The next problem was finding a ship.
Ideally, she would have liked a man-of-war, a huge thing with plenty of room for cannons, a mean ship that would never remind her of his nifty brig.
She buried her face in her hands. The whole place was packed with small sailing ships. Everything about them from the easily maneuverable rigging to their lack of heft in their hulls was Daniel's, it was his memory that haunted her through the very fabric of those white sails.
She wandered around the harbor. It was easy for her to do so without getting noticed. Firstly, she was in a nice dress - she did not look like she was going to buy a ship. Secondly, all the sellers were sampling something that was probably cherry wine, but did not smell as good as such beverages usually did. The men were audibly convinced of the health benefits, though. She had to physically tear one of them away from the barrels and bottles in order to hear about the maritime pick of the day.
"Not thinking of running away, are we?"
His tone was a bit too condescending.
She whipped out her letter with an elegant movement and a smile. She watched his grin freeze.
Gods, she was brilliant.
He didn't say much about running away anymore. Whatever mental images he had envisioned about a rich girl trying to get some excitement into her airhead life had dissolved. The man was all business now, throwing out numbers, like the maximum knots during good winds, or the approximate amount of cannons or shots that could be stored in the hold, and it was the speech of a professional talking to another professional.
"Look, if someone asks me anything, you were not here, and I sold the ship to a man from the northern islands," he said, obviously trying to extend the courteousness of being discreet to the buyer.
"I would love that, yes," Mariana said.
"Good. So, you will be buying one that has potential for deeper waters as well. Not just the shallows?"
"No, not just shallows. And ideally…"
She frowned.
She imagined Daniel, pierced by splinters of gunwale.
"I would like to have as much room for the guns as possible. You don't happen to have a ship with a space for stern chasers?"
"Actually, I do, but it's not within your budget."
"I feel like splurging a little, though," Mariana commented. "It would be better for, you know…"
Chasing pirates was not looked upon kindly by, well, the dozens of pirate lords who frequented this harbor. It wasn't anything that Neul could be proud of, but it allowed this to happen, and this caused the merchants to be wary of anything that had a connection to letters of marque and the privateering business.
"Right. So, if someone asks you anything, you didn't get that from me, you don't know me, nothing happened."
Then she saw the one with the chasers and fell in love.
It was the third time she fell in love with anyone or anything.
The first time she had seen Daniel.
The second one had been a pretty dress with functional pockets.
"Oh, I need that," she said. "I'll have to take out everything I have in the bank, but it'll be worth it."
"It's all yours, fine lady," the merchant said, but it was clear that he was a bit afraid of this little woman who was going to go sailing and hunting pirates.
He dodged her eyes. He played with his beard, making sure that his gestures signified absolute respect for her.
"I should be able to get the rest of the money by tomorrow night," she lied, allowing herself some time to get the cannons and the crew she needed. She had no intentions of ever coming back to Neul after setting sail.
She faced a challenge of finding pirates who were still amicable towards her after her long absence from the nautical underworld.
She knocked on all doors, finding most of them locked, but the Wizard was still loyal to her, as was his brother, who was simply known as Simmers.
The Wizard was not an actual wizard, he was simply a huge fan of conspiracy theories and the occult. He didn't let any of his delusions turn into fears, though. As he was cooking a late dinner for three inside his cozy kitchen, they had a chat about the good old days and all the ways Daniel had wronged them all.
"The part of that treasure was ours," the Wizard said, without any sourness in his voice.
He was saving it for that delicious sweet and sour chicken he was making. His hands did those little swirling motions that people often did when they were cooking. Simmers couldn't boil a single egg without causing a disaster, and that was why the dimwit brother was just fussing around their old friend, Mariana, making sure that she was comfortable.
Mariana smiled. There was a charming scent of spices coming from the kitchen. The Wizard talked about how a group of female vampires actually controlled the king with blood magic. He was so casual about being insane, and the bench Mariana was sitting on was so comfortable that for a second, she was able to blot out Daniel's face from her mind.
"It'll be good to see him marooned, like he should have been marooned way back," Simmers the Dimmers said, breaking the spell.
Mariana felt her face pulling into an instinctive frown. The man wasn't emotionally stupid, he merely had no wisdom, and he was visibly sorry about awakening those old memories.
"That is why you came, right?" he whispered. "You want to kill him."
"Yes." Mariana nodded. "And I would appreciate your help."
"Then you have us, until the world ends."
"Water belongs -"
The Wizard tried to shout his silly old sayings from the kitchen, but everyone knew them by heart and Mariana was already itching to start the real talk about pirate hunting and spilling blood.