It didn’t take long for Roseus’s world to change around him...

First, the inn that he was staying in began to shift. In fact, it seemed to be the entire building. It became even more modest. The wooden structure had yet to be reinforced with any stone, leaving holes in both the rooftop and the walls. There was no bedframe in the room, only blankets spread across the floor. The windows were no longer barricaded, allowing one to see the white and black swirling clouds hanging above the sky.

It was night-time, so lightning struck viciously from these clouds. The thunder sounded as though it had torn through the world itself.

Then, the scene started to properly build itself. On the bed, two figures appeared: a man and a woman, both lying beside each other shirtless.

The woman rested her head on the man’s chest. Her features were youthful and beautiful, with silver eyes, reddish skin, and black hair that cascaded over the man.

That man was none other than Redeye. He was still youthful in this scene, with short red hair and bright red eyes that Roseus hadn’t inherited. However, his skin now bore a few scars, as did his upper body.

Redeye ran his hand through the woman’s hair whilst wearing a smile on his face.

"You play with her hair like this too?" the woman suddenly said, immediately turning the mood sour.

Redeye lost his smile as he moved his hand away from the woman’s hair. She wasted no time sitting up and snatching the blanket from the pirate, curling it around herself to cover her naked body as she went to stand by the window.

Redeye frowned and his brows furrowed. "Don’t talk about Stellar," he responded.

"Oh, so you can sleep with me whenever you want and have your way with me, but when I mention your First Mate, things become a problem? I’m a Redeye Pirate too, you know!" the woman spat aggressively, before tossing the blanket aside and starting to put on her clothes.

"You know what, I’m done with you!" she shouted before storming towards the door.

"Zaliah!" Redeye called out with an arm outstretched.

Before he could even get her name out properly, the woman had stormed out the door, slamming it behind her.

Redeye was left sitting on the bed alone. He sighed as he thumbed at a blue ring on his finger idly.

"Curse love. If there’s a god in control of this feeling, I swear I’ll cut you down."

~~~

With this, the world slowly began to return to normal.

Roseus found himself sitting on the floor bed just as he had been before. Dawn was standing by the window, peeking through a thin gap in the wooden barricade to make sure that nothing was chasing after them.

When she heard Roseus stir, she turned to face him. She found that he had a look of bewilderment on his face.

"What did you see?" she asked, struggling to contain her intrigue.

Roseus thought for a few moments, recalling the events of the scene before answering.

"My father was in love with your mother... Did you know this?"

Dawn’s singular eye went wide. It stayed like that for a few moments before she eventually blushed again. "No... It must have happened after they sailed. Was it a scene of them..."

Roseus quickly shook his head. "No, no!"

I would hope that the hat wouldn’t show me such a scene.

"It was my father in this tavern, lying in bed with a woman named Zaliah. They seemed to be embracing one another, and she mentioned that she was a Redeye Pirate. However, after a while, she suddenly brought up Stellar. She was annoyed at the fact that Redeye was in love with his First Mate, yet was still showing affection to this woman, Zaliah."

"Zaliah?" Dawn first repeated the name, not focusing on the fact that her mother was likely being cheated on by Redeye.

"Do you know her?"

"Yes, but barely. She was one of the original Redeye crew members, but much less known than the others. She was an assistant to the ship’s main carpenter. By the time we left the continent, her bounty was only 3,500."

3,500? For a Redeye Pirate, that’s barely anything! Was she that unknown to the Empire?

Interestingly, the more he heard about the woman, the more he felt as though he had a slight recollection of her from his past. However, it was nothing substantial enough to stand out.

More importantly, Roseus’s mind suddenly filled with questions, and it seemed Dawn’s did too.

"Is she the woman that was left behind by your father?" she asked.

"I can’t say for certain. If she is, then what is so special about her that would make my father leave her behind for us?"

I would ask Blodwen, but he had already left the Redeyes before this point.

He thought for a few moments before coming to a new decision.

"Tomorrow we’ll ask around the town to see if anybody knows who she is, or if she is staying on this island... For now, let’s get some rest. It’s been a while since we’ve slept on land."

Dawn nodded her head at this as she watched Roseus tuck himself into the bed that was only made for one person. As he lay down, he made sure that he was pushed all the way to one side, and as he did, his red hair cascaded beautifully over his back.

The First Mate swallowed her thoughts as she joined him in the bed, making sure that there was ample space between them. Still, they could feel one another’s warmth beneath the covers.

Although they had slept like this many times together, that had been when they were still children. Now, with both of them being young adults, Dawn couldn’t help but feel that the act was less innocent than before.

She wouldn’t let this bother her, as it didn’t seem to bother the captain.

It didn’t take long for the pair to fall asleep.

During the night, the sounds of a violent storm spread throughout the island.