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"Grab the little cretin!"

"Guards! Guards! Come quick!"

"Watch where you're driving!"

The sounds of chaos filled the streets of Okeanós. It was by no means the largest city in the country of Lofos, but it was by many accounts one of the most beautiful. The city itself stood atop a series of stepped cliffs overlooking the ocean. Tall ivory walls surrounded the city, save for the dock located down from a long descent of marble steps. The buildings were beautiful, box-like structures with gracefully domed roofs, composed seemingly from same material as the shining walls of the city. Other buildings seemed to emulate the stepped cliffs that the city itself was built upon. They often stacked one atop of the other, and had terraced balconies and roof top gardens. Many of the buildings stood upon the cliffs themselves, with windows over looking a majestic view of the seas. Most importantly of all was The Descent, a great staircase carved from the very stones of Cliffside itself. This great staircase that made its way from the sea to the walled city atop the cliffs stood in many ways as one of the most majestic landmarks of the city. It was told by many of the old storytellers in the region, that during times of war, the king used to march his armies up and down those very same steps, demonstrating his power and loyalty to those who lived in the kingdom. Atop those very same steps stretched out a massive marketplace.

The marketplace itself was by far the largest district in the city. Farmers from the country brought their carts to the cliffside city, setting up their stalls and peddling their wares. The fishermen dragged the catch of the day up the stone steps of the city to peddle their own trade in the city market. Palm trees, placed like columns throughout the district, offered shade to merchants and customers alike from the sweltering tropical sun. The market district was also home however, to a thriving population of unruly, unwanted children.

"Grab her!" a voice called out, following after a figure that wove through the crowds. The crowded streets of the market couldn't hold the figure, not for long. Occasionally a glimpse of a young girl would be caught, a ribbon of brown hair, the glimpse of large hazel eyes, or tan skin. Where the figure ran, carts seemed to be left a few less items, and a good deal more chaos. The girl thought herself invincible, and most likely would have been right, had she been paying attention and not walked face-first into the captain of the guard.

***

"Do you know why you are here?" the guard asked his prisoner. He didn't particularly like arresting children, street urchins or not it just felt wrong to him. That said, if there ever was one child on the streets that he felt deserved to be locked up for a while, it was certainly this one. He glanced up from the papers that he had been writing in only moments ago, his quill pen scribbling on the parchment with a constant _scritching_sound. At first glance the unruly twelve-year-old appeared human enough: she was short, and foul-tempered to be sure, her large hazel eyes seemed to hold more hatred than her small body alone had room to hold. Yet despite this, she had a few very un-human characteristics. The young girl had the ears and facial structure of an elf child, and a tail like that of the devil, long, whip-like, and spaded. When she smiled she showed a set of dentistry that looked like a cross between that of a human's and a shark's, and she had a long pointed tongue to match. Just what race she was, the captain of the watch couldn't say.

"Do you kno', why you are here?" she parroted happily, a smirk upon her lips.

"Name, please." He would have offered her a cup of tea like he did so many of the children his watchmen brought in, but then again, most of the other street orphans he dealt with he didn't end up having to tie to the bloody chair.

The girl was quiet for a moment, studying the captain's features. He was a handsome man, tall, in his prime. Like most every native to the city he had the characteristic heavily tanned skin and dark hair. Dark marks beneath his handsome green eyes indicated that he had been working far too much and sleeping far too little, a story that was only backed up by the dark stubble that covered his jaw. Yet, despite this slightly unkempt appearance, he still was able to maintain an air of nobility. "'Cuz I stole a loaf of bread?" she cast her eyes down to the floor, fixing on her bare feet. She wasn't particularly sorry, not really.

"You are here because you are charged with no less than thirteen counts of disturbing the peace. Today alone you caused the collisions of two carriages, overturned three carts with the aid of a few others street children, picked the pocket of the visiting dignitary... literally, he wants the pocket of his coat back, pushed an elderly lady down the stairs of the Descent, snuck into a tavern and chugged a bottle of mead, and then proceeded to pick fights with five different sailors, any of which could have snapped you like a twig... oh, and you stole a loaf of bread... from a crippled child," the captain of the watch read the charges off like a laundry list from the piece of parchment he had been writing on, he suddenly looked very tired indeed, "name, please."

"I could have taken those sailors!"

"Name, please. I need it for the record."

"Besides, the crippled kid was getting hand outs from all the street vendors! He wasn't starving!"

"Name. Please."

"Name, please." the child parroted. The captain looked like he wanted nothing more than to cry. "Why do I have to tell you my name? We've been through this countless times; can't we just get this over with? We both know that you are just going to throw me in jail for the night, tell me to think about what I did today, and then I'll break out by mornin'."

"Because you are my daughter, Alina!" the child, Alina, had struck a nerve that time. The captain slammed his fist against the table, glaring at the restrained child sitting across the table from him. "Because I am hoping that one day you will take it into your head that maybe I just want a proper life for you, and that maybe, just maybe if you didn't act like such a demon in child's clothing, you might just figure out for once in your bloody life that I do care for you... name... please." Every time captain caught Alina they acted out this charade. Like two actors in a traveling troupe, the young girl and the captain acted out their respective parts over and over again. The captain spoke, following the strict code of the law, treating his daughter like the criminal that she was in the hope that she would come to her senses.

"Alina d'Altrus, age 10." This time there was no mimicry in her voice. Even Alina knew when she had gone too far. "...I'm sorry..." that last line was whispered so softly that it was barely audible, and if Captain Altrus had heard it, he gave no indication. Still, he visibly relaxed, at least somewhat.

"Why do you always do this?"

"I..." The truth was that Alina wanted to reply, she wanted to tell her father why she acted out, just like she wanted him to fix everything. A sad smile crossed her face, showing a few too many of her pointed teeth. She wanted to make some big, fancy speech, but there were no words. That single syllable that she uttered instead hung in the air above her voluminous brown hair, unfinished, and a sign of her guilt.

"Please Alina... just... for once think about what you've done today. We might not be related by blood, but I do care for you... more than you can know. I'll fetch you tomorrow morning and we'll go get breakfast together. Just, please be there when I unlock the door tomorrow? Please?" the Captain pleaded, grasping at the sliver of hope that he had, at long last, maybe gotten through to his rebellious daughter.

"Grilled fish? With curry sauce, and pineapple?" she asked hopefully, looking up at her father.

"If that is what it takes."

"Deal!"

***

Alina never had a hard time breaking out of the city jail. Try as the guards might, she always managed to sneak a few lock picks on her person at all times. After all, she wouldn't be the grand master thief of the city some day if she couldn't break out of prison on a whim! Some small part of Alina realized that, it was much more likely that Captain Altrus had just given up on keeping his rebellious daughter in the jail overnight. The last time he had made any real attempt to keep her in jail, not only had she managed to pick the lock, but Alina later stole the appropriate equipment and actually managed to somehow cut the lock off of the cell door. The lock had later ended up in one of the city's pawnshops.

"Huzzah!" Alina whispered triumphantly as the last tumbler of the lock clicked into place, a few seconds later the cell door swung open on its rusty hinges, a dull squeak filling the cool air. A quick pace across the cell and a glance up through the barred window revealed to the young thief girl that the night was still young.

The jail itself was set in the basement of one of the government's administrative offices. What exactly the office administrated, Alina had no clue, she made it a point never to stick around the prison block or the building above it for very long, doing so tended to cut short her night of fun. Sneaking out past the on duty guard was never hard, not for somebody as small as she was. The guard was fat and dumb; he usually slept through the night at his post, undisturbed by Alina's passing. As she crept by his desk, tail swishing in her wake, she happened to glance at the desk itself.

As could be expected from such a person, the guard's desk was an absolute mess. Alina made a face in disgust at the sight. The desk was piled high, empty bottles of mead on their sides, some with a sip or two of the foul liquid still in the bottom, some spilled over. There was a stack of papers, the only organization method the child-thief could detect, was that of stratigraphy. Lastly there was a single letter, still in its envelope with the broken seal that of the captain of the guard. Such letters from the Captain d'Altrus were common enough, and Alina paid it no mind as she slipped out the door. The young girl's devil tail briefly wrapped around the handle, closing it shut behind her.

The prison guard watched the young girl leave the room, tracking her progress with one eye open. The moment she left, he pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and began to write. Sighing, the prison guard looked across the room at the man in the remaining holding cell. He wore a floppy brimmed hat, and was shackled to the wall.

***

The Broadside Mermaid was well known for being one of the only brothels in Okeanós... of course; it wasn't actually one "officially". As a front, the building was always just a very seedy tavern on the docks. Brothels, and prostitution in general had long been outlawed in the country, and while it persisted to some degree in the countryside, it was almost explicitly outlawed within the city. That said, in many ways the city guards saw the Broadside Mermaid as a necessary evil; it kept that particular sin isolated to the city docks, and out of the city. Given that it also had a reputation of drawing the more sketchy types, such as pirates, the city watch had a tendency to occasionally raid the building.

The building itself was a squat, gaudy building, which stuck out as a clear eyesore from the surrounding beautiful architecture of Okeanós. The walls were simple wooden planks, painted white. Near the base of the building was a swirling blue design, shaped like the crashing of turbulent waves against a shore, and leaning up against the door were two elaborate, large, stylized murals of rather... provocative mermaids. To say they left absolutely nothing to the imagination was an understatement. Naturally it was the sort of place that was talked about in hushed tones by the local populace of street urchins.

Alina stalked right into the seedy bar without even thinking twice, her long devil's tail swishing happily behind her. Inside she was instantly greeted by the sound of music just as gaudy and as loud as the murals that covered the building outside. There were bodies here, packed in like sardines in a stoneware vessel. All around the young girl, people danced, talked, laughed, drank, did drugs that would generally get them jail time in the city proper and a whole range of other behaviors that just generally was not kosher with what Lofos considered properly "civilized". Most of the people here were dockworkers, but they weren't the only patrons of the bar of forbidden fruit, there were sailors, merchants, and seedier types. There was even a collection of people that weren't quite human.

"'scuse me, coming through!" Alina had to shot to be heard over the music. As she moved through the crowd, she danced between the legs of adults. She allowed her fingers to wander, slipping into a pocket here, misplacing a purse there... in the chaos of the bar, Alina was completely at home. By the time she was halfway across the room, she had collected a rather "interesting" assortment of objects.

"Ow!" the Alina yelped in pain, her tail suddenly throbbing. A look back revealed that her poor tail had been trodden on by one of the many oblivious drunks. An orc stumbled by, dark skinned, dressed in naught but war paint and weaponry, Alina wisely swallowed the scathing comment that she had been tempted to spout. Holding her tail, still bent at an odd angle, she shuffled off uncomfortable, only to nearly back into a dryad leaning up against the wall. The dryad was an interesting creature, vines covered her olive toned skin, and her dark green hair was filled with flower blossoms. She gestured for Alina to come over, however Alina thought better of investigating the spirit, and once more slipped away into the crowd.

Eventually her diving through the sea of assorted creatures took Alina to her destination, a counter, behind which a very bored looking elven woman sat. She had dark skin, with golden eyes and blonde hair, and generally had a look on her face that said, "I've seen everything". Peering over the counter, Alina looked up at the woman with her shark-like smile. "I want a room." She deposited a bag of stolen coins on the counter.

"I don't let snot-nosed kids use the rooms," the elf sighed, shoving the coin purse back at Alina, and her gaze constantly fixed off in the distance. Alina deposited a second sack of coins on the counter.

"I want a room!"

"Fine. One hour, and if you cause trouble I'll have you tied to an anchor." The elf's bored expression never once changed. Reaching beneath the counter, she tossed a key at Alina and shoed the girl away. "If anybody asks, you are a nymph."

***

"Alina!"

"Naida!" Alina greeted the owner of the voice with a joyful cry of her own. Tossing aside her things the moment she entered the small room, she rushed to embrace the entity known as Naida... and got drenched in the process. Naida was a mermaid. From the waist up, she appeared to be the perfect model of beauty, slender, fair skinned, with an elven build and enough chest to make most sailors swoon. Her elven face always held a mirthful smile, which only seemed to illuminate her large sea-green eyes even more. Her long silver hair was pulled back into a tight braid. From the waist down, however, her body shifted drastically into that of a sea serpent. Sea-green scales covered up the long coiled and finned form beneath her. She sat coiled in a pool of water, decorated around the edges by tropical plants.

"Each time I see you, you look more and more like your mother," Naida replied with a sigh. Taking hold of Alina's tail, she produced a salve from somewhere and quickly began to apply it to the site of the injury.

"Captain d'Altrus says that too..." Alina commented softly, her voice more than a little unhappy about the given subject. She sat down at the edge of the pool, letting Naida fix her tail, the spaded tip twitching impatiently.

"You shouldn't hold the Captain responsible for what happened to her... it comes with her business. She went to the gallows knowing perfectly well that as a pirate lord, that would one day be her fate-"

"Can we not talk about this...? Please?" Alina pleaded, suddenly on the verge of tears. That was all that it had taken to bring the memories back of the hanging earlier. "I remember, I get it! But do you really think that I can just... accept him?! Every time I walk through the market, do you think I can help but to remember the way my mother's body hung there... after... after..." The young girl didn't speak for a long time, only wept. Naida, who was no stranger to this turn of events, only sighed, sweeping the sobbing child up into her arms and serpentine coils, holding her close. Naida pressed her cheek to Alina's, just letting the girl cry, not speak save to utter the occasional reassuring sound.

"I'm sorr-"

"...sorry..." Alina sniffed unhappily. "I know... I thought I wanted to be like my mother, a devil on the high seas... a captain who demanded respect. It is all I wanted to be... when she was alive... but..."

"But?" the mermaid asked with a smile, urging her friend on.

"But now I'm not so sure..."

"Alina, I was your mother's best friend... and lover. She was always so proud of you, from the moment you were born. Every time I saw her, she used to brag to me, about how much better you were, than any other child, even any member of her crew," Naida looked down at Alina, messing up her hair, soaking it in the process, "But she never wanted you to be a pirate. She never wanted to be a pirate either. There aren't a lot of opportunities for us non-humans. Most of us aren't even allowed in the city... and when we are... Your mother had respect, and power, but what she wanted was a peaceful lifestyle for the two of you."

"A devil... wanted a peaceful lifestyle..." Alina quirked an eyebrow.

"Well... actually she wanted to be a chef."

"A chef?"

"She was quite the fabulous cook..."

"But-"

"Look Alina, you are half human, you have a father in a position of influence. Unlike most non-humans, you have an opportunity to prove your worth to the world. You don't have to be a pirate to be respected, or hurt others to survive..." Naida's words were sweet and seductive like the song of any siren. Alina wanted nothing more but to close her eyes, to fall into Naida's words and let her worries be washed away.

"Maybe I don't want to be a complacent sheep," Alina replied bitterly, squirming out of the mermaid's embrace. Stomping across the room, her partially bandaged tail lashing back and forth in her wake.

"Then what do you want?" Naida asked in her ever patient, ever irritatingly calm voice. Alina didn't reply. By the time Naida looked to the young girl, she had slid out the door, leaving an empty silence in her passing.

***

With the moon high in the sky, the night was still young. In a city such as this, the moment the sun went down, the docks outside the city came alive... not with humans, but with the multitude of other races that inhabited the world. Devils, red skinned and spaded tailed creatures laid out their wares upon luxurious carpets. Some of the treasures were smuggled into the country; the rest was plundered off merchant ships. Every night the inhuman traders would peddle their wares, dodging and bribing the men of the night watch. Every morning the otherworldly black market would be gone before the sun had a chance to crest the horizon.

Alina wove between the venders that littered the docks, waving to a kiss blown from a nymph, dodging through the legs of a pair of gossiping succubi. She caught a glimpse of an elf trying to sneak up the steps of the Descent. The elf wouldn't get far. Sure enough, as soon as the elf reached the top of famous staircase, the city guards on duty all but tossed her down the stairs. No non-humans in the city... none but little Alina.

"Daaaaaaaaaaavy," Alina called out happily as she strolled through the city docks. Her tone was a façade though. Walking across the wooden planks of the nearest dock, one arm held up high in greeting, the other clutching the neck of a yet-unopened bottle of mead, she approached the target of her attention. Her face held a smile full of the usual good cheer, teeth and mischief that was sure to get her in trouble before too long.

Davy himself was a child not much older than Alina. The boy had dark skin, almost as dark as the surrounding night with eyes as bright as the moon that seemingly hung over his head. His trousers were rolled up past his knees, and his feet trailed in the ink black water beneath the dock. At his side sat a bucket of bait, and clutched in his hands was a fishing rod. Occasionally he would reel it back in, before, with the experience of the most hardened fisherman, cast it back out into the water. Without even looking up from the ocean, he raised his hand in greeting to Alina, before gesturing beside him for her to sit.

"Daaaaaaaavy, I broke out of jail and stole this bottle of swill for us ta share, and you can't be any more enthusiastic?" Alina asked, slowly rolling up her pants up to her knees like her fellow conspirator, before plopping her butt down on the dock and dipping her feet in the water. Behind her, her devil's tail curved gently down her leg, before dipping the spaded point into the water below. Taking the bottle in both hands, she tugged on the stopper with all her might... it didn't budge even slightly.

Davy shrugged in answer, reaching over he took the bottle from Alina, setting aside his fishing rod for a second. A quick look over the bottle told Davy everything he needed to know, and with a smirk, unscrewed the stopper. Raising the opening to his lips, he took a long sip of the liquid within, before passing it back to Alina. When at last he spoke, it was the voice of somebody who is almost unused to the sound of his own voice, mixed with the ever-disharmonious tones associated with male puberty. "They say that dignitary you pick pocketed is so furious that he turned as red as the blacksmith's metal."

"Wasn't particularly worth it in ma' opinion... barely had anything on him save for a fancy, empty purse." Alina didn't bother asking who "they" were; whenever Davy spoke of "they" he meant the sailors, and the otherworldly black market. Trying to track the source of his rumors was like trying to chase a single rat through the sewers of the city.

"A friend of a friend tells me that a pirate ship came into the city today... the pirate captain, he is gone now, but he was asking about a certain someone." Davy drew up the line, spearing a small worm on the hook before, with a flick of his wrist, the line went sailing back out into the ocean.

"Well I heard that the Gray Bandit struck again last night, and lifted all the valuables in the d'Erumet's manor!" Alina commented quickly and loudly, almost cutting Davy off completely. That particular rumor was a lie, and while it was hard to see in the dark of the night, Davy hadn't missed that Alina had turned a shade of pale at the mention of the pirate. Alina took a long drink from the mead, before passing it back to Davy.

"Are you feeling oka-" he started but was cut off by Alina clamping her small hand down over his mouth.

"Shhh!" Others soon joined their voices, the sound of heavy boots stomping on the wooden boardwalk. Everywhere the loud hub of activity on the docks had gone silent. The traders had gathered up their belongings and slipped away into the shadows, the succubi were suddenly acting proper, and the sirens no longer sang. All was quite save for the sobbing of a certain elf in the distance, and the sounds of boots on wood. Grabbing Davy's hand, she dragged him after her, slipping behind a stack of barrels and crates. It was cramped behind the barrels; Alina pressed her small body up against Davy's, her large eyes peering between the gaps in the barrels. In the process, Davy's fishing rod fell into the water, before drifting beneath the dock.

"That was my best rod!" Davy hissed quietly.

"Quiet!"

"Do you know how much I had to save for that?"

"Quiet!"

Sure enough, a pair of guards soon filled the space the two street children had been occupying only moments before. What they were discussing was lost to Alina's ears, due in part to Davy's angry accusation, but if she had to hazard a guess, she was willing to bet that they were looking for her. Suddenly the two guards looked directly at their hiding place. A moment passed, then another... and suddenly the guards left.

"Why did they leave?" Alina hissed in confusion.

"Why are you here?"

"They could have taken me away... they must have known..."

"Alina, why are you here?"

Alina turned, looking at Davy with a curious expression, perplexed by his question. "What do you mean?"

"You aren't an orphan, not any more. Your father has enough money... you aren't like us any more. You don't have to fight for every scrap of food. You have a home, and a family... you aren't unwanted." Davy's words began to adopt a tint of anger. Alina took a step back, to find Davy glaring at her. Usually the boy was soft-spoken, but tonight, tonight was different. "Do you think this is a game to us? Do you think we steal because it is fun?We have no choice!"

Alina took another step back, swallowing unhappily. A look of betrayal crossed her features, mirroring the one on Davy's own face. "But... I didn't... I thought we were friends."

"Friends don't constantly put one another in danger like you do. Get away from me."

"Okay..." Tail dragging on the pavement behind her, Alina began the long climb up the Descent to the city proper.

***

"Hold him!"

"Careful now!"

The sound of voices greeted Alina, it had been several hours since the events of the docks, and all things considered, she felt pretty down. The rest of the bottle of mead lay empty at her bare feet, slowly rolling off into a near by gutter. Tipsy and feeling down, she looked up to see a strange procession marching across the market place. A mass of guards crossed the plaza, and for a short time in her haze, Alina thought that they were looking for her. Regardless that feeling passed when she noticed where the guards were headed, and what they were dragging behind them. Still, never one to take chances, Alina fled behind the safety of an abandoned market stall.

"Your crimes are as follows," a voice called out across the empty plaza... the fact that the whole event was only lit by the moonlight made the whole scene seem even lonelier. Alina began to settle in, reaching over; she groped around in one of the sacks next to her, before producing an apple. One of the guards, the one most decorated of all the rest of the armored figures, pulled out a scroll and began to read.

"Destruction of no less than twenty merchant vessels, pick pocketing, public lewdness, an attempt to scam foreign dignities out of their wealth, murder, arson..." the list seemed, at least to Alina, to go on for an eternity. As she listened, her eyes roamed the crowd, eager to see whom the dashing criminal was. What she found instead was a hardened, scarred man. He stood hunched back, upon his form was a torn a dirty coat, his hair hung about him in long, filthy dreads... but most of all, he was covered in chains, so many that it seemed to double over his form. With every step the man took, he rattled with chains, so loudly that Alina could even hear it from her distant vantage point. So loud that Alina thought that it would wake the entire city. Every step: Clunk, chling, chling... clunk, chling, chling... clunk, chling, chling...

Every single step this man took was labored, every step he took look like it would threaten to tip him over and plant him on his face. As he walked, the chains dragged across the pavement, the sound of metal against masonry producing an awful sound. The sound, at least to Alina's ears, only got worse the closer and closer he approached to his destination. Across the plaza stood the gallows, on some days, the town would hold public hangings, giving the lower class a chance to view what became of criminals who were too threatening to let live. Most of the time it attracted a crowd, street venders would sell food, children would play... despite the fact that a man was usually dying that day hangings were often enough a joyful affair.

This hanging was no mirthful event. There was no crowd, no street venders, and no children playing in the street or the sounds of laughter of music. There wasn't even enough light to truly see by. Only a moonlit gallows stood in the plaza. Whatever the government thought about this man, they didn't want his death to be a public event. They wanted his life snuffed out, quietly, without commotion... without anybody even knowing. The list continued on, crimes rattled off, seemingly a lifetime's worth of crimes. The words hung heavy in the air, seemed to crush the doomed man's spine even further, seemed to press in against Alina's own back with their weight. The sound of the scrapping of metal on pavement only seemed to grow louder.

"You are charged with treason. Today, Salvador, you will die, away from your crew, away from your precious ship and the ocean, alone. You are to die by hanging, do you have any last words?" Alina almost missed the name of the pirate... all she heard was her own name, hanging in the air above the gallows. They pushed the pirate up the stairs to the gallows, his face hidden beneath the shadow of his floppy brimmed hat. Up, up, up he stumbled, before at last he arrived on the platform. Slowly he was dragged upon the stool; slowly his head was put in the noose. It didn't matter what Salvador said... no matter what, he was going to be hung. When the pirate spoke, his voice was raspy, and barely a whisper that Alina was able to make out.

"I'm not guilty," he pleaded... it was too late. The hangman rested his hand upon the lever, and a second later the trapped door opened beneath the pirate. Weighted down by all the chains, Salvador didn't even have a chance to strangle, his neck snapped with a sickening crack, which filled the market plaza. For a minute, the dead pirate bounced unceremoniously on his line... before a second later, even the rope gave way, and his body fell to the ground in a broken, crumpled heap. Down the body fell, crashing to the cobblestones beneath, just like a certain other pirate so many years ago.

Alina just felt sick.

***

Dawn was near, and Alina found herself in the side streets of the city. Unhappy and fighting off the pain that comes with returning to a world of stark soberness, Alina weaved her way through the alleys of Okeanós. Her feet felt heavy, as if the local blacksmith had coated her bare feet in lead. With every step she took, the events of the night played out in her mind, over and over. The bar, crammed full non-humans; the elf girl, cast down the stairs of the Descent like a ragdoll; Davy's accusing look; the way the pirate had hung... all haunted her mind, replaying over and over again like images in a mage's crystal. Idly she trailed her finger over the walls of some building, her tail dragging over the ground behind her.

"Stop thief!"

Alina's ears perked up, her heart raced; her body tensed... getting ready to move, to run. The chase was on and she savored the chance to out race the men of the night's watch. It took her a moment to realize, that the voice hadn't been shouting at her at all. Suddenly she felt a hand upon her chest, a shove as she was forced against the wall of the building... and a silhouette blew past her, fast and as hard as a gust of wind from the sea.

"Stop... thief..." the voice came again, and around the corner came a boy, only a few years older than Alina was herself. He was dressed in the armor of the city watch, although it looked a few sizes too big for his small frame. In one hand he clutched a spear, already broken beyond use. The moment he saw Alina, his large green eyes settling on the younger girl, he took her in with a look of perplexed confusion. "Who... don't just stand there..." he panted hard, every breath of his chest heaving with effort, "Help"

At first, Alina wasn't sure if she was running away from the boy-guard, or if she was running toward the fleeing the criminal. In that moment it didn't matter. Alina felt like she had a purpose. Her small body flew through the streets, before she had been dragging, now her heart raced, thumping in her small chest. A cart blocked her way, but planting her hand upon it, she propelled herself up, through the air, and over it. Around a stack of boxes, up a ladder, suddenly she was on the city roofs, leaping and running from rooftop to rooftop.

Occasionally she would catch a glimpse of the silhouette, the thief. Around the corner the figure would move, always dancing just beyond her reach. Occasionally she would see a lock of blonde hair, or when the figure paused, she would make contact with those icy blue eyes.

It was in that moment of contact, on the rooftops of the city that Alina met herself. In that moment she was the predator instead of the prey. The sun was rising over the rooftops of the city and Alina could see. For a time she let the silhouette take the lead, Alina took the corner's tight, taking shortcuts when she guessed her prey's intent. Gradually she readied herself.

Then, she pounced.

"Ow!" The voice cried out as Alina launched her full, tiny form at the figure. With precision she knocked her prey off balance, forming the thief to the ground. Face met rooftop shingle, and in a moment of startling clarity, Alina found herself atop the thief. Planting her foot on the back of the figure's head, the sun shining behind her, a smile found Alina's young face. "Come on... I think it's time we both have a talk with my Dad."

***

"I thought you weren't going to come."

"And miss out on you buying me a meal, ya cheap jerkwad?" Alina replied happily as she pulled herself up into one of the chairs in the street side café, as she did so, her long slender tail circled around the leg of the chair. As could be expected, Alina was filthy, her hair was matted with sticks, and twigs and dirt, and who knows what else from her night of troublemaking; she was covered in bruises, and her clothes were torn in more places than there was fabric. In short, the devil-child looked entirely unpresentable. The good captain of the watch sighed, his face falling into his hands in embarrassment.

Almost a walking contradiction to Alina, Captain d'Altrus was dressed in full uniform. He had, until this particular moment, been sitting at attention. His tired face was proud and greeting the rising sun which had just begun to peek over the roofs of the buildings of Okeanós. Now he just sort of sat slightly hunched over. "You broke out of your cell again last night. That wasn't part of the deal."

"What can I say," Alina leaned forward snidely, "I'm my mother's gal. Besides, I couldn't stay there... it's currently occupied."

"Lovely, I'm raising the next pirate queen..." Captain d'Altrus raised an eyebrow at the idea that Alina's cell was occupied. He wasn't sure he entirely wanted to know.

"Don't be ridiculous, father." There was a certain foreboding emphasis that Alina put on the word "father". "I don't want to be a pirate or a thief anymore."

"Do I even want to kno-"

"I want your job. Alina d'Altrus, dashing Captain of the Night Watch!"

"Gods save us all" Captain d'Altrus closed his eyes and made a sign to ward off evil.