(Continued from Part 2)
Addie returned to the ship cradling the bottle of rum in one arm and followed closely by Xanderian , who was walking as any normal elf would, silent and expressionless. As the two neared the cabin they could hear what sounded to be a rather intense discussion; Ryn was throwing around a few creative and colorful terms, the captain sounded hurt and offended, and there was giggling- the giggling was definitely Finchley.
“Now, now, lassie, there's no need to be insultin'; I may have legs of wood, but me heart is still flesh after all."
Ryn chuckled, "Then be plain, how much?" Finchley was already digging around in her pockets.
The man turned toward the door at seeing the shadows of Addie and Xan’s forms cast on the floor from the light outside, and he immediately eyed the bottle of rum. “Welcome back, lassie… and a fine day to ye, other lassie.” While speaking, his grubby hand moved slowly toward the bottle as he glanced back over his shoulder to give his response to Ryn’s question. “It would depend on how much more of this fine rum ye have."
Ryn raised a brow as she looked to Addie "Erm... How much more rum do we have?"
Addie gave Ryn a quick shake of her head to let her know that this was the only bottle she could find.
“It would seem you have limited experience in commerce, friend Ryn,” Xanderian said as she raised a brow at the red-headed woman. Finchley finally noticed the elf when she spoke and stopped rummaging around in her pockets to wave at her.
Ryn looked over to Xan and her face scrunched up. "Is that really surprising?"
Addie smiled brightly at the captain as she held the bottle out to him with both hands, much like a server would in presenting the wine selection for the night, but she still made sure to keep it just out of his grasp; Galvra also kept his beady little eyes peeled on the captain, ready to peck him if he tried to take the rum. "It is a rare item, sir, and the only one we have. I assume it is to your liking?"
His fingers wiggled in excitement as they moved even closer to the bottle and he grinned. “Aye, this should do for all the caged and jarred animals, lassie… this should do.”
Addie handed over the bottle, but didn’t bring the gold piece from her pocket since he seemed distracted enough by the rum to have forgotten about it. “Very well, it is a deal, sir.” Before the man could change his mind or remember about the gold piece, Addie slid past him and hurried over to the cages to begin releasing the animals.
Xanderian smiled in amusement for a moment as she watched Addie, but then her smile faded as she looked back to Ryn and could sense the woman’s longing for the little bird. “Unhooded Ryn... Do I understand that you desire the bird?” Ryn nodded as Xan moved closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, “This corsair is accepting bids for the creature?”
"Corsair?!” The pirate contested with a feigned expression of offense on his face. “I'm not one of those vile creatures, fair lassie, ye have me mistaken.” As he was speaking, the cat with the half-bitten ear and the two dogs ran past him and bolted out the door to freedom of the island… followed moments later by the waddling potbellied pig.
Unfazed by his words or the animals, Xan looked toward the man and continued. “Then what is the bid currently before the corsair?”
The pirate’s mouth hung open and he was silent for a moment before raising a finger in the air to protest the elf’s insistence on calling him that once again. “Ye will find that I’m quite the upstandin’ merchant, lassie... And I do not ‘acquire’ me merchandise by such barbaric methods as slittin’ throats and such.” Xan glanced down at his peg legs and the man coughed. "Uh... that has no relation to me... business."
While the two were exchanging words, Finchley had been rummaging around in her pockets, pulling out various bread rolls and other snack items, until she finally found what she was looking for. "Aha! Got one! Er... not rum. This." She held up a single, shiny gold coin.
The man’s eyes immediately turned to Finch, attracted by the glimmer of the coin, and his face lit up. "I suppose I could be persuaded by somethin’ shiny as well… Several more of those, ten to be exact, all the liquor ye got in yer house, and somethin'… rare from this fine establishment of an island; I shall not part with the little squawker for any less."
Ryn snorted softly. "The price has definitely gone up..." she mumbled to herself, but decided to let the others do the bargaining.
Galvra opened his beak to say something rude, but Finch managed to reach up and close it just in time. Both of them remained quiet and stared as the peacock Addie freed strutted past the pirate and out the door.
Xanderian maintained her usual calm and confident expression, “And that is the price agreed on, ten gold and that bottle?” She pointed to the bottle of rum that he was already holding.
He raised his finger again to the elf; this time his expression was smug in thinking that he had caught her trying to cheat him. "Ye forgot the somethin' rare from yer island, lassie... I've got me reputation for acquirin' the most special and unique items to maintain after all."
Finchley gigglesnorted at witnessing Xanderian’s negotiating skills; she definitely wasn’t going to let the man know that Xan had talked him down from his request of ALL the liquor on the island.
The elf smiled, “Very well corsair, you shall have the bottle and the ten gold... and as for the rare item from the Isle of Tol Lochúl, it shall be this ship.”
His brows shot up in surprise, "This ship? You mean my ship, lassie?”
Xanderian shook her head and smiled, “MY ship… Have we an accord?”
The captain looked around, very confused. "I don't see another ship, lassie."
The elf patted the doorframe. “This ship here, the one now trapped on these shores by sorceries and glamours..." In Xanderian's mind, the vessel was grounded on the shore of the island and everything on the island belonged to her. "In exchange for the bird, I will grant you the ten gold, this bottle, and the right to sail MY ship from this shore without being wanted for spying by the navy of Gondor and the Pale Kestrels. Fair, I would think...no?”
The man’s face paled at the mention of the Gondorian navy and the Pale Kestrels, and he started to stammer. "I... uh... sorcery?... What kind of place is this, lassie?"
Xanderian made certain that her hair was well back, exposing her ears. "It is MY place, corsair.” As she spoke, the thrush, golden pheasant, and moody blackbird flew from their cages and landed on her as though they were HER faithful crew, adding even more emphasis to her words. “Consider yourself fortunate that you may leave this place with vessel, and sanity, in tact....and a good deal richer than you were before. No?”
Galvra turned around on Finchley’s shoulder to stare back at the captain's writing bird, as if daring him to say or do anything about it, but the red bird didn’t seem to disagree; instead, he was looking longingly at how Galvra was perched on Finch's shoulder and at how the other birds now had their freedom.
No knees was trying hard to maintain what composure he had left and even managed a wry grin toward the elf, though his peglegs were definitely shaking now. "Ye drive a hard bargain, lassie, I like that… Fine, I'll accept yer offer, a good deal it is."
“Excuse me, sir.” Addie said as she slipped past the captain and out the door with a lizard in one hand, turtle in the other, the snakes draped about her neck, and the frog hopping happily behind her. Followed right behind them was Ryn with the baby bird in her hand.
The pirate gritted his teeth as he watched all the animals go by him, especially the baby bird. "Now if ye fine lassies and laddie don't mind… I have a business to run and I need to be sailin'... elsewhere."
Xanderian held out her hand to Ryn and then tilted her head at the pirate. “Without your coin? How chivalrous of you.”
No Knees was ready to get out of there, but he certainly wasn’t one to leave without his coin. His eyes showed his anger, but he knew he was outnumbered. “What?! Yer gonna rob me of my agreed upon coin after threatenin' me?” He shook his head, “Just hand it to me bookkeeper and kindly get off ME ship.”
Galvra stared at the bookkeeping bird and subtly inclined his head to indicate that if the other bird wanted to leave as well then he should, and go wherever he wished. The red bird looked at Galvra and then to the others in such a way that spoke his feelings of being bound to this ship and his unhappiness of the arrangement.”
Ryn wandered up to Xan and held the baby bird close to her chest with one hand while she fished around in her pocket for the coins with the other. Xanderian nodded and started to count out, “So this is three....and eight more.” Finch held out her gold allowance coin. Xan smiled softly and added it to the pile as she continued with the transaction. “So your ten...and one more for the stampede from your vessel.... and this is for the red bird there with the book.”
This time the pirate looked genuinely appalled. “What?! Me bookkeeper?!”
Xanderian nodded. "Indeed…. So, in return for your stock, you can leave here with a bottle of priceless drink, twelve gold, this boat, and your life and reputation.”
Finchley smiled at him. “I mean... since you're so rich now, do you really need a bookkeeper, mister?”
He glared at the elf as he grumbled to himself for a moment, "Last time I visit this island...crooks, all of ‘em." Smoothing out his beard, he clenched a smile and tried for one more acquisition. "I want yer shoes as well for me bookkeeper, lassie."'
Ryn blinked a bit "Whose shoes?"
He pointed to Xan's shoes, "It'll fetch me a fine price, it will... The shoes of one that has walked this earth for so long… a swindler of swindlers… a sorceress of much renown."
“Ah...I see...so that is your perversion?” The elf replied, and then shook her head to the request. “Nay, these were a gift which mean infinitely more to me then your life... and at any rate, the haggling is over. If you continue to make demands, the only payment you will receive for your wares will be a head start... and not a long one at that.”
He immediately closed his mouth at the second threat and any attempt at a grin was gone.
Xanderian smiled politely at him, “So then our business is concluded, is it not?”
“Aye, seems so, lassie.” He begrudgingly looked over to the red bird and motioned with his head his permission for it to leave. There was no hesitation, the bird immediately took flight and landed on Ryn's shoulder; the woman was still fussing over the little bird in her hands and not really paying much attention to anything else, but when the bigger bird landed on her shoulder, she grinned at him and both seemed pleased with this arrangement.
Galvra also looked to be well pleased with how this all turned out and opened his beak to croak a loud, "FECK OFF!!!" in Lif's voice at the captain, and the man’s former bookkeeper echoed Galvra's words several times, delighted to finally be able to tell the man off.
No knees frowned as his eyes narrowed toward the mouthy birds. He tipped his hat to the group and his voice dripped with sarcasm as he said, "A GOOD day to ye, FINE people of Gondor." He turned and started to walk toward the ship’s wheel, grumbling the whole way. Once there, the man pulled a lever and a small door opened on the bow of the boat, releasing something that looked similar to a boot; the device hit into the shore and launched the boat back into the water.
Elsa walked back down from the house just in time to see that the ship was sailing off. She looked around at all the animals and shook her head. “Nope, I definitely didn’t make enough room for all this.”
Xanderian was also looking around at the sudden ‘zoo’. "Well....the island is large.”
Addie turned to the others and smiled, "We have done a great deed this day and have... acquired,” she mimicked the pirate’s voice as she said that word, “… many more new friends."
Ryn snickered softly and glanced at the larger bird on her shoulder, "I can make some pens if you desire, Xan."
The elf shook her head, “I don’t imagine there is need.”
Ryn nodded a little in agreement as she looked around at the island. "Probably not."
Finchley grinned. "We could always find a few of them loving homes...” Her eyes turned to the gray potbellied pig, “But can we keep the pig? It's cute."
Xanderian smiled as she bent down to pat the pig on the head, “They all may remain.”
