A new world came into view as Fina opened her eyes. She saw a wooden ceiling that was a far cry from both the miracle constructions of her home or the uncaring steel of the strange ship that has previously claimed her as captive. Although her gaze was still hazy, she realized she was being watched.

A young woman with red hair and bright eyes that seemed elated beyond all propriety leaned towards her. A handsome-faced lad with messy brown hair and some type of device over his eye regarded her with a curious expression that she lacked the words for. Worry, perhaps?

"Hey!" The red-head spoke up in a loud voice. "Look! She's coming to…"

They thankfully backed away and Fina rose up from an austere but somehow comfortable bed with a wooden frame and light covers. She looked nervously around the room.

A lantern—that was right; the people down here hadn't truly mastered magical architectures—dangled from above. There was a rickety side table bearing a cup of what appeared to be water. The whipping sound of wind rushed nearby and, confused, she twisted her head to see a circular window of sorts. Outside, the unmistakable wisps of clouds zipped by.

It felt so primitive but as the strength in her body waned and her head fell back to her pillow, it was all she could do to slip back into her rest. When she spoke, her soft voice wavered with disorientation.

"Where am I?" She'd spoke the language of her people but the boy seemed to understand anyway.

"You're aboard our ship, the Albatross ," the young man explained cautiously. He clearly didn't want to cause distress. Fina nodded even if she didn't entirely understand.

Fina looked fearfully at her two caretakers. Were they guards? Under her covers, she slipped a hand towards her silver bracelet.

"I'm Vyse," the boy said. He reached his hand out towards Fina in greeting. It was a gesture she didn't understand and didn't accept. "Don't worry. You'll be safe here."

Fina felt her heart being pulled apart. On the one hand, she heard her Elders' warnings. This man was a heathen , a primitive who would invariably lead her to ruin. But her heart did not seem to agree. Vyse's words rang true enough that she wanted to immediately believe them. He would keep her safe.

For the first time since arriving in this world, she smiled. It was a warm and beautiful thing that held the same sweetness and fragility of a blossoming flower.

Fina struggled to find her words before shifting into a stiff but passable take on Arcadian common tongue.

"Y..es," she finally managed before removing her hand from Vyse's. "Thank you very much."

The red-haired woman gave an infectious chuckle. "No need to thank us," she explained, thumping her chest. "Blue Rogues are always there to help people!"

The spit-fire pirate leaned in closer. "I'm Aika. I'm an air pirate like Vyse. It's nice to meet you."

Vyse nodded in agreement before regarding Fina with caution. "You were hurt when we found you," he noted. "How much do you remember? Could you tell us your name?"

Fina hesitated as though she was doing an internal calculus. Heathens or not, they seemed kind. Nothing like what she expected to find. Aika was a bit loud but her smile came easy and there was something about Vyse that defied words. Something she couldn't quite explain. She decided to trust them. At least for the moment, with what she could spare.

"My name.. is Fina."

A curious energy held upon the air as Vyse took a moment to look, truly look, at the woman before him. Her light hair, near-silver, was nothing like he'd ever seen and her clothing was remarkably odd. There was excitement and a deep curiosity. He regarded Fina like he might a particularly striking sunrise before the reality of it all set in.

Fina had the softest face he'd ever seen. It was like the hot Arcadian sun had never touched it, and her eyes… Sure, he'd seen green eyes before but hers were wide and full of intense kindness. Only the most expert appraisal might spot the hints of sadness underneath.

Fina stared back. Vyse was rugged in a way she'd never seen. Tan and bearing the marks of work and possibly even battle. Handsome, yes, but possessed of a sturdy and trustworthy face that seemed entirely out of place on a "savage" land-dweller. Already, she began to consider what she did and did not know… and if the world of man was as consistently barbarous as she'd been taught.

They both realized they were staring. Vyse grew scarlet and Fina felt a warmth come to her face too. The young man struggled to find words.

"Fina, huh?" Vyse stumbled over his words. "That's a great name... it's so... so feminine."

The bewildered woman didn't really know how to respond. "Really? You think so?"

Aika broke the tension. Her laugh rang outwards and bounced about the room. "That wasn't much of a compliment. Looks like you have a lot to learn about women."

Fina gazed between the two. They spoke to each other with an infectious ease.

"That your advice as my friend, Aika, or as a lady?" Vyse's tease was meant to rile the tomboy up. It might have led somewhere too if Fina didn't speak up from her bed.

"Excuse me, but I have a question," she said. It might have been the first 'excuse me' anyone uttered on the Albatross. "What exactly is an Air... Air Pirate?"

Vyse and Aika froze in confusion that quickly shifted into deep concern. They wheeled about to look at Fina. The young woman seemed to shrink in place.

"You were out sailing all by yourself and you don't even know what Air Pirates are?" Aika's interrogation came first although it was clear for all her annoyance, she held genuine worry for Fina.

The blonde woman retreated a bit into her sheets. "I'm sorry... it's my first time traveling."

Vyse elaborated: "Air Pirates are sailors who do what their hearts say, consequences be damned."

Fina nearly blocked her ears at Vyse's cuss. It served only to make her more endearing.

"Air Pirates are divided into two factions," Aika explained. "Blue Rogues and the Black Pirates."

"Black Pirates will attack anything in the sky…" Aika demonstrated this with Arcadia's worst pantomime; one of her hands swooped down and bopped the other. "... especially merchant vessels and unarmed ships. Blue Rogues only take cargo from armed ships, especially the Imperial Armada. We use the gold to help people and support local settlements."

Fina nodded although much of the concept eluded her. She was about to ask for clarification when Vyse spoke up. She rested her soft gaze on him.

"The idea was to steal whatever treasure that Valuan ship had," Vyse added. "Turns out the most valuable treasure was you. I mean… you know.. because of how the Valuans were guarding you and all that..."

Aika leaned towards her partner. "Smooth, pal."

Vyse looked at Fina seriously. If she noticed his inadvertent flirtation, her face didn't show it. "Don't worry," he said. "We're not here to kidnap you, and we'll take you to whatever port you desire. Just relax and enjoy the trip."

Fina smiled. It was clear that she was starting to feel a bit more comfortable even if she was still hiding a little behind her bedsheets. "Of course," she said. "Thank you."

The moment was interrupted by a booming over a brass speaking tube that snaked down the wall nearest the door. Fina ducked further under her covers. The voice was tinny and held excess echo but it was unmistakable: Captain Dyne.

"Vyse, Aika... How long are you going to sit there chit-chatting? Come to the bridge now!"

Vyse cursed. "Damn it. I knew I was forgetting something."

"I completely lost track of time," Aika lamented. She looked towards Fina, who had peeked out to look at the pair again. "There's some water and spare bread on the side table if you need it." The young woman nodded appreciatively.

"We'll see you later!" When Vyse said it, it really did sound like a promise. "Try and get some rest."

Fina sighed, watching as her two rescuers disappeared into the hall. She let her head fall back into the pillow. They couldn't know. None of them could know her true purpose for coming to Arcadia.

Vyse and Aika stepped out of the cabin and into the hall. The young man sighed as the weight of everything hit him harder than any of Antonio's blows might've. Aika noticed immediately and also seemed to deflate. The pair were certainly willing to weather whatever would come; be that simply shuttling Fina back to her people or dealing with the Armada's wrath but none of it made sense.

Aika asked the question first: "Do you believe her?" A general question but an important one. "A girl like that out on her own, and she doesn't even know what a pirate is? It's a miracle she's not dead!"

Vyse shushed his vociferous friends lest her voice carry back to Fina. "Does it matter?" His question cut to the heart of the matter. "She's in trouble, Aika. That's all I care about."

His friend nodded but not before offering a counterpoint. "You're not wrong," she said carefully. "But it's like Vice-Captain Briggs says: you're not obligated to light your ship afire to keep the world warm."

Vyse scoffed. "Aika, I'm not gonna-"

"I know," the redhead said. "You're already thinking about it though! Because you're a good person, Vyse, and that's not always the same as being a good pirate. I want to help her too but there's lots we don't know yet! Did you hear that language she spoke for a moment? I have no clue what it was!"

They made their way further down the hallway and passed a familiar face: Luke paced up and down the hall, his face a monument to worry. Reddish hair fell across his face, his free hand manipulating a familiar blue moonstone dagger through his fingers. As Vyse and Aika drew closer, he gazed impertinently.

"How's the damsel?"

Vyse rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly. "Hard to say," he admitted. "She's resting and safe now, but we have no idea what she was doing with the Valuans."

"Whatever it was, it had Admiral Jerkpants and his Golden Tugboat out on the prowl," Aika added.

Luke gave a quiet chuckle although he seemed uneasy. "It'd been a while since we hit a Valuan ship like that," he said. "If you're wondering about the crew that didn't die fighting... when the rest heard their fearless leader had fled, they surrendered. Dyne let the rest go."

"We're not gonna litter the deck with their corpses, Luke," Vyse noted. "Are you okay though? You're pacing all up and down the hall."

Luke paused. "It's Mabel," he explained. His glace lingered on an adjacent cabin door. "She took a shot in the fray. Not her first but it, uh, seems bad this time."

Aika instinctively took a step towards the door and peeked in. In a bed not too different than Fina's, Mabel—the raider so bold with her booze as to be called Mabel the Bottomless—lay resting beneath a matted cover of sheets. Her face was a portrait of sweaty disease. Vyse quickly walked to Aika's shoulder and pulled her away from the door.

"Timmus patched her up best he could," Luke explained. "Said all's left to do is to keep her comfortable and hope."

Vyse took a step towards Luke. "I'm sorry," he said. "I made the call and…"

His fellow sailor shook his head. "It was the right one," Luke offered. "You saved that girl and we gave the Valuans' hell. Mabel and I knew the risks. That's a fair enough trade as any.."

None of them said anything for a moment. Air Piracy was a life spent with one foot in the grave. A slip on the deck, a fierce enough squall, a stray shot. Anything could spell disaster. You lived as best you could, as free as you could until the jig was up. Mabel wasn't beyond hope, and she would have been the first to say that death against a squad of tin-can bastards was a good death. Aika broke the silence.

"It's not gonna come to that," she said before flicking Luke on the forehead. "Don't even think about it."

The gesture seemed to pull the man out of his reverie. "Yeah, you're right," he said before regarding Vyse. "Hey, you should really get to the bridge. Captain was asking after you something fierce."

"Oh, crap!"

Vyse and Aika pressed onwards apace and climbed a ladder upwards to the bridge. It was a positivity massive room, particularly by the standards of a Blue Rogue vessel. A large map's table rested to the right side of the room. The center bore a blue rug with golden trim. Comfortable, not excessive. Three large windows gave full view of the forward sky and even the deck below. Vice-Captain Briggs manned the helm, his salt and peppered hair pulled into a ponytail. Navigator Landis, short and stubby, stood nearby.

Skidding into the room, Vyse and Aika stopped right before Captain Dyne. He regarded them as he might a stray dog and cat that wandered to his house door.

"You're late, Vyse," he said. "I told you that you need to be on time for your shift."

"Dad! I was only a little late!" Vyse's reply drew a cold look from his father.

Aika felt compelled to defend her friend. "We stopped to see how Mabel was doing. Really, we weren't that late right?"

It was clear from the softening of Dyne's features that he empathized with the pair. But he was a captain first and father second.

"On a ship, being a little late can cost lives," he scolded. And remember... while we're on board, it's not "Dad," it's "Captain." Get it right."

"Aye, Captain," the two young rogues said in an immediate reply.

"How's our guest?" Dyne's voice filled with a newfound concern.

"Awake," Vyse explained. "Her name's Fina and she's resting for now."

Aika chimed in. "It's strange. She didn't know what an Air Pirate was.."

"We can deal with that once we're back home. You know, since you're late I should put you both on deck-swab duty," Dyne said dramatically. Briggs and Landis craned their necks to watch their captain's judgement. "But I'll settle for something more dangerous: your hands on the wheel and Aika's eyes on the map."

Vyse and Aika gave each other truly impish grins before thanking their captain with a nod. Vyse made his way to the ship's wheel. Vice-Captain Brigg stood at his side.

"Damn shame if we sank not because of Valuans but because you couldn't properly eye a ridge, kiddo."

Aika laughed, leaning over the map table. "It's hard to screw up," she said. Navigator Landis gave a chortle in agreement. "Heading is due southeast, Vyse."

Landis added an important note: "Lest ye run afoul of rift winds," the stocky man offered. "Then it's best to alter course as needed. Pilfered a stabilizer off that Admiral's ship but ain't had time to set it to work yet. Full on into a rift and we'll splinter something fierce. So be mindful."

Dyne sauntered to his captain's chair and sat down. He searched about his pockets until he found a fresh cigar and his own red moonstone. He held the stogie to the moonstone and gave a puff, the combined heat and his own effort bringing the sinful treat to light. He sampled the smell of Nasrad dokha before inserting the cigar into his mouth with a chomp.

"Alright," he said with haughty amusement, eyes regarding Vyse. "Get us home, boy."

Fina sensed it acutely; the unmistakable fading of a spirit. Long ago, her people held an aptitude for understanding the matters of the soul, that ever-hazy essence at the core of all living things. The Silver Moon radiated with the most subtle of energies. Studying its shimmering wavelengths gave birth to the magicks of life and death. Where other civilizations had mastered the arts of abjurations or illusions, her people held an intense knowledge of life itself. That's how, even as she lay tired under her bedsheets, she felt the fading oscillations of a soul struggling to survive. She felt that pain so acutely —the young woman had a particular sensitivity for such things—that she sat upright, closing her eyes and focusing on the source.

Rising from her bed, the young woman brushed her immaculately white dress out of an ingrained sense of propriety before she walked quietly to the cabin door. Would it be alright to leave? Would she be disrespecting the people who saved her by wandering? Perhaps so, although Vyse and Aika seemed to have a cavalier nature about them unlike anything she'd ever known. Was that simply the way of things amongst these… what had they called themselves, Blue Rogues?

She idly stroked her silver bracelet before making a decision. Perhaps her Elders were right and none of these people could be trusted; what she knew at the moment was that a soul was fading, and that she could help it. They wouldn't object to that, right? Surely her duty was also to offer succor when needed. So she made a choice, the first of the many brave choices she would make during her time among these people. She opened her cabin door and walked into the hallway.

Fina had feared stumbling into some stranger and being forced to stammer an explanation as to her wanderings. Instead, she found the hall all but deserted. A man with reddish hair clambered up a ladder as a voice rang out from above.

"Look what Vyse found!" It was Aika.

"We found it together," Vyse replied embarrassedly.

The red-haired man reached the top of the ladder, climbing up and stamping on the wood above. "Is that… a grave?" Unlike the others, he didn't sound pleased. "I don't want to think about that shit right now.."

"That might be the Pirate's Grave, Luke. Resting place of one of the oldest known pirates. Hell, it could even be Daccat's grave!" An older voice, a commanding voice. "Take the engines to a drift. Briggs, on the wheel again. Let's get a closer look."

"Aika, toss me my sketchbook!" Vyse again.

The commotion above left ample opportunity for Fina to carefully walk down the hall towards the spiritual disruption that she felt. Slowly, she made her way to another cabin door and paused outside. What was the custom for entering a room here? She didn't know but she was certain that the fading soul was in that room. Fina was as proper and reverential a woman as Arcadia ever knew or would know, but the choice was between impropriety and a life. Put in that perspective, it was hardly a choice at all. She chose life, opening the door with a light creaking and walking inside.

It was much like the cabin she had rested in. A lone bed and a small side table. There was a chair in the corner of the room and a few scattered items of clothing. Laying in the bed was a sharp-faced woman with brown hair. Fina reached out with her mind, sensing the shifting energy about the woman. From her appearance, she seemed restful enough but the truth was clear to Fina's senses: the woman was dying.

Fina approached cautiously, standing at the woman's side and focusing on her energy. She bore some type of injury to her stomach. She could tell from the faint traces of magic lingering about the woman that she'd been treated with rudimentary green magic, the healing power of the Green Moon. Perhaps a basic sacri spell or something even more meager. Enough to ease pain but not enough to save her. Fin brought her hands to hover above the injured woman's stomach and began to call upon her own gifts. A stronger spell, something more robust: the rejuvenating power of an advanced sacres spell.

A green light shone from Fina's fingertips. The spell was an order of magnitude higher than whatever had been administered and the brown-haired woman gave an appreciated moan in response. But there was more work to be done.

The woman's very soul was strained and needed to be anchored back to her body. That was the realm of silver magic. Fina took a breath and focused on the fraying pieces of the woman's soul. She pictured them in her mind, fluttering like the tattered pieces of a flag. Fina called on the mending magic of the Silver Moon, a subtle risan spell, that began to weave the woman's soul back into place.

"What are you doing?" A confused and angry voice growled at the door. The red-haired man had returned. He took a harsh step forward into the room. Fina continued to weave her spell. So close to finishing. Almost there, almost there.

"What are you doing? Stop!" The man yelled, before he turned back to the hall. "Captain! Captain!"

A clamor rose from above until one by one the room was full of faces strange and familiar. Fina did not recognize the older men but she saw Aika and Vyse. They looked as confused as the others, though less angry. The eldest of the group, a mustached man with greying hair spoke up.

"What's going on here, Luke?"

The red-haired man snapped an accusatory finger at Fina. The white-garbed woman shrunk in horror. "She was in here… doing… something to Mabel! Magic! I couldn't see but she was hurting her!"

Fina shook her hands in panic. "No! No! She was in pain; I was helping her. I know mending spells. Green magicks! Silver magicks!"

Dyne spoke up in an attempt to ease the situation. "Our doctor gave Mabel treatment," he said. "The best we could under the circumstances. Your meddling might have harmed one of my crew, my family. "

Fina stammered. "She was.. dying…"

"You don't know that!" Luke was all but apoplectic at the suggestion. He features curled into a snarl as he rear up higher like a centralk snake ready to strike. He rushed to Mabel's bedside and was about to speak further when a hand reached out to take his own.

"It's alright, Luke… I'm… alright…" Mabel's voice tiredly carried throughout the room. Silence fell. It was as if a cold wind had blown and frozen the rogues solid. A single blink, a single motion and the reality of it all would fall apart. Mabel smiled at Luke, her eyes glazing with recollections of a not so distant dream."I felt… like I was soaring off and then… and then… She was there. Helping me back."

Luke fell to his knees, pressing his head against Mabel's. "Don't you ever do that again," he said. "Don't you ever go on without me.."

Dyne brought a finger about in a circle. Briggs wheeled about and left into the hallway. There was the telltale sound of his boot climbing the ladder up to the bridge.

"We should leave them be," Dyne ordered. "Aika, Vyse… Fina… With me to my cabin. It appears we have much to discuss."

Victor Dyne's personal quarters were nothing special but certainly more luxurious than the small cabins and berths aboard the Albatross . A comfortable enough bunk rested in a far off corner of the room but the main fixture was a fine mahogany work desk pilfered from a Valuan vessel ages ago. The top was littered with parchment, maps and other niceties. A banner bearing his recognizable standard hung behind the desk: a rounded skull with an eyepatch flanked by two pairs of wings. It was the most recognizable sigil in all of the Mid Ocean thanks to years of successful raids and derring-do.

Dyne sat at his desk, patient eyes looking at the trio before him. His son Vyse, the ever-excitable Aika, and their mysterious new friend. He looked Fina directly in her kind eyes.

"You did Mabel a kindness in the end, and although you were a little impertinent in doing so, you're among rogues so I'll let that slide," he explained. "But let me be very clear, young lady: that could have ended very differently."

Fina nodded. "I'm sorry."

"I'm Dyne, captain of this vessel," he explained. "You've already met my son Vyse and his friend.."

"Captain?" Fina seemed confused.

"I'm in charge around here." At that Fina began to bow but Dyne quickly stopped with one of his characteristic hand raises. "There's no need for that."

Fina paused again. "I.. wouldn't know… I don't know anything about Air Pirates.."

Dyne frowned. "And that, Fina—May I call you Fina?—has me rather curious, along with your little magical misadventure. There's a few questions I want to ask you. Will you answer them for me?"

Fina gave another nod. She stood at the ready.

"I've been sailing for a very long time," Dyne explained. "But I've never come across anyone wearing clothes like yours. And I've hardly stumbled on anyone so young with such a natural talent for magic. What country are you from and why were you traveling alone out there? What did the Valuans want with you?"

"Captain, I've been thinking," Aika said. "I agree that Fina might be… strange but she doesn't seem dangerous or anything like that."

The young woman received a stern look in reply. Dyne spoke again. "Hopefully not, but it is my duty to not only protect the safety of my family, but the safety of my crew as well. If this girl is a danger of any sort to you or any of my men, I'll need to deal with her accordingly."

Vyse raised a voice. "We understand that," he said diplomatically. "And if it helps ease your worry, captain, you can consider me jointly responsible for anything that happens. It was my decision to bring her aboard."

Dyne gave his son a respectful glance and nod of acknowledgement before looking at Fina. "So, Fina. It's your turn to speak."

There was a silence in the room for a moment before the blonde woman spoke up. She looked at Dyne with regret. "I… I cannot say… I can't tell you."

The elder rogue gave that some consideration. "Is it because we're Air Pirates? You don't trust us, then? I promise you, dear, we mean you no harm."

Fina shook her head, taking a step forward that bore a conviction and power hitherto unseen in the meek woman.

"No, that has nothing to do with it," she explained firmly. "I thank you with all my heart for saving my life. But I cannot tell any living soul about the purpose of my quest. Even if it means sacrificing my own life. I have no intention of endangering any of your lives. If you believe anything that I say, believe this."

Dyne sighed like he'd lost the perfect poker hand. "Looks like I lost this one," he quipped. I understand your dilemma. And I can see in your eyes that you are true to your word. You don't need to divulge the details of your quest. Understand that you now have my trust... Be careful that you do not lose it."

"Thank you, Captain Dyne," Fina said. She resisted the urge to bow. "I will not disappoint you."

Dyne rose from his seat and began to walk towards the trio. "Vyse, Aika.. Why don't you bring the girl… Bring Fina to the deck so she can see everything when we arrive?"

"Arrive? Arrive where?" Fina turned to look at Vyse curiously.

The young man grinned wide, offering his new friend a courteous hand. "Home."