NOVPUB"Throw them in the brig."
Lilith was halfway to her feet, her mouth already opened to say something.
"No." Ren quickly intervened and she paused.
He gently shook his head.
She stared at him for a second before backing down.
None of the group protested as they were hauled to their feet, led into the ship and down to the brigs.
The cell door swung open and they grabbed Ren roughly, trying to throw him in.
His voice cut through the air, cold and hard. "If you throw me in there, I’ll kill you."
The Tidecallers froze. They could feel a chill run down their spine, and they knew with utter certainty, Ren wasn’t bluffing.
Ren used the opportunity to walk into the cell of his own accord, and the rest of the group walked in after him.
The Tidecallers stared at them with wide eyes as they took their seat around the cold cell.
Ren cleared his throat, jolting them back into action. They hurriedly closed the cell door and left as fast as they could.
Lilith took a seat on Ren’s lap, wrapping herself around him.
"That could’ve gone better." She said. 𝖓𝔬𝖛𝔭𝔲𝖇.𝔠𝔬𝖒
"True." Ren nodded.
"Err… let me just ask the question in all of our minds." Thorn spoke up, drawing their attention. "Why are we here?"
Silence.
"We could’ve bargained or at least, strong armed Captain Hook into giving us a boat and continue our merry way but why are we in a cell?"
"Ren has his reasons." Lilith said from her spot on his lap, her arms encircling his shoulders.
"I’m sorry." Ren said.
All eyes turned back to him.
He sighed. "We all know how much I like my dramatic reveals, but that’s no excuse."
"I should’ve been completely honest with you guys instead of waiting for a dramatic time to show off. We’re not here for fun. We really do need a Tidecaller."
He shouldn’t have put them in a situation like this without at least making sure they knew it was not without reason.
"We need a Tidecaller because we need navigation." He said, holding their gaze one after the other.
"The Hungering Deep is a large spatial rift. What does this mean? It means it’s a world inside a world. A sea inside a sea."
"Inside the Deep is a network of tunnels. Not small ones. If we go on our own, we’ll get lost. It might take us years to find the heart. And that’s why we need a Tidecaller."
"We need someone who can read the flow of water. Someone who can follow it back to the source, because the source of the water inside the Deep is the heart."
"And with a Tidecaller, what should take years can be done in weeks."
"But that leads us to the question, why are we currently in the brig? Simple. I’m hoping we can convince one of the crew members."
"If they’re on a ship, they’re already skilled enough for what we want. We just need someone hungrier for adventure." Ren complied.
"Oh." Thorn said. "That makes sense."
"I told you." Lilith drawled. "Ren has his reasons."
Then, the temperature of the brig dropped.
"And if you question him again," Lilith’s voice reverberated softly, her eyes glowing softly, "I’ll skin you alive."
Thorn laughed nervously. "Haha. Good joke, Lilith."
Lilith stared at him.
"That was not a joke."
Then, she turned back to Ren to give him a kiss on his forehead.
Thorn’s eyes were wide as he held Ren’s gaze.
"That was just a joke." Ren chuckled. "Lilith wouldn’t do that."
He looked up at her. "Will you?"
"Of course not." She smiled sweetly at him, before kissing him fully on his lips.
Thorn turned to Elias who nodded solemnly.
"She definitely will."
"Fuck."
He stared, disgusted for a few seconds as Ren and Lilith made out in the corner, then turned back to Elias.
"So, when do you think they’ll serve lunch?"
[][][][][]
Elias was quiet, watching as the two Tidecallers slowly opened their cell door, entering with four bowls of food.
They plopped his bowl before him and he amended his statement.
This isn’t food. This is slop.
He stared, not knowing what to think of the food. However, unlike him, Thorn wasn’t afraid to speak up.
"Hey, hey, hey!" The younger guard picked up his bowl of slop, raising it to scrutinize it clearly. "What the hell is this? We’re not pigs, you know."
"If you want to serve us, just say so. What’s the meaning of this?" He placed the bowl back down to glare at the Tidecallers.
"If you don’t like it, don’t eat it." The Tidecallers snickered as they left the cell and closed the door. "Starving to death would look quite good on you."
Laughing over the joke, they left.
"Well, fuck." Thorn sighed, picking up his wooden spoon. "Why are th—"
"Hmmm. Delicious." Lilith’s voice floated to them.
Elias turned to see Lilith and Ren eating their food happily, eyes wide.
He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Was this another attempt to convince us it was good when it wasn’t?
He shared a look with Thorn before picking up his bowl, scooping a bite and placing it in his mouth.
Hmmm.
It was surprisingly good.
Well, not good, but not bad either.
"Wine, anyone?"
He looked up to see Ren retrieve a bottle of wine and several cups from his spatial pouch, pouring a generous portion for everyone.
"How did you even hide that from them?" Thorn asked incredulously. "In your ass?"
"Ewwww." Lilith scrunched up her face, staring at Thorn in disgust.
Ren chuckled in response. "The spatial pouch can shift in and out of the third dimension to hide itself. It’s a fucking spatial pouch. What did you expect?"
Elias tuned in the rest of the conversation, his mind on what was happening around him.
He sighed.
Everything was moving as it always did.
Ren was the planner. Lilith was the overwhelming force held in reserve. And even Thorn was the comic relief.
He didn’t know when the question slipped out of his mouth.
"Why am I here?"
