Was her mother right? Between the rumors, the reputation that hung around her like factory smoke since birth, and the danger of her mother’s enemies coming to look for her, perhaps the ordinary life her grandfather had wished for her was out of Elodie’s reach. 

Maybe it was time to look elsewhere.

“I’d like to sail with you,” Elodie declared, looking Captain Jennings directly in the eye.

Captain Jennings smiled. It was the faintest thing, on her stoic, strong features. But it was there all the same.

“Your mother would be proud,” she said.

Elodie’s stomach lurched. She only hoped she would be, when this was all over and they saw each other again. 

It was decidedly different, to step aboard a ship with her own two boots, no blade at her back and in the light of the day. Instead of the smell of smoke, gunpowder, and blood lingering in the air, Elodie tasted the salt of the sea-spray. The sun and the light sea-wind felt pleasant on her face, and sent her auburn hair flying about like the sails. 

Without the terror of what had brought her there as with the Foxtrot, Elodie could properly revel in the excitement of it all. This was the sort of place where her mother and father had met, where they’d had their adventures! 

Standing there, Elodie could suddenly understand her mother’s rage-tinged melancholy all the better. 

“Come on, this way, I’ll take you to your cabin!” Jade gestured for Elodie to follow her toward one of the doors leading to the inner corridors of the ship. 

Elodie obliged, and couldn’t help but observe the captain’s daughter as she approached. For where the captain was an austere military woman, with her hair held back in rigid braids and her tight-fitting uniform, everything about Jade Jennings was wild. 

Her loose-fitting men’s clothes and dark hair flapped in the wind like the wings of seagulls. One might believe with the skip in her every step that the girl would take flight any second.

An intuition, a feeling of some sort overcame Elodie as she drew closer, and she glanced over her shoulder to see Ventus following the gaudy blond pirate across the deck. As she did so, he just so happened to look at her and catch her eye.

He gave a little nod, as if to reassure her. I’ll be alright.

Elodie was relieved that they would take Ventus aboard the crew after all. She would have hated for him to have nowhere to go for her sake. He had saved her, after all. That had to merit some sort of reward?

As quickly as the moment occurred, it had passed, and Elodie returned her attentions to Jade as she stopped before her. 

Jade’s eyes gleamed as she regarded Elodie, now by her side. 

“You know,” she said in a low voice, “I think I’ve been waiting to meet you all my life.”

Elodie frowned. “What do you mean?”

Jade blinked, then shrugged as she turned to open the door to the inner decks of the Albatross. “We must’ve been born around the same time I reckon, when’s your birthday?

“Late autumn, only about a week from the day for the Lady of Desolation.” 

Jade grinned as she swung open the door. “Aye, mine’s about three days from the Lady’s day. I figured as much, knowing how Mother escaped the fate of the rest of the Bonny Calico.”

The Bonny Calico—her father’s own ship. 

As she followed Jade down the steps and let the door close behind them, she realized what else had been said. 

“What do you mean, ‘how she escaped their fate?’” 

“Well, surely your own mother told you?” Jade to her credit, was not irritated at the question. Merely amused in the way that she smirked over her shoulder at Elodie. “They would’ve hanged the both of them, women or no, if it hadn’t been for us.”

“Oh, right.” Elodie did know that part of the story. “My mother told me that was why her father came back to make his bargain. But she never mentioned that Elizabeth Jennings was with a child too.”

“Indeed, otherwise they wouldn’t have cared.” The bitterness in Jade’s voice was punctuated by a snort. “They didn’t want to destroy ‘lives of the innocent’ or something like that.”

She paused, and the shadows between the lanterns and windows built into the side of the corridors felt darker to Elodie, colder somehow, especially as they turned the corner and descended another flight of stairs, leaving all windows and natural light behind. The inside of the Albatross was far bigger than Elodie would have thought, with many interlocking corridors all lit by lanterns with little crystals inside that glowed a warm amber like flame or the pale imitation of sunlight. 

A good way to utilize the Manoan crystals as more than just what allowed the ship to ride on the winds themselves, Elodie realized as she recalled the ship schematics in her mother’s room. 

When they turned another corner, Jade’s brightness had returned. 

“Well, never mind all that, the point is, we both saved our mother’s lives, and we were born around the same time,” Jade continued blithely. “My mother always told me the story, and I always wondered what you were like, out there. There’s a connection there, you see?”

“There is,” Elodie agreed. 

“Besides, it’s frightfully lonely with few girls my age around here.” Jade winked at Elodie. “I suppose there is Kas, but he’s still a silly boy, unfortunately.”

Elodie laughed. 

“Well, here we are.” Jade came to a stop in front of a door at the end of the row and pulled it open. “We usually save these rooms for any surprise escort guests. Which I guess you are—but not usually the types that have to earn their keep.”

“I really don’t mind,” Elodie was quick to say. “I know there’s so much time on the high seas and skies, so I’m sure I’d want to pass the time somehow anyway.”

“Aye, but don’t worry, there’s plenty of time for fun too.” Jade paused. “Well, I’ll leave you to it, then. When you’re ready to see around the place, you can come find me or Kas above-decks.”

“Thank you.” Elodie hated how soft, how weak her voice sounded.

But Jade just smiled wider and clapped her hand on Elodie’s back. “Don’t worry too much about responsibility today. Mother’s not heartless, and most struggle with seasickness on their first day. So if you stay here, no one will begrudge you.”

With that, Jade stepped back and started skipping back down the corridors. Which left Elodie to enter her cabin for the indeterminate voyage. 

It was nice, as far as she was concerned. Then again, given that her first set of lodgings aboard the Foxtrot had been the brig, anything was a step up. But this was closer to her room in Port Augustine. 

There was a bed with canopy curtains, just like her bed in house on Brighton Row, but it was built into the wall with some railings to prevent the occupant of the bed from being pitched over the side. A little round window faced the outside, and a quick glance told Elodie that she was facing starboard. Beneath that window was a desk nailed to the floor. On the opposite side of the bed was a clothes-press bolted to the wall.

The room wasn’t utilitarian either. There were some creature comforts, such as the worn, faded rug covering most of the nicked wooden floorboards, or the mirror on the wall right by the clothes-press. 

It was smaller than her former bedroom, less luxurious for certain. But it would at least be a comfortable place to rest on her journey. And right now, there was nothing that Elodie wanted more than to rest. 

She hung Ventus’s jacket in the clothes-press and kicked off her boots before diving into the bunk. Before she even hit the mattress, she’d plummeted into the depths of sleep.

Warm golden light streamed through the little round window when Elodie finally awoke from her dreamless slumber. She slowly rose to her feet and made her way to said window to see the rose-tinged skies. Her sea-legs were still somewhat shaky, but she was grateful to at least not be seasick. 

Then again, she was a pirate queen’s daughter. It would only make sense that she would take relatively well to the seas and skies. 

Idly, Elodie wondered how long she had been asleep for. It was evening now, but it could easily be the next day, given how completely exhausted she’d been.

She laced up her boots and opened her door, ready to step out into her new adventure, when she saw a package wrapped in what looked like an old torn sail with a few stains on it waiting outside. 

Thought you might need a change of clothes

-J

Well, Elodie would have to thank her the next time that she saw the wild-haired daughter of Captain Jennings.