A Princess, a Knight, and an Assassin Walk Into a Tavern...

Princess Tollincia Porquet Magrettien Haugell the 3rd

Princess Tollincia Porquet Magrettien Haugell the 3rd (or 'Tollie' as she is called by her siblings), 12th child of 22 born to His Majesty Estevan the Eternal, Ruler on High of Kievan (a vast coastal kingdom in which lies many great towns...and some not so great ones, like Port Town) - possessing no great beauty, talent, or intelligence (so far as her parents and their Court were concerned anyways), and being only a middle child at that (of which there were plenty), was practically invisible to absolutely everyone.
Everyone except Riek, that is.
And Riek...was missing!
As brother closest to her in age, and least annoying of the other choices, she and Riek had done everything together. Well, everything a prince and princess can get away with doing inside the castle walls, that is, as neither of them had ever been allowed beyond such.
Not until about six months ago, when Riek had finally convinced their mother and father to allow him to join the Navy for his mandatory military service years.
Oh, if only she had been a boy! Then she could have gone with him as he traveled the world, and saw new things, and met new people! Or even if she could have been lucky enough to have been like Commander Duhningham.

Now that was a lady who had done things and gone places!
But instead, she'd had to be content with Riek's letters, of which there were plenty, he knowing how desperately lonely and bored she was without him.
Then, quite suddenly, his letters had stopped, though no one but herself was concerned at the time.

Well, not until the ship he had been on finally came back into port...without him.
No one seemed to know what exactly had happened to him, or when exactly he had disappeared - everyone assuming he had fallen overboard some night when no one was around.
Everyone except Tollie, that is.
Her brother was not careless, he was not a fool, and he was not a drunk; nor had they experienced especially difficult weather or waters.

He had not simply fallen overboard.

Something had happened to him. Something might even still be happening to him right now!
But of course, no one believed her.

And at his bodiless funeral, she shed tears of frustration instead of grief. The frustration churning in her until it became all consuming, until she knew, even with the limited amount of experience her 19yrs of being a sheltered princess allotted her, that she had to either do something about it, or die from it.
But what could she do?

She poured over his letters, searching for something, anything, that stood out, even remotely, her eyes falling one night on a line in his very last letter which read:

'...Chased down and boarded by Captain West, which seems an ironic sort of name for a pirate captain to have, but who am I to question? Anyways – you never know with West see, 'cause sometimes he works for hire for the king...but sometimes not. Still, he didn't attack, so Captain let him board. They talked for a time in the Captain's quarters, then he left.

What in the world they talked of, I guess I'll never know. Being Prince around here really doesn't do anything for me as far as sway goes. But I will tell you that when we came to port later that evening, Captain West's crew was there too! And frankly, I found them to be quite an enjoyable lot...for Pirates...'
Captain West.

He was the key, he had to be!

What were he and Riek's Captain talking about anyways? And why were they docked at the same port that evening? Coincidence?

She thought not.
She had to find this Captain West. She had to find her brother.
Knowing, without even having to ask, that no one would help her with this, or allow her to do it herself - Tollie realized she was on her own.

Luckily, being the 12th of 22, and practically invisible to everyone, she should have no problem running away.

Honestly wondering if anyone would even notice she was gone.
That fateful night, or rather, that fateful 'wee hours of the early morn', she looked into her mirror one last time, taking in the plain, but not uncomely, features.

Though it was true that it would have been nice if her figure had decided to progress beyond that of a fifteen year old, a little more curve to her womanly frame would have been desirable, it was still slim and lovely in its way.

At times, she even imagined herself pretty. Not beautiful by any means, but pretty - with her large eyes, fair freckle-sprinkled skin, and long chestnut hair...Her hair!

No one but royalty and the very wealthy could afford the extravagance of maintaining this kind lock-age!

It would have to go; and the velvety dresses, and the cloth footwear.
Before her rush of adrenaline could pitter out, she snuck through the darkened halls of the castle and quickly into Riek's room, shutting and latching the door behind her.

It took her moments only to track down trousers, tunic, and boots; though admittedly it took a few more moments, sitting with his hunting knife to the top of her braid, counting down from three...and then again...and then one more time, before finally psyching up to slicing off her braid, which fell to the floor with a sickening thud.
What had she done?
What she had to! She told herself in his mirror, trying on a strong looking sort of expression.
She wasn't so much of a fool that she thought, for one second, that she could pull off being a guy. She didn't even know how to pull off being a girl! Well, a regular, non-princess, one anyway.

But she would at least look like a human who was a little more prepared for what she was about to face.
Whatever that may be.

Which is how she found herself, that next evening, standing in the doorway of an inn in Port Town, clutching an old Wanted Poster of Captain West, that she had come across as a 14yr old and saved to moon over.

A very embarrassing fact that she was ignoring right now, while comparing its image to the inhabitants of the tavern area, and breathing through her mouth. Grateful that she had on Riek's solid boots, as she was pretty sure that was dried vomit over in that corner behind the table there...