The Calm Before the Storm

This thread is set some time in the past. Please keep this in mind.

"Ah, th' smell o' th' sea is sweet today, Besmara must be 'appy today." Grant chuckled, turning his head up and taking a deep breath of the sea air. The old pirate smiled to himself, looking out over the water, the waves glittering in the sunlight like jewels. He loved this time of the day, when the sunlight was just high enough to poke through the treelines and mountains dotting the small islands in the sea surrounding Manta Carlos. He loved these times when he could just get away from the island, get back out on the sea.

Times like these made him nostalgic for days long past, back with his crew. He smirked at the bittersweet memory. He knew his boys were all sailing with Besmara now, and thusly sailing with him in spirit. Looking out over the silver glint of the waves, he could almost make them out. Flying out over the waves.

Wait...Flying?

Grant stared at the large silver bird flying away from the island he was sailing towards. It was an island he knew very well, frequenting it on his little expeditions away from Manta Carlos. The old pirate could see something glinting in the sand, and decided he needed to check it out.

He waded through the shallow water in the cove he docked near, walking towards the silver mass in the sand.

"A feather? What in Besmara's name..." As he got close, his visible eye widened. Laying under the feather was a young girl, sleeping peacefully. She was small and obviously hadn't had a good meal in days. Grant kneeled in the sand next to her, brushing the hair away from her face. He didn't want to wake her up, but he knew he had to find out what she was doing here. Gently putting a hand on her shoulder, the pirate attempted to wake this girl up.

"Ey now, wake up lass."

Grant watched with concern as the little girl opened her mouth, clearly struggling to talk. He looked into her eyes, the purple orbs glittering like the clear sky above the sea. Why was this child here? Where'd she come from?

Grant felt his heart twitch as he took in the fresh scar on her neck, similar scars on her shoulders and, what he could assume, her back.

Who did this?

Grant was a pirate for most of his life, and he understood that violence and death were part of the job. He'd sure killed people, more than he could count. The time-lost pirate had more blood on his hands than he had in his body.

True that he didn't actually have blood in a normal sense, but that's how the phrase works. It wasn't the point now, the point was that there was a little girl who appeared to be tortured laying on a desert island in the middle of nowhere.

"Shush now lass, yer safe. Let's go getche patched up, alrigh'? Getcha somethin' te drink."

He spoke softly, his thoughts drifting to his distant past, the daughter he had that he never got to see. Was he really getting another chance?

He glanced to the sky, catching a glint of silver in the far distance.

"Praise be t' Besmara." He muttered, smiling softly.

He slowly picked up the little girl, holding her in a bridal carry and keeping her close to his chest with one arm. He grabbed the large feather as well, and started walking off towards his ship.

@Ghost