Preface: So, a land pirate. What's that? A land pirate isn't a bandit - the two are completly different. Yeap.

This story, totally and uncreatively named 'Land Pirate', chronicles the journey of Senka Hjorrdis and Aiyanna Al'Shairen. What is their purpose? Who knows. The story currently has no purpose; no plot. It's all written for the fun of it. When it's reached the end, then it's over. 3 But for right now...let's start.

---

Aiyanna Al’Shairen had led the peaceful life of a traveler up until a month ago. While wandering in what was dubbed the Emerald Forest, she had encountered a strange person. This person, it turned out, called herself Senka Hjorrdis, the Tiger of the Waves. She was a self-proclaimed pirate but, as Aiyanna had found out a week after finding her, she had no boat. Senka, in a rush to explain why, said she was a land pirate.

“C’mon, c’mon, you gotta stop worrying about the small things in life,” Senka said with a full mouth, her voice breaking Aiyanna’s thoughts. The “land pirate” sat across the short wooden table, a roll half-eaten in her hand.

Aiyanna sighed. “Yeah, whatever. I was just thinking about my life before I met you. And why you call yourself a ‘land pirate’. You say you’re Senka Hjorrdis, the Tiger of the Waves. What waves? You rob and hunt on solid ground. …What the hell is a ‘land pirate’ anyways?”

Senka swallowed. “Well, actually, my boat sunk. I had a reputation on the seas, but way far off in the western lands.” Her left hand, framed with a fingerless brown glove, actually indicated itself towards the north. “So I became a land pirate. Although not as comfortable a life as on the seas, I find it has quite the advantages. Sometimes.”

“Like what?”

“Carnage.” Only Senka could drop that line casually, and while eating to boot.

This only brought back a very distinct flashback of Aiyanna’s first encounter with Senka.

It was sometime in the late morning…around 10:30 or so. In the forest at the base of a mountain, a weather-beaten Aiyanna walked about, a backpack thumping into her spine. She was currently on a trip to somewhere…wherever, as she put, the path took her.

A butterfly fluttered by. Aiyanna’s hand glided into the open air, rather than its former pocket location. The creature landed gently on her finger. She smiled before moving her hand. The butterfly flew away, only to be startled as a loud clang rang throughout the forest.

Aiyanna looked up, left, and right. “What…?” she breathed, combing branches out of the way as she attempted to look for the source of the noise. It had seemed unbelievably close. And, as the way these stories work, it was: Right in a clearing twenty feet ahead stood two shapes, each human. One showed to be female, the other, a burly tall male. The man’s muscular frame seemed hulking compared to the woman’s lithe yet somewhat strong one.

“Oi, I’m sick of this!” the woman shouted suddenly, leaping backwards. Once touching the ground she jumped into the air, swinging her sword down. “GO!”

And after that, Aiyanna turned away. There was a sickening scream, a sound relevant to that of a large orange being juiced, then a brief instant of what sounded like rain. Finally getting the nerve to look back, she saw that the woman was hiding under the protection of a tree, wiping the blood from her blade with the leaves above. The spot where the man had been was…well, let’s just say there wasn’t a man there anymore.

And then – fear. That was the single feeling that struck Aiyanna as the swordswoman came out from under the tree.

Aiyanna sighed, and had to wonder how Senka had gotten away from her crime sprees in her get-up. Compared to her relaxed outfit of a sleeveless shirt, jeans, hiking boots, a belt, and a bandana, Senka was overly complex. She wore a trenchcoat of the weirdest design – one collar up, one collar down, with the right arm long sleeved and the left arm sleeveless. Her shirt was nothing more than a stretch of cloth from her upper left torso, dipping a little too close for someone with a boy-ish figure. Her stomach was visible before diving into a pair of jean shorts accented by a bulky chain on the left. She wore simple boots, a hybrid turban-bandanna, and occasionally donned a scarf.

But it wasn’t quite those things that marked Senka as an easy target.

The right side of her face was distinctly marked with two tiger stripe-like tattoos, colored in a chalky cornflower blue. One went over her eye, the being a mirror image. They both met at fine points at the base of her nose bridge. Her left arm was adorned with a (tattooed) red band. And to top it all off, her eyes were different colors: The right one blue, the left, brown.

Aiyanna, to her dismay, had been forced by Senka to get identical tiger stripe tattoos to mark the two as being “crewmates”. Hers, however, were etched onto her right arm, and were red in color.

Why had she stayed with Senka? I had no food and no money. And she made me get tattoos. Can’t run away from that.

Why had Senka stayed with her? That’s a question I would rather not answer. Who knows what goes on in that mind of hers.

But the real answers were thus: They offered good protection for each other – Senka with her sword and Aiyanna with her bow. Also, due to Aiyanna’s necklace dubbed as the Shadow Stone, the teenager was able to put up a defensive barrier.

“That stone of yours is weird,” Senka said blatantly, munching on a breadstick from the bread basket. “It bubbled out and around us. You know – I stuck out my sword and it went with it. How is that?”

“It’s a Shadow Stone,” Aiyanna replied simply.

“That’s like asking what cows are and saying ‘they’re like cows’.”

“Everybody knows what a cow is.”

“A person born on a ship doesn’t. I didn’t know what a cow wa – oh, wait, that’s a lie.”

“Figures.” Aiyanna sighed. “You lie.”

“I know. It’s what I do.” Senka grinned. “I’m a pirate. Duh.”

“You wear a trenchcoat, a headband, have tattoos, and have different colored eyes. I really don’t understand how you’ve gotten away for all this time.”

“I don’t know how either.” She winked. “I’ve got luck, pal.”

A waiter came up, requesting the orders from the two. Senka quickly ordered a serving of filet mignon (“Don’t know what cows are, huh?”) while Aiyanna went with the fried squid.

“You’re buying,” she said as Senka held up her “coin purse” – nothing more than a pouch on a string. It jostled with coins.

“Of course. You’re a broke little wanderer.”

“Little?”

“Yeah – I’ve got a good inch on ya.”

“…Shut up. You want me to turn you in?”

Senka, who had been munching on a cracker, suddenly slammed a hand to the table, choking. Several people in the area glared at her. “HA! Nice one Aiya!” She leaned into the table, her face suddenly growing serious. “You know as well as I do that if you turn me in, you’re coming with me.”

“No I wouldn’t,” Aiyanna replied smugly, her arms folded across her chest. “Why would I go with you? I haven’t done anything.”

Senka rolled her eyes. “You obviously don’t know the law. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t done anything, it just matters that you travel with me. You’re an outlaw.”

Aiyanna sighed, sinking a little in her chair. “I hate you, you know it?”

“Indeed.”.

---

The two were now standing outside the restaurant, Senka’s pouch still quite full. She looked around wildly at the town.

The diner had been located on a jetty of sorts. Ocean was all around it except for the part facing the town. Various shops were set up along the area facing the ocean. Up in the hills were the houses of the people, though apartments were sprinkled here and there in the city.

“I say we go and drink!” Senka proclaimed, heading off in the direction of what looked to be a tavern. Aiyanna followed, although not in hopes of alcohol.

“Let’s not and say we did,” she mumbled. But because Senka was Senka, she heard this and responded quickly.

“Stop being so tight,” the land pirate said, slapping the wanderer on her back. “Why don’t you want to go anyways? We’d probably find you a boyfriend.” She laughed while the wanderer’s face turned bright red.

“Sh – shut up! That’s none of your business! And besides, I’m saving your butt on this one!” Aiyanna, exacting her revenge, retrieved a crumpled up sheet of paper from a side pocket on her backpack. She unfolded the mess and smoothed it out as best as she could, then shoved it into Senka’s face.

“What – my bounty sheet? Why you showing this to me? I already know about myself.”

“Look right here.” Aiyanna pointed to the bottom section of the sheet, which listed certain places the land pirate might’ve been seen. One of them turned out to be “Bars and Taverns”.

“That’s…just great.” Senka groaned, leaning back into the wall of a building. “I can’t even go drink…”

“You’re seventeen!”

“And you’re eighteen.”

“Neither of us is legal.”

The squawking of seagulls could be heard as the two girls stared at each other, eyes squinted, and faces scripted in thought.

“…Hey. Gimme that poster.” Rustle crunch. “Alright, see…they think I’m twenty-two! HA! That’s so freakin’ awesome!” Senka mouthed some of the words on the bounty sheet. “…And hey, guess what? They’re not sure if I have any ‘traveling companions’, so your butt is temporarily saved.”

In the midst of amusing herself, the door from the town’s Calvary center (equal to a police outpost) opened. A man, lugging with him a folder and a stapler, waddled to a post that was full of flyers. Senka and Aiyanna stood perfectly still, turning their faces away. And as an extra precaution, Senka removed her trenchcoat, placing it behind her and leaning onto it, her back against the restaurant wall.

“What do you think he’s doing?”

“Putting up new bounty sheets, that’s what. And I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re at the top of the list.” Senka was actually speaking seriously this time, which she did periodically.

“We wiped out that troop they sent into the mountains,” Aiyanna murmured as the man started to head back to the station. She was referring to two days after meeting up with Senka. A troop of Calvary men were sent to investigate something, but ended up finding the much-hunted land pirate instead.

“Yeah, and that doesn’t look too good for us.” They straightened up and journeyed to the post where they, in fact, found two bounty sheets with their names on them.

The two read the sheets, observing the data and trying to figure out ways to avoid people that might come after them.

Senka’s picture was one she had deliberately taken to give to the Calvary men. She was wearing a big smile and had her left hand up in front of the camera lens to say hello.

“How’s yours?” she asked to Aiyanna, who had been rather quiet and still.

“Err – it’s...okay. Nothing, uh, too bad…Um…”

Senka pivoted on her heel. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.” And Aiyanna ripped the bounty sheet from the post.

“Why’d you do that?”

“Souvenir.”

“Can I see it?”

“It’s my souvenir.”

The pirate narrowed her eyes. “Show me.”

“No.”

“Show me!”

“I don’t have to!”

“That’s it.” Senka’s right hand quickly shot to the sword that was hidden in the trenchcoat. The blade was like a machete, except longer than the standard size. She pointed it at Aiyanna.

“Show me.” And she speared through the sheet, quickly scanning the lines.

Senka looked up in disbelief. She studied Aiyanna intently and still appeared shocked and breathless. “You’re…you’re… Aiyanna Lilah Citari? Heir to the Citari throne of the eastern lands?”

Aiyanna gazed off into the ocean. “…Yeah. Princess, I guess you could say.”

“Why?”

“I hated the life I had. I wanted to see the world. But I couldn’t. I wanted to explore the vast earth and see the beauty nature had to offer. I –”

“No, not that.”

“What?”

“Why…did you choose to wear that?”

---

Twenty minutes and a good beating later, Senka and Aiyanna were hitching up to return to the Forest of Emerald and work thei way to the major city of the land, Makeda. Aiyanna bought the food while Senka bartered with the blacksmith for arrows.

“We’re set to eat for a week or so.”

“We’ve got enough arrows to last a few good battles.”

“Okay then…let’s go.”

They hitched up and left the town, bounty sheets ripped from the post they had been stapled too. After all, you couldn’t successively evade an attack if people knew where you were.

“So,” Senka stated simply, taking to her relaxed state and secluding her sword sheath. “You’re Princess Citari. Man, I can’t believe I didn’t make that connection before.”

“It’s not that easy, really. People always see me in those awful dresses, choking in a bodice, with my hair in some demented fashion…Ugh. As you would put it, it sucked.”

“You’re pretty adaptable,” the pirate responded casually. “You even realize that? You’ve learned to conform with the masses. Heh. Not a chance of that happening to me.”

“Of course not, especially with the tattoos.”

Senka didn’t reply, but instead, brushed her hand against the tattoos on the right of her face. “It’s been a long time since I got these, you know. It was…dangerous and painful. But…Captain Zephyros wouldn’t allow anybody on his crew unless they had some sort of stripe facial tattoo.”

“But…how long did you know this guy? You’re young…and yet, you know so much of the pirates. What’s going on?”

“Zephyros. The captain of the pirate ship I grew up on. I don’t remember anything but living on that ship, learning the ways of the pirate, the sword, and thievery. Zephyros told me of my parents, who were good friends of his. But their own boat sunk while out at sea, so the guardianship of me was passed over to Zeph.”

“What happened?”

Senka shrugged. “I dunno. It just…we were on a raid, but something went wrong. We had to split up, and we were set to meet at the rendezvous point. I waited there for a week, and nobody showed up. I just assumed the worse and that they had to escape without me. It’s the way of the pirate. You have a loyal crew, but that doesn’t mean you’re loyal to them, or each other. …Or something like that.” She grinned.

“You’ve had it rough, my friend,” Aiyanna said, her posture relaxed. “I just had to suffer through lady’s classes and the like. And I was also learning about the politics of the land…no brothers means I’m the first for the throne…”

“That would be awesome,” Senka cut in, her hands behind her head. Aiyanna turned her gaze to her, but saw that the pirate was looking forward. “This country -”

“Tijara.”

“ – Tijara, right right – well, it hasn’t had a ruling female since…since…sheesh, I can’t remember how long ago. Five hundred years? Yeah, think so, by Queen Lyra III.”

“Lyra the Third,” Aiyanna murmured, tucking some hair behind her ears. “She was the eighth ruling female monarch, with her great-grandmother, Dante IX, being the seventh.”

“You know all about this, don’t you?”

“Had to. Growing up royalty means learning your lineage. Duh.”

“You ever learn to fight?”

Aiyanna shrugged. “I was trained to use the bow, seeing as how it’s a more ‘ladylike’ weapon. I used to resent that, but I have grown to love my bow. Made of yew from the south. Exotic and foreign, crafted with runes and strangely made. But it’s a piece of art.” She drew the bow from her pack, running a finger along the inner curve. “Neat, neh?”

“Nice, yeah, but boring and impractical.” Senka pushed her trenchcoat off her waist, revealing the sheath partly hidden by the coat. Her machete-like blade soon hit the sunlight peeking in through the leaves. “Here is real weaponry. Basic steel sword, interlaced with iron, bronze, and nickel.” The blade was old, but in good shape, slightly dull but with a standard highlight streak down the center.

“Eh. Whatever. To each their own.” With those words, the girls slipped their weapons away, continuing on the path.