"Yer need some one ter wotch yor back if yor gonna get on a boat wiv a bunch of blokes yer don't know." Questa said.

In reply to Sileas (msg # 198):

Yehudit crossed her arms stubbornly. "I'm old enough to make up my mind, I'm going with you."

In reply to Sileas (msg # 198):

"He's my Papa..." Lek said, reluctantly.

"I know he is, but I really need someone here that knows what's going on in case something goes wrong. Otherwise, we could all just disappear or worse. You wouldn't want to put your mother through that."

Lek gulped. "I wish Millie was here."

"Millie would be out of her element." Sileas looked at him gently. "You are out of your element. You're not a fighter, explorer or adventurer. You've done a big thing in helping to find your father, you found someone who knows the island. Let me do this for you and your Mother and sister. Let me take over now."

Lek was starting to tear up, he quickly wiped his eyes. He nodded, feeling a lump forming in his throat.

Sileas hugged him tightly. "The first thing I will tell your father is how you fought to find out where he was as soon as you learned what had happened. Your Papa will be very proud of you."

The hug and Sileas's words only made it harder not to cry. Lek choked on a sob. "I miss him."

"I know you do, I know you do." Sileas hugged him tighter. As soon as Juniper tells us how far it is, you go back to the knights and head back to the keep. Make certain to tell Wulfsen and Papa everything you know." Sileas smiled at him. "I can use a hero myself right now. How about it, Lek, will you be my hero?"

Juniper rolled her eyes at the display of emotion and took another drink of her flask." So who's coming and who's leaving?" She interjected.

That was it. Lek was full on crying now.

"The three of us are coming with you, Lek will stay here," Sileas replied. "How long should this trip take?"

Juniper shrugged" At minimum... two weeks" she tucked the flask away and propped her legs up on the railing.

Sileas grimaced. That was very open-ended. She turned to Lek and waited for him to stop crying. "So we should be gone no longer than a month, I would wager." Truthfully she didn't want to be gone longer. Xavier was going to kill her. She lowered her voice. "Tell Xavier when he arrives with those things to put them where you found Questa and me this morning, all right?" She kissed his cheek. "All will be well I promise."

Lek gulped again and looked at Sileas, then the ship.

"Can you fight the mermen?" Lek asked. "If they're there they won't let you just take Papa..."

"I've fought them before," Sileas said readily. "That's why I would have preferred Yehudit and Questa stay behind but since they won't be reasonable and have no sense of self-preservation..." She glanced toward her cousin and friend.

"Oh I 'ave self preservation, ffough we're probably gonna 'ave terrible fings done ter us or die. Getting on a ship wiv a bunch of strangers 'oo will probably sell us into slaright or do us dirty an 'undred times over. Maybe we'll get shipwrecked and drown or get eaten by sharks. If we manage ter get ter this island the bloomin' mermen will probably do uvver terrible fings ter us and kill us. Then this Nelek could also be dead already." Questa grumbled. "But the bleedin' only way yer'd stand a chance at survivin' this is if I go wiv yer, init? Millstone can't fight ter save 'er life and yer can't trust these strangers."

That was Sileas's greatest fear, that they would arrive and find her uncle's body. But she gave no voice to that, she would not upset Lek further. Until they knew one way or another, there was hope. "Truthfully I would feel better if Wulfsen's men were with us, but I doubt she'd let them on her ship at this point." If the mermen or these sailors dispatched her, well, at least she would be with Larrigan once more. The truth was that at this time, Sileas had no sense of self-preservation. While she didn't have a death wish or seek out trouble, as her aunt had accused her of, Sileas had no care of if she lived or died. She rolled her shoulders and headed for the boat.

Yehudit hobbled towards the ship, and nearly fell off the dock.

Sileas really wished Yehudit would stay with Lek, this really wasn't her type of thing. But she wasn't going to argue.

"This is gonna end well." Questa said darkly.

"I wish she'd stay behind with Lek. If something happens to her, it really doesn't matter if the strangers, the mermen or a shark gets me. Aunt Lia will kill me. Yehudit doesn't seem to care."

Yehudit bristled. "I can take care of myself."

Sileas rolled her eyes.