A Grande Adventure

"I-I am?" Saen said blushing nervously from the kiss and hug. "Haha well I hardly did a thing." Saen shrugged it was the others who bound her and in the end it was their choice to let her go. We really should see if they need help getting back on the boat now." Silently in his head he began to think of titles for this tale 'Saen and Maid of Shard River' Or 'The trials of Kel and Corveta'.

One of the crewmen threw Gildor a ladder and said "Come on up, Master Elf!" It was the strange little girl from before though Gildor wouldn't know that as she had been talking to Saen and Coverta. Though one would wonder what was up with her. Wasn't she a little young to be serving on board a ship? Ah well. Better get out of the water before something gobbled him down.

Ibashi turned to Taihaku and visibly sagged. "Phew! ...Man I thought she was going to sink us all. Thank the guardians we're out of that, Taihaku, mostly thanks to you. I shall have to find a way to-" She paused placing her fingers on Taihaku's chest and the cupping her face before leaning in and wispering. "-reward you." She finished in soft whisper little caring what anyone thought of the display after nearly losing her life to a fish twice on the same day. In fact at them moment she kissed her on the cheek before alowing herself to be picked up by Taihaku. "I did that for good luck you know." She said hopping Tai wouldn't miss and make them splash into the water.

As Richard came out and saw that the battle was over and it was night already he was surprised. "Time is a strange thing on this world." He muttered peering around and seeing that there had been substantial damage to the vessel and it had lost a few of it's guns and some of the railing and the smell burnt fish hung in the air. He was a little disapointed. His Arclight Bow hadn't been tested against a predator's flesh and he had hopped to use it on Spritz while Persephone was nearby and show her it had more power than the lower level he has set it to to try and free the chain from the floor earlier.

Atlanta squinted. It had been a long time since she had been out in the light of day. She flexed her wings and felt the urge to fly but didn't as Persephone likely wouldn't enjoy beign dragged along and their combined weight would likely make them crash. Instead she stood still even as the crew members turned to stare in shock at what Persephone and Richard were doing. Standing on deck with a airy chained, the Captain's fairy! Oooh there's be hell to pay for this.

Corveta was stroking Saen's hair and let go of his embrace when suddenly she saw Richard and Persephone as she run over to talk to them she saw something else. A fairy. A fairy chained to Persephone's wrist!! Why hadn't Richard shot it? Or Persephone could have at least used her energy blade to slice it's wings off. She had seen it resting in her bag along with that odd box she had picked up just before they had left Nekomura, so she knew she had. She conjured the green fire inside her to her hands and if she could see right now she'd have noticed her eyes had a simular fire in them as she gripped her staff in both hands. "What is THAT doing here?" She asked in menacing tone that was miles away from teh sweet girlish voice she normally had.

"Corveta! whats the matter?" Saen asked looking around for a threat and then notice the chained girl. "Yes why is that girl chained! She better not be a slave how could you do that to a child!"

"Indeed, I'd like to know too," Persephone concurred, raising her voice by degrees, "What IS she doing here, captain?" She turned to Ibashi with fire in her eyes as well, although more due to outrage at her treatment of the fairy than its presence itself.

By the time the others had begun addressing Ibashi on the issue of the chained-up fairy, Taihaku had already leapt down from the ice pillar, captain in her arms, and landed safely on the deck. It was only then that she allowed herself a shudder of excitement at Ibashi's offer of a reward. She counted herself lucky that the spells she used weren't of the physically fatiguing sort, or she might have ended up back in the water with Ibashi.

She turned her attention to the fairy that the others were making a commotion over. Indeed, it did strike her as very odd as well, but she held more faith in the captain than the others seemed to. She felt that there had to be a good justification for this chained fairy's presence on Toreko's ship. She felt herself wanting to defend her captain from the incoming accusations, but restrained herself, showing as little emotion as possible and simply letting Ibashi to stand on her own feet.

Atlanta hid behind Persephone when the small woman with pale hair and burning hands came storming down to stand in front of her. She was scarier than a pack of Kenshas! "I-I
m not like other fairies!" She said hopping Persephone and Richard would make her go away.

Corveta looked at Saen an dwas about to yell at him but then she remembered he was new to this world and thus didn't realize this girl was no child. "She is not kid, she's a fairy Saen. A dangerous predator that eats people." She said in calm tone of voice the flames on on her hands not flickering even slightly.

Ibashi saw Atlanta out in the daylight and very nearly unseathed her sword but she could see Persephone holding her chain and knew that it wa too late to kill them all to cover up her secret. After all she still needed to get payed. "So you found out the secret about my "Cloaking Field". Congratulations. I suppose she gave you some sob story and you intend to free her no?" She said striding just a little closer but not quite in range of anyone's bladed weapons and just close enough to a deck gun she could turn it on them or Atlanta if they tried to turn on her. She didn't get to be Captain by8 trusting people after all.

"Of course she gave us a sob story," Persephone answered.
"Now the question is what constitutes the other side of the story. So far I've heard that she was out learning to hunt when you captured her. Is that true? Is that where you come in?"

Gildor finally made it up to the deck and pulled himself on board with a grunt. He thanked the crew member who had tossed him the ladder and was about to ask what was going on when he noticed the chained up fairy. The elf groaned out loud. "First a pair of mermaids, now a fairy. This is going to be one of those days, I can feel it." He sighed. "Alright, what's the deal with our winged friend?"

Ibashi looked at Persephone levely and asked in cold rhetorical tone. "Are you questiong my honor? I am not only an Elf but a Captain. I do not tell lies. I didn't explain to HOW the cloakign device worked earlier because it's a secret project the Port and I were working on to give us an advantage against mermaid. It's a top secret project and I am not proud of it but it did work for a while. However I can say without a doubt it's not as effective as I would like when coupled with a living organism." She said in regretful sounding tone of voice looking down at her deck. "Hoever I have a solution to the problem of needing a living creature. Would you like to hear ho my Drain Chain works?"

Richard turned to address Gildor. "That, Master Elf, is a long story I shall attempt to sum up. We found her chained inthe bottom of this ship and Persepone librated her with soem help from my weapon. Gildor's fine elf senses would notice Ibashi's ears twitch on that and her heart rate go up as she quickly glared as Richard and muttered something in elvish that was doubtlessly a curse. "She told us she was kidnapped by Ibashi from her mother and made to act as the cloaking device of this ship. A brilliant but immoral plan." Said Ricahrd looking at Atlanta who looked at Gildor with wide eyes.

Atalanta saw the elf and she couldn't help but gaze. She had heard elves were delicious. A delicacy. She had to resist , and very hard , the need to shrink and devour him. She wanted to make these people trust her. Then she could go back to her mother and her safe fairy den with the rest of her family. After all she was helpless with this stupid chain on.

Taihaku continued to witness the rest of the group's discourse in silence. She did wish she could get back to Captain Toreko's quarters and get the rest of her clothes, though. That thought dissipated when the others continued talking, though, and she realized that Ibashi's claims and the story that had been told to Richard by the fairy didn't seem to match up. Or maybe they did? Taihaku had to admit, she never was good at telling truth from lies. She knew that she wanted to be able to take the captain's side, though she didn't know yet at what cost that could come at. And she still had to complete the mission given to her by Richard; slaying the vampire in the castle in Evernight.

(On a side note, Happy Birthday Jedi! )

(Thank you Nyaha XD I'm trying to reconcile with the fact I'm a quarter of a centry old, but thanks for remembering it. XD )

(Yes, happy birthday to ya Jedi. :3 )

Gildor sighed. "Yes, we understand that Captain, but that's not really telling us what we asked about. You have sort of told us why you needed the fairy, you haven't told us how she came into you...possession." He noticed Atalanta staring at him and frowned, annoyed. "Please stop staring at me like that. I know Elves supposedly taste amazing, but just don't. I've had a tough enough morning as it is."

"So Corveta....fairies here eat people?!" He said shocked. "They just keep lore where I come from....If she eats people doesn't that mean she is evil? Well fairies aren't really related to men so I guess its the same as a wolf eating sheep. Not evil but neither is it good should be stopped if it can be helped. Hmmm well as a living and intelligent creature I can't very well let her stay enslaved...." Saen thought to himself aloud trying to figure out what his code of ethics demanded.

"Corveta, is there a problem with letting the fairy go? If she attacks us we can defend ourselves but I'm not sure I can stand to have someone chained up who broke no law." Saen looked to his love for wisdom. Being so new he was unsure of what was right or wrong.

Ibashi lgave Gildor a flat look. "I snatched her from the forest when nobody was looking. I didn't know she had a family or really care. She shrunk two of my men and I had to force her to change them back to their original heights." She said looking at Atlanta with a smirk. "But you didn't grow. Why? I never have figured that out."

Atlanta looked nervous. "Well I can...just it takes longer than shrinking people. My Tribe has no powerful spells other than the fey's gift for size changing." She said looking at her toes. "And you tranquilized me too quick." She said rubbing her but as if remembering it and wincing. "In the bum."

Corveta's green fire dispeared as soon as she heard Saen's voice. "Saen, I should have told you sooner. Fairies are a dangerous predator in this world with powerful magics that most would never be able to match. Queen Nymra is a Fairy and she is a powerful force in our world. Equal to a goddess." She seemed to get distant suddenly. 'Wait what if this fairy can be trusted?? Then she would be able to keep Saen and myself safe from predators. She'd be a valuable asset.' She thought looking at Atlanta a new: not as the destroyer of her future but the protector of it. She then looked at Persephone then Saen and said. "She could be useful. It'd be a waste to throw away her gifts when she can match all of combined and possibly keep the preds off us till Evernight Forest.

"Agreed we need to give her a chance to prove herself to be redeemed and no longer a danger to our group. Having her chained up will only have her see us as enemies." Saen said sincerely who was a strong believer in people changing.

Persephone was totally on board. "I agree as well. We have what could prove to be a particularly valuable asset here."
She was less than pleased that this discussion had to take place right here, in front of the fairy in question - it would be difficult to keep Ibashi, her party, and Atlanta all on her side at once. She would have to choose her next words carefully.
"Captain, I realize you must be displeased hearing this from a guest, and I can see where you're coming from... fairies can be dangerous, it's true. But you know slavery is wrong, don't you? I'm sure you'd rather live in a world where you didn't have to take such measures. Yet you enslaved her anyway! But-"
She started to speak faster, worried that her full message might not have a chance to get across.
"You're not a mindless creature, you can change. You have the power to take control of yourself and others, and find a better way. If you can do that, why couldn't it be possible for this fairy to change as well?"
And here she cut straight to the point.
"I propose that rather than enslave her, we take advantage of the fact that Atlanta's young and impressionable. We show her a better way to live, and how to not let her instincts control her..." She turned to Atlanta with a slight reassuring smile as she said this part. "Because she has potential too. What say you? Can we try a new tactic, giving each other a bit of trust for a change?"
She crossed her fingers, at least in her mind, in the hopes that she'd managed to win over Ibashi with that speech. Or, at the very least, she'd earned a proper parley with her doubtless enraged and mistrustful host.

To Taihaku, at least, the idea sounded feasible, if somewhat absurd and time-consuming. What Persephone was suggesting was that--

"What you're suggesting is that we take the place of her mother," the neko interjected suddenly, and with a slight upset tone to her typically-monotonous voice. She then went silent; she hadn't meant to speak out like that. But the idea that had struck her was just...so insulting to her. Suddenly, she realized that she could sympathize in some small part with this fairy - Taihaku, too, had not seen her mother for a rather long time. She missed her, as she was sure that the fairy did, too.

Gildor shrugged. "It may sound cold of me, but I'm not too worried what we do with her. As long as she doesn't eat us, I'm happy. Teaching her a different life style would be a good thing." He smiled kindly at Atlanta. "I'm not saying you would have to give up your hunting habits all the way. People like us being eaten is simply how nature works on this world. However, you could use those voracious tendencies for good. Like say, instead of just hunting anyone, you could try hunting the people who deserve it. Um...with the exception of present company of course..." He looked at Ibashi with a small smirk. "As for the power for your invisibility thing, maybe there's something one of our group can whip up that can make it more stabilized. As you said, relying on a living being for energy isn't always...well, reliable. I'm not the best with machines, but I'm sure one of our group is. If not I'll gladly help you find something once I'm done with this group."

"Maybe you could enchant an artifact that would cloak the ship in your place," suggested Persephone to Atlanta. To be honest, she'd already thought of this, but had been reluctant to mention it right off the bat for fear the fairy wouldn't be so receptive to the idea just yet. "If you don't know how, maybe one of us can show you what to do."

(Wow, everyone's kind of ignoring Taihaku. ^^; Did I go too overboard?)

(Gildor's not ignoring her...he just isn't worried about it. As far as he's concerned, he'll help her as long as she doesn't try to eat them. If she does then he will stop her with any means necessary And actually, he did acknowledge what Taihaku said with "Teaching her a different life style would be a good thing", even if I didn't say Tai's name and he was talking to everyone. :3 )

Atlanta looked at Taihaku evenly and said. "You can never take the place of my mother. Though I would be happy to learn from you as equals." She said smiling then adressing Persephone's question. "Yes Captain, why didn't you use me to make a magical artifact, hm? Oh and don't worry about me giving up my ways entirely, Master Gildor. I shall reserve the right to eat your enemies at least when I have no other food available." She said smiling back at him.

Ibashi sighed. "Well that was actually the other purpose of having you chained. The chain litteraly drained the spell from you binding it to it's metal, which I will have metaled down and then made into a Alchemy forged peice of Magic Tech. Hopefully it'll give our ships some advantage of Negav Barges and we can load them with less armaments and thus travel faster and safer." She finished looking at her ship. "Then I can retire a rich elf and live the rest of my life in luxury."

Corveta nodded reluctantly. "Yes she has potential. I have heard of people being friends with fairies before and it wasn't a fairy who ate my friends...Oh fine she can stay." Corveta said walking up to the bow of the ship and stopping and then opening her mouth in amazement. "L-land? Land! Look everyone! It's land! Oh I thought we'd never see it again! Ha ha ha!" She roared with laughter at the sight of it. A small looking little pier was coming into view. It looked just big enough for the ship to dock with. Soon the ship was side by side with it.

Ibashi looked at the group. "Well this is where we part ways I suppose. Of course I'll be needing my chain back. She held out her hand to Persephone holding the key to the lock on the chain. "Just touch it to the lock and the chain will unwrap her leg. It's simple."

Taihaku found herself being somewhat skeptical. She wasn't entirely sure how water travel worked, nor did she have a map of the rivers of Felarya in her mind, nor did she have any sense of direction since boarding the ship. She didn't think that they could have arrived at their destination already, wherever it was they were supposedly going, and she wasn't sure Ibashi wasn't just trying to get rid of them as quickly as possible at that point, due to them having discovered her little secret.

She didn't even get that reward Ibashi promised her.

But at the same time, she felt herself too shy lacking of evidence or information to substantiate her suspicions and voice them to the group.

Saen didn't like the idea of replacing the girl's parents either but the fairy stuck up for herself so he needn't speak about it. He let Corveta go to the bow of the ship moving to make sure he could see the party and her. He liked this group they had good morals for the most part. Persephone phrased herself a bit odd but he assumed she was just trying to be careful. At the sound of land his heart lifted this ship felt too much like a sitting duck.

Gildor was pleased that they now had a fairy on their side. Atlanta would come in very handy in the future, he could feel it. He bowed slightly to Ibashi. "I wish you the best of luck. May the wind fill your sails, your paths be green, and the breeze always on your back." He turned to Persephone. "So, go ahead and free our new friend."