(Continued)
Lisa, Rodrin, and Meridian all froze and blinked at her, and even the bird seemed to pause in its attacking, hovering above them. Their gazes burned into her, Rodrin and Meridian's utterly confused and Lisa's vaguely amused. The seagull, of course, was glaring at her, and to hide the fact that her face was growing hot, she waved her sword at the seagull again. "Yeah, you heard me, get out of here!" she spat at it.
The seagull screeched again, and - looking entirely too smug for Callista's liking - flew away.
"Are we going to talk about that?" Rodrin asked, apparently no longer staying out of this.
Callista avoided eye contact with everyone as she brushed a feather off her shoulder. "Uh..."
"I don't think there's anything to talk about," Lisa said lightly. Before Callista could do anything, Lisa rose up on her toes and planted a light kiss on Callista's cheek. "Thanks, love. I'm going back below decks before another psycho bird attacks me." With that, she promptly disappeared, leaving Callista alone with Rodrin's judgement and Meridian's confusion.
Callista's mind couldn't recalibrate. That was the least-expected outcome of all.
"The bird means land is near," Meridian said, clearing his throat awkwardly to break the silence. To her, the island couldn't possibly be close enough.
"Is this your honeymoon?" Rodrin asked, looking like he was about to laugh.
"Obviously not," she grumbled as she went to sulk by the railing. "I wouldn't have you on it."
~~~
In the end, Meridian's prediction of fifteen minutes had been rather close. It still felt far too long for Callista. She'd rushed their illusion of disguise, only changing the color of the wood and the name of the boat, with all of her focus being on her impatience to leave the moment behind her. When Lisa had come back up-- hair fixed and neat again-- she'd shaken her head at her and made the blue sails red. Yet another embarrassing mistake.
They made it into the harbor safely, with no one giving them a second look. Rodrin tied up their ship at the dock. There was a man standing there to greet them when they descended. "Welcome to Redmarn Isle," he said cheerfully. "How long will you be here?"
"Just long enough to get it repaired," Rodrin said, gesturing towards one of the damaged parts of the side. "We ran into a sea serpent."
The man clicked his tongue. "We hear there's been one of those out there in these waters, terrorizing pirates lately. No one's been able to stop it."
"William Snakespeare," Lisa corrected him, and when the pirate's face turned confused, the other three gave her looks that said to pick a different hill to die on. "Er, never mind. Anyway, we actually cut one of his fangs off."
The man looked delighted now. "Wonderful! You'll be the talk of the town. They'll all want to hear of the brave crew of four that fought off the beast--"
"Hold on," Meridian interrupted. "We're just passing through, and while that really is quite kind, we won't be staying here long enough for that kind of attention."
But the man had already turned around and taken a few steps away, calling out to anyone who would listen. "Hey! These newcomers fought and won against the giant snake!"
"This is just great," Callista growled under her breath. "We'll be celebrities and revered as gods before we're recognized as traitors and thrown in an oubliette."
Lisa shoved them all away. "Remember the plan. I'll stay here and keep the illusion up, they shouldn't recognize me alone without the rest of you," she whispered, and Callista couldn't help but feel disappointed that she wasn't coming along. "You go do your thing and be back in a few hours."
"Yep, let's get out of here," Meridian agreed, grabbing her and Rodrin by the sleeves.
"Good luck, darling," Lisa called after her. Callista could only ask her question-- what in the seven seas are you doing?-- as a silent glance over her shoulder. But the gambler was already being swarmed by an enthusiastic crowd and wasn't able to answer it with a look of her own. Maybe she hadn't even seen it.
Word Count: 1438/2500
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