The light from the window had faded as the sun started sliding behind the horizon. Eletheria stood trying to peer out of the window to pass the time. She couldn’t tell exactly which direction they were going, but they were not heading towards the sunset. From the shadows upon the waves, she guessed they were heading south. A groan behind her broke her reverie, and she turned around and sat on the chair. Ele reached a hand out to her friend Alexander and shook him a little.
“Lex, are you ok?” Ele asked, concern in her voice.
“Ugh, I feel like someone has been kicking me in the head,” Lex replied, his eyes closed and his right hand moving up towards his skull. Once his hand was there, he felt around and the bump and sticky residue of dried blood quickly brought him to awake. “What hit me?”
“We are not sure, but you have been out for a few hours,” Ele answered while looking at the door.
“Where are we? This isn’t the Flying Bucket, I can’t feel any waves. Did we get captured?”
“In a manner. The airship Red Sun saved us from the G’Aeris scout and their captain has offered us passage.”
“Ele, please tell me truthfully, are we prisoners?” Lex asked as he tried to sit up. Once he got about halfway, he thought against it and laid back down.
“I don’t think that we are prisoners. The captain says she is the wife of my brother Nicodemus.” Ele paused after she spoke to give Lex time to process.
“She… she… Nico is… how can that be?” Lex finally got out with the surprise still on his face. He stopped trying to say anything for a moment and took a deep breath. “Do you believe her?”
“I… think so. She called me Eel. No one has ever called me that except Nico when I was little,” Ele explained. “The only way she would have known that is either she knew Nico or she heard about a silly nickname I had when I was young and remembered it and happened to find our ship under attack in the sea.”
“Faex, that changes things.” Lex shook his head as if he still didn’t believe it. “Why would…”
A knock at the door interrupted them. Ele started to get up but Lex held up a hand and he swung his legs over to the edge of the bed. Then he stood up slowly, using a hand braced against the wall to steady himself and he walked over to the door of the cabin. Ele felt the hairs on her arm start to stand as Lex must have been gathering quan. Lex opened the door quickly with his left hand and had his right hand out ready to attack with. On the other side of the door, looking somewhat bored, stood Cesar. The look of Lex holding his hand out made Cesar take a step back.
“It is me!” Cesar said quickly, hoping to avoid getting a lightning bolt or something else thrown at him. Lex visibly relaxed once he saw it was Cesar. Cesar looked past Lex and towards Ele.
“Ma’am, did you not tell him the ship is friendly?” Cesar asked Ele.
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“I did, but we still must be cautious. What news do you bring, Cesar?” Ele asked while still sitting on the chair.
“Captain Bonnie wishes for both of you to attend supper with her,” Cesar announced.
“Faex, Ele, the pirate is inviting us to dinner.” Lex sighed as he said it, the tone of his voice taking an edge of sadness as if their situation could not get any worse.
“I’m sure we will get answers,” Ele replied as she struggled a little to stand. “Cesar, have your men been treated well?” Ele asked, Cesar immediately nodded. “Lex, let’s go. She has treated us well so far.” Ele told Lex. Cesar took a step to the side to allow Lex to pass.
Lex frowned and stiffly moved out of the room into the hallway and stopped a few paces from the door. Cesar took a step into the room and held out a stick in the direction of Ele. “Ma’am, we couldn’t find a replacement crutch, but we did find this cane.” As soon as Ele had a secure grasp of the cane, Lex moved back out into the hallway to wait for Ele. Using the cane and the crutch, Ele was able to exit the room. The three of them headed towards the forecastle of the ship where the Captain’s quarters were. A slight chuffing sound greeted Ele and replaced the rhythmic thumping as soon as she went up the stairs to the deck. On the deck Ele caught a few of Cesar’s men wandering around on the deck looking at the rigging and how the ship worked.
“A few may not get off when we get to port, Ma’am. She treats them well,” Cesar said in answer to Ele’s unspoken question as she gawked that Cesar’s men were not prisoners. Ele glanced upwards to look at the large balloon holding the ship aloft and saw it completely covered all view of the night sky as it was easily three times the size of the rest of the ship.
The captain’s quarters were much different than others Ele had seen. On a G’Aeris ship, so much of the ship was used for the lifters and wiring, and most of the rooms were small. On the Flying Bucket only the captain had an actual room to himself and even that was rather small and sparse. Captain Bonnie’s quarters were spacious enough that a table that could easily seat eight was set in the middle of it. At the table stood Captain Anne Bonnie and one of her sailors, who was carefully setting mugs on the table. To have a room for hosting people and dinner along with your bedroom seemed luxurious. Ele’s awe reduced a little once she realized this was the room with the bed which was folded up against a wall when not in use.
“My First mate and quartermaster also use this room as their office,” Anne said, as the awe on Ele’s face was obvious enough.
“Oh,” Ele replied, her voice a bit disappointed. “It is still pretty big.”
“It gets used a lot,” Anne replied, then she lifted a small pouch and threw it across the table so it landed with a ding and sound of paper rustling, at the chair across from her. “Before we begin, Eletheria, you must see these.” Lex moved towards the bag and then paused looking at Ele.
Ele waived a hand to dismiss Lex’s protectiveness. She got to the chair and sat down with a sigh of relief. Anne opened her mouth as if she was going to say something then immediately closed it. She then held a hand out towards the bag near Ele.
The bag was a simple cloth and leather messenger bag, the type every Windmaster or Windmistress got near their final year. When you started memorizing star charts and landmarks, you often needed a written version to compare your memory against. Ele had a bag just like this one, right down to the Zephyr engraving upon it. When Ele opened the bag, four pieces of paper and a ring were inside. She reached in and pulled out the papers and read them.
“My Dearest Anne, my love for you is like the downslope slowly pulling me towards you.
If I could…”
Ele skimmed through most of the first paper but went to the next piece of paper after looking at half of it. She set it aside, snagged another piece of paper, and reviewed it
“Anne, I fear my mother is suspicious. During my shore leave, she had arranged for me to dine with three different women, and she has repeatedly said, ‘Why won’t you find a nice G’Aeris lady to settle down with.”
Ele didn’t finish reading that letter either, as the idea of her mother causing Nico and Ty’s death was just too much. She could dismiss some things, thinking her mother was just obeying her aunt, but if this had happened before, it was just too much to bear right now. She grabbed one of the two remaining letters and looked at it.
“To my love, I worry I will not have the courage to ask you when I see you. Take my ring as proof of my love and my commitment to wed thee once I am able to escape this city and see you again.”
The ring that was in the pouch was Nicodemus’s personal seal. At the bottom of the letter was the Zephyr seal, taunting Ele with a history that countered her beliefs. Ele didn’t have the strength to review the last letter. The ring, seal, and vow of betrothal were enough for her. She placed the letters and the ring back into the pouch and slid it across back towards Anne.
“So, I have another sister,” Ele said, loud enough that both Lex and Cesar could easily hear as they sat a few chairs away from Ele in case the letters were of a private matter.
“Aye, and you have a nephew,” Anne replied, and dinner was brought out and set on the table. Drinks were filled, but no one spoke as Ele and Lex were stunned into silence by this revelation.
-The End