Chapter 34

It was a long time before everyone on the ship finally declared themselves tired.

They'd stayed up far past midnight talking, longer than Ari had anticipated. Inez joined them after she and Henry had finished putting the children to sleep. At some point, one of Ari's crewmembers had begun to play a soft, sad melody on his oboe, and when the sun had completely gone they sat around the light of the candles, watching the firelight play off of each other's faces and staying in a comfortable silence.

Ari's crew finally went to their cabins, save for whoever unlucky soul had night watch on the wheel, and as the ship grew quiet Ari watched the sky as it blended in with the sea, mingling together into a black nothingness.

He couldn't ever sleep around lots of people. It made him nervous; which he supposed was a bit unusual, especially when compared to Lyla, who seemed to be able to fall asleep anywhere. She was the first to close her eyes, curled up on the floor by the porthole.

Aveline excitedly chattered on with Eli until she finally became tired and dozed off on Jamie's shoulder.

As everyone fell asleep, Ari was forcing himself - with much effort - to come to terms with Eli's snoring when heard someone shift beside him.

"You're awake," he said calmly without averting his gaze from the sea.

"So are you."

Jamie tenderly moved Aveline's head to a soft spot on their quilt, and then she was slowly scooting over to sit next to him.

Ari tried not to look at her. "You can't sleep?"
"No."

"Me neither."

There was a brief pause, but a comfortable one- reassuring, somehow. Finally, Ari felt the softest pressure on his arm, just for a second, and then she'd pulled her hand away, too quickly.

"Are you very angry with me?" Jamie breathed, peering up at him with large, beseeching eyes. "For not telling you about Ben."

"No," Ari chuckled hoarsely. "I can't blame you for wanting to protect your brother. Family is important," he added in a soft voice. "Or so I've been told."

Jamie nodded and curled her knees into her chest. Solemnity and sadness filled the silence, then, and Ari wanted to make her laugh.

"Although if you'd told us about the Hapsburgs sooner, we might have been able to speed things up a bit," he said, a bit louder, and he succeeded. She giggled lightly, her fingers playing along the edge of her nightgown.

"I wasn't sure I could trust you, at first."

"Me neither."

They scrutinized each other for a moment, not speaking- just looking, and Ari thought that he could do this forever. He would be content with spending hours just trying to discern the expression in Jamie's eyes.

He was foolish to be thinking this way. Like a lovesick schoolboy.

"And whatever happens to your family... " he trailed off. "You'd always have a home here. Alright?"

Jamie blinked. Pink imbued into his cheeks- was he embarrassed? The emotion was almost foreign to him.

And then she smiled.

"You're being nice to me," Jamie finally said, with some surprise.

Ari felt his lips tugging upwards. "I do that, sometimes."

"Thank you." There it was again- her hand on his skin, gone in a flash. Ari shifted.

"Can you sleep now?"
"Yes. Good night, Ari." Jamie sounded much happier than before as she lay back down, rolling over to finally get some rest, and Ari couldn't be sorry for that.

The stillness returned with the white noise of the ocean, and Ari allowed himself to relax, stretching out his limbs onto the wooden slats of the deck, waiting...

Finally Aveline's laughter drifted out of the darkness. "Quite the charmer, Ari."
"Shut up."

**

Ari awoke to pale light on his eyelids.

He sat up almost immediately, his muscles tightening. He was on the ship, still in his shirtsleeves. It was morning. And still very early, judging from the faint whiteness and lingering water vapor in the air. At some point during the night, Ari had fallen asleep.

Shocked at himself, he uncurled his fingers and rolled his neck, wincing at the discomfort he felt there.

Everyone else was still asleep, sprawled in various awkward positions on the deck. Lyla had abandoned her blanket at some point during the night and was shivering quietly. Ari tucked the fabric back around her shoulders before standing up.

His navigator- Emil, the same one he'd sent after Lyla in Mauviri, was at the wheel, drooping slightly from the evening.

"Cap'n," he greeted as Ari approached, straightening.

Ari curtly inclined his head. "Status?"

"Still a few more hours, sir. Give or take."

"Alright." Ari blew out a breath. "Now go get some sleep. Switch shifts with Sidney."

Ari's stomach rumbled just as he heard Aveline's yawn emanating from their pile of sleeping bodies. He grinned as she approached, tiredly trying to set her messy curls to rights.
"Ah, you're awake. Good. Now we can discuss breakfast."

"My thoughts exactly," Aveline grunted, scuffling across the deck in her slippers.

Soon Ari heard disgruntled noises and footsteps, which only meant that everyone else was awake and tromping around the deck. Lyla's hair was sticking up in every direction and Eli was barefoot as he ambled towards Ari and Aveline. Jamie looked beautiful. She offered Ari a tentative smile, which he returned without thinking about it.

"Good morning," Aveline said brightly. Lyla grunted in response.

They gradually woke up over breakfast and continued to discuss the royals over bread and tea.

"I can't imagine what Ben must have told Tristran when he found out about the whole thing," Aveline remarked, slathering a generous amount of jam on her bran muffin. "'Your Highness, you need to stay away from me, or else my parents are going to kidnap you and force you to marry my sister so you can impregnate her and make my whole family rich.'"

Jamie looked horrified.

"It's a horrible plan, really," Ari agreed.

"I know." Aveline met his gaze. "What worries me is that it worked."

He shook his head. "Pass the sugar."

It was early afternoon by the time the ship rolled into the Wescona port. Wescona was named for the tiny string of islands fringing the line between Apreuna and Diviel, each barely large enough for a small village. The lighthouse was situated on the biggest one, poking out of a pile of stones like an old craggy finger. At some point, someone had renovated the ancient island, but its age showed through the mossy streaks on its decrepit rocks.

Lyla was obviously content to finally have been somewhere they visited, and happily led them to a small chain of shops located along the coast as they stepped off onto the sandbar of an island.

"Barely anyone lives here," she explained. "Too small. I imagine it must be very lonely."

It didn't sound too bad to Ari. A solitary life in a lighthouse where all he had to do was turn the light on and raise the flag in the morning. He'd get a dog for company.

No... Ari could never live without his ship, or his crew. Too many people relied on him. It was hard to drop everything and walk away from that kind of responsibility.

"We could get a cat," he mumbled.

Aveline snickered as she walked beside him. "Still thinking of how to spend that reward money?"
"They're supposed to be good luck," he argued. "And they'd help with rats."
She looked concerned. "We have rats?"
"I don't think so-"

"Here we are!" Lyla announced proudly. They stood in front of a small dressmaker's shop, inlaid with dusty grey stone and colorful fabrics in the window. "We should be able to find something decent here. Remember; no one's goal is to be the prettiest person at the gala, we just have to be fit to see the Queen."

"Speak for yourself," said Ari. "I'm going to be the prettiest person at the gala, and none of you can stop me."

The elderly woman running the shop was practically dead already. Ari was fairly sure he could steal all of the clothes on the racks without her noticing. (Not that he would steal from an old seamstress. It was just an observation.)

They didn't have time to give her their measurements, but thankfully, she had an abundance of ready-made dresses that Ari figured no one was around to purchase. They were sorted by style and color, and Ari followed Aveline and Lyla down the aisle. Jamie hung back, fingering the soft silks with wonder.

Eli glanced back at her. "Is she alright?"
Ari hesitated. "She's fine, I'm sure."

"She's likely worried about Ben," Aveline suggested reasonably.

Lyla held up a lovely blue dress against her skin. It only came down to her knees. She hastily put it back.

"I hope he and Tristran can find some way to be together, after all of this."

"Are you serious?" Ari stopped his perusal of the waistcoats. "You're suggesting they have a chance?"

"Why not?"

He folded his arms. "Prince Tristran is a royal. Ben is a poor boy from an unfortunately psychotic family."

"But Ben is technically of royal blood!"

"Somehow, given the circumstances, I'm not sure that's a good argument to use against the Queen." Ari's tone was saturated with sarcasm. "Bottom line? They come from different worlds. Trust me; those kinds of relationships never work."

Aveline was oddly quiet, letting her hand fall from its appraisal of the jewelry. He watched her gaze flash to Eli, and Ari winced. It wasn't them he had been alluding to.

Eli frowned, holding Aveline's gaze. "That's rather cynical, Ari."
Ari didn't think it was cynical. He thought it was realistic. But he didn't want to hurt Aveline.

"Perhaps you're right," he said instead, but Aveline had already distracted herself with the heap of clothes in arms, taking Lyla with her to go find Jamie.

Lyla, Aveline, and Jamie helped each other into their gowns behind a folding screen while Eli assisted Ari in selecting a blue waistcoat with gold thread and new breeches.

Ari fastened the last button on his coat and faced the mirror, a grimace immediately pulling onto his cheeks.

"Great. Now I look like one of those idiot princes."

Eli pulled on a long brown boot over his pants. "An idiot prince with messy hair."

"I feel stupid," Jamie's voice warbled out from behind the divider, "fitting for a gown when Ben is in danger."

"If you think they'd let us in with what we were wearing, you've got another thing coming," Lyla shot back.

"We should buy Inez a gown, too," Aveline insisted. "She deserves it."

Ari straightened his jacket. It didn't look terrible. "Does Inez even wear gowns?"

Predictably, he was ignored. "I think this red one would look lovely on her."

Eli groaned. "What's taking so long? Do you need help?"

"No, we don't need help, Eli. What kind of question is that?"

"I was just offering."

Eventually, the females re-emerged, dresses in hand.

Lyla was beaming. "We'll take them."

"Finally," Eli teased good-naturedly. "How much time do we have?"
"A few hours." Ari took a breath. "At least we'll look the part. Now let's hope that Queen Rowena can send help in time, because we don't have much of it."

"We'll be fine," Lyla insisted. "It's just another royal ball. Let's just hope it doesn't end up a disaster, like everything else."

Ari scoffed. His entire life was a disaster. At least, then, he was well-equipped for the situation.

Besides, he reasoned, it was just some stupid ball. What could possibly go wrong?

**We'll find THAT out on Tuesday. vote if you liked!**