Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Psh. Y'sound like Aki." Rolling his eyes at the mention of clothes, Levi waited for Mik to pass...scooping him up off a mere moment later. With one smooth motion, Levi plunked the muse down in the hammock, automatically mindful of his wings. Grinning as the hammock swung, he turned and gave Mik a wave over one shoulder. "Fine! Sit tight, eh?"

The young pirate was still shaking his head as he stepped back to the door. Since when had Mik gotten so particular? At least some things didn't change...picking Mik up was still as easy as it had ever been!

Squinting against the glare, Levi looked out over the waves...as far as he could see, to where the line of ocean and sky met with distant precision. In his hand, something glinted, something the young pirate turned over and over in thought. It had been a long time coming, and now that the time was here…Levi wasn’t sure he wanted to let it go.

He rolled his head back against the lounge chair, and stared up for a moment into the endless blue sky above. He knew it wasn’t summer, not yet, but this was the first beautiful day he’d seen in far too long. Scrubbing his free hand over his bare chest, Levi sighed and glanced again out to the sea, beyond the Villa’s balcony where he rested. Near the horizon, a dark spot bobbed…a blur to most, but Levi knew how many masts, and how many feet from bow to stern without looking twice. Next to it, another ship, and next to that one, another…all floating distantly, silently, going about their slow paced business.

The pirate’s hand tightened, metal pressing lines into his palm. Slowly, he forced his fingers to uncurl, and let the thin chain slide to pool on his stomach. Resting in his hand was his greatest treasure, something so jealously guarded that he hadn’t shown anyone…not even Mik. In Levi’s hand, glinting gold in the late spring sun, was a key.

His hand snapped closed around it once more, and Levi pushed himself to his feet with a grunt. It was time…whether or not he was ready, it was time to let go.

**

Aki jumped at the sudden slam, her drink sloshing over her pale wrist. Hat askew, she shielded her eyes from the sun with her free arm as she stared up at Levi in shock. “What…what was that?!”

Letting out his breath in a whuff, Levi propped his elbow upon the large, bound chest…grinning despite the sweat that beaded at his forehead and the hollows of his shoulders. ”S’a chest!”

“I see that, but…” Aki sat up in her chair, taking a moment to set aside her drink and give her hand a shake. “Why did you use it to wake me up?!” Her voice sounded a bit petulant, even to her own ears, but this was her first day of leisure in goodness knew how long. Why then was she spending it staring at a dripping, corroded old chest?

Levi chuckled, and gave her a gentle slap on the back. Aki cringed as cold water met her warm skin, but didn’t object…Levi was in high spirits, and no amount of whining would bring him out of it. Instead, she adjusted her hat against the sun and pulled her sarong over her lap, still blinking away the last of her late afternoon nap.

”Ah, sorreh.” He wasn’t sorry. ”Got summin’ fer ya ta see!” Raising his hand, Levi let something fall from his fist, catching only the last few inches of chain. The old key dangled, swinging between them, and Aki’s ears dipped a bit in confusion.

“A key?”

”A key, Aki.” Grinning at his own vocal joke, Levi gave the chain a yank and jumped the key back up into his hand in one practiced motion. Without further ado, he fitted it into the old, rusted lock…brows knitting as it refused to turn. ”Hmph. Ah…”

Aki watched him jiggle key against lock, and leaned forward to take a closer look. “Levi, is that…is that your old chest? The one I gave you?”

Nodding absently, brows still furrowed, Levi gave the chest a thump and tried the lock again. It wouldn’t budge, and to be honest, he didn’t much appreciate his dramatic moment being thwarted. ”Aye….bloody old…”

She ignored his muttering, and leaned even closer. The rivets were pitted with rust, and the wood had warped and split. Drying seaweed was tangled around the loop of the lock, and Aki could swear there were tiny, newly cemented barnacles along the edge of the lid. “What did you do?! Was it underwater?”

”Mmhmm.” Yanking the key back out, Levi glared at it for a moment before shoving it back into his belt pouch. Most treasured possession his foot! The bloody thing was useless! With a sigh, he pulled his old dagger free, and wedged the blade down into the loop that held the lock in place. One quick twist, and the eroded metal gave way…lock falling, still closed, to the balcony floor. ”Ha! Dere!”

Aki reclaimed her drink absently, and took another sip as she watched Levi’s illfated drama unfold. Crude, but means rarely seemed to matter to pirates. She realized suddenly that Levi was staring at her, so she stared back…eyes wide behind the little paper umbrella that poked out over the rim. Swallowing, Aki lowered the glass again and shrugged. “What?”

”Aren’t y’gonna ask whas innit?”

She crunched on a bit of ice, and considered that for a moment. “I wasn’t, no. Not really. I figured you’d just show me.” Again, they stared at each other, and Aki finally sighed. “Okay. What’s in it, Levi?” She took another sip, after stirring the umbrella about for a moment. It was swiftly becoming a curious day.

Brightening, Levi offered the full force of his grin, teeth white against tan skin. He eyes glittered like sun on water, and almost instantly, Aki regretted asking. Somehow, perhaps it was intuition, she knew whatever was in that chest spelled no good for her.

Shoving the blade under the lid, Levi leaned into the chest and pried, narrowing his eyes as the metal shrieked in protest. Finally, the hinge gave way with the sound of wet wood buckling, and the lid snapped back so hard it bounced against the back of the chest. ”Ha! See? Now ya know.”

Whatever it was, he was proud as a rooster on a Sunday morning. Aki eyed him warily for a moment before getting to her feet…leaning cautiously over towards the table to peek inside. In truth, she didn’t know why she’d expected to see anything else. The chest held exactly what a pirate chest should have held. Old coins winked from amid the silt and grime, cluttered upon tarnished silver cups, strands of pearls Aki was pretty sure were from Nisha’s costume box, and various bright buttons and baubles that hadn’t held up particularly well during their submersion.

“Well! That’s, um…” Aki searched for something encouraging to say, but two margaritas and an interrupted nap had robbed her of her maternal bullshit mechanism. “Levi, that’s kind of a bunch of junk.”

She tried to say it kindly, for what it was worth, but Levi’s face didn’t fall at her words. If anything, he grinned all the bigger, and posed for a moment with his fists on his hips. ”Ayup!” He yanked one of the bonds at his wrist free, and used it to tie back his sodden dreads in one smooth motion…shaking them back with a spray of sea water. Aki stepped back hurriedly as he grabbed the chest with both hands, and suddenly, violently, overturned it.

Coins and buttons and little rocks and one tiny, silver flopping fish spilled out over the table…scattering around a heavy leather bag that whumped out last. ”But dis…” Levi hefted the bag, water streaming and twining down his forearm as he brandished it. ”…innit.”

Aki watched, drink forgotten, as he used his knife yet again…this time, to slit the leather ties that had rotted together into a swollen knot. With a sweep of his free hand, Levi cleared half the table…coins tinkling and slapping off the edge to the wet balcony floor. Gently, he loosened the neck of the back and shook its contents free…spreading what the bag had held over the ‘clean’ spot on the table.

Rubies winked in the spring sun, startlingly red against the assortment of precious stones and genuine gold coins. The pearls, this time, were real…Aki recognized the strand of matched black pearls from her jewelry box this time, and not Nisha’s. “What…what is all this?!”

”S’my treasure.” He sounded as proud as if he’d birthed it himself. He lifted one of the rubies from the pile, and held it up for Aki’s examination. ”Got dis one fer babysittin’ Nisha, member?” She nodded vaguely. ”An’ dis one was fer mindin’ when Elle had ta take us t’ docters!” He flashed the little sapphire before hopping to the next item, a lovely golden cuff, large enough to fit a woman’s thigh. ”An DIS one Elle gave me, fer…ah. Ne’ermind dat.”

Chuckling in a way that made Aki want to speak with Elle, Levi tossed the cuff back into the pile. Antique silverware, an emerald ring, two more pearl earrings, and a whole mess of thick coins…all of it genuine. The most shocking of it, however, were all the gems nestled in the mix. “Levi, did you…did you take those from me?”

”Wha?!” For a moment, Levi looked genuinely offended. ”No! Course not! See, dis one was for returning yer lil mirror, member? And this one ya gave me when I fixed up th’ garden! And this one was from when y’had Wasa over, and told me to-“

“Okay, okay!” Aki waved her free hand, and took another hasty sip. Some things didn’t need recounted. “I gave them to you, fine. But…I don’t remember there being so many…”

Levi shrugged, and his smile settled back into place. ”Well, ya did! An’ the rest I earned, here or dere, like ya told me to!”

“I told you to?” Aki was still a bit shocked from seeing what the pirate’s chest truly held, and numbers were stacking up in the back of her mind as he continued to talk.

”Yup! Sheesh, yer gettin’ old.” He ignored her sharp glare, and shuffled the gems about into a neater pile. ”Y’told me if I wanted a ship, I had ta save!”

Suddenly, Aki understood. “Your ship! Oh, Levi, congratulations! This is definitely enough for a ship!” She set her drink down and opened her arms, but before she could hug him, Levi was hugging her. Aki’s feet left the ground as he spun her about, laughing, and she was hit with the second shock of the day. Not only was her boy rich, her boy wasn’t a boy! He was tall enough to pick her up!

”Yeah! Between de two of us…” He set her back down, grinning ear to ear as he huffed, catching his breath. ”Ah can get d’biggest ship on da sea!”

Still a bit dizzy, Aki paused, one hand on the railing. Perhaps she had misheard? “The...two of us?”

The pirate nodded, the little ornaments at the end of his favorite dread winking. ”Aye! De two o’ us!” The silence stretched on for a bit until his smile faltered. Rubbing awkwardly at the back of his head with one hand, Levi cast his guardian a sidelong glance. ”You, ah…remember the deal, don’t you?”

Aki was staring at him again, wide eyed, as though she didn’t have a thought in her head. In truth, she had MANY thoughts in her head. The first one was how serious her pirate suddenly seemed. He was speaking slowly, carefully…his lazy accent replaced with fragile clarity. The second was this deal he spoke of, and Aki’s stomach was full of butterflies at the missing recollection. She’d made many deals with the pirate over the years. What had she promised?!

”Y’said…” Levi’s smile returned, and faltered. ”Y’said you would be payin’ as much as I paid. Ya? A match?”

It came back to her in a rush, and Aki sat heavily on the lounge chair behind her. “I…did. You wanted me to buy you a boat, but I said no, I said…saving your own money…”

”Would build character! Yup! An look, ah be FULL o’character.” Levi posed proudly, bare chest glinting almost as much as the treasure beside him.

She nodded vaguely, more than a little distracted. The numbers in the back of her head had suddenly doubled. “I said that I would match whatever you saved, when it came time…” Aki took off her hat, and set it aside. Her whiteblond hair shook loose, hiding her shoulders from the sun. Slowly, she looked back up to Levi, eyes still wide.

”You…” Levi’s smile vanished, for good this time, as something close to despair settled over him. ”You don’t have th’ money! You can’t match it!!”

Aki shook her head, but not in agreement. “I do. Of…of course I do.” Her deal with the Kofula provided her with more gems than the planetside economy would have cared to acknowledge. “It’s just…”

”Jus what?” His voice cracked a bit, blue eyes wide and wary. All of his planning, all of his dreams!

“It’s just…” Slowly, Aki’s smile manifested, and her eyes were just a touch tear filled when she met Levi’s nervous gaze. “…that I’m proud of you. That’s all. All those gifts, I had no idea you’d saved them. I had no idea…” She shrugged, and pushed weakly back to her feet. “…no idea it meant this much to you. You’ll have your ship, Levi. And if I’m correct…”

The young pirate was frozen, listening, eyes still just as wide.

“…it’s going to be the biggest, best damn ship on the seas.”

Far down the cliff side, a burst of seagulls suddenly took to air…startled to flight by the echoing whoop of a delighted pirate.

Levi barreled into the Villa, skidding on the accent rug in the hall without losing any speed. Aki, thankfully, heard him coming and set down everything she had been holding…barely wiping her hands on a dishtowel before Levi burst into the kitchen.

”AKI! Akiakiaki!” Levi wasted no time, lunging towards his guardian and lifting her off her feet in a massive bear hug. Aki actually squealed as her son spun her around, apron strings flying as she went stiff with shock.

“Put me down, Levi! Down!!” He obliged, planting her gracelessly back on her feet, and Aki strugged to catch her breath as she took two cautionary steps back. His grin was infectious, but she shook her head as she rubbed at a sore rib. “I’m glad to see you too, but what was that about?!”

He wasted no time making her guess, as he might of in the past. The words tumbled out of him one on top of the other, and she squished up one eye in her effort to understand. ”We wentatha docks! Th’ harbor! Me an’ Mik! An’ we looked at boats, lotsofem, but they were all white and borin’ and had dumb names like th’ Voyager. But I found ‘er!!”

“Found who?” Aki took another step back, suddenly wary of the way his blue eyes sparkled. Levi was in more than high spirits…any more excitement, and she feared his heart might actually stop.

”M’SHIP!!!” The kitchen windows rattled with his proud boom, and a moment later, a tiny sleepy wail came from the direction of Nisha’s room. For once, Aki ignored it, and voluntarily opened her arms for another hug.

“Levi, you’re kidding! That fast! Oh, I’m so happy for y-OOMPH!” Again, with the spinning, but Aki squeezed her eyes shut and laughed. Once she’d regained her balance, she gave the pirate a squeeze on the shoulder, and patted his face with great love. “I’m so happy for you! What did you pick? A sailing vessel? A yacht?”

She’d dropped her voice a bit, but Nisha had quieted, already back to sleep. Levi didn’t bother with such niceties. ”Nope! S’a real ship! S’AMAZING. Look!”

Digging in the pouch at his waist for a moment, fumbling with the draw strings, Levi finally pulled a worn, tattered newspaper clipping out with a triumphant flourish. ”’Ere she is.” Now, his voice was quiet, warm with breathless reverence. ”Th’ Lady Gaia.”

Aki’s brows furrowed, but she accepted the clipping for inspection. The Lady Gaia…she knew that name, didn’t she? A single glance told her why. “Oh, Levi…” Sharp sadness settled over her. How did she break it to him?! “Levi…this…this isn’t the kind of boat you can buy.” Huge white sails dominated the picture, emerging from the tangle of line and rigging that spanned the two grand masts. Actual cannon hatches lined the side of the majestic wooden ship, and the top of a polished captain’s wheel peeked over the rail. “It’s a historical monument, Levi. It’s in the paper because they take it from harbor to harbor, to show children what ships used to be like!”

It broke her heart to have to tell him, and Aki handed back the scrap of paper sadly. Levi, however, didn’t seemed phased in the least.

”Aye! That’s what dey said.”

“You…already talked to them? How, when?”

Levi spread his hands, gesturing towards the harbor. ”TODAY! S’here, Aki! S’here in port!”

Aki crossed her arms, hugging herself against his coming disappointment. “Then, they told you it wasn’t for sale?”

Levi nodded, still grinning. ”Ayup! Till I showed them this.” He patted the other pouch on his belt, and Aki heard the unmistakable chime of gold on gem. He seemed prouder than a new father, thin chest puffed out as he beamed at his guardian.

“Levi, you took that out to the docks?!” Aki was horrified. He’d been walking around town with a small fortune tied to his belt?! At least it was only half…she hadn’t yet contributed her matching funds to his reserve.

”Sure!” Levi shrugged, and finally decided to take a seat…hooking his foot around the leg of a chair and pulling it out with a squonk. ”Wouldn’t have believed me otherwise, eh?”

Suddenly, Aki felt the need to take a seat as well. Slumping weakly into another chair, she ran one hand across her face. “Levi, you have a lot of money at your disposal, but I’m not sure you actually have that much. A boat like that…”

”S’already a deal.” He shrugged. She boggled. ”Had ta make a few agreements, but-“

“WAIT. What kind of agreements?!” Her stomach tightened, and Aki put her hands flat on the table, leaning forward towards the pirate. He leaned back, waving away her worry with one ringed hand.

”Nothin’ big! Jus’ gotta go to one harbor a month, like dey do! Promised ‘em I’d not only do that, but I’d give em a real pirate show ta boot! Kiddies will love it.” He nodded wisely, tapping the side of his nose with one finger. ”Not only dat, but since de boat be mine, I get th’ admission monies fer th’ tours!”

If Aki hadn’t already been sitting, she would have sat. Not only did he end up with a virtual galleon, but a job as well?! “Levi are you sure you ca-…” Slowly, Aki’s words trailed off before she gave voice to her doubt. Levi watched curiously as she took a breath, and purposefully put a new smile on her face. All she’d ever wanted was for him to be happy, and hopefully responsible. Who was she to naysay him now?! “Are you sure you can do it alone? It looks like an awfully big ship.”

He shook his head, eyes still dazzlingly bright. ”Nope, not lalone! Gonna need me a crew. Gots a few picked out already.”

Aki studied him, thoughts still spinning. Crews cost money, just surely Levi was aware of that. Surely Levi had a plan.

”I have a plan.” How did she guess. Levi waved away the details, and pulled out the clip again to stare at it lovingly. ”Havin’ a party dis weekend!”

“What…here?!” Aki looked around, suddenly panicked. She’d have to clean every hour between now and the party! She’d have to-

”Ha, no! On de Lady, Aki!” He showed her the clipping again, holding it proudly a bit too close to her face. She went a bit crosseyed, and leaned back in surprise.

“O-oh. Do you need help, or…?”

Levi shook his head, and scooted back suddenly from the table with another loud chair squonk. Nisha’s warbling cry rose again from the back bedroom, and Levi set the clipping down before heading towards the hall. ”Jus’ wanted to show ya, and say tanks! So, tanks!”

With that, he vanished, ducking into Nisha’s room. Her cry ended abruptly, replaced with a surprised muffled giggle, and Aki relaxed back against her chair. For a moment, she simply sat, stunned and more than a little overwhelmed. Slowly, though, the worry faded.

She didn’t quite know how, but somehow, Levi had done it. For the first time, one of Aki’s children was happy, genuinely happy, and she picked up the clipping from the table with a small smile.

“You’re welcome, Levi. Congratulations.”