Scrunching up his nose, Curtis waved his hand. “Paranoid.” He refocused on Pearly. “I still have to follow the rules so..” He nervously scratched his head and caused his short blonde hair to get even messier than it was. “Let’s see…” Curtis held up his finger and raised his eyebrow. “Can I get your name?”

  Standing before the guard head-to-toe in her captain’s dress, Pearly knew she needed something to distract the guard from inquiring about her profession. With a saunter forward, Pearly reached out and pced her hand on Curtis’s warm cheek. “Curtis..” Pearly used her deep French accent that had gotten her out of many hairy instances, “...Please, call me Pearl-y.” Carrying her finger along his jawline, she fshed her pearl teeth and took a step back and swooned.

  Barely reacting in time to catch Pearly as she toppled into his arms, Curtis pulled the pirate to his chest. “Miss Pearl?” He looked up right when his fellow guard returned. “Pearl..she just fell..um..”

  Older and a little more wise, Trey shook his head. “Come on Pearl, stand up.” He ughed, “You aren’t fooling anyone except my gullible partner.”

  “Can’t a girl have a reason to feel a strong man holding her, Trey?” Pearly offered and opened her eye.

  “What?” Curtis slowly released Pearly and rubbed his temples. “You wanted to…”

  Crossing his arms and standing to the side, Trey ughed. “You didn’t need to go through all that, Pearly Pieces of Eight.” He pointed to the pearl-handled pistol. “It’s legendary and we don’t have an issue with..er..sailors here in Malsend Harbor.”

  Suddenly feeling duped, Curtis sighed and walked back. “I didn’t think she was…” He sighed, “Yeah, Trey is right, all sailors welcome.”

  With the ruse exposed, Pearly adjusted her belt and still gave Curtis a kiss on his cheek. “Never change. Some dy will fall for your brown eyes and ruffled blonde hair, sweetie.” Pearly inspected the tiny lipstick mark she made with her simple peck. “That will fetch a bit of gold for the tale. Telling everyone that Pearly Pieces of Eight gave you a kiss?” She turned to Trey, “Tell me, where is the tavern with the lovely redhead named…Lay working?”

  “Oh.” Trey ughed, “You know…she really does call herself Lay now.” He pointed to the main cobblestone street. “That way, until you smell the harbor..” He paused, “..fish…Then turn right. You want the Misty Peacock.”

  With a bow, Pearly left the guards behind and knew that the pair were staring at her backside as she walked deeper into the town.

  -That’s right, keep watching.-

  Happy to keep walking out of sight of the town entrance, Pearly was genuinely surprised at how clean the town was, given that the pce was a pirate hangout.

  -Was it always this nice?-

  Pearly questioned herself as she headed in the direction that the guards pointed her in. When a strong whiff of fish smacked Pearly’s senses, she pulled a small silk cloth from under her ornate glove and pressed the fabric to her nose.

  -Trey wasn’t kidding. That was his name..right?-

  Dismissing the gaps in her memory, Pearly walked along the docks and looked for one ship in particur. “Shit.” Pearly paused, “Shit. Damn it, the bsted girl isn’t here.” A husky female voice came from behind Pearly and she spun on her boot heel, whipping her long bck and silver hair across her face. “Oh!” Pearly paused and pointed her finger at the rge woman. “Patricia, right?”

  “Captain Pearly.” Medusa folded her arms across her muscur chest, “You listen about as well as Captain Ruby.” Patricia took a breath, “I said, she is here. Well most of us are here, Captain Ruby…” She took off her tricorn and scratched her auburn hair, “...is dancing around with a couple of friends in the Misty Peacock.” Spotting the pearl-handled pistol, Medusa offered a salute using her cap. “Your reputation precedes you…” She looked around, “...but I don’t see your ship either.”

  “You stole it.” Pearly huffed and looked towards the tavern, “Or I should say Ruby stole it.” She waved her hand, “Either way, I still haven’t procured another vessel.” A quick resurgence of her memory and Pearly remembered why she went to the harbor and had been checking out the spaces. “I don’t see my damned ship, Miss Sweet.” She put on a hard-looking face to the much rger woman. “I want ‘The Dancing Dagger’ back, if you please.”

  While Patricia could easily tell that Pearly was a few inches taller than herself, the elder pirate captain cked the muscuture to match her own. Taking a few quiet moments to consider what she could or should say about the ship, Medusa scratched behind her ear and offered, “You might want to take that up with Captain Ruby. I don't think it's my pce to say in this case, as it were.”

  Happy that Ruby was close by, even if her ship wasn’t, Pearly bowed her head respectfully to Patricia. “The Misty Peacock, right?” Pearly confirmed, “Dancing, which I assume means she’s likely drunk.”

  “Yep.” Medusa reaffirmed. “With a nice-looking redhead, so unless you pn to find her in the morning, I would get up there quickly…” Patricia smiled, “...Captain.” With a smooth fir, she put her hat back on and bowed to Pearly and whistled softly as she walked away.

  -Shit. Shit. Damn it, Shit.-

  Pearly cursed and shook her head as she walked up to the tavern. Silently observing the totality of the bar scene, Pearly initially noticed that both Avanora and Nerice were missing. “Interesting.” Pearly spoke aloud to a few odd looks of patrons that passed by. Second and most importantly, Pearly noticed that the entire party within the alehouse was centered around another tall brunette with a ravishing ruby-cd eye patch, a flowing red gown that hovered like a feather when she spun and streamers of yellow and gold that added another yer of mystique to the boisterous woman. Just as first mate Patricia ‘Medusa’ Sweet promised, Ruby was dancing with a redhead that Pearly knew was Lay. Deciding that she needed a way into the pack of dancers, Pearly took off her captain’s hat and tossed it onto a small window ledge and shook out her hair to give it a lively look and then pinched her cheeks to make it look like she’d been drinking or also been dancing. Scanning the floor of gyrating people, Pearly spotted a finely dressed pointy eared woman sipping dark red wine from a slender gss.

  Giving herself a moment to figure out her path through the crowd, Pearly finally took a final deep breath and bounced onto the party floor. Stopping on occasion to give a welcome kiss to those she knew, Pearly took those same moments to twirl once and take healthy gulps from her friends' drinks then float away lightly like a billowy cloud. Landing squarely in front of her target, Pearly grabbed a pair of drinks from a passing barmaid and looked directly into a set of luscious kaleidoscope verdant eyes. “Delzie.” Pearly handed her courtesan friend one of the less dignified mugs of ale-rum and fshed her pearl teeth. “It’s been too long, love.” Pearly offered sweetly in her light French accent.