Altar of Twilight Rovin'

They travelled along the impassable mountain range, Maude's steps becoming surer the longer they spent inland. She still preferred sand and salt to the mud and dirt here, but it was necessary to finding Kjalarr. She led the boy south for no good reason, desperately hoping that they would find something in the end.

She sang the travelling songs that roving gangs of pirates would sing in friendly country, goading the boy @Arrille to sing along every once and awhile. 

"O, my name was Captain Kidd, as I sailed, as I sailed,

O, my name was Captain Kidd, as I sailed.

My name was Captain Kidd and God's laws I did forbid,

And so wickedly I did as I sailed, as I sailed.

So wickedly I did as I sailed."

Arrille kept a spring in his step. He was becoming more used to his travelling companion. So when she, or he, Arrille wasn't entirely sure as he had not asked before, urged him to sing along the boy couldn't resist. It was rather fun these moments they had.

"As I sailed!" he sung aloud, echoing the line after Maude sung it, glancing up at his companion with a small smirk. "And so wickedly I did, as I sailed! As I sailed!" He laughed childishly at the fun he was having, adding a casual bump of his shoulder against Maude.

She was glad that the kid was growing used to her. It wouldn't do to travel with someone who hated you. Instead, she sang, and the kid chirped along happily. It was nice to finally be able to sing with someone who appreciated, or hell, even liked her shanties. She finally got to teach them to him as well.

I murdered William Moore,
as I sailed, as I sailed.
O, I murdered William Moore
as I sailed.
I laid him in his gore,
Not many leagues from the shore,
O, I murdered William Moore,
as I sailed, as I sailed.
I murdered William Moore
as I sailed.

Maude began again. Arrile was about to also begin, though the first line confused him, as he took it rather literally. "You murdered...who's William Moore?" His head was tipped in curiosity. He wasn't necessarily afraid Maude had killed someone, if Maude even had. Really, he was just confused why that would be put in a song. "I liked the other song."

Arrille didn't sing along this time, and eventually her voice ebbed away. She looked at the young boy's eyes, her own scrunched in confusion. I dunno, She shrugged. It's just a song, mate. Don't 'ave t' be related t'us, Maude yawned, stretching her jaws after all that singing. The other song is part o' dis song. It's got two more parts,

Arrille snapped his jaws shut. It was just a song, something he took much too literally. He felt as if he had suddenly made things rather awkward between them, as Maude then yawned. After a moment of silence, after she stated there was more, he asked, "Can we...Can we keep singing?"

He snapped himself shut, quiet for a few moments. Maude was just as unaccustomed to vast silences as he was, the time awkward as quiet overcame the noisiness from before. When Arrille spoke once more and requested the song be continued, Maude threw herself into the racket once more.

I spied three ships from Spain
as I sailed, as I sailed,
O, I spied three ships from Spain
as I sailed.
I spied three ships from Spain,
and I fired on them a-main,
And most of them I slain,
as I sailed, as I sailed.
And most of them I slain
as I sailed.

Arrille's tail began to wag when Maude went back into singing again. He sang along, here and there just as he had with the first verse of the song Maude sang. This time not taking it literally. 

Although, he did pause again. And posed a question. "Why do you want to find my father? You said he is your friend. Is that all?" The way Maude spoke of him, and he had sensed the jealousy when Arrille spoke of his mother. It was plainer than the color of the sand. He quickly added onto the question, "It's just, he never spoke of you...So why go looking for him, if he never even mentioned you?" There must have been another reason behind it.

She was close to bursting off into another verse, bolstered by Arrille's renewed efforts in singing along. But his question — just the word why was enough actually — stopped her in her tracks. She furrowed her brow at him. He was onto her. She had figured that since he was a kid that he would never truly understand how Maude felt. But kids were smarter than she thought, or at least this one was. She sighed, not enjoyed the thought of letting her heart out on her (metaphorical) sleeve.

Ondine, yer maw, hated me. Then she came in an' got pregnant wit yew an' yer sisters while I was gettin' close t'Kjalarr. She did it on purpose, yew know, That wasn't a lie or exaggeration to make his mother seem like a horrible person — she really did get herself pregnant just to fuck with Maude. 'e prob'ly ne'er spoke o' me 'cuz it'd piss off yer maw, That part at least, wasn't true. Maude knew it, but she never admitted it to herself. She had attacked Ondine, aiming to kill the barely formed children inside her and destroy what Ondine had created to take Kjalarr away from her. But to admit that she had wanted to kill Arrille when he was barely a fetus was not a good way of keeping them together, and by extension, the kid alive.

Arrille too stopped, turning to face Maude, standing directly opposite. The boy had gotten the feel that his mother did not one bit like Maude. And guessed that was the reason for him never mentioning Maude. However, getting close to his dad, that part he did not know. "Getting close? Like...as in a friend?" That was about as far as Arrille's mind could go on the term of 'getting close'. Then something else clicked. 

"Wait...sisters?" He had sisters? He never even knew about this! All he knew was that he was an only child. "And they never told me?" There was a long pause. He was confused. Why had his parents lied, never told him he had siblings? Almost like they had betrayed him in not saying so. "What...what happened to my sisters?"

If they could be called friends, she wasn't above it. Though she had feelings beyond that, and Kjalarr had been made privy to it, but in the worse way possible. Aye, she agreed 

If wolves had the ability to blaunch, then Maude would be bone white, suddenly realising her slip. Her mouth worked in voiceless stammers, biting her lip. She decided eventually that the boy had too many secrets hidden from him already and that he should know this too, though she wasn't sure if this was when either of his parents we Yer sisters were weak when dey's was born. Sickly. They wouldn't've survived had dey lived. She often wondered if her attack had anything to do with that, but decided that it was too far away from their birth to truly matter. At least that's what she told herself.

Arrille dropped the subject of Maude's relationship to his father after Maude's answer to his question. They remained standing, as he waited for her to begin moving. Or to speak again. 

The latter was what Maude went with. Arrille stared up at her, not sure whether to be confused or upset that they never told him. "They...so they died when I was born?" So for only a sort moment, he had not been a lonely child. It brought a question to mind, if he could trust Maude from keeping secrets from him. "You won't keep secrets like that from me, will you? I don't like secrets" he muttered at the end, before starting off as if he didn't need to hear the answer.

Maude gulped. Aye, She kept how they died a secret, even as he implored her to tell him everything. That was too much, even for him. If there was any life lesson she could give him, any good lesson, it was that the truth hurts. She watched him trot off, her face twisting, following sternly after him. She was silent for a while, but eventually she began humming, then quietly singing.

Come all you young and old,
see me die, see me die.
Come all you young and old,
see me die.
You are welcome to my goal,
And by it I lost my soul.
Come all you young and old,
I must die, I must die.
Come all you young and old,
I must die.

Arrille felt his lip tremble, upset over this news that Maude shared with him. He barely caught Maude's answer, his tail close to the ground. He did not sing along with Maude this time, remaining silent. About until Maude was halfway through the verse, and got a smile, then began to sing along with Maude once more.