As A Stranger Or A Friend?: The Swallow And The Drowned Sailor

Wilkes - 17 Morning Star, 1246 A.D.

"No, ugh...where are you going? Come back to bed." Fay whined as I got up.

"Doing my duty, sir. I finally have a prisoner to mind." I teased.

"Maybe I should have just killed the little rabbit then... How is it already so cold?" She complained tiredly.

I shook her sleepy arm off of me as she pouted, then watched as she pulled the blanket tightly over herself with a frown.

Seeing the fierce Captain Anara acting like a spoiled girl-child was amusing. Such an attitude was reserved for me and me only, which sometimes tempted me to do things she disapproved of so that I could be treated to it. Getting out of bed before her was a sure way to tease it out of her, especially if it was cold, but it wasn't so bad today, at least not for me. Though she preferred the suffocating heat of the tropics, so I supposed anything less than that might as well be freezing to her.

"Will we claim our reward for her?" I asked, "Twenty thousand dragons is quite the sum. That, along with a new ship and Mar-Dur's fortune, would make for quite the take."

"It would be, but I'm not so interested in that." She said as she buried her head into her pillow.

"And why not? I've never known you to shy away from gold." I asked.

It was somewhat surprising that she might say something like that, especially when she'd been complaining that there wasn't enough gold to go around.

"The sea is having the life choked out of it. Doesn't that bother you?" She said softly as she turned her head to look out the window.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I finished draping my silks on and sat on the edge of the bed.

"I'm the most powerful pirate in all of Oepus, am I not?"

"Yes." I replied with a confused frown.

Where was she going with all of this?

"And I'm struggling to keep my people fed and looked after. I am. Me. The great Fay Anara..." She sounded almost annoyed with herself, "What about the rest of us?"

"Us?"

"Other pirates. Morley, Walthorn, Cotton, Orfeo, Hayhurst, Anderton, Zelgius, the whole lot of them. If we're struggling, they must already be at the bottom of the brine." She said with a sigh.

"Since when do you care about them?" I replied

I was still unable to understand how she would be concerned about them in the first place. It wasn't like her.

"I don't, but you're missing the point, Wilkes." She said, sitting up now, "The sea, her docks, and ports belong to us. To pirates. Not to The Pale Kings or their stupid little knights. Every single kingdom and empire has clogged up what used to be open waters with their armadas just because they're afraid that The Pale Kings will lose it and decide to raze their lands and people to the ground. I don't give a damn about the people or who owns that pile of dirt or the other, but all of these toy boats in my waters are bad for business. And I'm tired of just sitting here and taking it."

"So then what is it that you want, hmm? Shall we go on a holy crusade?" I teased, picking her hand up to kiss her knuckles.

"Just find out what you can from Mother Frère. Figure out who took her." She quipped as she yanked her hand from mine.

"Is that all?" I asked more seriously.

"For now."

"For now—?!" I shivered as her smoke-like form passed through me, and she appeared in my lap.