"Where's Tito going?" Elise asked innocently.

Astrid gazed away sadly. "He's probably going to the secret spot where him and his father used to go--The castaway peninsula. They always used that spot to get away from the village."

"What happened to his father?" Elise asked with precocious innocence.

Astrid removed her glasses to dab at her eyes and the elder gave them an even more miserable frown.

"He...passed...in the rite of passage…" she said and immediately, the three pirates offered very sympathetic looks to the Kolama family.

"I'm sorry I asked," Elise whimpered, but Archibell put his hand on her shoulder.

"You didn't know, Freckles," the good captain said

"The lout is right….for once…" Astrid said. "But you can see why Tito doesn't take his duties lightly."

Everyone was silent, but Elise piped up. "Let's go find Tito and comfort him! Where is this peninsula?"

"It's at the far end of the village," Astrid said. "I hope you can get there in time. I have a bad feeling about Rotten's threats."

They turned to go, but Archibell faced Astrid. "Are you coming, momma docta?

Astrid donned her reflective glasses. "I'm not. I'm afraid I'll only make things worse…"

"Why?" Elise said. "Wouldn't he want his mommy to be with him?"

Astrid closed her eyes. "For the longest time, I wasn't there for him. I was off getting my PhD on Institute Island and sailing across the sea in a traveling hospital ship. It was ghost blight that made me return to this island, but I'm afraid Tito has never forgiven me."

Elise, Archibell and Tony all gave affirmative head nods.

A small smile spread across the doctor's face. "Besides, who is better to talk to him, his boring ol' mum or his zany pirate friends?"

"You got that right," Archibell laughed and twirled his finger around his ear. "We are the zaniest!"

Astrid smirked. "I can tell by your lack of pants."

Elise, Tony and Archibell said goodbye to Astrid, the elder, and Javier and ran as fast as they could to the small peninsula overlooking the village. A few ships had gathered in the bay with hideous skull and cross bones flags. The skulls were elongated with massive chins. The pirate ships floated ominously, waiting to dock.

Sure enough, reclining on one of the bent palm trees was a dejected Tito. He looked out into the shining blue with a sad face befitting of someone older. "Tito!" Elise cried, causing the young boy to look back. The three pirates hustled to where he was, but unfortunately, their presence only made him clam up more.

"Go away!" he said.

The way his bangs of curly hair fell in his face when he pouted only made him cuter to Elise, but she couldn't let that distract her.

"We know why you don't wanna do the trial," she said kindly, but Tito crossed his arms and turned his head away

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"What's it to ya?!" he said, holding back his tears

"Well," Elise said, looking at Archibell and Tony. "We don't think you hafta live up to your elder's wishes if you don't wanna."

Tito immediately shot a glance back in disbelief. Elise gave a rosy cheeked smile. "Nobody should hafta do anything they don't wanna."

"B-but," Tito stammered. "It's my heritage. It's in my bloodline…"

Archibell cackled like a bird. "My father is a moderately wealthy aristocrat...but do ya think all I want to do is sip fruit juice and eat fancy cheeses all day in my manor? Nope. I took to the seas and charted the destination in my heart!"

"And…" Tony added in his gruff voice. "I was once a man, but now I'm a fish. Anything is possible!"

Tito raised an eyebrow over Tony's words. "You actually want to be a fish?"

"Nope…" Tony said with a congested sob. "But otherwise, that defeats my metaphor, pally!"

Tito shook his head. "But you don't realize...all these years of tradition and…"

"For the sake of the Sea King, kid," Archibell squawked. "It's the ninth century, even your tribe is questioning their gods, you should question your crappy role too…"

Tito was completely silent, but the way he closed his eyes and furrowed his browl indicated that he was deep in thought.

"I support ya, shrimp scampi!" Archibell said with a thumbs up.

"Me too...pally…" Tony gave a toothless smile.

"Me three!" Elise exclaimed, "You can be anything you wanna be. Look at me, I wanted to be a pirate and here I am!"

Tito kept his eyes closed, but a fourth voice came from behind them. It was a slightly stern, womanly voice. "I agree with them, Tito!"

Tito opened his eyes and Elise and her friends turned around. Standing in her grass skirt and doctor's coat was Astrid. "Mom!" Tito exclaimed.

But as soon as he saw her, he turned his face away from her. “What do you want?” he demanded.

“Seems somebody,” Archibell said, winking at Astrid. “Wants in on our bootylicious pirate friendship pact.”

“I’ll save the bootylicious part for you,” Astrid said, as Archibell covered his bare butt.

She crouched on Tito’s level, but he still refused to meet her gaze. “I heard everything that your pirate friends said back there. And I want you to know that you’ve got my full support too. We can tell your grandpa that you don’t want to be the leader of our tribe. We will find someone else.”

Tito kicked a nearby seashell. “It’s easy for you to say, mom,” his voice surprisingly teary. “Dad passed when you were gone. And you didn’t even visit, you only sent us a stupid letter.”

Astrid shook her head, her long hair shuffling in the breeze. “I know. I couldn’t leave my post…but I wanted to. Sometimes…we can’t have what we desire most.”

“I can’t believe you’d choose your sucky job over us!” Tito cried, and tears streamed down his face. He continued to look away from his mother and there was hatred in his watering eyes.

Elise moved to comfort him, but Archibell held her back. Astrid watched her son cry, and she found herself crying too.

“I know I can never make this up to you…or to our tribe…” Astrid said, her eyes downcast, “but I want you to know that when I heard our village caught ghost blight, I couldn’t stay away anymore. My first thought was you, Tito. I couldn’t bear losing you, and that’s why I’m here now.”

Tito continued to look away, until Astrid stifled a helpless cry of “Tito, I love you!”

She grabbed him in a tight hug. Tito, at first, was caught off guard, and he let out a startled yelp. But as the sobbing woman continued to hug him, his resistance wore down, and he slowly moved into a hug himself.

“Please don’t ever leave us…mom…” Tito begged. “I don’t want to lose another parent.”

“Now that I’ve come back here,” Astrid sobbed. “You can bet your life I won’t leave again! That’s a promise!”

Suddenly, a loud sniffing followed by a croak came from behind them and Elise and Archibell turned to Tony. The trio of pirates all had tears in their eyes, and Tony said to Archibell, “Can I have a hug, you big lug?”

Archibell wiped away his tears, but they continued to flow. “Your manly captain never cries or hugs… but…”—he quickly squeezed Tony so his eyes bulged—"This one is going off record in the sea-logs.”

“Don’t forget me,” Elise added, squeezing the fish-man too.

Both groups of people continued to hug in a truly wholesome moment until they were interrupted by the erupting sound of cannon fire.