Oly, out of breath and trying to hide it, weaved his way through the party with careful, measured strides and arrived at Hesiat’s side with a carefully neutral expression.

“Hesiat.” He whispered, putting the requested glass of mead in his hand to catch his attention. The king apologized to the captain (wonderfully convenient) for the interruption, and turned his attention to Oly.

“What is it.” Hesiat whispered. By the ‘make it quick’ tone of his voice, Oly decided to skip over any explanation.

“Pirates.”

--

It took some gentle and faux-polite pressure on the two men to get them out on deck so he could prove it, but the fire on the pirate deck was raging at that point, and the captain had to push a few gawkers on the gangway away to get a better look.

Brows furrowed with confusion, he unclipped a telescope from his belt, unnested it, and put it to his eye in a fluid motion. Oly turned his attention back to the ships while he heard the captain pulling something else off his belt, but he placed a hand on Hesiat’s shoulder and leaned in to whisper in his ear.

“What do you think?”

“I think we watch and pray.”

“You aren’t going to do anything?”

The captain spoke up, his hand in a metal-scaled glove, pinkie on his throat and his thumb posed just above his lip. “Orders, my king?”

After a moment of consideration, Hesiat commanded, “Tell them to stand down. Fire a warning shot if they don’t listen.”

“Aye.”

Oly whispered again. “There are civilians in danger.”

Hesiat whispered back, “There are civilians here too.”

“So you’ll let them all sink?”

“Not if they listen.”

“The pirates are weak from fighting on two fronts, there are allies there too. I would wait and get closer for a better shot.”

“Protecting you and everyone on deck is my first priority.”

The glove was a tool used to turn a conversational tone into a booming command, as Oly found out with a wince, and the seaman handed the telescope absentmindedly as he did so. He was about to protest that he wasn’t a cabin boy, but he realized he would get no better chance to look at the action. Ears still ringing, he peered through and found himself spectating the three ships: one was flashing with intermittent magic, another was still feeding a growing, raging fire, and there was the civilian vessel with no-one on deck. Judging from the tables and feast scattered across the floor, he guessed they’d been enjoying the night in much the same way, minus the defenses before their attackers came along. The bonfire pirate ship and the intervening, smaller ship were tangled into an intense fight, mainly with swords, but one of the rescuers was pulling spells out of the air, glowing pink, purple, and blue in turns. Oly squinted at it.

“That magic looks familiar…” He muttered, noticing that the spellcasters lips weren’t even moving. They had a string of glittering beads woven around their fingers, from which each spell leapt into the air and landed on the head of an invading attacker, leaving them stupefied with dopey grins on their faces. It was obvious to Oly that it was meant for some other purpose, maybe calming someone down or getting them in a better mood, but the intensity was amplified enough to make it a stunning curse. Though some pirates with a pink gleam in their eye were able to shake it off and join the fray with bolstered zest and vigor, it lasted long enough on others that they could be run through or tossed overboard. It was enough of a deterrent that the majority of the pirates retreated back onto their own sinking ship, out of range, and those courageous enough to try and take the cause of their disadvantage out were surrounded and disposed of.

“The unidentified crew, they’re winning.” Oly informed. “We might not need to fire at all.”

“They could still be a rival ship, a pirate is a pirate even they’re fighting each other.” Hesiat mused in return.

Oly gave another lingering look to the crew before turning his attention to the flag. It was wind-torn with only a few splashes of white and green clinging to its rope. He frowned and turned the view back down to the deck, waiting for the fray to break up in such a way that he could see if the deck had any markings.

Another pirate was thrown overboard, the gleam of a pursuing spell illuminating the bow. A flash of gold, a disk of blue, but that was all he saw before the pirate splashed into dark water. It was all he needed.

“It’s an independent Aosan vessel. The boat is, anyway.”

“Glove away. How can we tell they didn’t just steal the ship?” The captain pressed.

Hesiat added, “and there are still Aosan pirates.”

Oly kept looking. The fight was dying down, only a few pirates were left. Some of the Aosans were bleeding on the deck, but it was difficult to tell if they were dead or just dying. The spellcaster was attending to one, pressing their hands and beads to someone’s chest. “Killing them would be a waste, they have a spellcaster and healer. Besides, being a threat doesn’t come naturally; their spells are all modified from hospitality and performance functions. That would match the pink magic—done in Liovani’s name, I should say.” Another pirate fell. “There’s only one enemy left, anyway, and they’re making no moves to board the civilian ship.”

With the final enemy pinned to the deck, one of the unknowns leaned against the mast with a hand held to his bleeding arm. Oly saw the man shout and gesture to the civilian ship, and then someone else used the pirate’s ropes to swing on deck. “The fight is over, they sent a single person to check on the civilian crew… and the spellcaster will over-expend themselves if they attempt to heal all those injuries.”

The captain hummed. “Are you suggesting that we invite them onboard?”

“I’m saying the party could handle the excitement, sir.” He joked, putting down the telescope and handing it back to the captain. He took it and surveyed the situation himself, then called out in Haevan again, lay down your weapons, identify yourselves and your ship. Oly couldn’t fathom why any sailor wouldn’t know Haevan, but nothing happened, and he could tell being “ignored” was getting on the captain’s nerves.

“Prepare the warning shot.”

Oly was about to argue when Hesiat stepped in. “I revoke that order. The civilians are likely shaken enough, and our suspicions are based on their silence. If they’re truly Aosan, give Oly the glove, he can translate your demands. If their disrespect continues, you may take offensive measures.”

The captain took a moment to be skeptical before tugging off the glove. “Yes, my king.”

Oly took the glove and pulled it on with shaking hands. The captain instructed impatiently, “Thumb on the lip, little finger on the throat,” but Oly interrupted.

“Thank you, sir, I saw you do it.” He positioned it just so until he felt the buzz of magic enter his skin. “Oh,” He murmured with surprise, accidentally amplifying that across the deck. Giving the captain an apologetic look, he took a deep breath to start translating for him.

“Unknown crew, secure any criminal prisoners and release all civilian hostages. Lay down your weapons, stow all cannons, and approach so we may treat the injured. Defensive or evasive action against us will not be tolerated. Prepare to be boarded and identify yourselves through any credible means.”

Oly repeated that a couple more times before he pulled the glove away, holding his breath. Hesiat patted him on the back. “Good.” He whispered.

The captain put down the telescope. “Looks like they understood. Made a show of obeying.” He squinted and muttered to himself, “But that little fellow seemed a little eager to be tying up that pirate.”

Oly burst out laughing, and only laughed harder when everyone around him flinched. Forgot to announce I’m not on the glove anymore, whoops.

“A few of his friends are badly injured, I imagine he’s enjoying his petty revenges.” Oly said, tapping on his lips thoughtfully with the ungloved hand.

If he still had a physical collar, then he could have easily convinced them to take him on board to get back home. Since he was royal property, the only risk was that they’d really become wanted pirates after that. With the tattoo, however, he was tied fairly permanently to Hesiat. Taking a king hostage was even worse, so he ditched that idea… but it was a fun train of thought to go on.

As it stood, he could only ask them for news of what was going on back home. He knew his absence would be noted, but how, and would a wandering crew away from home be privy to the news?