The last Letter of Marque burned quietly.
No ceremony.
No farewell.
Only paper becoming ash.
Mara watched the fire.
MARA:
“Does that mean he’s not a privateer anymore?”
The old harbor clerk looked into the flames.
CLERK:
“That’s what the King says.”
Chibi picked up a tiny piece of cooled red wax that had fallen onto the pier.
Half the royal seal was still visible.
CHIBI:
“But the seal is still here.”
The clerk nodded.
CLERK:
“It is.”
Mara looked from the seal…
to the empty sea.
MARA:
“So yesterday…”
“…this paper made him a hero.”
The old man lowered his eyes.
CLERK:
“It did.”
Silence.
The harbor bustled around them.
Merchants shouted.
Ropes creaked.
A bell rang from a departing merchantman.
Everything felt ordinary.
Mara looked back at the dying fire.
MARA:
“And today?”
The clerk watched the last ember fade.
CLERK:
“Today…”
“…it makes him a pirate.”
A long silence.
Chibi turned the broken seal over in his hand.
CHIBI:
“But he didn’t change.”
The old clerk closed his eyes.
For just a moment.
CLERK:
“No.”
“He didn’t.”
The wind lifted a handful of ash from the brazier.
Most of it disappeared into the harbor.
One small fragment landed on the water.
Instead of drifting away—
it floated back toward the pier.
Against the tide.
Chibi watched it until it touched the old wooden pilings.
CHIBI:
“The sea gave it back.”
The old clerk stared at the blackened fragment.
His voice was barely louder than the waves.
CLERK:
“Perhaps…”
“…it doesn’t believe paper decides the truth.”
Far beyond the harbor—
the tide rolled on.
Exactly as it had yesterday.
Exactly as it would tomorrow.
🜍 THE PRICE OF INDEPENDENCE
Kings grant permission.
Kings withdraw permission.
Empires rewrite yesterday.
The sea remembers only what people chose to do.
If you remember what this felt like—
you already know what you’re missing.
Raise the black flag.
Or keep watching from the shore.
👉 https://startplaying.games/gm/dunchan
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