~~~Sausage's POV~~~

I dropped the sack holding the Heron in the center of my boat and stepped back to regard it. It was a very good sack. Big and brown and sack-y. Very nice sack.

I was not freaking out at all. I was not at all panicked about abducting the Heron I had been watching for months and been too scared to approach, and I had definitely not kidnapped him now for a treasure hunt. This wasn't happening.

The sack did not disappear. What a terrible sack.

Well, this was happening now, it seemed. Might as well gather the rest of the crew, so there would be people around to keep the Heron from murdering me.

Thankfully, I had also dropped a smoke bomb in the bag when I put the Heron in, so he should stay unconscious for a good hour or so; plenty of time to gather everyone else and set sail.

Hopping onto the dock, I walked quickly to the Kestrel tavern. The sun was just beginning to peak over the mountain on the center of the island. Several people would swear it was a volcano and not a mountain, but they were probably drunk, because it never smoked and therefore couldn't be a volcano.

Joey would have migrated to his luxurious bedrooms sometime after I had left the main bar. Hopefully he had left the tavern alone, although knowing Joey, that was highly unlikely.

I knocked on Joey's door, and after waiting several minutes, rapped it again. He didn't answer. I prayed to the Sun God I wouldn't see anything I couldn't clean out of my brain with ship bleach, and, looking around, seeing no one, I knelt by the doorknob as I pulled my lockpicks out of my pocket and slid them into the lock.

Joey had very good locks on his door, to keep out thieves and friends alike, but I was better than both, and I got the door open in only a couple of minutes.

Stepping inside on silent feet, sneaking past the gold-covered entrance room of Joey's apartment, I walked to where I knew Joey's bedroom was, from past experience, and was about to knock on the door when someone walked into me turning around the corner.

Turning around quickly, I reached for the person's mouth, standard silencing procedure for when one ran into people in a thieving job, before remembering that, no, I wasn't trying to rob Joey, I wanted to find him, and with that I took two steps back.

Unfortunately for me, Joey was not too happy with running into me, and he tried to swing at me with his fist. I dodged, and catched the second one.

"It's me! Don't hit me, I spent waay too long on my makeup-" I said quickly backing away with my hands up.

"What are you doing in my rooms?" Joey demanded. He reached for his side, where Joey normally kept his sword, but it seemed I had interrupted him in something, because he wasn't wearing more than a pair of pants, and his hair was disheveled.

"I told you not to get busy, Joey! Come on-" I said, annoyed. Joey knew we were going to set sail in the morning; we planned it together the night before, before I had gone off to prepare the ship for sunrise.

"You got the crew?" Joey asked, ignoring my annoyance and walking over to his kitchen and pouring two glasses with brandy. He passed one to me and leaned against the counter, sipping it speculatively.

"I've got one- two, including you- and a list. I'm going to grab everyone else now," I said, downing my glass in one gulp before putting it down on the countertop.

I pulled a sheet of crumpled paper out of my pocket. The front was a half finished sketch of the cute Heron, but on the back I had scribbled a few names, the people I wanted for this treasure hunt.

Myself, Joey, and a pair of twins I had met a few times, named Scott and Xornoth. The Heron wasn't a part of the plan- I had seen him out walking alone and, well, inspiration struck. I'll have to explain that to Joey once he's aboard... I'm sure he wouldn't mind much~

"I'm going to get these two now," I said, tapping the twins' names on the paper. "You get yourself ready and meet me at the Moondancer in 30?"

The Moondancer was my ship, a big powerful boat that didn't need much to get moving, and could practically sail itself with a little help and some setting up. It's always good to have a crew, though, and I'd probably need help finding the treasure and hauling it back.

Joey nodded agreement, and I turned to leave, but before I could go, Joey said, "How did you even get in, by the way? My door is locked, I made sure of that last night-"

Throwing a smirk behind me as I reached the doorway, I said, "Was locked, and nothing can keep me out when I want to be in."

Leaving Joey in his rooms, I locked the door behind me again and strolled down to my own rooms, a few doors away.

My stuff was already packed and stored aboard the Moondancer, so I didn't need to get anything, but I wanted to grab my sketchbook, and maybe a few pencils. It wouldn't be too hard to hide it from everyone. My sketchbook was my pride and joy, all my artwork stored in one notebook, occasionally with pages glued in because I didn't have the book with me and I needed to draw something.

The vast majority of sketches inside were of the ridiculously pretty Heron, but there were a few others too; birds flying, a sleeping fox I had seen once, the Heron's ship, piles of gold and jewelry, and a few others.

Tucking it into my coat, I grabbed my pencil case, adding that in with the book, and, grabbing my hat on the way out, I opened my window and hopped out onto the railing, climbing down the trellis I had installed next to it for exactly that purpose.

A thief should always have multiple exits, after all.

Reaching the ground, I walked out into the courtyard, waving to Alison, who was standing in her usual spot by the well, talking to another Kestrel, Oli. They waved back, and I continued on. Scott and Xornoth were both Herons, so I'd probably find them somewhere in the Heron base, hopefully not passed out drunk. That would be inconvenient, since I didn't have any more sacks.

Reaching the town, I passed the quest board, where people could put things they needed to be done or rumors to be investigated, and someone would complete them for money and a share of whatever they found.

The Heron base wasn't far after that, just a quick walk through the forest. I passed the signs, walked by the spot I abducted the cute Heron the night before, a lizard sunning itself on the boulder propped by the path.

The open area that was the entrance to the Heron base was deserted, except for two men talking on the far side, next to what could've been either a market stall or a wagon. Walking up to them, I said, "Hello! Would either of you happen to be Herons, by any chance?"

The man on the left, a dark brown-haired man with brown eyes, snorted and said, "Take a look around, mate. Where do you think you are?"

Wonderful, a smartass. I gave him a deadpan look and said, "The Sun God's holy temple in the sky."

The man on the right, a blond with warm citrine-colored eyes, laughed softly. "This is indeed the Heron base," he said in a melodious voice. "I'm Gabriel, and this is Owen. How can we help you?"

"Great, great, nice to meet you, I'm Sausage- Do you know where I could find two Herons named Scott and Xornoth?"

"Will you go away if we tell you? We were in the middle of a conversation, you know." Owen said, glaring at Sausage. "Aren't you that Kestrel who tried to rob me a while ago?"

I quickly put a mask of innocence on my face and said, "Rob? Me? Why would I need to rob a Heron? I'm rich!"

"There's no need to argue," Gabriel said softly. "Scott and Xornoth would be in their house, a bit down that path, with the orange banner.

I smiled at Gabriel, noticed Owen's jealous glare, and decided to wink at Gabriel. "Thank you for your assistance, my friend. I hope I see you around sometime- maybe in the tavern?"

Owen began to say something, looking outraged, but I turned around and walked away, snickering to myself.

I, of course, had no interest in anyone other than my mysterious Heron crush, so Owen's Gabriel was safe from me, but it was funny to see the look on his face as I flirted with Gabriel.

I sped up, jogging through the path with the orange banner above, and found a small cabin tucked into the greenery. There was a garden in the front that I could see winding around to the back, and the chimney had a trail of soft gray smoke floating up from it.

I walked up the porch and knocked on the door. It only took a second for a blue-haired man to open the door- Scott. "Hi- Sausage, right?"

I nodded. "That's me. Do you remember, about a week or so ago, I told you about a hidden island?"

Scott's eyes lit up. "You found it?"

"Well, I found a map to it. Or, rather, my friend Joey did. How fast can you and your sibling pack?"

~~~

Scott and Xornoth got packed very quickly- probably the thought of being the first to discover a new island had them on their toes.

The sun was just over the horizon when we reached the dock, Scott and Xornoth dropping their bags by the mast, and stopping to stare at the writhing sack on the deck. Joey was standing next to it with an expression of amused confusion.

"Is this yours?" Joey asked me, gesturing to the sack in question.

Sacks really are useful. They're hardy, they're great for carrying treasure, food, or humans. They take ages to rip through, they dry really fast, and apparently they can keep an entire fully conscious human trapped in as long as it's tied well from the outside.

I wondered why the man inside wasn't yelling. He certainly was trying to get out, though.

"Sooo, we have a fifth team member-" I said, stepping over to the sack and slicing it open with my belt knife.

In less than three seconds the redheaded man inside had lunged out and pinned me to the deck, a knife pressed to my throat hard enough to draw blood. He glared furiously at me, blue eyes blazing with fury.

So I did the only thing I could think of to keep myself alive for a few moments longer.

I kissed him.