**I can't believe it's March already, guys, the year is flying by, seriously. i can't keep up with it all.**

Chapter 15

Aveline, Ari, and Lyla stood rigidly in the doorway opposite of Eli and Jamie, and for a moment, no one moved. Then, just as Eli opened his mouth to speak, Ari slammed the door in their faces. An awkward pause followed.

"Ari, we need our things," Lyla spoke into the wood, sounding mildly exasperated.

"I know," he answered. "I needed a moment." He nudged the door back open with his ankle, and Eli raised both of his palms up in surrender.

"Before you say anything-"
"How did you get in our room?" Ari interrupted, crossing his arms.
"The door was unlocked."

"Lovely. Can you leave now?"

Eli took a breath. "We want to come with you."

Aveline shoved past them into the chamber and headed towards her bed, quickly deciding that she didn't care much for the conversation that was about to ensue. She flopped down on her mattress and rubbed her eyes as she waited for Ari to start shouting.

"Hear us out," Eli urged. "I've been talking with Jamie, and we both agreed that you were right. The other recruits are... less than competent."

Ari snorted.

"Anyway," he breezed on, "we decided that you three are the best chance we have at finding the royals-"
"You decided that," Jamie shot back at him. Ari lifted an eyebrow.

"It took some convincing on her part," Eli admitted. "But we would like to help."

Aveline sat up to watch as Ari unfolded his arms from his chest and strode towards his dresser, Lyla in tow.

"Pack your things," he instructed her as he hoisted his bag up onto his bed. "We'll have to hurry." He grabbed random clothes out of his drawers, stuffing them haphazardly into his bag. "It's only a matter of time before those idiots come picking a fight, and we need to stay ahead of them in this investigation, not that we'll have to try very hard to do so." He tossed one of Aveline's dresses at her, and it landed with a heap on her face. "I'm serious, Avie. Let's try to be out of here in five minutes."

"Is that a yes?" Eli inquired hopefully from the doorway.

"No."

"Listen, we can help you," Eli maintained, beginning to follow Ari around the room while he pulled out his things. Jamie plopped into a chair next to Aveline, who regarded her with vague interest. "I'm a palace guard. I'm familiar with the royals. And Jamie... well, we're not that well acquainted, but she seems to know what she's doing."

"Seems," Ari repeated. Jamie scoffed.

"We're not going to give up, you know," Eli announced, shifting his weight. "I need to complete this mission. It would help me out a lot at home if I rescued the princess," he confessed, "and Jamie said it was a matter of life and death."

"Is that true?" Ari addressed Jamie, now, his sharp eyes boring into her skull.

Aveline contemplated the girl beside her, who was fiddling with her short, bitten-down nails. She hadn't quite decided how she felt about Jamie yet. She was suspicious, to be sure, but there was a vulnerability about her that Aveline recognized.

"Yes," Jamie said eventually. "It is."

Aveline groaned as she pushed herself off of her bed, looking at Ari. "Can we speak privately for a moment?"

Ari glanced at Eli and Jamie.
Eli gnawed pensively on the inside of his cheek. "We'll be waiting outside the Tarrah," he told them, jerking the door back open. "When you decide, we'll be there."

Jamie slid off of her chair and sullenly ambled through the entryway without looking back. Eli shut the door behind them with a low thud.

Aveline waited a moment before she turned to Ari.

His head swung back and forth. "We can't."

"We let Lyla on the ship."

"Actually, she smuggled her way on," he countered, ignoring Lyla who sat calmly on the bed as she watched them quarrel. "Besides, there's quite a difference between a neglected little royal child who's quiet and doesn't ask questions, and two absolute strangers who, by the way, we know nothing about!"

"Lyla is not a child, and she notices more than you think."

"That's not the bloody point!"

"Do you want to find those kids, or not?" Aveline retorted. "Because by this point, we need all of the help we can get."

Ari lowered his voice. "Do you even remember what happened last night?! We're already causing trouble after having been here for two days. Can you imagine what would have happened if we got caught and the inn guards decided to investigate us, perhaps have a look around the ship? Plus," he added, "all of the other recruits hate us. Why should we trust Eli and Jamie?"

"Eli helped me fight the others last night. They're not working together. You're being ridiculous-"

Ari leaned forward to shout in her face. "I have a blue watersnake aboard that's illegal in fourteen kingdoms!"

"Well, if you talk any louder, you're not going to have to worry about anyone else giving us away, you'll have done it single handedly," she hissed.

"Inez said you let people on all the time," Lyla sensibly pointed out from her spot on her mattress.

Ari waved her away. "That's different. Trust me, this is not what she meant."

Glaring at Ari, Aveline turned to Lyla. "Lyla, what do you think?" She watched the other girl as confusion flitted across her features. It usually did when Aveline asked her opinion on something, as if Lyla was startled to be consulted.

"I don't know about you," she ventured tentatively, "but I think they know more than they're telling us, and I want to find out what that is."

Ari glowered. There was a brief lull of mutual frustration.

Finally Aveline puffed out a breath. "Ari, I'm not going to fight you on this one, but this isn't like our other missions. You heard the princess this morning. She's depending on us to find her brother."

He chewed on his lip as he stared at her, and Aveline knew she had won.

"Fine," he caved. "But if anything goes wrong, I'm killing them first."

"Deal." She let a fleeting smile travel across her cheeks. "Now can we get out of here, please, before Simon and his goons come looking for us? I'd hate to have to shoot them and disturb the peace more than we already have."
Truthfully, Aveline couldn't think of anything she'd like to do more, but she told herself to be reasonable. She was on the job, after all.

-

The sun was just beginning to die by the time they stepped outside of the Tarrah, and Aveline blinked in the orange light that flooded the island in torrents. She'd been to Kibet many times, but she'd never tire of the sunset. It seeped through the jade leaves of the trees and turned them a pastel shade, it heated the sand and warmed her cheeks. The granite steps of the inn looked as if they had been set aflame. Eli and Jamie waited at the bottom with their bags, their hair ruffling faintly in the tropical breeze.

"They showed up," Eli observed, triumphant as he turned to Jamie. "You owe me two silvers."

Ari sniffed. "I cannot believe we're doing this. We've known them for, what? Two days?"

"One and a half," Lyla corrected, hopping lightly down the last step. "Did Inez bring a carriage?"

"The dock is right down the street, Lyla."

"I know. Still."

Ari muttered something about spoiled royals, and Aveline snickered, following her feet down the sandy path to the docks. Eli hurried to catch up, falling into step alongside her. Aveline looked him up and down like he was a particularly repellent insect.

"Your name is Aveline, right?" He had a way of smiling with only one side of his mouth. She was sure the effect was supposed to be very charming.

"Yeah. This is Lyla, and Ari," she said finally, sticking her thumb out towards her companions.

"Well, Aveline," Eli inclined his head towards her, "it looks like we're working together after all."

"For now," Aveline warned.

His lopsided grin widened further. "Why are you glaring at me?"

"I was hoping you'd be a traitor so I could kill you," she told him as she stepped over a log. Eli laughed- a low, sweet sound, like brown sugar, and Aveline felt her cheeks tug upwards despite herself.

Lyla, who had been vacantly gawking at the sky, tripped over her feet and nearly tumbled over, had Aveline not caught her arm.

"Sorry," Lyla mumbled, reddening. She still wasn't used to the change of scenery, Aveline realized. For a moment, she wondered what that must be like, to look at everything for the first time and see it in its pure, unadulterated splendor. Aveline herself had seen too much of the world, she decided, pressing her lips together. It could be as piercing as it was beautiful.

They strolled in silence for most of the way, which Aveline was content with— she had plenty of her own thoughts to entertain.

Something about the timing didn't add up, she determined, idly pulling a piece of hair out of her mouth. Why Prince Tristran went missing long before the other royals did, why the Kibetian monarchy just happened to be staying in the same inn as their kidnappers during the exact same week. It was almost as if they had been led to find them. And then, of course, there was the question of who sent the tip that Lyla had stolen from the Queen. Someone knew about the kidnapping, and tried to warn her. Why?

"Where are we going?" Jamie's inquiry floated out of the humid stillness— she somehow still managed to sound annoyed.

The squeaking of Ari's boots ceased as he stopped walking; they'd reached the harbor.

"I'm not really sure." Ari craned his neck, searching for the familiar brown masts that rose into the sky in the marina. His attention fell on Jamie with sharp, gleaming curiosity. "Do you have any suggestions?"

Jamie opened her mouth to respond just as Aveline caught sight of Inez sitting on the docks in front of the ship, her legs dangling over the side so that her toes dipped into the water.

"Inez!" Aveline called, picking up her skirts to run towards the girl. Inez hastily climbed to her feet, brushing invisible dirt off her vest.

"Aveline," she curtsied— Aveline had no idea why she always did that. "I thought I saw you three," she continued as Ari and the others caught up, ogling their new additions with obvious hesitation.

Aveline bounced slightly on the balls of her feet. "Are you ready? We have some leads on the missing royals. Oh, this is Jamie and Eli," she added as an afterthought. "They're helping with the investigation."

Inez raised her eyebrows, but said nothing about it. "The crew has readied the ship to leave, per your instructions."

Aveline tuned out Lyla's attempts at small talk with Inez as they approached the ship. It was a beautiful vessel— a faded brown exterior, slightly scratched from ramming into seabanks too many times, but its mast glinted jubilantly in the summer sun, and the sails fluttered regally on the breeze as it bobbed on the royal blue. It was clearly not made for war, or for anything other than a large, attractive living space to wander the seas in, but the bronze trimmings and and beautifully sculpted carvings on the side seemed to communicate an ancient, peculiar style which didn't quite fit in on the Detache. To Aveline, the ship was tethered to all that it represented for her; the wildness and entropy of freedom, the safety and familiarity of home.

"Wait." Eli halted in his tracks. "This is where you live?"

"Yes." Ari didn't give them time to gawk at the pretty vessel, giving Jamie a small push towards the ramp. "This is the Merchant, the fastest ship in the Detache. I'd welcome you, but let's face it; your presences are so completely unwelcome that it's not even worth pretending otherwise," he uttered with a smile. Aveline rolled her eyes. "Now let's get out of here."

**tee hee!! see y'all next time**