The quiet afternoon skies suddenly echoed with cannon fire as an air ship rose quickly from beneath the clouds where it had been in hiding. As the ships fins propelled it away from the area where it rose another cannon sounded in the skies as a cannon ball just barely missed the mast of the ship that had surfaced. It was the captains quick thinking as he suddenly steered his ship to the left that made them avoid the cannon. The captain of the ship glanced back behind him, his eyes filled with a hint of frustration as he tried to avoid the ship that was pursuing his.

The captains green eyes glittered in the setting sun as he looked around suspiciously, his pursuers had given them a moment of reprieve but he didn't imagine that it would last long. "Captain Kristoph! The engine room has taken some massive damage sir! Right now we're barely running, anymore quick maneuvers or hits and we could lose power and take a dive to the lower world!" one of the crew yelped in a panicked tone as he ran to the deck just below the captain's wheel.

"Well then you had best find a way to fix it and quick! The Silver Arrow ain't going down today, she's still got life left in these sails!" the captain retorted in a sharp, dangerous tone as he looked at the engine master with his now icy gaze. The man looked at him nearly to the point of exasperation, but their argument was cut off when the black ship that had been pursuing them suddenly rose from beneath the clouds close to them. "No time to argue Bastion! Get back down there and work your hands raw to get this ship out of here!" Kristoph yelled as he returned to steering the ship, trying to gain distance from the ship behind them now. The man clenched his teeth as another round of cannon fire whizzed past them, he was grateful for the poor aim their cannon men seemed to have.

Looking back, the captain decided that they would have to return fire in order to escape their fate beneath the clouds. "Emerson! Report to the cannon men! We are returning fire on the enemy! We will be fighting the enemy from the rear left while on the run! I want them to take aim at the enemy's masts and fins, we need to slow them down!" Kristoph called to his first mate, leaving the cannon men's orders in his capable hands.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

On the small floating continent of Tiriene, Zeva made her way with her sister towards the port town of Eagleharbor. It was a path they had walked many a time together, normally to pick something up from one of the traveling traders for their aunt and uncle but this journey was different from any of the other ones they had taken to Eagleharbor. The two sisters had decided to seek out work for themselves, and it was something Zeva personally had been wanting to do for a long time. She loved her aunt and uncle a lot for taking care of them in the absents of their parents but the woman wanted to know what was beyond their little continent in the great big world out there. Even though Zeva knew just "who" she and her sister were, she still couldn't stand the thought of being cooped up in the small mountain village of Nightfort for all of her life.

Zeva and Zaria made their way by foot down the familiar mountain pass heading towards Eagleharbor. As they crested a bare hill after making their way out of the forest, Zeva saw the port city come into view. A small grin toyed at the edges of her mouth as she saw the city spread out before them. "It's so exciting isn't it Zar? Finally getting to see something off of our little continent." Zeva let out a slightly breathless whisper as she toyed gently with the end of one of her pigtails that her vibrant brownish-red hair was in. Her mismatched eyes stared out with enthusiasm as the buildings stared back at her.

The port part of town itself wasn't extravagant even for a capital city. The buildings were little more than shacks with tin roofs on them, and the trading building where the merchants gathered was a long single story building that took up most of the southern coast line. It looked a bit better than the shacks that had been set up around it, with a heavy wooden roof adorning the peak of the building, and some grime covered windows that didn't appear to let the sunlight in. The rest of Eagleharbor however had more to say than the port part of town. Most of the buildings had brick foundations and heavy wood siding for their walls, the roofs were tin with wooden supports underneath.

Zeva turned to her "older" sister now, the movement causing her curly hair to bounce around a bit as she did. "Are you ready to do this? Ready to set out and find work for ourselves? You aren't having second thoughts are you Zar?" She asked a bit anxiously as she looked at the woman beside her, she had seemed quiet during the journey there, or maybe it had been because Zeva had so many thoughts running through her head she hadn't heard her sister say anything.

For Emerson it was just another day of being a pirate. He didn't know how many times they had been in situations such as this and most of the time they came out unharmed thanks to his Captain's fast thinking. Over the years they lost a number of good men in such small skirmishes and Emerson would be damned if he let it happen again. He nodded at Kristoph, "Aye." He said before darting down to the gun deck below. The long dark room lined with men, young boys and canons was a familiar sight to the man. He had spent most of his childhood in this very section of the ship and he knew the floorboards like the back of his hand.

Emerson darted between the men, shouting orders between the loud booms that erupted from their canons. The men were dirty and sweaty and in the weak light that filtered through the gun ports he could see that most, if not all of the men and boys were already bleeding from the ears. Emerson aided the boys in ferrying the gunpowder to the gunners before helping the gunners themselves. This was possibly one of the most dangerous places to be on the ship, up on the masts tying down the sails or opening them up was the most dangerous place on the ship. In the high winds many men had been blown off the masts as if they were bugs. The canons presented their own dangers. He had known a man who had his foot crushed by a canon rolling back with the recoil. The man's foot was too mangled to save and he had it amputated. He died less than a week later.

"READY! AIM! FIRE!"

This was one of the jobs that Emerson was the best at. He aided the men in positioning the canons in the right place before giving another command to fire. They were going to take down the ship. There was a moment of relief when no canon fire came from the other ship. It would take the men on the other ship a few moments to recover from the blow before reloading their canons to fire at the Silver Arrow again.

Emerson left the men to see if there was anything else that Kristoph needed him to do. The gunners and powder monkeys were all capable and he trusted them to do their jobs right. He wiped the blood from the sides of his face before heading up to his captain. Emerson's ears still rang and he was a bit dizzy so he gripped onto the railing to steady himself. "Any other orders?" He half yelled at Kristoph.

---

Eagleharbor was the largest city on Tiriene, with a population of around seven thousand five hundred people, plus the merchants who would stay half of the year before leaving. There were other cities on the larger floating continents that boasted cities two or three, sometimes five times larger than Eagleharbor. The small city was given its name due to the various birds that settled on the underside of the continent itself and under the small boardwalks that connected the ships to the port and up on top of houses. This was her favorite part about Eagleharbor and it was what she always looked forward to.

She was nervous about leaving the safety of Nightfort. What if something happened to their aunt and uncle and she wasn't there to help them? Like her sister, there was a part of Zaria that longed for the world outside the boarders of Tiriene. Ever since she was a child there was something about the outside world that drew her in. The twins were educated; their aunt taught them how to read and to write. She taught them of the outside world and read those stories from all over the world and stories of the surface far below them. Zaria had enjoyed the stories and even today she would read them again but the woman came to realize that her home and family were the most important things to her. Often Zaria and her sister would clash over their differences but they always made up in the end; they were twins after all and had been through everything together.

The older twin smiled slightly as she brought a hand to shield her eyes from the sun. "I want to continue in this journey." She said, "I just worry, perhaps a little more than I should, about our aunt and uncle."

The road leading from Eagleharbor to the smaller towns and villages over Tiriene was empty today. Most of the merchants had left for the season but would be back in six months’ time. "And I worry for us." Zaria said with a faint, slightly sad smile. The streets were still busy but not as busy as they would have been two weeks ago. She stopped and leaned heavily on the walking stick that she had brought from Nightfort; her leg was beginning to bother her again. It wasn't something that would take away from her work, no, she'd power through the pain to the point of further injury. Zeva had been there the day that Zaria broke her leg. They had been trying to climb up a small cliff when she had slipped. After the fall she had been confined to the house until she had fully healed but there had been a few hiccups here and there along the road of healing. Zaria lifted her leg a few inches in front of her before stretching it out behind her. After a few more times of stretching her leg they continued on into the city.

Feeling the cannon fire erupt beneath his feet Kristoph glanced behind him as he tried to maneuver the Silver Arrow to out speed his pursuers. He grimaced slightly as most of the first round of cannon fire missed, aside from two, one just barely hitting the top of the ships main mast, the second one taking out the tip of one of the wind oars that pushed the ship through the air. Neither hit seemed to do much to the ship behind them as the pirates behind him continued the pursuit.

Kristoph gritted his teeth behind his lips as he returned his attention to piloting his ship through the skies. If he could hold off the advancing ship for a little while longer, Kristoph knew that he could lose them in a nasty wind tunnel that very few captains could make their way through; he wasn't a fan of the escape plan, but since he personally knew the pirate captain of the other ship Kristoph knew he would be able to lose the man once he entered the wind tunnel. Glancing to Emerson as he called out, Kristoph gave a sharp nod of his head. "Aye! I'm aiming for the wind tunnel off of Dorothel's Peninsula heading towards southern Tiriene." He paused catching the look of terror in the eyes of some of his men as they looked his way. Steeling his resolve the captains eyes looked over the men with finality. It was the only way they were going to escape. "Help the men secure the sails, the engine will have to be put into high wind mode! Only the strongest men will remain on deck with me, to make sure the sails stay in place!" Kristoph's tone said the decision was final, he was running out of time to change his mind, so this would have to work, and he would have to muster all his strength to steer the ship up the tunnel.

---

Barley Verton, the captain of the black ship, looked onward with an angry gaze at the Silver Arrow which was slowly managing to outdistance his ship. The man was a heavier set man with jet black short hair, a black bushy beard and murky brown eyes which were filled with anger and rage at the man captaining the Silver Arrow. The kid had gotten lucky and managed to beat him to the cargo ship that was carrying some pretty valuable cargo that could be pawned of pretty easily. If Kristoph hadn't heard him talking about it, he wouldn't have gotten the upper hand on him. As his men continued returning fire, although his men's aim seemed to be thrown off with the distance between the two ships now.

Barley watched as the Silver Arrow's course varied a bit to the left. The man frowned as he wondered just what Kristoph was thinking. He was setting himself up to be caught, and while Barley wasn't about to complain about the chance to catch up to the pirate captain, it just didn't seem like something he would do.

---

Zeva watched hesitantly as her sister stretched her leg. She hated that her sister wouldn't rest herself more especially when it was clear she was hurting. Biting her tongue she silenced her words as they continued onwards. "Don't worry about our aunt and uncle. They will be fine. Besides we won't be gone forever, we will come back with the merchants when they return. It's just seasonal work we're looking for." Zeva didn't mention that she hoped to find something more than seasonal work. She and Zaria had gotten into arguments since the two had agreed to look for work to help their aunt and uncle out. They needed the extra money and the merchants paid well for hard workers to help organize and pack their wares to come back from the bigger cities to trade in Tiriene. Zeva however was hoping for something more by going to the bigger cities.

The two sisters made their way into Eagleharbor. The city had an average amount of people out and about. The year round traders that would remain were already open for the day. Zeva and Zaria had set out early in order to find a ship that would be willing to take them aboard and take them to one of the larger cities. "We should probably talk to one of the local year round traders to figure out who we should start talking to in order to get passage to another continent." Zeva said as she looked around hoping to find a familiar trader to talk with.

Emerson nodded before barking orders to a few of the men to follow him up onto the masts. It was the most dangerous job on the entire ship and they would be at the mercy of the wild, biting winds up there with no ropes to secure themselves to the ship with. Emerson preferred the gun decks below but they were short a few men due to some injury and illnesses. He climbed up the center mast just behind one of the boys on the ship. This one was only fifteen years old, much older than when most of the other boys had started on the Silver Arrow. As they arranged themselves on the edges of the mast they all began tying up the sails.

The teenager next to Emerson slipped. It all happened so fast that he didn't have time to react. The boy managed to grab onto one of the free hanging ropes before he could fall to his death but he was too far out to save. Emerson paused his work long enough to decide that it was worth the risk of saving the boy’s life rather than letting him die and getting the job done. He would have been crushed if the boy died, even though the others wouldn't mind it much. Death was part of being a pirate. They would all expect to meet their fate in the gallows and most pirates didn't live long enough to even make it to a ripe old age to quietly pass in their sleep. Some, like his adoptive father, were quite lucky to be able to do that.

"Hang on!" Emerson called to the boy. He grabbed another one of the ropes that hadn't been used to get the sail secured, before he lowered himself closer to the boy. The boy was crying when Emerson finally got to him. The boy gripped his shoulders before Emerson began swinging both of them towards the mast. "One, two, three!" Emerson said before pushing the boy towards the mast. He gripped onto it tightly before scrambling down to the deck. Emerson was swinging wildly in the wind before swinging himself towards the mast once more. He missed the first time. And the second time. And the third time; the man was beginning to think he was going to die when, on the fifth try, he finally succeeded in clinging onto the mast. Emerson climbed back up the mast and began working with the other men to finish securing the sails. They climbed down the mast and began securing the other ropes and ensuring that everything would remain steady.
Emerson ordered a few more men to go within the ship and help the ship doctor tie down the sick and injured men to their beds so they wouldn't fly off.

The wind tunnel wasn't something to be taken lightly and he would much rather be safe than sorry. Emerson approached Kristoph and began to aid him in steering the ship.

---

"Buror should know a few people." Zaria said to her sister as they walked through the streets. Buror was an older than they were by no more than ten years. He was one of the wealthiest traders in Eagleharbor but he had started life out in Nightfort. The girls had known him while growing up and they had been invited to his wedding a few years back but Zaria had been unable to attend. They kept in touch with an occasional letter. The last was to inform the twins that his wife, Emilie, had a child two years ago.
His office wasn't far from the part but it was closer to the nicer end of Eagelharbor.

Zaria pushed the door open and called out to Buror, who would usually be behind his desk filling out orders, signing papers or occasionally glancing out of the window with a longing expression. "I'm coming, give me a minute!" It was a woman's voice that called out to them and five minutes later a woman emerged from one of the back offices. She was arranging her bonnet over her thick blonde hair before smoothing down the front of her blue gingham dress. "Oh? Hello, how may I help you?" The woman, whom Zaria had never seen before, said to them.
She was new to Buror's office. The woman looked at the twins curiously; she had heard stories of them from Buror and some of the other locals in Eagleharbor but she never thought that she would have had the chance to meet them. It wasn't every day that you were hunted by pirates as a babe.

"We are here to speak to Buror." Zaria informed her.

The woman's stomach burned with jealousy. She wasn't allowed to call him by his first name.

"Mr. Nil is unavailable at this time."

Zaria sighed before turning to her sister. It was unlike Buror to be gone from his office during working hours. "By chance do you know where he is?" The woman shook her head before crossing her arms over her chest.

"No. Mr. Nil hasn't been in for an hour." It was a total lie, he was in one of the back rooms but the woman didn't want to get in trouble.

Another sigh came from Zaria, "Please tell him that the Tesoro-"

"Ah! Welcome ladies." Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Buror quickly embraced the twins before letting go and stepping back a few paces to look at them. They had grown up a lot since the last time he had seen them. They were just little girls the last time he had gone to Nightfort. Buror was a man of average height with dirty blond hair swept back into a ponytail with dark green eyes and a slight beard and moustache. He was a handsome man by the standards of many women in Eagleharbor.

The woman scowled before she turned around and busied herself at Buror's desk. "What is it that you two need?" He asked with a wide grin.

"Do you know which merchants are going to Hilarest?" Hilarest would be their best bet to find good jobs. Buror shook his head before he called on the woman to bring him a thick book full of logged locations that his trade ships would go to. He bit his lip as he scanned each page before closing it and handing it back to her.

"Unfortunately none of my ships are going to Hilarest this year. Rumors swarm about pirates inhabiting the areas around Hilarest and I am not going to take any chances. All of my ships are bound for Dorwine and Oriar." Buror ran a hand over his beard as he searched his brain for any other ships headed for Hilarest. The news of potential pirate activity did no sit well with Zaria. She couldn't remember the incident since she had been so young but she still feared pirates. The woman reached out and grabbed her sister's hand for comfort.

"I am sure that all of the ships headed for Hilarest have already gone. I'm sorry." Buror said finally.

Kristoph's grip tightened on the wheel of his ship as his attention flickered to Emerson and the boy who had damn near fallen to his death. The captain's eyes flickered between where his attention needed to be and back to the scene at hand. It would be one heck of a blow to his crew and team if Emerson's swings kept coming up just short of the mast. Knowing there was nothing he could do; Kristoph returned his attention to the situation at hand as he kept on route. He was sure his ship would be able to just barely out speed Barley's ship and make it into the wind tunnel before his men could attempt to board the ship.

"Come on. We need to out speed them just a little more." Kristoph muttered under his breath as he mentally tried to will his ship to move through the skies faster even though his ships engine was working at its max to keep them ahead of Barley and his crew. Under normal circumstances that would have been enough had the engine not sustained damage from one of the first cannon rounds, a stupid lucky shot on Barley's part, which had left the engine not working at its full power.

---

A puzzled look crossed Barley's features as he watched Kristoph's men scrambling up the masts. "Tell the men to keep firing at that ship!" he barked angrily at his first mate that had appeared above deck to get his captains orders. The pirate returned his attention to the fleeing ship; he watched trying to figure out just what Kristoph was planning. Barley's own ship was starting to gain on The Silver Arrow since Kristoph made the odd decision to shift his direction to the angle.

Barley glanced over in the direction that his foe had shifted to. As his murky brown eyes fell on wispy formation of clouds which appeared to be moving at a slightly faster speed then the other surrounding clouds which had an unusual space between them and the wispy clouds realization entered his gaze. "Damn it! He's going for the wind tunnel! Fire all cannons! Stop that ships engines at all costs or you all are going to regret it!" he bellowed angrily to his crew, demanding they stop the fleeing ship before Kristoph could make his escape. A low growl escaped from his bearded mouth as Barley realized he was too late; The Silver Arrow still had speed over his ship even with a slightly disabled engine.

---

Kristoph suppressed the urge to give a slight chuckle despite the rather urgent situation, it might have just been the wind picking up as they approached the wind tunnel but he could have sworn he heard Barley yelling angrily as he realized what was going on. His green gaze fell to the deck as he saw Emerson make his way safely down the mast, he was glad to see his first mate had managed to get his feet back on the ship. The tension Kristoph felt eased slightly once everyone was safe from atop the masts, the chances of losing a man now was almost zero unless he entered the wind tunnel at the wrong angle.

The sound of cannon blasts echoed through the skies again as Barley tried to stop The Silver Arrow from entering into the wind tunnel and escaping his grasp just as it was about to close in on it. The ship gave a slight shudder as one of the cannon balls grazed the left side of the hull. Kristoph clenched his teeth tightly as he came within range of his escape. As Emerson approached the captain’s wheel, Kristoph grabbed two wheel pegs on the left hand side of the wheel letting Emerson take the right side of the wheel. “Get ready for resistance we’re going through the outer flow.” He warned the man as they turned the ship ever so slightly to the right.

The wind that suddenly struck the ship was so strong it nearly had sent Kristoph to the deck floor as his prized ship shuddered and groaned against the wind pressure that pushed against it. “Straighten her out or the ship will be torn apart!” he called out to Emerson over the roar of the wind that surrounded them before grunting trying to force the ships wheel to the right in order to get the ship going in the same direction as the wind. He pushed with all his strength to get the ship straightened out as it fought against the two pirates, when the wind resistance lessened against the ship Kristoph knew the hard part was over.

Panting slightly from the effort he looked around the deck taking in the men that had remained on it. None of them seemed too worse for the wear. “Carson! Get up here and pilot the ship for me!” Kristoph yelled towards one of the men on deck who was just regaining his footing, looking to his first mate the captain nodded in appreciation for the help. “We need to check out the ship. Figure out what kind of damage she took. I think we will need to sneak into Eagleharbor and dock for the night so the engine man can fix the engine damage. We need to know the status of the men too, if any of them were injured during the chase especially the men in the gun room because of all the cannon fire we had to return, as well as anything the Doc might need right away for medical supplies as long as we’re docking. I’ll check out the engine see what her status is and what we need to fix the problem, Emerson can you talk to the Doc and the men and get information from below deck for me? We can meet back in my quarters and I can figure out what needs to be done from there.”

---

Zeva nearly paused in step, almost stumbling over her own feet when her sister brought up Buror. She gently bit her lower lip but said nothing as they continued on. The youngest sister would never openly admit it, but even when they were younger she had always found herself inexplicably attracted to the man. While she would admit he was devilishly handsome by anyone’s standards he double teamed Zeva by being quite the intelligent man as well. Of course the woman had passed it off as a simple childhood crush, but deep down she knew she still felt attracted to him, even with his wife and child, it still seemed like she wasn’t able to snuff out that flame of attraction she felt. Even when she had attended his and Emilie’s beautiful wedding it did nothing but leave a slightly bitter taste in her mouth at how lucky the woman was, but she didn’t dislike Emilie because of it. In fact the two had gotten along rather well, and Zeva enjoyed talking to the woman when they had the opportunity. “Hopefully he’s not too busy to help us. He’s probably still busy even this time of year.” She commented as they made their way to the building where he ran his business.

As they approached the building Zeva felt her stomach tighten up, hopeful that Buror would be able to help them get off this continent and out on their own even if it was only supposed to be temporary. She followed Zaria in to be met with the sound of a woman calling out to them rather than Buror himself. Mentally scolding herself for feeling the slightest bit of disappointment Zeva stood with her sister as they waited. She crossed her arms starting to feel impatient as the minutes wore on. It was about the time Zeva was going to tell her sister they should forget about being polite and just head back and see if the man was in when the nicely dressed woman appeared, still fidgeting with her hair beneath the bonnet as she did.

Zeva let Zaria do the talking as she wasn’t one to talk a whole lot anyways. When the woman replied her tone was one of irritation as she spoke. Zeva kept her arms crossed over her chest trying to bite her tongue as her sister spoke to her. When the woman said she hadn’t seen Buror for an hour a slightly worried look flickered across Zeva’s face as she looked at her sister as well. “I hope everything is alright with Emilie and Marius…” she muttered in a low tone mostly to her sister who then turned to speak to the woman again. It was then that Buror appeared from in back causing Zeva’s gaze to flicker to the woman once again. If she had just said she didn’t think he was seeing visitors it would have been different but the woman flat out lied, which irritated Zeva quite a bit. However with the man now out in the reception area her attention was drawn to him as he hugged the two sisters affectionately before he asked what he could help them with and Zaria asked about going to Hilarest. Buror’s reply was not encouraging to say the least, and at the mention of pirates Zeva tensed up. She wasn’t exactly scared of pirates although she hadn’t ever had an encounter with one since the fateful day of her parent’s death, but Zaria was another story.

Holding her sister’s hand gently in her own, Zeva moved closer to Zaria to give her some comfort. They had to try to brave the news of pirates, they had to go out just once and see what they could do. Zeva, although independent in her own way, would not go without Zaria to see what life was like outside of Tiriene. Squeezing her sister’s hand gently Zeva looked to Buror and spoke in a calm tone. “You said you have ships traveling to Oriar? Are there any docked here that are still going that way?” she looked to Zaria now. “Maybe we could get passage to Oriar and go to Hilarest from there? There’s just got to be someone who would let us board their ship on Oriar.” She suggested to her sister, she just wasn’t willing to give up the fight yet, maybe they could find their way from there, if not surely they could find work in Oriar until a merchant ship was heading to Hilarest. Looking back to Buror she gazed at him hopefully with her green and blue eyes.

Oriar, the second largest of the floating continents, was located in the far north of the globe. With it's large mass of land it boasted an equally large population made up of several different ethnic groups who called the largely grasslands and plains continent their home. They all came together and bled into one in the capital, Edgepond. Fishing was an important industry in Oriar although there were small markets for trading the goods created by the ethnic groups. Buror had made his living off of buying the fish from the markets in Oriar and redistributing them for a slightly higher cost elsewhere. He had been successful enough to have expanded his reach to Dorwine, Hilarest and Sirasea.
Buror Nil was a brilliant man with an eye for a profit and a pretty lady.
That was one of the reasons why Zara had turned him down the first few times he had sent letters asking for the twins to work for him.

She loved Buror dearly, he was a friend for life, but she had learned quickly of his habit of hiring pretty women around the office- and it wasn't to please his male customers. Her eyes went to the blonde woman who was sending Buror longing glances. It wasn't hard to understand why the woman had a foul attitude.

"My last ship leaves for Oriar. By now the crew is already celebrating the beginning of the trade season." Buror said, "I can help you secure passage to Oriar but from there you are on your own. My competitors do not take kindly to my crews or those they take with them." Buror smiled, his eyes staying on Zeva for a little while longer than her sister was comfortable with. Zeva was a beautiful woman and he would be lying if he said that he wasn't attracted to her. If he had known that the twins would have turned into such beauties he would have stayed in Nightfort. His eyes moved on to Zaria and although she shared some traits with her sister, the two weren't identical. While Zaria was pretty in her own ways, she was much too plain and simple for Buror's taste.

"Bonnie," The man called, finally tearing his eyes away from the twins.

"Yes Mr. Nil?" Bonnie, the blonde woman, sounded hopeful. Perhaps he was going to tell her that they would be able to see each other again without any interruptions. Her heart and smile fell when he spoke.

"You'll close up the office tonight. It's been far too long since I have last seen my dear friends and Emilie will be pleased as well to see them." Buror's grin was wide and it made her heart thump painfully in her chest. Ever since Buror came to Eaglehabor years ago she had fancied him. He was handsome and very kind, what woman wouldn't fancy a man like that? The name of his wife left a foul taste on the back of her tongue. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew the risks of sneaking around with Buror and she had only been setting herself up for heartbreak in the end, but she had fallen hard for Buror and it wasn't easy for her.
When the man brought the two women into a hug, she felt her heart break.

"Y-yes Mr. Nil." Bonnie said before turning around quickly to hide the tears that had formed in her eyes. Buror thanked her and led the twins to the back of his office. Outside in the alley was a small space for his horse to stay. Eagleharbor had ferries, small versions of ships that took people around town. They weren't used to go up into the mountain or to go to the other continents as they were too small and slow to do so. This made them perfect for getting people and goods across the town in an orderly manner. Buror, being from a relatively isolated mountain village, had grown up with horses and he stuck to his roots.
"I hope you don't mind the horse." Buror ginned as he pat the black horse gently, "I'm a Nightfort boy at heart."

Zaria smiled, "I'm glad you haven't changed much." There had been a fear of living in Eagleharbor would turn her friend into a man she could not recognize.

"Nonsense! I'm still the same guy, only I have made my dreams a reality this time." He hooked the horse up to a small cart big enough for a few people. He loved to take his family through the town and out into the countryside on the cart. It didn't have a roof so it was open and it allowed his little one to get fresh air. Buror helped the twins into the cart before taking the driver's seat for himself. Buror asked the twins if they wanted to see their old home, since it was along the way to his house. Zaria agreed but as they travelled further into the town she couldn’t help but feel that it had been the wrong choice. She took one of Zeva's hands in her own as the cart began to climb the winding roads up the hills. To the north of the harbor lay a small set of rolling, gentle hills that most people lived on.
On the top of the first hill lay a vacant and broken single story home. This was where the twins had been born. It once used to be a home with whitewashed walls that had turned yellow with age; the windows and door were missing and there were vines that made homes in the cracks of the walls.

"No one has lived here since then," Buror said, "Most of the furniture was moved out but some pieces still remain." He stopped the cart and allowed the twins to get off.

Zaria took a few steps towards the house before turning back to look at her sister and Buror. The man simply nodded before she turned around and twisted her hands together nervously. This was the first time since that night that they were going back home. Zaria walked through the broken wooden gate before stopping on the crumbling steps of the house. Vines obscured the doorway and she gently pushed them to the side before entering. The light that filtered in through where the windows once used to be fell into mostly empty rooms. Bits of broken furniture collected thick layers of dust and cobwebs. The wallpaper was peeling off in some areas.
The kitchen was where their parents had been murdered, trying to keep the pirates away from the nursery, which was on the other side of the kitchen. Zaria stared at the large dark stain in the middle of the kitchen floor. She knew what it was without a second thought. It took Zaria a few minutes to calm down enough to be able to walk around the giant bloodstain and into the nursery that she once shared with her sister.

It had been painted a pale shade of green with pastel yellow and white stripes that went halfway up the walls with little pink and light blue flowers along the edges. There was hardly anything left in the room. The crib they once shared was still in there and Zaria couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. It was a simple white colored crib that was broken on one side and on the wall behind it were a few marks from where it had rubbed against the wall.

---

His arms were aching from helping Kristoph turn the wheel of the ship. Emerson's wrists and hands ached the most and he nodded to his Captain. He headed for the gun deck first, knowing that there were going to be a few men in need of help. He knew that they all would require some help from Doc in order to soothe their headaches and the pain in their ears. The twenty men and boys on the gun deck were sitting on the floor exhausted and injured from their duties. One man had been unfortunate enough to have had his foot rolled over by the cannons and Emerson quickly picked him up with the help of another man before taking him to Doc. Three more injured men followed behind.
"We've got a crushed foot!" Emerson yelled to Doc.
Doc was an older man with salt-n-pepper hair and dark eyes. A few wrinkles were forming around his eyes and mouth and they only seemed to deepen as the man was laid out on one of the tables in the sick bay. The other sick and injured men were untied from their beds, having been tied in to prevent them from flying off during the entrance of the wind tunnel.

"Hold him down!" Doc yelled, the man wouldn't hold still long enough for Doc to get a good look at his foot. It was badly broken with a few bones poking up into the skin but never actually breaking it. The man would need his foot taken off, they didn't have the supplies necessary for saving it and they couldn't wait too long without the bones regrowing wrong. Doc tossed Emerson a thick strap of leather with several bite marks in it. He put it into the man's mouth and told him to bite down on it.
The man was crying, partially out of pain and because he knew that there was no way his foot would be saved, they all knew what the leather strap meant. Doc ripped the man's pants up to his thigh before finding the correct spot to take his foot. Just above the ankle would work. He ordered a few more men to heat up a large iron plate that would be used to burn the cut arteries in order to prevent the man from bleeding. They placed the iron plate into the fire and waited until it glowed red. Doc hastily tied a strip of cloth around the man's calf to stop the bleeding. He would loose some bool despite the tourniquet, Emerson was sure of it.

Emerson had seen a few amputations in his life, hell he had been the subject of one! His right pinky finger was gone and he was missing half of his right ring finger from a nasty case of frost bite in his younger years, luckily his other finger's had been spared. Emerson held down the man's shoulders down and he couldn't help but feel his heart drop once Doc began to cut through the man's flesh with his tools.

First Doc took a long, one sided knife and cut around the man's leg through the flesh and down until his bone was exposed. The injured man thrashed around in an attempt to get away from Doc's hands and tools. The leather strap in his mouth did little to muffle his screaming and Emerson felt his stomach lurch when he looked up. Emerson wasn't one for gore, especially when he was so close. Doc worked with precision as he finally severed the last bits of the man's muscle before discarding the knife into a small bowl of water, next he reached for the bone saw. It was smaller than Emerson would have thought and Doc quickly placed it on the man's exposed bone before moving it back and forth, using a little more pressure each time. More of the men moved to help hold down the man's leg in order to prevent Doc and the saw from slipping. Finally when there was a dull thud on the floor and the saw was changed out for a small hook, the procedure was almost done. The man was bleeding profusely at that point; Emerson thought he was going to die. He had never seen so much blood before. Doc quickly fished around in the man's leg for arteries that he brought forth with the hook.

"It's called a tenaculum." Doc said without looking up. He had felt Emerson's curious eyes and he knew that the man wanted nothing more than to look away but couldn't. Once Doc had tied off everything he needed to he asked for the iron plate. He burnt the ends of the arteries as a precaution before handing the plate back; once before he hadn't tied the knots tight enough and his patient had died. Then Emerson noticed something that he had missed before - Doc moved the man's remaining skin down around the wound before being handed a needle with thick black thread.

"It's always nice to be able to sew them up." Doc said as if he were talking about the weather, "It'll help his healing by making sure his bone is covered. See we're taught in medical school to cut a certain way in order to preserve the most skin that can be used as flaps to close the wound."

When the amputation was complete and the man was finally sleeping, having been given a foul smelling liquid, Emerson approached Doc. The man was cleaning himself with a bucket of water and he stopped briefly to give Emerson a small smile.

"Yes?"

"Do you need any supplies? We're heading for Eagleharbor and the Captain needs to know if we need to stock up on medical supplies." Emerson glanced over at the sleeping man before turning his attention to Doc. The doctor shuffled about the sick bay, checking various jars and small bowls. He mumbled to himself and quietly wrote down everything he needed before handing the list to Emerson.

"I just need a few things, bulk up on them. When we arrive I will need to go to a healer in order to get more herbs. Tiriene has the best healing herbs of all the lands." Doc smiled softly, "I can see about getting you some to help you sleep."

Emerson's cheeks flushed under his slight beard.

"It won't be necessary." Emerson said before backing out of the room, "I will deliver this to the Captain and inform him of where you need to go."

Up on the deck Emerson weaved through the men who were celebrating a job well done. It had been a while since they had been to Tiriene and most of the men couldn't wait. The roasted birds that one could by from the taverns in Tiriene were the best, and the women weren't bad either. He asked some of the celebrating men of the damages and he was relieved that aside from some other minor injuries and damage done to the ship, it wasn't something that would strand the Silver Arrow in Eagleharbor for long.

Emerson made his way up to Kristoph's cabin and entered without knocking. It was just something he never had the need to do. "Doc gave me his list. There was an accident on the gun deck...a man had his foot rolled over, Doc had to cut it off. How's the engine? Any more injuries you heard of?"

Kristoph headed down to the opposite end of the ship that Emerson disappeared down, his destination was the engine room to figure out how much damage Barley had caused to his ship. He was only grateful that his engine mechanic had been able to keep the ship flying; now the question was what would that cost them in the end?

Entering down into the room adjacent to the engine room Kristoph could feel the temperature steadily increasing and felt a prickle of worry in the back of his mind. While it was normally hot down in the engine room, it was harder to feel it in this room, and since he could definitely feel the heat right now it was worrisome for him. He moved quickly and approached the engine room door pounding on it loudly. "Merk?! How's everything holding up?" Kristoph called loudly to get his engine mechanic's attention; he heard the heavy fall of footsteps approaching him before the door swung open.

Standing in the door frame now was a man who stood towering over Kristoph by a good foot and a half in height. He was a bulky man, well muscled and hefty from his years spent working with the engine of the ship. He had long since taken to shaving his head for two reasons; the first reason being that he was slowly but surely losing his hair anyways, and the other reason being that the engine room was so hot all the time, that a bald head made it a bit more bearable. The man had been a part of the crew for probably longer than even Kristoph had been, and he loved the engine and the ship as if it were his child, which is why Kristoph understood the look of anger on the man’s face at the moment as his watery blue eyes glared down at the captain, his body was covered in a layer of sweat from the sweltering heat of the small engine room which appeared filled with smoke. Kristoph took note of the gash that Merk had received over his left eye, probably from one of the sudden jolts the ship took while he was trying to keep the engine going.

“Kid I swear to the Gray Ghost you are going to be the death of this ship! You’re damn lucky I was able to keep that engine held together to get into the wind tunnel otherwise you, me and the men aboard the ship would be sitting below the clouds right now!” the man in the door frame barked angrily at his captain, frustrated that he would take a chance like that after the engine took a blow from cannon fire.

Kristoph gave a slight grin and nodded his head. “I knew you’d be able to keep her flying, you’ve been in worse situations with my dad before and still managed to keep this ship in the air with your incredible mechanical skills.” He knew Merk had a weakness for flattery, staying on the man’s good side was fairly easy with the right kind of compliments and since he prided himself on his mechanical skills it was a quick way back into his good graces.

The man called Merk flushed slightly at the compliment and ran a gloved hand over his head as he huffed slightly not wanting to admit that the words had caused his anger to ebb away. “Yeah, yeah I know. You’re just lucky you got me on board Kris or this ship wouldn’t be here.” The volume of his voice dropped a bit from furious to his normal loud tone so he could be heard over the engines gears, the man turned around and gestured for Kristoph to follow after him to which the captain obliged. He could see smoke pouring from the engine and filtering out the now opened window of the small room to keep it easy to breath.

“So what’s her condition Merk? Can you limp her to Tiriene once we exit the wind tunnel? It’s the closest port we can get to where we’ll have some decent time to make sure she’s back up and running.” Kristoph asked over the dull roar of the engine beside him as he began to walk around the machine checking some of the small things he knew about that were on it.

Merk frowned slightly as his eye brows knotted together in thought. “It shouldn’t be a problem getting her there, but I’m pretty sure the force of the blast from the cannon fire knocked a few things lose in there, not to mention if you listen you can hear a slight grinding coming from inside. I think one of the gears got bent to hell during the fight. I don’t know if I can straighten it out but the only way I’ll know for sure is by getting in there and pulling the gear to see what she looks like. If there is an issue, you might need to head to Hilarest, there is a metal worker there who should be able to make a gear that will fit.” Merk spoke opening a latch to reveal the inner workings of the machine, showing Kristoph the gear that seemed to be wobbling a bit as it spun. “It also seems like one of the steam engines that runs the gear cranks might have gotten damaged from the blast. If that’s the case then I’ll need you to go to Hilarest anyways. It’s too bad there’s only one damn good metal worker I know who will do work even for pirate ships, but I doubt I would trust this to anyone else anyways. Until I can figure out what’s wrong and what I need to fix her the Silver Arrow might be a bit slower thanks to the lack of engine power, I should be able to at least patch her together to get us where we need to go though.” Merk pointed now down to a rotating gear attached to a metal arm that was powered by a small machine where the smoke seemed to be coming from as it tried to rotate but would wind up stuck part way through the rotation before managing to continue on.

Kristoph ran his hand through his hair which had come loose from his hair tie when he and Emerson had been trying to keep the ship on her path when they entered the tunnel. The man frowned slightly in thought as he took in what Merk was saying and showing him. Metal work wasn’t cheap especially from the man that Merk was talking about. They would have to unload some of the cargo they had picked up in order to make up for the price of repairs if they needed to be done. Based on what he could see, Kristoph was sure that they would be making a stop in Hilarest after leaving Tiriene.

After talking a bit more about potential problems and solutions Kristoph took his leave to return to his quarters to figure out what the next step of action would be. He needed to figure out if they were going to head straight for Hilarest after leaving or if they were going to make a stop along the way to unload some of their goods to the unsuspecting merchants and on the black market.

He was in the midst of this debate when Emerson returned with news of the injuries sustained during their run. The captain winced slightly when Emerson spoke of the man who had to have his foot amputated. Hopefully the stop in Tiriene would keep him alive; Kristoph knew the likelihood of survival after a major amputation was pretty slim. “Damn, I really need to figure out a better way of securing those cannons. That the third man that’s happened to since I took over.” He replied with a slight frown on his features as he stared at the floor in thought, his mind reeling on what he could do to prevent the cannon rolling issues, before responding to Emerson’s question about the engine. “It looks like there might be some important parts that got damaged during the cannon fire. A gear for sure looks like it’s bent to hell, and one of the engines that runs a gear crank is smoking and not running like it should. Since it’s metal work Merk can’t exactly fix it but he should be able to bandage it up and we make a run to Hilarest after stopping in Tiriene. The ship just isn’t going to be at her full speed until we get the parts replaced.” Kristoph spoke in a slightly distracted tone as he drummed his fingers against the wood of his desk that sat in the middle of the quarters. “Thankfully it doesn’t seem like there were any other major injuries, Merk knocked his head around a bit while working on it and wound up with a gash above his left eye, but it didn’t look deep and wasn’t bleeding when I got there. He said he’d go see Doc later once he was sure the engine would be secure without him needing to be there.”

Kristoph gave a slight sigh as he walked over to the captain’s chair behind the desk and sat down, lacing his fingers together behind his head as he closed his eyes in thought. Normally in front of his crew the captain was quick witted and able to spit out orders left and right, but it was in his quarters where he did most of his thinking, figuring, and plotting his next course of action to be taken. That’s why Emerson was the only one allowed to enter without knocking, he liked his men thinking he was quick witted and able to think of stuff on the fly, when really he had been mulling it over for some time before making a decision. “The next question is do we unload the cargo on our way to Hilarest and have the extra gold then, or do we go to Hilarest get the work done and then go off and unload the cargo? While we still have the cargo on board we run the risk of Barley catching up to us again and trying to get it from us since he missed out.” Kristoph said out loud as he mulled over the best course of action, he wasn’t necessarily looking for an answer from Emerson but if he wanted to give his opinion Kristoph would listen.

There wasn’t much more time to mull over what he needed to do however as a sharp series of knocks sounded on the door causing Kristoph to jump quickly and quietly to his feet. “Enter.” He said sharply as one of his crew men opened the door and stuck his head in slightly.

“Sorry Cap’n. Tiriene is coming up quick and Carson ain’t going to try to exit the wind tunnel on ‘is own. We figured you would want to pull the ship out yerself to protect the engine.” The pirate spoke in a low gruff tone as he looked at the two men before ducking out. After appreciating the moment of peace that he had Kristoph moved quickly to return to the deck, the man was right after all, he was the best at getting in and out of the wind tunnel and with the engine part way down it would be best if he took them out of the wind tunnel just to prevent the engine from being stressed even more.

Kristoph took back over steering the ship from Carson as he and the other men quickly took shelter in the bowls of the ship. It wasn’t quite as violent getting out of the tunnel as it was getting in, as long as Kristoph could keep the ship on course to the right, the only real danger coming from the strong wind which would be trying to push the ship left and send the ship into a spinning motion which would effectively tear it apart piece by piece. However there was a little secret Kristoph was aware of, there was a hole in t he wind tunnel and if one punched that area just right, getting out of it was easy enough. His green gaze narrowed slightly as he looked to the right, waiting for the sign that the hole was near. A slender wisp of clouds seemed to be waving at him faintly before being blown down the wind tunnel, and a slight smirk lifted the corner of Kristoph’s mouth when he saw it. It was a sudden and quick motion as the captain braced himself again and directed the ship off to the right feeling the wind trying to turn the ship around and cause him to lose control. This fight was a little bit easier and one he could handle on his own as the ship broke through to the clouds outside of the tunnel and pushed its way back up to altitude. As the ship rose above the clouds the setting sun could be seen now filling the sky with various reds and yellows, while a hint of blue just touched the edges of the sky as the sun fell beneath the clouds. On the horizon just in front of the setting sun the floating continent of Tiriene could just be seen.

Kristoph inhaled deeply now as he looked at the continent far off in the distance, his eyes taking in the mountain like terrain of the continent. The man would admit that he quite liked the tranquil feel the continent had to it and had he not been a pirate and always needing to keep moving it would have been a place he would like to stay at and explore a bit. Tearing his eyes away from the view in front of him, moved over to the left of the wheel towards a mechanism that allowed him contact with Merk, basically it was a flared piece of metal connected to a pipe that traveled down to the engine room to another flared piece of metal. When Kristoph spoke into it his voice could be carried downwards and the same was true for Merk. “Merk, we just broke from the wind tunnel. Tiriene is about one hundred miles north of our position. Keep the engines going as best as you can, at this current pace I estimate we’ll hit land well after night fall.”

“Understood captain; the engine is doing all she can right now, I don’t think we can get any more speed out of her without risking more damage.” Merk’s voice could be heard from the device as he replied. Kristoph stared ahead his eyes on the slowly approaching continent as he continued to mull over what the best course of action would be.

--

As they exited the building through the alley way door, Zeva found herself marveling at the black steed in front of them. The horse was a beautiful creature, and in the back of her mind Zeva itched to know just how fast he could run across the open areas of Tiriene. Forcing herself to stop eyeing the beast with an appreciative gaze the woman made her way into the cart that he pulled so they could go.

“Since it’s on the way… do you two want to stop at your old home?”

The words left Zeva quiet searching for an answer. The woman had never been sure if she wanted to see that house. She had dreams both while asleep and even sometimes while she was awake, of things that she could barely remember, things that didn’t seem real to her. The only real memory that seemed to come to her in dream form was of a lot of voices, all of them clashing together and not really forming any coherent words and then a loud high pitched scream of pain usually causing her to jolt awake from her sleep. While she debated whether or not it was a good idea Zaria answered quickly that she wanted to. Zeva looked over quickly at her sister eyeing her quietly for a moment. “Are you sure?” she asked in a low tone, the nod of her twin’s head was answer enough as Buror directed the horse up to the hills where other people’s homes were as well.

As they approached, Zeva suddenly felt her sister grab her hand for comfort. She looked to Zaria and saw a bit of panic flicker across the woman’s face. Gently she scooted closer and wrapped her free arm around the woman in a gentle hug as she rested her head on her shoulder, trying to be a rock for the two of them, although the butterflies in her stomach made her feel less like a rock and more like a puddle which seemed to intensify as the old, decrepit house came into view. Zeva still wasn’t sure that she wanted to see the inside of the house again, but they had already agreed to at least stop there so there wasn’t a point to telling Buror they had changed their mind. She just had to keep reminding herself that everything would be okay, it was just an old house after all.

As the cart rolled to a stop Zeva looked at the house now feeling her breath catch slightly in her throat as she stared at the building. The slightly yellowed walls seem to loom over them even though it was a single story building, as if trying to intimidate the two people who dare return after being the cause of the house falling into its decrepit state. The lonely windows seemed dark even with the light that filtered into it. Zeva watched as her sister took a hesitant step out of the cart, she then followed after the woman watching as she glanced back at them. “Go on. I’m coming too.” Zeva encouraged as she followed after her sister, trying to cover her own nervousness up as they went.

Zeva went to follow Zaria into the kitchen but came to a sudden stop as she saw the faded but still very real dark brown stain on the floor. A lump caught in her throat as Zeva recalled her most vivid dream and fought to push it away. The woman felt as if she couldn’t walk past the dark stain, her mind and body wouldn’t let her, so rather than follow after her sister Zeva turned and decided to explore another area of the house. Off to the side of the kitchen was a hall way that led to the living room and back to the entrance where they came in, and at the other end was what Zeva could only assume was their parent’s bedroom. Once upon a time the walls would have been a simple off white color that their mother had chosen, now however that off white had aged turning yellow in the years of neglect and the paint had begun to crack and peel in various spots. The floor was carpeted in what appeared to be a caramel colored carpet that was weathered and stained from the elements. The large bed frame had been left, but the mattress their parents had slept on was gone, taken long ago. As Zeva ventured into the room further a familiar scent still seemed to linger in the air. Perhaps the scent had been ground into the carpeting or the walls, regardless a warm calming sensation seemed to consume Zeva as she inhaled the scent. She noticed a few articles of clothing that had managed to survive the years of neglect the house had experienced. Taking note of the large walk in closet sitting across from the bed frame, Zeva looked inside curious if any other articles of clothing had managed to survive the years. Instead she found a small old wooden box that had been pushed into the corner and hidden away. Curiosity got the better of the woman as she crawled into the closet and pulled the box out so that she could look inside.

Zeva sat in the middle of the floor now with the box she had pulled from the closet. Looking at the item carefully, the woman brushed her fingers over it feeling the wood beneath her fingertips as she did. The box was made of a rough type of wood, one she had not seen before, it was also pale in comparison to most of the wood that one would see from Tiriene. Some odd symbols were carved into the cover of the lid, there was a sun symbol that was carved above what looked like crude cloud like symbols and below the clouds was a flat line that had tree like symbols coming out of it. As much as she wanted to look inside Zeva felt like this had something to do with both her and her sister and it was something they needed to see together. Standing to her feet Zeva quickly left the room and made her way down to the kitchen. “Zaria, come with me sister. I’ve found something interesting that I think you should see.” Zeva called out as she stood across the kitchen looking into the nursery for her twin.

Tiriene was little more than a hazy outline in the distance but it was still beautiful to Emerson. He never grew tired of seeing sights like that. "Beautiful isn't it?" The dark haired man asked the teen, the very one that he saved from being blown from the mast, who stood next to him.
The boy nodded; his jaw was hanging open and there was a look of pure amazement in his eyes. "I've never been this far away from Sirasea before." The boy admitted, "So this is my first time seeing Tiriene."
Emerson wore a soft, understanding smile. He was once like that, hell he still was.
The boy had been picked up in Hilarest a few weeks ago. He had worked on other ships before but they had been small and only dealt with trade between Sirasea and Hilarest.
"This is the best part about or lifestyle, of course the adventure isn't bad either." Emerson grinned. While Emerson didn't agree on some of the things they did as pirates, he did enjoy flying across the skies with people who he considered family.

The boy looked up at Emerson curiously, "How long have you been on the ship?" The boy knew very little of most of the crew members, only the cabin boy and chef really.
Emerson sighed and leaned his forearms against the railing of the ship. They had time to burn so a story wouldn't hurt. The man looked at the clouds with a distant look in his eyes. "Since I was a little boy," Emerson's hands fumbled together. "My brothers and I were placed into an orphanage after the death of our mother and I had been adopted by the previous captain of the Silver Arrow, Kris's father. It's common for orphans to find their ways onto pirate ships and it's a win-win for everyone. The orphanage gets one less mouth to feed and the kids get a second chance, even if it isn't the best life."
The boy watched the man; he seemed to be thinking of something and pretty soon they fell into silence aside from the bustling of people around them. He didn't know much about the first mate so this little tidbit of information really helped him form an opinion on the man. He had heard mostly great things about Emerson: he was kind and willing to put his life on the line for any of the crew, as the boy witnessed firsthand today, and Emerson was awfully good at stories especially if they had to do with his younger years with the Captain.

It took the ship a considerable length of time to actually reach Tiriene and when they finally entered the harbor the sun was already going down. Emerson had gone off to do a few things like check the cargo and formulate a plan with the captain on just what they were going to do.
"Have you decided on the cargo yet, Kris?" Emerson asked the man. "We could use the spare coin...it'd come in handy once we really need it." The men had known each other since childhood and he always gave his input knowing that more or less it was valued. Emerson untied his bandanna and smoothed back a few pieces of stray hair before re-tying the cloth around his head again. They'd be relatively safe in Eagleharbor tonight; there wasn't much in terms of pirate hunters since Tiriene was so small that most pirates just skirted around it. It wasn't with the hassle if they couldn't find or get much. However, they still needed to be careful. The locals didn't exactly welcome pirates with open arms. He guessed it had to do with a particularly nasty event years ago in which a pirate crew raided the town searching for something or someone. Emerson didn't know all of the details since some people claimed it was one thing the pirates were looking for while others said it was something completely different.

-----

Tracing over the little flowers painted on the walls gave Zaria a sense of comfort. She didn't know what her parents looked like beyond the fact that they shared their father's hair color; but she could picture them in the nursery preparing for the birth of their twins. Their Aunt and Uncle rarely spoke of their parents, fearing that it would bring about bad feelings in the twins. They had always ensured that the girls knew that what happened to their parents hadn't been their fault. She wondered if their parents were proud of the women they had become.

She was pulled away from her thoughts and the wall by the voice of her twin. At first she thought something had happened but once Zeva entered into the nursery with a small, light colored box her worry had been abandoned for curiosity. "Ooh," Zaria said as she gently took the box from her sister's hands and sat on the floor. Patting the space beside her in a silent command, Zaria cocked her head to the side slightly before speaking. "Let’s open it." The lid to the box wasn't fixed by hinges like she thought it would have been, rather the lid was an independent part all together. The box was lined with fine white silk and in the very bottom were two small pieces of paper.
Zaria couldn't help the disappointed sound that escaped her.

Gently she lifted one of the small pieces of paper. The one she held delicately in her hands was a corner piece. It was thicker than regular paper and despite its aged appearance it didn't seem like it would turn to dust with the slightest of movements. She could scarcely make out the edge of what seemed to be land, it was green after all and with her limited knowledge of maps she assumed that they all came color coded to show the continents. When she was done looking at the pieces of paper she gently laid them back onto the white silk before passing the box to her sister. "We better get back to Buror soon. Let's take the box; it did belong to our parents after all." She said softly, she gave the nursery one last glance before standing up. Her leg felt a little stiff from sitting on the floor and her walking stick was back with Buror and the cart. "Knowing him, he's probably bored out of his mind by now."

Zaria helped her twin up off of the floor and she dusted her sister's clothes off before taking one last walk through the house. Zaria's hand remained on the wall closest to her as an attempt to hide her limping; she hated showing that weakness. When she exited the house, a wide grin formed on her face as she spotted Buror. He was lying across the seat of the cart looking up at the sky with his arms behind his head.
"We just have to wait for Ze," Zaria said as she drew closer. Buror quickly sat up, a light dusting of pink spread across his cheeks and the tips of his ears. He hadn't been expecting the twins, or at least just one of them, to leave the house so soon. Once Zeva joined them on the cart Buror happily took the reins in his hand. The rolling hills passed by and the farther they went the more grand the homes became. His house stood proudly on the top of the last hill. Tall and proud just like the man who lived there, it was proof that he had worked hard for his dream.

Buror's home, like most in Eagleharbor, was plastered white. In total there were two stories with large windows for each room. What was the most impressive feature about his home wasn't the house itself (which looked able to hold four or five of Zaria and Zeva's home back in Nightfort). The front yard, or rather field, was bursting with bright flowers and shady trees. Zaria had never seen a yard quite like that and she wondered if the back yard would have been the same. Buror directed the cart around to the back of the house and she was surprised to learn that there was a small vegetable garden and a few stables for horses. "What?" Buror laughed, "You expected something else?"
Zaria nodded, "The front yard was so grand, as is your home, so I had assumed the same of the back yard."
"I told you before; I'm still a Nightfort boy no matter how you look at it."
Further back behind the stables was a small red brick building. It was single story with few windows but a few children roamed in the front of it. That was a servant house. Tiriene didn't have a large servant population like Hilarest or a few of the other continents so it was a little unusual to see a servant house. The cart stopped moving and Buror called for someone. A teenaged boy with dark curly hair and bright eyes hurried out of one of the stables, dropping the brush he had been carrying before taking the reins from Buror.
"Sorry Mr. Nil, one of the horses wouldn't let me brush them!"
"I see. Have they been fed yet?"
"Yes sir. I even gave them a few apples like Mrs. Nil had asked." The boy said with a little hesitance. Buror wasn't abusive towards his servants like the others were or could be. He did give punishments but they always fit with the crime.
Buror thanked the boy and introduced the twins before taking the twins inside.

The inside of his home was just as grand as the outside. They stood in what seemed to be the kitchen where women dressed in dark blue dresses with aprons worked. Each woman said hello to Buror and his guests before getting back to work.
"Daddy!" The squeaky voice of a toddler called out before they could even see the figure. The sound of chunky and still slightly uncoordinated feet could be heard coming down the hallway. Buror ran forward and caught the excited little boy before he could trip coming into the kitchen. "Daddy!"
Marius, Buror's only child, was as cute as they come; red cheeked with adorable little dimples and the sweetest little smile. Marius looked like his father a lot but there were features that undeniably belonged to Emillie. Marius might have looked physically more like his father with childish features but his blond, almost white hair, and freckles came from his mother.
"Marius this is Aunt Zeva and Aunt Zaria." Buror introduced the boy before pushing him gently to the twins.
He was a shy little boy who wanted nothing more than to cling to his father.
"Hello Marius." Zaria said softly as she held her hands out to him. From her small little travel bag she produced a bright red apple. Zaria loved apples, especially the ones from the mountains around Nightfort. Marius curiously peeked at the apple before letting go of his father and stepped closer to the red haired woman.
"Isn't he cute Ze?"

"Buror?" A soft feminine voice called from behind the man. This was Zaria's second time seeing Emilie in person but they did write letters to each other frequently. Emilie was beautiful in Zaria's eyes; she could see why Buror married the woman.
Emilie was tall and on the slender side. She moved gracefully towards the twins to sweep them into a hug. Emilie's light hair was left loose and in soft waves, almost as if she hadn't gotten ready for the day. Buror had told them that after the birth of Marius his wife had grown sickly and often fell ill but now her cheeks held a soft peachy color to them.
"Hello and welcome to our home." Emilie said.