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November 3, 1800
Suzy Aranaz

Suzy Aranaz could not believe her eyes.

Captain Han had disappeared—vanished from his position beside her. He left a trail of a dark aura in his wake, the mist swirling around like a tornado.

A simple, near-rustic paper rose from the ground and landed in her palm.

I had to borrow him for a second. Sorry. I'll be returning him to wherever you may be once I'm done with him.

Hades.

Weird.

It took her a moment to put two and two together as to what had just happened, but when she no longer denied it, Suzy simply opted to follow Han's orders and locate Marty and bring him back to the Black Egret. She would see through that the captain had no complaints when he returned and that he would return to Marty waiting for him. The captain would much prefer that than her worry and other such time-wasting tactics.

But before she could move on, she hovered around the area, wondering if he would miraculously return from wherever he had gone. It made her uneasy to know that someone could vanish just like that. It felt odd to even when she knew he would return eventually.

As if someone had just pickpocketed her. Something of value silently snatched.

So Suzy went on her way, trying to keep on task when all she wanted to do was wait for Sehyun's return.

Spotting the tavern Marty always waited at for his pick-up within minutes, Suzy debated going inside or waiting for Marty to come out himself.

But a single bark changed her mind.

Without thinking, Suzy's mind emptied things of importance and focused on locating the source of such a cute sound. Scanning the barren area, her eyes landed upon a wonderous Australian Shephard with a perfect combination of patterns and colour in her fur laying next to a horse that suited only a king.

Then when she approached the animals to admire their beauty for a few more seconds, she spotted Marty and Maya, both drinking milk that left a line on their upper lips.

"MARTY," she called, hoping to grab his attention.

When he turned his head in a single jerk, Marty couldn't help but beam at the quartermaster. He shoved his glass into Maya's hand and jogged towards Suzy, wrapping his arms around her once they were close enough.

"It's about time you came."

Suzy patted his back. "Sorry for the delay, but we had to deal with an enemy on the sea."

Maya just watched from the distance, awkwardly holding two glasses of milk and silently wanting to join the hug, but not because that would be imposing. So she positioned herself to hide behind the horse who she decided to call Meo. It was the first sound the horse made. Quite unfitting but quirky.

Similar to Maya, Indie also felt the need for hugs, but instead of holding back, the dog raced for Suzy and Marty and started jumping on them.

Wasn't she supposed to be a guard dog at a dungeon? But then again, the dungeon's purpose was to not be of good quality due to King Fiore's paranoia.

Breaking away from the embrace, Marty asked, "Who?"

"The captain will explain everything. Even I don't know everything that he's been keeping in his head," Suzy replied. Looking over Marty's shoulders and laying her eyes on the horse, she bit her lip. "I don't think we can bring the horse on the ship. Maybe just the dog."

Maya smiled awkwardly at the quartermaster when they made eye contact, silently asking to keep the steed, but her plea fell on Suzy's inability to pick up on it.

"Shall we sell it?" suggested Marty. "I know of a stable nearby."

Suzy agreed, not taking into account that Maya would have a hard time parting.

Grabbing the horse's reins, Marty led the way to the stables he'd been talking about earlier. He refrained from asking any questions that Sehyun could answer, but his curiosity got the best of him. "Tell me what's been happening lately, Suzy."

Maya pouted as she followed the two human beings that had agreed on selling the horse she had to stab Charlie to get. She couldn't exactly express her disagreement, so she just held onto Indie, scowling at their backs any chance she got.

But one thing still bothered her. How did Marty know who she was? He even asked a question that only she could answer, meaning that he knew or at least suspected who she was prior.

"Nothing much," said Suzy even though she thoroughly remembered the events of the last few months. "Well, for one thing, Gods exist."

Marty raised a brow.

"Poseidon, Hades, Zeus. All real, apparently."

"Why?"

"How would I know?"

He cleared his throat, kicking the dust on the road. "Tell me about Querilke then. Everything safe?"

Suzy brushed off imaginary dirt from her clothes, sucking her teeth. "Actually, we had to extract the jewel from Querilke."

Unsurprised, Marty asked why.

"Because someone with the ability to overpower us wanted the jewel, so we led them to the book that's rather skilled in killing and then decided to keep the jewel on our person."

"That is an unsatisfactory answer."

"You have to wait for the captain to explain everything from the start."

"He's not any better at explaining than you are."

Suzy giggled. "Well, that's what you get for taking an eight-month vacation while using a family member's wedding as an excuse."

Marty did not have a retort, but from the way Suzy had a hard time sharing, it was something big. A series of conflicts and events that were tied together that clarifying would be difficult in chronological order.

All he could do was sigh and hope everything would make sense one day.

After nearly twenty minutes of trekking the dirt roads, Maya took it upon herself to express her annoyance. "I thought you said this place was nearby."

"It is. Twenty minutes should be nothing for a Terelinian princess. You know, since you're trained in the art of violence from a young age."

"Yes, but I'm hungry."

Marty smiled, turning his otherwise intimidating face into one matching Indie's goofiness. "Nothing I can do about that."

They reached the stable a few retorts later, and Maya opted to sit on the bench outside while Suzy and Marty bargained with the stubborn keeper of horses.

The rest of the journey was a blur to Maya as she half-heartedly followed Marty and Suzy, subconsciously stroking Indie's fur every once in a while.

She'd never truly allowed herself to think about Juele, but now that her focus wasn't surviving and shelter, he was all that came to her mind. Was he alright? Was he thrown back into the dungeon? Was he killed? Would there be war earlier than expected? Why was the prince even treated in such a way? Regardless of how horrid of a king the king was, how could he do that to his own son?

"MAYA!" said Marty.

"What is it?"

"Watch your step. You were about to fall into the water."

"What are you talking about—" Maya looked down and noticed that she was inches from falling into the ocean. "When did we get here?" she muttered before stretching her leg out further onto the wooden platform that would lead her to a small rowboat.

Neither Suzy nor Maya had any desire to row the boat, so they just watched Marty until he did it himself.

Clearly, eight months away from the sea took a toll. Marty had a hard time pushing and pulling at the paddles, but not once did he complain or show stress upon his features. He would not hear the end of it from Suzy. Even if she was a mellow soul, she took amusement in others' discomfort or embarrassment.

It wasn't something he wanted to become victim to again.

Once the boat reached the Black Egret, his arms ached and throbbed. But it wasn't the end yet. Now was the time for climbing the ladder and onto the ship.

It was never-ending on sea.

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Word Count: 1400