Tiriene was little more than a hazy outline in the distance but it was still beautiful to Emerson. He never grew tired of seeing sights like that. "Beautiful isn't it?" The dark haired man asked the teen, the very one that he saved from being blown from the mast, who stood next to him. 
The boy nodded; his jaw was hanging open and there was a look of pure amazement in his eyes. "I've never been this far away from Sirasea before." The boy admitted, "So this is my first time seeing Tiriene." 
Emerson wore a soft, understanding smile. He was once like that, hell he still was. 
The boy had been picked up in Hilarest a few weeks ago. He had worked on other ships before but they had been small and only dealt with trade between Sirasea and Hilarest. 
"This is the best part about or lifestyle, of course the adventure isn't bad either." Emerson grinned. While Emerson didn't agree on some of the things they did as pirates, he did enjoy flying across the skies with people who he considered family. 

The boy looked up at Emerson curiously, "How long have you been on the ship?" The boy knew very little of most of the crew members, only the cabin boy and chef really. 
Emerson sighed and leaned his forearms against the railing of the ship. They had time to burn so a story wouldn't hurt.  The man looked at the clouds with a distant look in his eyes. "Since I was a little boy," Emerson's hands fumbled together. "My brothers and I were placed into an orphanage after the death of our mother and I had been adopted by the previous captain of the Silver Arrow, Kris's father. It's common for orphans to find their ways onto pirate ships and it's a win-win for everyone. The orphanage gets one less mouth to feed and the kids get a second chance, even if it isn't the best life." 
The boy watched the man; he seemed to be thinking of something and pretty soon they fell into silence aside from the bustling of people around them. He didn't know much about the first mate so this little tidbit of information really helped him form an opinion on the man. He had heard mostly great things about Emerson: he was kind and willing to put his life on the line for any of the crew, as the boy witnessed firsthand today, and Emerson was awfully good at stories especially if they had to do with his younger years with the Captain. 

It took the ship a considerable length of time to actually reach Tiriene and when they finally entered the harbor the sun was already going down. Emerson had gone off to do a few things like check the cargo and formulate a plan with the captain on just what they were going to do. 
"Have you decided on the cargo yet, Kris?" Emerson asked the man. "We could use the spare coin...it'd come in handy once we really need it." The men had known each other since childhood and he always gave his input knowing that more or less it was valued. Emerson untied his bandanna and smoothed back a few pieces of stray hair before re-tying the cloth around his  head again. They'd be relatively safe in Eagleharbor tonight; there wasn't much in terms of pirate hunters since Tiriene was so small that most pirates just skirted around it. It wasn't with the hassle if they couldn't find or get much. However, they still needed to be careful. The locals didn't exactly welcome pirates with open arms. He guessed it had to do with a particularly nasty event years ago in which a pirate crew raided the town searching for something or someone. Emerson didn't know all of the details since some people claimed it was one thing the pirates were looking for while others said it was something completely different. 

-----

Tracing over the little flowers painted on the walls gave Zaria a sense of comfort. She didn't know what her parents looked like beyond the fact that they shared their father's hair color; but she could picture them in the nursery preparing for the birth of their twins. Their Aunt and Uncle rarely spoke of their parents, fearing that it would bring about bad feelings in the twins. They had always ensured that the girls knew that what happened to their parents hadn't been their fault. She wondered if their parents were proud of the women they had become. 

She was pulled away from her thoughts and the wall by the voice of her twin. At first she thought something had happened but once Zeva entered into the nursery with a small, light colored box her worry had been abandoned for curiosity. "Ooh," Zaria said as she gently took the box from her sister's hands and sat on the floor. Patting the space beside her in a silent command, Zaria cocked her head to the side slightly before speaking. "Let’s open it." The lid to the box wasn't fixed by hinges like she thought it would have been, rather the lid was an independent part all together. The box was lined with fine white silk and in the very bottom were two small pieces of paper. 
Zaria couldn't help the disappointed sound that escaped her. 

Gently she lifted one of the small pieces of paper. The one she held delicately in her hands was a corner piece. It was thicker than regular paper and despite its aged appearance it didn't seem like it would turn to dust with the slightest of movements. She could scarcely make out the edge of what seemed to be land, it was green after all and with her limited knowledge of maps she assumed that they all came color coded to show the continents.  When she was done looking at the pieces of paper she gently laid them back onto the white silk before passing the box to her sister. "We better get back to Buror soon. Let's take the box; it did belong to our parents after all." She said softly, she gave the nursery one last glance before standing up. Her leg felt a little stiff from sitting on the floor and her walking stick was back with Buror and the cart. "Knowing him, he's probably bored out of his mind by now." 

Zaria helped her twin up off of the floor and she dusted her sister's clothes off before taking one last walk through the house. Zaria's hand remained on the wall closest to her as an attempt to hide her limping; she hated showing that weakness. When she exited the house, a wide grin formed on her face as she spotted Buror. He was lying across the seat of the cart looking up at the sky with his arms behind his head. 
"We just have to wait for Ze," Zaria said as she drew closer. Buror quickly sat up, a light dusting of pink spread across his cheeks and the tips of his ears. He hadn't been expecting the twins, or at least just one of them, to leave the house so soon. Once Zeva joined them on the cart Buror happily took the reins in his hand. The rolling hills passed by and the farther they went the more grand the homes became. His house stood proudly on the top of the last hill. Tall and proud just like the man who lived there, it was proof that he had worked hard for his dream. 

Buror's home, like most in Eagleharbor, was plastered white. In total there were two stories with large windows for each room. What was the most impressive feature about his home wasn't the house itself (which looked able to hold four or five of Zaria and Zeva's home back in Nightfort). The front yard, or rather field, was bursting with bright flowers and shady trees. Zaria had never seen a yard quite like that and she wondered if the back yard would have been the same. Buror directed the cart around to the back of the house and she was surprised to learn that there was a small vegetable garden and a few stables for horses. "What?" Buror laughed, "You expected something else?" 
Zaria nodded, "The front yard was so grand, as is your home, so I had assumed the same of the back yard." 
"I told you before; I'm still a Nightfort boy no matter how you look at it." 
Further back behind the stables was a small red brick building. It was single story with few windows but a few children roamed in the front of it. That was a servant house. Tiriene didn't have a large servant population like Hilarest or a few of the other continents so it was a little unusual to see a servant house. The cart stopped moving and Buror called for someone. A teenaged boy with dark curly hair and bright eyes hurried out of one of the stables, dropping the brush he had been carrying before taking the reins from Buror. 
"Sorry Mr. Nil, one of the horses wouldn't let me brush them!" 
"I see. Have they been fed yet?" 
"Yes sir. I even gave them a few apples like Mrs. Nil had asked." The boy said with a little hesitance. Buror wasn't abusive towards his servants like the others were or could be. He did give punishments but they always fit with the crime. 
Buror thanked the boy and introduced the twins before taking the twins inside. 

The inside of his home was just as grand as the outside. They stood in what seemed to be the kitchen where women dressed in dark blue dresses with aprons worked. Each woman said hello to Buror and his guests before getting back to work. 
"Daddy!" The squeaky voice of a toddler called out before they could even see the figure. The sound of chunky and still slightly uncoordinated feet could be heard coming down the hallway. Buror ran forward and caught the excited little boy before he could trip coming into the kitchen. "Daddy!" 
Marius, Buror's only child, was as cute as they come; red cheeked with adorable little dimples and the sweetest little smile. Marius looked like his father a lot but there were features that undeniably belonged to Emillie. Marius might have looked physically more like his father with childish features but his blond, almost white hair, and freckles came from his mother. 
"Marius this is Aunt Zeva and Aunt Zaria." Buror introduced the boy before pushing him gently to the twins.
He was a shy little boy who wanted nothing more than to cling to his father.
"Hello Marius." Zaria said softly as she held her hands out to him. From her small little travel bag she produced a bright red apple. Zaria loved apples, especially the ones from the mountains around Nightfort. Marius curiously peeked at the apple before letting go of his father and stepped closer to the red haired woman. 
"Isn't he cute Ze?" 

"Buror?" A soft feminine voice called from behind the man. This was Zaria's second time seeing Emilie in person but they did write letters to each other frequently. Emilie was beautiful in Zaria's eyes; she could see why Buror married the woman. 
Emilie was tall and on the slender side. She moved gracefully towards the twins to sweep them into a hug. Emilie's light hair was left loose and in soft waves, almost as if she hadn't gotten ready for the day. Buror had told them that after the birth of Marius his wife had grown sickly and often fell ill but now her cheeks held a soft peachy color to them. 
"Hello and welcome to our home." Emilie said.