Princess Lilina'vix'Strus' watched the contradiction of a man that would -hopefully- soon be her husband. The way his eyes flitted across the ship like a predator surveying its domain, the quiet confidence in every motion... even the startling level of gentleness and love that he showed his daughter- his adopted daughter.

Adoption was not unheard of among her people, though it became increasingly rare in the higher social strata- at least this type of adoption. It wasn't uncommon for a noble to take in the children of their siblings in the event of an unexpected passing, but to take in a completely unknown child? Especially one not of their race?

Absolutely unheard of.

But Oliver, this sweet- if strange- man, only saw a little girl that needed help. Even when the girl's horns or nails accidentally scratched his pale flesh and left bleeding wounds, he simply shrugged it off and gently reminded her to be careful...

Then his hands glowed and bloody gouges vanished as if they had never even existed.

Even with the tales she had heard of him viciously tearing through ships full of pirates, there was barely a hint of that savagery in his bearing. When a crewmate slipped and twisted his ankle? Oliver simply shrugged and used his 'magic' to whisk away the pain and injury. Someone ran into him in rush? He just waved it off for the accident it was.

In his every word and action, he was the absolute embodiment of kindness. How accurate could the stories be?

But she had also seen the devastation left in his wake. A pirate shipped cleared of nearly every member of its crew. Another ship blasted into kindling, with not a survivor to be found. And the last ship left in tatters and aflame...

This man swept through like a force of nature, a storm raining destruction upon everything that stood in their way...

It was an odd sort of duality that was difficult to process, and even harder to understand. But, if that was the extent of his complexity, understanding him wouldn't be such a struggle.

He was equal parts easy to talk to and socially inept. He said whatever he felt... whenever he felt like talking, which was never a guarantee. He had the heart of a husband and a father, yet the soul of an explorer and warrior.

He was also incredibly, frustratingly oblivious.

He knew that her hand was the reward for all the assistance he provided, yet at no point did he approach her –or her brother, the prince- to discuss their engagement. He seemed almost uninterested in the entire thing! Yet, if she approached him to talk, he always seemed happy to... though, somehow, she always seemed drawn into talks of everything but their future together.

Which she couldn't entirely blame him for. With all the curious and novel things from his world, it was difficult not to get distracted by the wonders he presented. Communication across entire countries? Unique music and plays to entertain a person, all at the tip of their fingers in an instant? Flying ships that can cross the world in hours?

Even the simple things -simple to him, at least- like the abundance of food, mass production of clothing and tools, and grand buildings reaching nearly to the sky... How could she not be distracted by his tales of such?

But not today! Today, she would approach him and have the conversation that she wanted- no, that she needed! No longer would she allow him to distract and derail with stories of marvels beyond comprehension.

Today she would have answers.

She hoped.

Lily approached slowly, her eyes sweeping across the section of deck her future husband occupied as she tried to make sense of what he was doing. Scattered across a blanket in front of where he sat were a few things she recognized- the 'laptop' and 'cell phone' he had shown her before- and in his hands was an odd metallic ball the likes of which she had never seen.

"Hey Lily."

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Pulling her gaze away from her own reflection in the strange orb, she turned a small smile towards her future husband- only to stifle a sigh as his gaze never left... whatever it was he was doing. She knew she was an attractive woman, having been told so often enough... Yet Oliver never looked at her like that.

At least not that she could tell, but he was so damn difficult to read...

"Hello, Oliver." She said hesitantly, pausing a few steps away in the open area around him- while the Captain and some of the crew looked on in curiosity, they all maintained a wary distance. As much as Oliver had a decent reputation and standing among them, few were willing to risk intruding on whatever this monster of a man was doing- not that Lily thought of him as a monster, but she could understand the wariness of the crew. "I was hoping to speak with you today, if you do not mind..."

"Sure." Oliver shrugged, a small smile on his face as he plopped the silvery orb in her hands. "Here, hold this for a second please."

Suppressing a huff, she slowly turned the orb over in her hands, inspecting it closely. Unable to find any clues- or flaws- in the perfectly smooth sphere, she turned her eyes back to him as he picked up his 'cell phone' and began to fiddle with something on its screen. "What is it?"

"It's my Tactical Personal Drone." He smirked at her look of confusion, patting the deck beside him. "Have a seat and I'll show you."

She had barely settled on the deck beside him when he began to ramble excitedly.

"See, I had this idea... When I'm at home, it's easy to cast a video from my phone to the tv or my laptop... But that requires a wifi network." He paused momentarily as a thought occurred to him. "Ah, right, I never really mentioned wifi... Umm... Basically, its a special way to connect things like phones and laptops."

Waving away the rushed explanation, he pushed on. "Anyway... I had the thought of setting up an ad-hoc network using my laptop so I can cast video between them- specifically the footage from my drone, and use it as a way for us to scout..."

"I'm a little concerned about power usage, but I have a small solar charger bank that I can use with my phone- and probably the drone, too. I just have to worry about my laptop's battery. I didn't really plan to use it on this trip, or I would have gotten some better solar panels or something..."

"I... do not understand what you are saying..."

Oliver looked up, face blank as he took in those words. With a snort of laughter, he shook his head slowly. "Right, sorry. I got excited and didn't think about how my techno babble would sound. It's probably better if I just show you... Probably should show the Captain, too."

Waving the Captain over, he raised his voice slightly. "Ready for a show?" Without waiting for an answer, he rapidly tapped a few more times on the laptop, then on the phone... And a clear image of Lily popped up on both screens simultaneously.

Lily's lips pursed at the image, unsure what to think of it- only for her expression to morph into shock as the image on the screen also pursed its lips and reflect her shock. Her expression flickered rapidly, the image followed suit... and it only took her a moment to understand that this was a video created by one of the 'camera' things that Oliver had explained...

But neither the laptop or cell phone were aimed at her, so where was the camera?

Chuckling at her reaction, Oliver gestured at the metal orb- his Tactical Personal Drone- resting in her hands. "The drone is basically a flying camera; that's where the video is coming from." Tapping at his phone again, he seemed to ignore the gasps of shock from the crew as the metal ball lifted away from her hands to float around them in a circle- and the image on the screens changed, following the drones motions.

"So... I'm going to skip the rambling explanation about power concerns and get straight to the point." Pointing at the laptop screen, he pulled their attention to it as the drone rose above their heads. "I'm going to fly the drone straight up about a mile and use it to scout the horizon. The camera is great, honestly, so I'm hopeful that it will let us see any sails in the distance before we get to close..."

"And, if I do this a couple times a day, it may help us avoid problems before they even know we are here."

"This is... incredible..." Captain Sterling muttered in awe as he watched the sky high view streaming by on the screen. "If you can really do this a couple times a day, we just may be able to avoid some more trouble..."

"That's the plan." Oliver smiled brightly. "Well, it's one of my plans. We'll just have to wait and see if the others pay off..."

A small frown flashed across the Captain's face as he turned to glare at Oliver. "If you have something as incredible as this, why did you risk Ram's life dragging him around on your 'scouting expedition' back at the islands?"

Oliver shrugged indifferently, waving off the question. "A combination of power constraints and range limits. The drone only has a range of about a mile; at that distance, we wouldn't have had much time to react in the narrow confines of the Maze Islands."

"Plus, the scouting expedition was more fun."

Lily sighed softly to herself, realizing that, once again, she had been drawn into the pace set by Oliver and distracted by the wonders in his hands... and that, with such a tool available, she was unlikely to pull the conversation away from Captain Sterling without pulling rank- something she didn't want to do, as it was not only rude but could also negatively impact their mission.

Maybe tomorrow she would get the conversation she wanted?

Yes, tomorrow. Tomorrow she would push for a serious conversation with her future husband.

Hopefully...

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