She retreated back into her cabin, relief overcoming her like a gentle wave to not have to stay in her undergarments and night-shift that reeked of sea-salt from the events of the previous day and night. 

Jade had been so kind as to include additional undergarments and a fresh shift for a nightgown. Then there was a loose white shirt that was perhaps a bit large for Elodie and billowing sleeves and a corset with a delicate blue-and-white pattern that reminded Elodie of tea sets from Oyashima to the far east. Black trousers and a plain gray muslin dress in one of the slimmer-skirted styles of the fashions coming out of the Queen’s court were folded beneath.

Elodie was not ready for trousers yet, but she appreciated the practicality of them being included. She’d have to acquire more clothes when possible—she made a mental note to discuss this with Captain Jennings later, when they were in a good port city. 

She dressed quickly, and made an attempt to comb through her hair before tying it back with a scrap of the sail that had come loose in her attempt to get to the clothes. Then she made her way through the labyrinth of corridors she vaguely remembered from Jade’s tour and entered the sunset. 

The deck of the Albatross was more sparse now, but it was certainly still busy. Elodie had to keep sharp and move quickly to stay out of the way of the sailors as she took her lay of the land. Or so to speak. 

She kept an eye out for Jade or Ventus, or even Captain Jennings for at least the comfort a familiar face might bring. But alas, she saw none of them, and decided she would get off to the side where she could at least observe the goings-on and the rise and fall of the sea. 

She darted past a pair of sailors carrying a heavy-looking crate and found her refuge along the side of the ship. She leaned against it, letting her hair fall over her shoulder, the drying auburn waves fluttering with the wind. 

She could no longer see Libertalia, or any of the island of Leonida. She was well and truly in the middle of the ocean, floating on the sea-foam and riding the currents of the wind and the tide. There was nothing at all but skies and seas for all the eye could see. 

There was something terrifying about that, the feeling of being unanchored, ungrounded.

But there was also something incredibly freeing. It called to something in her blood, the daughter of a pirate king and queen. Perhaps she had always been made for such a thrill. Elodie could not help but smile. 

“Ah, it’s good to see milady out here.”

She turned her head to see none other than the gaudy blond pirate boy with his back against the railing, turned away from the endless ocean. It unnerved her, as she had not known how long he had been there. 

“I’m Kas, by the way.” He leaned his head back, his hazel eyes gleaming with something she did not understand. “Kas Beaumont—I don’t think we had the chance to exchange names.”

“Elodie Fleetwood,” she said, mostly out of reflex. She then felt the heat rising to her face. “Sorry—you probably know that already, don’t you?”

“I do, but I never correct a lady, if I can help it.” 

Elodie pressed her lips together, and looked back out at the water. The golden light turned the sea as dark as wine or the liquid that came from the jeweled-looking fruits that grew in the trees around Port Augustine. 

“Enjoying the view?”

There was something softer about Kas’s voice, something that made her feel more at ease. 

“I’ve just never been outside of Port Augustine before,” she confessed. “I had no idea that the world was so. . . so big!”

Kas laughed good-naturedly. “It still doesn’t fail to amaze me, for what it’s worth. And I traveled plenty before I ever set foot on a ship like this.”

“A ship like this?”

“A pirate ship—sorry, privateer, Captain will give me an earful if I don’t use the proper terminology.” He grinned all the same. 

“How did you end up on a privateer ship, then?” Elodie asked. 

She noticed the briefest darkening in his gold-rimmed hazel eyes. His smirk did not falter, however. “Have any theories, my lady? Maybe I was born to sail the seas and skies. Or perhaps I am like your friend we picked up, or dearest Jade, born among the pirates?”

“I don’t think you are.” Elodie pressed her lips together as she examined Kas. “Your accent is much crisper, and you speak like the students at the college. Clearly you have expensive tastes given—“ she gestured at the jewelry— “All of that.”

His eyes gleamed as his head bobbed back. “Very good. You have an eye for detail—you should ask Captain to put you on lookout.”

“You still haven’t answered my question.” Elodie tilted her head. “You don’t have to, if you don’t want to. You can come out and say it.”

“And where’s the fun in that?” Kas turned around, propping his elbows on the side and leaning back so he could look up at the sky between the billowing sails. “Besides, it’s no real secret. I don’t mind telling you.”

Elodie planted her hands on her hips. “And you’re going through all this song and dance about it why?”

“Because that’s what makes a conversation fun, my lady, it’s a battle of wits!” He adjusted his hat, so it wouldn’t blow off as the sea-winds picked up. “You should try it sometime, it does get so terribly boring being on the sea for so long.”

Elodie huffed a sigh. “If you aren’t going to talk, you might as well not waste my time.”

She started to storm off when Kas grabbed her arm.

“I’m sorry,” he said, the smile less conniving and the slightest bit more sincere. “Look, maybe I’ll tell you the story some other time. But let me at least escort you to dinner.”

“Escort me?” Elodie raised her eyebrows. 

“Well, I suppose you haven’t been there yet, and Jade’s a bit busy at the moment.” He let go of her arm, but his hand still hovered over her skin, lingering like the kiss of the sun. “Besides, I thought you might not want to be on your own.”

“I guess not.” Elodie tilted her head, reconsidering Kas. 

“Don’t worry, I can be a gentleman at least sometimes.” He tipped his hat to her, then slipped his arm into hers. “May I?”

“You may.” 

Dinner in the galley with Kas had been much more fun than Elodie would have guessed. The other sailors on the Albatross didn’t pay them much mind, probably because Elodie and Kas were obviously the youngest ones there. So they had sat at the end of one of the tables, next to one of the little round windows looking out to the sea foam and spray from the bottom of the boat scraping the waves. And as they ate, Kas had a way of captivating her attention with stories of skullduggery. 

There was something magical about the way that Kas spoke, the way that he knew how to tell a compelling story. Of course, she noticed that there was a pattern to it too, behind the bejeweled descriptions of treasure and breathtaking recounts of swashbuckling action. Kas was at the center of his own legends, a witty and clever hero of ancient myth. Or at least, that was the way he told it.

Elodie suspected that there was some exaggeration, that Kas had made these stories of his own exploits larger than life. 

But she found she didn’t entirely mind, either. It took her mind off of her mother, of the house on Brighton Row, and the hunt for her by the self-proclaimed Pirate King of the Black-Sail Fleet. Instead, she was drawn into the kind of stories her mother would once tell her, when she was small and came up no higher than the kitchen table. 

She’d felt safe, for a moment. 

Such a feeling was in short supply these days. Short enough supply that she would willingly ignore who she was finding that in. Because there was something about the way Kas’s hazel eyes shined, the way his jewelry reflected the sunlight and his smile made her knees feel weak that reminded her of stories her mother told her about the mythical beasts that roamed the high seas and low skies. 

“Aye, they were beautiful,” her mother told her, a wistful look in her coffee-black eyes. “Dangerous, yes, they could take down an entire fleet on their own. But the leviathans and their ilk were maybe the loveliest things I ever saw.”

There was something about Kas that reminded her of her mother’s stories about the leviathans. 

He was someone to take care with, that was for certain. But he was a boy her age on the crew of the Albatross, an ally for the time being.