Old Friends

Vivi was roused to wakefulness by the sound of conversation around her. She peered out of the hammock, gazing around the room, then pushed herself up and ungracefully deposited herself onto the deck. Silence fell for a moment as the other occupants of the room turned to cast her a surprised glance, but no one took too much interest in her mishap, and the conversation quickly resumed.

After rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she reached for her boots and pulled them on, lazily staring at the wall for a moment before getting to her feet with a grunt. She shuffled her way out of the room, grabbed her jacket as she passed the hook it hung from, then made her way aforedeck to the galley. Owen would be there, she figured; he loved to cook—he had spent most of the past two days helping to prepare the crew's meals, as he usually did.

Owen was, sure enough, in the galley; as Vivi walked in, he was enthusiastically conversing with the ship's cook, Terry, while at the same time scrambling far more eggs than seemed reasonable. Looking up from his task and spotting her, he raised his arm and waved.

"Good morning, sunshine!" he hollered, grinning widely. "How'd you sleep?"

Vivi rolled her eyes in response and leaned back against the wall. "Ask me again after breakfast."

"You got it, chief," Owen said, saluting, then turned to look at the door behind Vivi. "Morning, Faelyn!"

Vivi spun around, and indeed, Faelyn was standing behind her in the doorway, looking as unamused as ever. "Good morning, Nerikas," he responded without any of Owen's enthusiasm. "I figured I'd find you here again."

Owen bowed his head and smiled. "Of course I'm here—I take my job very seriously," he chuckled. "What brings you to our humble kitchen? What dost thou seek?"

"Food, probably," Vivi muttered. Faelyn had opened his mouth to reply, but since his goal seemed to have in fact been to get food, he simply nodded in agreement.

"Well, in that case..." Owen dumped the now-finished eggs onto a large tray with a flourish. "You're in luck."

Terry put down his own tray, filled with what looked like some kind of biscuits, onto the table, then reached out and rang the bell mounted to the ceiling. At the sound of the bell, the galley was suddenly flooded with people. Before Vivi—who still wouldn't really consider herself completely awake—had time to process what was happening, a hand grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her in front of Faelyn into the quickly forming line of hungry buccaneers. She looked around in annoyance for a moment, searching for the hand's owner, but soon gave up and turned back to grab one of the rough wooden plates from the countertop. After filling her plate with a mostly random assortment of foods, she returned to their sleeping quarters, followed by Owen and Faelyn, and sat down in a corner to eat in relative peace.

Vivi took a bite of the eggs, not waiting for the others, then paused suddenly. "What did you do with these eggs?" she asked as Owen sat down on the floor across from her, with Faelyn off to the side. "I don't know how you get them this good." It still surprised her how well Aenwyn could afford to feed them nowadays—she could remember when they had nothing but hardtack and water for months in a row.

"Quite simple, really," Owen responded, taking a bite from his biscuit. "The secret is simply using enough cream and spices to make any professional chef cry." He paused, chewing the biscuit thoughtfully. "That's an entirely metaphorical statement, of course."

"You made Terry cry?" Vivi asked, giving him a bemused look, her eyebrows raised—Terry was not the type to waste any tears. "What did you do to him?"

Owen waved his hand dismissively. "Nothing he can't handle," he said, breaking a second biscuit in half and stacking an improbable amount of egg on top. "I think. He knows me; he really shouldn't have been surprised."

"I don't know, Nerikas," Faelyn said, shaking his head. "You seem to keep finding ways to surprise people."

Vivi smiled widely. "I'll say," she said, looking at Faelyn while gesturing vaguely towards Owen with a biscuit in her hand. "That's why he's fun to be around."

"Oh, I bet he is," Faelyn muttered. "But sometimes he ought to be ashamed of himself."

"Nerikas? Ashamed of himself?" came a voice from behind them. "He barely even knows what that means."

Vivi looked up at the speaker—Esmond Tyrvoril, the only other half-elf on the Ajdaha besides Owen—sitting on one of the hammocks with a biscuit in his hand and a grin on his face.

"Morning, Esmond!" Owen cried, waving enthusiastically. "How'd you like the eggs?"

"They're to die for," Edmond replied dramatically, hopping off the hammock and walking over towards them. "I still don't know how I survived while you were gone—both the food and the jokes were dry as a midsummer's day in Nidvagg. I mean, you and Vivi must be the only ones here with a sense of humor." He sat himself down between Owen and Faelyn, giving the latter a wink and a nudge. "Elves, am I right?"

"I, for one, appreciate the peace and quiet," Faelyn said indignantly. "Not to say we don't miss you, Nerikas... we just take the opportunity to enjoy the silence when you're away. You are rather loud."

Vivi smiled. "Loud? Nahh. Owen's just..." she glanced briefly at her friend, trying to find the right words. "...Owen."

The elf opened his mouth to protest, but before he had a chance to, shouting broke out on deck. Vivi got to her feet with a start and took a few quick steps towards the stairs, but found her way blocked by Sarjeon.

"Exciting news," he said with a small smirk that betrayed no excitement. "We have sighted the Onyx."

⁂

"All right, boys! You know the drill!" Aenwyn's voice rang out gleefully over the deck where the crew had assembled. "Our mission starts the moment we meet up with Zeren, and I want this ship ready for battle before then." She paused, smirking briefly. "Let's not give the old man a chance to say we slowed him down, you hear?"

The crew shouted, "Aye, aye!" and cheered in agreement until Aenwyn raised her hand and called for silence.

"Now then. We don't know the exact nature of whatever job he has in store for us, so we will prepare all of our equipment... just in case." She paused for a moment, glancing up as if going through a mental checklist, then started giving out orders. "Faelyn, Nina, and Morwen, make sure all pistols on board are loaded and that ammunition is available on deck... Caio, get your explosives ready... Sergius, make sure all swords and daggers are sharp and ready for use... Mao and Sarjeon, string the bows and make sure everyone has enough arrows... Tyrvoril, inspect the shields, make sure they still hold up... Terry and Nerikas, get the galley ready in case we have any cuts and bruises that need your tender treatment... and Vivi, get up in the mast and keep a lookout—we don't want any surprises today." She hesitated for a second as everyone set out to carry out their tasks, then turned to a pair of elf twins that had come aboard two days ago as they passed E'harius—they were from the assassins' guild and were good friends of Captain Aenwyn, having fought alongside the crew of the Ajdaha many times before. "Kharis and Ardreth... you do whatever it is you do. We may need your skill if there is any fighting involved."

Vivi, who wasn't particularly interested in what exactly Kharis and Ardreth did, turned away and scurried up the mast, all the way up into the little crow's nest. She sat there a while, glancing at the Onyx on the horizon every once in a while—she had many memories of Zeren's old ship, but her mind started to drift to more recent events... including their close call yesterday.

"Ahoy there!" Aenwyn's cheerful voice snapped her out of her musings as it rang out unexpectedly close to her ear.

"Captain Aenwyn?" she asked, turning to look at the old elf perched on the ladder leading into the crow's nest. "Is something wrong?"

Aenwyn chuckled lightly. "Not at all. I just wanted to see if I could catch a glimpse of the old man's ship; these old eyes aren't as sharp as they used to be, you know." She paused, casting Vivi a searching glance. "Besides... I got the feeling you could use some friendly conversation."

"I suppose." Vivi smiled despite herself—the captain wasn't necessarily wrong, and she had long since learned not to question how Aenwyn knew the things she knew. "We going to catch up with them soon?" she asked, not sure what else to say.

"I figure we'll catch them in about ten, maybe fifteen minutes, perhaps?" Aenwyn chuckled. "Impatient, are we?"

Vivi leaned herself back against the railing behind Aenwyn. "Aren't you?" She said lightly.

"Impatient?" Aenwyn made a noise that sounded like something between a laugh and a snort of indignation. "I'd like to think not. I, for one, don't miss Zeren that much."

Vivi gave a lighthearted chuckle, and then the smile on her lips disappeared for a second. "I guess... it's less about being impatient than just... wanting things to turn out okay."

Aenwyn sighed, turning around to smile warmly towards Vivi. "Are you worried?"

Vivi exhaled through her nose and shrugged her shoulders half-heartedly. "I'm always worried when I don't know what I'm getting myself into." She paused, taking a breath. "Owen and I had too close a call back in Sheo Caelora... we could both just as well be lying dead in an alley instead of being here."

"Well... you're here, aren't you?" Aenwyn reached out, ruffling Vivi's hair with a slim but weathered hand. "Sure feels like it."

A wide smile grew on Vivi's face. "Yeah, I guess so." She chuckled, watching Aenwyn pull her hand away. "But what if things had gone wrong?" She paused. "Bullets were whizzing around our ears... what if one was just a few inches to the left? And we were cornered by that tincap... what if Faelyn hadn't shown up at just the right time? What if..." She looked away—this wasn't what they usually talked about, but she had been chewing on it and somehow felt like it needed to be spoken to someone who might understand.

Aenwyn shrugged lightly. "Well, the simple answer is: you'd be dead." She smiled again and turned back to gaze out across the abyss. "But that's not what you were asking, was it?"

"No," Vivi said softly, keeping her gaze on the Onyx. "Just that... a few inches to the left, a few seconds later... and everything could change."

"Everything always changes, dear," Aenwyn mused. She glanced back again, looking for a moment at Vivi with sad eyes. "You don't have to put yourself in front of bullets if you don't want to. I don't know if anyone has drummed anything else into your head—but on my ship, everyone has a choice."

Vivi chuckled lightly. "Sure, it's a choice, but it seems pretty drab working for my wage in a field." She gave a sideways smirk to Aenwyn.

"That's the catch, isn't it?" Aenwyn replied, returning the smirk. "You know... I did consider settling down. Just work up a bit of money as an honest merchant, then spend my days in the sunny Uyalon countryside. I'm not as young as I look, you know; maybe it would be nice to just take it easy..." She paused, casting Vivi an impish glance and breaking into a grin. "But where's the fun in that?"

"Exactly," Vivi agreed, and they shared a short laugh before it died, and Vivi turned to look out at the Onyx once again.

⁂

"Well, whaddya know, lads? Look who finally decided to show up!" Zeren and his crew cackled at the gibe, and Vivi, seeing Aenwyn's indignant look, could not help a chuckle of her own. The old captain of the Onyx hadn't changed a bit since she saw him last; his grey hair—which, if anything, had grown just a bit thinner—was, as always, draped messily over his shoulders; he was wearing the same grey overcoat as he had on the day she first saw him two years ago and which, if the rumors about it could be believed, was older than the Onyx herself; and his sense of humor was still, at the least, four decades out of date.

"You sound impatient, Zeren!" Aenwyn shouted back, putting a hand on her hip and rolling her eyes. "Did you miss me that much?"

"Nay, not on your life!" Zeren responded, swinging himself over the railing as the ships finally drew close enough and landed semi-gracefully on the deck in front of Aenwyn, a large part of his crew following him. "But we've spent the better part of the morning waiting for you lot—and I even told you when to meet me this time. What kept you?"

"Your message was... briefly diverted. You can thank Vivi and Nerikas for us even being here—without them, we wouldn't have gotten it at all," Aenwyn said, gesturing briefly towards Vivi. Zeren looked surprised for a moment, then finally turned and spotted her.

"Well, wouldya look at that!" he exclaimed, stepping forward to give Vivi a friendly clap on the shoulder. "Little Miss Blackwood herself saved the day, huh?" He paused and looked around again for a moment. "D'you happen to bring Owen with you, or did he get lost back there in the land of elves?"

Vivi smiled. "Oh, don't you worry. He's belowdecks with Terry."

"Ah. Well, I can always hope, can't I?" The old captain laughed boisterously for a moment, but then quickly moved on. "Now," he said, turning to Aenwyn, "I'm sure you're dying to know what we have been sent here for, heh?"

Aenwyn, who Vivi knew would never admit how curious she was, simply cast Zeren an unimpressed look. "Well, spit it out."

"Aye," he chuckled in response, "I figured you'd say that." Reaching into his coat pocket, he produced a scroll and, unrolling it while casting Aenwyn a glance, began to read. "Posted by Baron Eltoris of E'harius: Ten thousand gold pieces to whoever brings in one Captain Nijem of Reykjaa, dead or alive." There was a quiet but audible gasp from the crew at the mention of such a generous reward, and Zeren smiled smugly.

"Well, what's the catch?" Sergius spoke up from the back of the ship. "Why ten thousand pieces for just one man?" The rest of the crew mumbled in agreement, and Zeren nodded.

"A fair question," he said, turning the scroll over to reveal a picture of the target: a stern-looking centaur with long golden-brown hair and green eyes, dressed in only a cloak around his shoulders according to the custom of his people. Vivi raised her eyebrows in surprise: centaurs were rare nowadays, and she had never seen one in person. "He's an Eskiholti privateer, one of the most daring to ever sail the abyss, they say. He and his crew have been pestering Brolzoni ships for years... Although he should have known better than to mess with the Robber Baron." He paused for a moment, smiling wryly. "Not only is the centaur himself very dangerous, but a few other crews have challenged our claim to this job, so you can see my hurry to get here first. But considering how late we are... we should be prepared to have to fight for the spoils."

"Daring privateer or not, centaur or not, no Eskiholti is going to stop me," Aenwyn said calmly, her arms crossed. "Especially not with ten thousand gold pieces at stake. And as for any crew that would come to steal our prize, I'd like to see the ship that can out-sail the Ajdaha."

"Aye, that's the spirit!" Zeren shouted, and the rest of the crew cheered in agreement, their confidence restored. "And now," he continued, "to the point. My source has told me he made harbor in Nar Badhir"—he pointed with a gloved hand towards the island off into the distance—"and as far as we know, he hasn't left."

"We'll have to be stealthy, then," Aenwyn mused. "Badhir is a big island, and most of it is uninhabited. If he slips away into the forest, we may never find him again."

"He's a centaur," Vivi mumbled, rolling her eyes. "How hard could he be to find?"

Zeren laughed. "That's right, Miss Blackwood," he chuckled. "We'll just have to be stealthy, aye?"

"Stealthy and quick if the situation is as urgent as you say," Aenwyn replied. "Shall we get to it?"

Zeren nodded and gestured for his own crew to return to the Onyx. Putting one hand on the railing and preparing to swing himself back to his ship, he turned around one last time to grin widely at Aenwyn. "Let's go catch ourselves a centaur!"