I have not yet decided on whether or not we'll see Erian's entire family. Other things, yes, but that I'm flip flopping on.

Pirates had attacked the fishing village three days prior. Some of the men had gone to look for help, or track down the pirates, the villagers could not agree on which. But they had not returned. The women and children had shut themselves away for safety.

Though a handful of teenager boys were eager to fight.

After hearing their plight, Oisin sent a dozen soldiers with the villagers to escort them safely to the keep. He then instructed them to rejoin them as quickly as possible.

To the rest of the soldiers, he ordered them to keep marching.

"They're too far ahead of us," Erian remarked. "Shouldn't we just turn back and go the way we came to cut them off quickly?"

"We will continue on, little brother."

Erian frowned but nodded. Soren wondered if Oisin had expected something else to distract the pirates, another port or village perhaps. As small as this village had been, he doubted it. But he did not know the land as well to say so.

"At least he did not send me back as well," Erian had to admit.

"He's looking out for you," Ike commented.

They marched until the sun began to set. Erian left them to speak with Oisin. Ike and Soren set up their own camp, pitched a tent and started a fire. Ike left Soren alone for a while, so Soren took the chance to take the book he had borrowed from Selyne out of his bag. He was deeply engrossed in it when Ike returned with a few freshly caught fish.

"Trashy romance novel?" Ike teased.

Soren glared at him over the book. He knew Ike was teasing, but he did not appreciate it. "Actually, it's a history of the continent."

"Find anything we need to know?"

Soren shook his head. "Not yet. Nothing we didn't already know. Though the settlements here are much newer than I had assumed. Ardena itself was only settled about two hundred years ago."

Ike let out a low whistle as he prepared the fish. "I thought Tellius was pretty new."

"A lot of the area was thought inhabitable." Soren shut the book with a frown. He did not want to stop reading, but food was the higher priority.

"Maybe Selyne will have more books."

Soren narrowed his eyes. "You really do want to get back there, don't you?"

Ike took his time answering Soren. "I did like it there," he admitted.

With a sigh, Soren took one of the fish from Ike and held it over the fire. "We talked about this before, with Aimee. Word will get around that you're interested in a common innkeeper, and then what?"

"There's a difference! Aimee just wanted to hear it, and she would spread word wherever she went, she said so herself. No one here knows us, so who's going to care?"

Soren turned his fish and continued to frown. It was not his place to tell Ike what to do, but he was concerned his one friend was not thinking things through. "Just... be careful, Ike."

Ike nodded across the fire. He was somewhat touched by Soren's concern, even if he did not want it. "Tell me, do you really think that these pirates are a problem?"

The conversation change surprised Soren. It was something he had thought about during their trek. The attack on the fishing village was out of cruelty. He said so to Ike. "It doesn't seem to be just about theft," he admitted. "Although I could be completely wrong."

"You never are."

Soren almost smiled. He could not argue with that fact, so instead, he changed the subject. "Eriian seems to have quite the inferiority complex."

"I guess four older brothers will do that to a person. He seems like a good man, just don't bring up his brothers."

Soren chose to disagree. "I feel like he has it in him to be a good prince, but he really needs to get over his issues with his brothers. People like him, his men follow him with no questions, he just has to stop thinking of himself as the youngest prince."

"You're such a people person, aren't you?"

The door to the inn remained locked nearly night and day. A few people had sought shelter, but Selyne and Lena saw more and more leaving down the roads. They had seen no ship sails, and Selyne was wondering if perhaps people were too worried over nothing.

Lena stayed downstairs with the key while Selyne was on the third floor washing windows. She stood there wringing the rag between her hands and looking out towards the port.

Her view was mostly obscured by trees, but through the branches she could make out the tops of some of the houses. There were also a couple of sails at the port. Both were friendly, as they had been at the port for over a week. She resumed her washing with a sigh.

Just because there were pirates in nearby waters did not mean she needed to stop keeping the inn clean. With the two of them, and things usually fell just to her, it was hard upkeep. In a way, pirates made things exciting. She missed being able to go out and have her own adventures. The thought of selling the inn had flitted through her mind from time to time.

"Hmph," she mumbled to herself. Were Ike to return, would he take her with him? Soren would not like that, she could tell just from the way he acted.

But they had to come back, right? Soren had said he would return her book.

She laughed to herself as she switched to a dry cloth to wipe the water from the windows. "That would go over well," she said with a giggle.

As she finished that room, she grabbed her cleaning supplies and moved on to the next. The view from that window was entirely blocked by a thick tree trunk. As she cleaned that window, she realized the cleaning was also another way to keep herself, and her mind, busy.

"Selyne?" Lena called up the stairs. When she received no answer, she hurried up the stairs. "You're still up here aren't you?"

"No, I climbed out of the window and down one of the trees."

Lena frowned at her. "I was just getting worried, you were quiet up here. Have you seen anything?"

"Nothing through the trees. Look," Selyne dropped the wet cloth into her bucket of water, "I know you're worried, but don't you think you're going a little over the top?"

"How can you not be worried?"

Selyne sighed. "I don't think we're in any danger, but I can act worried if you like. If not, why don't you keep yourself busy, too? Start something for dinner tonight. Or dust."

Lena nodded her head slowly. Selyne was right. She needed to keep herself busy as well, otherwise she would have joined the fleeing citizens on the road. "Can I help you, then?"

"Why don't you start on the second floor? Once I'm done up here, I'll join you." Selyne waited for the sound of Lena's footsteps on the stairs before she shook her head and said one word. "Hopeless."