4. An Unexpected Visit

After a restless and anxious night spent agonizing over her father's safety and tending to the lighthouse, the last thing on Sienna's mind was entertaining the queen of the Winter Court.

And yet, after answering a knock on the door just after dawn and finding her childhood friend on the other side, that was exactly what she was doing.

The queen looked quite at home, curled up as she was in the large cushioned arm chair with her legs tucked up beside her. Celesta's half-pixie blood was most noticeable in her small stature and the iridescent wings between her shoulders. Her simple, light green dress and matching dancing slippers were perhaps not the most sensible wardrobe for traveling, but Sienna knew from experience that the ballerina preferred to be dressed for dance at all times in case her skill with magic was needed.

Her companion, an old, weathered, bearded man with dark, bushy eyebrows and keen eyes was seated across from her, balancing a saucer and cup of tea in his lap. The wizard Drosselmeyer was well-known throughout Faerie, but his position as Celesta's godfather meant that Sienna had seen him more often than most during her childhood. His navy robe was open in the front, revealing a soft gray shirt and dark trousers beneath.

"I'm serious, Enna." Celesta looked at her with a concerned expression. "You look exhausted. We can look after things here for a little while. Go take a nap."

Sienna allowed her eyes to drift longingly for a moment to the closed wooden door that led to her bedroom, then quickly directed her attention back to her guests. She sank down into her mother's chair, cradling her hot tea cup in her hands. "I'm fine. I won't be able to sleep anyways until Papa gets back." The knot of worry in her stomach tightened. "Besides, I'm far too curious to hear what brought you out so far. Where is Alex?"

At the mention of her husband, Celesta's face transformed into a dreamy smile. "He's at home with Clara. This trip was all rather last-minute, and we wanted to travel more quickly than a four-year-old would allow. She still doesn't do well with going through the Waypoints."

"Is something wrong?" Sienna looked back and forth between her guests.

"It's not an immediate problem." Celesta seemed hesitant to give an actual answer, and there was a tightness around her mouth and eyes that was at odds with her normally bubbly and bright personality. "We can discuss it later. But first," she straightened and looked at the wizard expectantly, "Drosselmeyer has been looking into the situation with the Flying Dutchman, and I reminded him that he might find some of the answers he's looking for up here. He seems to be seen frequently in this area."

"But never on land," Sienna pointed out. "Any encounters with him usually take place out at sea. In fact, yesterday was the first time I've ever seen his boat come close enough to be seen from shore."

Drosselmeyer set his saucer and cup to the side and leaned forward in his chair. His eyes were bright with curiosity. "Yesterday?"

She nodded. "I believe so. I was walking with Devri along the shore when we saw her brother Doryss' ship come in. There was another, a little further out, and it was black with tattered sails. I can't think of what else it might have been."

The wizard hummed thoughtfully. "Interesting. This Doryss—what kind of business is he in?"

"He's a fisherman. He recently started working under Erik." She swallowed past the uncomfortable lump in her throat that continued to appear whenever her thoughts conjured up the image of the handsome elf she had thought to spend forever with, despite her best efforts to push away the emotions.

Celesta's eyes narrowed. "I thought he said he wasn't interested in expanding his fishing business."

Sienna shrugged and dropped her eyes to her tea. "He just wasn't interested in expanding it with Papa."

"The nerve of that elf!" Celesta leaped to her feet, her dancer's grace the only thing that kept her cup from sloshing all over the place. "I would like to have a few words with him!"

Sienna blinked in alarm. "No! You don't have to say anything at all. It's fine. Really, Celly." She sighed inwardly when the queen resumed her seat. Celesta's face was still stormy, and she pressed her lips together into a tight line. "At least this way I don't have to worry about bumping into him every day. And the lighthouse has forced Papa to slow down, which he needed."

Drosselmeyer redirected the conversation, much to Sienna's relief. "This ship you saw, were there any other distinguishing characteristics?"

She narrowed her eyes in concentration, doing her best to recall the scene in her mind. "I only remember the black hull and sails. It was too far away to make out much else. Why? Is there something in particular you're looking for?"

"Just trying to separate fact from legend." He leaned back again, crossing an ankle over his knees. "I've admittedly left this matter alone for too long, as I was focusing on more pressing matters in the other Courts. Now that things in Autumn and Summer seem to be well in hand, I'm finding that this Flying Dutchman seems to have become somewhat larger than life."

Celesta giggled, her good humor once more returned. "An interesting word choice to describe someone widely rumored to be a ghost."

"But ghosts aren't real," Sienna argued practically. "Which means that if the ship I saw really was his, he has to be a real fae, too."

"Not fae." Drosselmeyer steepled his fingers together in front of his long gray beard.

"What?"

"According to the few sources I could find, it seems our ghostly captain is from the human realm."

Sienna nearly spit out her tea. "He's human? But how? I thought that travel between the realms was nearly impossible. I thought you were the only person with magic strong enough to do it."

"That is one of the answers I am trying to find."

"You don't know? How could you not know something like that?"

Drosselmeyer raised his eyebrows with just the slightest hint of exasperation. "I may be old, child, and possess a great deal of experience and knowledge, but I am not the Almighty. There are still secrets of this realm and its magic that I am not yet privy to."

"Oh. Right. Of course." Sienna regretted her hasty remark. She looked back down at her tea, which had now grown tepid. She set it to the side. "So, he's a human?"

"He is."

"But why is he here?" Celesta jumped in. "And why the terrifying ship? There must be a reason he continues to sail the seas, frightening sailors out of their wits. Do you think he does it for enjoyment?"

Drosselmeyer looked to Sienna, as if waiting for her to answer first. She shook her head. "I don't know for sure. From what the stories say, he seems to have specific targets in mind. A fishing boat, for example, might see him from afar but never make contact. It's the merchants and trading vessels that he boards."

"Ah, he's a pirate."

Sienna wagged her head back and forth. "Kind of? But even with as frightening as he is, there aren't any deaths associated with his name. And even the ships that claim to have had run-ins with him are still in possession of everything on their manifests. If he's plundering the cargo, I don't know what he's taking."

Celesta looked at her curiously. "How do you know all this? I didn't realize you had such an interest in rumors and gossip."

She shrugged. "I was on vocal rest for a number of months, remember? When you're not contributing to the conversation, you end up doing a lot of listening. And sailors do love sharing stories."

Drosselmeyer nodded slowly. "That aligns with what I know as well."

He said nothing more. Celesta and Sienna shared a look of long-suffering before Celesta sighed. "And? Are you going to tell us what that is? By the realms, you wizards certainly have a knack for withholding information at the most frustrating of times." Though her words were harsh, there was a smile in her eyes. Sienna had witnessed enough interactions between the two of them to know that this was a common complaint.

"We share what is needed when it is needed." Drosselmeyer's eyes twinkled with mischief in return.

"And the time is now, and the information is everything you know about the Flying Dutchman." Celesta reached into a skirt pocket and pulled out a small parcel wrapped in brown paper. She opened one end to reveal the red and white ends of peppermint sticks, which she offered to Sienna.

Sienna took one and stuck the end in her mouth, savoring the sharp, minty sweetness as it danced over her tongue.

"So," the queen continued, speaking around the candy stick in the corner of her mouth. "Why is the captain here? If he's not a villainous pirate, what is he doing, besides making waves in the sailing community?"

"As to what he is doing, you're guess is as good as mine," Drosselmeyer answered, ignoring her pun. "But to answer why he is here, the short answer is that he is cursed."

Sienna blinked in surprise. "Cursed? How?"

"And by who?" Celesta added.

Drosselmeyer rose from his chair and strode towards one of the open windows with his hands clasped behind his back, his robe billowing out behind him as he moved. He stared out at the rocky shoreline as he spoke. "From what I have been able to piece together, the Dutchman came to our realm under some sort of agreement with Queen Nyx."

Celestas' nose wrinkled. "Of the Night Court?"

"The same. This was many, many years ago—nearly fifty, I believe—when they were still in exile. I don't know exactly what Nyx expected of him, but whatever it was, it seems he either was ignorant of the details or else had a change of heart once he entered Faerie. Nyx was less than pleased, and she burned his boat and cursed him and his crew to wander the seas in a miserable half-existence."

"What do you mean?" Sienna's voice reflected the horror that filled her eyes.

"The reason for the Dutchman and his crew's ghostly appearance is that they are neither fully here nor in the human realm, but somewhere halfway between." Drosselmeyer turned. "I'm not entirely sure how she managed to do it. My initial hypothesis was that she had help, but Koschei would have been the only one with enough musical and magical knowledge to do such a thing, and he was still stripped of his powers during that time."

"Then how?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "Which is part of the reason for my search. What's more, I don't know what the effect of such a curse will have on a human, or if it's even possible to lift it. I was hopeful that we might find some more information here that would allow me to locate him."

Celesta snapped her fingers. "If Enna saw his ship yesterday as Doryss was coming to shore, it's possible that they might have seen something. We should ask him. Or Devri, if he's not around."

Sienna gave her friend a knowing smile. "You just want an excuse to sample some of Devri's cookies, don't you?" Celesta had an unfailing weakness for sweets.

The queen tilted her nose pertly in the air. "Of course not. If I'm going to visit her bake shop, I might as well sample the cakes and pastries, too. It's such a shame that she's not closer to Iysen. I'll have to ask her to pack a box of extras for me to take home."

The mention of boxes jogged Sienna's memory. "Oh!"

Drosselmeyer and Celesta responded to her sudden outburst with looks of surprise.

"I found something else yesterday. I was going to write to you, but now that you're here, I suppose I can just tell you. Do you remember the caves?" Her question was directed at Celesta.

"The ones by the tide pools?"

"Yes. I was exploring them yesterday, just for old time's sake, and I found a pile of crates hidden away in one of them."

Both of her guests perked up with interest at this news. Drosselmeyer's eyes were sharp. "Do you have any idea what was in them?"

She shook her head. "No. None of the boards were loose enough for me to pry off, and I didn't want to break anything trying to open them. But they all were stamped with ‘Hollander's Emporium' on the outside." She looked back and forth between the two. "Does that name sound familiar to either of you?"

Celesta tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I can't recall ever hearing it. But what if we went and took a look around now? Dross might be able to open one."

The wizard nodded somberly. "I would like to see for myself. I haven't heard of that particular name before."

Sienna rose, collecting the empty dishes and dropping them into the sink. "Alright. The tide should be low enough by now to get inside. Let me write a note for Papa in case he comes home while we're out."