The Dark Maiden

Chapter 2

Lilli and Carmen stopped in front of a boat, with the words The Dark Maiden scrawled on the front in large loopy letters. It was a very large boat, with aged wooden boards. It was as if it was out of a story book; it looked to be a pirate ship, the ones that Carmen had seen in history books as a child. She remembered pouring over them, tracing the lines of the brightly colored pictures with her little fingers until the image faded.

"This is your boat?" Carmen asked with disbelief bleeding through her voice. "It's more like a pirate ship."

Lilli chuckled. "I suppose it is." She looked at Carmen, and with a mischievous grin, spoke. "This is The Dark Maiden."

The head of a dark haired boy popped up into view. "Mother?"

Lilli smiled- actually smiled, Carmen observed. It wasn't manipulative or fake. It was genuine. A sliver of happiness and even pride was shown on her face as she looked upon the boy. She was proud of him and his accomplishments, whatever they were. "Hello Sidian."

"Are you back from your errand? Have you finished?" The boy- Sidian- asked.

Lilli chuckled. "I have, darling. Let us climb up."

His eyes traveled to rest on Carmen and he paused. "Who have you brought with you, mother?"

Lilli looked at me as well. "A friend, darling. Her name is Carmen."

"Is she the girl that you came to see?"

Lilli nodded. "Yes, Sidi. Now let us climb up. I'm sure your father will want to see us. I'll introduce you when we're up there."

"Yes mother." Sidian nodded, and prepared to throw down a ladder for them to climb up aboard the ship. Within a few minutes Carmen was on the uppermost deck of the ship, and Sidian was pulling the ladder back up onto the ship and folding it up and placing it in a heap. Now that she had a chance to look at him, she noticed he had a pale complexion and very dark hair. His eyes were a grey blue color, and were quite striking. Carmen hadn't ever seen eyes that color before. She imagined that he got his coloring from his father, but could see Lilli in him in the gracefulness of his movements. His every move had intent and he didn't seem to stumble.

"Where's your father, Sidi?"

"He's in the office with Joei and Izzria." Sidian explained. "They're going over the maps."

"Why aren't you with him?" Lilli questioned. "Shouldn't you be going over the maps with him?"

"I already studied them all with father last night. I wanted to stay out here to wait for you to come back." Sidian exclaimed. He began walking towards the cabin of the ship, where Carmen imagined his father, younger brother and sister were working. "We also went over astronomy and using it to navigate by sea. Father wants me to keep up with my lessons."

"Of course he does." Lilli replied. "Your father values your education highly."

There was a sort of bitterness in the way she said those words, but Sidian didn't seem to notice. If he did, he ignored it. "This way."

They followed him into the cabin, which had only a few windows and was illuminated mostly by candlelight. A man with the same hair, complexion and eye color as Sidian was pouring over an assortment of maps spread all over a desk haphazardly. His son really was the spitting image of his father.

He wore a dark pair of pants, a button down shirt and suspenders. It was if he was from another time, and would have seemed out of place in the real world, but he fit right in on the ship.

On his left side and on his right side were two children; both had heads of golden blonde hair and more colored complexions than both the man and Lilli. They were just as Lilli described them. They each had skin that was a light golden color, just a shade darker than their parents'. The little girl- who clearly looked to be about eleven- had golden ringlets and big dark green eyes, the same shade as her mother's. The little boy had dark blue eyes; neither the shade of his father's nor that of his mother's, and Carmen found that a bit strange.