Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Maisie Brumble and Jacob Holland resided in a little cottage on the outskirts of Three Bridges with their pet, Blue. The cottage was built on the edge of a lake that opened up to the grand sea, which Blue took consistent advantage of. They were surrounded by trees and one lone path leading through the forest into a cross section of roads that flowed across the island. One led to Maisie’s old orphanage, another into town. 

They’d been living there for the better half of a year now, and had grown accustomed to their new father-daughter relationship. Jacob got Maisie all the books she wanted and helped out at the market downtown. He’d become a teacher and a fisherman, instructing Maisie on basic maths and the sciences in the mornings before going off to the boat for hours at a time while she does her self studying of the world's history and her exercises, then coming back in the evenings for final teachings and dinner. Maisie often walked to the orphanage to play with the other kids at midday, and was escorted from and seen off by a nanny who visited in the afternoons to both make her lunch and make sure she was alright. 

They ate breakfast and dinner together, and at night, before bed, Maisie would go on about what she’d learned in her rare imported history books; things that contradicted each other and dates and names that were just plain wrong. And no matter how tired he was, he listened. He listened until she had nothing left to say. Then they went to bed and started the whole cycle over again the next day. 

Well, on the good days. 

“Turn left! Left!” Maisie screamed from the back of the trunk, waving her arm back and forth and almost tripping over all the oranges surrounding her legs. 

“I’m already turning left!” He screamed back, his grip on the reins enough to burn his hands as the horses whinnied loudly and turned so abruptly that the cart almost hit a tree—

Some days, Maisie would go into town on her own to look at all the new imported books at the library, searching for any that might scratch her greedy urge for new knowledge. Ordinarily any books not approved by the king and queen weren’t even brought across the border, but after the small revolt little over six months ago, things had started to change between the local monarchy and the people of Three Bridges. Maisie and the librarian had a agreement set up where she would get someone on her side to sneak some of those good ol’ forbidden books across the great seas for the little girl, and would make sure to say she hadn’t seen a young dark-skinned girl, maybe yeh high, around ten years old, maybe older? to any question-askers. In exchange..well, that’s a story for another time.

This was also one of the days that Jacob helped bring crates of fish off board and into the market after a hard day at sea. You’d think with your torso completely covered by a crate the size of a door, filled to the brim with salmon, no less, you’d be utterly unrecognizable. But not this time around. As soon as he heard guards yelling and stomping his way, he promptly dropped the crate of fish and dashed to his right into a plethora of people standing to the side of a fruit stand. A woman gasped, a man yelped, and there was a loud Uwaah alongside the sound of shuffling clothing. As the guards reached the group, their eyes immediately landed on the tallest figure leaning against the brick wall, his arms crossed with one knee bent so that the sole of his boot was flat against the wall and a stolen brown homburg tilted right over his left eye. A tawny (also stolen) overcoat stretched over large muscles, practically bursting at the seams, the sleeve cuffs holding tight to hairy fair-skinned forearms. 

“Jacob Holland,” One officer stepped forward. “By decree of the The Crown, we are to take you in for treason against Thy Royal Highnesses, resisting arrest—“

Seeing that he’d been caught, Jacob pointed one amber brown eye at the officer speaking and flashed a cocky tilt of his lips. With what seemed to the crowd to only be a flick of the wrist, the jacket was off, abandoned through the air and into the officer’s face, blinding them and making them stumble back, while one officer caught the razor-fast, saw-like hat. When they looked up, Jacob was already down the street, turning abruptly into an alley. The group of five cursed their incompetence and chased after him. 

In the library a few blocks away, Maisie was standing at the reception desk checking out her new book on the history of maps and who makes them when the excitement from outside reached her ears. Curious, she headed to the front doors, book in hand, to see what all the commotion was about. The doors to the library were giant, maybe fifteen feet tall and ten feet wide, with floral patterns and vines carved into the oak, each flower’s middle shaped in the symbol of the Three Bridges royal mark; a circle with a twisty inlaid pattern. Maisie opened the doors with a hefty push and walked out onto the front steps, into the sun. In front of her was a street filled with people not going about their everyday lives, but murmuring disconcertedly to themselves as they peeked over into the alley left of the library and from where Maisie stood. Just as Maisie was taking in the townsfolk gathered in the cobblestone street, there was a jarring crash that made her flinch. Looking over, she saw that right to her left, a few feet down and away, was a large blond man struggling to lift himself out of a pile of trash. Her eyes went wide as her brown gaze met his, his lips parted in surprise with the rising of his full eyebrows. Contrastly, Maisie kept her lips zipped and her book held to her chest as she gulped. 

“Maisie?” He exclaimed in disbelief, which was better than anger, Maisie thought, though she was sure it would come up later that day when they were home.

“There ‘e is!” Another voice screamed out from the alley, alongside the stomping of many, many boots. 

They both turned their heads to the sound, but only Jacob could see the cavalry coming after him. Quick as a flash, Jacob was out of the trash and running to Maisie, who practically jumped all the way down the stairs to meet him at the bottom; then, together, they ran down the crowded street, snaking in and out of women in long, poofy dresses and men in working attire. 

“What are ya doin’ ‘ere?” They screamed at each other as they ran, the hard cobblestone ground pounding against their feet and bouncing rocks into Maisie’s ankle boots. 

“That’s what I’m asking you!” Jacob motioned with his arms moving backwards, as if to envelop her in a large incredulous hug. He pointed his forefingers into his chest. “I’m doing my job! What are you doing in the city?”

“I just wanted to get a book!” She pouted guiltily as she paced alongside him. 

“Oh, don’t you have enough books?” It was a conversation they’d had enough times. They neared a cart being stacked with boxes of fruit and with no pause or hesitation, Jacob lifted the young girl onto the back of the truck, ignoring the Hey! of some working lad as he smoothly twisted around the carriage and to the front seat behind the horses. The driver jumped out just as Jacob took control of the reins and shouted a Heeyah! while snapping the rope, signaling the steeds to go. They whinnied and took off, Maisie almost falling out of the back but instead turning to land on her knees and jam her shoulder into the very low, incredibly, dangerously low, one foot high, seriously who thought this would hold anything? wooden barrier somehow keeping her and the boxes of fruit from toppling over. “Did ya even finish the last one ya got?”

 She turned her head so fast that her black curls got into both her eyes and mouth. She spat a lock out and used one sweaty free hand to move the rest out of her face as she yelled back, “Yes! I finished it days ago! I told you that!”

“You did?”

“Yes!”

There was a brief silence filled with the blowing wind, the clacking of hooves on stone, and a gaining vehicle full of feds coming nearer to them. “…Huh.” He said, and left it at that. 

Maisie turned back to the road behind them as the sun filtered into her eyes. She blinked, squinting at the face only a few meters away from them as the Royal Guard stared determinedly back, trying to reach them, Maisie’s vision dotting with reds and blues and her hair blowing into her face. She lifted a hand to shade from the sun. “They’re gonna shoot our wheels!” She warned. 

Jacob took a jagged turn just as a shot rang out and missed. The carriage chased them all the way into the forest, past Mrs. Bastille who made the best cookies, and past the rock shaped vaguely like the King’s head. They swiveled as best they could on and off the path and through trees.

And here they were, Maisie Brumble and Jacob Holland, just a man and his daughter, a girl and her father, living a calm, regular ol’ life. 

They took a left at the crossroads, heading in the direction of their home, and once Jacob was sure they were being followed, he took another abrupt right, right through a set of twin trees barely large enough for the cart to fit through but definitely too small for the Guard in their large carriage to follow. Maisie fell with the last turn and broke her fall on the bouncing and rolling oranges. When she lifted herself up again, she saw the angry, intense, then sly look of the officers right before she waved cheerily at them and disappeared with the cart behind a bend leading to a short drop.

“Y’okay back there?” Leaves crackled as they were crushed and the cart soon slowed to a stop. Jacob’s knee-high tan leather boots dropped onto the forest floor and walked over to the cart in the back holding the young girl. 

She hummed as she lifted her pristinely kept book high into the air, with not a spot of orange juice on it. 

If they really wanted to, the others could have followed after them, but after months of playing this game, Jacob knew they wouldn’t; See, it wasn’t just the people of Three Bridges who thought the Monarchy was unjust. 

There were actually many a Royal Guard who wanted to see the kingdom have better rule, and that included not locking a little girl and a well-renowned hero behind bars. Jacob was quite surprised that first night they’d been caught and let go by some very rebellious officer; one who’d made a deal with them that as long as they put up a fight, the Royal Guard would only pretend to be chasing after them. They’ll tell the king and queen they’d lost them or they’d cleverly slipped out of their chains or something of that nature. Just enough that neither of them got into any trouble. So far, The Crown hasn’t caught on. 

After Jacob had sent the horses and the now pretty dilapidated cart back to their owners, and Maisie and him walked home and had a nice, long rest, Jacob sat Maisie down at their kitchen table to talk. The evening sunshine flowed through the window above the kitchen sink. The counters were of cedar and held draping leafy plants atop cabinets. The room itself was small. The table, placed right in the middle, took up most of the circumference. Atop it was a white sheet with small fuschia-colored flowers patterned all over it. To Maisie’s left was the door into the corridor leading to her and Jacob’s rooms, and to her back was the door leading to the parlor. Both doors were opened, and she wanted nothing more than to run out of one of them to escape this chastising. 

Jacob moved around the table to the seat across from her, hunched in an effort to not hit the candelabra hanging from the ceiling but to Maisie only causing her to feel like he was towering over her intimidatingly, especially when he set two hairy blond hands on the table spread equally apart from each other, his brown eyes boring into hers. 

“You know why we’re ‘ere, right, little missy?” He asked, tilting his head forward and turning it slightly to the side. 

Maisie didn’t like when he called her that. He only ever used it when he was trying to either joke with her, or create a light mood when she was in trouble. She kept her eyes wide and innocent, her mouth zipped, and her hands clasped in her lap. “Because you’re mad at me?”

He sighed and went to sit down. “I’m not mad at ya, I’m—“

Oh lord, Maisie thought, her lips turning up in panic. 

Jacob sat down, his large hands clasped on the table and his top half leaned over, his eyes on hers. “—disappointed.” He finished. 

Something cracked in her. “I’m not Rapunzel, y’know!”

He closed his eyes and ran one hand down his face. “Ugh, Love—“

She stood up. “You can’t keep me locked up in ‘ere!”

“You’re not locked up. You can go outside wheneva ya want! Ye can go to the school! Just don’t go into town when there’s no one there to look after ya!” He spread his hands out palms up on the table. 

“Like who, Jacob?” She looked around incredulously. “You’re always at work, and it’s not like Nana can make the walk four times over to get me there and back, she ain’t that young!” Her nanny was a very nice lady and she hated to say anything rude about her, but it was a miracle she could make the stroll here everyday in and of itself. 

“The Guard’s may believe in our cause but if they catch you by yourself, there’s nothing they can do!” He stood up as well, his brows furrowed sternly and the tips of his fingers spread out over his side of the table. “Ye just wait for me to get back and we’ll go together.”

“Anything I’d want to do would be over by then! You already get back so late, and you’re always so tired when ye come home!” He wasn’t as young as he used to be(six months ago) either. She didn’t say this aloud, but she sure thought it. “And if it’s just me, there’s way less chance I’ll get spotted!”

Jacob breathed in through his large, hooked nose, then breathed out. He put the tips of his fingers together and pointed them at her, once again tilting his head towards her with wide, all-seeing eyes. “The answer…is no.” 

She stared back at him for several seconds, the furrow between her brow more intense than the look in her eyes. It was silent, and then she looked down, her hands unballing from fists, defeated. “Aye.” She let out, voice low and lifeless. 

Before Jacob could say any more, she was walking out of the door from the kitchen to the corridor and into her room a little down the way. Her door shut quietly, but to Jacob it felt like it’d rung out like a gunshot. 

Chapter Text

Maisie dropped onto her bed face first and laid there for several minutes. She ignored Jacob when he knocked on her door saying that dinner was ready, opting to instead rest her cheek against the bedspread and look over her room. It was a few feet bigger than the kitchen, the bed residing across the room from the door, pressed against the wall, with a short dresser holding clothes inside and books on top on the right side of the room. A sleeping area that Blue rarely uses is in the left corner surrounded by piles of books. A chest that held Maisie’s hair accessories on one side and traveler’s trinkets on the other was right next to her bed, with a single candle sitting atop it. On the wall above her bed was a picture she’d drawn of her and Jacob out on the ocean, with Red, their old sea friend, swimming beside their boat. She moved her lips sideways to her cheek as she looked at it, then back to the book she’d left on her bed earlier. 

The title read: Maps: Their History and Who Creates Them and Why

She opened it up and began to read. 

The next day she stayed in bed when Jacob knocked on her door for breakfast. She watched from the parlor as his neatly combed sideburns made their way down the path in front of the house and toward the pier, then quickly ran to the kitchen, sat down at the table, and began to eat. Jacob had failed to call her for lessons, so she assumed that she was off the hook for the day. She read the morning away until Nana came for her and gently escorted her to the orphanage. The old woman was permanently hunched over, her curly brown and greying hair thinning yet still blocking her eyes from sight. Her skin was a mass of wrinkles, her cheeks falling down her chin, her nose set long and hooked in the middle of her light brown face. Maisie wasn’t sure how old she was, but she was old enough to have seen the last King and Queen grow old and die, and to be against the bounty on her and Jacob’s heads. She walked the hidden path with Maisie almost every day, and she did so quietly, as if in thought. Today, Maisie was happy for some peace and quiet, the book in her hands giving her the most comfort. 

When they reached the orphanage, Nana sat at the bench on the other side of the clearing, where she always sat. Maisie’s old brothers, sisters, and siblings strewn about the lawn, some chasing each other, others throwing and catching balls, and a group to one side playing a game where one kid taps the other kids on the head, spouting Not you! over and over until they suddenly stop at one person to tag and then start running for a free seat.

The building was large; one part school and one part orphanage. The bricks lined up as big as a Red Bluster, vanilla with a reddish brown roof. Sitting against the wall was a kid with dark and shaggy hair, his dark brown eyes nearly black and buried in a book. Maisie’s eyes found him instantly, again with his chubby, dimpled hands holding the book he was reading steady on his trouser-clad knees. His face was hidden behind the golden-glinted spine of the book, but Maisie knew he was the only one to spend recess reading. 

She felt her face flush and her heart stutter, before she tightened her lips and put one foot before the other. She stood over him, shading him from the sun for ten whole seconds before his monolid eyes finally reached up and met her gaze. His blank expression quickly turned into one of pleasant surprise, and he set his book back against his lap. “Maisie..!”

She smiled and brought the book up into both of her hands so that he could see the title. He gasped and sat up against the wall, his book facing upwards now so that she could see that he was, once again, studying maps. “That book! Where did you get that?”

“Mm, a little birdie gave it to me.” She shrugged, smiling wider. 

The future map-maker before her was a kid by the name of Sogo Asquith. He was a foreigner who moved to Guelston from overseas, and attended school at the children’s home. He was the child of Sano Katsunao and John Asquith. His father met his mother while mapping the lands Southeast of Three Bridges, then fell in love and spent eleven years with her in her village before he brought her and their child back to Three Bridges to escape the civil war going on in her country. Sogo had only been going to school there for around three months now, and although the other kids were nice, they had trouble relating to him. When Maisie started asking about the books he’d brought in from overseas, their passing acknowledgment of each other’s presence blossomed into friendship. 

She sat down beside him and let him flip through the pages of her book. Despite all the time spent in the sun, his skin was as pale as night. His eyelashes were long and black, and Maisie could see the blush rise to his face the more he read from random pages in the book, his dark eyes scanning the maps wherever they showed up amongst walls of text. She watched, her own blush heating her face worse than the sun, as he read for the rest of recess. 

Nana walked her home that late afternoon, and Maisie waved her off politely as she walked off, then, thinking of Sogo, held her book tightly to her chest and smiled to herself. She shook her head, closing her eyes tightly and giggling, jumping up and down, then stomping her feet as she turned around in a small circle. Her laugh ended in a squeal, and she pulled in a deep breath through her nose, her heart soaring. 

A croak grabbed her attention, turning her towards the pier where Blue was currently standing, his eyes big and bulging and his tongue out. He starts toward her, his wet body flapping on the wood and into the dirt, coming right towards her…and her book. 

Maisie quickly lifts her book into the sky as Blue jumps onto her dress, struggling for a second to climb up before making it all the way to her stomach and resting there, yipping as he slowly slides downwards, leaving light mud stains on her dress. The sensation of warm water running down the inside of her thighs made her uncomfortable, and as she looked down at the blue animal, its head tilted to the side questioningly, she realized something was wrong. Very wrong. 

She looked up, eyes wide with realization. “Oh no.”

She ran for the front door. “Oh no, oh no, oh no..!“ She said over and over again, opening it and dropping her book onto the table in the parlor before running for the water closet. She slammed the door behind her and seconds later her scream could be heard throughout the house. 

Jacob mumbled to himself as he rowed back home. “Ok, I’m going to go in there, and I’m going to apologize to her. I’m gonna say that I was too harsh, and that we can come to some sort of… agreement..so that we’ll both feel… heard… and listened to? What? Yeah. Yeah! I can do that. I can do this.” He said as he docked onto land, a yipping suddenly coming into his awareness. He looked behind him just as Blue smashed into his face and bounced onto the boat floor next to his feet, sounding off like an alarm. His anger at his thought process being interrupted quickly turned to worry, and he looked towards the house. 

As soon as the door slammed shut behind him, Maisie’s voice rang out from the back of the house. “Jacob?” Her voice was high and shaky, like she’d been crying. With a pace like he was in a fire, he ran towards her voice and found it was coming from inside the water closet.

He grabbed the door handle, calling, “Maisie, is everything a’right in there?” But just as he was turning the handle—

“Don’t come in!” 

He moved back instantly, staring into the door with widened eyes. He waited a few seconds, then asked hesitantly, “Are you hurt?”

“Yes! No! Ugh, I don’t know! I’m fine! This is normal, right?” She rambled shrilly. 

Jacob had no idea what she was talking about, but it was obvious to him that she was in some kind of distress. “Ok, ok, calm down. Just tell me what’s happening. How can I help?” 

She was stammering, incapable of making anything but little sounds and squeaks. 

He waited patiently, and in that three second silence, an embarrassingly obvious idea as to what could be happening to a young panicking eleven-year old girl in an indoor outhouse came to mind. After a few thoughtful moments, he asked, “Is there something you need me to do?”

“I’m…on my monthlies..” She finally murmured through the door, guiltily, as if she’d broken a vase or snuck money out of his pocket. He hated her to feel like that. She shouldn’t feel ashamed, what was there to be ashamed of? “So… Uh…be a woman?”

He smiled at that. At least she still had a sense of humor behind all that angst. And yet, that little remark gave him an idea. “Be right back.”

The door to the bar was roughly kicked open. “Sarah!”

A room full of drunks turned to him. 

“Sarah!” Jacob Holland walked in a step, the doors shutting swiftly behind him. He turned to one woman and asked in a significantly quieter voice, “Is Sarah here?” When he got a confused dissent, he turned from her and yelled out, “Sarah Sharpe! Actually, any woman will do.”

At that, the womenfolk got verily more fluttery-eyed at him, one of them even ringing out a sexy whistle at him. He smiled politely, having realized what he’d just done, and put up a hand in greeting. 

“Oi, shut up, ye bothersome layabout,” a voice said over the noise of swooning women. 

Jacob saw a dark-skinned woman from across the room swivel around on a bar stool, a tall, nearly empty beer in hand. Her cheekbones were as shapely as her last name, high on her face below her dark and sinister little eyes. She said, “Surprised to see you remembered how to get here, on account of your head being stocked full of nursery rhymes.”

He ran over to her, careful not to slip on any spilt drinks. “I need your help.”

“Of course you do.”

“I’m serious. It’s about Maisie.”

“What else would it be about, Captain?” She wasn’t drunk, but she liked to act like it. It would take her more than seven jugs to get her even the least bit knockered. 

He stared at her, long and hard, and her upturned duckbill lips slid into a frown. She raised an eyebrow as if to tell him Go on. 

He did. “She’s, um, bleeding.”

She furrowed her brows at him, but otherwise was unmoved. 

“For the first time.” He added. “She’s on her—“ He was interrupted by a sound of realization and a dismissive wave of her hand. “..monthlies?”

Sarah Sharpe set her drink down on the bar, mirth evident on her face, and went to stand up. 

Jacob kept going, afraid he was losing her. “I don’t know what to do, I’ve never been a parent before—“

She stood up and Jacob watched as she spoke to the room. “Ladies!” The room was again drawn to a single point of interest. “Sweep your drawls up, he’s not here for you. As you may know, Jacob here has a daughter, and she’s swiftly becoming one of us! That’s right, girls, we got another one!”

The women of the room, only seconds earlier having been disappointed by the news that Jacob had not actually been admitting to the end of his celibacy, were once again riled up and brought to cheers. And it wasn’t just the women. All of those who’d been subjugated to the troubles of monthly womanhood, despite not being women, cheered alongside them. The rest, that is to say, the bearded men, outside of Jacob, had no idea what was going on or what they were talking about. All they knew was that suddenly Jacob Holland was being drowned in women, but instead of sensual touching along the man’s arm and chest like they’d been expecting from the wanton women, there was excited chatter and knowing looks between the ladies and him. 

Multiple women seemed to be giving Jacob handkerchiefs and sweets, talking about warm water and other such things. Soon enough, the ladies and one beardless man were pushing Jacob out the door, with Sarah going with him, much to the others of the room’s surprise. 

When Jacob and Sarah reached the cottage, Sarah took the supplies from Jacob’s hands and went into the corridor, while Jacob stayed in the parlor. He believed he’d best give them time alone. So instead, he listened as Sarah knocked three precise times on the water closet door.

Fingers scrubbed deeply into her curls, massaging her scalp and relaxing her despite the pain down below. Maisie sank farther down into the tub, her eyes closing and a sigh leaving her mouth between her teeth and the candy she was currently rolling around her tongue. “And I have to do this every month for the rest of my life?”

“Not the rest of your life.” Assured Sarah in her naturally sarcastic voice. 

“Feels like the rest of my life.”

Sarah said nothing, just continued to run soap through her hair. 

They were silent for a few moments. With the pain residing in her and the heat of the bath warming her skin, Maisie began to go into a pondering daze. Even though she had fought with Jacob and had spent the whole morning ignoring him, he’d still went out of his way to help her and get Sarah. She hoped he didn’t think that she’d rather see Sarah than him, or that he was using Sarah so that Maisie wouldn’t have to talk to him if she were still upset. Honestly, she’d forgotten about that dumb argument hours ago. As soon as she’d found herself stuck in that room with her underclothes going red, all she could think about was how much she wanted Jacob to be there. How much she needed him, not just for womanly supplies, but for comfort, and soothing. She’d wondered when Jacob would get back, and almost instantly he appeared on the other side of the door. Just like magic. Like he knew. 

And it was very clever of him to grab Sarah. On one hand, she missed her dad, but on the other hand, she’d definitely needed a lady figure to help her out here, and there was no one more loyal, and lady, than Sarah Sharpe!

“And hey, I’m not your auntie, a’right? Next time you have any issues, ask your father, or better yet, your nanny. I heard about the little run in you two had yesterday.”

“Ugh, he told you about that?”

“He didn’t need to tell me. It’s been all over the streets.” The woman didn’t sound amused. “A little girl being chased down by the Guard in a stolen carriage; that kind of thing gets around.”

Maisie started to slowly sink into the tub, crossing her arms. “If Jacob hadn’t’ve brought them, I wouldn’t have been in that situation.”

“Maybe not,” She agreed. “And yet, if you hadn’t been there at all, you also wouldn’t have been in that situation.”

Maisie glared into the water, having enough sense to know not to talk back to Sarah despite the obvious unfairness of her statement. 

Noting her silence, Sarah twisted her lips up thoughtfully and poured a cup of water she had sat by her side along with a bucket through Maisie’s curls. “But maybe give him a break. He’s still new at this whole parenting thing.”

Maisie stayed silent. 

Sarah waited a few seconds, then bopped the top of her head. 

“Ow!” Maisie grabbed her head where the woman had hit her. 

“You hear me?” She demanded

“Yes!”

“Good!” Sarah said, then poured the entire bucket of warm water over Maisie’s head. 

Maisie gasped and sat up in the tub, instantly closing her eyes so that soap couldn’t drip into them. “Sarah!”

Jacob could hear the girls laughing from the parlor. He rolled his eyes and let himself pout, his cheek in his palm and his elbow on his knee. Beside him, Blue jumped up and down, trying to get his attention and cheer him up, but Jacob only pointed an annoyed look at him. 

“Oh, so what they’re having fun without me? Who cares?” He said to the sea creature. 

Blue just tilted his head at him, wide eyed and mouth agape, unaware of whatever his issue was. 

“It’s not like I’m jealous that Sarah is closer to my daughter than I am. Why would you even think that?”

Blue said nothing.

“Oh, so now it’s my fault that Maisie doesn’t feel comfortable talking to me about these things? I’m not the one who told her to overthrow the government!”

He yipped. 

“…You don’t understand a thing I just said, do you?”

He yipped again. 

“Of course.”

A door slams shut somewhere behind him and Jacob jumps up onto his feet and turns around as Sarah turns the corner, her brows set and eyes unamused.

She walks up to him and shoves a hairpin into his hands, continuing past him without stopping. “Next time you guys have a fight, grab someone else.” She said blankly, grabbing her coat from the hat stand by the door.

“Thank you. Really.” he said heartfeltly. He genuinely meant it.

“Yeh.” she said as she opened the front door and closed it behind her, right in Jacob’s face.

He decided not to take that personally. He knew her, she’d be fine walking back to the pub even with this early darkness. He might go back himself, sometime. She could drink, that one.

Behind him, Blue yipped.

Jacob turned back to him with a glare. “Oh, you shut up.”

A few more minutes passed before Jacob heard the click of a door opening and shutting, and when he turned around, he was met with a guilty set of brown eyes that made his heart squeeze painfully in his chest. Maisie was in her nightgown, her curls damp and drooping as much as her eyes were. She didn’t say anything, choosing instead to turn around and walk promptly into her room, the door closing with a startling clarity.

Jacob tightened his lips into a line, ignoring the blue creature at his feet bouncing and running towards her door. He didn’t intend to let the same instance from last night happen twice. He followed after her, the hairpin in his hand grasped as tight as a knot. 

He didn't bother knocking. He let the door swing open to gently reveal the young girl face down in her mattress, as if she’d fallen head first onto it as soon as she’d made it to her bed.

Her dad leaned against the door frame and waited patiently for her as she got up and sat carefully on the edge of her bed. When her eyes lifted from the floor to him, he raised the hand he held the pin with and gave a soft smirk. “Join me for one more battle before bed?”

Maisie had to spend another spell sitting on a stool while Jacob tried to make use of the hairpin Sarah had given him. Maisie assured him she could do it herself, but he shoo-ed her back. She huffed, but let her hand be smacked down. In the end, her hair had been put in a messy half-bun half-ponytail that she’d had to fix herself anyway, although she appreciated his attempt at comfort nonetheless. His curses as he tried to properly gather her thick hair into some kind of pool filled her with a humor she hadn’t felt in a bit, although it couldn’t have been more than two days. Still, she stayed in silence, not knowing how to apologize and also not knowing if she even should. He’d given up trying to use the one hairpin to put up her abundance of locks, a feat that even Maisie herself and no other black woman she’d known had been capable of doing. Finally, after a tentatively-made meal including a lot of sweets originating from women at bars(although Maisie didn’t know that), Jacob escorted her to her room. 

Once Maisie was tucked in bed, Jacob finally got the chance to sit down on the side of her bed and talk with her, as he has done every night but yesterday. She was tucked in to her chin, face pensive as Jacob moved a loose curl out of her face.

“Ey, I’m… I’m sorry about yesterday, Gup.” He said softly. “I was out of line. But you know I just worry about you.”

“Ya…I know,” she replied, glancing down. “I just wish you worried a little less.”

“I’m not meanin’ t’get on yer nerves, I..just want you to be safe. Not t’ stifle ye.”

“But I am safe, Jacob! I’m always safe, you just gotta trust me more!”

“I'd trust you more if you didn't keep secrets from me!” He realized too late that he raised his voice, and watched sadly as Maisie shuffled to turn her back to him. “No, no, no— sorry,” he murmured, then kneaded his eyes with the heels of his palms. “That's not helpful. I'm stressing you out. I'll let you rest.”

He stood up, tossing another forlorn look her way. Her back stayed to him, her shoulders slumped and her hands grasping both the top and backsides of her pillow. He let out a silent sigh and moved towards the door. He looked back once, “I…” then stopped, because it’s not the right time, and pushed his hand towards the door.

“Jacob?” Maisie’s little voice spoke up.

He turned around instantly. “Yeah?”

“Why don’t I have a mom?”

Jacob froze, not sure if he heard her right. “Uh..what?”

“I mean, how come you don’t have any lady friends you bring around here?”

Jacob let out a breath of relief and walked back over to the bed with a hand on his heart and a funny gait. “Phew, I thought I was gonna have to explain to you how being an orphan works..!” While he found a chair to bring up to her bed, Maisie shuffled back around. “What brought this on?”

“I was just thinking..if I had a mom, then she could teach me all about my bleeding and..talk about boys, or—“

“You like a boy?” He caught on, wide-eyed like a deer spotting its hunter, a hand on his lap and an elbow on the other.

“Or whatever!” She practically hollered, eyes equally as wide with embarrassment. And, while it had no bearing on the current conversation, Maisie wasn’t quite sure what Sogo was, just that he wasn’t a boy, and didn’t always use “he”. Her face began to prickle. “Just… someone to talk about girl things.”

“You can talk about girl things with Sarah.”

Maisie frowned. “Ms. Sharpe? Captain Sharpe? No, I can’t, actually.”

Jacob rolled that interaction in his head for a few seconds and decided, yeah, no, and nodded in assent. “Then you can talk to me.”

“Yeah, that won’t work either.”

“And why not?” He frowned, furrowing his large brows. 

“Jacob, what do you know about monthlies?”

“…I can learn.”

“Ok, well what do you know about styling my type of hair?”

“I can learn!”

Maisie sits up. “But a mom would already know!”

Jacob wagged a finger. “That’s not guaranteed—”

“Is it completely out of the question? Would you prefer me to have a second dad, instead?” She asked desperately, a high, cracking voice.

Jacob frowned and went silent. This thread of conversation was not good and, rather, was taking a turn for the worse.

Luckily, or unluckily, Jacob didn’t have to worry about replying right away. Maisie froze up, lips screwing up and arms wrapping around herself. She groaned as she laid back down, Jacob helping her and tucking her back in. 

“Rest. We’ll talk in the morning.”

She nodded, eyes squeezed shut, and Jacob wished with everything he had that he could carry the burden for her, to rid her of this pain. Instead, he let Blue snuggle up to her, warming her, and left them to their sleep.

Maybe he would grab a drink.

Chapter Text

Maisie Brumble and Jacob Holland resided in a little cottage on the outskirts of Three Bridges with their pet, Blue. The cottage was built on the edge of a lake that opened up to the grand sea, which Blue took consistent advantage of. They were surrounded by trees and one lone path leading through the forest into a cross section of roads that flowed across the island. One led to Maisie’s old orphanage, another into town. 

They’d been living there for the better half of a year now, and had grown accustomed to their new father-daughter relationship. Jacob got Maisie all the books she wanted and helped out at the market downtown. He’d become a teacher and a fisherman, instructing Maisie on basic maths and the sciences in the mornings before going off to the boat for hours at a time while she does her self studying of the world's history and her exercises, then coming back in the evenings for final teachings and dinner. Maisie often walked to the orphanage to play with the other kids at midday, and was escorted from and seen off by a nanny who visited in the afternoons to both make her lunch and make sure she was alright. 

They ate breakfast and dinner together, and at night, before bed, Maisie would go on about what she’d learned in her rare imported history books; things that contradicted each other and dates and names that were just plain wrong. And no matter how tired he was, he listened. He listened until she had nothing left to say. Then they went to bed and started the whole cycle over again the next day. 

Well, on the good days. 

“Turn left! Left!” Maisie screamed from the back of the trunk, waving her arm back and forth and almost tripping over all the oranges surrounding her legs. 

“I’m already turning left!” He screamed back, his grip on the reins enough to burn his hands as the horses whinnied loudly and turned so abruptly that the cart almost hit a tree—

Some days, Maisie would go into town on her own to look at all the new imported books at the library, searching for any that might scratch her greedy urge for new knowledge. Ordinarily any books not approved by the king and queen weren’t even brought across the border, but after the small revolt little over six months ago, things had started to change between the local monarchy and the people of Three Bridges. Maisie and the librarian had a agreement set up where she would get someone on her side to sneak some of those good ol’ forbidden books across the great seas for the little girl, and would make sure to say she hadn’t seen a young dark-skinned girl, maybe yeh high, around ten years old, maybe older? to any question-askers. In exchange..well, that’s a story for another time.

This was also one of the days that Jacob helped bring crates of fish off board and into the market after a hard day at sea. You’d think with your torso completely covered by a crate the size of a door, filled to the brim with salmon, no less, you’d be utterly unrecognizable. But not this time around. As soon as he heard guards yelling and stomping his way, he promptly dropped the crate of fish and dashed to his right into a plethora of people standing to the side of a fruit stand. A woman gasped, a man yelped, and there was a loud Uwaah alongside the sound of shuffling clothing. As the guards reached the group, their eyes immediately landed on the tallest figure leaning against the brick wall, his arms crossed with one knee bent so that the sole of his boot was flat against the wall and a stolen brown homburg tilted right over his left eye. A tawny (also stolen) overcoat stretched over large muscles, practically bursting at the seams, the sleeve cuffs holding tight to hairy fair-skinned forearms. 

“Jacob Holland,” One officer stepped forward. “By decree of the The Crown, we are to take you in for treason against Thy Royal Highnesses, resisting arrest—“

Seeing that he’d been caught, Jacob pointed one amber brown eye at the officer speaking and flashed a cocky tilt of his lips. With what seemed to the crowd to only be a flick of the wrist, the jacket was off, abandoned through the air and into the officer’s face, blinding them and making them stumble back, while one officer caught the razor-fast, saw-like hat. When they looked up, Jacob was already down the street, turning abruptly into an alley. The group of five cursed their incompetence and chased after him. 

In the library a few blocks away, Maisie was standing at the reception desk checking out her new book on the history of maps and who makes them when the excitement from outside reached her ears. Curious, she headed to the front doors, book in hand, to see what all the commotion was about. The doors to the library were giant, maybe fifteen feet tall and ten feet wide, with floral patterns and vines carved into the oak, each flower’s middle shaped in the symbol of the Three Bridges royal mark; The star-shaped wheel of a boat surrounded by two large sea beasts and an anchor coming down from the point below it. Maisie opened the doors with a hefty push and walked out onto the front steps, into the sun. In front of her was a street filled with people not going about their everyday lives, but murmuring disconcertedly to themselves as they peeked over into the alley left of the library and from where Maisie stood. Just as Maisie was taking in the townsfolk gathered in the cobblestone street, there was a jarring crash that made her flinch. Looking over, she saw that right to her left, a few feet down and away, was a large blond man struggling to lift himself out of a pile of trash. Her eyes went wide as her brown gaze met his, his lips parted in surprise with the rising of his full eyebrows. Contrastly, Maisie kept her lips zipped and her book held to her chest as she gulped. 

“Maisie?” He exclaimed in disbelief, which was better than anger, Maisie thought, though she was sure it would come up later that day when they were home.

“There ‘e is!” Another voice screamed out from the alley, alongside the stomping of many, many boots. 

They both turned their heads to the sound, but only Jacob could see the cavalry coming after him. Quick as a flash, Jacob was out of the trash and running to Maisie, who practically jumped all the way down the stairs to meet him at the bottom; then, together, they ran down the crowded street, snaking in and out of women in long, poofy dresses and men in working attire. 

“What are ya doin’ ‘ere?” They screamed at each other as they ran, the hard cobblestone ground pounding against their feet and bouncing rocks into Maisie’s ankle boots. 

“That’s what I’m asking you!” Jacob motioned with his arms moving backwards, as if to envelop her in a large incredulous hug. He pointed his forefingers into his chest. “I’m doing my job! What are you doing in the city?”

“I just wanted to get a book!” She pouted guiltily as she paced alongside him. 

“Oh, don’t you have enough books?” It was a conversation they’d had enough times. They neared a cart being stacked with boxes of fruit and with no pause or hesitation, Jacob lifted the young girl onto the back of the truck, ignoring the Hey! of some working lad as he smoothly twisted around the carriage and to the front seat behind the horses. The driver jumped out just as Jacob took control of the reins and shouted a Heeyah! while snapping the rope, signaling the steeds to go. They whinnied and took off, Maisie almost falling out of the back but instead turning to land on her knees and jam her shoulder into the very low, incredibly, dangerously low, one foot high, seriously who thought this would hold anything? wooden barrier somehow keeping her and the boxes of fruit from toppling over. “Did ya even finish the last one ya got?”

 She turned her head so fast that her black curls got into both her eyes and mouth. She spat a lock out and used one sweaty free hand to move the rest out of her face as she yelled back, “Yes! I finished it days ago! I told you that!”

“You did?”

“Yes!”

There was a brief silence filled with the blowing wind, the clacking of hooves on stone, and a gaining vehicle full of feds coming nearer to them. “…Huh.” He said, and left it at that. 

Maisie turned back to the road behind them as the sun filtered into her eyes. She blinked, squinting at the face only a few meters away from them as the Royal Guard stared determinedly back, trying to reach them, Maisie’s vision dotting with reds and blues and her hair blowing into her face. She lifted a hand to shade from the sun. “They’re gonna shoot our wheels!” She warned. 

Jacob took a jagged turn just as a shot rang out and missed. The carriage chased them all the way into the forest, past Mrs. Bastille who made the best cookies, and past the rock shaped vaguely like the King’s head. They swiveled as best they could on and off the path and through trees.

And here they were, Maisie Brumble and Jacob Holland, just a man and his daughter, a girl and her father, living a calm, regular ol’ life. 

They took a left at the crossroads, heading in the direction of their home, and once Jacob was sure they were being followed, he took another abrupt right, right through a set of twin trees barely large enough for the cart to fit through but definitely too small for the Guard in their large carriage to follow. Maisie fell with the last turn and broke her fall on the bouncing and rolling oranges. When she lifted herself up again, she saw the angry, intense, then sly look of the officers right before she waved cheerily at them and disappeared with the cart behind a bend leading to a short drop.

“Y’okay back there?” Leaves crackled as they were crushed and the cart soon slowed to a stop. Jacob’s knee-high tan leather boots dropped onto the forest floor and walked over to the cart in the back holding the young girl. 

She hummed as she lifted her pristinely kept book high into the air, with not a spot of orange juice on it. 

If they really wanted to, the others could have followed after them, but after months of playing this game, Jacob knew they wouldn’t; See, it wasn’t just the people of Three Bridges who thought the Monarchy was unjust. 

There were actually many a Royal Guard who wanted to see the kingdom have better rule, and that included not locking a little girl and a well-renowned hero behind bars. Jacob was quite surprised that first night they’d been caught and let go by some very rebellious officer; one who’d made a deal with them that as long as they put up a fight, the Royal Guard would only pretend to be chasing after them. They’ll tell the king and queen they’d lost them or they’d cleverly slipped out of their chains or something of that nature. Just enough that neither of them got into any trouble. So far, The Crown hasn’t caught on. 

After Jacob had sent the horses and the now pretty dilapidated cart back to their owners, and Maisie and him walked home and had a nice, long rest, Jacob sat Maisie down at their kitchen table to talk. The evening sunshine flowed through the window above the kitchen sink. The counters were of cedar and held draping leafy plants atop cabinets. The room itself was small. The table, placed right in the middle, took up most of the circumference. Atop it was a white sheet with small fuschia-colored flowers patterned all over it. To Maisie’s left was the door into the corridor leading to her and Jacob’s rooms, and to her back was the door leading to the parlor. Both doors were opened, and she wanted nothing more than to run out of one of them to escape this chastising. 

Jacob moved around the table to the seat across from her, hunched in an effort to not hit the candelabra hanging from the ceiling but to Maisie only causing her to feel like he was towering over her intimidatingly, especially when he set two hairy blond hands on the table spread equally apart from each other, his brown eyes boring into hers. 

“You know why we’re ‘ere, right, little missy?” He asked, tilting his head forward and turning it slightly to the side. 

Maisie didn’t like when he called her that. He only ever used it when he was trying to either joke with her, or create a light mood when she was in trouble. She kept her eyes wide and innocent, her mouth zipped, and her hands clasped in her lap. “Because you’re mad at me?”

He sighed and went to sit down. “I’m not mad at ya, I’m—“

Oh lord, Maisie thought, her lips turning up in panic. 

Jacob sat down, his large hands clasped on the table and his top half leaned over, his eyes on hers. “—disappointed.” He finished. 

Something cracked in her. “I’m not Rapunzel, y’know!”

He closed his eyes and ran one hand down his face. “Ugh, Love—“

She stood up. “You can’t keep me locked up in ‘ere!”

“You’re not locked up. You can go outside wheneva ya want! Ye can go to the school! Just don’t go into town when there’s no one there to look after ya!” He spread his hands out palms up on the table. 

“Like who, Jacob?” She looked around incredulously. “You’re always at work, and it’s not like Nana can make the walk four times over to get me there and back, she ain’t that young!” Her nanny was a very nice lady and she hated to say anything rude about her, but it was a miracle she could make the stroll here everyday in and of itself. 

“The Guard’s may believe in our cause but if they catch you by yourself, there’s nothing they can do!” He stood up as well, his brows furrowed sternly and the tips of his fingers spread out over his side of the table. “Ye just wait for me to get back and we’ll go together.”

“Anything I’d want to do would be over by then! You already get back so late, and you’re always so tired when ye come home!” He wasn’t as young as he used to be(six months ago) either. She didn’t say this aloud, but she sure thought it. “And if it’s just me, there’s way less chance I’ll get spotted!”

Jacob breathed in through his large, hooked nose, then breathed out. He put the tips of his fingers together and pointed them at her, once again tilting his head towards her with wide, all-seeing eyes. “The answer…is no.” 

She stared back at him for several seconds, the furrow between her brow more intense than the look in her eyes. It was silent, and then she looked down, her hands unballing from fists, defeated. “Aye.” She let out, voice low and lifeless. 

Before Jacob could say any more, she was walking out of the door from the kitchen to the corridor and into her room a little down the way. Her door shut quietly, but to Jacob it felt like it’d rung out like a gunshot. 

Maisie dropped onto her bed face first and laid there for several minutes. She ignored Jacob when he knocked on her door saying that dinner was ready, opting to instead rest her cheek against the bedspread and look over her room. It was a few feet bigger than the kitchen, the bed residing across the room from the door, pressed against the wall, with a short dresser holding clothes inside and books on top on the right side of the room. A sleeping area that Blue rarely uses is in the left corner surrounded by piles of books. A chest that held Maisie’s hair accessories on one side and traveler’s trinkets on the other was right next to her bed, with a single candle sitting atop it. On the wall above her bed was a picture she’d drawn of her and Jacob out on the ocean, with Red, their old sea friend, swimming beside their boat. She moved her lips sideways to her cheek as she looked at it, then back to the book she’d left on her bed earlier. 

The title read: Maps: Their History and Who Creates Them and Why

She opened it up and began to read. 

The next day she stayed in bed when Jacob knocked on her door for breakfast. She watched from the parlor as his neatly combed sideburns made their way down the path in front of the house and toward the pier, then quickly ran to the kitchen, sat down at the table, and began to eat. Jacob had failed to call her for lessons, so she assumed that she was off the hook for the day. She read the morning away until Nana came for her and gently escorted her to the orphanage. The old woman was permanently hunched over, her curly brown and greying hair thinning yet still blocking her eyes from sight. Her skin was a mass of wrinkles, her cheeks falling down her chin, her nose set long and hooked in the middle of her light brown face. Maisie wasn’t sure how old she was, but she was old enough to have seen the last King and Queen grow old and die, and to be against the bounty on her and Jacob’s heads. She walked the hidden path with Maisie almost every day, and she did so quietly, as if in thought. Today, Maisie was happy for some peace and quiet, the book in her hands giving her the most comfort. 

When they reached the orphanage, Nana sat at the bench on the other side of the clearing, where she always sat. Maisie’s old brothers, sisters, and siblings strewn about the lawn, some chasing each other, others throwing and catching balls, and a group to one side playing a game where one kid taps the other kids on the head, spouting Not you! over and over until they suddenly stop at one person to tag and then start running for a free seat.

The building was large; one part school and one part orphanage. The bricks lined up as big as a Red Bluster, vanilla with a reddish brown roof. Sitting against the wall was a kid with dark and shaggy hair, his dark brown eyes nearly black and buried in a book. Maisie’s eyes found him instantly, again with his chubby, dimpled hands holding the book he was reading steady on his trouser-clad knees. His face was hidden behind the golden-glinted spine of the book, but Maisie knew he was the only one to spend recess reading. 

She felt her face flush and her heart stutter, before she tightened her lips and put one foot before the other. She stood over him, shading him from the sun for ten whole seconds before his monolid eyes finally reached up and met her gaze. His blank expression quickly turned into one of pleasant surprise, and he set his book back against his lap. “Maisie..!”

She smiled and brought the book up into both of her hands so that he could see the title. He gasped and sat up against the wall, his book facing upwards now so that she could see that he was, once again, studying maps. “That book! Where did you get that?”

“Mm, a little birdie gave it to me.” She shrugged, smiling wider. 

The future map-maker before her was a kid by the name of Sogo Asquith. He was a foreigner who moved to Guelston from overseas, and attended school at the children’s home. He was the child of Sano Katsunao and John Asquith. His father met his mother while mapping the lands Southeast of Three Bridges, then fell in love and spent eleven years with her in her village before he brought her and their child back to Three Bridges to escape the civil war going on in her country. Sogo had only been going to school there for around three months now, and although the other kids were nice, they had trouble relating to him. When Maisie started asking about the books he’d brought in from overseas, their passing acknowledgment of each other’s presence blossomed into friendship. 

She sat down beside him and let him flip through the pages of her book. Despite all the time spent in the sun, his skin was as pale as night. His eyelashes were long and black, and Maisie could see the blush rise to his face the more he read from random pages in the book, his dark eyes scanning the maps wherever they showed up amongst walls of text. She watched, her own blush heating her face worse than the sun, as he read for the rest of recess. 

Nana walked her home that late afternoon, and Maisie waved her off politely as she walked off, then, thinking of Sogo, held her book tightly to her chest and smiled to herself. She shook her head, closing her eyes tightly and giggling, jumping up and down, then stomping her feet as she turned around in a small circle. Her laugh ended in a squeal, and she pulled in a deep breath through her nose, her heart soaring. 

A croak grabbed her attention, turning her towards the pier where Blue was currently standing, his eyes big and bulging and his tongue out. He starts toward her, his wet body flapping on the wood and into the dirt, coming right towards her…and her book. 

Maisie quickly lifts her book into the sky as Blue jumps onto her dress, struggling for a second to climb up before making it all the way to her stomach and resting there, yipping as he slowly slides downwards, leaving light mud stains on her dress. The sensation of warm water running down the inside of her thighs made her uncomfortable, and as she looked down at the blue animal, its head tilted to the side questioningly, she realized something was wrong. Very wrong. 

She looked up, eyes wide with realization. “Oh no.”

She ran for the front door. “Oh no, oh no, oh no..!“ She said over and over again, opening it and dropping her book onto the table in the parlor before running for the water closet. She slammed the door behind her and seconds later her scream could be heard throughout the house. 

Jacob mumbled to himself as he rowed back home. “Ok, I’m going to go in there, and I’m going to apologize to her. I’m gonna say that I was too harsh, and that we can come to some sort of…agreement..so that we’ll both feel…heard…andlistened to? What? Yeah. Yeah! I can do that. I can do this.” He said as he docked onto land, a yipping suddenly coming into his awareness. He looked behind him just as Blue smashed into his face and bounced onto the boat floor next to his feet, sounding off like an alarm. His anger at his thought process being interrupted quickly turned to worry, and he looked towards the house. 

As soon as the door slammed shut behind him, Maisie’s voice rang out from the back of the house. “Jacob?” Her voice was high and shaky, like she’d been crying. With a pace like he was in a fire, he ran towards her voice and found it was coming from inside the water closet.

He grabbed the door handle, calling, “Maisie, is everything a’right in there?” But just as he was turning the handle—

“Don’t come in!” 

He moved back instantly, staring into the door with widened eyes. He waited a few seconds, then asked hesitantly, “Are you hurt?”

“Yes! No! Ugh, I don’t know! I’m fine! This is normal, right?” She rambled shrilly. 

Jacob had no idea what she was talking about, but it was obvious to him that she was in some kind of distress. “Ok, ok, calm down. Just tell me what’s happening. How can I help?” 

She was stammering, incapable of making anything but little sounds and squeaks. 

He waited patiently, and in that three second silence, an embarrassingly obvious idea as to what could be happening to a young panicking eleven-year old girl in an indoor outhouse came to mind. After a few thoughtful moments, he asked, “Is there something you need me to do?”

“I’m…on my monthlies..” She finally murmured through the door, guiltily, as if she’d broken a vase or snuck money out of his pocket. He hated her to feel like that. She shouldn’t feel ashamed, what was there to be ashamed of? “So… Uh…be a woman?”

He smiled at that. At least she still had a sense of humor behind all that angst. And yet, that little remark gave him an idea. “Be right back.”

The door to the bar was roughly kicked open. “Sarah!”

A room full of drunks turned to him. 

“Sarah!” Jacob Holland walked in a step, the doors shutting swiftly behind him. He turned to one woman and asked in a significantly quieter voice, “Is Sarah here?” When he got a confused dissent, he turned from her and yelled out, “Sarah Sharpe! Actually, any woman will do.”

At that, the womenfolk got verily more fluttery-eyed at him, one of them even ringing out a sexy whistle at him. He smiled politely, having realized what he’d just done, and put up a hand in greeting. 

“Oi, shut up, ye bothersome layabout,” a voice said over the noise of swooning women. 

Jacob saw a dark-skinned woman from across the room swivel around on a bar stool, a tall, nearly empty beer in hand. Her cheekbones were as shapely as her last name, high on her face below her dark and sinister little eyes. She said, “Surprised to see you remembered how to get here, on account of your head being stocked full of nursery rhymes.”

He ran over to her, careful not to slip on any spilt drinks. “I need your help.”

“Of course you do.”

“I’m serious. It’s about Maisie.”

“What else would it be about, Captain?” She wasn’t drunk, but she liked to act like it. It would take her more than seven jugs to get her even the least bit knockered. 

He stared at her, long and hard, and her upturned duckbill lips slid into a frown. She raised an eyebrow as if to tell him Go on. 

He did. “She’s, um, bleeding.”

She furrowed her brows at him, but otherwise was unmoved. 

“For the first time.” He added. “She’s on her—“ He was interrupted by a sound of realization and a dismissive wave of her hand. “.. monthlies?”

Sarah Sharpe set her drink down on the bar, mirth evident on her face, and went to stand up. 

Jacob kept going, afraid he was losing her. “I don’t know what to do, I’ve never been a parent before—“

She stood up and Jacob watched as she spoke to the room. “Ladies!” The room was again drawn to a single point of interest. “Sweep your drawls up, he’s not here for you. As you may know, Jacob here has a daughter, and she’s swiftly becoming one of us! That’s right, girls, we got another one!”

The women of the room, only seconds earlier having been disappointed by the news that Jacob had not actually been admitting to the end of his celibacy, were once again riled up and brought to cheers. And it wasn’t just the women. All of those who’d been subjugated to the troubles of monthly womanhood, despite not being women, cheered alongside them. The rest, that is to say, the bearded men, outside of Jacob, had no idea what was going on or what they were talking about. All they knew was that suddenly Jacob Holland was being drowned in women, but instead of sensual touching along the man’s arm and chest like they’d been expecting from the wanton women, there was excited chatter and knowing looks between the ladies and him. 

Multiple women seemed to be giving Jacob handkerchiefs and sweets, talking about warm water and other such things. Soon enough, the ladies and one beardless man were pushing Jacob out the door, with Sarah going with him, much to the others of the room’s surprise. 

When Jacob and Sarah reached the cottage, Sarah took the supplies from Jacob’s hands and went into the corridor, while Jacob stayed in the parlor. He believed he’d best give them time alone. So instead, he listened as Sarah knocked three precise times on the water closet door.

Fingers scrubbed deeply into her curls, massaging her scalp and relaxing her despite the pain down below. Maisie sank farther down into the tub, her eyes closing and a sigh leaving her mouth between her teeth and the candy she was currently rolling around her tongue. “And I have to do this every month for the rest of my life?”

“Not the rest of your life.” Assured Sarah in her naturally sarcastic voice. 

“Feels like the rest of my life.”

Sarah said nothing, just continued to run soap through her hair. 

They were silent for a few moments. With the pain residing in her and the heat of the bath warming her skin, Maisie began to go into a pondering daze. Even though she had fought with Jacob and had spent the whole morning ignoring him, he’d still went out of his way to help her and get Sarah. She hoped he didn’t think that she’d rather see Sarah than him, or that he was using Sarah so that Maisie wouldn’t have to talk to him if she were still upset. Honestly, she’d forgotten about that dumb argument hours ago. As soon as she’d found herself stuck in that room with her underclothes going red, all she could think about was how much she wanted Jacob to be there. How much she needed him, not just for womanly supplies, but for comfort, and soothing. She’d wondered when Jacob would get back, and almost instantly he appeared on the other side of the door. Just like magic. Like he knew. 

And it was very clever of him to grab Sarah. On one hand, she missed her dad, but on the other hand, she’d definitely needed a lady figure to help her out here, and there was no one more loyal, and lady, than Sarah Sharpe!

“And hey, I’m not your auntie, a’right? Next time you have any issues, ask your father, or better yet, your nanny. I heard about the little run in you two had yesterday.”

“Ugh, he told you about that?”

“He didn’t need to tell me. It’s been all over the streets.” The woman didn’t sound amused. “A little girl being chased down by the Guard in a stolen carriage; that kind of thing gets around.”

Maisie started to slowly sink into the tub, crossing her arms. “If Jacob hadn’t’ve brought them, I wouldn’t have been in that situation.”

“Maybe not,” She agreed. “And yet, if you hadn’t been there at all, you also wouldn’t have been in that situation.”

Maisie glared into the water, having enough sense to know not to talk back to Sarah despite the obvious unfairness of her statement. 

Noting her silence, Sarah twisted her lips up thoughtfully and poured a cup of water she had sat by her side along with a bucket through Maisie’s curls. “But maybe go easy on him a lil’. He’s still new at this whole parenting thing. It’s his first time having a kid.”

Maisie sank further. “It’s my first time having a parent.”

Sarah waited a few seconds, then bopped the top of her head. 

“Ow!” Maisie grabbed her head where the woman had hit her. 

“You could always go back to Guelston. Right? So give the guy a break. My job isn’t to be the middleman. You understand?” She demanded.

“Yes!”

“Good!” Sarah said, then poured the entire bucket of warm water over Maisie’s head. 

Maisie gasped and sat up in the tub, instantly closing her eyes so that soap couldn’t drip into them. “Sarah!”

Jacob could hear the girls laughing from the parlor. He rolled his eyes and let himself pout, his cheek in his palm and his elbow on his knee. Beside him, Blue jumped up and down, trying to get his attention and cheer him up, but Jacob only pointed an annoyed look at him. 

“Oh, so what they’re having fun without me? Who cares?” He said to the sea creature. 

Blue just tilted his head at him, wide eyed and mouth agape, unaware of whatever his issue was. 

“It’s not like I’m jealous that Sarah is closer to my daughter than I am. Why would you even think that?”

Blue said nothing.

“Oh, so now it’s my fault that Maisie doesn’t feel comfortable talking to me about these things? I’m not the one who told her to overthrow the government!”

He yipped. 

“…You don’t understand a thing I just said, do you?”

He yipped again. 

“Of course.”

A door slams shut somewhere behind him and Jacob jumps up onto his feet and turns around as Sarah turns the corner, her brows set and eyes unamused.

She walks up to him and shoves a hairpin into his hands, continuing past him without stopping. “Next time you guys have a fight, grab someone else.” She said blankly, grabbing her coat from the hatstand by the door.

“Thank you. Really.” he said heartfeltly. He genuinely meant it.

“Yeh, just leave me out of this mess. You understand? I’ve more to worry about than some random kid that’s not even mine going through life changes.” She said as she turned to face him. Despite her tone, her eyes were full of pity. 

Jacob nods, sending her off and thanking her one more time before closing the door behind her. 

Behind him, Blue yipped.

Jacob turned back to him with a glare. “Oh, you shut up.” Just as he said that, out of the corner of his eye he saw Maisie walk into view with a towel over her shoulders. He was met with a guilty set of brown eyes that made his heart squeeze painfully in his chest. Maisie was in her nightgown, her curls damp and drooping as much as her eyes were. She didn’t say anything, choosing instead to turn around and walk promptly into her room, the door closing with a startling clarity.

Jacob tightened his lips into a line, ignoring the blue creature at his feet bouncing and running towards her door. He followed after her, silently grabbing the book off the table, the hairpin in his other hand grasped as tight as a knot. He stood at her door.

He leaned on the frame and knocked. A few seconds later, the door opened a crack and he walked in to see her getting into bed.

Once Maisie was tucked in, Jacob finally got the chance to sit down on the side of her bed and talk with her, as he has done every night but yesterday. She was tucked in up to her chin, face pensive as Jacob placed the book on the bed and moved a loose curl out of her face.

He asked, “Are you feeling ok?”

She replied, “I’m feeling as good as I can at the moment.” She grabbed the book and held it to her chest. 

“You can skip schooling tomorrow. Or even for the entire week, if you need to.”

She furrowed her eyebrows. “No, I’m a big girl. I can handle it. I don’t want to be babied.”

Blue, who had come in with Jacob, got into his makeshift bed in the corner. 

Jacob watched him as he snuggled up into a ball and stared at them. “Ey, I’m… I’m sorry about yesterday, Gup.” He said softly. “I was out of line. But you know I just worry about you.”

“Ya…I know,” she replied, glancing down. “I just wish you worried a little less.”

“I’m not meanin’ t’get on yer nerves, I..just want you to be safe. Not t’ stifle ye.”

“But I am safe, Jacob! I’m always safe, you just gotta trust me more!”

“I'd trust you more if you didn't keep secrets from me!” He realized too late that he raised his voice, and watched sadly as Maisie shuffled to turn her back to him. “No, no, no— sorry,” he murmured, then kneaded his eyes with the heels of his palms. “That's not helpful. I'm stressing you out. I'll let you rest.”

He stood up, tossing another forlorn look her way. Her back stayed to him, her shoulders slumped and her hands grasping both sides of her pillow and the large book. He let out a silent sigh and moved towards the door. He looked back once, “I…” then stopped, because it’s not the right time, and pushed his hand towards the door.

“Jacob?” Maisie’s little voice spoke up.

He turned around instantly. “Yeah?”

“Why don’t I have a mother?”

Jacob froze, not sure if he heard her right. “Uh..what?”

The young girl shuffled back around and gestured with her eyes to the chair in the corner. “I don’t mean The Monarch.”

Jacob let out a breath and walked back over to the bed with a hand on his heart and a funny gait. “Phew, I thought I was gonna have to explain to you how being an orphan works..!” While he found a chair to bring up to her bed, Maisie shuffled into a better position.

“Well..?” She looked up at him and asked, “Why don’t I have a mother, Jacob?”

This still surprised him even the second time around. “Because a woman didn’t adopt you, I did.”

“No, you know what I mean!” She said, smiling a bit. “I mean, how come you don’t have a partner. I’ve never seen you admire anyone, man or woman or suchforth.”

He smiled back, gently. “Ehh, that’s not really my scene,” He tucks her in better. “What brought this on?”

“I was just thinking..if I had a mom, then she could teach me all about my bleeding and..you wouldn’t have to take care of me all by yourself. If the only reason you’re alone is because of me-—“

”No, no no, girl, that is not—“ he stops, unsure of how to explain it to her. “I’m not all by myself. The fact that I have you can attest to that, and even then, I’ll never be alone when I still have my crew, even if they’re not my crew anymore. Like Sarah and Fen—”

“I don’t count. And when do you even get to see those guys, anymore?” She yawned.

In an effort to change the subject, Jacob took notice of the book and asked what it was about.

Whatever sleepiness left her instantly, and Maisie’s eyes went wide. She could feel her face blushing, although it’d be impossible to see, and she stammered. “It’s nothing of importance at the moment.”

Her voice revealed it all, and Jacob smiled knowingly, finally realizing where the earlier line of questioning was coming from. 

Unfortunately, she wasn’t gonna let it go. “Anyway, you should get a wife…” She closes her eyes, snuggling into her pillow with the book still in her arms. “I hope you find someone soon, Jacob.” She mumbled, as if it were a wish on a star, like it was a favor she was gracing upon him. 

Jacob peered away, a laugh building up. “Oh, you bet, kiddo. I’ll get right on that.” 

She didn’t catch his sarcasm. A smile graced her face. 

“Is that all? You want a mom to teach you about your body? Cause surely Nana can do that?”

Maisie mumbled, ”…Or talk about boys, or—“

“You like a boy?” He teasingly caught onto it like a predator on his prey, wide-eyed like a deer spotting its hunter, a hand on his lap and an elbow on the other.

“Or whatever!” She practically hollered, eyes going equally as wide with embarrassment. And, while it had no bearing on the current conversation, Maisie wasn’t quite sure what Sogo was, just that he wasn’t a boy, and didn’t always use “he”. Her face began to prickle again. “Just… someone to talk about girl things with.”

“You can talk about girl things with Sarah.”

Maisie frowned. “Ms. Sharpe? Captain Sharpe? No, I can’t, actually.”

Jacob rolled that interaction in his head for a few seconds and decided, yeah, no, and nodded in assent. “Then you can talk to me.”

“Yeah, that won’t work either.”

“And why not?” He frowned, furrowing his large brows. 

“Jacob, what do you know about monthlies?”

“…I can learn.”

“Ok, well what do you know about styling my type of hair?”

“I can learn!”

Maisie sits up, tossing the book onto the bed beside her. “But a mom would already know!”

Jacob wagged a finger. “That’s not guaranteed—”

“Is it completely out of the question? Would you prefer me to have a second dad, instead?” She asked desperately, a high, cracking voice.

Jacob frowned and went silent. This thread of conversation was not good and, rather, was taking a turn for the worse.

Luckily, or unluckily, Jacob didn’t have to worry about replying right away. Maisie froze up, lips screwing up and arms wrapping around herself. She groaned as she laid back down, Jacob helping her and tucking her back in. 

“Rest. We’ll talk in the morning.”

She nodded, eyes squeezed shut, and Jacob wished with everything he had that he could carry the burden for her, to rid her of this pain. Instead, he let Blue snuggle up to her, warming her, and left them to their sleep.

Maybe he would grab a drink.

The whole pub cheered as Jacob stepped in for the second time that day. He got a few pats on the back, some offers of free drinks, and a friendly punch to the shoulder as he found his seat at the bar. 

He ordered some ale, glanced at the side-eye Sarah was sending him a few seats away, and settled himself into the idea that it’s gonna be another, even longer night than he formerly expected. 

The barkeep, a balding lad with a pretty girl’s name that Jacob, after six months and a strange day, couldn’t even fathom remembering at the moment came up to him with one of his free tankards. “You don’t look as happy to see me the second time around!” The sarcasm and big ol’ grin was a welcome familiarity, and Jacob smiled.

He took the ale gratefully and practically chugged it down in one. “Ugh, you wouldn’t believe the day I’ve been through.”

The lad jabbed a thumb at a poster on the wall with Jacob’s face on it and a pretty large number under it. “Any worse than that?”

“Right…maybe you would.” He took another sip, then screwed up his face. “A’right, don’t go holdin’ on me just because I’m not payin’, ah?” He slid the large glass back over. “Go for the Dragon’s Tail.”

A sly look was sent his way before the Barkeep turned his back on Jacob and began a new roast.

One thing you may need to know about Jacob Holland is that he loves his drinks. He’d even call himself a connoisseur of sorts. He likes them all; brisky, fruity, sour, however. As long as they taste good. And not all do. He likes the rich flavor, or the bitter type. Even something cheap can have an attractive taste on a particular day.

The Dragon’s Tail burned. Had some spice to it, but hinted of citrus and grape-fruit, with a sweet aftertaste. Unlike the Whale Heart, which tasted like arse.

When his new drink slid his way, he savored it. He had no idea how long it would be before he’d be able to come back to this pub, and he wasn’t gonna waste a second of it’s valor. His sorrow and consternation washed away in the midst of the sweetness.

The minutes passed by and more and more ale was offered up on his behalf. Been too long, they said. He appreciated the solidarity.

Jacob was halfway through his tankard of Sea Unicorn’s Breath when a figure slid right into the seat next to him. He was going to ignore them— took him a while to even notice someone different had sat beside him, with everyone moving around all the time— until a slight touch landed on his shoulder and pulled him out of his drowsing stupor.

The feminine figure was not so surreptitiously pushing their chest up to attract a gaze, and the red of their lips formed the shape of a heart with small wings. “Drinking by yourself?”

“As I prefer it; along with so many things in my life.” He brought the liquor to his lips, turning his attention back to his drink and off of the unwelcome interaction. 

“Ah, so the mysterious, lone kind?” The voice was sultry. Light. Interested; which was the most dangerous of the three. 

Sarah was laughing to herself, and Jacob sent a short glare towards her. The patrons and workers had gone a bit more silent, and the feeling of being watched intensified. The stranger was obviously foreign. The accent was way too posh and clear. 

“Not very mysterious, I’d say.” The barkeep cut in with a knowing smirk, eyes and hands focused on cleaning a glass.

“I’ve a pretty rowdy reputation.” He nodded in the direction of the wanted poster, but amongst the ever-flowing movement of patrons, it was practically impossible to see.

“Shouldn’ get’a ‘opes up, Holland.” Now the Barkeep’s eyes were on him, a glint of amusement plain for all to see within them.

The stranger looked between them curiously. “Now what’s this? Is this fine lady interrupting something? Care to indulge me?”

Jacob finally met the lady’s gaze and gave her a polite smile with no teeth. “’M sorry, I’d just rather drink alone tonight. I’m sure there’s pleny’a company to be had with a fine lady like you amongst any of the other kind souls here?”

The unnamed stranger looked confused, and nothing short of disappointed, but she rose from her seat anyway and allowed herself to be led away by another muscular sailor who’d been looking for their chance to jump in. Jacob nicely waves them off with an amused shake of his head. Then his thoughts went back to what Maisie said, and he sighed heavily and called for a refill. It's arrival was practically instant, and he held the tankard tight with his head lying on the table.

“Trouble in paradise?” A new voice asked, sitting beside him and replacing the seat where the posh lady had just been. 

Another man across the way chimes in, “Paradise? Jacob doesn’t know the meaning of the word!” 

Jacob laughs fakely. “Ha ha, yeah yeah, a’right.” He’d regretted it getting out that he was frigid, chaste, whatever the bar regulars wanted to call it. It made it easier to not be bothered, but he also had to weather the weird jokes and comments. This was one of the things he didn't miss about the pub. “It’s my daughter, yeh? Been asking about a mother, or at least a second parent.”

A lady from the crowd responds, “I thought you weren’t privy to women.” And another responds, “He’s not privy to anything, if you hadn’t any awareness.”

He calls out to the room, raising his. arms. “I get it, I’m different! Everyone’s gone on with their lives to get wives and husbands, and I’m here caring for the opposite of a bastard child! Now what do I do? I can’t tell her she’ll never have two parents, it would crush her!”

“Just tell her you’re a flower!” Came familiar voice number 2.

“I can't do that, she wouldn't understand! She wouldn't even know what that means! She's a child, Joe!”

“Aye, but I was just a young lad meself when I first discovered my pleasantries!” 

Laughs rung out. 

“Ugh, mate!” Some man groaned. 

Jacob caught a woman from The Inevitable, Kenyangi, sitting across the bar rolling her eyes. Their eyes met and she shook her head with an unimpressed expression. Everyone aboard the Inevitable knew Jacob wasn't into men or women. It's part of what made the newcomer women trust him so easily. That, and of course all of his leadership traits, including his kindness and strength, and compassion. Most ships were filled with outcasts but no ship more than the Inevitable. You wouldn't read in the history books that the former captain had been privy to men, nor the fact that most of those on starboard were a different gender than they presented, or all of the genders than they presented, but it was a open secret amongst the crew that if you treated them with respect, you'd be treated with respect. Beardless men weren't hard to come around by the docks.

But on the other hand, once The Inevitable hit land, so did the drinks, and usually so did the mouths. Jacob hadn't the sense to hide it anyway, when he spent most of his years at sea, but this had been the longest he'd been on land, and after just six months, it felt like the entirety of Three Bridges knew he wasn't on the battlefield and never would be.

“Jacob's just too sweet!” A young woman laughs. 

“He’s no fruit, I’ll tell ya that,” Jacob could recognize Fen’s voice from anywhere. He hadn’t even realized they were here!

“Too innocent.”

“Not with the amount he drinks, he’s not.” The bartender said, pouring another drink. 

“I’ll be her mom, if it comes with the whole package~” a woman flirts at Jacob, who laughs it off. 

“Sorry, miss, but the only one touching this package is me.” He assures, “but, if any of you darlings wanna pretend and help me take care of this child til her older years, then be my guest! Excellent idea.”

He didn’t remember much after that except the drinking. All he knew was that by morning he was home. Maisie’s normally angelic voice beat against his skull like a war drum with its patchiness as she woke him from his deep slumber. A wetness hit his face and he recognized it immediately as the sea creature Blue without having to open his eyes to look. 

He rolled over onto his side, groaning. “Let's skip this morning's lesson..”

Maisie pouted, an argument forming on her tongue, just before she gets a whiff of something sharp and heady and realizes that it's not a joke on her, he's just drunk. 

She crawled off his bed and watched as the large man rose up onto his backside like a mummy, his eyes closed tightly as he grasped his head.

“Y'aright?”

Jacob hummed noncommittally and lazily got to his feet. It took him a few more minutes than normal, but he made them both breakfast. He stroked his head the entire time, obviously having wanted to sleep in. His age was catching up with him.

They ate in mostly silence. At one point, Jacob asked her what she'd learned from her book, but Maisie herself had her own pain to deal with as well, and so he stayed quiet. The morning passed just like that until Nana came to take Maisie to the orphanage and Jacob left for work with Blue. 

“Hey, Nana? Have you had to…” She wasn't sure how to phrase this. “When you were younger, did you ever have your…bleeding?”

The older woman's normally calm demeanor stiffened. “...” She rarely talked, instead opting to adopt a more mute countenance. Although not fully, as she surprised Maisie sometimes with her rough from disuse voice from time to time. Here, though, the woman only nodded.

“Do you know how to deal with the pain?”

As they walked, Nana held up her silence like a candle, and after a few seconds, finally gave a slow nod. She reached into her pocket and pulled out some small candies. 

Maisie looked down at them, then back up at her. “Is this..it?”

Nana shook her head and didn't elaborate. 

Maisie took the candy, confused.

When they reached the play area of the orphanage, Maisie was stopped from running to meet the other kids with a hand on her shoulder. Nana took her over to where she usually sits and got to her knees on the ground with her hands on her lap. Maisie blinked, glancing to the side then back at her, before sitting down and copying her pose. Nana then moved her torso forward, over her knees with her arms extended in front of her and her back arched. Again. Maisie felt a ping of confusion, then of pain, and quickly followed her lead. 

Slowly, the pain subsided. 

Nana guided her through various stretches and poses that Maisie soon realized was supposed to help her with the pain, and was working. After not too long, some teachers from the school joined in, and soon after, some students. Very quickly, this became something of a I Do You Do game. A group of kids were following the leads of the adults in front, including Nana, and at a certain point, the poses stopped being originally for help and more for making people laugh. 

But Sogo had settled up beside her, and she felt that she didn’t mind. 

As Nana and her were heading home for the day, another question occurred to her. “Nana, do you know any women around Jacob’s age?”

Nana raised a large grey eyebrow. 

That night, her dad waited patiently for her from the door frame as she sat carefully on the edge of her bed, careful not to move too much so as not to hurt her bottom. When her eyes lifted from the floor to him, he raised his hand, revealing a hairpin, and gave a soft smirk. “Join me for one more battle before bed?”

Maisie had to spend a spell sitting on a stool while Jacob tried to make use of the hairpin Sarah had given him. Maisie assured him she could do it herself, but he shoo-ed her back. She huffed, but let her hand be smacked down. In the end, her hair had been put in a messy half-bun half-ponytail that she’d had to fix herself anyway, although she appreciated his attempt at comfort nonetheless. His curses as he tried to properly gather her thick hair into some kind of pool filled her with a humor she hadn’t felt in a bit. He’d given up trying to use the one hairpin to put up her abundance of locks, a feat that even Maisie herself and no other Black woman she’d known had been capable of doing. Finally, after a tentatively-made meal including a lot of sweets originating from women at bars(although Maisie didn’t know that), Jacob escorted her back to her room. 

“Any better?”

“Yeah, actually. Surprisingly.”

“That’s..good.” Jacob sat awkwardly in his chair next to her bed. 

”And you? Any better?”

He gently touched his head. “I’d rather have fought a school of riddlebacks…”

Maisie frowned, placing her hands over her stomach. “That bad, huh?…Was it..me? Because of what I said—?”

“Don’t, don’t. My bad habits are my problem. ‘M not gettin’ any younger. My age is just catchin’ up with me. ‘S got nothin’ to do with ya.” Jacob reached over and moved a stray hair from her face. 

She smiled. “So, uhh…you maybe..have any luck? While you were there?”

This time Jacob frowned. “Huh?”

“Like, did you meet anyone?”

“I, well, Fen was there— oh, oh! You mean— no, no, no, Maisie, gup, it’s only been a day!”

The candle light flickered on her nightstand. “A lot can happen in a day!”

Jacob pinched the bridge of his nose. Lord have mercy. “Maisie, sweetheart, are you really that hung up on this?”

The young girl tightened her lips into a line and looked at the book she’d left on the other side of the bed. 

“These things take time!” In his case, a lot of time. Nearly thirty five years of time. It wasn’t for lack of trying. Growing up on a hunting ship, he’d been privy to all kinds of talk from a young age. Yeah, Crow’s crew was more respectful than most, but there were still adults on board. Adults that were together for years in the middle of the sea. Adults that said things Holland hadn’t and still didn’t understand. All of his parts worked, he just didn’t feel the need. Didn’t want it as much as all the other folk. But of course he hadn’t thought he was the only one, having been surrounded by many a “chaste fellow” onboard his unorthodox ship of outcasts. He’d never been shamed for it on The Inevitable. Had never felt pressured. It made it easier to live on the boat, some said. He had to guess they were right. No one to miss if he didn’t have anyone. And Crow himself had never brought on a lover, either, although for his own obvious reasons. No one thought to question him. Least of all anyone who wanted to stay afloat. 

But still, sailors talked. 

“By the way, you don’t have to work tomorrow, right?” Maisie asked. 

Caught off guard by the sudden change in subject, he replied. “Uh..that’s right. Why?”

“Nana wanted to meet with you in town tomorrow afternoon. Said she had something to show you.”

Jacob wasn’t the biggest fan of disguises, but he did them anyway. Not everyone in Three Bridges was his friend, and he understood that some people were just trying to make ends meet. His bounty was pretty substantial, so even though he was in with the guards, he kept himself on the more hidden side of things. 

So when he arrived at the tavern that Nana had asked him to and found a young woman sitting in the place Nana was supposed to be, he was disturbed. And when she looked up and gave her prettiest smile and dainty-handed wave, he was mad. 

Not at her, but at the laugh he was imagining Maisie having in his head. 

This continued on for several more days. And days turned into a week. Jacob sat through each meeting tiredly, but unable to tell his daughter the truth. Each meeting was weird in different ways, and not just because he was uninterested, but because of the people themselves. The first person was a woman that had known Nana since childhood, having seen her fight against the monarchy first hand. She told stories, some unbelievable; of things Nana had done that she’d gotten little jail time for but would have gotten Jacob executed. The woman herself had been nice, but not Jacob’s type. No one was. He…didn’t have a type, on account of the..you got it. 

The second person had been a larger, more muscular brown-skinned woman with long braids down her back. A teacher at Maisie’s orphanage. She was beautiful, and her voice was like a song, but she also had been at the bar that night Jacob had been drowning in his sorrows, and knew that he was not interested in her, or anyone. Still, they enjoyed each other's company and bid each other farewell amicably. 

The third person was a man. How Maisie had found him, he’d no idea, but he’d need to have a talk with her later about approaching people out of nowhere. She’d done it with him, and now he was her father, but that could end bad real quick if it had been anyone else. Lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice. Regardless, this man was a sailor, and he was attractive even by his standards. A tall Black man with black tattoos trailing up his right arm and muscles to rival Jacob’s own. He was a gentleman, and it was obvious he was looking for love. Real love. And Jacob felt bad for having even come. The man deserved better than to have his hopes up. Jacob let him down as gently as possible, but he could tell that the man was sorely disappointed.

Then came Fen. 

“There’s no way.” They said as they sat down across from him. “It’s unreal!”

Jacob scoffed. “Okay. What are you doing here?”

Fen stared at him, trying not to laugh. 

Jacob froze. “No, no. It can’t be— not you?”

“Nice to see you too, Jacob. When I heard word getting around that you were looking, I just HAD to see it for myself!” They said, then burst out laughing. 

Jacob, for the first time in two years, blushed. Not out of any form of attraction, just plain ole embarrassment. 

“What are you doing here, Jacob?” They slammed their hands down on the table, leaning forward with a look of incredulousness. They’re black hair had grown longer in the front, briefly covering their black monolid eyes. “Are you serious?”

“Of course I’m not serious!” He whispered, like Maisie could hear him from wherever she was hiding out at the moment. He’d never taken the chance that she might actually be listening in on his conversations. He made sure to have her stay at home in exchange for him going on these “dates”, so he didn’t have to worry about her getting caught. Their pictures had been around more lately, and he’d spotted more than a couple guards frequently scoping around. “This was all Maisie’s idea!”

“You haven’t told her yet?”

“Of course not, or we wouldn’t be here, would we?”

“Since when do you let a little girl boss you around?”

“Since—“ Jacob paused. 

Fen tapped their finger against the wood table, one brow raised under their bangs and their mouth screwed up to the side in wait. 

His face fell into his hands. “Oh Great Inevitable…”

Fen patted his shoulder. “You gotta tell her. Or keep going on these wild runs for the rest of your life.” Fen grabs him by his hood, suddenly, and pulls it over his head, almost slamming his nose into the table.

“What—!”

Fen raised a finger to their lips, glaring at something past him. “Shh! Coppers, three o’clock!”

He doesn’t turn around. Instead, he shrinks his shoulders and lowers his head. So much for being a good role model for Maisie. How many times had he been to this same tavern, talking to strangers who had no reason to keep him secret from the guards after having been rejected? He should have seen this coming. Yeah, he was in disguise, but he was still a built man with a recognizable silhouette and face. Three Bridges was a diverse place, so there were tons of men who happened to look like him, but no one looked more like him than himself, regardless of what clothes he was wearing. If his hood got taken off, he'd have no option but to fight and run. 

Fen kept talking to him like normal. They kept a charming smirk on their face, glancing over every once in a while to keep tabs on where the guards were. “The next time you invite me out, the drinks are on you, ye? Two of them pigtails.” 

Jacob nodded. There’s two of them. Okay, that’s not too many. The preferred number was, of course, zero, but you can’t change what you can’t change. 

“We should go to that hole in the wall west of the tower. Y’know the one.”

To his right; got it. 

They communicated like that for five uninterrupted minutes before Fen said, “It’s starting to smell a lot like bacon.”

There was a presence behind him. A shadow that didn’t quite reach as far as it should’ve to intimidate Jacob, but there nonetheless. He kept his hood up and his face downturned. 

A voice he didn’t recognize, “How is everything going over here?”

“The uniforms for this place have gotten quite fancy, ‘aven’t they?” Ever the tease, Fen’s smirk only grew in the face of the guard. 

The guard did not sound amused. “I hate to interrupt your…conversation, but royal duties call.”

Fen pointed a thumb to their left. “The port is over there, love.”

A scoff, and next up, a hand on his shoulder. “You look familiar, miss.”

Jacob flinched. Fen scowled. “Wrong. Try again.”

Fen was built like a brick house, on par if not more muscular than Jacob, and they had a square face and chin to pair with it. They were more masculine than androgynous, if one had to choose, but their voice, while fitting, wasn’t what most people expected to hear coming from their mouth. It wasn’t high pitched, or even very smooth, but its roughness had a tinge of femininity that they were fine with having and never sought to change. Unfortunately, it also came with the setback of having plank-walkers think they have authority over what accent or dialect Fen could use, or they could use for Fen. 

Jacob had met Fen when they had already figured out their pirating techniques, had only known the Fen before him now, when they’d first boarded the Inevitable. They were close in age, Jacob being eighteen at the time and Fen being twenty and two, so they’d spent more time around each other than not. While Jacob was on page 92, Fen was on page 94.

 Jacob never asked, nor wanted to. Fen was a hunter, emphasis on was, and now Fen was just Fen. 

Not. Miss. 

“Another of the lost Inevitable crew, yes?” Lost. What they called the hunters who no longer hunted. ”So you must know who I’m looking for.”

“You’ll have to remind me.” Fen said, picking up their drink and swishing it around in its tankard. 

”Jacob Holland.” The guard was obviously done playing around. “Have you seen him recently?”

Fen took a loooooong sip of their beverage. 

The hand on Jacob’s shoulder tightened. “Does your friend speak?” The guard asked. Jacob could feel eyes on the back of his head. 

“No, he’s a bit of a mute one, fort. But I wouldn’t try anything.” Fen’s words made Jacob freeze up. They leaned forward, a look in their eye that he did not like. “He’s taken.”

A scoff, and the hand leaves his shoulder. “You.” The voice now seems directed at him. “Take your hood off.”

A couple things happened then. First, Fen frowned and almost blew their cover with the sudden shakiness that came to their voice as they scrambled up excuses as to why the guard should move on. Second, the second guard, who’d been questioning several other people in the tavern, walked up to their table to see what the hold up was. Third, Jacob was debating on how fast he could traverse the city from the area he was in at this time of day while being chased down by pigs. Fourth, one of the guards had a hand about to tug off his hood. Fifth—

“Oi, officer!” A voice called from somewhere behind Jacob. “If you’re looking for news, I’ve got some for ya.”

The hand disappeared. 

It was the owner. A tall, hairy, brunet man with a mustache and beard braided down to his belly. The man nodded his head towards the bar as he wiped clean the cup in his hand with a spotted rag. “Been a man slinking around these parts what looks like you’re looking fer.” 

There was a hesitancy in their step, Jacob could hear, but soon they were walking away and finally Jacob allowed himself to look behind him at a glance. The guards were at the bar, listening to the owner Brillio as he talked quietly to them. They met eyes for just a second before another patron stood between them, right in front of Jacob. “You need to go.” They said in a hushed tone, before walking off like they hadn’t even stopped.  

Jacob took their advice and slinked off while Billio had the guards distracted, and he didn’t breathe until he got home. 

More and more posters had been set up in town, and even in certain places in the woods within only just a couple of days. Jacob wasn’t sure what had changed, but he wasn’t liking the look of it. The king and queen must be getting antsy. They must’ve realized something was up. Why else would patrols start going active at the harbor? At this rate, he wouldn’t even be able to do his job. The guards had definitely seen him carrying that crate of fish last week. They must’ve realized by now that he was still going out to sea, and now there’s a boat always following the perimeter of his fellow workers during the day. 

And he can’t hide in that situation. Yes, his employer knew what he’d been getting into, hiring Jacob Holland. He was an icon, after all. But even he can’t risk harboring a fugitive. 

And now Maisie….

Jacob sighed, his head in his hands. He dragged them down his face, the seating beneath him squeaking as he moved. He was in the parlor, readying himself to have a very hard conversation about Rapunzel. But when Maisie came in, she burst through the front door and quickly slammed it shut behind her, panting, her clothes drenched in sweat. Jacob rose to his feet and only a moment later, Maisie was in his arms, hugging him tightly. Her quick breaths dampened his chest.

He squeezed her back with as much urgency to drown her in. His voice came out with an anger he's never felt before. “What did they do to you?”

“They came,” she gasped, “to the orphanage..! They ransacked the bedrooms and questioned all the teachers, and, and—” She was shaking, her words coming out in huffs that don’t match her measured voice.

He gave her time to recuperate, letting her get her bearings. After a few moments of gaining her breath, she further explained what happened. They had appeared suddenly, saying they had reason to believe that a fugitive child was hiding among them. Of course, all the teachers denied such a heinous idea. How could any child be a fugitive? Especially one being taught at their school? As the teacher’s distracted them, Maisie’s siblings hid and ran her around the building, in closets and in the cafeteria, under sheets and in cubby’s. All this until they were able to edge her to the treeline to the side of the orphanage and away from the hubbub. Luckily, Maisie had siblings who looked similar to her in silhouette, so they were able to switch the two around at a moment's notice, but it still hurt her. It still scared her that something could happen to her family because of this. They weren’t by blood, but she grew up with some of them, knew their secrets, their history. She hated for the orphanage to get in trouble with the Royals just because she was there. 

She ran all this way back home by herself, leaving Nana behind (at her behest) and flinching at every shadow.

Jacob once more felt an anger that could rival the sun. She was only eleven. How could those guards ransack a school, see all those kids, and think this was the way to go? All those kids who look just like Maisie? Orphans, just like her? How could they think they were right?

What happened to their truce?

He couldn’t help but think he was the reason for this. If he had…no, but…and if? But then…

Blue, their big-eyed, wet sea creature they’d taken as a pet, stared up at him with an unworried tilt to his head. No, he couldn’t think like that. Abolishing hunting was the right choice. But who knew they’d take it this far? And Maisie…

He looked at her now, her hands in between her lap, her face screwed up in pain and her eyes closed. 

“I thought it was over?”

”It is.” She managed through clenched lips. “The bleeding is done, but I still have cramps…”

Jacob furrowed his brows as she moved her forehead to her knees. “In any case, you can’t leave the house. At least for a few days. Not until this calms down.”

”Again?” She moaned, muffled by her dress. They hadn’t had to stay locked up like this since the beginning of this whole farce, five months ago. They’d only just gotten this land and both of them had nothing but the furniture it came with and the knives in their pockets. They’d spent a month indoors, sneaking out together in black robes just to get food and find out what was going on outside. It was then that Sarah helped Jacob find a job, and from there a work friend introduced him to Nana, and so on and so forth. 

“Hey, at least I’ll be stuck here with you too.” He sat across from her and leaned forward in his seat to place a hand on her small shoulder. 

“Aaahhh..!” She bundled into her knees harder. “How were we the wrong ones in this, Jacob?”

He sighed. “I dunno, kiddo.” He looked off into nothing. “I just don’t know…”

Maisie took a bath. She made sure to keep her hair up and out of the water, and afterwards she stayed in the room so that she could properly put it up. She easily bundled it up and put it in a tight bun, then looked around at where she kept her night clothes for her scarf. Not seeing it in its regular place, she looked around the water closet until she remembered that she must have left it on her bed. 

Sighing, she left the water closet and headed for her room, but stopped at the sound of items thumping across the floor in Jacob’s direction. His door had been left ajar, which was unusual for Jacob, so she called his name and took a peek in. 

The man in question sat at his desk adjacent to his bed, his back to her, with a pen in hand and the other hand in his hair. On the floor around him were balls of discarded paper and clothes that Maisie didn’t even think he had. On his bed lay a particularly dark set of clothes alongside his cloak. 

“Jacob? What is this?” She asked, cautiously coming into the room. 

Jacob looked back like he’d been caught. “Gup! I, uh, thought you’d be in the tub longer.”

Maisie frowned, her brows knitting together as she took several steps closer. “Eh…and if I had? What then?” She picks up a balled up piece of paper from the ground and uncoils it—

“Wait, don’t!”

Maisie, I don’t know how to say this but—

The paper is snatched from her hand, Jacob standing in front of her with the most conflicted eyes she’d ever seen on him. But she’d already realized what it was going to say. “You were…going to turn yourself in, weren’t you..”

Jacob’s chest expanded as he pulled in a deep breath, then let it out through his nose and lowered his hand to his side. “It’s probably the only right move, gup.”

Maisie appreciates the guilt in his voice, but not the thought. “Probably? You’re gonna risk all of this for probably?” she motions to the room, to the house, to their lives, everything. 

That wrinkle in his nose. “I can handle them. If I turn myself in, then they won’t need you, and it won’t hurt me as much as it would you— I’m a hero, remember?”

His brown eyes met hers and never strayed, even as they began to tear up. “You’re gonna leave me all alone?”

His heart pinched, “Better me than you, Mais.”

“What— where would I go? Back to Guelston? You’d just leave me?”

“No, I..if I turn myself in, my sentence won’t be that long. A year or two, maybe—“

“Two years?” She scoffed, choked out a laugh. “That’s what you think? You’ve committed treason, Jacob! They’ll behead you!”

“They can’t do that anymore, and especially not for something as simple as quitting killing them beasts.”

“Jacob, we let that beast destroy a bajillion doubloons worth of land—“

“That wasn’t our fault—“

“But they'll make it our fault! And then we called them murderers! I called them genocidal—“ Maisie twisted her arms in a circle, trying to think of the words to describe what she meant in her rising anger. “Wha— Have you seriously lost it? Where am I to go when you’re gone? I’m not going back to the orphanage, I’m not losing another dad!” She panted and screamed and jumped and screamed some more, and Jacob stood there, silent, his eyes tired and his soul weary. 

When she finally stopped, he said in a calm and quiet voice, “I was writing a letter to Sarah. As much as she complains, she knows I can trust her to take care of you in my absence. She and the other Lost run a trading ship on the coast. She’ll be leaving again in three days' time, and I want you on that ship.”

Her little arms were crossed. “And if I refuse?”

Jacob sighed once more and set a hand on her head, then kneeled down to her eye level. “Then I can’t stop you. I know you, gup. And when you say you’re not gonna do somethin’, ye ain’t gon’ do it.” He smiled. “But at least this way, you’ll have your mom.”

Maisie glared at him through tears that wouldn’t spill. “You know that’s not what I meant! Y’know it ain’t! I just wanted you to be happy! And to have someone I could talk to when you’re—“ she stopped herself, sniffling angrily.

“I know… but Mais,” he took in a deep breath. Here we go. “You don’t need to do that for me. I know that you only have good intentions by it, but it’s not something I want. Or will want or have wanted. And you don’t need a mother, because you have me,” He points a finger into his chest, voice soft and quiet. “..and Sarah, and Nana. Pete’s sake, you can even count on Fen and Old Jim if you want to. I grew up with them as my family and look! I turned out just fine!” He stood to his full height.

Maisie looked him up and down, unimpressed. 

“Ok, well. I could have been much worse.” He rolls his eyes, and she follows his lead, a smile on both of their faces. 

“You’re not doing it.” She said, like it was final. 

Jacob opened his mouth to speak but Maisie lifted up a finger to stop him. 

“You’re not going away. We’re in this together.” She said, her clear brown eyes dead serious and as dry as old bones. “We promised.” 

He inwardly cursed himself. He had, hadn’t he? As soon as he got this house, as soon as they’d found they were on the lam, they promised each other they’d never leave one another. He’d always be there when she needed him, and listen to all her stories at night. He knew then that something like this could happen with the Crown, and he made sure to let his daughter know she’d always be safe with him, even if they weren’t in a safe predicament.

Five months go by as quick as sand, and yet he’d still forgotten. 

“Jacob?” Her voice tugged him out of his thoughts. She had a pinkie lifted up to him, her chin tilted down and her eyes wide. “We promised.”

A moment passed, and he took her pinkie in his. “Yeah. We promised.”

He smiled, and she smiled too, and this is the everyday life of Jacob Holland and Maisie Brumble. 

Then Blue rushed into the room, yipping loudly and rampantly. 

“This way, this way!” Maisie whisper-yelled as she, Blue, and her father slid down a small hill, leaves and twigs cracking under them as they reached the bottom and kept running.

“How do you know these woods so well?” Jacob huffed back, almost tripping on a mound as he ran beside her, trying to keep out of the many lanterns’ lights.

Blue had warned them just in time for them to get out of the house without being trapped, but not in time enough to not be spotted leaving. 

“How’d they find us?” Jacob wondered aloud, dodging tree after tree and low hanging branch after low hanging branch. 

“Must’ve followed me earlier and went back to get more guards!”

There was a platoon of them running after them on foot with guns on their hips. They'd yet to pull them out but neither parent nor child was waiting to find out. 

Luckily, Maisie knew this forest like the back of her hand. She knew exactly which twists and turns to confuse someone and get them off her track—

Or she thought she did. But these guys weren't letting up! When she thought they'd lost one set of them, another reappeared. It's like they were being chased by an entire army! After running for longer than a normal human should ever have to at full speed, Maisie was getting tired. She'd been carrying Blue the whole while, and though she doubted Blue would have been any help in an investigation, she didn't want to leave him behind. Even if he had made it to the ocean by their house, who knew when she would get back to him again?

But her dad was superhuman apparently, because when she got tired, all he did was pick her up and keep running. She gave him directions, having him dodge from one place to another, hiding them in whatever darkness they could fit into, but alas, the guards were relentless. They had certainly trained how to conserve energy, and there were so many of them that they couldn't hide in one place for long without being spotted by a lantern. 

They didn't know where they were running to. The village? Would the crowds be big enough at this time of the day? Would anyone actually help? Would they be even more out in the open? The harbor? Could they steal a boat, and be faster than the royal guard? Would they already be stationed there, knowing that's their last resort? 

What could they do? Maisie was in her small clothes, having had barely enough time to even put on shoes! 

When she looks over Jacob's shoulder at the various people in uniform chasing them, she barely spotted any faces she knew. In fact, were their uniforms a slightly different color? Has that golden patch on the chest always been there?

Had the Crown completely replaced everyone in the royal guard? They couldn't have, right?

Maisie met eyes with one guard in particular. Brown met brown, and her eyes widened as she realized she recognized this person. They were the one who'd been chasing them last week after she'd left the library! The one who smirked at her! They knew about the deal!

Maisie glared at them in particular, and even though the guard kept up the chase, they at least had the gaul to look guilty about it.

Suddenly, they were breaking through the treeline into South Three Bridges. 

Jacob looked left, then right, all the while Maisie climbed down from his shoulder with Blue in hand. “This way!” This time, he would lead. 

It wasn't yet dark, but the pub was full and fit to bursting. The day workers had gotten off from their job and came here to get their rewards. There were plenty of Lost and plenty of Joe's and Jacob let loose a sigh of relief at the fact that all iconography of him and Maisie had been taken down within and outside the establishment. He was barely noticed as he trudged through the crowd, Maisie’s hand in his pulled close so as to not lose her. No one questioned the child being brought in, nor the creature she carried, either from not noticing or not caring. They were possibly so enticed that they couldn't tell Blue from a regular dog, the way he was bundled up in Maisie’s free arm. 

Just as they reached the bar, the doors in the front opened, and a cool silence took over the place. 

The people of the fine establishment turned with big eyes to the guard, then two guards, then three and so on, who walked inside from the heat, their uniforms slightly off color and with a shiny badge on the pocket. The guard at the head eyed the place as they walked in, their face bare and skin sun-kissed. 

“We're looking for a Jacob Holland and a Maisie Brumble. A tall muscular white man and a adolescent dark-skinned girl about,” the guard motioned low with their hand. “Yeh high. Have you seen them? Please take note that harboring a wanted felon is a crime.”

“Is that right? You should take my husband then!” A voice yelled out from the crowd, eliciting many a laughter. 

“Oy, Love, don' rat meh out like tha!” A heavily accented voice, presumably the husband, replied out onto the floor. 

The place started up again. “If you're looking for our sweet ol’ prune, Jacob! I hate to tell ye! He ain't lookin’ back!” 

A cacophony of laughter. 

“The poor Guard, I'm sure you can find a more interested fella at the Cross down the road!” A woman's voice chittered.

“Ah hahaha!”

“Have you tried the brothel?” 

More laughs.

The head guard scoffed as they walked in further, a rather large group coming in behind them. “Disrupting an investigation also counts as a crime and will get you arrested.” They turned to their cohorts. “Spread out.”

“Hey, hey,” The owner of the bar, whose name was very normal and therefore forgettable, yelled across the room. “Do you have a warrant to search my e..eh..?”

“Establishment!” Someone yelled out.

“Yeah, that.” 

The guard pulled out a paper from their chest as they walked up to the bar, slowly, each step ringing out dramatically. They looked the owner in the eye with a dangerous glint, their hand placing the paper with its royal seal down on the table before them with the confidence of a God. “This here allows me permission to search any premises I need to in order to uphold the two fugitives we're trying to catch.” The guard leaned in real close. “In case you can't read.”

If looks could kill, the guard would be dead thrice over. 

They turned around to face the crowd and platoon. “No one is to leave the ‘establishment’ until the search is done. Leave no stone unturned!”

The head guard met individual eyes, and found theirself stopped still by a set to their left. Two old, dark brown, almost black eyes above high cheekbones and a small, pointy nose.

Sarah's stare is one of Death, even when she's not trying.

The guard, not recognizing her, turns away first. 

The patrons are stuck there for hours as they search. Everyone talked as normal and bought drinks as normal, but some people had kids to get back to and after a reluctant body search, they're let go one at a time. They searched every nook and cranny of the place. They turned over tables, ransacked the pantry, knocked on the wood floors and walls, searching for a hollow sound. The entire pub was surrounded, so no one got in or out. In the end, they didn't discover a thing. The two had simply…disappeared. 

The guard punched a wall in aggravation. So much time wasted. 

The pigs walked out shamefully, one at a time, to the raspberries of a bold patron and the odd booo! 

When they left, a quiet once more seized the establishment.

“Well, come on! Keep talking!” The barkeep motioned to the drinkers with an urgency. 

They did as told, bringing back a cursory then delightful hum to the room. As minutes passed and the guards cleared out of the area, the barkeep named Jennie moved out of the spot they'd been standing still atop of for the past few hours. They knelt to the ground and knocked at the floorboard through the rug, then pulled it, with effort, up and aside, rug and all. It was heavy, so Jacob helped from his side as well.

Jacob went up first, just in case some pig was still peeking through the windows. When nothing happened after he stood up, he pulled Maisie and Blue up from underground. They all took in a long gulp of air. It wasn’t the best, considering it was a tight and sweaty pub with people who hadn’t showered all day, but it was better than the dusty hole. 

“I doubt they’ll be coming back any more tonight. But still.” Jennie said and didn’t finish, frowning with his arms crossed. 

“I understand. Thank you. So much. I owe you a thousand.”

“Don’t worry about it, Jacob.” He looked down at Maisie. “Just take care of the kid.”

Maisie’s clothes comprised a small white shirt and grey shorts that didn’t even reach past her knees. She had scrapes and cuts from running through sharp and thorny branches, and although they stopped bleeding, they still needed tending to. 

Blue yipped.

“Thank you, Blue, for the warning.” She held him tight. “We wouldn’t have made it without you.”

“This is only gonna keep getting worse.” Sarah said from her seat at the bar. She stood up and walked over to them, her one peg leg knocking against the wood. “Somethin’ has to give. You can't keep running forever.”

Maisie's hand tightened on Jacob's, and he looked down at her. We promised.

“I know,” he said. “But what other choice do we have? Move across the ocean?”

“Would that be so terrible?” A lad asked, opposite them on the counter. Their elbow lay atop the bar, their large forearm showing off a tattoo of an anchor. 

Another spoke up from behind them, walking up and taking a seat beside the other. “Other lands may not share the same problems, but they’ll have their own similar tastes.” Their hair was blond and their skin pale. ”If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Not every isle will be as diverse and good-natured as this one. Believe me.”

“I’ve heard that Rolario Fins still has bounties up for some sea beasts..!” A voice whispered from within the crowd of listeners circling the bar around them. 

That particular comment caused a swelling in Maisie’s heart. That’s right, she may have fixed the war here in Three Bridges, but it would still take a while for other islands to catch up, if they ever did. 

“Even so, I’ve heard Fins had the cheapest cabins selling.” Another.

And another.

And another.

Voices kept talking over the counter, solutions that weren’t really solutions and answers that weren’t even fit for the question. Maisie could barely hear herself think. The pub was too loud and her thoughts were too scrambled and her book was still at the house and she needed to return it to the library soon and—

“I don’t want a new home.”

Sarah and Jacob turned to her. Her voice had left her without her permission, but she’d meant it. 

“I can’t lose another home. This is where I belong. Here. In Three Bridges.” She said, looking from adult to adult. To Jennie and to the blond, familiar-looking person, and to Sarah and finally to Jacob. 

There was a moment of contemplation. Jacob turned back to Sarah. “Well, you heard her.” Jacob lifted her and Blue over the counter into a seat, and then slid over it himself, careful not to toss any drinks in the process. 

Sarah nodded, then turned to the ones behind her, some of whom Maisie recognized from the Inevitable. One walked forward, a tall, brunet man with a small mouth and long nose. The doctor, Maisie realized. From the ship! He came up to her and reached into his pocket, pulling out some rolled up bandages and a few coins that he smoothly moved onto the table. He said something to Jennie so quietly that Maisie couldn't hear it. Jennie quickly took the coins and grabbed a bottle from behind him. He slid it over to the doc, who pulled a rag from his other pocket, popped open the bottle, and poured some of its contents into the rag. 

When he looked up at Maisie with a question, Maisie nodded yes. 

“Okay, so here’s the plan.” Sarah said to her group of sailors. 

Soon after, Maisie’s legs were all carefully wrapped up. She was surprised to see how many of the Inevitable crew were here at the pub. “It’s because I had Old Jim leave earlier with the others so he could go grab them.” Sarah admitted. “I figured if we needed a diversion, the more the merrier. But luckily, it didn’t come to that.”

“So,” Maisie furrowed her brows up in confusion and concern. “What's your plan?”

The woman smiled. “We riot.”

You’ll need to hide out somewhere while the plan hatches. Not the harbor. They’re staking out there. That means our boats are a no-go.

Blue sneezed and Maisie almost lost hold of him as they walked through the night. From above, Jacob’s hands reached down and laid his robe over her shoulders.

You’ll need disguises.

His hair was shaved down to the scalp, and the pile of hair stuck to his chin was making his face itchy. He was burning up under the meters of coats and robes he’d been leant from the mass of gracious men at the bar, his figure now closer to that of a bear than a man. He walked in tune with the clash of people around him, projecting a confidence he didn’t have. Those surrounding him and his daughter talked with the tune of drunk bastards, laughing way too loudly for this time of night and yet somehow drawing less attention to themselves in that way. Maisie was so small between them that she couldn’t be seen from the outside. She herself only wore a large black hat and a pair of heels and a shawl that didn’t quite fit her, but nonetheless made her look innocuous, and unlike the eleven-year old she was. Especially with Blue pretending to be the pot belly under her clothes. 

“For now, you both can spend the night at ours. We have a study that we never quite got furnished. You can sleep there.” One of the men with a voice pitched high as a flute offered.

“We couldn’t. Escorting is one thing, but if they get a whiff of ye hidin’ us in your very own house, you’re done for.” Jacob declined. 

“If only Sogo were here… They’ve got the whole island memorized. With their map, they’d know the perfect forgotten gem to hide out in for a while.” Maisie sighed. 

Beside her, the blond from before’s ears perked up. “Sogo? As in Asquith?”

Maisie almost tripped over herself. “You know him?”

Familiar black eyes gazed down at her with surprise. “He’s my son.”

John and Sogo Asquith only looked similar in practically unintelligible ways. They had similar dark eyes, though the shapes were different, and the lines around their mouths when they smiled matched. While Sogo had curly black hair instead of John’s pale blond, the natural part on the left side was the same. 

Maisie had only gotten a glimpse of Sogo’s mom, who’s belly was actually swollen with a child, and who Sogo had inherited his curly black hair and short height from, before being ushered to the back entrance of the very large house to wait as John called out to his her in the dining room, telling her to pack a few meals for picnicking. He then went upstairs to grab his sometimes-son-sometimes-child. 

“So…Sogo, huh?”

“Shush it.”

“Ope.”

John was quick to come back down, Sogo in tow behind him. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, John kneeled down before his child and looked them in the eyes, hands gripping them by the arms. The two watched from the end of the hall. “This is your shot. Just do as I taught you and pay attention to your surroundings. I know you have this.”

Sogo nodded excitedly, some papers easily bunched up in one of their hands and a pair of shoes in the other as they stood before their dad. “Warring is for the warmakers...”

“And mapping is for the mapmakers.” John finished, grinning. 

They hugged, and Sogo practically bounced their way over to them, a matching grin on their face. “Here, put these on.” They handed the shoes to Maisie. “They may not fit exactly, but it’ll be better than hiking in heels.”

“Wait just a tick.” John held up a finger and ran into the kitchen as Maisie switched footwear, then came back with a picnic basket that smelled heavenly. “Food. You’ll need your strength. I doubt you got to dine while being chased down, right?”

Jacob accepted it gratefully. “Thank you—“

“That’s enough of that. I know what it’s like to need to escape from a corrupt government. I’m sure, as a parent, you’d do the same if it were my child.” John's expression molded into something haunted, and he nodded down at the kids while keeping eye contact with Jacob. A look that said watch my kid.

Jacob nodded back.

A yip drew their attention from the tense moment, and Blue popped out from the collar of Maisie’s shawl and robe. “Right, could you, uh,” Maisie cringed. “Take care of him, please? Just until this all blows over?” She handed the slippery ball of beast to the awkward older man. 

“I, uh, I’ve never..?”

“He just needs to be put in water every once in a while. He eats most seafood!” Maisie cheesed, and with one hand on the wicker basket and the other on Sogo’s shoulder, Jacob turned to rush out of there.

“Lead the way.” Jacob ordered as Blue started squawking.

The three were once again running through foliage, but this time only one of them knew where they were going. 

“I don’t really know these woods very well!” Or, well, guess not. “I know which landmarks, I just haven’t seen them in person, so I can’t recognize them immediately in the dark! They could all be moss by now!”

“Leave that to me!” Maisie assured, jumping over a slight steep onto the underbrush below.

Jacob followed, then Sogo, who was shining a flashlight down onto one of the maps they had in hand. “Any idea where a triangular-torso shaped rock formation could be?”

Oh, this was gonna be easy.

Sogo called out landmarks and Maisie led the way. When they got a particularly steep jump, Sogo didn’t even need Jacob’s help jumping down. Looks like mapmaking came with a lot of journeying on its own, and Sogo wasn’t new at exploring new areas. At a certain point, once Maisie got them on the right track, they were navigating the forest like it was written on the back of their hand, without the map’s guidance. As if they’d memorized every inch. They had a confidence in their steps that Jacob didn’t have himself.

They climbed and jumped and walked for what had to have been hours, only stopping to finally have a quick and small dinner of roasted lamb, mashed potatoes, and a spoonful of blueberry pie. It was best eaten fresh, and they’d already wasted a few hours running for their lives.

After only a few more trips and falls, they made it to their supposed destination: a small cave hidden on the north side of the island,

So here they were, Maisie Brumble and Jacob Holland, just a man and his daughter, a girl and her father, holing up in a big cave.

They were close enough to hear the ocean but luckily not enough to be dripping with it. Sogo walked back and forth between the entrance and the dip further into the cave, stopping right before the man made tunnel of stairs began. As they passed the two Lost sitting against the hard rock wall for the umpteenth time, they said, “This map was catalogued barely over thirty years ago, and yet so much of it is already long forgotten. This cave, it was discovered a hundred years ago, and the explorers before them only ever patched it up when they found out there were no valuable gemstones here. But when the mapmakers three decades ago found this place, they spelunked until they found a path leading to the sea! And—“

The kid went on and on, and Jacob found that he was less interested in hearing what they had to say, and more interested in the look his daughter was giving them as they talked. She had her cheek in her hand and a loopy smile stretching across her face, her eyes half open with what Jacob at first thought was exhaustion but now thinks may be half something else. He’d realized it earlier, at the house, but Sogo must’ve really been the one she had gotten the library book for. The one she actually wanted a mother figure to talk to about. 

He leaned over. “You should go over and sit with them.”

Maisie, realizing she’d been caught, blinked and straightened up as stiff as a board. “Huh?”

“You want to talk to them, don’t you?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Jacob rolled his eyes. “Look, I’m not tellin’ ya t’ get down on one knee, I’m tellin’ ya to engage them a lil. Show you’re interested.” His voice was kept to a low volume and a soft tone. He didn’t know how to approach this concept with a kid, so he decided he’d do it like he was speaking to an adult. 

She relaxed a bit. But just a bit. Her fright was still apparent in her eyes, in the sudden shakiness of her shoulders and hands, now that she didn’t have Blue to hold onto. “But, how do I..?”

“Just act normal. Be you.” He ran a hand over his now buzzcut and sighed. He’d have to hope his genes allowed his hair to grow back again. “Ahhh…! It’s not like I’m the best person to be giving this kind of advice, but, listen, kid. If there’s one thing everyone likes, no matter what kind of partnership it is, it’s sincerity. Do what comes natural. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about being unattainable, it’s that being yourself is the most attractive way you can be.”

Sogo was now sitting across from them on the far wall, their head buried in a different map than the one they’d been using to find the cave, still raving on about this or that or the other. 

Maisie looked at Jacob, then at Sogo, then at her shaking hands. “How can I do that when I can’t even get my hands to stop shaking?”

There was a laugh, and Maisie looked up at her father incredulously. Jacob shook his head as he gazed out into the distance. “Since when have you let a little thing like that boss you around?” And he could see in her eyes that he’d reached his mark. Could see the sparkle in her eye grow wider, and the way her jaw dropped slightly open. 

She’s all vinegar. 

She stood to her feet, her legs all bandaged up from her earlier less careful trip through the forest, and stumbled over to Sogo, sliding down to the ground next to them and imploring them to go on. 

Jacob watched the two drowsily, the sound of the ocean luring him to sleep, and the last thing he remembered of that night was the two children smiling at each other warmly. 

“ob…Jacob! Wake up!”

Jacob startled awake, his eyes flying open and scaring his daughter onto her bottom as he moved upright automatically. His back hurt and he felt more tired than he had before sleeping but now the sun was obviously out and it was morning. 

“Geez!” She said, and stood back to her feet. 

“What? What happened? Are the guards here?” He got up, already in defense mode. “Are we safe?”

“No! I mean, yeah! No, then yeah!” She said, shaking her head in sudden confusion. “Sogo said he’d be going out to assess the situation. But it's been a couple hours and he hasn't come back yet. I'm afraid he may have.. slipped, or something!”

At that, Jacob promptly put on the shoes he had at some point kicked off during the night and shrugged off the rest of the layers of clothes he had on from last nights disguise. They would only slow him down. “Hours? How long have I been asleep?”

She pointed outside to where the sun had fully risen.

Bloody…

“Stay here,” he ordered, stripping off the last of the waistcoats and letting them fall to the floor. He made sure she was looking at him when he gave her the eyes and said, “I mean it. I'll bring him back with me.” He set the picnic basket atop his discarded clothes. “Eat if you haven't already. I'll be back.”

Maisie was already set to argue when they both heard the sound of feet slamming down on rock. Someone was running toward their cave. 

While Maisie’s heart raced, Jacob's slowed. He'd gotten pretty good at recognizing the weight of footsteps, and this one couldn't have been more than a child's. When Sogo's pudgy face appeared in the cave's entrance, red from exertion, the two sighed in relief.

Maisie raced over. “Sogo! What took you? Why are you running?”

Sogo caught his breath immediately. “Cmon, guys! You're gonna wanna see this!”

Jacob and Maisie looked at each other, then back at Sogo. “C’mon!” He hurried, waving them back out of the cave. “Quickly! Grab your things!”

Another look and they were on the move. Maisie grabbed her shawl and Jacob's robe, and Jacob bundled up his assortment of borrowed clothes and the basket and ran with what he could. As they ran, Maisie asked, “Why? What’s going on? Have we been found? Sogo!” 

But the kid didn't answer, just giggled in delight. Ok, so, either he's lost it or they're fine. Jacob didn't know him well enough to be able to tell. 

As they climbed steep hills and jagged rock formations, they continued asking what it was that he'd seen, but he kept his mouth shut. He was faster in the light, they all were, and Jacob could tell that the young Asquith had somehow already learned the path to and from the city.   

“Where are you taking us?” Maisie moaned as she pulled one leg in front of the other. Her legs ached from their tireless running the day before and she felt like she could collapse at any moment. 

Sogo slowed down to help her move through a cluster of tall rocks and foliage, up onto a grassy landing. Jacob followed after, clothing himself till his hands were empty but for the basket, pushing her up from behind and pulling himself up with a huff. 

They could still hear the sea somewhere nearby, which meant they hadn’t left the coast yet. Yes, Three Bridges was an island, but it was a big island. They could be anywhere, and they didn’t have the map to check. Well, Sogo did, but the kid was being willfully unhelpful. On the upside of things, at least it couldn’t be anything worse than what's already taken place. There was the equivalent of a skip in his step the way he navigated the forest, and a buzz around him that wasn’t from any insect Jacob could see. Although that could be for a different reason; Jacob spotted the two children not letting go of each other's hands as they walked and opted not to comment on it. 

Finally, they reached a road. A very familiar road. It took nothing but a glance for Jacob to realize they were just outside the capital, right before one of the titular bridges leading to the castle. 

Now Jacob panicked. “Kid, wha—?”

“Don’t freak out!” Sogo yelped, leaving Maisie’s hand alone and jumping back. He motioned to the road. “Look, there’s no lookout.”

Jacob did, and so did Maisie. There was no one guarding the bridge, in fact, it seemed almost rapture-like. There were no carts travelling in at the moment, and it was midday! It should be bustling right about now. 

Jacob took a tiny step forward. “Maybe they’re…hiding out somewhere? Watching in the trees?”

Maisie blew some hair out of her face. “Jacob, be reasonable.” In spite of that, she also found herself looking around for any sign of alert. All she could hear were the birds chirping, and the sound of noise coming from across the bridge. 

“There's no one here, that's what I'm telling you!” Sogo started to bounce forward, ushering them along. “Follow me!”

Jacob balked as Maisie followed without question. “What? Right over the bridge?”

“You’ll see.” The young mapmaker said. 

They both continued following after Sogo, both of their minds racing despite the tension in their shoulders and their own alertness. They walked in bursts, slowing down to hear and running forward to keep up with the ever-unbothered Sogo. They kept their eyes open and their heads on a swivel. The sunlight was blinding. At a certain point, the two had shed their extra clothes somewhere along the edge of the bridge and hoped they would still be there when they got back. 

As they neared the center, they could all hear what they'd thought was the rising hum of the city get louder and louder. It wasn't just the regular sound of the hustle and bustle of town life, but shouting. Chanting, even. They were getting closer to the castle, and with it came the assortment of people Jacob and Maisie had been expecting. They'd seen practically no people up until now, and as they walked forward, they were beginning to realize why. 

Sogo grinned. 

There were dozens of people in the street holding up signs and walking towards the castle. Voices were filled with anger and anticipation and concern. It was so disorienting that neither father or daughter could hear exactly what they were saying. The three mixed in with the strays, following along with the ever growing flow of traffic, and as they got to the gates, they saw it—

So that was where all the guards went. 

There were about a thousand and twenty people rioting outside the castle. Men and women and nimen were standing around the courtyard and moat surrounding the castle. There were no pitchforks, but there were torches that had long since been put out and signs that read LET THEM GO and LISTEN TO THE CHILD among other more vulgar things. The crowd was screaming incessantly up at the balcony of The Crown’s throne room. Jacob didn’t even have to ask how long they’d been out here. Sogo already had his answer ready. “It was like this when I first got here this morning, and that was hours ago. They haven’t stopped since! It’s only filled up more!”

A warmth that had nothing to do with the sun came over Jacob. “Are you serious?”

Looking around, they could see the sprinkled mass of people sitting on the ground, sweating and obviously tired from a hot day's work of rioting. Buckets of ice were being carried around, with handkerchiefs grabbing them up by the handful. People, old and young, had shed their tops and wiped their foreheads with them, drenched in sweat and dirt. Guards stood as a barrier around the castle to the front of the rioters, taking screams to the face and spit to their shoes in place of the Crown. 

They couldn’t believe it. All these people had shown up, for them?

Maisie was looking around in awe. She was sure she’d even got a glimpse of the librarian who always snuck her books in the crowd of people. “How did this happen?”

“Someone named Sharpe, I heard.” Sogo stood close, lest he be pushed out of sight by the crowd. “Rallied up as many people as possible last night and on the way, picked up the rest. Must’ve heard the commotion outside their doors and came along after getting the facts.”

The two took in the sight. There were some obvious doppelgängers in the crowd who, frankly, at this point, looked more like Jacob than he did. Sporadically amongst the fray, Jacob could spot some older versions of Maisie. There was one person who could be her split image, standing atop one of the lion statues and screaming up at the balcony to the missing royals. Their words couldn’t be heard, but their anger could. Jacob’s gaze moved from person to person, ally to ally, as he saw guards making their way through to different ‘Jacobs’, putting them in handcuffs and taking relentless beatings as they led them away. 

“They even took some kids earlier.” Someone said behind him. 

Jacob’s neck could have popped the way he doubletaked. He didn’t recognize them at first, those eyes, the shape of their nose, but altogether it just clicked. The guard he’d made the deal with. 

He took a step back, pulling Maisie behind him. 

“No, no, no, I’m not— it wasn’t me!” They assured. They weren’t in uniform, instead choosing to don a green tunic and grey bottoms tucked into ankle-high boots. “I mean, I don’t work for the Crown anymore. I was fired for, uhhh…incompetence..” They said with a look of embarrassment, their light brown cheeks gaining a dash of pink. 

Jacob’s eyes narrowed at the supposed ‘ex’-guard. There were enough people here for him to disappear into, but he was startled by the fact that he’s been so intimately recognized so quickly in his garb and even with his hair shaved. Had he gotten rid of his golden locks for nothing? Behind him, Maisie, too, studied them with apprehension. Until she saw the bruises on their arms, and the lack of weapons or armor beneath their clothes. The shoes, too, were old and worn; not fit for a guard looking to be both undercover and ready to put up a fight. 

“Jacob, I think they’re telling the truth.” She tugs on the cloth of his shirt, her brown eyes reaching his. 

He doesn’t look too convinced at first, but she was rarely wrong when it came to things like this. He trusted her. 

His shoulders relaxed, and the ex-guard’s body language followed soon after. “The queen replaced most of us, even those who’d been by her side for over a decade. These new guys, they’re only in it for the money. There was no getting through to them, and trust me, I tried. If I’d went any farther I’d’ve been tried for treason.”

Maisie lifted her hood tighter over her head. Beside her Sogo stood close, either to help hide her or to keep him from being pushed around by the rioters. They weren’t the only kids here, but that didn’t mean they were safe. It was easy to get lost.  

A sudden quiet took over the riot. The three of them looked around and saw that eyes were being drawn to one place. They turned and looked up, and there, on the balcony, stood a tall dark-skinned woman dressed in black. 

Sarah Sharpe.

Jacob had known her practically his whole life, had seen her be second in command to the Inevitable crew for over twenty years, but until then, she’d never looked so demanding. So brilliant. 

And when she spoke, people listened. 

Sarah Sharpe hadn’t been born in Three Bridges, hadn’t even grown up there, but she’d been there long enough to call it home, even if it weren’t with a capital H. She’d been raised by the waters, in so far as to call herself a type of ‘sea beast’. The sway of a ship was as familiar to her as her own breathing. She’d never believed she’d ever be attached to land, and for the most part, that’s still true. Even now, standing outside the throne room’s doors, looking out amongst the protestors from one hundred feet high, she felt no adoration for Three Bridges. 

But the people?

The ones who looked like Maisie, and in turn looked like her, and the ones who dressed as Fen, or had the same mustaches as Old Jim, and the Jacob impersonators, and even the man and daughter duo themselves… That’s what she cared about. Their freedom. Their justice. Her friends and comrades. Her crewmates, new and old. She’d watched Jacob grow from a young lad who didn’t even know how to tie his shoes into a grown man with more responsibility than his eleven year old self could have imagined. And as much as she teased him about it, he was a great father to Maisie; neither of them deserved this. And especially not because of a corrupt government. 

So she spoke to the royals. And then she spoke to the rioters. And she made sure that the both of them listened. 

It didn’t end the first day. Nay the second. When a week passed, Maisie and Jacob had already gotten used to sleeping on the earthen floor. When two weeks passed, the rioters had still not grown tired. When the crowd began to even out, they were replaced with even more, and again and again this happened. Those coming off of night shifts, those going into their day shifts. The thing about Three Bridges is that they’re dangerously loyal, and not necessarily to the Crown, but definitely to each other. They, like those on the Inevitable, grew up surrounded by the sea together. They had each other's backs. And Jacob Holland, hero of the history books, and Maisie Brumble, orphan of the Monarch, were both one of them. And so taverns got raided and some shut down during the protests. Houses got searched by the New Guard and people lost their jobs and got taken in. But they still fought. 

The Asquith family and teachers from the orphanage snuck them food and clothes and blankets, using these little hiding spots and homemade maps given to Maisie to find. Sometimes they were even able to sleep inside some closed shops or abandoned houses overnight if they were far from the New Guard’s known nightly rotation. 

The two sometimes snuck back into the city in disguise to check the state of things for themselves. It was always bustling. While certain establishments had shut down for the time being, there were those making money off of selling food and drink at the protests. There were already tents set up all around for people who stayed the night in the courtyard. It was obvious that the king and queen were tired, or atleast the guards were. It was literally impossible to arrest what seemed like the entire kingdom. At a certain point, they’d worn the pigs down enough that it was the Crown themselves asking to talk with Ms. Sharpe, their bespoke leader. 

Sarah found them later that same day, exactly two weeks after the riots began, to tell them that the queen wanted to come to an agreement with them.

“I don't trust it.” Jacob replied. 

“I don't either,” Sarah crossed her arms and took a few steps around the empty shed they had set as their meeting place on the outskirts of Guelston. “But them folks are tired, Jacob. They want to go home. This can only go on for so long without breaking down, and this may be the only chance ye’ve got to get on're good side.”

Maisie, who'd been standing in a corner listening with a sharp frown, kicked a bucket over. “I’m not scared of them. Bring ‘em all! I'm done hiding.”

Jacob put his hands on his hips as he swiveled his head towards her. “And just what do you think will happen when they've got us? Hm? You think they'll just let us go?”

“What is it we're doing now, Jacob?” Maisie snapped, motioning around to the rusty old shed around them. Jacob flinched. She said his name like an insult. She stood up straight and gave her most determined stare. “I'm not Rapunzel.”

Jacob stared at her for a long time, then sighed. He gave Sarah an exasperated look, but the woman only shrugged. 

They'd be on the road at daylight. 

Their hands were held behind their backs as they walked in. The guard said it was only a precaution, but Jacob could tell they felt a certain enjoyment at having Jacob Holland, big burly man of legend, under their grasp after months on the loose. He couldn't see her because she was walking behind him, but if they even so much as looked at Maisie wrong, he'd show them the consequences of not putting real gauntlets on him. His worries lessened only a little at the sound of his daughter blowing a raspberry at who he knew for a fact had to be one of the guards. 

The throne room was just how he last saw it: big, full of vanity, and soulless. A large tawny horn was mounted to the wall, and an entire skeleton hanging from the ceiling, and looking at it brought a pang of guilt that hit Jacob right where it hurts. The Crown, on the other hand, both looked terrible. Their eyes were sunken in, the queen's hair a mess despite its largeness, and the king looked like he was falling asleep in his chair. Green and gold surrounded them, painted on their walls and in their wallets, but they still weren’t happy.

Jacob and Maisie could hear the calling and shouting clearly even from up here. It must've been going like this nonstop for the past fortnight. No wonder they were ready to talk this out— even the deepest of sea creatures could probably hear the riot going on outside. 

There was silence as they all stared at one another, taking the other in. Sarah Sharpe must've been the only presentable one, having gotten a full night's rest and a bath. Jacob was growing a mussy beard and his scalp was growing hair at a snail's pace. His clothes were worn and dirty from sleeping on the ground, and he hadn't washed in two days since being to the spring by the cave. Maisie looked just as haggard, her hair a tangled mess underneath a scarf she'd been leant by a beautiful woman she recognized from the Inevitable named Kenyagi. Her clothes consisted of a once-white tunic and dark tights tucked into Sogo’s own climbing boots. She still had scratches from her trip through the forest weeks ago. 

All in all, they all looked bad. 

The Queen eyed them all tiredly. “Took you long enough,” She said, and rolled her hand in a flippant motion. The grasps around their wrists promptly disappeared. “The two of you are quite the wiggly catch, aren't you? We've wasted a lot of resources in looking for you two.”

“Sounds like a you problem,” Maisie muttered under her breath so that only Jacob could hear. He stopped a smile right before it could crack.

Obviously, neither royals had heard her. “You look like you've been through hell.” The Queen yawned. “Tea?”

Just as she said that, a small cart with a pitcher and three cups was rolled into the room from the door they came in through. The staff went from composed to incredibly nervous with just one look at Jacob and Maisie. Still, they poured each cup to full and offered one to all five of them. Maisie hesitantly took it by hand, while Jacob grabbed it without qualms. He'd seen all of their drinks be poured from the same pitcher, and the Queen and King had practically gulped down their tea as soon as they'd been handed it. Sarah took a sip right after, and so he followed her lead. Maisie wasn't feeling very thirsty, and thus only held the cup in hand until she could set it down again. 

The Queen let out a large huff as she set her cup down on the armrest without grace. “Alright, so, what are we going to do here?”

Maisie and Jacob both gulped, but it was Maisie’s whose voice reached out first. “You're going to let us go free.”

The King bursted out in laughter, “And why would we do that?”

“Cause you want this to end, right? Seems like the quickest and most efficient way to do that.”

“I do not appreciate you telling me what we want, child.” The Queen's voice settled into a growl.

Maisie stiffened. 

Heat rushed to Jacob's head, his frown arriving full force as anger rose to the surface. He opened his mouth to tell them just what kind of treason he could be put down for if she kept talking to Maisie like that when suddenly—

 “Apologize.”

The whole world seemed to come to a standstill. Maisie looked at Jacob and Jacob looked at Maisie, then they both looked at the Queen. Even Sarah was wide-eyed. 

“What?” Jacob must've misheard. 

Again, the Queen fluttered her wrist absently. “Rescind your statement. Tell the whole kingdom you were lying about our ancestry and set straight the sea beast debacle. And hunt for us again.” This, she said to Jacob. 

The man scoffed in disbelief. “No way—”

“WHAT lies?!” Maisie hollered at the same time. 

Guards murmured around the room, once again bringing air back into the room as well as the sounds of protesting going on outside. 

“Silence!” The King yelled, shutting everyone up. The man, rather large with long black hair falling down his shoulders, stood to his feet. His glare denounced his previous exhaustion. “You've made a fool of us long enough! We will take this ridicule no longer!” He pointed at Jacob. “We will not continue to be the laughing stock of the Five Isles!”

And then it clicked. Jacob's shoulders sagged. “This is about money.” 

Trade via horns and tails from sea beast hunting was one of Three Bridges’ primary sources of income. How hadn't he thought of that? The ‘memorabilia’ must've gone for thousands! He should be surprised, but he wasn't. 

“Does it matter?” The Queen suggested. “Certainly you're not earning a living doing whatever it is you're doing now. Hiding doesn't pay much, does it?”

“It's not about the money, it's about saving lives!” Maisie exclaimed, stepping forward. Jacob stood in front of her, putting an arm out to stop her. 

“Look, it's either that, or a cell for the rest of your lives.” The Queen had a glare as sharp as her cheekbones, enough to rival Sarah's. 

Outside, the crowd was roaring. 

Jacob didn't even have to think about it. “If it were just me, that'd be one thing. But Maisie is a child. She has so much to—”

Maisie screamed. “Jacob!” 

“No need to fret. If you don't want her aboard with you, then we can certainly find her a home while you're away,¨ The Queen said. “In regards to the Inevitable, I’m sure we can build you something just as—“

Jacob interrupted, “Excuse me? It seems I wasn’t very clear earlier.” He took a few steps forward, looking them square in their faces. “I’m not hunting anything for you. Ever. Again. The war is over. My answer is no.”

Her brows furrowed. “Are you rubbing? You’d give up your freedom…for a bunch of monsters?”

Jacob let in a long breath, and then let it out, opening his eyes and staring her dead in hers. “The answer..is no.”

She frowned. “Is that your true answer?”

He stared at her, his expression grave. 

She flipped her hand again. Maybe she had a bad wrist, Maisie thought. “Very well,” she said. “Guards.”

As the guards surrounding the entrance to the doorway began to step forward, (since when did all these guys get here? Maisie thought) a loud voice shouted out from the hallway: “WAIT!”

The doors to the throne room burst open. Sarah, whose weapons had been taken before she’d entered the throne room, had been reaching for her empty holder to defend her two Lost, but even she had to pause when she saw the plethora of people standing outside the doorway. 

Guards. Ex-guards, she had to remind herself, and a few dozens of doppelgängers that looked both like Maisie or Jacob(or what the two looked like a month ago) walked in and filled the room, to the distress of the New Guards guarding the other side of the door. Leading the charge in the front was a very old woman with olive-toned skin and a large, hanging nose. Her thin hair was long and a graying brown. 

Maisie and Jacob recognized her instantly. 

“Nana!” They exclaimed. 

“Nana!” Another voice exclaimed from behind them. Jacob blinked and glanced back, his eyes practically bursting out of his sockets at the man, the King, whose voice had uncharacteristically cracked at the sight of the older woman, his own eyes wide and his back straight where he stood.

Nana, who the two daughter and father had only heard speak in maybe five word sentences every few minutes on a good day, stepped forward, opened her mouth, and started spewing the most angry, unintelligible, harsh sounding chastising in a language they didn’t know with such intensity even Jacob had to put a hand over his heart. They stared aghast as she mouthed off, the King’s face melting in shame and sorrow the longer she went on, and he himself walked-ran over to her and spoke back in a pathetic voice in what had to be the same language. He grabbed her hands and practically bent to his knees to get to her level but she snatched her hands back and suddenly some of her words switched back to their own language. 

For the most part, all they could tell apart from the unfamiliar language was: children, yye máma, shame, let these poor kids go!

“But, auntie— ouch! I mean, Nana! You don’t understand!” The King switched back.

“It’s great aunt, to you! My sister and your mother would be ashamed! Do you not remember what I told you about—“ And once more she switched back into her unintelligible tirade. The King may as well have been a puddle on the floor. 

The Queen ran a hand down her face. “Not her again… Nana, this is our throne room, not a family dinner. Wouldn’t you rather argue over a nice, fine cup of tea?”

Nana’s anger turned towards her. “And you! You’ve poisoned my sweet boy’s brain with your—“

“Here she goes..” The Queen muttered. 

“—less than up-to-par tea!”

“Nana..!” The King moaned. 

The Brumble-Holland duo looked between the three with awkward confusion. 

“Wait, so, Nana is—?” Maisie started. 

“Yup. Seems so.” Jacob answered.

“And did you—?”

“Nope. No clue.”

The guards didn’t look sure what to do either. The doppelgängers, who altogether up close looked less and less like Maisie or Jacob, especially the Maisie’s who were definitely over their teen years, were chanting now: “Let! Them! Go! Let! Them! Go!” They were being held back by the guards but they hadn’t really moved any further in than some invisible line where Nana had once stood. Had she brought them? Had the old guards? Now that the real Jacob and Maisie were here, maybe they’d been allowed to be set free?

Out of all the frizzy black hair and buff white men, one person in particular stood out, and they called as they pushed through the fray, trying to get closer. Sogo, with their skinny father in tow, appeared out of the crowd. “Please let me through!”

They practically fell past the invisible line, and Maisie ran up to catch them. “Sogo! What are you—?”

“We couldn’t just stand by while you turned yourself in!” They said, standing up and gesturing to the old woman behind them arguing with the royals. “You know she’s in the history books? Was put in jail by her own brother in law fifty years ago! She’s the past queen’s sister!”

“What?!” Jacob and Maisie exclaimed, then looked at each other. 

“Yeah, but they got her name all wrong! It’s actually—“

The King's voice rose over the constant noise. “But Nana..!” He cried. 

Maisie turned back to Sogo. “Wait, you’ve been reading history books?”

A blush formed on Sogo’s cheeks. “I, uhh, yeah..? I, uh, thought you, thought..you were, that you liked them?”

The young girl blinked, her brain not cooperating with her heart, which was now begging it to let it burst out of her chest.

“I won’t hear it! Do as I say and let them go! Or I’ll make sure your history books tell the kinds of things you got up to at Maisie’s age.”

“No! Not the—“ He stopped himself, shutting his lips tight, his eyes wide with horror. 

Nana nodded. “Mhmm.”

Sarah shushed everyone, and the crowd went silent. They looked on in anticipation as the King debated with himself, his eyes glossing over his highly annoyed redheaded wife. 

“Don’t listen to her, you’re an adult, you don’t need to listen to her anymore—“

“Pssht!” Nana didn’t even have to look at her, all she had to do was just raise her hand and touch her fingers together. The Queen went quiet.

The King looked between the two and both of their sets of angry eyes. Maisie wasn’t even sure she’d actually even seen the old woman’s eyes before. They were always hidden behind her bangs. Finally, the King sighed. “Let them go.”

Dozens of Maisie’s and Jacob’s bursted out of the castle into the courtyard, cheering. Some jumped into the water as they went, many screaming that they were free, that the hunt was over for a second time. In their midst were the real Jacob Holland and Maisie Brumble, accompanied by Sarah Sharpe, Sogo Asquith, John Asquith, and the little blue creature he was holding, the Brumble-Holland pet Blue. The father and daughter run out into the sun and are lifted into the air by pale and dark skin alike, rags being thrown into the air in cheer and congratulations. 

The two look at each other, gladness in their eyes. Maisie was giggling. “We did it! We can finally live a normal life, Dad!”

And the older man’s heart stutters, and he smiles larger than he probably ever has. “I think it’d be more right to say Nana was the one that did it. And anyway, you think normal is boring!”

“Ha! Whatever!” She laughs and throws her arms around him. They’re quickly set back onto the ground, and Jacob lifts her up in his arms and twirls her around, laughing triumphantly himself. 

And this. This was the right time. “I love you, Gup.” He hugs her tight. 

She hugs him twice as tightly, her face warming in the sun. “Haha, I love you too, Dad.” 

And Blue jumps from John’s arms straight into Maisie’s, and they both squeeze him into the hug too.