Chapter Text
A path of redemption
Chapter 1
The restless wharf was buzzing as always. Sailors laughed as they walked ashore, or held onto crying loved ones as they readied to head back out onto the open sea. Old rugged fishermen were sauntering to their boats lugging nets, fishing poles and baskets full of bait. Some of them took a careful look over their shoulders to make sure their wives weren’t looking before dragging out old pipes from the inside of their thick coats, stuffing them with tobacco.
The sounds of screaming merchants and chattering seagulls overlapped as the wind grabbed hold of the many colourful flags waving from the rooftops and nearby flagpoles, as the large ship Nein Heroez sailed inn to dock.
Aboard it, most of the sailors rushed around, finishing their jobs of folding the sails and tying up the ship safely. The only two sailors aboard that didn’t seem to be in much hurry, were the two women staying at the starboard side of the ship, both of them looking out towards the Nicodranas port with slight apprehension.
Avantika took a deep intake of breath. Somehow she wasn’t ready. She knew she had to step off this ship and head inland at some point. To train and become stronger, to face her former patron to be truly free of him. But didn't like the idea of turning her back on the sea.
A small pained grunt made her snap back to reality. She turned and saw Vera pulling herself up from her spot, holding a shaking hand on the railing. Her entire body was shaking under the strain of a broken leg and months and months of torture and starvation under the hands of the Plank King.
Avantika rushed over and offered a shoulder silently, Vera grabbing hold of her tunic with an iron grip.
“You okay?”
“No,” Vera wheezed, straightening up. “But I will be at some point I hope.”
Avantika was about to open her mouth to reply when the sound of someone clearing their throat made Avantika snap her head around. The old grizzled face of Vandran smiling back at the two pirates. “Avantika.” He smiled and gave a small nod to the other woman. “Vera.” He turned back to Avantika. “You still owe me some favours.”
Avantika scowled. “I’m not making you any more food.”
Vandran chuckled. “Fair enough.” He stepped up to Avantika, holding her scowl with his own amused glint, holding out a hand. “The last favour I will ask… get strong and kill that snake.”
Avantika’s scowl melted into slight shook. She straightened up and nodded, ignoring Vera’s slight pained grumble. She reached out and took Vandran’s hand quickly to shake it, before it went back to steady Vera’s side. “I assume you’re not coming along next time, are you?”
Vandran shook his head, looking towards the hustle and bustle of the docks. “I think the sea is done with me,” he said simply. “And I feel done with it. I promised to help the lad start up with his planned shipping enterprise, so far he’s just workshopping names.”
Vandran looked away from the docks, his eyes going a bit further out on the wharf where the large lighthouse that doubled as a temple for Melora stood fast, hand held out and inviting the sailors home. Avantika followed his gaze, her eyes on Melora’s face, a small gust of salty air hitting her face.
“I’ll make her oceans safe again Vandran. I give you my word.”
Vandran nodded, then walked off, heading towards the gangplank where Orly was in deep conversation with a dock worker wanting the papers of the ship. No sooner had Vandran walked off, before Fjord and Pierre came towards them. Pierre was smiling with a loose gait. Fjord however looked a little uncomfortable.
“So… uh… take care?” Fjord raised a hand to scratch at the back of his head. “Sorry, I just,” he paused as he drew his hands out. “What does one say to ones former enemy turned kinda ally as they part ways?”
Vera gave the smallest of smirk through her pain. “I wouldn’t think too hard over it. Thank you again Captain Stone, for helping with my rescue.”
Fjord shrugged his shoulders, relaxing a little as it seemed like the two pirates were happy to leave on good terms. “Given how we kinda were to blame for you being there in the first place I didn’t see a reason to say no. Besides, we were going for Sabien anyway.” He turned to Avantika, his golden eyes meeting her own teal. “Keep in touch, yeah?”
Avantika hummed. “Sooner or later I’ll be strong enough to send messages your way. When I think I’m ready, I will let you know. If anything changes in the meantime you have my permission to tell me.”
Avantika held up a warning finger. “Only for that. If I get Jester Lavorre’s voice in my head every night telling about random clouds shaped like bunnies or some stupid shit I swear to the Wildmother I will have retribution.”
Vera held up a hand. “That goes for me too. Though tell her she have both our blessings and permissions to continue contacting the Plank King, I am sure she will charm him into liking her if she keeps it up.”
Fjord rolled his eyes as both Avantika and Vera cackled a little at that mental image, turning to Pierre. “Keep these two out of trouble, yeah?”
Pierre chuckled. “I’ll do my best. Sadly, miracles takes work.”
Fjord laughed, taking Pierre’s hand in a friendly handshake before walking off, giving a small wave to Avantika and Vera. As Fjord walked away, Pierre turned to Vera, seeing her lean heavily on Avantika.
“So… need some assistance?”
Avantika grunted. “I wouldn’t mind some help.”
Vera gave a weak smile as the cold sweat ran down the side of her face again. “What? You calling me fat?”
Avantika huffed, leaning down to lift her sailor’s chest under one arm, using the other one to help steady Vera’s right side. “Hardly, your bony ass ribs are stabbing me in the side.”
Pierre walked over to Vera’s left, helping holding her up, getting the weight off of her injured leg. “All right you two, no more bickering, just a small walk up to the entrance of the docks and then we’re home free.”
Vera grunted, starting to limp forward, with Avantika and Pierre letting her decide the pace. Vera stopped as they stepped off the ship, looking back at it with a small sense of longing. She sighed deeply, before shaking her head and motioning to the two holding her up that they could go. Vera had limped maybe three steps, before she spoke up.
“So… carriage huh? Horse drawn I take it?”
Avantika felt herself stiffen a little at Vera’s words, the hand around her waist twitching slightly. She looked up to her first mate who gave her a knowing shit eating grin.
Pierre, not sensing anything out of the ordinary, gave a nod. “Oh yes. Mother and father don’t have any private horses of their own, but the company have their own horses that we rent out the few times father or mother needs to travel around. I did tell father your leg needed room so he probably brought the big four span one.”
Vera’s grin widened, turning away from Avantika who felt a small droplet of cold sweat run down her neck. “ Four horses huh? Lots of powers in those hooves I take it? We don’t see many horses out at sea, maybe I’ll take the opportunity to give them a pet or two while we’re here.”
Avantika cut into the conversation, frantic panic in her voice. “SO PIERRE.” She cleared her throat, giving her cousin a small nervous smile. “I got a question.”
“I will do my best to answer,” Pierre said with a kind smile, wondering about the sudden change of topic and tone in Avantika’s voice, figuring it was all just nerves of being back ashore again. “Well,” Avantika said, relaxing a little as she managed to distract Pierre, giving Vera the smallest of pinch in her side, making her yelp.
“I get that the Pieroux family apparently is really rich cause you’re a shipping empire and stuff but,” Avantika pursed her lips. “Both me and Vera have been sailing these waters for a long, long time. And as far as I can remember I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a Pieroux shipping.”
Pierre chuckled. “Yeah well that’s no wonder, the shipping part of the company isn’t called Pieroux shipping.”
Avantika frowned confused. “Come again?”
“Well,” Pierre said, adjusting his hold on Vera with a small grunt. “My ancestor, Pierre Pieroux the first, made the shipping company way back in the early decades after the calamity. Since his time the company grew, we now got our own cart makers, we have a bunch of mercenaries on our payroll for people who want guarded transports, we raise our own horses, everything and everyone under our payroll are members of the main company, Pieroux incorporated.The name of the shipping company have not been changed since it started, out of respect for the man that is responsible for the family wealth, Copperwheel Shipping.”
Upon hearing the name, Avantika and Vera both stopped dead in their tracks, their heads turned to Pierre, eyes wide.
“COME AGAIN?”
Pierre winced a little at the volume coming from Avantika, but stopped and waited for the two women to get their bearings again. “It’s not like I tried holding it secret Avantika, you could have asked. You’re the one who constantly claims that you don’t want to know anything about the family affairs.”
Vera let her hand that was leaning on Avantika go, waving it around animatedly. “No wait, seriously, hold up. When you say Copperwheel shipping… you mean THE Copperwheel shipping right? Runs more or less all of the major contracts for high end clientele on a global scale? Supposedly pays off the Myriad to leave their shipping caravans alone? Bought a man of war for high end rich clientele to send their wares to Issylra and back?”
“Did we?” Pierre asked, a little bemused as his eyes fell on a far away cloud. “Huh… that does sound like something Uncle Henry would do, he’s always had a flair for big shiny investments.”
“Holy shit,” Vera blinked, turning to Avantika who looked just as dumbfounded as she was. “Your family is really rich.”
Avantika shook herself out of her thoughts, a small frown appearing on her face. “And yet, I grew up dirty, hungry and homeless on the streets. Fuck my father and his money.”
She gave Vera a look of finality, Vera nodding and wrapping her arm around Avantika again, starting to limp forward again. Avantika leaned closer to her first mate, under the pretence of getting a better grip, mumbling under her breath.
“Why the fuck did you bring up the horses?”
Vera grinned, giving her a small wink. “Seemed only fair that if I am going to be thrown into a home of nobility and feel uncomfortable for a prolonged period of time, you should sweat a little too.”
Avantika frowned, about to voice her complaints to Vera about her behaviour as Pierre spoke up. “Ah, there he is.”
Avantika turned to look forward, unable to hold back a small smile as she spotted her uncle. Jacques Pieroux stood in front of a large carriage with a roof and door, painted a dark emerald green, with filigree decorated inlays in polished brass. He stood tall, leaning one hand on his cane, the other held at his back, taking in the look of the group approaching him.
Standing a little to Jacques right, a tall olive skinned human man in his late forties stood, wearing a butler’s uniform, complete with white gloves and striped grey trousers. The man looked towards them, holding onto the reigns of the four horses that was hitched onto the carriage.
Avantika continued to walk forward with Vera, taking a small step to the right as Pierre let go from his end, walking up to hug his father. “Bonjour papa, thank you for meeting us.”
Jacques smiled, giving his son a one armed hug around his back. “It was the least I could do. Yvette wanted to come with me, but I somehow managed to convince her that we needed all the leg room we could get given the circumstances.” Jacques looked away from Pierre to the two women, Pierre going back to help keep up Vera.
“It is nice to see you again Avantika.”
Avantika gave a wry smile. “Give it time uncle, you might find that feeling fleeting.”
Jacques chuckled, shaking his head, turning to Vera. Vera held his gaze, giving him a deep untrusting scowl. Avantika didn’t blame her, she had given her uncle the same look the first time she had met him, expecting him to give her the usual look of disdain that nobles usually gave people of her calibre.
Jacques let his eyes go down Vera’s body, covered in rags that barely hid anything, left leg wrapped in sticks and rope, her dirty skin tight over her bones. He gave her a kind smile. “I assume you must be my niece’s friend… Vera I think my son called you?”
Vera gave a small nod. “Vera Argent. Sorry for messing up your fancy wagon with my dirt and blood.”
Jacques shrugged, not rising to the bait. “Oh it’s all good.” He grinned and winked at Avantika. “In the end the cleaning bill is sent to my brother’s business, no issues on my account.” Jacques pointed to the chest Avantika was holding onto. “That’s your luggage then?”
Avantika nodded. “You know how we sailors operate uncle, we travel light.”
Jacques nodded, and turned to the butler nearby smiling at him. “Rodrigo, why don’t you help my niece securing that sailor’s chest of hers to the carriage?” Rodrigo nodded and walked to tie up the reigns he was holding, making one of the horses snort and shake it’s head and scratch one of his hooves onto the cobblestone as it flicked its tail impatiently .
There was a loud THUNK as Avantika’s sailor chest hit the ground, Avantika taking one large step back, dropping everything, looking at the horses, eyes wide, one hand on her cutlass.
The men around her stared at her, in shock and confusion as the woman started taking quick shallow breaths through her nose, her eyes never leaving the horses forms.
The shocked silence was broken by Vera’s amused chuckle, the group turning to look at her. “Do apologize my usually charming and suave captain gentlemen.” Vera tried to straighten up a little, her eyes going to the horses who stood calm and collected and seemingly not bothered at what was happening around them. “My captain was involved in a, uh… incident when she was very young involving a horse.” Vera shrugged, grunting a little in pain as Avantika leaving her side meant she had to lean a little more on Pierre’s shoulder than was comfortable.
“Ever since then she has been a bit jumpy around horses.”
Pierre blinked, turning to look at Avantika. “You’re scared of horses?”
Avantika didn’t hear him. She simply stared at the large brown animal maybe a good fifteen feet away from her, breath still shallow. In her head, echoes of a far away memory rang out together with a small persistent ringing in her ears. Of people screaming, the sound of wood breaking, and the angry whinnies of a horse.
A touch of an arm to her shoulder broke the spell, making her jump a little, turning, suddenly noticing Pierre who had walked up to her, giving her a worried look. “Avantika,” he implored. “Are you okay?”
Avantika suddenly remembered where she was, trying to force her shoulders to relax. She took a few deeper breaths. As she felt her heartbeat slow a little, her eyes flickering from Pierre, to Vera who was now leaning on the servant man Rodrigo, to her uncle who was also gazing at her. “I… yeah.” Avantika exhaled shakily. “So sorry about that.” She turned to Vera, seeing her grimace. Avantika went back into business mode, trying to avoid looking at or talking about the horses. “Uncle, why don’t we get Vera inside the carriage so she can relax that leg?”
Jacques looked over Avantika, seeing that she was not comfortable, deciding to let the subject lie for the moment. “Of course.” Jacques turned to Vera, giving her a look of gentility and kindness. “Mademoiselle, do you require assistance getting inside or do you want to do it on your own power?”
Vera’s face twisted into a slightly pained smile, the woman grunting in annoyed pain as she stood straighter. “I’d rather not ask for handouts if it’s all the same.”
Jacques chuckled, cocking his head sideways into a small nod, stepping out of the way. “Rodrigo?”
The servant nodded, walking to the back of the carriage, getting out a small two step stool, placing it in front of the door of the carriage, opening the door and stepping to Jacques side with a small bow and a smile.
“Thank you Rodrigo.” Jacques pointed to the door. “There is a handhold both on the inside of the door and just atop the carriage door frame. They are both large and sturdy enough that you can use them to lean on and get inside. Once there, sit down on the furthest spot on the seats facing the-” Jacques stopped himself as he turned to look at Avantika, who had made no movements since Pierre shook her from her stupor.
Vera in turn grinned. “The seats facing the direction the horses are going to be trotting along?”
Jacques continued to look at Avantika, seeing that the redhead didn’t seem to jump at the mere mention of the names at least. His gaze turned back to Vera, giving her a confirmatory nod. “Oui. Once seated, Pierre will help you get your leg up on the rest of the seats, that way it will lay straight and not bump into things in case we hit a cobblestone or something on our way back to the house.”
Jacques turned back to his servant. “Rodrigo, my niece’s chest?”
Avantika, who had just been listening and trying to centre herself, looked up at that, seeing the servant start to walk in the direction of her sailor’s chest. She walked up to it and grabbed one end. “No need, I got it.”
Rodrigo reached out, quickly grabbing one latch on his side. “I must insist miss.”
Avantika scowled. “I am fully capable of-”
“Miss.” Rodrigo’s voice was firm, and had enough of a note in it to make Avantika stop, even without him needing to raise his voice.
She looked at him closer. Dark brown wavy curls, parted at the centre, falling to his ears, a few grey hairs popping up every so often in between all the brown. A shapely beard framed his face, a few wrinkles starting to appear in the edges of his eyes and forehead. Avantika looked at his eyes. They sparkled olive green, a bright contrast to his skin and hair tone, holding Avantika’s gaze.
“Miss Avantika... I will admit, I have been told a little bit of what’s to be expected with you and your companion staying at the Pieroux household for a while.” Still holding her gaze he drew out a hand. “But I also need you to understand that I am not here to take things out of your hand to make you uncomfortable or upset. I do it because I am paid to do so,” he spelled out. “It’s how I earn income to feed myself and keep a roof above my head. So please, let me do it?”
Avantika, still holding onto her end of the chest, looked over to the carriage where Jacques and Pierre stood with their backs to her, looking on Vera as she defiantly did her best to get into the carriage on her own. Avantika took a deep intake of breath, turning to Rodrigo.
“Together then?”
Rodrigo chuckled, but nodded. “Very well. Come, it’s a small chest, it will fit on the back.”
Avantika followed the tall human, placing the chest down on a secure latch just under the back window of the carriage, starting to tie the chest down.
“So”, Avantika said, tossing the words out as if she was just making idle conversation. “Are there a lot of you back at Uncle Jacques place?”
One side of Rodrigo’s lips raised into an amused smile. “I’d ask you to be more specific” he said, fastening a buckle tight to make sure the chest sat safe from shifting back and forth during travel. “But I will speed things up a little for you.”
He straightened up, placing his arms behind himself, resting them on his lower back. “In the household of Jacques and Yvette Pieroux there are two servants. I work for Lord Jacques,” he added, jutting his chin out. I help him do what’s hard for him to do on his own given his leg injury. I help dress him in the mornings, I help drive him around when he needs to for the work he does for his brother’s company. I help keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t push himself to hard and to make sure he doesn’t just decide that he don’t need to take his medication anymore.”
Avantika frowned. “Does that happen often?”
“Well,” Rodrigo said with an amused grin and a shrug of his shoulders. “Stubbornness is a Pieroux family trait. The problem with Lord Jacques is the fact that instead of pointing his stubborn trait into everyone’s face like most of the family, he tries to hide it,” he shook his head, clicking his tongue in disapproval. “Usually from his wife… with mixed results as you can probably imagine.”
“Aye” Avantika said with a small nod. “I can imagine. Now,” she raised an eyebrow. “You said there was one more servant?”
“Miss Sofia.” Rodrigo nodded. “She is the house maid. She cleans the house and washes the clothes and dishes, so that Lady Yvette doesn’t have to. She is after all an elderly lady, and Lord Jacques has made his feelings pretty clear that she is not to go another day feeling like she has to do any kind of chore or work if she doesn’t herself want to do it. So Miss Sofia is there for her. She is also young with a young pair of legs that can run errands, be it letter delivery to her Ladyship’s group of friends with invitations to tea or if something is suddenly needed for dinner and needs to be retrieved and bought.”
Rodrigo stopped talking, looking expectantly to Avantika, silently giving her permission to ask any questions that she needed to ask. Avantika fastened the buckle she had been fiddling with firmly, her chest now locked in place. “All right… just had to know what I was walking into.”
Rodrigo nodded. “Very well. One question for you then miss, if its okay?”
Avantika nodded. “Only fair.” Rodrigo hummed at that, turning to look and point westward. “His Lordship’s home is located that way, in the archways.”
Avantika sighed and gave a small nod. “I figured as much.”
The servant man smiled, lowering his hand again. “There are two ways we can go about getting there. The longer more open road that follows the ocean line, or the shorter one that follows the general merchant paths. Lord Jacques already said that he wouldn’t think you and your friend would mind if we followed the sea route, but I would then only like to know something.” Rodrigo looked away, seemingly a little nervous about posing the question. “The horses we have are good horses. They’ve never had any problems or been distracted while working before, nor have they ever showed any signs of being jumpy. If they had, I would voice the opinion that they most likely wouldn't have been put in a Copperwheel shipping stable in the first place.”
Avantika felt herself tighten up again, not liking how the conversation had somehow gone back to the damn horses. Rodrigo, noticing her tense, was quick to get to the point.
“If we follow the road by the sea, there is a small hill we need to get up at the end of the trip, and if the horses are to get up it, I will need them to trot… will that be very inconvenient for you miss?”
Avantika simply started at the elderly man in front of her trying to figure out how to proceed. The biggest and loudest part of her brain, that stood for most of her decision making back in her pirate days, wanted to make a big display and try to appear offended that he would even consider her so weak that she couldn’t handle a simple cart ride. A smaller voice, one that she hadn’t given much of an ear too for nearly a century at this point wanted to hug him and ask if he was really sure the horses wasn’t going to go berserk the second she looked away.
She decided on a middle ground.
“Monsieur… my feelings about the creatures aside, my uncle trust you to get us to his home. That means I trust you to do the same.” Avantika stood a little straighter, lifting her hands to her tricorn, making sure it sat properly. “As long as the things aren’t bucking and running in my general direction it will probably be fine.”
And having finished saying her piece, Avantika walked to the side of the carriage in a quick pace, eager to get into the carriage before she changed her mind and asked for a map and a general direction to walk. She climbed inside, noticing Vera sitting with her leg up along the entire length of the seat.
Sitting across from her, with their back’s to the driver seat, sat Pierre and her uncle, both smiling at her as she stepped in, sitting down next to Pierre.
“So,” Vera said, leaning back and trying to get comfortable. “I see you didn’t manage to convince the penguin to just let you walk on your own.”
Avantika kept her face neutral as she once more marvelled over how easily Vera could guess what was on her mind at times. “I didn’t ask him” Avantika said, trying her best to sound like the thought itself was ludicrous. “I wouldn’t make such a big stink over such a small issue.”
Outside the carriage, Rodrigo put the stool back in it’s spot and closed the door, Avantika hearing his boots walking over the cobblestones as he climbed onto his seat.
Pierre turned to look at Avantika out of the corner of his eye, his armour making it hard for him to turn inside the cramped space. “Is it? A small issue I mean?”
Avantika felt herself jolt a little as the carriage suddenly started to move and the sound of four sets of horse hooves over stone filled her ears. “Yeah,” she said breathlessly, turning to look outside the carriage door. “I’m fine.”
She reached up to her neck, grabbing at her holy symbol, dragging her thumb over it, as her eyes stayed on the large white lighthouse. It didn't take long before the cart turned a corner and the lighthouse was obscured by a large building.
She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, hoping beyond hope that the rest of the day would be a little less stressful, for the sake of her sanity.