Author's Note:
Looks like Christmas is almost here. Oughta celebrate by tossing a few reviews this way. Hint hint.
"Presenting her highness, Master Cyclonis the Twenty-seventh," Captain Lark's gaunt, red-eyed first mate announced before receding with a half-bow to stand by his compatriots. Each of Captain Lark's pirates wore similar black or gray jackets – it was clear that there was a uniform that they were at least trying to adhere to.
"The formalities are really quite unnecessary," Captain Roe growled quietly, just loud enough for Piper to hear.
Another one of the pirates climbed up the ladder off of the side of the ship, and he immediately turned around and extended a hand, which was brushed off by a white glove from an unseen arm. The pirate shrugged and stood by the others, and they all straightened to attention.
Piper rose a curious eyebrow when a single purple feather poked above the edge of the deck, but her eyebrow dropped when the feather was revealed to be attached to a pitch black tricorne hat. The wearer, the Pirate Queen herself, climbed onto the deck and rose to her full height – she rivalled Captain Roe in terms of elevation.
The blue Atmosians stood across from the black-garbed pirates, each of them in lines with the Pirate Queen beginning to walk down the empty path between them, her eyes fixed in Captain Roe's general area. Her footsteps produced an unsettling rhythm as she carefully adjusted the ruffles on her jacket on the way to the captain. Once her walking and her adjusting were complete, she extended her gloved hand to Captain Roe without a word.
Captain Roe stared at it for a moment, and then at her, but then shook it.
"Aren't you the least bit curious as to why I hailed you down?" Captain Lark asked with a half-grin before releasing the other captain's hand.
"Yes. I rather am, actually," he replied, returning his arms to his sides. "What are your demands?"
A twinkle appeared in the pale captain's odd purple eyes, and, to Piper's confusion, the Pirate Queen glanced in her direction. "Now I wonder how you could've guessed that I had demands," Lark said before reaching into her coat pocket.
Piper started forward, clutching her musket with a defiant expression, but the pirate captain made a chiding "Tch, tch," sound and showed that all she took out of her pocket was a few pieces of off-white parchment. Piper glanced around to see that the pirates all nearly had their hands on their pistols or cutlasses, so she ducked back in line with a grim expression.
"Now, let's see," Lark said, flipping through the pages. "According to this, the privateer vessel Condor, captained by Errol Roe, has a certain Lieutenant Piper Hawke on the payroll."
Every eye from the blue-uniformed side fixed on Piper, and she blinked a few times in utter disbelief.
Captain Lark continued reading through the page. "She's a talented expert in ballistics, gunpowder, and weapons design. I want her in my crew," she finished, folding the paper up.
"Absolutely not," Captain Roe spat, echoing the words that were already forming in Piper's mind. Several other members of the crew began murmuring angrily.
"Ah, before you start giving me answers on impulse, let me propose the terms of the trade," Lark said, taking a few steps to the left. Her strange purple eyes fixed on Piper again. "I'll trade the lives of everyone on your ship for her."
Piper's heart sank. Obviously the pirate wasn't bluffing, and Piper absolutely did not want a bloodbath that would claim the lives of just about everyone she knew – especially not on her behalf. She already knew what she had to do to avoid the worst.
"You psychopath… I knew we shouldn't have stopped," Captain Roe growled. "You can't get away with this – threatening our lives after we agreed to negotiate?"
"I'll go," Piper said before Captain Lark could form a retort, surprising both captains.
"Well, that's excellent. Why don't you pack your bags and we'll shove off?" Captain Lark asked with a nefarious grin.
"The captain'll stop by in a few," one of Captain Lark's shadowy underlings muttered before closing the door to Piper's new room. It wasn't shabby – no, far from it. The floors were in good condition and well-polished, the view out of the window was certainly welcome, and the furniture was high quality. There was even a worktable at the far side of the room with ample equipment for tinkering. But, then again, that was what Captain Lark had kidnapped her to do, wasn't it?
That aside, the accommodations were even better than that of the Condor. The bed was big, purple, fluffy, and rather inviting under the large window. The worktable was well stocked with tools attached to a rack on the wall in front of it, and she could see plenty of supplies in a barrel just beside it. There was a large, dark wood wardrobe to the other side of the room, as well as a small table with two chairs built with ebony wood. There was also a black nightstand next to her bed. All things considered, it was a great place to be staying in – aside from the circumstances, of course.
The one question that kept buzzing in Piper's head was, "Why her?" Still, she knew the answer. Piper was an accomplished inventor. She had been celebrated in the Atmosian navy for coming up with advanced modifications to existing weapon designs. She owed her rank in the navy to her engineering achievements more than her skill in combat. If she had had a little more time, she could've unleashed her greatest achievement yet – which was still in the works – but now she was on the Pirate Queen's crew.
There was a knock at the door that broke her out of her thoughts, and she turned to see Captain Lark stepping through the threshold.
"Hello. Making yourself at home?" she asked evenly, before removing her hat and tossing it onto the workbench nearby.
Piper regarded Lark with a quizzical stare. The other young woman's long, stark black hair had fallen around her face, and after she brushed it aside, the captain's deep purple eyes were revealed again.
"The room might seem a bit sterile, but that's just because I picked out the best one for you and had it redone. Feel free to muss it up however you'd like," she added before pulling her boots off and placing them by the door. Once she pushed them neatly against the wall, she started walking to the little table.
Piper scanned her up and down carefully. She didn't seem all that tall anymore for some reason. Not then, at least. Then, it hit her.
"Wait a minute. You've got stilts in those boots or something, because you're a few inches shorter now," Piper remarked.
Lark looked up at her before sitting down in the chair, and pulling herself up to the table. "Well, yes, they do set me up a bit. It's somewhat of a scheme to make me a bit more… imposing. Did it work on you?"
Piper sighed and ignored her question. "Why are you trying to be friendly? I've basically been kidnapped," she muttered before sitting back onto the bed with a frown.
"Don't you get it, Ms. Hawke?" Lark asked. "I need that mind of yours if my plan is to succeed."
"Don't call me 'Ms. Hawke'," Piper muttered.
"What shall I call you, then?" Lark asked. "Piper?"
"Hmph. It doesn't matter to me… but what plan are you talking about?" she asked with a sideways glance at the captain.
"I fully intend on reestablishing the nation of Cyclonia. My people have been oppressed for far too long, and I want things back the way they used to be," Lark said seriously.
"I'm not going to help you fight the country that I serve," Piper said with a grimace. "I won't cooperate. I can't work with someone who steals, lies, and butchers people for her own benefit."
Lark shook her head. "You've got me all wrong, Piper. I only made examples of those that deliberately sought me out on the high seas in a misguided attempt at bringing me to 'justice' – also known as trying to stand up for an oppressed minority. Anyone on this ship can confirm that."
"So you mean to tell me that your reputation as a bloodthirsty maniac is just because my country's leaders don't want it getting out that you're a champion of the common man?" Piper asked with a raised eyebrow.
Lark stared at her for a moment. "Well, yes."
"I doubt it."
Lark sighed and stood up, pushing the chair back to the table. "Very well. I'll let those thoughts simmer for a while. Maybe we'll make some progress later."
Things carried on like that for a few days. Lark would come in, try to persuade the young lieutenant into believing her story, and perhaps tinkering with some firearm parts, but she would be met with the same stubborn, skeptical responses. Piper simply wasn't going to take the captain's story on her word, nor was she going to help contribute technological advancements to an enemy of her state.
After a few more days, they reached land and docked on the old island of Cyclonia, where a few people scraped out a living restoring that which once was lost, building farms in fields that hadn't been tilled in a century, or making small seaside towns out of whatever resources they could pull together. It also happened to be the Captain Lark's base of operations.
That morning another one of Captain Lark's henchmen knocked on her door.
"Captain wants to see you in her office. Urgent," he added hastily before dipping away.
Piper sighed and stood. She knew she was due for yet another one of the captain's idealistic speeches, but secretly she had begun to like them. They broke up the monotony of reading books from the ship's collection or writing out her weapon designs – in a manner thoroughly complicated enough to avoid easy deciphering, of course – and, well, Piper had started to enjoy the company of the Pirate Queen, as odd as it sounded. She was charismatic, she was intelligent, and sometimes Piper liked to just sit back and stare blankly while the other young woman tried her damnedest to bring Piper's skills to the table.
She made her way up the stairs and across the deck, passing a few remaining sailors who hadn't gone out to the small port town for shore leave. The sun was hanging low in the sky, and the pink morning glow was a welcome sight. She reluctantly turned back to the door to the captain's office. Once she opened the door and stepped through, she glanced around and noticed that no one was there.
"Hmm," she said to herself before walking over to the captain's desk. There was a large leather chair behind it, but what really caught her eye was the leather-bound notebook sitting in the center of the desk with a quill just beside it. She reached out her hand to pick it up.
"Piper," Lark called out from behind her.
Piper could hear the clatter of the door shutting behind the captain, so she turned around and nodded her acknowledgement.
"Piper, I wanted to speak with you once more." She clasped her hands behind her back and cleared her throat. "Look. I really need you to support our cause with your designs. I know you don't want to hear this, but I am not the enemy. The enemy is the nation that abuses its power to oppress the innocent descendants of a nation that has crumbled. I need you to…"
Lark's first mate stuck his head through the door, muttered something to the captain, and prompted her to raise an eyebrow and say something in return.
"We'll resume this conversation in just a moment. I'll be right back," she stated before following her first mate out onto the deck.
Piper shrugged and turned back around. The notebook from earlier was still there, and she still felt a sense of curiosity that prompted her to pick it up and flip it open.
She exhaled in surprise when she saw the illustration on the first page. It was an astounding rendering of the open sea, complete with subtle reflections in the water and clouds in the sky. Despite being in black and white, it seemed almost alive. She examined it closely, and decided it had been done with pencil, and perhaps charcoal. A small, simple caption at the bottom, written in ink, read "Sea".
She flipped the page, and was impressed further, but a little unsettled. Captain Lark had done a self-portrait, with a caption almost as creative as the last – "Self-portrait". Aside from being a spitting image of the captain, it mirrored her dark, complicated eyes and thoughtful expression. Piper suddenly found herself running a finger down the left cheek of the captain's two-dimensional doppelganger, and, realizing this, pulled her hand away in confusion. She flipped the page. There were a few other drawings of the captain in the book. Piper looked at each of them in turn with an odd feeling in her chest, but then flipped to the next set of pages.
She stifled a laugh. It was a drawing of the captain's first mate, with the title "Unhappy". The officer was drawn from the upper chest up, but he evidently did not want to be drawn, since his facial expression was certainly less than enthusiastic.
Flipping the page again, her breath caught in her throat. It was a picture of her – Piper. Titled "Hawke", Piper was standing in her old uniform with a defiant expression. Lark must have drawn it from memory. She raised her hand to the paper again and flipped it. "Piper". It was still her, just in her new uniform. She looked expressionless, but maybe leaning toward sad. Her hand was beginning to shake, but she managed to flip the page again. This was the third picture of her in a row, and she was taken aback at the name, which was less of a title and more of a note – "I wish she'd smile". In this one, she was looking away, and she had a miserable expression on her face.
Of course. Lark had come in that day, and Piper felt that Lark could tell she had been on the verge of tears the entire afternoon. They'd had a very short conversation. Shorter than usual, anyway.
She was uncertain about turning the page again, but did so, and encountered something breathtaking. It was Piper, looking out across the ocean at sunset with a small smile on her face. She hadn't known that anyone had seen her leave her room that night – Lark must have looked out of her office window onto the deck. The drawing was beautiful. Piper glanced down at the bottom of the page where the foreground faded out into a paragraph-sized group of words.
The first crossed out phrase was Lt. Hawke and Captain Lark. Piper through that it was odd that it was crossed out, and odd that Lark's name was written there without her being present in the drawing. The phrase directly to the right of it, also crossed out, was Piper and Captain Lark. Thoroughly curious, Piper continued reading past the strikethroughs. The next phrases were Lark and Piper, Captain Lark and Ms. Hawke, and then, much to Piper's confusion and embarrassment, Cyclonis XXVII and Lady Hawke, which was also crossed out. The names progressed in the same fashion until she reached the second to last one: Lark and Piper Cyclonis. Piper's heart fluttered, but that one, too, was crossed out. There was only one remaining set that wasn't. Piper and Lark Hawke.
So… that's the one she decided on, Piper thought to herself, cheeks turning bright red.
"Alright, I'm sorry about that interruption," the captain explained as she burst back into the room, but then slowly came to a halt with her mouth hanging open. "My notebook. You're looking in my notebook."
Piper glanced up, cheeks still burning. "What does… what is this supposed to mean?" she asked, flipping through the pages again.
"They're drawings," the purple-eyed young woman explained, but there was a shaky twinge present in her voice. "Did you look at all of them?"
"Yes!" Piper replied with a grimace. "Of course I did. And I was specifically asking about the last one."
The captain took a few more steps and grasped the other side of the notebook. After a pause, she seemed to gather the wit necessary to pull together her next statement. "Well, it's quite simple. I enjoy drawing, I find you exceedingly attractive, and I may have gotten a little carried away with figuring out what names we'll put in the 'from' section of our wedding invitations."
Piper's cheeks darkened in color further. She released the notebook, crossed her arms, and turned the other direction. "Is that why you kidnapped me?"
"No. I kidnapped you for that beautiful brain of yours," Lark said before tossing the notebook casually back on her desk.
Piper still refused to look at her. "You draw beautifully… but do you really mean to say that you've fallen in love with me this quickly?"
"Now, now, Piper," Lark whispered before wrapping her arms around Piper's midsection. Piper raised an eyebrow in response, but didn't protest. "Why don't we ignore this little faux pas and get back to that great working relationship we had before?"
"Are you trying to seduce me?" Piper asked flatly, pressing her hands against Lark's arms, fully prepared to pry them off from around her belly.
"That depends. Is it working?" Lark asked with a chuckle.
Piper sighed. She squeezed out of Lark's grip and turned around to face the young captain.
"I'll make you a deal. I've been carefully considering your justifications for establishing a state, and I've come to the conclusion that you have some merit behind what you're saying," Piper admitted.
Lark's face lit up, which was Piper's cue to continue.
"I will give you the plans to build some rifles from the designs I've been toying with. However, you must immediately give up piracy, and order all of your allies to do so as well. Also, if you fight an unprovoked war against my country with the aid of my advanced weaponry, break any rules of war if you're attacked, or do anything beyond using the weapons to safeguard your hypothetical homeland, I'll release detailed plans, designs, and copies of all of my research to my countrymen, and you'll have an impossible battle on your hands."
"You've got it all figured out, I see," the captain murmured.
"Oh," Piper interjected. "And as far as romance goes, I'd recommend holding off until you determine whether or not you'll have a war on your hands when you go public with declaring a state."
"So you're not wholly opposed to the idea, I see." Lark smiled mischievously. "I suppose I don't have any room to make a counteroffer. I accept your terms."
Piper extended her hand for a handshake. However, Lark promptly ignored it, bent forward, and gave the other young woman a quick peck on the lips, which put Piper in a considerably flustered state.
"It means more to me than I can express," the Pirate Queen added in a serious, but soft tone. "Thank you."