' A memory so far away had been growing nearer throughout the evening. Of a young, strong-willed girl chasing after her playmate on the decks of a ship. A long-haired pirate child with no parents, and laughter that filled her days with joy. They would lay awake gazing at the stars on a ship churning up and down across clear-colored waters, the boy telling stories of worlds beyond, filling Floria with imagination. "You've made that up, Jackie," she'd tease. He'd shrug, his eyes brown full of the reflected light of the stars overhead, smiling at her. "Maybe, but that's nothing compared to the adventures we'll have, Floria." The little boy had been dancing his way across her memory that evening, and she knew, unmistakably, that here, some fifteen years later, was Jackie. Her childhood friend that would guide her back to the sea. ' (a tad of smut, violence, some mental health issues-- warnings are provided.)