Drifters

Inti's Watcher

Peter stared in disbelief at the molar Marie was proudly holding up.

"Whose tooth is it?" Sophie asked, looking fascinated.

Marie grinned. "It's mine now."

Peter gave her a flat look. "Whose tooth was it?"

"No one has the slightest idea," she said happily.

"So, instead of a ring or something normal, Louis offered you a random human tooth?" Sophie asked.

"You have to admit, it's unique," Marie shrugged, dropping the tooth into a pocket.

"Unique doesn't always mean good," Peter said slowly. "Why did you accept it?"

Marie's smile changed, growing calm, quiet. "When- When we were young, no one understood us. Not what Louis saw in me, or why I even tolerated him. So we took that to the extreme, and did things that made people question our sanity. No part of our relationship was normal. Offering me a tooth is very much in line with how we used to be." She shrugged again. "Honestly, though, that man could have offered me the most expensive ring in the history of jewelry, or a grain of sand, or a dead weevil, and I would have accepted."

Peter wasn't entirely convinced, but he wasn't about to argue what made someone happy.

Sophie, on the other hand, practically had stars in her eyes. "That's so romantic," she breathed.

"Right," Peter said doubtfully. "Well, congratulations, I wish you all the happiness."

"Thank you," Marie laughed.

"Will you ever find out whose tooth it was?" Sophie asked. "I think working together to find the original owner would be a wonderful project for you two. And how it was lost. And why the rostari had it to sell to Louis. And why-"

"Yes, girl, all those mysteries will be solved in time," Marie promised.

Nop came out of the wall, feathers ruffling apologetically. "Sorry to interrupt, Marie, but it's been requested you and Louis go to the transport room."

"Where are we going?" Marie asked.

"Nowhere; it's a good place to talk with multiple people, and there are several things to discuss."

"Of course," she said, getting to her feet. She nodded to Peter and Sophie, and left.

Sophie was still bouncing with excitement. "I'm happy for her. Louis seems very strange, but he's a good man."

"I don't know," Peter said slowly. "He can't be right in the head to offer a human tooth."

"It made her laugh, so it must make some sort of sense," she said. "Besides, if she's in love enough to say she'd accept a dead bug, it doesn't matter."

He shook his head. "If I proposed to you with a dead bug, would you accept?"

"Well, no, of course not, I-" She cut herself off, then laughed dismissively. "But you'd never do that."

Peter watched her fidget for a few seconds. "And if I proposed with a gold ring, would you accept?"

Sophie gave an annoyed sigh. "Not at this time."

"Why not?"

"Because I- I don't want to be married. At all. Things are just fine as they are."

Peter adjusted his poncho. "Sophie, do you love me?"

"I…"

"Or do you just see me as someone to give you attention?"

She gave him an odd look. "You've switched into Spanish."

"Yes, and it doesn't matter," he snapped. "I have to know, answer the question!"

"I feel like I'm supposed to love you," she said. "I should, and there are times I think I do, but then you act like I'm some frail child who shouldn't do anything dangerous or choose her own clothes."

"And, what? You want me to not give a damn about your safety?" he asked.

"No- Well, yes? I don't know, if you stopped caring so much, I probably would like you more!"

Peter turned away. He looked at the floor. He looked at the ceiling. He looked at the wall. Finally, he looked back at her. "There's the problem. I love you, so you don't want me to. But if I was indifferent to you, you'd probably be desperately in love with me."

Sophie sniffled. "That… is a problem, yes."

Peter shook his head, remembering what Marie had told him. "You're a thief, Sophie. You stole my heart. I'd like it back now, please."

"What… does that mean, exactly?" she asked, looking worried.

He walked over to her and took her hands. "It means I'm going to kiss you one last time, and then never again."

She sighed, resigned. "Very well."

Marie leaned against a wall, ankles crossed, enjoying watching Louis argue with a row of ravens.

"Blood rituals aren't marriage rights," he said, exasperated. "Those two things aren't related!"

"So combining your blood with Ebba's and using it to draw a symbol on a piece of paper, which you then burned, wasn't some sort of marriage?" a raven asked.

"No! That was to get rid of… nightmares, or something of that sort," he said.

There was silence, but the ravens still moved. They were discussing things among themselves; apparently they had several misconceptions about human relationships based on Louis' relationship with Ebba. Which Marie found perfectly understandable.

The raven on the end fluttered. "When you agreed to sell her your soul, was that not-"

"No," Louis said flatly, then glanced nervously at Marie. "That was-"

"Oh, no need to explain to me," she said happily. "Ebba told me about that."

Ebba finally came into the room at that moment, looking a bit nervous, but not guilty.

"Thank goodness," Louis sighed.

"Something wrong?" the witch asked.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

The center raven spoke up, "Ebba, do you believe you and Louis are married?"

"Not at all, why?"

There was a stunned silence from the rostari controlling the ravens.

Ebba glanced around the room. "Oh, do you believe we're married?"

They all spoke at once, in the affirmative.

"He asked you to marry him, and you agreed," one raven pointed out. "And then the next day you made a blood pact to never leave each other."

"Those are two different things entirely," Ebba told them.

Louis glanced at Marie, about to explain, but she shook her head. She'd already known about that, too. She hadn't asked Louis how he felt about Ebba, but Ebba had told Marie they were partners in every sense of the word, and she wasn't willing to completely give him up. Marie didn't mind at all. They'd been together thirty years; Marie was just glad neither of them saw her as a threat.

Another raven spoke up. "But when your first teammates left, and we brought in Nali and Asani, you asked to be placed on the same side in your rooms. As is common when people are married."

"Yes, because sharing a bathroom with someone who hates you is miserable, and I didn't want to risk doing it again," Ebba said.

"But you also-"

"We aren't married," she said flatly. "We never have been, and never will be. Technically, we were engaged for a day, and I'm sorry if you never realized that was called off."

"It's good you agree on that," the center raven said slowly. "Unfortunately, according to our paperwork and laws, you are married and have been married many years now."

Louis groaned, moving to lean on the wall next to Marie. "I'm so sorry about all this."

"Don't worry, my love, I'm a pirate. Knowing I'm stealing someone's husband for myself feels right somehow," she told him.

Ebba laughed. "Can we be sworn enemies? That always sounded so sexy, but I never had a good reason to pretend to hate someone."

"Absolutely." Marie took Louis' hand. "See? It'll be fine."

He smiled. "If you insist."

Ebba took his hand from Marie. "Oh, I do insist, dear."

Before the fun could go further, the raven on the end cleared its throat. "So, there are several solutions available."

"What's wrong with our solution?" Ebba asked, leaning against the wall as well and putting an arm across Marie's shoulders.

"Aye, or just ignoring what your papers say and claiming we're married," Marie added.

"Because those aren't legal," was the answer.

Louis coughed politely. "I'm sorry, but neither of these women care about what's legal, except in the interest of breaking as many laws as possible and finding as many loopholes as possible, respectively."

"We are aware," the center raven said. "Believe me. We are aware. Still, there are three options. You may claim to be engaged, but not married, for as long as you like. Or, Louis and Ebba can agree to a divorce, but that would require splitting your shared assets; the biggest of which is your collection of weapons."

"Not that!"

"Never!"

"Which of us would get the spiked umbrella?"

"Simply can't be decided."

The raven glared at them. "Or, should Ebba agree, Marie can marry both of you."

There was a pause.

"That's legal?" Louis finally asked.

"Yes," a raven answered.

Marie grinned. "Would that mean I get access to their shared assets?"

"Yes, which is why Ebba must agree as well."

"I am in favor of marrying both of them," Marie decided.

A raven hopped up. "Does everyone agree?"

"Oh, I agree," Louis said quickly, snapping back into reality from whatever fantasy he'd been imagining. "To all of it. Yes. Agreed. In agreement."

Ebba sighed. "In all seriousness, I don't want to get in the way of anything between you, but logistically what would that mean for our groups?"

The center raven puffed up; apparently he approved of the question. "Either we will find a way of rearranging things so Marie can join your group, or things will stay as they are but transport between all your rooms will be free."

"I'd rather things stay as they are," Marie said. "I'm not saying there will never be a change, but for the time being keeping things the same for our groups would be best."

Louis nodded. "Aye, especially as the simplest solution would be to trade Marie for Nali, which would probably result in Razan's death."

"No, Nali would refuse," Ebba said. "Keeping things the same is good. What other shared things do we have?"

"Your rooms are considered shared," the raven on the end said. "She'd be able to change things like furniture. The room where you, Ebba, keep your inventory and other miscellaneous items was given to you as a shared room with Louis, so she'll have access to everything in there. You have a shared list of places we'll allow you to go on Earth, to which we'll add her places. Oh, your yearly medical checkup will be on the same day. Louis' indefinite supply of torrone which he won in a duel against Lydia will be shared. And… other than the weapons, that's all."

"Torrone?" Marie asked.

Louis shrugged. "A candy."

"We drove the price up by insisting it's the best thing humans have ever created; Lydia made a fortune selling it, and our cut wasn't paltry," Ebba explained, then looked thoughtfully at Marie. "I'd know if you sold anything in that room, and I have ways of ensuring the profit was split, but I wouldn't know if you used any of it until I suddenly found my supply lacking."

"You have everything labeled in Swedish," Marie said. "The only things I'm positive I could identify by sight are more fun when shared. Then there's the risk of overdose, or using something incorrectly, and I'd much rather leave the responsibility of making sure nothing goes wrong to you."

Ebba watched her for a few seconds, then nodded. "I'll trust you." She looked back at the ravens. "I can live with sharing those things. What will the wedding be like?"

"Clearly, we are not experts on all the human customs regarding weddings," the center raven said. "You may do any type of ceremony you like."

The witch grinned. "Anything I like?"

"Anything we agree to," Louis said, alarmed.

Marie smiled. "Which amounts to the same thing, probably."

"Very well, I accept," Ebba told the ravens. "Let's all share."

Sophie climbed up the rope in her room and slid back down. Then did it again. And again. And again.

She missed the days when the climbing room wasn't packed with people, and she could do whatever she liked with Rani. Nop had promised things would be back to normal on Saturday, but that was a whole three days away.

Until then, Sophie was alone. Rani, the expert climber, was helping train people. Peter ignored her unless someone else was in the room. Marie was busy with Louis, and Razan was always with Innoka or in the sparring room.

So Sophie climbed alone on the rope hanging from her vent.

Finally she couldn't take it any more, and left. Her feet took her to the climbing room, but it was packed with people. Rani didn't even notice her, so she walked back out and just… stood in the middle of the common area. Not sure what to do. People were coming and going, and she was alone.

For the first time here, she felt out of place. Like she didn't belong. There was no one who wanted her, no one who would put up with her.

After a while, Grace walked up to her and smirked. "You lost, Miss Sophia? You're standing around like an abandoned puppy."

"No," Sophie snapped. "I was simply… deciding what to have for lunch."

"Oh, well, if that's all, I could give you some suggestions," Grace said. "Have you tried all the Italian dishes? Some of those things are to die for."

"I have not," she said primly. "Thank you for the help."

Grace bowed slightly. "Any time. It's a shame, though, most of them have wheat, so Peter will never know what pizza is like."

"Yes. Pity. Well, I know what I'm having for lunch, so I'll go order it. Good-bye."

"Fare well, Princess…"

Sophie walked away, nettled. She started to go to her room, but changed her mind and went to the sparring room.

The usual group of samurai were there, doing some kind of practice movements. Razan glanced at her when she walked in, but didn't stop. Sophie hesitated, then walked further into the room, the woven mats feeling nice under her feet.

Keiko stopped her practice and stepped forwards, bowing to Sophie. "Are you looking to spar with someone?"

"Yes. Well, no. I- I need to learn. Something. Anything," she said, feeling her cheeks heat up.

Razan, having moved closer, smirked. "Wasn't Peter supposed to teach you?"

Sophie huffed. "I need a teacher who isn't afraid of hurting me. He doesn't even want to hurt my feelings."

"I can teach you a few things," Keiko offered. "Do you have a weapon?"

Sophie pulled her brother's folding knife out of a pocket and unfolded it. Razan shook his head. She glared at him, then turned back to Keiko.

"That's… very small," the Japanese woman said. "Well, I can show you how to deflect a weapon. But first, you're holding it wrong."

Razan stepped up to Sophie and turned the knife in her hand. Then he moved behind her and pulled her shoulders back, kicking her feet slightly farther apart. "Every time I've seen you about to fight, you hold yourself like you're terrified. Hold yourself with confidence, and you'll trick your mind into being confident."

"Half the battle is in your mind," Keiko added, pointing her sword at Sophie. "You must convince yourself you aren't about to die before you have a chance at convincing your opponent of that."

Sophie nodded, batting the tip of the sword away with her knife. "I'll do my best."