The Ether Witch Volume 2

"Did grandpa beat up the king, too?" Luca asked eagerly, his eyes wide.

"No!" Tam exclaimed though he struggled against a laugh. "No, I specifically told you this particular story so that you heard how you can solve problems without violence!"

"Oh…" Luca settled down on his haunches, his disappointment undisguised.

Penelope sat beside him seriously. "So? What did Finlay do?"

Tam eased back into the wooden folding chair they had pulled out for their story time after dinner around the small round table on the deck.

"Well, the king decided that the knights should work in his kitchen. And so they had to work with the very maid they had bullied, and if they gave her any trouble…? There would've been even worse consequences."

After watching the end of the story make its way through the children's minds, Tam stood from his seat with a stretch; his mouth stretched wide in a yawn.

"Isn't the maid in the story the one Harris was saying learned when to be mean?" Penelope wondered astutely.

Tam nodded with a smile, then turned and gestured to the stairs below deck. The pink sky of the evening was casting the deck in a rosy glow.

Luca frowned at his father, then looked at the stairs in confusion. "Why are we going below deck?"

"Time for bed," Tam explained without dropping his arm.

"What?" Luca looked around frantically. "It's not even night yet!"

Tam stepped toward the stairs while looking over his shoulder. "The captain wants the crew to run some drills this evening. Come on. You can read in bed for a little while."

Luca's mouth twisted, and his eyes lowered to the deck with disappointment.

The terrible feeling of guilt needled at Tam's gut—even though he knew it was for a perfectly good reason he was ushering the kids away—there was a hint of pain in Luca's eyes that said it was more than just because of this new bedtime that he was upset.

Still, Luca got to his feet, and trailed after Penelope, who had strode forward without a word of complaint until she stood beside Tam.

When she noted the way Luca nearly dragged the soles of his boots over the deck, she gave a huff of disapproval and turned with her hands on her small hips. "Oh, come on. I'll even read with you, it isn't that bad."

Luca gave a valiant effort to a smile at Penelope, but only managed a closed lip smile without being able to meet her eyes for more than a second.

Tam forced himself to stay quiet as they descended the steps of the ship and they made their way down the galley.

"Wait!" Luca whirled around, and Tam pretended to not be expecting it.

"Can't I read or-or listen to more stories in the cabin with you and Eli?" Luca implored with a spark of hope lighting his face.

Tam took his time pretending to think about it. Rocking onto the balls of his feet, then back onto his heels, his hands finding his pockets. "I suppose. Eli has been quite busy today, but if we're quiet it shouldn't be a problem."

Luca beamed. "I'll be quiet! You'll be quiet, too, won't you, Penelope?"

Penelope rolled her eyes. "I'm always quiet. You're the loud, smelly one."

"I'm not smelly!"

"Yeah, you are!"

Tam cleared his throat loudly and raised an eyebrow at Penelope.

She scowled back up at him. "He does stink."

"There were nicer ways of saying—you know what. Let's not talk about this right now. I'm sure the sailors will be coming up soon and we don't want to get in their way." Tam proceeded to place one hand on each child's shoulder, and propel them down the ship's passageway toward their cabin.

When they arrived in front of the door, Luca immediately reached for the brass handle, making Tam catch his wrist gently, stopping him.

"I think I better knock to make sure Eli isn't changing." Tam smiled warmly at his son, then proceeded to knock three times, paused, then knocked another two times.

At first there was silence… The sound of scuffling…

"Come in!"

Without another word, Tam pressed the handle down, and sent the door swinging wide to reveal…

His and Eli's cabin brightly lit, with an impressive amount of desserts ladened on the table with tea, and interestingly shaped packages wrapped in brown paper and tied with brightly colored ribbons.

"SURPRISE!"

"BKAAW!"

"Me-OW!"

Eli, Hamil, Bes, Captain Sun, Tam, and Penelope shouted, accompanied by the chicken-duchess and Kraken, as Luca stared dumbfounded at the scene.

"What are we surprised about?" The boy tilted his head back to look up his dad in confusion.

Tam balked, then with a chuckle answered. "The party, Luca. We're celebrating your birthday!"

"Oh!" Luca blinked then stared at the table, his eyes homing in on the cake that sat with thick white frosting topped with raspberries. "So I get to eat some of the desserts…?"

Everyone grinned as Tam gave another quiet laugh and Hamil strode forward.

"Of course you get to eat the desserts, young Luca!" Hamil crowed. "It is a joyous celebration for you! You have grown, and learned a great deal in the last year, and we should celebrate all that you have lived, and what you bring to the world!"

"O-oh." Luca repeated while slowly clasping his hands in front of himself.

"Everything alright, Luca?" Tam asked while stepping into the room and closing the door behind himself.

"Um… Well I… I've never… I don't know how to… Do I have to do anything?"

Tam's smile faded from his face, and he felt emotion prick his eyes. "All you have to do is have fun."

"I can… I can do that, then. Thank you for… For um…" the boy continued to stammer.

Tam's gaze snapped to Eli, and he could see the shared pain and anger on Luca's behalf.

There was a tense stillness in the room as Captain Sun, Hamil, and Bes looked with dark suspicion at Tam and Eli.

Penelope stomped her foot, grabbed Luca's hands, and bonked her forehead against his.

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"Don't be a cry baby! Let's eat cake and see your presents!" she squealed jubilantly. Which was so out of character for her that it momentarily stunned everyone.

Snapped free from his emotional stupor, a smile drifted up Luca's face, making his brow relax.

"Okay! Do you get presents, too?" he asked curiously.

"Nope!" Penelope answered while shaking her head, her long dark hair with a small single braid dangling over the side of her head swishing about her shoulders.

"That's not quite true," Bes interjected delicately, her eyes darting around the room. "There are usually party favors for guests."

"Oh… Well… Not for this party!" Penelope shrugged indifferently. "I know because I helped!"

"You knew?" Luca asked, wide eyed.

Penelope smiled proudly. "Of course!"

The two children continued to chatter away while seating themselves at the table.

Eli, having drawn herself away from the tense staring that was taking place between the other adults in the room, proceeded to help the children cut the cake the ship's cook had been able to whip up, and offer everyone slices. It was nothing short of a miracle that there were any raspberries that had remained fresh enough to use to decorate the cake a week into their journey.

Meanwhile, Hamil, Bes, and Captain Sun managed to drift closer to Tam while appearing as casual as possible.

Tam tensed, his mind racing on how exactly he should explain things.

"Pardon my intrusion…" Hamil began lightly. "I had heard this morning on deck that the young man there didn't really celebrate his birthday, but I find myself quite curious why he seems so…" Hamil trailed off, his expression and manner still casual.

Captain Sun didn't contribute but he did tilt his head in silent agreement with the Lobahlan's curiosity.

Tam cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Of course I have no business asking the details: I am merely a guest upon your ship, Lord Tamlin, but I quite like your son. And from what I've seen, you do as well, so I am… Confused," Hamil added a little too hastily, which revealed his nervousness in even broaching the subject.

Tam cast a quick glance at Penelope and Luca as they happily devoured the weighty slabs of white cake Eli had provided them.

"I did not know about Luca until earlier this year," Tam provided delicately.

"Aah… Oh," Hamil had started to nod along, but when he realized what exactly Tam was insinuating, his easygoing facade dropped and in its place a stunned expression claimed him.

"Oh… OH!" Bes caught on a moment after her companion. Though she looked a little more sheepish upon the realization.

"Yes. And if anyone has an issue with that, keep it to yourself," Tam kept his voice quiet, but he ensured they all could hear the hardness behind his tone.

The Lobahlans were quick to bob their heads in assent, but Captain Sun looked a bit uneasy… Until he locked eyes with Tam, and whatever he saw in his face made the seasoned Zinferan sailor flinch.

"Alright, everyone! Come on and eat this cake!" Eli called out sternly. "It would be rude for this to be put to waste."

Everyone dutifully returned their attention to the birthday party, and upon rejoining the children at the table, discovered that Kraken and the duchess chicken had both succumbed to an early party nap right beside the cake.

*

"I can really have this?" Luca all but shouted in awe as he turned over the sextant in his hands.

Tam, from his seated position beside Luca, had his arms crossed and his legs stretched out in a relaxed pose. "Of course. I paid Captain Sun here good coin for it."

"That means we can look at the stars together at night again!" Luca was practically bouncing in his seat.

"That's right. I had to send mine back home to Daxaria when we left Junya, so this is perfect. Especially because as we are traveling north, we're going to see constellations from a new angle," Tam supplied, which only made Luca hug the instrument to his chest tightly as his joy rendered him speechless.

"Tam?"

Looking over, Tam found Penelope standing at his side holding the odd brass trinket Wixim had given him over a fortnight ago.

"Where did you find that?" Tam asked with a raised eyebrow.

He was relatively certain he had kept it stowed in a locked drawer beside the bed…

"I…"

Tam turned at Eli's voice, drawing everyone's eye to her. "I pulled it out when we were… going through things," she finished haltingly while trying to avoid referencing their search for gifts for Luca.

What they had managed to scrounge up was the sextant, a fine whittling knife Tam had purchased from one of the sailors, and a sketch book that Jiho had kindly packed onto the ship. However, Tam hadn't even realized they'd pulled out the prototype of the first witch's device called Chronos.

"What is it?" Penelope tilted her head as she stared at the device curiously.

Making sure to be careful upon plucking up the circlet on its chain from her small palm, Tam pressed the tiny button at the top (he was assuming it was the top due to the delicate hinges on the bottom). As he remembered, the brass cover sprung open to reveal the glass face.

The clattering of a fork on porcelain jolted everyone's attention upward to Bes and Hamil. The Lobahlans were staring in shock at the Chronos-esque device.

"Do you know what that is?" Eli asked while straightening her shoulders and leaning back in her seat.

Bes and Hamil shared a wordless glance.

Then, in unison looked back at Eli and responded with. "No."

The flat dubious look Eli gave them had Hamil pointedly picking up his cup and taking a drink while Bes—who had been picking at her slice of cake prior to that moment—suddenly loaded a massive forkful of frosting into her mouth.

Tam opened his mouth to ask another question, when Kraken slowly lifted his head from his nap at the same time as the chicken-duchess.

Hamil and Bes froze at the eerie movement of the animals.

Kraken unfurled, then brought himself to the edge of the table, lowered his chin, and glared at Hamil.

The chicken duchess rapped a claw against the table in front of Bes who gulped loudly.

As much as Tam wanted some more answers on the mysterious item the dragon had given them, it was still Luca's birthday, and it wasn't as though the Lobahlans were going anywhere for the remainder of their journey.

"How about we all go above deck—Luca, the sailors managed to tie a swing up on one of the masts so you can give that a try."

Whirling around, his mood in no way diminished despite the temporary spell of tense silence, Luca threw his arms around Tam with the sextant still in hand, instantly easing away the residual effects of discomfort in the cabin.

"This is the best birthday ever!"