

And then Fina let go of her, allowing Aika to turn around so she could stare at the girl she only beat out in height by an inch. Fina’s blue eyes gleamed in the moonlight streaming through the window. Aika’s voice caught in her throat again. In those eyes, she could suddenly see so much meaning.

All of the unspoken words were there, and it left her frozen.

“Do you remember...back in the Southern Ocean, I told you to save your third question?” Fina mused huskily. “You might want to use it now.”

And Aika could see the question in her mind, ringing out as clearly as anything. But she was suddenly afraid to, because...Oh, fool, fool girl that she was...if Fina...If she…

Fina licked her lips, never blinking. Never looking away. “Say it.” She demanded, in a whisper barely loud enough to echo over the thrum of Aika’s heartbeat in her ears.

“What....” Aika started, and this time, her mouth wasn’t dry. Her mouth watered as she looked at Fina, who stared up at her with...Like she was more …

“What am I to you?” Aika finally got the words out. And knew instantly that for once, she had asked the right question at the right time...in the right place.

Because Fina smiled at her then, and it was a smile that made everything in the world seem right. The Silvite leaned in, tilted her head just the smallest bit , and…

And Aika closed her eyes, felt a huff of breath against her mouth, parted her lips slightly…

And then…

Yes.

Seconds later, minutes later, as Aika shuddered for air and Fina pulled away, she came back to herself and saw Fina smiling at her, while her blood, as warm as when Vyse had been kissing her, surged through her and left an unmistakable longing ache everywhere.

“You are my friend. And you are more than just a friend.” Fina said, and she ran a hand down Aika’s arm, along her exposed shoulder, to her elbow, before squeezing her hand. “I told you. Vyse’s heart can be big enough for both us. Because mine is.”

“Me? And Vyse?” Aika stammered. “Together?”

Fina smiled. “Moons willing. I understand that among your people, it’s...it’s a different idea. But I was taught that love is love. Wherever you find it, it’s precious.”

Fina brought her other hand up, cupped it around Aika’s neck. “Vyse loves you. And I love you. And we both want to be with you. I’m not a substitute for him, no more than he would...would be a substitute for me.” And there, Fina hesitated at last. A small sliver of doubt took hold in her perfect azure eyes. “But, how we feel about you, and how you feel about us...about me…”

Aika’s mind raced, because for once, there wasn’t a clear answer. This wasn’t an engine to be fixed, or an opponent to be attacked. It was a question between her heart and her head. And Fina was giving her an out. She was giving her an in.

To love Vyse. To love Fina.

To love the both of them. To love neither.

Really, what good were words? Now, in the pale glow of the moonlight? What could words say that their eyes, their hands, their lips couldn’t say a hundred times better? Not for the first time, Aika marveled at how wise Fina really was.

She brought a hand up to Fina’s face, cupped her cheek, and rubbed at the Silvite’s moistened lips with the side of her thumb. Fina parted her lips, drew it into her mouth, and sucked on it gently. Aika shivered, and lowered her hand down, moving slow enough to give the girl time to see it coming, time enough to stop her, to refuse, to step away.

But Fina didn’t, even as her breathing deepened, and her chest swelled out with every inhale. And then Aika’s palm was pressed into the softest thing she had ever felt in her life, with a diamond hard point jutting into the center through the gown’s sheer fabric.

It was the gentlest of whimpers, and Aika squeezed Fina softly in response. Then Fina’s hand around her neck moved to the front of her nightgown, to the drawstring. Aika let her pull it, let it fall away, reached for the one on Fina’s, watched with burning eyes as the thin fabric slid over the whole of her body before pooling on the floor around her feet.

Their mouths found another, and Fina pushed Aika back, urging her to the bed, where they collapsed onto it and gave into the pulse of need between them.

In the dark, two women who loved the same man saw one another for who they really were at last, and discovered that love didn’t have a limit. They were Aika and Fina. They were friends, and lovers, and battle sisters, and comrades. They were themselves.

They simply were .

Chapter Text

BETWEEN THREE ROGUES

By Eric ‘Erico’ Lawson

Seventeen: No Man Is An Island

(??) Days After the Grand Fortress Escape

Unknown Island, Skies of the Red Moon

Vyse was alone.

His head ached and he could feel from a clump of matted hair that somewhere along the line, he’d suffered a blow to his skull and been knocked unconscious. After being shoved out of the Little Jack on the tiny lifeboat, Vyse had…

He rolled over onto his back, groaning as he stared up at a peerless blue sky. The Valuans had fired on him . They had fired on a damn lifeboat!

Something else to add to the litany of sins against the Empire. He checked himself over, and concussion aside, he seemed in one piece. Nothing felt broken. There was only a little bit of dizziness when he sat up, but he found himself on the edge of a small pond full of clear rainwater. A long drink helped much of his exhaustion, and after checking to see what he had for possessions (Swords, coinpurse, sailor’s journal), he made his way up to the closest high point for a better look at the island.

It was impressive, with its most noticeable feature being a high mountain that sloped up along the backside of the island, like a bowl tipped on its side. To the Blue Rogue’s relief, there were trees, there was water...There was life .

It still didn’t make up for the fact he was marooned.

“Panic later.” Vyse told himself. His head was still buzzing a little, and he dug out the last bit of trail rations he kept stowed away in his uniform. One of dad’s life lessons; Always keep some of the necessities on your person. Bags could be taken away.

Like Aika’s satchel. The girls had been holding on to the Moon Crystals.

I love you both.

“Wonderful.” He groaned and drew a hand across his face. His last words to them, and…

Moons, they were going to hate him after they got out of this mess. They might already hate him.  He only hoped they’d done better than he had.

“No point in standing around.” He growled out, and finished his meal. There was work to be done.

***

He wasn’t alone on the island. Or, at least, someone else had been stranded here before him. It had been a sailor named Gonzales, according to the scraps of writing kept within a natural cave at the base of the island’s mountain. It had taken him the rest of the day, but he’d given the man’s skeleton a proper burial outside. For a reward, he had a scrap of what looked to be a vellum treasure map that the man had been holding on to...and the man’s campsite inside of the cave. Out of the elements, away from the wildlife. Marks on the cave walls had shown Vyse just how long the man had been stranded before he finally expired. Too long.

Vyse pulled out his backup cutlass and infused the moonstone core in the blade with his spiritual energy, just enough to sharpen the edge so it wouldn’t dull as he carved a mark into the wall opposite of Gonzales’ tally.

“Well, old man. Here’s hoping I’m not stuck here as long as you were.” He stowed his blade and stepped back from the wall, smiling sadly. “But thank you for giving me someplace safe to rest.” He hoped that giving the man a proper burial would soothe his spirit.

With only the dim light from his moonstone-infused goggle to light up the small cave dwelling, Vyse unlaced his boots and set them down beside the bed. His naval coat came next, then his leggings, until he was down to his smallclothes.

The bed wasn’t anything to write home about, just dried reeds and grasses over a stone slab with a threadbare blanket to serve as a mattress cover. But Vyse had slept in worse, he reminded himself. He’d eventually gotten comfortable in a hammock. He’d get used to this as well.

There were a dozen things yet to attend to, and when he woke tomorrow, the first would be finding sustenance.  His mind trailed through more of his father’s old lessons on foraging and hunting, some of which he’d used during their time in Ixa’taka. Others which, while rustier, he’d have to brush off again.

But he would stay alive. He’d have to. Drachma...The old man was probably lost. His ship had been a burning mess when he’d shoved Vyse out of the back, being dragged along behind Rhaknam at the mercy of the arcwhale and the tempest it kicked up in its wake. There was nothing Vyse could do for him.

The girls, though…

He removed his eyepiece and set it down on top of his boots, then disengaged the small glow in the lens. Darkness filled the interior of the cabin, save for a thin sliver of waning daylight from the sunset outside.

He wondered where they were. He wondered if they’d escaped Valua as well, like he had. The red moon in the sky was a dead giveaway of just how far the storm Rhaknam had conjured up had blown the lifeboat. He wondered if they were as worried about him as he was for them.

He hoped they could forgive him.

***

They were back on Pirate Island, and it was the night before they were going to set sail with Captain Drachma on the Little Jack to head for Nasr, and the port of Maramba. To nobody’s surprise, Vyse and Aika had made their way up to the bluff away from the burned down houses since Lookout Point had been blasted apart, and Fina had come along with them. They sat in the sunset, a rushed dinner in their bellies, and the unknown stretched out before them.

Fina cuddled up against Vyse’s left side, and Aika took his right, and neither seemed willing to move as they lay there in the slightly charred grass.

“Vyse?” Aika asked him, when the silence got to be thick enough that he felt ready to fall asleep. “What did your mom say?”

“Mom says a lot of things.” He answered with a smile. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

“Before we left, she said something to you, and you got confused.”

“Oh.” Vyse blinked and tried to think about it, but...thinking was hard all of a sudden. Like he didn’t want to think. “She...wanted me to take care of you two?”

Aika rolled onto her side and leaned on an elbow, tilting her face over his, and he felt one of her soft breasts push into his chest. She was wearing clothes, but he could feel it perfectly, and he almost groaned. And she knew it, because she smirked at him. So much like a cat, she almost purred.

“So are you?” Aika asked, and her hand came down to the top button of his coat, nudging at his collar.

“Am I what?” He replied huskily.

And then Fina rolled over on her side , and then he had the both of them looking down at him with a hunger his racing heartbeat knew perfectly.

Their hair was down. It hadn’t been down before, but it was now, and Fina’s veil was gone. The last traces of sunlight shot through their red and blonde hair, waving softly in the breeze and hanging like a curtain, trapping him in place with nothing but their eyes and their smiles pinning him down.

Their laughs made him twitch. Aika snapped the first button open, while Fina’s hand went to his belt, pulling his shirt up until her fingers could graze over his bare stomach.

“Are you going to take care of us ?” Fina teased him.

He didn’t know what to do with his hands. His legs were lead-weighted. Aika laughed again and leaned down, her hands working feverishly over his coat, no longer unbuttoning them, but tearing it open. Fina showed just as little restraint, her delicate fingers unstrapping his belt. His swords and belt pouches fell away and disappeared, and then she was reaching for his breeches, and…

“Or maybe we should take care of you .” The Silvite hummed, leaning down over his groin.

“Fina...what are…”

“Shh.” Aika’s hands were suddenly cupped around his face, and she straddled his stomach, resplendently nude with her long red hair coming down and covering her breasts. Moons, his mouth watered for them, and her hair had never been so long. “Let the girl work.”

Behind her, Fina’s voice gave another hum of appreciation as cool air suddenly blew over him, freed from his smallclothes. Vyse let out a strangled cry and bucked up, but she pulled back with a fairy’s titter.

“He’s eager.” Fina cooed, and hot air blew over his length, making him ache and groan again. “He’s taken good care of his sword.”

Aika’s brown eyes flashed with amusement as Fina sat up behind her, leaning her head on the other girl’s shoulder. She didn’t look back to the Silvite at all, and kept her gaze locked on Vyse. “Then maybe you ought to show him where to sheathe it.”

Moons, he wanted this. He wanted to touch them. To kiss them. To drive into them. To hear them moan, and pant in wanton desire, to scream his name. But his legs wouldn’t move. His arms wouldn’t move. And his head, trapped in Aika’s hands, could not move.

“Shhh.” Aika leaned down over him, a pair of hard diamond nubs rubbing against his chest. “You wanted this. You wanted both of us.”

Behind her, Fina kept on smiling, but her eyes...Vyse blinked, and wondered why her eyes were suddenly so dull. So lifeless. “You love both of us.” She repeated, throwing his own words at him.

“So which is which, I wonder?” Aika murmured, and then her mouth was on his, and her tongue speared into his mouth, taking everything that she wanted. Even his breath.

“Which one does he love as the wife, and which one of us is the whore?” Fina whispered over her shoulder, and then she plunged her hips down, and he screamed...

***

2nd Day on the Island

Mid-Morning

There were plenty of Grapors wiggling about, and Vyse had a need to work off all of the energy that his dreams kept leaving him with. He’d woken up screaming, sporting arousal and guilt in equal measure. Grapors made for easy game, having little in the way of offensive capabilities for the wary. It gave him a chance to practice his defense and counterattacks, and by the time he’d built up a sizable pile of the strange florafauna hybrids native to Nasr, he’d sweated clean through all of his clothes. But at least his boiling blood had cooled.

While his skinned and cleaned catch dried and smoked on skewers kept over a low blaze next to the pond, Vyse used his wrecked lifeboat as a makeshift washtub, sinking down into it afterwards with a quick application of Pyri magic to heat it up to a lukewarm temperature.

“Neither of you are.” He whispered, not because there was the risk of being overheard, but because his dream turned nightmare had rattled him so badly. He couldn’t look at either of them as anything less than…

They just weren’t. In the end, his mother’s warning had been worthless, because she assumed he would be able to choose. He tried to see them as separate, and couldn’t. They were always together in his mind. Aika and Fina. Fina and Aika. And neither one deserved the label of being…

Mistress. Concubine. Whore.

He would flay himself before that happened.

One problem at a time, Vyse. Size up the situation.

“Fine, old man.” He growled at the memory of Dyne’s voice, now that he knew the truth, that Dyne had once flown under a Valuan flag. “Lying bastard.” He pulled himself out of the tub, checked to make sure his clothes were still drying, then dumped the bathwater out over the open ground. The clouds hung heavy in the sky; it was going to rain tonight. The small pond he’d been drinking from and using for everything else would be refilled in the morning.

Foodstores...covered, mainly. He’d scrounged up some fruits while he was hunting for Grapors, so he had the basics covered. Water? Covered. Shelter was taken care of, thanks to Gonzales, who would hopefully rest peacefully in his grave.

That made preparing for a rescue his next priority. There were enough loose stones inside of the caves that he would be able to make a fire pit. And firewood? Plenty of trees. It would be green wood, but that would work best for a signal fire. More smoke.

Worrying about himself didn’t come easy, not when he didn’t know that Aika and Fina were okay. He had to force himself to stay focused.

By the time that his clothes were finally dried off enough to wear, he’d gotten his signal fire started. The stormclouds had grown thicker, and he dressed quickly as thunder rumbled in the distance. He got his mostly dried Grapor meat back inside of the cave before it started raining in earnest, and even then the first drops had sprinkled over him.

Dinner was an unceremonious affair; he drank rainwater and ate cold Grapor meat and nearly ripe Loma fruit, and did his best to ignore the pit in his stomach that had nothing to do with food, and everything to do with the rest of his crew.

He carved another notch into the wall and stared at the pair of marks for a bit before walking back to the cave’s bed and slumping onto it. “Two days.” He whispered, digging his fingers around the sheet that covered up the replenished reed and grass mattress. “Please be okay.”

***

3rd Day on the Island

The rains that had hit his deserted island had done more than replenish the pond; they had also exposed buried red moonstone ore, the product of moonstorms from who knew how long before. And while Vyse was by no means as skilled a mechanic as Aika had become, since he’d chosen to focus on command training under his father, he knew enough of the basics to repair the lifeboat’s small engine and put the ore to work. Unrefined, it wouldn’t have a lot of output, but it was a lifeboat, it didn’t need a lot of oomph.

Aika could manage it handily. Vyse would need twice the time and three times as many swear words. Between that and the signal fire he still needed to finish building up, there was plenty to keep him occupied.

He just needed to finish his scavenger hunt first. Thankfully, only Grapors lingered on the island, and after his hunting spree yesterday, most were happy to steer clear of him. The ones that weren’t were easy pickings for his counterstrike techniques. Mostly.

“Off!” He snarled as one incredibly brave and stupid got in close enough to squeal and wrap around his midsection, making his cutlasses next to useless. With no better option left to him, he channeled up a yellow magic spell and ran the current through himself, and the thing shrieked from the jolt and jumped clear. He hurled an arc of spirit energy from his blade and cut it cleanly in half, then sunk down onto his knees, breathing hard.

“Damnit.” He panted, wishing that the girls were here with him. If for nothing else, for the fact that Aika’s satchel contained the bulk of their adventuring supplies. What he wouldn’t give for a Sacri crystal right about now. He settled for a healing spell, calling on his limited reservoir of magic. It was made all the harder by the fact that he sat underneath the red moon, green’s opposite, and his green magic was nowhere near as advanced as the girls’ were.

When he looked down and opened his eyes, he blinked to see the hint of a gleaming red chunk of moonstone ore near to one knee. He would have missed it if exhaustion hadn’t gotten the better of him.

“Next you’re going to tell me that it’s a good thing monsters keep attacking me.” He snarled to nobody in particular. He knew one voice had been thinking it, and he didn’t care which. He just wanted them to leave him alone.

That night, he drew a third notch onto the cave wall.

***

He never left the island. The girls never found him. Nasrad fell. He saw them trapped in the Valuan wastelands, struggling to go unseen and find a ship.

He saw them in Nasrad when it fell, saw them captured, and the quest failed and Valua rise with the Red and Green Moon Crystals, and the world burn.

He saw them struggle to reach civilization, only to be kidnapped as unwilling concubines, the light slowly draining from their eyes while they were abused and taken, dying a little every day.

He saw them survive and make their way back to home, saw Fina retreat back to her people while Aika became a Blue Rogue captain in her own right, and fought against Valua on her own. She drew strength from her loneliness, became a terror beyond even Dyne’s reputation, and drove the fear of oblivion into the Empire. And she fought them for years, united a coalition that spanned the breadth of Ixa’taka to the ruins of Nasr, and under the banner of the Blue Rogues, destroyed the Empire and saw Galcian and the Empress executed in their own foul arena, their bodies tossed into the sewers afterwards to the roar of the masses. And after all was done, Aika faded away from prominence. Lesser Blue Rogues, deputies and captains and allies of convenience, separated apart and returned back to their homes and started over. And Aika climbed aboard her ship and sailed off into the wilderness north of New Nasrad and east of Valua’s mainland, and searched for him. She searched for the rest of her life and never found him.

He saw Aika breathe her last defending Fina from a world too harsh and undeserving of the Silvite’s grace and warmth, and watched as Fina emerged like a phoenix, wrapping herself in grief and vendetta like Drachma had, using the spiritual powers she so rarely called on in increasing measure, emerging as a living deity descended from the Moons. He watched as Fina, her heart hardened by loss, assumed the mantle of someone beyond even an empress, saw how merchant captains and Blue Rogues and Black Pirates alike fell to their knees in supplication or were forced down onto them for beheadings, each gruesome death carried out by Cupil, who had taken on the shape of a terrible sword gleaming with silver moonlight. She became the Moon Goddess, the arbiter of life and death, and she was loved in wild frenzy by those of her followers, for one either worshipped the goddess or was destroyed by her.

In every one of those nightmares, he wasn’t there. He wasn’t there …

***

12th Day on the Island

“I know.” Chop. “Moons, back off, I know .” Hack.

Vyse snarled at nobody and everybody as he steadily pruned off the branches from his latest bit of lumber. After struggling to get a single tree up the embankment at the island’s far end for the signal fire, he’d spent days putting the small lifeboat back to rights instead. It meant he had the use of it for shuttling supplies around the island, which made his life considerably easier in the long run. Hauling firewood and Grapor meat worked a lot better with a ship.

He finished hacking the trunk into manageable chunks after another half hour, then stepped back and wiped the sweat out of his eyes. He’d given up wearing anything thicker than his undershirt most of the time, and it was solidly drenched. Vyse hopped into the boat next to the pile of lumber and flew the ship at its puttering speed over to his signal fire and started offloading it as quickly as he could. He restacked the pile, checked to make sure the lighter fire was still burning as embers, and replenished the kindling amidst the mixture of dry and wet wood.

He was as worn out as ever when he finally returned to his cave. The Blue Rogue paused by Gonzales’ grave marker and ran his hand over the surface to greet the fellow, then went inside and put another mark on the wall.

Under the light of a small dry-fired blaze, Vyse took out his journal and stared at the last entry. He held it for several seconds, then sighed and turned the page and started another log entry.