Thoughts From a Wandering Raven

He picks one up.  “Opinions, lads?  What was Lucas up to, why the boy, and what else do we not know?  I don’t think they’re decorative.”

“Well, my mother is one Royal baby away from completing a trifecta.  I’d suggest you issue a Royal order for all men in the family except me and Max stay the fuck away from her, myself.”

“You’ll find that I prefer to talk my way out of a fight if possible.” Jerod says.  “I have no desire to leave people
dead on the ground if I can avoid it, so if by words I can figure out a plan that will help to avoid that fate for some,
and still achieve my goals, I will do that.  I have little use for those who do not see the wisdom of that philosophy.”
and he smiles slightly as he adds,   “And…that no be a judgement on me part.” in an excellent dockside accent, for the
moment.

“As for whether or not I get my hands dirty, that depends solely on whether me getting dirty, as you call it, will be of
benefit to the situation.  If there are others who can perform the task and let me work on something else, then no…I
won’t be getting dirty.”

“Do you ever shut up?  Or d’you just keep on talking until other people give in just to make you stop?

“If the whole damn trip is like this, I swear to you, I will throw you off this damned boat as soon as we’re somewhere I can get home from.”

“I saw it start.” Robin confirms.
“When we got to the place Ash sent us, the atmosphere was tinder all around & people were skittish, so me and Raven didn’t go in. ‘Stead we took up positions out back to see what was flushed.”
“Two amorous drunks joined us shortly.  Just then, Kitten – flunky of interest – exits the nearby loo.  Raven asks one of the drunks a polite question and said drunk decides to threaten a uniformed captain of Xanadu’s navy.  There are more words and Kitten escalates to punching.  Drunk #1 goes down, drunk #2 starts screaming.  I shoot Kitten, (just a little bit – he’s fine) scoop him up and am back on the roof pretty darn quick.  Raven moves to comfort Drunk #2. That’s when we’re hit with a mob from inside the tavern.  They’re already well into torches-and-pitchforks mode , and all for attacking captain, my royal cousin.” she nods to Raven.
“Now our directive was ‘no bodies on the ground,’” Robin nods to Jerod,  “and especially not ours.”  She nods to the King.  “But since folks aren’t even a little inclined to talk, me and Raven exit the scene by the fastest, more torturous route we can find and eventually we lose ’em.”
Robin shrugs.  Humans and liquor, what can you say?

“Note to self: next time, don’t let the Ranger tell the story.  That ain’t got near enough wiggle room.”

“Miss Scarlett.  She has an appointment with me.  I’m afraid I must take a terrible liberty in moving it up to fit my schedule.  Please be so good as to have her attend immediately.” Jerod says.  He then continues forward, not trying to deliberately bowl the man over, but neither does Jerod stop simply becaus the man is in his way.  Should the Gatekeeper decide to try to stop them, he will find any rumors he may have heard of Jerod’s strength to be quite factual when a vise-like grip clamps onto the man’s arm so that he can continue to accompany the new arrivals.

“This?  This is why people think you lot are crazy, arrogant, or whatever else.

“When I leave you alone with her so’s I can find the boy, don’t blame me if she humps your leg or something.”

The kitchen door opens and the redheaded woman walks out. There’s a young boy, perhaps 8, behind her with the offal. The fire-lizards are all aware of the food, but are waiting impatiently for permission to eat.

“Most people who come to see me don’t ask for uncooked meat,” says Scarlett. “But I ain’t met many castle folks.”

If this is an ambush, it’s a slow ambush.

“It ain’t an ambush – you’re a girl. I’d guard your purse, though. Not that I think she’s likely to steal it, but she’s damned sure going to charge you an arm and a leg for that meat…”

“I think you’ll find many things are interesting.” Jerod says.  “The first being that you don’t call me sir.”

“What is wrong with these people??”

“Captain Raven, this means three things. One, you’re now Lord Raven, my nephew. Two, you get our heartfelt thanks instead of medals and bonuses.”

“Oh, bloody hell. Really? I mean, I ain’t got a problem with not getting medals, but no bonus?”

“Couldn’t hurt,” Gerard allows. “Conner’s a redhead and that makes him a tricksy wight, but I think he’s good at heart. Brita’s his sister, in the half blood: they share the same mother. As for Marius, you’ve met him. Did anyone tell you about his mother?”

“Ah, sir? I’m not sure you’re getting this. I ain’t known about this for more than half a day. I ain’t got the first clue about most of you lot, other than that half of you ain’t normal…”

“Your Majesty,

I spoke with my mother. She says my da was a Navy man calling himself Corby, and that she’s pretty sure that ain’t his real name. Officer material, apparently. She said he was tall, dark, and clean – and that last, that was a selling point, which told me more than I wanted to know about the daft woman’s standards. Also don’t seem to help much, seeing as how I seem to recall that most of the old princes was tall, dark, and clean. I ain’t expecting to get a damn word more on the subject from the stubborn old bitch; maybe someone else would have better luck.

-Raven”

Scarlett looks her up and down. She’s not hot-angry, but this may be the most real anger Raven has ever seen from her mother. Scarlett acts calmer the angrier she feels.

“You ungrateful wretch, I gave you everything you needed, and more and now you want me to have been honest? Honesty woulda gotten you killed, or into a whorehouse more likely. You’d’ve had the stupidest dreams of rescue by your rich Daddy and you’d still be scrubbin floors instead of captaining a ship if I’da been honest with you. You needed what I gave you, and don’t you be thinking I done you wrong. You did fine. Now that you’re all important, I get to see how you mess it up on your own.”

“Crazy old bitch. You know damned well what I’m talking about. Guess I’ve gotta spell it out.”