The Pirate Queen

Chapter 22

I'm updating earlier than usual because, well, because I can. And because Ariel and Eric's relationship is about to get a whole lot deeper and more intimate heheh 

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Ariel barely saw Eric for over a week after their dinner conversation. He'd bring her meals and then walk out before she could say a word. He kept his head down, hands folded, and did his work. He sparred with Flounder and sometimes Jora, or joined in with the other crew to test their skills, but would leave the moment she walked up. He no longer spent his nights out on the bow, or anywhere she could find him. 

Jora, frustratingly, remained tight-lipped about where he'd gone and why he was acting so strange. 

"Flounder, has he said anything to you?" Ariel asked on the morning of their third month sailing. They were sitting in her cabin after breakfast, going over the accounts of all the ammunition they had. It was a decent amount but they were going to have to stock up on some more when they stopped at one of the Dauntless's meetings points. Especially if they were going to be anywhere near the Hollander ships.  

He looked up from his stack of papers and shrugged. "What's it matter if he has?" Flounder set down another sheet and stretched out on the short sofa. Most of the crew assumed it was Sebastian who kept track of the accounts of the ship, and while it was true he was in charge of the money, it was Flounder who looked over everything else. The ammunition, the state of the ship, the kitchens. He reported everything directly to Ariel, content to stay in the shadows, ever watchful. 

"Well I just..." She trailed off, looking down the map of stars spread out on her desk. "He doesn't watch the stars anymore," she mumbled. 

"What?" 

"Nothing." She rubbed her face and glanced out the window when a knock came at the door. "Enter." 

None other than Eric stepped in with a nervous look on his face, Seb and Jora hot on his heels. Eric glanced around, his eyes settling on her for mere seconds before flitting around again. They lingered on her painting of Tristan and Isolde, something he looked at almost every time he came in. Edward had given it to her as a belated gift for her thirteenth birthday. He'd originally given her just the book, but she read it so fast and so often the next time they docked he'd gotten her the painting as well. 

Told her she had a fondness for tragedies. 

"Yes?" She folded her hands on the desk, waiting for them to drop whatever bad news they'd seemed to bring. Seb gave Eric a shove and he stumbled forward and held out a small, rolled-up slip of parchment. 

"This arrived a few minutes ago on a messenger bird." He dropped the roll on her desk and stepped back. "I'm sorry I read it, I-" 

"Shush," Seb snapped.

Ariel only raised an eyebrow at him as she unfurled the paper and scanned the few scant lines. A frown grew on her face as she read it for a second and a third time before she had all the words memorized. She sighed and held her forehead in her hand and passed the note over to Flounder who immediately began cursing. 

"What... Does it mean?" Eric asked cautiously. 

Ariel sighed and opened a drawer in her desk -Edward's desk- and drew out a bundle of red velvet cloth boarded with gold. It landed heavily on the desk and when she drew back the wrapping, a crystal athame sat gleaming in front of them. 

It was cut from a single piece of rainbow quartz and the golden hilt had been crafted to look like a mermaid's tail. It was sharp enough to make someone bleed, but it was not a weapon. No, its only purpose was for ceremony and decoration. There were only six others in the world like it. It was the athame of the Pirate Lord.