Voyage to Volantis

It was wise of Vira to change ships, for as they passed through the Stepstones three pirate vessels were sighted on the horizon. The Minnow, a swift ship if not one that was particularly attractive, was able to out-run them, but Vira was sure that if she had been aboard the Princess of the Narrow Sea they would surely have been caught, and she would even now be starting her new life in a Lyseni whorehouse, or worse.

When she stepped out onto the deck, she found something of a commotion. Her sons were struggling violently; a burly sailor was holding each boy by the scruff of his neck, out at arms reach. For an instant Vira did not realize, but then it registered that they were not struggling to escape the sailor's grasp, so much as they were struggling to get get at each other. The soldier bore an expression that indicated his preferred option would be to crack their heads together, but as he looked up and saw Vira he smiled sheepishly. "They was fightin', Mistress," he said, as if that needed to be explained. "Would'a just let 'em be, but they almos' knocked poor Tycho o'erboard," he added, casting a glance at a man who was leaning against one of the gunwales nearby.