She turned around and snapped her fingers as a bluish-white seal appeared in the air. "Evaporate." All the water suddenly began to broil as steam filled the air at an exponential rate. It wasn't long before the water completely disappeared and with a flick of her hand, the steam was blown away by a powerful breeze. With that done, Alye made her way back to the front before smiling at the man again. She gestured towards his pants then.

"Would you like me to dry those too?"

Liara chuckled. She'd found this book in the last town that the ship had docked in and it was actually very amusing. Blue Sea literature didn't seem that bad if everything was like this! Liara was sitting comfortably on the deck of the ship. The redhead knew that Linnea was out exploring the island, but as for the rest of the seamen, she didn't really know. She was just about to turn the page when she heard a familiar voice yell something about treasure. It caught the red-head off guard and she dropped her book. She pouted a bit before getting to her feet and pushing her hair out of her eyes. After making sure her armor was fastened securely around her - she grabbed her twin whips and jumped off the side of the ship and onto the ground below.

It would seem that Linnea and Mea were already down there, ready to go. Liara had arrived just in time to hear Mea call herself weak. It made her sad to hear it. Liara had grown somewhat attached to the little girl... And to hear her put herself down only made Liara sad for her. The red-head walked over and knelt down beside her. "Don't worry, little one. If anything happens, we'll fight them together!"

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Liara smiled sweetly at Mea's appreciative words. In the back of the red-head's mind, she wondered if she ever could have a sister like Mea... But then again, the odds of her mother getting back together with her father were just near impossible, so... To be honest, Liara enjoyed having the seventeen year old around. Linnea was great, but she'd seen enough - and done enough - that her...sense of wonder was gone. Mea on the other hand...she was still innocent.

Still special.

Liara smiled down at her one more time as she explained what she would buy if she got to the treasure. But it made her realize something. Beyond finding her mother, Liara didn't really have any other ambition that she knew of. It...bothered her. She didn't have any money. Ever. So the opportunity to actually indulge herself with something had never come up. Liara looked at the ground for a moment and pondered somethings. She looked back up and shook her head clear when Linnea called her. Worry about the now, fret about the past later.

"Yes, lets do this." The armed woman looked back at her healer. "I want you to stay behind me, Mea-chan. But while you do that, make sure you watch Linnea and I's back, alright? If you see anything suspicious, whisper it to us." With that being said, Liara unhooked her twin whips, wrapping the coils around her gauntlets. That way she could snap off a strike at a moment's notice if she needed to.

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Liara watched Naga closely as she seemed to fall into herself. It was so odd to watch. Her whole body stilled to a point where she could have been as still as the forest around them. In no time at all, Naga turned a bit then pointed out towards a little clearing. Liara swallowed a bit in excitement when the archer then took the shovel from Mea. The Knight followed behind Naga cautiously, watching their surroundings while guiding Mea. When they reached the target area, Liara did get a good look at the patch of dirt before Naga dug into it. It did look very scruffy but Liara had a sneaking suspicion that it was supposed to look like that...

The Knight's suspicion was confirmed when Naga told her to stay down. So this was some kind of ambush. The redhead watched Naga brandish an arrow. Just by watching the archer's body language, she knew that getting behind something solid was their best bet right now. Only seconds later did Naga let an arrow fly and a voice of pain rang out through the forest.

Liara ducked low, pulling Mea down with her. She was worried for her as the gunshots began ringing through the trees. Her armor would protect her mostly but Naga and Mea had no such protection. The redhead knew that Naga could take care of herself, but Mea on the other hand...

She could feel the girl trembling through her armor.

Liara looked around, scanning their immediate surroundings. This was no good. Liara was useless at long range. She would have to get in close if she wanted to do any damage. And she couldn't do any damage if Mea was strapped to her hip. She needed to find a safe place for her...

Liara looked up when she saw a piece of bark fly off of a higher point of a tree, though it was much lower than the lowest hanging branches. Her brown eyes noticed the same thing on several different trees around them. It gave her an idea. "Naga, I'm heading out! What direction are they hiding in?" After the redhead got her answer, she unwound one of her whips from around her gauntleted wrist. She tightened her grip, wrapped her arm around Mea's waist, and whipped her hand into the air. Her scarlet red weapon arched through the air before wrapping snuggly around a thick tree branch above them. Liara yanked her arm upwards and the two females disappeared from sight and into the trees.

She slipped into the foliage and set Mea down against the trunk of the tree. Liara looked at her with a strong but gentle gaze. "Up here you'll be safe from the gunfire. Naga is right below us. She should be fine tactically for now but if she gets hit, you can drop some healing medicine for her without getting hurt yourself. I want you to stay here and watch her back okay? If someone gets this close to her, they won't bother having a gun. They'll have a sword. So either you can warn Naga or jump down and get them yourself." Liara recoilded her whip and looked around. "I'm going to use this as a distraction and get close. Stay safe you two!", she said a bit louder so Naga could hear her.

Liara leaned in and kissed Mea's forehead gently before brandishing both her whips and flicking her hand towards another branch. With a grunt, Liara flew into another tree and disappeared in the direction of their pursuers.

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Thump!
...
Thump!
...
Thump!

The steady beat of Liara's boots impacting against wood was all the redhead heard for a bit. It was kind of harmonious in a odd way. It reminded her of when she would scale the rafters of her father's mansion to spy on the staff. Of course, at the time, she wasn't wielding two whips and donning armor. A smirk grew on Liara's lips as she thought about her father. She wondered what he was doing. Did he think about her? Did he wonder where she went? Pft, he probably didn't care...

A cry echoed through the leaves and up at Liara. She recognized the sound. It wasn't Mea. It was Naga. She'd been hurt... Her friend, her first friend was in pain... Liara didn't know why, but it drove her mad. Jumping fast, the Knight reached her destination only a few moments later. When she touched down on her last branch, she crouched down, using the weight of her armor to keep her steady. The branch shook a bit, but over the sounds of gunshots and ricochets, it made no notice. Liara slowly poked her head out over the width of the thick branch and saw two pirates hiding behind a thicket of trees. Liara looked to her left and saw other pirates lying there with arrows sticking out of their chest. She quickly leaned back against the branch when she heard them begin talking.

"Hell yeah, I think I grazed one!", one of the pirates mused to himself as he sunk back down behind his tree trunk to reload. The pirate next to him - who looked much weaker than his compatriot - opened his satchel to find it was empty of bullets. He cursed under his breath before saying that he was going to get more ammo. "Whatever, keep your head down." The man got to his feet but stayed crouched down as he made his way over towards Liara... She looked down and saw a bag of supplies sitting right at the base of the tree. The pirate got to his knees and started scooping his hands into the bag to slip into his. Liara knew she had to act. With Naga hurt, Mea would have undoubtedly came off her perch to help her. The doctor didn't know enough about combat to consider her positioning around cover. She'd be a sitting duck.

Liara grasped one of her whips in her left hand. She took a deep breath as she gauged the distance and the amount of power she was going to have to put in her swing... She had to get it right the first time. She only had one shot at this.

Guide me, Mom...

Liara slung her whip in a wide, downward arc. The cord sailed through the air before the middle of it smacked into the man's neck and four feet of wound leather wrapped around his neck in a tight lock. Before he could make a noise to alert the other pirate, Liara rolled off the right side of the branch. Using her armor as deadweight, Liara fell to the ground like a rock. Using the branch as a sort of pulley, Liara hit the ground feet first just as the pirate's head smashed into the underside of the branch she had just been perched on. She didn't know if he was still alive or not. She didn't have time to think about it. It wouldn't be long before the other pirate noticed something was wrong.

Liara twirled her wrist around a couple of times and the whip unwound itself from the unmoving man's neck, sending him tumbling to the ground. Liara wasted no time in slinging her arm towards the tree above the other pirate and yanking herself up into the air. The other pirate just happened to turn around as she disappeared over his head. His eyes widened. "What the hell?" he began looking back and forth frantically. "W-Who's there!?", he said as he brandished his gun and pointed in front of him. She needed to get that gun away from his grasp... Liara - who was in sensory overdrive - noticed a movement to her left and watched as a large spider lazily rode down a thread to a trapped fly it had captured in it's web. The redhead blinked for a moment before smiling. Perfect!

Liara quickly wrapped the cord of one whip around the branch she was hiding on, securing herself ten feet to work with. Holding the tied whip's handle tight, she took her other whip and lashed downwards. The cord hit the barrel of the gun and wrapped around it greedily. Liara yanked up and the gun was sent flying out of his grasp. "W-What?!", he called out before Liara dropped down off of her branch and onto his shoulders.

He was much stronger than he looked, since he didn't buckle under the sudden weight of Liara and her armor. Unfortunately, that was a bad thing. Liara twisted her boots around either side of his neck, using her heels to dig into his collarbone and windpipe. "W.....Who t...the...?", he wheezed through his confines. Liara stared at the man with ice cold, calm malice. "You hurt my captain. I could twist my legs and snap your neck right now. But, I won't. I'm being merciful. But since I'm not killing you, you're going to do something for me... When you wake up, tell everyone that the Uroboro's Pirates did this to you." She didn't give him time to respond. She pressed into his windpipe as hard as she could before kicking off of him, sending his head careening into the tree trunk behind him. She watched as he smashed into it and slumped down.

With a sigh of relief, she dropped to the ground. Her arms were shaking and her legs felt like pudding. That was exhilarating... She took a few breaths for a moment, letting herself calm down a tad. Once her heart was slowed, she pursed her lips and made two short but shrill bird calls. Ones that Naga had shown her a little while ago to indicate safety.

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