The pink mansion on Clairmont Street was impossible to miss. The golden-lined turquoise blue banners hung from every balcony looked more like military banners than the well-crafted and lovingly-made pendants and banners strung all over the island-city. Furthermore, the crowd of people in teal cloaks in-coming, past individuals in uniforms similar to what General Archener wore on the Windward Islands guarding the iron-wrought gates were a sure sign that this was the place they were looking for. 

The four younger crew-mates had climbed up the side of the other mansions across the street from the pink one, and were watching ducked behind the iron-wrought balcony that went all around the second floor. 

“So, what’s the plan?” Jade asked.

Kas squinted, then his eyes lit up, all hazel-gold. “Any chance you have those fireworks from that one island in the Oyeshima Empire on you?”

Jade blinked. “Surprisingly, yes.”

“You had fireworks on you this whole time?” Elodie cried. 

“And on a ship?” Ventus added.

Jade shrugged, and pulled the brightly-colored paper-bound explosives out of the leather satchel strapped to her hip and thigh. “I honestly forgot these were in here, you’ve got a good memory, Kas.”

“And it’s lucky that you did, because that’s an ample distraction if I ever saw one.” Kas then looked to Elodie and Ventus. “You two should go inside the mansion and look for Carina.”

“You should go with them, Kas, you tend to be really lucky,” Jade pointed out. 

“You’re playing with fireworks, you’re the one who needs the luck.” Elodie placed a hand on Jade’s wrist. “Don’t worry, Ventus and I are a team. We’ll be able to get her out safely.”

Kas looked away, a strange and ugly emotion flashed across his face. “That’s settled, then. When I fire my pistol, that’s the signal to get started.”

“Right then.” Elodie nodded and looked to Ventus. “You ready?”

Ventus sighed. “A little late to be asking that question, don’t you think?”

He then pushed some of the dark gray-streaked hair out of his eyes and stood up. “Come on, let’s get going, then.”

Elodie and Ventus took their places on the other side of the gate, by the willow trees, and that was when Kas fired twice to the wind. Ventus boosted her up the iron fence, and then climbed quickly up after her as the Oyeshiman fireworks crackled and sparked. Even in the bright daylight, they sparkled with colorful lights in the shape of dragons and foxes. Trails of smoke were left in their wake, with no night-darkness to conceal the ugly remnants. 

They scrambled into the branches of the willow tree as screams broke out amongst the Manoan party-goers, and their guards rushed forward from their posts. Ventus was the first to climb over the balcony on the second-floor, and offered his hand to Elodie to help her make the crossing.

By the time that Kas and Jade had made their mistakes, the fireworks gone and the soldiers having returned reluctantly to their posts, Elodie and Ventus entered into an empty corridor on the second floor of the pink mansion.

The inside looked as much like any other Albionese mansion, Elodie supposed, with the pastel blue walls, the white trim inspired by the ancient architecture of the Manoans, and the light wooden floor. But the touches of the presumably Manoan owner were evident in the details. 

The deep teal-shaded dark azure curtains made of a silk reminiscent of the Oyeshiman islands with intricate golden painted designs like the carvings of Manoan ruins and the trim on the guards’ uniforms fluttered from the window in place of the preferred white gauze and lace. Paintings of cities in the sky filled the walls, and instead of the usual kings and philosophers Elodie recognized in the forms of bust were unfamiliar ones with strange, ethereal crowns. 

They headed down the corridor, and darted past an open set of Aubraisian-style doors that peered into the internal balcony that overlooked the main ballroom of the event. Elodie could not stop herself from glancing inside. 

The Manoan party-goers had cast aside their cloaks, and were spinning and dancing to some of the most beautiful music Elodie had heard, the closest instrumental recreation of siren and narwhal song as their beautiful silks spun with them, their golden jewelry and gem-encrusted bangles catching the candlelight of the chandelier like small suns. Rich-looking food covered the tables, and garnet-colored wine filled their goblets, made of intricately-worked gold. 

A pang of guilt washed over Elodie. She supposed it could not be easy, to no longer have a homeland to belong to. She was lucky that her grandfather still had connections to their homeland of the Emerald Isle, that he still owned an estate there. She knew where she was from and she knew what that meant.

That had to be so much harder for these people.

And their dances, their music, their clothes, their food—it was all so beautiful. The revelers’ joy was so contagious, so tangible in the air.

It made her feel bad for a moment that they had become enemies, and that she was breaking into their party.

But then she remembered the terror on Carina’s face, the way they gave chase in the streets of New Aubrais, and previously in the Rainbow Harbor of the Windward Islands. That sympathy dissolved like sea foam in the morning air. 

She was here to rescue a compatriot—she hesitated to say, ‘friend.’ That had to be enough. 

Still, as they continued through the corridors, a horrid thought occurred to Elodie. She tugged Ventus’s sleeve, and he came to a stop.

“How will we figure out where she is, in this mansion?” She asked in a whisper as she drew them both by the curtains. They’d been lucky so far in that no one, no maid or else wise had come across them yet. But that luck would not hold out forever, and furthermore they would have to get themselves and Carina back out undetected. 

Ventus shrugged. “I thought you had the plan.”

“Oh.” Elodie glanced around. “Well, then. . .”

She supposed that the empty second floor was as much of a clue as anything. Because what if the party-goers were being prevented from entering—that meant that the man that they called king, and perhaps Carina, were up here.

After all, the group they’d run into on the streets had mentioned there being a Manoan king. Never mind that what remained of the empire had languished for centuries, allowing for Cartagena and Aubrais and Albion and Oyeshima to rise in their stead. 

“I had a friend at my tea lessons, Vesper, her father owned an estate in New Aubrais,” she recalled aloud as she started back down the hallway. “In the most important rooms, the one where the master of the house resided, there are often secret passageways—it’s very Aubrasian, you see.”

“Is it, then?” Ventus followed close behind, hands in his pockets.

Elodie stopped by one of the white wooden panels, trying to recall what Vesper had told her. “Oh yes, they have it built into their Palace of the Sun, in their capitol. She told me that she’d spent an entire rainy day last summer looking for all of the ones built in her father’s estate.”

“And you think that these aren’t guarded because—“

“I don’t,” Elodie admitted, as she knocked on the panel. 

An echo greeted her, and she grinned. “But they left this one un-guarded.”

She then pried open the panel to reveal the passageway.

Ventus awkwardly stuck his arm out. “Ladies first, then.”

They crawled around in the dark and dusty passage for not all that long before they came across the peephole into what Elodie presumed was an important suite, and with it, a hidden door. 

And she was delighted to discover that she was right, that Carina was in there. But she wasn’t alone.

Rather, there was a man in there with her, with two guards posted by the door. 

The man resembled Carina, with white hair—albeit, not as curly as hers, and his freckled skin not quite as dark. He had the angular face that reminded Elodie of Kas, or the other young gentlemen at the college in Port Augustine. He wore a diadem on his head, with a diamond as red as blood.

The man knelt before where Carina sat in a chair, looking more helpless and defeated than Elodie had ever seen her. Still, when Carina looked at the man, her expression was still fierce and resolute, a spark of the Carina that Elodie had come to know within.

“Sister, I know you don’t understand yet, but this is for our people, our birthright.” He took her hands, his eyes pleading up at her. “I still want you to hold on to the key, as you’ve guarded it from the barbarians all this time, barbarians that wouldn’t think twice about forcing you to part with it at any means. That means you must understand its importance, as their princess.”

Carina said nothing.

The man sighed, then stood up, straightening his jewel-toned short-sleeved jacket. “I had hoped you wouldn’t be so stubborn, Carina. Just consider it—I’m just sorry you’ll have to skip this party.”

“Sire, your time is coming,” one of the guards said as he stepped forward. 

“Of course,” the man sighed. He spared one last look at Carina, then left, guards in tow. 

Elodie decided then was the time to act. She pushed open the secret door, and Carina flew to her feet.

“What are you doing here?” She demanded. “I told you to run—“

“We did, but we’re here to rescue you.” Elodie held out a hand. “Come on, we don’t have much time.”

Carina eyed her suspiciously for a long moment.

Elodie’s heart thumped in her chest with every passing second.

Then Carina nodded, and accepted Elodie’s hand. “Let’s leave this place, before Alcor returns.”

They met with Jade and Kas outside the gate, having managed to leave undetected. 

Or at least, that was what they thought until they heard shouts again, and the soldiers rolled out into the streets.

“I’d say now’s the time to make our exit.” Kas slipped his arm into Carina’s. “I think they know you’re gone.”

They sprinted down the docks, aware that the crowd of party-goers would not hold the Manoan soldiers back for long. Captain Jennings was waiting for them on the other end of the gangplank, expression stern and her arms crossed over her shoulder.

“You’re late.” She clicked her tongue with disapproval. “I cannot believe—“

“Hold the lecture, Mother, we’ve got to go now,” Jade huffed. 

“You don’t get to show up and make demands—“

“A group of Manoans tried to capture Carina, we rescued her, but now they’re after us,” Elodie interrupted. “And they’re coming.”

She looked over her shoulder and pointed at the turquoise and golden uniforms emerging from the crowd, entering the marina. Captain Jennings had only spared them a passing glance, for then Kas let out a shout.

“Captain, you’re going to want to take a look at this!”

Elodie turned her head with Captain Jennings and the rest in time to see a shadow creeping behind the willow trees in the peninsula to the right of the marina. The prow crept into view, revealing the painted name on the side that made Elodie’s stomach sink.

The Foxtrot.