vi. son's of the sea
✗ synopsis : imprisoned for a crime you did not commit you are hidden in a cage from the world. vowing to end the queen who dealt your life sentence, you bide your time in the dark waiting to strike. however, your early promised freedom comes on a whisper in the dark, taking the form of dark eyes, and grey wind swept hair carrying the scent of the sea.
✗ pairing : osamu miya x reader
✗ genre : pirate au, royalty reader, fantasy au mutual pining, fluff + a pinch of angst
✗ warnings : mature content : mentions of alcohol, language, death (mentioned)
✧・゚:* previous | m.list | next *:・゚✧
The world around you is hidden by various shades pinks and oranges as bright light hits your closed eyelids. The fact your body seems to rock ever so slightly is the first thing you notice. The second is the your bones seem to feel heavier and heavier with every movement.
An uncomfortable throbbing in your back begins to dissolve any chance of returning to sleep. The pain only worsens the more you recognise its existence, and the thought of someone knocking you out again doesn't seem like a bad idea.
There's a soft thudding noise coming from somewhere near you, and the longer you lay rocking ever so slightly in almost perfect synchronisation to the noise does your mind go into alert mode.
Fighting away the lingering exhaustion to your eyelids, you finally blink awake finding yourself staring at a weathered wooden ceiling. It's worlds away from the cold grey stoned cell you'd seen every morning for months on end.
The cell.
Flashes of your escape surge your mind in rapid succession. The explosion, the jump. You'd somehow survived the drop and the swell of Blackwater Bay. And there amongst the rocks they had been waiting.
You can recall familiar swirling storm cloud eyes, the strength in his gaze as he told you to hold on to him. 'If ya let go you’ll fall and there’s not going to be anything I can do - you’ll die.'
Your bones had screamed at you as he moved, one hand free and the other clutching your thigh in such a tight grip you could almost still feel his fingers pressing into your skin.
And when he had stopped-
A ship.
Straining your head slightly to the right, the soft light becomes blinding forcing a hiss of pain from you as it seems to pierce your brain. A rough voice chuckles from out of sight, followed by a subtle scraping of metal the harsh light dims until it doesn’t make your head pound.
“Apologies about the light, I thought you could do with some fresh air.” Something rings loud and blaring inside your head that says you should know this voice, possibly even fear it, but as you loll your head to face the stranger, you can’t bring yourself to be afraid.
From behind a dark wooden desk with his back to a wall of closed curtains which sway slightly at the still open windows behind them, you take in the two toned male. His brown eyes, far too keen and observant, to the point it would instantly make one uneasy to be under that gaze.
It was his face though that should have alarmed you. Not from the fact that he was a stunning male to look at, but the fact that it was branded on thousands of wanted posters across the five seas. It was one of the many that had been plastered to one of the walls in the Roost, but amongst the others crossed out with large marks of ink, the captains expressionless face had remained unmarked.
“I didn’t get to properly introduce myself last night upon your arrival.” His words shocked you slightly, not expecting his calm and approachable advance. The fact that you weren't sitting in another cell or chained to the bed shocked you even more. Because here you laid, on a bed that was too uncomfortable after sleeping on a straw mat for months, with a wanted pirate seated near you looking at you as if you weren't a stowaway on his ship.
“My name is Kita Shinsuke, captain of this ship.” Court etiquette drilled into your brain since birth has you forcing your groaning bones to shift. The captain doesn’t say a word as you painfully shuffle yourself into a sitting position, only releasing a long held breath once your back settles against the headboard of the bed.
“I’m Y/n.” Is all you say. You know that he is aware of just who he dragged half dead out of the ocean. For gods’ sake he had now made himself more an enemy of the empire by blasting a bloody hole in the side of the coastal wall of the Azure castle for you. There was no way this keen-eyed captain did not know just who you are, but still you’re not going to project your misguided formal ranks to anyone.
“Just Y/n?” He asks with a knowing look.
“Just Y/n.” You reply following a resounding nod. The captain only watches you for half a second more before leaning back casually on his chair.
“Alright then.”
“I don’t know why you did it - but I am in debt to you.” You manage to get out through your hoarse voice. As if only now noticing it, Kita rises out of his chair, grabbing a silver tumbler and filling it with what you hope is water.
“It was nothing but pure selfishness on my behalf.” He says, passing you the goblet which feels far too fancy to be drinking water from, but your aching throat has you reaching for it anyways.
“As for the debt, there is something that I believe you may be able to assist me with.” He doesn’t say anything more as he suddenly steps back, leaning against the edge of his desk.
His actions stir confusion in you, your brown furrowing. You'd expected him to clarify just what on earth that means, but hushed whispers break your silence.
“Shut your ruttin mouth! Do yer want to piss ‘em off?” Comes a failed quiet hiss from the other side of the wooden door to the room. Your gaze volleys between the direction of the door and Kita, catching him rolling his eyes before moving back to the chair behind his desk. As if this were a completely normal situation.
“Yeah because it’s my big mouth Atsumu that's going to wake em up.”
“That’s what I said, ain’t it!”
“You morons, you know that the captain’s in there and very much awake.” A third voice groans and you can't help but raise a brow as the door suddenly opens, causing two figures to tumble through the entrance and spilling onto the floor. It's the blonde head of hair of the two that draws your focus.
Rubbing the back of his head with a sneer strewn across his stunning face, Atsumu Miya look's like he had stepped out of your memories. Sure, he was older by a lot, but the mischievous glint that glimmers in his brown eyes is the same. The moment he shift's on his knees, his head turning to you, that sneer morph's into the same confident smirk he had perfected as a child.
“Don’t you lot know you should give sick people peace and quiet to heal?” Kita speaks, shifting his nonchalant expression to the duo on the floor who look seconds away from pointing fingers at who's at fault it was they were in the room at all.
“I saw the state of her back yesterday and just wanted to check up on how she is doing is all.” Your gaze briefly leaves Atsumu's shining one as you glance at the other person on the floor. His voice calls at your memory more than his face, so it takes you a moment to realise he was the one who somehow had snuck into the Roost to warn you.
He nods at you before grumbling, “Hitoshi Ginjima.” Not quite knowing if he was being blunt on purpose or if that was just him, you simply nod back.
“And your excuse, Atsumu?” Their captain asks, and as you look back at your childhood friend you can’t help but smile slightly at his teasing grin.
“Just blessin' the princess with my dashin' beauty.” There’s a groan from behind him and a smack to the back of the head sends him bowing over once more.
The scene causes a wave of nostalgia to course through you, having seen Atsumu been smacked over the back of his head by his twin and father countless times. Never hard enough to hurt, but just to admonish a child that saw it as acts of love.
“Get out the lot of you, she needs to rest and your ughly face isn’t helping Atsumu.” A stranger steps over Atsumu’s bowed figure as he cups the back of his head. The dark haired foreigner simply offers a incline of his head to his captain before walking to your bedside. With a hard gaze but somehow somewhat friendly smile, he nods to you.
“My name is Ren Ōmimi, and I'm the doctor aboard this vessel.” He begins to explain. “You’ve got a nasty infection in the lacerations on your back. Luckily we got to it in time but you are incredibly lucky. Another few hours and you would be carrion.” His words bring a silence to the room causing the dull pain to spark to life once again. During your time in the Roost, not once had you thought you would be taken out by infection, instead the queen was constantly making sure your wounds were clean so you could suffer for longer. You'd thought that the guards would have gotten to you by then. Hearing just how close you were to the gaping jaws of death does nothing to you. You let the words slip away, not focusing on them as you look at the doctor.
“You’ve been out for two days,” Ren says as if reading your mind. Tuning to his crewmates, he settles the two still on the floor with a glare. “Get out, I need to treat her wounds.”
With a begrudging moan, Atsumu raises off the floor but the feral grin that covers his face as he steps out the door offers nothing but promised trouble.
“I’ll bring you an ugly face that you’ll appreciate soon princess.” With those fleeting words, he’s gone. The captain following quickly on his heels, obviously wanting to give you some rare privacy. A luxury you'd gone without for so long it felt unnatural.
“I apologise that we have no female’s on board that could help with this.” Ren says as you shuffle forwards. “It’ll be easier to treat it if you lie on your stomach”. It’s odd in a way, that the pirate doesn’t drill you with the same sneering leer that the guards had as you lay down on your stomach, pulling the back of your shirt up, revealing your back.
“It’s fine.” Compared to the people at the prison, this man was as innocent as a fly even if he had a dagger sheathed at his side.
“Can I ask how this happened?” The crack of the whip is still as loud in your ears as it was just days ago. Without wanting to, your body instinctively inhales as a dulled spasm of pain shocks its way across your back, forking up to your shoulder and out towards your spine like splintered lightning as Ren coats the wounds with some sort of herb ointment.
By the time the guards had finished with your punishment, you’d been able to almost feel each of the nine tails of the whip slowly digging away at your back.
Not quiet knowing how to answer the question, you simply rest your cheek against your folded arms and shoot the pirate a look.
“A man’s pride is such a delicate thing.”
Maybe you’d said it as a test, expecting a grunt of offended anger, however the low laugh that meets your ears instead surprises you.
“Having been in this kind of work for most of my life, I can agree with that.”
“Do you say that as a pirate, or a doctor?” You can’t help but ask, a small smile pulling to your lips despite the stinging pain of him working on your wounds.
“Both.” Ren replies, a smile of his own forming as he finishes up. Reaching down to grab bandages off the back of the bed he speaks, “you wouldn't be surprised to know that men's pride gets more in the way when you’re trying to help them not die.” Not a surprise indeed. It’s not until he tells you to sit up so he can bandage you does his face begin to flush.
“I’ve got to bandage your wounds. I’m so sorry if this-” Maybe if you had been a different person, you may have hesitated. Rather, you shrug your shirt off, leaving your torso bare. To his credit, Ren’s eyes do not stray from his work on your spine, even as the bandage's wrapped around your chest and shoulder.
“Even though you are the only female on this ship, I want to assure you of a few things before the captain releases the rest of the hounds on you.” Ren says once more, breaking the silence.
“Everyone on this ship is aware of where you just escaped from, and we’re not naive enough to not understand that your experience there was anything but traumatic…” He manages to get out before finally taking a step back and holding your shirt out in front of you to grab as he still stands at your back.
You continue to listen as you slip it back over your head.
“Our captain is a man of honour, and all of us are too - even if there are a few questionable cases.” You have an idea that he’s talking about Atsumu. “I can guarantee that nothing will happen to you on this ship from the hands of one of our crew. Our captain would have their hands for such a thought.” Turning back around to face the tall man, you nod your head in thanks and wring your arms, immediately marvelling at the lightness of your limbs.
Without the dragging weight of the iron shackles, the movement feels almost wrong, looking at it feels wrong. Like there should be something there, that something is now missing.
“Thank you.” You get out, not taking your eyes off your free hands until he speaks again.
“There’s no need, it's human decency.” Ren shrugs before levelling you with a look. “Your back is going to take a week, maybe more to heal properly - those cuts were very deep when I got to them, and it will leave a permanent scar.” This time it’s you that shrugs, flexing your wrists simply because the movement still feels strange.
“I suppose I'll have a few of those,” Raising your hands until the red and still fresh scars around your wrists come into view. Without having to look down you know there will be matching ones on your ankles, but you’re not bothered by them. You’re just grateful that the bloody things are off.
“I can give you some ointment to reduce scarring.” He offers, gathering the supplies left on the bed.
“No it’s alright.” looking at your finally clean hands and arms, you can’t help but smile. “I don’t mind them.” Or the fact that you smell clean and not like piss - but you don’t voice the last part.
Another soft knock sounds from the door, and it's the warm brown eyes of the captain’s that meet your gaze once more.
“There’s not much, but it’s better than what you currently have.” Kita says in greeting as he slips through the door with a small neatly folded pile of fabric in his arms. It takes but a moment to realise they are for you, and another second to look down at the pathetic clothes you’re wearing.
Brief embarrassment surges as you take in your bare legs and the very very large white long sleeve collared shirt that drowns your figure. These are not the clothes you jumped into the ocean in.
Flicking his doctor a nod of thanks as he passes, Kita looks back to you.
“Your shirt was stuck to your wound so Ren had to cut it off you. And even if we wanted to save it for you - it reeked of piss.” He explains as if it solves everything. Taking the clothes and sitting down on the bed you furrow your brow. To be honest, you’re not all that bothered with the fact that at one point someone has seen you naked. They had to remove your clothes to get to the festering wound - it was life or death so it wasn’t that horrifying to think about for you. Yet you couldn’t help blurt out your curiosity.
“May I ask who changed me?”
The captain it seems was incredibly difficult to read. With a completely void expression you weren’t quite sure what to make of the silence that followed your question. Not until he turned his head towards the window, breaking your gaze and you saw the pink blush on the tips of his ears. Well, that would make it somewhat easier then.
“That would be the sailing master on this vessel.” At your own blank expression, the captain's stoic face broke into a small smile.
“Our navigator. A close friend of yours I believe.” It’s the amusement swimming in his dark gaze that has a blush burning across your cheeks.
Did he mean Osamu? Oh gods…
“Change your clothes and come out when you’re done. I’d like to introduce you to my crew now that you’re awake.” Were his parting words as he slipped back out of the door, finally leaving you utterly alone for the first time.
Instead of immediately changing, you decide to take a quick snoop around the room. Not really looking for anything in particular, but simply getting familiar with your surroundings.
Upon the desk near the bed, it’s piled high with various different items, coins, charts, leather back books that look so old and withered that if you were to pick it up it may crumble in your arms.
The one thing that did catch your gaze was the wooden picture frame sitting next to the unlit lamp. Treading on silent feet, you round the desk until you can see it without disturbing anything on the desk.
The image has you smiling for a reason you’re not sure of. You can immediately tell that the young boy perched on the lap of the old lady is the captain. But it's the expression of laughter and happiness covering their faces that has your heart clenching tightly in your chest. Kita couldn’t have been older than seven - close to how old you had been when your mother had passed.
‘You are the embodiment of my heart walking outside of my body darling.’
Turning away from the picture, you trudge back to the bed and change. The white blouse is oversized yet comfortable, and the charcoal pants hugged your figure a bit too tightly - that would need to be rectified, but for now it was okay. The black weathered and beaten boots were slightly too big for your feet, so you were conscious of your steps as you opened the door, facing the captain once more.
His gaze flickered over you in an assessing look, nothing more, before nodding. One day, you internally decide, I'm going to get a smile from this stoic man.
“If I didn’t know better, you could have passed for being a pirate.” He was a man of few words you were coming to realise as he turned and led you down the hall.
‘Track your exits, your windows, where every person stands and where any liftable item is’ You could hear your fathers voice breathing down your neck. Back when you were a child, you had grumbled and groaned every time he came to oversee your lessons, lecturing you on things you’d heard countless times before. Now you wish you could hear him nag at you about etiquette or your stance or even your rats damned hair that never wanted to behave.
The moment you both breach the external door, you wince again at the bright day light. You can't even remember the last time you stood in direct sunlight like this, so you take a moment to close your eyes and breathe in the air. The salinity of the breeze if familiar, but the lack of reeking fumes of your cell is a blessing. Exhaling, you block the full force of the sunshine from your face with your hand. Holy hells its bright.
You hear rather than see the scuffling of feet as you follow Kita’s back as he walks out onto the deck. When you manage to look up, a crowd of men stand in front of you, their gazes flicking between trying not to gawk at you in curiosity and to their captain who stands to in front of them. But as Kita clears his throat commanding their attention, there are more than a few admonished faces.
Part of you knows that you should probably be looking at the captain as well, but your eyes become cemented on a man standing to the far left of the crowd, leaning against the ship railing with his arms crossed.
There’s a soft breeze as the boat is moored, but it's still enough to whip his hair just enough to catch your eyes. His head is tilted towards the sky as if he is too just taing in the sunshine for the first time today. Your breath catches in your throat as he tilts his head back as Kita begins talking, but his eyes - those grey eyes - they immediately fall on you as if he knew exactly where you were.
He’d always seemed to know where to find you when you were children so it wasn’t that much of a surprise. But now, seeing him in the bright sunlight, dressed in a dark grey shirt rolled up to his biceps, the front basically half undone showing his golden skin and the medallion hanging around his neck.
Osamu Miya was a man.
It hits you just how far your youth is from you now. Gone was the scrawny boy you had known, with dreams of becoming the greatest swordsman in all the land to rival his father.
Instead now here he stands, a pirate, the navigator of the Nine Tails. And you share the deck, no longer known as a princess, but a supposed murderer.
There’s another cough by your side and you slide your gaze back to the rest of the crowd as Kita begins to make introductions.
Apart from the twins, Ren, the captain and Ginjima, the rest of the faces held no familiarity. Kita’s first mate was the first to take a step forward and hold out his hand for you to shake.
Aran Ojiro he had said, another quiet and seemingly level headed male, and an apparent opposite to many of the other men who were practically shoving each other out of the way to speak first until you were holding back on a laugh.
The sound collapsed in your chest as gold eyes filled your vision.
Him. Familiarity rang loud in your head as you looked at the man standing in the centre. You know him, you’re sure of it. As if reading your mind, Kita interrupts your train of thought.
“Suna-”
“Rinatrou,” You finish, not realising you’ve said the words out loud until all eyes are on you once again. The attention normally wouldn’t phase you, but as you stare at the young man in front of you, it dawns on you just how vulnerable you are. Even with training your father had pushed you towards in your youth, you are still a woman on a boat full of wanted pirates.
I will not be afraid. Drawing courage from god knows where, you look level Suna with a blank stare.
“Your father was on the council underneath the king.”
“Yes.” His single word answer tugs at a string of anger buried just deep enough to glance over, and you find yourself wanting to snarl.
“I passed him in the hall the day i was first dragged to the Roost.” Suna says nothing, simply listens as you let out your tangled thoughts. “He did nothing then, and every day since.” The men around you are so quiet that the only noise coming from the ship is the thudding of the waves lapping against it, and the creaking of the wooden mast as wind whips around the rolled up sails.
“He’s a piece of shit.”
“A fact that I am vividly aware of.” If he was half as much of a piece of shit as his father, you have no doubt that Kita would not have let him on his ship - no matter how much he may have needed his aid. You could hold no grudge against the boy you’d seen on and off in court since your childhood for the actions for his father. Because you knew first hand, that children are not always the same as their parents. Your brother and the current king are a prime example.
The thought of Wakatoshi has you looking away from Suna, as if simply looking at him brought vivid images of your older brother to mind. What had he been told? That you had died? Or was he still unaware of your fate, thinking that the king's mother was simply taking you under her wing?
“— could be.” Kita’s voice speaks quietly and you wouldn’t have picked up on it at all had there not been a gentle tap on your ankle. Out of the corner of your eye, you can see blonde hair and a smug grin and you fight the childish urge to kick him back.
You may be grateful for Atsumu pulling you out of your spiralling thoughts, but you aren’t going to tell him that. Noticing your lack of attention, Kita simply turns your way and repeats what he said without a care in the world.
“We’re looking for something, and I think you might be able to tell me where it could be.” You must look as lost as you feel after hearing that because Kita simply waves away his crew, telling them to return to whatever they were doing before leading you back inside.
Entering the room that you were in before, you begin to realise it’s the captain's quarters. Kita doesn’t give you much time to stew over it as he rounds his desk, pushing things aside until you realise that the top of it is not made of wood, but a large map.
A very old one, with cream withered paper, ripped and missing some of the corners, yet somehow it seems brand new at the same time. But more than the fact it is possibly the largest map you’ve seen, you realise you’ve seen part of it before.
“It includes the Dead Isles.” You point out, leaning over the desk, looking at the archipelago of islands far off the coast of Hyogo.
“It includes all the Dead Isles.” Kita corrects, making you tear your eyes off the paper and look at him.
The Dead Isles archipelago didn’t appear on many maps, because no one had been able to completely cartograph the archipelago. The shallow reefs, razor sharp rocks and rumoured monsters of the deep, many people who had tried had died. And what land they had found was barren, unable to provide fertile fields for the people to farm - they had forgotten about much of the world and hence named the Dead Isles.
“You mean to tell me that this is a complete and accurate map of one of the great mysteries of the known world.” You ask, not quite believing what he was saying.
“It’s not one hundred percent accurate.” Osamu’s voice is like a whisper in the wind, and you find yourself utterly unable to do anything but watch as he shifts next to you, pointing a finger on the small cluster of Islands. Those grey eyes like swirling storm clouds shift to you, drawing you in until you feel like you’re standing in the middle of that hurricane where everything is still and quiet.
Standing in the eye of a storm, that's how it feels when looking at the navigator.
“I wanted you to look at it and to see if anything looks familiar to you.” Kita finishes, dragging you back to reality and the task at hand. Anything familiar... its a map, of course its familiar. With furrowed brows you look over the map once more. What were they hoping for you to find?
Nothing about the islands or their placement seemed to stand out to you. With a defeated sigh you let your eyes roam over the rest of it. About to voice your failure, you see the beautifully drawn design around the map. Many of the maps and charts you perused as a child were part of heavy tomes, artfully designed to be more appealing to the eye than factual.
Parts of the map were similar to those, with depictions of the sun and moon, sea monsters spoken about in folktales and myths told to get children to behave, and constellations scattered around the border.
It was one of those constellations that seemed to call out to you, as if there was a hand on your shoulder, urging you to look at it more. As if to say This one, can you see it?
You wouldn’t need that gut feeling to know that it was important. No it was the constellation that you had been obsessed with since you were but a child. A trident, with a crown of stars above the teeth.
You knew that constellation, that story. One that was passed down from person to person from your mothers people. A people from the Broken Islands that had all but died out, their myths and gods with them.
So why on earth did they have that constellation on here?
Kita is already looking at you when you glance up for confirmation. And the light in his eyes tells you that you’ve just confirmed what he had thought. You know what he hoped you would. Did this have to do with the Kaimana constellation or its myth? Or could it be something more.
Your brain whirls as you realise that this may be more complicated than simply looking at a map. That this may have to do with the entire hidden history your mother had known but was unable to fully share with you - and if he was riding on getting any major information from you he is going to be severely disappointed at your lack of knowledge.
“You recognise the constellation.” Atsumu stated, sitting in the chair beside his captain, leaning back on two legs, but looking at you as if it weren’t a question that you might recognise, but a predetermined fact.
“I do, I read about it as a child.” You see the look Osamu shoots you out of the corner of your eye. One that calls you a rutting liar at the withheld truth of just how obsessed you had been with the story behind it. It’s Kita’s expression that has you explaining yourself.
“My mother was from a small island tribe in the Broken Islands. They didn’t really have a written history, but instead their history and stories were passed down from generation to generation.” You start, looking back down at the map again.
“She died when I was a child, so much of that knowledge was lost with her. She had always said I’d needed to be older to hear some of the stories. Afterwards, I searched the royal archives for anything I didn’t know, or asked my father. But the books in there held only shadows of their knowledge.”
Once again, you turn to the captain and finally stand up straight. “If it is information you want from me, I’m sorry but I don't think i'll be of much use to your cause.”
“So far I you have been.” Kita points out before reaching into his coat pocket.
“Years ago I obtained an amulet. The night of your brother's coronation, we only infiltrated the event to make a trade deal.” Something in your chest aches at his words. You know, deep down you do, that the night you’d seen Osamu again hadn’t been out of pure curiosity on his behalf. Albeit you hadn’t known he was a pirate, you’d been blinded by the shock that he was there and alive to think of much else. So you shouldn’t be hurt by the truth, but yet here you are, your heart throbbing in time with the subdued pain in your back.
“Osamu said that you have far more knowledge of the ancient constellations and their meanings than he does. And considering much of what I have been told of them are obscenely contradictory to what they are now known as, I want someone who’s more knowledgeable on it than a simple ‘have read in passing’ hunch.”
“Why?” You ask before your brain has to chance to overthink whether asking outright is the right thing to do. What on earth are they looking for that may possibly have something to do with long lost constellations and stories.
“I traded the life of my enemy’s first mate to get this back after it was stolen from me, because somehow, I just know that it’s important.” The captain’s voice was resolute as he pulled something out of his pocket, brandishing it on the desk for them all to see.
There it is.
The thick golden chain looks as if it was freshly polished, without a single scratch or mark upon it. At the bottom of the linked metal lies a large circular amulet. The branded large sea dragon wrapped almost around itself, its eyes embellished with two small sapphires has your heart dropping into your stomach.
It’s back.
When you were seven, you’d been diving off the main dock trying to find coastal clam shells when you’d gotten your foot stuck in some leftover fishing net that some of the fishermen had lazily just dumped under the wharf. You remember the panic, the fear as your chest burned from lack of oxygen. You’d struggled to see as you tried to hack away with your small fishing knife at the rope. You remember the black dots dancing in your vision, your heart thundering inside your skull until it was all that you could hear.
Your body reacts the same as you look into the small sparkling eyes of the sea dragon. Its just as beautiful as it always had, the gemstone eyes just as hypnotic as when you’d looked at it, slowly falling asleep as a child.
“Where-” your voice sounds foreign to you as it breaks. “Where did you get this?” With trembling fingers, you let your fingers brush over the metal. It’s so cold in comparison to the warmth you were used to, from hours and hours of resting against one's skin.
“Why?” Maybe it’s the lack of explanation, or the blaring curiosity that has the small ember of anger flickering inside you from earlier exploding into a fiery rage. Maybe it's the fact that it is here, still in one piece that has your anguish burning to life. Or maybe, it’s because you are staring at the proof that this, this scrap piece of metal is here and she isn’t.
“Because that,” You’re pathetic broken tone completely eclipsed by your fury as you shove a shaking finger at the amulet. “-was around my mothers neck when she was pushed out to sea on her funeral pyre.”
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2nd POV
Food, drinks and laughter flowed naturally between the small group at the table, and you couldn't be happier. It had been a while since your group had felt so accepted into any town or kingdom. The four of you had been rather notorious for theft, and arson.
So being welcomed into the palace nonetheless, was a pleasant change of pace from the usual way people act around you and your friends. The group moved through the dinner quickly, the tomato soup was nice and warm, and the amount of meat you got was nice. Once the main dishes had been finished the staff of the castle brought out the dessert, a flakey tart with a custard filling topped with all kinds of fruits.
As you enjoyed your tart, you looked over to the mage sitting at the other side of the table, he seemed to be nervous as he fidgeted in his seat, the mage, Kenma if you remembered correctly, finished his tart rather quickly, then excused himself from the table. You watched him leave the room noticing the air of unease around him.
The King must have noticed your wandering stare as he coughed to gain your attention, quickly reassuring you that Kenma was fine and that he was not the most social person and just needed to take some time for himself. Relaxing at the answer you continued to the joyus conversation around the table.
As the night grew on, you started to get more restless sitting at the table. It is not as though you did not enjoy the conversations or the company, it was just you had never been good at sitting in a formal setting for more than a few hours, and even that was a stretch. Finding a reason, you excuse yourself from the table and walk out of the Grand Hall.
Wandering around the halls of the castle you really took you time to admire the architecture and the art of the castle that you had not gotten to really look at before, looking out the window you noticed a large hedge maze with a garden surrounding it, being tempted by the beauty of the flowers you started looking for the entrance to the garden.
Walking along the paths of the garden, the clicking of your heels hitting the stone paths helped to calm the restlessness of your nerves and clear your head from the thoughts of the mission instead you just focused on the colours and the scents of the flowers surrounding you.
Finally pulling yourself from your mindless wandering you realised that you were in the hedge maze, figuring that you could find your way out of the maze later you continued your way through the maze, suddenly the hedges seemed to pull away from each other into one open space.
It was breathtaking, the hedges opened up into a circular stone paved area covered with a white birch gazebo. The hedges and supports holding and around the gazebo were all covered in shimmery green vines with a large array of coloured flowers. In the middle of the mosaic floor was a large fountain, surrounding the fountain were curved benches made of the same stone as the gazebo.
As you made your way over to the fountain you went to sit down on the side of it when something caught your eye. Looking through the fountain’s water you saw Kenma sitting on one of the stone benches, looking at him more you noticed how he just seemed to stare at his feet.
Sitting down beside him you placed your hand on his shoulder, quickly retracting your hand when he looked up at you, you smiled at his surprised face.
“Sorry to intrude, I just thought that you might want some company.” You whispered, as to not startel Kenma any more than you already had.
Kenma only whispered an ok to your statement, and went back to staring out over the garden.
“It’s ok if you are nervous for the trip, that's normal. Especially if you haven't ever had to deal with something like this.” You spoke out, as you started to stand up. Kenma looked at you questionly, before you beconked him up and began walking out of the area and into the maze.
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Kenma POV
Kenma quickly got up and ran over to you to keep pace with you.
“Where are we going?” Kenma asked, as he followed along behind you.
“You tell me, I’ve never been in these gardens before.” You giggled out, sending him a goofy smile. Kenma felt something in him soften and relax at the look on your face.
Shaking his head Kenma started to walk slightly ahead of you, checking behind him every once in a while to make sure that you hadn't gotten lost in the maze. Kenma watched as you spun around trying to get a good look at each of the plants, as he watched you he couldn't help but notice how the moonlight highlighted your skin and made it seem like you were glowing.
Looking forward again Kenma noticed that they were almost to the entrance back into the castle.
“Alright we’re here.” Kenma stated, pulling you out of your trance.
“Oh, I guess it is pretty late and we have a long journey starting tomorrow.” You replied, only looking slightly disappointed that you had to leave the garden.
Kenma watched as you made your way into the castle before turning around.
Heading over to the entrance to his tower Kenma couldn't stop the thoughts running through his head, but this time instead of thoughts of worry and dread they were thoughts of peace excitement and they were thoughts of you.
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