Part Two—-

Uncivilized. The name painted on the side of the massive vessel in swirling letters made him smile. His mother used to complain about meeting people that were that. She prided herself on proper manners, etiquette and grace. Anyone who didn't meet those standards of hers, were deemed unfit to socialize with.

She"d keel over and die of shock if she saw where her precious baby boy spent most of his time. On a dock with pirates, ruffians. To Tristan, these men were his friends. They weren't just crew members. He didn't care where they grew up or how, they were men with pride, a sense of honor and integrity.

Those same men were loading up the ship with the necessary cargo for the trip. If all went well, they'd be leaving that evening. He liked moonlight sailing.

He was so caught up in his musings that he didn't hear Aja approach.

"So..." she started and he jumped making her laugh.

"Damn it!" Tristan"s hand went to his chest. "You need a damn bell around your pretty little neck!"

"As I'm often told." her laughter trailed off. And she patted his arm. "Going on a wander, are we?"

"Yes. I think it would be good for me."

"I think so too." she said joining him watching the crew. She crossed her arms as she leaned against some crates while she thought about Tristan's trip. She never looked at him, they had an understanding about over emotional exchanges. Neither were fond of them. "Yer home is always here. But I think it"s good ta get away from time ta time. Remember why this be home."

"How could I forget?"

"I don't like to speculate." There was a smirk on her face. "You can be quite daft."

"I'll miss you too."

"Oh, hush." Aja grinned not really looking at him. She turned her face away and watched as cargo was loaded on another vessel, pushing away a similar scene in her head of a time when Tristan was preparing to leave on a voyage.

"I'll be coming back, Rabbit."

"Ya best. Or I'll hunt yer arse down." she said stiffening her posture slightly. It was then he understood what she had been thinking about.

"It won't be like before." he promised in a quiet tone.

"Good." she said quietly. It remained silent between them for a while longer then Aja leaned over, kissed his cheek and whispered. "Fair winds and following seas."

He just smiled softly, watching her head down the dock. She took a moment to check a shipping manifest before proceeding back to the shipyard office.

Looking back to the ship as the crew loaded the Uncivilized, with his mind starting to wonder back to his last voyage. Bits and pieces of it were fuzzy at best, he could recall that it happened over twenty years ago as flashes of the battle came and went. His internal narrative ran through the details he could recall.

I vaguely remember that we were attacked, with it being un-provoked by my crew or me. The battle is hazy, but I know it was a hard fought one. It was the last thing that I can recall, from that period of time minus my times with Aja. I can vaguely remember the noises, or that I was shot and died then. If only things could have been different. If only I had been more careful, but that is in the past. This is now and I have a new lease on life.

Shaking his head as he nearly missed the call from one of his crew that they were nearly finished with loading the ship. "Time to stop trudging through life and living for the here and now." Tristan muttered to himself. ——————————————————-End Part Two——————————————————————-

Part Four—

Foxwell Port, present day.

Uncivilized pulled into Foxwell port to resupply and dodge an incoming storm. The crew secured the vessel before taking off to enjoy liberty off the ship.

Tristan left the ship in the trusty hands of the night watch, and made his way into the city. He found a nice looking hotel, the Spirited Fire where he was provided a comfortable room, he stored his belongings and headed to the Inn"s tavern to acquire some dinner and a drink or two.

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He entered the elegant dining area, then headed to the bar and sat near an elderly gentleman.

"Good evening, Stranger." the elder man greeted Tristan as he waited for the bartender to venture down to their end of the well appointed bar.

"Good evening." Tristan returned, old manners returning while he spoke to the well dressed man speaking to him.

"In town for anything special?" the older man asked while signaling the bartender.

"No." Tristan replied. "Just seemed like a nice place to stop for the night, let the storm pass before moving on."

"It is a nice place now." the old man seem to stare at through the back bar mirror like it was a picture window to the past. "It’s a far step better than it was before that pretty little girl showed up and took care of a problem that lived here then."

The bartender arrived then, Tristan ordered himself and the elder man a drink. He also asked to be shown to a table for dinner.

"If you'd join me for dinner, I’d like to hear the tale of the woman who came here."

"It's one heck of a tale." The man nodded. "And yes, I would like to join you for dinner."

The men were shown a table, and the stewart took a wine order from Tristan before leaving the pair alone. Once they settled in, the older man reached across the table extending his hand to Tristan. "My name is Ben, by the way."

"Tristan." the men shook hands then leaned back in their chairs to view the menu. He settled on a surf and turf selection, giving his order to the waiter when they appeared. Ben did the same, he noticed the way the waiter had addressed Ben. He's seen similar behaviors at the shipyard when it came to employees and himself. The waiter left them, Tristan picked up his wine glass. "So you're the owner here?"

"Very observant. How did you know?" Ben smiled easily enough.

"My own employees address me the same." he sipped his wine and nodded appreciatively. "It’s a very bizarre thing to experience sometimes."

"It took me a long time to adjust to being the boss." Ben said thoughtfully. "Before that little pirate girl showed up, this town was run by very bad men." he paused and picked up his wine glass. "I saw people I loved killed for no reason beyond it suited those who were in power."

"Sounds like a group I heard of from my ex-wife." Tristan commented. "Happens more than we like."

"Until someone comes along and makes them stop." Ben nodded. "That’s what happened here. The little lady may have taken them out for her own reasons, cause I know she wasn’t a resident of the town. But she started the wheels in motion for us to reclaim our own destinies." The older man let that hang in the air as the waiter arrived with their appetizers. He spoke again when the boy departed. "And to our credit, we took advantage of that opening and fought for ourselves."

"Couldn't have been easy for some. Fear can remain for so very long."

"You get over it quick when you realize it's your only chance to be free."

"I have been lucky enough in my life that I’ve never had to fight for my right to be a free man." Tristan mused. "I never even questioned it growing up. Then I left home and saw others. It opened my eyes to what could happen." he thought of those he had met in his travels. Those he spoke to that had lived it. His own view of the world expanding with each story he heard. With every struggle he witnessed with his own eyes. The cruelty that some men could possess. Yes, at times, he realized that he had lived a sheltered childhood but he liked to think that he was now a better man for all he witnessed and for all he tried to do once he learned it was out there.

The men were silent for a moment. Each lost in their philosophical thoughts about leadership, the past and the horrors that could arise when the leadership was bad.

"So." Ben began as he chose a few appetizers for his plate. "You asked about the little pirate lady. One day, no different than any other day, I saw her. She was sneaking around the tower where our oppressors took up residence, planting explosives just as quietly as could be." Ben smiled a little. "I considered alerting the guards, but seeing what she was up to and what would likely happen as a result, I opted to let her continue on her mission undisturbed." He took a moment to take a bite of the shrimp cocktail, revealing in the tasty treat before continuing to speak. "I hightailed it back to the main part of the village then. Alerting some of my friends as to what was about to happen. They also agreed that if we allowed it to happen, we had a shot of taking back our city. So they too remained silent. They knew what I did. This was our shot."

"Did you see her again?" Tristan asked idly curious.

"I didn't, but one of my friends saw a ship in the nearby lagoon. He had been fishing when she sailed in. Quiet as could be. Saw someone get off the ship and come to shore and head up towards the castle with a crate."

"Lucky for that pirate that you all didn"t alert the guards."

"It wasn't unusual to see strange vessels come in at odd hours and head towards the castle." Ben swirled his wine. "He just assumed this was one of the castle allies and saw no reason to speak up."

"Then the next day you saw her?" Tristan deduced.

"Yes. Not even an hour later, the whole place went up like a volcano had erupted." Ben"s eyes seemed to focus back to the past. "It was the loudest thing I have heard in my whole life. The debris climbed high into the sky and rained down in all directions."

"That had to cause some injuries among the people."

"Some. But since the word had spread, most took shelter the moment they heard the initial boom." Ben sipped his wine then continued. "After the last bit of debris landed, we took our shot. We rushed the town elder remaining that had allowed for such a blight to take control of our city. He was dealt with swiftly. Any that remained that had been in service of those that sought to oppress us, were also dealt with."

"A revolution."

"Indeed." Ben agreed. "I don't know who was piloting that ship." Ben started to say as Tristan was raising his glass. "But if I ever see the Breeze come into this harbor, I shall welcome them with open arms. We owe them everything."

Tristan about spit his newly taken sip of wine across the table, but managed to control it. Holy crap. The Breeze has been here all those years ago' Who had done what for Aja to take such measures" He knew the Breeze went nowhere without her at the helm.

If Ben noticed his dinner companions reaction to the name of the ship, he gave no signs of it.

"How long ago was this?" Tristan struggled to sound mildly curious with the question.

"Oh...had to be about twenty two years or so now." Ben thought about it. "Yes. Because my youngest child had just been born that year."

"You've accomplished a lot in that time it seems."

"We have." Ben had been saying as their dinner arrived. The men dropped the conversation as the waiter set down the plates. Tristan paid him little attention as his mind was piecing together a timeline. Twenty-two years. Right about the time he died.

Aja was seeking revenge for those that had caused his death. It was the only thing that made sense to him. Why had she never told him about this" Why hadn't Rico' It occurred to him that Rico wouldn't say a word unless Aja already had. He"d have her back till the day one or both of them were dead. Even under torture, Rico would never give up secrets entrusted to him by her.

The conversation with Ben veered off into other things then. All the while, Tristan was working out the details in his mind. Working on the fact that his death, caused her to seek out those responsible and make them pay for what they had taken from her. He wondered if she knew what else her actions had accomplished.

He bid Ben good night after dinner and returned to his room. He picked up the laptop that Bismark had given him so he could check in with the Shipyards while he was away. In the past couple months, he had Bismark put together a small crew and transform all old records of the voyages of all the ships and put them into a database. He checked for Foxwell, sure enough...there it was plain as day. Foxwell. With a date of twenty two years prior. The shipping manifest section was empty. No explanation given for the Breeze being in that port.

He started checking for other ports with similar details. A record of being there but no reason given for the visit. He"d plot them on a map tomorrow. Where else had she been, and what had she done" He could ask, but if Aja thought it would unsettle him, he knew there was no power in the verse that would make her give up that information. Her stubborn streak knew no bounds. An admirable but sometimes maddening trait of a woman he had loved so much.

——————————————————————End Part Four———————————————

Part Six—

Tarragon Port- Four Days later...

Another port and hopefully another piece to the puzzle of what Aja had done all those years ago. He had been thinking of the lengths that Aja had gone to in finding who had a hand in his death. Anyone with the slightest connection had been killed.

In that wake, changes took place in each port. All had similar stories. The ship would appear, a stronghold was taken out, those men who were a part of that were killed. The town took control of itself once again. All without the pirate queens interference. She simply didn't care about the events that took place once she took out the faction she came looking for.

Tristan thought of her now. She left all the time. Sometimes for a day or more, when she came back, she seemed a little more relaxed. His death had apparently triggered in her the motivation to track down those that had caused her pain in past. For those that had kept her from her blood family. If in the process, she was able to save others, then she seemed to be even more motivated to make sure they didn't hurt anyone else.

He thought of his own death. That day. The attack, the men in his crew. He wondered how many had lived but hadn’t returned to Arcadia. He knew that some of them had returned, someone had to have told Aja the details, in order for her to know who to go after. A few still remained in the shipyards employ. He had seen them since. He’d spoken to them all since his return, most of them were with him now.

He was watching them as they secured the ship, as he pondered a thought to himself for a moment. No one had mentioned to him how Aja reacted when his body was brought back to Arcadia. So he waited till the ship had been fully secured and his crew started to head into town. "Hey Ed. Need to ask you something for a few moments." Tristan called out to the man, Edward Sims was the man"s name and was one of Tristan"s most trusted crew members.

"I'll catch up to ya’ll in abit." Edward told the men, before walking over to Tristan with a slight quirk of his brow. "What ya need captain?" Ed was curious as to what his friend wanted all of a sudden as he had that look of wanting to ask something, and seemed to want it to be a touch more private.

"Been meaning to ask ya somethin"." Tristan paused for a moment as he waited for the rest of the crew to be out of sight and out of earshot. "When my body was brought back to Arcadia. How did Aja react?" He lowered his voice just a bit as he watched his friend"s reaction to his question. It had been one that he had been meaning to ask.

Edward blinked at Tristan for a moment, before shifting slightly on the spot as he seemed a bit unsure how he should say it. He decided that the truth would be the best course of action to take here. "When we brought ya back home. We already had ya in a box, ready ta be buried." More slight shifting from the man before taking a deep breath and exhaling it. "She didn’t want ta see ya dead, just layin" there in a box."

Tristan watched his old friend as he knew the memory was more than likely a hard one to remember, as he listened with a light nod here and there. As his friend informed him that Aja had refused to see him dead and in a box. It didn’t surprise him at all. Truth be told. If the roles had been reversed. He would want to see her laying in a box. "Thanks. Go on and have a drink with the guys." Tristan smiled faintly and jerked his head towards where the others had disappeared to. Ed nodded before moving to head off and catch up to the others, leaving Tristan there to ponder more about what he had learned so far on this trip.

A couple weeks later, he discovered that Wismar and Yarmouth city had stories that sounded exactly like Foxwell, San Millan and Tarragon city had experienced. The Breeze came, there was a battle, an explosion and the citizens of the town retook control over their lives when the Breeze left.