Stepping out of the portal after entering it mere moments earlier, Kala covers her eyes, attempting to adjust to the bright light.

“Hehehe. WEEEEEEE. It tickles! AGAIN!!” screams Punkin, as she steps out of the black mirror port while holding her stomach from laughter.

Sitting on a crate nearby, La Gateau purrs in amusement, “Hmm. Pupu, maybe you should have been a cat. Porting is natural to you. Much like Cer. Is that your first time? Most people get sick.”

“It is her first time. I have a feeling it won’t be her last,” chimes Kala as she squints to examine and process where they have just ported. A boat? He ported us to a boat?”

“I wanna go again!!!” yells Punkin as she runs towards La Gateau.

Jumping out of the way, and barely avoiding getting bum rushed by Punkin, La Gateau hisses, “Whoah, I’m delicate. Be careful. You may want to calm down and stay quiet, or they’ll hear us.”

Ducking to avoid detection, Punkin looks around frantically and whispers, “Who?”

Now noticing the mist surrounding the ship they had ported onto, Kala turns to La Gateau with accusational surprise, “La Gateau… DID YOU TAKE US TO THE GHOST SHIP?”

“Wha…what? GHOSTS??? Like Arwyn’s ghosts? WOOOO!! MORE FRIENDS!!!” screams Punkin as she jumps up and looks around for floating cloaks.

“Well, it is the only place outside of Haeven that the demons won’t actually go right?” La Gateau shrugs in a defensively coy tone.

Sighing, Kala rolls up her sleeve to prepare her prayer bead bracelet should any demons attack, “Dear lord…We don’t know anything about The Ghost Ship or if it’s even safe to be here. How do you even know the demons won’t come here? Did you even get permi…”

Interrupting Kala mid-sentence, a bright voice greets them with curiosity and command, “HEY STOWAWAYS! WHO ARE YOU AND HOW DID YOU GET ON MY VESSEL?”

Searching to determine where the voice emanates from, Kala provides a confident yet wary response, hoping not to offend their unintentional host, “We come from The Apiary. Sorry for the intrusion, but we had an emergency and needed to port here for safety.”

Feeling the gusts of ocean air carrying a distinct smell of flowers and honey, Kala’s awareness of her situation grows. Kala grasps the taffrail near her and reaches for Punkin to secure Punkin from going overboard, realizing that they are traveling at great speeds through a mysterious mist with limited vision.

Looking around, Kala tunes in keenly to discern several other ships traveling in close proximity alongside the one Kala, Punkin, and La Gateau are on. Without any trace of a visible crew in sight, each ship continues traveling at great speeds within the mist with its own strong gusts of wind propelling them forward.

“Who said it would be safe for you here?” snides the bright voice.

As a ship passes the stern of Kala’s ship, a small wolf with iridescent fur jumps off the starboard side of its ship and lands in front of La Gateau and snarls.

Unphased by the snarling surprise, La Gateau waves at the wolf with his paw to pacify the wolf. “Relax. I’m not going to take your food again.”

As another ship approaches their stern through the mist, Kala recognizes a familiar figure standing on its bow and calls out, “EVE?!?!?! Is that you? It’s me Kala-lily!”

With excitement, the young woman, dressed in pirate-like attire, jumps off her ship with gusto and grace, landing in front of Kala and embracing her, “Awesome, it’s just you! Around these parts, they call me Madame Eve, Captain of the Valkyrie and The Wake of the Unferried. So, it’s Madame to you. So, Apiary huh? You bring honey with you?”

Chuckling with disbelief, Kala ignores Eve’s question and chides, “Huh… I have never heard anyone ever call you that. You are captain of the ghost ship? Since when?”

“Like I said, only around these parts. So… you got the goods or not?” sneers Eve playfully.

“Yeah, about that, I don’t have a cat box on me. So, no honey here. Since you are a pirate captain now, do we need to request safe quarter or something?”

“Not really. I am not a pirate. My crew could care less. Except Belle. La Gateau has to stop eating Belle’s food. As for you, if you got no goods, then what good are you anyway?” scoffs Eve.

“Since when did our value depend on what we have to offer?” Kala sneers as she steps back to look Eve up and down in appreciation of her pirate-like attire.

With a cunning smile, Eve corrects Kala, “I never said you aren’t valued. You just aren’t any good if you don’t got what I need.”

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“Sometimes we are so fixated on what we think we need, that we don’t see what opportunities are in front of us,” Kala responds jokingly with wisdom.

“Spoken like a true survivalist,” laughs Eve as she brushes off Kala’s remarks.

With intrigue at how Eve could amass a fleet, Kala asks curiously, “So The Valkyrie is the name of the ghost ship? Are all these part of your fleet?”

Continuing to scoff and brag, Eve provides Kala with a gleeful correction, “Welcome to The Valkyrie, or what the plebeian’s call, ‘The Ghost Ship.’ First off, The Valkyrie isn’t a ship, it’s the entire armada! Secondly, we only show one ship at a time and the rest hide in this mystic mist. That’s why plebs think it's a single Ghost Ship. We, the countless vessels, are The ‘Ghostship.’ The mist is thinning out and it is getting harder to hide. That is why we need more honey. ”

“Where’s the rest of the crew? Are they hiding? Why do you have to hide if you have an armada?”

Seemingly bored from the conversation, La Gateau yawns and lets out a “Nya.”

Disappearing, La Gateau appears near Eve, attempting to smack her face with his paw.

Jumping back, Eve lands onto another passing ship. As soon as her feet touch the ship’s deck, flying blades of various shapes and sizes manifest out of thin air, floating and pointing directly at La Gateau. “Nice try, La Gateau. If you want to keep visiting and hiding with us, you have to stop trying to slap me.”

Yawning and porting back to his crate, La Gateau compliments Eve coyly while laying back down and chuckling as if observing innocently, “Still quick on your twinkle toes! I see new blades in your collection.”

With a wave of Eve’s hand, the blades sheath into invisible entities, disappearing from sight as if they were never there. “This is my crew. I ferry the dead and harbor the countless unferried souls as my crew. They agree to heed my commands, and I agree to serve the restless sea. We are thieves of time and space, stealing moments of living from life after death.”

“Ooooh MAGIC!! PEW PEW” screams Punkin while raising her hands in front of her and pretending to shoot magic out of her fingers.

“I hate poetic talk. This energetic one and the mean one are all yours, Eve. I’m going to rest in your cabin so I can port home. Belle, the little one can hear you, so no funny business and secrets. I may come back with some honey if I’m in a good mood,” purrs La Gateau before yawning one last time and disappearing as quickly as he did before. .

“So who is the halfing?” Eve asks gleefully as she bends down to wave to Punkin.

Looking intently at Eve’s face to study her reaction, Kala introduces Punkin. “This is Punkin Metta Boon, Cer and Claira’s kid.”

“Don’t call me that! I don’t like it. I’m Pupu” yells Punkin, as she scolds Kala while waving her fingers, pretending to summon magic on Kala’s transgressions.

Briefly pausing her breath, but catching her own surprise, Eve offers a smile to Punkin and Kala, trying to hide her excitement and curiosity. “Pleasure to meet you Pupu. So an enlightened witch and an eclipsed bewitched huh? You got some special parents there dontcha? That makes you a very special little… girl. Where is Claira anyway? I miss her.”

Looking down sadly, Punkin points at her chest and responds, “Mommy left us. She is s'posed to be in here, but I can’t see her. Daddy is gone too. We need to go home. So daddy can find us?”

“Funny you should mention it. All this talk of home. You aren't the only stowaways I found looking for a way home. All the living, now with my vessels that ferry the dead. We should have some fun. ” Eve chuckles warmly.

Whistling softly, Eve gives Belle inaudible commands, “Don’t worry, Belle won’t bite. She is our quartermaster. Come, come now. Follow Belle, and you’ll rest up. There are some things I have to tend to on The Valkyrie. It is a hard life, being a leader.”

Raising her hands as she walks, Eve commands her invisible crew of souls to draw planks between ships for Punkin and Kala to cross as they follow Belle.

As they cross the decks of various ships following Belle, they hear Eve’s gleeful and aloof gait disappear into the mist, jumping from ship to ship and seemingly talking to herself.

Stepping into regular strides from deck to deck as the ships ebb and flow like a living maze, Kala and Punkin take notice of the different trimmings and decorations adorning each ship.

The ships seem to emanate with a brilliant but subtle glow of energy to them as they continue to sail swiftly through the ocean of the Open See.

Kala, having an affinity for all things luxurious and beautiful, takes extra notice of the craftsmanship of the ships. Noticeably incomparable to any other craftsmanship known to Kala, a feeling of peace and a sense of awe and wonder wash over Kala’s demeanor as she continues to follow Belle from ship to ship, almost enchanted by the beauty of this journey.

Finally arriving on a ship with a large cabin, Belle nudges the door open and rumbles for Punkin and Kala to go in.

Stepping into Eve’s quarters, Punkin and Kala see La Gateau sleeping on Eve’s captain chair, and both chuckle at the sight of La Gateau seeming at peace.

Without warning, the door behind them eases shut.

Punkin and Kala look at each other, puzzled, but content that they are at least comfortable with food and a nice cozy room.

In the silence, Kala and Punkin hear a faint voice they decide is Eve’s shouting seemingly in the distance “Come at me! You’ll never catch me! Ha! You are home now and cannot leave that easily!”

Wary from what she is hearing, Kala places La Gateau on the foot of Eve’s large bed and uses the captain’s chair to block the door.

Easing Punkin’s curiosity and excitement while blocking the entrance from intruders, Kala comforts Punkin and directs her to sleep. “Pupu darlin’, go lay next to La Gateau and get some rest. I am going to sit here and relax should Eve’s other guests surprise us. Sounds like she is playing hide and seek, and I don’t want them waking you if they try to hide in here.”

As Punkin slips into sleep, Kala sits awake, listening to the various noises resembling rushing footsteps, jumping, snarling, and hissing and laughter coming from the decks of various passing ships.

After several minutes, Punkin falls asleep while Kala continues to fight off her sleepy spell.

Startling awake for a brief moment, Kala hears Eve singing as she runs and jumps from ship to ship deck outside, “I’ll take what you’ll not want offer. I’ll take what you don’t want to give. I’ll take what I want and scoff’r, if you want to continue to live. I’ll trade you a fairest bargain, for a life beyond a livin’; to take you home I be chargin’, ‘me home’ I say you’ll be givin’.”

After moments of silence, the sounds of a barely audible voice in the distance shouts, as Kala’s eyes grow as heavy as an anchor and her consciousness slips into darkness, “You said you’d take me home! I am going to find you and YOU WILL TAKE ME HOME!”