Miya Black, Pirate Princess I: Adventure Dawns (8 page)

"Where's your mum?" Miya asked, looking at a framed painting of a town nestled amongst green hills.

"Out with Bradley, getting stuff for dinner. Want some tea? I have to light the stove anyway."

"Sure! Um, I'm sorry about being rude earlier, I didn't mean to be, I'm just really—"

"It's okay. I know what you were trying to say."

Miya flopped into a big, comfortable kitchen chair.

"It's all just so complicated," she muttered.

"If only we had a bigger navy, right?" said Penny, making sure the stove was properly lit, then closing the iron door and straightening. "Or someone that would help us."

"Yeah ... too bad everyone hates us."

"That's not entirely accurate," said Penny, as she filled the kettle.

"Are you saying there's someone that doesn't hate us?"

"No, you said 'too bad everyone hates us', but you should have said 'too bad everyone hates ... me'."

Miya's jaw dropped in mock-shock.

"Ouch!" she said. "That's kind of mean, Penny!"

"I know. It's sort of like revenge for you being rude this morning."

"Oh. Well, that's okay then."

"It'll take a while for the stove to heat up. Wanna split a cinnamon bun while we wait?"

"I knew you were going to say that. Before I said 'you're always so proper' but that wasn't entirely accurate, actually I should have said 'you always PRETEND to be so proper'," said Miya, tearing one of the buns in half. "You can have the big bit."

"That's unusually generous of you," said Penny, accepting the half and taking a very large, very unladylike bite out of it.

"It's only because I've already eaten like three this afternoon already."

"I figured as much. Hey, how are you getting on with your new brother?"

"Oh, great!" said Miya, nibbling at her half. "I mean, pretty good. I wanted to bring him around to meet you earlier, actually, but you weren't here."

"What's he like? I haven't really met any northern islanders before."

"I have, but he's kind of different to the ones I've met—you know, usually they're all, I don't know, big and friendly and smiling and laughing all the time. Sola's kind of serious."

"You think maybe, just perhaps, I'm just making a guess here, a stab in the dark, you think that's because his entire village was enslaved?"

"Penny."

"Sorry. But that must have something to do with it."

"I think mainly he's lonely and kind of uncomfortable because this place is so different to his home. He came from a village of just like seventy people and he knew all of them, he's not used to being someplace where he doesn't know everyone."

"Hm. I guess it was kind of the same for me when we first moved here ... but then again maybe not."

"Can you imagine losing your entire home? And everyone you know, just taken prisoner ..."

"I can't. I can't even imagine," said Penny.

"Every time I start even trying to imagine I have to stop because it makes me feel so empty, and sad, and angry ... but, at least I made him a bit happy today."

"What'd you do? Oh, take him horse-riding?"

"That's your answer for everything! No, I showed him the library, apparently in his village there were like six books total, and he read them all about a hundred times each. He's totally nuts for books, even more than my dad maybe."

"Wow. You wouldn't think so to look at him. You'd think he'd be more into, y'know, hunting, fishing, outdoor stuff," said Penny. She popped the last morsel of cinnamon bun into her mouth, leaned over and checked the fire, then shook her head. "Not even warm yet."

"Well, he's pretty into that stuff too. I mean, he paddled all the way here from Tonfa-Tonfa just in his canoe, that's like ten days paddling."

"I didn't even think about that, pretty amazing."

"I'll say."

Miya finished the last of her cinnamon bun half. "How do they make these so good?"

"I don't know," said Penny. "But they're pretty much the only reason I let you hang around me."

"What, because I bring you cinnamon buns?"

Penny shrugged with a cheeky little smile. "Pretty much."

Miya considered this. "Well, that's fair," she said. "Oh, but you know who's, like, totally addicted to them?"

"Who?"

"Lars."

"Lars your fake uncle Lars? Lars the super-amazing sword guy Lars? No way."

"Yep!" said Miya, delighted at Penny's reaction.

"That's so weird, he seems like the type of guy that doesn't even like sweet stuff."

"He buys like a half dozen at a time and just gromps the lot. It's true! I've seen him do it!"

"What, you like followed him and hid and watched him eat six cinnamon buns in a row?" asked Penny.

"Well ... kind of. It was, like, fascinating!"

"And then what, you jumped out and said 'Surprise! The jig is up, fatty!'?"

"Huh? What? No, I just kind of crept away again."

"I would have jumped out," said Penny.

"No you wouldn't, you wouldn't even have followed him in the first place because you're a complete wuss," said Miya, laughing.

"I am not!"

"You are! You so are! Like that time we went exploring up the western side of the island? And we found that sea cave and you wouldn't go in?"

"You mean the time that we found a sea cave and I warned you about how dangerous they are, and you completely ignored me and went in and got trapped when the tide changed, and I had to go get help and you almost drowned?"

"At least I didn't wuss out!"

"Miya, Miya, Miya. Princess Miya Black. Just sometimes I'd like to know exactly how you think."

"Hey, a lot goes on in my head. My brain goes so fast sometimes I amaze myself."

Penny looked at Miya, disbelieving.

"You have a brain?"

*

The kettle did eventually boil, and after a cup of tea and another shared cinnamon bun Miya accepted Penny's invitation to dinner. She helped prepare the food and chatted with Penny's mother, who was a small, defiant woman who Miya was secretly just a tiny bit scared of, and her little brother Bradley, who was as annoying but oddly endearing as ever, and after a fun meal and some talk and some laughter, and after making a promise to visit more often, Miya left the little cottage and headed for home.

The sun was just beginning its slow descent, bathing the island in a kind of golden-orange glow that Miya wanted to wrap herself up in. She ran up the path to the lower fields, twirled a few times, then made her way up the cliff path to her house, stopping every few steps to admire the view.

"It's magic outside right now, you should come out and look!" she called out as she burst through the front door, but the house was quiet. She checked her father's study but it was empty, as was the front lounge, the nice lounge, and the evening lounge. There was nobody in the kitchen and the stove was cold, and there didn't seem to be anybody upstairs, either.

"Mum? Dad? Sola?"

Miya made her way through the house but it seemed empty. One of the last rooms she checked was the library, and after opening the door and glancing in she was about to discount that as empty too, until she looked again and realised Sola WAS in there—in the same spot she'd left him, in fact, standing there almost as still as a statue, moving only to turn the page of the book he was reading. She looked at the little table between the two chairs and saw that the cinnamon bun she'd put there was untouched.

"Sola! Have you not moved from that spot in all the time I've been away?" Miya demanded. Sola didn't move for a few seconds, then slowly he raised his head and turned to look at her.

"This book is very interesting," he said, after a moment.

"It must be, you've been standing there reading it for like three hours!"

Sola looked around, out the window at the evening light.

"I didn't realise," he said. "Sorry."

"You should be! Well, actually, I guess there's nothing technically wrong with just standing in the same place reading for hours and hours and hours ... but wouldn't you be more comfortable sitting? Don't you get tired or like cramp from standing like that?"

"I'm used to being still," said Sola.

"Well, okay, I suppose, if you're fine with it. Um, so I guess you haven't seen Mum or Dad around?"

"I've just been here reading."

"Okay. Um, could you maybe sit down when you do it? I just ... I don't know, it's just kind of creepy thinking of you standing there reading like that."

"All right," said Sola. He moved to one of the chairs, sat down carefully, then focused on the book again.

"I'll, um, leave you to it. Once the sun goes down you can use that lamp over there for light. Or you could take the book upstairs to your room, or, y'know, maybe to one of the lounges, the one upstairs right beside the stairs is where we usually sit in the evenings. We call it the evening lounge. You know. Because of that."

Sola nodded.

"Okay, well, anyway, I'm gonna go look for Mum and Dad. It's kind of strange for them not to be here, so ... yes. See you later, okay?"

"Okay."

"See ya."

Miya left Sola to his book and then stood outside the library, thinking. After a moment she gave this up and headed for the front door, intending to check the family dock.

"Oh, hello Miya, I didn't know you were home."

"Mum!" Miya spun around, surprised by her mother's sudden voice. "Where on earth were you?"

Miya's mother looked at her. "I was just here. In the occasional lounge."

"Oh," said Miya. "I forgot about that one. Didn't you hear me calling?"

"I was crocheting. You know how I get caught up in it."

"Huh. Um."

"Something the matter?"

"I know we made a promise not to talk about, y'know, 'kingdom affairs' together—"

"After The Incident I really do feel that's best," said Lily.

"But—"

"Miya ..." Lilith's voice held a warning tone.

"I just—"

"Miya, think carefully."

Miya looked at her mother helplessly, then sagged.

"What did you crochet?" she asked, weakly. Her mother smiled.

"It's a scarf. I just finished it a few minutes ago. I thought you might like it."

Lily pulled the scarf from her craft bag. It was black, with little white skulls and green clovers sewn on.

"It's a scarf of compromise," she said.

"Um, yes, I can kind of see," said Miya.

"I thought you might like it for when you're out on your ship, for once it gets colder, I mean."

"Mm."

"Anyway, I'll put it away for now. You are one to misplace things for which you have no immediate use," Lily muttered, as she tucked the scarf back into her craft bag. She looked back up at her daughter. "Are you all right? You seem a little 'worn'."

"I'm just ... just worried, I guess."

"We all are, sweetie," said Lily. She smiled at Miya. "But we'll pull through. We're a strong family."

"Small but tough."

"Exactly."

"Did you find Dad?" Miya asked, innocently.

"No. No, I didn't. Have you seen him?"

"He was around the house earlier, I don't think he's here now, though. Oh, don't get a fright if you go into the library, Sola's in there reading and he's kind of 'still'."

" 'Still'?"

"You kind of don't notice him at first. Just warning you."

"Well, thank you. He's reading?"

"Yeah, apparently he's kind of Dad-like in his book-nuttery."

"I'm glad he's doing something, he's been awfully quiet."

"I think that's just him," said Miya. "Um, are you okay with him and all that? I mean like ... y'know ... Dad's Past."

"I always knew your father had a past, Miya," said Lily, using what Miya always thought of as her 'careful' voice. "Of course I didn't expect something like this to come of it, especially not now, but, well, we have plenty of room and he seems like a very nice young man. We just all have to make an effort—speaking of which, thank you for trying so hard to include him in what you're doing, it's very noble of you."

'Noble' was Lilith's highest compliment, although Miya always saw it as carrying an undertone of 'thank goodness you're behaving like a princess and not a pirate' when her mother used it to describe anything she did.

"Well, I figure he needs a friend now, right? I'm trying to get him to meet more people around the island but he gets really uncomfortable in town, around strangers—he's not used to not knowing people."

Lily frowned. "I hope he'll fit in."

"Mum!"

"For his sake, of course," Lily added, quickly.

"I should think so."

"Do you think I can do anything?" Lily asked. "I've been a little preoccupied with things, I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't made any time for him."

"I ... I think maybe you shouldn't force anything? He's ... he seems like ..."

"Ah."

"Ah!" said Lily. Tomas had opened the front door, and was frozen standing there, his hand on the knob. He looked at Lily and then at Miya, then back at his wife. His expression was what Miya thought of as his 'dog caught raiding the biscuits' look.

"Excuse us, would you Miya? Your father and I have some things to discuss," said Queen Lilith. Miya shot her father a sympathetic look, then made a hasty retreat, leaving them alone. Maybe I can rescue Dad a little bit later, she thought, then he'll owe me. I'm SURE he's organising some kind of attack against Badger Pete. I have to be part of that.

"After all," she said to herself as she headed out the door, "it's my job to protect my kingdom."

*

"Oh, hello, Princess! Beautiful evening, yes?"

"Yes! I was really wanting to find someone to share it with, nobody at home seemed interested. But it's really, really gorgeous!"

Although the light wasn't quite as magical as it had been earlier, the sun was still at least half an hour away from setting and the wispy clouds above were glowing pale gold, the shadows were long and the light warm. Miya had met Lars on the path leading down to the stables, near their training area.

"Sam is appreciating it, anyway," said Lars. The small black and white terrier looked up, mouth hanging open in a doggish grin. "You know he has such refined sensibilities, although of course the 'artistic temperament' to go along with that."