Alvar was praised when he returned to Cirrom and told of how the Giants had died at his hands. He was promoted and got a new crew. They were silent and ruthless but Alvar didn’t care as long as they did the job at hand. At times he missed Varun and Venor. They had known the sea as well as he did and they could handle themselves in a fight as well as Alvar. The sea felt increasingly like Alvar’s home and as such he got his crew to sail more often to the farther lands of Asria and the Gulf of Kapoor. He went back to sleeping on a hammock as he had done when he was a boy and a slave himself on a slave ship not too dissimilar from his own. Weeks past and as the icy sea air bit into Alvar day after day he found himself feeling more alive than ever. There was a night in his hammock when a voice spoke to him.

You must send the dragons back to them.

These words kept coming to Alvar night after night and they would linger. The voice which spoke them was soft and deep, it both drifted on the wind and echoed round deep caverns. Alvar was slow to realise that these words were a command. As he drew nearer to his roots, he began to empathise with the slaves he transported and sold. Over time Alvar found himself staying longer at the slave markets and looking more carefully at those who were chained. One day a particular slave caught his eye: she had long brown hair and hardened green eyes. This slave wasn’t afraid of him but instead she was intrigued. Alvar bought her at a high price and took her back to his home on the southernmost Staig island in the Gulf of Oeth.

When Isana returned home, Alvar beat her until she was weak and unrecognisable. He gagged her, sliced off her left ring finger and cut her hair. He shackled her wrists and placed a shackle around her neck for good measure before he threw Isana into the bowels of his ship. He docked the ship in Cirrom and took Isana straight to a prostitute owner. He threw Isana at his feet and gestured to her,

“This wretch disobeys all my orders and is useless in all trades except one. I have done the deed and I give her to you for free,” Alvar said and the man knelt down to inspect Isana. After a minute, the man nodded at Alvar and he yanked Isana up by her chains.

“I’ll make something great of you,” He snarled leading Isana away. Alvar watched for a moment before he left.

Returning home, Alvar went to the slave he had bought and took off her chains. She rubbed her wrists and looked up at Alvar.

“Who are you to decide what fate Isana deserves?” The slave asked.

“I was her husband,” Alvar replied.

“The assassin and the slaver, both experts in making people disappear.”

“How do you know about us?”

“I was a spy, it was my job to be interested in people like you. I was bound by invisible chains, make to live a life around bad people. Just like you.”

“What’s your name?”

“Kaisa. And yours?”

“Alvar, Avery.”

“There was a rumour when I was a child,” Kaisa began, her gaze softening at Alvar. “A girl was found drifting in the sea. She was rescued and healed in Kirneth, but when she awoke she wouldn’t stop crying out to be back in the water. People tried to stop her from escaping but she did, and she vanished into the marshlands of Sil Muna. Rumour is that she became a Nøkken and she swims the waters.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because her name was Avery, and like her, you long for water. You are a slave of the sea Alvar.”

“Amber,” Alvar whispered as Kaisa gestured to his right forearm.

“Why is it damaged?”

“Something happened long ago,” Alvar replied, a hand going to his right forearm in defence. “You should not have seen it.”

“I see more than others do. I can see the betrayal in your eyes,” Kaisa said as she caught Alvar’s attention. “You are not betraying yourself for embracing something that has held you back for so long.”

“Why didn’t you disappear?” Alvar asked her, changing the subject. “You would know how to more than most.”

“For the same reason that you became a slave trader. I was not afraid of the ones at the top, but rather of the ones below me. We have both been slaves to another and as such we want to rise above and take their place. We want to be in charge of others and their actions because it’s all we know. We are not afraid of death and we surround ourselves with it.” Kaisa pulled down her collar to reveal a horrific scar across her neck. “These marks brand us and they remind us that we belong in the dirt. But if we loose them, we loose ourselves.” Kaisa said, letting go of her collar, which raised to conceal the scar. Alvar carefully raised his sleeve to reveal the tattoo of a water droplet halfway along his forearm.

“They gave this to me after they found me. Since then I have yearned for nothing but the sea.”

“The scar on my neck is from my brother. He murdered my family and almost killed me. You are as much a slave as I am the girl who was killed by her own brother.”

“So you understand that what truly matters is the moment before these scars.”

“Let me help,” Kaisa said, coming forwards and taking Alvar’s hands in her own. “I know that you bought me for a reason. We can be nothing, join those with scars like our own. There’s a lot of power for people who don’t exist.” Kaisa rested her head against Alvar’s and in that moment they decided on their life together. They got married and began their work. Alvar still worked as a slave trader but he also travelled from city to city with Kaisa bringing weapons, furs and jewellery for trade. He still had a fearsome reputation, and as his slave trading days came to an end he was employed as a key executioner of traitors. These traitors were accused of setting fires in the Northern mountains of Regad, which were causing the dragons to travel southwards and reduce the number of Giants travelling North for trade. Alvar executed these traitors with great guilt as he was the one setting the fires. During their travels, Kaisa would steal prostitutes away in the night and smuggle them aboard their ship. She would then attach a prosthetic finger to replace their missing one. Once they returned home Alvar would help to restore the ex-prostitutes strength before giving them passage to the lands in the west for them to start a new life. Together Alvar and Kaisa had three children: Alona, Ekana and Magne.

22 years later Alvar was on a trip, Alvar was walking the streets of Cirrom when he found a shrunken, withered and tired woman. He purchased her for only a handful of coins. Kaisa asked Alvar if he was sure about this. Alvar was silent in response. He alone tended to this prostitute away from his family, showing the same kindness and understanding that he showed to everyone that he saved. The rage from Alvar’s betrayal still burned deeply within Isana as he treated her and 2 months she had enough strength to leave his home.

Alvar stood with Isana at the top of the cliff as they watched his ship move gently on the waves. Isana felt the air begin to chill as she pulled two knives out of her belt, grabbed Alvar around his chest and plunged one of them deep into Alvar’s heart. Isana kept him from falling as she took the second knife and slit Alvar’s throat. Alvar felt the warm blood as it ran down his neck and his chest. Isana let go and Alvar fell over the cliff. Darkness began to consume him and the last feeling Alvar had was the icy water penetrating deep into his body. His last thought was of his sister, Amber, and a deep hope that she too, was home.