When the Jolly Roger entered in Storybrooke’s packed deck Emma Swan smiled while she moved the ship, trying to find somewhere to pass between two cargo ships.
The place was full to the brim with different ships where the 24 flags of the Royals family flapped and when she saw the guards she could distinguish what appeared to be weapons and guns as well as the obligatory swords.
“It looks like we have a Council” Muttered Tinkerbell at her back and while Emma kept looking steadily between the ships as she moved the helm she nodded, looking briefly at the Council’s place. The white cupola rose between the rest of the city as the different flags that decorated the place could be seen between the clouds that covered the blue sky.
“The city will be a nightmare right now” Emma said as she turned and smiled at the fairy who was now on her human figure as the rest of the crew tried to start aligning their last catch in the wooden tables that formed the ship’s deck “Hook is going to be mad because of this”
Tinker snickered at that, fully knowing how Hook could be when things wouldn’t go as he had planned, more so when these things were the city guards refusing to pay what they had promised.
“The best decision is to disappear as soon as we land at the city and leave him alone with the boss of the deck, and the guards”
Emma’s hum was the only response that the fairy received but Tinker knew that Emma was already thinking the same as her, selling was the most tedious part of their jobs and neither of them wanted to be near the captain, not if they could prevent it.
Even if Hook was a horrible man they wouldn’t change ships since the Jolly Roger was considered to be one of the best; after more than ten years as a Traveler ship the captain and the crew had outlived what the rest of the Travelers would do. They were lucky to be on that ship, even if Hook was as egotistic as everyone believed him to be.
These ships, the Travelers, were something that many Nobles and Royals hated but needed and they were generously paid for what they did since every Traveler was responsible for the safety of the seas that covered a large part of Wonder as well as maintaining the commercial routes between the principalities. But the job was a difficult one and not everybody thought that it was worth their lives. Many of the humans, fairies, werewolves, dwarves and others that decided to try their luck as Travelers didn’t have anything to lose
“If I need to be sincere I hate the Councils too” Tinker was saying in that moment as Hook and the rest of the crew were starting to finish the first selection of their last catches. “The only thing that the Monarchs do is siting and talking about things that aren’t our problems. I would pay for seeing them working here as we do”
Emma, who had finally found a place, nodded as she saw how two sweaty guards were approaching the place in which they were going to unload.
“We have what we have” Emma said after shouting a few directions to two members of the crew “While they don’t steal us the money that was already ours like the last time we were here the captain will be as happy as we will be”
“I know” Replied the fairy “You know that I don’t say anything of this because I want to offend you, but you know how much I hate these days, at the end they will tell us the same as always and they will ask us for return back to the sea in which we are going to pass another three months trying to work as well as many other Travelers. Is our choice to being here but after so many months everything starts to...”
“It’s what we have” Emma interrupted as she shrugged although she knew that she was lying; she also hated the Customs prices that were only good for the guards and not for them, she hated the long nights while the sea roared at the other side of the thin wall of the ship. She hated all of that but she also knew that it was one of her best options, if not the only one.
After all she had been lucky that she had found Hook when she had, that and that the captain didn’t really like questions. He could have tried to make some money because of her name but he hadn’t. And for that she was grateful.
“I guess” Tinker admitted after a few more seconds of silence “You are going to see him today?”
“Probably” Emma replied, finding strange the sudden question of the fairy “Why?”
“Nothing, I was curious. It’s better if you try to go now before Hook tries to make you talk with him once again”
Emma didn’t hide her smile this time as her friend made a face towards the back of the captain of the ship. Neither of them were a fan of Hook’s ill intents to flirt with every woman that worked in the ship.
“Be careful, even you can be punished if he feels mocked enough” Whispered Emma to the fairy as she took a step back from the helm.
“Let him try”
Emma shrugged and jumped from the ship quickly waving at both guards with a salute as she pointed at Hook with her other hand. It was with him whom they wanted to talk about and she really didn’t want to be there when Hook started screaming. After a few more minutes in which she needed to take alternative routes because of the incredible amount of ships and crews that were gathered in the decks she finally arrived at the wooden door that was used as the main gate between the decks and the city. She showed the blue medal that signaled her as a registered traveled and crossed the gates.
The first thing that she always noticed was the sounds that filled the air as soon as she left the decks, the voices that she heard there were dulled because of the sounds of the machines that worked non-stop near the ships. In the city, however, the sounds were loud and clear and the voices couldn’t be ignored.
As much as that was disorientating after months of being practically alone in the middle of the sea Emma loved the capital; the streets were full of different shops, the avenues that grew bigger as they went towards the richest part of the city, the little houses transforming in the big mansions and manors of the nobles and Royals as she walked, the mix of modern cars and carriages parked in front of the doors, the doors locked as they tried to fight against the robbers that infested the city. Storybrooke had been Emma’s refugee for far longer than she could remember and even she liked the ugliest part of it.
Wonder was a world in which both magic and technology had been discovered almost at the same time and whereas the first one had been left only to the ones that could actually use it the technology had been used from everyone that was rich or intelligent enough to do it. The result was a mix that Emma knew for a fact that was a unique case. The houses were the reflection of that and the mix between technology and spells was palpable, the little coppery lights that floated in front of the houses an example of how the technological and magical beings interacted.
Smiling, Emma left behind the streets nearer to the port and entered in the part of the city in which the different hospitals and sanatoriums were. The feericos were the ones that were in those ones and the strange mix of herbs and potions that filled the air made her sneeze a couple of times as she walked between the rusty suburb. After a few more turns she arrived at her destiny; the Central of the Guardians, built in which had been the place in where armories were also built until the partial destruction of the city a while ago had forced those buildings to be rebuilt in another parts of the city. The Guards, however, were an institution that wasn’t commanded by the Monarchs and so they have decided to keep the destructed building and replace it as good as they have been able to do it.
From what could be learnt in history books the Guards had been founded by werewolves a long time ago and had been helped occasionally by humans and fairies, the other two most common creatures in Wonder. After decades of working together the Guards’ chief had asked the Concilum of being freed of their ties with it. The liberation was denied until one werewolf had decided to be the representing one of the Werewolves in the Concilium. In turn the Monarchs accepted the liberation under the condition that everyone who wanted to join the Guards could do it. That’s why when Emma entered the place the building was beehive of humans, fairies, half-giants and many other creatures.
“Emma” Said a voice at her left and the blonde smiled at the man that was known to be called Little John “Your three months are already up? Pity on me, I would have wanted to not see you again…”
Emma laughed at that, fully knowing that John’s jokes were merely the way that the man carried himself and she simply hugged him when the colossal man finally approached her.
“I’m too stubborn to be devoured by a Neverland’s mermaid” She said with a smirk but John somber expression made Emma frown. The man looked the same but in his right arm the blue ribbon that indicated mourning glowed under the faint light of the coppery lights that filled the place and floated above them. “Is everything ok around here?”
“Yes” John replied quickly, too quickly as he pointed at his messy table “We have the war against the Ogres and there are many men there fighting, even the Vigilantes have decided to send help and we are starting to lose hope. The nobles don’t help us anymore, maybe a couple of principalities will help us but they haven’t confirmed anything yet. You know how this is”
“Yes” Emma deadpanned, she was still feeling that something wasn’t right but she decided to let it pass, if what John was saying was true them man would be swimming in papers as the second in command that he was. “Is Neal here? We said that we were going to meet each other when I came back but I have been unreachable thanks to Ursula and the curse that she put on the south commercial route.”
It was then when John looked at the closed door of Neal’s office, door that was always open and illuminated with one of the biggest firefly lights that the department possessed.
Now, however, the heavy crystal and metallic door didn’t reflect any light from inside and Neal’s profile couldn’t be seen at the other side. With a growing ball of fear Emma directed her eyes at John who was already biting his lips as he touched nervously the faded braids that decorated his grey shirt.
“John?” Emma asked as she finally realized that every Guardian had the same ribbon in their uniforms.
“I couldn’t call you, you have say it yourself, we had problems with communication and I sort of decided that it was better to explain it to you when you were here” The big man sighed as his left hand touched the ribbon that looked back at Emma like it was a cruel joke.
John stood up and went to the closed office with Emma in tow. Grabbing a silver key he opened the metallic door without a problem letting Emma enter in the room. The blonde gasped when her eyes landed on the table that had been her friend’s for a long time and she needed to close her eyes momentarily as her eyes landed on the now death light that had been Neal’s companion all the years that the man had been on the force.
“It happened three weeks ago, in the Ogres War” John said at her back with his normal cheerful voice low and filled with sadness. “I was here. He had asked me to keep this going until his return but…”
“Where did they bury him?” Emma interrupted, her eyes finally opening again and readjusting at the dim light of the office.
“In the graveyard near the Councilium, the Monarchs wanted to give him an honorable burial. At least that was what they told me”
Emma felt herself trembling and she hid her left hand inside the pocket of her spacious three-quarter-jacket at the same time that her palm started to glow in a pale blue-looking light. It wasn’t the time to lose her temple, not in that place.
“He wanted something different, he wanted to be buried on the woods” She finally muttered the words barely audible as John swallowed at her side.
“I know but they didn’t let me. I have been the Chief since then and between the war and this there are many people inside the force angry at the Councilium. I will call for a reunion when everything dies down to make a voting and chose the new Chief. But until then…”
Emma sighed, tired of the bureaucratic talk that John was giving her, she knew that the man merely wanted to make her think about something else but it didn’t work for her, the remorse of not being there when Neal had needed her eating her alive.
Neal had been a good man, he hadn’t been always honest or polite but he had always been there, even when Emma had despised his presence. Even when she had lost everything.
Caressing the old brass penchant that Neal had given to her so many years ago Emma let herself recall the boy, barely older than her, that she had met when she had been walking in the Storybrooke’s gardens. At least he had had an honorable burial, even if it hasn’t happened where he had wanted.
“And after this the Councilum had the audacity to ask for help to protect a Selected. They have more options that an Ogre learns how to dance than anything else” John’s sotto voice made Emma turn her watery eyes at him, the word “Selected” catching her attention.
“A Selected?”
“Yes, from White’s principality, they asked for a man but there isn’t anyone in the force that wants to go after Neal’s death. You know that are many people that blame the Monarchs for this war and even if I wanted to go I can’t leave the place”
Emma frowned as she recalled the old list that she had learnt so many years ago, the name of White making her think of a little brunette child. Smiling bitterly she let out a sigh, it had been many years but she still could heard Neal’s laugh at her side when she finally asked “They are looking specifically for a Guardian?”
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