Amanda waited for Sirius outside the bathroom. He’d given her that look, the one that said she was about to interfere in something she didn’t understand again. She trusted his judgment though, mostly, and it wasn’t like he’d been convicted so she’d left them be, but she stayed close. She didn’t want another incident of Sirius being kidnapped. If Sandy laid a hand on even one hair of Sirius’s head, she’d make him regret it.

  Sandy emerged from the bathroom a few moments later. Amanda had to resist the urge to run in and check that Sirius was still okay.

  She was rewarded for her patience when Sirius appeared a moment later and said, “I think it’s about time we went and flew that pegasus, don’t you?”

  “What happened with Sandy?” she asked.

  “Not here,” he replied.

  The crew was already celebrating by the time they got back to the ship.

  “Beer?” one of them asked Amanda.

  Before she could answer, Sirius interrupted, “Hey Jimmi, can you go double check everything secure in the holds. We’ll set sail soon.”

  “Aye aye, Captain.” And he forgot about the beer he’d just offered.

  Amanda thought little of it, until Sirius intercepted the next three offers of drink sent their way with more commands.

  She raised her eyebrows at him.

  “I do need a sober crew,” he explained, at least until we’re out of the channel. When she kept studying him he added, “And I noticed you doing pretty well with our bet. If you want me to stop intercepting just say so though.”

  “No, it’s alright, you can keep intercepting. Are we setting off now then?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  “Won’t the tides be against us?”

  Sirius nodded. “We’ve got something special organised for that.”

  While Sirius talked shipping stuff with Shiv, Amanda walked to the edge of the ship’s wooden railing and looked down at the port. So little of Cap was visible and everywhere they’d gone so far she’d heard talk or seen glimpses that promised much more hidden below the surface. She was both happy and sad to be leaving the place behind.

  A figure approached the ship.

  Amanda frowned. It was Beatrice.

  “Can I come up?” she called in a friendly tone. “I’d like to speak to Sirius.”

  Amanda thought about telling her where she could go but she figured Sirius would not approve. Instead she gave a single nod.

  “Thank you,” Beatrice called up.

  By the time she’d boarded, Sirius had already spotted her.

  “Beatrice?”

  “May I have a word in private, Captain.”

  Amanda watched with narrowed eyes as they both went into the wheelhouse.

  Shiv leaned against the railing next to her with a grin. “If it’s any consolation, I think you suit him much better than she did.”

  “If she hurts him,” Amanda told him, “physically or otherwise, I will beat her to a pulp.”

  Shiv chuckled. “Maybe you would make a good sailor after all.”

  “Beatrice,” Sirius acknowledged as she closed the door to the wheelhouse.

  “I wanted to come and apologise before you left,” she told him, “for the way I had to vote.”

  “The way you had to vote?” he asked.

  “You must understand, the politics here are complicated. The way the council splits on certain issues, well for all his flaws, Nigel was often on our side. Without him… well, it is important for me to make new friends.”

  “The council seemed pretty split. I don’t see how you’d be lacking for friends?”

  “You wouldn’t. You are out there, sailing.” She smiled wistfully, as if that were where she’d rather be.

  Except he knew it wasn’t.

  “I invited you once you remember? And you declined.”

  “I invited you to stay here too.”

  He shook his head. “I am not made for Cap and you know that.”

  “And I am not made for the sea.” She glanced out the window to where Amanda was talking to Shiv by the railing. “Seems like your new friend may be though.”

  Sirius looked out at Amanda. For a moment he let himself imagine them travelling together all over the place. Would she want that though? He wasn’t so sure. It would mean leaving her home, and the way she spoke of it, often and lovingly, to him and to the others, made him think that would be quite difficult for her.

  “Maybe,” he said, finally. “Well, you’ve said your bit, and you know I don’t hold a grudge.”

  “There’s more,” Beatrice said.

  He frowned.

  “I came to ask you something. With Nigel gone and the change in the political field here, being on the council’s good side will be as important as ever, and there’s one sure fire way to do that.”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “What’s that?” Sirius asked, pretty sure he already knew what she was talking about.

  “We have a shortage of blood shippers. It wouldn’t have to be often,” she added hastily. “Just small batches every now and again. Anyway, you don’t have to decide now. Think it over. It won’t affect your trading position here but it would help greatly with your relationship with the council.”

  “Could you assure me that any batch I ship is legally obtained?”

  Beatrice didn’t answer immediately.

  Sirius gave her a look.

  She sighed. “You have to understand. Capilliaria is a growing city, we don’t always have the luxury of being choosy.”

  “Except when it comes to snakes.”

  “Snakes are not a necessity. The blood supply is. Anyway, that was the other thing, if you wanted help finding new buyers for those pythons, I may be able to assist with that. I have a few contacts. I can take as many as you want off your hands. You aren’t planning on keeping them all are you?”

  Sirius shook his head. “Maybe just one or two, depending on if they need friends. I know Crick’s personally attached to at least one of them.”

  Beatrice smiled. “They’re solitary creatures, Sirius, unlike us.” She glanced out the window at Amanda again. “We all need friends and sometimes a bit more.”

  He nodded. “I’ll accept that offer for the snakes, and I’ll think about the blood, but Beatrice, if this business with Sirena has taught me anything, it’s that I absolutely do have the luxury of being choosy about what I ship.”

  “Very well, I wish you safe travels. I’ll send a man down for the snakes and square it with Sirena. Keep the pet one on me. I have a book Crick can borrow on them too, I’ll send that down with him. Until next time.”

  “Until next time.”

  About an hour later, the large ship was on the move again. Groaning metal chains pulled her out to the mouth of the cave, where she sat quite still with no wind or tide at her backs, facing down the long and narrow channel that led to the sea.

  Amanda sat behind Sirius in the wheelhouse.

  “Now what?” she asked.

  “Now that,” he replied as the very loud sound of rushing water sounded from further in the cave.

  Amanda gave him a puzzled look and then she went out of deck to see what was happening.

  The sound was getting closer and closer. She watched the cave mouth with apprehension.

  Other crew on deck were watching too.

  “Here it comes,” cried one of them.

  Suddenly the water beneath them lifted right up as gallons and gallons of water suddenly rushed forth from the cave.

  “Where’s it all coming from?” Amanda asked Neko, who had come to join her.

  The water pushed the ship forward with quite some force and the next thing she knew they were moving along the channel at an alarming rate. Amanda was glad Sirius was the one steering.

  “They opened the dam gates,” Neko explained. “There’s a couple of very large lakes nearby. One is underground and was made when they built the city. It’s quite pretty to walk along actually. You should get Sirius to show you next time we come here. They can dump almost all of the water in it in one go if they want to. There’s a whole series of dams near here and more lakes further inland too. If they like you, sometimes they’ll let you use them to sail out against the tides, like we are today.”

  ‘Next time?’ thought Amanda. Neko thought they’d all be coming back here, including her. She’d imagined the future of course, but when Neko said it like that, it suddenly sounded a lot more concrete and she had no idea what Sirius thought of such things. Had he thought about what would happen past Little Rock? He’d mentioned wanting to look for his sister, but looking around at the deck, she had trouble imagining him leaving his crew.

  As she watched the cliff walls surrounding them go flying by, it felt like a metaphor for her life. Oh how much she longed for a few days of just enjoying Sirius’s company without having to worry that the future might crash into them at any moment.

  She didn’t return to the wheelhouse until they’d made it out of the channel.

  “I think I missed that view,” she said, pleased to find it was just Sirius in the wheelhouse.

  “Hmm?”

  “Of the open ocean. Cap was interesting but very claustrophobic. Even that channel didn’t get much sun.”

  He grinned and she could see from the look in his eyes that he felt the same. A part of her thought about asking what the future held for them, but the question stuck in her mouth. She didn’t want to have that conversation, not yet, not if it meant it might ruin things. It could wait. But there was something else she was dying to do.

  “So, when can we fly the pegasus.”

  His grin widened. “Soon. I’ll just get us out into deeper water and then Sonny can take over. He should be joining us shortly. Do you want to go get him ready and bring him up?”

  “Who? Sonny?” she teased, knowing full well who he was actually talking about.

  He turned to her with a puzzled look until he saw her grin. Then he sighed. “Ghost,” he said with a slight chuckle.

  “Aye aye, Captain,” she replied.

  Ghost was restless but happy to see her, especially when she gave him a carrot that she’d grabbed from the kitchen on her way there. It was nice, knowing he was hers again, fully and really hers. Somehow she’d managed to keep both Sirius and the pegasus.

  She ran her hands through his mane. “You need a good brush,” she told him.

  He whinnied in reply.

  She laughed and she found the brush. She got so carried away with grooming him that eventually Sirius came and found her. Much like in the early days on the ship, he didn’t make himself known until she looked up and saw him standing there in the doorway just watching her.

  “I didn’t want to interrupt,” he explained.

  She smiled. That other day felt almost a lifetime ago. Or several lifetimes.

  Together, they led Ghost up to the main deck.

  Some of the crew came and watched them take off.

  Up, up, up they went. Amanda leaned forward, her hands twisted among the strands of Ghost’s soft mane, Sirius pressed against he from behind. She could feel the soft breeze on her face and smell the salt of the sea below, a scent that had begun to feel like home. Right then, there was no place she’d rather be.

  They retired to Sirius’s cabin early that night but they did not sleep. After some slightly more vigorous activities, they collapsed in each others arm and there they lay looking up at the fake stars just holding each other.

  “Are you alright?” Amanda asked Sirius.

  “Hmm?”

  “With everything that’s happened, I wouldn’t blame you if you weren’t.”

  He studied her face for a moment. “Are you?” he asked.

  She smiled. “I’m more than alright. But, I mean with the alp impersonating your mother, and Beatrice and Sandy thinking you were guilty, and Nigel betraying… well, everybody.”

  “I didn’t know Nigel that well,” he replied.

  “But still, everything else…” She twisted her fingers gently in his chest hair.

  “The alp actually helped, I think.”

  She paused in her twisting and looked up at him. “How so?”

  “It gave me a chance to say good bye, even though I know all it really wanted was permission to feed off the comfort or love or whatever it was after. I wonder if maybe they are lonely, the alps and that’s why they are drawn to the affections of people?”

  “Or they’re hungry little demons?”

  “Or that.” He smiled.

  “And the conversation with Sandy? And Beatrice? What did they say? You don’t seem mad at them, but then you weren’t mad at Shiv either and I think you should be,” she grumbled.

  “That’s just it, they know Shiv killed Michael and I’m not mad at him at all. That’s as good as doing it myself.”

  Amanda groaned and rolled off her side and onto her back. “That’s not what I meant.”

  Sirius was quiet for quite sometime. Amanda rolled back on her side and looked up at him.

  “I know,” he said fondly. “Sandy said, they knew I’d be found not guilty by the others.”

  Amanda frowned. “There’s no way they knew that.”

  “I know,” he said again, just as calmly as the first time.

  She studied his face. “How can you be so calm?”

  He smiled. “I don’t know. I guess I just don’t want to waste time being mad at things, especially things that I can’t do anything about.”

  “Hmm.”

  “What?”

  “I think you have more agency than you think, but I can’t fault the philosophy in general, I suppose.”

  “Beatrice asked if I wanted to do more blood-shipping.”

  “What’d you say?”

  “That I’d think about it but that it was probably a no. But maybe I will. It is good money.”

  “Those dragons are good money too,” she reminded him. “Maybe you could even tame one to defend the ship.”

  “Hmm.”

  She could her the skepticism in his tone. She laughed. “Although it would be a bit of trouble if it ever got sick.”

  “Why’s that?” he asked.

  “You ever seen a dragon sneeze?”