(Closed to Brielle)

High above the sea, with two masts and a pair of slowly moving wings combing through the clouds, was a beautiful ship. She moved at a very relaxed pace, which belied the actual distance being covered. If another flying ship had happened to pass by, the occupants would have seen several men manipulating little bits of machinery attached to the mats, as well as the one who was at the helm of the ship, pulling levers and checking instruments on a small console mounted on a pedestal in front of him. The man wasn’t anything much to look at, really. He was just a black-clothed, gray-skinned humanoid with pointy ears and white hair. Considering the sheer number of Dark Elves on the planet, it wasn’t an unusual sight to see one fiddling with machinery in the middle of the sky.

This elf was different, though. The ship that this particular man was piloting was a pirate ship, and the elf was a pirate captain. Captain Varus Gakarian, the Dance Master, people called him. He wore nothing but black, including his sword. When he set the course for his beloved ship to follow, he stepped down from the control podium and strode towards the bow. Leaning over the railing gave him a perfect view of the passenger ship floating along beneath his Tango. It was big, heavy, and slow, as most ships for the purpose were. Although, he happened to know that there was something other than a passenger aboard that ship. There was a certain collection of books he wanted rather badly to read.

As the Tango followed the larger ship, Varus fancied that he could see the man-sized crate of books through the upper decks and planks. And the lovingly bound volumes themselves, probably newly printed and smelling like ink. Quite a lovely scent. He could never get enough of books, ever since he learned to read. It had been his treat when he escaped that den of slavers as a boy: the old man who’d given him his first job as a killer had also taught him his letters. He’d had such fun poring over whatever he could get his hands on. Especially novels. Even in the fantastic world full of reality-defying magic, some things were still ridiculous enough to be put on paper… like romances.

So, the Dance Master, terror of the sky and sea… was after a crate full of sappy and possibly smutty romantic fiction. Score one for insanity.