The Journey Around The World, In Order To Save Spring

Reunion

Oh cool. Things like this always happened ever since Amaruq started his journey. He was in the middle of being half-willingly interrogated by an accomplished pirate captain when he found out the pirate was, in fact, the long lost cousin of his friend, Taggak. Or was it the other way around? Er... Taggak was the long lost cousin of Captain Blackfur? First cousin, once removed? Yeah, that sounded right. Honestly, Amaruq should really not be that surprised anymore. He's learned so much mind-boggling trivia he had never learnt before. Giant squids exist, giant birds exist, zombies exist, the world was once not ruled by wolves and was given a hard reset. What was he trying to say again?

Whatever. Let him focus on the here and now. "What. The f*ck," Taggak managed to utter. His mind was reeling. He had been raised in an unfamiliar pack by its alpha, not knowing any living relatives ever... and now fate had decided to introduce him to his cousin? He wished the gods wouldn't toy with his feelings like this. It was almost too much to handle. The only time he had ever felt close enough to having relatives is when he accidentally called Inuksuk 'dad' once. And that had been really embarrassing. "So it be. Ye and I are cousins," the pirate said. Now what were they supposed to do? They were trapped on this ship with Taggak's not-very-morally-inclined cousin.

"Cut their ropes and set these landlubbers free," Blackfur ordered. His men were taken aback. "But, Cap'n-" one objected. "No buts! Or do I have to expect a mutiny?" The captain asked. "No, sir! Definitely not!" The previous pirate said as three of the men cut the trio free. Amaruq rubbed his wrists. They were kind of sore from the bristly rope. Ow. Captain Blackfur offered a hand to Taggak, who stared at it before accepting and being pulled up. After collecting his thoughts, Taggak shook hands with the older man. Then the captain proceeded to do the same with Amaruq and Atsuguk who introduced themselves. "I'm Amaruq. I'm told I was named after an Inuit god," the alien related. "I'm Atsuguk. It means 'think highly of'," the youngest of the bunch explained.

"Ye three have quite interesting monikers. As ye heard, I'm Captain Blackfur. Tis not my real name, but treat it like it be," the pirate officially introduced himself. Hmm... why wouldn't he tell them his real names. Maybe he didn't like it. Whatever, who was he to judge? Certainly not his mom or something like that. "What shall we do now, Cap'n?" One of the crew asked. "Now... we shall have a feast! To celebrate the reappearance of my long lost cousin!" The captain loudly proclaimed, to the cheers of everyone around. Except the trio. They were just confused.

So a feast was arranged on the ship, and everyone was invited. There was an array of dishes from roast sucklings and ducks to pudding and rum. The trio were the only ones present who had plain water... That Ice had conjured up, because apparently pirate ships don't have a supply of fresh drinkable water. They did not want to get intoxicated after Amaruq had told them of the effects alcohol had. "Why haven't ye touched yer rum? Tis five o'clock somewhere," he tried to tell his cousin. "Uhh... no thanks, sir," Taggak dissuaded him. "Arrr! No need for such formalities! This be yer uncle, after all," Blackfur said affectionately.

"Oh, uh... No thanks, akkak," he corrected. "Pardon?" The captain asked which made Amaruq think he did not understand Inuktitut. "It means uncle in Inuktitut," Taggak transliterated. "Just uncle will do. Savvy?" Blackfur waved off. "Yes. Uncle," Taggak nodded in affirmation. This was slightly awkward for him, having a blood relative for the first time. The feast continued for a few hours, until everyone was absolutely plastered and had gone back to their quarters. Blackfur invited his cousin to stay in his captain's quarters, above deck. He had a spare bed for when he cracked Jenny's teacup. Amaruq didn't think that was the right phrase for it, but then again the man was inebriated.

However, he didn't let the other two in and cast them out. Taggak gave an unapologetic face as they waved each other goodnight. Maybe his muzzle was just not very good at conveying emotions. Nonetheless, the two friends went below deck into an empty room much like the one on the previous ship and took out their furs. Their former kidnappers had returned their belongings to them earlier. Before they went to sleep, Amaruq decided to tell his friend something. "I have a bad feeling about that Blackfur guy," he voiced his suspicions. The room was pitch black but he knew Atsuguk was listening.

"I don't know... maybe he's a nice pirate? At least, to his family?" Atsuguk tried to reason. Pirates weren't really nice. "That's the problem. He said that he killed everyone of his family, because only he could be called 'Blackfur' or whatever. Including Taggak's mom and dad," Amaruq insinuated. It didn't make sense. Why would he suddenly not want to kill his dark-furred relative? What's stopping him now? "Well... all we can do now is wait and see, I guess," he concluded. "I guess..." Atsuguk echoed. And with that, they fell into troubled sleep, with only the bright reflected light of Igaluk as their witness.

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The next day, the two kept an eye on the infamous pirate. Making sure he didn't try any funny business. But so far, the English wolf showed no indication of doing so. He spent the day with his cousin, showing him the ropes around La Concorde. That was the original name of the ship. Amaruq didn't know of its new name but he didn't care for it. Pirates always rename ships they took over. The captain even taught Taggak how to man the ship, guiding his hands on the helm of the frigate. Amaruq would've thought it was sweet if he wasn't so suspicious of him.

But he had no evidence to prove him evil. Just a gut feeling. He even used his watch to become Ghostfreak and spy on the man, to no avail. Maybe the captain really was kind (to them) and there was no reason to be worried. He could actually be a good guy. But no. There was always a reason to be afraid of a criminally-inclined person. And Amaruq believed, if at first you don't succeed, try and try again. Things were not always what they seem. Which was why he used Ghostfreak more than one time. He still failed every single time, but it was fine. There would be more opportunities to prove his guilt.