**classes end in less than 2 weeks. someone give me motivation not to drop out of college**

Chapter 20

The ocean taunted her.

The channel that flowed into Mauviri's bay was just another arm of the Detache that sat situated between two larger kingdoms, far across the sea from Olwen. It remained a major regional shipping route fed by eleven major Detache rivers. It was notorious for its high tides and rough weather, but on this particular morning, only a few days after they had left Olwen, the channel was at peace. The undulating waves folded onto one another in a flurry of turquoise dancing; glittering and winking cheerfully where the sun burned tiny golden dots onto their surface.

Aveline hated it.

There was something about pretty ocean climates that vexed her immensely. She would have preferred a storm, to be sure, if it didn't affect their transport to Mauviri. But in the channel just off shore, the temperature was lovely and the water was plentiful with fish, attracting angling boats and tutting sail yachts.

"Don't look so enthused," Ari muttered from next to her as they leaned against the railing.

Aveline brushed past him, making her way to the lower deck. She didn't really want to be outside, anyway.

Inside, Jamie sat alone on a worn barstool, nursing a bottle to her downturned mouth. Aveline felt an unexpected surge of relief; she could count on Jamie to be in a distemper.

"Hello," she breezed, tilting over the bar counter to fetch herself a glass. The edge of the table dug into her torso, and she gave a little grunt as she hopped back down.

Jamie regarded her warily as she poured herself some water.

"I don't think I've had a chance to speak with you, with all of the commotion. Welcome aboard," Aveline said brightly, plucking a tiny wooden splinter from her bodice. "It will be nice to have another female friend."

"Friend?" Jamie cut in.

"Why not?"

Jamie dragged her lazy gaze to Aveline. "I don't get along with pretty girls."

Offended, Aveline shifted her weight to the hip that her hand was planted on. "Oh," she huffed, "but you get along with pretty boys?"

"If you're speaking of Ari, then no, I cannot abide him," Jamie said, cool and nonchalant as she lifted her drink to her lips.

Aveline was suspicious of this, but she let it slide as took the seat beside Jamie. "That's fair."

Jamie glanced at her quickly, as if surprised. She cleared her throat.

"So," she spoke into her drink, sounding slightly softer, "Now that we've met, are you going to ask me lots of personal questions?"

Aveline pursed her lips as if thinking. "I don't like asking personal questions."

The right corner of Jamie's cheeks lifted.

"Your skirt is very pretty. Did you purchase it in an Eastern kingdom?"

"I did," Jamie smiled, a bit stilted as she eased into the conversation. She spread out her skirt; a beige and slightly ruffled material with tiny black flowers sewn on and an uneven hem.

"That's my favorite part about travelling; shopping for new things," Aveline added. "Mauviri has the softest fabrics, which is lovely, but the sellers can be quite strange. Once, this old man tried to convince me to buy me a frog that was the size of your torso."

Jamie's eyes widened. "You're joking."

"For seven pieces of gold! Can you believe it? That was almost the worst part. Besides, what would I do with an enormous frog?"

Jamie shook her head in disbelief. "I'll let you know if I think of anything."

"What are you two babbling about?" Ari's voice warbled into the room as he trailed in, accompanied by Eli and Lyla who was tiredly rubbing her eyes. Ari leaned over Aveline, his shirtsleeve scratching her cheek as he plucked a few more glasses from over the counter.

"Giant amphibians," Aveline reported. She faced Lyla and grinned. "So, Inez and Henry told me you fell asleep in the children's room the other night."

Lyla blushed, somehow delicately. "I was tired."

"Giant amphibians?" Ari repeated. "You know, all the exotic sea animals of the Detache are found along the Mauviri coast."

Aveline lifted her eyes upwards. "I know. I was just telling Jamie about that old man in the Mauvirian market who tried to sell me an enormous frog, and we were trying to figure out what we could do with one."

"You could sell it to a witch," Ari suggested.

"A witch?" Jamie seemed skeptical. "My mother said that magic nonsense people talk about was a bowl of hogwash."

"It's not."

Jamie arched an eyebrow.

"There are a lot of witches where he comes from," Ari declared, jerking his chin over towards Eli.

"I'm pretty sure my grandma's a witch," Eli said solemnly. "I wouldn't put it past her."

Aveline and Ari laughed.

"Some of the royals keep witches," Ari continued. "Not that they'd ever admit it."

"Some of the amenities on your ship are magic," Jamie stated, glancing between Ari and Aveline with sharp, iridescent eyes. "The running water... and it moves faster than others. You have the sort of luxuries the royals keep in their palaces." She squinted at Ari. "Are you a witch?"

"Do I look like a witch?" Ari chuckled. "We've befriended lots of witches in the past," he admitted, then. "They'd give us useful charms for doing odd jobs and such."

Aveline was fairly sure they only knew about four witches. One of them was definitely a fake, she'd decided. So that made three. Regardless, witches were unreliable and they always talked too fast. The only reason Aveline remembered one doing them any favors was because they'd killed some lord for her. But anyways, Ari liked to exaggerate.

"Do you think magic was involved in whatever's happening?" Lyla piped up.
Aveline highly doubted it. "I don't think so."
Magic was messy. Unpredictable. No, this case was entirely human-caused; Aveline was sure of it.

Henry popped his head into the room, then. A piece of hair dangled sideways off of his forehead. "We're here."

Ari led the rest of the group upstairs, while Aveline stayed behind to clean up the drinks.

Unable to distract herself further, she she sank into a pile of ruffled skirts and exhaustion, letting her hands fall to her lap as she gazed out the porthole window at the water below. The waves seemed to whisper her name.

Aveline...

"Need help?" Aveline jumped; Eli hadn't left, apparently. He stood up from where he'd been dangling his legs over a barstool and held a hand out to her.

After a moment, Aveline took his arm, allowing him to pull her to her feet. She pushed one of the dishes towards him, keeping her gaze out the window.

"These need to be washed. Just put them all in a pile, there."

"Ari said you didn't like the ocean," Eli ventured tentatively. She could feel him looking at her. "Are you sick of it?"

"The ocean was my home," she said simply, eyes loosening their grasp on the wrinkling twists of the sea. They turned on Eli and she watched him scrunch his features in confusion.

He looked at her steadily. "You're not going to elaborate on that, are you?"

"No." Aveline focused on the dishes in front of her. She needed a bar of soap. She wondered if Henry was around to fetch one for her.

She found a few rags in the sink and turned on the faucet. Perhaps there were perks to spells. She and Ari were quite fortunate; as far as she knew, only the wealthy had running water.

Rolling up her sleeves, she plunged her hands into the sink. Grabbing a plate, Eli sidled up beside her. A bit of water splashed up onto his nose.
"I don't know much about you," he continued, brows knitting in concentration as he scrubbed at a ceramic dish.
Aveline shrugged as if to say, I couldn't care less.

Eli set his plate down. "You don't trust me." He faced her, folding his arms. "I have to say, I'm not used to that." He didn't sound put off, only thoughtful and somewhat intrigued, which Aveline found vastly irritating.

"Hurry up, losers," Ari's voice rang out above them. Aveline could hear his boots stomping around on deck.

"We should go," she decided. "The royals aren't going to save themselves."
Eli didn't move. "You should. Trust me, I mean." She could count each of his eyelashes. They were long and tipped with blonde. "I've been told I'm very trustworthy. And beautiful, might I add."

Aveline hoped her unamusement showed distinctly on her face.

She picked up his rag and pushed it into his chest. His hands flew up to catch it. "You're a flirt, and it's not going to work on me."

Eli poked his tongue into his cheek, surveying her with something akin to amusement. "You sure about that?"

Shaking her head, Aveline stormed away, her sandals scraping up the wooden steps as she went.

-

Several minutes later, they stood on the seashore of Benodet's port, just on the mouth of town. The water here was lighter and transparent, rocking cheerily against white sand that mingled with crushed seashells.

"Let's split up," Ari announced. "We have no idea where the royals are being held- if they're even here," he added hesitatingly. "But if Tristran's note was legitimate, then they should be. I think."

Aveline started towards the marketplace. There was a sort of sleepy tranquility about Benodet. It was a cloudy day, but a few children tossed a ball back and forth, and there was a dancer on the village square. A scarlet flag hung above each small wooden building, fluttering about in the seaside wind. Granules of sand weaved their way between Aveline's toes as she trod along the path, smiling timidly at her reflection in the stained glass windows of each of the buildings.

She stopped at one with a cluster of windchimes flickering by the windowsill and touched the tiny pipes, a sigh building in her throat. Something about the twinkling melody made her feel melancholy, almost sad.

"Aveline!" She closed her eyes, yanking her hand back to her side. Eli was calling after her. She could hear his footsteps jogging to keep up, and the laughter in his voice as he came closer. "Aveline, wait."

Aveline turned around. Eli slowed when he reached her, sliding a hand through his golden curls.

"What?" She tried to sound annoyed.

He placed his hand on the wall she stood beside and leaned into it. "I don't understand what the problem is."

"The problem is, you don't even take me seriously," Aveline snapped.

His smile grew. "What makes you say that?"

"Can I help you two?"

They both looked up in surprise to see the shop woman standing through the open door of the shop, bemusement wrinkling the worn lines on her forehead.

"Just looking," Aveline chirped in embarrassment, quickly moving away from Eli into the shop.

Most of the items were small trinkets; colored glassware and fairy statues molded out of clay. A small fish pond bubbled in the middle of the floor, Aveline made sure to pick up her skirts and step around it.

She wandered towards a row of multicolored scarves. There was a scarlet one that was particularly bright, and she stuck out her fingers to sift through the material.

As soon as they were out of view of the shopkeeper, she felt Eli take ahold on her sleeve. She let her hand fall from the scarf and frowned at him.

"I assure you, Aveline," he said quietly, his eyes boring earnestly into hers, "I take you very seriously."

He had a few freckles scattered across his nose. Aveline waited for him to let go of her sleeve, but he didn't.

She averted her eyes from Eli's and tucked a curl behind her ear.

"Alright." Was that supposed to be her response? Aveline had no idea. She almost preferred his blatant and insincere flirting. At least then, she could just roll her eyes and make fun of him.

He tilted his chin. "Alright?"

"Yeah."

"Alright." Brightening, Eli dropped her arm and glanced at the array of hanging materials. "So, what are we doing here?"

"Buying a scarf."

"You want a scarf?" Eli looked puzzled for a moment before he shrugged. "The blue one over there would look pretty with your skin."

"I want a red one." Aveline tugged on the crimson material again, to no avail. Eli reached over her head to pull it down.

He handed the scarf to her. "Why red?"

"Red is Mauviri's kingdom color," she explained, threading her fingers through the gauzy holes of the fabric. "It's common for the villagers to wear something red every time they go into town. We don't want to stand out. Now you pick one," she commanded.

"Why do I have to wear a scarf?"

"To blend in. I just explained this concept, Eli."

"Lovely. You should say my name more often," he teased, chuckling as Aveline raised an eyebrow. "Sorry. Habit."

Aveline wrinkled her nose, focusing her attention on her feet so he could not see her smile.

**ha ha ha :p I feel like this chapter ended a bit abruptly, but it was getting long, so I just sort of cut it off. if you guys liked, please vote!*