The idea of the dress and meal disappeared into thin air as I suddenly ran to the man who had yelled that. "Yes! Please! I'd like to get on!"

He eyed me suspiciously. "And why would a pretty wench like you be wanting to board a ship like the Shining Moon?" His voice was gruff as he stared down at me and my rags, judging me like he was judging a lowly peasant.

I pursed my lips. Great, I acted without thinking. This rarely ever happened, and with good reason. See, kids? This is what acting without thinking gets you! You get questioned. "I, uh, I heard that they're going, to, uh..."

My eyes looked frantically around for a sign, a distraction, anything. I spotted a wooden sign that was done really terribly and was a miracle for me to even read. It was a sign for the Shining Moon, thank God. My eyes snapped back to the man. "To Trylan! Yes, to Trylan! I heard that Trylan is very prosperous this time of year and teaches girls how to read and write-"

I was cut off with a gruff laugh. I looked at him with confusion. "Forgive me for being confused, but what is so funny, sir?"

"Oh, it's just that why in the world would a maiden like you need to read and write?"

I crossed my arms as I defiantly stared him in the eyes. I didn't care how strong he was, but he wasn't going to be a sexist pig and get away with it! Okay, maybe I did care about his strength, but that's not the point.

"Yeah? And why can't I?"

"Well, with a body like that-" he paused to low whistle as he raked my body shamelessly and I bit my tongue so I didn't ruin my chances of boarding. "-there's no need to read and write. I mean, what's that good for? You're obviously not going to use it in life anyways. Not when you can slither into any of these men's trousers, those lucky basta-"

"What if I want to be smarter than the average girl?" I cut in, cutting off his swear. He shrugged.

"Smart wench, eh? I can dig that." Hid eyes went back to raking my body again, lingering over certain areas.

"Eyes up here," I snapped. He snapped his gaze back to mine, expecting me to say something. Thing was, I really didn't. I just wanted him to stop checking me out for Pete's sake. I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration and sighed. "Okay, look. I just want to board. How much?"

"10 Milcins," he stated. I started to eagerly grab them from my closed fist and count, only before I saw his smirk. "Of course, with a kiss."

My face flushed. Uh, what? No way! "Excuse me, I don't think so."

He shrugged. "Okay, I'll just signal for them to leave. You know, without you." He turned towards the pier and I stopped his hands before they could even go up.

"Cheek, but that's it," I quickly remarked. He shrugged again for the third time this hour.

"That's good enough for me," he replied. I took his head in one hand and tightly kept it there before giving him a peck on the cheek and let him go. Why was I holding his head, you might ask. Well, I've seen this happen before where the guy, or girl, would turn their head so the kiss would land on the mouth. I'm just taking precautions. He seemed a bit dazed but held out his hand, where I dropped the gold in. He signalled at the pier and I could already feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins. But I also felt... fury. Fury for the Silver Moon killing my only family. Fury for letting them leave me alone. My hands clenched as I turned to the pier and forced my legs to walk. They seemed thoroughly pissed- probably for waiting so long. Well sorry, but you try arguing with someone who is shamelessly checking you out and doesn't think you should get on the ship while dressed as a peasant. Not very easy, is it? I didn't think so.

I came to the front of the boat and waited as the guy in front stared at me blankly. I did nothing and only stared at him back. I refused to blink- this was obviously a challenge and if I lost, I could've lost 10 Milcins for nothi-

He blinked. "Okay, get on squirt."

I blinked as well. Several times actually. A hint of a smirk graced my mouth. "With pleasure."

"Hey squirt-"

"I have a name, thank you very much," I retorted, annoyed. He gave a half smile. "It's Arnetta."

"Squirt," he pressed on as I sighed impatiently. It didn't seem like he was going to use my name any time soon. "What's that on your wrist?"

I held up my wrist, surprised I had forgotten about it. On it was a thin piece of silver, curling around the wrist. On one side was a serpent's head. It was something from my time with the Silver Serpents. I smiled coyly. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

I turned before he could say anything back, but I heard it anyways. "Yeah, that's why I asked!"

[879 words]

***

Wow, that ended up being a little longer than I thought. Oh well. Here, CreativeCatastrophe! Haha, a bit new to your world, but, uh, idk.

Hope you like it and yeah, I changed her name from Bella to Arnetta- I hope you don't mind.