Eleanor Guthrie's Story

Eleanor stood at her desk, while two pirates, a captain and his quartermaster sat before her. Her eyebrow raised high, expecting someone to speak.
"you want to explain this to me?" She asked, gesturing to the paper she had in her hand, impatience heavy in her voice. The Quartermaster huffed. "No, not a word? Gods, you all are a bunch of girls. Afraid of a small navy?"

"It's a navy with bigger and better guns, if you give us-"The Captian began, trying not to sound like he were begging, only to be cut off by a sharp cock her of her head.
"Give you lot guns? Why? You don't bring me anything? Silks? Every nation from here to Ashakara sells silks, you don't bring me anything good enough to warrant me getting you better guns." Eleanor snapped impatiently.

"Well, if you would stop fucking and then funding that Red Bitch, maybe we could do better."

Eleanor laughed saradonically. Everyone in Nassau knew that The Crimson Lady and her crew were in good standing after her father "stepped down". While Eleanor did find the woman....attractive, they were only in business together, not in bed.
Eleanor walked around the table and leaned over the Quartermaster's chair.
"The Harbinger brings in rare imports, foreign fruits, good steel, things I can use, things people want, things not everyone in the fucking world has.....She's not afraid of a small navy, or even a big one...." She leaned in close. "If you want me to fuck and fund you too, then bring me something good...." She said, her voice dangerously low. "If a whiff of a navy scares you....Then Gods bless and get the fuck out." She said, and that was it, she rose, moved to her desk and sat in her chair. As the Captain and is shell shocked Quartermaster got up to leave. She sat back with a huff. "Silks...." She said, and looked out the window, she saw the ships coming in, and noticed on particularly red one.
Robyn was back, which meant, she had something she wanted to sell.

The Crimson Lady sauntered into Eleanor’s office as if it belonged to her, her black coat with the crimson trim billowing behind her as she walked. Eleanor who was sitting at her desk, watched her with an arched eyebrow.
“Captain...?” She said with feign indifference.
“Oh, Don’t act you aren’t happy to see me, Eleanor, in fact, I remember, the last time I saw you, you were quite happy to see me.” Robyn said with a smirk. Eleanor’s lips pulled at the corners.
“I remember being quite drunk.” She said standing up and walking around the desk.
Robyn chuckled. “Quite.” She agreed and Eleanor approached her, Robyn unmoving, watching her with quizzical if not mischievous eyes. They shared a bed, once, contrary to popular belief and it was because Eleanor was indeed quite drunk and as was Robyn. They flirted but that was it. Eleanor was a trader and Robyn a pirate, they was the extent of their relationship.

Eleanor reached around Robyn and grabbed a bottle of rum from the shelf behind Robyn, Robyn arched her brow but didn’t move, leaving Eleanor mere inches from her face. “What do you have for me?”
Robyn rose her hand, a slip of parchement in her hand. “Something good, but I’m gonna need guns.”

“Of course you do. What is it?” Eleanor said as she grabbed two glasses and poured them each a drink. Robyn took a seat at her desk, resting her legs on the desktop. “There is a trade summit in Khalidor.” Eleanor’s brow rose high.
“What?”

“Mmm, that’s not even the best part. Many have been invited, From Drake and Ashakara.” She said, taking her time with this one. Robyn always had a flare for theatrics. “Ashakara, fromt the South?”

“Aye. Ashkara from the South.” She said, taking the bottle instead of the glass. “I get the feeling there’s more.”
“You know me well.” Robyn teased.
“Well, What else?”
“In a Word... Faeries.”
Eleanor nearly dropped her glass.
“You can’t mean.”
“Anansai has been invited, and the merchant ship I took, they seemed to be under the impression that the Faeries were indeed coming.” Robyn grinned wolfishly.
Eleanor shook her head. “ Fucking Faeries, You think they’ll be there?”
“I do....Like I said, I need guns....Lots of guns.”

Eleanor made her way to her bar, the bartender given her a flagon of rum to which she rose to her lips, thankful for the liquid reprieve.
It was a long day, Idiots after idiot came to her begging for more guns, better ships, without turning a good enough profit, she'd gotten word that there was a pirate out there, no ship to his name, killing men, for sport it seemed, a few of the men killed had been good workers. She didn't need this. She'd sent her men to find him, but she wouldn't hold her breath. The only good new she got was from the Crimson Lady. It was raids like this that Eleanor lived for. She hated silks but silks from Anansai, hell wood from Anansai would turn such a high profit, she would out do her late father.


That was his problem. He never saw the bigger picture. He thought going after a Fae Vessel wasn't worth the risk, but she saw that it was very worth it. Traders from all over would flock to get their wares, if they could start textile factories, using whatever Anansai silk was made of, she could branch out of Nassau.


"Penny for your thoughts." came a soft sweet voice, pulling the cup from her lips. Eleanor smiled. "Max....I need that."

"No, you don't." said the girl. She was young, warm brown skin, deep amber eyes that made Eleanor's heart race, Max wasn't her real name, but she seemed to prefer. "You need to talk?" She asked, and Eleanor sighed. Max, taking matters in to her own hands, took her by the hand and lead her into Eleanor's bedroom.
Max closed the door, the world behind her, while Eleanor sat on the bed. Max sauntered up to her, touching her face sweetly.
"Talk to me." She urged, her voice just over a whisper.
"There's so much...I don't know where to begin." She told her and Max pressed a sweet kiss to her lips. "How about the beginning." She said, as Eleanor slipped her arms around Max's tiny waist, and did as she was asked. She told her about the Fae ship, there was a light in Max's eyes then, a spark of what once was. Max hadn't always been the woman she was today. She was sweeter, she was still sweet now but only by closed doors, she was softer, her skin was once porcelain, now it was ivory and steel. She told her about the man and how it was all just too much sometimes.

Max smiled softly at her. "The Crimson Lady will get those ships, she always comes through, and your men will find that man, Nassau is large but not so large. He leaves a trail of bodies, he'll be found and he'll answer to you."

Eleanor kissed her softly. " What would I do without you." She asked her and Max laughed.

"Age." She said and the two woman laughed before moving to the bed. They kissed and touched but that was all, Eleanor was sure the girl was still a maiden depsite how much she loved her.

After a while, there was a knock at Eleanor's door.

"Ms. Guthrie, We found him, Flint." called a man from behind the door. Eleanor shoot up, while Max awoke slowly. " Alright, I'll be down, keep him here." She said and looked at Max. "What did I tell you." She said, sleepily, adorably rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"I know, you're always right, but you have to go, I have to dress and so do you." She said and Max held out her arms to her one more time and Eleanor gratefully slipped into her arms for another kiss.

Afterward, Max slipped out of the room to start her own work, while Eleanor bathed and dressed. She would have an earful for this Flint character.

Clara Snow died two years ago, and from her ashes, Max was born. Max was strong, she could handle the looks and the occasional touches from men without so much as a blink, where Clara Snow would hide behind her brothers. Max knew how to use her looks to her advantage where Clara Snow, knew nothing. Max found love, where Clara Snow found pain, Max was clever, Clara Snow was naive.

Clara Snow had to die. Clara Snow couldn't survive in Nassau. Max, thrived in it.

She navigated the tavern with practiced ease she gathered mugs of empty or half empty rum, She cleared the bottles and delivered drinks.

She looked up, idly as a rough, blood covered man entered the tavern. She ignored him. and finished clearing the tables. Her mind wandered to Eleanor. She worried about her. She had taken this whole place on her shoulders after her father left her, in her words anyway. Clara was never foolish to think that Eleanor's father left her this place, the way she spoke about him. She didn't know how the place fell into her lap but she knew it wasn't just given to her. Eleanor was much to headstrong for that. She earned this place.

"Where you headed, love."

Suddenly, Clara's hips were grabbed, and she was pulled into the lap of a foul smelling man, deep ginger locks that reached the nape of his neck, a thick crimson beard, that reeked of rum, his clothes tattered and torn, covered in blood. Clara turned up her nose in disgust and her hand came up, the back of her hand primed to strike.

"No where with---" That's when she saw him. Those eyes. Piercing blue eyes that gaze back at her in shock.

"It can't be..." Her heart pounding in her ears as she looked at him. A ghost. a demon sent to haunt her. Just when she was beginning to feel some semblance of happiness. the Gods teased her with this apparition.
"No n-no....It's not true....it's not real....It's not you."
She shot to her feet, stumbling back and back into a chair, crashing it until a table. She managed to stay upright, but she bolted. Running from the ghost that was haunting her.

She ran up the overlooking stairs and passed Eleanor to whom she didn't even see. She closed the door to her room that Eleanor had been so kind as to give her to live in while she worked. "Max?"

She closed the door with her back, and covered her face, sliding down the door. She closed her eyes, she felt the pressure of tears but they stopped long ago. They stopped when she lost him.

"Robb Stark is dead...."She told herself. She had to, or this would drive her insane.

Eleanor watched as Max ran off into her room. She decided whatever it was. It could wait until after this Flint was dealt with.
She descended the stairs as her men approached the man that was oddly, looking toward where Max had ran off.

"So." She said, not liking the way he was looking after her. "You're the one that's been terrorizing my Island." She said. "Flint." She said. "Come in to my office, we've alot to discuss." She said and made her way into the office, her men ushering him, behind her. She took a seat behind her desk, and looked up at him.

"Take a seat and explain to me why I shouldn't have my men fill you full of stones and cast you into the ocean?"

Robb was in shock, his mind was a storm of past rage and loss. He felt hands ushering him forward and up a flight of stairs, he heard voices speaking to him, questioning him but they might as well have been leagues away. He'd seen her, he knew he had, he'd felt her skin and smelled the scent of her midnight curls. She was real or he was mad.

"Take a seat and explain to me why I shouldn't have my men fill you full of stones and cast you into the ocean?"

Robb blinked, he was seated in a chair in a well used office. Scrolls and maps littered a large wooden desk in the center of the room. Nautical equipment hung on the walls and atop the counter tops. He tried to focus on the woman seated at the other end of the desk, the woman who owned everyone and everything in Nassau but all he could think of was Clara, his sanity depended on it.

"Who was... that woman?..."

The savage growl gone, the hungry snarl no where to be seen. His voice was earnest, confused and shaky like a man teetering on the brink of madness.

Of all the things she thought he'd say, that was not one of them.
"Who was... that woman?..." He said. There was something in the way he spoke. A spark of jealousy bubbled up in Eleanor as she realized he indeed was looking at Max. Whoever he was, upset her greatly. She wouldn't have that at all.

Eleanor rose, leaning toward him, from behind her desk. "What did you do to her?" She hissed." You've killed so many men, that I can forgive within reason, but if you hurt her, I will slit your throat were you sit." She said.

"He didn't hurt me...." Eleanor looked up to see Max walking in. That was like her, no man ever entered her office without knocking, Max, seem not to care for such etiquette, and typically Eleanor didn't care, but she wanted her far from this Flint man as possible.
"Max...."
"He looked like someone....I just had to see..."Her voice was breaking and all Eleanor wanted to do was hold her. Eleanor never shows her affection for Max, least she be used against her but that was getting harder and harder to do, with her standing there, wanting to cry but physically unable to.

Eleanor watched her as she started at the back of Flint's head. "Alright....Come. You don't move." She said then turned to Flint, warning in her eyes. Max took careful steps forward, giving him and his chair wide berth, as she rounded him, and stood near her desk. She closed her hand over her mouth.

"Max?" Eleanor called. Max shook her head. "How?" She asked. "Why do you look so much like him?" She asked, her voice cracking.

"Like Who Max?" Eleanor asked, so used to being the one in control, she asked the questions before Flint could even register them. He seemed in just as much shock as Max.

"My brother.....He looks like my brother...."

Her voice froze him, it was her voice, he knew it. Older, stronger, even wiser but it was her. He'd never forget the little girl who used to chase him around the courtyard of Winterfell or the young woman who cried on his shoulder after her first heart break. "He didn't hurt me...." His body was practically shaking, too afraid to turn and look at her, fear gripping his heart. Guthrie spoke but he couldn't hear her voice any more, Clara's filled his mind. "He looked like someone....I just had to see..." He needed to see, wanted to see. He imagined scooping up the little girl he remembered from home, covered in snow and giggling. She moved towards him, each foot fall felt like an eternity as she circled him. Robb couldn't bring himself to look at her, the shame was too great. Sitting there, covered in filth, mostly blood looking near a savage he couldn't look at the woman he'd killed.

She stood before him and his eyes finally rose. His eyes, still as icy blue as ever, hers were deep warm amber just as he remembered.

"How?"

She asked.

"Why do you look so much like him?"

Robb couldn't hold her gaze any longer, allowing his eyes to drop to the floor as she stared at him in horror.

"Like Who Max?"

Guthrie asked.

"My brother.....He looks like my brother...."

Robb was trembling as forced himself to look at her again, look at the sister he failed. She was so beautiful, grown since last he'd seen her but grown. She had adopted the look of Nassau and it suited her, finally she'd broken the shell of her youth and a woman had been born. He almost smiled if his grief hadn't been so great.

"Clara..."

He said, his voice less steady than a leaf in late Autumn. He could feel wetness in the back of his eyes but he ignored them. His hand reflexively went to the necklace of teeth at his throat, the last remnants of Grey Wind. The dire wolf always gave him strength in life, even in death he supported him.

"I... I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry I failed you."

Clara's mind was spinning. He looked so much like him. The red hair, those blue eyes. She had to be mistaken.

"Clara." She jumped at the name. No one on Nassau called her Clara. No one knew she was Clara Snow of Winterfell. Here, she was Max.

It had to be him. Behind the him the dirt, the blood the smell. "I... I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry I failed you."

Clara Snow shook her head. "You didn't fail me, Oh Gods, You didn't fail me, I failed you." She said, touching the scar on her throat. The reminder of her failure. "I was so weak, I made it impossible for you to fight." She said, and moved forward, slowly, until she stood over him. She was 15 last she saw him, 17 nearly 18 now, she was still smaller then most, but taller then she'd had been.

She reached out, her hand shakily reaching for his face, afraid her hand would pass through the specter like it had some many times in her dreams. It didn't. Her hand pressed softly against his cheek, tracing the shape of his face. One of the first faces she learned. Beyond her father's. It was Robb who looked after her. Jon did too but Robb was the eldest and Jon was only slightly younger. Robb would sit with her in her room, come when she cried, played with her in the snow. Father said told her how much she'd been like Robb when he was child. That's how he knew for sure that she was truly his daughter.

"It's really you." She said, her voice so small, she could barely hear it herself. "Robb...." She said, haven't said his name in so long, if felt foreign.

Wetness touched her cheeks, and she gasped, wiping the tears. She'd stopped being able to cry that night on the beach, despite having so many reasons too.

Perhaps Clara Snow wasn't dead after all, just sleeping, and her brother's voice, woke her, bringing back her tears with him.


Overwhelmed by it all, she turned to Eleanor, her face going pale.

"Look....Tears...."She said, before her eyes rolled up in her head and she fell backwrd. She didn't fear, her brother was there, he would catch her.

"You didn't fail me, Oh Gods, You didn't fail me, I failed you." Robb blinked at her words, utter confusion gripping his mind. She couldn't have failed him, it wasn't her duty to protect him, it was his to protect her. He was her older brother, he had to keep her safe yet she blamed herself for what happened. She reached for him, her hands trembling like the rest of his body was. He looked at her, his blue eyes, the only part of himself recognizable to the sibling she'd known. He was afraid, truly afraid, that her hand would reach him and he'd wake up. It wouldn't have been the first cruel dream he'd had of the like.

Her touch was soft, soft as silk. She traced his features, as if seeing him for the first time. Her fingers trickled over the dirt, the blood and got lost in his thick fiery beard. He took in a shuddering breath as a single tear left his eye. She was really there, two years of hell and he had not lost everything. His sister yet lived and if nothing else that was worth living for, it was worth fighting for.

"It's really you."

She said, her voice little more than a whisper.

"Robb..."

She spoke his name as if it tasted strange on her lips, as if it was somememory from a dream. To hear it was even stranger, Robb Stark wasn't just a name, he was a dead man. Robb Stark was prince of Winterfell, son of Eddard Stark. That man died off the shore of White Harbor two years ago. He fell into the sea and what was born from the waves was someone else though perhaps, he thought as he looked at the sister he thought he'd lost, who he was now didn't have to be so different.

She swayed on her feet after she turned to the Queen of Nassau, he'd seen this before and knew what came next. He was on his feet before her own gave out. She fell but not far, tumbling softly into her brothers strong arms. He looked at her lovingly, a feeling he thought he'd lost the ability to feel.

"There now, I've got you... and I'll never let you fall again."

The room was silent, Guthrie staring at him, Robb holding his sister in his arms. He took a breath and met Eleanor's understandibly confused stare.

"Where can I put her? She needs to sleep this off, and I have to convince you not to kill me because now... I want to live."

Eleanor watched in confusion. There was no way that his man, the man that had been killing viciously her hard working men, this man, was the same man Max....Clara Snow, had been searching for two years.

She watched as Max--Clara turned to her, her fingers wet with fresh tears. She hadn't been able to cry, even when Eleanor told her there had been no bodies recovered from the ocean, even when she was attacked and nearly raped outside of Noonan's. No, Clara wasn't able to cry, yet, there she was. The impossible was possible. That much she could see now.

Clara wavered, and before Eleanor could move to save her, Flint---Robb Stark, her brother, was on his feet, cradling her before she fell.

He was so tender with her, in a way that made Eleanor oddly jealous. She could never be that to her, she could never be the comfort that he was to her, how could she? She was part of the world that Clara never wanted, Robb Stark was part of her old life, a life Eleanor knew she wanted back, but didn't have the heart to ask for.

"Where can I put her? She needs to sleep this off, and I have to convince you not to kill me because now... I want to live."

Eleanor looked back at him, snapping out of her confusion.

"This way." She said, and went to the large door that connected her office to Eleanor's bedroom.

She pulled the large doors open, and gestured to the bed, the sheets still disheveled from that morning, the bed they'd just shared the night prior and many nights beyond. Eleanor got a cold feeling that that kiss she received would be the last.

She watched as Robb Stark set his sister down, pulling the sheets over her, the way she'd always liked, right over her chest, but not at her neck.

"I was going to have you beaten in the streets....." She told him, her ire not abated by the tender look in his eyes that lingered on Clara.

"But I can't very well do that now, can I?" She said, and gestured for him to meet her back in her office, she left to door open so they could both keep an eye on her. Clara always hated sleeping alone, or at least waking up with no one there when they had been when she was sleeping. It seemed Robb knew this.

"Those men, worked for me, what they earned, helps me runs this place, provided and care for Ma--Clara....you jeopardized the both of us..." She said, taking a seat behind her desk, her voice was low as Clara was such a light sleeper.

"So, How do you intended on repaying me for the lives you took..."

Robb sat back in his seat, his sister asleep in the next room. While his eyes were unfocused as he stared at Guthrie's desk, his mind hadn't been clearer in two years. He had a goal, a mission, a duty again and that was because he had family again. For the first time in a long time he wasn't just a man wandering through life waiting for death. He may not be the man who feasted with Northern Lords or prayed in an ancient gods wood anymore but he wasn't the beast he'd been for the past two years either.

"I'll work it off."

Robb said suddenly. The clarity and assurdness in his voice suprised both Eleanor Guthrie and himself equally. It was a simple plan but judging from what he knew of the woman sitting across from him he saw no reason it shouldn't afford him what he wanted.

"Everyone on this island knows about the Queen of Nassau, they say you're a business woman who'se always willing to work out a deal if the terms are right. I've got no coin but I can work. Those men I killed, we both know they weren't your friends, they were assests and assests have a cost. Add that plus the work you would have got out of them but didn't since I took em from you and that's my debt. I'll be your man, serve in whatever way you deem fit. You keep whatever wage you'd normally pay out. If you put me with a crew whenever we score a haul, my share goes directly to you minus living expenses."

Robb could see the wheels in her mind turning, making the calculations even if she hadn't spoken a word. He was being fair, more than fair. He could have offered her a penalty price, some arbitrary amount of coin and call it even. He didn't want that. If he was going to earn enough to support himself and Clara in the future, or Max as she was going by now, he would need to earn and you didn't earn on Nassau without Eleanor Guthrie. He was going to prove himself a fair hand, a hard worker and a good earner.

"I'm a good fighter Guthrie, a good killer, don't need to convince you of that. I'm a fair shot and know my way around a rigging line. These past two years I've served on near half the ships in your bay. It's a fair deal..."

Robb paused, his attention flicking to his sleeping sister.

"I've failed her once, I don't plan on doing that again."

He turned back to the woman on the other side of the desk. The savage seemed removed and in his palce sat a determined but equally dangerous man willing do whatever was neccesary to protect and provide for the only family he had left.

"What d'ya say?"

"The promise of the riches that await them should satisfy any men you hire. If we should fail, however, we will not have the coin to satisfy them..."
Robyn sighed. She knew this, but it needed to be done. Fighting was hard enough, but they would come up against Faeries. All she knew was stories of them, she knew that they were allergic to iron, so with good enough steel, and in the right hands. Fighting them shouldn't be so difficult.

"I have one request. I would have us avoid harming the Drake Royal Family. The Sea Vultures are unusually loyal to the current king and provoking their fleet would not be wise. In addition, Moloch is the only one keeping my scheming sister and my mad, former king contained."

Robyn rolled her eyes. She had little care for politics, if it was a ship, she'd take it, his family or anyone else's be damned. She wasn't in the habit of making promises.

"In a fairer world, we would be cutting his head off and my sister..." He said and she looked at the half man. He seemed to be at odds with himself, he wanted his sister dead but not at the same time. It was written all over his deformed face.
He rose his flask

"To our most audacious raid in years." He said and she gave a nod. "Audacious indeed."

She said, raising an invisible glass.

"I'm heading inland, try not to embarrass anyone while I'm gone, including yourself." She said, before rising from her chair and making her way off of the ship to search for her latest crew member.

"I'll work it off."

Robb said and Eleanor looked at him oddly. She hadn't expected that. She expected something that would take Clara from her, promises of safety and things like that. She hadn't expected him to want to work for her.
"Go on..."She urged.

"Everyone on this island knows about the Queen of Nassau, they say you're a business woman who'se always willing to work out a deal if the terms are right. I've got no coin but I can work. Those men I killed, we both know they weren't your friends, they were assests and assests have a cost. Add that plus the work you would have got out of them but didn't since I took em from you and that's my debt. I'll be your man, serve in whatever way you deem fit. You keep whatever wage you'd normally pay out. If you put me with a crew whenever we score a haul, my share goes directly to you minus living expenses." He said and she nodded, musing this with a purse of her lips. He was a skilled fighter, probably more so now that he had something to fight for. He didn't set a price, he left that to her to decide which meant he wasn't planning to take Clara away, he planned to stay, which meant he earn enough for him and Clara, and with that all coming into pocket, she could provide for Clara while he was away.

"I'm a good fighter Guthrie, a good killer, don't need to convince you of that. I'm a fair shot and know my way around a rigging line. These past two years I've served on near half the ships in your bay. It's a fair deal..." He said, still pleading his case, when in her mind, she'd already accepted his offer, the only problem is, there was only hard labor here on the island, not enough to make a decent living...

She watched his eyes, as they moved to Clara's sleeping form, her exhaustion seemed to abate but she still slept, having turned in her sleep. Eleanor failed to hid her smile.

"I've failed her once, I don't plan on doing that again." He said and she looked at him.

The savage was gone, the man, the brother she'd heard so much about, he looked her in the eye.

"What d'ya say?"

She looked at him and sat back. Who would be insane enough to let this man on to their ship.


Bang, Bang BAng!

"Eleanor, open up."


Eleanor chuckled. Her timing was perfect.

"Come in, Captain, I was just thinking of you."

The door opened and in stepped the Crimson Lady. With all the swagger she was known for, confidence that could fill an empty room. "Well, you would be the first." She said with a kittenish grin, but it faded. "What is that smell?" She asked and Eleanor shushed her. Robyn looked to see the doors open. "Oh, you're kitten's sleeping." She said and chuckled. "Tired her out again, I see, you do have a way with your---"
Eleanor cleared her throat, stopping her before she revealed more than she ought to. "Captain, this is, Max's brother, and he goes by Flint." She said gesturing to the man, she figured it was best not to tell her who Clara and Robb were, less she hold them ransom.

Robyn rose a dark brow. "This--" She said, tossing a thumb in his direction as if he were merely a statue, not something that could react to being spoke about. "This is the Flint, the Man Without Fear, everyone's been going on about." She asked and Eleanor nodded. "The very one."

Robyn looked at him, sideways as if he were a something she didn't understand. "And somehow, this, is related to that." She pointed to Clara, still sleeping. I've seen her, there's no way for a number of reasons." She said and Eleanor rolled her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"That's beside the point, Captain, I have an offer to make you."

"Oh, well, I'm listening." She said, all ears.

"You need men, for this mission of yours, right?"

Robyn looked at her, and Eleanor could see that she was already putting it together,

"Oh no, no no, Not going to happen, you want me to put the Hobo from Hell on my ship?"

Eleanor shrugged.

"I don't need to downsize, Eleanor." Robyn said, shaking her head.

"I know, I know, believe me, I wouldn't ask you this, but he works for me now, anything he earns goes to me."

Robyn looked at him skeptically. "What's stopping him from killing my men in their sleep."

"Her." Eleanor nodded toward Clara.

"You're using the girl for ransom, devilish of you, I like it."

"No, it's not that. He offered it to me." She said honestly, and Robyn sighed and looked to the man. Eleanor could see her sizing him up.

"Alright, Flint, What can you do?" She asked, folding her arms over her ample chest, and shifting her hip in a way that tantalized the brain. If it weren't for Max, Eleanor would have a hard time not wanting that woman, herself.

In she walked, the myth, the legend, The Crimson Lady. He'ld heard the stories, everyone had heard the stories. Pirates, merchants and sailors the world over had heard about the woman who ruled the seas through blood and fear. The woman who showed less mercy than the kraken. Some thought her a demon, some vampiress who lusted after the blood of the living. They told of her malice, her cruelty and the legions of the dead she left in her wake. What they didn't tell of was her beauty. Odd fact Robb found as it was the first thing he noticed when she walked in.

Subtle curves that teased with every swaying step, dark skin kissed by the sun, a smile more dangerous than any legend. This woman could sink fleets with a look and Robb felt the waves lapping at his deck.

"Oh, you're kitten's sleeping."

She said and chuckled, he enjoyed the sound of her laughter.

"Tired her out again, I see, you do have a way with your---"

She said, snapping Robb's attention away from her to his sister then Madame Guthrie. Eleanor hushed the captian but the moment was enough and Robb caught it. He was suprised to say the least, Clara grew up dreaming of some bold knight to sweep her off her feet, Robb never imagined that knight would be a woman. Yet much has changed, he knew that most of all. Eleanor introduced him to the captain like a rabid dog she'd found roaming the streets, he couldn't say he'd been much less if he was being honest.

"This is the Flint, the Man Without Fear, everyone's been going on about."

With a thumb at him. He couldn't help but smirk softly beneath his ginger beard. The Man Without Fear there had been worse handles and in some odd way it made him proud that she'd heard of him. He sat in silence as Eleanor set to selling him to Captain Robyn Sheva, for a second time he was suprised. Robb had assumed she'd put him to work on the island, not trusting him at sea to return and continue to pay his debt. Perhaps use him as a cats paw for her enemies. Yet not only does she give the sea to him again, his new love, she gave him a place the most infamous pirate vessel in the world. Though all Eleanor Guthrie could offer was an opportunity. Sheva was captain and the final say so rested with her.

"Alright Flint, what can you do?"

Captain Sheva posed the question to Robb directly and for the first time he spoke. Getting to his feet he met her gaze evenly. He noticed her eyes were a swirling mix of black and brown, like warm darkness.

"Put a sword in my hand, a gun that's worth it's weight and I'll kill every man in this building."

His bluntness seemed to amuse her.

"The debt of life I owe is proof of that, you can ask Mum if you will."

He said with a shrug.

"What I can do, Captain Sheva, is tell you one thing for certain. Put me on your ship and I'll be the most dangerous weapon you have to bring to bear against whatever hapless souls are unlucky enough to catch the same wind as The Harbinger.

"Put a sword in my hand, a gun that's worth it's weight and I'll kill every man in this building."
Robyn smirked. He certainly knew how to sell it. It was clear he heard her legend too. "The debt of life I owe is proof of that, you can ask Mum if you will." He said and Robyn openly laughed at that. Eleanor didn't seem at all amused but that just made her smile roguishly in her direction.

"What I can do, Captain Sheva, is tell you one thing for certain. Put me on your ship and I'll be the most dangerous weapon you have to bring to bear against whatever hapless souls are unlucky enough to catch the same wind as The Harbinger."

At that, Robyn walked up to him, narrowing her dark eyes, a hand on her hip. "Well, you talk well, but," She leaned in some. " that title belongs to me." She said with a wink and then backed away, looking him up and down.

"He's my kind of crazy." She said to Eleanor but still looking at Flint. "Get yourself cleaned up, because as much I like the smell of blood, and rum, that's circumstantial." She said with a flare of her nostrils. "it's usually one followed by the other." She said and tossed her hand. "Anyway, when your done, meet me downstairs, in the back, since someone doesn't like blood on her floors. I'll test the weight of your steel myself." She said and headed toward the door, she tossed a look behind her.

"See if you're all talk like every other man I've had to displeasure to come across." She said and disappeared out the door but not before hearing Eleanor says.

"She likes you...That may not be good thing...."

Robyn laughed. She knew her well.

"She likes you... That may not be a good thing...."

Guthrie said as Captain Sheva took her leave, Robb watched her go, his eyes lingering on her figure until she was out of sight. Robb turned to Eleanor with a mischevious smirk.

"What does it mean if I like her too?"

He said before heading out of the room to get cleaned up as was asked of him. Eleanor Guthrie operated out of a trading house that was complete with a tavern and a bath house in which a few whores could always be found willing to take care of a beach rat like him for enough coin or if he dropped the right name.

"Who're you then?"

A pale girl asked with big breasts and flat, black hair asked. The bath house had curtains covering all the windows, couldn't have men getting a peak for free. The room was warm with steam from several tubs already filled of heated water. A hand full of girls stood around, no business today save for one small man buckling his belt. A glare from Robb and he rushed out in a hurry.

"Names Flint, I'm Guthries new man. Says I'm to get cleaned up."

The whore looked him up and down with a chuckle.

"Wise one Mum is, looks be you can use a good scrubbing. Maybe a haircut and a shave. New clothes wouldn't be amiss."

"Do your worst."

Robb shot back with a smirk. She liked that he noticed as she bit her lip, letting her gaze fall to his belt buckle. She sent out a few of the girls to collect him some fresh clothes while she set to stripping away his soiled and tattered shirt and trousers. The water was hot, it scoured his skin but felt amazing. A horse hair brush and a good bar of soap worked magic on the caked on blood and dirt. The other women returned and set to combing out the tangled knot of red hair before cutting it while another slathered hot cream on his face and began shaving his face. He felt almost like they were building a new man out of the ashes.

"So Flint, got a first name?"

The whore asked as she began helping him into his new clothes. Robb shrugged casually.

"Not yet, any suggestions?"

He seemed to amuse the woman to no end who laughed out right as she stood behind him and pulled his jacket on.

"Hows about Jimmy, or James. Always liked that name."

"James..."

Robb said testing it out with a subtle nodd, he liked it.

"There now, take a look at the new James Flint."





He descended the stairs, a new man. Not the beast and not the prince but a pirate. A man of the sea who made his living at the end of a sword or with the flash of a pistol. His long black coat flowing behind him, his keen blue eyes, as icy as the frozen North. His hair was no longer the unkept mane of fiery red locks but neat and tidy, combed and tied to keep out of his face. The savage beard, unruly and wild was gone and instead was a clever looking mustache and goatee giving him a debonair look. He spotted the dark skinned Captain and he gave her a subtle nod with a knowing smile. He saw the way she was looking at him, she liked what she saw as he had with her the moment he'd seen her.

"Captain."

He said as he aproached.

"I believe you wanted to test my metal, I'm ready for you."

Robyn was drinking her favorite ale, as Flint came down the stairs. Her brow rose, as he looked almost entirely different. His hair pulled back behind his head, combed so that red lock shone bright. His long beard gone, giving him a clever look about him. His eyes were the only thing that remained the same, crystal blue as they had been in Eleanor's office. She knew there was something she liked about him, there was a interesting looking man beneath all of that dirt and blood.

"Captain."

He said, approaching her, she rose from her stool,

"I believe you wanted to test my metal, I'm ready for you." He said and she grinned her kittenish grin.

"Ready for me?" She said with a raise of a single brow, "Hardly, but you clean up well....if you're as good as you say, perhaps you're metal isn't all I test." She said and she walked ahead of him, but it was then that quick footfalls came from the top level, she looked up to see Max, Eleanor's kitten was looking down at Flint. "You've got company." She said, pointing with her lips toward the girl as she looked down, almost as she didn't recognize him at least not until he turned to see her.

Clara couldn't remember her dream, no images but it wasn't dreamless as she awoke with one word on her lips.

"Robb!" She shot from the bed in a gasp, her body slick with sweat, midnight curls clinging to the side of her head, as she looked around, Eleanor came to her, the door was opened and she could see directly in to the office but Robb wasn't there. It had been a dream after all.

Clara closed her hands over her eyes. "Max." Eleanor called as she came over, taking a seat on the bed. "It was a dream, A horrible, beautiful dream." Clara said in her hands.
Eleanor took her hands. "What dream?" She asked, Clara looked up and sighed. "My brother, I dreamed he was here, alive, but he's not here...." She said and Eleanor smiled sadly.

"It wasn't a dream, Clara Snow." She said and Clara flinched. "Your brother is alive, he's here, He was Flint, you fainted when you saw him."

"Then where is he? Why did he leave? Did you hurt him? I swear if you hurt him---" Eleanor looked hurt but shook her head. "I didn't hurt him, He was getting himself cleaned up, He'll be working for the Crimson Lady, to pay back the debt." She said and Clara frowned. "The Crimson Lady?" She questioned. "That woman is crazy." She said and Eleanor laughed. "You're not wrong, but she's a good earner, he wants to pay back the money he took from us, when he killed those men, to look after you."

Clara sighed. That sounded like Robb. "I have see him." She said and Eleanor nodded. "He was going to audition for the Captain out back, if you go now--"

Clara was already up, and out of bed before Eleanor had time to finish. She busted out of her office and down the long hallway until it turned into a balcony, she looked down and she saw the Crimson Lady but instead of her brother, she saw a ginger haired man, with a ponytail walking out with her. She was halfway down the stairs when The Captain caught her gaze and nodded toward her, the man turned and Clara's eyes went wide.

He looked so different.

"R..."She stopped, she knew calling him by his real name would reveal hers, the last thing they needed was for a group of pirates, to know they were long lost royalty, or at least Robb was. She was only a bastard, heir to nothing.

"Flint...." She said, Max once again. "You're leaving already?" She asked, not bothering to hide the disappointment in her voice.

The Captian chuckled." I'll wait," She said, taking a seat, watching the drama apparently.

"Two years, I haven't seen you, two." She said, bitterly. "I can barely recognize you, not that it matters, you're leaving...."She said, she knew she wasn't being fair but the idea that he'd be joining a pirate crew, the Harbinger no less and would be off for the gods only know how long, after just reuniting with her. It not only broke her heart, it boiled her blood. Surely he wasn't leaving at this moment, but still. It didn't help that he wasn't there when she woke, making her think it was just a dream.

"Fine, Fuck you too." She said much to his surprise. Clara Snow didn't curse, Max, swore like a sailor.

Flint couldn't help but laugh. The sister he remembered never swore, every time he or Jon would have let loose a curse she'd gasp in shock. This wasn't his little Clara but the fiery Max who worked for Eleanor Guthrie. He was looking forward to getting to know this new sister as no doubt she was itching to get to know him.

"Me leaving isn't a fuck you Max. I've got to make a wage somehow and I'm a shit fisherman."

He said with a half smile, the hint of the wolf grin he had in his youth.

"You're friend Ms. Guthrie convinced the good captain to give me a chance to earn my salt aboard her ship. I plan to do just that not to leave you, but to support you. We're family, we have to help each other. You've got your business..."

He said his eyes flicking to the surrounding trading house where Max worked.

"And I've got mine."

He said as he rested his hand on the cutlass hanging from his hip. He leaned forward and gave his sister a soft kiss on the forehead followed by a charming wink.

"Now, I'm going to see how much trouble I can get into with that pretty Captain behind me. When I'm done, we'll catch up. Promise."

With that he turned, returning to Sheva who'd been watching him ever since Max descended the stairs. Instead at stopping at her table for her to lead Flint walked right past her towards the outdoor area she had been leading him to originally. He stopped a few paces past and turned back to her, that wolf grin Robb Stark had been known for was shared by James Flint with uncanny similarity.

"Well?... Waiting on you now, Captain."

Clara glared at him as he laughed. He mistook her ire for comedy. If she had something sharp right now....

"Me leaving isn't a fuck you Max. I've got to make a wage somehow and I'm a shit fisherman."

With a smirk she wanted to knock clean off his face.

"You're friend Ms. Guthrie convinced the good captain to give me a chance to earn my salt aboard her ship. I plan to do just that not to leave you, but to support you. We're family, we have to help each other. You've got your business..."
She narrowed her eyes at him. So he knew about her and Eleanor. She would have told him but he would have to sit still long enough to do it.

"And I've got mine." He said and she rolled her eyes as his hand rested on the hilt of his cutlass. She was so used to seeing his with a straight sword, that this was wrong somehow, if he really wasn't Robb Stark anymore. It wasn't until he leaned in, pressing a kiss to her forehead and wink at her did he seem like himself again. She tried to hide it but failed

"Now, I'm going to see how much trouble I can get into with that pretty Captain behind me. When I'm done, we'll catch up. Promise." He said and she sighed, folding her arms. "Sure, It's not like I thought you were dead for two years, yes, we'll catch up." She said and stormed off in a huff. It was the moment, a drunk, stood up, tried to speak to her, but she pushed him in his face, without looking at him or stopping, making him stumbled backwards into his seat.

Of all the ways she'd imagined seeing him again, two years worth of fantasizing abut how she was leapt into his arms, hug him, kiss him and never let go, she didn't expect nor appreciate such a casual response.

This Island changed people she knew that, and it was never for the better.

Robyn watched him as he went ahead her, she didn't rise from her stool, she watched as Max shoved a drunk without even looking at him. She didn't know where these two where from, but there was something in the water there.
He walked passed her and stopped, grinned dangerously.

"Well?... Waiting on you now, Captain."

She looked at him and smirked.
"In a hurry to lose I see." she said and stood. "This is an audition." She said as she walked up to him, siding beside him. "Remember that." She said, before pushing passed him, so he could watch her walk. She felt his eyes and liked them there.

She lead him into an alley, between Eleanor's tavern and another building. In the middle, was a ring in the dirt. This was a fighting pit most days, where fighters came to fight in the dirt, try to push each other out, or beat each other to death, while other men were making bets. Robyn had a wager of her own.

"Alright." She said, and gestured to the ring. "It's simple, get me out of the ring, do that three times, and you win." She said and shrugged. "Are you a betting man, Flint?" she asked, removing her belt that held her cutlass and flintlock and tossing it to the ground. They were alone and would be for a while, the fighting didn't happen until the evening most days and it was only midday, most of them were either too drunk, or too asleep to bother.

"If I win," She paused, and thought for a moment. Since he cleaned himself up, she wanted many things from him, but it wouldn't be so easy. "If I win, I'll spare you the hazing that you'll inevitable receive on my ship, but not having to work the rows." She told him and looked at him, her kittenish grin returning. "If you win...well....I think we both know what you want."