For Ransom

Chapter 23: Alexandria

Soraya

"Here's the list." She pressed a scrap of paper into Remus' chest. It nearly slipped from his long fingers for he had barely finished chugging his morning glass of water and was rubbing away the stomachache.

"What's this for?"

"Just a list of supplies I want you and Tom to get. Weapons, food, other inventory." She counted the last of her coins in the palm of her hand, wrinkling her nose at the tangy scent of rusting metal. Her supply was running low. One more stop and she would've run out of money. However, luck had been on her side this time around.

"What about you? I thought I was coming with you." The worry widening the prince's ruby eyes warmed her to the core. It wasn't domineering nor patronizing, it was the genuine concern of a friend.

"Someone is eager." She threw on her jacket and ran all the final checks as Tom pulled the ship into the harbor. Stove off. Water off.

"It's just I've always accompanied you on these trips into the cities." Alright, maybe he was getting a little bit overbearing.

"Alexandria is different from the places you're used to. It's a lot wealthier and the citizens are well-educated and therefore it is much less dangerous. I have some business I must attend to and I thought I would bring Masika along today instead of you. Isn't that right?" Soraya tried to nudge the woman, but Masika reciprocated none of her cordiality. She had barely spoken to any of them over the past week, only coming out of her quarters to eat her rations, which she guarded like a starved animal.

"Oh. Okay." Soraya wasn't sure if the prince was disappointed by her response, but he didn't seem to mind after him and Tom had struck up a rather heated conversation about whether fish eyes tasted good or not. She chuckled to herself. Was this what it was like to have a family? She decided that she liked the feeling. Really liked it.

"Are you excited?" She asked her shipwright, who was fidgeting with her jacket zipper.

"I'm a bit scared," She mumbled. Delight filled Soraya at the sound of her voice, higher-pitched than expected and quite adorable. Masika was lovely beneath the grimy exterior they had found her in, with her rich, ebony skin that seemed to dazzle under the sunlight and her thoughtful eyes that never stopped observing. The woman was keen, but reserved, calculating but notably diffident. Soraya saw it in the way she listened to every word of their conversations, occasionally scribbling down notes on a scrap of paper, but never speaking up, as if she was unsure of herself. Perhaps she found talking to be a waste of energy, much rather spending it on aerodynamics and whatever complicated formulas she was always studying. Either way, Soraya enjoyed the fascinating clash of personality traits in Masika.

"So you do talk!" They had all bet money that she was mute, but it seemed she might just not be used to the kindness of strangers. Soraya didn't blame her. In the conditions that she had been living in, it was likely that the only strangers she had run into had attempted to kill her.

"I do. I'm not mute like you all think." There was unceremonious bluntness in the way she uttered her words, emotionless and logical. Still, the woman didn't make eye contact with Soraya once while she was speaking. It was progress nonetheless.

"You should talk more. I'm sorry we had to meet the way we did. I promise you you will be able to build your aircraft, but let's be friends in the meantime." Soraya raised her knuckle in a fist bump and was relieved to see the woman smile slightly as she returned it.

"Be back here by three' o'clock today. " Tom nodded at her. She turned to Remus, who was already jumping in place from excitement, the agitation to leave clear in his darting eyes.