Mist.

Swirling around her, all Stella could see was icy mist. She sat up from where she was lying. The ground was covered in snow and ice. And yet, she didn't feel cold at all. Not a single shiver. "Where…where am I?" Stella muttered before calling out, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, a wind kicked up as her cloak and hair were blown forward. The wind blew back the mist except for one cloud of mist which seemed to take on the form of a dragon, towering over Stella. It was completely made of mist except for a hole in its chest which was shaped like a diamond. Stella looked between the dragon and her gem. "You're…you're them, aren't you? The first Icewind."

The dragon nodded.

"And…I have a bit of the original Flameheart in me too, don't I?"

They nodded again.

Stella sighed, "So Flameheart really is my dad…that wasn't some sort of weird dream. It really did happen."

Icewind cocked their head to the side before the mist came back and swirled around them. "Wha-?! What are you-?" Before Stella could finish, the mist dissipated, and Stella found herself beside Icewind on a galleon in the middle of the sea during the night. "Where…?" Stella went to ask where they were when she noticed the sails on the galleon. A heart with a flame emerging from the centre. This was Flameheart's ship; the Burning Blade. But it wasn't spectral like Stella had seen it in Flameheart's lair. It was solid, bobbing slightly in the sea. As Stella glanced around, crew members were drinking and laughing with each other. None of them seemed to notice or acknowledge Stella's presence. Near the bow, she recognised a group of four. It was the Ashen Lords, but as humans. Grimm was laughing, clearly drunk, as he tried to challenge Chi to an arm wrestle while Ruth cheered them on. Chi rolled their eyes as she seemed to eventually give in. Horatio was leaning on the railings, clearly not wanting to be there but was probably there to make sure Grimm didn't get too crazy. Stella giggled a bit at the scene before something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Pulled alongside the Burning Blade was the Icebreaker. That's when she realised it. Some of the crew members weren't wearing Ashen Dragon outfits. They were Glacial Dragon crewmates. "This is the past, isn't it?" Stella asked Icewind, who nodded before looking up towards the crow's nest of the Burning Blade. Stella followed their gaze and noticed two figures standing there. Stella looked back at Icewind who motioned with their head up to the crow's nest. Stella nodded in understanding and began climbing up the ladder to the crow's nest. Upon climbing up to it, she instantly recognised one of the figures. A woman with tanned skin, bright blue eyes, and incredibly long brown hair that reached past her thighs and faded to an icy blue and white halfway down, with her bangs held in ice-blue metal clasps. She wore a navy shirt under a blue and teal dress with long sleeves and a slanted, pleated hem, navy knee-length shorts with matching gloves, and blue and teal boots. The parts of her skin that were visible were adorned with bright teal markings and a blue crystal emerged from the centre of her chest.

Azura Icewind. Captain of the Icebreaker, Glacial Dragon, and Stella's mother.

The figure beside her, however, took Stella a second to recognise. A tall, tanned man with freckled skin which also had the odd red marking running along it, and a bushy black beard and hair that was hidden by the black, bone-adorned hat with a red plume coming from the top. He had dark brown eyes, a single gold hoop hanging from his right ear, and a few of his teeth replaced with golden ones. He wore a red and black coat that also had bone pieces attached to it, a dark brown leather belt with a large metal buckle, black trousers and boots, with left leg replaced with a pegleg. What stood out most, however, was the fiery-coloured gem embedded in his own chest.

Captain Flameheart.

Stella watched as the two leaned against the railings of the crow's nest, tankards in hand, as they laughed.

"Did you see the look on that crew's face when you set fire to the sails?" Azura laughed. "I couldn't tell what had shocked them more." Flameheart chuckled, "The fact half of their ship was burning while the other was frozen, or the fact they had been ambushed by two dragons!"

"Who proceeded to make off with their treasure, may I add! That's what happens when you attack two of the greatest pirates in the Sea of Thieves."

"Aye. That plan worked flawlessly. True genius from yours truly."

Azura feigned an offended look at Flameheart who was smirking at her, "Oye, genius, it was my idea!"

"Yeah, but my crew pulled it off."

"You wouldn't have if mine didn't help!" Azura gave Flameheart a playful shove which he returned, almost knocking her out of the crow's nest. "Alright, alright. Thank you, oh great Glacial Dragon, for gracing us with this alliance. Happy?" Flameheart chuckled sarcastically. Azura stuck her tongue out at him before looking back out at the horizon, "So, what's next for you and your crew?"

"Honestly? I've been thinking about leaving the sea for a while." Flameheart replied.

"You're not retiring, are you?"

"Of course not. The Sea of Thieves isn't getting rid of me that easily! I was just thinking giving it a break from the king of the sea for a few years. But if someone tries to claim my title, I'll return to give them a friendly 'reminder' of who's really in charge."

"Oh, is that right? Mind telling me who made you king, your scaliness?"

"Come on, it might as well be a thing. Nobody can stand against the Ashen Dragons. Even the 'Pirate Lord' fell to my Burning Blade. And what's higher than a lord? A king. So, it makes me king."

"Oh, really now?" Azura folded her arms with a smirk, "So if you're king, does that make me queen?"

"I suppose it does." Flameheart smiled. Azura's eyes widened slightly as a small blush crept onto her cheeks, not expecting that answer, as she quickly tried to hide it by taking a sip from her tankard. Flameheart burst out laughing, causing Azura to glare at him, "And what are you laughin' at, estúpido?"

"You're face! That reaction was great!"

"W-what face?! I didn't make a face!"

"You did! You looked like a ruby splashtail that just got snatched out of the water."

"I did not!"

"Deny it all you want, ice dragon, but it's true!"

Azura grumbled to herself but couldn't fight the smile creeping onto her face, "Remember when we used to drive each other mad?"

"As opposed to now?"

"Fair point!" Azura laughed, "I meant when we first met. You hated my guts."

"Hey, that vault was ours and you know it."

"Didn't see your name on it!"

"Yeah, well remind me who saved you after you fell overboard in that storm, eh?"

"I don't recall asking you to save me, Captain My-Powers-Are-Useless-In-Water!"

"Well, I did – you're welcome, by the way. Besides, it worked out. If we hadn't gotten ourselves stranded on that island, I'd have never-" Flameheart seemed to cut himself off, as if to stop himself from saying something. Azura raised an eyebrow with a mischievous grin, "You'd have never what?"

"Nothing. I didn't say anything." Flameheart replied curtly. "C'mooooon!" Azura's grinned widened as she poked his shoulder, "Admit it~ You like me."

"Nope."

"Say it~"

"Not going to."

"You like me!" Azura kept poking his shoulder over and over, "You like me, you like me, you like me, you like me, you like me, you like me, you like me, I'm gonna keep doing this until you say it!"

"Alright fine!" Flameheart pushed Azura to the side, "I like you. Happy?"

"Very." Azura beamed as she placed a brief kiss on Flameheart's cheek before heading towards the crow's nest ladder, passing through Stella who realised she was almost made of mist herself like this. "Welp, I better make sure my crew haven't drunk both of our ships dry. Oh, almost forgot!" Azura tossed something to Flameheart who caught it in his hand. It was a piece of gold metal that seemed to be cut into the crude shape of a heart and hung from a piece of rope. "Before you say it, yeah, I know it's not great. But I figured I should at least make something for you to say thanks for forming this alliance with us. Nos vemos, Flamsey!" Azura winked before climbing down the ladder. Flameheart turned the metal heart over where something was carved into the back.

'Fire & Ice. My heart forever yours.'

"You truly are a strange woman, Icewind…" Flameheart chuckled with a smile as he placed the metal pendant around his neck before looking out at the horizon.

Mist filled Stella's vision once more before returning to the icy realm with Icewind, who looked down at her with a tilted head. "They really did love each other, didn't they…?" Stella asked, almost in disbelief. Icewind nodded as a voice seemed to echo in Stella's head, "When Flameheart left Okaaz do Stin, or the Sea of Thieves as it is now known, Azura decided to take this time to return to her home to visit her mother. That is when she had you. 9 years later, she returned to the sea upon the request of her lore keeper. What happened to her is clouded from even my vision. When Flameheart returned a year after Azura's disappearance, he returned to a changed Sea of Thieves. The trading companies, alliances becoming a common thing, the 'Pirate's Code'. He didn't recognise it anymore. But he had hoped at least one thing hadn't changed…"

"Mom…"

"Correct. However, when he reunited with his Ashen Lords, they informed him of your mother's disappearance and how she was assumed dead. This, combined with the sudden change to the Sea of Thieves; his Sea of Thieves, it was enough to send him into a rampage. He assumed Azura's killer still roamed the sea, so he'd kill two birds with one stone: bring Azura's murderer to justice, while burning the Sea of Thieves to ashes and start from scratch."

"But…why become a skeleton lord?"

"Flameheart was a threat to the sea, so many had made attempts on his life with assassins trying to claim his life. It was Horatio who came up with the idea. He sought out Graymarrow and asked him to teach the method of soul-binding. The plan was for Flameheart and his crew to drink from the Chalice of Resurrection and for him to allow himself to be assassinated. His soul would then be bound to his remains and he'd be buried in a guarded tomb while the Ashen Lords went into a deep slumber until he was released once those who wished to end his life had moved on."

"So that's why they say he suddenly disappeared…he died on purpose."

Icewind nodded, "Flameheart never knew he had a daughter since Azura never got to tell him. So, when he saw you wielding glacial magic, he assumed you had killed her and stole the crystal, becoming the Glacial Dragon."

"I see…it's all starting to make sense now…" Stella looked up at Icewind, "But…why are you here? How are you here?"

"When the title of Glacial Dragon is passed on to the next human to inherit it, so is my soul. It's the same with Flameheart and MacTíre. Because you now have access to a majority of your magic, I can now communicate with you through dreams, showing you what I have witnessed through the eyes of those who came before. After all, how do you think Aisling's mother knew as much as she did?"

"MacTíre told her…" Stella breathed in realisation, "Does that mean Ais can talk to MacTíre too?"

Icewind shook her head, "Unfortunately, no. Something is interfering with the connection MacTíre once had with Aisling."

"It's her curse, isn't it?"

"I would assume so. But neither of the three of us have experienced a curse reacting with magic like this before. My theory is that since she was unwilling, her magic tried to fight the curse, but the clash resulted in unprecedented effects, and that her 'alternate persona' is the result of sudden surges of the curse fighting against her magic."

"So, the curse is still eating away at her…so can I-?" Stella was cut off by the mist beginning to flood back in and thickening.

"I apologise." Icewind's voice echoed, growing fainter, "Our time has run out and you are awakening. I will reach out again when the time is right. Good luck, child of ice."

Stella groaned as her eyes slowly opened. She was in her bed back on the Icebreaker. 'How'd I…?'

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

Stella jumped, snapped out of her thoughts, as a deep voice spoke from across the room. In the corner stood Warden Chi, arms folded as she leaned against the wall, "And before you cry out 'Oh no, please don't torture me!', I'm not. The captain gave me strict orders to just keep an eye on you until you wake up."

"Uhh…thanks for not torturing me? I guess?" Stella replied, still a little confused, "How long was I out?"

"A few hours. You fainted from shock up on the volcano. And honestly, I think some of your crew and mine were close to doing the same. Flameheart with a daughter. I don't think anyone saw that coming. Never really saw the captain as the parental type."

"You're telling me? I just found out the skeleton lord who nearly brought the sea to its knees, tricked and almost cursed my friend, and tried to toss me into a volcano is also my dad. And what's worse, that's the second time a skeleton lord tried to toss me off of a rock formation and I somehow survived."

"Wait. Seriously?"

"Graymarrow tried to throw me off a cliff."

Chi laughed, "You survived Graymarrow? I mean granted, he's not as strong as Flameheart, but still nothing to sneeze at. Not bad, dragonling!" Chi stood up straight before making her way to the door, "Anyway. The captain wants to talk to you aboard the Burning Blade. I wouldn't keep him waiting."

Stella watched as Chi left the room before getting out of bed. As she stood up, she noticed Nevado crawling out from under the bed, looking up at her with concern. "She scares you too, chico?" Stella smiled as she gave his head a rub, "C'mon. Let's go meet dad…ugh, that's still weird to say." Nevado barked in agreement as the two headed towards the door of her quarters.

To Be Continued…