The next morning the search for Johan’s sister Lia began. With only the photo on the flyer, the crew split up into groups of two to scour the island.

“Shouldn’t we worry about our bounties?” Victorian asked Baise. Ever since she received her bounty she was afraid of being caught and sent back to her family.

“You look more suspicious when you’re like that.” Baise stood there, holding back at smile at his crew member’s actions. Victorian held onto her hood and pulled it down just above her eyes. After every few steps, she would stop and look around making sure no one looked suspicious.

“It’s not my fault I’m officially wanted now. What if someone sees your bounty and connects the stars?”

“Don’t worry, you’re bounty’s not much, they won’t turn you in.”

“So how are we going to find her?”

“Dunno, we’ll search the island first then stick up the posters. Maybe we could make a wanted sign.”

“Wouldn’t a missing sign make more sense? Wanted you know, dead or alive?”

Baise thought about it for a while before agreeing. The two continued to search the east side, well it was more like Victorian searched while Baise tried to convince his partner to grab a bite every time they passed a food vendor.

“We’re doing this job for money, stop wanting to spend it all.”

“Actually our way is a nice meal and a warm place to stay.”

“You should have asked for money.”

Baise didn’t answer as his attention was focused on the next food vendor. Victorian quickly grabbed him away by the year, as she learned from Elena. The two continued to walk in peace, searching for Lia, for a good five minutes before Baise grabbed Victorian by the wrist and dragged her to some unknown place.

“Hey, hey, where are we going?” Victorian asked, trying to not stumble over her own two feet.

“Just wait.” Baise gave her a wink and continued. Unable to fight her captain, she just sped up to keep up with him.

When the duo finally stopped in front of a boutique, Victorian was baffled. Without saying a word, Baise dragged her in and called out a clerk.

“My crewmate here needs a new set of clothes. Price isn’t a matter. It just needs to be durable and easy to move in.”

“What’s going on Baise?”

“You need to spend some money on yourself, what’s the point of getting your part of the payment, if you don’t spend the money?” Baise gestured to Victorian’s clothes. They were Elena’s old clothes, which she had outgrown, and after all those spars, the clothes were pretty much at her limit.

“It’s fine. We don’t need to go to such an expensive place.” She tried to drag Baise out of the store but he wouldn’t budge. One look at the clothes, Victorian knew that the clothes were worth less than the fiore they cost.

“It’s fine.” Baise copied. “Think of it as a welcome gift. You never got anything other than a party and a lot of rum which you tried to handle.”

“Miss? We have picked out some outfits that may be to your liking. Please follow me.”

Baise pushed Victorian and she stumbled into the changing room. With Baise guarding the curtain, she had no choice but to try on the outfits.

The first outfit was similar to what she was currently wearing. It was a blouse with puffy sleeves, and exterior corset. The boots were long enough for her to hide her knives and all she needed was a belt to hold her sword.

“I’ll take this one, are we done now?” Victorian asked. She gave Baise a spin and the captain’s expression remained neutral.

“Try on the next one.”

With a glare, Victorian headed back into the change rom and put on the next outfit. She traded the pants in for a loose skirt and changed the corset to match the dress.

“I don’t like it.”

“Next,” Baise said.

“Shouldn’t we be searching for Lia?” Victorian asked as she changed. The skirt was replaced with pants again and a jacket went over her blouse.

“It’s fine, we have the others.”

“Maes and Alzono probably went to a pub. Yuto probably lost Morgan. Julius and L’Roux are most likely in the market. Kiyiya is still treating Johan. All we can count on is Lane.”

“Which is why we have Elena. As soon as we’re done here, we can search for Lia. You know, you were right the first one was the best. We’ll take the first one.”

As Victorian changed into what she was wearing before, she noticed that the outfit was tighter than before. At first she assumed she had gained weight after all of Julius’ delicious cooking but now that she had a good look at herself in the full mirror, she realised how much she had changed.

Other than the noticeable change with her hair length, one of the other changes was her skin. Her once porcelain skin was no longer blinding pale after spending all the time under the sun. After all those sparring sessions, Victorian was no longer skin and bones. Perhaps the biggest change in her appearance was in her eyes. For the first time in a long time, her eyes had light in them again.

“Are you sure you just want one? The other two looked fabulous on you Miss.”

“No,” Victorian said before Baise could react, “one is fine. We have to get back to our job.”

“Searching for the missing girl? What a shame, that’s another one.”

“Another one?” Baise inquired.

“String of children, mostly young girls, went missing.” The worker pointed her thumb to a nearby board. “You can put a flyer up there with the others. Hope you find who you’re looking for. Have a nice day!”

As the two left the boutique, a cold chill went down Victorian’s spine. She knew she was probably overthinking it but she couldn’t help but wonder. What if Lia got captured like she once was?

“Even if she was, we can get her out. I got you out right? Now there’re ten of us working to find her.” Baise grabbed Victorian’s hand and held it until she stopped shaking.

“We. We should tell the others. We can talk to the others and see if she did. If she did. If she did get.” Victorian couldn’t find it in her to finish the sentence.

“We’ll talk to some of the families first. There’s still time before we need to meet up. You don’t need to talk, I’ll do it. Do you want a break first? I want you to be ready.”

“You just want to go to the stall we just passed don’t you?”

“I bought you new clothes, just let me eat.” Baise pouted, allowing Victorian to smile for the first time since the left the ship.

“Fine, my treat.”

“My three favourite words after free food.”

“That’s only two.”

Victorian’s gut sank after each family they visited. From what they learned from Johan, Lia’s disappearance was around the same time as the other kids.

“Senorita, there is still time. From what Alzono knows, there should still be three more auctions left, two at the least. If we attend one and she is there, we can buy her back. If she is not, we can send someone in and check.”

“Alzono can you find when the next auction is?”

“Alzono will go find out now.”

“What. What about the other kids?”

“That’s not our job. We’re only getting Lia,” Elena said.

“How can you say that? Those kids will be locked away and sold to who knows what! How can you just leave them there? They were taken from their families. Who knows if they’re even eating?”

“And what if they don’t have families? Even if we rescue them, who will take them in?” Elena countered.

“That’s still not an excuse to leave them.” Victorian stormed out of the meeting room angered at the fact that everyone was alright in leaving the kids to be sold.

“Elena, continue the meeting. I’ll talk to her.”

Baise found Victorian in the infirmary checking up on Johan. His injures were pretty much healed but he did suffer from a bit of a cold and was currently sleeping it off.

“Hi.”

“I’m not talk to you.”

“But you just did,” Baise said, trying to break the tension. He grabbed a seat next to her and wasn’t surprised when she scooted away.

“How could you all agree to leaving the kids there? How could Lane even say such words?”

“Elena, she knows better than anyone, even you, what could happen. Sure some would be reunited with their families but what about the others? From what Alzono gathered, the auction has already happened twice, with three more to happen. Judging from the amount of reported missing children, that won’t even last one auction which means the others don’t have a family. So what if we rescue them? They’ll only get caught again.”

“But we can’t just leave them there?”

“Tori, it’s not our job. Let’s focus on getting Johan his sister back before we worry about the others. Let’s at least save this family before we worry about fifty others okay?”

“First Lia, then the others.”

“First Lia.”