Just as I expected, pirates made their way into the cave on one of their smaller boats. I stayed in my cecaelia form and remained seated at a small table enjoying a nice cup of tea and making notes. The Mirror called out “Who DARES to enter the home of a Sea Witch?”

“My name is Kai. I seek the aid and benevolence of the Sea Witch. These two are my men, Archie and Alex.” I remember thinking to myself that his voice sounded vaguely familiar I looked up from notes. It was the man from the market who wouldn’t leave me be. Our eyes met, “The Calla Lily.” He whispered.

“The Calla Lily?” said the man named Archie questionably.

“The beautiful wench ye said stole ye heart at first sight?” said the other, Alex.

“She’s the Sea Witch,” Kai breathed.

“What?!” yelled Archie

“You mean the rumored beauty is this thing,” exclaimed Alex. Kai shot them a stern glance.

I snapped out of my surprise and stood up, “I sure hope you have a good reason to think you may openly insult a Sea Witch like me.” My tone gave off a strong feeling of superiority to the men two men as they shook their heads violently.

“N-No Mam,” they said in unison.

“Please forgive my men, for they are only fools who cannot see the true beauty in front of them.” He said with a bow.

“Ha, I see you are still as silvered-tongued as this afternoon.” I gave him a knowing smile, “which is rather strange coming from a pirate.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean, I am just your humble traveling sea merchant.”

“Drop the act, I saw your men yesterday enter a pub with a few other members of your crew before we met.” He stayed standing still while looking me straight in the eyes. “I wouldn’t be surprised if most of your men are, how would you say it, three sheets to the wind. Please don’t tell me you’re here for a hangover cure.”  I said mockingly.

He smiled, “Well, I knew from the start ye weren’t one to mince words,” his polite character broke for only a moment before he continued to speak, “You are not wrong, we are pirates. But my praise for your beauty is no act and is true of both forms you take, Ms. Jenna.” He smiled sweetly.

“I’d be a fool to trust the words of a pirate. Which group are you from?” I asked as I grabbed my business log from one of the shelves along with a magic quill that could write without ink.

“The Fancy” he stated.

I wrote it down, “I believe I’ve done work for you before . . .” she paused a moment to think, “Last I checked your crew was led by The Pirate King, Jack Avery. Though he has many other names, that is the one listed in my logs.” I looked up at him, “But you’re not him.”

“I guess you can say I am the Pirate Prince,” he claimed.

“You’re his son?” I watched him observantly.

“Yes mam”

The magic mirror interjected, “I believe Captain Avery mentioned to you during his last visit of his son being aboard his ship. He claimed he was around the same age as you.”

“Oh, that’s right,” I remembered, “the old man did mention something like that. Now that I think about it.”

“But what are you doing here instead of your Captain.”

“That’s why we’re here.”  I motioned to the other chair at the table, and he came to sit down across from me. His men stayed by the boat and watched from a distance. He continued, “My father has gone missing. I would like you to help in find him. He often spoke of your talent and power as a Sea Witch despite your age.”

“I see, Mirror can you see where the old captain might be?”

“Give me a few moments,” replied the mirror as his face slowly disappeared.

“While he is doing that, would you like some tea,” I asked while interlacing my fingers.”

“I would love to,” he smiled gently.

I poured the cup using my tentacles and placed it in front of him. “To think that the Pirate Prince not only found out my name but my true form in less than a day.”

“If you did not wish to be recognized, perhaps you should have disguised yourself more on land.” He scoffed in a playful manner.

“I’d have you know that my form isn’t much different for two reasons. One, if I change my appearance too much, my true self will appear in reflections. This way only my human form is seen. Second, there’s another part to the spell that should keep me unrecognizable from those who do not know me.” I said calmly.

“Perhaps this means that our souls are intertwined, so I was able to recognize you right away.” He looked at me with an innocent flirting look, but my placid expression did not falter.

“Yeah, no. The earring you’re wearing has an enchantment on it. It’s charmed with a spell that allows you to recognize others despite a magical change of appearance.”

“Heh, not a romantic then,” he smiled sadly.

“Nope,” I said with a large smile on my face. “How do you plan to pay for my services?”

He placed a bag of gold on the table. “Is this enough?”

“It seems your father hasn’t told you how to make a proper deal with a Sea Witch,” she said nonchalantly. “Gold is not a form of payment here. It must be something of equal value to the service given.”

“You live amongst humans is gold not valuable to you?”

“I make enough selling in the market, but I’m talking about what you possess as that is equal to what you want, is what I take in exchange.”

There was a long pause before he responded, “What do you want?”

“I will tell you when I figure out how it is I can help you.”

“You know, the rumors in town are not only of your beauty, but of your impeccable business sense as well as kindness towards others, but your fast to put up walls. So, despite being a beautiful flower, she is also an impenetrable fortress.” He spoke softly and looked at me longingly. “Is it because you’re a Sea Witch?” I glared daggers at him. “My apologies . . . I was overstepping.”

I looked over at the mirror hoping he would come back with news. I didn’t mind small talk if it wasn’t about myself. “Only partly,” I answered to my surprise as my face scrunched up in confusion, I then quickly tried to change the subject. “When and where did your father go missing exactly?”

“About a week ago,” he explained, “but what’s got us stumped is that it was out in the middle of the ocean. And none of the boats were missing.”

“In the middle of the ocean? Are you sure he didn’t jump ship?”

“HE’D NEVER!” he Immediately replied in a booming voice standing from his seat.

“I apologize I did not mean to offend.” I motioned for him to sit back down. He sat back in the chair.

“No, I’m sorry for raising my voice.”

“No worries, you are not the first to.” I had paused a moment, “It does make me wonder of what or whom may have taken him.”

“It is a mystery to us all.”

“Well one thing for sure, it couldn’t have been a mermaid.”

“A Siren?”

“They’ve been banned from traveling to the surface after the death of the late Queen Athena’s passing. They are much too afraid of Triton's wrath to venture up above.”

“What makes you so sure?” I motioned to my tentacles. He coughed, “Right, Sea Witch. sorry”

“You sure apologize a lot for a pirate.”

“You forget that prince is also a part of my title.” I laughed which made him smile broader, “You have a lovely laugh.” I then stopped a bit surprised at the comment.

It was at this moment the Magic Mirror interrupted, “Good news, I found him. Bad news” The mirror continued, “I’m not sure your locator spell will work no matter how close you get.”

“I see,” I stood up and made my way to the mirror, “Show me the captain.” Kai followed me over as the mirror revealed the Pirate King himself. There we saw him bound above in an ice cave cell. Then someone entered. Someone I once knew from a long time ago, “Morgana.”

“You know her?” Kai asked.

           “Yes,” I groaned.

           “What does she want with my father?”

“No clue” I shrugged, then asked the mirror, “Mirror, do you know?”

“It appears the captain may have both taken advantage of her magic and her heart. She is now taking her revenge” They watched the scene unfold in the mirror. Morgana poured a potion on him. He transformed into a guppy, but it only lasted for a few seconds. He turned back into a human and Morgana left distraught.

“Is she using him as a test guppy?”

“Where is she?” Kai asked in a dark tone of voice. He was writhing with anger. I glanced at him through the corner of my eyes.

           “Yeah, even if I tell you, you’ll get killed and there’s no form of payment that is worth a life,” I said shrugging my shoulders and shaking my head. I had moved to the other side of the room.

           “You said you’d help,” he looked at me angrily, “we had a deal.”

           I turned to look at him sternly. “I don’t recall agreeing to offer my help. We have not yet made a deal. Do you recall signing anything because I don’t.”

He sucked in his breath and slowly released it. He bowed his head, “Please, I need to save him.”

           “You have a quick temper.” I paused and turned to him, “But you got a good heart.” He looked up at me. “I’ve grown tired of the same old routine. It would do me good to go out and stretch my tentacles. Besides it’s bad for business if I lose one of my most frequent customers.”

           “Jenna, you aren’t saying . . .” the mirror asked surprised.

           “The job has changed from a finding mission to a rescue.” I smiled at Kai, “To face a Sea Witch, you’ll need a Sea Witch. I’ll be joining your crew on this voyage Pirate Prince. I hope you don’t mind.”

           His smile slowly widened, “It would be my pleasure.” Then paused, “What do you want for payment?”

           “Simple” I stated, “In exchange for helping in the rescue of the Pirate King I require a future favor of the current Pirate Prince.”

           He looked on in awe, “That is all? Just a favor?”

           “Just a favor,” I smiled mockingly at him, “I wouldn’t be so relieved if I were you. A favor can be anything. You have no way of knowing what I might ask of you?” I waved my hand and a contract along with a quell appeared before him. “Do you still want to make this deal?” He took the pen without hesitation. “Are you not going to ask what the consequence for breaking this contract might be?”

           “Having met you I don’t think it will be all that bad,” he said as he signed the scroll.