The Sea Orb

CHAPTER 11

Renne was striding along the length of the ship biting her nails in tension. It's already midnight but those three are still not here. Hopper was already asleep in their cabin. At that moment she saw someone entering the ship. She moved forward to see who it was.

Her eyes widened in recognition as she whispered "Dominic?"

Dominic looked a little nervous as he clenched his hands "I... I." He stammered rubbing his nape looking here and there.

Renne let out a chuckle as she spoke: "Welcome aboard!" Hitting his arm slightly.

Dominic grinned sheepishly joining her. Before they could talk further the people of the hour made their appearance. Seeing Dominic, Marin smiled a little.

"So you are finally here," Jonathan grunted as he hugged Dominic while the latter responded with a small smile. Marin too gave him a quick hug muttering "Welcome."

Dominic glanced at Elijah and widened his eyes seeing him carry someone. Elijah nodded at him and left to his cabin. Seeing the face of the person he was carrying Dominic gasped and uttered: "Is that the prince?"

"The one and only," Marin uttered in a singsong way grinning.

"You... You people never fail to surprise me." He let out a sigh still looking at Elijah who was now returning after dropping the prince in a cabin.

All of them were startled hearing a voice. "Just when I was thinking."

"You guys have returned. I have just prepared for dinner. Come on in, and don't forget to wash your hands." George spoke standing near the kitchen with a ladle in his hand.

Marin was surprised that he came. She smiled and moved forwards followed by Johnathan and Elijah. Renne and Dominic were confused but followed them inside.

An hour later all were settled around a huge table covered in various delicacies laughing and having the time of their life as the ship set off. Marin introduced George to Renne and Dominic. They were all getting along pretty well.

Marin was seated adjacent to the head of the table. They kept that seat empty as Marin was still a bit unsure on taking her father's position.

Next to Marin was Renne feeding Hopper. Jonathan sat on the other side of the head chair with Dominic by his side and then Elijah.

"Uncle John, how did you managed to divert the attention of the guards back then?" Marin finally asked the question she was dying to ask.

"Nothing major kiddo, there were some nobles boasting about their heritage at some distance on the first floor. All it took was a few words to start an ugly brawl between them. By the time, you guys went there the guard would have come to the nearest guards for help. And so everything worked out somehow." Jonathan spoke.

All of them were astonished to see this. He mentioned everything so casually like he goes around creating brawls every other day.

Marin shook her head with a chuckle and continued devouring the food.

~.~

With a glass of wine in her hand, Marin looked around the midnight sky and the ocean. All around her, there was darkness but not for once did it make her feel scared or uncomfortable.

It felt serene, peaceful. It was like she finally felt a sense of belonging. The detachment she felt back then wasn't there anymore.

Nothing felt new or uncomfortable. It was then that she realized that this sense of belongingness was what they call HOME.

Her smile was never-ending as she took a deep breath of the ocean feeling so close to her old self. She knew she couldn't make all those years of prison in northlyn disappear. Neither can she erase her training in the army nor Callum. But she doesn't have to.

All those memories and feelings made her the person she is today and she would be forever grateful to them. No matter how dark and painful they were, they were a part of her and she would embrace them. From now, she would move forward in her life.

She wants to live in her present. Live every moment of her beautiful reality.

Speaking of reality, she remembered about the prince. Renne told that he would be asleep till tomorrow morning. So she had a few more hours of peace thankfully. The guards must have found out about the missing prince by now. Probably the king too.

They must be sending a search party soon. How much more time will they have before the king might deduce that she was the one who took him and sends the guards into the sea to search.

Probably a few more days if they are lucky. She thought doing a quick analysis.

She moved towards her cabin precisely her father's cabin. It was still a little untidy but who's complaining. She looked around until her eyes found what she was looking for.

The latest addition to their family. She smiled looking at the long-tailed jaeger while the later too stared at her pecking the fence with its beak.

Marin was looking around the market in oakhelm excitedly. She had finally freed the ship and couldn't be happier. While moving through the stalls her gaze fell on a certain shop selling birds. She moved towards it curiously.

She was looking at a certain bird with interest while the bird too was looking at her. The merchant spoke smiling proudly "That's the attraction our shop... Not many of them can be found nowadays... They are said to the rarest of the rare... Miss are you interested in buying it?"

Marin looked a little startled but questioned "Can it travel long distances... I mean like across the seas?"

"It's a sea bird miss, obviously it can travel. And this bird is actually trained to understand human signs." Merchant added not wanting to miss a good deal.

"Can it send messages across?" Marin asked as if contemplating something.

"Yes of course. It can fly where ever you like but the landing is a bit problematic. You need to blow this whistle so that it can come back to you. Don't worry the bird is trained to respond to one type of sound only." The merchant explained.

Marin smiled widely and looked at the bird and spoke up "Then I would like to take it."

And that's how buddy had joined her family. Everyone was literally so happy seeing it. Out of all Hopper was the most excited of them all. It was amusing to see 7-year-old kid taking responsibility for the bird. He used to sit hours in front of the cage and try tapping the cage to get the bird's attention.

She chuckled at the thought.

A few minutes later, completing her work, Marin freshened up and laid on the bed. Between thinking about the king, guards and the prince in her ship she fell asleep.

~.~

Marin woke up to the sound of the door being knocked.

She opened it to see Hopper smiling widely.

"Rin Rin! Sea! It's the sea!" Hopper dragged her by holding her hand while Marin rubbed her eyes in astonishment at her newfound nickname.

"Hop! Come here, you need to fresh up." Renne called out while Hopper pouted and stomped off to her grumbling cutely he couldn't watch the sea.

"Ah! Captain Mari." Johnathan called out to her who again widened her eyes at the nickname. So much that she pointed towards herself with a face asking 'Me?'

"Of course YOU Captain Mari. I want to introduce our new crew members to you." He beckoned her who followed the suit.

"This is William, Anthony and tony." He gestured to them while Marin looked surprised seeing them.

"Twins?" She spoke out loud while Anthony and tony grinned at each other's identical faces.

"Aye!" They answered in unison while Marin chuckled.

"Where's Dominic?" She questioned while Johnathan grumbled slightly.

"That monkey has not come down from the crow's nest looking around with his goggles." He spoke.

"ItS BiNoCuLaRs!" Dominic shouted from the top. Marin looked up to see Dominic waving from above. She waved back at him.

"Now that everything's under control we have more pressing issues at hand," Marin spoke as she rubbed her forehead.

"Aye! Kiddo, we are pirates and no one can catch a pirate once they sail. Ya don't worry!" He patting her head.

"Well, they surely would love to catch a pirate escaping with their only prince." Marin grinned. They moved down the hatch to see George putting the breakfast on the makeshift table. While Renne was helping him.

"Renne, when will the prince wake up?" Marin questioned taking her seat.

"He should have been up by now. But his body's constitution is weak so it may take a few more hours." She spoke frowning while Marin nodded her head.

"Ok, after breakfast I need you guys in the Cabin," Marin spoke as she ate the food.

"The food is delicious George." Marin praised taking three bits at the same time.

"Although I am really happy with the praise, just don't choke yourself, Marin," George spoke earning a laugh from the others while Marin pouted.

The breakfast ended with a happy note. All of the crew members except the 3 new members were in the cabin.

Marin opened the rolled-up sheet of paper and placed it on the desk. Renne put some weights to keep it in place.

"So we are here." Marin pointed out and circled the place on the map. It was huge with compass projections at one end of the paper. Marin bought it from Northlyn.

"And we need to gather information on these lands. Asterin, Zemira, Oryn, Alfheim. We cannot go to Asterin as they recently had a war and lost to Amaris so Amaris must be under control here and it is the most sensitive area." Marin explained while all of them listened carefully.

"Then what about Zemira? It's a peaceful kingdom from what I have heard." Renne asked while Marin nodded at her.

"As Renne said it's a peaceful kingdom, but the prince had returned to Amaris from Zemira so he ought to have connections there. We can't risk him being seen." Marin spoke while Johnathan nodded his head.

"I don't have any information on the other two kingdoms," Marin spoke regretfully.

"But we need to stop somewhere for more rations to stay in the sea for a longer period of time." George chimed in while Elijah nodded his head.

"We need candles and wood." He spoke expressionlessly.

"Well, we only have one place to go to," Johnathan spoke finally while Marin looked at him.

"Here." He gestured between the boarders of Oryn and Zemira.

"The No Man's land," Marin whispered while Johnathan nodded.

"We have no problem in stopping here but there are usually a lot of riots especially on pirates." He paused while Marin nodded at him to continue.

"We can gather information here. A lot of people who travel and a few pirates could be hiding here." He spoke while Marin mapped the safest way she could guess. It wasn't accurate though.

"It should take approximately 3 hours to get there." Johnathan had traveled through sea so he knew how much time it would take.

"Well, then, does anyone have any objections?" Marin questioned while the others nodded in a no.

"It's settled then," Marin spoke. The others dispersed to their works. Johnathan told the other three members the change of course. Marin returned to her room and walked towards the window. She looked at the sky to see buddy flying above the ship.

She took out the whistle and slowly blew it. It flew down towards her window and landed on her outstretched hand.

A small sheet of paper was tied to its leg. She had sent the bird last night before she went to bed.

She bought the bird inside and gave it something to eat before untying the paper.

Chaos. Prince. Missing. Search party. Unknown.

"So the kingdom finally realised that their prince was missing, but they still don't know who it is," Marin spoke with a smirk playing on her lips.

~.~