August wasn’t a particularly early riser. No matter how hard the Captain had tried, he just hadn’t been able to rid the boy out of waking past the time the sun reached its peak. Yet, he naturally had gotten up that morning- his curiosity nagging him out of his subconscious. Without glancing back at his hammock, he shuffled down the cabin acknowledging his uninterested siblings who continued to sleep at five in the morning. He was going to walk into the Captain’s room where the White-man lay asleep and take his chance at giving the stranger a thorough examination. Of course, he’d have to sneak in quietly. From the movement of the ship, he understood that Captain Keggard was already awake, possibly navigating their way towards the White-man’s missing personnel. If he’d get caught, he would surely be prohibited from entering because it was “rude to disturb others’ privacy” or something like that. The ragged curtain fluttered behind him as he swiftly scampered to the other end of the lower of deck where his destination lay.

August squinted. He could see shadows moving from underneath the unevenly carved door that had been decorated in scribbled and doodles of crayon and color pencil much like most of the walls. It seemed like there was another light source flickering inside- the sun wouldn’t so bright at this hour, and it was too silver in hue for it to have been the sun in the first place. Looking around one last time, he nudged the door open with his shoulder and poked his head through. His timing was perfect: just the right moment to catch the White-man’s skin flicker and dim down. What sort of witchcraft was he up to?

Suddenly, the stranger turned around. “Oh!” he gasped, almost toppling back in surprise. August could tell that he intimidated the man. Considering that there first encounter involved August trying to shoot him dead, it was quite expectable. He continued to stand there quietly, poker- faced, eyeing the man wickedly. He stared back. August waited for White-man to blink, he wanted to win the contest, to be the stronger, scarier one. His eyes were stinging but he kept staring, his nose curled up in a look of disgust. “You are August?” the stranger pointed at a picture on the bedside table, losing eye-contact in the process.

“Aye” August yipped back, finally rubbing his optics in relief. He inched closer into the room and looked White-man up and down. “How did you do that?”

“I beg your pardon?” the stranger asked looking confused.

“Ye glowed! I saw!”

The Whiteman stuttered like it was something that no one was meant to have seen. But after a moment of thought, he exhaled, seemingly pleased to have rid the secret off his chest. He slowly sat down onto the bed, his silver cape spreading across the mattress like a pool of molten metal. Right in front of Augusts’ eyes he started doing it again, like his bones were emitting starlight that pulsed through his flesh, eyes, nose and teeth. “Did you mean this?”

August could only nod. He watched, not a single breath disturbing the phenomenon that was taking place in front of him. The light’s intensity degraded, and the Whiteman slumped forward into his palms, breathing heavily.

“It never used to hurt this much before” he muttered to himself. August was confused: what did he mean? He stood there thinking, although, to him, a glowing man had the same mysterious working as a firefly. He didn’t know.

“I really should find someone fast” White-man whimpered. Just then, the Captain entered the room in search of a map. He looked from his first mate to Polaris, then back to the boy.

Amias did not acknowledge the sound of the door slamming behind August.

“Are you alright?” he asked, taking in the sheen of sweat vaporizing on Polaris’s forehead.

“Just…sea-sickness that’s all”

Amias easily heard the tone of untruth in Polaris’s voice. He decided against prodding for the actual truth, thinking that it would invoke a sense of interrogation and mistrust amongst them. He had what he had come to fetch so could have just turned around and left with a simple “uh-huh”. But he didn’t. Despite a part of him yelling to keep the newcomer at a distance (for everyone’s safety, the other half just realized Amias hadn’t truly had anyone to call a “friend”….ever. It made sense why he acted the way he did with new people. For a moment, he was a little boy on his first day of school, his stomach filled with butterflies of nervousness and excitement and his head buzzing with things to say. He flopped down next to Polaris and smiled. Polaris looked back, unsure how to react to the sudden mood change.

“You know,” Amias started, “I’ve never seen you before. Polperro is basically the whole world for its people; it used to be for me too! Everyone knows each other since…forever!”

Polaris’s eyes jerked in uncertainty, “That’s nice” he agreed. Amias’s smile drooped. Maybe he had sounded too eager all of a sudden. He noticed that gaining the acceptance of a person his age was vastly different from gaining the trust of children. To a child, you prove to them that you won’t harm, that you will shield them from danger, and that you love; in time, they’ll never leave your shadow. Adults on the other hand- know things!

“I…come from quite far, actually” Polaris answered,

“Where?”

“You won’t know”

Amias chuckled, “I’ve been on the seven seas for too long not to know the Earth like the back of my hand”, he tried to be a little softer, more playful, “Let me try and guess”.

For the first time since he could remember, Polaris smiled. He felt a rousing competitiveness inside of him. His silver eyes twinkled and the new sensation of a grin tickled his face.

“Fine then. I’ll humor you”