Erin sighed, “No, just ignore it and keep going.”

“Captain. This is unlike you.” Her first mate stated.

“So?”

Who cares if she just changes her mind!?

Another then came up to her and gave her a tattered book, “It’s the best I could find.”

She hummed slightly and took the book, not even sure why she was doing whatever David wanted her too.

Why did he want to know about potions and tonics?

“Change the flag too.”

“Oh, so we are going back to shore?” Her first mate stated, like he finally understood his captain’s plan.

“I don’t know, just don’t let him get too close yet.” Erin then looked out, not finding anything without a device that can see further out.

“There.” The first mate stated, pointing in a direction.

Erin looking through the equipment, to indeed find a certain ship that she has come across a number of times now.

It has been following them…

They had last seen this ship not far from the dock that was a Melya, now, having come back to Commorda, even seen somewhat a shoreline in the far distance, they have met again.

Letting out a small smirk, Erin wanted to dearly laugh at the man that had lost his cargo and had to return back home with nothing!

Serves him right!

This has pretty much been her life since she was able to become captain of this ship. To make things hard for that specific man that had made her life a living hell!

“If it’s not me, it’s him. A never-ending feud.” Erin mumbled.

“Captain…”

Her first mate knew her the most, knowing exactly who was on the ship that kept coming after them at this moment. Her husband…Well, she had been unofficially divorced him a long time ago! They didn’t have any divorce papers, but Erin had with her belongings of her husband signing her away to someone else, which was her proof of their ‘divorce’. Oh, she has held onto that piece of paper so hard that it was falling apart but…She had nothing more important to do then to have gotten some kind of revenge on that nasty man!

He was controlling and manipulative! But the worst of it had been the beatings that she had received.

Having been married off, so that her family could obtain money through it, she did not really have one normal day after that. She had married a man ten years older than her and had no idea how to deal with him but now…Now they fought each other often through anger.

She had gotten the better of him, ruining his business, so he had gotten the better of her in some regard. He was lucky once and had taken one of her crew members that had a bounty over his head…So, not only did she lose a crew member and some respect, but he gained back some money that he might have lost to her…And so, their fights continued, almost like their lives evolved around each other but now…

Erin suddenly had no care about him anymore…She no longer was angry either. Since David came into her life, her life suddenly became different. She looked at things from another angle, she also asked herself honestly if she cared that much and no…She didn’t. It had just been what had filled that hole at the time. But now, now she was captain, and she liked the crew she had, she had filled that gap with other things since and that ‘revenge’ feeling probably left her a while ago, but she had just continued out of habit and well…Because she hadn’t really done anything else…

In fact, she felt a bit like a fool now, because her crew and ship had gone through problems just because of how she had acted with someone she doesn’t even care for. They could have done something more beneficial to them but no, she had…

What did it matter even thinking about it!?

Walking in to see David thinking, his hand to his chin and frowning at nothing, Erin stopped and stared at him.

At that moment, David was wondering how he could move about, even with dead legs, but then thought of Cid and how he had been the one to invent stuff. Then, he had worried what Cid was doing…It had already been like four weeks now…So, Cid probably was married now to Bethany…

“David, your book…”

Erin threw the book at him, and David snapped out of his thoughts…

“Have you heard about Commorda? Is there news about the princess?” For the first time since he left, David asked about news of his friends.

Erin watched him fidget and crossed her arms over her chest, “You liked the princess?”

It wasn’t that, David thought, it was more so if any information would be known, it would be about royalty…

“My friend was marrying her when I left, they were supposedly getting married…I don’t know what’s happened…Since.” David let a deep breath out and looked at her, “I…”

Seeing him stop talking, Erin moved the book on his lap and sat there instead, “You what?”

Honestly, she was glad that he wasn’t involved with the princess as she thought he had been.

David held her waist openly, unable to stop himself. “Sometimes I miss them.”

Erin then said, “You haven’t spent long at sea?”

David shook his head, “I thought I knew what I needed to know but I was wrong.”

Erin frowned, “No, I mean, is your life on land? Your friends, your…Family…”

Thinking of family, Erin frowned. As far as family goes, she hardly knew what that meant. The motley crew on the boat was as close to family she got!

David played with her arm, the short frills that came at the end of her clothing, but the slightly bare part of her arm was soft and smooth.

Erin watched as David moved his hands down her arm and then to her hand. They were both silent as he brought them up and then closed is fingers in on each of hers.

In a trance to the slow and sweet movements, Erin swallowed. She had been pulled, thrown and pushed, but this was nice…This was…Well, it was probably normal wasn’t it, Erin thought.

David stared at the woman sitting on him like she owned him and couldn’t help but feel that she still was the feminine core that he had once called her a while ago now.

She had her hair up, and it was wavy and mostly blonde. Her eyes were a sparkling blue, almost like she was made for the ocean. David found her to be the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on…

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“Yeah,” David said suddenly, breaking both of them out of some sort of spell.

Erin blinked and changed to show her questions, “What?”

Smiling at her baffled face, David then laughed.

Erin frowned, not wanting to be laughed at, and went to get up, only to instead find herself close to his face in the next second.

“Erin.” David didn’t know what else to say, well he could say that he wanted to kiss her but settled for her name instead.

On the other hand, Erin smiled and leaned in the rest of the way to once again share a kiss.

It was underrated, they both thought.

Kissing was a generalized topic…But it had subcategories! There was the slight kiss that was light to touch and almost like a feather over the rest of the skin, a tease…Then there was the harder kiss that only let the other know how much you desired the other. There was just so much more to it than either of them knew and both of them explored what was there to kissing to the point that not much more that could be learnt!

***

“…And something called ‘Ugwort’?” David said, frowning at the book. It was just about to fall apart!

“…You mean Mugwort?” Erin said, laughing and taking the book from him. He wished she’d treat things falling apart a little better but all she did was nod when finding the word.

David sighed as he couldn’t stop her from moving away from him. “Yeah.”

“Ok, I’ll get it!”

Erin left without a backward glance, but she felt like she didn’t need to look back. As far as she was concerned, the man on her bed, in her quarters, was hers!

“Captain?”

“Here’s a list of…Oh wait!” Erin quickly jotted down ‘Mugwort’ on the list, then continued, “Let me know if you can’t find it!”

“Yes, Captain!”

Erin watched Robin go, another female on the boat, and then suddenly had an idea of asking her about the opposite sex. Had she any idea how to treat them?

Keeping the idea of talking to Robin later, Erin came up to her first mate and took out the device that would see at a longer distance.

It had been another two days and the merchant ship was still following after them.

Maybe they should just head out more into sea, then circling the shoreline here near the dock of Commorda…

Her ship was faster than his, and bigger. She also had more men than he did, so it’s no wonder that he had not done too much except annoy her by following her all this time.

What is he trying to do? Erin asked herself.

“Tell me what he’s been doing?” Erin asked.

The first mate sighed and stated, “We lost him in Melya and found him back here again. It’s perfectly normal for him to have to return back here to obtain more merchandise to trade but…It seems that he is not leaving…”

Erin gave her first mate a glance and sighed herself. “What could he want? I’ve given him the idea that I don’t want to fight him, why can’t he just leave me alone?”

The first mate still found it weird that suddenly his captain didn’t have any care in the world to the ‘enemy’. They had been severe before this, making sure they got the better of him, even though sometimes it didn’t work, but now, it was almost boring on this pirate ship.

To anyone who was on the dock, having looked out towards the ocean the last few days, they would see two ships literally going around in circles…

In fact, it has indeed been spotted and reported.

King Elton had no idea what was going on out there specifically but there was one thing that had changed in the last two weeks that helped him have an idea upon what it could be!

Two weeks ago, he had put out a reward to anyone finding evidence about David.

It wasn’t to just bring him back and order him to stay here upon the land, it was more out of the safety of his friend. Having let him be free for a time, it had come to Elton’s attention that a certain two ships were indeed making fun of the…Water…Or something and have been at each other’s throats for a time and…When Allie had told him what type of ship David went on, he had become worried.

If David got into any trouble out there, he’d feel even more guilty then he already did!

So…Just to see that he was okay, he sent out a reward to make sure he was still alive.

The problem was that this chain of events just continued with the captain of the merchant ship seeing this reward and found himself flabbergasted at it!

All of the news that stated about this ‘David’, upon who he was, was entirely the person that he had on his boat, prior to the attack from the pirates! Oh, he remembered the look of him before he accepted him! He also remembered that he stated he had been a merchant most of his life…His hair color, his eye color! It was him! The one that he had wanted to sell in Melya but had somehow gotten away had been this ‘David’! The one that had even wrecked his boat a bit, had been him!

It was almost like he had found a treasure chest full of treasure at the end of the rainbow! If he could get this ‘David’ back and get the reward, it’d be almost like no loss had happened!

So…That was when it had dawned to him that…It would be almost ironic that the stupid, little missy would have the one that he was looking for!

He had followed her for days, after finding her on the way back from Melya, and had waited to find any kind of evidence that David would be on that ship.

There were just too many things that stopped him from sailing away and looking for David elsewhere!

One, David had disappeared just as they had the fight with the pirates. Two, David probably wouldn’t be on deck, because he should still be poisoned. At first, giving his new crew member the potion had been a great idea. The potion doesn’t work straight away, which would give him time to sell him off. Then, after being sold, the legs would just not work and if not treated in a number of days, it would become permanent. So, he had to get to David soon! And that was his trade! The idiot would want the antidote, so he’d come to his ship easily…The pirates are the problem, probably locking up David so that he can’t talk him into coming back with him once again…

So, David not walking around was the biggest problem, because that would mean he wouldn’t know if he’s there or not…

Not sure on what to do, he had just followed the pirates around, almost like they were playing cat and mouse.

Of course, the merchant captain was coming up with ideas. He had to get on that ship somehow and see if David was there. Even if it was a quick skirmish, then leave…That’s it…

So, knowing that he’d probably have to get on the ship, he had to come up with the best way to do it where he wouldn’t lose too many men and be able to once again leave with everything, instead of losing anything else to those damned pirates!

It wasn’t easy!

And so, it seemed to be a deadlock right now!

A deadlock that made King Elton feel like perhaps…It was his fault!

He wasn’t stupid, things changed not long after his reward came out and one of those ships were a cargo ship that should be trading, not following around what was known as a pirate ship! He himself hadn’t know it was a pirate ship until he had looked into it, to which someone had said that the flag had changed a couple of days ago.

He was quite certain that David was taken hostage! And that merchant ship knew it! So, he wondered if that merchant ship was the one that David went on when he left!

Preparing a ship for him to sail on soon, King Elton had no choice but to wait and see what happens. Even if David isn’t on either of those ships, he can’t have them being idiots like this out on his shores! He was ready to go out there and put their heads together and tell them to act like adults!

His marriage was still quite new too, so he didn’t want to stain it with idiotic boat fights. His queen seemed to be keeping something from him, he could feel it. But because he didn’t want to anger her, just believing in her, he could only wait upon what was going on in that head of hers! It just goes to say that King Elton wasn’t in the best of moods!

On the other hand, Cid had no idea upon what was going on just outside of his window. He and Bethany, also newlyweds, were getting along well and they were keeping busy.

Cid was now working on a new king’s crown, now that he had finished the new Queen’s crown. And just like David knew, Cid did indeed create an interesting crown piece. The crown was able to be changed to become bigger or smaller. It had taken all this time to do but Cid had indeed made a crown that would fit the head of anyone that might come onto the throne in the future! Cid was acknowledged for his crown and felt better since he had to practically put his own business on hold for these few weeks. But it had all been worth while as he was seen as real person, instead of just the ‘Princess’s husband’. He was known as his own man, and that was what he had wanted well before leaving his stepfather’s house.

And Bethany was looking up babies…She was with her Cid all the time, as he moved into the palace now, and so she could stay close to him pretty often, unless he had some work at a blacksmithing store or something. Being able to lean against his back, while reading, Bethany could only blush to what could be happening right now!

Of course, Bethany has no idea, but that is what she was up to these days. They had been to see David’s parent’s a few times, but Princess Bethany did stay home a lot more now, no longer dressing up into the comfort of male’s clothing to see Cid outside. They were an inseparable couple, more so than that of King Elton and his Queen.

It was hard to be close to someone when you had a country to run, but King Elton did make time for his beloved, more so because of his self-interest then hers, but still he made time…

But all of them had missed a particular person, who had never showed up for their wedding. Especially Cid, who never really stated how much he missed the other closest friend that he had. He stayed quiet and perhaps even saw Aunty and Uncle less because he felt slightly guilty to the missing David.

He didn’t know why he felt guilty, he just did. He felt like he should have done more for his friend, only now to no longer be able to anything at all…

David had really done it! He’d gotten quite a number of people missing him and wanting him to return, yet, at the same time, each of them knew that there probably wasn’t much chance that they’d see him too often anymore.

David’s parents felt it every day, the loss of their son.

They hadn’t left to trade since David had gone missing, they had stayed put. They were waiting…And even though they never talked about it openly, they both had an idea that David wasn’t going to live with them anymore.

It was a gut feeling, it was instinct…All the years that David had silently and aggressively stated his thoughts about the sea were coming to pass. Some were just looks to the ocean, some of seeing him read books, but the anger in leaving was the biggest give away to David’s desires.

Hell, they probably knew more than David did, that his heart was already there! They were still waiting though, for David to state this to them…Perhaps let them hug him and state a proper farewell…

…Well, at least he got out of the black market, is all his father could state at this time…

***