The Damsel's Cause

I find ourselves chasing after the suspected pirate. Aela utilizes her tracking skills to locate the woman. Not too long after, we found her standing calmly in front of the fountain in the town square. Aela seems to be able to find her with such ease that I start to think that the woman lets us find her for some reason. As soon as she noticed our presence, she started to run off again. Despite the intensity of the situation, I find it exciting. It's adrenaline-spiking. Aela signals me and Masid to spread out to cover more ground which we follow.

          "Vatic, you and your panther take the right. I'll continue tailing her. If either of us catches her, send some kind of signal." The wind rushing to her face looks majestic as always. I nod at her instruction. We then go our separate ways.

          The way our target moves is making me convinced that she's a pirate. She's become more agile than before but I have to keep up. If Aela catches up to her first, that may be the end of the line for her. Aela seems to hold a huge grudge against the pirates. Based on what they did from what Aela told me, I can understand her sentiments. However, we're not certain that this woman we're after is one of them. There must be a reason why she's running away from us. She probably thinks we're the pirates. That should be it.

          "I can't see her anymore!" Masid exclaims as he runs along the rooftops.

          "Just keep your eyes peeled!" I scream as I run along the empty streets.

          We're nearing an intersection somewhere to the north of town when see the blonde woman sprinting from the east side to the west side. Aela is closely running after her. I look up at Masid signaling that we should regroup and join Aela for the chase. To impede our way, the woman randomly wrecks anything that she can. She tries her best to keep her head straight as she gains more speed but she can't seem to help herself to look back at us. She's probably at the end of her breaths since we've been in this cat-and-mouse chase throughout the town for quite some time now. She hasn't even regained her full strength yet so that's in our favor. Finally, she made a wrong turn. We're cornering her now in a dead end.

          "You're too fast for a castaway." Aela confronts her, breathing heavily to catch her breath. Without any hesitations, she's already aiming an arrow her way.

          Panting equally heavily, the woman responds, "What's your problem?" Looking at her face, I'm not even sure if she's holding off tears or just catching her breath. "Just let me be free! Please, don't let me go back there. I beg you." She finally bawls.

          Aela isn't budging. The hatred in her eyes seems to even intensify. "You don't get to manipulate me with those waterworks, pirate!" She shoots. I gasp. Luckily, the arrow only pierces through the woman's baggy pants. Pinned to the wall, Aela made sure her target wouldn't escape anymore. "Who do you work for?"

          "Please, spare me!" The woman's face reddens as she begs. Instead of Aela, she's looking straight at me.

          "What will you do, Vatic? She's asking you for help." Masid comments and I am thorn. What should I do?

          Someone needs my help so I have to help.

          "That's enough, Aela." I say firmly, grabbing her gently by the arm in an attempt to calm her. She shoots me a piercing glare.

          "Don't fall for this gimmick, Vatic!" She shoves my hand off and aims her arrow back to the woman's head. We're standing closer to her now so if Aela releases her shot, the woman will surely be hit and die on the spot.

          "She may be a pirate like you believe but she's in distress!" I retort, my voice is as stern as it can be. I sense Aela being taken aback. "We can hear her story first before we can decide what we're going to do." I see her eyes rolling in disappointment. "You said it yourself. You help castaways. She doesn't act like a pirate so why not extend your help to her?"

          "She clearly isn't a castaway. Don't be naïve!" She raises her voice to match mine. "Can't you see her tattoo? That's the mark of the Burning Moon Pirates. She's definitely one of them." Aela announces. The woman's face shakes in disagreement, sending off her tears wherever.

          "No. I beg of you. This is all a mistake!" My heart aches to see a woman beg for her life. I must convince Aela to make a compromise.

          "Aela, let's just hear her story. We won't lose anything if we just listen, will we?" It seems to be working. She's lowering her weapon. "Please, for me?" Success. The look on her face makes me think that I've won.

          "Fine." Aela finally gives in and then looks straight back at our hostage. "Speak." She challenges, raising an eyebrow.

          "What is up with you two?" Masid asks in confusion. "I sense some other kind of tension there." I glare at him to shut him up. He shrugs and just lies down close by.

          "Thank you!" The woman tries her best to calm down so she can tell us her story. "My name is Portia. I was with the Burning Moon Pirates. But, I'm not one of them."

          It turns out that Portia was kidnapped by those Burning Moon Pirates from the mainland at a very young age and was their slave until very recently. A month or so ago when those pirates docked on the island to do other business with other pirate groups, she was lucky enough to escape. Staying in town for over a month made her familiar with its layout. That's the reason why she's so hard to catch earlier. Being with the pirates wrecked her. They've done unspeakable things to her and the rest of their slaves. The worst thing is, she got branded. That explains her tattoo. It's clear by now that she's a victim but Aela doesn't seem to buy it.

          "Please, spare me. If you need help, I can help. I'm so sorry I thought of you as pirates earlier. I know now that you're not." Portia begs.

          "You're safe here with us, Portia. Don't worry anymore." I confirm, breaking the arrow that's pinning her to the wall.

          "Just so you know, I'm not completely on board about this. I hope that if anything happens, you'll take full responsibility." I miss the sweetness of her tone. I miss her smile. I miss what could've been that night.

          "I will. I'll take full responsibility." I offer a hand to Portia to support her to stand. I can sense Aela glaring but I don't dare to look at her.

          Portia said that she settled in a place here in town. We've decided to go there so we can all take a rest. We deserve to shake off all this tension eating us up. The place is pretty decent for someone who just settled in here for a little over a month. It's evident that most stuff in here was scavenged from some other places in town but she made it work somehow. From the cushions serving as her bed to the makeshift tools she most likely used to fetch herself some food, all of them were picked up elsewhere. She's resourceful. I'll give her that. 

          "Apologies for the mess. I didn't think I'll have company." Portia smiles for the first time. I smile back.

          "You're fine, Portia. We're glad we're here. Right, Aela?" I reluctantly look at Aela but she only rolls her eyes on us.

          "That's good!" Portia's excitement fills the air with positivity. "Please, feel at home."

          "What are all those maps for?" Aela asks, looking so engrossed in the peculiar setup Portia has from the corner of the space. She walks towards it for closer inspection.

          "Uh, that's a long story." The sadness in Portia's tone is evident.

          "Tell us. We have all day." I can sense Aela's eyebrows furrowing even though her back is facing us.

          "Those are maps of the Burning Moon Pirates' ships." The fear is bubbling from within her. But, she's doing her best to fight it. Her eyes are filled with conviction. "You see, I plan to free the other slaves. If I managed to escape, they should have the same opportunity." She's a good person after all.

          "Yeah, right." Aela seems to not be buying that. "Why are there huge maps of the town and the entire island hanging on the wall here?" She points at the huge pieces of paper plastered on the nearby wall. "And don't tell us it's a long story."

          "Believe it or not, I've heard the captain and his officials that there is treasure hidden in this town and I will find them before they do." Her eyes burn with passion. "I will use those funds to set my path and the rest of the slaves' to a different direction. We all deserve a second chance in life."

          Aela swings her head back at us. Her eyes widen in disbelief at this news. Masid and I went cold and silent all of a sudden. It's become hard to breathe all of a sudden. This is definitely some revelation. All my life, I haven't heard anything like that hidden in town. Are those planted by some other pirates? This is something to be written down in the history of this town. I examine the map. There are colored pins stabbed at random places on the island and most of those are in town. I'm not so sure what this indicates so I look at Portia. She seems to be disturbed.

          "Please, leave the treasure to us." Her eyes widen, clasping her hands together. "Thinking about the slaves who were left back in the seas breaks me into million pieces. I promised to myself that I'll find the treasure as soon as I can so I can save them all."

          "We don't care about the treasure, Portia," Aela confirms. I'm relieved. I don't mind about the treasure either. "Tell us. Once you've done your business here, will you be leaving?" My heart sank.

          "Yes!" Portia must've realized that Aela doesn't want her here or any of her kin. "Once I found the treasure and saved my people, we'll set sail elsewhere. This place is dangerous. You should join us if you'd like."

          "No, I won't. I'll stay here. Not until I find Sta–" She shakes her head and cuts her own thought. She looks back at the maps and examines them more intently. Straus is all she can really think of. I don't blame her for that. I understand. Truly, I do.

          "We would like to go with you –I sense Aela's eyebrows raising– but we have our own business to accomplish here." I say, thinking about the Beast of Hiraya, Straus, and whatever I can discover about Father.

          "That's too bad. I wish you both all the best though." The corners of Portia's lips curve up. Her blue eyes sparkle. She's genuinely wishing for our success.

          Portia joins Aela to examine the massive maps. Their backs are turned towards me and Masid. Watching them silently from a distance sends warmth to my core. They seem to reach a common understanding with that recent exchange of ours. Aela's a good person so it's not a stretch to think that she'll understand Portia's predicament. From where I stand, I noticed that Portia is a tall woman as well but Aela is an inch or two taller than her. The colors of their hair complement each other. It's like I'm watching the sun meeting the autumn trees for the first time. It's mystical. It's hard to think that someone as young as her suffered a terrible fate at the hands of those pirates, assuming she's just around our age.

          Portia looks at me then Aela then back to me again, resting her crossed arms on her chest. "Have you guys heard about Dalakethnon?"