Part 10
The world was blurry.
"Yes that's right, she was unconscious when..."
"Geez, such a headacke. Did ya guys try..."
"Easy now, let me just..."
Cyeen opened her eye with a gasp followed by a scream, immediately clawing at the left crater of an eye she had. Her hands were not touching her skin but instead something softer.
Her panic died down only a minute later. Now that she was calm, the noble realised a cloth was wrapped around her eye. She played with it for a second until her eye adjusted to the dark surroundings.
There were wooden planks everywhere, nailed attached to one another to form an inverted dome. Is this a ship? It in fact was a ship. Rather, it was the hold of a ship. Cyeen squeezed her eye, trying to remember however the hell she got here.
Cough cough.
There was a person standing in front of her and it looked like they had been there for a while.
The noble looked up at the figure. It was a tall woman with short gray hair that was slicked back at the top. Her pupils were white, horizontal lines unlike a human's. Most importantly, she had two horns on her head that jutted upwards along with sharp teeth.
"Ey, u awake? Mind tellin' me what you were doin' on me ship?"
The figure spoke out in a really sarcastic tone. She had an accent not common to Setina. Well, she was not common in Setina. Upon further inspection Cyeen had came to the conclusion that the woman was a demon.
The girl on the floor lifted her head up.
"Uh... I don't know?"
"The hell you mean you donno? You takin' me for a dunce one eye?"
Cyeen touched the bandages on her eye.
"It's Cyeen Flameberg. And I can just told you. I. don't. remember. stepping. foot. into. your. ship."
The demon began tapping her foot, making sure her frustration towards Cyeen showed. Who the hell was she to infiltrate her ship? She sighed. I'm too tired for this, she thought.
"Fine Cyee, just come with me."
Cyeen didn't have any objections to that therefore decided on doing what she was told.
While walking behind her, Cyeen's attention diverted towards the demon woman's clothes. They weren't that luxurious though she couldn't deny they didn't look expensive. She had a long sleeved white tunic under a brown sleeveless shirt with its collar popped up. The demon looked to be a wealthy person.
They walked up some stairs and finally reached the main deck where they were greeted by a handsome guy that was idling around the poop deck. The woman instructed Cyeen to come with her as they approached him. He lifted his thumb, index and middle finger briefly before speaking.
"Hey Jess, I'm guessing that's the person we found in our ship?"
Jess mimicked his hand sign.
"Ya'r only guessin? Was it not ya who patched er up?"
Cyeen looked at the woman. Yeah I just can't do it with that accent. The guy turned towards the noble.
"You're Cyeen Flameberg I assume, I heard your little argument down there. I'm Zoen and the woman next to you is our captain, Jess. And I'm just as curious as her. So do tell us, why are you here my lady?"
Jess looked dumbfounded as she turned towards Cyeen, trying to understand why the guy called her that. Cyeen had a smug look on her face knowing Jess was staring at her.
"Finally, someone who knows me. As to answer your question dear Zoen, I genuinely don't have a single idea why I was there. I would like to give you my regards for patching me up also."
"Memory loss I suppose? You looked like you lost a ton of blood." he responded.
"Perhaps."
Cyeen looked around her to see about two dozen people on the ship. None of them looked like distinguished people unlike this guy she was speaking with. She turned towards Zoen.
"Tell me. Where am I?" she asked rudely.
"We are currently in Taryio, a port city located towards Setina's east. Any reason you asked that question?"
Cyeen frowned, What the actual hell? How come I'm so far away from Enidia? She relaxed her face before talking again.
"Ah, well I got lost a while ago and now I'm trying to make my way back home. Could you help me if you don't have many tasks at hand, I'll make sure you be compensated generously for this."
Jess and Zoen looked at each other. Jess closed her eyes and shrugged before looking back at Cyeen. Zoen spoke up once again.
"Well I guess we could. Though you will have to wait until we are done resupplying our ship. In the meantime I'm offering you my sister to keep you company."
Jess yelled at Zoen in surprise.
"Me!? Na no way in seven hells! I do not wanna interact with this 'lady'!"
Cyeen was as surprised as Jess was.
"Siblings? You two??"
The situation had gotten pretty tangled up. Zoen was trying his best to shoo them both away as Jess was yelling at him all while Cyeen was trying to figure out how the two could be related. At the end, all three of them were walking to the city. Jess was huffing along the way while Cyeen was bragging about the things she had done.
It didn't take them long to arrive at the city's shopping district. Zoen poked Jess and pointed towards Cyeen before slapping twenty silvers into her hand. Before the demon could even process what he had done, Zoen was out of there. Jess looked at the money then at Cyeen. God damn it.
"Ey Cyeen Flame, I have twenty silvs, get yarself sum clothes. Everyone is lookin' at us."
She was right, everyone was indeed looking at them. A violet haired girl with clothes covered in dry blood next to a tall demon was not a common sight around there.
Cyeen touched her clothes, realising the state they were in. Miraculously, her hair was not stained by her blood. She just nodded in response to the demon woman.
***
A pair of horns entered his shop. It was supposed to be a calm day as usual, just waiting for new materials to arrive. That was before this pair showed up. By the looks of it, they couldn't be up to any good.
"Shopkeep! Get this no-" she took a second to remember the word "noblee sum clothes. Twenty grays is all I'll give ya."
The old man was startled by the sudden shouting of the demon. Why was she even shouting for? Whatever it was, he didn't want to learn.
He turned towards Cyeen.
"A-anything in particular my lady?"
Cyeen thought for a while.
"Do you have a white tunic that looks like hers? And a pair of pants fitting me would be nice."
The man signaled her to wait as he went into the storage room of the shop. He searched through piles of clothes to see if there was one that wasn't picked up by it's commissioner.
"So Jess, how old were you?" asked the noble, not really looking curious.
Jess looked at the girl with judging eyes.
"Tweny, ain't it obvious, why the question?"
Cyeen tilted her head.
"Twenty? So is your gray hair because of your essence color?"
Jess looked at the lady for a second to understand if she was joking. After seeing the serious look from her she burst out laughing. The demon looked like she'd stop for a second but started laughing back again as she saw Cyeen's face.
"Haaa, ya think I'm a human or sum? HAHAHAA! Have ya not gotten educated? This color is nurmal for my race." she managed to say in between her wheezing.
Cyeen's eyebrow twitched.
"Seriously what's with that accent? It makes you sound stupid. Can't you fix your mouth or sum?"
The demon's laugh was cut in half as she was angered by Cyeen's statement and poor attempt at mimicking her accent.
"What's wron with my acent huh?! Ya tryna fight me? If a brawl is whât ya want, cóm at me then!" her accent seemed to get worse when mad.
Cyeen looked sure of herself.
"What if I do want a brawl? I can definitely win against you even with a single eye."
The shopkeeper emerged from the storage room in panic with a long sleeved white tunic and brown pants in his hands.
"P-please do not fight in here! Here, I brought what you requested!"
Cyeen turned towards the man, snatching the clothes from his hand. She aggressively signaled towards the man with her head several times while looking at the demon. Jess slammed the twenty silvers onto the counter with her eyes locked onto Cyeen.
The poor shopkeeper spoke up,
"But miss, Twenty is not enou-"
Jess exploded at the man.
"WHAAAAA? I canot hear ya through yar accint, why dan't ya spieek up!"
The guy looked like he shrunk in size.
"Pleasure making business with you." he practically whispered.
The duo went out the door pushing each other. Finally he could relax. Though he sold the clothes with a net loss he at least he came out with his life.
While outside, Cyeen and Jess were staring at each other. They had already walked away from the store by a lot before they stopped. Cyeen opened her mouth.
"Calm down you demon, it was just a trick."
The woman elbowed her as she walked by Cyeen.
"Do not. Make fun o me."
Though angry, Jess had gotten amazed by the way Cyeen used her as an haggling material.
The noble started walking after her soon.
Jess let her curiosity get the better of her.
"Where'd dis idea come from?"
Cyeen let out a rich giggle.
"Us nobles always do this. We'd start a small argument, of course without yelling, and the designers would give us small discounts to soften the air. It was just that they never gave this much that caught me off guard."
Jess looked at her ship in the distance.
"You noblees are pieces of shiyts."
"It's pronounced as nobles."
"Fuck off."
Cyeen and Jess walked the gangplank before going towards the helm, splitting up as Cyeen went back into the holds to change clothes while Jess went up to her brother.
The noble lady came back up a while later with the new set of clothes on her. This wasn't exactly the same kind of clothing Jess had on her but still, the design sufficed her taste. They were of course, a little oversized for her making the girl look funny. She also hadn't forgotten to stuff Súko's note in her new pocket.
A few footsteps were head as Cyeen made her way near Jess and Zoen. She watched the whole process of setting sail into the ocean while leaning onto the gunwales. After getting pretty tired she went up to Zoen.
"Is there anywhere I can sleep in? I feel like I'm about to fall asleep on the wooden floors."
Zoen pointed towards the cabins and told her to use Jess's one. Jess was not going to sleep for a while as she couldn't use the helm from her own room. Cyeen thanked him for all his help again before going towards where he pointed.
After making sure they were alone, Zoen spoke to Jess.
"Hey, do you think they'd pay more if we instead asked for ransom?"