ѕуԃηєу ηαтιση: вσσк тняєє

Chapter Nineteen

"Well, we meet again, I see." Hugo smirked, and shot Urchin a flirty glance, which she glared at him for.

The group met Hugo at his usual spot on the docks, next to his tiny shop market full of different fish assortments. He seemed pretty proud of it, since they caught him introducing other girls to his shop, but the girls didn't take the bait and they shunned him away, which made Urchin laugh. He had one oar in his hand and he was sitting on a barrel, wearing nothing but brown drawstring pants and a cotton white shirt. Along with his spiral straw hat, of course.

"We need your help again." Ember said hastily, ignoring Fawn's attempts to calm him down with her hand on his shoulder. "We need to catch a ship that took Glory."

"Who's Glory again?" Hugo asked.

Urchin facepalmed herself. "The Moonshadow Elf, you idiot! We need to catch up to a ship and get Glory back, it's a rescue mission!"

"Cool off, Sweet Pea, I got it." Hugo smiled, "I can try to help, but what with there being so many of you, I can only give you two options. A. you can find another larger vessel to take you, and faster. Or B. I can only take a few of you while the rest stay here. And frankly, I'm not so sure that a whole lot of other men here will want to take a band of Elves across the ocean."

"Fine, Ember and I will go, the rest stay here." Urchin folded her arms decidedly, meaning it was out of the question to argue, so the rest of the group just nodded.

"You sure you can handle it, Sunshine?" Hugo asked, straightening his hat.

"Oh, I think that if I can manage murdering you in your sleep when this is over, that I can handle being cooped up in your puny boat." Urchin smirked at him, and Ember chuckled silently.

"At this point, who knows the ways of love, and where it goes?" Peril said, shaking her head. 'so when can I expect my invite to the wedding?"

"Shut your mouth, Perks." Urchin snapped, and led Ember down the dock towards Hugo's boat.

The small thing was mostly made of wood and held several oars under the back seat. It looked like it was in need of patching up, otherwise it would let in a few squirts of water and sink to the bottom of the sea. Urchin huffed in extreme concentration, it took everything she had not to lecture the poor, young sailor on his lack of know-how. Hugo joined them at the end of the dock and let Ember get in first, then he helped Urchin in, and he waved goodbye to the girls and Raven before he hopped in too.

"Don't die!" Peril yelled, cupping her hands over her mouth like a megaphone.

Urchin groaned in annoyance and Ember snickered. Hugo leaned down under his seat to grab an oar, and he set it in the water beside the boat and started paddling. It took a few seconds to actually get out of the docks line of area and out into the bay, and Urchin was so impatient with their slow pace that she took matters into her own hands and dove off the side of the canoe and into the water.

Hugo watched after her as she went, although Ember knew it was rather normal behavior for Urchin, so he didn't worry. And as soon as Urchin disappeared from sight, and her skin met the water's surface, her body shifted from it's normal brown color to extreme amounts of blue and green colors, like scales on a fish. She looked quite beautiful now, maybe more so than before, now that the water had given her a totally different appearance that she loved. The water may have turned out to be cold from the winter before, but it was quite warm and neutral for her, since her body was used to such an environment. She swam through the water down from where she had been and hovered just behind the back of the canoe, where Hugo was. She rested her palms on the wood of the boat, closed her eyes, and focused.