The Rookie Pirates (Parts 1-6)

10. Azalea Flint

The waves lapped against the hull of the dark-wooded ship. The surf splashed up onto the deck and sprayed into the face of the infamous Pirate Lord Zachary Flint, captain of the Flint Pirates. The captain stood at the bow looking out over the vast blue ocean and the dark shadow loomed beneath the ship, following the vessel wherever it went.

His crimson red hair whipped in the wind, his usually cheerful face solemn and unsettled. His thoughts trapped deep in his mind, his thumb unconsciously rubbed the honey gold locket grasped in his hand, tracing the bee engraved into the rare ore.

He looked down at the locket in his hand and continuously clicked it open and shut it again, repeating the process until he finally left it open and looked at the two pictures. A small smile formed on his lips as his thumb traced over the image of the ten-year-old girl with crimson red hair just like his own and a cheerful grin on her bright face.

He missed his daughter a lot. He hadn't seen her in over seven years. She was a lot like him except for her eyes; she had what he presumed to be her mother's eyes.

He looked over the other picture, his thumb tracing over the beautiful woman with long, raven hair, honey-gold eyes, and bronze skin, a soft smile on her delicate features. He guessed she was the mother of his child, but for the life of him, he could not remember her.

His brows knitted together, confused by the deep feeling of heaviness in his heart. He felt guilty that he couldn't remember this woman.

Who was she?

What was her name?

Why couldn't he remember her but could remember his daughter?

There was no doubt about it when looking at her features: the woman was from the Honey Tribe Kingdom, so she would have to have been named after a flower or a plant, just like his daughter, who was called Azalea. It was a tradition in their culture to be named after a flower, he had chosen the name Azalea for his daughter. He wondered what beautiful name the woman had.

He clamped the locket shut and looked back out to sea. There was something wrong; he could feel it. He had felt it for a long time now, but he didn't know what it was that made him - dare he say it - nervous.

Maybe it was the recent events throughout Aqua that made him feel like this. With Mad Man Levon's victory against the now ex-Pirate Lord Madame Cheng and the Pirate King's errand boy Logan the Nomad on the run from King Mordred's Sea Dog Sir Francis Drake, it made the seas feel uneasy. It wasn't just him; everyone in his crew could feel the calm before the storm.

War was coming, and the outcome of that war would change the world for better or for worse, but the results would still be the same: there would be a shift in power amongst the seas, and it was his duty as a father to make sure his family was out of harm's way.

That had to be the nervous feeling he felt. He was scared his family would get harmed. Maybe it was time to give them another visit and make sure they were safe.

"A joule for your thoughts."

A gold coin flicked in front of the captain's bronze eyes, and he caught it with a smile. He looked over his shoulder behind him, his gaze meeting that of his first mate, Bart Roberts, who sat on the wooden railing of the deck with an unopened bottle of rum in one hand and a cigar in the other.

Bart was an older gentleman with long, greying brown hair and kind grey eyes. Freckles covered his pale skin from too many hours spent sitting out in the sun, and a never-ending smile was plastered across his face. He always wore the same outfit every day: a pair of brown leggings, leather boots, and a flowery shirt that changed colour each day. He wore a green sash around his middle with a flask of rum tucked into it, as well as a small dagger. He was Zachary's most trusted friend, and he valued his opinion.