A person needs a goal to succeed. That was one of the first lessons her father taught her. He who never tried, never succeeded. He didn't vi

A person needs a goal to succeed.

That was one of the first lessons her father taught her. He who never tried, never succeeded. He didn't visit her often when she was a child and whenever he did, it was to impart a lesson. At the end of the first of those lessons, he left her with a piece of advice wrapped in a command. He told her to pick a goal. It didn't matter how outlandish it was; he encouraged her to pick something incredible. If one bird decided to fly to the top of a tree and the other the moon, even if the one flying toward the moon failed halfway, it would still have far outpaced the bird that settled for the tops of the trees.

One of her oldest goals was to be relied upon by her father. To be acknowledged as a child of Harvest's greatest merchant and for her father to know she was worthy of that legacy. As she grew older, that simple dream got tangled with the increasingly stressful inheritance of her father's empire. Maxine wanted to take over for her father. She was raised to be greedy, to squeeze the world for every drop of profit it contained. Being at the helm of her family's financial empire was the highest position of power she could ever imagine for her future. It would be nice, she thought, for people to look at her and see her and not another Guiness daughter. It'd be nice to be the one passing judgment, rather than the one striving for approval that remained forever out of reach.

It'd be nice to be powerful.

Unfortunately, wealth and power didn't just fall from the sky…for most people. Some people were lucky enough to have their horrible fortunes reversed in a single day, going from near-death to happily married to foreign royalty. Maxine wouldn't delude herself into thinking she would ever get half as lucky. She was good, but she was far from the best. She could run her father's empire competently, maybe grow it further, but so could nearly all her siblings.

If she ever wanted to be anything, if she ever wanted her father to look at her and see something more than a failed investment, she'd have to earn it. She wasn't afraid of the work. Rather, she was desperate for a chance to prove herself.

That's why she threw herself into her father's assignment to persuade Lou. She had never heard him as excited as when he discussed the benefits of opening a new foreign market. Her lessons, abandoned in her teens, made a reappearance. Her father tutored her personally for three days, going over what little they could unearth about the elves to give her even the smallest advantage in negotiations. Hers was not another test or a store that could be managed by a monkey with a little training. She'd been giving a real assignment. One that could affect the kingdom if she was successful.

She didn't regret agreeing, though there wasn't much of a choice. She just wondered how her plans to strike up a beneficial friendship had led to her present; dressed like a hooligan and seated at a noble's table while the house echoed with the sounds of debauchery.

Three days. That's how long it'd been from the first night she was startled out of a light doze by a scream. At first, she'd been worried the estate was under attack by rebels or, saints forbid, royal knights. She'd jumped out of bed and thrown her door open, expecting to see the members of the house running past, coming to warn her.

There was nothing but darkness outsider her room. But the open door meant she heard the next scream with far more clarity. Clear enough to know that the voice was not in pain.

She gaped in that doorway until her sense of impropriety overcame her shock. Her mind raced as she climbed into bed the second time. Not for the first time, she wondered what about Lou had captivated three beautiful and capable women. Kept them satisfied and good-natured. The head of the house keeping multiple woman was incredibly common, the Guiness patriarch a prime example of the practice, but she'd never seen any such relationship manage to be cordial, let alone as harmonious as Lou and her lovers. It was almost enough to make her wonder…

But no. Anyone with working eyes couldn't deny that Lourianne Tome was attractice and there was ample evidence she knew what she was capable in that regard. That knowledge did nothing for Maxine. It never had, not even for the parade of noble scions that tried to court her once she came of age. The walls whispering to her about someone else's passion could make her flustered but it didn't spark a similar urge. The second night, she managed to ignore it completely.

If only she could say the same about the pirate that stubbornly insisted on accompanying her.

In the mornings, Rey was the only person waiting at the table for breakfast. The first morning, Maxine had politely chuckled while the other woman made crude jokes and cheered the occupants of the house on. The second morning, Rey was still making jokes but she look frazzled. Max put it down to lack of sleep. The third morning, Rey was unusually quiet. She looked exhausted.

The fourth morning, the pirate looked much better. Her eyes were bright and alert, her hair still damp from the bath. The arms of her worn shirt were rolled up, exposing her thick arms, the muscles flexing as she devoured her food with enthusiasm. All the while stealing looks at Max.

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The merchant wanted to kick herself. She didn't know what she'd been thinking, spouting all that nonsense in the river. And then she'd made things so much worse with her false confession. It was a small miracle the voilatile woman hadn't attacked their hostess and gotten herself killed. She should have just rejected the pirate's advances immediately and dealt with the fallout. Rey wouldn't actually kill someone over being rejected…probably. Anyway, her reaction to being rejected after being lied to bound to be much worse. Aside from that, Maxine felt terrible deceiving her. The manipulation reminded her of Marcella.

She was psyching herself up to ask the pirate to talk when Rey interrupted her thoughts by standing up abruptly. There was the faintest hint of a blush on the woman's tan cheeks. "Maxie!" she practically shouted, wincing immediately at her volume. "Ah was wondering," she continued in a much softer tone, "if ya wanted to get out of here? Away from…" She gestured at the walls that did a poor job of hiding what Lou and her lovers were getting up to. "Ya know."

Maxine swallowed. She was being asked out on a date, wasn't she? The poorly disguised hope and excitement Rey tried to hide under a nonchalant mask was almost painful as it bored into the merchant's chest. She had to be honest. For both their sakes.

"Rey—"

Before she could continue, the pirate let out a long groan as she dropped down into her chair. "Ah know," she groused. "Ah shouldn't be askin' ya. Already told me ya want the lady boss. Ah know, but!" Rey slammed her hand on the table, jostling the cups and silverware. "Not trying to be mean or nothin', but ah don't think yer getting anywhere with that." Once again, she waved toward the walls. "Ah know ah'm not…" She trailed off, running a nervous hand through her hair. "We don't have to do anything until Lou makes good on her promise. Ah just…ah want ya to give me a chance, yeah?"

She was a terrible person. A horrible person who deserved whatever comeuppance that came her way. Squaring her shoulders, she forced herself to meet the pirate's strange gaze. "Thank you. I appreciate the offer but I have to refuse."

Rey's lips twisted, as if she'd tasted something sour. Then she sat down, dropping her head to her arm, her scarlet hand tugging at her hair. "Figures," she muttered despondently.

The merchant took a deep breath. It'd be so easy to walk away now, let things lie. Easier on her. She had no illusions that her harmless lie hadn't caused any harm.

"I have to apologize to you, Rey."

One blue peeked at her, the star-shaped pupil squirming.

"I wasn't truthful about my…situation." She sighed, trying to slow her nervous heart. "I'm not in love with Lou. I think she's attractive but I'm not attracted to her. I've never been interested in anyone that way."

Rey raised her head, staring at the merchant as if she were a strange beast. "No one?"

"No."

"…really?"

Max smiled, both because she was amused by the other woman's disbelief and because she was relieved that the pirate hadn't thrown a fit. "Is it so hard to believe?"

"Yeah. Does that mean ya never…" She raised her hands, one forming a circle with two fingers while the other pushed a long finger in and out.

Maxine chuckled. "No."

"Huh. Weird."

They lapsed into silence, the faint echoes of pleasure coming through the walls the only sound.

"Why tell me ya like the lady boss?" Rey eventually asked. Rather than the hurt and anger Maxine expected, all she heard was confusion.

Why had she said that nonsense? Because she was afraid? Because she wanted to push the problem onto someone else? She couldn't say for sure; she wasn't thinking when she blurted out the excuse. Yet, she wanted to believe she was motivated by good intentions. "I didn't want to hurt you."

"…did you mean the other stuff? At the river?"

"I did. You are a shock to the senses, Rey. Strange. Unnerving. But that has its own appeal." She'd grown so accustomed to the pirate that she rarely noticed her strange features. She didn't look back on the memory of their short kiss with any fondness. She also didn't find it disgusting, despite how unexpected and unusual it was. "You have your own charms."

Maxine anticipated many responses to her honestly. In none of her imagined scenarios did Rey smile at her. A normal smile, one that didn't show off the woman's abnormally wide jaw. "Alright."

"Alright…what?"

"Alright all of it." Rey leaned forward. "Sure ya don't want to get out of here?"

Maxine blinked at her, stupefied. She was still asking her out? "You understand what I said, yes?"

"Yeah. Ya don't like the lady boss. That means ah've got a chance."

"That's not…I don't like anyone."

"Good. Less competition."

The merchant couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I lied to you."

"And then felt so terrible 'bout it, ya fessed up on yer own. Apology accepted. Wait! Apology accepted if ya give me a kiss. Seas take it. Ah'm not getting that one, am I?"

"…no."

"Damn. Guess ah gotta make ya kiss me another way."

Maxine shook her head. She was dealing with an idiot. An unreasonably optimistic and stubborn idiot. "You could get hurt."

"Hah! Hurt? Ah hunt sea monsters for a living, Maxie. Ah got the sea in me. Ah ain't afraid of hurt. This is fine. Ah like you. Ah also want to go swimming between yer legs, but sharing meals and stuff is good too. Ah figure ah stick close, eventually I figure out what gets ya going, yeah? Then it's smooth sailing."

Maxine imagined the pirate following her for the rest of her life and couldn't suppress the groan the vision inspired. Should she be harsher? No, Rey didn't deserve that. And neither of them deserved the pain in the backside the pirate trailing after her in vain would cause.

"At least promise me that you'll stay open to finding romance in other places," Maxine asked in a desperate attempt to salvage the situation. "I don't want you to miss out on someone who can return your feelings."

"Ah want you."

Maxine had to give Rey credit, she was direct. "I know. But the day might come when you want someone else. I'm telling you it's okay."

"…ya won't get jealous?"

She'd have to care to be jealous. "How about this? I promise no matter how many others you get involved with, I won't use that as a reason to reject your advances. Deal?"

Rey narrowed her eyes, as if she could find a trap if she looked hard enough. But eventually, she nodded. "Yeah, alright. Just cause it'll make ya feel better. Not like ah'm gonna find anyone interested in me."

Maxine sent a prayer to the saints that she did. She prayed that someone would sweep the madwoman off her feet and make her forget all about her silly crush.

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