"What now?" Jolee asked Asher after their father went above deck to check on the status of the foreign ship.

I went to respond, but then fell silent. I didn't know. My mind traveled back to when I was five. It was the first time grandfather had struck me for my disobedience. An Esklayian ship had been spotted and I refused to go below deck. Grandfather struck my cheek as he had done early today, but at five you go a lot further. Father picked me up and carried me below. He then sat me down and explained the reason I had to go below deck, well at least to a point. All I was told that day was that my birth family held power in Esklay and Auroja and that for my safety I had to stay below deck when either ship passed by. There were very few pirates around my age with blonde hair and light skin and because I had both I would stand out, something that as a pirate was not preferable.

"Why have you never questioned who your parents were before?" Jolee asked after another few minutes of silence. "If I were in your spot I'd want to know who my birth parents were and how I'd ended up in the care of a pirate."

Slowly looking up, I met her eyes. "I did at one point. When I was eight I had those same thoughts. I pressed father for days, and for days he kept pushing it off. Finally I got the courage and approached grandfather," I said remembering the conversation as if it had happened yesterday. "Instead of a response I got a question. Grandfather asked me why had I not been rescued if my birth parents really had loved me. At eight that made sense. Father loved me and I was still with him, he'd protected me and rescued me from multiple troubles, yet my birth parents had never come after me."

"That's not true! I'm sure your parents loved you! But they thought you were dead," Jolee exclaimed.

"I know that now, but at the time all I knew was that there had never been an attempt to get me back. That father was the only one who ever fought for me. It was only during our last few arguments that questions started to rise again," I said honestly.

Jolee moved over to the barrel beside me. "What now?" she repeated.

"Now, I wait and see what information I can gather," I said. I held up my hand when I saw the look in her eyes. "No, this is something I need to do. I want you to stay clear. If they won't even let me on deck when a ship passes, who knows what information I am about to find," I said. Taking her hand, I gave it a squeeze. "And if anything ever happened to you, because of me, I wouldn't be able to handle it."

The all clear was sounded soon after and the day went about as normal. My body froze when Stryder said that the captain had summoned me. I quickly made my way to the quarterdeck where grandfather was standing at the wheel. I approached and stood silent with my hands behind my back. At first he didn't acknowledge my presence. After a few minutes of silence he turned his gaze on me. "Trevin told me he informed you of your heritage."

"Yes sir," I said, nodding my head not sure where this was going.

"I assume we won't have any more trouble when a ship comes into sight," he said, turning his eyes back to the sea.

"No sir," I said.

He nodded once. "Good. The Aurojain royalty took much from this crew. I'd like to keep it from happening again." His gaze returned to me, yet no words were said. After a moment he excused me with the wave of his hand.

"So I'm thinking that we need to commandeer a smaller vessel and sail straight to Jarrow and demand answers," Jolee said a week later as she, Stryder, and myself stood in the crows nest.

"Oh yes. Three teens could most definitely commandeer a ship and sail it to Auroja where I'm sure the king and queen would be more than happy to grant an audience to," Stryder said, shaking his head.

Jolee spun on him. "At least I'm coming up with ideas!"

Smiling, I reached out, placing a calming hand on my sister's shoulder. "Breath, Jo," I said, pulling her a step away from Stryder. "I've already told you, I'm going to do some independent research and once I need your help I'll let you know," I explained. She went to respond but I placed a hand over her mouth. "This is how it's going to be. We aren't going to cause trouble. If the three of us start snooping around it will get back to Captain and we don't want that. I promised him there would be no trouble from this," I said.

Jolee sucked in her bottom lip not liking my response but knowing it was the right one. "You better tell me what you find," she said, crossing her arms.

"I promise," I said, dropping an arm around her shoulders.

"Oi! You lot joining in the game?" Larson called from below. He was the quartermaster, and father's best friend. He was unique on the ship, although his Katanese ancestry gave him a dark complexion and black hair almost like a Moshadian.

"Only if you're prepared to lose," Jolee said, scrambling down the ratline. She loved playing dice against the crew. She had a knack for taking the winnings.

Stryder headed for the ratline. "You coming?" he asked.

Shaking my head, I leaned back on the railing. "I'm going to stay up here for a bit," I said. He shrugged his shoulders and headed down leaving me to my thoughts.

It had been a month and nearly every thought I had was caught up in questions of my heritage. We were currently docked at a small port in Lukror. I'd spent my time at the docks while the rest of the crew headed into town to enjoy one of our rare times on land. "Oi! Hurry it up! We shove off in under ten and ya still don't have the boat loaded," a gruff voice called from nearby. "We've got to get the goods to Priaport if we want to get paid," he snapped at the dockhands. My head shot up. Priaport, that was on the coast of Auroja. My hand reached for my money bag that never left my side. It was full, every coin I'd earned was in that bag. Glancing to The Lady Red none of those left on board were paying attention. Without giving it much thought I jogged toward the ship. "If I help you get loaded and pay, will you give me a place on the ship to Priaport?" I asked before I could back down.

The man stared me down. He noted my Aurojain skin and glanced at the money bag I was holding tight. "You ever sailed before?" he questioned.

With a slight smile I nodded. "I'd say I've spent more time on the sea than on land," I responded.

He gave a quick nod. "Help these lads load up, you'll work on board and once we reach shore I'll tell you what you still owe," he said then turned and walked off.

Quickly helping the dock hands, we finished loading the boat. Following the other sailors I climbed aboard the ship. As we shoved off my eyes traveled to The Lady Red one last time. However, this time someone was watching. My eyes met Stryders. The look in his face showed what he thought of what I was doing, yet it also showed he wasn't going to stop me. With a small nod he turned and headed away from the railing. With a shaky breath I turned and headed towards the man I now knew to be the boatswain, the man who controlled the day to day details of the ship. He quickly put me to work.

The three weeks on board flew by. The closer we drew to Priaport the more I questioned if my choice was wise. When we docked I could hardly make myself disembark. "Asher, you work harder than anyone your age. Are you sure I can't hire you on for the return voyage?" Jinken, the boatswain, asked as he stood beside me.

I smiled up at him and slowly shook my head. "I'm honored that you'd have me back. I have matters to deal with in the capital. Once those are settled I may return and ask about your next trip here. I thank you for allowing me to come this far. How much do I owe you?" I questioned reaching for my money bag.

Jinken quickly shook his head. He held out his hand and dropped six pence into mine. "You earned your keep plus some. I look forward to seeing you again," he said then turned and started barking orders at the sailors unloading the ship.

Quickly sliding the money into my bag I headed for a secluded area to figure out how I was to get from Priaport to the capital. Making my way along the docks unnoticed was easy, much easier than most places I was used to. Here people didn't even take a second look at me, as I looked much like them. Sliding up to the dockmaster I quickly took a look at his log book. A ship was sailing to Jarrow within the hour. Thoughts raced through my mind as I figured out my next step. I made my way to where the ship was docked that would be sailing up the river. Putting into action a tactic that Jolee and I had used on the east coast of Lukror a few years ago, I carefully made my way onto the ship and below deck before I was noticed. The ship was not full of cargo, but it had just enough to where it made it easy to find a place to hide. The trip wasn't pleasant, but then again it was not the worst ride I'd experienced. After two days the noise of preparation for arrival could be heard above. Soon the sounds of the dock could be heard. Timing it just right I made for the stairs. Waiting at the top of the stairs were two rather large sailors.

"Stowaway," one growled, reaching out for me. I quickly dodged him, but his friend was quicker on his feet. He grabbed my arm and after a brief struggle had me pinned. Struggling in his grasp we made our way off the ship to where the captain stood talking with the dock master. "We found this one trying to make a break for it," the first sailor said, nodding to where the second still held me.

"Why would one stowaway from Piraport to Jarrow? You'd have been better off getting a ride over land," the captain said walking towards me. I didn't respond, just stared at him.

"Captain!" a young voice called. Turning to the ship, one of the cabin boys came running down the plank with my bag in hand. I struggled to free myself and grab the bag, but it was pointless. "I found his bag from where he tried to get away from Gergory and Tom," he said, holding the bag out. "You'll want to see what's in there!"

The captain raised an eyebrow and held out his hand for the bag which the boy quickly handed over. "Something in here you don't want us to see?" the captain asked as I continued to struggle in the sailors hold. The captain turned back to the bag and opened it. He froze, I knew what he was seeing and knew this wouldn't end well for me. He turned my bag over and dumped it on the dock. A few sets of clothes fell first, then the coins and jewels came. "Where does a boy your age get this amount of coins and jewels?" he asked.

The cabin boy knelt down and started going through them. "Captain, these aren't just Aurojian coins... they're from at least four countries, and the jewels..." he said, staring at them in awe.

The captain was quick to scoop up the coins and with it he knocked my clothes just enough to reveal the item I was most dreading. He pulled out a necklace and held it up. The sun shone brightly on the gem in his hand. "This is a red diamond," the captain said, holding up the gem in the center of the necklace.

"Captain, that ain't any red diamond, look at the chain," the sailor holding me said.

The captain looked closer and saw the chain itself was more valuable than some gems. The dockmaster walked forward. "May I?" he asked. The captain handed it to him. "There is only one reason a boy this age would have something such as this."

All eyes turned to me and I froze. They'd figured it out. The captain stepped forward. His hand grabbed my chin. "You aren't just a stowaway, you're a pirate."