"They're whaaaaa?!" Captain Archibell said, his tan skin paling in the sunlight. "My parents are dead?"

"Our parents...Not that you've spent much time with them…" the admiral squawked with anger, "Are gone. I just received word from our family butler of their passing."

"But how…?" the captain gasped. He was in too much shock to cry.

"Since you're with us, you scurvy dog" the admiral said, "I figure we should visit the house together."

Everyone followed in complete silence. Elise's mind flooded with questions. She didn't even get to meet the Archibells' parents and now, they were already gone. What had become of them?

A seaside manor stood erected on the edge of town. The house, placed on a windy ocean precipice was vibrant, with violet paint and white shutters. There were several window turrets, a stained glass, astronomy tower and most bafflingly, a crow's nest complete with a cobalt cannon. Elise couldn't take her eyes off the wooden balcony ammended to the rest of the building.

"Archie…" Elise squeaked. "Why does your house have a crow's nest?"

"Because," a proud and slightly haughty voice said, "This was the home of the eccentric if legendary Cross-Eyed Crow."

Elise looked back at the ground and was nearly knocked off her feet by the bizarre and marvelous creature that stood before her. It was a creature standing up right on two legs, but his hands were paws. An eagle head with ruffled brown feathers stuck out of a brown turtleneck. "Henrik the Griff," the creature said with a bow."At your service. I've served these knockabouts with dignity since these two were wee eaglets."

Suddenly, the Griff began to choke and before anyone could ask if he was okay, he hacked up a hairy pellet. He closed his eyes in a snooty manner. "Relative dignity."

"Is it true, Henrik?!" the captain cried. "Are they really passed over?"

"The prodical bird returns to the crow's nest!" Henrik said, a scalding look in his yellow eye. "Unfortunately, yes."

The Captain's lip trembled. "How?"

"I will let my master's words dictate your emotions," the stern griff said and he lead them into the Archibell manor.

The foyer was truly a sight to behold for young Elise. The antique wall was bedecked in paintings of similar tan skinned men and women who bore a similar resemblance to the captain and admiral. Traveling up the central staircase to the master bedroom, they were met with giant, watercolor painting of a brown skinned man with a messy mop of frizzy hair and a pink and white admiral suit. He looked remarkably similar to the admiral, but with a slight lazy eye. Next to him was a noble woman sporting curled hair and a purple corset and dress. Her eyebrows were thick and she had a wide, slightly uneven grin. "Master and madam's abode," Henrik said, and he opened the doors to the master bedroom. "I'll let you be alone with them."

The two Archibells headed inside and Elise went to follow them, but Henrik cut her off. "I believe this is between the masters and their parents, not a small orange child," he said, but the captain gave a sad smile.

"Let her come, Henrik," the captain said, his voice tender, "She is my first mate after all."

Henrik stepped aside as Elise, the captain and the admiral entered the darkened bedroom. The only thing that brightened the widened room was a small lantern on the side of a king sized bed. There was an enormous trunk on the bed. Placed upon the wooden trunk was a a piece of parchment.

Elise's heart jumped when she saw the trunk. What was in that trunk? She hoped it wasn't the bodies of their parents. The admiral, brash as always barelled past Elise and the captain and grabbed the note. "My dearest son," he read aloud, "if you are reading this, than your mom and I have passed away from the dreaded ghostblight."

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"Oh no," Elise said with her hands to her cheeks. There was a palable look of sadness on the captain's face.

"We have departed onto the seas of eternity and while we don't know when this devastating news will reach you, we hope you do not despair when it does..."

"Scallop's law," the captain said, "I already am."

"As a final parting gift, we leave you with all of my inheritance, including a truly sunken treasure the world hasn't seen since it was exhumed. Perhaps this artifact will restore peace and harmony to the raging sea once again"

The admiral's eyes reached all the way to the bottom of page. "Fare thee well with great love, your father and mother."

Both brothers took a second to pause with their hands folded. For brothers so different in occupation, Elise observed, they were remarkably similar in grieving.

At last, the admiral said, "May the greatest sea admiral of all time…"

"And the best wife and mother ever," the captain added.

"May they both rest their soul," both said in unison. "And sail into infinitsea!"

They paused again, so remarkably in sync until the captain approached the trunk. "Shall we?" the admiral asked.

"Yes…" the captain said. "Though I have hunch on what it might be."

They opened the box together and the room was enraptured in a glowing golden light. "I was right," Captain Jonas Archibell smirked and before his brother knew it, he had smacked the sea admiral in the back of the head and he crumbled to the ground.

"What are you doing?!" Elise screamed, but the captain shushed her. He removed what looked like a golden bar from the box. "Know what this is freckles?!"

"No…" Elise said, and suddenly her golden triploon glowed on her neck. "She sells sea shells!" she gasped. "Not only did we find a piece of the Trident of Triumph...but…"

"You have a piece as well!" the captain said.

"But why did you…?" Elise asked quietly.

"You really want something of this power falling into the military's hands?!" the captain said. "Last thing we need is Dingsworth getting ahold of this."

"You're right," Elise said, but she frowned. "That wasn't nice to do to your brother "

"Eh," the captain said with a shrug of his shoulders. "We knock heads all the time. Only this time I knocked his head harder!"

Elise shook her head. "At least, put him in the bed so he's cozy."

"Freckles," Captain Archibell sighed. "You are one dainty pirate."

Together, the two helped the admiral into bed. Much to Elise's relief, he snored loudly and obnoxiously.

"Happy now, Freckles?!" Archibell demanded.

"Yes," Elise said with a happy head bob.

"I'm still smarting from my parents," the captain said, and placed the golden trident in his rear pocket.

Elise offered her best consolation by placing her hand in his hands as they walked out of the master bedroom

Immediately, they were accosted by the proud Henrik the Griff. "Where is your brother, good sir?"

"Ah...he…" the Captain said.

"Wanted some alone time!" Elise peeped up. "He's really really sad."

"As we all are," the gryphon butler responded drolly.

"And uh…" Archibell said, shifting his eyes to his companions. "I think we should leave him very alone right now."

Sincirce, Tony and Tito all eyed Archibell suspiciously, but they needed his words. Together, they said goodbye to Henrik and departed the manor.

"Ok…cap'm," Tony barked from Sincirce's hands. "Yer acting weirder than someone with a live trout in their pants."

"I can assure," the good captain said, sweating nervously. "I have no such trout in my pants."

"That can be arranged," Sincirce said, waving Tony by his tail. "if you don't tell us what happened!"

The captain blew out. "Ok, so my parents died of ghostblight--may the sea king watch over them-- and my father left us his rarest treasure..."

Sincirce, Tito and Tony all chimed in.

"A lifetime pass to the Wet Side Story play?" Tony asked.

"Mr. Twitchy's Itchy Prank powder?!" Tito smiled.

"Is it a cucumber or a carrot?" Sincirce asked, pushing two fingers together.

"You guys are the worst guessers in the world," Archibell said. "It was a piece of the Trident of Triumph. And uhh...we have one problem…"

"What?!" the three of them asked in unison.

"I kind of knocked out my brother--the head of the naval army--to get it away from him so uh...it's probably good if we run soon."

"Ah why didn't you tell us that sooner," Tony smiled before roaring, "Everyone...run for yer lives!!!"