"Now, your highness, I suggest you tell me how to actually get to Kinete or at least describe it to me," you stated, standing up straight and keeping your daggers unsheathed. "I'm sure my two companions behind me would love to get their hands on you, since you just tried to have me killed."

"I swear I was told that the whirlpool led to Kinete. Granted, I was also told about the monsters inside the vortex. Still, you said you wanted to go there, and it would get you out of my city, so..."

"So, you thought not to warn me about my definite death, and you expect me to believe you?"

Terror raced through her autumn eyes, as she took a couple of steps back from you. Her face paled more upon seeing the brothers' expressions. You couldn't view them due to having your back turned to them, but you suspected they were filled with blood lust. Regardless, you saw her give you a pleading look, but she wasn't saying anything more. Did she really think that the whirlpool was Kinete? Could it actually be? No, that couldn't be the case. Dropping into that thing would mean certain death. The sea monster would strike at anything that entered, and you doubted that your queen's weapon could quell such a beast.

Deciding to quickly go over the song in your head, you knew that you had already blown a whistle and turned wings. Could there be something more? Glancing over at the trembling queen, your eyes landed on the white rose petal necklace. Your eyes widened upon noticing that they were in the shape of wings.

"Where did you get that necklace of yours?" you questioned in a demanding tone.

"It's been passed down through my ancestors."

"Of course," you muttered in a slightly irritated voice, since everything seemed to come down from her previous generations. "Follow me into the captain's cabin," you added before turning on your heel and going towards the said room on the ship.

The brothers followed in after the Queen in case she attempted anything. Her guards still lay unconscious on the deck, but you had little concern for them at the moment. They could be treated to once you solved this present puzzle. While the brothers were closing the door, you looked around the space only to find it empty of any furnishings. Just wooden floors, ceilings and walls greeted you along with the paned windows at the back. Going over to them, you looked out at the chaotic waves below before signaling the Queen over to you.

Hesitantly, she stepped towards you while you motioned for her to remove the necklace. Reluctantly, she did so. After placing it in your left hand, she created some distance between you two. With the item now in your possession, you turned the wings over to see small handwriting on the back. The ink had faded with time, but it was still legible. Granted, due to the limited writing space it was also brief. You read:

Kinete, dark forests, on grassy earth, rest atop while stone steps, illuminated by torches, lead downwards. Monsters and enemies stand at every turn in paths. At the end you may find rest.

It wasn't much to go on, but it was all you had. Moreover, it was better than jumping into a whirlpool with a horrendous creature lurking inside. Decreasing the distance between the Queen and you, you handed her back the necklace.

"Maybe next time, you should check both sides. It would've saved the both of us a lot of time. Now, that I have the information I need, you may wake up your guards and head back to your beloved city. As promised, you won't ever see us again."

"Wait, I haven't taken charge of this ship. I don't know how to operate it," the Queen complained while inching away from the three of you.

"It's easy. Steer the wheel, press the pedal, and have your guards man the levers. Besides, I wouldn't have been here to help anyway if I had jumped into the maelstrom. Furthermore, your guards and you would be dead by now."

Visibly gulping, the Queen clenched her left hand around the necklace before holding her head up high and exiting the captain's cabin. She closed the door behind her, leaving you with the brothers. Sheathing your daggers, you let out a sigh before glancing out the windows. The rain was still pouring down in torrents and hitting the glass with clear ferocity. Pushing some wet strands of hair away from your face, you watched some more of the waves crash against each other. Inside the cabin, it felt even more peaceful, especially since you no longer had to deal with the Queen. You now knew that there were sea monsters below you, but they didn't ruin the beauty of the ocean. If anything, they added to the mystery of the dark waters. Granted, you wouldn't want to swim in the water, but viewing it was relaxing.

"Are you ready to head out, then, my dear lady? Or, should we go ahead and kill her?" Heart inquired, as he joined you by the windows of the cabin.

"She's gone from our lives now. There's no need to end her life. Regardless, I'm ready to go to the next destination. It's a pity we couldn't have started out on this ship to begin with, though."

"Miss _____, I'm sure we still have many interesting sights to see on this journey. We still have two places to explore after all," Diamond mentioned, giving you one of his characteristic smiles.

"Yeah," you uttered simply before going over the details of Kinete in your mind. Calling the name out lightly and seeing that the portal appeared, you continued, "Let's get going, then."

                                                                            ~~~~~~~~~~

After all of you had entered the portal, the three of you found yourselves in front of a beige stone structure. The stones were piled up in a cube-like design while two torches glowed on each side of the entrance. More torches illuminated the beige stone steps descending into darkness. Around this structure was an abundance of trees, and farther into the forest, one could only see silhouettes of the tree trunks while everything else remained invisible to the eyes. Furthermore, grass covered the ground, not leaving a patch of dirt visible.

Frankly, though, the grass under the brothers and you was getting a good drink due to all three of you dripping water. Sadly, the portal wasn't kind enough to dry all of you off. Thus, you were currently wringing your hair out. On the bright side, however, the air in this world was rather warm, so you were drying off quicker than you expected to. With this in mind, you saw no need to take time and change your clothes. You wanted to get past the foes that you would face down below and earn yourself a well deserved rest, which the necklace mentioned was at the end of the depths of Kinete. Still, you were rather tired at the moment. In fact, you hadn't slept since back on Iris's wagon in Daloria. Unluckily for you, the exhaustion was beginning to get to you.

To add to your list of nuisances, the brothers noticed your current state. Before you could take one step onto the stairs, both brothers held you back. Heart had seized your left arm and Diamond your right. You tried to get out of their grips, but they held onto you tightly. Thus, you sent a glare in each of their directions before mumbling a few choice words at them.

"Miss ____, you're worn out. We have no idea what resides in those depths. Thus, if you wish to fight anything in there, you must rest first. There isn't a set time limit to enter them, so regain some of your strength. I'm sure opening portals to other worlds zaps some of your energy as well."

"We can rest once we reach the end of Kinete. I'll be fine until, then," you remarked, as you made another attempt to get out of their grasp.

"We're only asking for you to rest for a couple of hours, my dear lady. We can protect you to the best of our ability, but should something get around us and you're too tired to fight, we don't want to think of the outcome. You were able to take out the Queen's guards with ease, but your movements were noticeably slower than usual. Please, don't make us knock you out."

Understanding that they really would knock you unconscious if you resisted for too much longer, you inwardly sighed and replied, "Fine, but just for a few hours, then you two must promise to wake me up."

"Agreed," they answered in unison before releasing you.

Keeping this in mind, you pulled out a purple and black horizontal striped sleeping bag from your pack. Unzipping it, you laid it out as a blanket before taking out a small black pillow from your backpack. Resting your head on it, you turned over onto your left side and drifted off into sleep rather quickly.

As for the brothers, Diamond pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time while Heart took a seat on the ground close to you. Once Diamond had seen the time, he placed the pocket watch back into one of his tailcoat pockets before joining his brother on the ground. Since both saw you fast asleep, they smiled lightly before playing another game of matching with Heart's deck of cards, which had sweets printed on them.