Route 1

describe Christian's appearance, describe Enzo's appearance, describe Cassandra's appearance both former and current if there have been changes, describe Christian's ship

"For years now i had been abused by my mother and for years i had to hide my true project, i had to act as a little frightened princess that loved wearing dress and couldn't do anything by herself. The truth was that ever since i was younger i had been an excellent fighter, a great fencer and an even more talented marksman, talents i had inherited from my pirate father whose identity i knew nothing of. By pure coincidence piracy was something that had always amazed me, one day a pirate ship had attacked the harbor, i had seen everything from the castle, despite the fact that the royal navy eventually chased the ship away from our shores i knew i had found what was my real purpose, it wasn't to be a princess but to become a pirate. The ship i saw that day was a brigantine, not one of the ship with the biggest firepower but one whose speed far exceeded that of the royal navy ships. That ship had grey sails and black hull, it was the most beautiful ship i had ever seen and when i heard it's name i knew it was destiny for me to one day become it's captain, the ship was named "The mourning Rena", it had the same name as me. What i didn't at the time was that the Rena that had given it this name was me, it was the former ship of my father that, believing me dead, he had named after me as a way to show his grief over my supposed death at birth but it had been stolen by other pirates."

"But to become a pirate, let alone the captain of that ship that was so sought after by any pirate, simply getting aboard was a dream for most that was the prestige of that ship, i needed to be free from that wretched castle i was imprisonned in. Finally, one day a huge explosion shook the castle, it was obviously coming from the direction of my chambers and my mother went herself see what was going on, paniced at the idea that Christian had found out everything, but instead she just found that a huge part of the castle had been blown up, no one was dead except for one missing person, me. She asked the guards to look for me in the rubbles and in the city but to no avail. The explosion was my doing, i had been piling up gunpowder every time i could and it had amounted to a huge amount. The guards would be searching for the image they had of me, a frail princess foolishly flying in plain sight with a rich dress. The reality was very different, i was wearing masculine clothes with a saber swinging at my waist together with a pistol, even when some guards saw me they sought i looked too laid back and not even nearly frail enough to be a princess, if anything i looked more like a pirate than a merchant but they had to keep searching for the escaped princess, not knowing that it was indeed me that was drinking a bottle of rum on the harbor, looking for a ship to join or steal. The queen expected me to escape by land, not by sea and even less dressed like i was. Dressed as i was i looked a lot like my father."

""The mourning Rena", a ship legendary for it's unmatched speed and for it's long list of victories as well as for the story of how it's capitain had stolen the ship from the great pirate Christian. That capitain had stolen the ship that Christian had named after his dead daughter and it was common knowledge that ever since that day whenever Christian could him and his "Crimson Dove" would track down "The mourning Rena", trying to get it back but the Mourning Rena was one if not the fastest ship on the sea and Christian had never succeeded in catching up with it. I knew if that ship had been there before i left the castle i would have seen it in the harbor, not only because of it's noticable appearance but also because of the commotion it's arrival would have caused, if i hadn't caused an even bigger commotion through the city by blowing up a part of the castle before running away the guards would have attacked it as soon as it entered the harbor. I felt again that it was destiny, it had anchored in the harbor for the first time in a decade just when i escaped, it was destiny for me to join it's crew, and in time work my way up to become it's captain. I knew i needed to be careful, the opportunity was too great to be missed. I had already gained quite a few points by the fact the other hadn't tried to stop me, the captain knew that meant they thought at first i looked like at least a decent pirate, i gained a few more points thanks to the fact that despite being a woman i was wearing clothes adapted to fighting, some more points since my clothes weren't raggs. What scored me the most points were the combination of my sharp and determined gaze together with the saber and pistol swinging at my waist. He could see i was well equipped for the life of a pirate despite clearly seeming like a novice. The captain thought that i would simply have to learn." I'm no one important, just someone looking for a ship where my "expertise" would be appreciated. And i believe that one should always thrive to be taught by the best. And 10 years ago i witnessed first hand that this ship is certainly one of the best in it's domain of activities. "The captain appreciated that i admitted being unexperienced and every pirate enjoyed a little bit of flattery. But it's finally when i told him that i had seen this ship at work here 10 years ago that he was decided he would give me a chance as a part of the crew. He also liked that i had enough wits to not mention piracy in the middle of the harbor, they had been unnoticed but they needed to be quick and stealthy if they wanted to avoid the guards."

(The current captain of "the Mourning Rena" is captain Taras, the former first mate of Christian. Christian has been tracking him down since he stole the "Mourning Rena")

"I followed him just as he expected. I was feeling great joy at the thought that i had succeeded not only in becoming a pirate but also succeeded in being accepted into the crew of one of the best pirate ships on the sea. "The crimson Dove" was arguably a better ship than this one but i had never seen it, Christian had never returned to Cassandra and so i never heard about him or seen as much as a part of his crimson sails, so i could only guess a comparison, this one was faster and bigger but also less maneuvrable and had less firepower." Yes cap'n. "I said with a certain professionalism that Taras appreciated, i was young but it was clear i knew to keep my emotions in check, thus despite my great joy i showed a neutral front. I did my duties as well as Taras had expected and even a bit better, it was obvious it was my first time doing all of theses tasks in a real scenario but i still did them as fast as any decent sailor, he could see the talent, with time he knew i could become a great pirate. Soon Taras ordered to leave port and in a matter of minutes all of the crew had regained the ship and were efficiently doing what they had to do. A few sailors showed a bit of surprise at the sight of a new hand on the ship, they hadn't been here long so they didn't expect anyone would have joined in the span of less than an hour, none of them spoke about it or went against it, they knew better than to question the captain or to stop themselves from performing their tasks to question me, instead they behaved as if i was another crew member. I would sometime look at what other were doing to see how they did it and see if i was doing it right but i didn't bother them by asking for counsel, seeing what they were doing was already good enough and i knew that the capitain wouldn't hesitate to throw me off the ship if i became a bother. The ship quickly left the harbor unchallenched, the royal navy ships that did notice us knew better than try to chase after us, they had no change to catch up to us."

"This went on for a few days, simply doing whatever task i was asked to do, it was often the task that the other member of the crew didn't want to do since i was the newest and youngest member of the crew, it wasn't unfair treatment, all of them had gone through this at the beginning, it was partly so that they could focus on tasks that demanded experience i didn't have and partly in order to teach me a few things like how to do this or that but mostly to make me learn how to work hard. I was good at it, but it wasn't easy, my palms were already rough from all the fencing i learned but handling ropes all the time made them even rougher. While my hands became rougher my skin stayed quite pale, still a little bit less pale compared to my mother but a lost paler than most, i didn't seem able to get much of a tan despute spending most of my time in the sun. I quickly became the one tasked with going up and down the crow's nest to see if there were any merchant ship around, as such i quickly got a telescope to make me able to find the ships better and to identify them more easily too. Most of the times there were not a ship in sight, either that or they weren't worth attacking being either slave ships or other pirates we had no business with. But after a week i finally spotted something far away, i quickly identified it as a merchant ship and went to inform the captain. Our ship, unlike the merchant ship, wasn't fully loaded and was already much faster normally so their great cargo made it even easier to catch up to them. In a few tens of minutes we almost catched up to them, in a minute or two we would be able to jump aboard their poorly armed ship and either kill or capture the ship."

"I drew the first blood before even getting aboard the merchant vessel. One of the few man aboard the other ship that knew how to fight back was about to shoot one of their cannon right in one of our mast, how dare he try to damage this precious ship. I drew my pistol and put a bullet through his skull, opening the hostilities, i unsheathed my saber that felt as eager as me to draw it's first blood. We outnumbered the merchant ship in term of overall fighter but since we had to leave a part of the crew behind to make sure none of them came aboard our own ship we were even in numbers, but not in ability. I had made the first drop of blood flow from a shot of my pistol but Taras was the first to draw blood with his saber. I threw myself in the frenzy, i expected this but being there in person was very different from hearing about it or imagining it. Without even realising it my fight brought me to the helm of the ship, i was dodging and countering attack from two assailants, i was weaker physically but i was clearly more cunning and much more skilled with a blade, so instead of meeting their attack head on i dodged and stayed mobile, using my smaller build to navigate the mess that the ship had turned into. I succeeded in taking both of them out, the first man tripped on a rope and i impaled his heart, the second tried to kill me while my sword was still stuck in his camarad's body, i drew my hidden pistol and shot him in the eye, killing him instantly. I was trying to take my sword out of the first man body when i saw a big shadow behind me, i let go off my sword and dodged, avoiding a massive plank by a breath length, i jumped back on the railing,dangerously close to falling off the ship. I saw who my opponent was, it was the captain of the merchant ship, he was a big man, he would have easily overpowered most men of the crew and i wasn't as strong as the men on the "Mourning Rena"'s crew, too much time trapped in a castle wasn't the best to developp physical strength, but i had agility. As he was attacking i jumped again, grabbing a rope and swinging forward, my foot hitting him roughly on the head, as he stumbled backward i let go off the rope, getting back to the firmness of the deck, i grabbed my pistol by the barell and hit him hard on the head with the handle, making him pass out. I didn't kill him, the captain might need him. As the man fell down on the deck i looked around and realised the fight was over, the merchant crew were either dead, unconsicous or tied up."

"It has been a few month since then, i quickly became the second hand and finally the first hand once the previous first hand got too hurt to keep on doing piracy. A few of the crew had died since i had joined, the former second hand got hit by a cannonball, a few other got killed while boarding ships, it was the risk of being a pirate. Freedom but risk, it was what the life of a pirate was. Despite being a woman i became respected on "the Mourning Rena", when the crew first learned my name was Rena, like the ship there were a few jokes going around, no one truly believed i was the Rena that had given her name to the ship, and neither did i despite the fact that it was the truth. When the captain learned i had the same name as the ship he said that it was a proof of good luck and possibly destiny. He hadn't ever told it outright but it was mostly an unspoken agreement that i would become the next captain of "the mourning Rena" despite being here for only a few month, all of them respected me enough not to oppose me if the captain ever made me captain and the other rooted for me. The day i finally became the captain of "the mourning Rena" i hadn't expected it at all. That day was a costly one for our crew. We attacked a merchant ship but got taken by surprise by an escort ship that had been waiting for us, hidding behind a nearby island. We got caught in the crossfire of both ships, we emerged victorious thanks to me succeeding in hitting the escort ship's gunpowder stock with a precise cannonball but we still incured heavy loss. The ship had suffered from damages that needed for us to head to a harbor as soon as possible and our crew had suffered quite a few loss, Taras was one of them. He had been shot in the torso, the wound didn't kill him instantly but it was a fatal wound, there was nothing we could do to save him. Before his death he named me captain in front of all of the crew, or what remained, we had lost a fifth of the crew in a single battle, an unusually costly toll on our crew. The captain quarters were now mine, all of Taras belonging were still here and i had no idea of what to do with all of it. I decided i would choose a few things to keep and once in the harbor i would distribute the rest to the crew, together with all the bounty we had gathered in the last few month, an incredible amount of wealth beyond what most people ever saw in their lives. We headed to a pirate harbor, the only place where we could be somewhat safe as a pirate ship, there we could make the necessary repairs, the only issue being that the crimson dove would come for us if it heard where we were anchored, i hadnt heard much about it or it's captain other than the fact that he was hostile. I had barely heard anything about him but he had heard almost everything that was to know about me, how i was a young and talented pirate named Rena, the fact that we were father and daughter was something neither of us were aware of or suspecting."

"As we approached the port, my hand carefully guiding the helm i almost laughed because of how well my ship bore his name right now, it was the mourning Rena just as i, Rena, was mourning the death of my captain. It was so ironic, but my little amusement was short lived when i saw the ship with crimson sails coming toward us as we were heading toward the port, the crimson Dove placed itself right in our way, stopping us from anchoring in the port to repair and deload the ship, his ship was smaller than mine but the mourning Rena was in no shape to ram another ship in other to push trough to the harbor, and doing so would only result in a battle that might involve the other pirate ships around. I hadn't heard much about him other than the fact he was a legendery pirate, Taras hadn't told me much but i knew the story of how he stole this ship from Christian. I hoped that now that Taras was dead, Christian wouldn't try to take the ship from me, i was ready to sink with it rather than give it to someone else. But first i needed to try and parlay with him. We couldn't fight, even a merchant ship would have been difficult rigth now, being caught between two gallions had been costly. I knew he would come for us at some point but i didn't expect him to be there, and even less that he would react so quickly, we hadn't been visible for that long meaning he must have hurried to get in my way. I waited for him to come aboard, telling my crew to not have their weapons in hands but to be ready to use them if things went wrong. Under my shirt i had put a necklace not knowing that this perticular knecklace would be familiar to Christian if he saw it, but it was hidden by my shirt. There were only four of these necklaces, him and Enzo both had one, my mother had one too and i had the remaining one, that wasn't the most obvious thing showing that we were related, when Christian had seen me from afar standing at the helm of my ship he had thought i was Cassandra for a moment because i had the same golden and wavy hair she had. But he had quickly pushed that off his mind, concentrating on the fact he had finally caught the ship he had chased for so long. The other thing that showed i was in reality related to Christian other than the fact we had the same eyes was that if i was compared to Enzo the ressemblance would be obvious, i was a girl so i had a slimer build but i was still the same heigth, our face looked similar. I didn't know if he would come aboard, and if he did who would be with him but i was almost certain he wouldn't use his cannons, from the story i knew this ship was precious to him, he wouldn't sink it without trying to avoid it. And also we were obviously unable to fight back if it came to a cannon fight so shooting was unecessary."

"The captain Christian was a lot bigger than me, what's more is the innate fear he already exuded was only made worse by just how angry he seemed to be. I knew that if i played my cards wrong we could very well all die, and i didn't have many good cards to play. Despite the fact that he was towering over me i didn't back down, i stayed calm, i wouldn't step back infront of anyone on my own ship even if it was the devil himself, which in hindsight he more or less was for my crew. I met his icy blue eyes, the same as mine, i would have been surprised by this, after all there were very few people that had the same eye color as me, but i was too focused on saving my crew and my ship. I saw the confusion in his eyes and assumed it was because he didn't expect to be faced by someone else than Taras, that or when he had heard about me he had imagined an older more masculine women. As he stepped closer i still didn't step back, but this time it was more because i didn't dare to, he was intimidating naturally and his anger did nothing to reduce the pressure he put on me, the fact he could make us sink by a mere word also didn't help." Greetings Captain Christian, i didn't expect to be this famous. "Despite the fact that anxiety was trying to spot my tongue from moving i still greeted him. One of the only good thing i had gotten from being a princess, i knew how to speak well. I truly didn't expect him to be aware of me, i hadn't been a pirate for very long but maybe it was simply that he listened to every rumor about "the mourning rena". O dodn't speak when he told me he had chased this ship for years, his words didn't seek an answer. Despite the fear i kept a strong front, looking intimidated wouldn't do any good." Taras is dead and my ship is a cannoball away from Davy Jones' locker, how about you let us anchor in the port first and then we will be able to talk. I'm sure neither of us want to see this ship sink. "I was trying to stall time but i was right, the ship was in a very bad condition and it would be wiser to anchor it first and negociate later. I hoped that learning the death of the man who betrayed him would somewhat calm him down."

"This ship was something dear to Christian, but i didn't know why. I didn't expect his answer, he hadn't came here for Taras, why was this ship so important to him ? It might have been a good ship but he had no use for it as he was now, i doubted he would have tracked a ship for years if it was just to pass it on to his second in command. I didn't like how he insulted the memory of my dead captain but i had to agree that Taras had been a traitor from what i had heard, but treachery is part of the pirate way, few could say they had never betrayed anyone. Even as his face was inches away i didn't back down, still more by fear of what he might do if i showed that i was afraid. I understood a little bit better why he had tracked this ship for so long and why he had chased after us so quickly, in his eyes it was obvious that he had been obsessed by this ship, the reason mattered little. My crew followed my orders to not be hostile but when he insulted me by saying i was just an upstart girl it was obvious that they were offended, insulting the captain was insulting the crew. And even without that most of them had a profound respect for me, not only for my fighting skills but also my leadership and mostly since i was the one who had taken command when we got caught in between the two gallions and Taras got shot, the mourning Rena had not won unscathed but they all knew without me we would have sunk. A few crew men despite being terrified by Christian squeezed the handle of their weapon and were about to step forward when he grabbed my chin but i stayed them with a hand, they all stopped without daring to contredict my command. Christian didn't notice the sign i had given them to stop with my hand but he knew that it was me that had stopped them without even saying a word, a proof that i at least knew how to command my crew. Our blue eyes met and he could see the defiance in my blue eyes. I knew i wasn't what he expected, i was not only a woman but also the youngest aboard and yet i was a captain seemingly well respected by my crew." Who ? "I asked in almost a whisper when he spoke of Enzo, i had never heard of him before. My words didn't seek an answer and i'm unsure if he didn't hear me or simply didn't answer. Despite my hear thumping hard in my chest as soon as he had regained his ship i regained my cool, i took a deep breath, i knew it was far from over but at least we had a chance. I turned to my crew." Prepare for anchorage in the port. "I said to my crew, it wasn't the time or place to discuss of what was happening, they stood there for a second, the least experienced still shocked by Christian." Now. "I spoke louder, this time they all went to their task as i went to the helm to guide the ship. Our anchorage was silent as death itself, it was usually quiet since i only raised my voice when they did something incorrectly but now not even a word was spoken, to those in the port it looked like a ghost ship was arriving in their harbor."

"I already expected for him to board the ship as soon as we were both anchored so it was no surprise when he got aboard the ship as soon as the lines were secured, but i had still hoped he would take a bit longer. He had been too quick for me to give further orders, i would have liked for my crew to take their share of the bounty we had amassed before getting off the ship but his guards made that impossible. I knew why he had chosen to anchor right to the side of the Mourning Rena, if anything went wrong his cannons would be ready to send us to the bottom of the sea. I didn't have enough time to wonder what was this change in his expression but i hoped it was beneficial. Christian still didn't know i was his daughter, he thought me dead so he had never even imagined that he would meet his daughter, even less on this ship. Even if there was no mockery i was slightly annoyed that he didn't call me by my title, it was better than insult but it felt as if he denied my rank of captain. It was weird that he had been so hostile just a few minutes ago and was now calling me by name." Captain Christian. "I answered acknowledging him as he joined me near the helm, i also put the stress on captain to send the message that at the least of respect would be to also address me by my title, we were not close at all, let alone close enough to use our names. Whatever he might say, even if that ship did belong to him it remained under my command for the time being. I also expected him to desire to talk in private, i had no issue with speaking in front of my crew but he might want to discuss these matter more comfortably. But i expected him to order me to come aboard his own ship where he would have the total advantages, staying on this ship made him the foreigner in the negociations." Very well, where do you wish to negotiate then ? "I was clearly the underdog in these negociation so i had no right to impose on him the location. Enzo had remained on the crimson dove and he was burning to challenge me, he didn't understand why Christian hadn't just ordered for the massacre of the whole crew and it's captain."

"The unusual softness he had showed seemed to have only been temporary, he clealy seemed hostile there were no mistaking it, as things were he would not let me keep my ship. When he insulted me by treating me of "girl" my crew became active again, their hands grabbing firmly their weapon, they were scared but they wouldn't go down without a fight and this time i didn't signal them to calm down. Christian's guard on the deck started to feel less in the position of power, our ship may be in a bad shape but we still outnumbered Christian and his guards and if his ship shot the Mourning Rena they would go down with us. Christian and his guards realised they weren't superior that much currently. The hard way would be hard for both of us, we may have no chance to win but that didn't mean we couldn't make him lose." That's ironic... i was about to tell you the same thing. "I pulled out my pistol and my saber, Christian expected me to shoot him but instead i pointed my gun to under me." This is MY ship now, and i will rather sink it myself than lose it. Right under both our feet is our whole stock of gunpowder, if i shoot at least half the ship will be turned into dust. Are you ready to gamble that you can kill me before i pull the trigger ? "I looked at him in the eyes, our icy blue eyes meeting each other, he could see that i wasn't bluffing, i would sooner die with my ship than let someone take it from me. The look in my eyes reminded him of Enzo and himself in his youth. Just as he was thinking about his son, Enzo got aboard, he could see the tension in the hair and how my saber was unsheated in between me and Christian. As much as he wished he could just go to challenge me he saw how Christian himself didn't dare to make a move and Enzo saw why, he saw my gun pointed to the barils of gunpowder right under us. Christian could attack me even less now that Enzo was aboard, if i shot not only him and his guard but his son would also perish. He realised he had been overconfident."