The Price of Information

By the third day, the twins found themselves starting to settle into Ironbell's hectic rhythm.

The sailors moved across the deck every so often, adjusting ropes and reading the wind and doing whatever it was sailors did that kept a ship pointed in the right direction. They were clearly people who had done this many times before.

The Seeker exam candidates, for their part, had sorted themselves into the kind of loose territorial clusters that form naturally whenever a large group of strangers are forced to share a small space for an extended period of time.

Some sparred near the bow, showing off for each other, desperate to let everyone know they should be taken seriously. Others sat in groups, talking strategy or trading rumors about what the exam might involve, half the information almost certainly wrong. A few lone figures kept to themselves entirely, which on a ship this crowded took considerable effort.

The sea was calm. The sky was grey and flat and unremarkable. The iron bell at the prow hung still and silent, which the crew seemed to find reassuring.

Below deck, in the port side cabin, third door on the left, a shirtless Mika was wide awake.

No, it wasn't the heat of the below deck that woke him up, it was something else. He had been awake for approximately four minutes now, and had spent most of those four minutes staring at the ceiling and conducting a silent internal assessment of his situation.

"...Is this really my life now?" He thought to himself, feeling a little exhausted from being unable to get much sleep. He also wasn't used to waking up in strange places, which didn't help.

He was 12 years old, two days out from the only home he had ever known, sleeping in a bunk the width of a ironing board, surrounded on all sides by mostly people who are older than him, who had made it clear they considered his presence here somewhere between amusing and offensive.

"Why is a brat here?" One roommate asked the minute he saw Mika back during the first day. "Surely you don't think the Seeker Exam is some kind of joke, right?!"

"Kid, just give up and go home. Don't get yourself killed, you'll make your mama cry!" Another added.

Mika just rolled his eyes. And while those roommates and their rude were most annoying, they were their own matter.

And then there was the matter of Percy, which somehow found itself on the top of the list. Mika turned his head very slowly to the left.

There he was, a shirtless Percy, who was lying right next to him. The silver haired boy was still asleep, sprawled comfortably across his half of the bunk, one arm draped lazily over his head, his breathing slow and even.

"He was right to warn me about his snoring. Somehow it really is just as musically as he described.... Not that it makes it any less annoying!" Mika glared at him. If it was just the snoring, that would be one thing, but it was even more than that.

Mika noticed it few minutes ago, the unmistakable tenting of Percy's thin sleeping pants. Mika blinked, then frowned. "...Seriously?" He muttered under his breath.

Which, to be clear, Mika thought was fine for the most part. This was just a practical reality of sharing a bunk on a ship in warm weather that there will always be a chance that a sleeping boy's body would betray him in certain ways. They were both boys after all, however, what made it all worse was...

"...Sylvia..." Percy murmured, from somewhere in whatever dream he was currently having.

Mika blinked. He had a pretty good idea what the older boy next to him was dreaming about.

"...No, no... Sylvia, I already told you..." Percy shifted slightly, a small smile crossing his face. "...The other one is also called Sylvia, it's not my fault she took off her..."

Mika stared at him. He has lost count how many names came out of Percy's mouth by this point.

"...Marianne..." Percy continued, apparently moving on. "...Or was it Marianna... with an a...?" His hips shifted subtly, pressing against the thin fabric of his underwear in a way that left absolutely nothing to the imagination.

"Percy." Mika finally spoke, feeling like he has had enough of whatever this is.

Percy, however, didn't wake up. Sweet Marianne wasn't ready to let him go just yet.

"Percy!" Mika repeated, louder this time, hoping the 15 years old boy will finally wake up.

"...Mmm... Celestine, you're being unreasonable... So what if I put my harp in her...?" Percy murmured.

"PERCY!!!" Mika snapped, blushing a little. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Percy's gold eyes opened. He blinked at the ceiling for a moment, feeling a little confused, as if his brain was taking its time returning from wherever it had been. Then he turned his head and looked at Mika from a distance of approximately four inches.

"...Ew, why is a young boy in my bed?" Percy asked sleepily, still half-trapped in dream logic. "Sorry, buddy, I'm only into older women..."

"A young boy? Don't pretend you don't know my name! And you were talking in your sleep!" Mika hissed. "Get it together!"

"Was I?" Percy looked delighted for some reason. "What did I say?"

"Women's names. Several of them." Mika grimaced, watching Percy stretch like a lazy cat, his bare torso gleaming in the faint dawn light filtering through the porthole. "One was 'Celestine,' then something about harps and—"

"Ah, I see!" Percy nodded sagely, as if this confirmed something he had long suspected about himself. "That tracks."

Mika pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes.

He would have loved to get out of bed and go to his sister, but she was likely still sleeping. Maya was on the other side of the ship, she felt so close, yet so far away.

He can't check on her without physically walking there, which he had done approximately six times yesterday and was trying to cut down on because Maya had given him a look the last time that suggested she was considering hitting him with her staff.

"At least her roommates seem better than mine..." He thought to himself.

Later in the day, the boy made his way towards the meal hall, where he knew his sister awaited him.

The meal hall, as it turned out, was less of a hall and more of a low-ceilinged room wedged into the belly of the ship between the cargo hold and the crew quarters, lined with long wooden benches and tables bolted to the floor against the movement of the waves.

It smelled of whatever had been cooked there for the past several years, none of which had apparently been particularly good.

Breakfast was bread, hard cheese, and something that might have been porridge in a previous life.

The twins had claimed the end of one of the benches near the porthole, which let in enough morning light to see by and enough salt air to make the smell of the room just a little more bearable.

"Can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss the old man's food..." Mika admitted, thinking of Soro.

"Me too..." Maya nodded, also unhappy with the food on the Ironbell. The girl then looked up from her food towards her brother. "You look terrible." Maya said, sounding genuinely concerned.

"Thank you." Mika muttered, stabbing his porridge with a spoon.

"I'm serious!" She leaned forward slightly, studying his face. "Are you not getting enough sleep?"

"I'm sleeping fine..." He lied, sounding unconvincing to both Maya and himself. "...Alright, alright, yeah, I'm not getting much sleep. You caught me."

"Why?" She asked.

"It's that guy, Percy, who I'm sharing a bed with. He both snores AND talks in his sleep! No wonder no one had shared the bunk with him before..." Mika groaned, rubbing his temples. "And the things he says—" He stopped himself. He didn't think the things Percy says are meant for the ears of girls, let alone his own sister.

Maya let out a sigh. She was hoping it was something she could help Mika with, but even she can do nothing about a roommate who snores.

"That does sound difficult." Was all she said. "I am a little jealous you got to hear him play the harp more than I have though!"

"Oh, trust me! You aren't missing much!" Mika scowled, pushing the porridge around his bowl as the ship groaned beneath them. "Anyway, enough about me. How are your roommates?"

"Bina talks constantly.." Maya began. "From the moment she wakes up until she falls asleep. About herself, mostly. About the exam about her brother who passed it, about how she's going to pass it so she can become famous and get a prince to fall for her—"

"And the others one?" Mika asked, noting Maya's fingers tightening around her spoon.

Maya was quiet for a second. "I told you about Sera. She still doesn't talk, hardly at all."

"So one talks too much and one talks too little." Mika smirked, nudging Maya's elbow. "Sounds like you got the balanced breakfast of roommates."

"...Yeah, I kind of did." Maya smiled weakly, stirring her porridge absentmindedly.

They sat with that for a moment, the meal hall filling up gradually around them, the low murmur of other conversations rising and falling like the ship itself.

"You know, I was thinking... We don't actually know much about the exam, don't we?" Mika said, after a while. Not accusingly. Just a fact that had been sitting at the back of his mind since Raiko mentioned Port Calden and he had nodded like he knew what that meant when he absolutely did not.

For him, who always in his heart dreamt of becoming a Seeker one day, just hearing the words 'Seeker Exam' made his heart skip beats. But what did he know about it, really? He wasn't sure. He's not sure what it takes to become a Seeker.

"That's true..." Maya admitted, setting her spoon down with a soft clink.

"Like, what does it involve? How long does it take? What they're testing for? We should try to find out, I think, before the exam actually starts." Mika said. He had a lot of time to think about all of this thanks to his sleepless nights, and he wasn't liking how little answers he had.

"We should definitely know!" Maya wrapped both hands around her cup, thinking. Then she glanced sideways down the bench. "...Bina's brother passed it, or at least that's what she said."

Mika followed her gaze, his blue eyes settling down on a certain 14 years old girl.

Bina was three people down the same bench, apparently in the middle of telling a story to nobody who had asked, her auburn hair half-falling out of yesterday's pins, gesturing with a piece of bread for emphasis. She caught Maya's eye immediately and waved with her whole arm.

"She might know things..." Maya said, though her voice was strangely hesitant. "But she might also talk for a long while."

"We do need the information!" Mika hissed through clenched teeth.

Maya leaned slightly down the bench. "Bina—"

Bina was already moving toward them, shuffling along the bench with her breakfast, clearly delighted to have been invited into their orbit. "Good morning you two!! You both look tired! Especially you!" She pointed at Mika without ceremony, "No offense!"

"Some taken." Mika muttered, sliding his bowl away as Bina plopped her own stuff near them.

"Bina..." Maya began, before this could go further. "You said your brother passed the Seeker Exam, right?"

Bina's expression immediately upgraded to maximum enthusiasm. "He DID! First attempt! He's amazing, honestly, it runs in the family! I've always said he's—"

"What can you tell us about it?" Mika asked, cutting across what was clearly going to be a lengthy tribute. "The exam. What actually happens?"

Bina blinked. Then a slow, deeply considering look crossed her face, the kind that sat oddly on someone who had seemed, up to this point, entirely uncalculating.

"Hmmmm." The girl tapped her chin, eyes narrowing in theatrical deliberation.

"...What is it?" Mika asked, wondering what could possibly be going inside her mind.

Little did he know how he will wish he had never asked her that.

"I mean, I DO have information." Bina tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Quite a lot of it, actually. But information like that doesn't just come free, you know. That's valuable."

The twins were silent for a second.

"D-Do you want money, Bina?" Maya asked, feeling a little hurt. It's not like she thought she and Bina were best of friends, but she thought them being roommates and all would at least count for something.

"Not money!" Bina quickly answered, looking slightly offended at the suggestion, then looking not offended at all. She turned her gaze to Mika with an expression that was somewhere between businesslike and gleeful. "I want a date! A date with you!"

The bench went very quiet.

"A...A...A what?!" Mika let out, blushing. It's not every day an older girl asks him out on a date like this.

"A date!" Bina repeated cheerfully. "You, me, for the rest of today. Show me around the ship, eat with me, talk to me. That's the deal." She stuck out her hand across the table towards him. "Take it or leave it."

Mika looked at her hand, and then at Maya, who was looking just as shocked as he is. She knew Bina thought Mika was cute, but she didn't think she'd actually ask him out.

He was aware, distantly, that this was probably a transaction and that Bina was almost certainly doing this because she found the whole thing amusing more than anything else, and yet... He couldn't deny he was into the idea!

"...Deal." He answered as he shook her hand, before his brain could talk him out of it. He had the kind of stupid look on his face boys get when a pretty girl suddenly gives them attention.

Bina beamed. "Wonderful! This is going to be so fun!"

"Mika... You better be only planning on going on a walk with her." Maya leaned in, her voice dropping to a whisper sharp enough to cut glass. "If you knock her up, we will be going back to Dolphin Island to face Papa Soro with a wedding gift. And I won't save you when he skins you alive!"

"M-Maya! Who do you think I am?! I'm just doing this so we can get the information we need, gosh!" Mika was blushing so hard his ears burned.

"You're welcome to join us if you want, Maya!" Bina offered. "I didn't mean to steal your brother away..." She had no idea what the twins were whispering about.

"I'm fine, thanks." Maya responded, in a friendly enough tone.

Before Mika could think more about this situation he found himself in, felt it. That specific, prickling unease of being watched from a direction he couldn't immediately locate.

He looked up.

Drav was sitting at the far end of the meal hall, alone at the edge of one of the long tables, a cup in his hand that he wasn't drinking from. He looking at their direction, but he wasn't looking at Mika. He was looking at Maya.

Mika's hand tightened on the table edge. He had no idea what Drav was thinking, nor did he want to know in all honestly. He simply would rather this guy not be around his sister if possible.

"So let's go on our date! Let's start now!" Bina grabbed Mika's wrist with startling enthusiasm, pulling him up from the bench before he could protest. "I doubt it would be romantic, looking at how old this ship is, so I hope you can make me laugh at least!"

"...Er, alright." Mika turned his gaze from Bina to Maya. "...Make sure you stay away from any weirdoes today, alright? Keep safe." Part of her wanted to warn her about Drav, but another part of him didn't want her to worry if she didn't have too.

"Hmm? Of course. You don't need to tell me that." Maya responded, a little confused by Mika's sudden concern.

Mika thought, that as long as Maya was out and about where others can see her, surely Drav wouldn't dare to do anything, right? He didn't like it. Heck, he would rather call off this date and remain with Maya, but something told him Bina wasn't going to let him go.

And so, the girl lead the way. The date, as it turned out, was exactly what Mika had expected and nothing more (Sadly for him).

Bina talked. Mika listened, or at least performed a convincing impression of listening while his mind wandered to more pressing matters. They walked the length of the lower deck twice, ate a midday meal that was somehow worse than breakfast had been, and at one point Bina made him hold her coat while she was busy fixing her hair.

He wasn't sure what part of this counted as a date, but she was funny, he admitted privately. Loud and relentless and occasionally exhausting, but funny.

"So what's your weapon?" She asked at some point.

"Spear." He answered simply. It was then he remembered Darv's words, about how it might be a bad weapon of choice for someone his size. "Er, what weapon did your brother use when he passed the exam?"

Bina opened her mouth. Then closed it. Then gave him a look that was almost crafty. "Ah ah ah. That's tomorrow's information. Today you just get me."

Mika stared at her. "That wasn't the deal—"

"The deal was the whole day!" Bina said cheerfully. "I'll tell you everything tomorrow. Today I'm enjoying my date!"

Mika looked at the sky. The sky offered no comfort.

It was late afternoon when Bina dragged him up to the main deck for air.

The deck was quieter than it had been in the mornings, most candidates having retreated below as the temperature dropped with the lowering sun. The sea stretched out, grey and flat in every direction.

Mika noticed it almost immediately once they stepped outside — A faint haziness sitting low against the water, barely visible, the kind of thing you could convince yourself was just sea spray or the quality of the fading light if you weren't paying close attention.

"Is it usually this misty out here?" Bina asked, tilting her head.

"We're on the sea." Mika answered. "Probably normal."

Bina accepted this and moved on immediately to asking him about Dolphin Island, which she never heard of.

Mika answered, but his eyes moved across the deck.

A figure sat alone near the stern railing, slightly apart from the few other candidates still outside, her rose pink hair catching the last of the grey afternoon light. It was Sera.

She wasn't looking at them. She was looking at the water, one hand around the cross at her neck, the other resting open in her lap, palm facing upward, almost like she was feeling for something in the air. The mist sat thickest near where she was sitting for some reason.

Mika watched her for a moment. She didn't move. Didn't look up. Just sat with that particular stillness of hers, fingers loose around the cross, while the thin haze curled lazily around the railing beside her.

He couldn't have said why it made him uneasy. It just did.

Bina tugged his sleeve. "Are you listening?"

"O-Oh, yeah!" Mika said, looking away. "Beaches. The island has this great beach."
...

That night, after the candidates had retreated below deck and the meal hall had emptied and the Ironbell groaned its way through the dark water, Captain Gaff stood at the helm.

The mist was slowly becoming thicker now than it had been that afternoon. It was just a persistent low haze that hadn't been there yesterday, sitting against the hull and curling up through the rigging in thin quiet tendrils.

One of the older crewmen appeared at Gaff's elbow. He had been sailing with Gaff for eleven years and was not, by nature, an anxious man. He looked anxious now.

"Captain." He began. "this mist..."

"I see it."

"It's not natural. The sky's clear, there's no reason for—" The crewman's words died as Gaff raised his hand.

"I know what it is, fool!" Captain Gaff quickly cut him off.

The crewman was quiet for a moment. "Then you know where it's coming from?"

Gaff put the unlit pipe between his teeth and said nothing.

"Captain." The crewman's voice dropped. "There are over two hundred people on this ship. If someone is using magic to—"

"The crew won't be affected." Gaff said flatly. "I was assured of that."

The crewman stared at him, shocked. "...You were assured."

"That's what I said." Gaff's jaw tightened around the pipe stem, his gaze fixed on the creeping mist. "Don't make me repeat myself. I get angry when I do."

"...And the candidates?" The crewman swallowed hard.

Gaff looked out at the dark water. The iron bell shifted faintly at the prow, letting out its low resonant note, and then fell silent again.

"They're candidates." Gaff simply said. "If they can't handle this, they can't handle the Seeker Exam." He took the pipe out of his mouth, looked at it, and then put it back. "Now get back to work!"

The crewman stood there for one long moment before finally doing as he was asked.

Gaff stayed at the helm, looking out at the mist settling across the water, and said nothing further.

Day 4 arrived the way bad days often do, quietly, giving no indication of what it intended.

Maya woke early, as she usually did, the thin light from the porthole barely enough to see by. The cabin was warm with the breathing of six people in a small space, the particular thick air of a room that had been closed all night.

"...Mika sure looked pleased with himself yesterday. I sure hope he didn't do anything..." Maya thought first thing upon waking, her fingers tracing the wooden ceiling beams above her bunk.

It's not that she didn't trust her brother, but he was a boy after all. Could she really trust him to keep it in his pants? She wasn't sure.

She lay still for a moment, listening. Around her, the sounds of the other girls waking gradually filtered through. The two bottom bunk girls murmuring something to each other. The one by the door sitting up with a creak of wood.

Maya looked up toward the bunk above hers, it was where Bina slept.

"...Should I ask her if anything happened? N-No, that would be rude." Maya thought to herself.

Bina's mattress creaked with every breath she took on a normal morning, the girl was not a still sleeper. Maya had learned this quickly. Usually by this point Bina would already be awake and talking, or at the very least shifting around noisily enough to wake everyone else in the process.

This morning the bunk above was completely silent for some reason.

Maya sat up slowly. "Bina?"

Nothing. No response.

She stood on her own mattress and peered over the edge of the top bunk. Bina was lying on her back, arms at her sides, face completely slack. Her chest rose and fell in slow, even breaths.

"Bina." Maya reached up and shook her shoulder. "Bina, wake up. It's morning."

Bina didn't stir.

Maya shook harder. "Bina! Wake up!"

Still nothing. Not a flicker of movement, not a change in her breathing, not even the small unconscious flinch of someone being disturbed in deep sleep. Just that same awful, heavy stillness.

"Hey." One of the other girls looked over. "Is she alright?"

"I don't know..." Maya said quietly, her healer's instincts already sharpening into focus. She pressed two fingers to Bina's wrist. Her pulse was steady. Her skin wasn't hot. She wasn't pale.

By every outward measure she was simply sleeping, and yet she would not wake, could not be woken, no matter what Maya tried.

"Bina is... Not waking up." Was all Maya could say, feeling her heart sink