Chapter Two - Flight

The second chapter of Decalage.

Chapter Two
Flight.


    “What do you mean you talked to her? She was right here, and I was this close to securing-”

    “Her magic for your own? She may be golden eyed, but there is not a single speck of magic in her blood,” interrupted the God of Death.

    Abrafo sat calmly in the realm of the dead, his pale skin glowing with the soul lit lamps surrounding his pavilion of bones. The black trench coat he usually wore was slung across the throne of black marble, the faces of those who had dared try to best him trapped in their stony countenance. Moans drifted through the dead air, which muffled the pour souls that floated throughout his land on the end of the world. The sound of cascading water, flowing over the edge of the flat plane known as Decalage, would have been soothing if not for that fact screams drifted throughout the falling water.

Eris stood before him, the image of beautiful, vivid anger in her clothing of shadows and the almost satanic way her body floated around her brother. It was as if this woman was twining rope around him, her shadows lengthening creating a circular pattern around the God. Abrafo shook his head and stood, wiping away the shadows, and grabbing his trench coat.

    “Your beauty may work on mortals’ sister, but I see nothing beautiful about an old hag like yourself.”

    “How dare you, I am a Goddess!” Eris stopped in a flurry of anger, and whipped around with her red eyes burning. Abrafo merely pulled on his coat, careful to keep his back to her.

    “And I am a God, now leave me, I have business to attend to.”

    Eris merely stood with a snarl on her face. This was Abrafo’s realm, and therefore what he said go. There would be no comebacks; here he had the last word. With one final snarl she turned and left, not realizing her brother had too disappeared.

    Now the realm of dead was silent. Even the moaning of the dead no longer existed. Without the God, this place truly died. Only the shadows continued to move, with the flickering souls. The silence stretched on for minutes, for weeks, for years… and he did not return. Time moves differently in the realms, in Death is seems to move so fast, and in the mortal lands it seemed to move so slow.

    Finally, the silence was broken, as a gentle song broke through the darkness in a twining of soul and notes… and it seemed to wake the dead as the shadows ceased to move, and the souls began to live.



    Reine sang, it was all she had on this cold night with no moon and no company except the black and white kitten riding on the horn of her saddle. They had been riding for a mere two weeks, sleeping beneath the stars and riding beneath the sun. For two weeks, they had been free with no fear to hunt them and no sorrow to sing the lullaby.

Reine’s mare, named Sophira, now carried them through the forest of Evengore.

Fall had come without hindrance; the hot days of summer had turned into breezy golden days of mid year. Leaves huddled in orange and red piles to escape the suddenly chilly weather, but the evergreens continued to stand starkly green in the forest. They seemed to turn inwards with the awakening of the pure sound that floated from Reine’s voice. They seemed to bend down to her face, which was turned up, with her eyes closed.

    What song she sang was not in the common language that all creatures of Decalage knew. What sound came from her mouth was so pure in sound, unlike the rough language most people used, that what she sang soothed tortured souls and seemed to have a soul of its own. With in it, it seemed to be stronger than the roar of a lion, and sweeter than a song of a nightingale. The notes brimmed with joy, of freedom and flight. High above Decalage they flew, away from the darkening hearts, and hopelessness that had begun to appear in the people’s eyes. For a moment, she flew, until her song was broken by a gentle clap of someone far too near to be safe.

    Startled Reine opened her eyes, and stopped Sophira too quickly to hide her sudden fear. Her heart burned into anger as Abrafo nodded to the young woman he had met a scant two weeks before. With a hiss the black and white kitten clawed its way into Reine’s lap, the poor little thing hissing with anger and sounding a bit… pitiful. Abrafo eyed the cat with distaste, and Reine, seeing this, held up Kit with a grin.

    “Not a cat person?” She said with dry amusement.

    “Not a living thing kind of guy. Animals have always been too… lively for me, as are mortals.”

    Reine settled Sophira, keeping a steady distance between her and the immortal. Beneath her the mare shivered, sweat covering her flanks from being so close to this Godling. Reine sat calmly in the saddle, gently petting the black and white kitten. Her eyes went over the trench coat covered god with his lifeless skin and red eyes. He was still as tall and skinny as he had been before, and Reine narrowed her eyes slightly at the way he seemed to follow her with his own eyes, moving with her, watching her… forever watching her.

    “What are you doing here?” Reine growled the words out of her mouth, letting them flow out in pure loathe.

    “Such hostilities my piratess! Whatever did I do to you?”

    “You really want me to list them out for you? Let us see, you knocked out my first mate, you knocked out me, and I’m pretty sure you’re out for the same thing Eris wants from me, which I may tell you… I don’t have.”

    “Really my dear, I didn’t mean it in an ungentlemanly way, and as for the last reason I truthfully have no idea what you are talking about. Eris, my sister, is the one woman I would never agree with. Death is nice and orderly, chaos is… havoc.”

    Reine’s surprise did not reach her face, but the horse felt it in the way her legs tightened, and responded to her touch with a step forward. Well, it was a few more than one step, it was more like a gallop and while Reine still had her wits about her, she was happy to see the God loose his calmness and jump out of the way of the horse’s thundering hooves with a muttered curse. Reine pulled back on the horse’s mane, the reins had fallen from her hands with the sudden movement, careful not to alarm the poor beast anymore than it already was. Then with a laugh, she slung a leg over and slid off the horses back, leaving the kitten on the saddle. In truth, when her feet touched the ground, she was terrified that her legs would buckle under her weight. Thankfully they didn’t, and somehow she managed to turn and face the God, hands crossed over her chest, looking somewhat composed.

    The wind blew steadily, touching a kiss upon her cheek and turning them a bright red from the drop of temperature. Around them the leaves of a lost fall twirled and danced in miniature tornados. Reine’s brunette hair barely moved with the breeze, but as the air rushed past her those golden eyes blazed. The breezes sang. Oh, they sang. For a minute Reine was lost, but when he spoke she returned, quite unwillingly, to the topic at hand.

    “That wasn’t nice my dear, and neither was the slur you made against me two weeks ago. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about it for awhile now, but I’ve been busy.”
   
“Busy doing what? Counting your souls? Playing checkers with Lei? Readying your plate for the hoard of dead about to come knock down your door?”

    Abrafo narrowed his eyes briefly, looking the woman before him over with a glance that could kill.
   
“You are no seer, yet you act as if you know what is to come.  You do not know who you are, but you act as if you know me. You can not listen to your own heart, but you hear something I do not. Who are you?”
   
Now who was the hostile one? With his words Abrafo had grown in pure essence, the air around him shimmering with power. Reine, however, was not beaten so easily.  She wore power like her own clothes, wielded it like a weapon. Although it was not seeable, like the God’s, it made the trees whisper, caused the animals of the forest to watch with interest. Abrafo, hissed and moved forward as if to snatch the young woman, but she was too quick for him and moved too. He stumbled forward, fighting to catch his balance.
   
“Now Abrafo, darling, before you try to attack me again, keep in mind… I’m alive. You, my good sir, are dead. Like a rock, though a bit thicker headed… you… are… dead.”
   
“Correction, I never lived… therefore I never died.”
   
Abrafo said, straightening and attempting to keep emotion out of his face. If he had been mortal, he would have been blushing… if he had been alive he would have been red as a cherry.

Reine moved. It wasn’t a movement of pure randomness, but it seemed to be born of no reason what so ever. Her feet sent her spinning around the god, twining around the poor boy like a cat, causing him to spin with her. Somehow she managed to spiral more inward each movement and soon was close enough to feel his essence grasping at her. Like two weeks before, one stood off guard and the other stood holding the other with their mind, only this time Reine was in charge.

“I am sorry.”

“For what?” the God snarled.

“That you never lived. That you never felt, that you never died.”

Abrafo had been startled, true. He was surprised that this mortal held any sympathy in her heart, in her demon riddled soul. Reine, however, had been even more surprised with her own words. Had she meant to let those sentences slip from her tongue? Now they stood like spikes in the gorge between this girl and the immortal. She moved backwards, a little fear in her golden eyes. Abrafo simply stood there, his eyes searching the girl before him, surprised that for the first time in his life he was feeling… uneasy.

“Don’t be sorry my dear. The way mortals are burdened with emotions, who would want fear, sorrow, heartbreak?”

“Yes… why would they want that? Why would they want to love… to be happy… to feel? Some mortals do not feel anything, like yourself, but it is not because they can’t, you know, it is because they refuse to.”

Reine turned, grasping Sophira’s reins in her hands, careful to attempt to keep her composure. She acted so knowing… so different, so composed. In truth, inside, she was screaming. Fear was thrusting itself deep into her heart like the dagger is was, and she could feel herself fading. Fading in, and fading out, the barrier between her reality and what she didn’t know existed was slowly disappearing. Was she betraying herself, keeping the two halves separate? The leaves rustled, crunched beneath the feet of Abrafo, and then there was simply no sound. The presence of the God had lifted from her mind… and with a sigh Reine moved to lean on her white mare. The kitten rubbed gently against her, purring. He had left, and he had not knocked her out this time. How kind of him.

What had been his reason for coming here, then leaving as quickly as he came? Was she afraid of her, afraid of what he did not understand?

“I don’t know what I am. I fear what I am. There is something inside of me, there is something eating me alive. What am I?”

With a frustrated curse she moved away from the horse, glaring out into the woods. They seemed to calm, dipping their branches of oak and evergreen, bowing to the Earth. All they needed to do was grow, to live, bear fruit and seeds. Why was their life so easy, so simple? Did they know who they were? Did they know what they were sent here to do? Did they ever feel that hatred of themselves? Were the trees ever frightened or scared? Did they bleed, did they cry? Did they hurt, did they die?

“Why is life so easy for them, but so difficult for the rest of us?”

They never move dear, they never travel. Forever they stay, rooted in one place.

Startled Reine jumped backwards. The heel of her boot caught the root of a tree and with a small surprised oof! Reine landed in a mass of leaves and foliage. Wildly she twisted her head this way and that, searching for the speaker of the voice.

Too many surprises were popping out of nowhere on her. Couldn’t they tell her before they entered her life?

Don’t be frightened my lady. I would never harm my Reine.

“I’m sorry, er, whoever you are. I don’t think we’ve met but you know my name.”

Did Abrafo have something to do with this? Was he pretending to have a high pitched girly voice just to scare her shirtless?

Yes, yes, it is your name isn’t it? What are you, if you are so sure of who you are?

“Nothing but a pirate.” Reine answered automatically.

Even a pirate queen has some… power.

“Excuse me, but the pirate queen has more than just some power. Show yourself!”

You do not see me?

Reine blinked, eclipsing her flashing eyes. See? She could see everything. The leaves twirling in bright tornados, the trees letting their heavy branches empty, she could see it all. The faces of sunlight peering from above, the laughter of a nearby waterfall, as if it was mocking her, she could see it.

You see me.

“You’re…”

The earth, sky, wind, trees, water… yes.

“An elemental, a demon?”

No, no silly girl, I am simply the song. I am what you call the essence. It has been long since one of my own had trodden upon my leaves, but you bring both joy and sadness. The God, death is not welcomed here. It takes each in turn, but the God has taken more than usual. You made him angry.

“I am sorry.”

Do not be sorry my sister. Just remember that you have a destiny, a fate, though you would not like to admit it. Open yourself to it, and let your barriers down and protect. Do not forget sister… remember.

“Yes, I will remember…” but she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to remember.

And why now? Why was she actually showing signs of insanity? First the God of Death, now the earth speaks to her, the Authinia whispers in her ear. She is so shocked that she can not speak, and she is too afraid to move.

The acceptance of her words was shown in the gentle breeze that brushed itself against Reine.
   
Kit jumped from Sophira’s saddle. With a waddle, probably from riding, the four legged black and white blob mad its way over to the confused Reine who was staring up at the sky, dazzled beyond belief.

    “Meow?”
   
“I hate mornings too. You would think that instead of scaring us poor mortals so that we kneel over and die, they would tell us before they enter our lives. Kit… I just talked to a bush.”
   
She couldn’t help herself, she fell backwards on the soft moss beneath her, wrapping the tendrils of grass around her, and laughed. It felt so good to just roll on the ground, watched by the amber eyes of the kitten as she rolled and laughed and rolled some more as if she was insane.
   
The funnier thing is that she was insane.
   
Insane, however, was at times only in the mind of the beholder, but those who looked into the predatorily aware eyes of the pirate queen knew that what mind she had either walked the path of brilliance or simple insanity. She had millions of alter personalities, the ability to kill without thought, but she would never dare hurt an innocent child. With the blink of an eye she would turn from a playful young woman to a huntress with a feline grace and deadliness, then as soon as someone turned off the light she would curl into a tiny ball and be more frightened than could be imagined. Yes, Reine, queen of pirates, was terrified of the dark. She was not fearless, she just feared something else then death.

    “Well Kit,” she had finished her spastic laughter, “Where to now? I didn’t really think about where I was going when we left. I know, not the smartest move of mine. I just knew I had to lean Kit, I just knew I had to run.
   
She sat up with a shudder as she remembered the persisting need to escape the city, to escape their view. There was a wild look to her golden eyes, with twigs in her brunette hair and moss on her back like patches of fur. On the floor of the forest she sat for a few minutes, thoughtfully brushing the twigs out of her slightly wavy hair.
   
“I think I know where to go Kit. I don’t know if they will help me, but the bards may be the only ones who are not poisoned by hate and distrust. I was a bard once, along time ago.” It might have been too long ago of course

    With a sigh Reine pushed on the ground with her sleeves covering her small and thin arms. Suddenly Reine felt old, though she was no more than 17. It was as if she was suddenly a geyser like woman who had seen too much and done too much in a dark and terrible world. With a groan she stood and shook out her arms and legs, feeling the ancient sadness disappear. The perpetual look to her eyes left, but they still had a tired, almost dead aura to them.

    Sophia gentle walked forward on her dainty gray hooves. Her strong, white head butted Reine on the back questioningly. The large pink nose snuffed across her back and as she felt the sudden sharp dagger of the cold nose Reine smiled, turning to grab the snow white mare’s bridle.

    “Stop that, I am not going to fall over dead. I’m just tired, once we get this mess cleared up we can go home.”

    Reine stopped. For a moment, nothing more than a moment, she thought about what could happen. They may never go home. They may never find a home.

Her stomach clenched in a tight, fear filled ball. Sweat darted across her forehead. Chills ran up and down her spine. She had to compose herself by breathing in slowly and counting in her mind. There was a chance of dying, there always was. Walking down the street, through the woods, simply being at home, you could die anywhere. Reine knew about this chance, when you were a queen of rogues, assassins and bounty hunters saw you as a gourmet entrée. What Reine did differently than others was that she didn’t live in the fear of dying. In this world you did not live to survive, you lived to simply be. It was amazing that Reine could look death straight in the eye and laugh, but become frightened at the mere sight of a bug. Some people… were simply different.

    The sun, though eclipsed by evergreens, was at mid day above them. It was into those dancing patterns of daylight stars and kaleidoscope patterns of shadows that Reine squinted upward into. With a salute to the whispering breeze catching a ride on the currents of the wind, she turned towards her well worn leather saddle and easily swung herself into the seat. Kit jumped up into the space in front of Reine, padding the area softly with her paws before curling into a small ball of warmth and comfort, her amber eyes closed in rest. Somehow the kitten became comfortable, though Reine puzzled how.
   
They rode like that for awhile. Kit was asleep in a puffball of black and white. Sophira was trotting steadily through the rich evergreen forest. Reine was in deep thought, wondering of all things.

Should she not be more shocked, not feel more tired and afraid? Things were happening so fast, perhaps too fast.

 Reine felt weariness tug at her eyes, urging them to droop as she rode on listening to the rhythmic beat of horse’s hooves and in the distance the whistle of a breeze that made a musical tone. There was no reason for her to fall asleep in the saddle, but Reine could not help but feel as if she could sleep for years. The only thing that kept her from sleeping was the fact that she had a job to do, and she was determined to do it.

So in that way they rode. Sophira led more than Reine did. The pirate queen was somewhere else, somewhere entirely different from the serenity of the forest around them. She was a child once again, a little girl studying in the Evengore, at the hidden School of Bards.

“Why do the birds not talk to me Reine? Why do they not whisper my name as they whisper yours?” asked the blind little girl who was sitting next to her. The eight year old child had tears at the corners of her eyes, and she was openly sniffling upset that the birds did not sing for her.

“But Tyria, they do sing for you!” assured the child next to her, a younger version of Reine. She was hardly recognizable except for her golden eyes. There was no sadness, no insanity, and no fear in her face. There was however blatant and shrill love. “Can you not hear them? They sing of your beauty and your prowess in bardic talents!”

“But that’s the p-problem! How do I know you aren’t lying to me? I can’t hear them for myself!” Tyria was close to bawling now, and to hide her red face she buried it in Reine’s shoulder, and Reine encircled the younger girl, comforting her by holding her close.

“You don’t know, you’re right, but I wouldn’t lie to you Tyria. I wouldn’t tell you false words and send discord through the song. I don’t want to ruin the song.”

She whispered those words softly, crooning soothingly in her sweet voice, so full of emotion, so different from what it would be in her future.

Tyria pulled away, glancing into the face of the older girl. She was blind, but she could see the soul of people better than the best bard. “Really Reine? You’ll never lie to me?”

“I swear.”

Tyria sniffed again, and out of her pocket Reine conjured up a piece of cloth. She placed it in Tyria’s hand, and the younger girl blew her nose with a honking sound that caused Reine to laugh.

The golden eyed child’s laugh was so contagious that Tyria’s sniffles soon turned to giggles. In a few minutes, both were rolling in the grass with a chorus of laughter. They didn’t need a reason for their joy; they didn’t need a reason for their actions.

Tyria stopped first, and Reine paused soon after, looking at the blind girl questioningly.

“Reine, someday you’re going to change the world. Promise you’ll always be my bestest friend? Even when you go off adventuring?”

Reine paused, and rolled over so that she was on her stomach with her head cradled in her hands.

“I promise,” whispered Reine, glad that her sightless friend did not see the sadness in her eyes. She knew other wise, she knew that someday she would change the world, but things changed. Everything changed, that is why they lived.

She had changed the world, was in the process of changing it, but she had broken her promise long ago. Was she ready to go back to that school where the only thing that she was certain awaited her was the painful promise?

Where else had she to go?

    They had to reach the Inn by nightfall, for like most forests even the Evengore wasn’t safe when the sun set. It was the border between the unclaimed lands and the rest of the flat world, and was stopped from entering the other lands by the mountainous region of Teletak that protected Moyen. Though the forest belonged to no one, monsters will be monsters, and there were plenty of them within the shadows of the foliage. Things with the power to take over one’s mind, monstrous cats that turned into beautiful and deadly men. There were shadows that lured one into an empty meadow then took away their soul… and there were immortals. Gods and Goddesses roamed the forest at night, a time where they did not have to worry about running across a pitiful mortal.

    Reine had met many of these monsters, and she did not come away from these meetings unscathed. How many scars covered her tan skin? How many aches did she feel on days of weather? They said a scar was a better judge of dangers to come then a fortune teller. Reine could not help but look those who said that in the eye, and simply laugh. They were fortune tellers all right, they told the story of the person’s past, and the future is said to be nothing but a repeat of the past. If Reine believed this, than she had very little to look forward to.
   
She didn’t of course, believe it.
   
A light flickered ahead, and Reine automatically pulled Sophira back into the shadows with a shake of her head to send away the tiredness gripping at her vision. Kit woke with a start, meowing gently with one eye open, peering at the squinting Reine. The light swayed in the breeze, but it did not come forward. She tightened her legs around Sophira, urging her forward, towards the flickering light. The sweet smell of roasting chicken darted into her nose. Spices sent warmth through an otherwise cold body. The sound of a piper flirted through the music.

    Sophira recognized the warmth as well, and eagerly she leapt into a gallop meeting the light head on, barely managing to keep Reine’s head from hitting the swinging sign. It was the Duoose Inn, the only Inn to stay in the forest, though it was well known no bard approved of it. It was the forest who decided who stayed, though; not the bards.

Small, the Duoose Inn was warm, safe, and comforting. Surrounded by a wall of logs, the watchman was well aware of the dangers and knew the forest like the back of his hand. Thankfully, as Reine pulled to a stop, he did not recognize her even though her golden eyes were bright with the prospect of a bath.

    “I seek shelter good sir.” Somehow the queen of pirates managed to keep the tiredness from her voice, letting the soft sound echo through the air and carry itself.

    “You are welcomed to the Duoose Inn. There is a stable for your horse, and though we have a busy night there is room for you as well.” He opened the gate by making a symbol with his fingers, and Reine watched with silent interest. He was obviously well practiced, fast enough to keep his fingers a blur, and Reine was unable to keep the motions memorized in her head. The Inn had become better protected since the pirate queen had traveled this way.

    “Thank you,” she muttered as the gates opened letting her gain access to the richly vibrant courtyard filled with several merchant stands and the wafting breezes with the scents of food. For good measure her golden eyes stayed towards the ground, and after faking a shiver and pulling her cloak around her and the hood over her eyes she looked up with interest. The thin material of the cloak was specially made from the outside it was impossible to see through the woven fabric, but from within the cloth Reine would see almost perfectly, it was like a veil of mist over her vision.

    In the corner of the courtyard a blacksmith was hammering on a large broadsword, a repair not creating the sword from scratch. A man who could not afford a room slept in a pile of rags in another corner, causing people to steer clear as they waddled, ran, or simply walked by. The stables were easily found as the scent of horse mixed with the shrill neighs and acknowledging snorts of the horses.

    Reine slid from the saddle, stopping her legs from buckling as they touched the ground, and signaled for a waiting stable boy to come forward. Sophira eyed Reine with a bulbous brown eye, before following obediently. Kit jumped from the saddle with an undignified hiss, realizing she had almost been duped.

    “Well, then you need to pay more attention next time silly, and then you won’t get left behind.” The hooded woman said as she eyed the kitten disapprovingly.

    “I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who talks to my pets.”

    Startled, Reine spun around too quickly to keep her balance. Her foot twisted uncomfortably, sending her forward to land in a puddle of humiliation before the man… or it would have if he had not caught her. In the almost catastrophe her hood had fallen back and bright golden eyes met kind green ones, so kind that Reine began to blush. Thankfully the man took it as embarrassment of being caught talking to a cat.

    “Don’t worry darling, I won’t tell if you don’t.”

    “Tell anyone what?” She questioned, honestly unaware.

    “Poor kitty, you didn’t even fall on your head and you’re all confused.”

    With a glare Reine pulled herself out of his arms. Once her balance was somewhat regained she began brushing with her hands where he had touched her with a glare of her golden eyes. He withdrew any help he was about to offer, his powerful muscles seeable from beneath his shirt. He had a scarred face, though handsome and strong. His emerald eyes were glittering with inward laughter, while a smirk turned his lips upward. The man was tall, 6 feet five inches or so, and was a pale skinned northerner with a mop of brown hair. A broadsword was at his side, as well as a dagger.
   
Like Reine, he probably had more weapons hidden on his personnel.
   
“I am not confused. When someone is talking about a kitty, they are usually talking about a four legged feline. Felines hunt, they are smaller, have tails, and could probably tear you to pieces.” She retorted, her temper rising easily to the surface.

    “Oh… then it should be obvious I was addressing you.” He said with a flirtatious look.

    Reine stared. She couldn’t help it. This man was playing with her temper, and as she became surprised enough that her temper cooled down she found her self being dragged towards the Inn, unable to do anything. Kit followed with a skip to her step, and Reine simply stared as the man dragged her into the loud common room, the noise hitting her like a bucket of ice water. The weight of the noise almost sent her falling again, but the man had a tight enough hold on her wrist that she was simply dragged like a kite through the wind.

    He was courteous enough to pull out the chair for her, which she easily slid into, still staring at his easy going face that now looked into hers.

    “You could have just asked me if I wanted a drink.” She muttered, blushing slightly, any trace of her temper gone.

    “I figured I wanted to keep my head. Kitty, you probably would have bitten my head off if I asked you, and then what would I have to charm the girls.”

    “Hmmm, no more than you had before I bit your head off.”

    “Ouch, if I give you my name will you accept that as an apology?”

    Reine wasn’t new to flirting. She didn’t necessarily like it either. It seemed too dodgy and cheap to be worth anything. If a man liked you, or found you interesting, they should come out and say it, not act flirtatiously. The man just kept coming, however, and Reine couldn’t help but find she was meeting every comment with her own… flirtation. It almost made her blush again, this realization.

    “No, but it will stop me from leaving this table right here, right now.”

    He smiled; it was an amused smile like he was watching a favorite pet of his play with a ball of string. Reine looked at it with distaste, but she did not hide it well enough and at the distaste on her face he laughed.

    “I am Caleb, Caleb Shahrokh. You?”

    “I never said I would tell you my name.”

    At this he was a little taken back. Caleb narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out if she was joking or not but from the tiredness that suddenly overcame her eyes he could see she was not flirting anymore. All he did was nod, and with that nod Reine knew she had found a friend.

    Reine had pirates, sailors, and others all under her command. None of them were people she was close too, though. They were all working for her and her for them. Neither side saw it differently, but Reine sometimes wished they did. Ty was like a father, she couldn’t talk to him about very much. There was no mother in her family, no brothers or sisters, she was alone. Once upon a time Reine had a sister like best friend, a blind girl who was raised with her in the world of bards. When Reine left that world she left Tyria as well.

    Now perhaps she found a friend to lean on, to catch her when she slipped and tripped, and to help her when she fell. A small smile found its way to her lips, and as they curled gently upward Caleb smiled back.

    “My name is Reine Raconias.”

    “Ah, so you are the queen of the pirates. I expected you to be a little bit more… graceful.”

    “Sorry I didn’t live up to your expectations.”

    “It is all right, some of us are just meant to be failures.”

    “You would know, wouldn’t you?”

    “Ouch, you have a bite don’t you?”

    Reine gave a dignified look with her eyes narrowed in a gaze that her pirates called “the look”, usually when you received it you were advised to jump behind the nearest object, and if there was nothing jump behind then it was better to jump overboard than to fall to the girl’s sword like tongue. Ty had jokingly said that Reine “slaughtered more people with her words than with her swords.” She had given him the look, and he had merely chuckled and walked off to irritate the temper crossed queen.

    Caleb saw the challenge in her narrow eyes, and the stubbornness in her tight mouth. He saw the shifting moods like a storm beneath her skin, and wandered briefly what lurked beneath her tan flesh. Something shifted in his vision, and briefly he saw the change from girl to beast, then she moved and the beast fled back into the girl, gone from his sight. The girl as now leaning back in her chair, the front tilted towards the sky, balancing precariously on its edge. Her golden eyes blazed like the fire behind her, and he finally noticed what she had been doing this whole time, with her simple words and movements. She was in control, she was in charge of where the conversation was going, and Caleb was forced to stare like a submissive puppy until she chose to either allow the conversation to continue, or stop it right then and there. He had a feeling, sitting there like a dumb beggar, that if Reine was ever held somewhere against her will she would be making the decisions, not her kidnappers.

    “You look confused puppy,” her voice came out softly in a soft, comforting purr.

    The question was would she abuse that ability?

    “I’m just not used to being on the bottom…” he muttered, still slightly confused with the change in the control of the conversation. He didn’t know how to explain that he knew she was in charge, there was nothing different besides the fact she was now leading the conversation. He just felt… controlled.
   
“Poor puppy,” Reine said with a predatory smile, but a smile none the less. “Without a bottom, there is not top but without a top, there is a bottom.”
   
“Wise words, I shall hold them close to my heart forever. Now, onto other matters, what is a ghost queen doing so far from home?”
   
“Why, haunting people of course. Did you happen to go to me funeral?”
   
She didn’t think the rumors could have gotten this far so fast, but they had. At least she was aware of this now and wouldn’t make the mistake of being seen so blandly in the public again.
   
“I found it very interesting to find there would be no funeral. Supposedly, the body was mutilated beyond belief, and now the pirates are hunting for the assassins. You don’t look very mutilated to me.”
   
“Pity, I was looking forward to all the gifts I was going to get. As for me, I’m a ghost, I can look however I want to.”

    Reine laughed, it was a sound similar to the gentle purr of a lion but it had the same bell like quality of a chime sighing with the wind. It caught a few stares, mostly from men who sat in silence without a partner, but when they saw the predatory look in the girl’s eyes they looked away. She knew he would not, could not answer.
   
    “All the better to love you of course. Where, your ghostly highness, are ye heading?”

    “To the school of bards, to visit some old friends.”

    Quite honestly, Caleb was amazed she answered that question. He withdrew the question on the tip of his tongue, and instead dove deeper into the one she had seen fit to answer. If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
   
She winced at her words, lines forming on her face as she had a temporary lapse in her thoughts and composure.
   
“Actually, friends may not be the correct term.”
   
“Acquaintances?” questioned Calevbs.
   
“More or less.”
   
“I didn’t know bards turned away friends.”
   
“We’ve had an interesting past.”
   
“I hear a story in the wind. If I have your permission your majesty, I would like to listen.”
   
    A story? He wanted a story? Well, the bard in Reine just simply couldn’t refuse that request.

Reine’s muscles loosened. She took on an air of serenity that often over came musicians or others when they were looking far away and long ago. Her poise was strong, but she seemed to soften around the edges losing her feline ferocity. When she spoke her voice was soft, though Caleb could hear it easily even through the smoky air of the tavern.

    “Once upon a time, there was a young girl who was wandering through the forests of the Unclaimed lands. She knew nothing of her past, not her name, her age, her family. That was thirteen years ago.

    The master of the bard school found the little girl wandering within the boundaries that kept the bard school safe with spells older than time. As he took the child into the school, he found the only thing odd about the little girl was her golden eyes, ageless eyes. She was no different from the other children, easily amused, filled with laughter and joy. She was loved by the bards, a quick learner and a naturally born leader. The other children followed and learned from her. Even the older children looked to the young orphan and listened when she spoke.

    The young girl was happy, but as she became older she grew restless. Tales of demons were flirting through the world. It was said a demon’s most distinguishing quality was eyes of gold. The bards became wary around the young child, for even though the girl had come to them innocent and done them no wrong, they could not help but look at her in fear.
   
She was thirteen when she left. No one knew where she went, when she went, but soon after that the bards came out of hiding. By then, it was as if she were a world away.”
   
Reine moved out of the air of confidence, with drawing into the shadows as memories over took her tired eyes.

Caleb smiled grimly and let the silence stretch on respectfully as he watched her golden eyes dim into dull lanterns once more.
   
“Sounds like a tough life for a little girl,” he whispered.
   
“She never felt like a little girl,” Reine answered somberly. “She always felt like the world was on her shoulders. It always felt like she was forgetting something, but she never remembered not to forget.”
   
“Does she still feel that way?” questioned Caleb with his cool eyes on her dim ones. She wouldn’t meet his eyes, preferring to look into the shadows and fiddle with a strand of her long, brunette, sun streaked hair.
   
“Yes, she never stops. Sometimes I wonder, what was my life before? Did I have siblings? Who were my parents? Did they love me? Are they still alive? And of course the question we all ask of us, who am I? I never had a normal life, but I hope to someday have one. So many people spend their whole like looking for adventure. I’m spending my whole life looking for a home.”
   
Caleb nodded; he too wanted to live a life of his own calling. “When I was five I was to begin my training as a soldier, as my family has done for generations. Ever since that fateful day when I walked into the area, I knew I wanted battle. I was a fighter, the greatest, and I knew it. A month ago I was in my first battle. I left the army after that.”