Chapter 14
FEATHERS
PART 1
“Lapis shell, wings that shimmer, the hand of land carries founding wealth, the eye sights forty. Or, as decoded… Sea-colored vessel, silver sails, inbound to Aubroastrem with several hundred thousand gold coin, bearing one-forty.”
Looking up from the collection of papers she’d picked up when rescuing Rhuban, Mara’s gaze was meant for only one person as she gestured towards them with the stack of loose-leaf.
“This was you, no?”
When Mara had descended to the cargo-hold with a new face following behind her, the last thing Anvi had been expecting was for her to air his mistake in full view of both Jackle and the mystery newcomer, but here he was, on the proverbial plank regardless.
Sparing a glance towards the raven-haired mage, Anvi could see he was as confused as he was hurt, while the man behind Mara wore a face quite similar, one of sheer surprise dashed with a bit of fear.
Sighing, Anvi’s gaze searched for answers in the floorboards, for he knew there was no fighting the tide that was Mara.
“Aye... T’was mistake.”
Tucking the stack of papers to her side as she crossed her arms, Mara cocked an eyebrow and gave him a look that could be misinterpreted as cautious trepidation, but Anvi knew what she meant by it- ‘Cut the crap.’
“A mistake? Yeah… Most certainly didn’t go the way you expected- At all. Buuut… No harm’s done that wasn’t meant to be done, now that I have this little letter~ So perhaps you’d like to explain why you sent this, and maybe you can alleviate further harm to those that care about you.”
Eyeing Jackle with her final words, Mara met his gaze for a moment, indicating he should at least hear Anvi out before coming to any rash conclusions.
As Jackle look to him for answers, Anvi could see he had choice to make- One that, really, already had answer. Duty. But to whom? His country or his comrades?
Before joining Mara’s crew, Anvi would never have wavered in such a choice, his family was his home, and his home was his country. A child of shadow nobility, purview to both the good and bad of it all, but raised to see it for the benefit the reign brought. Why wouldn’t he want to help? To mitigate the harms and maximize the boons by his own hands?
His cause had been noble and just, his skills put to full potential, but now that very same history had come to clash with those that had shown him a different form of family. One that championed the individual and prided their faults for they made them unique.
Together, they’d cultivated an atmosphere that had felt more like home had than the word had ever earned before, and some part of him had still felt like he needed to his duty, warn his country of such a disruptive force of wealth, but in doing so, he’d cast everything they had into the wind, only for it to fly right back in his face.
Anvi knew what Mara’s non-verbal look said, and he found no room to disagree- If he had any chance of saving what he had come to value without truly realizing it until it was at threat, he had no choice but to come clean.
“I’m a Feather of t’ Limeren Empire- Me old post was with pirates nearby ‘til she showed up. When Mara barged in, I seen her for what she was- A greater threat than any pirate could ever dream to be, n’ prioritized justly. I ain’t wrong about that, but I’ve never once reported ‘er actions, ‘til now. That much coin in the wrong hands could collapse trade, devalue the lot to nothing, but I made mistake… Her hands are not the wrong ones.”
Looking around the room as he spoke, Anvi could see Mara’s expression had, thankfully, begun to soften, but both Jackle and the newcomer seemed even more surprised now, and still appeared to harbor some confusion.
“When I took t’ offer to join her, t’was not for what I wanted, but for what mine country needed. Now though, with hindsight, I intend to take that offer once more, proper this time, because now I see what I lacked before.”
Walking over to Mara as a cautious squawk cried from the caged beast behind him, but Anvi held no reservations. Approaching her, Anvi looked into her eyes, a deep abyss of green marred with gold, and made his request clear without speaking a word.
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Tilting her head ever so slightly to the side, Mara uncrossed her arms and plucked the intercepted letter from her small stack of papers, held it up as if to re-read it once more, then slowly offered it out towards the dwarven barbarian.
Wasting no time, Anvi snatched the proffered letter and tore it to shreds- Signifying more than just the end to a humbling incident, but a new beginning, proper this time. However, as he finished, Mara wasn’t looking at him, but rather the black-robed mage.
“Well Jackle- Questions, qualms, or concerns?”
With pursed lips askew to one side, Jackle crossed his arms as he leaned into the barrel he was half-sitting on, wobbling it back and forth for a moment before he settled his thoughts.
“Can’t say I’m pleased to learn all of this out of the blue, but I can’t say I’m that surprised either- Except about you being a Feather, that’s… Surprising to say the least, I always held a different view of those who entertained that kind of work. Yet, topically, if you’re fine with it Mara, I can sweep it under the rug too- Your snoring might be awful, but I don’t hold any ill-will towards you Anvi.”
Clapping her hands, Mara smiled for the first time since she descended to the cargo hold, then gestured towards the still clearly baffled newcomer standing aside her.
“Perfect! Then that brings us the second issue on deck, which happens to be tangentially related to all that- Our new guest, ‘Rhuban’, he happens to be a Feather too.”
Glancing over, Mara could see the panic in Rhuban’s eyes as she put the proverbial spotlight upon him, while Anvi’s expression shifted to one of pure shock, mouth agape at who had just witnessed him renouncing his old life.
From across the room, Jackle uncrossed his arms and leaned forward to get a better look down the aisle at this ‘Rhuban’. Pale skin, human, a bit malnourished, bruised in places, and had a head full of brown hair with a few chunks missing- All indicators of torture, but none seemed recent enough to question if Mara had a hand in them.
“Two feathers? What, are you collecting them now or something?”
Hearing Jackle’s comment, Mara raised her eyebrows in mock confusion as she gestured from Rhuban to Anvi.
“What do you mean? There’s only one feather here- Anvi’s just a dwarf who happens to have a wide variety of skills.”
Seeing he wasn’t going to get a straight answer out of her, Jackle sighed and rolled his eyes before gesturing to the newcomer.
“So what’s the deal with this ‘Rhuban’ then, did you just bring him down here to cement Anvi’s ‘retirement’?”
“Mmmm… Somewhat.”
Turning back to Rhuban, Mara gave him a smile before addressing him directly.
“Translating that letter cost you a lot- Wanna see what it was all about?”
To Rhuban, Mara’s expression was almost comforting, but some part of her almost seemed eager for him to agree, yet, like a tempting seductress, she had his curiosity firmly within her grasp.
“Ehh… Yeah I do. Shouldn’t… But I do. And if you were gunna kill me for knowing, you’d have already done it, so sod it- I wanna see it.”
“I figured you’d might~”
Expecting her to guide him further into the cargo-hold, potentially past, or worse, into, the cage where they kept a wild Pynma of all things, Rhuban was staunchly surprised when Mara fished a small cube from her pocket and tossed it towards the open ground.
In a single instant, just as the dice-sized object impacted the wooden floor, it expanded into a chest large enough to be mistaken for a sarcophagus, to which Mara promptly kicked the lid off of- Revealing a wealth of coins that seemed more apt to find in a royal vault.
Stepping back out of reflex alone, Rhuban cried out in shock as his brain caught up to what had just happened and what was now sitting in front of him, tangible and indisputable.
“Where did you even… No- Who did you steal this from?”
Laughing at how he’d asked, Mara leaned over and plucked a gold coin from the hoard and tossed it to Rhuban without elaboration before turning back and re-seating the lid upon the stone chest.
Looking it over, Rhuban could see it had the official seal of the five peninsulas, appeared to weigh the same, and felt authentic in the hand, all very worrying. If this was counterfeit, it was good, too good. A chest that size would just be the start, making the issue much larger than just an excess of currency, as per Anvi’s worries. But if it was real… Well then, where had she gotten it all?
Rhuban really wanted to cast a verification spell on it, but if he were to reveal he could cast then this Mara might impose even further restrictions on him- Eliminating any chance of a surprise escape.
“To appease your curiosity, as far as I know, they’re all genuine. They just recently came into our possession due to some good fortune on our part. You can keep that one- We’ve got plenty to spare.”
Slapping a palm upon the stone chest, Mara shrank the entire thing back down to its miniature form and snatched it out of the air before tucking it back into her pocket.
“Oi, Mara- Not that it be my place to question, but I got some experience with them, do you think it wise giving that to a Feather?”
Nodding, somewhat eagerly, Mara looked between Anvi and Rhuban.
“Oh yeah. If things go well, he’ll likely be taking a good chunk of it to his boss, with some to spare for his troubles if he’d like.”
Feeling the air had lightened a bit, Anvi tried of a bit jesting, though in hindsight, he rather wished he hadn’t.
“Ohh- He gets a cut? What about the wee little people you drag along with you?”
As her eyes lit up, Anvi watched as a wicked grin grew upon Mara’s face, reserved just for him.
“Mmm, well… Jackle and Kali are welcome to as much as they’d like once we get to town, but you? You have to go explain yourself to your hunting teacher, and if she forgives you… Then I suppose you can help yourself as well, but only after you’ve come clean- Omission is still lying after all.”
Glancing out of the corner of her eyes, Mara met Jackle’s gaze for the smallest of moments, knowing full well what he was thinking.