The hand of the Camouflage Draik being addressed shook imperceptibly, spilling onto the counter-top a few drops of the milk she had been pouring into his favourite cup. What did her Baby Scorchio just say?

Eira put down the carton and wiped down the mess before turning to regard her child seriously. "Now why do you suddenly want to do that?"

"Tomorrow's Take Your Child to Work Day!" he answered, eyes shining. Thank Fyora it was for such an innocuous reason.

"No. I've told you before-- it's dangerous and King Skarl doesn't exactly...approve of my work," she replied, absentmindedly rubbing the long scar running across her forearm. It still ached on rainy days.

"But ma...I have a show and tell the day after...and all my classmates were bragging about how cool their ma and pa were...and what awesome thing from work they’re going to bring in…Everyone’s going to make fun of me for having nothing…" Between every pause in Wilhelm’s speech, his tiny wings drooped lower and lower.

Eira’s soft heart couldn't stand how crestfallen her son looked. With a heavy sigh, she pinched the bridge of her snout and relented, "Fine, you can come with me tomorrow. But only on the condition that..."

"Of course Ma! I promise!" Wilhelm cried in delight his wings fluttering so excitedly that he actually lifted off the floor a little.

"Okay then. Settle down and drink your milk. Sky pirates need strong bones you know. After that, we'll go and find you an outfit for tomorrow" Eira proposed with a smile.

***

The next morning, Eira and Wilhelm stood in a clearing in a wood in the Meridell countryside. Wilhelm wore a hat with a wide brim, one of his mum's old neckerchief's and his red wellington boots, which were the most swashbuckling footwear he owned.

Ahead of them was the Bonnie Brassica, pride of the sky pirate fleet. This clearing in the wood was one of their hidden landing spots. No one working the surrounding fields could see in through the dense trees to spot the ship and, with the sails furled and a bit of camouflage, the mast and deck blended in with the rest of the wood.

Wilhelm was near vibrating with glee as he took in the scene. The crew were hard at work preparing the ship for flight. Some were finishing patching gaps in the hull, some were scrubbing the deck and the rest were arranging the sails.

Eira and Wilhelm set off towards the ship when suddenly, a cry rang out from amongst the crew as they spotted...

“Wilhelm! Find a safe spot below deck for now,” Eira instructed, not taking her eyes off the chart she had laid out. She would have trust that he be safe.

“Yes Ma!”

Perfect, Wilhelm thought triumphantly, as he watched his mother at work a moment longer. She’s too busy to be suspicious now. He absently rubbed the small, humming object in his pocket. He didn’t know when he’d get another chance at finding the answers he’d been desperately hunting. Guilt settled into the pit of Wilhelm’s stomach like sediment along a riverbed, followed by the rushing waters of elation at knowing the truth was somewhere close. Wilhelm jumped up, scampering across the deck to the lower level.

WHUMP! Just as he reached the rickety stairs, Wilhelm barrelled straight into the immovable torso of…..

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” he rumbled in his gravelly voice, one golden tooth in his grin sparkling in the morning light. “Eira’s little one, if I’m not mistaken. Shouldn't ye be findin' that safe spot yer mother mentioned?" The gaze of his one steely-blue eye lingered on Wilhem’s pocket.

Wilhelm’s hand instinctively moved to his pocket to cover the mysterious object. The captain’s expression was unreadable, but Wilhelm couldn’t shake the feeling that, despite only having one eye, the Krawk missed nothing... especially not the guilty flush that was creeping up his face.

Wilhelm muttered something incoherent as he slipped by the captain and ran the rest of the way down the stairs, surveying the lower deck for somewhere he could discreetly begin his investigation.

As the ship began to rise into the cloudy Meridellian sky…

He pulled it out carefully. It was a compass with a little brass dial. The hum grew even louder, and Wilhelm knew it wanted him to find something.

That's why he needed to get on his mother's boat. When he'd stumbled across the compass in his mother's things, he didn't think it was special at all, but every day, the hum grew louder when she was near, and quieter when she left. The dial always seemed to point towards the sky.

He suspected his mother had no clue the compass was special, which made it more appealing to figure out the secret on his own.

"We almost got 'em!" someone shrieked from above.

As his eyes adjusted to the beds and barrels around the room, he noticed a door ahead. The dial pointed straight to it. Excitedly, he reached out and grasped the knob....

And then a foot came down on the compass, and he only had seconds to remove his fingers from the path. Wilhelm cringed and looked up. Captain Grimsley, expression unreadable, was bending down, eyebrow cocked at the sight of the little Scorchio below him. He swiped the compass up and tucked it into his pocket.

“I think I’ll be keeping that for now,” said the Captain.

“That’s mine!” The words escaped Wilhelm before he could stop them.

Captain Grimsley leaned in and tilted his good eye at him. “Don’t lie to me, kid. I know it’s not yours.” He straightened up and smirked, fixing the lapels of his coat and adjusting his hat before putting his hands behind his chest and sticking it out with authority. The ship lurched again, but the Captain was firm in his feet. Wilhelm was thankful he was still on the floor.

Frozen, the little Scorchio watched him walk away with his mother’s compass. He sat up and smacked himself in the head. He needed to find a way to get it back without his mother knowing it was gone in the first place. Captain Grimsley obviously knew that the compass was important, that it pointed to something, and he wanted it himself.

Wilhelm knew what he had to do. Slowly, and always keeping a distance, he followed the Krawk up the stairs and towards…

Hiding behind a barrel, Wilhelm watched on as Captain Grimsley stormed into the command centre.

“Alright, mateys!” the Krawk greeted with a charismatic and snaggle-toothed grin. “We’re changing course just a wee bit. Tell navigation that the captain be in control now.”

The little Scorchio swore he saw a twinkle of mischief in Grimsley‘s eye and his heart fluttered in response. As the captain’s crew scattered about the wheelhouse in order to take action at Grimsley’s command, Wilhelm took his opportunity to sneak farther inside.

Holding the compass in his clawed hand, the Krawk held it up and into his line of sight. Light bounced off the glass face and shone almost directly into Wilhelm’s eye, causing him to wince.

“Shift course due east!” Grimsley declared, turning the wheel with his free hand. The compass hummed as if in response.

“Where are we going, Captain?” a Green Techo in the crew asked.

Captain Grimsley chuckled malevolently to himself before responding with…

The crew exchanged uncertain glances at the captain’s declaration. The merchant ship was right in front of them, an easy prize, yet Grimsley chose to abandon it for an entirely new course. To forgo such plunder could only mean one thing: there must be greater treasure awaiting. Slowly, smirks crept across their faces as the same thought ran through every mind. All but two...

Eira felt suspicion stir immediately. She alone knew of a certain object she had once retrieved from a treasure chest on a past adventure, quietly pocketed while her crew-mates busied themselves with shinier loot. It was an unassuming compass, its needle fixed unwavering toward one direction—the under-city of Maraqua. Alongside it had been an inscription etched in magic: DO NOT COME! Fearing her crew’s reckless tendencies, she had kept it hidden. Her eyes fixed on the object gleaming in Grimsley’s claw. “But how did the captain get his hands on it…” she murmured under her breath.

Wilhelm, meanwhile, had eyes only for the compass. The object in the Krawk’s claw was the very one he had stolen without his mother’s knowledge. The thought of his mother finding out gripped his stomach like a tight knot. He must take it back. As these thoughts churned, the helmsman’s hands gripped the wheel, turning it steadily eastward, away from the merchant ship and toward Maraqua…

Eira, full of suspicion, followed Captain Grimsley to the deck, arriving just in time to witness pure chaos. The ship stopped its jerky landing movements, entering a calm glide just above the waves. Suddenly the compass began to vibrate, glowing brighter. “What's this?! A new clue to follow?” Grimsley wondered to himself. Smoke curled around his claws as pain coursed through his hand and up his arm. The compass heated up immensely and quickly, burning his hand. It slipped from his grasp and rolled across the deck toward the ship’s railing. Wilhelm burst from his hiding place, diving after the hot device. His claws brushed the compass but the motion simply pushed it further away from his grasp. He could only watch, still tumbling forwards himself, as the compass fell into the sea. He tried to sink his claws into the wood to slow his own movement but it was too late, and he tumbled overboard after the compass.

“MAN OVERBOARD!” “SOMEBODY HELP HIM!”

Wilhelm heard those hardly recognizable shouts as he entered the cold, deep Maraquan waters. The compass, glowing even more underwater, was sinking faster as if it were heavy as an anchor.

“I'll... I'll try and get it back, Ma’...” Wilhelm thought, hardly able to maintain consciousness due to his shock from the fall. Moments before unconsciousness, he was able to see a delicate silhouette swimming in harmony from the depths of the sea…

How will this story end?

As she swiftly approached the young Scorchio, she said, “I knew this dream would come true as well...”

With an elegant movement through the turbulent sea, she caught Wilhelm just as his strength gave out. In one hand she held the shining compass, now calm as if soothed by the peace flowing from the Maraquan Aisha, and with the other she lifted the little Scorchio toward the surface. Her voice reached him like a melody carried through the water. “You are very brave, young Scorchio. It is time for your efforts to bear fruit: courage must always lead to wisdom.”

Back on deck, Eira nearly collapsed with relief when Isca placed Wilhelm in her arms. “Ma... I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I just wanted something to show at school. I didn’t know it would be so dangerous.”

Eira hugged him tightly. “Never again without my permission, Wilhelm. Promise me.” He nodded happily and relieved.

Facing the pirates, who muttered angrily and grimaced in frustration, Isca raised the compass. “This belongs to Maraqua. It is not a treasure to be looted. It burns in unworthy hands because it should never have left the sea.” With that, she slipped beneath the waves, pausing only to smile and wink at Wilhelm.

Captain Grimsley grunted. “Bah! Nonsense. Let’s get out of here and not waste more time, dinner’s already being served at The Golden Dubloon.”

***

The next day, Wilhelm proudly stood before his classmates with the token. “My mother is a navigator. I fought a pirate captain with this and met one of Maraqua’s greatest heroines, all in a single day!” Everyone was amazed. As the young Scorchio smiled, he saw Eira waiting by the door, smiling back. In that moment he knew his true treasure was already his, not gold or tokens, but the adventure shared with his beloved mother.

The End.