Drifters

Inti's Watcher

Nop walked into Sophie's room with a paper in her beak. Sophie greeted the raven, taking it.

"What's this?"

"This letter was given to the person who sends out correspondence in London for us," Nop replied. "It is addressed to you."

Sophie turned it over, growing cold when she saw her brother's name as the sender. "Thank you."

Nop bobbed and flew out.

Taking a deep breath, Sophie broke the seal and unfolded the single page.

[Dear Sophie,

Where are you?

I don't believe for a moment you're in America. Or Brazil, as you told Mother. Or on a ship.

Are you in trouble? Do you need money? Let me know.

I will be in London, where you post your letters from, in the last half of May. Meet me at the quaint tea shop you always wanted to visit on the 20th, at 10AM. You know I won't tell Mother what you've been doing; I want to make sure you're safe.

Regards,

Sylvester]

Sophie read the letter three times, then got up and walked to Marie's room.

Marie opened her door a few seconds after Sophie knocked, looking like she'd just woken up from a nap. Nervous, Sophie silently handed the letter over.

"I find it fascinating how you assume a Haitian woman can read English," Marie said, scanning the page.

"You know everything," Sophie said. "That would include knowing how to read every language in the world."

Marie smiled, then handed the page back. "Well? Will you meet him?"

"I… Would you come with me?"

After a few seconds, Marie put her hand on Sophie's shoulder. "I can't. As far as I know, the English still have a price on my head. London would not be a safe place for me. I can't risk going there."

"Oh." Sophie glanced at the letter, not sure what to do.

"Why not take Peter?" Marie asked, her hand dropping. "I know you're not together any more, but he speaks English and is very respectable."

"I don't believe he'd help," Sophie said. "I just… Sylvester is going to expect me to lie. And if I tell him the truth, it'll sound like a lie. He'll get mad, I won't be able to come up with anything convincing, and he might insist I go home for my safety. If I'm alone- I don't want to go home, but I'll have to! And- And if Mother finds out he's meeting me and is there too, I'll be trapped. I want him to see I'm fine, I'm happy here, but I can't- If he orders me- I-"

Marie pulled her into a hug. "Hush, girl."

Sophie held onto her, realizing she was crying. "What do I do?"

"You… get along well with your brother, aye?"

She nodded. "He's the only person who didn't act like the world would be better if I were dead."

Marie was silent for a while, rubbing Sophie's back, then she sighed and pulled away to look her in the eye. "Would… you consider…" She grimaced. "...Taking Louis with you?"

Sophie wiped her face, confused. "Louis?"

"He is English, I'm fairly certain. He was a privateer, never a pirate, so he's safe in London. And if anyone demands you stay, he would very politely tell them to go to hell." Marie smiled apologetically. "I wouldn't recommend going, but it sounds like you do want to talk to your brother. If you go, Louis would be a good bodyguard."

Sophie thought it over, then nodded. "If you say it'd be good to have him there, I'll ask him to come."

"No, I'll ask," Marie said. "You don't know him, so I won't send you to him alone. Would you like to get this over with now, or spend more time thinking it over?"

"Now," Sophie said. "If I spend time thinking, I'll get stuck in my head."

Marie hugged her again, smiling. "Very well. Let's go."

Marie found Louis playing cards with Asani in the Windwards' group area. Asani politely went elsewhere after saying a greeting, leaving Marie and Sophie alone with Louis.

Louis motioned to the chairs around the table. "Please, have a seat. How may I be of service?"

Marie sat down, second-guessing herself. "You are English, aye?"

Louis glanced at Sophie, then flashed Marie a hesitant smile. "Legally? No."

Sophie was confused. "You're illegally English?"

"I was born two days short of Havana," he explained with a laugh. "My birth was registered there, then I spent my childhood on Jamaica. My parents were both born in England, my grandparents were all properly English, so I can claim to be English, but as far as papers are concerned I'm not."

Marie suspected that didn't matter. "If you were to go to England, would anyone notice? Specifically, if you joined Sophie for tea in London."

"She'd be a better judge of that than I," Louis said, looking at Sophie again. "But more than that, I'm not posh. What do you need, lass?"

"I- My brother asked I meet him for tea, so he can make sure I'm… all right," Sophie told him.

"There's some concern he'll insist she stay," Marie added. "Would you go with her to help convince whoever needs convincing that my girl is perfectly happy here?"

Louis grew quiet, serious. "Of course. I will make sure Sophie is allowed to do whatever she chooses."

Sophie beamed. Marie took Louis' hand, grateful.

And then, because he was Louis, he ruined the moment. "So, shall we claim you're one of my best rum runners? Or would you prefer to say you're an expert at slipping things into men's drinks?"

Sophie looked alarmed. "No. I don't know, but not that."

"Well, we must decide on something," Louis said cheerfully. "When I introduced Marie to my cousin I accidentally said I'd kidnapped her; don't want that to happen again."

"Well, in a way you had," Marie pointed out.

"No, you came with me willingly," Louis corrected. "And then we were arrested, which was not my fault, and your ship left before-"

"Not your fault?"

"You committed the first murder, I was just following your lead."

"Those men were only after us because you tricked them into paying our tab!"

"Something you played along with, my love, meaning I did not kidnap or otherwise steal you."

Marie sat back with a laugh, crossing her arms in defeat.

Sophie was staring at them with wide eyes. "First murder?"

"Pirates and privateers do tend to murder quite a bit," Louis said apologetically. "Regardless! What shall we tell your brother?"

She calmed down, becoming reserved. "Perhaps… He won't like it, but smuggling would be a good story. Could you convince him it's safe?"

"No," Louis said thoughtfully. "But I can tell him you are one of the best thieves I've ever seen. You're one of Captain Marie's favorites, and as such she's done all she can to train and protect you. Which is true. No one here would dare hurt you. And I will be joining you to ensure your safety. He won't be able to claim no one cares about you."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Sophie nodded slowly. "Although, I would like to talk to him by myself first. If he's alone."

"Naturally."

Marie frowned, thinking of something. "What's today's date?"

"The 8th of May," Louis said, pointing to a calendar in the kitchen.

"The meeting was suggested for the 20th, so you have over a week to prepare," Marie said.

"What else needs to be prepared?" Sophie asked.

Marie leaned over, pulling at a pocket on Sophie's trousers, then at the thin ribbon which was holding up the tube of fabric around her chest.

Sophie looked herself over. "Oh."

"How rich are the people going to the tea shop?" Marie asked. "Louis will probably need something, too, if he doesn't want to get kicked out."

"It's not…" Sophie hesitated. "It's a shop between a pub and a newspaper printery. It serves the workers of the street before the pub opens. We always passed it on the way to the dressmaker's shop, and Mother insisted going in would lessen our value as humans or something."

Louis smiled. "It sounds lovely. What time is the meeting to be?"

"Ten in the morning," she answered.

"Oh good, that should be before midnight for us. That'll make it more likely they'll approve the visit. Not that they'd deny you, this being your first request to leave."

A raven hopped onto the table. "Eleven at night, to be exact. Which is not ideal, but promise this trip won't take more than two hours and it won't need board approval. Just Nop and mine's."

"I promise to not do any sightseeing," Louis said.

Sophie nodded. "I promise."

"What happens if that promise is broken?" Marie asked.

Louis beamed. "Irik here will yell at me. He hasn't had a good reason to yell at me for, what, six whole months? It's about time I do something to upset him."

"I yelled at you last week!" the raven snapped.

"Aye, but I wasn't at fault for that."

Irik sat down, feathers poofing out as he grumbled.

"You're not afraid of getting punished in some way?" Sophie asked.

The raven gave a dry laugh. And then tilted his head thoughtfully, feathers going back to normal. "You know, Nop is rather uptight about things. She doesn't truly understand the myriad of inventive ways humans can technically not break laws. Louis, I definitely do not recommend you tell people who she's in charge of your ideas about pushing boundaries. And absolutely don't show anyone that notebook you've got with our rules about what we can and cannot do to humans. I can see you becoming a terrible influence, so, yep, don't."

Marie grinned. "Now, that sounds like the words of someone who's supposed to be in control but has no control whatsoever."

"Can't imagine why," Irik said flatly.

"Should I also not mention how to get true privacy here?" Louis asked.

Sophie sat up, eyes wide. "There is a way?"

The raven snickered. "Nope, not at all, absolutely zero ways of blocking us from watching your every move. Humans get no privacy and there's nothing you can do about it. Anyone who says differently is definitely lying."

Marie saw the glint in Louis' eyes and leaned in, ready to learn all the secrets of the universe.

Razan caught up to Innoka and took her hand.

She smiled at him. "Hi."

"I wish you a good morning on this fine day, which is exactly as fine as all other days on this ship," he said formally.

Innoka glanced down. "I do miss weather," she admitted. "Which is an odd thing to miss."

"How… much do you miss it?" he asked quietly.

"Not enough to leave," she said. "I've made up my mind about that."

He hesitated, not wanting to jump to conclusions. "You've decided if you'll ask to leave or not?"

"I won't ask to leave." She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, not looking him in the eye. "I talked to Nop about it, and she said they prefer if people come and go in pairs. So if someone else decides they want to leave, I'll volunteer to go at the same time. Until then, I'll stay. And maybe in the meantime I'll somehow get over my fear of heights and decide this is a place I could happily live forever in."

"That is very reasonable," Razan told her. He absolutely hated it, but it was reasonable.

Innoka smiled, making the rest of the universe fade. "Thank you for not insisting I stay. You truly are a good man."

"I'm not; I just happen to love you."

"Razan, if I were to go home… Would you come with me?" she asked.

He dropped her hand, suddenly nervous. "You'd want me to leave?"

"Of course. I happen to love you, so…" She looked at him with her beautiful eyes, her perfect lips in a faint smile.

"I can't," he said, making her smile fade. He looked down, taking her hand again, giving himself a few seconds to figure out an excuse which sounded logical. "No matter where we went, one of us would be out of place. Meaning one of us would be unhappy. If you were unhappy, I'd never forgive myself. And if I were unhappy, you'd probably kill me in frustration. It's best if I stay here."

"You can't know that," she insisted. "You might get along wonderfully with my family, and-"

"I do not get along wonderfully with anyone," he told her. "I do not get along with most people at all. Trust me, it's for the best I remain here."

Innoka sighed. "I'll ask again when the time comes. If it comes."

He bowed, then moved in to kiss her briefly. "In case it comes soon, I must spend as much time as I can with you. May I join you in wherever you were going?"

"If you want to join me as I get a haircut I won't complain," she said graciously.

"I can think of no better way to spend the morning."

Peter adjusted the blindfold over his eyes. "This is the dumbest thing I've ever done."

"I don't believe that," Grace said, mockery in her voice.

"Mm, going out onto a tightrope to act as a target is pretty stupid," Juan admitted.

Sighing, Peter stepped onto the tightrope they'd strung over the pool. He wobbled, but managed a few cautious steps.

"Ready?" Juan asked.

"Uhm."

"That sounded like a yes to me," Grace decided, and a snowball hit Peter in the shoulder.

He flailed, keeping his balance as five more snowballs pelted him. If he was strong enough and balanced enough, they wouldn't be able to knock him off the rope. If he could see, he'd focus more on blocking the snowballs and fall off easier.

Or at least, that was the excuse. It was really more of a game to see which of them could knock him into the water, and he couldn't wait until it was his turn to throw the snowballs. Still, the practice with balance and not flinching every time he got hit was good.

The snowballs started coming from different angles, meaning his attackers were moving around the room. Peter took another step along the rope, carefully finding a better balance. He felt proud of himself for not wincing at every hit.

And then a snowball hit him in the ear. He twitched away, swatting at it with a hand, and the rope wobbled. He tried to regain balance, but it wasn't possible. With a yelp, Peter fell into the water.

He pulled the blindfold off as he surfaced. Juan was cheering a victory, Grace was smirking, and, surprisingly, Razan was watching everything from the doorway.

Peter swam over to the side of the pool closest to the door and pushed himself out. "Hey. Need something?"

"Yes," Razan said, bowing slightly. "Captain Marie says she wishes to go over our route for the maze after dinner."

"I'll be there," Peter promised.

Razan nodded, then paused. "What are you doing?"

"Balance training," Peter said.

"The more the merrier, mate," Grace called. "Care to join?"

"I… would," Razan said slowly. "If you don't mind."

"Get swim clothes on and you can go after me," Juan said, touching the tightrope with his foot before pulling his blindfold on.

Razan bowed again and hurried out.

Peter picked up his bucket of snowballs, watching Juan carefully make his way to the center of the pool.

"Ready?" Grace asked.

"Yes," Juan said confidently.

They started pelting him with snowballs.

Admittedly, he was much better at keeping balance than Peter. He knew how to adjust his position after a hit so he was using the momentum instead of fighting it. Peter was getting to the bottom of the bucket when Grace finally dislodged Juan with a direct hit to the face. He fell backwards into the water, surfacing with a laugh.

By that time Razan had come back and changed clothes. The samurai stepped up to the tightrope as Juan climbed out of the pool, adjusting a piece of cloth over his eyes.

"How many steps would you recommend?" he asked, his straight posture straightening even more before he put his weight on the rope.

"Three or four," Grace said. "Enough so you won't hit your head on the side if you fall sideways."

"That is an excellent suggestion," Razan said, arms out for balance as his feet slid along the rope. Finally he stopped, about a third of the way across. "Is this good?"

"Yep! Ready?"

"Yes."

He was hit by three snowballs at once and immediately fell into the water.

"Huh," Peter said, watching his teammate briefly flounder. "Guess I didn't do too bad, after all."

Razan hooked his arms over the rope, lifting his blindfold to look at Juan. "Allow me to try again."

Juan laughed. "Sure, go ahead."

He nodded, pulling the blindfold back down, and pushed himself out of the water directly onto the rope. It took him a few seconds, but he managed to get his feet under him. A few more seconds, and he stood, ending in a semi-crouch.

"I am ready."

Peter shared a glance with Grace, and they threw their snowballs. This time, Razan managed to not move. He stood perfectly still on the tightrope, muscles tense.

In the second volley, Peter and Juan hit him in the back at the same time, and it pushed him just far enough that he fell.

"My turn," Grace cheered, stepping up to the rope.

Razan swam to the pool's edge, blindfold off. "That is impressively difficult."

Peter walked over, offering a hand to help him out. "Yeah, I don't know what kind of crazy person thought it up, but it sure takes a dozen skills."

"It's not crazy," Grace insisted. "It consolidates several exercises into one time-efficient game."

"Exactly," Juan agreed.

Razan picked a snowball out of Peter's bucket and tossed it into the air, easily catching it as it came back down. "And now for target practice."

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen you throw anything. Or shoot," Peter said, waving to the hawk in the corner of the room. There was a brief flash, and another snowball bucket appeared.

"I generally try to avoid doing things I'm terrible at," Razan admitted, picking the bucket up. He paused, then bowed slightly to Peter. "Especially when I'm near an expert."

Peter blinked. That was quite possibly the first compliment Razan had ever given him. "Thanks."

Before it could get awkward, Grace got to the middle of the tightrope. "All right, you bastards, do your worst!"