Seren was on the landing of Picotree Drop, hanging up a small load of laundry, when Vachlan flew down in front of her.

“There’s a ship heading our way. Did we want to hail them?”

“A ship?” Seren looked away from the shirt she was putting over the clothesline. “Nothing else about it that’ll help us figure out who it belongs to?”

“It’s larger, compared to ours.”

“Not too hard to achieve that,” laughed Seren, Vachlan joining in on the laughter.

“I saw one person at the wheel, two more in the rafters, and it has the belly to hold at least twenty more. No flags, and nothing painted across the wood where a name might be.”

“So, no idea of who they might be.” Seren flipped a skirt up to the line and frowned. “I don’t like that. Captain Juji was friendly, but we don’t know this new ship’s intentions. Any sail colors? If it’s red, I have an idea of whose faction we’ve run into.”

“Completely white. Patched a few times, but they remained the same color even in those areas.”

Seren cocked her head to the side. “Pirates?”

“Most likely not?” Vachlan shrugged at that. “But they could be. I thought I remembered reading that pirates had to fly a certain color flag, though? Or symbol?”

“Yet another thing I’ll have to look up somewhere,” Seren muttered under her breath. “How far are they from us?”

“I saw them first and tried to be sneaky, but they noticed me; I saw one of them pointing at my section of the clouds. They’re going faster than we are, so they might have an air master on board—”

“That’s something I just recently read about—air masters aren’t allowed to manipulate air anymore, because of how badly they screwed up air currents after the Night Sky War, but it sounds as if they have more power than we do, which means we’ll not be outrunning them soon.” She sucked a breath in. “Better to meet and greet them than have them think we’re the pirates.”

“What does a ship do when there’s another ship that wants to talk to them?”

Seren tried to remember everything that had happened when she’d met Captain Juji, and had been invited aboard the Crimson Sky.

“We’ll shout out to each other, and usually the bigger ship will invite the other one’s captain to it. I’ve only been to one though, so I’m not sure if that was just the easiest thing for us to do, or if there are rules and manners to encounters.”

She turned around, snagged the laundry basket, and made for the door. “I’ve got to let Rive know. We’ll probably need to slow down for a bit, maybe even stop the propeller.”

With Vachlan following her, Seren ducked inside and stuck her head down the trapdoor. “Rive! We’re about to have company!”

“Awesome!” Rive ambled into view, holding a wrench with one hand and a screwdriver with the other. “With how much you talk about the ship you met before Viadora, it’ll be cool to experience it ourselves.”

“Vachlan said they’re catching up to us rather quickly. If we stop the engine now, we should have our meeting in about five minutes.”

“Sounds good to me.” They nodded. “You might want to look a little better than your ‘laundry day best,’ captain.”

She stuck out a tongue at them even though they couldn’t see it, grabbed a clean dress which she’d dried yesterday, and started to change. She stopped when the shirt was halfway up her torso. “Um. A little privacy, if you don’t mind.“

“Done,” said Rive, turning and heading back. “Gotta turn the propeller off if we’re going to meet guests.”

“I’m looking at the books,” said Vachlan, “not you.”

Seren took what she could get in the small ship and hurriedly changed. She was in the middle of buttoning the shirt when a large voice boomed out, “Ahoy, the Captain!”

It was familiar. Too familiar. And she’d never heard it say those three little words before, but by luck and fate she’d heard that voice say so much more. Go to bed. Eat your vegetables. Play safe. I love you. Stop fighting over rules we can’t change.

Seren felt the blood drain from her face. No. It couldn’t be. She spun to Vachlan, skirt buttons forgotten.

“Go outside,” she choked out, “and ask who’s calling on us. Mention that you’re the navigator of the Raintide Faction, and this ship is the Picotree Drop if you need to, but make sure you get their name and don’t say mine!”

“Okay...?” The beastkin gave her a strange look, but started making her way outside.

“And don’t say where your captain is right now, I need to talk to Rive!” She flung herself into the open hold to the engine room and whisper-yelled for Rive, harsh echoes of her breathing bouncing off the walls to surround her.

“Rive! Rive, I need you!”

They came sprinting up the tunnel, wiping their hands with a dirty rag and watching her with a wary, worried look. “I heard you, I heard you, calm down. What’s wrong?”

“There’s a ship approaching.” Seren heard her voice trembling, echoing. “When they called out, I...I recognized the voice!”

“The only other ship you know is the Crimson Sky with Captain Juji,” they said, cocking their head to the side, “but that wouldn’t be anything to send you down here screaming.”

She put a finger over her lips. “It’s my dad!”

Rive snorted. “Your dad. Right. What would he be doing on a ship?”

“Looking for me, what else would he be doing?!” She dashed away tears without noting the fact she was crying. That sickening feeling of tightness in her stomach, though, she couldn't feel anything beyond that and it would take hours to go away. “He’s going to take me away, force you to go back home, return Vachlan to Azmar—”

“No, he’s not,” said Rive, cutting her off.

“I can’t go back, not now, not ever!”

“Give me a second to think about this. And come here, you need a hug.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

She almost knocked them over with how hard she threw herself at them. They patted her head, rubbed her back, and whispered that everything was going to be okay. After a few seconds, they pulled away and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead.

“I know you probably need more, but let’s talk about what we’re going to do,” he whispered. Seren groaned, wanting nothing more than for this whole thing to be a nightmare, but eventually nodded.

“First, we need to determine if this actually is your dad, which means either getting you onto their ship, or them landing on our ship.”

“No! It’s too dangerous, they’ll know.”

“They’ll never know if they come over here and you stay in the engineer tunnel. I won’t let them find the trapdoor, and if they somehow find it, I swear they won’t be opening it.” They snapped their fingers. “In fact, I’ll put the rug over it and they’ll never notice. You’ll be safe down here, and you’ll be able to listen to the conversation if you stay near the door.”

“I’m going to give myself away, they’ll find me—”

“How?” asked Rive, crouching a little to look her straight in the eyes. “You’re not going to say anything. Your breathing isn’t noticeable, and I’m going to be controlling the conversation. You’ll be fine. And I’ll make sure Vach knows what’s going on, so she doesn’t give the game away either.”

It was getting slightly easier to take deep breaths. Seren managed a sickly smile and whispered a thank you to her first mate.

“Not a problem. Stay down here and keep an ear out.” Rive ruffled her hair once again, then went up the ladder, closing the door and leaving her in darkness. That was okay, though. It was a soothing feeling, not a claustrophobic one, knowing that she was the only one down here. A blanket of comfort, security against the bad things that were out in the world.

Her breathing still sounded harsh as it bounced off the walls, so she concentrated on smoothing it out. Breathing in, and out, and in, and out. It was working. She could ignore the idea that her father and dad were going to come aboard…until there was a heavy thud.

That was someone jumping down onto the landing pad, her brain helpfully informed her. Then there were slow footsteps at the door. She clasped her hands together tight enough that several of her bones popped.

“As I was saying,” she heard Rive offer. “I’m the captain of this ship. Can I offer you some tea?”

“I’d murder for a cup of anything fruity, but I can’t stay long.”

Seren felt her eyes widen, and as a precaution, she put her hands over her mouth. That was absolutely her dad, no question about it!

“Do you know another Captain Serri? Or have you met a young woman named Seren? My daughter’s been missing for several days already, and the longer it becomes, the more I’m worried about her.”

“I don’t know another captain by that name.” Rive’s reply was slow, as if they were pondering the question and seriously thinking about it. “And I’ve met no one named ‘Seren.’ If we’re heading in different directions, though, I’d be happy to spread the word for you.”

Oooh, smart Rive!

“My husband and I are going to Wavemeet. He needs urgent medical attention.”

What?! Seren froze, the words replaying in her mind. Her father was injured? How? Charmers were the least likely people to be hurt since it was easy to charm another person to forget about their intent. Unless the attacker was shielded, or enraged.

“Oh? And you’re stopping by to parley with us?” Rive’s voice switched from surprise to indifference. “Can’t be too much of an emergency, then.”

If it had been her father talking with Rive, a hand would have been placed on their shoulder and every single bit of information sought after, with no stone or secret left unturned as retribution for the snub. Her dad, on the other hand, was probably standing much straighter than he had been before, but that would be his only visible reaction to Rive’s comment.

“That was another question I had. Do you have a healer on board?” Her dad’s voice was rough, Seren noticed, as if he’d been crying for hours. “I can pay them whatever they want; our healer needs a break. She’s keeping my husband’s wound from spreading, but her energy will not last much longer.”

There was a moment of silence, and Seren pictured Rive wishing they’d been less glib about their earlier remark.

“I’m sorry. There’s me and my navigator, Vach, and neither one of us knows any sort of healing.” Rive paused. “What wound does he have that’s spreading? That sounds like lockjaw to me.”

“Lockjaw?”

“I’m my own engineer, so I’m more familiar with those types of injuries than any others.”

“Ah. No, nothing like that.” He let out a sigh, and Seren could see him tugging on his beard. “They attacked us in our house and the intruders had something smeared on their blades. I’d better head back. Thank you for your time.”

Someone had attacked them on the island? Seren couldn’t imagine why? Did they want sheep? Cows? There had to be more to the story than that, but it wasn’t like she could pop out and accuse her dad of lying. Well, she could, but taking a beach walk during a hurricane would be a much better idea.

When the steps headed toward the door, she let out a tiny sigh of relief. They stopped just as she finished and she could feel her blood thrum. He heard her. That was the only reason—he’d heard her!

“Are those your books?”

That... wasn’t the question she’d thought he’d ask.

“On the shelf?” Rive’s voice was a bit off kilter, but he answered the question. “Yes. Why?”

“When my daughter ran away, she took a few of her favorite books with her. Tides of the Heart is one that she and my husband could quote to each other, and you! You have it sitting right here!”

Seren pulled away from the trapdoor and bit her tongue. Damn it! She should have just taken food! ...Oh no, the laundry!? Was he going to notice her clothes as well?!

“I’m sorry,” drawled Rive, regaining her attention, “but you might notice that there are several books. Not to mention the table. And the bed. They’re great for bargaining and trading, so we collect them when we can.”

“You found these? Where?”

Seren tightened the hands around her mouth and shook her head at the same time. Her thoughts were screaming at Rive not to mention any place they’d actually been or anyone they’d met up with before.

“We’ve traded with three different partners recently, but the most recent was Wavemeet. There are several small booksellers that we met with in the city, and I’m uncertain I remember which one of those books came from.”

“Thank the elements!” There was relief in his voice that made her want to cry. “We were going there for medical treatment, anyway; hopefully we’ll be able to find Serri.”

There was another step, and Seren allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Wait,” said Rive, and the feeling of wanting to murder them rose high and strong. Why, she wanted to scream out. Why, in the name of everything in the universe, are you keeping him here? Let him go, get him off the ship. The longer he stays, the more likely it is he’s going to sniff me out!

“A question of my own, if I may, before you go.”

No! Stop it! What are you thinking?!

“Why do you think your daughter ran away?”

Seren froze. What was Rive doing? And judging by the lack of an answer on her dad’s part, she would guess that he was standing still, too.

“Well?” Rive’s voice took on a harder tone. “Or is this something I should have asked before I told you where we found the books you think are hers?”

“I...” He cleared his throat. “We were too… Too strict. And I know she wanted more than what we allowed her to do. I just hope this... flight got it all out of her system.”

“What’ll you do once you find her?”

“Take her home.” Seren could imagine the scene clearly, her dad with his saddest expression on and shrugging right now. “Talk to her. What else can we do?”

“You and your husband would speak with her? Or punish her?”

“We have…this is… Both, honestly,” she heard her dad say. “She doesn’t understand why running away is so dangerous, but even if there’s punishment for disobeying us, we still love her.”

“I see,” responded Rive, their voice low. “I hope you find her in Wavemeet then. And the best healing for your husband.”

Seren waited to hear what else they would say, but there was nothing. Still, she didn’t move from where she was hiding. Either Rive or Vachlan would come by to tell her when it was okay to get out.

Her mind chewed over everything she’d learned, and it was leaving her with more questions than answers. Who had attacked the island? Why? They were the only family that lived there, and nothing was valuable enough for other people to want to steal.

And one of them had poisoned her father. Was that normal in battles? She didn’t think so, but Vachlan wouldn’t know any more than her...maybe Rive?

The door opened, and she flinched away, even though she’d been expecting it. A hand reached out of the darkness. She grabbed it.

“They’re gone,” Rive said. “And it looks like we need to find a new port.”