Accustomed

by Kyra Gregory

  “It exists,” she said, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her lips, “but it is one that will take quite some discussion,” she added.

  Kieren shrugged his broad shoulders. “I did not expect it any other way,” he said.

  Sybelle hid her smile in the shadows, casting her gaze back to the Pirate Captain. “But I’ll discuss it with her,” she said. As though ‘her’ was not specific enough, a single flick of Sybelle’s hand gestured to the petite, slender pirate she’d deduced, and confirmed, was a woman. With reference made to her, she glanced over from her place on a barrel, uninterested in their politics, hunched over and picking from her plate of food.

  Kieren took a moment to recover from his surprise, snapping a glance in Gyles’s direction. Gyles was unfazed by it, instead, remaining calm and composed even when faced with such a steely glare. Kieren would soon learn that although he was the Queen’s voice when they had previous discussed matters, it was no longer the case when in the presence of the Queen herself. “Why her?” Kieren asked, looking back at Sybelle. “She does not understand matters the same way I do.”

  “I disagree,” Sybelle said, smirking. “She may know more than you realise,” she said. There was a growing hesitance in his eyes, an unwillingness to back down, a sense of pride that he would have to waver if he hoped this deal would go through. She waved her hand dismissively, exhaling, “Even so, my proposal is simple, yet requires discussion. I would feel most comfortable with her.”

  Kieren disliked her request greatly, even as he contemplated her words, that much was easy to see. The frown on his face was deep and his disagreement with her had him bubbling with an anger that was getting difficult for him to quell as he resigned himself to the fact that he would have to concede.

  “My proposal is good,” Sybelle said, mustering a sweet voice, showing him she had no interest in arguments, “and I don’t think it to be wise to miss out on it all for the sake of your pride.”

  Kieren rolled his eyes and turned his back on her. Her heart sunk in her chest a little until she saw him approaching the female pirate. She got to her feet, her arms crossed against her chest as she hung her head, listening to his words uttered closely into her ear. A pirate nearby, the quartermaster no doubt, approached and seemed to give his input; vehement disapproval by the look of frustration and unease welling in his eyes that glistened with the light of the fire. The consultation, a quiet exchange, was brief but spoke volumes. Kieren wasn’t happy with the arrangement and his quartermaster’s disapproval only made matters worse, the scowl on his face causing wrinkles throughout his young, sun-kissed skin. Despite the obvious displeasure at her request, he didn’t seem to want to fight her on the subject. Perhaps he thought coaching the pirate girl into doing as he asked was more worthwhile than trying to argue with a Queen.

  Kieren approached Sybelle once more. “She will go with you,” he said, “and discuss this proposal you claim is so good.”

  Sybelle nodded, bowing her head in respect and appreciation. “Your concern is strong for her, no doubt,” she said, directing her words to the quartermaster, “so, as a sign of goodwill, I’ll leave Gyles in your hands until we return.”

  It was a cold comfort, one that made very little difference to either of the men. As for the rest of their crew, they looked indifferent to the entire discussion, hardly paying attention.

  Sybelle looked to the young woman, disguised so well beneath thick layers of clothing. “Come,” she said. The doors behind her opened and she slipped through with her men, allowing the other woman to join her at her own pace.

  Inside Lionessa, Sybelle didn’t miss the disapproving stares she received from some who stood at the windows of their homes, looking out at whom she’d summoned into their walls. She paid them no mind and, instead, made her way up the long staircase that led to the top of their walls, treating the young woman to the exquisite view that such height could bestow. But she wasn’t the slightest bit interested. Her arms remained folded against her chest as she got to the top, the tips of her fingers caressing the hilt of the knife at her side, looking around herself at all the guards. Sybelle waved them away, keeping them at a distance.

  There was a moment in which she wanted to pass her off as just a girl. She appeared to be so young, her features supple, gentle with dark red hair framing her face, the odd seashell braided into her hair. But she wasn’t just a girl. She eyed Sybelle’s guards critically, appeared to take mental notes of every sword in the vicinity, of any avenues of escape should the moment call for it. “You won’t be harmed, I promise,” Sybelle said, hoping to put her at ease.

  Against the wall, overlooking the beach below, a table and two chairs had been set up, dressed in fine cloth for this meeting alone. “The rest of your crew stands below,” Sybelle said, taking a seat at her place at one end of the table, “and, if at any moment you feel you’ve been harmed, you need only call down to them and they will execute my dearest friend.”

  She scoffed in utter disbelief, looking at her with wide, sea green eyes, “You would put his life in my hands?”

  Sybelle nodded with a carefully placed smile, “They have put your life in mine. It’s only fair.” She sat back, lifting her head up high, placing her hands on the table, “I’m confident that nothing will happen to him, however, as I have no intention of bringing you any harm.”

  With much unease, unsheathing the blade at her side in the process, she took a seat, peeking over her shoulder once more to ascertain that no one else had crept up on her. With her blade placed on the table, mere inches from her, she sank back into her seat, no doubt looking forward to the end of this.

  “What do you think of him?” Sybelle asked, taking her by surprise. “Gyles,” she said, replying to the momentary confusion.

  She raised a delicate, copper-coloured eyebrow, “I don’t think poorly of him,” she replied, her shoulders lifting in a delicate shrug.

  Sybelle tapped her chin, her lips pursed together as she nodded. “The same has been said of all of you,” she remarked. “He was not ill-treated; I’m grateful for that.” She leaned forward against the table, her hands clasped together on the surface, “I’m also grateful, of course, for the assistance you’ve all given me against the King and Queen of Azura,” she said.

  Her nose crinkled in utter disgust at the mere mention of the Azurian royals. “They have been a thorn in our sides since the beginning of time,” she said. “Not a lot of love lost there.”

  “I don’t doubt that,” Sybelle said, leaning back once more. “After all, both pirates and the Azurians have lain claim to the seas in this area when it comes to trade. It comes as no surprise that there must have been quite some conflict over it.” Sybelle sat back, her chin perched in her hand as she admired the young woman before her. She was hardly a graceful little thing but there was something so curious about her. She hadn’t made a show of hiding as a man but it was clear that she did everything in her power to hide herself, to be the plainest, most inconspicuous thing possible. Her long, dark red hair, wavy and matted with sea salt to a dark brown shade, was there not as an expression of vanity. No, it was there to hide her small, delicate features of a straight nose and thin lips. But it was her eyes that attracted the most attention. They were sea green gems that drew the attention of anyone who looked into them, forcing them to take note of the rest of her young face.

  “What’s your name?” Sybelle asked, finally. “Your real name,” she added, as the young woman opened her mouth to speak.

  She inched further back into her seat, taken aback by Sybelle’s forward request. “Kara,” she replied, the name almost foreign on her tongue.

  Sybelle nodded, “Kara,” she said. “Are you of noble birth, Kara?” she asked with an ever-growing curiosity. For a petite figure, so used to slouching like the men she spent her time with, Kara seemed to grow in her seat. She became tall and refined, elegant in her posture as she sat with a straight back and her head held up high, as though to rival Sybell
e’s regal position.

  Kara contemplated her question, blinking as she gave a short nod, “I was,” she replied, licking her lips.

  Sybelle leaned forward in her seat, perching her elbows back onto the table with an almost child-like interest that she couldn’t contain, “What, may I ask, has forced you to the sea then?”

  Kara’s gaze flickered about for a moment and her hands seemed to shift their placement out of Sybelle’s view. “You asked me here to discuss a proposal,” she recalled, “and I would have it done.”

  “Do you fear them?” Sybelle asked, cocking her head to one side, over the wall where the pirates waited. “Are you with them against your will? If so, I would do whatever it takes to see you to safety.”

  Kara rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Make no mistake, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in their company,” she said.

  Sybelle nodded, chewing on her bottom lip as she thought. “Yes,” she said, with furrowed brows, “of course,” she said. “You looked to be at ease with executing those Azurian soldiers,” she remarked, recalling the savage way she’d dealt with the men that dared wag their tongues at her. “Was it fear then, that drove you to the sea, I wonder?”

  Kara said nothing. Instead, she stared at her with those emerald green eyes and, for a moment, Sybelle thought she could get lost in them.

  Sybelle waved her hand dismissively, taking the hint and understanding that she didn’t wish to discuss this. But, of course, the answer had been plain on her face, whether she’d intended for it to be exposed or not.

  “My proposal is simple, as I said,” Sybelle started, leaning back in her seat. “The agreement to give you the Azurian ships in the Lionessan port still stands regardless. However, the extension to this agreement is to propose an alliance.”

  Kara raised an eyebrow, “An alliance,” she repeated, ascertaining she’d heard correctly.

  “An alliance,” she said, nodding. “As you can imagine, claiming Azura means that I’ve claimed ample tradable resources, as well as the means by which to trade them,” she said. “However, in doing so, I’ve also gained the threat that you pose to my ships, just as you had to Azura’s.”

  “So you wish us not to raid your ships,” Kara noted.

  Sybelle nodded, not the least surprised that she would catch on fast. “But, of course, asking you to avoid the ships of three kingdoms is far too tall of an order. After all, how else would you all go about the rest of your lives at sea?” Kara stared at her, intrigued. “Plunder the cargo of others and return it to Azura. From there, I’ll have my people sell it back at a greater price, giving you a greater cut of the profits you would’ve earned by yourself. In doing so, you gain safe haven on Azura and an income to rival that of what you make from your current illegalities.”

  Kara took a moment to absorb everything she had to say, her gaze dropping to the table as it became distant and she was immersed in a sea of thoughts that became far more intriguing to her than anything else. She looked up at Sybelle and all that longing seemed to fade behind a blazing determination and strength as she asked, “Why would you help us?”

  Sybelle smirked, understanding of her bewilderment. “This will help us both,” she said, not at all shy or at unease about what she would be gaining from all this. “I’ve found myself in short supply of allies in my time as Queen,” Sybelle started, “and I would like to remedy that. I happen to think the best way of doing so is offering something to someone who is in great need of it if they wish to survive.”

  “Kieren will argue that we don’t need your assistance to make a living for ourselves,” Kara replied, audibly not too much of a believer in Kieren’s way of thinking herself.

  Sybelle nodded in agreement, “Kieren does not realise that his supplies and crew are not eternal,” she said. “I’m sure that, with so many enemies, you will all meet your demise at sea to navies and merchants who would sooner succeed at seeing you all hanging from the gallows if you don’t have a few, choice allies and a place to call home.”

  Kara’s lips twitched into what Sybelle thought was the first hint of a smile. “The Azurian people won’t accept us using their home as our own,” she said.

  “It’s in your interest to make sure that they do,” Sybelle said. “I’ll see to it that all business, if you’re all in agreement, is conducted from Azura, but it’s in your interest, in the interest of the other’s, to keep themselves in line with the people as much as it is possible.” She waved her hand dismissively at Kara’s look of disbelief, laughing, “I don’t expect no confrontations, if that is what you think. I understand that there will be tension. I don’t think that will simply dissipate. However, I do think it possible for us all to benefit from this.”

  “How will you sell this to the Azurians?” Kara asked, unsurely.

  Sybelle stifled her smile, “Leave the Azurians to me,” she said. “I’ll make them see the advantage of having allies.”

  “They will never accept us there,” Kara said, swallowing a lump of emotion in her throat.

  “I mean it,” Sybelle said, adamantly, “leave the Azurians to me but don’t antagonise them. In time, they will grow used to our new arrangements,” she said.

  Kara cocked her head to one side, an uneasy smirk slipping onto her lips, “I don’t see them accepting a new Queen so soon,” she said. “I see them accepting pirates amongst them even less.”

  “They will,” Sybelle assured. “They will soon realise that, in spite of this agreement that you and I may make here tonight, I have no intentions of treading upon their lands and upon their lives. On the contrary, I hope to elevate the people to more than just the slaves that Queen Merra and King Alessio seemed to conquer with fear.”

  Kara remained silent, staring at her almost transfixed, but the strength that once mirrored Sybelle’s own started to dissipate as her posture slackened in her seat. “Why did you want me here? Why discuss all of this with me when I’m sure you know Kieren to be far better suited?”

  Sybelle smiled, “I wanted the chance to speak with you alone,” she said. “I needed to ascertain that you truly were with those men of your own will.”

  Kara raised her eyebrows at her, looking at her with disbelief in those enchanting green eyes that glimmered in the light of the moon. “And if I hadn’t been?” she asked, a challenge in her tone as she scrutinised her with her gaze. “What would you have done?”

  “I would likely not have offered them this proposal,” Sybelle replied with ease. “I don’t take kindly to slavery or hostages; my father never did and I’ll take after him, at the very least in that much.”

  “You’ve thought this proposal out with plenty of care,” Kara remarked, scoffing, “I hardly think you would’ve destroyed it all for a single person.”

  Sybelle sat back, her eyes going blank as she thought of her brother. She licked her lips, blinking and returning her gaze to Kara’s, “Entire wars have been started on just as much,” she said. It was then, when Kara’s eyes flooded with realisation, that Sybelle ascertained that Kara was bright, no doubt well-educated, even if a little rough around the edges. “But, in truth,” Sybelle quipped, adjusting herself in her seat, “I was quite certain that my proposal, to some extent, would still interest you.”

  Kara raised a delicate eyebrow, asking, “Were you?”

  Sybelle nodded, “You, of everybody there, have greater reason than them for my proposal to be accepted and for it to work,” she said. She detected that glimpse of confusion, the rigidness of Kara’s body becoming clear as she straightened up in her seat and her fingers twitched. “You’re carrying a child,” she whispered, approaching the subject with more grace and less motive, “and you know, as well as anybody else, that a pirate ship is no place for such a vulnerability.”

  Kara’s eyes hardened into a glare. “How do you know this?” she asked, her voice dark and deep but, most of all, laced with fear.

  Sybelle’s smile grew wide, though she was sympathetic to her plight. “Perhap
s I’m simply familiar with all the signs,” she said. Kara dropped her gaze and she shifted in her seat with discomfort before becoming very still. Sybelle leaned forward, speaking in a low voice, “It’s in your interest, is it not, for this proposal to be accepted and successful?”

  Kara looked at her with a growing disgust on her face, the corners of her mouth turning to a frown while her eyes displayed her hurt and disdain. “You would exploit another’s troubles to get what you want,” she said.

  “I would bring peace to this forsaken world,” Sybelle retorted with a snap. She threw herself forward in her seat, causing Kara to recoil in shock and grab the hilt of her knife in her hands. The soldier that stood a few paces away took a step forward but Sybelle threw her hand out, halting him, before sitting back. “I’m done with war. I’m done with all this pain,” she remarked, shaking her head. “Now, all I want is to give my kingdoms, all of them, the stability that they deserve and require.” She slammed her back into her seat, exhaling heavily, “And, if that means that I have to make the lives of a crew of pirates a little bit easier then I’ll do it,” she said. “If I discussed this with your Captain he would’ve been big-headed about it; he would’ve either been too proud to accept or he would’ve attempted to negotiate outlandish terms, that of which he would never receive.”

  “And me?” Kara asked, a trace of venom still in her voice. “What makes you think that my need for a life upon land is so strong that I would fight for your cause?”

  Sybelle threw a hand up, sighing, “Then perhaps I’ve been wrong,” she said. “Perhaps I misjudged matters.” She got to her feet, ready to call their meeting to an end, and went to leave.