PIRATE BORG — THE INNER FIRE · WEEK 3
THE CHOICE THEY LEFT HER
MARA:
“They’re looking for her too.”
CHIBI:
“But she didn’t do anything.”
MARA:
“She’s his daughter.”
CHIBI:
“That’s not a crime.”
MARA:
“I know.”
The girl sits between them, hidden behind old fishing nets.
Beyond the warehouses, soldiers search the harbour for her father.
And for her.
GIRL:
“My aunt says I can stay.”
MARA:
“At home?”
The girl nods.
GIRL:
“I can go back to school.”
CHIBI:
“That’s good.”
GIRL:
“They’ll leave me alone.”
MARA:
“Then why are you crying?”
The girl looks towards the sea.
GIRL:
“Because I have to say Papa is a criminal.”
Chibi frowns.
CHIBI:
“But yesterday he was a privateer.”
GIRL:
“I know.”
CHIBI:
“And the king gave him permission.”
GIRL:
“I know.”
CHIBI:
“Then the king changed his mind.”
GIRL:
“Yes.”
CHIBI:
“And now you have to change yours?”
Nobody answers.
GIRL:
“If I say Papa is a criminal, I can stay.”
MARA:
“And if you don’t?”
GIRL:
“Then I’m his daughter.”
Chibi looks confused.
CHIBI:
“You’re his daughter anyway.”
GIRL:
“Not to them.”
CHIBI:
“That’s stupid.”
MARA:
“Chibi.”
CHIBI:
“It is.”
The girl looks towards the harbour.
GIRL:
“If I stay, Papa might think I chose them.”
MARA:
“Maybe he won’t.”
GIRL:
“Maybe he will.”
CHIBI:
“And if you leave?”
GIRL:
“I lose my aunt.”
“My home.”
“My school.”
“My friends.”
MARA:
“Everything.”
The girl nods.
GIRL:
“But maybe I find Papa.”
Silence.
GIRL:
“I don’t want to choose.”
MARA:
“I know.”
GIRL:
“I’m nine.”
Chibi looks towards the soldiers.
CHIBI:
“Grown-ups started the war.”
MARA:
“Grown-ups gave your father the Letter of Marque.”
CHIBI:
“Grown-ups told him who the enemy was.”
MARA:
“Then grown-ups made peace.”
The girl wipes her face.
GIRL:
“And now I have to choose?”
Neither Mara nor Chibi answers.
The road behind her leads home.
The sea ahead leads towards her father.
GIRL:
“If you were me…”
“What would you do?”
Mara looks at Chibi.
Chibi looks at Mara.
Neither answers.
Then both slowly look toward you.
MARA:
“If staying meant keeping your home…”
CHIBI:
“…but only if you stopped being your father’s child…”
MARA:
“…and leaving meant losing everything you knew…”
CHIBI:
“…just so you could still be his child…”
They wait.
MARA:
“What would you do?”
BLACK FLAGS, DEEP WATERS
In a living world, the consequences of war do not end when kings make peace.
Sometimes the people forced to choose never chose the war at all.
Join Black Flags, Deep Waters:
https://startplaying.games/adventure/cmpms9fi200f5if04i70p6741
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