"Are you okay?"

                  He heard a faint voice, slowly opening his eyes to see Ophie. She had covered her cursed eye. She was gently shaking him, and he could feel it, his eyes finally able to make out who she was, and he sat up almost instantly, but she was trying to push him back down, "no, no, don't sit, you need to lie down."

             "I had a bad dream, a real bad one," he said, and her face turned dark. She gripped her pants tight.

               "I am sorry, but I need to tell you the truth."

                 "What truth?" He looked at her with cold eyes.

                   "I am afraid you don't have much time left."

            "You are joking, right," he said, looking at her in disbelief, but she kept silent, looking down, and he grabbed her shirt, pulling her closer, "tell me, what did you do to me?"

             "I was born with a cursed eye, and whoever sees it will die a slow, painful death."

             He knew that she wasn't just an average human at that moment. She was his kind too, but anger blinded him, causing him to be unable to reason with her, he will soon regret this, but for now, the emotions had engulfed him.

            "You did this to me!" He shouted at her, and she bit her lips, looking down with her fists curled up. 

         "I know, and I want to take responsibility for it," she rubbed her arm, "my mother once told me a legend about a fairy. She's one of the Stars, and she can cleanse any curse inflicted by other Stars."

             "Fairies don't exist," he said in a serious tone."

            "But Stars do," she said, "I am one."

              He turned away, feeling nothing but rage towards her. 

               Knowing there was hope, the girl kept trying to convince him, "if it's the only way to heal you, it's worth a try."

            "You did this to me; you better be right."

             "I know what I believe in." 

             "You are coming with me," his gaze pierced her, and her eyes widened. She barely could speak. Muddled up words were all that there, "but I...I just--"

                "You don't even know where he is."

                 "For your knowledge, I don't intend to die this early. So tell me, what clues do you have to take me to the dumb fairy tale of yours?"

                 She walked towards her bag, grabbing a map out of it, "it's at the East of Costia Sea, or at least that's according to the map my mom got me, here," she passed it to him. He read it and took a deep breath looking at it. He realised it would take weeks, perhaps months, to reach there. The island seemed to be real, at the very least. Despite that, not everyone would believe those tales. 

            "Have you told me crews about this?" He raised an eyebrow.

            "I am afraid not; the only reason I even managed to get here is because I sneaked out of my cell."

             "Cell? Did they capture you?"

              "Yes, they locked me in a room, but I waited late at night to pick the lock."

              "How? How did you--"

             "I had to learn to steal if I wanted to meet my father."

             He thought deeply about it; she was stealing things, odds are the boats nor the supplies are even hers. She was travelling around, not having enough things and resorting to stealing.

          "I thought you were travelling with enough supplies, but it turns out you are just an idiot on a wild goose chase?!" He shouted at her.

            "It's not idiotic," she defended.

              He sighed, unsure of what to do with her.

           "At least don't tell them about my condition?"

           "But--"

           "You will cure me of this; I don't care."

             "B-But--"

             "I can't make them worry about me. Keep this between us if you want to stay alive."

              The snake-eyed girl didn't know what to do; all she thought was she had to keep silent. Stealing might be her way of life, but she does not intend to get trapped in the end. Spending days in the cells is not something she would like to do again. 

              "So, am I a part of your crew... at least?"

              "You are temporarily my crew."

             "A pirate? Did you make me a pirate? I am a blacksmith's daughter."

             "You are a thief, first and foremost, and I don't care, welcome aboard, landlubber, and you shall clean the ship while you are here, do you understand?"

           "Why?!"

            Days passed, and all she had been doing was cleaning the ship, removing the dust, and wiping parts of the woods. It wasn't with silence; of course, you can hear a thousand words of complaints coming out of her mouth every day, and sometimes the crews get bothered by it. They would look at her disappointedly. It wasn't like she was doing a great job at it either.

            "Dad was right. The men only see me as a housewife, nothing more." 

            The ship captain just watched her with spite while his first mate walked closer towards him, "Captain, are you okay with her being on the crew, on an addition that she's a star like you."

                You could see her struggling to clean while a crew member glared at her, telling her to be more careful and calling her a rat. 

               "Just because someone is a star doesn't mean they are bad; if it weren't for Mother Ocean, I wouldn't be here," he said with his arms folded.

            "Mother ocean ain't better, Captain; some calls her a goddess, some calls her a demon, she's a water titan, you know how they are."

             "They are a part of mother nature," he said, walking towards the ship deck, as his first mate followed, "mother nature is a cruel woman."

            "So is mother ocean and Captain. Why are we approaching her land? Didn't we promise not to?"

           He didn't want to tell his crewmates, not, for now, regarding his curse. He hadn't truly felt the curse's effect take place, but he didn't want to risk it, "relax," he said, looking at his crewmate, "we are in for an adventure."

           "How can we trust that wench? She has the eyes of a snake; I spot it with me two eyes."

           "She's not a liar," he said, looking at her as she looked around as if something was distracting her, "I can tell that for sure."

                        "Legends say that there will come a time when the stars will align to meet each other. Maybe that time has come."

           "You really don't know how to keep your mouth shut; the legend never said it was a good thing or a bad thing."

            "You've seen the kings, corrupted by power, mouth filled with gold and silver, feasting like a pig on their table; what could all the people of power do? However, my dear captain, I don't resent you for what you've done for us; we've felt far too grateful to see you in that light." 

                 He gripped his fists tightly, "thank you," he said, pulling a fake smile. 

                When no one was watching, Ophie was busy looking at the sea, with the waves pushing the ship right and left quickly. The closer she looked into the deep dark ocean, there was something under the ship, and her eyes squinted long enough until she could see it was a woman with a fishtail, swimming quickly.

                    She turned toward the ship's crew in a hurry, screaming at the top of her lungs, "there's a mermaid! There's a mermaid!" 

                "Mer--" the red-haired captain couldn't finish his sentence, and he ran towards her, "stay down, Ophie, stay down!"            

            "What?"

             In an instant, the ship rocked, and the sea started rising as Ophie fell to the ground from the rocking, and Scorpio shielded her from the ocean waves. Going down on the ship, they rolled together, hitting the ship's rails.

           "Captain!" The firstmate shouted.

            "Bring others to safety; I'll deal with the mother."

           The crews started running towards the inside of the ship, they knew what was coming, and they immediately knew it wasn't theirs to interfere. The water was moving upwards and getting taller and taller. The two watched in fear, seeing storms surrounding the ship too. The water settled slowly, revealing a giant white-haired woman; her body was covered by the water, acting as if it was her dress. She was larger and broader than the ship; her head reached the skies, and her eyes looked down at them as if they were flies.

                  "Didn't I forbid you from coming here, Scorpiousa?" the large woman said deep, coarsely. Even the sound of her voice was enough to shake the ocean and stir fear in the sailors.

              "Whoa," Ophie said in surprise, "mom wasn't lying about how huge she is." 

             "That's mother ocean, you dingus," Scorpio gave a light smack on her head.

              She rubbed her head and glared at him as the mother ocean started to look at her closely, bending over, "whose child is this off?"

            "Her? Nobody, but I would like to--"

            Ophie pushed him away with all the might she had, "I am, I am the daughter of Orze, and Ceras, The Caller of the Ocean." 

           "Ophie, you don't just..."

               Upon hearing those names, Mother Ocean, the great titan of the seas, was taken aback. The water that surrounded her started lowering, and the seas became calmer along with the storm. She looked as if she was having a flashback. Tears fell off her cheeks; she held her face in terror as it started to rain and thundered, causing the ship to rock again by the violent wave as they tried to hold the railings.

           "Ceras, she didn't deserve to die!" As the waves got stronger, she shouted, "they left Ceras's daughter by herself? Do they realise how a child feels without its mother?"

              Ophie, with all her might hugging the ship's mainmast with Scorpio next to her, still talked, "my dad raised me by himself, so I am not--"

              "And a poor pitiful soul alone? How could they!"

             Scorpio started grabbing her and putting his hand over her mouth to silence her up with one leg holding the mainmast with all his might.

             "Do you know who you are talking to?"

            "She's mmpphhh..."

             "Stop!" 

             Ophie pulled his hand away from him, "she's like us; stop treating her like a goddess; we are all-stars."

            "Did someone replace your mind with sawdust?" 

              He struggled to shut her up, but the woman looked at her in pity, "she's just like her mother. Let her go, Scoripousa."

              "Mother Ocean, are you serious?"

              "She is my close friend's daughter, the woman who dared to tame the oceans."

                  He let her go as the seas started to calm down even more. As the seas started settling, she walked closer to the titan, "we would like to pass this place if that's fine with you."

              "I told that red-haired man that I would never let him pass here, for I fear if he goes to the other side, he may fight with people who despise stars or even other stars that's out to kill him."

            The feeling of hopelessness got into him as he sighed with his eyes on the ground, knowing that it was a poor attempt for him even to pass here. However, someone else did not give up.

           "Then, I'll fight them; I too am one of the Stars." As she started walking on top of the bowsprit of the boat, she said, "so, Calypso, what I ask of you is to let me go with him, and I'll surely protect him. I'll make sure he'll come back alive. If stars could shine together, the skies would be more beautiful. That's what my mother told me."

                    The titanness remembered her dear old friend, a woman who was untamable but tamed the seas. She missed her friend dearly, she wished there was something that could be done during her execution, but she could barely move outside the ocean. 

          "Then, promise me you will do me a favour."

           "What is the favour?"

            "I want you to find my son, Evis."

             "You? You the Mother Ocean have a son?" 

            "Yes, with a human man."

            Scorpio looked at her in disbelief, "a human man? I didn't know it was possible..."

            "It wasn't like I was born this gigantic," she said, looking at her own hands, "nor was my fate tied to the seas when I was born, but my body grew and grew, bigger than the rest of the titans, and slowly the land could not support me, and the ocean was the only place for me to live in."

              Ophie sat at the bowsprit, tugging on the string; she looked at her in curiosity, wanting to learn more. "Do you miss your husband?"

              "Greatly, he raised the son by himself until he was old enough to get to the sea, but I've lost my only son. The sea is too large for me to find him, especially not with my body, so please, find him; he looks like a human, but he has powers befitting a Titania." 

             "I will find him, don't worry."

               "Ophie, no!" Scorpio shouted at her, walking up the bowsprit while nearly losing his balance before tugging on the string and threading it to her, "we are already searching for your dad, and now her son?"

           "This is your only hope, and I am willing to take responsibility," she said, "have I not agreed with you to cure you?"

                He took a long stare at her, looking to the deep dark oceans below, the underwater grave, before his head turned back to his captain's cabin, "fine, do what you need to do," he said, walking away from the scene.

             "Hey, I am doing this for you," she said, standing up and walking towards him, "come back!" 

              He walked too quickly for her to catch up, and he already closed his door, locking it. Despite her attempts at opening the door, she failed. 

              "He has been acting that way for a while now," the titanness told her.

          "You mean being an uncaring fool?"

          "He's not one," she told her, "he's very caring, too caring that the biggest regret is losing a lover who hurt him the most."

            Hearing that, she started to feel sympathy for him, and the ocean started rising again above Calypso's head, "but unfortunately, I must leave. Please take care of yourself; I would not want to see you in your mother's final place." 

              The large woman disappears under the sea into the deep ocean, never to be seen again. . Seeing that Ophie knew the ocean was a vast place, she also knew that maybe there's something more to Scorpio than what meets the eyes.