1x1 with .celestential.

[.celestential.]

Eleanora listened in furious silence as the Captain replied. She'd been taken for, well she didn't even know what for. The Captain was under the impression that Eleanora could help solve some puzzle, and she was going to get an unfortunate surprise when she realized the princess had no idea what this puzzle was. She crossed her arms and glared defiantly at the Captain. "Go ahead. Lock me back up. It won't change anything. You can't make me help you, and I would never willingly give you my assistance. My father's sailors will find me soon enough, and then you'll be sorry," she responded angrily.

[Wondering Soul]

The Captain simply smiled, "I'm not asking for your help. Lucky for us we won't be needing your assistance for a time yet." Her smile turned to a lopsided grin, "I'm sure your father will send many sailors after us when he figures it out. Unfortunately for them I don't plan to make it easy for them to catch up, or for them to get wind of where we're going." She said confidently, a hand placed at her hip. Her eyes turned towards the open sea, "If I were you I'd get use to the idea of being on this ship. You're going to be here for a while yet." She moved to walk down the steps leading to the main deck, pausing to look over at Eleanora. "So, sit back and enjoy the ocean views. Who knows, maybe you'll even learn to enjoy the time away from court life." She tipped her hat, "The name's Captain Beatrice Hall by the way."

[.celestential.]

It took all of Eleanora’s self control not to yell after the Captain. The woman was somehow even more infuriating than Kai was. She turned back to look at him. “Is everyone on this ship making a conscious effort to be as irritating as possible?” she grumbled. “Well that happened and was exactly as annoying as I expected it to be.” She matched up to Kai. “What do you know about this puzzle? Why does she need me for it?” she demanded.

[Wondering Soul]

Kai threw up his hands in defense, "I can say with complete honestly that I have no idea." He shrugged, "It's the first I've heard anything about it. What it is or how you fit into it, I have no clue." He was trying not to show his slight irritation at the Captain. She had made it sound like kidnapping Eleanora was going to lead to a sizable score, he figured that meant a ransom payout. But they had nothing to show for the weeks in planning it took to get the princess on the ship. The Captain's never given him a reason to doubt her before, but she had never spoke in such riddles either. Kai let out an exhale, "I'm just as confused by it as you."

[.celestential.]

Eleanora glared at Kai for a moment, trying to determine whether or not he was telling the truth. After a minute of staring at him, she decided he knew just as much as she did. In other words, absolutely nothing. Which, for the moment, meant they might have similar goals. She glanced over at the Quartermaster, then back at Kai. “What if,” she said under her breath, “we could find out somehow.” She knew it was a long shot, he’d known her for a couple of hours at most, but she was hoping his curiosity would win out over his potential loyalty to the crew.

[Wondering Soul]

Kai couldn't keep the curious from passing his face as she piqued his interest. He glanced to the Quartermaster, who was preoccupied talking with the navigator. He leaned down towards her, "And how do you suggest going about that?" His tone was hushed, barely audible over the sound of waves knocking against the ship. What Eleanora was suggesting was potentially very dangerous. "Of course you don't mean to suggest that we find our way into the Captain's cabin purely for the purpose of snooping?" It was an act, if caught, that would directly questioned his loyalty to the crew. Something that very well could get him tossed aside. Though, it was evident the Captain was keeping something from the crew. An idea he wasn't very fond of.

[.celestential.]

As their quite conversation continued, Eleanora kept an eye on the Quartermaster to make sure he wasn't going to suddenly overhear them. When Kai didn't immediately shut down her suggestion, a smile spread across her lips. "That's exactly what I am suggesting," she whispered back. "Unless you're too scared to do it, in which case, I'll just try to do it on my own, but then you'll not find out what she was talking about." If the Captain insisted on keeping her in the dark, then Eleanora would just take things into her own hands. Besides, she didn't have much else to do on the ship and it was obvious the Captain didn't think they would be found. Her parents had surely discovered she was missing by now, and she was confident that they would find her, but until then she had to entertain herself somehow.

[Wondering Soul]

Kai simply watched her for a moment, considering. His curiosity was already clouding his better judgement, but the part of him that was still sane was fighting back. His brows knitted as he said, "That's easy for you to say, she obviously needs to for something. If we're caught she'll just lock you back up, for all I know she'll throw me overboard for breaking her trust." He had never seen the Captain act in such a way, but the prospect was still there. "And it wouldn't exactly be easy to waltz into her private cabin in broad daylight...and she'll be in there at night." He bit into his lip, thinking. "But...maybe," he let loose a sigh thinking better on suggesting it, "she likes to eat with the crew at dinner. She won't be in the cabin, and everyone will be preoccupied." His tone was pained, and he raked a hand threw his hair.

[.celestential.]

"While I can't say that you being thrown overboard would exactly be what I consider a tragedy, if you help me I'll take any blame for it," Eleanora said, excited that this was going so well. She had to remind herself to keep her voice down before she continued. "We both go in, and if we happen to get caught, you can say you heard me in here and came in to stop me. You're right that she would probably just have me locked back up, and I've been pretty clear that it makes no difference to me whether I am stuck in that room or not. No matter how much freedom I am given, I'm still a prisoner of this ship." She glanced over to the Quartermaster who was still deep in conversation with the navigator. It seemed for the moment that no one was paying them any mind, but there was no way to tell how long that would last. "We probably should speak about this elsewhere."

[Wondering Soul]

Kai considered her words, and he didn't like the fact that he was being persuaded by them. His eyes once again flickered to the Quartermaster, "That's the first sensible thing you've said in this conversation." He motioned her to follow him as he moved towards the stairs. "I don't even know what we would be looking for," he murmured as he walked. His worrisome eyes danced to anyone they passed, as if they could tell they were being suspicious. "I doubt we'll find her secret journal describing any schemes she has. The best we can hope for is maps detailing our destination. Maybe we can piece something from that."