Lashes against skin, light and fluttery, Lenna opened her eyes to a familiar but strange sight.
She was back home, in her bedchamber. The curtains were open, allowing the morning light to settle in on the floor and furniture, a rosy orange hue. The mountains were dark in facing her, their snow covered peaks the only light thing about them. From her room she could hear the moving about of the castle servants already starting their daily routine.
Lenna rose from her bed, her toes touching the cold floor. She stretched her arms above her head letting out a yawn as she proceeded to her dresser. There was the wash cup, and her silver plated hair brush, her musical jewelry box with a tiara on top, and a dragon nail that she had found at the top of the tower when she was younger. She touched each thing, unsure if they were real or not and whether she was really home in Tycoon Castle.
A quick knock, two raps, came from her door. She hurried over to answer it, the door knob freezing under her touch.
"My Lady!" it was her lady in waiting, pushing her way into the room with a pitcher of water.
Lenna closed the door and watched as she hurried over to fill the wash cup, laying a fresh piece of cloth next to it.
"My Lady, His Majesty and Lady Sarisa are waiting for you in the dining hall. Get dressed and arrive shortly please," she said as she pulled out a simple blue dress from the dresser before laying it out on the bed.
"Good day, My Lady," she left as quickly as she had come, leaving Lenna to wonder if she had even been in the room.
Lenna walked over to the wash cup and carefully lifted up the cloth, it seemed real enough and when she dipped it into the water it was certainly cold enough that it had to be real. She washed her face but instead of feeling refreshed like she normally did, she felt strange and uncomfortable and very, very cold.
She stared at the dress the handmaiden had laid out for her; she had never seen it before and she was certain she didn't own any blue dresses. She looked down at herself; she was still in the simple white night dress. It was thin and only further drilled the idea that it was cold into her mind. So, so cold.
She opted to leave the dress on her bed, it made her uneasy, and she quietly slipped out of her room into the hall. There were two guards at both ends, spears in their hands. She never understood why the guards in the castle needed weapons, someone could get hurt or something could get knocked over. It confused her.
She wandered aimlessly down the halls, the rugs stretching their length and scratching the bottom of her bare feet. Long tables and ornate vases, large tapestries decorated the walls. She didn't remember having so many doors on this floor.
She made her way down the stairs and through a large set of wooden doors into the big dining room. The table was long enough for twenty people on each side and one person at each end. At the far end of the room was her father, a plate of food already in front of him. He looked up from his plate and smiled, then with his hand he beckoned her over.
"Lenna, my dear," he put down his fork to cross his hands in front of him. "Come, sit across from your sister."
My sister, Lenna thought, my sister?
She looked at the first seat next to her father, a tall girl with beautiful curly blonde hair sat there with her face turned to the king, her chin in her hands. She gave her rapt attention to her father not even sparing Lenna a glance.
Lenna cautiously made her way around the long table, not taking her eyes off the girl who had yet to look at her.
"Lenna, why aren't you dressed?" her father asked, picking up his fork once again.
Lenna kept her gaze on the girl who seemed completely enamored by the king. "I didn't feel like it," she told him.
"Lenna, you know better than that," he chided, then turned towards the girl. "Sarisa does what's asked of her."
The girl, Sarisa, nodded her head and Lenna had the feeling that she was often compared to this unfamiliar girl. Something about the back of Sarisa's head seemed familiar to her, the tight curls bounced with the movement of her hair.
"I'm sorry, Father," she told him, placing her hands on the back of the tall wooden chair. She searched the girl for any sign of movement but she stayed the same; she was like a statue.
But as she pulled the chair away from the table, the girl broke her spell, turning abruptly to face Lenna.
And Lenna nearly screamed when she saw her face, or the lack thereof. It was blank, well almost blank. It was like a thousand faces flashing across one, one second her eyes were round and blue, the next they were narrow and brown. Lenna stepped back until she reached the wall, the bricks cold against her back.
"Lenna," Sarisa cooed, "what's wrong?"
"Stop being silly and come sit down," her father commanded.
Lenna felt like all of the heat had left her body. She didn't have a sister, not anymore, not since the mishap at sea. This was not her sister, not the true Sarisa.
Sarisa pushed her chair away from the table and stood up, making her way around the table to meet Lenna. She stopped right in front of her, inches from her face. She smelled like dead seaweed and dry roses and Lenna pushed her head back as far as she could from her.
"You're disappointing Father," she scolded, her voice now deeper and more menacing. "Why do you always disappoint Father?"
"Get away from me!" Lenna cried, and shoved the girl's shoulders away from her. She ran from the room back down the hall. Her feet pounded against the stone floor creating a sickly sweet sound.
"Lenna!" she heard Sarisa sing. "Why do you do this?"
Lenna felt like she was moving in molasses, her feet heavy like lead, her arms tied down with cinderblocks. She wasn't moving anywhere; she was stuck in the hall. She felt tears coming to her eyes, she could not escape.
"Lenna!" she heard again, this time the voice was close. She turned her head over her shoulder but no one was there. An empty hall with a big window at the end and early morning light pouring through, that was all there was.
She took a few breaths in an effort to calm herself but the strange chill made its way down the hall. "Stop disappointing Father!"
She snapped her head back in front of her, the ghost of her sister as she had known her now there. She was small, only five years of age, and she looked just as she had remembered her. Dirty blonde hair tied into two pigtails and a small pink dress with ink stains on it. She smiled a big toothy smile and held her arms open for a hug.
"Lenna, I missed you," she wrapped her arms around Lenna's legs. "Where have you been?"
Lenna wanted to pry the child off of her but she could not, this was her long lost sister. She missed her dearly but Lenna suddenly felt saddened by the fact that she rarely ever thought of her. She herself had been so young when she had disappeared that there wasn't really much to remember.
"Did you miss me, too?" the girl pulled her face away from her legs, and Lenna felt her heart stop upon looking at it.
The little girl had a gash across the entire length of her forehead, blood spilling out of it down her face and into her eyes and mouth. She wore a frown now and she sniffled with every breath. Lenna wondered how she could see with the blood in her eyes.
"You all left me to die!" the girl suddenly screamed. "You never came looking, Lenna!"
Lenna was only four when she went missing, what could she do? Her father had sent out a search party and they had spent endless time searching the coast and the sea, returning days later to report their findings.
"How could you, Lenna?"
The girl stepped back from her, a look of disdain accompanying her. "How could you?" she repeated, louder than before.
Lenna awoke with a gasp, sweating beading her face. She felt unbearably cold yet hot all the same. It was all a dream but yet it had all felt too real.
She looked around the tiny cabin of the crew's quarters noting that Faris and Galuf were both in their beds, fast asleep. The old man must've convinced him to step away from the wheel for at least a little while. But Lenna wondered why the captain had opted to stay in here rather than his own personal room.
Lenna swung her feet out of bed and carefully pulled her boots onto her feet. Quietly, she got up and left the room, making her way up to the deck.
She wandered around, walking from rail to rail, to the front and then to the back, all failing to free her mind. She tried to make sense of her weird dream, but she couldn't. She just couldn't grasp what it meant, if it had meant anything at all.
The air was warm and the stars were out, not a cloud in the night sky. Lenna looked around at the horizons and frowned when she couldn't see anything. She was hoping being lost at sea was a dream too, but the waves were practically nonexistent and there was barely any rocking of the boat.
She made her way to the middle of the deck and pushed her back against the center mast. She breathed deeply, in and out, but could not seem to steady her fast beating heart. She wiped her face with the palms of her hands felling disgusted by the grime and sweat it was covered in.
You're disappointing Father, a voice called from within her mind.
The thought weighed heavy on her; it was one that often crossed it. It was one of her worst fears although her father constantly reminded her she could never disappoint him. She did everything in her power to make sure it never happened, she always showed up on time, she always dressed appropriately for the occasion, she always minded her manners. But the fear was always there, she could not rid herself of it.
Why do you always disappoint Father? The voice called again.
She slid down the mast, sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms across them. That girl in her dream at the table was not her sister, could not be her sister. Her sister was dead, lost to the vicious deep blue sea. Often times, Lenna had doubts on whether or not the call that she was dead had been a mistake; surely she could still be out there somewhere. They could cross paths once again but maybe Sarisa wouldn't recognize her; she was 15 years older now and much different looking. And it was possible her sister wouldn't even remember her, they were both so young when they last saw each other.
Lenna then thought of how she had the suspicion that she had become a replacement for her sister in her father's heart. Sarisa had always been closer to Father than Lenna in her short five years. They did everything together while Lenna was asked to stay home with her mother. And then after Sarisa went missing- died- she was never allowed out of the boundaries of Castle Tycoon for fear that the same fate would befall her. She was the only living heir to the throne after all.
Boot steps came up the stairs from behind her and Lenna stiffened. The floorboards creaked underneath the person's feet and she could tell they were getting closer.
Suddenly a head appeared around the mast and a voice next to her ear. "Hey."
Lenna jumped a little in surprise then looked up to see Bartz. He was smiling, but it soon disappeared as he noticed something was off.
"Lenna, what's wrong?" It was the second time he had to ask her that in the past few days.
"What? Nothing is wrong," she told him. How was he able to tell?
He sat next to her, loosely placing his arms around his legs. "Something's wrong, you're crying."
Lenna raised a hand to her cheek and quickly wiped at her eyes; she hadn't even realized that she was crying and was confused. There was nothing to be crying about, she scolded herself.
She looked away, embarrassed, and laid her head on her knees. "I'm- it was just a bad dream, nothing more."
She could hear him shift closer and she shut her eyes, wishing he would leave but hoping that he would stay. She had been feeling very confused and anxious lately and conversations with Bartz only seemed to make the feelings worse.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" he asked. She shook her head; she would keep this to herself.
The waves made little noise to fill the silence. Lenna focused on the sounds of their breathing, his was even and soft hers was slow and steady now. Their breathing was out of sync; while he breathed in she blew out, and she was content with that.
After several moments, Bartz spoke up. "I'm worried, too."
She lifted her head to look at him but his eyes were placed ahead of him. She opened her mouth to speak but he was quicker.
"You're not gonna give up are you?" His eyes met hers, startling grey and bright in the dark.
Lenna thought for a moment, searching his face for the answer. Was she going to give up?
"No," she said resolutely, "if you won't, then I won't."
She nodded her head for extra effect and he smiled, looking somewhat relieved.
"Then we're in this together. We've got each other's back."
She smiled back and rested her head against the mast. "Of course."
He then turned his gaze down to her body, and Lenna followed it, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.
"You still got those robes on," he pointed out, stretching his legs to lie out in front of him.
She was indeed still wearing the white mage's robes; they were comfortable enough over regular clothes that she hadn't even noticed. She wasn't exactly sure how to get rid of them though. Did she call upon the crystal when she was done with its power? Or did she simply just take off the clothes given to her by the spirit and save them for when she needed it?
Lenna looked at Bartz and noticed that he had a lack of the shiny red knight armor. He was back in his grey trousers and dull green boots that must've been extremely bright at some point, and of course his big blue tunic with the dress shirt underneath. She sighed, for no reason at all, and looked back at her own robes.
"What's it like?" he asked her, and when she gave him a confused look he added: "To cast magic."
"You could try it yourself," she teased, giving him a weak smile. "But… I'm not sure how to explain it. White magic, at least, feels warm…and gentle almost. But it burns your fingers, like there is a flame trying to escape your being."
She opened and closed her mouth, trying to think of the right words. It burned, but only her fingers and it seemed like all of her blood was being pulled forward to the tips. After the spell was spoken and the magic was released, her fingers were left feeling tingly and numb. It left her with a high, almost dizzy feeling after the first spell had been completed, but it had also left her with a want for more.
"Hot, it's really hot," she settled for.
He kept his eyes on her and she continued. "The crystal provided the invocations I needed to complete the spell."
"So you've never cast magic before today?"
"Well when I was younger, I was set to start magic training but then my- "she stopped herself short. But then my sister disappeared and I no longer had the privilege to.
"No," she said in short, then changing the subject she asked, "What does it feel like to have magic cast on you?"
Although she had also cast it on herself, she wanted to know how it felt to someone else.
"Soft and comforting," he grinned, seemingly lost in thought. "Like a mother's hug. Though I'm sure it would feel much different to have black magic cast on me."
Lenna grinned herself. "I'm sure you can ask that Karlabos all about how good it feels to be struck by lightning."
"Or I could just ask Galuf to zap me," he grinned back. "I'm sure he'd be happy to."
Lenna giggled, a weight being lifted off her shoulders. A weight she hadn't even realized she was carrying.
"Galuf wouldn't do that, he's much too kind."
Bartz snorted and placed his hands across his abdomen, turning his gaze to the side. "Please, give it some time and I'm sure he'll be itching to hit me. It's bound to happen."
He paused then looked once again at the princess, raising an eyebrow and giving her a mischievous smirk. His voice dropped to a husky tone. "But you'll heal me, right?"
The change of the tone of his voice pulled something in her; her eyes grew wide at the unexpectedness of it and it left her feeling funny. What was this feeling?
Lenna turned to hide her blush but quickly placed a finger to her cheek as if she were thinking.
"I don't know…" she lamented, humor finding its way into her voice. "I'd have to think about it."
He shoved her shoulder and let out a small laugh. She liked the sound, it was light and joyful.
"I suppose I would have to, wouldn't I?" she joked, also pushing her legs to lie out in front of her. She studied them. They were covered in dirt and her stockings were ripped and torn. She felt gross and completely out of place; she was in need of a bath.
"Whenever I'm traveling places," Bartz said suddenly, "I like to talk to as many people as I can."
Lenna gave him a funny look. What was he talking about?
"Sometimes, there are people who I regret talking to. They're rude or annoying or they just rub me the wrong way."
She opened her mouth to ask her question but he didn't seem to notice and continued talking.
"But most of the time, I meet people who are kind and caring. They're people who I'll never forget; they've left their mark on me." He turned then, to face Lenna, no teasing tone or joking matter. "I'm glad I met you."
Lenna wanted to ask why he was talking about this, why he would tell her such things but she really didn't care. She liked listening to him talk and the compliment had nearly flown overhead, she had to take a second to process it.
She raised her eyebrows, surprise at what he said. "I'm sure you say that to all the girls you travel with."
There was no venom in her voice yet she wasn't sure what made her say it. She didn't know if he had traveled with anyone other than his chocobo before, let alone other girls. She suddenly felt confused. Why did she say that?
He stared at her for a moment more then laughed, once again short and sweet. "Only the pretty ones," he told her.
She relaxed, thankful that he had not taken it the wrong way. Bartz was the type of man to either brush things off or let them fly completely over his head. In a way, he was oblivious.
The princess smiled and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the mast. She listened once again, this time to the rocking of the boat, the creaking and groaning of the wooden planks. She wondered how old the ship was and how old Faris was and when he had taken command of the ship. Had he always been a pirate, or did he just find his way here one day and decided to take the lead?
"Lenna, do you see that?"
She popped open one eye to peek at what he was talking about. He was standing and pointing towards the front of the ship. He looked like a ghost in the moonlight; a specter of something that once was.
"Tell me I'm not going crazy and imagining things," he said, turning his attention back towards her. She rose and took a place next to him.
She followed his finger, as he was still pointing, and noticed a large dark mass waiting before them. There was a thick fog surrounding it and figures, real ghostly figures, roamed about it. Everything was just a shadow, a never ending penumbra.
And the ship was drifting straight for it; they were going to collide head on.
"We have to steer the ship out of the way!" Lenna told him frantically.
He shook his head, a look as dark as the looming mass crossing his face. "The rudder's broken, remember? We can't do anything but brace ourselves for it."
"But- Should we wake the others?"
The dark mess was closer now and they could make out the shape better. A large post sticking straight up, many wooden planks that looked ripped in half, the wandering phantoms. It was a shipwreck.
"Let's go get-"
The ship shook, throwing both of them to the ground. A horrible groaning sound emerged from the front as the boats were being pushed into one another, the planks breaking and falling into the dark sea below. The fog, an unnatural purplish hue, came creeping across the deck. Lenna recoiled and pushed herself away from the mess until the ship finally stopped moving, the newly broken edge only a foot away from them.
Bartz stood then helped Lenna up, the shock of the crash written clearly. They themselves were now a shipwreck, stranded in some unknown place with unknown spirits.
"Bartz," Lenna's voice shook; she was scared, apprehensive. "The others-"
"What the hell is going on up here?" a voice boomed from behind them. Lenna turned to find the captain, and the old man, practically crawling up the broken steps to the deck.
She took a step behind Bartz; the captain sounded really angry and she was not about to get in the way of his wrath. It was a rather childish move but she hardly cared.
The captain's eyes widened as he noticed the condition of his ship. He took two brisk steps forward then stopped, looking around in disbelief.
"What did you two do to my ship?!" he practically shouted in disbelief, his voice doing that weird thing than Lenna had started to notice. Whenever Faris was in distress or upset, his voice seemed to rise quite a bit, sounding unnaturally high.
Bartz frowned at the accusation that it was he and Lenna that had caused the damage and crossed his arms. "We did nothing. The ship crashed itself into the other."
"And you didn't think to come get us?" Faris questioned, finally tearing his eyes away from the wreckage to place them on the two.
"They were probably too busy flirting," Galuf intoned from behind him.
Bartz began to protest the notion but Lenna stepped in. "We hadn't noticed until it was too late. We were just about to go wake you when we crashed."
Faris walked to where their ship not met the other and looked around all sides of it. Galuf scoffed, "Unbelievable."
"We're in the graveyard of the sea," Faris told them, sounding less angry, and making his way back over. "A gathering place for ruined and scuttled ships…and a nest for the undead."
Lenna's eyes widened and she heard an annoyed groan from Bartz. "Should've figured we'd end up here," Faris muttered.
"All the more reason to hotfoot it out of here," Galuf said, shivering.
"What time is it?" Faris suddenly asked, looking up to the sky to try and answer his own question. He quietly calculated, whispering to himself. "About three in the morning?"
Bartz exchanged a look with Lenna then Galuf, confused as to why he was calculating the time. "Why do you care?" he asked.
Faris snapped his head to look at him, his eyes boring holes into the other's. "Corpses don't particularly like to be around when the sun comes up. We have two to three hours until dawn."
"You don't expect us to wait that long to get out of here, do you?" Galuf concerned his thoughts out loud.
"Would you rather walk among the living dead?"
"If we wait here that long we might be anyways!"
"It's safer if we stay here and wait it out."
"We'd all be safer the sooner we get out of here."
Lenna frowned at their argument. Was now really the time?
"Hey," Bartz spoke up, placing himself between the two at the sight of Faris clenching his fists. "Although Faris is right that it might be safer if we stay here, there's still the risk of catching the attention of those…things over there if we do."
He waved his hand in the general direction of the specters they had seen earlier and they had seemed to be noticeably closer than they were before.
Bartz lowered his voice. "And with the way your two are yelling, I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them decided to pay a visit now."
"Maybe it would be better to leave now, I don't like this place any more than you," Lenna said next to him.
Faris huffed, blowing a stray piece of blond hair out of his face. "It's dangerous to go now. The night is their time."
Bartz had already started to climb over onto the next ship, Lenna close behind him.
He looked back as he took her hand to help her over. "I don't know about you, but I'm leaving now. Come if you like."
Galuf grinned, wickedly, and followed the two kids. "Wouldn't want to get left behind, Captain. It's dangerous at night."
"I oughta beat your ass, old man," Faris muttered under his breath, reluctantly following his companions.
0-0-0-0-0
The crew walked and traversed the wreckage of more than just theirs and the ship they had crashed into. Faris wasn't lying when he had said that it was a ship graveyard; everywhere they went seemed to be the remains of a ship that once sailed the seas.
"My poor ship," Faris had muttered at one point, Lenna overhearing the comment as they stepped away from a pile of freshly killed bones. Skeletons, it was, an already dead thing needing to be killed again. Lenna shivered at the thought of restless souls.
She quickened her pace to match that of his and quietly apologized.
"I'm so sorry," she told him. "If we had only noticed earlier, we could've warned you of the oncoming crash."
Faris made a face that could've been either confusion or disgust, Lenna wasn't sure. "It would've done no good; the ship was all but broken already."
"Bartz said the same thing," Lenna mused, placing her arms behind her back.
"Aha!" Faris exclaimed, making Lenna jump. "So it was Bartz who didn't want to come get us!"
Lenna drew her brows together in confusion. He had just said it didn't matter that they hadn't awoken them. "What? No, he never said-"
"No, no," he said waving his hands as to dismiss her words. "I should've known it was him."
"But we really were going to go get-"
Lenna stopped when her foot stepped in something wet and she saw Faris's eyes widen. She looked down, apprehensive as to what kind of disgusting creature's goop she had just placed her foot in.
She was surprised to see that it was just salt water, and a lot of it.
She was pushed forward deeper into it as Galuf had failed to realized that she had stopped in front of him. She threw him a glare and he shrugged as if to say sorry.
"What's wrong," Bartz asked, pulling up from the rear and pushing himself in between Faris and Lenna, only to stop when he too had stepped in the water. He made a face and took a step back.
"Do we have to go this way?" Faris appeared nervous. "We'll get soaked…"
Bartz looked amused as he once again stepped into the water, sloshing through it until he was up to his waist in it. "What, are you going to melt or something? Come on!"
The captain threw him a frown but reluctantly stepped into it himself, Galuf following.
Lenna stepped in up to her ankles then pulled her sashes, robes and skirt up and around her waist, clutching them with tight hands. She waded in further, the water stopping at the bottom of her ribcage, her short stature proving to be an annoyance.
"Don't get left behind, Lenna!" she had heard Galuf shout from ahead. She treaded as quickly as she could to try and catch up.
"Be careful," he told her once she had taken a place next to him. "There could be fiends lurking beneath the waters."
She looked down, unable to see beneath the dark water, and frowned.
"Great."
0-0-0-0-0
After what felt like forever of trudging through the murky and cold waters, they had finally come to a set of stairs that led out of it. Lenna sighed, relieved.
At the top of the stairs was what once seemed to be a storage room, boxes and empty crates strewn about it. They stepped further into it, another door leading to a smaller, private chamber.
Lenna was freezing and her teeth were chattering and she watched as Bartz stopped in the middle of the room and rung out his shirt. "I'm soaked," he said pouting, then frantically, he danced about, shaking his legs in an abnormal manner.
"There's a fish in my shorts!" he exclaimed, taking a boot off and plopping himself onto the ground. He struggled for a moment, then finally produced it, earning a small smile from Lenna.
She looked around. "This room seems safe enough," she had determined. "Let's take a rest."
Bartz stood and the others nodded, each walking around to check the contents of the room. Lenna herself walked over to the other door, peeking inside to find it empty.
"I'm going to go dry off," she told them, opening the door wider to walk in.
Bartz gave her a look. "You can dry off out here," he told her, then gesturing to a crate, he added: "We have supplies to build a fire; it'll be faster that way."
She frowned. Her clothes were soaking wet and she wasn't inclined to start undressing in front of a group of men. She hesitated, unsure of how to tell him without saying it out right.
"I meant I'm going to go dry my clothes," she rephrased, unsure if he would get it.
Bartz looked even more confused and from beside him, Galuf nudged him and nodded his head towards the princess with a brow raised and a knowing look.
He looked at the old man for a second then his eyebrows finally shot up and his eyes widened.
"Oh," he said, turning to look at Lenna. "Oh."
Galuf laughed and Bartz had quickly placed his hands up as if to surrender. "I didn't get- I didn't mean-" he was stumbling over his own words. Lenna rolled her eyes then stepped into the room and closed the door, locking it.
Once inside, she finally took in all there was to see. Although the ship was wrecked, just like the others, the room was in nice condition, albeit just a tad dusty. A bed sat in the corner furthest from the door and a desk and chair stood opposite of it. It was very likely that it was once a captain's quarters.
She sat on the edge of the bed, pulling off her boots and turning them upside down, letting water come falling out. She took off her stockings, unhooking them and ringing them out and wondered if she should even bother to put them back on in the condition they were in. She then removed the mage's robe and rung that out too, only to be surprised that no water fell to the floor as she did. It must've had magical properties that kept it dry. If only the rest of her clothes were like that.
She stood then, noticing a large mirror propped up on the adjacent wall. Walking over to it, she stopped and examined it. It had a large crack but it didn't hinder the use of it.
She took in her appearance, dismay at the state of her looks. Once blonde and neatly combed hair was now a dirtier color and falling loose around her shoulders. Her skirt and sashes were ripped at the edges and she carefully untied them, throwing them on the bed.
She examined herself in the mirror in just her dress, her form was petite and short, and she flashed her bare legs out in front of her, frowning at what she saw. Suddenly, she had a thought, one that made her nervous, and she clutched the neckline of her dress.
She looked at the door then back at herself in the mirror, and ever so gingerly, she pulled down the top of her dress to around her waist, exposing her undergarments.
She covered her chest, trying to save her decency from even herself and turned, looking at her bare skin. She stopped when she reached her side and found it. A faint scar from when her journey had first begun. From when the earth had started to shake and those goblins came for her and Galuf; when that goblin had slashed for her side and she had passed out. When Bartz had come to save her.
There was suddenly shouting coming from the other room and she frantically pulled her dress back up, running to the bed to throw the robe over herself. She stopped at the door and listened, trying to decide if she should get involved.
"I'm fine like this," she heard Faris shout; "I said not to worry about me."
"Are you crazy, boy?" this voice belonged to Galuf. "You'll catch pneumonia in those wet things!"
There was footsteps and then more shouts from Faris.
"Hey! What are you doing? Get away! Don't touch-"
There was the sound of a scuffle then shouts from the other two men, causing Lenna to decide to take action.
She opened the door, her legs still bare and gave them all a worried look.
"What's all the commotion?"
Bartz and Galuf looked at her, shock written plain as day on their faces, with a hint of being scandalized.
"Lenna," Bartz stammered, trying to get a grasp on the common language. "This- he-"
"Oh my stars and comets!" Galuf interrupted him. "He's a she!"
Lenna frowned and drew her brows together, trying to understand what he was trying to say. She looked at Faris who made a point of not looking at any of them. He slouched, crossing his arms over his chest.
There was silence, then Faris finally spoke, still determined to not make eye contact.
"Well maybe I am," he-she- said. "You got a problem with it?"
Lenna shook her head, still trying to comprehend it. "Of course not. Just, why were you trying to hide it?"
Faris finally looked at her, her eyes glowing in the fire lit room. She sighed and stepped closer to the fire, her look softening.
"When I was just a lad- er- lass," she started. "a pirate band took me in. I've been one of them ever since."
Lenna felt pity for her and wanted to comfort her, but her feet were planted firmly in their place.
"Yeah, so?" Bartz asked, a frown now forming on his face.
Faris snapped her head towards him, a dangerous look in her eyes. "Well, would you want to be the only girl on a ship full of pirates?"
Bartz blanched and said nothing more.
Galuf snorted from his spot beside Lenna. "Hah! I knew you were to pretty to be a man!"
Lenna threw him a look, warning him to stop talking. Faris returned her gaze to the fire, a determined look in her eyes.
"Make fun of me for really being a woman and I'll shiver your timbers but good."
Bartz looked nervous. "Uh…okay…"
"That's right it's okay!" the captain had shouted in an overzealous tone. "Now, I'm turning in and you louts had best do the same!"
She stormed off behind a large stack of crates, leaving the rest to ponder the new revelation.
Bartz turned towards his other two companions and shrugged.
"Who'd a thought?"
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Nearly a month later for this update UGH! Ive been so busy but I hope you all enjoy this chapter!