Theodore found her in the most obvious place, really. The observation deck. Empty now that the storm had passed and everyone could go back to their rooms without feeling like death was pressing against the windows. She was leaning against the railing, watching the desert roll by, looking way too relaxed for someone who'd just pulled off a heist.

Freya and Juliana flanked him as they approached. Not threatening, exactly. They'd just be very present in the upcoming conversation. The woman turned before they got close, she was strong and had noticed them coming long ago.

"Your Highness," she said, inclining her head slightly.

"Mind if we sit?" Theodore asked, gesturing to the nearby chairs.

She studied them for a moment. Theodore could practically see her running the calculations. Three against one. Freya blocking the main exit just by existing. Juliana positioned perfectly to cut off the secondary route. And Theodore himself, who she probably didn't consider much of a threat physically but she wasn't stupid enough to be reckless with someone like him either.

"Do I have a choice?" she asked.

"There's always a choice," Theodore said. "This one just happens to be between a polite conversation and a less polite one."

She smiled at that. "Well, when you put it that way."

They sat. The woman took the chair facing all three of them, back to the window. Confident, or at least pretending to be. Theodore appreciated that. People who knew they were cornered but didn't panic were usually worth talking to.

"So, want to tell me what that was all about?"

"What what was about?"

"Really? We're doing this?"

She shrugged. "You approached me. I'm just enjoying the view."

Freya laughed.. The woman's eyes flicked to her, reassessing.

"Look," Theodore said, "I know you and your friend—who's probably long gone by now—took whatever those idiots were smuggling. I know you're some kind of law enforcement. And I know it was important enough that you spent days pretending to ignore each other while watching them."

"That's a lot of knowing for someone who was just a passenger."

"I'm good at noticing things. Comes with the territory." He paused. "The question is whether this is something I should care about. As a prince of the kingdom, I mean. Even an exiled one."

That got her attention. Her posture shifted slightly. Not much, but enough.

"You're actually concerned about kingdom security?"

"Should I not be?"

She studied him for a long moment, like she was trying to figure out if he was serious or just fishing for information. Whatever she saw must've satisfied her because she sighed and relaxed a fraction.

"It's not... it's complicated."

"Complicated how?"

Another pause. Then: "What do you know about Relics?"

"Enough to know they're trouble," he said.

Theodore knew little, actually, but he had to put up a front. He couldn't show weakness. They were ancient magical artifacts from before the kingdom was even founded. Most were useless. Some were dangerous. A few were powerful enough to shift entire political landscapes if the wrong people got hold of them. Or the right people, depending on your perspective.

"This one's worse than trouble." She glanced at the door, probably checking if anyone was listening. "A little over a month ago, some idiots stumbled across a ruin while mining. Found something they shouldn't have. Instead of reporting it like law requires, they decided to sell it. Private auction, select nobles only."

"Let me guess. Our friends downstairs?"

"Two competing factions both trying to secure it for their respective backers. Neither knowing the other was after the same thing until they ended up on the same ship."

That explained the tension. And the panic when they realized it was gone.

"What kind of Relic?" Juliana asked. First thing she'd said since they sat down.

The woman hesitated. "The kind that could destabilize half the kingdom if it ended up in noble hands. The kind that shouldn't exist, frankly."

"That's not an answer," Freya pointed out.

"It's all the answer you're getting."

Theodore drummed his fingers on the armrest. A Relic powerful enough to warrant this level of intervention. Two specialists deployed unofficially. And a law enforcer practically ignoring Juliana, who was a high standing princess of the kingdom. Whatever it was, someone very high up was very worried about it.

Did it involve his father?

Unlikely.

One of his brothers, then.

"So you have it now?" he asked.

"It's secured."

"That's not what I asked."

She smiled again. "No, it's not."

Fair enough. He probably wouldn't have answered either.

"Here's what I'm trying to figure out," Theodore said. "Should I be worried about this? Is this going to blow back on anyone who happened to be on this ship?"

"No. The nobles think each other stole it. They'll spend months investigating each other, finding nothing, and eventually write it off as a loss. Nobody knows we were here. Nobody knows you talked to us."

"You're very confident about that."

"It's not my first time doing this. I know a little how to play with minds, which you've noticed already, if the mental slap I got the moment I tried it on you was of any indication."

Yeah, he'd figured as much, though he didn't answer.

"And the Relic itself?"

"Will be handled appropriately." Her tone suggested that was all she was going to say about it.

Theodore considered pushing, but honestly? Did he really want to know? He had enough problems without adding ancient magical artifacts to the list. If professionals were handling it, maybe that was enough.

"Alright," he said finally. "We never had this conversation."

"What conversation?" She stood, smoothing down her clothes. "Enjoy the rest of your journey, Your Highness. Try not to cause too much trouble."

"Me? I'm innocent."

Freya snorted. Even Juliana looked skeptical.

The woman just shook her head and walked away, not hurrying but not lingering either. Theodore watched her go, then turned to the others.

"Well," he said. "That was interesting."

"That was vague and unhelpful," Freya corrected.

"That too."

***

Theodore was actually getting used to things. Then someone screamed.

"What the hell was that?" Freya asked, hand instinctively moving toward her sword.

Juliana looked up from her book. "That came from the noble quarters."

The screaming stopped. Theodore could hear running footsteps, muffled voices shouting orders. Servants, probably. Or crew. Hard to tell through the walls.

The common room doors burst open maybe ten minutes later. One of the younger nobles from the suspicious group stumbled in, wild-eyed and breathing hard. Blood on his clothes. Not his blood, from the look of it.

"You," he said, pointing directly at Theodore. "You did this."

The fuck?

"Excuse me?"

"Don't play innocent! He is dead! Murdered! And you're the only other one here aside from us who could've—"

"Excuse me?" Theodore didn't move from his chair, but he let just a hint of his aura leak out. The noble stumbled backward, but desperation made him stupid. "I've been sitting here the entire time. Ask anyone."

"You could have—"

"I could have done a lot of things." Theodore let his aura press down just a little harder. The noble's knees buckled. "But accusing a prince of murder without evidence, would you like to be tried for treason? Think before you act, this is unbecoming of a noble."

The color drained from the noble's face. "I... no, Your Highness. I..."

Theodore pulled his aura back. The noble gasped, steadying himself against the doorframe. "Now, I suggest you report this to the crew and let them handle it properly."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Then we're done here."

The noble fled. Theodore waited until he was gone, then turned to Freya and Juliana, who were both staring at him.

"That was odd," Freya said.

Theodore shrugged. "He was being stupid. Panic makes people do stupid things. I don't know who killed who, and it's frankly not my problem."

"You think those two professionals did it?" Juliana asked quietly.

"Not unless there was a credible reason for it." Theodore said.

***

Things settled down after that. The crew investigated, found nothing useful, and eventually declared it an unfortunate incident. Probably someone from the rival noble faction, they said. These things happened during storms when people were trapped together and tensions ran high. The nobles bought it completely. Started eyeing each other with even more suspicion than before. Theodore almost felt bad for them.

The storm passed two days later, and nothing about the murder was found out, so it was most likely the nobles killing the guy who was in charge of the Relic. He had lost it after all. By then, Theodore was getting restless. Sitting around doing nothing had never been his strong suit, and the constant low-level tension from the nobles was starting to grate on his nerves.

"Want to spar?" he asked Freya.

She perked up immediately. "Finally. I was starting to think you'd gone soft."

They found an empty cargo hold and spent the next few hours beating the hell out of each other. Well, mostly Theodore getting beaten. Freya was still way better at the physical stuff. But he was getting better at reading her movements, predicting where she'd be instead of where she was.

"You've improved," she admitted afterward, wiping sweat from her forehead.

"Still lose every time."

"Yeah, but you last longer now."

Progress, he supposed.

While they caught their breath, Theodore let his mind drift to Holden. His clone had been busy. The sewage project was officially underway now—Hayden had somehow managed to recruit twice as many workers as expected, and they'd started digging test channels in the Lower Ward. Early results were promising. Messy, expensive, and complained about constantly, but promising.

The bathhouse was still packed every day. Apparently word had spread to neighboring towns, and people were making pilgrimages just to experience hot running water. Who knew luxury could be such a draw?

By the time the tournament actually started, assuming it took months to organize properly, the project would probably be finished. Theodore was curious to see how much a city could change in that time. Would people even recognize Holden when he got back?

His clone had also been experimenting with some of the more advanced techniques Theodore remembered from his previous life. Nothing too obvious—he couldn't afford to raise suspicions—but little improvements here and there. Better mortar formulations. More efficient construction methods. Small innovations that would add up over time. And most importantly, he was very close to getting a death skill that would solve the land issue, after which he planned on creating new fertilizers and also introducing optimal crop rotation to help with everything.

It was satisfying work, honestly.

"You're thinking about home," Juliana observed.

Theodore blinked. "How can you tell?"

"You get this look."

Fair enough.

"Just wondering how things are going. The construction project should be hitting its stride about now."

"Must be nice," Freya said.

"It is." And it was, even if he couldn't take full credit. The ideas might be his, but the execution was all Hayden and his crew. Theodore was just the guy with the blueprints.

Still. Seeing those plans turn into reality, watching a whole city adapt and grow... yeah, that was pretty satisfying.

"Land ho!" someone shouted from above deck.

Finally. Theodore stretched, working out the kinks from days of forced inactivity. Time to see what this tournament was all about. And time to figure out what came next. Because sitting around playing politics with nobles was fun and all, but he had bigger plans. The tournament was just the beginning.

***

AN:

I was trying to experiment with this sandship mini arc, but things didn't go as planned when I was writing it - or more like, it didn't turn out like I was imagining it would - so I decided to wrap it up quickly to get to his family parts quickly.

Read 10 Chapters Ahead on Patreon! - /itsnectar