2 2. Nathan

He shimmied the impractically small shield down under his shirt. I bet someone's swinging around a wuju blade or a big-ass blunderbuss. I didn't come here to roleplay!

The captain reached over and seized his arm like a mast line. "It is valuable. And it won't get us caught." He watched as Nathan nervously placed the buckler so it jutted just over the drawstrings of breeches just as the customs door slammed open.

A bustling man emerged, pushing his sleeves further up arms thick as coconut trunks. He seemed not to notice the benched crew until the door swayed back and tapped the back of his head. Then the islander grimaced, taking hold of the thick slab of door and finally acknowledged Nathan and the others. "We'll see you now."

The captain and sailor stood, exchanging looks. Nathan remained seated. This customs officer was an islander for sure, but despite his brutish physique, he wore tight breeches stuffed with a brilliantly white shirt, that even had pockets. Even the way he gestured to them, hand out in a short bow, was formal. What happened to the pirates?

"Go meekly," ordered the captain, out of earshot of the officer, "As if we have been dragged out from the sea just now." He made a show of helping Nathan up, making sure the officer saw. The trio limped and gasped, slapping the floor with wet and greasy feet.

The officer bowed, and his crumpled sleeves were forced down again by his immense bicep. "Sorry to keep you waiting, good sirs. Miss won't take long. A few questions. A few questions and you can be on your way."

Nathan brought up the rear while the other two turned into the office. As the walked past him it further accentuated their differences; The officer's clean uniform, gleaming bronzed skin in comparison to grimy yellows of the diminutive Demacian refugees. But as Nathan approached, the shutters that blocked his view of the larger world seemed to uncoil, and was drawn helplessly towards the window.

Why should I stick to these losers? He thought as he stared at the glowing rope curtain. Suddenly, Nathan grew self-conscious, realizing the Nagakabourous officer's had eyed him, pursing his lips in a curious pose. Nathan looked back up the corridor. Would he chase me? Would he let me go? In that case, what would happen to the others?

As soon as he wondered it, Nathan felt the buckler's pull, slipping a little down his trousers, and suddenly felt compelled to stay, to protect his brethren.

The captain poked his head back, and hissed. "Nephew!" He stalked towards Nathan with murderous eyes, pushing him through the door. "We must not keep the lady waiting," he said. Then, to ensure Nathan hadn't forgotten his role, he thrust a blow, fingernails deep in his nephew's side making him crouch over and clutch his 'humpback'. By the time Nathan was able to stand and look straight, the heavy doors had been shut closed behind him and he, the captain and the sailor were face to face with a bald woman behind a desk. It must have been the one whose name was inscribed in the plaque above; Sarpa Anda. Snake Egg. Arms crossed, leaning back in her chair, the crews eyes were not on her but on the item laid out before her, shifting aside inkwells and many sheafs of parchment to fit the entire thing on the desk. It was an elaborate spear with the seal of the Demacian Royal House emblazoned on it in fine gold script.

The captain burst into full spiel before anyone had a chance to call upon or even greet him. "Oh, mistress of the docks, please excuse us We little crew, a miserable salvage far from our homeland, did not seek to offend your customs laws. Our coming is our own fault, for our shortcomings as servants, against the lofty standards of the crown. But here we believe is a land of growth, of new opportunity. I beg of you this chance." He ended with a kneeling bow, visibly craning his sight away from even glimpsing the royal spear.

"And my poor dim-witted nephew." He gestured to Nathan. "I couldn't have left him in their hands for fear that they would inflict upon him pain beyond any I had the burden to know." The captain's pleas and desperate, shaky voice might have made a great impact in another situation. If only the stolen spear were not so begging of the question, with neither Snake Egg nor the captain asking it.

And Snake Egg, for her part did made a terrible performance of pretending to listen to him. While the three waited in a line in front of her, she immediately gave the desk and the evidence on it a wide berth. Instead, she focused on rubbing a shine into the central skull of a hundred-headed serpent statue, much like her own immaculately presented baldness. She did not turn as the captain pleaded. Her ears did not twitch at his obvious lies.

It was done for. This meeting was bait, Nathan realized, and he had just missed his last chance to get out of this situation. Unless, perhaps, he could bolt now and pry open the heavy doors before the larger officer had caught on.

But he wouldn't. Again, his buckler slipped around the rim of his breeches. And whispered to him.

'NO! Stay. Protect.'

What am I thinking? Hell no, I recognize that spear! I may not know much lore, but I've been flagpole knocked-up enough to know that's Jarvan IV's!

Stay. Protect!

The captain snapped. Perhaps it was Nathan's itching incessantly under his shirt as he fought the voice in his head, or maybe his fellow sailor refusing to pipe in to add some sympathetic element to his tale. Or, more likely, the captain had had enough of being taunted by a scrawny, hairless woman.

"We didn't have a choice, damn you! Answer me, you slimy coward—"

That got her attention. Before the captain could move an inch closer, Snake Egg's officer was at her side. The captain backed away, like a caught street dog, and the officer sat back down in the far corner of the office.

"Relax, uncle," Nathan, said, gently reaching out to him. If you get me booted from this game before I can capture some halfway decent clips, I swear to God I'll find you in the full game and corpse-gank you every day for a month.

Thinking quickly, Nathan noticed something about the large Nagakaborous officer. Specifically with his ring; He kept adjusting it over his finger, so that it's jewel faced the captain, the sailor, then Nathan in turn. He repeated this process a number of times as the stalemate continued, and each time the emerald landed on Nathan his expression changed. Whether that was good or bad, it was hard to tell. Still, he did it once more as Snake Egg strode back towards her desk. It landed on Nathan. The officer frowned. Taking off the ring, he got up, going back to Snake Egg, at which point Nathan decided that this was definitely bad.

As the trio continued to wait in silence, the officer handed over the ring to Snake Egg and said, "Every word is a lie, except for the fact that they were servants of Demacian nobles."

Snake Egg snorted. "I hardly need the Eye of Nagakaborous to see that."

"Still, there is –"

Snake egg cut him off with a blunt hand, and sat forward, elbows on the desk, so she could properly witness the captain's reaction.

The captain wrung his arms and grit his teeth. But he was committed to his act. "Please…"

As Nathan was impressed by how easily Snake Egg held the room to her will, the shield called out to him again, luring him into placing a hand under his shirt.

Snake Egg idly rolled the spear with a finger. "Seems like you understand your position now," she began, "Good. It just so happens I require the use of some discreet Demacian connections."

The captain perked up. Just enough, wisely, to show he was listening, but not enough to seem aggressive. Snake Egg smiled at that.

"What do you need?" he asked her.

"I am to believe that Demacia has a magic absorbing material. Petricite, isn't that right?" Snake Egg paused, waiting for a nod. "Do you remember the floating bodies when you came to port?"

The sailor piped up for the first time, startling Nathan out of his stupor, causing him to nearly drop the shield. "Yes! They were fresh."

Sarpa scanned the sailor briefly, before explaining. "Something is…happening to the citizens of my city. Something I believe to be magical in nature; I need this petricite, thief. Get it for me."