Jenna shrugged, but said nothing.
He stared her down for a long moment, but when she refused to yield he spun away. “Take her and be gone from my sight!” Rolxoth snapped to Dexter.
“What will you do?” Dexter asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
Rolxoth walked towards his desk. “We’ve not seen the last of each other, Captain.”
Jenna grabbed Dexter’s arm and pulled him encouragingly towards the door. Dexter stared after the otherwise occupied sheriff for a moment, wondering if the eyeless being could still see him, then let Jenna guide him to the door and out of the office. Other than a cursory glance, none of the city guardsman paid them any special attention on their way back out of the building.
They walked silently for only a few city blocks before Dexter said to her, “I think the time has come.”
Heart beating faster all of a sudden, Jenna asked softly, “Time for what?”
“For you to be leveling with me. I’m through sailing without a course, Jenna. I’m feeling a powerful need to know that springing you out of that cell wasn’t another bad decision in a string of many I’ve been known to make.”
Jenna nodded, taking a deep breath as she did so. “Not on the ship though, okay? I don’t want the others to know.”
“Aye, I’ll grant you that,” Dexter conceded. He saw a tavern approaching and steered towards it.
The tavern, Whitefish Hall, was surprisingly clean. A veteran of countless dockside bars, Dexter did a double take upon entering at how quiet the inhabitants were, and how secluded the booths seemed to be. A look at the serving maids and the bartender and he began to wonder if they had stumbled into the wrong place; they all wore tailored uniforms that, while attractive, were striking and professional.
“Gods, what is this place?” Dexter mumbled.
“Sir, a table or a booth for you and the lady?”
Dexter jumped at the question. He turned and saw a uniformed man standing beside a podium. He glanced at Jenna, who was just as surprised as he was. “Um, a booth, I think.”
“Excellent, this way, if you please,” he said with a flourish of his hand.
Dexter glanced at Jenna, who only shrugged and smiled. He returned the smile and followed the man to a booth that was easily as private as the rest. He seated them and made a few suggestions as to the cooks specialty, some sort of roasted hen with some sauce or other, then returned to his position near the entrance.
Dexter glanced around again and then shook his head to help him refocus on the task at hand: Jenna. “Okay, so let’s try this again.”
Jenna nodded. She opened her mouth and closed it a couple of times, not certain where to start. Then she smiled and asked, “Dex, can I ask a simple thing of you first?”
Dexter pursed his lips thoughtfully. He shrugged and nodded, saying, “Aye, you can ask. I won’t be saying yes before the question though.”
Jenna nodded, smiling. “Will you kiss me?”
Dexter just stared at her, not comprehending her request immediately. “Will I… kiss you?”
She nodded. “Just a simple kiss before my story. I want — no, I need to feel it in case what I tell you leaves me adrift on this rock.”
Dexter chuckled, nearly saying that nothing she could say would make him cast her off his ship. He stopped himself though, remembering that she had just claimed to be born a high ranking member of the royal house of the Elven Empire. There were a great many possibilities that would make him think twice about inviting her back upon his ship.
“A kiss seems simple enough,” Dexter admitted.
Jenna slid out from her side of the booth without wasting any time. She scooted in next to Dexter smoothly, and reached up to pull his face to hers. Surprised, Dexter started to open his mouth but then felt her lips press against his. Within a few confused seconds he lost himself to the surprising passion of the kiss. Surprising to him, at least.
“Still falling for the lesser races, I see.”
Jenna ended the kiss abruptly, yanking herself away and twisting about on the padded bench. Dexter blinked his eyes, lips still open and pursed, and had to shake his head to focus through the fog she had instilled in him. What he saw was three men, all elves. Two of them with pistols in hand, though they were pointed at the ground in a marginally less threatening manner. The third elf, who stood in the middle, had addressed Jenna.
“Less long-lived, perhaps,” Jenna replied. “Greater in so many other ways.”
The elf in the middle laughed harshly. “The same old debate, and the same old scandal that got you shunned from your father’s court, I see. It is of no matter, really. What does matter is that you’ve so conveniently shown up on the eve of our momentous victory.”
“Jenna, care to introduce me to your friends?” Dexter asked casually, though his tone held a hint of threat to it.
“Not friends, Captain,” Jenna replied curtly. “Duballin is one of my brother’s worms. His two protectors are Trevin and Krotal, thugs that would kill their own mothers if the wind blew right.”
“Such glowing praise, I see your time away has not tamed you,” Duballin said, his eyes narrowing slightly at her harsh words.
“A pity,” he continued, gesturing with his hand for both of them to step out of the booth. “The Emperor will be glad of your return, but disappointed by your continuing refusal. It will weigh heavy upon him to know of his wayward daughter… It would be a shame if I were forced to bring him news of how I had to deal with her in his stead when she refused our hospitality.”
Jenna glared at him, but slid out. As her hand pushed off the booth behind her she felt Dexter’s fingers and clutched it for a brief second, squeezing his hand and confusing him further. Then she was gone.
“You as well, Captain Silvercloud,” Duballin said with a predatory smile.
Seeing both pistols resting all too casually in his direction, Dexter returned his smile and slid out behind her. He led the way to an open doorway that led deeper into the tavern. Jenna and Dexter followed behind, and were trailed after by Duballin’s associates.
“I’d really rather you just told me about your past, rather than show me,” Dexter said softly to Jenna as they walked.
“Me too,” she responded.
They were led down some stairs and down another hallway, then into a room with a door that seemed uncomfortably thick to Dexter. Inside the room there was nothing, just walls, floor, and ceiling made of the same wood as the door and the rest of the establishment. Duballin smiled at them humorlessly and slipped between Krotal and Trevin, then they too retreated. The door shut with a muffled finality that snuffed out what little light had filtered in from the passage outside.
“Just one little kiss,” Dexter muttered, glancing about in the darkness and straining to pick up any light at all.
“It was a good kiss,” Jenna said softly, her voice carrying through the darkness.
Dexter had to chuckle; she was right, it had been a good kiss. The best he could remember, he supposed. He shook his head to clear it of such flights of fancy. “Aye, it was, but that doesn’t help us much here.”
Jenna sighed and he suddenly found her hands taking his. “I’m sorry, Captain. I really am. I knew Port Freedom was a dangerous place, I should have told you sooner.”
Dexter found himself nodding even though he knew she could not see him. Then again, there was something rumored about elves seeing in the dark. “Can you see?”’
She was silent a moment then laughed harshly. “Sorry, you can’t see me shake my head. No, I cannot see. If there was a faint light then yes, I could see. Without even a spark, I am as blind as you.”
“How about that story now,” Dexter asked after sighing. “And this time, let’s try it without the kiss.”
Jenna laughed softly and pulled him by his hands with her until they bumped into a wall. She slid down it and he went with her, until they were sitting. “Well, I was born Jenna Windchaser, the first daughter of my father, the Emperor of the Elves. My childhood was spent playing and learning with other elves-“
Dexter chuckled, interrupting her. “I imagine everyone’s childhood is largely the same, you don’t need to share everything with me.”
“No, I do,” Jenna said. “If you want to understand the Elven Empire — if you want to understand who I am —
