Tam and Eli had their backs to the headboard as the ship continued to rock back and forth—albeit with a little more noticeable of a rise and fall as the night progressed and the winds shifted.

“That was…” Tam started to say, then found himself unable to complete the sentence.

“It was unexpected,” Eli contributed dazedly.

“Good unexpected?” Tam asked, turning to her with a frown creasing the space between his eyebrows.

“You were there. Yes. Good unexpected.”

“You never know…” Tam said with a light chuckle, still in awe of the experience they had just shared.

“Is it always like that?” Eli wondered while looking over at Tam as he continued to stare dumbly at the opposite wall.

“No, it is not.”

“Oh… That’s disappointing.”

“I mean it has never been like that in my experience in the past.”

The sharp look Eli was giving Tam’s profile motivated him to turn and apologize.

“I just mean it was more with you! More… meaningful, more intense…”

Her expression softened again. “I can live with that assessment.”

“Oh good.” Tam laughed again before rubbing his face with his hand.

“So you said we should try and sleep now?”

“You can sleep after that?” Tam rounded on Eli who was already reaching beside the bed for her clothes.

“Sure I can, and I bet you can, too. It’s been a long day,” she retorted casually.

Tam gaped at Eli as she sorted out her tunic and bindings, and then set to work getting herself clothed again. When she failed to acknowledge the look he was giving her, Tam sighed, dropped his chin to his chest, and went about grabbing his trousers off the floor.

The pair had just finished setting themselves to rights, when a knock on the door sounded.

Exchanging a brief look of uncertainty, Tam opened the door to find Lord Harris standing there looking bone dead exhausted.

“One of you needs to take over. I wedged my coat in the wheel to keep it on course to come get you, but I’m going toooo…” The duke trailed off.

He looked at Eli, then he looked at Tam who was masking his feelings best he could.

“So it’s like that now is it?” A slow smile grew on the duke’s face.

Tam blinked once, but otherwise didn’t falter. “I don’t know what you—”

“Oh, Tam. You don’t survive the life I’ve had by being stupid.” Harris’s eyes glimmered in good humor. “Look, probably for the best. If we can’t get you married. Her expecting your… Second or third child, I don’t even know any more— it’s probably for the best.” Harris waved his hand

“It isn’t like that!” Eli tried to defend, despite her entire face and neck turning a shade of red usually reserved for cardinal feathers.

“Come now. You’ll make a lovely Lady Elisara Ashowan. I’m sure Fin’s parents will be thrilled! Eventually!”

“Harris?” Tam began, placing his hands on his hips.

“Yes, godson?”

“Shut up.”

The duke gave a dramatic gasp. “By the Gods! It’s like your father is here in the room with us!”

“I thought we weren’t supposed to tell people to shut up.”

The three adults turned to find a sleepy Penelope standing and staring up at them with her hair mussed, and her eyes not fully open.

“Yeah, Tam! You shouldn’t tell people to shut up!” Harris chortled. “Thank you for coming to my defense, Miss Penelope. Now, if you all will excuse me, I’m going to sleep. One of you go steer the boat before we hit something.”

Tam nodded, then addressed Eli over his shoulder. “You sleep, I’ll get us through the rest of the night.”

“The whole night? That’s too long,” Eli argued sternly.

“I’m used to working all night. Penelope, Eli can give you help if you need something,” Tam gentled his voice for the little girl who didn’t look like she was fully back into the land of the waking.

She frowned up at him. “I don’t need anything. You’re all just loud.”

Tam smiled and mussed her hair making her growl at him. He laughed then continued on past her to take over steering the boat.

Issuing a long, loud yawn that sounded like a satisfied hound curling up in front of a crackling fire, Harris made his way down the passage to his own quarters. “Night, everyone.”

*

Once the door to the previous captain’s quarters closed, Eli looked down at Penelope.

“I’m sorry that we were too loud. Is there anything else I can get for you? Water?”

Penelope shook her head slowly while staring at Eli.

“Are you heading back to bed then?”

The little girl didn’t answer. Instead her mouth twisted and she bounced on the balls of her feet awkwardly.

“Are you scared to be alone?” Eli ventured next.

“No!” Penelope shouted heartfully.

Eli tilted her head patiently. “Then what?”

Penelope scowled up at her. “You aren’t nice like that Tam guy is.”

Unable to help herself, Eli laughed. “Not really, no. But I do want to help you.”

Penelope considered this. “I don’t always like nice people. They can be annoying. And of course I don’t trust them at all.”

A melancholy weight fixed itself over Eli’s face. “I used to feel that way, too.”

The sound of another door opening made both girls look to see Luca emerge, right in time for the boat to give a larger lurch.

“What’s going on?” Luca asked before a yawn overtook him.

“Oh great,” Penelope muttered at his appearance.

Eli stared down at the two children, and came to a very clear realization. “Would you both like to sleep in bed with me? It might help us all stay warmer,” she offered while making it seem like an afterthought.

“I guess if it helps me keep warm,” Penelope sniffed indignantly. “Boats are too wet. All the time. It always smells damp, and it’s awful.”

Luca didn’t say a word of complaint, merely skipped through the doorway and hopped into Eli and Tam’s bed.

“Luca, go bring your blanket before you settle down. With three of us there won’t be as many blankets.”

“That’s because you hog them all!” Luca pointed out with a faint whine.

Eli rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “I can’t help it. It happens in my sleep. Go get your blanket. You, too, Penelope.”

The little girl nodded dutifully and disappeared to retrieve her own bedding.

Eli watched her slip back into her room and felt a smile tug at her face. She remembered being terrified around strangers. And she also remembered that she never would’ve admitted she was terrified of being alone. Especially shortly after being freed.

Back when Captain Woo had been on board with Penelope, his presence would’ve meant that he’d be the target of any threats that appeared and he’d be the one dealing with it.

Things were different now, and while it was a good change, odds were it left Penelope feeling more vulnerable.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Eli had had those exact feelings and experiences back when she’d been taken.

When the children returned with their blankets, and they’d crawled into bed, Eli joined them on the other side after making sure that each little foot was properly wrapped in a blanket.

“I’m turning the lantern off, are you ready?” She asked, her eyes already growing heavy and her blanket still warm from Tam and her time there.

“I have to pee,” Luca announced.

“I think I do want water after all,” Penelope added.

Eli’s hand dropped away from the lantern as she stared at the kids. She wanted to snap at them and tell them too damn bad as exhaustion started to settle over her, but instead some hidden trove of patience unearthed itself and she instead said. “Luca, go use the chamberpot in your room. Penelope, wait while I get you a cup.”

And thus began the second wave of bedtime preparations.

*

It wasn’t quite morning, but there was a lighter hue coloring the sky, hinting at its approach. Eli had been dead asleep, but then the high pitched gasp had jerked her awake and she found herself staring at Penelope.

The little girl was crouched on her knees, holding Eli’s hand, sobbing.

Sitting up, alert, Eli seized the girl’s shoulder with her free hand, while vaguely noting the pain in her lower back from her activities the day before. “Penelope? What’s wrong? What happened?”

“She’s dead! If y-you adopt me, she’s dead!” she sobbed nonsensically.

“What? Who’s dead?” Eli felt a dull headache pound behind her eyes.

“M-my mother! If y-you adopt me she’s dead!” Penelope burst out in fresh sobs.

“Uh–I-I don’t understand. Can you try to explain it better?”

Looking around the chamber desperately for a towel that the child could use to wipe her face, Eli spotted one laying over a small trunk in the corner she hadn’t noticed the night before. Only she couldn’t go retrieve it, because the little girl had her hand in a vice grip.

“I-I can see things! And they always happen! No matter what! A-and you and, and Tam are going to adopt me!”

Flummoxed, Eli tried again at soothing her. “It was just a nightmare. You don’t know for certain that your mother is dead. Everything will be—”

“You used to be in a cage, too. B-but they had a collar on you. And when-whenever you tried to fight they’d t-tighten it, and it hurt…”

Eli felt her gut churn.

A cold, horrific memory came to her mind’s eye. Back when she’d first been taken by Captain Woo and she’d first shifted into beast form, he had slapped a collar exactly like Penelope described on… But he’d probably told Penelope that story.

“Y-you told Tam you loved him last night!”

Eli opened and closed her mouth. Had Penelope been listening at the door?

“Penelope, look at me.” Eli ordered quietly. She was mildly surprised Luca hadn’t woken up.

The little girl listened.

“I want you to breathe with me. In…” Eli took in a deep breath through her nose. “And out.” She released the breath. “Let’s do that three more times.”

At first Penelope’s breaths were stuttering and mixed with sobs, and she couldn’t stop shaking, but by the third breath, her face had at least stopped looking so anguished.

“Alright. I need you to tell me again what is happening, because I still don’t understand. If you can’t do that right now, we can wait until later.”

Penelope performed an extra deep breath in and out of her own accord, then nodded slowly.

Eli gave her hand a gentle squeeze, then released it, and retrieved the towel from the chest and offered it to her.

Penelope accepted it and set to wiping her face clean of the tears and snot, looking infinitely more weary and aged than a mere eight year old.

“Lie back down,” Eli instructed softly.

Again, Penelope listened.

“Close your eyes.”

She did this, too.

Eli then gently stroked her hair, very slowly, while pulling her dark hair free from her face.

And eventually, Penelope’s body relaxed back into sleep, and Eli could stop brushing her hair.

Though she herself couldn’t let herself fall asleep, there was too much to think about…

At least that’s what Eli thought until she found herself being gently shaken awake by a very haggard Tamlin Ashowan when the sun had fully risen, and her two wards for the evening were nowhere to be found in bed.

***

Aradia stared at the missive the air witch had just handed her.

She then raised an eyebrow at the man’s bowed head.

“So now they are headed Gods know where on a ship they’ve commandeered?”

“Yes, Your Magnificence.”

“And the concubine is handling this…?”

“By sending out as many ships she can spare.”

“And is that a lot?”

“I’m afraid they are limited. Her Highness Soo Hebin has great power in Zinfera, but her strength lies in her controlling the Torit Desert, the Ori Harbor, and… Captain Woo’s men.”

“So now that the Captain has been killed…?”

“There is great upheaval and a lack of organization.”

Aradia stared at the air witch blankly before closing her eyes and giving a scoff. “Either the Gods love the Ashowan family a little too much, or they got damn lucky.”

The air witch cleared his throat. “If I may offer my… insight?”

Aradia waved her hand. She knew she should remember his name at some point, but she wasn’t sure how often he would be around her to bother with it.

“I believe there is a grander plan behind this than a simple escape.”

Aradia leaned forward, and slid a brief glance in Ansar’s direction who was sitting confidently across the wrought iron table from her.

“Oh?” the first witch propped her chin up in her palm.

“Yes. Princess Elisara was… Is… Known for her intelligence. And planning. It was one of the reasons Her Highness Soo Hebin felt threatened by her. I wonder if this is perhaps the princess declaring war, or, starting to campaign for the throne.”

Aradia smiled. “Well that would be wonderful, wouldn’t it?” She looked at Ansar. “That would mean she’s on her way here with the Ashowan son in tow and with the devil. How tidy is that? The only problem being that we aren’t exactly sure the nature of his magic and will have to start making preparations. Hers sounds interesting as well… To transform into a giant animal…”

“What shall you have us do, Your Magnificence?” the air witch implored reverently.

The first witch slumped back in her seat with a smile. “Prepare a ship. I want to intercept them before they get anywhere near the capital and the concubine gets her claws into them.”

“But you don’t have the dagger or Chronos yet.” Ansar tensed worriedly.

Aradia kept her smile as she answered him. “But unlike in Troivack, I have a very helpful coven at my back, and some of these covens have familiars, don’t they?”

The air witch nodded carefully.

“Then I will be able to make all the necessary preparations. Please send for the witches that have familiars to me. The ones who have the strongest bonds if possible.”

“Is there a particular number of witches and familiars you require?” the air witch wondered helpfully.

Aradia rose to her feet. “Let’s say ten to be safe.”

If the air witch found this number high he did not show it as he instead remained bowed, and backed out of the garden to obey her orders.

Ansar looked up at Aradia curiously. “Is there something you haven’t told me?”

Regarding her follower fondly, the first witch bent down until she was nearly nose-to-nose with him. “Ansar, I’ve lived more lifetimes than I can count. You can’t live long enough to hear everything I haven’t told you.”