"Aja?" Ajia called out as she came into the office lobby. She knew she saw her sister come in here, that's what the cameras were for after all. Scurry was more like it since Aja seemed to be in a hurry, at least a hurry to get away.

"Yeah?" Aja looked over the railing at her sister. Ajia could see the way her eyes flickered towards the windows to see if anyone else was coming in.

Both her arms folded over her chest as she studied her sister, careful not to unsettle her more than she was. "I've been looking for you."

"You ain't the only one." Aja smirked, checked her papers made a face and started down the stairs. "Mami's like a bloodhound when there's tulle involved."

"So I hear." Ajia grinned as she leaned on the reception counter and watched her sister. "Anyway. A ship just docked in this afternoon that I thought you'd be interested in." Idly she sorted through the papers she held in her arms, as if to make light of the news she had for her twin.

"Yeah?" Aja perked a brow then started to search through the files on the receptionists desk, who was looking at the boss lady curiously as if she was trying to figure out what the boss was looking for or she could've simply been trying to figure out how this place worked. "Which ship?"

One finger tapped her chin in thought. "What was the name..?" She hurrmmmeeed softly before snapping, "That's it. The Scarlett Banshee." A twinkle lit in her eyes as she locked them on her twin, studying her carefully.

"Bridge's ship." Aja said knowingly as she started on another stack of files. Then it dawned on her what date it was. "She wasn't due back in for a while." Aja looked up at Ajia briefly. "She ok?"

"Yeah. She's fine." Ajia supplied with a smile making Aja nod then go back to searching through the papers. Every now and then her gaze would flicker back to Aja, careful to read her as well as she could.

"Ship alright?" Aja asked as she flipped a couple more files around, making faces at one or two of them before moving on to the next one.

"Yeah. It looked alright." Ajia grinned enough to change the way her voice sounded making Aja look up. Ajia wasn't a total novice at ships, but she wasn't a pro either. So Aja was curious as to what was making her sister smile like that.

"What are ya grinnin like dat fer?" she asked Ajia with a raised brow.

"She had a passenger." Ajia practically sing songed making Aja look at her funny. Lightly she shrugged her shoulders, pretending that it lacked importance while she hummed. That was sure to hint to her sister to dig deeper.

"Oh?" Aja was now very curious as to why her sister was acting the way she was.

"Yeah." Ajia grinned and leaned on the counter, both her eyes had settled on her sister's face again while she spoke, "He's a little scruffier than last I saw him." Aja looked up then, her hands stilling on the files.

"Padriq?"

"The one and only." Ajia watched her sisters reaction carefully. There was a moment of surprise Ajia noted on her sister's face, but it was over quick. Still the reaction intrigued her more than it aught to have.

"He likes scruffy." Aja said after a moment trying to look and sound nonchalant as she went back to rifling through the files. "He doesn't want to be thought of as a poufter." Aja pulled a file from one of the organizers on the desk.

"Don't think he could be that." Ajia said lightly as she settled her papers on the reception desk. A note was scribbled to make sure they got where they needed to be before she turned back to her sister.

"Well," Aja started as she stacked some files. "He can pull off spiffy. Dressy even." Aja grinned with a small secret smile thinking of the few times he had dressed up for her. "He's got other skills under all that pirate."

"What kind of skills?" Ajia grinned cheekily at Aja.

"Oh, no." Aja said firmly with just a touch of a dodgy smile and tugged the file she had been looking for and turned for the stairs, which probably disappointed the new secretary as the conversation seemed to just be getting good. "Yer not pulling me into that conversation."

"Come on, 'Ja!" Ajia grinned as she followed her sister up the stairs. "This is juicy gossip stuff that sisters do!" A small snicker left her lips, the amusement dancing in her eyes.

"Not a chance, JiJi." Aja grinned as she practically dashed down the hall then ducked into her office hoping to escape the interrogation, but knowing it wouldn't likely work.

"So not fair!" Ajia followed Aja into the office quickly, only pausing to check her in box for messages. "We never just gossip."

"We never go and get our nails done either. We gonna start doin that?" Aja raised a brow at Ajia with a grin.

"That's not a bad idea," Ajia answered as she studied her nails under the office lighting. "I could go for a pedicure."

"Oh fer the love of Zeus." Aja sighed and sat in her chair letting the files flop onto the desk. She stared plainly at Ajia. "I'm not gettin my nails done."

"Oh yes you are." Ajia grinned and sat in the chair on the opposite side of the desk. "You're getting married soon." Ajia did notice a small frown cross her sisters face and one of her well kept brows perked.

"Do not start with me or I'm hiding from you too." Aja couldn't help but grin when she said that.

"You would not." Ajia said as she shifted into her chair. One leg folded over the other and she tapped a pin on the desk. "You love me too much to do that."

"Well, I'd attempt it." Aja half chuckled. She was finding that her sister was a little fun to have around. She just wasn't used to the talking about boys thing at all.

"How far do you think you'd get before I found you?" Ajia grinned broadly.

"Very." Aja grinned knowingly at Ajia. "I track better than you do." It wasn't a lie and it made Aja grin wider. "So it would take you a while to find me."

"You cheater." Ajia pouted at her. "Never any fun."

"I do not cheat." she stated calm. "I just employ sneaky skills." Aja winked at her sister.

"But, he's a hottie." Ajia pouted at her as she took the conversation back to Padriq. Once again she was studying her sister's every reaction. "I want details. I know there's something there."

"What sort of details?" Aja glanced up from the file she had taken from the receptionist.

"About him." Ajia leaned forward and batted her lashes at Aja while she grinned. "I see the way you smiled when you thought about him."

"Padriq is...was...." she trailed off and then closed the file. She sighed not knowing how to explain it. "Just...he was one of those things."

"Hello cryptic. I'm not a genius." Ajia leaned forward and grinned at her sister. "What does that mean' That he was one of those things. That he was just another boy' I find that hard to believe....Spill! Or I'll go right to the source. I'm sure he'll be more willing to tell me all I want to know."

"Ya know...just one of those things." Aja said getting frustrated having to even think back on her relationship with Padirq. Not that she had to think very hard, it was never far from her head. "We had ....a connection."

"A connection sounds hot." Ajia curled up in the chair while grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "What kind of connection' Hmm?"

"Stop that." Aja said, and opened another file, as if it would make the conversation stop. Ajia was a Bird. They had an inherent stubbornness, none of the siblings missed out on the trait.

"Hey, I remember seeing the two of you together." Ajia sounded very amused. "You two looked like you were more than connected."

"Yeah." Aja said as she exhaled slowly. "We were. But then there was Tru..." Aja looked annoyed at the mere mention of the elf. "And then Tristan came back...and.." Aja just shook her head slowly, waved her hand dismissively. "Things just didn't work out."

"Fate stacked against the two of you." Ajia guessed. The romantic in her hated that. "You two always seemed so good together."

"Something like." Aja looked backed down to the papers trying to reign in the frustration of that entire situation. It still bothered her a year later how things went off the rails so easily. "Just the way it goes, ya know?" Ajia stared at her sister for a long moment. It wasn't like Aja to make a face like she was making now. It was a brief, but there was sadness in her eyes. Ajia knew that Aja didn't like to show that sort of weakness.

"I'm sorry." Ajia said feeling a little of the pain the mere mention of how things went with the scruffy pirate. "Doesn't seem fair."

"Don't be, that's just how it went." Aja tried to give her sister an easy smile.

"I shouldn't have been...." Ajia was saying when they heard Mami's voice. Her head turned towards the monitors and back to her twin.

"Aja?" Mami's voice called out and both sisters stared at each other. Aja glanced at the monitor that showed who was in the lobby.

"Crap." Aja muttered and flipped the folder closed. "She found me."

"Wanna hide?" Ajia suggested as she smirked.

"Back door." Aja winked as she got up and headed for the bookcase, crooking her finger at Ajia with a grin. "Come on." she tugged the bookcase, which swung open revealing a staircase. "Escape hatch." Aja smiled proudly at the thought of being smart enough to put this in the office.

"I'll remember that if I ever need it....Well come on, get that butt in gear." Ajia said, racing past her sister who was pulling the bookcase closed behind them.

"We're Birds. We only have one gear." Aja said smiling as she peeked through the one way mirror built into the bookcase. She put a finger to her lips when she saw Mami entered the room and looked around. Mami huffed when she didn't see Aja, then exited again. Aja grinned. "Works like a charm."

"Why are you dodging Mami again? Did you do something to Rico that you're not telling me about?" Ajia asked suspiciously and Aja looked at her confused.

"To Rikki" No." Aja chuckled. "It's wedding fever. Makes Mami go into over mother hen mode." Aja pushed the bookcase open to let them back out into her office. "I'm not in the mood to listen to her gushing on and on about the wedding that Ajay is planning." Aja stressed Ajay's name. She waited till Ajia had cleared the bookcase and shut it again with a slight smile thinking that a little planning ahead had paid off.

"You're going to have to teach me all your skills in hiding, Sis. In case wedding fever gets bad enough to effect Rico or myself." Her head bumped against a bit of the passage and she winced. She then paused for a moment, her head turning so that she could look eye to eye with her twin. A thought had struck her. "And you don't want to make her feel bad, but you don't want anyone interfering in Ajay's planning?"

"Right." Aja hedged on that, but nodded. She wasn't quite ready to admit that there was more to it than just Mami. "Ajay didn't get a chance to do things for us while we were growing up. And while I admire Mami, but even after I've told her that I'm doing this for Ajay, she's still getting all nosy. Pushy."

"And this irritates you?" Ajia didn't really need to ask, she could practically feel the annoyance rolling off her sister.

"Yes." it pained Aja to say that about Mami, given how she felt about the woman.

"Not that I want you to start dodging me. But isn't a wedding supposed to be about the people getting married" Special occasion and such' Big day, big day, big day' Throw the fetti and bouquet?" She paused, returning to her seat with a flop. "You know" Happy, joy, joy?"

"Normally, yes." Aja conceded not sure about the confetti part, she'd only seen bubbles at weddings, but figured Ajia had been to a few more than she had. "But Tris would be perfectly happy getting married in the backyard." Aja retook her chair, picking up a file as she did. "We don't need a fancy wedding. But since Ajay insisted on giving one of his baby sisters a wedding, I will do the princess...." Aja rolled her hand idly trying to come up with the proper term, then gave up on it. "thing."

"Makes sense." Not really, but it was Aja's party, not hers. It was better to be on her twin's good side, than anything else.

"Thank you." Aja nodded simply. "I just wish Mami and Maria would realize that and leave me alone already before I take up permanent residents in Ballentine till this whole mess is over."

"And be driven nutty by Ajay?" Both her brows rose, Ajia guessed that was better than Mami, but she wasn't quite sure how. It all seemed insane in one way or another.

"Spend more than a couple days with our brother?" Aja smiled. "Pretend for a while that we're a normal family?" Aja's smile softened as she looked at Ajia. "Yeah, wouldn't you?"

"Yes." Ajia admitted curling up in the chair again.

"I am not a mushy person." Aja started and chuckled when Ajia laughed.

"I really hadn't noticed.." Ajia said, sarcasticly.

"Shut up." Aja chuckled and tossed a paper clip at Ajia. "I do ok with a crew of men. But give me a couple old ladies" I want ta get away as far as possible."

"That wasn't at all evident." Ajia cracked, fighting her damnedest to keep from grinning or laughing.

"I'll sick her on you next. Tell her that you've been gushing about having little Rikki's someday." Aja threatened with a grin.

A twinge of pink rose on her cheeks as she eyed her twin. "You wouldn't?"

"I so would." Aja grinned and leaned back in her chair then kicked her feet up on the desk.

"You suck." Ajia made a face to her twin.

"Yep." Aja gave her sister a cheesy grin.

"And you have craftily changed the subject, I noticed." Ajia felt bad that they had been interrupted again.

"Ya noticed that did ya?" Aja fussed with her hair as she watched her sister making a face at her. She grinned then thinking of how they had gotten side tracked. "Technically, Mami changed the subject."

"Yes, I suppose she did." Ajia nodded slowly, suddenly realizing something about her sister. The things that she dodged were the things that hurt the most. And she was dodging conversation about Padriq. She watched Aja go through the files on her desk. Another thing she noticed her sister would do when bothered, bury herself in work. Ajia sat wondering where she picked up the habit. Where did she learn to bury her pain like that, and not let it destroy her.

Aja glanced over at Ajia, wondering what had her sister being so quiet all of a sudden. She could use their connection to try to find out, but she preferred to talk to her sister, learning who she was that way. She looked back down at the file and added the paper that she needed to add to the file.

"Aja?"

"Yeah?" she looked up at her sister curiously at the change of tone. It was no longer gossip tone, this was something different.

"Do you ever wish that you could be different than you are?"

"Sometimes. But I like who I am now." Aja stopped messing with the papers and looked at Ajia with a smile. "Took me a long time ta figure out how ta make it all work without going crazy."

"Not that I want you to throw things at me." Ajia started slowly knowing that her sister tried to hide everything that hurt her," But you tend to avoid the things that hurt you most through your work, or other time consuming things."

"Your point?"

"Padriq." Ajia said simply and looked at her sister knowingly.

"If yer asking if I miss him," Aja looked up at Ajia and exhaled slowly. "If yer asking if I love that man, the answer is yes. On both counts." Aja kept her sisters eyes for a moment longer then looked back down at the papers, shuffling them around nervously.

"Yeah." Ajia said quietly, watching her sister try to cover that pain the mere mention of his name created, and cover up what he meant to her. "If you love him then why are you going through with all of this" Is your love for Tristan still that strong?" Aja's hands stilled on the files, and she took a quiet deep breath before looking up at Ajia again. "Back then...when I first met him...I was.." she paused thinking about her history since coming to Arcadia. "Different. It took a lot for me to even consider the idea of marriage, much less to Tristan. Who I did love, but was fine with just being with him. No complications, no papers."

Ajia's hand lifted. "Aja, you just said....Who I did love....There was no whom I love, it was did. Who I did love." Both her lips pursed a little, wondering if her sister realized what she had said.

"We were discussing back then and the reasons I married him in the first place." Aja clarified, realizing she really did suck at having these sort of conversations. Rico had never asked her anything like it.

"But you do love Tristan' You love him enough to marry him again?" Ajia's head tilted to the side slightly.

"Ah, and there's the complication." Aja said with a sigh. "I was very much in love with him when he .." she swallowed hard. 'died. That sort of emotion doesn't die when they do."

"You're not answering my question Aja." She said softly. "Ajia, it's not a simple one." Aja looked at her sister. "Think about it for a moment. Put yourself in my shoes back then. Say it was Rico. You married him after sort of fighting the idea. Then you discovered that it wasn't as horrible as you imagined it was going to be..." Aja inhaled slowly. "A year goes by, and everything's great. You have this grand ...partnership and everything...absolutely everything is perfect." she exhaled just as slow. "Then...he dies. Where do you think you'd be if ya were me?" Ajia swallowed a little, her eyes locking on her twin. "Rico wouldn't want me to wallow over the loss of him. If I had moved on and he had come back, I don't think he'd assume his place like he had in the past if he knew I loved someone else, or someone loved me." Ajia looked eye to eye with her twin. "I wouldn't do that to Rico, it's a bit selfish to expect to pick up right where you left off if you've not been there for a long, long time. If you've not been a part of their life and they've lived on without you." Aja rubbed at her head for a moment, then spied the photos on the desk of the kids, she reached over and turned it around for Ajia to see.

"I didn't wallow forever." she motioned to the photo. "They aren't Tristan's kids as you know." Aja paused a moment letting that sink in before returning the photo to its rightful place. "I did move on. But, it doesn't mean I for a second forgot Tristan or what we were." She paused again and added in another reason Tristan had been stuck in the role of great love in the first place. "Then I've always got Tanner in my head and trying to honor what he wanted." "But what about what you want?" Both her lips pursed. "Haven't you ever done that' I mean, I know they meant something to you, but wouldn't they want you to follow your heart and do what makes you happy' Do what you want?" Aja almost laughed at that. She just grinned at Ajia for a moment, thinking of what would demonstrate best that her twin wasn't completely right about her not doing what she had wanted. Aja was motioning out the window then.

"Ya see all that out there" I did do what I wanted. I followed my heart. I made a life in spite of what others wanted." she filled in the pieces that Ajia did not have about her life. Or at least some of them. "Nikki, if he had his way, would've made me leave all of this. Leave Arcadia behind. Not finish what I had dreamed this place could be." she shook her head. "For what his dream of life was. I do what I want all the time, no man was ever going to dictate that to me ever again. I grew up with way too much of that." briefly the clan and their torture came to mind but she chased it off. "And I know that's hard for you to understand, JiJi." "No, but it seems like you've devoted yourself to others rather than fully giving time for yourself. Granted you made two beautiful children and you know, happiness abound, but now you're marrying when you love another man. Sounds a little less like fate and more like yourself getting in the way." Ajia shrugged slightly.

"I can see how you'd see it that way.." Aja paused. "Actually, no...I can't. Tristan was everything to me back then, that love never died. It lingered there. He was who everyone else got compared to." It was a simple way to explain why she would even consider going what her sister considered to be backwards.

"How did Padriq stack up in that comparison.." It hardly seems fair, but how?" Ajia studied her sister carefully. "I mean, you could have weighed him as himself and not against another, because frankly that would be me comparing Rico to Ki, and I couldn't do that."

"I loved other people since Tristan. Never the same way, mind you. But I did." Aja sighed and leaned back in her chair. "And again, you have to put yourself in my shoes. If the one you were so in love with was suddenly returned from the grave...given back to you..." Aja stared at Ajia carefully, keeping her voice calm. "What would you do?"

"Cry." She answered honestly.

"Not my style, but I think yer startin ta catch on to where I am." Aja shifted in her chair. "Tristan and I were married. And while that seems so...mundane these days, back then, to me, it was the one thing I never took lightly." Aja ran a hand through her hair. "Steal a book from a powerful wizard" Child's play. Take the life of a guy tryin ta kill me" Pish." she waved a hand off to the side as if demonstrating how lightly she took that. "Never thought twice about it. Never looked back." she locked eyes with her sister again. "Marrying Tristan' That was as serious as it got."

Ajia shook her head. "I'm serious. I'd cry....and cry....and cry. Probably hide worse than you'd ever even know. Run away, yeah, I'd do that too. Run into his arms" Marry him again? Pick up the pieces?" She shook her head. "Even if it were Rico and he'd been dead for generations. Even if the love I had for him was still as strong as it is today. I'd run. I'd hide. I'd cry. And I'd make sure I didn't come out for a very long time. It wouldn't be right...not to me. I'd lose my mind, especially if the someone I was waiting for after a time warp was there. I don't think I could handle it the way you are. I'm not that strong."

"I wish it was simple, Ajia. I really do." Aja sat back. "But it isn't. It hasn't been. And ya notice, I'm not exactly running back to the alter with Tristan ...I know things are different than they were. He's different. And so am I." Aja related the more recent thoughts to Ajia. "And then there's legal questions about who owns what. This ship yard was Tristan's. He's the one who got it up and running. It was willed to me when he.." she made air quotes now. "Died. So, now that he's back. It becomes a question of fairness...rights. All sorts of complex situations." Aja paused in speaking when the secretary brought the sisters in some coffee and a stack of papers for Aja to sign.

She waited while the woman set the mugs down on the desk for the sisters, continuing to look at her sister curiously.

"These need your signature before they can be sent out." the secretary, who Aja made a mental note to actually attempt to learn her name at some point, said. Aja nodded.

"Alright. Thank you." she said politely and regathered her thoughts getting back to what they had been talking about. "The idea of who he was, is still in my head, Sis. And yes, it's clashing with the reality." Aja sighed. "I'm not so blind that I don't notice that."

"And yet you're going to re-marry him." She mentioned.

"Padriq had left. As far as I knew, he wasn't coming back." Aja said simply.

"He left because you went to Tristan, right?" She shook her head a little and sighed. "Who could resist a Bird" Even Ajay says so himself."

"I never dissect Padriq's motives, honestly." Aja chuckled for the fist time in awhile as she thought about Padriq. "His brain works like a pachinko machine."

"The truth remains, no matter how much his brain works like said machine, you love him, yet you're marrying someone else." Ajia paused. "Don't you think he should hear that from you and not from someone else? As a form of closure?"

Aja sighed and looked at Ajia, carefully going over in her head what she wanted to say.

"I've been gently nudging Ajay to push back dates." Aja started. "Due respect is owed him. I know he's got his dreams of this family too. I don't want to destroy anything for him."

"Ajay's not going to wait forever Aja. You know us Birds, stubborn. Keep pushing it back and eventually Ajay's going to demand a wedding or an explanation. I know you don't want to face him, do you?" Ajia studied her twin a little. "He won't be destroyed as long as you're happy, but he's still not going to wait forever. He wants our family to grow, perhaps more than Mami does."

"Ajia...I swear ta Zeus...yer gonna get me ta get up and choke ya in a minute." Aja snapped at her sister and immediately regretted it. She had been trying not to do that, as she knew her sister operated from a different frame of mind and heart than she did.

Ajia stood, both her lips slightly pursing. "It's not my place, you're right." She shrugged and started for the door. "I just figured you'd want to hear Padriq was back."

"Get yer tookus back in here!" Aja shouted and then sighed. "Fer the love of Pete. Yer irritating sometimes. Ya wanna have this conversation, then let's have da conversation."

"I'm not going to talk to you when you're frustrated Aja. With Mami, Ajay, and everthing else pressuring you, I think I aught to keep my mouth shut." She looked to her twin. "I do however, think that you should at least see Padriq once before you tie the knot." A gentle shrug came and she turned the knob of the door. "I love you Aja, you're my sister. I just want you to be happy and do what will make you happy."

"And what made ya think I would try ta avoid him?" Aja asked about Padriq, not understanding Ajia's sudden choice to leave the room. She knew she was cranky, but she had thought Ajia and her had gotten to a place where she knew that it would be fine.

Oh, they were to that place, but Ajia didn't think her sister needed to cope with any more stress on her sister's behalf. "Because you're hiding in your office, buried by paperwork, and I doubt you'll come out for anything as long as Mami's hunting for you."

Aja laughed at that. Mami had been forgotten about for the last half hour while she spoke to Ajia.

"Mami is going to be asked to take the Director's position at Riverview soon." Aja smiled about that lightly. "So I figure soon enough she'll be too busy ta harass me or even Rikki. She'll have a whole staff at the Clinic to fuss after and babies in the nursery ta spoil."

"Oh yes, just what Rico and I need. Mami on a baby kick." She sighed. "I'm heading to the lair, I'll be back with lunch. Try not to blow up the place alright?" She peered at her sister.

Aja just nodded lightly as Ajia spoke then tilted her head to the side.

"I know you don't understand all of this. But, I'd like ya ta try." she said simply. "It's not as simple as I think you'd like it to be, JiJi."

"Nah, and it's not entirely sane for me to start thinking like you. It might scare the others....Can't have the boys at the docks peeing their pants." A small snicker left Ajia's lips.

Aja laughed at the thought of them acting more alike. The crew would revolt at some point.

"Good point. But I'm referring more to this whole...Tristan thing." Aja rolled a hand lightly. "It's just not simple or easy to navigate."

"Rico's not that easy to navigate either. Some times I even wonder if that boy is ever gonna get over me looking like you." She released the door knob and looked to her twin with a weak smile. "I think he'd handle it better if I was more like you."

"I wouldn't bet da farm on that." Aja said wryly. "Rikki and I never dated fer a reason, Sis."

"That's reassuring." She quipped.

"Actually, it should be." Aja raised a brow. "I don't think ya've been looking at that piece of it. You jist assumed he thought you were me, if ya were.." Aja shrugged. "Ya wouldn't be his snuggle bunny, would ya?" she got quiet letting Ajia let that sink in before adding. "I've always been his best bud...well, after Tristan died. It's never been more than that."

She nodded softly, pausing to think for a moment. "Do you think it's true what people say' Men marry their mothers."

"Maybe some men do." Aja said. "I'm nothing like Tristan's mother. She's foo foo girly. Proper. Prim. Sort of helpless." Aja just shrugged. "I don't think I come close to that ballpark."

"Oh god I hope I'm not like Mami..." Ajia slid down against the door, settling against it.

"Yer not." Aja grinned at Ajia. "Yet." she added just to tease.

"Yeeeettttt?"?" Ajia interrupted

"Yer gettin da nosy thing down pretty good." Aja smiled sweetly at Ajia. "But, that could just a sister trait."

"That's it. I'm going to go get lunch!" She climbed up, making a face at her sister. "I'll find Mami along the way and let her know you're hiding behind mountains of papers." Ajia teased.

"I can shoot ya, ya know." Aja grinned at Ajia. "Go. Get lunch. Say hey ta Trevor fer me."

"I'll go get your usual. See you in about an hour. Gonna drop off a bite for Rico." She saluted her twin and twisted the knob. "By the way. Padriq asked about you when he spoke to me." She said to her twin. Ajia grinned and made haste on stepping out and leaving her sister to wonder.

Aja just shook her head at Ajia and grabbed the stack of papers the unnamed secretary had dropped off. She glanced behind her at the window over looking the docks. She saw the Banshee's flags blowing in the breeze and made out the form of a scruffy pirate whose ears had probably been ringing for the better part of the hour, standing on the docks.

She smiled at the thought and went to signing the papers.