Sitting in the corner of the Unicorn tavern, she had her back to the wall. To her right was the bar, and to her left was the doorway. Through it came a pair of pirates; they spoke and moved as though there was more behind them outside still. Blue was not interested in dealing with a brigantine or galleon's crew and yet, here she was, acutely aware of those two newcomers sauntering up to her, that she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. She could speak up first, lie and say that she had been up all night and would be no good as company and that she was just here for a late breakfast before returning to her ship for rest…

"Hey, pretty lady, what brings you here?"

One sat beside her and Blue thought that perhaps he was the father to the other, who sat across from her. Pirate families tended to be very well-bonded, she found in her experience, and that made her all the more nervous.

"The Roar," she answered, refraining from shovelling more food into her mouth. They would have questions about that plan.

… The truth was, Blue had gotten plenty of sleep. She had spent a day's light travelling across the Ancient Isles to reach this outpost after the mess at Fort of the Damned. She had taken all the loot to the appropriate merchants and been paid. After that, Blue had gotten some much required rest. The truth, really, was that she was sore all over after all that and was in no mood to entertain some bored men.

"The Roar?" the younger one repeated. His presumed father gave her a curious look, too.

"Yes, the Roar," she said again. "I came here to rest before heading into the Roar. There are great treasures there, yes?"

Somehow, they seemed agitated by that. Blue wasn't sure she had the patience to be overly polite to them.

"Sure there are," the older one said. He looked at her and Blue was certain he was gauging whether or not he could take her in a fight. Perhaps that was just her. He added, "But is it just you? The Roar's an awfully dangerous place for a little lady all on her lonesome like you. Why not stick with us instead?"

He had more to say but Blue cut him off, sharply stating, "I am not good company."

"With a pretty face like that, sure ya are!"

Blue could have stabbed him just for that comment. She disagreed, but she also loathed this behaviour.

"Look," the younger one started, leaning forward but forcing a weak smile to try to appear more friendly; "We've got an open space on our gally. We'd really like to fill it before we leave the outpost."

"I like my sloop."

He made a face. The older man, the one that Blue was now certain was his father, gave her a small chuckle and shook his head, but she could see that he was frustrated, not amused. "Perhaps a tour of our galleon might persuade you?" he said. "It has a lovely cabin."

That made her skin crawl. Blue refrained from biting the inside of her lip and simply said, "So does my sloop." She found her feet and ignored their accusatory gazes. "And I quite like my sloop," she said before stepping past them.

The young man grabbed her by the wrist and she nearly screamed at the pain the pulling caused in her shoulder. When Blue came back to reality, she was sitting in his lap like nothing was amiss. He started to say something, something that she was sure was quite important, and Blue decided now was a good time to introduce him to her dagger. The blade cut through his throat before either man could register that she had produced a weapon.

There was a great loud noise from the older man and Blue had to dash away to avoid having her head removed by a cutlass. She had her own on her hip, but her only good hand was already occupied. More over still, Blue decided that her dagger was a better option — it did have a notch in the top of it to snag other blades with…

But fighting with her left hand was awkward still. As nice of an idea as that was, she would have to find the opportunity to wrench his blade from him, a task that she may very well not be able to complete, what with how he was rushing her. Or maybe not.

Blue darted towards the bar, putting a table in the middle of the room between them. She had hoped that he would give her a moment to consider her next step; instead, he drew a pistol and fired it at her. How he didn't hit her was beyond her comprehension. He snarled at the gun before throwing it; Blue used that time to dash by him.

Just outside the door, a curious thing happened. The world spun and faded away; when it came back, Blue was suddenly aware that she was looking at the sky. Another moment later and pain coursed through the front of her head. She was not where she should have been, now closer to the cooking area outside of the tavern than the door to it. A noise caught her attention and she realised that Z was sitting on a stool beside her, an empty bucket in hand. It suddenly occurred to her that she was soaking wet.

"Y' sure know how t' make friends."

She grumbled mockingly at him; it was an automatic response. The next thing she recognised in her mind was that she was pleased to see him. Quite pleased. As Blue sat up, she realised that her jacket was missing from her shoulders and that she had been disarmed entirely — another moment's thought and she realised it was closer to nighttime than not. Yet again, Blue had found herself in trouble and had her ass saved by Z. The moment was suddenly very bittersweet and she didn't even want to look at him anymore.

"So, I found two'a them jus' standin' 'round you up here," Z said without prompting. It seemed he understood that she would be curious, but neither was she forthcoming with her side of the story.

A cursory glance around them and Blue noticed her missing items beside him.

"I'm guessin' y' killed the other two before they got ya?"

Blue had to think about that for a moment before she shook her head. That had been a bad idea — her breakfast threatened to reappear.

"No," she said, once the world stopped spinning again. "They wanted me to join them. Mm. So they said. They said they were down a man."

As he leaned his elbows on his knees, Z made a noise of acknowledgement. They looked at each other for a moment before he said, "Wanna go burn their gally down with me?"

Blue couldn't help a weary smile. "I'd love to."


Short distance or not, sailing a galleon was a tiring task when there was only half a crew's worth of people to do all the work. Waiting for a banana on a stone to crisp up and start a fire wasn't tiring, just boring. Being dead was tiring. Getting the shit kicked out of you was tiring.

All of that was certainly why Blue and Z had curled up in bed together to nap after all was said and done with regarding that crew's ship. He had come back from being dead and she was injured — they needed the rest. How they had ended up on the canvas back of the Forlorn Phoenix late that night with a crate of rum beside them was still beyond Blue. She had been sitting there, and then Z joined her, and now…

Blue leaned back on her good arm's elbow. She was facing northeast towards the Devil's Roar while Z was mostly facing the other way, sort of twisted so he was able to look at her. He had just said something stupid about the banjo they salvaged from the galleon, something so stupid she couldn't remember what exactly it was through the rum, but she still grinned about it. He was amused, too.

"What?"

She shook her head. "You say the dumbest shit sometimes."

"What, no, I don't!"

She laughed again and he joined her a moment later. Blue wasn't sure if he actually agreed with her or was just in too good of spirits to argue.

"We make a pretty good team, y' know," he said a moment later.

"That we do." Blue glanced at him before her attention went back to watching a volcano erupt. It was so far away, out in the Devil's Roar, though it was also the closest volcano to them. The wind blew their way and Blue absentmindedly wondered if a rogue piece of brimstone might catch a ride on it to them despite the great distance. She caught herself and laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of the thought.

"What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing, nothing." That wasn't worth sharing. The other thoughts in her mind, though, the ones that had been plaguing her for so long now… "Why are you friends with them?"

"Huh?"

That had come out more rudely than she realised it would. Or at least, that was what Blue thought. She hadn't been very clear, either, something that the rum was not helping, either.

She stammered, caught herself and explained: "The others. Jackson. Marcus. They and their wives and all the others. Why—" She could ask why they had accepted Edmund so easily at a later point. She cleared her throat. "… Why do you…?" She made a curious motion with the bottle of rum in her other hand.

"Oh." Z made a thoughtful face. "I like 'em. They're good killers who happen t' be married. Or not." He shrugged and took a great big swig of rum. He read Blue's mind while he did that: "But I don't think that's what y' mean."

Sighing, Blue said, "I'm not really sure I know what I mean." He rose a brow at her and she continued: "You seem… You don't seem like the social butterfly sort."

Z shrugged. "Not really. But ev'rybody has people they like t' be around with, don't they? Sometimes people jus' get along."

Blue must have made a face because he made one of his own, a small smirk, before nudging her closest shoulder. She had her right side to him and she wasn't sure if that nudge was as purposeful as it could have been or not, if Z had been cautious about hurting her or if he was just too drunk to nudge her as roughly as he could have. She must have still looked upset about it.

"Do I need a reason t' want t' be with a friend?"

That word was a funny one: friend. It could be used to describe people who were lifelong companions that treated each other better than family, or they could be people who were barely more than acquaintances and just happened to get on well with each other. Blue didn't think she liked that word very much.

She looked at Z again, that stupid smile on his face still…

Blue sat up a little better; she ended up leaning towards him for a moment longer than intended in her shuffling and it seemed that Z took that as an indication to lean his own shoulder against hers. He had caused no harm or even an inkling of pain — not that Blue was sober enough to notice any minor pain — and had been slow and deliberate in his movement. Z never had any intention of causing her any discomfort, major or not, Blue realised. He had never intentionally done anything of the sort to her, and when he had caused her pain, like at Devil's Ridge, that hadn't been his intention, but rather a side effect of something else.

Blue huffed, and when he leaned into her some more, a curious expression on his face, she shook her head. "I don't know." She didn't know anything, did she?

He leaned further against her and she was caught between wanting to lean back against him and striking him. Z laughed a little and she decided she definitely wanted to strike him.

"What now?"

"Y-You make this little face when y're thinkin'."

She blinked. About what? she wanted to ask, curious of what he thought she had on her mind. Instead, Blue decided that interpersonal relationships were very difficult. They were more than a simple give and take, she knew that, but she hated that they were things that could be affected by one's feelings, something that could be very illogical.

Wrinkling her nose, Blue finally asked, "And what do you think I might be thinking about?"

Z shrugged. She wanted to punch that stupid smirk off his face.

"Fine. What are you thinking about?" she asked.

He seemed surprised at that. Blue thought he was being a smart ass, pretending to think hard about the question as he looked up at the sky. Then: "I'm thinkin' that it's a pretty nice night, t'night."

"Oh." She felt more or less like an asshole. Blue decided to blame that on the alcohol. In even just a moment's retrospect she felt a little worse as she considered how little she expected out of Z. They hadn't gotten along when they met, circumstances as they were, but later on she could have taken a step back and reintroduced herself and tried improving their relations. Z hadn't helped his case on many occasions then, but now…

"We get on pretty well," she said, mimicking him slightly.

It took a moment for him to pick up on that, but when he did, Z couldn't help laughing, leaning harder on her as he almost lost his balance. That made her laugh in turn, and Blue found that she didn't mind leaning against him some.

When they collected themselves, Blue found herself looking to the sky, taking in the faint aurora amid the unique constellations of this world. A nudge brought her gaze down and she found Z staring at her intently. He leaned towards her but her gaze went back to the sky, far across the horizon to the Devil's Roar, a flash of red having caught her attention. Then came the sound, a voice gasping, shocked, and then;

"Free! At! LAST!"

Z twisted around so fast that he nearly knocked her over. Blue didn't care. There was a brilliant red skull in the sky talking about his imprisonment and that just didn't make any fucking sense.

… or maybe it did. A moment later and Blue decided that stranger things had happened in the Sea of Thieves to her alone. That didn't knock down the strangeness of what was happening at the moment, instead increasing the strangeness of the other incidents. Really, even in the Sea of Thieves, who would believe Blue when she said she had come face-to-face with Graymarrow and survived the way she had?

On the other hand, this Captain Flameheart spoke of imprisonment, of being betrayed by his own kind — what did that even mean!? — of those who freed him and of vengeance. One phrase stood out above all else to Blue: "I have returned."

"He's back."

Blue couldn't even begin to figure out what the hell tone of voice that was from Z. Captain Flameheart's massive visage in the sky disappeared and they were left with his message. Blue didn't know where to start, staring at Z in bewilderment. A moment passed before his eyes came back down, thoughtfulness spreading across his face.

"Do… you… know what to make of that…?" Blue asked, feeling very small.

He made a face as though he were thinking very hard before swallowing. Z shook his head. "No, I don't, but there might be some other people who do."

He moved to stand and Blue latched onto him. He quirked a brow at her.

"I… I do not think I can stand to walk any distance right now." A sizeable amount of rum had been consumed and wasn't the only thing making Blue feel weak right now.

Z looked annoyed somehow. "That—" He stopped himself and sighed before nodding. "… We should give 'em some time t' get t'gether, I guess."

Blue grunted out a small noise of acknowledgement, but she wasn't really sure what he meant, nor what to do next. She was just aware of the fact that she hadn't let go of him before he shifted and scooped her into his arms, standing for the both of them. Blue was certain that he'd had just as much rum as she had, if not more, so how he managed that was a perplexing thought. She kept this concern to herself as he brought them all the way down to the sloop's bowels.

It was easy enough for Z to sit on the bed with her in his grasp. Getting situated otherwise was a more difficult problem, one that Blue didn't even consider right away until he was bringing them both down on the bed. She slipped into her place at his side, legs awkwardly across his waist. One complained, the hip that Graymarrow had threatened to crush, so she moved it. Moving was a chore, though, so Blue lazily tangled the other leg with Z's, finding comfort in his presence. She didn't notice him doing anything about that, mind focused on other matters at hand.

Blue was very aware that she did not fully understand what had just happened. Did Z? She didn't think so. He seemed more confused than she was. At least, so she thought.

For a moment, Blue couldn't help finding some amusement in that. Z had offered to act as a guide for her when they met, and yet, here they were, once more completely baffled by something in this strange Sea. More baffling was the realisation that, despite how they had met and all the trouble he had caused her, Blue really was glad to have him at her side in the current moment of deep uncertainty that they were facing.

She thought this was all more than a little strange until she fell into the void of sleep.


The Sea of Thieves was full of surprises. Just when Blue thought that perhaps she and Z were on even ground, he managed to pull yet another trick out of his ass.

She had thought it strange that he had ascended to the Unicorn tavern with that old banjo in hand. Her head was pounding, though, so Blue hadn't felt up to asking about it. She was glad when he sat down and gave the barkeep a nod after being asked about breakfast.

While they waited for their food, they sat, and neither of them said anything for a long while. Blue couldn't help herself and gestured to the banjo resting beside him on the bench seat.

Z spoke before she needed to. "I'll show ya after we eat."

He had a grin on his face from that moment on, a subtle little thing that Blue couldn't discern the reasoning for. She didn't fret over it, focusing on her breakfast instead, eternally thankful for Tasha's habit of keeping fresh water on hand, the sweet lady.

When they were finished eating, the time came for them to… go? Blue had been wondering what Z meant about 'giving them time to get together,' but she still hadn't asked what he meant exactly and he hadn't been forthcoming about it, either. They stood and she expected for them to go back to the ship and sail off to some place; Z, instead, stepped over to the other side of the tavern, stopped beside the rickety stairs in a somewhat open spot, and waited expectantly for her to join him. When she did, he brought the banjo into his grasp proper, as though to play it.

"What are we—"

"Y' haven't spoken t' the Mysterious Stranger lately, have ya?" Z asked.

Blue was momentarily stunned, more than a little perplexed. "I had to trade the—"

"Besides t' sell the 'Thena?" Z clarified. He had that dumb little grin on his face that said he knew the answer already. Blue scowled and he added a small, "Uh huh."

She gestured to the man in the shadows. "I am sure he is pleasant company, but I do not see what the point of chit chatting…"

Blue let her voice trail off as Z began to pluck at the strings. Whatever the case, he knew what he wanted to do and nothing she had to say was going to change that. Asking what he was doing would probably result in a meaningless response like Just watch, if she had to guess.

When he found the sound he wanted, Z played the instrument properly. It was a pleasant little tune, upbeat, and… and Blue was sure she had heard those notes before, but she couldn't pinpoint when or where that might have been.

Blue nearly threw up out of shock when the stone floor beside them slid open to reveal another set of stairs that led downward. Z saw and laughed, breaking her out of her stupor.

"What—"

"C'mon," he said casually, waving for her to follow as he began descending, as though everything was totally normal. Perhaps, to him, it was.

She stood there for a long moment, considering what she had just witnessed. Perhaps Z did still have plenty of secrets up his sleeve.

Swallowing bile and anxiety, she followed him down.

The way led to a… cave? It seemed like one. Before the path reached a more stony area, there was a cooking fire that hadn't been lit for quite some time. Just past that, water pooled in a rocky area, the way seemingly ending with a waterfall, lit by bioluminescent mushrooms. She found herself dumbfounded. Worse, there was an almost musical tone to the noise produced by it, a tone that got harder to hear the harder she tried to listen to it.

Z hadn't stopped to look at her even once as they descended, but just before the waterfall, he finally stopped, as though something had dawned on him. He finally spared a glance back at her, then shrugged with a faux expression of uncertainty, and stepped through the water.

She stared at the path before her for a long moment. Just as before when she had been faced with something that was certainly a learning lesson from Z, she figured, Why not?

There was something fucky going on. Blue wasn't sure what it was, but once she had gone past the water, she was certain that something had happened. Though she had dipped her chin to avoid getting water on her face, she had blinked when the water hit her, a reflex she hadn't been able to help, but it was as though she hadn't opened her eyes immediately after. It definitely felt as though more time had passed — not a lot, but a few seconds at least.

Before her now was a pathway. It resembled a bridge, planks on the ground and railings on either side of the tunnel, but without the gap to go over. The structure didn't go very far before the tunnel turned hard enough that nothing could be viewed further. Z stood at that corner, hands on his hips, wordlessly impatient. He could not help the smarmy grin. Blue suppressed a sigh as she approached him.

When Blue was closer to him, she started saying, "Are you going to explain—"

"Nope, c'mon," Z said quickly, cutting her off and beginning down the path without her. Blue had to jog to get alongside him; he then added, "Y'll see."

There was the familiar urge to strike him. Blue refrained; Z might be annoying at times like this, but he most certainly did have something to show her. She, supposed, that she did… trust him…

The path opened up into a taller cave very quickly. The 'bridge' was more of a dock, she supposed as she looked into the area. If they followed it all the way down, there was a broken down galleon that they could go to.

Far more interesting was the place before it. Blue had no idea what it was, but it, too, was a galleon, one whose belly had been opened up so that… well, that part she wasn't sure about, but there were people in it. There were tables and chairs and — and over the noise of excited chatter, Blue realised that she heard a band playing with their instruments. Not playing a song, but mucking about with their instruments all the same.

She was struggling to keep up with Z. He wasn't walking that fast, she was just so bewildered. Blue was vaguely aware of him stopping to turn and look at her when he reached the stairs that led up into the first galleon, curious.

Now that they were closer, Blue could see that there was… a bar? At the entryway above them was a placard — more specifically, it was a ship's crest — with a name on it: Athena's Fortune.

Just like with Graymarrow, she had heard the name before. She had heard it less frequently than his — in fact, she couldn't remember where she had heard it before. Or had she read it? She wasn't sure. She was certain that she hadn't heard of Flameheart before, though.

Blue looked to Z just before they began up the steps, asking, "What is this?"

"This is Athena's Fortune," he said, that stupid grin on his face stretching.

"Yes, I read the signage, thank you," she said with some amount of bitterness. Z looked like he had to withhold laughing at her. "What is this place? What purpose does it serve?"

"I'm fuckin' with ya," he said, as though she didn't already know that. Blue wanted to strike him. Continuing, Z said: "This is the Pirate Legend hideout." When Blue gave him a quizzical look, he added, "This is the Pirate Lord's place."

"Oh." That made the most sense to Blue. They had talked about him before — met him, even — and yet Blue still felt as though she knew nothing about the man.

They could have taken a path to their left; where that led, she wasn't sure, nor was she curious enough to pry herself away from Z's side. Instead, they passed by a few other parties and found some empty seats at the bar beside the wall it was built with one of its side against. The area wasn't very large, though, and as she settled in the seat at the wall, Blue heard one man say, "First we hears that Graymarrow's dead, now Flameheart's back?"

There was something very surreal about hearing an unknown party acknowledging what she had experienced. Blue was so glad for the barkeep coming over to them.

"How old are you?"

"Jaysus, Louise, do we have t' do this ev'ry time I come down here?" Z responded.

Blue was so stunned by the question that she wasn't sure she had heard correctly. Then she realised that the barkeep — Louise — was looking at her, too.

"Wh— Y-Yeah, I—"

Louise leaned back from eyeing Blue so hard. "You've got a few grey hairs, so I guess you're old enough t' be down here drinkin' with the rest'a them."

All Blue was sure of was the absolute bewilderment that she felt. For a place filled with pirates — ran by pirates, even — that sure was… gods, she didn't even know what to make of that. She was just glad when Louise brought them both a tankard of grog and went down to the other end of the bar to serve another woman, one dressed in bright purple, gold chains strewn about her. Blue thought she looked both incredible and ridiculous. She must have, too, if she was greying and didn't realise it.

Returning her attention to her drink, Blue cautiously sipped it. Grog wasn't her favourite, but this was easily the finest she had sampled in all her days. A glance at Z and she saw him do similar. With something so pleasant in the mug, she would have expected him to down it in one go.

He caught her eyeing him and shot a "What?" at her.

"I… thought you would enjoy this a little more?"

Z shook his head. "Maybe later. We're here t' find out what's goin' on, right?"

"Right." Blue wrinkled her nose. Z was normally far more careless, reckless and impulsive. Or was it that he was carefree? She supposed that might have been more apt. A moment later and she realised he was looking at her still. She shook her head a little. "I— No, you are right. Getting drunk would do us no good."

Blue reminded herself that they were here, essentially, to gather information. Lowering her inhibitions at all now seemed like a bad idea and she was ashamed for having felt so relaxed here. Z had said this was where Pirate Legends came — surely good times were had here. Perhaps not at the moment, but—

"You got yer dagger, right?" Z asked quietly after leaning towards her.

She responded simply, mimicking his volume, "Always."

Now it occurred to her that while there was a banjo on his back, Z still carried a cutlass. She hadn't thought anything of it — most everyone carried one at all times in the Sea of Thieves, she had noticed — but the people here… they were armed. There were instruments strewn about everywhere, sure, but they were still armed.

"… Do I need to be prepared to use it?"

Z shrugged and rolled his shoulders some. "Just in case. Y' never know when somebody's gonna get a clever idea down here."

"Surely fighting is frowned upon—"

"Maybe, but it's allowed."

"Surely not!"

He shrugged again, and Blue detected some amusement. "It keeps things in'erestin' down here."

Blue sighed and shook her head. No, it seemed she was not going to be drinking at all now.

What exactly they were doing down in Athena's Fortune was something that Blue wasn't sure of for a while. She did not take Z to be the type to be particularly covert, but that seemed to be the idea. When he moved his chair closer to hers and they were shoulder-to-shoulder and quiet still, she decided that was precisely the idea.

She never thought she would be doing this alongside him. Blue was no stranger to being sneaky, spying on people from across tables, but it had always been a lonely task. She really had not given Z enough credit.

An old man was complaining about the rumours of Graymarrow's death, speaking as though it were all false. Blue wasn't sure if she was annoyed or not by that, but she was certain of the perplexity she felt. She could stand up right now, show her face and shoulder to the crowd and tell them all about their battle and what led up to it — but still, some might not believe her, she knew. Even with all the pieces before them, they may choose to think otherwise.

Others, too, spoke of Graymarrow or the crew who slew him in passing. For many, this was the first time they had gathered to speak of it. Blue found this all very curious. They spoke of other things, too, of their own exploits and failures. Occasionally, someone tried to bring up Flameheart, but no one seemed willing to talk about him in earnest yet.

At one point, Blue looked to Z. She wasn't sure how he had dealt with such a large horde of skeletons being sicced on him, but he had, and just in time to save her hide, too.

He noticed her gaze and looked back, an eyebrow quirked. Before he could speak, someone else did.

"Enough chit-chat!" an older man hollered, coming to stand on a table. After twisting around in her seat for a better view, Blue found that she quite appreciated that. Something about him being so high up spoke to her. He paused to look around the area. "I ain't seen a gatherin' like this in years. We all know why we're here."

"It's 'cause'a that Flameheart!" someone with a vaguely feminine voice shouted from the far side. The crowd uttered their agreements.

"I think it's kind of funny," a woman said, gesturing with her hook hand, "that Flameheart's come back just after all these whisperings of the Shores of Gold and Graymarrow and the Fort of the Damned." Those around her muttered their agreements. "How do we know it isn't all connected?"

"What if it is?" the man on the table said.

Blue was having a hard time focusing until she pinpointed where her mind was going: Stitcher Jim. When they had found him and his beloved on Castaway Isle, he had told them of Old Boot, about how it was twisted into Fort of the Damned and a ritual could be performed to stop it. He had definitely been lying.

Somehow, Blue didn't think she ought to mention it.

In the moments she had spent retreated in her mind, the crowd had become somewhat rowdy. Some were shouting about how Graymarrow death was awfully conveniently timed before Fort of the Damned and Flameheart. Some were trying to convey their distress of Flameheart's return while others were fighting to understand who he was in the first place. Someone decided to point out one woman's lack of knowledge with particular savagery and a sword was drawn.

Blue and Z happened to look at each other at the same time.

"I am unsure that we are going to learn anything useful here," Blue said quietly, so very glad they were tucked away into a corner.

"Same," Z said simply. Blue wondered if he wanted to join the fray for no reason other than because he could. He asked, "Y' wanna get out of here?"

She sighed. "Has this truly been a waste of our time?"

Z brought a hand up to this chin and his eyes went to the side, where another path lay. He looked at Blue a moment later and she nodded.

They stood and carefully, they darted to the path they had gone by originally. Surrounding a table was a group of three pirates. There was one chair, on the far side of the table, and in it sat the Pirate Lord.

Why didn't they just come to him in the first place?!

Blue wanted to strike something. Someone? Probably Z. She refrained and remained standing politely. Z stepped forward with a casual wave, stopping when the pirates already there turned to him, some of their hands going to their weapons.

"We were here first, mate," one man said sternly.

Z had raised his hands apologetically, but he couldn't help grinning, scoffing, clearly not taking them seriously. Blue stepped up beside him.

"We have no interest in fighting," she said quickly, fighting to keep her tone gentle. When only curious looks were shot at her, she continued, saying, "We, too, are looking for information regarding Captain Flameheart's return."

All moved to respond, but the Pirate Lord was the quickest, leaning forward. "I'm afraid I haven't much to give." When the entirely room was shocked, he continued: "It's only been a day since his grand return. I have already sent able-bodied pirates to seek information on my behalf—"

"No way y're surprised by this," Z shot with harsh accusation. Blue was astonished when the Pirate Lord didn't take offence to his words.

"What is it you want to know?"

Z held his hands up as if to say Isn't it obvious? He sputtered a little, as though he didn't think that he would get his far, so Blue spoke up.

"How is he back?"

The Pirate Lord shook his head. "That I do not know. Yet. I aim to uncover all the mystery—" He stopped himself when Z scoffed, spun on his heel and made his way out of the room.

All eyes had gone to Z when he did that. When Blue looked back at that side of the room, all eyes went to the Pirate Lord. She was torn between staying, asking the burning question, Who is Flameheart? but Z's reaction was so distressing. She could, she realised, come back later when those questions could be answered with more certainty.

Everything had become so complicated.

Decisively, Blue politely nodded to everyone in the room before she turned and left.