Unfortunately, the silence from Peter's absence wasn't as comforting as I thought it would be. The room was cold and silent, colder than it had been before. I wondered if we were heading somewhere much colder and heard someone clearing their throat at my door. I spun my head around and internally groaned at the sight of Kirkland. "Can't you just leave me alone? Your family has caused enough heartache." I couldn't keep the contempt out of my voice as he sauntered closer. "I heard you talking to Peter," he half-whispered. I blanched and kept my eyes away from him, afraid that they would give away my true emotions. "I suppose that it never really occurred to me that you would have a family of your own. It also occurs to me that this mate of yours is just as precious to you as your family is." He took a seat next to my tub, the strong scent of sea salt and damp earth wafting across me. "Would you tell me what you saw during your, ah, visions," he gently asked. I sighed and struggled to keep my face a steel mask.

"I saw my mate being mistreated and beaten by a man with bright red hair. At first, I didn't see the similarities, but eventually I saw the connections between you and him. Habits, subtle features, patterns that come from being raised together. You and this Allistair are brothers, aren't you?" I looked at Kirkland, the answer evident on his face. I huffed and looked away once more. "You can see why I was angry. How do I know that you haven't been working with him from the start?" He took a moment before sighing and running a hand through his hair.

"Allistair is my brother, yes. We grew up together in England, all the way up to when he left to become a sailor. He wanted to make an honest living for himself, as our mother had intended. For a while, we didn't hear anything from him and we feared the worst. Then one day, out of the blue, he showed up at our old house and asked me if I wanted to be a pirate with him. You have to understand, at the time I was very emotional. I had been an apprentice for a blacksmith for some time, but a little while before my brother came home, our mother died and left us alone. I was left trying to raise Peter by myself. We did have some uncles, but we didn't have enough money to travel to them. So, I said yes to Allistair, brought a very small Peter with me, and started my life as a pirate. About a year later, I realized that my older brother had gone mad sometime when he had disappeared. He never told anyone what happened, not even his crew. All he ever said was that he had a debt that Merpeople needed to pay. I didn't know what this meant at first, but one day we ended up slaughtering an entire colony of Merpeople. We could never get the silver stains out of the wood of the ship. At the next port, I took Peter and stole away to another ship. I knew piracy would never be erased from my history, so I worked hard and became the captain of this very ship. We do steal and cause general chaos, but mostly I try to hunt down my brother and bring him to justice for the depraved slaughter of mostly innocent creatures. This is how you know that I'm not working with that empty, crazed shell of a man."

During his speech, Kirkland's tone grew darker and more gravelly. His expression was soft and full of regret and sadness. Even his emotions were a confused mess of regret, terror, and despair. I almost had no choice to believe his story, even the vague parts. Sniffling, he swiped his nose with his sleeve and stood up, looking at me. "Whether you trust me or not is irrelevant. What's important is that you know that I'm going to save your mate from that madman." With that, he left me once more in the cold, silent darkness.

-

The next day almost seemed to crawl by. The exposed man I had seen the night before had all but disappeared, returning to the stubborn loudmouth that everyone knew. Even his emotions seemed to reflect his mood, full of mild anger mixed with annoyance. The only thing that made me think his mood was a false cover was the undertones of despair. I was allowed to walk around the top deck with Carriedo giving me clear instructions on what to do. The sailors were patient enough with teaching me how to tie various knots and do the jobs Carriedo told me to. Many of them gave me wary glances and stayed away from me, but the ones that let me talk to them seemed to have a little respect for striking a Captain without being thrown overboard.

The wind that day was almost nonexistent and the ships seemed to crawl through the calm waters. With the sun beating down on everyone and the humidity being almost unbearable, even the people seemed to be slowing down. Nearly everyone cheered when the man in the crow's nest called out land on the horizon. Their joy was short lived as they seemed to not be getting there as fast as they had wanted. I decided to go and talk to Kirkland, for the sake of the sailors.

When I found him, he was arguing with Ren about what the best course of action behind the stern. Ren seemed tired, looking like he was about to drop to the floor. "Captain, the men are going to faint or even die is they don't stop working. It's just too hot." Kirkland didn't look much better, either, having even taken off his jacket to show the thin, stiff shirt underneath. "Ren, if we stop now, we'll lose track of Allistair again. Months of hard work, lost." "Captain, we'll lose track of him again anyway because everyone on your crew will be dead." Kirkland sighed before catching sight of me. Annoyance was apparent on his face. "What do you want, mermaid," he snapped. His tone almost made me snap to attention as I stated, "I can help the ship go faster if you'd let me."

Kirkland scoffed, throwing his hands in the air. "Oh, sure, the mermaid is feeling useless so she wants to help. Look, you're not going to be able to help move two ships full of men any faster." Glaring at him, I stepped closer. Maybe it was the heat or the confusion of seeing two different Captain Kirklands. Either way, something in me cracked. Nimbly stepping up onto the bannister that lined the top deck, I walked along the ledge that was barely big enough for one of my feet to fit on. "Well, Kirkland, I suppose you're right." I moved directly behind the wheel with my back facing the ocean behind us, making Kirkland and Ren turn around to watch me with a cautious curiosity. "I'm not really useful here on this ship," I continued, "So I might as well just leave." With that last word, I stiffened my muscles and fell headfirst into the water.

The water was cool and rejuvenating, even more than it had been before. From underneath the surface, I saw Ren looking at the spot where my body hit. My tail took a while to return, but it wasn't too difficult to keep up with the already slow ship. Once it had returned, I placed my hands on the back edge just next to the rudder. Feeling the power of the ocean beneath me, I funneled some of that power into my tail and arms. Bracing myself for the weight, I started pushing the ship towards the land we had seen. At first, the change almost couldn't be felt. After a few minutes, speed had definitely picked up to what it had been the day before. In no time at all, Kirkland's ship was pushed ashore with Carriedo's ship not far behind. I swam to the edge of Kirkland's ship and lifted myself onto the steps. As I waited for my legs to return, I listened to the frantic shouting mixed with whoops of joy. I would never really understand humans, getting excited over a little island.

Once my tail was shed and replaced with legs, I completed the climb up onto the deck. Sitting on the bannister, I watched Kirkland nearly tearing his hair out. His emotions were mostly disbelief mixed with worry and anger. Part of myself doubted my actions. Was he worried about me? No, of course not. I pushed the ridiculous thought out of my head as Kirkland noticed my figure. Dropping my feet to the deck, I looked him directly in the eyes. In a loud enough voice for him to hear across the relieved sailors, I said, "Don't doubt me again."

-

Kirkland didn't even glance at me as we set out once more the next day. The wind had noticeably picked up once more and we had been able to find various fruits that were safe to eat on the island, as well as some wild animals that could be used as meat. Ren had thanked me numerous times and Peter gave me many tight hugs. Even Carriedo expressed how happy he was that I was alright. With all of the reactions, something in the back of my head wondered why they all cared so much.

Through Ren, Kirkland gave me something to do. I was stationed on the night watch to make sure we weren't attacked as we slept. Carriedo wouldn't let me guard the ships without a weapon, so he lent me a rather nice spear that was a foot taller than me. During the day, I practiced using it properly with some of the other night guards, who also taught me how to use swords and daggers. Once more I wondered why all these people were so kind to a veritable stranger. The curiosity wouldn't go away, so after we had practiced, I asked one of the people training me.

"Ya see," he started, "Th' Cap'm helped us outta lotta bad situations." He stopped to point at a scar that was drawn from his ear down to his chest. "Cap'm kep' me from dyin' when I got this. Ask any o' the other men an' they tell ya pretty much the same thing. A lotta us learnt tha' a lil' kindness goes a long way, y'know? We feel like we kinda owe it to th' Cap'm to be decen' tah newcomers." The man's accent was atrocious, but I got the overall message.

As we sat talking, I noticed that the ship had all but stopped. It didn't take long for a familiar scent to make my stomach drop to the bottom of the deepest depths. I dashed to the main deck, afraid that my fears were true. Once I reached the deck, I almost ran into Kirkland's strong chest. He grabbed my arms, a darkly sad look on his face. "Natasha, you should go back below deck." Blood rushed out of my legs. Nothing was serious enough to have him call me by name. Pushing him to the side, I strode to the bannister where many sailors were gathered with looks of disgust and sorrow. I could smell it before I saw it. A merman, a dead merman, tied to a jagged rock with a sign around his neck. The ocean around it was nearly pure silver, all streaming from the hole where his tail used to be. Tears flooded my eyes as I demanded, "What does the sign say." Kirkland murmured behind me an answer that I could never forget.

"The fate of all mermaids."