***
Aeryn spent every minute in her thoughts.
She was about to spend another hour, impervious to the words of Juele and Iona on the White Crow, but Erel interrupted her plans.
"Aeryn, get to Aerel right now. Waste no time; I will meet you there."
Snapping back to her senses, Aeryn commanded her crew to get ready for hard-sail.
She answered none of Juele's questions or calmed any of Iona's concerns as she made her way to the ship's steering wheel.
Though the captain was surprised with Iona's ability to handle herself around the prince, considering how she spoke of Juele, she imagined Iona's reaction to being so close to him very differently.
Then again, Aeryn knew very little about her crew. The most conversation she had with them were orders, commands, and snippets of small talk.
"Captain," said a thick voice.
Aeryn turned, and her eyes laid upon the gunner of her ship.
Reyna Nair stood with perfect posture with a pistol in each of her thigh holsters. She gave a quick salute before speaking once again. "I'm sorry to be here when I should be preparing for hard-sail."
"That's alright. What is it?" Aeryn asked, bringing a hop to her shoulders and a grin to her lips.
Reyna scratched her hair, grimacing at the wooden floor.
"You can tell me."
"River...he..."
"What is it? Tell me." Aeryn had never seen Reyna so unsure of herself. She rarely met her gunner or spoke with her, but she knew when others slumped when she left the room and kicked dust under the carpet when she came, Reyna was genuine. She never slept on the job and always kept things clean. She was much more responsible than Iona, and it hurt when Reyna refused the quartermaster position.
"Come see," Reyna muttered. She held Aeryn's hand and pushed her brown hair out of the way. Odd, considering she always kept it in a braid. Reyna led the captain downstairs to the area where sailors would hard-sail.
The mast and wheel used to pull the anchor from the water stood in the centre of the cramped room. Aeryn couldn't put her finger on its exact name. "What's the problem?"
"We can't get the anchor up fast enough. I'll have to go on land and get some repair items to fix it. I'm guessing all the hard-sailing put a lot of strain on the technology down here. It'll take a few days to fix, but I suspect we won't be able to hard-sail for a few months."
Aeryn cursed under her breath. "What about River? You were talking about him."
"River," Reyna muttered. Her brother's name felt sour on her tongue. She knew he had broken a small part of the mast months ago, and that small tear had broken the whole system. But then again, no matter how much of an idiot he was, protecting him from Aeryn clawed at her. She had plans to sell him out, but with the captain in front of her, she changed her mind.
She would deal with River later.
"Nothing's up with him. He just...puked on Ryker's shoe." The lie in her words was evident.
Aeryn laughed. "Does he need some medicine?"
"I thought he did, but he'll be fine. I'm sure of it."
Aeryn put her hands on her hips. "Come up on the docks. Chit-chat, have fun. We're in the middle of nowhere, and we're stuck here for a while, so might as well enjoy yourself."
Reyna saluted. "Aye." She raced up the stairs, ready to give River and Ryker an excellent lecture. Both of her younger brothers, younger by mere minutes, were questionable. Stupid and smart, a combination that didn't suit both brothers.
Aeryn followed up behind her, feeling empty. So empty. Like she had no personality or emotions. She hadn't allowed herself anything but anger and the occasional smile ever since she left the Maiden's Cross behind. Every time she felt emotion, the worst of her memories would come flowing in.
She lived as a shell of herself, smiling, crying, and growling by the book.
Arriving on the docks, she noticed Jules sitting on a box, speaking with Iona and Reyna. An unexpected group. From the snarls and eye rolls Iona threw at Reyna, and the deep, sarcastic inhales Reyna took every time she passed Iona, Aeryn was sure they hated each other.
They were polar opposites. One was detail-oriented, and the other went with the flow. One was on top of things, and the other couldn't care less.
Reyna and Iona. The wolf and the cat.
"No. We don't kill random, innocent people if that's what you're asking," said Reyna.
"You are pirates, are you not?" Juele asked. Of course. When Aeryn was a dead end, he would turn to her crew.
"Aye," said Iona. "We are."
"Then how do you make money? Where do you get your food."
Reyna snickered. "We negotiate with the British Navy and other pirates. You should ask the captain. She's the one who does all the talking."
Aeryn shook her head. She did do all the talking, but she didn't like threatening others with lies and bluffs. She rubbed her arms, refusing to use her nails to scratch the mosquito bites she received while on Auber--
Erel. The siren had completely slipped her mind. Aeryn leaned over the railing and screamed into the horizon. "EREL. I CAN'T COME TO AEREL. COME BACK."
Juele shied away from the volume. The Aeryn he knew never yelled. The Aeryn he knew would never become a pirate. He still needed to speak with her, but an invisible force stopped him.
She felt warm enough to approach, but he couldn't read her mind.
And his guilt only kept him away from her. During his engagement party, they'd engaged in small talk. Nothing more.
"EREL!" she screamed.
The siren's head popped out of the water. "I heard you the first time, Aeryn," she said, spitting salt-water out of her black lips. In one of her hands, she held a small boy with warm, chocolate skin and hair as black as Erel's lips with a few strands of white near the front. "Come to the water."
Without thinking, Aeryn stood on the railing then stepped down to remove her boots and most of her clothing, keeping her blouse and underpants on her frame. She hopped on the railing again and dived into the water.
Using the necessary and basic swimming skills Erel taught her, she swam to the siren.
"I meant on a lifeboat."
Aeryn chuckled, not making eye contact with the siren.
"Listen very carefully."
Aeryn leaned in. Erel's constant fidgeting did nothing to calm her.
"This boy knows about the attack on the castle that happened yesterday. He fell off a ship called the Ivory Bones, and his captain ordered one of his underlings to attack the castle. He won't tell me more because he thinks I am scary. Let Iona or Reyna speak to him."
Aeryn scrunched her eyes. "Are you saying he'll be scared of me?" she asked between huffs and puffs. Treading water exhausted her even when Erel steadied her with her tail.
"You aren't the nicest person I've met." The siren handed over the unconscious boy to Aeryn and dived back into the water.
"Where are you going?" Aeryn asked, dipping her head underwater.
"The full moon is tonight. I thought I should get a headstart to Poseidon. He yelled at me last month. Guess why?"
Aeryn turned away. She had been the reason Erel got late to the last siren-mermaid gathering.
Every full moon, Poseidon summoned the sirens and mermaids alongside their seahorse companions and gave them tasks, rewards, and occasionally punishments for lack of compliance or breaking of the rules.
"Good luck," Aeryn said, trying to wave without drowning. "Love you!"
A burst of cyan light told her the siren returned the feeling.
Iona looked over from the railing, her shoulder-length hair falling over her turqoise eyes. "Captain, need help?"
"Aye. Let down the ladder."
"Aye, Captain."
Iona threw down the ladder while Aeryn debated how she would take the boy up. In the end, she threw the boy over her shoulder, her body slightly dipping into the water. Using her upper body strength, Aeryn climbed up the rope ladder, growling at her foot every time it got caught in the rope. "Grab him," she commanded, elevating her shoulder for Iona to hold.
As she climbed up, Aeryn pushed back her auburn hair and raced to get her jacket. "I'm going to dry up. Put him on a bed and tell me when he wakes up."
Iona gave a clumsy salute and left to complete her task.
***
Thanks for reading Empress of the Sea. I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. If you did, leave a vote. (Not pressuring you or anything.)
Word Count: 1481