RAGING STORM ❦ PIRATE! DENMARK[✔]

02

"So you drag me here and then you tie me up?" You growled, glaring daggers into your savior-err, kidnapper.

"Well, I can't have you clawing my eyes out whenever you feel like it, havfrue."

"What does that mean?! Stop smirking at me, stupid!" You clenched your teeth in frustration. The ship was rolling softly on the clear, blue waves. Your back ached as you were tied to a tall, wooden pole. Rope dug into your skin, but the pirate in front of you showed that he had no cares about that whatsoever. You stopped mumbling profanities and stared right into his eyes, seriously.

"Why am I here?" You asked, a quieter tone.

His expression faltered, and he sighed.

"I guess I owe you an explanation, huh? Well, I'm looking for a treasure. I need an astronomer to help me." He said.

"You dragged me here for some dumb treasure hunt? How greedy are you? If I was a pirate, I would spend my time sailing the seas and learning more about the ocean. Instead, you filthy beings are only concerned about treasure and riches." You huffed.

Matthias looked away, and his eyes clouded with a different expression. You couldn't read him. Was it sadness? Anger?

He covered it up and looked at you again, smiling gallantly.

"You certainly have biased opinions about us, Miss. We're greedy and we're rude and we loot and kill, right? We only care about ourselves. Well, you're absolutely right. But what's also right is that I saved you from the hands of death, so as far as I'm concerned, you're in my debt." He said.

He could have been a lawyer. You mentally groaned.

"Captain. Night is falling." A voice startled you out of your thoughts, and you saw another blonde man standing next to Matthias. His eyes were a soulless purple, and his platinum hair bore a small, single curl and cross hairpins.

He was right-the sun was setting fast, and Matthias untied your ropes. You gasped in amazement.

The sky was stunning.

Miles and miles of glimmering stars dotted the ombre navy sky. You made out constellations, planets, certain stars with names. You could stand here and watch the moving sky forever, with the sound of the gentle ocean waves and the sweet, Summer breeze...

"The treasure is called the Axe of Avalon."

"Wait! The Axe of Avalon? I've heard of it..." You suddenly perked up, and mentally went through all those notes that you took on the ocean.

Matthias looked at you patiently, waiting for you to get ahold of it.

"The Axe of Avalon... It's an axe named after the fierce mermaid warrior of the Sea, Avalon. They called her "The Raging Storm." She was killed for treason... Although I don't know what she did. During her battle days, her best weapon was an axe, and when she was wielding this axe, nobody had any chance against her. It was a promised death."

Matthias cocked his head.

"The Axe was named after a mermaid?" He asked.

"Yeah... Do you not know anything about it but it's name?" You asked.

"I know that whoever finds it can bring someone back to life." He said.

You paled a little bit, immediately feeling guilty. There you were, telling him that he was greedy and selfish when all along he wasn't looking for money.

"I-I'm sorry. You probably have a g-good reason for finding that. I won't be so quick to judge agai-"

"Hey. It's fine, I understand. I get it." Matthias said firmly, and his kind eyes looked into yours. He turned around and looked out to the ocean. Constellations reflected in his big, blue eyes. His jawline was extremely sharp and clenched in determination.

You looked away quickly, feeling very conflicted and slightly irritated with your own emotions. You felt comforted. You weren't supposed to feel that. Although you were in Matthias's debt, you had to remember you were helping a pirate.

"Do you know how to find it?" He asked. You nodded, furrowing your eyebrows and looking up into the sky.

"There's a certain constellation- 'The Mermaid Warrior.' It's Avalon. They say that although she was executed for treason, her spirit was sent to the sky as honor for all the enemies she had slain. Her tail always points to the Axe of Avalon."

You scanned the sky, but saw no traces of the Avalon's constellation.

"Tonight, I need to gather the coordinates of the stars. I already know most of them by heart, but I still need to do a bit of work. I have to work quickly as the stars are shifting every hour. After I find every single star's coordinate, I can determine approximately when and where the stars of the Avalon constellation will come out, and then we can sail to those coordinates and find her tail. The star on the tip of her tail is named Sirena Polaris. When I find the latitude and longitude of that star, we'll be good to go.

You turned to Matthias to make sure he was following, but was staring dumbly at you with wide, amazed eyes.

"You're... Really smart..." He said, still staring at you with astonishment. You blushed slightly and looked away. Nobody had ever called you that. The only thing they saw of your intelligence was witchcraft.

"Thank you. Nobody's really ever... Praised me on that. Even though I've spent years studying." You looked at your dress, fiddling with the lace shyly.

"Really? I guess those people are just scared of what you could do to them with that kind of knowledge." He said, shrugging.

"I wouldn't do anything like that to anyone."

"I believe you. Hey, who taught you all of this? Your parents?" He said, and his eyebrows furrowed a bit.

"My mother and father are dead. A short time after I was born-a year, I think- my mother was taken away to a neighboring land for the witch trials. She was executed for witchcraft before she had a chance to teach me anything, but she left me this notebook." You held up the notebook.

The cover was a plain, worn out brown. The pages inside were slightly yellow from time. A thin rope inside served as the bookmark. On the front, there were indentations of constellations. The inside held many years of your mother's life spent taking notes and learning.

"This is the only thing I have from my mother. She left it to me, trusting that I would keep it safe. I think she knew that like her, I would also have an deeper interest in science. The stars, the tide, and time-it's all connected."

"Your father?" Matthias asked quickly.

"He vanished shortly after I was born. I grew up an orphan, living out my 15 years of life in a small orphanage. I had to hide my notebook and studies, or they would kill me off. I wasn't adopted, unwanted because I was too plain. When I turned 15, I was legally allowed to leave. I saved up enough money to buy my own cottage next to the beach, and from there, I was able to continue my studies. It was absolutely perfect- the opportunity of being able to live so close to the beach!" You said, eyes sparkling.

Matthias's heart swelled a little. What a tough life you had up till now-and yet, you were strong and resilient. There was one other thing that made him feel funny... You were just like him. He had no parents, and his interest for the ocean rose from something his father left him-this ship.

"You are anything but plain." He stated without thinking, then blushed a little bit and turned away. Your cheeks reddened.

"Thank you Captain," You mumbled. "I'll be getting to work now."

Matthias nodded, quick and curtly, and walked away. He decided it was best to not break your train of thought, although he wished he could watch you work. It was fascinating, the way you did everything so swiftly and intelligently.

"She's definitely an interesting one." He said to himself when he reached his Captain's quarters.

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