Kotori made her way across the hallway. She had been spotted by a few sailors but luckily none of them cared.

She’d been lucky so far.

The end of the hallway would contain a stairway to the hull. Kotori was sure that she could take a few things from the cargo with little repercussion.

She eventually made her way past the cafeteria zone. She heard the sound of chatter long before she even reached it. Sailors were not known for being quiet after all. Despite it not being mealtime it seemed like there were plenty of people in the room already.

Kotori didn’t think this through. To get to the other side of the ship she would have to pass through the cafeteria. There was no way around it. She had to let herself be spotted.

The Cafeteria was a wide room. The largest in the ship. Most of the sailors were congregated around a table and playing dice. A few noticed her but didn’t say anything.

Kotori gave a sigh of relief it seemed like nobody really cared about her.

Suddenly she heard a shout.

“Oi! It’s the little princess, she’s finally left her nest”

[Ah shoot] Kotori thought. It seemed like her relief was unfounded.

There was murmuring and then a crowd of people came up to her. It was a dizzying amount of burly men that suddenly came up to her.

Many of them had a smile on their face and seemed friendly enough. They started asking her questions about her life. It made sense considering she could eventually become the queen.

“Where you from girl?”

“How’d you meet Fawks? You one of his women?”

“Where’s the spirits from? You a spirit seer”

Kotori’s anxiety was kicking into full gear. She had completely frozen and was unable to answer after being suddenly surrounded. She didn’t want to be near these people even if they were nice. She could feel Shu, Umi, and Layla being influence by her discomfort.

They were getting agitated and Layla’s fur was beginning to rise as if she was about to lash out.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! stop crowding her lads!”

Kotori saw familiar face waving and pushing through the crowd. It was Fawk’s half-brother Doran.

He eventually pushed his way through the throng of men and stood between her and the sailors.

“I get you all are excited to meet the girl, I know I wasn’t sure if Fawks would ever pick one up, but give her some space aight’?”

The sailors nodded, it looked like they respected Doran and soon began to disperse.

“You alright Jou-chan?” Doran asked her looking.

Kotori’s anxiety had gone down now that there were fewer people crowding her

[Whew, that was close] She thought. Layla was getting to the point Kotori half expected her to lash out if the sailors got any closer.

“Yes… Your name is Doran right?” Kotori asked’

Doran gave an exaggerated salute, with a smile.

“At your service! Anything you need?”

Kotori smiled, he had a better sense of humor of Fawks which made her seem easier to talk too.

“I would like to get to the hull storage,” She said taking the opportunity.

“Hmm, anything you need in particular? I can just have it sent to your room like normal.” Doran said.

“I just want to look,” Kotori said, lying through her teeth. She was planning on filching some ingredients after all.

“I see, then follow me I’ll bring you there.” Doran said while gesturing to the opposite side of the cafeteria.”

“Thank you”

Doran began to turn his back and walk to the other end of the cafeteria and Kotori followed along.

Even with his back turned Doran was much more talkative than Fawks

“So Fawks picked you huh? What a weird guy, he told you I’m his half-brother right?”

Kotori nodded

“You share a mother?” Kotori asked.

“Oh my mother? She some random brothel whore, we share a father”

[That makes more sense] Kotori thought. She had thought it was odd that Doran didn’t have to pick a queen's candidate but it seems like he wasn’t even royalty.

[Still, Fawks mother wasn’t angered by that?] Typically, based on Kotori’s understanding of the kingdom of Faramouth. Bastards were not looked favorably upon. She didn’t understand why Fawk’s mother, the queen, would let the product of unfaithfulness be allowed to live, much less interact with her own children.

“Those sailors seemed to respect you” Kotori said framing it as a slight question.

“Oh those boys? I guess I’m their captain or something.”

[Eh?] Kotori thought. The whole time she thought Doran was a low-level sailor, but apparently, he was the captain of this entire ship.

[So he’s pretty important on this ship] Kotori thought

She would’ve thought he had low social status but being allowed to captain a royal vessel must mean that the crown puts pretty good trust in him.

[Fawk’s mother seems like an odd woman] Kotori thought.