My Pirate Treasure

Admittedly, Artorias didn't know the first thing about ships. He'd never actually seen a proper one before this moment. Bowen, on the other hand, was showing just how much of a seafarer she was deep down. The musical laugh when he asked if this was like the ship she'd been on seemed to echo around the cavern like a beautiful chorus, and Artorias found his gaze upon his diminutive sister's smiling face, seeing the way it lit up while she took in the marvelous sight of the intact vessel before them. She said words he didn't understand a single meaning of, but thankfully she began to explain in layman's terms the differences between her pirate experience and what they were looking at right now. Artorias gave a pensive hum of thought while he looked over the large ship again. So Bowen's ship had been smaller, sleeker. He supposed that made sense for slavers who only carried a small amount of cargo and valued speed and agility over capacity or intimidation.

Artorias climbed the gangplank and arrived on the main deck of the ship, gazing around at how vast it was. It could easily hold several dozen wolves on the one deck alone! "Wow..." he murmured mostly to himself, turning to speak to Bowen again—and realizing she wasn't beside him. Confused, the brute peered back down the gangplank and saw his sable-colored sister hesitating at the bottom. He was a second away from asking if she was all right before she began to climb the plank and join him up on the deck. Bowen's entire demeanor had shifted suddenly—melancholic and ruminating. He saw his sister's distant emerald eyes slowly close and all of a sudden it was like she wasn't there anymore. Brow furrowing with worry, Artorias took a step closer to her. "Bowen...?"

Bowen responded by saying how she missed her life at sea. The emotion in her voice broke Artorias' heart, and the dire brute finished closing the gap between himself and his sister so he could reach down to nuzzle her crown tenderly. He'd known how much she had loved living at sea, but it hadn't really struck him just how much this affected her. Silently, Artorias began to wonder if anyone in Boreas or Auster would know how to build a basic sloop or know where he could procure one, just to give Bowen some of that freedom she'd once had back. It killed him to see his beloved sibling pining for the sea as badly as she was and knowing he could do nothing to help fix it. "Maybe you don't have to," he spoke softly. "Those slavers found a ship. We could find you a ship too. If that's what you want, I'll do my best to make it happen." Bowen was worth it. Bowen was worth all the effort in the world.

Slipping away from Bowen momentarily, Artorias made his way leisurely across the deck of the old ship. The wood creaked under his weight, but remained solid and strong. He moved up to the helm up some old stairs, eyeing the wheel with curiosity. What sorts of creatures would be able to create and control such machinery as complex as this? After investigating the empty helm area, Art headed back down to rejoin Bowen, noticing the doorway underneath the helm that led to stairs heading down into the belly of the ship. "Wanna see what's below deck?" he offered, allowing Bowen the glory of first exploration with a wave of his paw.

"Artorias" | "Carpathian"