Steam curled in the air, dancing back and forth between the bowls of sailors as they huddled for warmth against the frigid winter seas. While twenty or so men occupied the main deck, fifteen others laid below, recovering from injuries that had been inflicted from the King and his men in Aldriya's sister continent, Aynstrid. Hidden away in her private quarters, Captain Shiri sat hunched over her desk with official seals and scrolls, her pen scribbling ink left and right. Her own bowl of steaming soup sat forgotten as she slammed the instrument down and shoved aside the remaining papers and inkwells on her desk.

"It never works," she shrieked, fingers flying through her hair furiously, "It never works!"

Marching back and forth, she began to laugh maniacally as layers of ink coated her feet and slid across the hardwood floors. Her eyes landed on the bowl, still sitting precariously on the edge of her desk, and she snatched it up, raising it above her head with a battle cry just as the door to her room opened.

"You enjoying yourself there, Shae?"

Shiri scowled, "Shut the fuck up," and she threw the bowl at the newcomer's head. The man ducked while the bowl shattered, drawing a sigh of disappointment from Shiri. "First you insult me with your presence, and then you don't even have the guts to stand in the way of a bowl of soup. Now my hallway is going to reek of pork broth for days. I hope you're happy, Jin."

Jin chuckled, shutting the door and saluting her with his bow. "Wouldn't have it any other way, Captain. But I'm sure you know why I'm here, yes?"

"To haunt me for the rest of my days," she grumbled, plopping down into her chair and letting out a hoarse shout, "Why does my life have to be so hard?"

"I mean, you aren't wrong with the haunting regards, but I would consider it as more of a permanent companionship type of deal," Jin said, crouching next to Shiri's slack form. "You didn't think you could get rid of me so easily in death did you?"

Shiri looked over at him, her eyes skimming over the small collection of smiling lines at the corner of his lips, the light glimmering in those crystal blue eyes and the thin white scar that stretched across his neck. "No, I didn't want to get rid of any of you. If I'd had my way you and Ty would still be here."

"Captain?" There was a knock at the door, and then Hal was leaning in, his brows drawn together as he studied Shiri closely. "Are you all right?"

Shiri chuckled and pinched the bridge of her nose, rubbing at who knows what. "Yes, Hal, I'm fine. Just decided to do a little bit of spring cleaning that's all."

Hal nodded. "I was only curious as it sounded like you were talking to someone. Was there anyone you wanted me to address a letter or official document to?"

"No, there's no one," Shiri murmured. Jin stood on the other side of the room, making sure to lean against her case of swords with that same half-assed grin slapped across his face. "If anything, I was only talking to the ghosts that take great pride in haunting me." Jin's hand flew to his chest with a gasp, while the other hand went up to his forehead. "Who ever would do such a thing?" he mocked. "I can shoot them straight through if you'd like, Madam."

With a quick bow, Hal slid back out into the hallway, oblivious to the galivanting ghoul in the room. "I'll have one of the men come clean this up, but Captain—."

"What?" she snapped, jaw tight as Jin wandered up to Hal with a glint in his eye.

  Hal frowned, swatting a hand over his head while Jin continued to run his hand through the man's hair.  "Are you sure everything is all right?"

    "Right as rain," she assured him, smiling as she turned back towards her desk, her hands held tightly by her side.

    "Alright," he said, while Shiri glanced over her shoulder, watching Jin start to follow him out. With a growl, she grabbed one of the empty inkwells from the floor and threw it at his head, spinning back around when Hal looked over at her with growing concern. He stared at her for a moment longer, the door nearly closed behind him when he murmured, "Captain, we'll be closing in on the last port in Aynstrid before nightfall. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

    Shiri smirked and shook her head. "I'm not sure of anything anymore, Hal, I thought at least that would be clear." She straightened up in her chair. "If you had to make this choice, one that you knew would result in the death or enslavement of thousands, would you do it?"

    Silence met her answer, and if it hadn't been for the light tap of his foot against the floor as he thought, Shiri might have thought he left, but he soon cleared his throat and the tapping came to a stop. "I wouldn't wish to make that decision. I was blessed to be born in the lower class, Madam. Someone whose decisions didn't determine the rise or fall of an empire. I'm truly sorry that it's your shoulders the weight of the world must fall on now, but I will do my best to shoulder it with you. Till the end."

    "You can go now, Hal," she whispered.

    He bowed and exited without another word, leaving Shiri alone to mull over her thoughts. Not that she wanted to. If she could she would shove all her duties off on Hal, or someone who actually knew what they were doing. Instead, it all fell on her, and where was she meant to stand in this divide? The very place she stood years ago when her parents bargained for her life with a trinket that held a power none of them could begin to fathom.

    Shouting fell through the floorboards, drawing a groan from Shiri as she stared down at her palms. Ink had smeared across her hands, swirling, soaking and seeping into her fingerprints. She smirked and brought them up to her face, creating thick lines that travelled over the sharp planes of her cheekbones and the dark circles beneath her eye sockets.

    "Someone definitely seems to be taking the news well," Jin said, leaning against the desk with a crooked grin. "Careful there, don't want your war paint to be dripping all over the nicely refurbished desk of yours."

    Shiri laughed, rubbing the palms of her hands over her face one last time. "I need to make sure I look great for the troops."

    "I'm sure you do," Jin replied, twirling around and dashing over to the wall where his beloved balsa bow hung. "But did you know that one of your men, undoubtedly, is going to attempt to stage a mutiny?"

    "You act as though I hadn't heard about that weeks ago." Shiri shrugged, swiping a damp cloth across her face. She threw the cloth on her desk as she bent down to grab the remaining papers on the floor. Each one had the seal of the King of Aynstrid across it, despite his unfortunate demise several years before, thanks to Hal and his handiness during their last trip in the kingdom when he was able to retrieve a copy of the seal from one of his insiders.

    A shot of air whizzed past Shiri's ear, earning Jin a dark scowl as she yanked a red feathered arrow from the wall, inches away from her head. "When I said you were going to haunt me for the rest of my days, I didn't expect that you would be just as tired of my company as I was of yours and end your torture so quickly."

    "Caught onto my plan that swiftly, eh?"

    "If only," she muttered, inspecting the letters again as closely as she could. "If I actually knew your plan, I don't think you'd be here harassing me as much, so I suppose I'm grateful on some sort of level for your otherworldly guidance. "

    Jin scooted up next to Shiri, shoving her in the shoulder with a smirk as he took up two of the scrolls. "So, if I were to take an educated guess, and this is a very highly one in case you were curious, I'd say you were looking for a way to draw up a fake set of battle plans so that the little rat amongst your sailors drowns before he ever tastes the sweet rewards of his scheming and plotting. Yes?"

    "Aren't you ever the genius," she growled. She had already picked up the few pens that had withstood her fury, while she had to find an inkwell that would be able to take a beating or two. Without ink, maybe it would've been more comical for her to make up the belief that she only wrote her true battle plans in her enemies blood. That would then mean she'd have to go about killing more of them though if that were true, and it'd be much harder to keep that going in rumor mill if she really wanted to find the imposter and hang his innards from the crow's nest.

    "I'm more into figuring out why he wants them, as opposed to tricking him into taking these to his employer," Shiri said, glancing through Jin. "It would be helpful if I was able to find the employer too, but at the moment I'm concerned with more important matters as I'm sure you've already seen through whatever ghostly newspaper you read things about the mortal world in."

   "It's called The Sailor's Shit, and it's actually really good so I take offense to that," Jin retorted, his nose scrunching. "In fact, did you know that those dead journalists have a better rep than any of the pompous asses you call writers out there nowadays? They'd have had this information back and in your hands before you could even think of why you needed to worry about it in the first place."

    Shiri rose a brow, tapping the paper in front of her. "They'd be able to get me information on the rat and his crew?"

    "They'd be able to tell you how his mistress likes to take her morning tea," Jin said, snatching one of the pens from her desk before scribbling back and forth over the parchment. "You could discover where his first born child resides, whether he likes his hair up or down, or even which direction he feels he needs to pray for the gods to hear him best." Jin looked up to Shiri and grinned, his teeth flashing as he murmured, "Anything is a possibility in the spirit realm, Shae, you just need to know where and when to ask. Nothing is too far from your reach."

    "How do I know that I can trust you, though," She whispered, watching as his markings spread out over her maps, tracing all the way back to the heart of the kingdom she once called home. "How do I know this isn't a trap set up by her?"

    Jin stepped back, allowing her the space to study as he brought his bow up for her to see. "I wouldn't lie to you, cousin. These marks on my bow represent the siblings I lost, a few of the many lives that your father deemed worthy of death." He bent down on his knees, bringing the bend of the bow to his brow. "I swear to you that I'm here to help, to bring his crimes to justice once and for all," His eyes filled with tears as he smiled, "to avenge Ty and to find Elise before it's all too late."

    Water pricked the corners of Shiri's eyes as she sobbed and clutched the paper to her chest. "My father was truly a monster, wasn't he?"

    Moving to her side, Jin laid an arm over her shoulders, and although it was only a light brush over her skin, Shiri could swear she had never felt closer to a person in her lifetime. He placed a soft kiss to her forehead and took her hand as best he could. "Not to you he wasn't, Shae. It takes a pretty special kind of person to find the good in everyone else, especially when it's someone you love." Moonlight streamed through the circular window that sat just above her desk, illuminating her face in what felt to her like overwhelming darkness. "He screwed up. As did your mother, and they felt that what they were doing was okay, that it would be justified by their continued possession of power and the safety of the nobility. They were wrong, but that doesn't mean you need to keep beating yourself up over the mistakes they made."

    They aren't your mistakes, Shae. They've never been your mistakes as you continue to show with every step you take. Sure, maybe you've fallen here and there, but you made the choices you felt were the best, and those decisions saved lives, even if there were some that needed to be lost for that to happen." He smiled and bopped her on the nose. "I would happily give my life again if it meant others would be safe. So stop tearing yourself down and remember who the real enemy is. Because it isn't you."

    Shiri wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, chuckling. "Whatever you say, dipshit." Jin winked and shoved a small plastic container into her hand, and her grin grew even wider as she pushed him towards the door. "Now let's go catch that son of a bitch with the best that we've got."

    She holstered her pistol and tightened the soul-blackened steel of her sword to her side as she stepped out into the hall, smudges of ink still clinging to her cheeks.

    "Wouldn't want to keep them waiting now would we?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elise was fairly certain she was going to die. And if she hadn't yet, then she prayed that whatever gods could hear her would end her as soon as possible.

Light spilled from a small, oval-shaped window at the top of her cell as she lay curled against a thick cement wall.

Her hands shook and her muscles ached. No matter how hard she clenched them together they wouldn't stop shaking, and her mind just continued to spiral down deeper off the tracks of sanity.

"It was all your fault, wasn't it?" She whispered, her cracked and bloody knuckles resting against her cheeks. "All your fault that your brothers are gone. No one left to help you or heal you."

"At least you can manage to understand that much," a sharp, nasally voice sneered, drawing Elise's attention to the figure standing next to the door of her cell.

The figure clapped slowly, materializing out of the shadows as her soot grey skirt skimmed the puddles of water and piss. "Now that I have your attention, are you ready to speak the truth to me, Elise? Or am I going to have to leave you down here for another month so that you are able to learn your lesson?"

Shivering, Elise curled up into a ball, the chains around her wrists clanking and tearing away at her skin. "Would hate for all of your hard work to go to waste," she murmured, an abrupt giggle bursting from her lips. "Maybe you should try waving that special trinket of yours again and see if your daughter from the past will return to you. Or if the traitor still remains in her wake."

First there was darkness, and then searing pain as Elise was flung against one of the cold, iron-barred walls surround her. The figure stormed forward, arm raised as they grabbed Elise by the jaw and lifted her to her feet.

"Once a traitor, always a traitor. That spoiled brat was no longer my daughter the moment she was deceived into following your ragtag band of misfits through gods knows where." The figure smirked then, their hand tightening in delight as Elise cried out. "It would be so easy to leave you here to die. But then where would I be? No more information than I had yesterday and another body on my hands.

"Regardless, I'm going to ask again." The figure's face fell into the light, highlighting a woman with thick auburn curls and piercing green eyes. "Where is Shiri? And what is she planning to do once she reaches my kingdom?"

Elise smirked and poked her finger into the palm of the woman's hand once, twice, three times before the woman started to lower her. Once her feet touched the floor, she fell to her knees, the muscles in her legs already lost in the grips of atrophy. "It was all my fault, You Majesty," she murmured.

The woman, known better as the hated Queen herself, growled, teeth pulled back as she dropped into Elise's line of vision. "Your pathetic. Of course it was your fault. Nearly everything that has been a part of my grand plan for these last two decades has been ruined by you and your cowardly bloodline. How could any of this not be your blame to bear?"

A hollow, yet thick despair settled into Elise's gut, crawling through muscles, veins and sinew before squirming up into the heart of her lungs and squeezing with all its might. She pressed a fist into her chest as a tear shot down her face. "I knew it was my fault. My fault, my fault, my fault..."

"Just talk to me, you useless girl!" The Queen shouted, shaking her by the shoulders. "What good are you to me if you turn into nothing more than a blabbering mess of nerves?"

But Elise was beyond hearing anymore, her limbs stiff and breathing shallow as tears spilled over onto the palms of her opened hands. "It was all my fault... Mamán died and Papa died, along with Ty and Cat and Killie and Kaliah and so many more—."

"Shut up!"

    Lightning flashed and the winds howled, almost as if the very power of the sea was being drawn to command. Elise sniffed, rubbing at her nose as a young gangly boy with the world at his fingertips danced through her mind's eyes. He shouted about Rán the sea goddess and the sailors she wished to consume, and how he loved to chew and slurp a rice chicken stew. If only she could hold onto a moment of time and never let it go, Elise thought.

    But when she raised her head in search of the boy, he was nowhere in sight. Instead, she now sat in the belly of a ship, it's hardwood floor shoving slivers into her fingertips while the waves rolled and bucked, sending her stomach up into her throat as the Queen's shrieks of anger rose.

    She held the silver watch tightly in her first, fiddling with the hands of the clock as she glared down at Elise. "If I cannot convince you of the importance of my mission, then I suppose I'll just have to rip the answer out of you."

     Elise's head shot up, a scream clamoring up her throat as the Queen grabbed her by the throat, cutting her free from the floor and dragging her above onto the main deck.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Make sure they're all in their proper places," Shiri said, her hand holding tight to the coin around her neck as Hal stepped away from her, bowing low.

"Of course, Captain. Should I request anything else be done before we meet the Queen's Armada?"

Shiri turned to look out over the waves, the salty sea drifting up to her on the breeze while a lazy grin floated over her face. "Lower the platform, and call the five sailors from the lower decks up to their positions at the Siren." Her sword shook in its sheath while the coin around her neck quaked at the venom in her voice as she said, "It's time to summon an old friend."

A darker grin overtook Hal's face for a moment before he nodded. "As you wish."

Voices lifted as Hal scurried below deck, shouting for the sailors while the rest of the men hurried to their positions to prepare for the upcoming battle.

Adjusting her hat and making sure the feather fluttered in the wind just right, Shiri then tugged the necklace over her head and smoothed a finger over the coin. Each pulse it sent through her fingers only made the inferno inside her rage further, screaming for a way out, a path of destruction she was more than alright with taking.

"But do you think that would be the best idea?"

Shiri rolled her eyes, casting a glance over at Jin as he adjusted his bow, the dark shading of the balsa wood a hilarious contrast to the lack of color in his translucent skin.

"Who says I can't take down a kingdom or two while I'm up here?" She asked, fiddling again with the coin. "A girl can dream can't she?"

Jin tilted his head, lost in thought for a moment. "I suppose you could, yes. But what good would that do you?"

Shiri shrugged. "You always ruin my fun. I'd swear that you purposely do it anytime we're together."

"I'm not revealing all my secrets in one go," Jin swore, smiling as the five sailors from below had begun to pull at the handles of a five foot tall wooden music box shaped in the figure of an otherworldly female, with a diamond-shaped mirror in one hand and a human heart in the other.

Shiri tipped her hat to him, one hand resting on the pommel of her sword. "And neither will I." She shook her head and stepped up to the wheel of her ship, reaching a hand out behind her. "Would you care to join me?"

"Yes," Jin said with a grin, moving up to her side as he gave her a quick kiss, something that had quickly become his signature sign of affection. "Are you ready for me to make my move?"

Shiri paused, flipping the coin in her hand for one more moment, staring into its silver surface just as a sickly sweet melody sprung from the music box. Foam spewed out of its mouth, collecting at the wooden female's feet when Shiri looked to Jin and nodded, clenching the coin once more.

"Keep her safe," she whispered, her eyes igniting as she secured the last of the grey buttons on her jacket. "I'm not sure how long I'll be able to hold off the Queen and the Armada, I can only hope the summoning works. If it doesn't, then it's up to you and Hal to finish this. To finish it once and for all."

Nocking an arrow, Jin nodded, a solemn air falling over his frame as he descended the stairs. "We'll finish it, we'll make sure of it. But don't give up yet, Shae. We've still got a road to follow."

Trumpets sounded over the calm waters, drawing Shiri's attention away from her archer and to the horizon, where the sun had begun to set and dozens of ships sat, waiting for her approach.

Inhaling sharply, Shiri turned her ship towards the main vessel of the Armada, the one that was guaranteed to be holding her mother and Elise, if her calculations had been correct.

"Men! To your stations!"

A similar order sounded from the Armada as thousands of sailors ran back and forth, making sure everything was right before preparing to fire.

Silver light flashed across the sky just as a tall, lithe figure appeared at the wheel of the main ship. From here, it looked as if nothing had changed about her in the two years since Shiri had attempted to kill her, but if she drew closer, she had a feeling there would be wrinkles blossoming over her weathered skin.

If only time had killed the old crone.

"Hello, Shae! How are you doing darling? Your father and I have missed you." The Queen yelled from her ship, her teeth bared in the shape of a smile, though it looked just as friendly as a shark attempting to make friends with its dinner.

Taking a step away from the wheel, Shiri watched as her music box fell silent and the foam slid to a stop. She grinned as she raised her hand. "Hello, Mamán. I've missed you, although I can't say the same for Papa. I'm afraid death brings much more to the light than one would think."

She could swear she heard her mother's tsking from here. "But Shiri, you know that what your father and I did for you was only for your safe keeping, and the protection of our people. Yes?"

"Of course, Mamán," Shiri said, a thin piece of wood hidden in the center of her palm. "I know that everything you and Papa did was for my benefit." A knot caught in her throat as her ship drew closer and her mother was only a few feet away now, her eyes catching the dwindling light. If Shiri had still been a hopeful person, she might have thought it was love she saw deep in the Queen's swirling brown irises. "All I ever wanted was to live a simple life with you and Papa, Mamán. That's all I ever wanted," Shiri murmured.

"Oh Shiri," The Queen sighed, pulling the silver pocket watch into view. "If only we had a bit more time."

Shiri raised her hand, as her entire right arm was now engulfed in flames. "I wish we'd had more time too, Mamán." With a shrill cry, she sent the fire forward, not waiting for it's impact as she soon sent another, and another, leaping off the wheel's platform and praying that Jin had already made his way aboard.

"You insolent little brat!" The Queen cried out, falling back as the flames caught quickly, racing over the railings and near the waiting sailors of the Armada. "Buckets! Anything to stop the flames! Now!"

Shiri was already skidding across the planks, shooting past her men as the first wave of arrows launched at the Armada. Hal was nowhere to be seen, but the wooden music box still sat at the center of the ship, it's cold, soulless eyes staring out towards the ships in warning as the waves beneath them began to surge.

    "Hold your ground!" Shiri shouted to her sailors, racing towards the bow of the ship as startled screams and cries rang out from the Armada.

    "Sagiri!" Came the shouts of horror and fear as tentacles speared up through the water, the dark blubber and suction cups of the sea creature creating even more chaos as men fought to find any shelter from its fury.

    The coin in Shiri's hand flared to life, burning at the same intensity as her flames as she continued to shoot fire at her mother and her men. Maybe if she avoided the coin for a few more minutes she'd be able to catch a glimpse of Elise, to tell her that she'd done it for her, for all the others who had fallen onto the twisted hands of her parents. But the call was too strong, she could feel it pulling her bones towards the water. Her time was nearing its end.

    "Mamán!" Shiri exclaimed, raising the coin high above her head, remembering the night when she had attempted this last and the life it had cost her. "I am no longer under your rule, and the kingdoms of Aldriya and Aynstrid won't be either!"

    Blood oozed from the broken blister that was situated beneath the coin, and the silver turned to molten lava as Shiri felt it trickle down her arm. "I have seen your attempts at slavery, thievery and murder, and I will not allow it. You even thought that sending one of my closest friend's to spy on me to report to you would suffice, but I knew from the start, Mamán," she whispered, shuddering as Hal stepped into view, his eyes glazed over in fear as one of the Sagiri's tentacles lashed out, catching him in its merciless grip.

    She closed her eyes, feeling the words flow up through her as a breeze rustled her hair, ticking some strands behind her ears.

    "I am not the daughter you thought I was," she proclaimed, opening her eyes one last time to see Elise on the main deck of the Armada, Jin's arms wrapped tightly around her.  "You thought you could control me, make me into the ticking time bomb that you desired to set a kingdom on fire for you and the power you control. But I refuse.

    "You used to be my Mamán," Shiri murmured, catching glimpses of her mother's skirts and the way she pinned her hair back even among all the carnage as the Sagiri has its way with the Armada. "The woman who taught me right from wrong. Who showed me how to tie my laces and brush my teeth, how to pay for my candies and respect my elders, how to love and be loved in return— and yet all I can see now is hatred and greed.

    "I say goodbye to you now. To the Mamán that once loved me for who I was and for who I could be." The coin had long ago melted into her palm, capturing the essence of her fire as she smiled, the pain and heartache in her chest finally coming to an end. "I can only hope that those that come after us will rebuild the kingdom in ways that neither of us could have dreamed of, where people are prosperpous and there is no reason to fear." Shiri smiled and blew her mother a kiss. "Adieu, Mamán. Perhaps we will meet again in the next life."

    With a burst of light and a chant that made her tongue run raw, Shiri felt her body break and her soul tear away as she surrendered herself to the power of the coin. Flames consumed her, became her, and launched themselves at the remaining ships of the Armada, leaving nothing in its wake.

    And as the wrecks smoldered and grew, consuming the Queen and her men, all that lay untouched was a young woman, a faint apparition of an archer and a ship full of sailors, many bent to their knees in prayer as the flames consumed those around them.

    Elise looked to Jin, tears in her eyes as he handed her a small flintlock pistol. It couldn't have been too old by her calculations, but as she turned the weapon over, a small engraving on the side made her heart quiver in her chest.

    "Elise - Carry her well, she never has liked being out of the action for too long."

    Jin patted Elise on the shoulder and pointed towards the empty horizon. "She gave me plans for you, a way out if you chose to step away from the lines of power and chaos." He held out his bow to her, bending down on one knee. "And if you choose to go down this path of power, I will be by your side, and she will be as well. You will never be alone, and you will never shoulder it's duties by yourself."

    Taking a deep breath, Elise studied the men that stood over Shiri's ship, battered and bruised, terrified and torn, but still standing, still surviving.

    She knew what she needed to do.

    "Set us on a course for the capital of Aldriya!" She shouted, taking Jin's bow and yanking him to his feet with it. She smiled and bopped him on the nose, holding tight to the pistol.

    "I've always been in search of a place to call home," she whispered, watching as the sails fell from their posts and the wind caught them in its clutches. A sigh left her lungs and she leaned into the breeze, letting the sea take her where it would as she said, "I will protect Aldriya and Aynstrid at any and all costs. Not in my own power, but the power of us." She smiled and kissed the pistol.

    "In the power that Shiri gave us."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~