The Oracle and the Captain tiptoed across the hallway.

'I cannot see a thing.' the Captain whispered, her whisper echoing in the dark hallway.

Oracle glared at the Captain, which went unnoticed. 'Why do you have that sword drawn?', she hissed at the Captain. 'Put it away before you hurt yourself.'

'I am preparing myself for whatever may come.' the Captain hissed back. 'Just because I came on this mission at your beckoning does not mean that I am willing to sacrifice my life for you.'

'Wow!', scoffed the Oracle. 'Is that your motto? A Captain who does not care! Especially for her crew!'

'Shh! Keep your voice down and bring out that... light... orb... thingamajig.'

'Werelight!' Oracle rolled her eyes. 'And the place is empty.'

'What? Then why are we sneaking around?'

'We are not sneaking around.'

'Yes we are! We have been crawling around, we are whispering and I have my sword drawn out.'

'You do have it drawn,' sniggered the Oracle. 'Oh well!'

'Do not...' the Captain pointed a finger at Oracle in anger. 'Just... light your werelight. Let us find the map and get out of here.' The Captain looked around in apprehension.

'You cannot light a werelight. It is created out of magic. You have to summon it... Umm..!', catching sight of the glare from her Captain, the Oracle hastily summoned a werelight. 'There you go. Your thingamajig, my highness.' the blue light from the orb that she conjured, lit up her sneering face.

The Captain's brow was furrowed as she looked around the hallway. 'Can you project it forwards?' she asked the Oracle, indicating the werelight.

'Sure thing,' came the reply. 'Where do you want me to take it?'

'Towards the end of the hallway.'

The Oracle obeyed her Captain's commands. As she pushed the werelight across the hallway, the Oracle and the Captain saw that the room that they were standing in, was in fact, not a hallway, but, the dining hall of a tavern. The blue light bounced off the eerily white interior of the hall. There were tables and chairs arranged in rows and on either side, there were numerous portholes, all of which were boarded shut. Exchanging a glance, the Captain and the Oracle set to cross the hall.

The Captain tightened her grip on the sword. With each step their shadows danced on the walls, making her hair stand on end. 'Do you know where the map is?' She asked the Oracle. Finding no reply, nor a snarky comment, the Captain turned to look at the Oracle.

The Oracle was standing still, staring at the second table on the left they had crossed. Her black eyes were streaked with silver and purple colors. It darted here and there, seeing something the Captain could not see. The Captain knew not to disturb the Oracle now. She waited, sword at the ready. The orb of werelight changed colors to purple and began pulsing with the Oracle's breath. Oh! Not now. Thought the Captain. The map to locate the tide jewels was a very coveted item and she did not want to get caught by others who went after it. But, she knew better than to disturb the Oracle.

The werelight went dark abruptly. Captain felt the Oracle take a wheezing breath and bend double.

'Are you all right?', asked the concerned Captain. The Oracle nodded a yes as she took the Captain's outstretched hand.

'We were here', gasped the Oracle. 'We were here. The four of us.' The Oracle looked at the Captain. 'You. Me. The Quartermaster. And the First-mate too. We were here.'

'Here? Doing what?'

'Eating', said the Oracle, summoning the werelight again. 'This is a tavern. Or was. Or whatever is left of a tavern. We were here. Having food. Laughing. When was the last time we laughed together?' She asked the Captain mournfully.

'Today morning.' came the immediate reply.

'What?'

'We had food together today morning. And we laughed a lot too. Remember? I was trying to push Quartermaster off of his chair, but he didn't budge an inch!' The Captain laughed at the memory. She stopped when she saw the baleful eyes of the Oracle. 'Ahem' She cleared her throat. 'Let us go find the map. Are you sure that it is here?'

'Yes.' replied the Oracle. 'Straight ahead.'

Straight ahead was a door. At the nod from the Captain, the Oracle bashed open the door and the Captain rushed inside with her sword. An empty room greeted them. There were two chairs and myriad number of dials and buttons on the desk in front the chair.

'What is this place?' the Captain asked looking around.

'This is an aeiro-plain', clarified the Oracle. 'I have heard whispers about this place. Apparently, this thing could be flown. By people. Um.. What was it called?', the Oracle pondered. 'Oh yes! "A Boing". It is called a boing.'

'A boing?' the Captain raised an eyebrow. 'I wonder how they come up with the names. Come on, look for the map.'

'I do not have to look.' the Oracle took the map out from underneath a box. 'At least, not anymore.' She unrolled the map and looked at the contents.

'Is it the one?' the Captain asked, looking over Oracle's shoulders.

'Yes'. replied the Oracle. She showed the map to the Captain 'See, the insignia?' The Captain looked at the insignia under the blue light.

'It is supposed to glow when magic touches it.' Saying this, the Oracle touched the insignia. She released a breath of relief as the insignia glowed silver. Rolling the map, she looked at the Captain, a smile of victory dancing on her lips.

Smiling back at the Oracle, the Captain uncoiled the rope from around her waist. It was time to go.

The ferry ride back to their ship was a quiet one. The dawn lit up the horizon in blue and red throwing colors on their ship, The Azule Phoenix. The Oracle hummed a merry tune as the Captain rowed quietly.

'Drowning in thoughts Cap'n?' the Oracle chuckled at her joke.

'Do you not think it was very easy to retrieve the map? For a task that is supposed to be the first step to retrieve the fabled jewels that can control tides, it seemed so.... uneventful. Where exactly did you get the information about the map?'

'What?'

The Captain was sure that the Oracle had heard her. Loud and clear. 'Where exactly did you get the information about the map?' She asked again.

'Oh! That! Um...' the Oracle stammered. 'You know! Whispers... Talkings... Here and there... Oh look! Our ship.' Exclaiming, the Oracle grabbed hold of the rope ladder and climbed up to the deck. The Captain knew when her crew was lying to her. She was not planning to let this go. Determined to badger the truth out of the Oracle, the Captain climbed up the rope ladder to the main deck. Only to find a knife at her throat.

The first-mate held the knife at her wife's throat, seething with anger. 'Where have you been?'

'My love - 'the Captain tried speaking.

'You could have told me.' hissed the first-mate - eyes still full of anger, the knife still at the Captain's throat - 'You could have woken me up. Instead, you dare sneak from our bed to go ashore? For what purpose?' The last question came as a scream. 'I swear upon the gods above, if you are with another woman, the knife at your throat would be the least of your worries.'

Slowly, without daring to draw a breath, the Captain reached inside her vest to pull out the map of the tide jewels. She unrolled it for her wife to see. 'I went with the Oracle to get this. This is the map to the tide jewels.' The first-mate refused to withdraw the knife.

'Who am I to you?' the First-mate snarled at her Captain.

'Darling, you are my -'

'Who am I to you?' the First-mate asked again, eyes narrowing dangerously.

'You are my First-mate.' the Captain surrendered.

'And do you know what the duties of a First-mate are, Captain?'

The Captain dared not answer lest she tempted her wife to use the knife. After a moment's pause, the First-mate sheathed her knife, breathing deeply.

'I am supposed to protect you.' it broke the Captain's heart to see her wife's eyes fill with tears. 'I have taken the oath that I would be with you no matter what. That I would protect you. You know this. Yet you do this. You steal away in the middle of the night to God knows where and expect me to sit here idly? Why do you call me your wife then? Why do you call me your crew?' tears spilled from her eyes uncontrollably.

'My love. Please. Please for-'

'Do not dare ask for my forgiveness. This is not the first time this is happening. You always do this. You just do things and expect me to follow it. Without asking any questions. Is this how you treat your crew? Is this how you treat your wife?'

'I did not want to put you in danger.' the Captain mumbled.

'Danger?' the First-mate roared. 'Let me tell you about danger, Madame Capitaine. You -'

'CAPTAIN!' The loud call from the Oracle interrupted the First-mate's tirade. The first-mate and the Captain rushed to the Quarter deck from where the Oracle had called. The Quartermaster and the Oracle were staring at something afar.

'You remember when you were telling about it being uneventful?' the Oracle asked, pointing into the sea. There in the distance the Captain and her crew spied another ship. Another pirate ship. The Captain identified the red flag hoisted high above the ship.

'Lyonal Drake', the Captain whispered.

'Red-eyes', came the terrified mutter from the Quartermaster.

The Captain could only stare at the turn of events.